Swords, Fruit And, An Amazing Crew

Walking from the beach to the entrance of Loguetown Conner's eyes immediately locked onto a very familiar ship. Floating in the port before him he witnessed the original ship of the straw hats.

"The Going Merry. I cried when she died in the series." He said remembering the touching scene.

'Wait if the Merry is here... Then the straw hats are too!' He thought he excitedly. He had to meet them maybe even join them! That's every fan's dream! He dashed into the town before realizing.

'Oh shit I have no idea where most of them are.' He pondered this thought for a bit before shrugging. "Ehh I know buggy will try and execute luffy in a few hours so I'll just meet them there." He turned and walked around the town for a bit before spotting the sword shop where Zoro got Yubashiri and the Sandai Kitetsu.

"Well I'm a swordsman now, got to pick up some swords."

He checked his pockets and found a wallet. Inside the as about 5,000,000 berries.

'This should be more than enough for some decent swords!' he thought walking into the shop.

As the bell on the door chimed he walked straight into one of his favorite scenes form the anime standing in front of him was Roronoa Zoro holding the Sandai Kitetsu as Ipponmatsu the owner of the shop tried to stop him from buying it with the marine Tashigi standing close by.

"A cursed sword huh?" The future world's greatest swordsman asked.

"You knew!?" Ipponmatsu exclaimed.

"No I can just tell." Zoro responded

Ipponmatsu continued to try and stop him from buying it by telling the two swordsman before him about how many great swordsmen have died terrible deaths after taking up the kitetsu swords

"I-I'm sorry I don't know it was such a terrifying sword I'm sorry for telling you to buy it." Tashigi said apologetically.

Zoro simply held the sword high and smiled. "I like it! I'll take it!" He declared confidently.

'Here it comes!' Conner thought to himself unnoticed by the others in the shop.

"A-a-are you a fool!? I can't sell it! If you died because of it, it would be like I killed you myself!" The old shop keeper shouted before his wife put him in a head lock.

"You old fool just sell the damn thing off!"

Zoro continued to inspect the blade and decided. "Alright then let's do this," he said as all eyes were now on him. "My luck and this blade's curse. Let's see which one is stronger!"

Zoro then tossed the cursed blade into the air Much to the shock of all but Conner.

"You can't be serious!" Tashigi shouted. As Zoro held out his arm in the path of the falling blade.

"Stop! Its sharpness is the real deal! It'll take your whole arm clean off!" Ipponmatsu shouted, terror painted on his face.

Zoro simply tuned out all of them and awaited the blade as Ipponmatsu and Tashigi watched in horror, Conner watched in amazement at the will of the three sword style user.

After finally coming down, the cursed blade barely missed Zoro's arm as it cut straight through the floor boards down to the hilt of the blade. For a moment no one moved before Zoro opposed his eyes and declared that he would take it.

Ipponmatsu fell backward and Tashigi fell to her knees in shock. Within Conner's mind only one thought passed through.

'This is why he has the color of the supreme king, his unyielding determination. So Fuckung Cool!'

Zoro simply retrieved the cursed sword and asked Tashigi to pick another for him which she agreed to shakily.

"H-hold it!" Ipponmatsu shouted running upstairs while Zoro and Tashigi kept searching for a good sword when he returned he laid a black clad sword on the counter of the shop.

"The make is black lacquer! and the blade's temper pattern is uneven! Yubashiri! One of the 50 skillful grade blades!" He said presenting it to Zoro " My shop may not be much but this is the finest sword I have."

Zoro turned to look at him and spoke nonchalantly. "I can't buy that I already told you I have no money."

Ipponmatsu told him to forget the money and to do the same for the kitetsu as well.

"I'm sorry for trying to cheat you earlier. It's been a while since I've seen a good swordsman's eyes. They say the sword chooses the user. I pray for your good future!" He said as Zoro took the swords and placed them on his belt before thanking him and leaving leaving a stunned Tashigi and a very excited Conner's behind in the shop.

"Please tell me I'm not the only one that thinks that he's awesome here." Conner addressed the two others in the room startling them as they had still not noticed him inside having been two focused on Zoro. They were even more surprised by Conner's massive size and his red horns, but they quickly got over it assuming he was a fish-man hybrid of some sort.

"Definitely one of a kind" Tashigi said still stunned.

Conner turned to Ipponmatsu and asked if he had anything else like the Kitetsu and Yubashiri. Ipponmatsu then scrambled to make himself presentable.

"Sorry sir but unfortunately we don't have anything quite like a skillful grade blade and a cursed Kitetsu left in stock."

Conner had expected this and simply nodded. "Well in that case do you have any other Meito?" He asked the old shop keeper.

' If I wish to become anything Like the straw hats I need good blades, and there are none better than the named blades of Meito.'

Ipponmatsu thought for a moment before responding. "Yes I have four more but they each cost about one million berries each."

Conner simply told the man to bring them out and that he had more than enough for them. As Ipponmatsu went to retrieve the swords Conner turned to Tashigi.

"That sword in your hand, it's a Meito too right?" he asked her already knowing the answer.

She seemed to perk up at the question and answered. "Yes! This is my Shigure a grade blade." She explained cheerfully.

"Oh, the sword of timely rain. It should serve you well."

Ipponmatsu returned with the four Meito.

"Alright Mr. Money bags, these four are all Meito grade blades take your pick." He said smiling at being able to make a sizable profit of of Conner.

"We have the Kei-Arashi (written 勁嵐) the sword of the strong tempest. Yokai-Hocho (written 妖怪 包丁) the apportion cleaver. Yukiotoshi (written 雪落 )the blade of falling snow. And finally Natsu chōseki (written 夏潮汐) the blade of summer tide. Each one costs one million berries each take your pick."

Conner turned to Tashigi once more "Hey, you have the book on Meito right? Mind giving me a hand picking?" He asked the marine with a smile.

'Damnit I didn't expect blades not shown in the series to show up' he thought.

Tashigi quickly pulled out the book and began to read it " well mister..?"

"Oh right I haven't introduced myself yet. You may call me Conner."

Tashigi continued. "Alright mister Conner there is not really much difference between the four blades aside from Yukiotoshi and Kei-Arashi are more useful for fast and quick slashed and the other two are more focused on power. You would get very good use out of all of them and they are all grade blades so they would be worth the price."

"Ah thank you miss..?" Conner asked for her name despite already knowing. After all Tashigi was one of the few marines he actually respected in the series.

"Oh my name is Tashigi and I'm a marine ensign."

"Oh well It was nice to meet you miss Tashigi." He responded before turning back to Ipponmatsu. He then took out his wallet and placed four million berries on the counter. "I'll take all four." He decided much to both Tashigi and Ipponmatsu's shock.

"S-sure here you go use them well!" Ipponmatsu said shaking as he handed Connor the four Meito. "Thank you for your business. Come back any time!"

After that interaction Conner placed tow blades on each side of his belt and left to try try and kill time.

-Conner POV-

'Well I have a bit before buggy tries to execute luffy, met as well choose my first devil fruits.' I thought sitting down on a bench in the square near the execution platform.

Activating the Taku Taku no mi I closed my eyes and when I opened them I was in a black void much like the one God had crafted the fruit in. Hundreds of colorful fruit with swirls covering them surrounded me and in front of me was a 4 by five grid of 20 boxes made of energy.

"Ok now to figure out how this works." I said studying the grid. "Do I just say the name?"

I thought for a moment. "There is one extremely versatile devil fruit needed for almost all powerful combinations."

"Hana Hana no mi!" I called to the void. Be fore a fruit shaped like a blossoming pink flower drifted towards him. I grasped it and placed it into one of the boxes in front of me and immediately felt the presence of the fruit in my body.

"Ok now let's just pick some basic fruit powers. Don't want to outshine Luffy. I just got a paramecia so let's just round it out with a Logia and basic Zoan."

I  tried to call out the logia type fruits but nothing happened. "Hmm guess I have to ask for the fruit specifically. Doesn't really matter but good to know."

'Alright think all Logia types are versatile and powerful in some way or another, we just need to pick one that works for our current situation.'

I thought it would be easy choosing devil fruit but it was far from it. I still needed powerful fruit now that could also work with other more powerful fruits in the future.

"I can't really go with the Magu Magu no mi or the Hie Hie no mi they are just too overpowered. The Suna Suna no mi and Susu Susu no mi are not good matches with my fighting style. C'mon! Think what was a relatively powerful and practical Logia?"

Then it hit me.

"Numa Numa no mi!" I called to the void. The swamp swamp fruit, while not the most powerful logia it is definitely practical. It has its own pocket dimension for storage and capture and has normal logia abilities so it's the perfect Logia for me right now.

The Numa Numa no mi floated into my hand and I placed it into another of the boxes.

Now for the easy pick.

"Sara Sara no mi model: axolotl"

Normally when people think of a powerful normal zoan they go to a model of the bird bird fruit or the dog dog fruit but to me there is no basic zoan more powerful then this. Axolotls have the ability to breathe under water and as a devil fruit user that is a must have, they also have the ability to regenerate their limbs so that healing factor is amazing for me. The added bonus of the physical buff all Zoans grant will be nice too.

The blue apple shaped fruit floated to my hands and I once again placed it into a box. I then shut off the power of the Taku Taku no mi, when I opened my eyes I saw that the sky had darkened with storm clouds and saw that on top of the execution platform was Luffy, bound and about to have his head slashed off buy Buggy as Zoro and Sanji rushed to try and save him.

—Normal POV—

Before they could get close Buggy swung his blade and Luffy spoke what he thought would be his last words to his crew.

"Sorry, I'm dead." He said with a wide smile, greatly shocking the marines surrounding the platform. I recognized Smoker straight away and the look on his face as Luffy reminded him of Gold D. Roger at his execution was priceless.

Before buggy could take of the rookie pirate's head off  a bolt of lightning truck the platform destroying it, and freeing Luffy in the process. Luffy stepped forward and picked up his straw hat.

"Shishishi! Guess I'm still alive after all! I got lucky" He laughed like nothing happened much to the utter disbelief of the Buggy pirates.

Conner simply watched in amazement. Seeing it on a screen and in person where so different! He no longer wanted to join the straw hats, now he knew he must!

'I must be a part of the future king of the pirates crew. I will serve him to the day I die!'

Before Conner knew it the entire crowd had been encircled by marines who began to fight the Buggy pirates. Luffy just kept exclaiming about how amazing the situation wa be for Zoro grabbed him and the straw hats took of running busting through all the marines that got in there way. Conner opted to follow them and try and wait for an opening to help them escape.

Eventually they split up and Conner decided to wait for Dragon to save Luffy from smoker before making his move.

'I have to time this perfectly' Conner thought shifting into his man beast form. It was relatively strange, he could feel the tail and external gills grow and the sensations coming from them were strange but he quickly got used to it as dragon showed up and blew smoker away with his unidentified wind abilities.

As luffy was pushed away Conner leaped of the roof and snatched him. He also grabbed smoker's weapon the Nanashaku Jitte before putting it into the Numa Numa no mi.

"Hey you're Monkey D. Luffy right?" He asked as he wrapped his newly acquired tail around a pole to keep them from being blown away by Dragon's wind.

"Hmm? Yea that's me!"The pirate shouted proudly. "Whoa you have horns and frilly things! Awesome!" He said noticing Conner's man-beast form and his oni attributes.

Conner just smiled at the compliment and continued.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Dax D. Conner, I wanna join your crew!" He asked Luffy with a determined smile.

"Shishishi! Sure why not! You look cool and helped me out! Welcome aboard Conner!"

Conner felt amazing. He was living the dream of every one piece fan ever! He quickly swallowed his excitement and picked up luffy as he began running to the shoreline.

"Oh there, our other Nakama! Grab them Conner!"

"Sure thing captain!" Conner shouted as he grabbed Usopp, Zoro and Sanji before Luffy slingshotted them to the Going merry.

As the five pirates crashed to the deck of the ship Nami helped up Usopp as Luffy jumped to his feet and Zoro and Sanji just stayed down hating the fact that Luffy keeps pulling dumb moves like that.

Conner sprung up quickly and returned to his human form as the other two pirates stood up all but luffy looked up at him in confusion.

Conner seeing the confusion decided to introduce himself. "Hello! I'm Dax D. Conner, I just joined your crew nice to meet you!" He said with a smile trying to make a good impression.

All the crew just started at him before Luffy spoke up.

"Yea Conner helped us escape so he's our nakama now!"

Nami immediately punched him on the top of the head "Don't just got trusting random people dumbass!" She roared infuriated at Luffy.

Nami then turned to a now very afraid Conner.

"And why the hell would you want to join a pirate crew huh! And what the hell could you even bring to the crew? If you're a liability I won't stand for it!"

Conner had expected a reaction like this but never really prepared for it. He then had to think of how to word his response.

"W-well I want to go to the grand line to follow my dreams! I wanted to go find someone also chasing their dreams to go with because they would be more

Trustworthy to me and I don't want to be a marine so a pirate was the only option." Conner said with an embarrassed expression.

The crew absorbed the information and came to the same conclusion. "He's got the same motivation as all of us."

"See he's just like us- let's go to the grand line already." Luffy shouted but was quickly put back on the ground by a fist from Nami.

This time Usopp asked. "Ok you've got ambition b-but like what Nami said, what can you bring to the crew?"

Conner took no time in answering. "Well I'm a devil fruit user for one, I'm also a swordsman that uses a two sword style." He said gesturingto the four swords on his belt.

The later of the information intrigued Zoro.

"Oh! I'm also a member of the Oni race so I'm crazy strong!" Conner said gesturing to his size and horns.

Nami and Ussop had already accepted that he would be a good asset to the crew and Zoro wanted to test his skills against him in a swordsman's duel but he would leave that for later. Then Sanji asked the final question.

"Ok mister oni, you would definitely be an asset in combat but you said you want to follow your dream in the grand line. Tell us your dream and if it falls in line with ours week accept you as one of us. got it?" The chef said still eyeing the massive man with suspicion.

Conner smiled. He had hoped he could share this soon. "I've always been fascinated by life especially sea life. So I decided I would travel the world and catalogue all life in it! My dream is to create a bestiary of every species and race in the world!" Conner shouted with conviction. He had wanted to do the same in his world but if he could do it here it would still achieve his dream.

The four remaining straw hats seamed to look at each other before agreeing. "Ok you can join the crew." Nami accepted. "But you have to pay us five hundred thousand berries!" The tangerine haired girl added in her usual fashion

Usopp was about to tell Nami not to extort her crew mates but to his shock Conner simply took out his wallet and handed her half the million he had left after buying his swords and gave his thanks before Luffy cheered and ordered them to head to the grand line. On the outside Conner kept himself composed inside however.

'YES!!! This is amazing! I'm a straw hat pirate!' He was freaking out.

They had prepped the ship so sail out of the storm to the grand line and eventually came across a light house.

"Look at that light!" Nami said looking towards the tower.

"Is that a light house of the island?" Ussop asked. Hugging the mast got the merry so he didn't roll into the sea from the tossing the storm was giving the ship before Nami clarified.

"It's a guiding light. The entrance to the grand line lies beyond it."

"So the grand line is ahead of that light huh?" Luffy asked.

Nami asked her captain what he wanted to do. But before he could answer Ussop brought up that what probably shouldn't enter the grand line during a storm like this to which they all ignored .

"Alright shall we hold a launching ceremony for setting sail on the great ocean?" Sanji suggested making Conner ecstatic as he would be able to participate in this historic event.

Sanji put his boot on a barrel. "I'm going to find the All Blue."

Luffy placed his next. "I'm going to be king of the pirates!"

Zoro came next. "I'm going to become the world's greatest swordsman."

Nami came after him. " I'm going to draw a map of the whole world."

Ussop placed his boot on the barrel next. " I-I'm going to become a brave warrior of the sea!"

And finally they all looked to Conner who shakily placed his boot on the barrel. "I'm going to document every creature in the world!"

They all stood there unbothered by the rain pouring down on them before Luffy spoke.

"We're going to the grand line!"

"Yeah!" His entire crew shouted as they raised their legs and slammed them down onto the barrel.