Bon Voyage

It was way past noon when the first rays of sunlight managed to creep their ways into the Kenway home, slowly waking up the duo sleeping on the floor. Raon had an empty sake gourd in his right hand, whereas Sol tightly hugged a glass bottle of old brandy.

Stirring awake they looked in each other's faces only to find themselves being stared back at. Their dumb expressions spoke more words than a lexicon about how neither knew when to stop drinking.

'Make a sound and you're in for a beating!'

Both thought unbeknownst to one another. Raon was the first to get up, desperately trying to gather his swirling thoughts into a cohesive order. If expressed into words, it would sound like this:

'Sol returned. Surprised. 5 years over. Will go to Grand Line, search for Silver City. Need to prepare… Which preparations are still left to do?'

In that one month, Sol had already gathered provisions by smoking and drying meat, pickled some wild vegetables, sorted and packed possibly helpful books and sea maps together with a compass and a spare compass and even prepared spare sails just in case one gets ripped.

He looked over to his brother, who slowly sat up while rubbing his hurting head, secretly happy about how some things just don't change with time.

"Sol, you are as thoughtful as ever."

"Yeah, yeah, great me. Let's grab some food and water and get moving before I fall back asleep."

He answered not fully understanding where that compliment came from but accepting it, nonetheless. Raon couldn't agree more since they both had a dream and goal to achieve and time certainly wouldn't wait for them.

"That's the spirit! Hand me some jerky and I'll be off, carrying what you packed to our boats."

"Suit yourself. In the meantime, I'll clean up this mess and pick a route to start off. Meeting by mom's and dad's stones?

"Sure thing, I won't leave without saying goodbye to them."

They did as they said. Not acting like a wuss but getting all jobs quickly done Raon and Sol met in front of their parents' graves where they bid their farewells. Afterwards on the way down to the shore no one spoke a word and soon they found themselves looking back at Sabre Fang Park from the deck of their boats.

Their ships were small, designed for up to 2 people and a limited amount of supplies and equipment. Sol's was a bit faster due to being smaller and lighter than Raon's so they had to bind them to each other, using sturdy and thick ropes.

Both brothers were about to sail into the open ocean, something they had done numerous times in the last half decade, but now just about everything felt completely different. They knew that this time a new kind of adventure would await them, full of surprises and dangers but they felt excited about it.

The Grand Line. The Silver City. The Government. Pirates and marines. What would one not see and experience while sailing a ship and following a dream. Sol could feel his heart beat up to his throat as curiosity, excitement and wariness for the future mingled within his head.

At least until a gigantic column of water shot up in front of their boats, nearly knocking them over. As the water fell the culprit was revealed to be a sea king. A bright, orange scaled one with a head larger than Raon's boat, filled with many rows of dagger-like teeth. Its body resembled that of a barracuda just 15 times longer and deadlier.

*HISS!*

It roared and charged towards Sol, intent on devouring this arrogant looking prey.

"Stinky fish, you kind of ruined my mood."

Though the attempt was futile since it got nowhere near him. The wind carried Raon's words before white sparks crackled through the air and a humanoid white tiger appeared like a flash on top of the monster's head.

Wind and lightning gathered around his raised fist, which then broke the skull and fried the brain in one swift punch. It was Raon in his hybrid form. User of the mythical zoan fruit: Neko, neko no mi, model: Baihu.

"*whistles* Wow brother, it's been quite a while since I last saw you like that. You grew even more? Is it around 4, or 4.5 metres now?"

Sol, to whom this was no unfamiliar sight, half praised half envied his brother's powers. He found Raon's hybrid form to be cool and strong looking unlike his own. Golden cat eyes that seem capable of staring into your soul, a perfectly soft yet resilient white fur with great black stripes. Long fangs and claws and the best of all: lightning and storm effects around him!

"It's 4.5 metres. Now stop making sarcastic remarks if you want us to reach Baterilla before night falls."

Raon, someone who knew the true nature of his brother's devil fruit, countered sharply with a very valid argument. Sailing in small boats during the night would be a terrible idea even if they had a fully trained, skilful navigator, whereas without one it could be called peak stupidity.

"Fine by me but what do you say to some fresh sea king sashimi, quickly prepared?"

Raon, who had turned back after returning to his boat, looked surprised at Sol, even wondering whether he heard correctly.

"You can prepare sea king sashimi like mom?"

It was him who advocated for them to quickly continue sailing, not even one minute ago, but this was his favourite food, something that only their mother knew to make as good as she did.

'Come to think of it, that capable brother of mine picked up quite a few skills in the last 5 years. He even built a hut for smoking meat so maybe he really learned-'

"Of course, not I'm just joking. Quickly now let's go or else we won't make it while the sun is still out."

His thoughts were interrupted by his cheeky brother and his even cheekier laughter.

"What a cruel world we are living in. One man toying with his own brother's great desire yet the heavens won't strike him down. Where is my justice?!"

Both of them had a hearty laugh before sailing away. They really couldn't waste anymore time so despite some regrets the body of a sea king was left behind for other predators to feast on it. Now it truly started. Their greatest adventure and future legend, which will be passed down decades and centuries after they passed.

(AN: Long ass prologue finished. Crew member hunting arcs are about to begin. I will assembly a crew of only/mostly original characters so as to not completely fuck over the One-Piece plot. There will still be contact with One Piece characters and Sol (our MC) will gain a lot of influence but don't expect him to go gather the straw hats before luffy or smth like that.)