Coby's choice: Chapter 1:The Choice, Shells Town, and Buggy the Clown

[Words: 2601]

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Wealth, fame, power.

Gol D. Roger, the King of the Pirates, obtained this and everything else the world had to offer, and his dying words sent countless souls to the seas:

"You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you just have to find it!"

These words lured men to the Grand Line in pursuit of dreams greater than they'd ever dared to imagine. This is the time known as the Great Pirate Era!

"For a guy with so many muscles, that captain person was really weak!" a pirate laughed through a mouthful of food. He sat at a table in a restaurant in Shells Town, a small city on an island in the East Blue. With him sat his newest crewmember, the famous bounty hunter 'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro, whom he had recently rescued from a Marine base with the help of the table's third occupant. That was Coby, a young boy of 16 years who looked no older than 12.

Monkey D. Luffy was a wiry 17-year-old with black eyes, a mop of black hair, and a small scar under his left eye. The teen's wardrobe consisted of a pair of open-toed sandals, jean shorts, and a red vest. Finally, atop his head was his greatest treasure, the hat for which his pirate crew was named.

His only other crewmate was the infamous Roronoa Zoro, a man with short green hair and black eyes. Covering the swordsman's form was a plain-white, dust-covered shirt and dark-green pants with the bottoms stuffed into black boots. A bandana the same colour as his pants were tied around his left bicep and around his waist was a light-green harimaki with three swords stuck in the loop placed on the man's right side.

The boy in question, Coby, was short and pudgy with large round glasses, blue eyes, pink hair, and a white and blue shirt with blue shorts. He sat, staring at the older teens as they ate without stopping to breathe. Zoro he could understand considering he'd just gone nine days without food, but Luffy was so scrawny, Coby couldn't understand where all that food was going!

"L-Luffy!" Coby stuttered, raising his hands across the table as if to stop the pirate. "Slow down! We can't eat all of the food here!"

"Wh' not? " Luffy blinked, cheeks puffed like a chipmunk. "I's all free, in't it? Then shouln' we eat a lot while w' can?"

"That's taking advantage of their hospitality! They have to buy all the food even if we aren't!"

"Calm down, shrimp," Zoro waved off, pushing his empty plate away. "I don't get how he's eating more than me, but they offered."

"Ok, fine," Coby sighed, setting aside his feeling on the matter since there strongest people here disagreed with him.. He had gotten good at that, ignoring, pretending, accepting, but he still didn't like it. He took a breath before shifting his focus to more immediate concerns. "Then what's your plan from here?"

"Our plan?" Luffy asked, swallowing. "You sound like you aren't coming along, Coby."

"Did you already forget why we came here?!" Coby demanded, aghast. "I said I wanted to be a marine! Marines are the heroes of the world!"

"Is that what you think?" Zoro asked, one eyebrow raised. "You just helped take down a corrupt marine, and you're still saying they're the good guys?"

"I... Well..." Coby floundered, his words dying on his lips. He wasn't wrong. 'Ax-hand' Morgan was only a Captain, a small rank in the grand scheme of the Navy, and yet he'd let that modicum of power go to his head and went unchecked. Was that what the Marines stood for...? "Th-That doesn't change the fact that you don't have a plan! For one, I know Luffy doesn't have any navigational training!"

"Nope!" Luffy smiled. "Shishishi!"

"Do you have any navigational skills, Zoro?"

"Who needs them?" Zoro replied with a wave. "I just let the wind take me where it wants. It hasn't killed me yet."

"See, Coby?" Luffy smiled. "It works! Besides, I hear navigation doesn't work in the Grand Line."

"The..." Coby blinked, his brain resetting. "The...?"

"Great idea," Zoro nodded. "We'll fight a lot of strong people there."

"You want to go to the Grand Line?! That's the craziest sea in the world! It's called the Pirate Graveyard because so many people die! If you two go without any help or someone to guide you, you'll die, no question! That's impossible! You can't become the Pirate King of you're dead! That's just impossible! Totally im-!"

"You done yet?" Luffy asked, raising his hand from Coby's head where the boy could feel a knot forming. Coby nodded, a couple tears in his eyes as his hands came up to cradle his abused scalp. "Shishishi! Thanks for worrying, but we'll be fine!"

All motion within the restaurant paused, shadows filling the doorway. All attention shifted as a platoon of marines filed inside, led by a man with a deep tan, a black moustache/beard combo, and a green ascot on his uniform. He stood at attention, facing the pirates and Coby who had grown tense.

"We thank you for your help in freeing Shells Town from Morgan," the marine began, looking over the pirates' heads rather than in the eyes. "We are in your debt, but that does not change the fact that you are self-proclaimed pirates! In consideration of your actions, we will turn a blind eye to your status and ask you to leave quickly and quietly!"

"But sir!" Coby all but yelled. "You can't even give them the evening to rest?"

"I cannot. Pirates are pirates, so we must ask you to leave at the very least."

"Yeah, ok," Luffy shrugged, polishing off his plate before rising from the table and collecting a bag of food as thanks from the bar's owner. Zoro followed his lead, the two passing the marine on their way to the door. Coby watched with a tumult of emotions inside him, not knowing how to feel.

"Hey, you!" the marine called as he turned to look at Coby. "Aren't you part of the crew as well?"

As Coby froze, racking his brain for a response, the people around the room remained focused on him. The two official members of the Straw Hat Pirates and the marines that had come to kick them out of Shells Town paused.

Behind the bar's counter were the female owner of the establishment and her daughter, Rika. The little girl, who could be no more than seven, was like a miniature version of her mother. Both had brown hair, a fair complexion, and big brown eyes. And both were waiting for Coby's answer just like everyone else in the building.

"Well... I, uh... I," he stammered. Should he deny even knowing Luffy, the man who had rescued him from the torment that the Pirate Alvida had put him through for more than two years? Or would he say yes? Doing so could brand him as a criminal, a wanted man, someone who could never work for the Marines unless he obtained the title of Warlord. Luffy turned away to exit by the door, a bag of food resting over his shoulder offered by the owner. He was quiet, waiting to see if the boy's answer would happen before he left.

"Hold it," the Marine man ordered, turning to the young captain. Luffy stopped. "Is he with you or what?"

"What I can tell you is what he's been busy doing up to this point," the teen pirate responded in a happy tone. Coby turned with a shocked look on his face. "Yeah! There was this fantastically fat pirate lady! I think her name was Al-"

"Stop!" Coby yelled, coming to one conclusion. If Luffy was going to tell them about his past, about Alvida, then there was no way he would ever be allowed to join the Marines. But would that be such a bad thing? Everyone looked at the pink-haired boy as he steeled himself before continuing, memories coming to him of his life before running into Alvida.

It has been a tough few days for young Coby after the last pirate raid. The horror of the ashes and rubble of Mowan Island's outlying district a sign that the next few months would be a struggle. However, that meant little to the boy as he sat on the grass, staring at a pair of simple stones. He'd been evacuated with the rest of the children, but...

"Why?" Coby sniffed, whispers of the village's people pitying him on the edge of his hearing. "Why did you stay? Why did you have to fight? Mom? Dad?"

Coby could feel his tears flowing freely now, borne from the pang of loss. He wasn't old enough to know much, but he knew no one would take him in. His parents' friends had too many kids of their own and his godmother had left on a ship not long ago. He had no one.

But rather than blame the world, something his father had once said echoed in the young orphan's mind. "Don't hate the sea when no fish bite, for that means there are more to catch tomorrow. The world is the same way. Don't lament your loss, but celebrate your chances."

His father had always been an optimist.

Even so, Coby wiped his tears away and stood, making a choice there.

"Mom. Dad. I've decided. When I grow up. I'm going to make sure no one else feels this. I'm going to be a hero!"

Coby kept that ideal for four years, fighting for survival until he ended up on Alvida's ship and got a taste of what real pirates could be like.

'Mom. Dad. Would you support my decision here?' Coby wondered, his memory and thoughts coming in the blink of an eye. 'I'll do it! I'll do the impossible! The Grand Line is a place where I can get strong enough to fulfil my dream! ...Assuming I don't die.'

He sucked in a breath.

"I... I am part of their crew!"

Zoro blinked in surprise while Rika and her mother gasped in shock. This boy had been talking about joining the Marines not five minutes ago and now he was claiming to be a pirate? What had changed?

The marine raised an eyebrow. "So you admit to being a member of this man's pirate crew?"

"Yes," Coby nodded, trying to ignore his shaking legs. "I-I had always wanted to be a marine to fulfil my dream, but after seeing what Morgan did using his authority as a Marine Captain, I don't want any part in that! Not anymore! So instead of being a marine, I'll follow Luffy to see him become the King of the Pirates!"

Luffy smiled. "Shishishishi. That's assuming I want you on my crew."

"You don't want me?" Coby whimpered, tears starting to form in his glasses-covered eyes. He'd risked his future. Was it over for him already?

"Shishishi. I'm just joking, Coby. No need to cry. I'd love to have you on my crew." Luffy smiled again, but the marine spoke once more.

"Then I'm afraid I must ask you all to leave. We will not report you because of what you've done for our town, but we cannot have you stay." Luffy and Coby took their cue to exit and joined Zoro at the door before making their way through the streets.

The people of Shells Town thanked them as they passed, showing their happiness over the defeat of the wretched 'Ax-Hand' Morgan. Luffy smiled and waved, laughing at the peoples' exuberance. Zoro stayed passive while Coby considered what he had just done to himself. He had only known Luffy for a day at most and he'd already pledged his life to the energetic, hat-wearing teen. Though he'd still known him longer than Zoro, for whatever that comfort was worth.

"Hey, Captain Luffy?" Coby asked, getting the rubber-man's attention. "Where are we going next?"

"To the docks."

"And after that?"

"I don't know," the captain answered, causing Coby to trip in surprise. They're talked about not having a plan, but Coby didn't think it would bite them this soon.

"You don't know?" the boy yelled as he rose and caught up to both the Devil Fruit user and the swordsman. "How can you not know? You're our captain, aren't you?" Coby stumbled, Luffy's fist punching the top of his head. "Ow. Why did you hit me?"

"Felt like it. Plus you were asking too many questions. It was giving me a headache." By then, the three-man crew had reached the docks where the tiny sailed lifeboat that Luffy and Coby had taken from Alvida's crew sat bobbing in the water. Zoro stepped in as Luffy undid the rope holding the craft to the shore and threw it into the dingy. They set off without fanfare.

The boat was making its way out to sea, the slow waves bobbing the craft up and down. Behind them, the marines had lined up on the dock and were saluting the three. In front of them were Rika and her mother waving at the group and telling them to return some day.

"Men!" the man with the green ascot yelled. "Because our salute is in clear violation of Marine Protocol, we will not be allowed to eat for three days! Understood?"

"Yes, Sir!" Luffy and Coby waved to the men and women until the island was out of sight.

"Alright," Zoro yawned. "Now that we've set off, we've got some important things to do."

"Like finding out where we're going," Coby agreed.

"And finding a musician," Luffy nodded.

"We don't need a musician!" Zoro and Coby yelled in unison.

"Shishishi. Isn't this fun?" Luffy asked, smiling out into the distance. "This is our first voyage as a pirate crew!"

"It does look like it's shaping up to be one Hell of an adventure," Zoro commented, leaning back.

"And I'm going to become the Pirate King!"

"You keep saying that. Any reason why you want to?"

"Nope, but I made a friend a promise." Luffy reached up to hold his hat. "I promised to gather an amazing crew and to return this hat to him once I become the Pirate King, so that's what I'm going to do. Heh, it's funny, Coby. I'd meant to rile you up so you'd slug me and be allowed to join the Marines, not become a pirate, too."

"Really?" Coby questioned.

"Either way," Zoro sighed, "it seems we'll all need to become stronger if we want a place on your crew. Isn't that right Coby?"

"Th-That's right! I'll become strong! I'll help Captain Luffy achieve his dream. That or we'll all die trying!"

"I don't know about you two, but I don't plan on dying anytime soon. I need to become the world's greatest swordsman."

"The world's greatest swordsman?" Coby cried out in shock. "Then you would have to defeat Hawk-Eye Mihawk! That's impos-!"

"Any reason for your dream?" Luffy asked.

"Same as yours," Zoro shrugged, ignoring the small roset. "Made a promise, now I've got to keep it."

"We still need to gather a crew first," Luffy pointed out, turning to the horizon. "Just wait. Grand Line, here we come!"

Chapter 1 END

-A/N- Originally I was going to do something like path to power but with obvious twists but the timing doesn't really work, maybe one day.

Would you rather know the year you die or how you die?-

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