The Straw Hat Ghoul - One Piece + Tokyo Ghoul crossover

[Zeldro]

New thread for a story I've been working on for a bit. I'll upload a chapter every day or two until it's caught up

PROLOGUE

In the multiverse, if two universes' timelines are running side by side, it is relatively easy to connect them. However, if there is no spark, the flame cannot be spread; therefore, two of these universes have not made contact… yet.

One universe is very much like ours in which there is modern technology, modern transportation, modern… Well, modern everything. The only difference is there are these beings that terrorize the humans known as "ghouls." We shall call this the Tokyo Ghoul universe.

The other is a bizarre world, completely different from ours. Strange powers originating from strange fruits bring a whole new layer of danger and adventure to this world, and a corrupt world government as well as pirates constantly fighting for power only add to that. We shall call this the One Piece universe, named after the treasure one of the more notorious pirates left behind before his death.

Both universes contrast sharply; yet, they are so close together. All it takes to connect the two is the right power, and a little bit of will and determination…

...which brings us to a ghoul named Ken Kaneki. At one point of his recently changed-for-the-worse life, one of his enemies captures him and tortures him, and Kaneki's fellow ghoul friends fights for his life. After hours of excruciating pain, he can no longer take it anymore, and something awakens inside of him; this, in turn, is the spark needed to connect the Tokyo Ghoul and One Piece universes.

Around this time in the One Piece timeline, a pirate group destined to rise to infamy is approaching a town known as Loguetown. They are known as the Straw Hat pirates, led by their captain, Monkey D. Luffy. This is the town where Kaneki and the Straw Hat pirates will meet, and where all else near Kaneki in the Tokyo Ghoul universe will fall to.

That town is where it all starts… where two worlds begin to come together as one, and where a new chapter in Kaneki's life, as well as his ghoul friends' lives, comes about. In that town…

is where the rise of the Straw Hat Ghoul begins.

[Zeldro]

The Straw Hat Ghoul

Rosine Archipelago Saga

Thunder Island arc

Chapter One: New Sea

In the sea of East Blue resides a city known as Loguetown. This city is where most pirates go before they set off for the Grand Line; they stock up on supplies, have a drink, and usually go to see where the infamous Gol D. Roger was executed. Naturally, the Straw Hat pirates are headed there as well.

The wind is calm, the air is warm, and the sky's as clear as can be; nothing seems particularly "off," yet all marines stationed in the city are still on their toes. Their "anything can happen" mindset has been underestimated by countless pirates aching to explore the Grand Line. They'll be travelling for weeks from their home, and just before they enter their dream sea suddenly a Vice Admiral has them in cuffs.

A plethora of shops span the streets of the city, and merchants stand on every corner trying to sell their items; though discouraged by the World Government, plenty of stores sell gear intended for pirates passing through. A portion of pirates attempt to raid the city and fail miserably, but those pirate shops are paid off when those that don't mindlessly attack arrive. The Straw Hats, with the occasional exception of Monkey D. Luffy, are the latter type.

In one of the more crowded sections of the town, a purple hole-like object appears in the air. Suddenly, multiple people come falling out of it, and crash onto the concrete ground. One of these people is Ken Kaneki, AKA Eyepatch, and another is Touka Kirishima, AKA Rabbit. They immediately rise to their feet and scan their surroundings; they see nothing but many random people giving them looks of fright and bewilderment.

What did I do? thinks Kaneki. It felt… It felt as if I caused all of this…

Kaneki has been falling in a void for a little over an hour by himself, and finally arrived in the One Piece universe with his friends just now. It takes him several moments to comprehend the situation. His hair is bleach-white, there's blood covering multiple parts of his body, and there's a noticeable tear in his trademark eyepatch. Touka appears roughed-up as well, as does everyone else in the group.

A few minutes later, Vice Admiral Smoker arrives on the scene to investigate all of the commotion. His entire body can turn into smoke at his whim; he's one of the more powerful Devil's Fruit users, and catches pirates before they enter the Grand Line almost every other day. At least one cigar is in his mouth at all times; he has white hair, a buff body, and sports a white Marine coat. His sudden appearance initially does not phase the people from the Tokyo Ghoul universe, but once he clutches the ghoul Nishiki with his powers, all else make a break for it, including Kaneki.

The words "what did I do" echo through Kaneki's mind as he sprints through the Loguetown streets, and the words "is this a dream" echo through Touka's. The two separate; Touka heads north, towards the Marine base, and Kaneki heads southwards, to the harbor. None of them think about each other. None of them know where they are. None of them realize that mindlessly running away from each other can ultimately be their undoings.

The little ghoul girl, Hinami, eventually finds Touka, and they hide in an alley; Nishiki struggles against Smoker but manages to stand his ground with his kagune; and the other miscellaneous ghouls and ghoul hunters are frantically running about. Some destroy their surroundings in fear and confusion, while others hide in secluded areas. Kaneki does neither of those things - part of him thinks this is a dream and he's still being tortured, but another thinks he opened some kind of portal to another world, which is precisely what happened. How he did it he knows not, and quite frankly he cares not.

Loguetown erupts into chaos. The ghoul hunters are chasing after the ghouls and demolishing everything in their way. The marines are desperately trying to fix the situation, but nothing good comes their way. Nishiki escapes from Smoker after figuring out he's entirely different from normal humans, and Touka and Hinami escape the commotion. For once, it's before the Straw Hats arrive that chaos ensues.

Then, the Straw Hats arrive. Luffy jumps out of the boat to see what's going down and the rest of the crew dart after him in attempt to calm him down; a couple of the marines notice he's Straw Hat Luffy with a 30 million beli bounty, and they inform Smoker. Smoker does not take significant action after he confronts Luffy once; he instead orders his troops to pull back and let the situation handle itself - let the fighting end, per se.

"Luffy!" Nami yells out. "Luffy, stop!"

"But LOOK!" he responds. A ghoul hunter using his kagune-like Quinque fiercely tries to capture one of the ghouls let out into the One Piece world, and, from Luffy's point of view, that's awesome. To him, it looks like there's octopus tentacles coming out of a suitcase a guy's holding, and he's fighting a guy with octopus tentacles growing out of his back.

"Luffy!" Nami cries out. "Just come on! We're not staying here!"

Luffy turns around. "B-b-but… This is where Gold Roger was executed! I've gotta see it!"

"I DON'T CARE! You promised me you wouldn't get into a fight here, and it looks like that's impossible right now..."

Luffy sighs.

"Alright, let's go. But the moment we've made a lap around the Grand Line, we're comin' to this damn city!"

Kaneki has already boarded the Straw Hat Pirates' ship, the Going Merry, and is trying to figure out how to sail away. But once the Straw Hats reach their ship, Kaneki is forced to hide inside one of the Merry's rooms. He sits behind a stack of crates in the darkness, thoughts of everything that's happening rushing through his mind… He hears people on deck, shouting about, and feels the ship start moving.

Then, the image of Touka appears in his mind. He realizes he's left her behind in that chaotic city with all of those ghoul hunters…

"…What do you mean, 'monsters?'" a voice confusingly shouts from the Den Den Mushi. A bewildered marine, trying to describe just what's happening in Loguetown, was just ordered by Smoker to contact a World Government official.

"I don't know if it's a Devil's Fruit, but… A ton of people showed up and started fighting each other with… with these octopus tentacle things, and all of these other bizarre powers!" the marine shouts.

"Smoker's stationed in Loguetown, correct?"

"C-correct."

"Then why the hell isn't he taking care of this?"

"I-I don't know! He just told us all to pull back and let them 'fight it out!'"

"Then let them 'fight it out,' as he said. If these monsters actually become problems then that's when you call me."

"Y-yes sir!" the marine shouts in response.

The Going Merry, with Kaneki as a stowaway, heads for the Reverse Mountain which leads into the Grand Line, and the rest of the ghouls and ghoul hunters have a ceasefire to have time to figure out where they are. Meanwhile, Smoker releases the marines back into the city to bring order back. Everything returns to normal in a few hours. The ghoul hunters regroup in a section of town, and Nishiki finds Touka and Hinami in a secluded alleyway, away from trouble.

"This is bull*censored*!" shouts Nishiki. "What- where are we?"

Touka slaps him. "Don't say that in front of Hinami. I don't know where we are, either."

"Ow!" Nishiki blurts out, then sighs. "Wherever we are… It's giving me bad vibes. Did you see the guy that I fought?"

"The smoke-guy? Yeah. I did."

"I've… I've never seen anything like it. His body, like… was made out of smoke. My kagune was practically useless. That bastard..."

"Alright, let's not ponder over that. What are we going to do until we know exactly where we are and what the hell got us here?"

"This seems to be an island, so… Let's get a ship and sail out of here for a bit. Maybe find some kind of map."

"A -" Touka stutters. "A ship? You mean, like-"

"Yes, a wooden, old-type ship. You seen the harbor? Tons of them out there."

"What the hell… O-okay. Let's get out of here."

Hinami speaks up. "What about Kaneki?"

Touka's eyes widen. She's been so caught up in everything that's happened she'd forgotten about… him.

"What? Have you - have you seen him?"

"Yes," Hinami replies. "He ran away when the smoke-guy attacked."

"That idiot… Where could he have gone?" Touka contemplates. "Maybe… is he still in the city?"

"Hinami," Nishiki says. "What direction was Kaneki running?"

"He ran directly away from the smoke-guy."

"The harbor… That's where the harbor is. Hurry! Let's go!" he shouts, and the three set off.. . .

"TO THE GRAND LINE!" Luffy shouts. The Straw Hats are currently riding up the Reverse Mountain, and Kaneki's freaking out. The ship zooms up the mountain on what feels like an almost mythical current. The water is flowing up the mountain instead of down, and since Kaneki can see all of this through a window in the Going Merry, he truly thinks he's lost his mind. Luffy is the only one excited; the rest of the crew, as well as Kaneki, are scared for their lives.

There's the swordsman, Zoro, who's leaning against the mast, and is usually indifferent towards situations like this, but right now, he's a bit frightened. He has green hair, uses a three-sword fighting style, and wants to be the best swordsman in the entire One Piece world.

After that is Nami. She's the ship's navigator, so naturally she's trying to control the situation, but Nami is the one screaming the loudest. Her goal in life is the make a map of the world - the One Piece world, that is. If she ever were to find out the existence of other worlds, she'd be the first one to explore it.

Following those two is Usopp; he's a… well, peculiar fellow. He's the ship's marksman, and uses a slingshot as his weapon - though he's one of the weakest, he's also one of the most resourceful, and usually has plenty of tricks up his sleeve. He also likes to trick people into thinking he's very powerful. He wears goggles and has fluffy-ish black hair, and his goal in life is to simply become a brave warrior of the sea.

Then, there's Sanji. He's the ship's cook. His defining trait is that he's infatuated with nearly every woman on the planet, and that's also his greatest weakness. He'll never hurt a lady. His kicks are very strong and can easily knock out an ordinary person; he has blond hair, is tall, and usually wears a black suit. His wish is to find a mythical sea called "All Blue," where many fish from all five of the world's seas (North, West, East, and South Blue, as well as the Grand Line) live.

Monkey D. Luffy is their captain, for better or worse. He wears his trademark Straw Hat given to him by his hero, and has the power of the Gomu Gomu fruit - his body is made of rubber, allowing him to stretch endlessly. His dream is to become the Pirate King, and entering the Grand Line, just as he is right now, is the first step to becoming just that.

Of course, there's much more to it than that.

"LUFFY!" Usopp shouts. "HOW CAN YOU BE SO HAPPY AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!"

Luffy laughs. "We're going to the Grand Line! How can I not be happy?"

"You're a madman, Luffy," he chuckles in response. "This can't be good for the Merry, though…"

"Merry'll be fine," Luffy reassures him.

As the Going Merry zooms up the Reverse Mountain and the Red Line, which acts as the wall that separates the east portion of the One Piece world from the west, water crashes onto the deck and almost causes Sanji to fly off of the ship. Once they reach the top of the mountain, the Merry goes flying upwards, and for a few seconds the ship is in midair. It crashes back onto the current rushing down the side of the mountain, and they further push towards the Grand Line.

"This is awesome!" Luffy shouts. "Ever since I was a kid… This… I've been waiting for this!"

Zoro smiles. "We've got a long way to go, captain. But, I guess, we made it this far, so we're not doing half bad..."

Sanji chimes in by remarking, "This is pretty cool, I've got to admit…" He lights his cigar just after water splashes onto his face.

Who are these people? Kaneki internally questions. He's helplessly quivering in the back of the ship, pondering over whether or not he's in reality. "Pirate King…" "Grand Line…" Just where did I end up?

He undos his ghoul mask and puts on his regular, white eyepatch. The mask is thrown to the side; the tear in the eye portion of his mask is still there. He thinks of home; he hasn't seem his home in quite awhile, as before he entered the One Piece universe he was being held captive by a certain enemy. His fellow ghoul friends were fighting to rescue him before the portal opened.

This is a bizarre place… At least… At least ghouls aren't the outliers. In a place like this… strange is probably the norm. Now that I think about it, that smoke-guy Nishiki fought wasn't even phased by his ghoul powers, he just, well… fought him. Like he sees that kind of stuff all of the time. Heh, that's not too bad.

Oh, what am I saying? I've royally *censored*ed up. Somehow, I made a connection to whatever this place is and all of my friends I wanted to protect got dragged along with me. Even Hinami… Why she was even close to the portal I have no clue, but at the very least I hope Touka is looking after her.

I guess I'll just embrace the crazy, like I did when I first got my ghoul powers.

Those three words, "embrace the crazy," are what keeps Kaneki's sanity intact during the journey that lies ahead of him.

"...I checked that side of the harbor, no sign of him."

Touka sighs. "What're we going to do then, Nishiki?" She sits on the edge of the dock, dangling her legs above the water. Contrasting to how it was earlier, dark clouds lie above the small group; setting sail is probably not a good idea for them at that moment.

"Well, do you think he just stole a ship or something?" he questions. "Well, no, actually, he's probably too stupid to figure out how to maneuver one of these ships."

"You're right," Touka replies. "And anyway, he's probably curled up in a ball somewhere in the city. What are we even doing out here?"

Nishiki laughs. "I don't really know…"

Touka looks to the ground for a moment.

"Well… Let's get going, I guess. He's probably panicking right now, it's best if he doesn't cause any trouble."

Ah, but what Touka knows not is that he is already far off from Loguetown and entering a sea filled with trouble. Speaking of…

"Who are you?"

Kaneki slowly backs into the back of the room. It is none other than Sanji, standing at the doorway, asking who he is. Kaneki tries to reply, only to stumble over his words and shake uncontrollably.

"I'm gonna ask one more time. Who are you? How did you get on this ship?" Sanji demands. His face grows more impatient, and Kaneki's grows more frightened.

If this guy was a regular human, I could beat him right now… But, he might have some strange power like that smoke-guy. I guess I won't cause trouble.

"I-uh… I didn't… I had nowhere else to go."

"Huh?"

"It's a… long story, see, I'm…"

Kaneki hangs his head down and sighs.

"I have no idea where I am."

Kaneki realizes the stillness of the boat he's in; the Going Merry is now off of the Reverse Mountain current and in the Grand Line. It's docked at a place known as Twin Cape, and the rest of the crew are out talking with a certain man the resides at the cape. Sanji was the one put in charge of guarding the ship.

"So, you… what, decided to hitch a ride on our ship? Do you know where we're going?" Sanji questions. He walks closer to Kaneki and squats down in front of him.

"Sort-of, and no… See, don't hate me for this, but I tried…" Kaneki sighs. "I tried to steal your ship but you guys got back before I figured out how to do so. Listen… I don't want to cause trouble. I don't know where I am, I don't know where my friends are, and right now… I just don't know anything."

Kaneki stands up.

"Sorry to cause you trouble."

Just before Kaneki begins walking for the doorway, Luffy appears. He opens the door and scares the living hell out of Kaneki.

"Huh? Who's this?" Luffy asks.

"Stowaway. Must've gotten on our ship back in Loguetown. I think he was just leaving, though."

Luffy walks closer to him, intrigued. He scratches his chin in curiousity.

"A stowaway? Why?"

Kaneki stutters, "I just… wanted a ride, I don't want to cause trouble."

"Actually, he was intending to steal our ship before we got back," Sanji says.

Luffy frowns. Kaneki flinches, expecting the boy in front of him to retaliate; instead, Luffy asks, "That wouldn't have been good. The Going Merry's our nakama! We can't have some stranger taking it from us."

Luffy regains his usual cheerful personality and struts closer to a bewildered Kaneki.

"Say, what's your name?" Luffy asks him.

"K-ken Kaneki."

"Ken Kaneki, where ya from?"

"...Tokyo?"

"Cool! Never heard of it. Anyway, you wanna join us on our trip and become our nakama?"

Sanij shouts, "Oi, Luffy! What the hell do you think you're doing? You can't just go inviting random people! It's like you said, he's a stranger, and he tried to steal our ship!"

Kaneki stares at Luffy with a blank face. What just happened doesn't register with him for a few moments, and even after that he's still confused. He tried to steal their ship and was hiding in one of the ship's rooms, now he's being invited to join their crew? To Kaneki, this must really be a weird world.

"Nah, Sanji. I have a good feeling about this one. And look! He's got cool white hair, but he's young! Not like Smokey. I like his mask, too."

White hair... What is he talking about?

Luffy continues. "Ken! What are you good at?"

"What?" Kaneki confusingly replies.

"Simple. What are you good at?"

"He probably means how can you help out on this ship," Sanji remarks.

Kaneki thinks. "Uhh…"

Ships… Old-time… No, wait… Guard man. No, that's stupid. Uh… I can clean?

"Janitor?"

"Alright! It's settled! Ken Kaneki is our janito-what's a janitor?"

"Cleans stuff."

"...you keep our ship clean?"

"He could be the busboy. Does the oddjobs," Sanji suggests. "Maybe wash the dishes 'n stuff."

What the hell…?

"Doesn't Usopp already do that?" Luffy questions.

"Technically, yeah, but he's also the marksman. This way, he'll keep watch with the cannons longer," Sanji explains.

"Alright, it's settled! Kaneki's our busboy!" Luffy shouts. "Let's go tell the crew!"

And the three head out to the main deck of the Going Merry where Nami is just making her way back onto the ship.

"LUFFY!" Nami shouts. "What-how-who is this?!"

Nami jumps from the land of the Twin Cape to the Going Merry and lands on the wooden floor. Kaneki steps back in anticipation of trouble but instead the girl starts yelling at Luffy. He notices her appearance: medium-length orange hair, a white shirt with a few blue stripes, and some kind of compass watch.

"NAMI-SWAN!" Sanji happily shouts. "Did you miss me?"

Nami ignores him. "Nevermind, there's something more important. You see this?"

Nami holds up her "compass watch," as Kaneki called it. Luffy nods as he studies it.

"This is a log pose. We need this to travel the Grand Line, alright? We can't use regular compasses."

Luffy nods again, and walks off to the land of the Twin Cape. There's a baby whale that lives there, named Laboon, and also an old man.

"Sanji."

"Yes, Nami-san?" he quickly replies, eager to talk to her.

"Who is this?" Nami asks. She's referring to Kaneki.

"Oh. This is Kaneki, our new… busboy."

"...what? Where did he come from?"

"HE CAME FROM LOGUETOWN!" Luffy shouts from the other side of the ship.

"Isn't Usopp our busboy?"

"I'M NOT A BUSBOY!" shouts Usopp as he jumps back onto the ship with an apple in his hand. "I'm the marksman!"

Another one, Kaneki thinks.

"Wait-who's this?" Usopp questions. Zoro appears behind him, and he seems to be ready for trouble. Kaneki flinches at the sight of Zoro clutching one of his swords.

"He's Kaneki from Loguetown, and apparently he's our busboy," Sanji informs. "I found him curled up in our main room."

"Wait just a second," Zoro says. "So we're going to let some stranger be apart of our crew? God dammit."

"Guys, I didn't even mean to get on thi-"

"Shut it." Zoro hops down and glares at Kaneki. "Don't try anything, okay, busboy?"

Zoro knows that once Luffy's decided on a new crew member there's nothing he can do to stop it. He thinks, This guy could be bad news, but then again, Luffy's never chosen wrongly about new nakama. All of the Straw Hats eventually hop back on deck and talk.

"So, the old guy gave us the compass watch, right?" Luffy asks.

"It's not a compass watch, it's a log pose. And yes. Also, he gave us an eternal pose."

"The hell's an eternal pose?"

"I'll get to that - anyway, how a log pose works is that it will point in the direction of the next Grand Line island, and once we reach that island we have to let it 'set,' giving it time to adjust its path to point to the next island. Luffy, did you get all that?"

"What?" Luffy asks. "Sorry, I was thinking about that whale back at the cape."

Nami slaps him. "Aren't you the captain?"

"Yes!"

"Then pay attention!"

"Okay!"

Nami explains it again and Luffy dozes off again. She gives up trying to tell him and instead makes sure the rest of the crew knows what's going on. She explains the eternal pose, which forever points in the direction of a certain island - this one being "Thunder Island."

From this point forward, the Straw Hats have another member. As they begin to set sail for Thunder Island, one of the many first Grand Line islands, Kaneki sits on the side of the ship and lets his legs dangle off. He looks forward at the sea all around him, as well as Twin Cape gradually disappearing off to the right. Kaneki knows Touka and his other friends are out there somewhere, but begins to question whether or not he'll see them again; he thinks, these seem like alright people, maybe they'll let me have time to look for them. For now, I guess I'll be their… "busboy."

In this new… world, with a new sea, and new people with new powers… It's much different here. I guess I'll go along with it for now. The portal to my world is closed, without a doubt, and even if it's somehow still open there's probably a ton of people guarding it.

In the sea of East Blue is Touka, Nishiki, and Hinami. They've given up on looking for Kaneki and are convinced he's on some ship sailing out in an unknown direction. Touka keeps questioning people if they've seen him, but she does not know he now has white hair, so her description of him is false. After hearing that Loguetown is usually the city people stop by before entering the Grand Line, she decides to find a ship and head for this "Grand Line." The trio, like Kaneki, boards a random ship, and, before they can figure out how to maneuver the ship, the ship's crew is back.

Unlike Kaneki, they boarded a marine ship; that marine ship is headed straight for the Grand Line. And also unlike Kaneki, the crew on that ship isn't looking for new members, nor are they as friendly to random stowaways.

In this new sea known as the Grand Line, the Straw Hat Pirates will rise to infamy, and Kaneki will be there right alongside them. Gradually, ghouls will become known throughout the world of One Piece and the Tokyo Ghoul world will begin to affect One Piece more and more each day. Touka will search for Kaneki as her name spreads across the world, and Kaneki will think of her every day as well. Luffy will make many, many enemies but also make just as many allies. They'll find new crew members, "nakama" as they call it.

Eventually, the name "Straw Hat Ghoul" will resonate throughout the world, and that name will go down in history alongside Straw Hat Luffy.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though. Their adventure is just beginning.

And it all starts with Thunder Island.

[Zeldro]

Chapter Two: Windy Days

Kaneki was strapped to a chair in a dimly lit, large room. It was a truly terrifying experience; his tormenter would cut off his toes with a pair of pliers, let them regrow, and tear them off again, and again, and again. He couldn't take it. Things were looking grim for Kaneki and his friends who were desperately trying to fight their way inside to save him. Then, it happened - his power awakened. In that moment, his hair turned completely white, and a portal was formed over him. It began sucking every person within a hundred yards into it. That was when Kaneki, along with everyone else lucky enough to be near the portal, entered the path to the One Piece universe.

Kaneki tries to block these horrible memories from his mind as he looks at himself in the mirror. He studies his white hair, wondering what made it that color all of a sudden. He's still wearing his white eyepatch, even though he doesn't seem to be craving to eat anything; his mask is stuffed inside a bag given to him by Luffy.

I wonder what everyone else is doing, he thinks.

He remembers the coffee shop he worked at - Anteiku. Thoughts of Touka scolding him for the littlest reasons come to mind, as well as teaching Hinami new words to go in her vocabulary notes. He thinks of the time Yoshimura, the store's manager (also the kind fellow who took him in), taught him how to brew coffee. Kaneki treasures these memories, despite initially disliking it; turning into a ghoul is what brought about these memories.

For about a day the "one-eyed ghoul" has resided in the Going Merry with the Straw Hat Pirates. They're headed for Thunder Island, which should take another day or two to reach. Nothing big has happened since the day Kaneki arrived in the One Piece universe. The same, however, cannot be said for Touka and the others.

Touka, Nishiki, and Hinami are hiding in the closet of a marine warship that stopped by Loguetown earlier. They were spotted not too long ago, and the entire ship knows of their presence; they know not, however, the kind of powers the three ghouls have. The warship was originally intending to pick up Vice Admiral Smoker and bring him to a country known as Alabasta in the Grand Line, but he chose to stay behind after the ghouls and ghoul hunters caused havoc in the city.

The three ghouls, confident no marines can hear them, begin talking.

"What are we going to do about food?" Touka asks.

Nishiki chuckles. "There's food all over this ship."

Hinami flinches; the brown-haired, small girl has never eaten a human killed for the sake of food, rather she usually lives off of the food provided by Anteiku, which gathers suicide victims.

"...are we going to have to eat them?" Hinami asks.

Touka stares blankly into the darkness of the closet. "We might have to resort to that… In any case, we need to get off of this ship before they catch us, or else they'll target us."

"Are you kidding me, Touka? These guys are all small fry. Now, unless there's another smoke-guy or someone else with weird powers aboard this ship, yeah, we might be in a bind, but so far there's no other reason not to. We could take them on and have a *censored* ton of food!"

"We are not going to slaughter everyone on this ship, asshole," Touka demands.

"Hey! You can't say that in front of Hinami!" Nishiki sarcastically replies. Touka sighs.

"Alright, Touka. Let's say we sneak past everyone and get to the edge of the ship. What are we supposed to do, jump off? Swim to some island?"

"What the hell do you suggest, then, Nishiki?"

"I already told you. Kill everyone onboard and take control of the ship. Simple!"

"And I already told you that's out of the question!"

"Then how? You're denying all of my ideas and only spewing out garbage ones. Be a little open minded, Touka."

"Not wanting to go on a killing spree is not close-minded. Maybe…"

Touka thinks for a moment.

"Nishiki, do you have a mask?"

"No."

"Then you two will have to stay here," Touka says, standing up.

"What are you going to do?" Nishiki asks.

Touka puts on her rabbit mask and hood.

"Maybe… I could take the ship hostage and force them to take us to a certain island, and not have to kill anyone. Sound good?"

"Fine. My idea's still better, though."

Back on the Going Merry, nothing out of the ordinary is happening; Zoro's taking a nap, Usopp's keeping a lookout, Sanji is cooking lunch, and Luffy, Nami, and Kaneki are sitting near the front of the ship. Luffy's sitting on his seat, which is the head of the Going Merry. Nothing but the blue ocean can be seen in all four directions, and the sky's as clear as can be.

"Say, Nami, do you know about this Thunder Island we're headed towards?" Luffy curiously asks.

"Not too much," she replies. "The old guy from Twin Cape says it's been taken over by some strong guy, and the World Government hasn't dealt with it yet."

"What comes after Thunder Island?"

"Uh… He said a group of islands called Rosine Archipelago, I know nothing about them."

"Ah," he replies in acknowledgement. "Oh yeah, Ken!"

"It's K-kaneki."

"Kaneki!"

"Yes?"

"Where's that cool mask at?"

Kaneki pulls it out from the bag on his back. Luffy, somehow intrigued by the mask, stretches his arm and snatches it from Kaneki's hand. Kaneki does a double take, looks at Luffy, then Nami, and asks, bewildered, "What just happened?"

Nami laughs. "You didn't know?"

Luffy stretches his cheek out with his hand. "I'm a rubberman!" he exclaims. "I'm made of rubber. You saw the smokey guy at Loguetown, right?"

"R-right."

"I'm like him, except instead of smoke I'm rubber. So, about this mask… Why don't you wear it?"

"I only wear it when I need to conceal my identity," Kaneki replies.

"You should wear it more often! It looks cool."

Nami, who hasn't been partaking in the conversation, has been paying attention to the wind. Right now, it's silent - too silent. That's not a good thing when you're on a bizarre sea like the Grand Line. Then, out of nowhere, a gust of wind pushes through, and Luffy's hat goes flying off. He immediately panics and starts running after it.

"Luffy!" Nami shouts. "Don't fall into the water!"

Luffy, running on the edge of the Going Merry, chases after his trademark straw hat, and stretches his arm out to it, and barely reaches it. Just before he grabs it, he loses his balance and almost falls off of the ship, but Nami grabs him just in time. She slaps him.

"Luffy! Be more careful, dammit!" she scolds him.

"But my hat was about to fly away, what was I supposed to do?"

Nami sighs as she pulls him on deck. "I don't know, that's your problem. Why don't you tie a string to it or something?"

"Hey! That's a good idea!" Luffy excitedly agrees. "I actually had a string attached to it a long time ago. It came in handy."

Nami finds some string in the Going Merry storage, brings it back along with a needle, and begins sewing. The three continue talking.

"That hat…" Kaneki starts, "is it important?"

"Yeah," Luffy replies.

"Why?"

"Someone important gave it to me a long time ago."

"Shanks, right?" Nami asks. Luffy excitedly nods his head and smiles.

"I wonder how he is right now…" Luffy wonders.

"So, you guys have any family?" Kaneki asks. "I'm not really much of a family person myself…"

Luffy's expression changes from happy to neutral. He stares off blankly.

Nami replies, "Yeah, uh, I have a sister back in East Blue, and the people there are pretty much my family."

Nami turns her head to Luffy to see if he's going to reply, and then asks, "What about you, Luffy?"

"Uh… I don't know my mom or my dad, I don't like my granddad, I had two brothers."

"Had?" Kaneki asks.

Luffy looks up again. "One of them… isn't here anymore. But, my other brother is so cool! He set sail three years before I did, and could beat me in a fight even though he didn't have any Devil's Fruit powers! Hopefully I'll see him one day."

"Devil's Fruit?"

"It's what gives them the weird powers you've seen," Nami replies.

The same wind gust from earlier blows again, this time much harder. It messes up Nami while she's sewing the string onto Luffy's hat, and she gets a bit frustrated. Kaneki puts on his mask.

This mask is meant to hide my identity while I'm being hunted down by people who claim that I'm the scum of the Earth. When people see me in that mask, fear is struck into their hearts, and I only wear it when I'm in a bad or bloody situation. Now, Kaneki thinks, now I'm putting it on because someone thinks it looks cool.

"Uh… Guys," Usopp says. The three look in his direction. He has a telescope, and is focusing on something in the distance. "Weird question, can people stand on water?"

"What do you mean, stand on water?" Nami replies. She finishes sewing Luffy's hat and gives it back to him.

"I literally mean stand on water."

Irritated, Nami asks, "Are you serious?"

Usopp turns his head to Nami. "Yes."

Nami walks over to him and grabs the telescope. She scans the horizon. Oddly enough, there's a figure atop the water out in the distance. She zooms in to see a girl wearing all-white clothes, with long, white hair.

"There - there really is someone there. Someone's standing on the water!" Nami shouts. Zoro wakes up and Sanji opens the door to see what's going on. Steam gushes out of the doorway and the aroma of steak and rice comes along with it; this distracts Luffy from the present situation and causes Sanji to have to restrain Luffy from eating lunch early.

Nami hands Kaneki the telescope and tells him to look out in the distance. Surely enough, that same white figure is standing atop the water; she's looking straight at the Going Merry, and her palms are pointed directly downward. Upon closer inspection, she's seemingly hovering above the water by an inch or two.

"Not really standing, more like hovering," Kaneki points out.

"Luffy!" Sanji shouts. "Lunch is not ready yet, so get the hell out!"

Nami turns her head towards Luffy and Sanji. "You two, shut up, we might have a problem."

"What do you mean, Nami-san?" Sanji asks.

Nami grabs the telescope from Kaneki and gives it to Sanji. He gets really excited when he sees the lady supposedly standing on the water.

"Woah, she's pretty! Let's invite her onboard!"

Zoro suddenly interrupts, "Hey, cook, what if she's a thief or something? You can't just go inviting random people onboard the ship."

He turns his head to Kaneki.

"Same goes for you, Luffy."

"Oi, moss-head! You can shut your mouth, none of us have even met her yet!" Sanji argues.

The two begin furiously arguing, and in that time the white figure in the distance disappears. Usopp points this out and everyone begins searching the horizon for the figure, and, oddly enough, Luffy finds her, and he stretches his arm out towards her. His arm passes directly through her.

"W-what?" Luffy asks, confused. "My arm… Went through her! Like Smokey! What the hell?"

"She's a Devil's Fruit user? That explains how she's standing on the water…" Nami says. "In any case, don't provoke her, we do not need any trouble right now!"

Luffy steps back. "Uh, too late."

The woman begins sprinting towards the Going Merry, and the Straw Hats take a defensive position, except for Luffy, who's standing on the side of the ship towards the girl coming for the ship. She jumps up from the ocean and above the Going Merry, and then she lands on the top of the mast. Her light blue eyes glare down at the Straw Hats.

"Hey! What do you want?" Luffy yells out to her. She doesn't respond.

I wonder if the Grand Line is filled with strange people like this, Usopp thinks.

Probably.

A few moments of silence later, Nami notices the girl staring at her log pose.

"You are headed northeast, are you not?" the girl questions Nami.

"Yes, why?" Nami questions in return.

The girl takes a serious tone and look, and replies, "Don't."

She disappears as a gust of wind blows towards her, her figure disintegrating into thin air. Then, the ship is suddenly pushed from its side and goes flying upwards. The Merry lands a few hundred meters away, and forcibly turned directly southeast by a very strong air current. A voice echos through the ship as wind the speed of a cyclone pushes through: "Stay away from God."

And then, the wind disappears, and the crew is left in bewilderment.

"You guys know what this means, right?" Luffy rhetorically asks. "We're definitely going to Thunder Island."

"She just - moved the ship! Like it was nothing! Threw Merry like a small rock or something," Usopp says. "How?"

"Some type of wind fruit," Zoro suggests. He climbs up the mast to his usual napping spot, and looks out in all directions. "She could move with the wind."

Nami looks up at Zoro. "She could control the wind itself. Manipulate air currents. That's how she threw the ship."

"That's horrifying, imagine what she could do! Imagine if it was already windy, we wouldn't even see her coming from anywhere!" Usopp says, a bit frightened.

Sanji only thinks about how beautiful she was while he finishes up lunch, Usopp gets paranoid she's going to come back, Nami takes her mind off of it and tries to get back on course, Zoro sits near the front of the ship, Luffy sits on the Going Merry's head, and Kaneki, in shock & awe of what he just saw, closes himself off by resting in the back of the ship.

What's with this place? he thinks. Nothing makes sense… All the people here are so… bizarre. The captain of this ship can stretch his body, there was a guy back in "Loguetown" made of smoke, and now there's a person made of wind who threw the entire ship. Is this just one big dream?

Or, perhaps, did I move on to the second life?

Kaneki chuckles. Maybe.

Meanwhile, it's been a day since Touka and the others got onto the marine warship. They spent the night in a closet without causing trouble, and today, they're ready to carry out a plan to hijack the warship.

"How long until the ship reaches Alabasta?" a voice from a Den Den Mushi asks. A marine, holding the communication snail, stands on the deck of the marine warship Touka's on. He's near the edge, and he's looking on at the waters in front of him. They're on the Calm Belt, which is the outer sea that completely surrounds the Grand Line; there is no wind, hence the name, and it's filled with giant Sea Kings. Only special ships, including marine warships, can travel through it.

"A week or two, sir. We're currently crossing the Calm Belt, but there seems to be some sort of disturbance."

"How do you mean?"

"There are three stowaways aboard the ship, and we cannot find them."

"Well, take care of it. The rebels overthrew the government in Alabasta, and Cipher Pol has discovered the shichibukai Crocodile was behind it. It's a mess, and we need to take care of it… It'd be a helluva lot easier with Smoker. Report back to me once the ship reaches Alabasta, and we'll go from there."

"Yes sir."

A few seconds after the marine says "yes sir," Touka appears behind him. She pulls out a knife she found in the ship's kitchen, and then abruptly holds it to the marine's neck. He freezes, and drops the Den Den Mushi.

"You say a word, you will die. Take me to the captain of this ship," she demands. They've already captured a few hostages; Touka plans to force the captain to take them to a nearby island and let them have the ship.

The terrified marines complies, and the two begin heading for wherever the captain is. He leads her to the front of the ship, past bewildered marines not daring to intervene; the only one that did try to intervene was met by a quick "no" from the marine held hostage by Touka. The two meet the captain of the ship - an old, scruffy-looking man with scars all over his face and torso. The captain glares at Touka. She returns the glare.

"There are three hostages somewhere on this ship that I can have killed in a matter of seconds," she tells him.

"What do you want?" his roughed-up voice questions Touka. He studies her peculiar rabbit mask she's wearing to conceal her identity.

"A map."

"A map? Of what?"

"The world," she bluntly answers. Touka knows she's in new, dangerous, and mysterious territory, and wants to learn as much as she can about it as soon as possible.

"What do you mean?" the old captain asks, confused. "Do you not know of the world?"

"Just give me a damn map," she demands. One of the marines shuffles down into the giant boat and eventually crawls back out with a large piece of paper. He hands it to her, and disappears back into the crowd of marines anxiously watching the situation unfold.

Touka unrolls the map and scans over it. She sees a big, vertical, red line, titled "Red Line." There's also an even thicker horizontal line in the middle of the paper, dubbed the "Grand Line," with two "Calm Belt" lines surrounding it. There's also East Blue in the upper right hand corner, south in the lower right, north in the upper left, and west in the lower left. In that moment of reading the map, it's confirmed to her that she is, indeed, in a brand new world.

"Where are we on this map?" she asks. One of the marines steps forward and points to a location on the Calm Belt, near East Blue.

"Where is this ship going?" she again asks, and again one of the marines steps forward and points to an island in the middle of the map - Alabasta.

Touka looks up at the captain. She thinks for a moment; she wonders where Kaneki would go on this map.

"This city is where people usually stop by before they enter the Grand Line, granted they're coming from East Blue. Your friend that you speak of is probably headed in that direction - trust me, no matter what island you end up in on the Grand Line, if you follow the Log Pose, you'll be going to the same place."

"I want a 'Log Pose' and to be dropped off at the nearest island on this Grand Line, and nobody will have to get hurt. Got it?"

The captain nods. Instead of fighting, he'd rather just help her out, as he gets the vibe that she's not a bad person, just in a bad situation. He doesn't want to report her or anything like that, but word of instances like such spread around like wildfire in the Navy, and as the ship heads out for the Grand Line…

...the Straw Hats are approaching Thunder Island.

"Listen, Luffy! You are not to get into any fights while we're here, got it? We're already being hunted by the Marines and don't need any more trouble. You too, Zoro!" Nami tells Luffy.

"Guys, what if that wind woman comes back?" Usopp asks. "Who is this 'God' she was talking about?"

Zoro steps up and looks to the island in the distance. It has dark clouds hovering above the hunk

of land and a large dock housing many ships near the entrance.

"Then we'll fight her," Zoro says to Usopp. "Simple. I'm gonna go walk around town once we get there, anyone wanna come with?"

"I'm coming," Luffy says. "You too, Kaneki. And bring the mask!"

"O-ok," Kaneki replies. The three hop off of the Going Merry and onto the wooden dock once the ship reaches the island, and head out. The grass on the island is lush; the sky is filled with dark clouds; small villages as well as military outposts span across the entire island; and in the easternmost section of the island is a large mansion.

Nami watches the three boys excitedly rush into their first ever Grand Line island. She thinks, I give them a few hours before the military here is targeting us because of something they did. In the meantime…

Nami hops off of the boat, and Sanji eagerly jumps down with her. She looks back at the Going Merry, a small ship in comparison with the others docked at Thunder Island, then forward.

"Where are you going, Nami-san? May I accompany you?" Sanji asks her.

"I'm going to go find out what the hell is going on with the weather here. The clouds, the wind, the pressure… It doesn't match up. Something unnatural is occurring here. Usopp, can you watch the ship?"

Usopp's head appears from the deck of the ship. He lets out a sigh of relief.

"Gladly."