Chapter Title: Nice Welcome Party
On a forest-covered island whose only landmark was a white-stone manmade tower with what appeared to be trees at its apex, a group of barefoot boys and girls were running laps.
If their drenched in sweat clothes, dog-like panting, and tired looks on their faces were any indication, they had clearly been pushed to their limit. However, this state of theirs couldn't be said to be present in everyone.
A group of five boys were at the head of the pack and looked less tired than the rest of their peers. Not only did they look less tired but their eyes shined with a determination that was not present in the others. Clearly, they were cut from a different cloth than the rest of the group.
"You three in the back, keep running!" shouted a gruff voice that came from an old man who was noticeably short in stature, standing at only about 3 feet and 11 inches (120 cm) tall, with a balding head and white hair styled in a distinctive manner.
The old man was perched on the roof of the tower and was smoking a pipe while reading a newspaper. And although his appearance may be odd what was truly odd was that his focus had not shifted once from the newspaper, but he was able to notice three of the boys lagging behind.
To those in the know, they would recognize that it was nothing more than Observation Haki, but to the kids who were clueless about the extensive world at large, he might as well have been akin to a god. Or a devil with the way he trained them to the brink of collapse every day.
Yet, even on the brink of collapse, all the kids continued to run their laps around the island, not stopping. Perhaps because of fear of the punishment that would befall them if they failed or because they just wanted to get stronger.
Either way, the group of kids continued to run while the small group of five pulled farther and farther ahead, leaving the rest of them in the dust.
This group of five consisted of a 6-year-old with a top hat named Rob Lucci, a round and oddly shaped 7-year-old with a yellow zipper across his mouth named Fukurou, an 8-year-old with bull horn-shaped hair named Blueno, a 12-year-old with long pinkish hair and a closed right eye named Kumadori, and a 13-year-old scar-faced teen with long hair braided in a thick queue named Jabra.
The five of them were consistently the top scorers in their training and they naturally started to group together. However, that isn't to say there isn't a sense of rivalry between them. After all, who doesn't want to be the best?
As they made their way around the island, they came upon an area of the island that was beach and used by rowboats to come onto the island.
This part was one of the tougher areas to run on because of the sand and craggy rocks jutting out from the ground. The blazing sun would heat the sand to dangerous temperatures, making it feel like they were running on blazing coals, and one misstep would leave them with a skewered foot.
Any injuries sustained during the running would have to be taken in stride until the run was over, adding another layer of danger to the beach portion of the run.
Usually, on this part of the run, the only thing to focus on would be not getting a foot skewered, but the group of five's focus instead was on the body that had washed up on shore.
"Whoa, a dead body." said the scar-faced Jabra.
"Check to see if he's alive." said Blueno, who was oddly calm and collected for someone who was looking at a supposed dead body.
"I'll do it!" said Kumadori, quickly making his way to the shore while the rest of them followed.
Arriving next to the body, Kumadori quickly flipped it over and laid eyes on an unconscious dark brown-haired boy who looked to be about Lucci's age with clothes torn to shreds. But all of this was not important to Kumadori who put his ear up to the boy's chest before hearing a heartbeat.
"He's alive, yoyoi!" he yelled, dramatically.
"We're right here!" said Jabra, slapping Kumadori on the back of the head.
"What do we do now, chapapa?" said Fukurou with a strangely high voice, unzipping his mouth to speak before zipping it back up.
"Tell Makarov." said Lucci, who even though he was young, already had an air of superiority to him.
"Tch. You're not the boss of me, you brat!" said Jabra, sneering at Lucci.
"What do you suppose we do then?" calmly rebutted Lucci, which angered Jabra more.
"Who cares?! He drifted onto a secret island somehow, so he'll probably be killed. Might as well make it quick and painless." said Jabra who bent down to pick up a very pointy stone.
"Drop it, Jabra. It's not for you to decide." said Blueno.
"Bah!" said Jabra, throwing the rock away.
"Call him, Kumadori. You're the loudest." said Lucci.
"Makarov!" loudly shouted Kumadori, causing it to echo throughout the island effectively reaching Makarov's ears.
"Hm?" he said looking up in the direction of where the shout came from before suddenly disappearing from his spot, leaving his newspaper to fall onto the ground.
"Oh? What's this?" said Makarov who had magically appeared next to the group of five.
Even though they had all been training with Makarov for a month or so now, they still weren't used to how he just magically appeared in places. Jabra thought it was because he was a ghost who could teleport, but everyone else thought he was just superstitious. And dumb.
"Seems like he drifted to this island. Must be a civilian on a ship raided by pirates." said Lucci, with a look of disgust at the mere mention of pirates.
"Probably, but we can't rule out the possibility that he is an enemy. I'll take care of him. Continue your laps." said Makarov, casually picking up the boy as if he weighed nothing before disappearing along with him
"Should've let me put him out of his misery. Now he really won't have a clean death." said Jabra while looking at Blueno.
"There's no one to blame for his weakness but himself." said Lucci with a look of disdain before continuing the run.
~
In the basement of the tower, there was an empty room with nothing but a rickety metal chair and a door to enter. The usually empty chair, however, was occupied by an unconscious young boy tied to it. But he was only out for a while longer.
"Hrngh." groaned the boy as he came to.
"Where am I?" he said with a voice hoarse from thirst, as he noticed that he was in complete darkness.
Attempting to scratch an itch on his nose, his arms didn't move. And that's when he realized he was bound by rope to a chair.
"What the?" he said, moving around in hopes that the rope would give.
"Who are you?" said a gruff voice that seemed to come from no particular direction.
"Who are you?" responded the boy while turning his head, hoping to see who had captured him.
"How did you get to this island?" asked the gruff voice, causing the boy to pause.
'Okay, being interrogated for landing on this island. Looks like I got sent to the right place.' thought the boy, trying very hard not to smile in case whoever was interrogating him could see, 'Now to stick to the back story. Time for an Oscar-worthy performance.'
Pausing for a while, the boy closed his eyes as if he was thinking before putting on a look of confusion.
"I don't know. I can't remember." said the boy.
"What do you remember?"
"Nothing." said the boy, "Waking up here."
"What's your name?"
"I don't know."
"How did you get to this island?"
"I said I don't know."
"What do you remember?"
"Nothing!"
The next moment, the boy felt a gust of wind followed by a sharp pain in his arm.
"Argh!" yelled the boy as he felt the blood traveling down his arm from the newly opened wound.
"How did you get to this island?"
"Screw you!" he said before feeling another gust of wind similarly followed by a sharp pain except this time it was in his other arm.
"Argh! I already told you I don't remember anything!"
And so it went for the next hour or so until the boy was practically on death's doorstep from blood loss.
"Who are you?" asked the gruff voice with the exact same tone of voice it had every other time, not having wavered for a single moment.
"I...don't...know..." said the boy who was caked in both dried and fresh blood, hair and clothes matted from sweat and blood, and who was using all his willpower to stay conscious.
Even he was surprised that he had managed to hold on for so long and had endured so much pain. Perhaps it was a part of him that even he did not know existed or it was somehow tied to his ability. Either way, he was grateful to have made it so long.
"What do you believe "Justice" to be?" asked the gruff voice, causing the boy to stop the same words he had been saying over and over for the past hour from coming out of his mouth.
"Jus...tice?" said the boy as if he was confused at the question before falling into thought.
"..."
"I think...Justice is...absolute. Evil needs...to be...wiped out...no matter...the cost." he said, knowing that to be allowed in Cipher Pol, he would have to say what they wanted to hear even if he himself did not believe it.
"..."
"If given the opportunity to get stronger, strong enough to enact Justice, would you take it? Even if it meant going through torturous training that would break your body, mind, and spirit? Or would you let it slip?" asked the gruff voice.
Hearing the voice's words which were all too familiar to the boy almost made him laugh and lose all the progress he had painstakingly made, but he was able to turn it into a coughing fit.
"I...would." he said, staring out into the darkness with conviction.
"Survive the night, and you will be given the opportunity to do so." said the voice followed by a door opening and shutting.
As much as the boy wanted to let out a sigh of relief at the torture being over, he didn't know if anyone was watching so instead he just tilted his head back and closed his eyes.
'Fuck me. I hope the Six Powers that Cipher Pol agents use are really worth it because if not, I endured all this torture for nothing.
I know some of the Marines use the Six Powers and it would be a lot safer than joining Cipher Pol but it's no guarantee I'll be able to learn any of them within the 15 years I have here. Go big or go home.
And considering my ability, I'm sure to outgrow them eventually but they'll be a nice card to have in my deck especially considering I'm super weak right now.
Still have so much to think about and plans to make, but I'm really tired. Night-night me.' thought the boy as he fell into a dreamland.
~
In Makarov's office, which also served as his room, located at the very top floor of the tower, he sat at his desk talking into a snail creature with phone parts also known as a Den Den Mushi that looked exactly like him but also had a smaller white Den Den Mushi attached to it.
"So?" asked Makarov.
"Yes, sir. It seems a ship carrying the Royal Family of the Roshwan Kingdom from the South Blue was traveling along when it was raided by pirates. Everyone was assumed dead." responded a voice tinged with respect and fear.
"Did they have a boy around the age of 5?"
"Yes, sir. A Trevor Belmont, aged 5, dark-brown hair with blue eyes."
"I see." said Makarov before hanging up the call and looking out the window and up at the moon.
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AN
Decided it would be best for him to show up in the past since the future is too chaotic and he would have no time to train with all the big things happening. It also allows for him to have a rival that will help push him. Whether or not that makes Lucci stronger for Luffy in the future is an unknown, not that it'll matter since he'll be leaving before then.
I know some people might criticize that he most likely would have been killed if found on the Cipher Pol island but that's no fun nor does it forward my story so I went with what I did.
And yes, the old man is based on Makarov from Fairy Tail but just his appearance, nothing else. I've always liked the strong yet short old dude trope that manga has and thought it would be fitting to have him as the Cipher Pol trainer.
Also, he is not the Trevor Belmont who was on the ship raided by pirates. He is a completely different person who just so happened to fit the description. It's just a little help from the small big buy upstairs.