The waves slapped against the rickety dock like an impatient goat kicking a tin can. Salt mist curled in the air, catching the early sun like powdered silver. Windmill Gully—nestled at the very backwater belly of West Blue—was the kind of port town so unremarkably peaceful, even the seagulls refused to squawk too loudly.
Whitewashed houses leaned lazily against each other, their paint chipped and blistered by time and brine. Fishing nets hung like tired ghosts. Boats bobbed on the tide, doing their best impressions of doing something important. But nothing ever really happened here.
Except, of course, when someone loud decided it was time for history to begin.
"People of Windmill Gully!"
The voice cut through the salty morning air like a trumpet made of pure ego.
"I, Jace the Great, declare that my pirate journey begins today!"
The "crowd" consisted of two drunk old men, one bored fisherwoman, a sleepy goat, and a single cabbage rolling down the planks.
Jace stood atop an upturned fish crate, one foot planted heroically forward, both arms outstretched to the heavens. His oversized beige coat flapped dramatically behind him—too big for his lean frame, with sleeves rolled to the elbows, revealing bandaged wrists. A carved wooden badge, shaped vaguely like a straw hat, was pinned proudly to his chest.
"Your humble village will be remembered," he continued, "as the starting point of the greatest pirate journey the seas have ever known!"
Someone coughed. The goat sneezed.
> Narration (Jace's thoughts):
They laughed at me. That's fine. Let them laugh. They laughed at Luffy once, too.
I'm not trying to be Pirate King anyway. I just want to sail the Grand Line, meet weirdos, fight idiots, and write the ultimate pirate guidebook.
Also… maybe get super rich.
Maybe. Just a little.
From the edge of the dock, a skeptical voice broke the silence.
Luke, the town's fishmonger's son and reluctant witness to the scene, crossed his arms. "Great. Now we've got another lunatic trying to copy the Yonko."
Jace turned dramatically on his crate. "I'm not copying! I'm inspired. There's a difference, Luke!"
He attempted a sweeping hand gesture and nearly fell off the crate, flailing comically before regaining balance. A splash of applause came from a distant pelican slapping a fish against a rock.
Luke eyed the object tethered to the dock.
A boat—or the approximation of one.
It looked like someone had taken the idea of a ship, forgotten what ships actually looked like, and built it from what was lying around. Two potato sacks sewn together formed the sail. The hull was warped, patched with driftwood and what might have been a wardrobe door. The figurehead… was a coconut. Painted with a wide, unsettling smile.
It somehow looked happy and apologetic at the same time.
"Is that your ship?" Luke asked, aghast.
"She's called The Floating Lion," Jace said, puffing out his chest. "She floats on dreams."
"So… no, then."
---
Jace crouched beside his boat, untying the frayed rope from the dock post. He patted the coconut gently.
"Right… let's go over the plan."
He unrolled a scroll that looked like it had been dragged through both time and lunch. Crinkled and greasy, the 'parchment' was probably just butcher paper. Written in an uneven scrawl, some letters were in blood-red ink, some… looked like ketchup.
---
JACE'S MASTER PLAN
1. Get a crew
2. Don't die
3. Find a Devil Fruit (maybe)
4. Reach the Grand Line
5. ???
6. Profit
---
"Looks airtight," he nodded.
Just then, a loud thud echoed behind him. He turned.
A barefoot girl stood at the end of the dock, wild hair tousled by wind, a sack of gold dragging behind her like a body. She had a bruised cheek, a half-torn shawl, and the eyes of someone who'd survived something dangerous and found it boring.
"Are you the idiot starting a pirate crew?" she asked flatly.
Jace blinked. "Uh… yes?"
"Great." She let the sack thump to the planks. "I just robbed a gang of bounty hunters. Now they want to kill me. Can I join?"
"…You had me at bounty hunters."
---
🎀 New Crewmate!
Name: Lila
Role: Thief / Navigator-in-Training
Traits: Sassy, sharp-witted, brilliant with maps, possibly cursed (she insists she's not)
Weapon: Two enchanted coins she flicks like bullets
Bounty: (Pending…)
---
From the cliffs behind them, shouting erupted.
Bounty hunter #1: "She went this way!"
Bounty hunter #2: "She joined a pirate!?"
Bounty hunter #3: "That guy's boat is a coconut!?"
Lila's eye twitched. "This is your boat?"
"It's not just a boat," Jace declared. "It's a symbol."
"It's a death trap!"
"IT FLOATS ON DREAMS!"
"WE'RE GONNA DIE!"
---
They leapt aboard.
The Floating Lion groaned under the weight, its hull creaking like it had just been told the bad news. The coconut figurehead squeaked as it dipped into the sea, water lapping at its goofy grin.
"Untie the rope!" Jace barked.
"Already did!" Lila snapped, gripping the mast.
A breeze surged. The potato sack sail puffed, barely, and the boat began to inch forward, pushed more by luck than wind.
Arrows suddenly thwacked into the dock behind them.
"HEY!" shouted one of the bounty hunters. "COME BACK HERE!"
Lila reached into her sash and flicked one of her coins—ting!—it ricocheted off a signpost and hit a hunter square in the nose.
"Don't shout," she said coolly. "I have a headache."
Jace whooped. "That was AWESOME!"
---
As the harbor slowly shrank behind them, the wind picked up. The sails actually caught real wind this time—barely enough to give them a lurch forward.
Lila sighed. "We're going to need a better boat. And a real map."
Jace nodded solemnly. "And a cook. And a swordsman. And a talking animal. Maybe a skeleton."
"What?"
"Nothing."
---
They floated past the outskirts of Windmill Gully, the sun warming their backs. Jace turned to face the open sea, hands on his hips, grinning like a fool who had just tricked the world into letting him live his dream.
He raised a single finger to the sky. "Let it be known! This is the day Captain Jace set sail!"
"I'm not calling you that," Lila muttered, leaning on the mast.
"Fine. Captain Jace and Co-Captain Lila!"
"I swear on my gold, I will throw you overboard."
"Noted."
---
Far in the distance, a Marine ship rocked gently in the waves.
A lookout peered through a spyglass. "Captain… another pirate ship. Tiny. Looks like… two kids?"
The Marine captain sipped his tea and sighed. "Ignore them. Just kids playing pirate."
---
Narration (Jace's thoughts): Laugh all you want, world. I've set sail now. I've got a thief, a dream, and a coconut for a figurehead.
This is the start of something stupid… and beautiful.
And I can feel it.
---
🌊 TO BE CONTINUED...