CHAPTER 1: TRUCKED INTO THE EAST BLUE

The comment section was getting brutal. Leo was standing on the sidewalk, his thumbs flying across his phone screen. He was typing as fast as he could. Some guy named PirateFan99 was saying that Zoro couldn't beat King without using magic, and Leo just couldn't let that slide. 

"You clearly didn't read chapter 1035, you idiot," Leo muttered to himself, totally ignoring the real world around him. 

He took a step forward. His foot missed the curb. 

There was a sudden, loud honk. A massive flash of white headlights blinded him for a microsecond. Leo heard the screech of tires on the wet road, but it was way too late. 

Crack. 

That was the sound of his cheap phone breaking. Then everything went completely dark. There wasn't any cool music or a pretty goddess waiting for him. It was just quiet. 

Then, a huge splash of freezing cold water hit him right in the face. 

"Ah! What the heck!" Leo yelled, jumping up. 

He wasn't on his normal street anymore. He was sitting on a wet wooden bench that felt really old. The air smelled super strong like salt, old fish, and wet garbage. He looked down at his clothes. His favorite sneakers were completely gone. Now he was wearing these clunky brown leather boots. His phone wasn't in his hand either. Instead, he was holding the handle of a rusty iron sword inside a cheap leather case. 

He stood up, his bones making a loud popping sound. 

The buildings around him were made of old red bricks. The street was made of round cobblestones. People were walking past him wearing funny vests, striped shirts, and big hats. He looked down the road. Right there in the middle of a massive open square was a giant wooden tower. The execution platform. 

Leo stopped breathing for a second. He rubbed his eyes. "No way. Is that... Loguetown? Did I actually get run over by a truck and sent to One Piece?" 

He tried to think of a video game menu. System? Status screen? Level up? Nothing happened. He even whispered it out loud. "Inventory?" 

A lady carrying a big basket of green apples walked past him. She stopped and gave him a super weird look, then walked faster. 

"Okay, so no cheat codes," Leo said, but a huge smile broke out on his face anyway. "But I'm actually here! This is going to be so much fun!" 

Suddenly, a giant roar of laughter echoed from the main square. The rain was just starting to drizzle down, making the stones shiny. Leo didn't wait around. He started running, his heavy boots making a loud clicking sound on the road. He pushed past some guys wearing long sailor coats. 

"Sorry! Coming through!" Leo ducked under a big guy's arm. 

He made it to the edge of the big plaza. He looked up. There he was. Up on the very top of the dark wooden tower, a kid with a bright red vest and a battered straw hat was leaning over the railing. He was laughing like crazy. 

"Wow! This view is awesome! So this is where the gold guy died!" Luffy shouted, his voice echoing off the brick walls. 

"It's Gold Roger, you dummy!" a marine soldier yelled from the ground, waving a gun. 

Leo leaned against a wall, his heart beating super fast. Seeing it in a comic book was one thing, but seeing Luffy's happy, stupid face in real life was completely insane. The guy looked like he didn't have a single care in the world. 

Then the whole crowd started screaming. People started running away in every direction. A bunch of weird-looking pirates ran into the square. At the front was a guy with white face paint, a captain's hat, and a giant, round red nose. Buggy the Clown. Next to him was a tall woman named Alvida, holding a massive iron club covered in spikes. 

"Gyahahaha! I found you, Straw Hat!" Buggy yelled. His crew immediately threw a heavy wooden frame over Luffy's neck, pinning him down to the wood. 

"Hey! This thing is heavy! Let me out!" Luffy kicked his sandals in the air, but he was stuck. 

Leo knew exactly what was about to happen. Zoro and Sanji were probably lost in some back alley right now, and Captain Smoker was setting up a trap with his marines. He also knew a giant lightning bolt was going to blast that tower any second. But looking up at the swirling dark clouds, Leo felt a little bit nervous. What if the lightning missed this time? What if he changed the story just by standing here? 

Buggy pulled out a long, shiny sword. "Any last words, kid?" 

Luffy stopped kicking. He looked out over the empty square. He spotted Leo standing near the brick wall, and then he just smiled. It was the biggest, dumbest smile ever. 

"I'm gonna be the Pirate King!" Luffy screamed. 

"Die!" Buggy roared, swinging the sword down toward Luffy's neck. 

Leo didn't even think about it. His legs just started moving. He ran out from the shadow of the wall, his boots sliding a little bit on the wet stones. He pulled his rusty iron sword out of the case with a loud clatter. 

"Hey! Drop the tower!" Leo yelled at the top of his lungs. He ran straight for the thick ropes tied to the base of the wooden scaffolding. 

"Who is this guy?" one of Buggy's pirates shouted, turning around with a small knife. 

Leo didn't know how to do any cool sword fights, but he knew how to swing a stick. He brought his iron blade down hard against the thick hemp rope holding the left side up. The sword was super dull, so it took two really hard chops. Snap! The rope broke with a loud sound. 

The entire wooden tower tilted to the side with a loud creaking noise. Buggy shrieked as he lost his balance, his sword swinging wide and hitting the wooden railing instead of Luffy. 

"What are you doing down there! Fix the ropes!" Buggy yelled. His head literally detached from his neck, floating in the air to look down at Leo. 

"Holy cow, his head is flying!" Leo laughed, even though he was pretty scared. 

"Hey, thanks! Nice swing!" Luffy called down from the top. He was still trapped in the wood, but he seemed to be enjoying the tilting ride. 

"Luffy!" 

Two guys broke out of a side street. Zoro had a white sword clamped in his teeth and two more in his hands, looking totally ready to cut everything to pieces. Sanji was right next to him, spinning around and kicking three pirates directly into a fruit stand. 

"Get out of the way!" Zoro grunted. His eyes locked onto Leo for a split second before he started slicing through the rest of Buggy's crew. 

Leo tried to back away, but he bumped into something really hard and cold. He turned around slowly. Alvida was standing right behind him, her giant iron mace resting on her shoulder. She looked down at him like he was a bug. 

"You're an annoying little brat, aren't you?" she said, her voice sounding mean. 

"Uh, hi. Nice skin," Leo squeaked, lifting his cheap sword to block. 

She swung the mace. It was super fast. The air made a whistling sound. Leo dropped flat onto the ground, his sword flying out of his hand as the iron spikes missed his ear by two inches. The mace smashed right into the brick wall, sending tiny stones flying everywhere. 

"Whoa! Way too close!" Leo scrambled on his hands and knees through the puddles. 

Right then, the whole sky turned bright purple. The air got super hot and smelled like burnt toast. A sound louder than a giant bomb shook the entire town. 

A massive white bolt of lightning came straight down from the clouds, hitting the top of the tower perfectly. The blast threw a wave of hot wind across the square. Leo got rolled over twice, his face hitting the wet mud. Alvida stumbled backward, dropping her big club as the wooden platform exploded into a bunch of smoking splinters. 

Leo coughed, wiping dirty water out of his eyes. Through the thick gray smoke, Luffy walked out. He was completely fine, stretching his rubber arms and laughing. 

"Wow! That was crazy! I thought I was dead for sure!" Luffy grabbed his straw hat and shoved it back onto his head. 

"Luffy, move it! The smoke guy is coming!" Zoro grabbed Luffy's shirt, dragging him toward the harbor. 

"Hey, wait for me!" Sanji kicked one last pirate and followed them. 

Leo tried to get up, but his right ankle gave out with a sharp pinch. "Ow, great. I twisted it." He looked back. The streets were suddenly full of marines wearing white coats. At the front was Captain Smoker, his arms literally turning into big white clouds of smoke as he marched forward. 

"Don't let them reach the docks!" Smoker ordered, his voice deep and angry. 

Leo looked at the marines, then at his bent sword on the ground, and then at the alley where the Straw Hats had vanished. If he stayed here, he was going to go to jail on day one. That sounded completely boring. 

He stood up on one foot, lifted his bad leg, and started hopping down the alley as fast as he could, using the brick walls to bounce himself forward. The rain was coming down in sheets now, the wind howling between the houses. 

"Hey! Stop right there, pirate!" a marine shouted from behind him. 

"I'm not a pirate yet!" Leo yelled back, hopping around a corner. 

He burst out onto the main wooden pier. The sea was completely wild, giant black waves throwing white foam everywhere. A short distance away, the Going Merry was already moving, its sails catching the heavy storm wind. 

"Hurry up! The waves are too big!" Nami screamed from the deck, her hands spinning the big steering wheel. 

Usopp was throwing bags onto the deck, crying. "We're gonna sink! We're definitely gonna sink!" 

Luffy and the other two jumped onto the back of the ship just as it cleared the dock. 

Leo reached the edge of the wood, his breath completely gone. The ship was already ten feet away, twenty feet away, moving fast into the dark harbor water. 

"Luffy! Take me with you!" Leo screamed at the top of his lungs, waving his arms. "I cut the rope! I know how to get to the Grand Line without dying!" 

Zoro looked over the railing, his arms crossed. "It's that guy again." 

"He's kind of funny," Luffy said, blinking through the rain. 

"We don't have time for hitchhikers!" Nami yelled. "The marines are right there!" 

Smoker's smoke clouds were already drifting onto the wooden pier, followed by dozens of soldiers. Leo was totally trapped. He looked at Luffy and just hoped the kid was as crazy as the manga said he was. 

"Okay! Hold on!" Luffy laughed. 

His right arm suddenly stretched out like a giant rubber band, shooting across the stormy water. His fingers grabbed the front of Leo's blue jacket with an iron grip. 

"Wait, don't pull too....." Leo started to say. 

Luffy's arm flew back. Leo was launched into the air like a human cannonball, flying high over the churning white waves. He hit the wooden deck of the Going Merry face first, rolling into a pile of ropes next to the main mast. He was soaked, his ankle hurt like crazy, and his ribs were sore, but he couldn't stop smiling. 

He was actually on the ship. 

"Gyahahaha! You fly pretty good!" Luffy laughed, slapping Leo on the back so hard he coughed up some seawater. 

"Great, another weirdo," Zoro muttered, though he smiled a little bit as he watched the docks disappear into the gray mist. 

Leo sat up, wiping his face. He looked back at Loguetown. Standing at the very edge of the pier, Captain Smoker was watching them go. But right next to him, a tall man in a dark green cloak was standing perfectly still in the wind, a strange red tattoo showing on his face. Dragon. 

Suddenly, the ocean in front of the ship swelled up into a giant, fifty-foot wall of water, completely blocking their way out to the open sea.