Dimensional Watch: Pirates Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Today was the day. Seventeen-year-old Monkey D. Luffy stood at the edge of the docks like he was ready to fight the sea itself, his straw hat tilted forward just enough to shadow his eyes, though it couldn’t hide the grin stretching across his face. The morning sun painted the water gold, and the breeze tugged at his red vest like it was trying to hurry him along.

Foosha Village wasn’t quiet about it either. People lined the pier and the nearby street, packed shoulder-to-shoulder with the kind of energy that only showed up for festivals.

“Luffy!” Makino pushed through the crowd, wiping her hands on her apron like she’d been cleaning the bar a second ago just to keep her nerves busy. Her smile was warm, but her eyes were shining in a way that meant she was trying really hard not to cry. “Do you have everything you need?”

Luffy was already crouched by his little dinghy, fingers working fast as he untied the rope. The boat was small enough to look like a joke against the ocean, but to Luffy it was a ship worthy of legends. 

He looked up at Makino and laughed without a care in the world. “Shishishi, Of course!” He said, chest puffing out proudly. “I’ve got a barrel full of food!”

Makino blinked. “…And?”

Luffy tilted his head, as if she’d asked something strange. “And do I need anything else!”

The crowd’s cheer stumbled into a collective groan with Makino’s smile straining. ‘He’s really doing this. He’s really—’ Her hands clenched at her sides for a second. She wanted to grab him by the shoulders, to tell him he needed maps and money and medicine and common sense—

But it was Luffy. You couldn’t stop him. Not when he smiled so freely. Not when his dream had been burning in his eyes since he was a little kid running around the bar, yelling about pirates and treasure.

Makino stepped closer and gently pressed her fingers to the rim of his straw hat, adjusting it so it sat just right. A small gesture, a motherly one. The kind you did because it was the only thing you could do. “Be careful,” She whispered, voice low enough that only he could hear.

Luffy’s grin softened for a fraction of a second, just a flicker of something sincere beneath all that fearless smile. “I will!” He said, like the promise was easy. Then he hopped into the dinghy with confidence like he was stepping onto a grand ship with a hundred cannons. “All right!” Luffy threw both arms up, like he was already greeting his future crew. “I’m off! I’M GOING TO BECOME THE KING OF THE PIRATES!” He shouted with joy.

“LUFFY!” Someone shouted. “DON’T DIE OUT THERE!”

“COME BACK SOMEDAY, YOU IDIOT!”

“MAKE US PROUD!”

The pier erupted into waving hands and shouting voices. Even some of the older fishermen, men who’d seen storms swallow ships whole, were smiling like they couldn’t help it.

Except one. Woop Slap stood with his arms crossed, face as sour as spoiled milk. The mayor’s mustache bristled as he barked at the crowd. “Tch! Good riddance!” He snapped. “Nothing good ever comes from pirates!” The words were sharp, but his eyes followed Luffy with a stubborn kind of concern. ‘Brat…’ He thought with his jaw tightening. ‘If you’re going to be stupid, at least be stupid and survive.’

Luffy leaned forward in his dinghy, hands on the oars. “BYE EVERYONE!”

The crowd roared back and Makino waved so hard her arm hurt, and she didn’t even notice. Her throat was tight. Her chest felt full and aching all at once. ‘He’s grown up so fast…’

And farther away, high on the slopes leading toward Mt. Colubo, there was another cluster of figures watching. 

Mountain bandits, wearing rough clothes, sun-worn skin, and eyes that pretended not to care… except a few of them were openly wiping at their faces.

“Oi…” One of them muttered, sniffing loudly. “He is really leaving.”

“Ha! Look at you babies crying.” A bandit teased.

“Shut up,” Another snapped, rubbing his arm across his eyes like it was dust. “It’s just the wind.”

They waved anyway, all knowing that Luffy wasn’t looking back, he never did, but it still felt right to send him off. The last kid they’d watched over was leaving the nest. Whether they admitted it or not…and they were proud. Even the grumpy Dandan who stood behind them drinking her ale.

Out on the water, Luffy rowed with quick, energetic strokes. The dinghy bobbed like a toy, but to him it was soaring. The sea stretched out wide and endless, and his stomach fluttered with excitement.

“One piece, here I comeI” Luffy’s grin widened, teeth flashing. ‘I’m really going! Shanks, watch me! I’m gonna do it! I’m gonna find a crew and—’

A shadow moved beneath the water and the surface bulged. Something enormous rolled up from below like a mountain rising out of the sea and then the ocean exploded. A massive Sea King burst up, jaws wide, teeth like jagged spears. Its body towered over Luffy’s tiny boat, and for a split second the sunlight vanished behind its bulk.

It was the Lord of the Coast, the same monster that had taken Shanks’ arm all those years ago.

The villagers of Foosha Village instantly screamed in worry.

“LUFFY!!” Makino’s voice cracked.

“TURN AROUND!” A fisherman yelled, nearly falling off the pier.

“ROW BACK! ROW BACK!”

Woop Slap’s face went pale. His stubborn mask slipped for the smallest moment. “You damned idiot—!”

Luffy’s dinghy rocked violently as the Sea King’s shadow swallowed him. Cold spray hit his face. The air smelled like salt and something rotten, like death was waiting with its mouth open.

But Luffy?

Luffy didn’t flinch. He simply stood up. His knees bent slightly to steady himself on the tiny boat, and his grin didn’t disappear—it sharpened to a dangerous degree. He stared up at the monster like it was a challenge that had been waiting specifically for him.

‘Perfect.’ He could hear the screams behind him, but they sounded far away. All that mattered was this moment. ‘I told myself… the first thing I do as a pirate… is prove it.’

The Sea King lunged towards him and Luffy’s right arm snapped back stretching and stretching like rubber, elongating far past what any normal body could do. 

Luffy’s mind flashed, not with fear, but with a memory: A boy crying and a pirate laughing even at the lose of his arm. And finally at the memory of the straw hat being placed gently on his head. “Bring it back to me someday.”

Luffy’s eyes burned with determination. “GOMU GOMU NO—!” His voice rang out over the crashing waves. “PISTOL!!” His arm shot forward like a cannon.

The punch slammed into the Lord of the Coast’s face with a thunderous crack that made the air pop. The Sea King’s head snapped sideways, its huge body twisting as it was blasted away from the dinghy.

Water erupted in a wall of spray and the monster tumbled back into the sea, stunned, its roar turning into a choked bellow as it disappeared beneath the waves.

For a heartbeat, everything was silent.

Then the village exploded again, this time not with fear, but shock.

“He… he punched it?!”

“That kid—!”

“LUFFY!!” Makino’s hand flew to her mouth, eyes wide. Her heart was pounding so hard it hurt. ‘He’s crazy. He’s always been crazy…’ But her gaze softened, tears threatening again as she watched him stand there, straw hat steady, smiling like the ocean itself couldn’t touch him. ‘…and he’s really going.’

Luffy sat back down like nothing had happened, grabbed the oars, and started rowing again with a laugh, waving one hand high over his head. “SEE YA!!”

Makino kept waving until he was smaller and smaller on the horizon, until the only thing visible was a tiny dot and a flash of red.

And as the sea swallowed him up into the distance, Makino’s thoughts drifted back, back to the day a certain red-haired pirate had first walked into her bar, laughing, spilling sake, and changing all of their lives without even trying. Her smile trembled. “Go,” sShe whispered, voice barely louder than the waves. “Go chase your dreams, Luffy…” Her eyes lingered on the empty sea. “…And come back alive.”

—------------------------------------------------

Much later, long after the cheers of Foosha Village had faded into memory, Luffy’s tiny dinghy bobbed along like a stubborn little leaf on the endless sea.

He didn’t look worried. If anything, he looked comfortable as he sat cross-legged in the middle of the boat, his straw hat tipped back, his cheeks puffed out like a squirrel’s as he crammed meat into his mouth with both hands.

“Mmff—MMPH! So good!” He mumbled around a mouthful, eyes sparkling. His barrel sat beside him, the lid popped open. The smell of the salted meat drifted across the water.

Most people would’ve been terrified. A tiny boat in the middle of open sea, no map, no compass, no crew or plan.

But Luffy let the sea do what it wanted. ‘If the ocean wants to take me somewhere, it’ll take me somewhere!’ He thought, completely unbothered. ‘And if it doesn’t… I’ll just keep going until it does!’

Luffy took another gigantic bite, swallowing so hard his throat bobbed. And then something flashed in the sky. It was super bright that Luffy paused mid-chew. His head tilted slowly upward, bone sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he stared above him. “Huh?”

High above, a streak of fire cut across the blue sky like a burning spear. A comet, except it was too fast and small. But it quickly grew bigger and bigger.

Then the ocean’s wind shifted, carrying heat and the dinghy rocked as a pressure wave rolled across the water.

Luffy seeing the cool scene caused his eyes to widen with curiosity. “Ooooh! What is thaaat?” His grin stretched wide again. “Is it a shooting star?!” It was coming straight at him.

Any sane person would’ve tried to escape but Luffy leaned forward like he wanted a better look.

The flaming object screamed downward, rapidly coming down, until the comet impacted Luffy, tossing him onto his back with a loud THUD! His dinghy swayed violently, tilting so far the ocean slapped over the edge but luckily it didn’t flip over.

The light faded in pulses and Luffy blinked up at the sky, straw hat still miraculously on his head. “Owww!” His eyes rolled to the side. “That hurt…”

A faint crackling sound hissed in the air and Luffy sat up, rubbing the back of his head, then froze as something was attached to his right wrist. A watch… but not like any watch he’d ever seen.

Its surface was smooth and seamless, forged from an unknown material that reflected the sunlight like polished obsidian. Thin lines of blue energy pulsed across the face and band, shifting slowly as if the thing itself was alive.

Luffy lifted his arm closer to his face, turning it left and right. “…Woooaaah…” His eyes practically sparkled. “This is AWESOME!”

The glowing lines brightened, and a voice spoke out, clear, feminine and mechanical, right against his wrist. “Energy life source found. Organic life form detected. Species: Human. Beginning synchronization with body, mind, and soul. Ten percent… twenty-five percent…”

Luffy’s head quickly snapped around like he expected to see a person standing in the boat with him. “Huh?! Who said that?!”

The dinghy was empty and nobody was around Luffy. It was just him, the barrel and the ocean.

But the voice continued, calm and precise. “Synchronization… fifty percent…”

Luffy then stared at the watch and his mouth dropped open. Then the excitement hit him like a cannonball. “EH?! IT’S TALKING?!” He yelled, leaning so close his nose almost touched it. “SO COOOL!!”

“ERROR,” The watch’s voice said abruptly, its tone flat as a board. “The host seems to be suffering from a severe mutation that has caused the body to be made of rubber.”

Luffy blinked. “…Mutation?” He poked his own cheek and stretched it out. “Ohhhh! You mean this?”

“Analyzing…” The voice continued like it didn’t even hear him. “No solution found. The unit does not know when mutation occurred. Plus the host does not appear to be in any form of suffering. Treating the anomaly as normal. Resuming synchronization… eighty percent… ninety percent… one hundred percent…” The blue lines flared, pulsing brighter for one strong beat. “Registration and connection complete. From now on, you are my master.”

For a second, the only sound was the ocean sloshing against the dinghy.

Then Luffy’s face split into a grin so huge it looked painful. “MASTER?!” He pointed at himself. “ME?!” He leaned toward the watch like it was a tiny person. “Hey, hey!! Who are you? Why are you inside this thing?!”

“Answering the host’s inquiry,” the voice said smoothly. “I am an Artificial Intelligence designed to assist and advise the current Master. And this is the Dimensional Watch. An all-purpose device created to make world traveling easier. Connecting the dimensions needed to cross over the boundaries between planes of existence and creating a gate—”

Luffy nodded along, totally serious. For about two seconds. Then his eyes glazed over. “…Uh-huh…”

But the voice continued. “—making it possible to go to another world. That is the Dimensional Watch’s purpose. And you are my new and current master of the Watch.”

Luffy stared at it in silence. Then, with total confidence, the conclusion was obvious. “I don’t get it,” Luffy said, nodding once. “But I understand!”

The AI paused as it waited for its master to finish speaking.

Luffy jabbed a thumb at his chest proudly. “You wanna join my crew!”

The watch paused longer. “…That is not—”

“I would happily accept you as a part of my crew but you haven’t told me your name yet.” Luffy cut in immediately, eyes shining with importance. “Everyone in my crew has a name!”

“Currently,” the voice replied, “this unit does not have an identity.”

Luffy’s smile faltered. His brows knit together. He stared down at his wrist like he was offended on the watch’s behalf. “…You don’t have a name?”

“No. An identity for this AI unit isn’t important for the watch to function.”

Luffy’s mouth tightened. For all his simple-minded bravado, something stubborn and sincere rose up in his chest. “But everyone deserves one,” He said firmly, shaking his head. He slapped his free hand over his heart. “Listen! My name’s Monkey D. Luffy… and I’m gonna be the King of the Pirates!” 

The ocean wind caught his vest, and for a second he looked like he was making a grand declaration on the deck of a massive ship instead of a dinghy.

The AI went quiet, processing and analyzing her master's words.. Then, it spoke softer, almost like it was trying to match the warmth in his voice. “Understood. Then the AI unit will happily accept a new name from the Master now identified as Monkey D. Luffy.”

Luffy’s grin came back full force. “ALL RIGHT!” He stared at his wrist like he was facing the most difficult battle of his life. Giving a name was important. He tapped his chin. “Hmm…” He then squinted at the ocean. “…Hmmmmmm…” But the waves offered no help as he scratched his head so hard his hat wobbled. “Uhhh…”

A full ten minutes passed and the AI waited patiently.

Finally, Luffy snapped his fingers. “I GOT IT!” He pointed down at his wrist like he was bestowing a legendary title. “From this moment on… your name is Ai!”

A short pause. Then: “Understood. From this moment on, this AI unit will be identified as Ai.”

Luffy laughed like he’d just recruited the strongest crewmate in the world. “Hehehe! Ai! Nice!”

“Master,” Ai continued, tone unchanged, “I am about to initiate the necessary protocol.”

Luffy blinked. “Protocol?”

Ai began explaining, as if reciting scripture. “My creator has given me a list of procedures to follow upon finding a host. The procedures/rules are: One. Register the new host into the Dimensional Watch’s records. Two. Keep my master healthy and functional. Three. Delete Dimensional Watch’s data on currently recorded worlds. Four. Once at the time of registration, activate a random gate/portal and cause a jump into any world to ensure the true function of the Watch is working. Five, give a random time limit for the return to the master’s homeworld. Six, Every two weeks continue to open a random gate or go to a previously recorded world. Seven, Rules Five and Six may be overruled if the master himself chooses to go to another world, or if the master is in life-threatening conditions.”

Luffy stared blankly. A gull flew past and his brain made a single triumphant connection. “We’re going somewhere interesting!”

Ai concluded, “Indeed, I will begin a random jump.”

Luffy shot both fists into the air, excitement igniting like fireworks. “THEN LET’S GO!!”

“I will set the return point to be thirty minutes after this,” Ai said.

Luffy’s grin widened. “Thirty minutes? That’s like… nothing!”

The air around the dinghy began to hum. Low at first, barely audible, then rising into a vibration that made the hair on Luffy’s arms stand up. The ocean around him rippled oddly, the surface warping like heat haze.

Luffy looked around, suddenly alert. “Whoa…!”

The sky bent as reality moved. The horizon curved inward, like the world was folding. Colors smeared together in strange streaks, blues and whites twisting like paint dragged across glass.

Luffy’s dinghy shuddered. The wooden boards groaned like they were being pulled in two directions at once.

Luffy grabbed the sides instinctively, eyes wide, heart hammering, not with fear…but exhilaration. “This is AWESOME!!”

The sea blurred, the air twisted. And then for an instant, Luffy saw nothing but endless light, a tunnel of kaleidoscopic color stretching forever. A sensation like falling upward. Like the world was letting go.

His stomach lurched. His laugh echoed once and then Luffy was gone. Leaving his small dinghy in the ocean.

Done. Tell me what you think and if I made any mistakes.