The East Blue air was sharp with salt as the raft cut across the water.
It wasn't the fanciest vessel—two sails, a modest deck, and a small cabin they'd patched together with stubbornness and rope—but to the two boys on board, it might as well have been a warship.
Vihaan leaned against the railing, arms folded, eyes on the sky.
Luffy lay sprawled on the deck behind him, hat tilted low, snoring with zero shame. His stomach growled louder than the sea.
Vihaan's gaze flicked back to the mast. At the top fluttered a tattered black flag, hand-painted with a white symbol: a rough circle, a straw hat, and a mirror bisected down the middle.
"Looks like a child drew it," Vihaan muttered to himself.
"I drew it!" came Luffy's voice from behind, half-asleep but fully offended.
"I stand by my point."
Luffy rolled onto his side. "You still haven't picked a crew name."
Vihaan sighed. "We're two people. Is that even a crew?"
Luffy sat up. "You're my co-captain! We're a crew! We need a name!"
There was a moment of silence. Then:
"How about... the Straw Hat Crew?" Luffy offered, touching the brim of his hat proudly.
Vihaan tilted his head. "Naming a crew after your hat?"
"You got a better idea?"
Vihaan opened his mouth—paused.
He didn't.
He looked at Luffy, at the hat, at the sky. Then he chuckled. "Alright. Straw Hat Crew it is."
Luffy grinned wide. "Told you it was perfect!"
Vihaan turned away so Luffy wouldn't see his smile. "You're lucky I like you."
Later that afternoon, they docked briefly at a small, uncharted island to restock. It was mostly jungle, but Vihaan had noticed something strange—birds avoided a clearing near the cliffs.
While Luffy hunted for food (and ended up wrestling a wild pig), Vihaan explored the quiet part of the island.
That's when he saw it—an old ruin, half-swallowed by vines and moss.
Inside, beneath crumbling stone shelves, Vihaan found something that pulsed faintly with presence. A book.
Leatherbound. Ancient. The cover read, in faded gold:
"The Three Colors of Haki."
His fingers froze above it.
He'd heard whispers of Haki—fragments of memory, snatches of conversation overheard from Garp, pirates, and drunks. But this...
He tucked the book inside his coat, heart thrumming.
When they returned to the ship, Vihaan slipped it under a plank beneath his bunk. He didn't open it—not yet. There would be time.
For now, he needed to understand the sea first.
The rest of the journey could wait.
A few days later, the sea grew darker. Not stormy—but heavy.
They were low on food. Luffy, of course, had eaten enough for three men within the first two days.
And now they had company.
A large ship approached from the east—painted with gaudy reds and pinks, its sails showing the grinning face of a large woman with a club.
Vihaan narrowed his eyes.
"That's... Alvida," he said.
Luffy blinked. "Who?"
"A local pirate. Infamous for pretending she's beautiful and clobbering anyone who says otherwise."
"Yikes."
"Her bounty's low, but she's violent. And petty."
The ship was already alongside them.
Boarding ropes flew across. Pirates swarmed.
Luffy cracked his knuckles. "Let's gooo!"
Vihaan sighed. "We're not even a week in."
The fight was chaos.
Luffy dove into the fray with glee, his rubber arms snapping out, flinging men into the sea. "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"
Vihaan moved differently—quietly. Calculated.
He flicked a loose mirror shard from his pocket. "Reflect."
A pirate lunged at him—and was suddenly facing himself, mirrored in form. The clone struck the man down, then vanished.
Vihaan used his new abilities carefully. He couldn't overdo it. Two clones would already burn through stamina, and the larger the reflection, the harder it hit him in return.
He dodged a mace, flipped over a crate, and grabbed the side of the pirate's own blade to redirect it into another attacker.
Luffy, meanwhile, had just knocked ten men into a lifeboat.
Then, Alvida herself arrived on the deck—massive, scowling, her club dragging deep grooves into the wood.
"I don't know who you brats are," she growled, "but your faces are getting smashed in."
Luffy stepped forward, smiling wide. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy!"
Vihaan joined beside him, cool and quiet. "And I'm Vihaan."
"We're co-captains of the Straw Hat Crew!" Luffy added, proudly.
Alvida blinked. "Straw what?"
Vihaan leaned slightly to Luffy. "Not intimidating, that name."
Alvida roared and swung her club at them.
Luffy ducked and launched into her midsection, stretching across the deck. "Gomu Gomu no Bazooka!"
She reeled—stumbled—then Vihaan moved in from behind. He touched her shadow and whispered:
"Reflect."
A distorted shadow of her split off—and mimicked her stumbling, slamming the side of her head into the mast.
The real Alvida groaned and dropped her weapon.
Vihaan clutched his chest, panting. "Okay. No more big reflections today."
Luffy stood above her. "Told ya not to mess with us!"
The remaining pirates jumped overboard.
Alvida coughed, scowled... and fell unconscious.
They'd won.
Their first victory as pirate captains.
They looted the ship (mostly junk, plus a few barrels of food), and let it drift while they returned to their humble raft.
Luffy was busy chewing on a raw piece of meat when he asked, "Hey, Vihaan… that thing you did with her shadow. Was that your fruit?"
Vihaan paused. He'd known this was coming.
He turned, leaned against the mast, and nodded. "Yeah."
"You had it since before?"
"I think so. I don't remember how I got it. But I've been training it."
"Cool!"
"That's it? Just 'cool?'"
"Yeah! I've got my rubber, you've got your mirrors. Together we're unstoppable!"
Vihaan stared at him. Then—he laughed.
"You're insane."
Luffy grinned. "You're stuck with me."
"Wouldn't want it any other way."
That night, under the stars, Vihaan sat quietly below deck. He opened the plank and took out the Haki book.
The first page showed a diagram—three circles.
Observation. Armament. Conqueror's.
He didn't read more.
Not yet.
He closed the book slowly, the lantern beside him flickering.
Tomorrow, they'd sail again.
And the world wouldn't know what hit it
HEY GUYS , AUTHOR HERE , THE DEVIL FRUIT OF THE OC LOOKS COMPLEX BUT TRUST ME IT WILL BE EXPLAINED LATER ON SO NOW JUST KEEP READING AS THE STORY GOES AHEAD .