As Gabriel stepped onto the Main Street of Cocoyashi village he began to look around casually. It was a quiet place, not bustling with life really, though he guessed that it was Arlongs fault. It would be hard for any place to be anything but depressed under the rule of a tyrant like him.
As he walked through the street he could see groups of people in places whispering in hushed tones. He frowned not knowing just what was going on but kept to himself as he continued walking.
He didn't know when in the timeline of events he was but knew it couldn't be that long before the straw hats arrived… or he could just have his foot in his mouth.
Because as he was walking he came to a halt when he spotted someone who he knew he could never mistake for anybody else.
There sat under the shade of a large palm tree was a young man wearing blue shorts, sandals, a red vest shirt and the iconic straw hat. The one and only Monkey D Luffy.
Standing there Gabriel couldn't keep the smile off his face. Luffy, he couldn't believe he was actually looking at the Straw hat captain himself.
Closing his eyes Gabriel took a breath to calm himself down and think, now that he knew that the straw hats were here on the island he knew the general timeframe he was working in and adjusted his mental picture accordingly before he began to walk forward towards Luffy who was currently napping under the tree.
Reaching Luffy Gabriel looked down on him and smirked before he spoke up. "Hey"
His voice woke Luffy who was only lightly napping and he looked up at Gabriel and titled his head, "hey, what's up?"
Gabriel gestured to the spot next to him, "mind if I sit down here with you, I've been walking a while and my feet are killing me"
Luffy shrugged his shoulders, "suit yourself"
Gabriel nodded and moved to the side of the tree and sat down putting his back to the tree to relax and smirked, "thanks" he said before offering his hand to Luffy, "names Gabriel, you?"
Luffy grinned and shook his hand, "Monkey D Luffy"
"Nice to meet you Luffy," Gabriel returned before giving him a puzzling look, "Monkey D… I think I've heard that before isn't that the same name as that famous marine hero Garp"
"shishishi, yep, that's my Grandpa," Luffy said casually.
Gabriel grinned, "impressive, you gotta be strong then if he's your grandfather, bet you plan on being a marine like him hm"
"No way," Luffy shook his head, "why would I do that, I gonna be the king of the pirates"
Gabriel started laughing at that, he had always thought that the grandson of the marines hero becoming a pirate was funny, and Garps reactions to some of Luffy's deeds were always hilarious.
Luffy frowned thinking he was laughing at him and jumped to his feet, "hey don't laugh at me I'm serious"
Gabriel chuckled as he stood up as well, "I'm not laughing at you or your dream Luffy," he said as he tried to calm him down, "I just thought it was funny for the grandson of a marine to be a pirate with dream like that, that's so similar to my own"
Luffy tilted his head curious, "what do you mean?"
Gabriel smiled, "I'm saying our dreams are similar Luffy, you want to be the king of the pirates, My dream is close to that,"
Luffy smiled hearing that, "what's your dream then?"
Gabriel crosses his arms over his chest, "to become one of the Yonkō,"
Hearing him Luffy tilted his head in a clueless expression, "what's that?"
Gabriel sighed he forgot how clueless Luffy could be at times but shook his head, "you want to be the king of the pirates and you don't know what or who the Yonkō are?" He asked only to get a shake of the head from Luffy.
Gabriel nodded and reached over and picked up a stick, "okay let me explain it to you then" he said before drawing a line in the dirt, "think of this line as the grand line, to become pirate King you have to sail from one end to the other and reach the last island, right"
Luffy nodded, "yeah everyone knows that"
Gabriel nodded, "yes but what most people don't know is that the grand line is actually two oceans divided by a large landmass called the red line" he explained as he drew two more lines in the middle of the first, "the first part of the grand line is called Paradise by those who have survived the trip through it and came to the second part, the other half is called the new world, with me so far"
Luffy nodded, "yeah"
Gabriel smirked, "well the second half of the grand line, the new world, is divided up into territory's of four pirate groups, Whitebeard pirates, Beast Pirates, Bigmom pirates, and The red haired pirates, they are the strongest pirate crews in the world, and the captains of each of those crews hold the title Yonkō, because they are the four empourers that rule over the new world, I want to become one of them by becoming strong enough to beat one of them," he explained before closing his eyes, "Whitebeard holds the title as the worlds strongest man, and Kaido the captain of the beast pirates hold the title as the world's strongest beast, to beat either of them and claim their titles is my dream"
"Wow" Luffy said and when Gabriel looked at him he had stars in his eyes, "that sounds awesome! You've got to join my crew, it's only right to have a future Yonkō as the future king of the pirates"
Gabriel laughed again and shook his head, "while that would sound interesting Luffy it doesn't exactly sit right, two rulers being on the same crew, but there is a way to make it work I think"
"How?" Luffy asked, wanting him to join his crew regardless.
Gabriel smiled, "we make an agreement between each other, you as the future pirate king, and me as a future Yonkō, a pact to support the other in fulfilling each other's dreams, I will join your crew until such a time that I have gathered my own ship and crew and when such a time comes we will be allied captains both of our crews helping each other when needed, and after we achieve our dreams we will both rule the grand line together"
Luffy listened closely to his words, when it came to his dream he was serious about it and took things seriously, "I will still be the pirate king?"
Gabriel nodded, "yes you will, you will set foot on the final island first and One Piece will be yours, I have no desire to claim it, all I want is to be recognised as Yonkō and to take either Whitebeard or Kaidos' titles as the worlds strongest"
"And you'll still join my crew?" Luffy asked again.
"Until I get a ship and crew of my own, yes, after we will be allies and still help each other attain our goals, and we will be allies even after that, do we have a deal" Gabriel asked as he held out his hand to Luffy
Luffy stares at the hand for several moments before a grin came to his face and he took it, "deal"