Intro Arc (One Dream)

The Intro Arc is the very first story arc in the One Piece fanon series, One Dream. The arc centers around the story of Jolly D. Chris' first adventure as a rookie pirate captain, and his search for a pirate ship to call his own. It details his skirmish with a sea king, his unlikely teamwork alongside some Marines, and his battle against the captain of a villainous pirate crew.

The Beginning of One's Dream: The Artist Pirate Sets Sail
The series begins abruptly in the Grand Line as the setting focuses on one young sailor drifting aimlessly in a foggy sea. His pleasant cruise comes to an immediate stop as a fearsome sea king rises from underneath his boat with the intent on attacking him. The sailor takes into account that he must have drifted into the Florian Triangle and mistakes the sea king for an aquatic demon. He quickly dispatches of the sea monster after the latter destroys the young man's boat. In retaliation, the young sailor forcibly makes the sea king his temporary ship, even going so far as to name it the "Angry Demon."

The scene then switches over to a ship full of Marines, with two resting and making jokes at each other's expense while they await their arrival upon Aspara. The fun comes to an end as an alert is issued by the lookout of an approaching sea monster. The captain of the ship, a Marine Ensign, orders for his men to attack the sea king. After being bombarded mercilessly by the ship's cannons, the sea king crashes onto the ship in an unconscious state. As the Marines prepare to push the sea king off their ship, the mouth opens up, revealing the same young man from earlier. The Marines panic in shock at first, but once they see a jolly roger design on the back of the sailor's shirt, a Marine Petty Officer hastily opens fire on the young man. The sailor's gunshot wound quickly regenerates, much to the Marines' shock, before the sailor proceeds to pummel them into submission. Fastening the Marines to their own mast with a strange brown substance, the sailor makes small talk with his enemies as he eats their supply of food in front of them. Throughout the discussion, the sailor reveals much about who he is. It's discovered that he is indeed a pirate and is currently in search of a pirate ship before collecting crewmates. To start things off, he claims ownership of the Marines' ship, as they had killed his previous "ship." He's also revealed to have been sailing from Aspara after joining a pirate crew in dethroning the island's king; already making the sailor a rookie criminal. When told by the Marines that he wouldn't last long as an enemy of justice, the sailor responded that it wasn't up to any of them if he lasted long or not, thus managing to draw some unexpected but fleeting respect from the Ensign's subordinates.

Finally, when asked what made him "so special," the sailor blatantly introduced himself as Jolly D. Chris before stating his dream to entertain the whole world. The Marines laugh off his response, having expected something grander, which elicits a violent reaction from Chris; effectively subduing the trapped Marines without protest. After eating and talking with the Marines, Chris declares that the ship's next destination will be Water 7, much to the annoyance of his prisoners.

Sometime afterward, the setting changes to that of an undisclosed island. Citizens of a village on the island enjoy their peaceful, uneventful morning, with one man reading about Chris' revolt in the newspaper. The calmness doesn't last long however, as a small girl notices a pirate ship sailing towards the island, which throws the village into an uproar. The scene switches back to Chris and the Marines as they attempt to guide Chris in manning the ship through the gusty weather they're experiencing. It's pointed out that the Marine symbol on the sails has been crossed out by a similar brown substance to that of the material keeping the Marines stuck to the mast; and in the Marines' symbol's place is Chris' personal jolly roger. Amidst the panicking, the Marine Ensign attempts to outwit Chris into releasing him and his men. Chris' stubbornness proves to be too difficult to handle in such a situation, and so a new deal is struck; Chris frees the Marines so long as the Marines don't arrest him. Once freed, the Marines manage to keep their ship from crashing against the beach of an island, but the sudden jerking of the ship sends everyone flying off their feet and onto the shore. This causes Chris to get his head stuck under the sand while the Marines return to their feet. They begin to contemplate going back on their word and arresting Chris while he's vulnerable, but a shriek in the distance draws their attention and they leave Chris alone for the time being.

Back at the village, a fearsome group of pirates begin to terrorize the populace. When questioned why they're attacking the village, the captain of the Slaughter Pirates points out it's a routine pillaging, and that he's gathering food, refreshments and money for his crew's use later, and that he intends to enjoy the company of the village's women in the meanwhile. Just as they begin to make their move, the Marines appear to defend the village. Despite the pirate captain making it clear he means business by shooting an innocent man, the Marine Ensign declares he will arrest the pirates by order of the Marines. The Slaughter Pirates' captain sighs, stating once more that he can't be stopped.

With the Marines beginning their attack on the pirates, Chris can be seen still struggling to free himself from the sand pit. As he continues to squirm in vain, one of the Marines from the village appears nearby. While he supports Chris in digging the young pirate out of the sand, the Marine makes a heartfelt plea to help the Marines defend the village against the Slaughter Pirates. Once finally out of the sand, Chris becomes persuaded by the sincerity and generosity of the Marine that should have been his mortal enemy. With that in mind, he marches straight for the village despite not knowing for sure where it may be exactly. Back at the village, the Marines are shown to be brutally injured and at the mercy of the Slaughter Pirates; with the crew's captain laughing at the Marines for losing to him. After a short debate regarding justice and the captain's dream of being Pirate King, the captain goes in to kill the Marine Ensign. Before he can slash the man apart with his large sword, he is stopped dead in his tracks by Chris, who arrives just in time to support the Marines.

During the confusion, it's revealed Chris has wound up on an island in West Blue; far from the Grand Line, where he had originated. Too exhausted and intimidated by Chris' power, the Ensign admits to tricking Chris into sailing the Marines' ship into West Blue, despite Chris clearly having wanted to reach Water 7 instead. After a bit of bickering, Chris takes the situation into account. Noting what the Slaughter Pirates' captain had done, Chris brings the captain's genuine piracy into question. The captain responds with a condescending tone, believing Chris to be nothing more than a joke. Once he notices the "wooden sword" Chris is "holding" (which was used to block the captain's cleaver earlier on,) the captain becomes shocked to learn that it's not a wood sword, but rather a solid brown construct shaped into a sword, protruding from Chris' arm. Chris explains that the brown constructs he's made thus far were a result of his Devil Fruit power; the Clay Clay Fruit.

After a bit of exposition, the Slaughter Pirate captain goes in to bisect Chris with a vertical slash. Chris stands in place and accepts the attack without flinching. Just when it seems he's been killed, Chris astonishes the crowd around him by thrusting a punch into the pirate's face and regenerating, thanks to his Devil Fruit powers. As the villagers and Marines cheer Chris on, the Slaughter Pirate captain attempts to silence them by threatening to butcher them all. This enrages Chris even more, causing him to restrain the Slaughter Pirates' captain with a large clay cuff via his Clay Clay Lockdown attack. With the captain at Chris' mercy, the young pirate lectures his foe by stating that pirates are free to do as they please, so long as they don't use their freedom to restrict the freedom of others; and that by doing so, it angers Chris. With that said, Chris then repeatedly punches the pirate captain while the man is unable to defend himself, much to the shock of those around him. Once finished, Chris throws the unconscious pirate captain towards his subordinates and tells the crew to leave the island and rethink what being a pirate means to them. He then finally swings a large, heavy punch that sends the entire Slaughter Pirate crew flying off into the horizon, defeating them once and for all.

After the battle, the villagers cheered in rejoice while the Marines silently admired Chris for what he had done. The Ensign in particular seemed the most amazed, even going as far as to make a silent vote of confidence in Chris achieving his dream. While everyone went about resting after the dilemma that had occurred, Chris made himself busy by crafting a solid clay statue in his image. He later pointed out that this would symbolize the island as his first territory as a pirate captain, which was meant to be a deterrent to anyone seeking to cause trouble on the island again. After claiming the island as his own, Chris met up with the Marine Ensign who had just finished having his wounds treated. The Ensign, named Justin, thanked Chris for the help and began talking about what the two would do from here on out. As a token of appreciation, and a sign of their newfound friendship, Justin promised not to make note of anything Chris did since leaving Aspara; thus preventing him from receiving unwanted attention from the Marines. Wanting to continue his journey to Water 7, Chris began trying to persuade Justin to loan him the Marine's ship. After some dismay and hesitation, Justin came to an agreement with the pirate; using this chance to allow himself and his men to rest up on the island for a bit before returning to the Marines.

With everything finally settled, Chris gathered up the food and beverages he was given by the villagers as a sign of thanks and hopped aboard his newly acquired ship. As he began to sail back into the Grand Line in search for a proper pirate ship, Chris waved back at the villagers and Marines whom had gathered to see the young pirate captain off. As he waved, Chris promised he would see everyone again someday, while Justin silently thought about how Chris would become an impressive pirate some day, and how he believed in Chris. After all was said and done, Chris inevitably sailed off into the horizon for his next adventure.

Story Impact

 * One of One Dream's four main protagonists is introduced; that being Jolly D. Chris.
 * Chris' dream is revealed.
 * Water 7 was alluded to, which would be the main setting for the Timber Arc, two arcs later.
 * Chris becomes recognized by the authorities for the first time. A newspaper article lists him as the supporter of the Renegade Pirates in the assault against Majestic T. Decaden, and later on, he gets taken seriously by Marine Ensign Justin and his subordinates. Due to an unusual friendship between Chris and Justin, and for defeating the Slaughter Pirates and saving a local village and Justin's Marine unit, Chris' current bounty was left unaffected. It wouldn't be until the end of the Spike Arc when Chris' bounty would finally be increased and revealed.