One Piece: Echoes of Adventure - Chapter 1

A pitch black raven gently floated in the bright blue sky below a smattering of fluffy white clouds. It was a rather glorious day, though if one were to look closely they could see that the bird looked rather tired. Perhaps because it was flying over a barren mountainous region of the world with nothing living in sight. Despite its circumstances, the raven let out an excited caw and began rapidly flapping its wings to pick up speed when it spotted an end to the mountains.

With another excited caw the raven landed on the ground overlooking a massive cliff at least several thousand meters tall. The precipitous cliff dropped almost straight down into crashing ocean waves. As far as the eye could see there was nothing but deep blue ocean. The raven looked about before letting out another caw while ruffling its feathers.

As the birds feathers began to settle down its whole body began to twist, morph, and grow until the bird was no more and a young man of no more than seventeen or eighteen stood where the bird once was. The teenager stood rather tall at one hundred and ninety centimeters (six foot three) with broad shoulders. Crimson red hair fluttered in the wind while matching eyes scanned the horizon. He wore rather simple looking clothing, blue jeans, a tight black shirt that showed off his hard earned muscles, a loose gray hoodie, and a sword hung from his hip. His shoes looked rather weird though. For the most part they looked like well constructed heavy duty biker boots except the toe sections had been cut off and his toes could be clearly seen.

He continued to look at the ocean before him in silence until he suddenly grabbed his head and let out a loud shout of annoyance. Once he finished his shout, he took a few calming breaths and forced his body to relax, “Right, right. Calm down Echo. At least you're back at the ocean and not flying lost over the mountains of the red line anymore, right? Right! Okay so what do you do next? Right! Figure out if you're looking at a blue ocean, the Grand Line, or the calm belt. I don't see any massive shadows in the water so probably not the calm belt. Still wont rule that out though. So! Options? Only one really, get my ass back in the air and look for an island.”

Just the thought of flying through the air some more made him feel exhausted. For the last three days he'd been lost on the Red Line, ever since a storm had thrown him off his flight path and carried him there. He'd immediately been lost and trying to find his way back to the sea since. Normally he loved being in the air in his raven form, flying from island to island in search of bounties to capture and collect. However, being thrown into the Red Line and spending the last few days trying to find his way out had made him sick of the form.

Before changing back, he dug into his pockets and pulled out the last of his rations. The rations were bland, which was honestly a good thing. He'd experienced some rations that tasted rather foul so bland and flavorless was a blessing. Unfortunately, he was completely out of water. That would have to be the first thing he got when he found an island. Once his 'meal' was finished, his body began to shrink and darken while he sprouted feathers and his face extended into a beak. With a loud caw, a raven once more stood where he'd previously been. With a few flaps of his wings, he was high in the air.

-----Line Break-----

After a few hours of flying in an ever expanding circle, he'd finally spotted a black spot on the horizon that could have been either and island or a ship. Either one would be of immeasurable help to him. He excitedly flapped his wings and flew toward the dark spot. It took a while, but he eventually could tell that it was an island. With a happy caw, he flew just a little faster, pushing himself to get there sooner. An island meant food and water, GOOD FOOD. It also meant people that could tell him where he was and possibly a Marine base.

While he wasn't a huge fan of the Marines, he liked them more than pirates. Finding a Marine base meant he could get his hands on the local bounty book. Though calling it a book was a bit of a misnomer. It was just a collection of bounty posters for pirates believed to be in the area still. It was also a chance to introduce himself to the local Marines. The relationship between Marines and Bounty Hunters was somewhat strained for various reasons. Echo found that politely introducing himself to the top ranked Marine on a base was a good way to have as little trouble as possible. It was also a good time to get their Den Den Mushi number so he could contact them about sensitive issues. Marines did NOT like surprises, so giving them some warning was always a wise move.

It took a while, but the closer he flew, the bigger he realized the island was. It wasn't until he had a much clearer view of the island that he spotted the typical large white tower of a Marine base in one of the towns, more of a city really, that dotted the large island. Naturally, he flew directly for that town. It looked like a bustling place from the air, which boded well for him. He flew until he spotted the dockyards and made his landing there in a dark alley. He didn't like shifting in front of people, they asked too many questions he didn't like answering. Aside from that, it gave him an easy way to travel without being spotted or bothered by anyone. As long as he wasn't lost.

Back in his human form he made his way directly to the first restaurant he could see. A small little bistro. He ordered quickly and ate his food just as quickly while chugging as much water as he could. He'd been a little hungry but he was very thirsty. He'd run out of water the day before and hadn't been able to find any that was safe to drink on the Red Line.

After paying for his meal, and a little conversation, he knew where he was. He was currently at the town of the beginning and the end, Loguetown in the East Blue. He'd had no plans to come to this particular ocean, it was known as the weakest and after dealing with pirates in his home ocean of North Blue, he doubted any pirate in this ocean could pose a challenge to him. Soooo... vacation? He nodded to himself, a vacation after the last year of hunting hard bounties sounded nice. Who knows? Maybe he'd finally meet some people worth making a team with?

Thinking about that, hadn't he heard rumors of a swordsman here in East Blue? Roro-something? Eh, if they were meant to find each other they would. He put thoughts of trustworthy partners to the side and made his way to the Marine base in town. As he approached the door, lost in his thoughts, he accidentally bumped into a rather large man with a customized Marine coat with furred cuffs and collar while also covered in a multitude of cigars and no shirt at all.

Echo blinked as he registered having accidentally touched the mans bare chest while simultaneously turning his head up to look the taller man in the eyes. Though he raised an eyebrow at seeing the man with two lit cigars trailing smoke. Echo lifted his hands with his palms out as a sign that he had no hostility, “Sorry about that, Sir. I was a bit lost in my thoughts. Are you the officer in charge of this island?”

The Marine, Smoker, looked down at the kid that had bumped into him. He took a slow drag on his cigars before exhaling a cloud of white smoke, “Yeah, I'm Captain Smoker.”

Echo studiously did NOT make a comment on the mans name. Instead he flashed a bright and happy smile, “Excellent! My name is Echo. I just arrived in East Blue and I'm a bounty hunter. I just wanted to make your acquaintance, introduce myself, and request your Den Den Mushi contact information in case I needed to inform you of anything.”

Smoker raised an eyebrow at that and took another, longer, look over the kid in front of him, “Is that so? It's rather... unusual for a bounty hunter to be so... accommodating.” He turned and looked at one of his many faceless lackeys, “Give him the info.”

With that done, Smoker left without another word. Echo and the nameless Marine watched him go for a bit before Echo turned back to the Marine. With a 'follow me' gesture, the Marine led him into the reception area of the base. He pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote down the Den Den Mushi number for the base and passed it over. After folding the paper up and putting it away, Echo asked, “Would you have a bounty book I could have as well?”

The Marine just nodded and passed over a small stack of wanted posters. They kept several stacks on hand. Loguetown was the last stop before heading into the Grand Line from the East Blue so they needed to keep the most up to date wanted posters to catch as many as possible before they made the trip.

Echo nodded his thanks to the marine and left the base. He flipped through the  posters looking them over. First, there were so few, and second the biggest one he could find was for 'Arlong the Saw' at twenty million, “Weakest sea indeed.”

Shaking his head and considering himself to truly be on vacation, he made his way to a nearby inn to sleep in a bed for the first time in days. After paying for the room and locking himself inside, he sat on the bed and crossed his legs, “Now, let's see what you can do Smoker.”

With a thought his whole body seemed to shift. There was no actual physical change, but his posture seemed different and there was just something... changed about him. Echo lifted his hand and watched, fascinated, as his hand changed into a cloud of smoke. His eyes widened as he realized what he was learning about the man he'd touched on accident and his abilities, “A goddamn Logia? Holy shit! This is awesome!”

His whole body shifted into white smoke letting him fill the entire room. It was an odd feeling and a little disconcerting, but thanks to the abilities he learned from Smoker, he had complete control over himself and quickly reformed.

Ever since he'd washed up on the shore of Laffie Island in the North Blue as a child with no memories, he'd had a strange power. He could copy the abilities of anyone he touched and use them to great effect. Touching a swordsman made him equal in skill to the man touched. Touching someone with a Devil Fruit gave him the abilities of their Devil Fruit along with any other skills or abilities they possessed.

Echo's ability did have some limitations. First, he could only use the skills and abilities of one person at a time. His raven form came from touching the owner of the Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Raven a year or so ago. That bandit had actually been his hardest bounty to date. The second limit was his own body. While he could copy the skill level of a swordsman, and even their strength, to a certain extent, he couldn't keep it up for long without tearing his own muscles to shreds.

There was a bright side to that though! When using such skills, he could actually learn them so he wouldn't have to use the copied skills in the future. This obviously only applied to things he could actually learn, like using the sword at his waist. He couldn't just learn how to use multiple Devil Fruits. Until he'd copied Smoker's power, he'd only had his own ability and the Model: Raven ability. He was certain his special ability was a Devil Fruit, he just didn't know which one as he'd eaten it before he'd lost the memories of his childhood. Despite that, he'd personally named it the Kopi Kopi no Mi after his ability to copy anyone's skills and powers.

Echo played around with Smoker's Moku Moku no Mi abilities for a while before switching back to his Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Raven. While he could fly as a cloud of smoke, it wasn't nearly as stealthy as flying as a bird. No one cared about birds as long as the bird wasn't annoying them or hadn't just shit on their head.

-----Line Break-----

The following morning, after buying provisions, Echo took to the sky in his raven form and began flying toward the Conomi Island chain. It wasn't far from Loguetown and made for a good spot to start bounty hunting from. Thankfully the Blue oceans were infinitely easier to navigate through than the Grand Line. Though he'd never been to the Grand Line himself, an old timer in his home village had told him many stories about the place. He had a good knowledge base for the place but no practical experience.

He'd actually gotten his skills at navigation from that old timer, learned the hard way, so he could navigate a regular ocean with relative ease. He knew that he would, eventually, head into the Grand Line to hunt bigger names. For now though, he was content with cleaning up East Blue like he'd cleaned up North Blue. It's not that North Blue was now pirate free or anything. New pirates were always popping up. However, he'd hunted down and captured, or killed, every pirate with a bounty in his home ocean. It only took him a little over a year. He'd been on his way home to celebrate with his village when the storm had blown him over the Red Line.

Now he planned to do the same for the East Blue. He would hunt down every pirate he could and turn them over to the Marines, dead or alive.

A short time into his flight, he spotted a large collection of ships sailing in the direction of the Polestar Islands, Loguetown. As he got closer to the fleet of ships, he easily noticed that all of them were flying the same jolly roger. Sadly the bounty posters don't actually include a depiction of the jolly roger that a pirate flew under. On the other hand, only one pirate in East Blue was known to have an actual fleet of ships under his command. Even with a fleet, the guy was such a pissant in the eyes of the World Government and Marines that his bounty was only seventeen million Belly.

The 'Pirate Fleet Admiral,' Don Krieg.

Echo casually flew circles around the ships making up Krieg's fleet. A count put it at the expected fifty. However, not all of them were that big. In fact, many of them were hardly bigger than sloops. It looked more like three rather large galleons surrounded by a bunch of smaller craft. It was... less impressive than it seemed on paper. No wonder he wasn't taken seriously. If he planned to head into the Grand Line with a couple of galleons and fleet of sloops, schooners, and a couple of brigs, he was in for a rude awakening.

All it took was asking anyone who'd been to the Grand Line to know you needed an excellent navigator on every ship in order to even hope to survive the weather. Krieg was clearly an idiot if he thought sloops and schooners would survive that treacherous sea.

Echo took care and gently landed on the largest galleon in the fleet. It seemed likely that Krieg, Gin, and Pearl would likely be on it. They were the only three with bounties and totaled thirty-five million Belly. Seventeen for Krieg, twelve for Gin, and just six for Pearl. He wasn't honestly worried about the three of them, compared to his last bounty, a pirate worth seventy-five million who's name he couldn't even remember now, they were trash.

However! He was slightly worried about the other five thousand men within Krieg's crew. He might be able to take out Krieg, Gin, and Pearl without breaking a sweat but dealing with a small army of five thousand men? Despite all of his skills and abilities he was just a single man and far from invincible.

Echo froze as his beady little bird eyes opened in surprise. At least, he was a vulnerable man that could fall to a bullet as easily as any other before yesterday. If he could have, he would have smiled. Smoker's Logia-type Devil Fruit made him invincible in the East Blue. With that thought, Echo flew down to the aft deck of the ship, surprising a crewman there. As the crewman looked at Echo curiously, after all from his point of view a raven had just randomly landed in front of him, Echo rapidly shifted back into his human form then activated Smoker's Devil Fruit.

“WHAT THE HELL?! What are you?!”

Echo looked at the screaming crewman, a man who most likely believed that Devil Fruits were a myth, and grinned, “Just a simple bounty hunter.”

As the man opened his mouth to shout once again, most likely to call out to the rest of the crew, Echo dashed across the short distance between them and drove his fist into the mans face. Teeth and bone shattered in a spray of blood as Echo nearly bashed the man's brains out in that single blow. He calmly walked past the collapsed form of the pirate and looked down the stairs to see another dozen pirates all staring up at him in shock. Feeling cheeky, Echo lifted his hand and waved at them all, “Yo.”

----- Line Break -----

AN

I tried, honestly I did, but this idea just wouldn't leave me the eff alone until I wrote at least some of it down. I figured if I was going to spend time writing it, then you all should get to enjoy reading it. I have no idea if I will post this, but I will likely write a few more chapters to it until the muse leaves me be and lets me focus on my other stories. I want to write a new chapter to Biokinetic damn it!

Now, about this story. The character is, obviously, an OC with a unique Devil Fruit I'm calling the Ekō Ekō no Mi, though the OC has named if the Kopi Kopi no Mi since he has no idea what its real name is. I hope I explained it's ability properly in the story, but just to clarify.

Name: Ekō Ekō no Mi (Currently misnamed as Kopi Kopi no Mi)

Type: Paramecia

Description: The Ekō Ekō no Mi allows the user to copy all the skills and abilities of any individual the user touches. The user can then use those skills and abilities to the same extent that the original individual could. Though the user cannot use more than one individuals abilities at a time, the user can learn to use an individuals learnable skills over time until they no longer need to 'echo' the original.

Limitations:

• The user can only 'echo' one person at a time. Similar to how the user of the Mane Mane no Mi can only use one copied appearance at a time.
• While the user does gain the exact same skill level of the original, they do not gain the originals physique to use those skills thus limiting how long the user can use the copied skills at their maximum power. Overexertion can lead to physical damage to the user. This can be overcome by reaching the appropriate physical level.
• The user gains the same limitations the individual had when copied, even if the user is technically stronger. For Example, say the user copied an individual with a Devil Fruit but no training in using a sword. The user could use the individuals Devil Fruit just fine, but the users own sword skills would be limited by the individual being copied. So the user could be a swordsman on par with Mihawk, but once they use a copied person, their sword skills match the copied person.

So, it's a pretty cool Devil Fruit, but has some clear limitations that don't make it completely and instantly OP. Just strong and flexible. Basically, when he copies someone, he becomes exactly as skilled as that person. IF he copies Mihawk, he's as skilled as Mihawk, but not as strong. Though he can launch a couple of attacks at Mihawk's full strength, more than a couple would cripple him until he healed. If he copies Nami, he's as skilled as her, but physically stronger. Though his own sword skills will plummet at Nami never uses a sword.

I dunno if any of you are One Piece fans, but if you are, let me know what you think. If you aren't, still let me know what you think!

I'm leaving this first chapter open to everyone, just cause. If I write more I'll limit it to the Fanfic Fans tier.

Later!