Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, Eiichiro Oda does.

[NJ]

Neo Justice

[NJ]

In the aftermath of the disastrous Battle of Marineford, many Marines in the World Government's Navy became disillusioned with their superiors' apparent lack of effort in confronting the Four Emperors directly while allowing dangerous Pirates like Crocodile, Gecko Moria, Donquixote Doflamingo, and Marshall D. Teach the means and opportunities to perform more wrongs, even when they should be on the Government's side of all things. With the Absolute Justice believer, Sakazuki, becoming Fleet Admiral and introducing stricter methods to improve the Navy, Zephyr, a onetime Marine Admiral turned training instructor, began to gather a large following in his disgruntlement, and while a similar rising star in the Marines, Monkey D. Luffy, felt concerned how far the now rechristened Zed would go, he nonetheless followed him out of both respect and a desire to handle the Government's corruption once and for all as a Neo Marine.

On the Neo Marines' flagship, the White Tiger, Luffy, having become Zed's second in command upon the group's formation, stood on the deck watching the sea of the New World alongside one of Zed's closest students, Ain, as well as his friends from the Navy, Hina, who was renowned as "Black Cage" with her Cage-Cage Fruit, and Gion, who had enough strength as a Marine to be considered a potential Admiral with the codename "Momousagi".

Seeing Luffy look serious, Ain sighed to herself before saying. "You look unhappy, Vice Admiral. Can I ask what is wrong?"

Showing a half smile at Ain's respect towards him, Luffy answered. "Your old teacher is dead-set on his Grand Reboot plan, Ain. I can't help but feel that my fears are coming true."

"Luffy's not wrong, Ain." Gion inputted before adding. "There has to be a better use of the Dyna Stones than simply destroying the entire New World."

Hina nodded and said. "Hina imagines that bastard Blackbeard would be a better target than any of the Endpoints."

Seeing that Ain was visibly torn between agreeing with their logic and defending her mentor's decisions, Luffy interjected with a dismissive hand. "It's fine, girls. I'll take it up with Admiral Zed a bit more and see how that pans out. He hasn't lost his Humanity yet, and I'd prefer to not make him my enemy."

Ain showed a rare, grateful smile as she nodded. "Thank you, Vice Admiral Luffy. I appreciate that you still wish to hear him out."

Luffy smiled widely as he replied. "Just Luffy is fine, Ain. Now come here." He then brought her into an embrace for a kiss with Hina and Gion giggling at the sight before joining in as well.

[NJ]

Personally, I don't entirely see a Marine Luffy adopting Zed's outlook when things take a downhill, considering my version still makes friends with Warlords and turns wanted criminals into respected soldiers of justice, but this sounded like a good way to pair Luffy with Ain, so you know how that goes.