One Piece: New Life (One Piece fanfic)

[AncientFunOP]

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"Like punch a gigantic whale in the eye?" White suggested with a chuckle.

"Or do that stupid Pinwheel attack and get stuck in concrete!" Leo added with a mischievous grin.

"Not realizing who Sogeking was"

"Or ask Chiffon if she's Bege"

"And then ask her fucking baby if he's Bege!" White and Leo started cackling.

Luffy blushed in embarrassment and cursed them. "Jerks!"


A/N: Hey everyone! Welcome to my first ever fanfic! I've written a long note with what I want to do with this fanfic at the end of the chapter. So, without further ado, happy reading!

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Chapter 1 - Soul Plane​

Luffy was lying on his back with a blank look on his face, staring up into the dark beautiful evening sky littered with numerous stars as he contemplated on how to get out of his current predicament. He had sea stone cuffs on his wrists which apparently sapped his rubber powers, had numerous cuts, burns and bruises all over his body, had been starved for weeks and most importantly he was feeling the effects of the lethal poison he was fed a couple days prior.

He had no idea what to do as he laid there barely able to move his body. If it was an enemy, he could just punch them and if that didn't work, just keep punching them until he won. No matter how badly he got injured, he would just keep fighting until the other person went down. But for poison, he had no idea what he could do. He was already in a weakened state due to cumulative effects of sea stone cuffs, wounds and starvation, but now with the addition of a lethal poison, he didn't see any way out. He was dying and he had no idea how to survive.

Luffy tried to move his head, but barely managed to move it a few centimeters with great effort and he darted his eyes looking around himself to see if he could find anything or anyone that could help him. He was lying on a grassy plain but it wasn't green. Instead, it was dyed red with the blood of all the other dying people lying there just like him. They were all battered, burned, cut, starved, bruised and would soon lose their life, just like him. Most of the others around him were already dead and some of the few that were still alive or relatively uninjured were just staring at nothing and had an empty hollow look in their eyes. Luffy recognized that look. He had seen it on some people in Gray Terminal over the years. The look of someone who had given up on life and were just waiting for death. He didn't like it one bit. He was a firm believer of 'You don't give up on living and fight until the very end'. But he understood why they had that look though. The things he had seen the last few months were unlike anything he had ever seen and realized just how messed up the world truly was. He had thought that the Gray Terminal Fire was bad, but what he had gone through and seen over the last few months was a thousand times worse.

Luffy lifted his gaze back up to the sky after seeing that there was no one around that could help him and saw the top of a magnificent castle to his right. He could also make out sounds of a party going on. Party. Meat. There would be lots of meat there. If only he could somehow move his damn unresponsive body and make his way there! He had been trying for a long time but his body just wouldn't move. Earlier when he was trapped in a solitary cell, he was forcing his body to move even with all the near lethal cuts and slashes, but once that poison was forced down his throat, his body had just locked up. He had been dragged from the cell he was in and thrown onto a wagon with tons of other dead/almost dead people, taken on a little ride to the grassy plain and thrown out into the open where he was currently lying. It was the first he had seen the wide open sky in a few months and thought he could finally make his escape, but he then realized that his body wouldn't move no matter how hard he tried. Over the past two days, he had managed to move only his hand extremely slowly and grab his prized Strawhat which was thrown next to him, and doing just that had taken him a tremendous amount of patience and will.

As he lay there waiting for the last remnants of his life to die out, his mind wandered to the events that had led him here. It had all started a few months after Ace had left on his journey. Makino had shown up at the bandit hideout in the morning one day with that day's newspaper wanting to show a specific article and bounty of a certain fire user.

Ace had finally gotten his first bounty and it was also mentioned that he was the captain of the Spade Pirates. Luffy was of course ecstatic and had immediately called for a celebration. Thus, he, Makino, Dadan and the others all decided to throw a huge party at the hideout and for the party, Luffy felt like eating a huge fish instead of the forest beasts like always, so he had gone out to fish on a boat he borrowed from the one of the village fishermen to hopefully catch a huge fish or a Sea King to satiate his enormous appetite. He had just said 'I'll be back!' to Makino and Dadan before leaving to fish, and that was the last time he had seen either of them.

The small fishing trip was where things had started to go wrong. While fishing, he had dozed off on his boat and by the time he woke up, his boat had drifted somewhere far off as he couldn't see Dawn island anywhere. He had just started rowing in a random direction trusting that he will eventually find his island or come across someone who could help him but unfortunately, he had kept rowing for two days without finding any other person or island. He hadn't packed any food, so he made do with fishing and eating raw fish. He had just kept on rowing with no particular direction in mind and finally on the third day since he left the island, he spotted a ship. It had no Jolly Roger, so they weren't pirates but looked to be a merchant ship or a cruise ship. He didn't care either way as he was more concerned on getting water and food, so had just immediately rocketed himself on to the ship ecstatic at finally having found someone.

He had startled the people on the ship at first as they saw him just suddenly drop out of nowhere onto their ship and seeing his stretchy limbs had just shocked them. But after a short explanation about his devil fruit and how he had gotten lost, they welcomed him on the ship and gave him some food and water. Luffy didn't like them for some reason - the way they looked at him irked him off, but he was way too hungry to care about such stuff. But he changed his opinion that they were nice people when they gave him food and also told him that they would take him home.

What Luffy didn't know, at the time at least, was that the ship he had landed on dealt in slave trading and seeing a devil fruit user literally fall from the sky on to their ship, they were very happy. Plus, he was a rubber human and they were sure that some rich asshole would find that very amusing, so they could sell him and make a huge profit. Seeing the very trusting nature and the hungry Luffy, they just decided to trick him and put some sleeping pills in the food they had given him. As soon as Luffy had fallen asleep, they put sea stone cuffs on him and kept him sedated until they could make the sell.

When Luffy groggily opened his eyes the next time, he found himself in a dark unfamiliar place with cuffs on his hands. The last thing he remembered was finally finding a ship, eating the food they gave him and falling asleep, so he couldn't understand where he was and how he had gotten there, but more importantly his body felt extremely weak. He felt like how he would feel if he fell in to the sea. A few seconds of looking around and he finally realized he was in a mystery cage in a dark room. It was a 'mystery' cage because when he touched the bars, his body felt even more weak and just went limp. He couldn't understand at the time what exactly was happening but he later learned that the cuffs he was wearing and the cage were made with something called Sea stone which would apparently weaken devil fruit users the same way seawater did. He was shocked to find that there was even such a thing in the world.

Luffy had called out for someone but no one came in for a long time. He was in a dark cage all alone, weak, hungry and freezing. He had dozed off again when someone finally did come in and woke him up. It was a man he couldn't see properly and when he had asked what was happening and where he was, all he got in response was mocking laughter. The man then tried to explain that he was apparently a slave now and would spend the rest of his as a plaything for someone but Luffy didn't understand. He was going to be the Pirate King and the Pirate King is the freest man on the seas. So, of course he wasn't going to be someone's slave! The slaver just laughed in his face when he voiced that out.

The rest of the days in enslavement were honestly a blur for Luffy. The sea stone made him sluggish and they gave him very small amounts of food so he was always starving and couldn't understand much of what was going on. A few guys had come in, tried to order him to do a few things which he adamantly refused to do, so they started beating him up, but still Luffy stubbornly refused to do anything they ordered him to do saying that no one can make him do things he didn't want to. A bunch of different people had come in trying to break him, but of course no one succeeded.

The slavers were actually trying to break him and make him lose all hope, so that he would become an obedient slave and then present him to the Celestial Dragons or any of the Royals at that year's Reverie, but the resolute defiance in Luffy's eyes just didn't die no matter what they did. After the first few days, he had just defaulted to a blank look and glared at anyone that got close to him as if challenging them. They thought that if they presented a slave with such a defiant look, it would be their heads which would be rolling, so tried everything they could to make him obey them. Many tried but they all ultimately failed. No one had seen someone like Luffy who just refused to bow down to anyone while also challenging them. They had seen many unresponsive slaves sure, but they would usually be ones who had blank hollow eyes, had given up on life and didn't care what happened to them… but Luffy was different. He didn't lose the fire in his eyes but also didn't obey a single order. They tortured, starved and straight up mauled him almost to death, but he never once did anything they ordered him to do. It was simple at first but when he didn't obey anyone for a week, a couple of slavers took it as a challenge upon themselves to break him and pretty soon, it became a game of sorts among all of them to see who could break him first. So, they made sure to keep him barely alive and made it their mission to break him.

Luffy didn't know anything though. All he knew was some assholes were trying to order him around and hell if he was going to listen to them. He would rather die than obey them and when they did things like press a gun to his forehead threatening to shoot if he didn't do something, he pressed his forehead closer to the gun, looked into their eyes and dared them to shoot. That pissed them off the most though, and would beat him almost to death, but then would treat him just enough to keep him alive. The only times he almost broke was when they offered him food if he did something they ordered, but he had managed to stay strong. Few strong people with strange torture methods had all come in and tried to break him, but he didn't bow down to anyone. He didn't understand why they just didn't kill him and be done with but what he didn't know was that it had become a challenging game for all the slavers.

Luffy saw a lot of strange people during his days in that lonely dark cage. Some rich noble type people, who reminded him a lot of the assholes in Goa, had come in to take a look at him like he was an animal at a zoo, and even some strange people in actual bubble helmets. His hellish daily routine of being tortured broke one day when he had seen and laughed at a woman wearing a bubble helmet saying how funny she looked. That had somehow pissed her off and his life became more hellish from then onward.

The bubble helmet wearing woman had glared at Luffy when he laughed at her and then said some things to the slavers, who bowed down and nodded like a dog to everything she said. And soon, Luffy was finally taken out of the cage and brought to the outside where he finally saw where he was. It was a large underground chamber with multiple cages lined up in multiple rows with all sorts of people inside the cages. As he was dragged along the corridor, he observed all the others in the cages. There were lots of humans but also, for the first time in his life, he saw Fishmen, Animal-like people, people with long legs and long arms, and even one mermaid. And they all had one thing in common. They had a defeated and hollow look in their eyes as if they had given up on life.

He wanted to talk and ask for information from them but he was being dragged by two people with lots of others guarding him, so couldn't do much. He was soon brought into a fancy looking room where the woman in the bubble helmet was sitting with a few other women, also in bubble helmets while soldier like stoic men were standing behind them.

Luffy spent less than a week with the weird bubble helmet wearing woman and her apparent equally weird bubble helmet wearing friends… And the things they did to him during those days were the worst things anyone had done to him since he was caught. They treated him like a rag doll while laughing and giggling the whole time and did unspeakable horrors upon his body and mind. From burning, stabbing, taunting him by throwing food to the ground and telling him lick it off the ground, humiliating him by throwing rotten food on him, making him watch as they ate and wasted food, stepping on him with sharp heels, making him fight other slaves, making him a steed, whipping him and so on….What baffled Luffy the most was when a little girl, barely 10 years old, in a similar bubble helmet and clothes had come in and started stabbing and burning him while taunting him just like the other women, all the while laughing and giggling as if she was playing with toys. He was further baffled when three more children came in and treated him in a similar fashion. Luffy had looked into the eyes of the soldiers holding him down while the women and children did things to him and they all had blank steely looks in their eyes. That was enough for him to understand this was a regular and normal thing for them.

But even with the bubble people, Luffy still didn't obey any order they gave. No matter how much they tortured and taunted him, he took it all without muttering a single word and didn't obey a single thing they ordered him to do. He didn't crawl a single step when they treated him as a steed, he didn't move a single muscle when they asked him to fight other slaves and just let himself get beaten up, he didn't break when delicious looking food was thrown on him and he could smell the delicious food just millimeters away from his mouth. He just felt like he would lose something important if he gave in here, so just wiped the food off, shrugged away the torture and stared defiantly at the bubble people.

And they did not like it one bit. The torment lasted for almost the entire week by the end of which the bubble people were pissed off at him. They called in the slavers and ordered a few things which Luffy could barely hear as his ears were bleeding because of the multiple needles stuck inside them.

The next thing he knew, he was being treated by a few doctors and the slavers actually looked at his body with pity. A couple days later he was told that the bubble women had bought him and he was going to be their property from then on. Luffy didn't know who the bubble people were, but understood that if he was sold to them, the rest of his life was going to be hell. He understood that the only reason he was being treated and kept alive was because the bubble people wanted to break him.

Unfortunately, during that time when he was being treated was also the time that the slavers got a hold of his weakness. One of the doctors who was treating Luffy ended up talking to him like he was a person and Luffy being Luffy, had quickly befriended her. Her name was Kell and she was the first person in months that had talked to him like he was a human being and Luffy, who had been starved for such contact, had happily started talking to her. It was just two days but the doctor was laughing with him as he joked around even in such a messed up situation. When one the slavers saw the scene of Luffy cracking a joke and the doctor laughing at his joke, that doctor's fate was sealed.

A day later when his injuries were not even healed properly, he was brought in a room with a furnace. The bubble woman and her supposed daughter were there along with a few slavers, a couple of whom were standing near the furnace with heated iron rods. Luffy instantly realized he was going to be branded and much to his horror, he wasn't the only one. Kell, the one person who had showed him kindness, was also in the room, on her knees and severely beaten up. Luffy raged as he saw that someone who had just kindly talked to him was now in chains because of him and the slavers finally saw him break.

He struggled against all the men holding him as he screamed in anger when he saw that the slavers were torturing Kell and heard her gut wrenching screams. He was being held down by multiple people so he couldn't do much.

He and Kell were made to kneel side by side while Luffy continued to struggle with all he had to break free, as two guys with heated brands came closer to them while laughing. The brand was a circular symbol with some triangles sticking out at the sides and judging by what the slavers had told him, it was the mark of the bubble people.

Luffy kept struggling as the two guys brought a heated brand close to him and Kell. He saw the bubble woman standing a bit to the side laughing at him and Kell, then looked behind him to see the red hot iron rod, looked at the malicious grin of the guy holding it, heard all the laughing and taunting from the other slavers, then saw the pitiful state of Kell- the one person who had treated him like a human who was now sobbing in agony, and his mind raged in frustration, defiance, powerlessness, fury and finally, he just snapped.

He felt something, a power he had never felt before, burst from within him and get unleashed on his surroundings. He didn't really understand what it was but he instinctively knew it was something powerful, so he just dug deeper and unleashed more of whatever it was that was being released. It was a mysterious force that he felt coursing through his body-no, not his body, but his spirit almost. He didn't understand what was happening but a couple seconds later, the room he was in erupted in chaos. He looked around in confusion and saw people foaming at the mouth and keeling over for no apparent reason. Before he could make sense of why people were falling unconscious, he felt the searing pain of hot iron being dragged across his back. He looked back and found the guy who was about to brand him had also fainted, but while fainting, he had ended up dragging the brand across his back, instead of just pressing it. He looked to his side and saw that Kell had also fainted but luckily the guy who was going to brand her was far enough that it didn't reach her.

He didn't have time to think as the bubble woman and child screamed falling over too, and the soldiers behind them caught the two before they could hit the ground. Luffy looked around the room and found that more than half of the people had fainted for some reason. He didn't understand what was happening but he saw his chance to escape. He grabbed Kell and dashed to the door in all the chaos as the ones who were still conscious were trying to look around for the enemy that had seemingly made half the people in the room collapse.

Luffy burst out of the room while carrying Kell and started running in a random direction as he had no idea how the place was structured. He tried to wake Kell up, but she had fallen unconscious too. Whatever power had affected the slavers in the room had also affected her apparently. Seeing no help from the doctor, he went to the first cage he saw and banged on it trying to get the person's attention, but he was unresponsive. He went around to the other cages too, but no one gave him a response other than a simple uninterested glance. He yelled at them in frustration but no one responded. The other slavers were quickly alerted and thus began the chase. Luffy ran around causing chaos in the underground space with slavers chasing after him. He looked for a kitchen or any place where he could find food to fill his stomach first and get his energy back, but couldn't find any place where they kept food. He kept asking the people in the cages for help but not one person did anything more than spare him a glance.

Luffy had been starved for months with only morsels of food thrown at him now and then, so he had no energy to fight an entire slave base. He was already in a very weakened state because of sea stone, torture and starvation, so couldn't keep running for long. And with the burden of carrying another person, he couldn't put up much of a fight and was soon caught. A bunch of nets made of sea stone were thrown on him, and his first escape attempt failed.

For some reason though, the slavers had been trying to capture him and made damn sure not to kill him, which confused Luffy. He and Kell were brought to a room where all the slavers had also gathered and Luffy thought they were going to continue the branding but he could see that the slavers themselves were insanely terrified for some reason Luffy didn't understand. They were apparently waiting for the bubble woman to regain consciousness in another room.

A few hours later where the slavers had looked like they were waiting for a death verdict, one of the soldiers guarding the bubble woman walked in the room and told them that their master- the bubble woman, had lost interest in doing business with the slavers and as a result, lost interest in buying Luffy too. He then proceeded to kill a few of the slavers, who Luffy later learned were the leaders of the slaver group, while the rest stayed still not doing anything, which baffled Luffy. The soldier killed pretty much all the slavers who were in the room during the branding and a few more, and then just left. Luffy later learned that the leaders were all killed because they had let the bubble woman get hurt while in their facility.

Kell hadn't woken up even after the bubble woman and their soldiers went away and she was separated from him and taken somewhere. Luffy, on the other hand, was enslaved again and put in a solitary cage and the slavers that were still left alive were extremely pissed off at him for causing their leaders to be killed. They didn't really know who had caused the people in the room to faint but since it had happened during his branding, they all blamed Luffy.

So, instead of killing him like the bubble woman had apparently ordered, they hid him deciding to make him an example and prolong his torture for as long as possible before killing him. From then on, his torture was tripled and was also done in front of an audience. He would be dragged in the middle of the other cages and tortured in front of the other slaves to serve as an example to what happens to disobedient slaves. This was a boon to Luffy though as he wasn't in solitary confinement anymore and could see more people, no matter how uncooperative they were.

Luffy also saw that Kell was now in a cage too, battered and bruised with a hollow look in her eyes. He had caught her eyes a few times but she always averted her gaze, seemingly not wanting to acknowledge him. He realized she was probably mad at him as he was the reason she was made a slave in the first place, and felt extremely guilty.

Two weeks later, Luffy led his second escape attempt, this time more successful than the last time, but this too had ultimately failed. He had freed a lot of slaves including Kell and it was a glorious escape attempt in which a lot of slavers had lost their lives. Luffy had managed to help Kell and a few others escape but unfortunately, he himself wasn't able to escape successfully.

And that seemed to be the last straw as the remaining slavers who were still alive gave up on breaking Luffy. Even with the increased torture, not once had he obeyed them, so they didn't think he was ever going to break, so decided it was time to kill him. They also didn't want to see him do something like what he did during the second escape attempt again. So, they lethally poisoned him, and threw him into a death pit with other slaves. He was told that he wouldn't be able to move his body because of the poison and it would slowly kill him over several days. They wanted him to die a slow agonizing death for all the trouble he had caused them and they made sure to let Luffy know that.

And so, that's how Luffy had ended up in the impromptu graveyard of slaves. He didn't see Kell nor the other slaves he had broken out during his second escape attempt again, but he was sure they had escaped, so hoped they were safe somewhere.

Luffy stared at the sky full of stars reminiscing the past few months and it was finally settling in that no one could help him anymore and he would die here. He couldn't believe that he would die before even starting his journey… before he even had a chance to chase his dream.

"Let's live without regrets"

He apologized to Ace because he had broken that promise as he regretted his current situation.

"I'll gather an amazing crew better than yours…"

He darted his eyes to his side where his greatest treasure, his Strawhat was sitting right next to him covered in smears of blood. When Luffy had woken up the first time in a cage, he only had his clothes and his hat on him. In a moment of clarity, he had realized that he couldn't let the slavers know that he had anything precious on him. The only reason he could oppose them as much as he did was because he had nothing to lose except his life. If he let it slip that his hat was his greatest treasure and was precious to him, they would obviously use it against him. So, he had never once said anything about his hat and acted casual about it. And looked like they just threw his hat away with him too.

"….and I'll become the Pirate King!"

He stared at the hat and apologized to Shanks that he couldn't keep his promise of returning his hat to him after becoming a great pirate.

"It's my treasure tab. I'll pay my tab with all the treasure I get when I become the Pirate King"

"I'll never do the chores. The Pirate King doesn't do chores!"

He remembered all the others who mattered to him- Makino, Dadan, Dogra, Mogra and the other bandits, Gramps, Sabo… He apologized to each one of them for unfulfilled promises.

Luffy kept staring at the star studded sky as he felt his life slipping away. His eyes slowly closed as his time ran out and the man who would have become the Pirate King, the man who would have become the freest man ever, the man who would have flipped the world upside down, the man who would have become the most influential figure in history, the man who would have saved many lives and inspired generations of dreamers, the man who would have brought hope into the lives of millions, the man who would have been the ray of sunshine in this dark fucked up world…died.



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Luffy slowly opened his eyes and laid his eyes on what looked like faint purplish clouds. He sat up looking around in confusion and found that he was in…a void of blackness with purple streams of clouds all around the vast void in a chaotic manner. He also found that he was also sitting on mass of purple cloud and when he touched it, it almost evaporated in his hands. It took a moment for him to realize that he had just been lying in an impromptu graveyard of dead people where he was also dying but suddenly he somehow found himself in this space. He looked down at himself and saw he was dressed in his signature red vest and blue jeans with his hat also on his head. His clothes that had torn off long ago were now somehow perfectly fine. So, he was dressed in his favorite clothes in a seemingly purplish black void with no memory of ever getting there.

"Hello?!" he yelled hoping to catch anyone's attention. And thankfully, he got a response.

"Ugh, where the hell am I?" he heard someone groaning from behind him.

Luffy quickly turned around and saw the back of another person. It was a man wearing a red hoodie and was sitting down with his back to him. He saw the man looking around in confusion too and so called out again "Hey"

The man turned around and Luffy studied him with interest. He had black curly hair, dark round eyes, slightly angular face with a small scar running down his chin. He was wearing a red hoodie with the word 'Freedom' emblazoned across it and black jeans. The man also studied him carefully as Luffy studied him and he too wore a confused look on his face.

"Umm…Hi? Where am I?" the man muttered after a couple of seconds.

"No idea. Just woke up here"

"Me too. Can't see anyone else other than the 2 of us here…" he trailed off staring at Luffy intensely.

Luffy tilted his head in confusion at his stare "What's wrong?"

Still staring at him intensely, his lips curled up into a smile as he smirked and said "Heh. You look a lot like Luffy"

"Oh? You know me?"

"….what?" the man blinked in bewilderment.

Luffy again tilted his head in confusion. The man apparently knew him somehow but he had never seen him in his life.

"You just said my name. I am Luffy. How do you know me?"

The man just stared at him not saying anything as if he had been given some life altering news, which only further confused Luffy.

"Who are you?" Luffy asked after a few seconds of getting no response from the stranger.

On reflex, the man said "Oh. I'm Leo…wait, that's not important! You said you're Luffy and you look like him too. Hmm… I'm not dreaming, I already pinched myself…hmmmm" he said the last part to himself with a contemplative look on his face.

Luffy frowned, not understanding this man called Leo and decided to change the topic. "So, any idea where we are?"

"Hmm… No idea. Last thing I remember is being in a motorcycle accident and slowly bleeding to death with my limbs cut off…" he trailed off but then shrugged, "So random guess? I'm in a vegetative state and my mind is making this up"

"Ooh I was dying too. And what's vegetable state?…and what do you mean by your mind making this up?…Ah! Is this like Uta's power?!"

"Wow. Great going, my mind" Leo chuckled, "You are so Luffy-like…And what do you mean by Uta's power? What's her power?"

Luffy decided to ignore his beginning rambling and answered his question "Uta said that her mind can make up worlds when she sings"

"Make up worlds? The hell does that mean?"

"No idea. But I've been in her world before. She could fly and make amazing tasty food!"

"Huh…the movie isn't released yet, so I don't know her powers. So, my mind is making up random stuff?" Leo questioned with a pondering look.

Luffy frowned not understanding what he was rambling about, "You're confusing…"

"Hey, I'm just as surprised as you by all this!"

"Well, how do you know me?"

"Why wouldn't I know you? I've been watching you for over a decade now. I fucking love One Piece and love you as a character… We're kinda similar you know, so I guess I just click a lot with you. If I lived in a world such as yours, I'm pretty sure I would set out to be a Pirate King too" Leo said happily.

Luffy didn't understand most of his words but he concentrated on the 'I love One Piece' part.

"Wait…you love the One Piece? That means you found it already?! Doesn't that mean you're already the Pirate King?!"

"…umm no no wait wait. I don't know what the One Piece is exactly. Although there are lots of theories…" Leo trailed off contemplatively with a hand on his chin.

Luffy was even more confused now. Leo was making no sense. His face scrunched up as he crossed his arms and attempted to process what Leo was saying. 'He loves the One Piece. But doesn't know what it is. We're similar? He wants to be Pirate King too. Damn, another rival! But, he knows me from somewhere. He's been watching me over for a decade? How? How does he know me? Did I meet him somewhere?…' Thankfully, before steam could start rising out of his head from thinking too much, another voice popped up.

"Oh! What's this? What's this?" came a very excited voice from seemingly nowhere. Leo and Luffy started looking around to see where the voice was coming from but couldn't find anyone.

Suddenly, streams of white light came out of seemingly nothing and coalesced into a white humanoid body. The new 'person', if it could even be called that, had no physical or facial features except for a thin line where his mouth was supposed to be.

"Whoa, a ghost!" Luffy exclaimed with excitement.

"Ooh, Truth from Full metal Alchemist" Leo grinned wide, "Wow, my mind sure is a great place… But why Truth though? I want Winry or Edward to show up"

Luffy went silent not knowing what the heck Leo was talking about but since he seemed to recognize the figure, he waited to see what the ghost was going to say. Meanwhile, the white figure just studied Leo and Luffy for a few moments before gasping, "Ooh I know what's happening! It's the Same Soul Resonance effect"

"The what?" Luffy and Leo asked.

"Same soul resonance. Very rare but it happens once in a billion years or so…" Still seeing the blank look on Leo and Luffy's faces, the white figure continued, "It happens when the same soul dies in two different universes at around the same meridian at the same point in time while on the same axis"

There was a brief silence as the two didn't understand anything the white figure said.

"…So what you're saying is…we're not in my mind?" Leo finally asked breaking the silence.

"No, we're not"

"Huh…who are you then? You look like Truth"

"Don't know what you mean by truth, but I'm just a being living in a higher dimension compared to yours. Just call me White. I was just passing by when I felt a strange vibration from this direction so decided to check it out. And I found you two trapped here"

"I don't get anything" Luffy whined completely lost on what the ghost was saying and gave up on figuring out what was happening. He just waited to see if Leo or White would explain it in simpler terms.

Leo, on the other hand, seemed to understand at least a bit of what White had said as he looked like he was thinking and after a while, finally said "Okay, a few questions. First, you're a being from a higher dimension? How does that wo-….you know what, I'm sure whatever you say will go right over my head"

"Smart" White said giving a thumbs up.

Leo then pointed at himself and Luffy "Okay so you're telling me that we're both souls from different universes who are dead?"

"Almost dead. You're just outside the Soul Plane. Soul Plane is where souls from every universe go after they die. Both of your souls were ascending to the Soul Plane at the same time and axis, so your souls resonated with one another and kinda trapped you in this buffer space just outside the Soul Plane. It's just a temporary phenomenon, so no need to worry. The resonance effect will pass in a few hours and you'll ascend to the Soul Plane completely and truly die"

"I see" Leo nodded his head sagely. "So we are in fact dead… and also we're both also from different universes huh?"

"Yep"

"So this is like the afterlife?" Luffy asked.

"Pretty much yeah"

"And we're from different universes?" Luffy asked confused.

"Different world? Different reality?" Leo offered hoping he could understand that.

"So…Like an alert real tea?"

"…Alternate reality yes" Leo said sweat dropping.

"Wow! That's so cool! Sabo told me about such a story once!" Luffy exclaimed with shining eyes.

Leo looked at Luffy with amusement before pointing at him and turning to White, "So why is Luffy here?"

"He's dead too obviously" White stated simply.

"No no I mean, why is Luffy, the fictional character here?"

"Hey! I'm not fictional!" Luffy protested.

"Fictional?" White looked confused before he went up to Leo and touched his forehead. He gave a yelp of surprise, then immediately went to Luffy and touched his forehead too before he started laughing maniacally. "PFFTTT… OH BOY! THIS IS AMAZING! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Leo and Luffy just sat there staring at the cackling humanoid madman, then looked at each other, shrugged conveying that they had no idea why he was laughing and then focused their gazes back on White. After a full minute, White finally composed himself.

"Explain. Now." Leo demanded

"Okay okay Pfft.., Now that I got that out of my system, let me explain. You guys are both from vastly different worlds with different world histories, physical rules, and much more. As a small and simple example, in your world-", White pointed to Leo, "The landmass split into 7 and formed the 7 continents you know of", then pointing at Luffy he continued, "While in your world, the land mass just formed a sort of ring around the world and formed the Red Line," he then pointed to both of them, "But you're both essentially the same souls."

"How can we both be the same?" Luffy asked. He barely understood any of his words, so concentrated on things he could understand.

"Every soul has to be born in every iteration of the universe. Yours just happened to be born in a world where the Red Line, Grand line and Devil fruits exist, and Leo just happened to be born in a world with 7 continents, the technology is mass produced and the world is connected… But essentially, you are the same soul. Just born in different worlds… If that's still too hard to understand, just imagine two worlds - One in which you love meat and the other in which you love tangerines but everything else is the same. Both versions of you die and come here and the only difference in your lives would be your favorite food. That's easier to imagine as you guys being the same soul right? Now imagine the same thing but with instead of just a single difference in your lives, your whole lives are different with the land masses, world history, ancestry, parents and a lot of others things being so different to the point where you're even named differently. But you're still the same soul"

"I see. So multiverse theory is real huh? And also every piece of fiction ever written is real somewhere out there huh" Leo breathed in awe and a bit of horror thinking about some of the messed up stuff he had read.

"Not every piece of fiction. I saw some stories in your world from your memories that are pretty out there which make no sense. Like for example, there are some characters in some comics which are the personifications of Death, Time, Universe. That's just inaccurate in any sense of reality. Plus entropy also plays a role. In Leo's world, devil fruits just aren't possible because the world is stabler and physics isn't that malleable. But in Luffy's world, physics is relatively more loose, thus making stuff like Devil fruits and Haki possible"

Leo nodded sagely at that. Some stories introduced God too so such stories couldn't possibly exist.

"So, I'm Luffy in another universe huh" Leo trailed off staring at Luffy in awe. "And this guy is the Luffy…Wow…"

Luffy of course still didn't understand. "I still don't get it. If I understood correctly, you're saying we're both from different worlds right? But then, why do you know me? If we're in different worlds, you shouldn't know me. And why do you keep calling me fictional?" he asked with a puzzled look on his face. He clearly hadn't understood a majority of the things that were said, and had just latched onto simple concepts like they were from different worlds.

Leo chuckled at that. "Because in my world, there's a comic book called One Piece where the main protagonist- Monkey D. Luffy sets out to sea to achieve his dream of becoming the Pirate King!" Leo declared reverentially. "I was an avid fan and watched your journey up till Wano!"

Luffy's eyes widened with shock as he gaped at Leo with disbelief.

White hastily added, "And that's the funny part here! This same soul resonance has happened before for others, but they were in fairly similar worlds or some in widely different worlds too. But, I have never seen or even heard of a situation where one person's world is a fictional story in the other! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH"

"I'm a comic book character?… Wow! SO COOL!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly with shining eyes but did a complete 180 a second later as his face scrunched up in confusion, "But wait… I didn't even set out yet. So, how come you saw my journey? I died before I reached 17"

"WHAT!?" Leo yelled shocked, "How old are you right now?! How did you die?!"

"I'm 15. Some mean guys kidnapped me and kept me locked up for a long time. They beat me up everyday and tried to make me a slave. I obviously didn't listen to a single thing they said, and a couple days ago, they just fed me some poison and threw me out in a pit… where I died"

"There are multiple iterations of your world" White explained, "Multiverse theory, remember. In some other world, that world's Luffy already set out and had all the adventures that is described in the comic book from Leo's world. In your specific world, you died before you even started your journey"

"No fair!" Luffy whined with a pout.

Leo, on the other hand, was having a mental breakdown "…Oh no… Your world is doomed. So many people die because you're not there…" He teared up thinking about all the people Luffy helps throughout his journey and buried his face in his hands. "Oh god, what will happen to Nami? Robin? Brook? All the countries you save? Oh god…Oh no…"

Seeing Leo tearing up, Luffy got alarmed and also curious about his supposed journey, "What happens?"

Leo, with tears running down his face, began "You affect and save sooo many lives, you know. First off, all your crew mates. They didn't have such good lives before you dropped in. You save them one by one, bringing hope in to their lives…", Leo started remembering most of the crew's backstories and felt even more sad. After taking a moment to calm himself, he continued, "…And that's just your crew. You go on to save so many countries and the people you befriended along the way. And oh god, Ace and Sabo! They both would be devastated!"

Luffy was feeling extremely bad now. He apparently would have ended up making a lot of friends and they are in trouble judging by what Leo said. He felt guilt rising up in his chest as he had let them all down. Ace and Sabo would be sad too… And Sabo?… Wait Sabo?

"Wait, Sabo? He's already dead. Why would he be devastated?"

"Ah no no, Sabo's still alive. You'll find out- would have found out- in the future. He has lost his memories so that's why he hadn't contacted you guys yet. He would have come to meet you after he gets his memories back because of Ace's de-…." Leo stopped himself before he went further realizing what he was about to say. 'He doesn't know his crew and the future yet, so it shouldn't affect him that much, but he knows Ace. If he realized Ace dies, then he would lose it. Let's not burden him with such knowledge just before he dies.'

Thankfully Luffy was still caught on the fact that Sabo was alive to realize Leo's slip up. "That's great! Now, Ace won't be all alone! He still has Sabo!"

'Still thinking about others uncaring of his own death.' Leo thought with a small smile.

"Tell me more!" Luffy excitedly perked up after sometime. "I'm not gonna live it, but I still want to know my adventure!"

White clapped his hands getting both their attention. "If you want to, you can just share your memories. Just touch each other's forehead and the memories will flow to the other person."

Luffy was curious about this other world and the supposed comic book about his own life story, so he was up for it and nodded instantly looking excitedly at Leo, but Leo was a bit hesitant. He didn't want to burden Luffy with knowing about all the lives depending on him in his last moments as he would obviously feel extremely guilty for letting them all down and Ace's death was also a factor. Seeing his hesitant look, White spoke up "It's his life. He has the right to know"

"But…"

"If you're thinking that I would feel guilty because I let down all my crew and all the people I save, then you're right. But I don't care. It's my responsibility, and I did let them down. At least let me know who they are"

Leo looked stunned at Luffy before his lips curled up into a smile. 'Damn idiot is so perceptive when it comes to people.'

He thought about it for a second more and looking at Luffy who gave him a serious reassuring smile, he sighed and agreed to it albeit a bit reluctantly.

They both moved forwards and brought their foreheads together. A yellow spark of electricity passed at the point of contact as all memories of each person flowed into the other and they slumped down the next second. Each of them experienced the other's complete life in that single instant.



—



Even though Leo already knew of Luffy's childhood from the story, it was an entirely different experience of feeling and living it. He felt the fear when Garp threw him in a tiger's den or tied him up to weather balloons or threw him in ravines… He felt the loneliness of his life before Shanks, the joy of being around Shanks and Uta, the pain when Uta didn't show up and he thought she died, the hopelessness he felt when Shanks lost his arm because of him, his resolve of being the greatest pirate, the loneliness after Shanks left, joy of meeting Ace and Sabo…

Leo felt every punch Porchemy gave Luffy with the spiked gloves and experienced the thoughts that went through his mind where he kept thinking that Ace and Sabo would never become his friends if he spoke. He felt the joy when the two finally accepted him, all the sparring and playing around, declaring their dreams on top of the cliff, becoming brothers by exchanging sake cups…

He felt the burning heat from the Gray Terminal Fire and the despair of knowing Ace was lost somewhere in there… He felt the pain of losing Sabo…

He lived and experienced the rest of his life, conversations that were never shown, stories that were never told, experiences that were never mentioned… So many things had happened in Luffy's life on Dawn that was never shown and Leo got an entirely new understanding of Luffy. He saw his growth from being a crybaby to his current self and was awed by it. Luffy was a very unique individual whose thought processes was very different from what Leo himself knew and experiencing all of Luffy's thoughts and views on many matters gave him a deeper understanding of how Luffy worked.

Leo also experienced all the training Luffy put himself through and Leo could also now do everything Luffy could do. His physical strength wouldn't change obviously, but techniques, battle tactics and mental discipline was all now integrated into Leo, and he truly realized that Luffy was a genius in battle.

And when he experienced what Luffy experienced when the slavers had caught him and tortured him endlessly for months, he lost it and started screaming and tearing up in pain, rage and sadness.



—



Luffy was awed by Leo's life. His world was very different and seeing Leo's perspective and growth as he went through his life was a fantastic experience for Luffy. Leo was an orphan who grew up in an orphanage until he was 18 when he finally got his own job and a place to live in. Leo had to grow up very quick as he had no one to depend on for monetary matters nor take care of him. Luffy had never really thought much of money as he just stole it, but in Leo's life, it was everything.

His world also had compulsory education, so Luffy also experienced school life and learned all the things he had never gotten a chance to learn in his own life. Math and Science which Luffy never understood other than the basic elementary stuff, he could now understand because Leo understood it. He learned the history and geography of their world, marveled by how they already had a world map using satellites and were even mapping the universe! The everyday technology which connected a majority of the world fascinated Luffy.

The internet and smartphones were mind boggling inventions that gobsmacked Luffy. All those functions in that tiny device with all the information in the world, access to tons of content from news to entertainment, movies, shows, video calling, social media apps, forums, chat rooms, music videos, comedy skits, science experiments, cat videos…too many things across various topics to experience and pretty much anyone in Leo's world could access all that. And all the internet and meme culture was amazing to Luffy.

In Leo's personal life, he was a born leader. Even when he was as young as 9 years old, he would take charge to take care of the younger kids in his orphanage. He was active in school activities, taking charge in organizing events and also a people person. He made lots and lots of friends, helping them out any chance he got. He also read a lot. Be it fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, politics, science or philosophy - Leo dabbled in a wide variety of genres. Luffy never had any interest in reading because it seemed boring, but experiencing reading through Leo's memories gave Luffy an entirely new perspective.

And then there were the tons of TV shows and movies Leo watched. The amount of entertainment in his world was baffling as nothing like that was ever present in Luffy's world, at least not on Dawn Island. And Leo loved watching all sorts of shows, movies and anime. All the different lore and concepts of different fictional worlds amazed Luffy. It was like going on an adventure in different worlds which he absolutely loved.

One of the other things that Luffy absolutely loved about Leo's life was that he was a musician! Leo could play the piano and guitar very well and was very interested in music. He participated in school and local musical competitions and even won a few times. He went on to do Masters in Music in college too. He minored in human psychology as he was interested in that too but he had mainly wanted to make a career in music. He had planned to join a Music firm to make soundtracks for different movies/shows and eventually become a Music Coordinator but unfortunately had died before he could do anything serious.

Then came Leo's dating life. Luffy never really paid any romantic attention to girls and didn't even really understand what sex was, but going through Leo's dating life was an…interesting experience to say the least. Leo dated a few girls before finding the love of his life - Serena. She was a classmate at school and they had started off as friends which had soon evolved into something more. And Luffy experienced falling in love through Leo's memories, which was extremely weird. They dated for three years from when Leo was 17 to 20 and the two had a fantastic relationship. But then tragedy struck as Serena died…and that started Leo's destructive years, which Luffy absolutely hated to experience.

Leo was lost and depressed after she died and he had spiraled into drugs, alcohol, sex, and just didn't care much about life anymore. Experiencing all those dark feelings and moments during this part of Leo's life made Luffy uncomfortable, angry, sad, sympathetic and he experienced loneliness again. He lost most of his friends and it was a horrible time in his life… and Luffy experienced everything as if it was his own life.

Thankfully, Leo was able to come out of his destructive spiral after 18 months and chose to be better. He reformed himself, got clean, started paying more attention to his education and career, and was doing a very good job. Sadly, a year after he changed his life for the better, at age 22, he died in a motorcycle accident.

And the main thing that had initiated this whole thing- the comic book and anime about his own life. Seeing himself in a comic book was surreal to say the least. Seeing himself animated on TV was even more surreal. One Piece was Leo's favorite so he read the manga, watched the anime, laughed his ass off at the funny bits, bawled his eyes out at the sad bits, got angry at specific characters (for good justifiable reasons. Fuck you, Spandam!), went on forums to discuss the story, theorized what happens next, argued with people who just didn't get the story, bought merch… Leo was obsessed with One Piece and he loved Luffy. And loving himself as if he was a different person was the strangest experience ever.

Luffy saw his own would-have-been adventure in the form of a comic book and an anime with awe, reacting to it like it was just a fictional story. It wasn't finished yet as when Leo died, the manga was still ongoing. The latest chapter showed Luffy facing off against Kaido in Wano and he had unlocked Gear 5.

As he went through his own adventure from Alvida's ship to Wano, Luffy felt extreme levels of guilt building up in his chest. He now understood what Leo meant by him affecting and saving so many lives, and he cursed himself for letting them all down. His world was fucked up to say the least and he now understood so many things and knew of so many secrets of the world. And so many mysteries too! He thought he understood that the world was much more crueler when he was being tortured, but seeing all the things that happened in the story gave him a much better understanding of his own world.



—


Living an entire person's life in an instant had left Luffy staring off into space in a daze as he processed all the memories, while it had left Leo also in a similar daze before the memories of the enslavement got processed and he got reduced to a writhing and angry mess.

"…Haaah…haaah…those fucking…Celestial Dragons! I want to fucking eviscerate them!" Leo roared panting hard bringing Luffy back to his senses and finally see Leo trembling and suffering in pain.

"Are you okay?" Luffy worriedly asked making him sit up and trying to calm him down.

"Yeah yeah…Just…not much of a fighter in my world you know. So all that horrible training you put yourself through, your grandpa put you through and then the enslavement…the memories of pain erupted all at once all over my body… It just made me lose my mind a bit, that's all"

"Shishishishi yeah, all you did was watch and read stuff. The most you did was walk in terms of physical activities"

"Hey! My world didn't require me to be strong. I could get by on my brain alone!"

"You didn't even travel anywhere. All you did was stay in a couple of cities" Luffy whined. "I wanted to see Europe and Japan and all those amazing places you saw on videos…But you never traveled anywhere"

"Hey! I couldn't afford to go on adventures as I wished! People need money where I'm from! Not like I can steal from the Gray Terminal, or raid other evil pirates for money or just find a city of gold!"

"Shishishi! Yeah, your world sucks in that!"

Leo just shrugged agreeing with that statement but then suddenly realizing something, looked at Luffy with a horrified expression "P-Please tell me you didn't get the memories of my entire life…."

"Yep. Experienced everything"

"Oh no" Leo breathed in horror burying his head in his arms.

"Shishi it's okay, it's okay. You watched porn, so what?"

"Oh god no!"

"And had a lot of sex with a lot of girls. So much drugs too"

"Ohh gods nooo…" Leo grumbled with a blushing red face having all his embarrassing moments laid bare in front of Luffy. Luffy was like a hero to him and showing him all his embarrassing, weak and dark moments was definitely mortifying as hell.

"Man, so much se-"

"Ugh please stop talking" Leo shut Luffy up by covering his mouth. He then angrily turned on White, "You asshole! Why the hell didn't you tell me all my memories would get transferred?! I only wanted to show him stuff about the story!"

"Ehh you never asked…" White whistled innocently.

"Shishishishi"

"You bastard! Don't laugh! I got your memories too you know! I know all your embarrassing moments too! Like how you asked Dadan why your dick got hard in the mornings!"

Luffy gasped turning a bit red as he now understood just how embarrassing a situation that actually was.

"And let's not forget 'the Talk' Ace gave you! HAHAHA! Man, Ace sure was blushing and struggling to give you the birds and the bees. He was being so awkward and you were so stupid that you didn't even understand anything and kept asking stupid questions making him more flustered! Man, poor Ace!"

Luffy went even more red and before he could rebuke, Leo continued, "And then the next day, you started staring at the those girls in Goa!"

Luffy finally lost it and began defending himself, "I just stared unconsciously because I was curious about what Ace had talked about! That's all!"

"But you did stare!"

"Grr…what about you huh?! You and Serena did so much freaky stuff with each other! And after she was gone? You spiraled into even more with so many other girls!"

"Hey! Don't bring up a man's destructive years! I agree I went off the rails then!"

"Ah yeah…Sorry. You're right, I won't bring up those 18 months of your destructive spiral" Luffy said with pity before he started arguing again, "But what about before huh?! You and Serena had a sinful amount of sex!"

"Well, at least I did have sex, you virgin idiot!"

"I'm just 15! Even you lost your virginity at 16!"

"Well not like you were gonna lose it any time soon either!"

"Grr… I had a damn good reason!"

"Yeah," Leo suddenly calmed down and looked contemplatively at Luffy, "Well, going by your past, you choose not to romantically think of girls huh? Judging by how you didn't even bat an eye at Hancock, the logical conclusion was that you were asexual but you had a very valid and complex reason as to why you never bothered with romance or girls huh?"

Luffy also calmed down, "Yeah. Wonder why Oda never included that tidbit from my childhood in the story"

"He did say he won't show any romance in the story…But who cares? Now that you understand how sex really works, would you have broken the promise you made to yourself to never think of girls romantically?"

"What do you think?"

"Of course not"

"Yeah. Now that I know about Rouge too, there is no way I'm ever breaking that promise I made to myself"

"Yeah makes sense and choosing not to think of girls romantically is as easy as pie for you…which is also unique…" Leo trailed off staring at Luffy, "You are way more complex than you let on, you know. Sure, you don't understand complex things like science and stuff but that's just knowledge. Wisdom wise, you're really smart. And you experience self-doubt and fear just like any other person, but just never let it show…The manga didn't really delve into inner monologues, so you always seemed like this fearless infallible captain who can do anything…but you're just like everyone else. A very special and unique way of thinking with a lot of optimism sure, but…you're still human"

Luffy rubbed his head sheepishly, "Yeah well, if the story me was anything like me, he couldn't allow himself to show weakness. I'm the captain, so it's my job to reassure my crew and be a rock they can lean on. If I showed fear and doubt, I can never be a captain…I have to constantly keep the crew happy too"

Leo smiled nodding and agreeing with him. "As I said, you're stupid in knowledge sure but you are a people person"

"Yeah… and the fight with Usopp was something I had never imagined happening with one of my crewmates…" Luffy said with sadness laced in his voice, "I always thought the crew I made would never fight among themselves seriously…Guess I broke and matured a bit then huh?"

"Yeah… that was heart breaking to watch… I can't even imagine your emotions during that time…"

"Yeah well, now I'll never know…" Luffy trailed off sadly.

Deciding that moping like this wasn't going to do anything, Leo quickly changed the topic. "It was surreal to actually live your life you know" Leo began, "Gramps sure didn't hold back while training you and the 'Fist of Love' actually hurts a lot!"

"Oh yeah it hurts so much" Luffy whined rubbing his head unconsciously. He also thought that crying about the current situation wasn't going to help anyone, so just decided to chat more.

"And your dream?!" Leo exclaimed with a broad excited smile, "It's amazing!"

"Why was that even a secret in the first place?"

"Thematically, it makes for an amazing reveal! I can only imagine the panel Oda would've written your dream with. I'm sure it would have been glorious!"

"Shishishishi yeah!"

"Also, Uta? She's the one who kinda inspired you to even think about a dream huh?"

"Yeah… I got the idea of creating a New Genesis from her. I wanted to do something like that too and I came up with that dream… Roger also had the same dream huh? That's surreal"

"Yep…And her power? She can sing and pull your soul into her world while your real body is asleep huh? That's one insane power"

"Yeah but why is she just a movie character? She's very important to my childhood and she isn't even canon?" Luffy asked with a frown.

"I think Oda mentioned that she is canon and the events that happened in your childhood is canon, but the movie itself would be non-canon"

"So she wouldn't have ever shown up in front of me in the future?"

"Naguri is real," White suddenly popped up in between them startling both as they had forgotten he was even here.

"Wow White…Sorry, I had forgotten you were here" Leo apologized sheepishly.

"Yeah sorry White. We were just too lost in each other's memories"

"It's fine it's fine" White waved it off dismissively.

"So what do you mean Naguri is real?" Leo asked.

"Naguri was a filler anime character right?"

"Oh yeah!" both exclaimed in unison. Naguri was the old man the ASL brothers had met in Gray's Terminal who had trained them for a while. But he was an anime only character so basically filler. But in Luffy's reality, he had actually met Naguri, so that might mean the other fillers could have been real too.

"So fillers are real too? Like Apis and the Dragon? Rainbow Mist? They don't make sense in the context of the world though. Dragons in East Blue? And a space-time loop? They just don't make sense"

"Yeah don't know about Dragons in East Blue but Rainbow Mist is probably not real" White replied with a hand on his chin.

"What? You don't know? Shouldn't you be an omnipotent being?" Luffy asked.

"I'm a higher dimensional being. I'm not a God…There are trillions of universes out there, so of course I'm not gonna bother learning about all of them. Do you learn everything about every single cell in your body? No, right? It's the same for me. The only things I know about your world is what I saw from both your memories just now"

"Ah I see, makes sense" Leo and Luffy both nodded sagely.

"So what does fillers have to do with Uta showing up or not?" Luffy asked getting back to the main topic.

"Just saying that the manga doesn't represent your world. Fillers don't have any effect on the manga story but if the fillers are real, then they will definitely have an effect on the rest of the story. So, manga isn't canon in your reality."

"Ahh I see" Luffy nodded sagely, "So movies and fillers would have all happened too in one way or another and what happens in the manga wouldn't necessarily have happened the way they did either"

"Yep!"

"Damn, Luffy now understands things huh? Just a few minutes ago, you were calling alternate reality as 'alter real tea' PFFHAHA!"

"Jerk!" Luffy yelled dope-slapping him.

Leo kept up his mischievous grin and continued, "You know, the more time I get to go through your memories, the more they're feeling like my memories"

Luffy nodded agreeing with him, "Yeah, me too. It's feeling more and more like my memories now"

"Exactly. So~" Leo drawled mischievously, "If you think about it…You just lost your virginity!"

Luffy went beet red and lunged at Leo intent of beating him up. Already expecting it, Leo jumped out of the way and started running around trying to escape his punches. Luffy in turn chased him, all the while Leo cackled with laughter and Luffy used a few choice words from Leo's world. This went on for a few minutes until White cleared his throat and only then did Leo and Luffy stop. They had again forgotten about White, lost in their own world. They both apologized sheepishly and sat down again.

"So…how you holding up?" Leo asked cautiously. He nor Luffy wanted to talk about this, but they just couldn't not acknowledge it. "All the missed adventures and friends… and…and Ace"

"…It's a lot to take in" Luffy let out a deep heavy sigh, "What's going happen to all of them now? They'll all either die or face a fate worse than death… And Ace… I don't know… if I wasn't dead or hadn't gotten all your memories too, I think I would have gone catatonic like I did in the story"

Trying to lighten the mood, Leo smirked remarking "Wow, you used the word 'catatonic'. Using big words now huh? Guess losing your virginity in someone else's memories makes you a man now huh"

Luffy just dope-slapped him again.

"Memories are what makes a person's personality" White said sagely, "Since you basically lived another life, your personality would have undergone a change too."

Luffy and Leo nodded at that completely agreeing with him.

"Yeah, I definitely feel like I would take more risks if I went back to my world and not worry so much about things I can't control. And definitely travel more even without money and see where I end up. Also join a fight club or something" Leo said with a smile.

"I just got crammed with so much knowledge about math, science, psychology, and thankfully music. I think I can now play the instruments you could… And so much movie, shows and anime knowledge including my world's knowledge. And let's not forget the internet culture. I'm itching to make an obscure reference or a meme joke" Luffy said chuckling. "But I also feel I've matured a lot since you were mature for your age. I wouldn't do some of the stupid stuff I did in the story."

"Like punch a gigantic whale in the eye?" White suggested with a chuckle.

"Or do that stupid Pinwheel attack and get stuck in concrete!" Leo added with a mischievous grin.

"Not realizing who Sogeking was"

"Or ask Chiffon if she's Bege"

"And then ask her fucking baby if he's Bege!" White and Leo started cackling.

Luffy blushed in embarrassment and cursed them. "Jerks!"

"Sorry sorry… but you punching the whale actually led you to meet Crocus, got the log pose without which you would have died, and also met Vivi…So it wasn't a bad thing." Leo placated seeing a pouting Luffy, but then added, "Buut the other things, Yep. Completely moronic."

"Ding-a-ling stupid"

"Rubber-brained idiot"

"Rubber bone-head"

Luffy blushed in even more embarrassment and snapped "There's no way I wouldn't have recognized who Sogeking was or think that Fake Sanji and Zoro on Sabaody were real! Oda just wrote me as more stupid than I am!"

Leo actually thought about it and nodded slowly, "Well…I can't actually deny that. You had Observation at that point too, so there's no way you would have made that mistake. And you're waaaay more perceptive than you let on. You understand things about people with very minute clues and make accurate conclusions…You just don't voice them out a lot huh?"

"Yeah, even I was surprised by that" White added, "Oda definitely made you more stupid for comedic purposes cause not recognizing Sogeking, fake Sanji and Zoro, or Ceaser just doesn't make sense. You're stupid in understanding stuff sure, but reading people? You do that amazingly well"

"Yeah well, I don't bother doing it a lot though as it's kinda boring and also intrusive" Luffy said sheepishly rubbing his head, "But now that I know the story, I guess I have context now too, so I would understand even more things if I faced such situations"

"Yeah…you also have my memories of learning human psychology now, so you would be a bigger perceptive monster" Leo added with a smirk.

Leo and White teased Luffy a bit more about some of the stupid stuff he does in the story and after another laughing fit at a pouting and embarrassed Luffy, and a couple of bumps on Leo and White's head courtesy of Luffy's fists, conversations stopped and silence descended. Luffy and Leo were extremely worried about what would happen to Luffy's world, so they tried to joke around…but it was eating away at them that they couldn't do anything. They couldn't keep their minds off of the depressing and literal existential crisis they were facing.

"So how long till we die die" Luffy asked breaking the silence.

"Around 3 more hours, I guess" White answered while scratching his chin.

"Anything we can do to hopefully live?" Leo asked expectantly. "Luffy at least should survive. It was just a story but experiencing Luffy's life made it sooo much more real. I-I can't imagine the horrors his crew and friends would face without him around"

White thought for a moment before answering "Trust me, I really want to help but I don't think I can do anything here. I can't interfere in the mortal world in any way that would help you in your current predicament. It would be like if you tried to help 2 microbes. You would just end up killing them as they're so small compared to you. Same thing with me and you as I'm on a much higher plane. Anything I try to do will just destroy your solar system. The only reason I'm even able to talk to you like this is because both of you are dying and are outside your universes near the Soul plane. Your souls resonated with each other sending out a strong signal of sorts and thus I was able to find you and talk to you guys… I could help and interfere in your universe with tools but it will take at least a month to set up. Like think of helping microbes using micron microscopes and lasers but it takes time to gather those materials right? Same with me. I don't have the right tools to interfere in your universe on such short notice… And once you completely ascend to the Soul plane, even if I pull you out, you won't be able to go back to your universe as souls who have integrated into the Soul Plane even once aren't allowed to go back to any universe"

Luffy and Leo didn't understand much of what he said, but basically inferred that he couldn't interfere.

"Best I can do is push you back into your universes but you're both dying, so you'll soon just come back here again. You need help from someone in your world to treat you and only then can you survive. I can also transfer one of yours time to the other. Basically giving more time to one of you by sacrificing the other. But Luffy's poisoned and Leo's bleeding out with cut limbs on a lonely road. Even with extra time, I don't think either of you can survive."

Leo and Luffy nodded at that and there was another long stretch of silence as they thought of anything that could help them.

Suddenly Leo perked up as he had thought of an idea. "Exactly how much time will Luffy get if you give my time to him?"

"Around 7-8 hours"

Luffy frowned and was about to ask Leo what he was thinking but Leo cut him off excitedly.

"You know where you are right? With the story's knowledge now, you should be able to figure it out."

"Yeah I already made the connection. I'm in Mariejois. Right outside the Pangaea castle in a death pit to be exact while the Reverie is ongoing. And the bubble people were Celestial Dragons and the slavers were killed because I used Conqueror's and made the bubble woman faint."

"Guess they didn't realize it was you who used Conqueror's huh" Leo guessed.

"Yeah but why wasn't I killed by that Celestial Dragon woman herself? And even before that, why did the slavers keep me alive for so long? Did they just want me to suffer that much? What did I even do to them?"

"Well you were too out of it because of sea stone and starvation and couldn't process what you were seeing but I can see your subconscious memories too" White explained, "The first two slavers you pissed off by not obeying them took it personally. They kept trying to break you and after a couple of weeks, it just became a sort of game for them to see who can break you first and pretty soon, more people joined in on the game"

"Ah I see"

"Yeah and when the Celestial Dragon woman saw you laughing at her, she got offended and ordered the slavers to bring you to her. When you still didn't break after that week of torture, she definitely wanted you so that she can personally break you. But after the first escape attempt where you used Conqueror's and made her faint, she wanted that slaver group to be punished and even forgot about you as you were their product. Thus, all the leaders of the slavers were killed and the remaining slavers didn't know what exactly had happened, so they blamed you and prolonged your torture until your second escape attempt after which, the still surviving slavers gave up"

"So that's what happened" Luffy nodded in understanding.

"That resolve is amazing Luffy" Leo chimed in with awe, "And your second escape attempt? That was Amazing with a capital A!"

"Yeah yeah" Luffy smiled at the praise, "Hope Kell and the others are safe"

"Yeah hopefully… anyway, let's get back to the topic. You also realized that the Reverie is still ongoing right? This death pit was never shown in the story but they are probably going to burn or bury everyone in the pit at the end"

"Yeah probably. What are you getting at?"

"It's been 3 days since you were thrown here and do you remember what happened during the night for the past 3 days?"

Luffy thought for a bit and with confusion said "Nothing much. They were having parties in the castle. I remember some people who were looking at us, some even walking among us and some on us. There were some kids who were playing around too using the slaves as toys…"

"Yes, but I also saw some of them taking away anyone they wanted from the pit"

"Hmmm yeah I do remember some people just taking any slave they want…But if you're thinking that someone will take a soon to be dead lethally poisoned slave, I'm pretty sure it won't happen."

"If you know the right people to look for, then yes they might."

Luffy frowned not understanding where Leo was going with this. "Who?"

"There were some nobles you recognize now right? If I saw your memories correctly, I'm pretty sure I saw Vivi on the first day. I think she was shedding tears while looking at the pit"

"…Oh yeah! That was Vivi! She looked so young!"

"And she's not the only one. I saw the Germa too" Leo added excitedly.

Finally realizing what Leo was trying to say, Luffy gasped "You mean get the attention of Reiju! She can heal me with her poison powers!"

"YESS! She and her brothers have come every night, so they should be here tonight too!"

"That's actually a really good plan" White agreed. "Getting her attention should be easy as she can probably sense if someone is staring at her but what then? How will you convince her to save you? Not like she'll take pity and save a random slave"

Leo and Luffy thought for a bit.

"You just have to mention Sanji" Leo finally said. Luffy had also come to the same conclusion. That's the only way he could survive here.

"Why not ask help from Vivi?" White suggested, "She's 14 now, so Crocodile has already started his plan to take over Alabasta. And she'll be going undercover very soon. If you reveal that Mr.0 is Crocodile, she will help you in return."

"…No, I don't think that'll work" Leo theorized, "Luffy's just a random slave she found. Even if he somehow convinces her that it's Crocodile that is ruining her country, without proof, they would get nowhere so she'll probably still go undercover. Besides, Crocodile isn't stupid. If he realized that Vivi and the royal family somehow knows his secret, he might prepone his takeover or do something worse… And the Strawhats won't be there to stop him. Also, if he prepones his takeover, and kidnaps the King and goes to the Poneglyph with Robin, Robin will obviously tell him nothing about Pluton, resulting in him killing her. Even if he doesn't, Robin will give up on life…"

After a few moments, Luffy also agreed adding "Right, if we're not there to stop him, no one will come to stop him. Even if I somehow convince the King that he's the one behind it all and the King asks for help from the World Government, they might take this chance to strike a deal with Croc to wipe out Alabasta because of their stupid grudge against the Nefertari's. And we might lose Robin. Too many variables"

Seeing Luffy analyzing a situation brought a smile to Leo's face. His personality had definitely rubbed off on him as Luffy was just like him when he theorized on forums about any future events whenever a new chapter came out. He smiled thinking that at least some of him will live on in Luffy after he's gone.

"I see. Makes sense." White agreed after processing what they said.

"So, mention Sanji in front of Reiju and hope she helps." Leo concluded and looked at Luffy, who had a deep frown on his face. Knowing Luffy, he was probably thinking that this was kind of deceiving her and didn't like it.

"Look Luffy, I know you'll have to trick her a bit as telling her all this multiverse and comic book stuff is out of the question as it will make you look crazy, and this might seem like you're deceiving her but we've got no choice here. You have to- nay, need to survive! It's not out of malice. It won't hurt her in any way. In fact, she'll be happy to know that her brother is doing well and is happy" Leo explained trying to convince Luffy.

But Leo was taken aback when Luffy looked at him as if he was stupid "I understand that already, idiot. There are way too many lives riding on this and I don't mind telling a white lie. That's not why I was frowning"

"…Then why?"

Luffy gave him a small sad smile "You're the same as me. Thinking about others even at the cost of your own life"

"Wha…?" Leo was taken aback.

"If my time and life are given to you, you'll surely be able to survive until morning and the street where you had your accident will become relatively busier. If you have even 6 hours more, you'll be found by someone, taken to a hospital and can probably survive… you also have important people in your life who will grieve for you if you're gone"

Leo averted his gaze awkwardly massaging the back of his head. He took a few moments to think and looked back into Luffy's eyes "Well if you have my memories, you should know that I never really fit in. Sure, I had music as a passion and would have loved to produce music for a living. I had friends who I could call on to hang out or have fun. But, even then, it felt kind of empty. And after Serena was gone, that feeling only got amplified. I wasn't satisfied with such a simple life… Like I wanted to do more… not shackled by physical and monetary constraints, go on adventures, not bound by stupid rules, make friends with truly amazing people, punch the living daylights out of tyrannical rulers and throw a huge victory party afterwards with everyone you saved… You are a hero to your friends, Luffy. I know your stupid stance on being a hero but you have to admit that throwing a victory party after overthrowing a tyrannical ruler feels really really good. And that's pretty much my dream."

Luffy agreed to that. He could imagine why he went around saving countries even though he didn't want to be a hero.

Leo sighed continuing, "And if I took your life and went back to my world knowing full well that I denied you the chance to live our dream, it'll eat me up inside and I guarantee that I'll end myself eventually. You have my memories, so you know I'm being absolutely truthful here. I want to do all the things I just mentioned, but my world just won't allow that… Basically, I want nothing more in my life…than……to be You", he added the last part softly as he was blushing profusely after saying something so cheesy. 'Why the fuck does this sound like a damn confession?' Leo screamed internally.

"Why the fuck does this sound like a damn confession, you fucking asshole?!" Luffy yelled in mock anger and smacked him on the head.

Both Luffy and Leo stared amusedly at each other for a second before they burst out laughing while White was mimicking what Leo had said and was laughing his ass off too.

After they calmed down, Leo held his hand out to Luffy asking for a handshake but Luffy just ignored his hand and gave him a bone crushing hug by wrapping his limbs around him, and he just laughed and returned the hug.

"Brothers?" Luffy asked and that crashed Leo's brain.

Leo stared at Luffy dumbfounded. "I…..your…br-brot…" he couldn't even get the words out and started gaping like a fish. 'Holy hell! Luffy just asked me to become his brother! Th-This is the greatest thing that has happened to me in my life! Ahh, but I'm already dead! Haha, Dead joke!… Sorry Brook for stealing your shtick.' Somewhere in the Florian triangle aboard a ghost ship, a certain skeleton suddenly felt irritated for some reason.

"C'mon, we literally know everything about each other. Let's become brothers!" Luffy pressed on.

"Y-Yes!" Leo finally stuttered nodding his head vigorously.

They wanted sake cups but seeing where they were, they just pretended like they were holding sake cups and clinked their cups together and drank it sealing their bond as brothers.

Knowing that they didn't have much time and that every second was important so that Luffy could survive, Leo decided that it was time to say goodbye.

"Okay, no time to waste. Let's do this" Leo said clapping his hands and looked at White.

"Give me your hands" White told them both and they obliged.

White just stood there holding their hands and after a few seconds he let go nodding with a huge smile "Done! Leo, you'll start disappearing in a couple minutes and Luffy, you'll wake up in your world soon after. You'll have more strength as you're getting new life energy. Don't waste it. Make every second count. And a few words of advice, the comic is a representation of your world but with Oda inputting his own ideas and events. Stuff won't happen exactly like what he wrote. Reality is more complex… Also, don't assume you know people because the story describes them. People change. Like Reiju for example. The story shows her feelings at Whole Cake when you were 19. You are currently 15 so you don't know how she was at this point."

"Yes, I understand" Luffy nodded gratefully looking at White.

"Also," Leo added, "As we discussed earlier, Uta is real and so is Naguri. So let's assume all the movies and fillers are real too…and if those are real, then they must have an effect on the rest of the world unlike in the manga. So things will be different"

"Yeah and I hope I can meet Uta sometime down the line. It's nice to know she's still alive at least. With the way Shanks was when he came back without her, I was pretty sure she had died…"

"Yeah…damn I was so hyped for the movie Red. And now I find out that Uta was in fact real. I wonder what happened to her… From the trailers, it seemed she did become a diva? But also looked like she might be the villain?"

When Leo died, the movie wasn't released yet, but the trailers and her songs were out and Leo absolutely loved the songs! He also looked forward to the movie as it looked like it would go into Shanks' history too. But alas, he died before he could watch the movie, and thus, had no idea what her story was apart from what he had seen of her in Luffy's childhood memories.

"Yeah…I hope she's okay"

"She was your first crush, Lu" Leo said with a small smile. "You were just 7, but still, she was your first real friend and you really had a crush on her"

Luffy also smiled nodding his head "Yeah, I see that now. I wanted to get strong to impress her when she came back, so I trained hard. She was the first friend my age who didn't ostracize me and could also keep up with my monstrous strength. So, of course, I wanted her to acknowledge me and looked forward to seeing her every time…Sigh…when she didn't come back, I was so heart broken huh? I also said some bad things to Shanks when he didn't tell me what happened to her…"

"Yeah, you even cried while being carried on Benn's back saying you wanted to get stronger…Maaan, there was so much stuff that happened with Shanks when you were younger that wasn't shown in the anime…And your life with Ace and Sabo too. Garp too! So much stuff happened!"

"Shishishishi yeah…not like Oda can draw each and every moment of my life huh"

"Yeah…anyway, this just cements the fact that the stuff that happened in the story might not necessarily play out the same way in your reality"

"Yeah," White added, "The movies look solo and don't make sense in the timeline of the anime, so if they are real, then they will play out differently"

Luffy understood and nodded resolutely at that. "Thanks, Leo. Thanks, White. I'm truly grateful"

Leo also nodded gratefully at White, "Yeah, thank you"

"It's nothing. You guys showed me something that's never happened before. That's more than enough payment for this small favor." White said with a smile.

Not letting go of one last chance at teasing Luffy, Leo joked "You know how to thank someone properly now? Wow."

"Asshole!" Luffy fumed with a huffing pout, "Teasing me until the end…"

Leo chuckled seeing his very cute pout but then suddenly turned serious after a moment, "Luffy…"

Sensing the serious gaze, Luffy perked up listening to him intently.

"You have my memories now too. So answer me this…" Leo said very seriously.

Luffy gulped. "What?"

Leo held Luffy's gaze for a couple more tense seconds and just as he felt himself disappearing, he asked in a serious deadpan voice "Meat or Sex. Which is better?"

Luffy just stared at him for a moment before his anger burst "STUPID JERK! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONNA TELL ME SOMETHING IMPORTANT!"

Leo started to laugh his ass off, cackling like a madman before he started disappearing. Just before he fully disappeared, Leo calmed down, looked at Luffy and gave him a small smile.

'Live our dream!' went unsaid but still understood by Luffy.

Luffy returned a small smile of his own.

'I will!' went unsaid but understood by Leo.

As soon as Leo disappeared, Luffy could feel his own consciousness slipping… and the man who could become the Pirate King, the man who could become the freest man ever, the man who could flip the world upside down, the man who could become the most influential figure in history, the man who could save many lives and inspire generations of dreamers, the man who could bring hope into the lives of millions, the man who could become the ray of sunshine in this dark fucked up world…returned to the land of the living.

---

A/N: Thank you for reading! Hope you liked it!

So, I'm a huge fan of One Piece and have been sitting on this idea of wanting to write a really long fanfic with this concept of Luffy having memories of another life for a while now. I already have a skeletal structure for the entire story up until the Two Year Timeskip, and it's just a matter of penning everything down. (Which is the hardest part, let's be honest here).


Romance Dawn will be at around chapter 8 or 9 as there's still one and a half years left until Luffy's 17th birthday and he's going to be doing some things until then. The story will follow Luffy mainly and his view but I will include others too when required. I'll also be introducing a few OCs but not overwhelm the story with them and the ones who do play a major role, I've set them up quite nicely (I love my major OCs I've planned for the story. I hope you do too)

Luffy here will have the memories of a person from this world, so be ready for Luffy to make tons of internet cultural references and talk about stuff from our world that will drive the others up the wall. Leo's personality will obviously reflect too and I'll sprinkle some tidbits about his life and how Luffy sees it too when the story's themes allows me too. Luffy is of course going to be OOC as he's literally lived another life but he's still gonna be our lovable goof ball.


There are a couple of story threads I've left loose here like what made Luffy make a promise to himself to not think of girls romantically, the fate of Kell, the Second escape attempt… All will be revealed in future chapters of course.

Any feedback is appreciated. Ciao!

 

[The Periodic]

this is a watch! I love it thanks.

 

[Madfish]

Well written, I'll be interested in where this goes.

 

[AncientFunOP]

I've added the Author's note now in Chapter 1. Sorry for the edit…I'm new to this site and still figuring out the UI.

 

[AncientFunOP]

A/N: I have a schedule of one chapter every two weeks, but I've already posted three chapters on other sites, so just catching up on here. I'll post the third chapter in a couple of days too and after that, it'll be once every two weeks. With that aside, I hope you enjoy reading!

---

Chapter 2 - Reiju​

Reiju was having a very bad week. It was Reverie time - The big meeting that occurs once every 4 years where a bunch of rulers from all over the world gathered together, each having their own agenda, and decided the fate of the world and discussed on how to make it a better place.

'What a joke!' she scoffed internally as she watched her brothers and a few other princes torturing a few slaves to impress other princesses, including herself. The Nobles didn't care about their own citizens let alone the world. They only wanted to gain more power for their own families and one of the major methods, after war of course, of how they did that was through marriage. And since she was the sole Princess of the Germa Kingdom, she had a lot of suitors. A lot of disgusting, morally corrupt and downright evil suitors. Like the ones standing in front of her right now.

She had attended the previous two Reveries and it had been a nightmare both times. The first time she had attended, she was still just 12 and yet she already had people trying to woo her to get her family's power. The number had increased at the next one when she was 16. And this Reverie, she was 20 and the number of people who wanted to get in her and her family's good graces had exponentially risen. She had to sweetly talk to them no matter how disgustingly they were behaving and shoot down any proposals they would make in a non-hostile way.

"See how strong I am?!" an idiotic prince boasted as he broke the arm of an already broken slave as if it was the most impressive feat ever and she smiled as if she was impressed.

She, her brothers and a few other Noble children were currently at the slave death pit playing with some of the slaves - the almost dead/broken/hollow-eyed slaves who were thrown out here in the death pit because they were deemed as useless. That's what the death pit was - A dumping ground for anything useless. It was also a reminder to all the Kingdoms that attended the Reverie about a certain incident.

There was a certain country from West Blue that had once opposed the World Government a few decades ago. At the following Reverie, the entire Royal family of that country (including children) were publicly beaten up and thrown in the death pit, and a new family took over as Royals of that country. The old family was labeled as traitors for an entirely unrelated matter and thus were given the death verdict by the Celestial Dragons and thrown in the death pit, but everyone knew that it was all made up. That family was killed because they had opposed the WG, were deemed as useless by them, and thus were thrown into the death pit.

Since then, the death pit became an unspoken threat and a reminder to all the attending Kingdoms that if they ever opposed the WG, then they too would be deemed as useless and their family would face the same fate as the slaves in the pit. They could argue and discuss matters sure, but if they ever outright opposed the WG, then they would find themselves in the death pit.

Most Nobles didn't care about it though as they never had any intention of opposing the WG, and most of them, especially the younger generations just treated the death pit as a playground where they could play with slaves. Just like the ones Reiju was with currently who thought breaking a couple of bones of a person who didn't even fight back was a superhuman feat which deserved all the praise in the world.

Reiju sighed internally as she looked around the pit and saw that a few other Nobles were also manhandling the slaves. There were also a few that looked at the pit with horrified expressions and there were even a couple that tried to talk to the slaves. But all the poor souls here were unresponsive. She could understand why as these slaves had been through a lot and had given up on life. All they wanted was the sweet release of death and escape from their hellish lives.

Reiju focused her gaze back to the idiotic prince when he started boasting about how he had a thousand slaves back in his Kingdom and she nodded with a smile as if she was impressed and interested.

She also overheard her own brothers boasting about all the ways they had tortured people to impress the other princesses with them. She was in close proximity with her brothers for the past few weeks, and she was extremely tired of them.

A murderous Father and 3 equally murderous brothers was the family she was a part of. Back at their Kingdom, she could kind of avoid them by shutting herself off in her own castle saying that she was performing certain experiments with poison. Not for long periods of time as they would still eat at least one meal together everyday and spend time discussing the Kingdom governing matters, but she still got her own free time which was better than nothing.

Also, she and her brothers all had their own separate branches of the Germa Kingdom they were responsible for, and apart from reports, she didn't have to spend a lot of time with them. So, she usually got enough time away from them to keep her sanity in check. But because of the Reverie, she had to spend a lot of time in close proximity to them on the to and fro journey from their Kingdom to Mariejois, and also at the Reverie. And the Reverie itself was a concentration of people who were similar to her monstrous family.

"Why don't you play too? Snap that one's neck! It's fun!" the idiot Prince interrupted her thoughts as he pointed at another slave with an excited grin.

"I don't like to get my hands dirty," Reiju answered with a smile, "I'm a fan of poisons you see"

"Yes yes," Yonji chimed in excitedly, "You should see how some of her poisons work! It's amazing to watch how the person suffers!"

"Oh I see!" the idiot Prince nodded in understanding, "You are Poison Pink after all!"

"Hehehe yes" Reiju giggled pretending to enjoy the praise.

She had to keep up the façade with everyone. She had to smile when a stupid Prince made an inappropriate comment about her, she had to smile when she saw her brothers acting the same way towards other Princesses, she had to laugh at their disgusting jokes even when they basically called other races as subhuman, she had to laugh when they showed off their slaves and the cool tricks they could do, she had to laugh when her own brothers went to the death pit and started a game of who can make the slave scream the loudest. She hated them all but outwardly she had to keep a façade of liking the lavish lifestyle, the elitist mindset, the slaves, the torturing and even take pride in it. And she had to laugh. Smile and laugh…she was so tired of it…

She just wanted to get away from it all but she couldn't. She wanted to run away like her only sane brother did, but she knew her Father well enough to know it wouldn't work. Judge valued her too much to just let her get away. He would send armies after her if she ever tried anything like that and so, the only way she could escape from it all was through death.

And besides, as much as she hated it, she was a monster herself who did whatever her father ordered her to do because she was engineered to follow his every order. Be it torturing and killing a single man, or hoards of men- she did it without the slightest bit of hesitation. She was a cruel cold monster who could kill even a child without a second thought if her father ordered her to do it. So ultimately she was just like her father and brothers. Only in the quite lonely nights, would she allow herself to feel and cry herself to sleep remembering all the messed up shit she had done and all the blood she had on her hands, but in front of everyone else, she was a stone cold monster who enjoyed tormenting others with her poisons.

Reiju watched as her brothers and all the other nobles continued playing while she giggled and commented at appropriate moments on reflex. It was currently the third day of the Reverie and as only the Heads of the families could actually attend the round table meeting, the other family members just had to wait outside the meeting room mingling with the other families.

That particular day in the evening, her brothers had asked her to go with them to the slave death pit to beat up the useless slaves. Again. They had done it on the past three days but still weren't satisfied with torturing the already broken people. Some other nobles overheard it and thus here she was, in the middle of the death pit playing with the slaves laughing at all the antics the others were performing on the poor slaves.

'You guys will soon get your wish' Reiju mentally said to all the slaves in the pit, 'They're gonna set you all ablaze on the last day of the Reverie, so you will get your death pretty soon. So, just hang in there…'

As her brothers continued their game and she was laughing with them, her instincts flared up and she felt an intense gaze on her. She looked around trying to find the source wondering if someone was planning to attack her but soon found out that it was a man lying in the death pit who was responsible.

He was on his back with his face turned towards her and his eyes were boring holes into her. He had cuts on pretty much his entire body, had dried and fresh blood mixing around his open wounds causing a blood sludge of sorts, was shirtless and his blue shorts was torn in most places that it was barely holding together, and his hand was clutching a strawhat. What caught her attention the most were his eyes. They were resolute and unyielding unlike the rest of the others in the pit. She could feel power and a will to live behind those eyes. And he was gazing right at her. Feeling slightly intrigued, she made her way towards him which caused the lips of the man to turn slightly up.

'He smiled?' Feeling even more intrigued, she started observing him more carefully the closer she got to him. Pretty much his whole face was covered in red - dried blood no doubt. He was fairly short and she couldn't see his complexion because of all the blood on him but the parts of his skin that were visible was purplish. She made the conclusion that he was probably poisoned as she finally reached him.

He was still staring at her with a small smile as his mouth started quivering a bit. He was trying to say something but either the poison seemed to be affecting him or he was just that tired. Reiju just waited for him to muster up the energy to talk.

"H-Help…" the man finally managed to mutter.

She was a bit surprised as he was probably the first person she had seen in these pits who didn't want to die, and also because he had purposefully gotten her attention for some reason. But in the end, she didn't think much of the situation as she really couldn't just go around saving every man who asked for help. She had a persona to keep after all.

She just turned her back to him and was going to go back to her brothers but before she could take the first step away from him, she heard the man's voice again. "S-S-Sanji…k-know…"

That stopped her dead in her tracks. She snapped her head back at him and stared at the man incredulously. 'Did he just say Sanji?!'

She could still see his defiant eyes but just muttering those words seemed to have taken a lot out of him and his eyes were now slowly closing. She went up to him, lifted him up by his throat and brought his face up to her eye level and whisper hissed "What the hell did you just say?!"

The man just stared back with half lidded eyes and his lips quivered slightly as he tried his hardest to speak. "Kn-know…S-San…."

'He knows Sanji?!' Reiju internally exclaimed and waited to hear more from him but he didn't say anything else as his eyes slowly closed. Couldn't say anything else she realized and started panicking a bit. The poison was killing him and she didn't want to be left hanging after hearing a name she had thought she would never ever hear in her life again.

Reiju wanted to ask a million different things and think about what he had said, but if she needed answers, she needed to save him first. She immediately decided to take him back to their ship and started making her way towards the docking area.

"What are you doing?" Yonji asked suddenly popping up beside her startling her a bit but thankfully, she managed to school her expressions to remain neutral. She had forgotten about everything as soon as she had heard Sanji's name and her mind just wanted to know who this man was and what connection he had to Sanji.

Without missing a beat, she lied "I'm taking this one back to the ship. The poison in his system should have killed him immediately but he seems to have somehow held on for days. Need to run some tests on him…"

Yonji just shrugged buying the lie as he knew that Reiju was crazy about poisons and went back to his brothers and the others. Reiju quickly said her goodbyes and made her way to their ship hoping the man wouldn't die before she got her answers.

As soon as she made it to the ship, she speed-walked to her lab, quickly got inside, locked the door and brought the man to the bathroom. She put his head under the tap and ran a good amount of water while also wiping his face with some paper towels. She noticed more of his face had gone very purple now, so immediately locked lips with him and started sucking the poison out.

She sucked for a full minute as her powers worked, the poison traveling from the man's body into her own. Her body was genetically modified to handle poisons as it would break down the poisons into simpler elements and immediately create antibodies to combat it, so she wasn't in any danger. She also recognized the poison by its taste. It was a lethal poison that would slowly kill the person over a few days that was usually used to make sure that a person died a slow and painful death.

She sucked and licked all the poison out before breaking the lip lock and blew out some of the gaseous toxins. 'That was tasty' she thought licking her lips before looking down at the man's relatively healthier face as it slowly regained its color. And it was only then that she noticed how young he looked and realized he was just a boy of atmost 16. She saw all the scars, burns, puncture wounds, broken bones, the sea stone cuffs, and grimaced at the sight. He had been tortured a lot over many months judging by how old some of the wounds looked.

She decided to patch up some of the more serious wounds a bit so that he would have a better chance at living. It took an hour for her to clean and stitch up many of the serious wounds and once done, she placed him on a desk in her lab.

It was only after she was done that she finally sat down and took a minute to think about the whole situation. A random discarded slave had gotten her attention specifically and told her he knew Sanji. Assuming that he did in fact know Sanji, or someone who he thought was Sanji, had the boy just happened to spot a family member of Sanji at the moment of his death? She finally noticed how weird the situation actually was. The amount of chances that led to this would have to have been insane. First, the boy had to know Sanji. Second, he had to know that Sanji was actually a Vinsmoke who was disowned. Third, he had to end up in the slave pit in Mariejois of all places. Fourth, he had to spot her and her brothers and realize they were related. And lastly, he had to specifically get her attention and not the other brothers, who wouldn't have given a second thought even if he had muttered Sanji's name.

That scenario was assuming he was just a normal boy who unfortunately got enslaved. She thought about another scenario where he was specifically sent here by Sanji. Sanji could have told him all about himself, about the Vinsmokes and the Reverie, and the boy was here to convey some message to her from him. But she quickly dismissed the thought as no one sane enough would have put themselves through that much torture just to end up almost dead in the death pit and be picked up by her. There were a ton of better ways to reach her.

Another scenario was that he was a spy. Again, the fact of someone willingly putting themselves through that much torture seemed insane, but she had seen some people who would actually go through worse things if they believed in something bigger. CP agents were a perfect example of this as she had seen some of them give up their own lives without a care if it meant serving the World Government.

'So, he could be a spy' Reiju concluded and then began starting to wonder what his goal could be. Learning that the third prince of Germa wasn't dead? Why would anyone even suspect that in the first place? And what would that even achieve?

Someone found Sanji and are now going to blackmail the Germa by holding him hostage? Yes, that could be a very real possibility. They could be doing this thinking that Judge actually gave a shit about Sanji and think they could blackmail the Germa by holding him hostage. But then again, why would they even get their attention in such a manner? Sending a boy, who had very clearly undergone severe torture, to negotiate with them? There were a million different ways that they could have used to discreetly get their attention.

Reiju's head was going through all sorts of possibilities. Their family had a lot of enemies, so he could be a spy from the multiple Kingdoms in North Blue that hated them as Judge was very vocal about his dream of conquering the entirety of North Blue. After a few minutes of an endless thought spiral, she finally concluded that she just didn't have enough information to make any accurate conclusions. She just had to talk to the guy and figure out what he wants and how he knows Sanji.

She frowned when she realized that the boy wasn't going to wake up any time soon, and she also didn't want to seem desperate to find out about Sanji in case he really was a spy. So she had no other choice but to just wait for him to wake up. She chained him up to a desk so that he couldn't escape or try anything, then picked up a book, took a seat in her favorite comfy sofa chair and started to read as she waited for the boy to regain consciousness.



———



Luffy slowly opened his eyes, blinking repeatedly to clear his hazy vision and laid eyes on an unfamiliar stone ceiling. He tried to sit up hoping his body would move and fortunately, his body was responsive now.

As he sat up, he realized his hands were chained up to a desk and also noticed a pink haired woman sitting in a chair across the room from him who had clearly fallen asleep with a book in her hand. He looked down at himself and saw several layers of bandages wrapped around pretty much his entire body.

'So, it worked! Reiju actually saved me' he cheered with a smile.

He had waited patiently for 6 hours, without moving a muscle to conserve his energy before he finally caught a glimpse of her. After successfully catching her attention and using all his energy just to mutter a few words, he had lost consciousness hoping that she would save him. And it had worked.

Luffy looked around and noticed that the room was some kind of laboratory with all sorts of vials, beakers, chemicals and other chemistry equipment, and also a ton of books. Probably Reiju's lab he inferred.

His hand first went to his head and not feeling the rough texture of his hat, he started looking around for it everywhere before he spotted it on a desk at the opposite end of the room. He reflexively tried to launch his hand to grab it but he still had sea stone cuffs on his wrists, so his arms didn't stretch making him sigh in annoyance.

He let it be for now as he turned his eyes back to Reiju and saw that her eyes were now wide open studying him curiously. Apparently, she had woken up at some point or she was never sleeping in the first place and just wanted to test what he would do if he found her asleep.

"H-Hi" Luffy greeted with a smile raising his hand.

Reiju, who had just pretended to be asleep to see what he would do just like Luffy had predicted, studied him curiously. She wanted to see what he would do first upon waking up and saw that he looked for his hat first, then tried to punch something?

Luffy continued when she didn't say anything, "F-first of all… thank you for…s-saving my life….And also…for treating… my w-wounds" he muttered in a raspy voice his mouth very dry while bowing gratefully to her.

Seeing that he was struggling to speak, Reiju poured him a glass of water and offered it to him which Luffy gratefully accepted and gulped down.

"So who are you?"

"Hi, I'm Luffy, Future Pirate King. Nice to meetcha" Luffy greeted with his signature D grin.

"You're a pirate?" Reiju asked surprised. Well, a pirate wasn't something she had thought of in all her delusions of who Luffy could be. She didn't care about the Pirate King claim though as a lot of pirates claimed that they were gonna become the Pirate King and they all were delusional idiots without strength who would either break or die when they saw the real world. Besides, he was just a boy and wasn't all that strong, so she didn't take his claim seriously. The way he had said it as if it was just an offhand thing did intrigue her, but she didn't give it much thought.

"Not yet. I'm gonna set out at 17"

"Okay…So why did you say 'Sanji'?" she honestly wasn't interested about his life and just wanted to know why he had said Sanji's name.

"I was a bit out of it so I don't know what I managed to mutter. What did I say?"

"You just said 'help', 'know', and 'Sanji'"

"That's it? Wow…well at least I managed to say that much"

Reiju just stared at him waiting for him to continue. She was getting impatient as she was dying to find out if this boy knew her brother but didn't let her desperation show on her face.

"Well," Luffy continued, "What I actually wanted to say was help me and I'll tell you about Sanji. I know him"

"You know my dead brother?" she deadpanned.

"Dead brother?" Luffy first panicked wondering if this was a universe in which Sanji had died by Judge's hands itself but soon calmed down when he recalled what had happened in the story. Sanji was declared as dead by Judge when he found out he hadn't manifested any powers, but in actuality he was locked up in a dungeon. And when Sanji escaped, Judge had told him that he would let him go on the condition that he would never claim to be a Vinsmoke. And so, as far as the rest of the world was concerned, the third son of the Germa Kingdom was dead.

Reiju frowned when he just went silent seemingly thinking about something. "Yes, dead brother" she reiterated now getting a bit annoyed.

"He's not dead. I know him" Luffy said her impatient tone bringing him out of his thoughts.

"He died a long time ago"

Luffy took a moment to think before responding with a chuckle, "Okay, then I saw his ghost?"

Reiju just glared at him, got up, came up to him, curled her fingers around his throat and dangerously growled, "You think this is a game? You do realize you're talking to the princess of the Germa Kingdom, right?"

"Uh huh" Luffy answered nonchalantly.

Seeing not even an ounce of fear when she threatened him, she reevaluated the boy in her mind. Him being a spy seemed more likely now…but then again, if he was a spy, he would have pretended to be scared and weak here to make her let her guard down. Also a spy wouldn't make stupid jokes like that. She held off on making any conclusions for now as she let go of his throat slightly, but still kept her fingers loosely wrapped around his throat as she said "Talk. I'll hear you out at least before I kill you. I'm curious to see what kind of story you'll concoct"

"I'm trying to but if you deny he's alive and I say he's alive, and I turn out to be wrong, it'll just be me giving you false hope that he's alive…Do you see my dilemma?" Luffy said with a frown. This wasn't the manga and it could be possible that in this universe, Sanji had in fact died at Judge's hand itself. It could be possible that he never escaped and Reiju was currently telling the truth. So, he did not want to give false hope to Reiju but judging by how she had reacted when she had heard his name back at the pit, he was pretty sure the events in the story had happened and Sanji had escaped. But he wasn't a 100% sure, so he tried to get her to talk more to judge whether he had escaped or not, but she just got annoyed by him instead.

"No I don't. What do you mean you could be wrong? You don't know whether Sanji is alive or not?" Reiju asked still not admitting anything. 'Okay, it's more likely that he is a spy. He's trying to make me talk…Could he be sent by Judge?…No, he's the one who let Sanji go that day after telling him not to call himself a Vinsmoke anymore, so there would be no point to this…Some other country's spy?'

The day she had helped Sanji escape, she had also overheard the conversation between Judge and Sanji. When she saw that Sanji was seemingly caught by Judge, she had quickly run towards them but hid behind a building when she heard her father saying that he'll let him go if he disowned his family name. She was honestly happy for Sanji as she knew he didn't want to associate with their family either. So Judge sending Luffy as a spy to probe if she knew Sanji was alive or not was meaningless. Besides, she had acted as the perfect child in front of him and had his complete trust.

Reiju had a steely calm look on her face, but her mind was in turmoil thinking about all kinds of scenarios of who Luffy could be.

"I might have seen him" Luffy said bringing her out of her thoughts.

"That's not possible" Reiju reiterated again before tightening her hold around his neck, "Who are you working for? And what's your goal here?"

Luffy didn't want to really trick her but he saw that he was making her life harder by making her think he was some kind of spy. She was no doubt thinking that he was some spy from the World Government or some other country. If he revealed all the higher dimensional being and comic book stuff with no proof, he would only be making her more paranoid and wary of him. So, he decided that he had no choice but to tell a white lie. He didn't like it but decided he would come clean later.

"Listen Reiju, just hear me out will you? You can check me for any listening devices, you can take me to some random place so that you're sure no one else is listening, you can poison me and hold the antidote over my head…do whatever the hell you want. I'm not working with anyone and all I'm trying to do here is to get help to escape this place. You already cured me of the poison that was killing me, so thank you for that. If you could also drop me off at the next island you stop at, I'll be grateful"

Reiju studied him for a few moments going through everything he said. "And in exchange you want to give me information about my dead brother?" she finally asked removing her hand from around his throat.

"Yeah" Luffy answered wondering why she let go. He watched as she went to one of the desks, picked up a black staff and walked back to him. She removed a sort of cap from the top of the staff revealing what looked like two iron rods sticking out and without warning, touched the rods to his skin. Luffy yelped in pain as a million volts of electricity coursed throughout his entire body as it jerked violently and Luffy's brain registered the fact that he was being electrocuted for some reason, but couldn't form any other coherent thought.

Reiju electrocuted him for a good 20 seconds before finally breaking contact and Luffy slumped down panting hard, his whole body feeling like it had just been set on fire.

"Now we can talk" Reiju said capping the powerful taser staff back. "This room is soundproof and also any snails can't transmit outside as I've blocked it off with horned transponder snails that jam signals. I already checked you for any listening devices too but I hadn't considered recorders. That shock just now would have fried any recorders you could have hidden inside your body"

"I-I s-see…" Luffy stammered pushing himself back up with his shaky hands. His whole body was feeling like it wasn't in his control and he could barely form any coherent thought but after a good full minute, he finally regained enough senses to talk. And the whole time, Reiju just observed him. She definitely wanted to know more about Sanji and they both knew that he was alive. She still didn't drop the act of saying her brother was dead though and instead decided to pretend like she was just entertaining his story.

Luffy sighed finally getting control over his body back, "Isn't this a bit too much paranoia? Why do you even think I'm a spy? I was almost dying out there you know…"

"Yeah, I honestly didn't think much of you either. I cleaned all your wounds up, so I know you were severely tortured for months… All the checks I did previously were just a force of habit which I couldn't help but notice while treating you"

"What changed?"

"The way you talk I guess. Fearless even when I threaten you… I would have expected you to at least feel a tiny bit of fear"

"A spy would have acted to be fearful of you and make you let your guard down you know…"

"And how would you know?"

"Ooh I've seen Black Widow in action! You should see how amazing she is in making people talk!"

"Who?"

"Black Widow. Natasha Romanoff" Luffy said with a smile as if that would explain everything. Seeing the blank look on her face, Luffy continued, "She works for SHIELD"

"Shield? Is that the organization you work for?"

"Shishishishi, no way would I work for anyone…but I want to go on a Helicarrier at least once…" he trailed off with a wistful look on his face.

Seeing the extremely confused look on Reiju's face, Luffy chuckled and came clean, "I'm talking about a movie."

"You were talking about a damn fictional character?!" she snapped.

"Oh you poor sweet summer child" Luffy said with pity, "If only you knew…" They were also damn fictional characters in another universe just like Natasha. He was pretty sure the Marvel Universe would also be somewhere out there in the wide expanse of the multiverse. It was unsettling, exciting, horrifying and also amazing all at the same time.

"The fuck does that mean?! If only I knew what?!" Reiju demanded.

"Shishishishi don't worry about it" Luffy waved it off, "Let's stop talking about fictional stories yeah?"

"You're the one bringing up random stuff!"

"Shishishishi"

Reiju picked up the taser staff again and electrocuted him for a good minute, by the end of which Luffy was drooling and mumbling incomprehensibly on the floor. "I suggest you stop messing around and treating this like a game" she growled after he regained some of his senses.

"Yeah yeah" Luffy wheezed shaking his head and getting control of his body back. 'Is this what facing Enel would be like without my rubber body?'. He sighed ridding his mind of all his random thoughts and concentrated on his current situation.

"Well judging by how much you're going through right now, I think I can safely assume that Sanji is alive… Wait! You thought about recorders but what about devil fruits? I could be using some sort of devil fruit to transmit whatever we're talking right now to someone else, right?"

"You're wearing sea stone cuffs. I already verified that they are real"

"So covered all your bases huh?"

"You know, if you really want to convince me that you're not some sort of spy, you're making a really bad case for yourself right now"

"Yeah, I know…but I haven't played mind chess like this before you know. It's kinda fun, Shishishishi. I love spy movies, and have even role played 007 when I was younger"

"I don't care!" Reiju snapped zapping him a couple more times.

"Okay okay…" Luffy placated before starting, "Well, about Sanji, let me tell you about the Sanji I know…deciding whether he's your brother or not is up to you…Okay?"

Reiju just sat down in her chair and leveled a glare at him "Go ahead"

"Okay. First, I noticed that your third brother is missing. There's Rei, Ichi, Ni and Yon so Sanji's the the name of your third brother"

Reiju nodded. Reasonable deduction. She didn't question how he knew her and her brothers names. They were pretty famous after all.

"And I have actually seen a guy named Sanji before"

Reiju frowned and with a low dangerous growl said "If you're saying that you talked to someone named Sanji and now telling me that that's my brother, I'm killing you right now"

"I said I saw him. I didn't actually talk to him" he corrected unperturbed by her threat before continuing, "The guy had swirly eyebrows and goes ga-ga with hearts in his eyes whenever he sees any girl and tries to flirt with them. Sounds just like your other brothers. Tell me it isn't a reasonable assumption to think he's related to you"

Reiju was unconvinced. "Not enough. You could just be using my other brothers as a reference to describe Sanji. Their obsessive tendencies towards women are well-known after all"

Luffy frowned and nodded at that. "Yeah, makes sense. Let me give you more details then. He's working in a restaurant right now and is a very good chef. Kind, caring, feeds anyone - even people who show up at the restaurant with no money, and beats up anyone who wastes food… Also, he's blonde and covers one of his eyes with his hair just like you do"

'Okay, that definitely sounds like Sanji!' Reiju exclaimed in her mind, now slightly convinced that it was her brother. His dream of becoming a cook was known only to her. She hoped that this boy was telling the truth and felt happy on the inside knowing that he was living his dream and had become a cook. But of course she couldn't trust his words completely.

"Is that it?"

"Yes"

"So you met a guy called Sanji who likes to flirt. And you jumped to the conclusion that he's a dead prince?"

"…well when you put it like that…" Luffy trailed off thinking that he didn't really have a way to convince her that it was her Sanji without divulging that he knew about their childhoods. Which would require him to tell her about stuff which he should have had no way of knowing and that was another headache altogether. She was already paranoid of him and if he started talking about how she would first bully Sanji with all her brothers but would later secretly treat him, she would become extremely agitated and paranoid. He racked his brain for anything else that could convince her and thankfully, he remembered something. "Oh! Also, his eyebrows curl towards the right unlike the rest of the brothers"

Reiju blinked in honest surprise. That was certainly true and coupling this fact with him being a cook, she concluded that there might be some truth to what the boy was claiming.

She took a few moments to think before asking, "That's it?"

"Yes. I was in the pit dying and then I saw you guys. I knew Sanji and thought I could tell you about him and in exchange you can save my life. That's all"

"You specifically got my attention. There were a couple of others who were trying to talk and help the people in the pit. You could have gotten their attention too and gotten saved. Any reason for choosing me or was it just a random whim?" If the boy was telling the truth, then on top of all the coincidences, he also had to choose her specifically and tell her. No one else could have cured his poison.

"I think one girl did check up on me the first day I got thrown in the pit but moved on…not sure if that did happen though as I was pretty out of it. Anyway, I was poisoned and it was killing me. You're Poison Pink. You were pretty much the only one here who could have helped me"

"I see" 'That makes sense of why he chose to specifically get my attention at least.' But still, all the other coincidences were a bit too much. He had to know Sanji, and at the moment of his death, run into her of all people… It seemed to be too coincidental. "Is that all?"

"Yep"

"Well, too bad for you, my brother died a long time ago. You saw someone who looked like him I guess"

"…I see" Luffy didn't want to argue anymore. She didn't want to let it slip that her brother was alive and he wasn't gonna force her either. "Okay then. I say he's your Sanji and you deny it saying he's dead…what now? That's all I had"

Reiju hummed in thought before saying, "Well, I guess since you had nothing of value to give to me, I should throw you back in the pit?"

"…I see"

"What? Not even gonna protest?"

"I would but you're just saying that. You have no intention of throwing me back in that hellhole"

"Why do you think that?"

"Because you're kind"

"…huh?" Reiju's mind blanked for a second hearing words she had never expected to hear in her life.

"Because you're kind" Luffy reiterated. "Your other brothers are monsters but not you."

Reiju was left speechless. That statement had caught her completely off guard. He had called her kind. This boy had just called her kind. This boy who had seen her torturing the others at the pit and electrocuted him so many times had just called her kind. Reiju couldn't focus on anything other than that fact and she had to know how and why the boy had come to such a conclusion.

"Are you out of your mind?! What makes you think I'm kind? I was laughing while my brothers were torturing those poor souls and you just called me kind. Did you also forget I just electrocuted you a few minutes ago?!"

Luffy grinned, "See?! That just proves my point!"

"What?"

"Just now, you called them as 'poor souls'. Any other asshole here would have called them as slaves, toys, playthings…but you, on the other hand, didn't dehumanize them"

Reiju just sat in stunned silence cursing herself for her blunder.

"I observed you guys and the others a lot" Luffy continued not giving her a chance to spiral into any conclusions, "Couldn't do much considering I couldn't move. I saw you yourself didn't torture or play with any of them and just laughed at what your brothers were doing, which was horrendous by the way. The first day I saw you, I did think that you were just like all the others too but also noticed that you didn't participate and just watched. I had chalked it up to you not liking to touch dirty slaves and all…but considering how you treated me," he said pointing at all the bandages wrapped around him, "that's not the case at all. You just don't like this whole thing. Period. And to prove my point further, you called them as poor souls. You are kind"

Reiju was left speechless as she didn't know how to respond to that. People had called her many things before. Heartless, Monster, inhuman,…but never kind. She herself believed that she was a heartless monster as she had done a lot of things she wasn't proud of because of her family and she felt that she deserved those titles. But kind? She just sat there staring at the smiling boy not knowing how to proceed with the conversation. 'Wait! Is this some sort of new technique?! Yes, that must be it! He's appealing to my humanity to get close to me. He's good. Probably trained by the World Government. A CP0 agent maybe? Need to make him mess up and reveal himself' Reiju was making all kinds of assumptions in her mind and thinking of all sorts of ways she could extract the truth from him.

Not seeing any further movement from Reiju, Luffy just shrugged and started looking for any food in the room. He saw some chocolate bars on a nearby desk, so moved to pick them up. Seeing him move however alarmed Reiju, as she instantly went on guard and yelled, "What are you doing?!"

Luffy who was reaching out to the desk with the chocolate bars froze midway and stared at Reiju with a sweat drop. "Umm I just wanted those chocolate bars… Are you really that scared of me? I'm like, not even a quarter as powerful as you are even in my best condition…"

Reiju actually felt embarrassed on the inside as she had overreacted but she couldn't help herself. Her mind had been thrown off by his comments and was running wild with all sorts of scenarios of who Luffy could be and when she saw him move suddenly, she became alarmed. She let her battle stance go and sat back in her chair with a small cough pretending as if that hadn't just happened and Luffy sweat dropped again before shrugging and grabbing the chocolate bars. Reiju also realized that she was going crazy with all her delusions. All the boy had done was call her kind. Maybe he was just appealing to her humanity.

She watched as he devoured the chocolate bars within two seconds (one and a half seconds of which was spent trying to get the chocolate out of it's wrapper), and it looked like he wanted more.

Feeling extremely hungry, Luffy pleaded "Can you please get me some food? Meat preferably. I haven't eaten a proper meal in months. We can continue the conversation later."

That brought Reiju out of her speculations and she looked at his body. True, he did look like he had shriveled up and hadn't eaten for a long time. She had noticed all the wounds and the various burn and scar marks while treating him and if he was actually just a normal boy and not some spy, she felt bad for him. But she couldn't let her guard down so didn't acquiesce to his request as she would have to leave him alone in the room during which he could contact anyone on the outside or do something else. She also couldn't contact any maids from this part of the ship as it was off limits to everyone. She had told everyone that no one should come near her lab due to safety reasons, but the actual reason was so that she could get away from everyone and have some alone time. Her labs on every Germa ship was always hers and hers alone and no one else entered it or walked in its general vicinity.

"Can't do that. You might do something while I'm gone"

"Meanie…" Luffy whined slumping down sideways and sighing with a pout. Seeing him pout honestly surprised Reiju as the only word that was coming to her mind was 'cute'. She was building him up to be this master spy and interrogator trained from a young age by the WG and all sorts of other delusions, and then he just goes and calls her a 'Meanie' like a child and then pouts like a child. And on top of all that, she thought his pouting face looked really cute.

Before she could have any more spiraling thoughts, Luffy whined again, "C'mon, you already denied that the Sanji I know is not your Sanji. So what can I even do?…you can also take me along or something, can't you? I'm really hungry…"

Reiju sighed seeing his pitiful whining state and gave in. He was right after all. He had no information to pass on either way. But her entire life where she had distrusted pretty much everyone still warned her to be wary of him. She went to one of the cabinets, took out a syringe, came up to him and plunged it into his arm without warning.

"What's this?" Luffy asked curiously watching the liquid from the syringe entering his body.

"Paralyzing slash sleeping agent. So that you can't talk or even be awake while I'm gone to bring food"

"Oh o-" was all Luffy could say before his body fell forward and his world went black. When he regained consciousness again, Reiju was in front of him with a plate of food. And fortunately, it was meat.

"Meat!" Luffy cheered happily and devoured whatever was on the plate in just a second.

Reiju who had just gone to the kitchen, and brought the food was shocked at the seemingly magical way the food had disappeared. She hadn't even seen him eat it. One second the food was there and then the next it had disappeared. If not for the gulping sounds she heard from Luffy, she would have assumed that she had actually forgotten to add food and had just brought an empty plate. Reiju stared at Luffy incredulously, who looked back at her pitifully and with a sad tone asked "That's it?"

Reiju, without saying a word, injected him with the sleeping agent again, went out after locking the lab, went to the kitchen, grabbed a sack and stuffed as much food as she could, brought it back to the lab, injected him with the antidote, handed the sack of food to him when he regained consciousness, and watched him as he immediately started devouring the food with a bright smile.

She just sat there staring at the boy in disgust and awe as he devoured the food. Watching Luffy eat, she gained a whole new understanding of the phrase 'eats like a pig' that day.

"Thanks for the food!" Luffy cheered as he finished the last piece of meat in the sack. He definitely needed more but was satisfied for now. Besides he didn't feel like he had to eat more right now and wondered why as he had never felt that before.

"You must have been really hungry huh" Reiju commented with a sweat drop.

"Hm? Yeah, but I usually eat waay more…ahh I see, it's because of the sea stone! My stomach usually stretches the more I eat but now it can't, so I'm feeling full" Luffy concluded sagely. Ever since he was forced into the cuffs, he had never eaten more than a single plate's worth of food, so he hadn't noticed it before.

"…Did you say your stomach usually stretches?"

"Yep! I ate the Gum-Gum fruit, I'm a rubber human" he said with a grin and proceeded to stretch his lips horizontally no doubt expecting it to stretch. Obviously failing, he cursed the 'stupid sea stone!' and pouted again, which looked extremely cute and funny to Reiju. She tried to hold back her laughter but ultimately failed and a small giggle escaped her mouth. She didn't know if Luffy was being truthful or if he was some spy, but he sure was funny.

Realizing she had let her guard down, she shook her useless thoughts away and decided to continue the interrogation. "So, where were we?"

"I called you kind and you freaked out" Luffy stated simply.

Reiju again felt embarrassed at her overreaction as she coughed with a slight blush "Let's forget you ever said that as I am not kind. I've killed and tortured hundreds of people over my life without a shred of remorse"

"Sure" Luffy said nonchalantly. That again peeved her and she wanted to argue with him more about this topic, but decided to get back to Sanji.

"Now, about the Sanji you know… What have you done to him?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You seem to think I care about Sanji and so you're telling me Sanji is alive. Ignoring whether that is my brother or just some random person, you clearly want to use that fact to blackmail me"

"…" Luffy just stared at her feeling sad that she had to grow up in such an environment where she had no choice but to doubt people like this so much. He sighed rubbing his face and looked at her seriously, "Reiju, I already told you. I just want to escape from this place. I haven't even talked to Sanji let alone kidnap him or something…and I have no intention of blackmailing you or anything. I thought you would like to know he was doing good, that's all. If you want, you can even go and meet him…"

Reiju just stared at the boy not being able to make up her mind if he was telling the truth or not. "So what? You expect me to believe that you know Sanji and just happened to run into his family at the moment you were dying? This event is clearly orchestrated"

"Nah, I'm just lucky like that. You won't believe the amount of uncanny luck I have."

"Sure you do" Reiju intoned sarcastically.

Luffy sighed, "So what do you want to do? What can I possibly say to prove to you that I'm not some spy…What would I even have to gain by doing this to you? I just told you your brother is alive and asked for a ride out. You can cage me and keep me locked up or sedated or whatever the hell you want, as long as I get to leave this place. I got things to do and can't be stuck in this stupid place"

"I don't know your goals or motives and that's what makes you dangerous"

"Ugh" Luffy whined and pouted, "I already told you my goal. I want to leave this place…"

'Don't concentrate on his cute pouting face!' Reiju berated herself when her thoughts again got occupied with thinking of how cute it looked. "You could be a spy sent by the World Government to confirm Sanji's existence and then blackmail the Germa saying you will kill him if we didn't obey you"

Luffy gave her a deadpan look. "Really? Will the others really give a shit about him?"

"So just me then?" Reiju growled, "You think I'm kind so you think you can blackmail me into doing things for you?"

To her surprise, Luffy gave her a shit eating grin, "Well for that, you'll first have to acknowledge you're kind…which you vehemently refuse to do so. So even if I was a World Government spy like you say I am and the Sanji I know is in fact your brother, you don't care, do you? So, I have nothing to blackmail you with. Shishishishi"

Reiju sat there stunned by his logic. He had somehow used her own words against her in a manner she had never imagined before. She was a master interrogator who had extracted information from all kinds of people, but she had just lost a battle of logic with a boy who wasn't even 17 yet.

Luffy couldn't hold back and just laughed out loud seeing her gobsmacked expression which only pissed her off and she smacked him hard on the head, cutting his laughter off.

"Hey! I thought we were having a battle of wits here…" Luffy whined rubbing his head.

That only further confused her as she realized that he honestly thought that they were playing a game. She had absolutely no idea what to make of him and just sat there wondering if she should believe him or not. She let out a deep sigh clearing her mind of all her thoughts and began processing what all he had said from the beginning with a clean slate. She thought for a while before asking, "Okay let's assume that you did see this person who looks like Sanji… how come you remember him so well? If it was just another random person you hadn't even talked to, how can you recall everything about him to the point of even remembering which direction his eyebrows curled?"

"He's not some random person, he's a part of my crew"

"…huh?"

"He's my cook"

"Wait wait wait what?!" Reiju was once again gobsmacked. Her brother was a pirate now? And follows this boy as his cook? Before she could think more about it, she soon found a chink in his story and internally smiled finally catching him in a lie.

"He's a part of your pirate crew, is he?" Reiju asked holding back a smug smile.

"Yep"

"You just messed up!"

"Hm?"

"Just now, you said that he's a part of your supposed pirate crew…" Reiju paused giving a smug grin, "But earlier, you said you hadn't even talked to him yet. So how come he joined your crew without even talking to you? You're clearly lying"

"Oh, I haven't asked him yet" Luffy answered unperturbed, "I won't ask anyone to join my crew until I officially set out at 17 but I'm always on the lookout for potential people. I saw Sanji beating up a customer because they had wasted food by throwing it on the floor and he also gave some food to a poor starving guy who didn't have any money. When I saw that, I decided that he's gonna be my cook. He's a good person, knows the value of food, apparently makes delicious food and also knows how to fight. I'll ask him when I set out and convince him to join my crew… I've already decided that he's gonna be a part of my crew. He just doesn't know it yet" Luffy finished his explanation with a huge smile.

"…"

"…"

"WHAT KIND OF SELFISH BULLSHIT IS THAT!? YOU CAN'T JUST DECIDE THAT WITHOUT EVEN MEETING HIM, YOU IDIOT!" Reiju raged losing her composure uncharacteristically.

Luffy quickly cut in before she could rage further. "I'm not deciding it for him. I said I'll convince him to join. If he really really doesn't want to, then I'll give up but if not, then I'll make him join me"

"…"

"…"

Reiju was dumbfounded by all his statements and for the umpteenth time that night, she sat in her chair speechless. She just couldn't get a read on the boy at all and couldn't determine if he was a spy or just a random boy who happened to know Sanji and luckily met her while he was dying. Not to mention the fact his selfish claims and carefree attitude as if this was all just a big game to him was throwing her off.

She sighed deeply "I can't decide if you're a spy or just a delusional lucky idiot…"

"Well what would you do for each case?"

"What?"

"If you decide I was a spy, what will you do? If you decide I'm being truthful, what will you do?"

"Torture you for information for the first case and… for the second case I guess I can leave you on some island we stop at"

Luffy hummed in acknowledgment knowing she had the power to decide his fate now.

"Same question right back at you" Reiju said staring at him, "What will you do if I decide to kill you?"

"Fight you of course" Luffy answered immediately. "I can't die here"

"And what makes you think you can defeat and kill me?"

"I'm not gonna kill you…neither do I have to defeat you. I just have to escape from here"

"You're bound by chains"

"I'll figure out a way"

Reiju sighed shaking her head, "You're delusional"

She was really mentally tired. She had had a very long tiring day at the Reverie and immediately after she had rescued Luffy, she had spent some time patching him up. Then she had waited for him to gain consciousness all the while wondering why he had mentioned Sanji's name, how he knew him and making up all sorts of theories of who he could be. And after he woke up, she had this very confusing conversation with him where she couldn't get a read on him, and was now completely mentally tired. And on top of all this, she had to spend the next day again at the Reverie. She saw that the time was already half past 2, so decided to postpone the conversation with Luffy. He wasn't going anywhere if she gave him specific poisons and she would make sure he was paralyzed so even if someone somehow did enter her lab, which was already a hard task, he couldn't talk or exchange any information.

She stood up and saw that Luffy was watching her carefully while being highly on guard. She wondered if he really thought he could escape from her while being so injured and chained. She was going on another thought spiral about his strangeness again, so quickly shook her thoughts away and walked to the cabinet to get the paralyzing and sleeping agents.

Luffy watched silently as she picked a couple of things, came up to him, pulled his arm and injected a couple of liquids into him all the while eyeing him curiously, "Not afraid these will kill you?"

"Nah, you don't want to kill me"

"I could just be pretending to be injecting you with some sleeping agents. This could very well be poisons"

Luffy stared at her face for a while and said, "I'll choose to trust you. You're kind"

Reiju scoffed. "You're just appealing to my humanity"

"I am. Doesn't mean I'm wrong…and I really can't die here"

The two held each other's gazes for a few moments before Luffy smiled and reiterated, "I'll trust you" before he slumped down unconscious into her arms.

Reiju sighed at the optimistic idiot and lifted him off the ground. She opened a cabinet in which she usually kept highly volatile chemicals, threw him inside and locked it. On top of the paralyzing and sleeping agents, she had also put him in a highly secure cabinet, so there was no way he could talk to anyone on the outside.



———



Luffy was just talking to Reiju before his world blanked out and the next instant he was opening his eyes to a differently dressed Reiju with a sack of food in her hand, which he immediately lunged for and started devouring. He didn't know what happened and wanted to ask how he seemingly skipped time but he was more interested in eating first. While eating, he noticed that she seemed to be extremely tired for some reason as she sagged in her chair.

"You okay?" he asked in between gulps and she lifted her head in surprise.

After she had locked him in the lab the previous night, Reiju had gone to sleep but couldn't sleep much as her head was going through all that Luffy had said. She was half convinced that he was in fact talking about her Sanji itself and was glad to find that he was alive. And the more she thought about the conversation, the more she believed that he was just an idiotic delusional boy and not some spy.

The other half however was making up all sorts of speculations on who Luffy could be and whether he was here to gather some sort of information on her. She had spent the entire night thinking of what any faction could gain from Sanji being alive and telling it to her, but apart from holding him hostage and blackmailing her, she couldn't come up with anything else.

She couldn't sleep a wink all night and before she knew it, it was morning already and she had to go to the castle again. After a morning meeting with her family where Judge relayed what all had happened during the previous day, she had gone back to the castle to meet with all the horrible nobles again. Fortunately, the idiot prince who was trying to court her the previous day had found someone else and wasn't behind her anymore, so at least that was a silver lining.

But then the noon party where she was swarmed by other elitist princes and princesses while she had to act like an elitist noble too had tired her out. As soon as evening arrived and people were free to leave without it seeming rude (it was socially acceptable to not attend the night party as people usually hooked up), she excused herself to go back to the lab. Her brothers asked her to accompany them to the pit again, but she just said that she had found an interesting slave on whom poisons worked differently and she was returning early to run tests, and they relented.

She wanted nothing more than to soak in a hot bath and sleep until the next morning, but she also badly wanted to interrogate Luffy further and decide if he was a spy or not.

Thus, she was here in her lab, not forgetting to bring enough food on her way, watching him eat with disgust.

"You okay?" Luffy asked again now pausing and staring at her when she didn't answer.

"Yeah yeah" she dismissively waved it off with a tired sigh.

"That bad of a day huh?" Luffy looked at her with pity and with great reluctance offered her the piece of meat he was holding, "Here, you can have some of my meat if you want"

Reiju just stared at him dumbfounded. "…You do realize that I brought the food to you right?"

"So? I'm eating it so it's mine. And I'm sharing…here, eat up! Meat always cheers people up!" he said shoving the shank of meat as far as he could considering he was chained up.

"No, thank you. I already ate"

"Your loss" Luffy shrugged and went back to devouring the food while Reiju watched with bewilderment. 'What's wrong with this idiot?'

Luffy finished and clapped his hands in happiness, "Thank you for the food!"

He then looked at her and asked something that was bugging him, "What did you give me last night? One moment I was seeing you and the next I see a day has already passed. I don't even feel like I slept…It's almost like I time skipped"

"…It's a special sleeping and paralyzing agent I concocted. It deprives all your senses as soon as it enters your bloodstream and you won't even feel anything until I inject you with the antidote. You won't even realize you had fallen unconscious or how much time has passed. I use it as a torture method when I'm pressed for time. I inject a person with this, change the date and time on the clock, change my dress, and then wake the person up. I do it enough times and I can make the person think that weeks or months have passed when not even a week would have actually passed"

"Whoa! That's kinda neat. It's like a sensory deprivation tank but with just injections huh? Cool!"

Reiju grew a tick mark on her head as she was hoping to scare him by saying that but he only got excited, remarked it was 'cool' and was completely unfazed by it. She realized that she was going to get a massive migraine if she tried analyzing this boy, and was starting to realize that Luffy was an enigma no one could solve.

"Enough about that" Reiju grumbled annoyed, "Let's get back to the conversation. Tell me about yourself"

"Is this a job interview?" Luffy deadpanned with an unimpressed gaze, "Ask a better question"

She felt like snapping his neck and be done with him as he was really treating this like a game, but held herself back and breathed out slowly before asking, "What's with the hat?"

She watched in glee when she saw him flinch slightly and a smug smile spread across her face, "Don't think I haven't noticed that the first thing you did upon gaining consciousness each time was discreetly glance at that hat"

She had seen him do this discreetly every time she had woken him up, and had even checked the hat when he was asleep, but didn't find anything special about it. It was just a simple Strawhat.

Luffy sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, "Well yeah, should've expected you to catch me huh…the slavers never caught me so I thought I could fool you too…"

"What do you mean?"

"That hat is my greatest treasure. When I was initially caught, I realized that they were trying to see if I had any weaknesses…and I knew that if they ever knew how much I cared about my hat, they would definitely use it against me. So, I acted very casual about it and never once let it slip that it was anything important. I just let it be in my cage if they ever dragged me out and kept it out of sight as much as I could…and thus, it's here with me now"

Reiju had gotten up and grabbed the hat while he explained and was studying it carefully seeing if she had missed anything. "What's so special about it?" she asked twirling it.

"It represents a promise. I promised the man that gave me this hat that I would become a great pirate, recruit the greatest crew ever and after reaching the top, return it to him" he said reaching out for it.

"I see. So, a sentimental treasure then" she nodded and handed it to him. She could take it back any time she wanted, so didn't mind giving it to him. She watched as Luffy's face split into an impossibly huge D shaped grin as he put the hat on his head and even she felt that the hat belonged on his head.

"Thanks!"

"Anyway, we're at a sort of impasse here. You say you saw someone that looked like Sanji and I say that Sanji is dead…"

"Yeah"

"So what else can you give me?"

"What?"

"What else can you give me so that I don't see saving you as a total waste of time? I've already saved you, so I might as well use you as my own slave"

"I'm nobody's slave" Luffy answered instantly.

"Well, you don't have a choice do you? I hold your life in my hands after all. I can use you any way I want"

Luffy knew it was all an act as she really wasn't cruel, so just shrugged and said, "I don't mind helping you with things. What do you want me to do?"

Reiju wanted to really get back at him as he was partly responsible for her bad mood, so she decided to make him flustered.

"Lick my feet?" she drawled suggestively sticking out one of her legs towards him which was completely bare as she was wearing a very short dress shirt. Luffy was sitting on the floor with his back to a desk to which he was chained to, and she was in a sofa chair directly opposite him, so her stretched out leg was almost on him and he got a very clear view of everything.

In Reiju's mind, he was going to blush profusely, stutter, gulp, avert his eyes (but also steal secret glances), and altogether become very flustered, after which she would reveal it to be a joke and ask him if he really expected something like that to happen and she could tease him about it relentlessly. He was still a boy after all and boys his age were very interested in the opposite sex. And not to seem egotistical, she knew she was insanely and sensually hot, so of course she expected him to get flustered. She really wanted to get back at him as he was partly responsible for the bad mood she had been in since the previous day and thus, tried to make him flustered…but reality turned out to be different.

"I'm sorry but I'm not interested in you." Luffy responded with an honest apologetic expression, "I guess you're hot, but I don't care. I don't have a foot or leg fetish either…"

Reiju awkwardly kept her leg up for a couple of seconds as the two stared into each other's eyes, before she slowly retreated it back without a word. There was a very light pink hue sporting her cheeks due to embarrassment as her plan had backfired.

She had never done something like this and had just done this on a whim so that she could see him getting flustered and tease him about it, but the big honest eyes, no hint of a blush, genuine apologetic expression made her feel like a pervert and she chose to forget that this event ever happened.

"I was just kidding" she mumbled softly knowing it sounded like a lame excuse now.

"Sure" Luffy answered nonchalantly which only made her more flustered… and much to her further embarrassment, he added, "I can kiss you though. I'm pretty great at kissing if I do say so myself and I don't mind kissing anyone"

She coughed a couple of times before quickly changing the topic, "S-So how did you get caught anyway?"

Luffy gave an internal sigh of relief before answering, "I dozed off while fishing near my island and when I woke up, I couldn't see my island anywhere. Two days of random rowing, I finally found a ship and rocketed myself there. I ate some food they gave me and the next time I woke up, I was in a sea stone cage and cuffs-"

"Wait, you rocketed yourself?"

"That's what I call when I sling shot myself over distances"

"Right. Rubber fruit"

"Yep!"

"Okay continue"

"That's all I guess. I was enslaved for a few months and a few days ago, they got tired of me and finally threw me out after poisoning me"

"Tired of you? Who got tired of you?"

"The slavers"

"You weren't sold to anyone?"

"Nope"

"……why?"

"I was stubborn I guess. I didn't obey them whenever they asked me to do something. And after a couple of escape attempts, they got fed up with me, poisoned me and threw me away"

"….you're saying you basically irritated them so much that they threw you out?"

"I guess it could be seen that way, yeah. Shishishishi"

Reiju blinked in honest bewilderment "…Somehow I can actually see that. I've met you just yesterday and you've managed to irritate me unlike no one ever…Man, those poor slavers. Having to deal with you for months"

"You're mean…" Luffy pouted.

'Again with the cute pouting! Does he know how cute it is?! Is he doing it on purpose?! Is this a tactic?!' Reiju berated herself again and brought her thoughts back to sensible matters. She knew he wasn't telling her everything. The wounds she had seen on him had been awful, so the casual way he had said it was him obviously downplaying it. She didn't press further though as it was probably a lot of bad memories. "Okay, how about before you got caught? Where did you live?"

"I'm from Dawn Island in East Blue."

"Hmm if I remember correctly, that's where the Goa Kingdom is right? Cleanest kingdom in East Blue?"

Luffy's face scrunched up in disgust, "The place is only clean because they throw out all the trash outside the kingdom in the Gray Terminal…"

"I see. So it's like that huh" Reiju nodded. A lot of countries did that actually and it was nothing new.

Reiju asked a few more questions and Luffy answered truthfully before the topic of Shanks came up. Reiju had asked why he wanted to become the Pirate King and with bubbling excitement, Luffy started telling her all about Shanks. How he had met Shanks, how they had hung out together, how he had accidentally eaten his devil fruit, all the stupid and idiotic stuff he did to get on his ship which had Reiju giggling, how Shanks had saved his life and he finished the story with the promise they had made on the hat.

"By Shanks, you don't mean Red-haired Shanks, do you?" Reiju asked as Luffy completed his story.

"Yep the same! He's pretty famous now huh. I heard he's a Yonko"

Reiju was astonished. This boy had a connection with one of the Pirate Emperors! And on top of that, he had made a promise with the Emperor that he would surpass him and take the title of Pirate King. It didn't seem like he was lying. The excitedly animated way he had told his story of how he spent his time with Shanks and his crew was all too real.

Luffy was surprisingly a good and engaging story teller. The only flaw (if it can even be called as such) was he would sometimes name drop certain people as if expecting the other person to already know who that was, but as he goes on with his narration, it became apparent. For example, he had casually mentioned someone named Makino with no context but it became apparent later in the story that she was the owner of the bar they hung out in.

She was also astonished that Shanks was such a childish person. She had heard of Shanks of course but it was only of how he had caused some big incidents and how ruthless and strong he was. But the Shanks in Luffy's story was completely different.

"Are you sure that that's the same Shanks? He seems so…childish from your stories but he's a powerful and ruthless Yonko you know"

"Shishishishi yeah he's childish alright…one of my friends even said that that's the cute side of him" Luffy smiled reminiscing the time Uta had called Shanks' childishness his cute side.

"Cute?!" Reiju asked bewildered. "Now I'm sure we're not thinking of the same Shanks. Red hair, three scars over his left eye, one arm?"

Luffy's mood deflated a bit, "Yeah, I'm the one responsible for the arm…he lost it when he saved my life…"

"Oh"

Luffy bounced back quick though, "But that's why I promised him! I'll create a crew greater than his and surpass him!"

"I see…" Reiju smiled. "He saved your life giving up one of his arms in the process and also indirectly gave you a devil fruit. No wonder you're so adamant. You must feel that you can't just disappoint him."

"Yeah, I don't mind dying while chasing my dream. But I hadn't even set out on my journey yet and I refuse to die before that. Only after I become the Pirate King, the freest man on the seas, will I be satisfied"

"I see"

'Freest man on the seas huh. Sounds wonderful' Reiju couldn't help but smile at that. She was even more astonished that Shanks was such a good person. She wondered if they were different people too but then again, she knew nothing personal about Shanks and the newspapers did embellish a lot when it came to pirates. Giving up his arm to save a random 7 year old boy and then also acknowledging his dream… 'Did he see something special in this boy or is he such a good person to everyone?' she wondered. 'So, he's the reason why Luffy has such a good impression of Pirates'

Luffy went on to tell more stories about Shanks and his crew. Of all the stupid things he did to get Shanks to accept him in his crew and all the crazy stories they used to tell him and the amazing songs they used to sing at the bar. Reiju couldn't help but ask follow up questions and have an engaging conversation with him. Without even realizing it, she was smiling or laughing the whole time. That's something she hadn't done in a long long time. They talked well into the night bouncing questions off of each other and having a grand old time.

It was well after midnight that Reiju even realized that she was supposed to be interrogating him. She had actually planned to make him talk about his own life and see if she could find any holes or chinks in his story that could reveal he was a spy, but once the topic of Shanks came up and Luffy started telling her stories, she had forgotten all about it. She herself kept asking more questions about Shanks and his crew and listened with interest to whatever Luffy had to say.

She couldn't believe how the interrogation had turned into a story telling session but honestly, she had had a lot of fun. She never knew conversations could even be this fun and Luffy knew how to have an engaging conversation. He didn't make it one-sided either and involved her any chance he got which only made it more fun.

Once she realized that though, she decided to end the conversation then. Her bad mood had actually subsided, in fact she was feeling refreshed now, and she just wanted to take a nice nap now. She got up stretching a bit and went to inject him with the sleeping agents again.

"Can't you just paralyze me?" Luffy whined, "I feel like I'm skipping in time and I don't have any time to think. I need to sort out a lot of things in my mind…"

"No"

"Meanie…" Luffy pouted.

'Again with the pouting!' Reiju sighed, "Will you stop with the pouting already?! What are you, a child?!"

"Then stop being so mean!" Luffy shot back.

"Ugh…what do you even need to think about? How to escape and get in contact with whoever you're working for?"

Luffy just rolled his eyes, but then thinking of something, gave a shit eating grin to her which alarmed Reiju. "Welll," he drawled mischievously, "I need to think about how to not become a sex slave to a pervert like you. You already asked me to lick your feet. Who knows? You might start asking me to suck your toes next, then your boobs, then y-"

Reiju quickly injected him with the agents before he could finish his sentence and she watched him slump down with a small blush on her face.

'Why the hell did I even say that in the first place?' she groaned in embarrassment. She stared at the grinning face he still had even though he was unconscious and smacked him once feeling irritated. She sighed as she knew it was her own fault and after locking him up, went back to bed, feeling kinda refreshed.

By this time, she was 80% sure he was just a normal random boy and not some spy. The reason she even suspected that he could actually be a spy in the first place was because of the fearless way he talked and how he treated everything like a game. But by now, she had realized that that was just his personality.

The excited way he had talked about his childhood was all too real and unless he was a masterful actor, she was sure he was just a lucky idiot. And even if he was a masterful spy, she had made sure not to ask anything about Sanji as if she didn't care about it at all, so he should also think that she in fact didn't care about him one bit and actually thought he was dead. She decided to be the same and never ask about Sanji again and if the guy Luffy knew really was her Sanji, then she was happy that he was still alive somewhere and she didn't even want to know where exactly he was so that she could stay out of his life forever. If it was just some random look alike, then she didn't care about it anyway.

She decided to think about what to do with Luffy the next day and went to sleep. She honestly had enjoyed the night with him and wondered if this was what talking with friends was like. She never really had any friends before as any nobles she met were too haughty and after her power, and the people she did like back in the Kingdom worked for her, so they mostly treated her like a master. The people working under her in Germa weren't bad but she could never call them as her friends. She also never had someone tease her like Luffy had either and if she was being completely honest with herself, she liked the teasing. Felt like he was treating her as an equal instead of some princess…



———



Luffy blinked and saw a differently dressed Reiju, seemingly having no feeling of having slept and groaned in annoyance. He needed time to sort out all the memories and think about what he needed to do but Reiju was not even giving him a chance to think. He actually felt like he was skipping time and the only way he even got some time to himself was when he went to the restroom but he would get atmost 10 minutes before Reiju started banging on the door, so he didn't even get a chance then. He grabbed the sack of meat which Reiju had brought and grumbled while eating.

"The hell are you grumbling about?" Reiju asked when she noticed his dissatisfied expression.

"Nothing" Luffy sighed and finished eating quickly. "So what are we doing tonight?"

Reiju just stared at him for a few moments before sighing, "I took a step back and reviewed what all we talked about since the beginning…"

"…okay?"

"And I have to say that you're strange…"

Luffy tilted his head confused, "Umm….okay?"

Reiju sighed again before explaining, "I mean…all you did since the beginning was tell me about someone who you thought was Sanji, and thought that you could exchange information about him in return for me saving your life. Your words and actions were definitely suspicious…but I realized yesterday after you told all those stories from your childhood that you're just plain weird…" She had thought about it the whole day while she was at the castle and had finally made up her mind that he wasn't a spy. And even on the off chance that he was a spy, then he had absolutely nothing on her and she would still be wary enough of him to not divulge anything that would put her at risk in the future. She still had one last test though, which she would enact tonight to confirm his innocence.

Luffy cheered internally 'Finally!'

"You're just an idiot. A lucky one sure but just an idiot"

"Stop being mean…" Luffy whined with a slight pout.

"And a child for pouting like that every damn time!"

Luffy sucked in his lips to stop his pout which only made the situation more funnier and caused Reiju to let out a giggle. Seeing her giggle though, Luffy wanted to tease her back, so with a shit eating grin, he opened his mouth again, "Well if I'm a child, then what are you who asked the child to lick her fe-"

Reiju smacked him hard before he could even finish the sentence, "You bring that up one more time and I'll actually kill you"

"Shishishishi okay okay" Luffy chuckled rubbing his head. "So what now?"

"I still haven't received anything from you for saving your life"

"What do you want? I don't have much to give you right now, but you can put it on my tab. I'll give you anything you want once I become the Pirate King"

"Didn't you also swindle the poor bar maid from your stories with the same promise?" Reiju teased.

"Hey! I will pay up my tab with Makino!" Luffy protested.

"Sure you will"

Luffy just shrugged and thought about what he could give her. "You can use me as a guinea pig for testing poisons?" he suggested.

Reiju blinked in surprise, "Really?"

"As long as I get to leave this place and you drop me off on some island, I'll do anything…" he said resolutely but then added, "anything non-sexual…"

"Don't push it" Reiju warned but then thought about his offer, "You don't understand. I have tons of poisons I want to test which can make a person feel all sorts of things like burning, freezing, give seizures, and a whole lot of pain"

"I don't mind. It will help train my endurance"

"Wow…you really are crazy"

"How do you usually test your poisons?"

"Oh we have lots of enemies, so I run into tons of people all the time who are out to kill me or my family, so there's no shortage of guinea pigs"

"Oh…"

"Well that's back at the Kingdom. I currently don't have anyone to test poisons on.."

"Great then! I'll be your guinea pig"

Reiju got a manic glint in her eye already thinking of all the experiments she had held off on as she didn't have anyone to test it on. "Okay then. I'll tell you where you'll get dropped off after the Reverie is done"

"What day of the Reverie is it?"

"Today was the 5th…two more days to go"

Luffy hummed in acknowledgment. "What's the deal with the death pit anyway? I mean this is supposed to be just a meeting right? Why is there even a death pit here in the first place?"

Reiju sighed and explained about the family of royals that was beaten and thrown in the death pit and how it was an unspoken threat by the WG to all the attending Kingdoms.

"They really are bastards huh" Luffy said after she finished the story. "Can't wait to take them all down one day"

"…huh? What did you just say?"

Luffy just shrugged, "Forget it"

"No! Tell me now. Who are you gonna take down?"

"The Celestial Dragons" Luffy said with a sigh.

That just made Reiju laugh out loud, "Hahaha the audacity of saying that right here in Mariejois! Wow, you sure are pretty stupid after all"

Luffy didn't comment anything. He would either directly or indirectly take them down one day. Either him becoming the Pirate King will lead to their downfall somehow or Dragon will succeed in dethroning them. 'Didn't know I even had a dad. And he's a pretty big deal in the world huh? And Sabo is with him right now! Sabo! Sabo! I want to meet him so bad! And Sabo wants to take down the Celestial Dragons too! So of course that dream of his will come true! Sh-'

Before he could think further, Reiju interrupted him again, and he sighed internally in annoyance. This kept happening since he had been rescued and he didn't get any time to think at all.

"Don't say that ever out loud okay? The Celestial Dragons are the Gods of this world. They need to be respected"

Luffy just gave her a deadpan look. He knew she was saying that because she had to keep up the façade of being an elitist royal herself, so didn't comment anything.

"Well anyway," Reiju got up stretching, "Imma go hit the sack. You will be here locked in this room itself. See you tomorrow"

Luffy gawked at her in surprise when she started making her way towards the door, "You're not gonna put me to sleep?"

"Yeah. Now that I've confirmed you're not some spy, I don't think there's a need to…" she then glanced back at him, "Is there?"

"No no" Luffy hastily and happily answered, "I finally get time to think! Thanks!"

She rolled her eyes before saying, "Don't touch my chemicals"

"Sure"

Reiju then locked the lab, went back to her room and turned on a visual transponder snail that was connected to a snail inside the lab. She had hid the snail inside a bookshelf such that Luffy wouldn't be able to see it and since he was chained, he wouldn't even get anywhere near it to find out about it. The snail had a perfect view of the spot where he was chained up, so she could watch his every action. She wanted to see what he would do if he was alone and this was the last test she had thought of. And thus she laid down in her bed as the snail projected whatever was happening inside the lab and she observed what Luffy did throughout the entire night.



———



Luffy finally had some alone time. When he was in the pit waiting for Reiju to show up for 6 long agonizing hours, he had kept his mind blank so that he could save every ounce of his energy, so he hadn't thought of anything. This was the first time he got some time to actually think. He leaned back against the desk, crossed his arms and started going through everything.

The first thing was what had happened when he had come back to life. After he had lost consciousness in the Soul plane, he had found himself in a blank space again, but this time it felt more familiar. Like he was in his own body instead of the almost weightless feeling he had felt when he was in the Soul plane. He didn't have time to ponder where he was because he spotted a whitish spiral cloud moving away from him. He didn't know why but he felt that it shouldn't be separated from him, and so had instinctively reached out and grabbed it before it could move any further away from him and the white cloud actually seemed to jump in surprise.

The cloud had then coiled around his arm like a snake and one tail end of it actually came right up to his face as if studying him carefully. He didn't know what the hell was happening but the whitish cloud seemed familiar…as if it was a friend he had had his whole life. The whitish cloud studying his face actually seemed to be swaying in happiness before it coiled around his chest and he soon found himself opening his eyes and saw the death pit.

He had put off thinking about what the hell that was but now that he had time, that was the first thing he wanted to process and tried feeling for the white cloud again. He already had a theory as to what it was. The familiar feeling from the white cloud was what he felt when he had first eaten his devil fruit and had been with him ever since. Yes, it was probably his devil fruit essence. It was unbinding itself from his soul as he had died and was leaving him but when he came back to life and inhabited his own body again, he had yanked it back to himself just in time, and the essence had binded itself back to him again. 'Phew! Almost lost my devil fruit huh?'

He tried to feel for that again or go back to whatever that blank space was (probably my mindscape Luffy concluded), but he couldn't. So he gave up on figuring it out for now.

Then his thoughts wandered to his devil fruit itself. It wasn't just a Paramecia type Gum Gum fruit but also a Mythical Zoan fruit?! And that too the Sun God Nika?! 'What the hell?!' It felt like everything he knew about his fruit was false. And who the hell was Nika anyway?

Sengoku had the Mythical Zoan: Model Buddha, which gave him the powers of Buddha, who was a historical figure in Leo's world, but Luffy had never heard about Buddha in this life. But then again, he wasn't much of a reader or someone who cared about history that much, so he probably just didn't know. So his fruit was also based on a historical figure? His fruit gave him the powers of a guy called Nika, who was a Warrior of Liberation. Also known as Joyboy? Was that Joyboy? Or was he Joyboy? Was it a title? Was it another name for Nika? Or anyone that ate his fruit is known as Joyboy? SO MANY QUESTIONS!

The power of his fruit was described as the 'Most Ridiculous Power in History' and could do anything the user imagined. He started grinning when he remembered the literally comical way his body had worked when he was in his awakened form in the battle against Kaido and couldn't wait to unlock it himself.

If anything he could imagine could be made reality, he started getting excited thinking of all the ways he could actually use it. He stopped himself as that was still far into the future and he had to awaken his fruit first… But still, it wasn't just a simple fruit huh? It was a Paramecia type fruit but it's awakened form was a Mythical Zoan. Or was it always a Mythical Zoan but the powers actually unlocked when he awakened it? He was sure there was more explanation to what type his fruit actually was in future chapters, but he had to find out on his own here, which he was more than happy for.

Then to take a step back, came his Gears. He actually had a vague idea of inflating his bones and muscles to become a giant in his childhood years but when he had tried it, his body felt like it would pop, so he hadn't achieved it. But he had thought that he could do it once his body got stronger and looks like it actually did work. Gear 2 and 3 were amazing to say the least and Gear 4 with all its variations along with Haki was super powerful.

Then his mind wandered to Haki and it's three forms. 'To think there was something that strong waiting to be unlocked…' He was awed by it and couldn't wait to unlock everything. He had already unlocked Conqueror's while saving Kell and he also realized that Ace had unlocked his during their childhood years when they were fighting against the Bluejam pirates. He also realized why the Fist of Love hurt now. 'Stupid Gramps was using Armament to hit me!'

Then came the techniques the CP9 agents used which had made story Luffy acknowledge that a human body could even be trained to be that strong. The Rokushiki techniques were amazing to say the least and he realized that Gramps used Soru all the time when he was chasing them in the forest. Ace, Sabo and him had even discussed how he seemingly teleported from one place to another. The result of the discussion was of course 'Because Gramps is a monster'

He had also seen his grandpa using Geppou when he was tied up to balloons and got swept too far away by the winds. Gramps would just show up in the sky somehow which had shocked Luffy the first time he had seen it. But again had just chalked it up to his gramps being a monster. He cursed his grandpa for not teaching him and his brothers all this as it would have made them so much stronger.

Luffy stopped himself from going down a rabbit hole of thinking about battle techniques and started thinking about the world itself.

Void century, the Great Kingdom, the Ancient Weapons, the silhouettes in Florian Triangle…and so many more mysteries! And not to forget the Space Pirates on the fucking moon! 'Like what the hell?! There are aliens there right now?! And they are Pirates?! THAT'S SO FUCKING COOL!!'

He didn't really care for history before he died but one of the biggest selling points of the One Piece manga were all the mysteries Oda had sprinkled in throughout the story, and Leo was extremely interested in the deep lore and history of this world. So now, he couldn't help but be interested too. He actually loved that he could understand these things now and could appreciate just how rich and wonderful this world was.

He thought about islands all the way up in the sky to islands all the way deep under the sea and couldn't help but vibrate in excitement. Being from East blue, he had no idea that his world was so wonderful, exciting, dangerous and thrilling. He couldn't wait to actually go to these places and see them in real life as just seeing them on a screen was obviously nowhere near as exciting as it would be in real life. He was peeved that this wouldn't all be a surprise for him though…

Now, his thoughts finally turned to his own personal adventure. Did he want to go through the same adventure as what was shown in the story? Could he actually pick a completely different route on the Grand Line and have an entirely new adventure? The answer was an instant and a 100% no. He couldn't in good conscience leave any single person he knew from the story in trouble. If he did anything like that, it would eat him up from the inside and he would break down eventually.

He imagined a single scenario of him not choosing to go to Whiskey Peak and in turn not go to Alabasta. Vivi would certainly die at Whiskey Peak itself at the hands of Mr.5 and Miss Valentine, and there would soon be a headline of "Hero Crocodile saves the country of Alabasta from its corrupt king". If he actually picked a different path and read something like that in the newspapers, he would surely die of guilt and shame.

'So, I'm gonna be having the same adventure as my story counterpart…' he thought with a sigh but quickly shelved the topic for now. He would think of what to do when he actually was on the journey and see how it played out.

For now, he needed to think of how to get back to Dawn Island, and what he needed to do before that. He was too late in the timeline to actually save anyone in any meaningful way by ridding their tragedies before they could happen. Kuina was already dead, Bellemere was already dead and Cocoyashi was under Arlong's rule, Banchina was dead…and so on. And in the present time, all his crew and friends were physically and relatively safe…but still some of them were in a lot of pain.

His mind started wandering to Nami, to Brook, to Vivi, to Robin, to Yamato, to Conis, to Aisa, to Rebecca, to Shirahoshi, to Momo, to Ace, to Kyros, to Viola…and all their back stories suddenly started playing in his mind all at once…and when his mind reached Otama, Otoko, all the people in Wano starving and suffering because of Kaido and the smile fruits, tears started pouring from his eyes as his heart clenched.

Otama had called him Aniki and saw him as a brother, and she was currently probably all alone and hungry. He remembered the scene of her selling the hats she made with her own hands with a bright happy smile while she starved…and he cried as he couldn't do anything for her currently. He didn't care about many people and didn't see himself as a savior or a hero, but he wanted the people he knew to be well fed and happy.

He didn't know what was happening but all the sad stories started surfacing to the top of his mind and he started banging his head on the ground to make the pain stop.

He took a few deep sighs and tried to calm his nerves down but it wasn't just his emotions that were running wild but Leo's memories were also affecting him. Leo had seen all these scenes as just a fictional story and had felt extremely bad for all the characters, but now that those memories were his and Luffy kinda saw the world from Leo's point of view, he couldn't help but be horrified that all those animated and fictional characters that went through hell were in fact real.

The strongest and strangest emotion Luffy felt was actually his own tragedy. Leo was devastated when Ace had died but he had been much more devastated when he saw story Luffy dealing with Ace's death on Amazon Lily. Leo and Serena both had bawled their eyes out watching story Luffy bang his head and scream his lungs out for Ace after the Marineford war…and Luffy now saw himself crying and experiencing all that as if he was a different person and felt all the emotions Leo felt. And adding to that, now Luffy, through Leo's frame of reference, realized that Luffy was a real person and felt strong emotions towards Luffy, which was he himself. It was an incredibly jumbled and messed up point of view which made absolutely no sense and his mind became even more chaotic.

He started banging his head on the ground harder to make it all stop, and soon he didn't know if he was Luffy or Leo. Was Serena here? Was Ace here? Was this a fictional universe? Was he a comic book character? Was he Leo in an acid trip imagining about being Luffy?! Haha that was so funny! Yosh! I'll go become the Pirate King! No, wait he already did? Was he Luffy dealing with Ace's death? What?! Ace is dead?! Serena is dead too! Is Nami okay?! Is David gonna be fine without me now that I'm dead? Is Otama fed?! Did I give her food?! Wait I'm dead?! Leo's dead not me! I'm Luffy! Is Robin safe?! Brook is not alone anymore right?! I saved them all, didn't I?! No, I haven't even started my journey! I died before I even started my music career! Music career?! What has music got anything to do with saving them?! Because Pirates gotta si-

All his jumbled up thoughts abruptly stopped and he felt his mind suddenly clearing. He stopped banging his head as he slowly breathed in and out and felt his body relaxing.

"Ah I was afraid this might happen" Luffy heard White's voice saying in his mind.

'White?' he tried to open his mouth but no voice came out as he focused on breathing.

"This is just a memory I put inside you, so I can't answer you" White's voice giggled making Luffy smile. That actually made him come back to his senses and he just listened to the message White had left. "So, your mind just broke. I had put this message in your head in case this did happen. You have two conflicting memories, which is mostly fine but the problem here is that the memories were carried on from your soul to your physical body. Just imagine that your body has a brain and your soul has a brain. Both are usually in sync as they both learn and form neural networks at the same time since birth, but in this case, your soul brain, which has a ton of new memories from Leo just integrated with your body brain…so things will get chaotic and messed up if you start overworking it. Don't think about anything too emotionally triggering for a couple of days and let your body and soul brains integrate and sync with one another and you'll be fine after that. So this is just temporary, don't worry"

'I see… thanks for this!'

"I'm gonna assume you thanked me just now and so, you're welcome! And if you're actually hearing this message, then it probably means you survived. Congratulations! Have fun with life, Luffy. Toodles~"

And then White's voice was gone. Luffy sighed in relief knowing that this was just temporary and he wouldn't have any long term affects because of this. He was wondering why he was fine in the Soul plane but was having an identity and memories crisis now, but the soul and physical brain syncing issue explained it.

He felt his body was now relaxed, so opened his eyes and saw that the floor had become red with blood. At least he was back to reality now and knew who he was and where he was.

"Damn…" he looked around and thankfully only the spot in front of him was bloody. He touched his forehead and found it was bleeding a lot. He wiped it all off on the bandages on his arm and thought he should clean the blood on the ground up somehow. He looked around for any cloth he could find and he did spot one on the sofa, but he couldn't reach it because he was chained up.

He sighed when he didn't find anything else and just used his legs which was covered in bandages to wipe the floor. It wasn't clean and his bandages only got dirtier but he could just explain it as his wounds opening up if Reiju asked.

He sighed again after he was done and sat down leaning against the desk trying to keep his mind clear. He started humming Uta's songs to keep his mind relaxed and after a while, drifted off to sleep.



———



'Is he sane?' was the first thing Reiju thought when she arrived the next day morning to check up on him and handed him some food, which he began devouring happily. She had seen the whole breakdown the previous night and wondered just what the hell had happened.

It was weird from the beginning itself as he had just leaned against the desk, crossed his arms and closed his eyes as if reminiscing something. He had started grumbling, then giggling, then grumbling again, rubbing his forehead while mumbling 'Stupid gramps', then vibrating with unparalleled excitement before deflating again. 'What the hell is he thinking about?!' was running through her head.

And then the breakdown began. He first started tearing up slightly and wiped them off, but then he started sobbing and then clutching his head in pain before he started banging his head on the ground. He kept mumbling 'Stop! Make it stop!' while he kept banging his head and then even more weird stuff started happening when sometimes giggles and huffs started getting mixed in while he cried saying incomprehensible stuff. She was about to rush out and go to the lab to make him stop from hurting himself anymore but then he had somehow brought himself out of that crazed state himself.

He had breathed in and out slowly coming back to his senses and then finally was himself again. He grimaced at his own head and the blood splattered on the floor, and then like an absolute idiot wiped it all off using the bandages which were wrapped around his limbs. Then he just started humming a song with a small smile before drifting off to sleep.

She honestly didn't know what she expected to catch him doing. The most she had imagined was him trying to free himself or try to contact someone using some unknown means, but she had just found him in turmoil. Probably remembering his torture she concluded logically.

"You good?" Luffy asked as he finished his food and noticed a worried look on her face.

"Yeah yeah" 'I'm not the one who lost it last night idiot'

Luffy noticed that it was actually morning and thanked her again for thinking of his morning meal too.

"Anyway, I gotta get going" she said with a sigh getting up.

Interpreting it as her being in a bad mood for having to go to the castle again and mingling with the disgusting nobles, Luffy spoke up, "You know, there's this blue haired princess called Vivi at the meeting too. She's kind too just like you, so maybe talk to her?"

Reiju blinked in honest surprise. 'Was this it?! Was this his plan all along? Make me talk to the the Alabastan princess? But why? What would me talking to her prove? Was he sent by Vivi? Was she trying to communicate something with me? No, that's ridiculous. She could just come up and say something to me if she wanted.' Reiju's distrusting and paranoid side started making all sorts of speculations again.

"Just saying that's all" Luffy continued when she didn't answer, "She was gonna be my second choice if you didn't happen to save me and I got a chance to see her"

"I see" He could be just telling the truth or this was some elaborate plan. She decided that she would observe and talk to this Vivi and judge for herself what the case was.



———


Luffy spent the entire day either training his body or thinking about what to do. He had slowly processed the thoughts so that he wouldn't lose it and it had worked as he had come to a few conclusions.

First was what had led to the Marineford war - The murder of Thatch. He had seen the date in the newspapers and realized there were still 18 months left before his 17th birthday. The story didn't really explain when exactly Ace had joined Whitebeard, when he had become the Second Division Commander and when exactly Teach had killed Thatch. Also didn't explain how long Ace had been looking for Teach before they met in Alabasta, so there was no reference to whether the event had already happened or not. For now, he assumed that it was yet to happen and wondered if he could prevent it altogether. And the answer was a No.

For him to go up to the Whitebeard crew and tell them that one of their crew members will kill another crew member would be a one way ticket to hell for him. He imagined a random boy coming up to him and saying Zoro was going to kill another crewmate, and he didn't have to think for a second of what his response would be. He would punt the boy and dismiss him completely not even giving what he said a second thought.

And the Whitebeard crew were an actual family who called their captain 'Pops' and considered each other as actual brothers. Plus, Teach had been with them for decades. If Whitebeard or any of the crew members actually heard him say that Teach was gonna kill a crewmate and he didn't go out in a body bag, then that crew would be the worst crew ever.

So, he couldn't go to any of the Whitebeard crew members. He could only go to Ace as Ace would believe his words. But would the others believe Ace? It was a resounding 'no' again. They would feel betrayed by Ace that he would even think that about them and Ace would lose all credibility.

So, the last option to prevent the murder was to actually be present on Whitebeard's ship and catch Teach red handed. That was the only way Thatch's murder could be avoided.

Now, the biggest question of how he could achieve this?…and he drew an absolute blank. He could get in touch with Ace somehow and have him pick him up from wherever Reiju would drop him off. But how the fuck was he supposed to contact Ace? He didn't even know if Ace had a transponder snail let alone the number… He so wished this world had smartphones right about now which would solve all his problems…

He racked his brain about any way he could achieve it. He could call the Marine HQ, get in touch with his gramps, have him somehow call Ace…if he even had a way…or gramps could even get in touch with Whitebeard himself and then to Ace through him. But would that actually work? Would gramps actually call Whitebeard without Luffy giving any explanations? The answer was again a no. He couldn't depend on his gramps for this at all. Next would be Dragon…but again, he had no idea how to get in touch with Dragon…

"I so want a phone!" Luffy whined when all his problems ultimately lead to 'how to get in contact with someone?'

He decided to ask Reiju if she had a way but doubted it too.

Other than the Marineford war, there was really no other event that he could prevent or solve right about now with his current level of strength. He could definitely not sail the Grand Line alone as he would drown without Nami. And his strength also wasn't all that great that he could easily traverse the Grand Line by himself or even hitch rides. If he didn't have strength, then he would obviously get stuck with someone unsavory again and would probably fail… He wasn't strong enough to achieve anything he wanted right now. He wondered just how he was going to go home to East Blue from wherever Reiju was going to drop him off, but shelved that topic for now as he would worry about it when he was actually on an island.

He sighed in frustration when he realized how utterly and hilariously outclassed he was by opponents in the New World. Even the opponents in Paradise would be too much for his current self. He needed to get strong. Much much stronger and then even more.



———



Reiju had had a relatively good day. There were plenty of the same shitty stuff as the previous days but she had kinda made a friend that day. As Luffy had said, she decided to observe and talk to Vivi that day. She had observed the young blue haired princess for quite a while and she quickly learned that Vivi was someone who wore her emotions on her sleeve.

She was a young girl so her guards, someone she called Pell and Igaram, had easily warded off any approach from any man trying to woo her. She did have a few friends with whom she would talk the entire time like a chatter box and Reiju had discreetly tried to hear what they were talking about and she found out that they were just talking about their countries cuisine and culture.

After four hours of surveillance, Reiju just couldn't see this young girl as a mastermind of some elaborate plan. Deciding that she had to talk to her to see if there some bigger conspiracy here, she finally approached her after lunch.

After a bit of tension in the initial conversations, Vivi had opened up to her when Reiju had just straight up told her "Listen, I just wanted someone who is not an asshole to talk to. I'm tired of all these assholes trying to woo me for the past 5 days. You seemed nice so I approached you. I have no intention of setting you up with anyone let alone my brothers. You're too cute for them"

Vivi was apprehensive at first when the only Princess of the Germa Kingdom had approached her as she was sure the pink-haired princess was here to try to set her up with one of her brothers. Others had already tried that tactic and whenever someone tried it, she would discreetly signal Pell or Igaram to interrupt them so she could politely escape from the person. But when Reiju straight up told her that she just wanted someone to talk to as she was tired of all the 'assholes' ('My! Such crude language for a princess!' she thought not knowing that the universe was laughing at her as she would soon be entering Baroque Works and she would have to learn all this crude language herself to fit in), she was more than happy to talk to her.

The two had spent the better part of the day together and had had a really nice time. The first thing that became obvious to Reiju was that Vivi loved her country. She would bring up interesting local specialties like food, clothes and desert animals exclusive to her country. One more thing Reiju learned was that Vivi was extremely teaseable. She would blush at the slightest compliments and would go completely beet red at even the slightly suggestive jokes.

Reiju had a lot of fun that day teasing the blue haired princess and by the end, she concluded that this innocent young princess was just that- an innocent young princess. She had seen her talking to the slaves in the death pit once, so maybe Luffy just saw that too and decided she was kind too. There was no bigger conspiracy here.



———



"You were right about Vivi. She was easy to talk to and we spent pretty much the entire day together. Today was sooo less sucky compared to the last few days" was the first thing Reiju told Luffy as soon as she came to the lab.

"Shishishishi that's great. You look happy too"

Reiju then proceeded to tell him some of the conversations that they had had and more importantly how easy it was to tease Vivi. She told him how easily she went beet red at even the slightly sexual topic(even just kissing!) and all the ways she had made her go red in the face. Luffy got a mischievous glint in his eyes and filed that piece of information for later use, and the two had a good laugh at the poor blue-haired princess's expense that day.

"You know, I thought that this was some elaborate plan you were cooking up and maybe Vivi was involved somehow"

Luffy paused from eating and stared at Reiju, "You're never gonna trust me huh?"

"Nope"

Luffy nodded with a sad smile, "Well okay then…just gotta break down your walls too"

"…what?"

"Hmm Leo, my brother…he said that I'm someone who can break down peoples walls really easily and plant myself in their hearts… So, I guess I'll make you like me too"

Reiju blinked in honest bewilderment, "How the hell can you say something so cheesy with a straight face?"

Luffy just shrugged, "You get analyzed as much as I have, you can't help but acknowledge things about yourself"

"Analyzed? You were analyzed? By whom?"

"Leo, Serena and a bunch more people… they all dissected each and every part of my life, my personality, and had lists of all the bad and good qualities I possess, theories of why I worked I way I worked, a ton of debates of why people like me…" he sighed thinking about the thousands of posts people made analyzing his character, "It's soo fucking embarrassing…"

Reiju just sat there not knowing what to say. 'He was analyzed like a lab specimen? What the hell?!' "Why?"

"They just liked me I guess…"

"Who's they?"

"My brother Leo, his girlfriend Serena…and a ton of their friends" Luffy sighed, "Well anyway, I got some questions to ask…"

Reiju wanted to know more about the analyzation topic but then again, she had no idea what exactly to ask either.

"If I wanted to get in contact with Giant ossan…umm I mean, Whitebeard, how could I?"

'…What the hell?!' "You want to get in touch with the Whitebeard? Why?" she asked completely bewildered and caught off guard.

"Another brother of mine was going to join his crew. I wanted to know if it's already happened or not…Ooh maybe it was in the papers? Is there a new commander for Whitebeard recently? Fire Fist Ace?"

Reiju blinked again completely gobsmacked. Any small doubts she still had of this guy being a spy flew right out the window as what spy would say something like this? They would usually keep a low profile and collect information about her slowly and build trust…but this guy just straight up told her that he wanted to get in touch with someone massive.

"Hello?" Luffy called out when she didn't answer and that brought her out of her stupor.

"Uhh no…I don't think I've seen something like that in the papers…"

"Oh…then I gotta wait until Ace joins his crew…" Luffy crossed his arms and began thinking.

"You really think your brother can just join Whitebeard's crew and become a commander?"

"Ace is strong. He definitely will…well, after he tries to kill Whitebeard for a while at least…"

"…What?"

"Don't worry, don't worry. Giant ossan is strong, he won't die by Ace's hands"

"…What?!" Reiju was losing her mind not understanding what this boy was telling her. "What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Ugh too much to explain, forget it…anyway, I still have to get in touch with Ace somehow. Know any means of getting in touch with Giant ossan? I'll call him after Ace joins"

"He's Whitebeard! The strongest man in the world! Stop calling him giant ossan! And not anyone can just call him, you idiot!"

Luffy nodded sadly, "Yeah…I've been trying to think of ways on how I can get in touch…"

Reiju breathed and took a second to calm herself down. This boy was utterly insane was an established fact in her mind now. "Why do you want to get in touch with him?"

"I want to get on his ship somehow…but I can't think of any way. Do you know where he is? I know he's somewhere in the New World…"

"Yes, he's in the New World but no idea where exactly"

Luffy nodded, "And I don't think I can just traverse the Grand Line with my current level of strength…"

Reiju scoffed, "You got that right. You'll die in paradise let alone New World"

"Yeah…" Luffy trailed off with a sigh, "I need to get much much stronger"

"Well at least you recognize you're weak…" Reiju sighed.

"Umm can you like…" Luffy pointed at chains still binding his arms to the desk, "Remove these? You can chain my legs up. I need my hands to train"

"…you want to train now?" she asked bewildered, "Your injuries are quite significant you know. You need to to recover first… Don't you see the condition your body's in?"

"It's okay it's okay, I heal very fast. Besides, if I want to become the Pirate King, then I should be able to handle this much at least"

"…" 'Well, At least he recognizes that becoming the Pirate King will be hard.' Reiju had given up trying to understand Luffy at this point. She acquiesced to his request and chained him up such that his leg was attached to a chain but he could walk a few steps away from the desk if he wanted.

"Thanks!"

Reiju just sighed wondering why she just couldn't say no to him. He was supposed be a slave, but he didn't show the slightest bit of fear or respect towards her, called her by name as if she was a friend, teased and made fun of her…if it was anyone else in her place, he would have been killed by now.

But she didn't hate it either. It was refreshing and new. She just sat in her chair as Luffy first checked where all his wounds were and how significant they were, and after shrugging like an idiot, just started doing push-ups…but his fingers and wrists bones were still broken.

She grew irritated and smacked him on the head making him stop and he looked at her confused.

"Why?"

"Your bones in your wrists and fingers are broken idiot. You need to let it heal first at least"

"It's okay…I don't feel much pain from it"

"You take rest right now or I'm injecting you with the sleeping agent again"

Luffy slowly crossed his legs while glaring at her with a pout, which looked extremely cute to Reiju. "Now, that's a good boy" she patted his head which he swatted away glaring more which only made her giggle. Luffy grumbled something but Reiju didn't care as she was having fun seeing his reactions.

"Now hush," she said taking a seat, "I need to concoct some stuff"

Luffy watched as she began taking all sorts of chemicals from the cabinets and started measuring them out, mixing and heating some liquids in a Bunsen burner. He vaguely remembered performing experiments like this back in school in Leo's memories but Leo didn't have much interest, so he had mostly forgotten about it. He did remember some chemical reactions and could still name the elements in the periodic table though.

Then his mind wandered to element names like Californium, Americium, Europium and wondered if those elements had the same name here in this world too.

Reiju could feel his curious eyes on her and felt him hovering over her watching what she was doing intently. She flinched slightly when he brought his face over her shoulder and observed what she was doing. A second later, his head was resting on her shoulder with their cheeks touching and she didn't know what the hell he was doing. 'Does he have no concept of personal space?'

"What are you doing?" she asked pausing her experiments.

"Just watching. I vaguely remember doing stuff like this…It's kinda fun huh?"

She just eyed him sideways with a sigh, "What I meant was…what are you doing resting your head on my shoulder?"

"Oh" Luffy blinked and lifted his head, "Sorry, I've been told I got no concept of personal space"

"Clearly"

Luffy just hummed and then asked, "Are there elements called Californium and Europium in the periodic table?"

Reiju blinked at the random question, "Yeah…why?"

"Why are they named that?"

"What?"

"Why are they named like that?"

"Umm…I don't know? Why do you wanna know?"

"Just wondering…what about Einsteinium? It's named after Einstein right?"

"Yeah…"

'Ooh so Einstein was a real person in this world too?…' He couldn't help but compare the two worlds and wonder how names of things ended up the same.

"Why are you so weird Luffy?" Reiju asked with a sigh not being able to understand this boy at all.

"Shishishishi"

"Don't just laugh!" she snapped smacking him on the head.

"…once I get my rubber powers back, this won't hurt at all…" Luffy grumbled rubbing where he had been hit.

Reiju just sighed, "There's a book over there if you're interested about elements. Maybe it'll have the answer to your weird questions" she said pointing at the bookshelf next to them.

"Ooh okay!" Luffy cheered and 10 minutes later, for the first time in his life, Luffy willingly started reading a book. He really wanted to find out if places like California existed somewhere in this world…

Reiju just stared at the boyish curiosity on his face as he read the book for a few seconds before going back to her experiments. She would hear him giggling or laughing out loud from time to time and when she asked what was so funny as it was a chemistry book he was reading, he would tell the origins of the names of the chemicals and she couldn't help but laugh too.

It would nag at her and she wanted to know why certain things were named like that too and soon she found herself sitting on the ground next to him going through some books finding answers to his weird questions together.

They both laughed and giggled when they actually found stuff like how Californium was named that because the guy who synthesized that element had a dog called Cali who kinda went inside his lab and messed up everything, but because of that, some random chemicals got mixed in and serendipitously, a new element was created. His dog had apparently died because some toxic chemicals ended up falling on it, so in honor of his dog, he named the new element ForCali, but someone messed it up and ended up calling it CaliFor and 'ium' was added to most element names, and thus Californium was named.

There were a ton more funny name origins for so many elements and Luffy laughed his ass off reading about it and by transitivity, Reiju couldn't help but laugh too.



—



Reiju woke up with a start and was shocked to find herself still on the floor of her lab leaning against a book shelf with a sleeping Luffy next to her. She couldn't believe that she had let her guard down so much that she had fallen asleep next to someone who a part of her mind still thought could be a spy.

Last night was very fun to say the least and she couldn't believe how much she had genuinely smiled and laughed. She didn't remember the last time she had laughed as much as she had in the past three nights she had spent with Luffy.

He had laughed at the most stupidest things and even though she didn't find it that funny, she couldn't help break down into a fit of giggles hearing him laugh. His laugh was very infectious.

She sighed at herself wondering what the heck she was doing letting her guard down this easily in front of another but she couldn't help but think that Luffy was honest. She was a master at reading people after all, so she knew that whatever Luffy said or did, he had no hostility in him. He said very strange things of wanting to meet Whitebeard and even called him 'Giant ossan' as if he was just some random person, said his brother wanted to kill Whitebeard but also wanted to join his crew, said that he was analyzed like a lab specimen a lot by another brother and a bunch more people…She had no idea what to make of all that and he didn't seem like he wanted to talk more about it either.

"Mornin" Luffy mumbled as he got up yawning and rubbing his eyes and that brought her out of her musings.

"Morning…you didn't do anything to me last night, did you?"

Luffy blinked confused at the question, "Do what?"

Reiju groaned internally again cursing herself for making another suggestive joke. 'Why the fuck doesn't he get flustered?!' she screamed internally. "Nothing…forget it"

But Luffy took a few more moments to think about it before finally realizing what she meant. "Oh" he grinned, "Well that should be a question I should direct at you. You're the pervert after all"

Reiju smacked him hard again, "I'm not a pervert!"

"Shishishishi"

Reiju wanted to get back at him, so she picked up the poison she had created the previous night and injected it into him. Luffy was surprised but before his mind even processed what had happened, he slumped down losing consciousness and his body started jerking as if he was having seizures.

Reiju watched for 2 seconds before what she had done hit her and she panicked. The poison was not completely ready and still needed to be perfected, so she had just injected him with a poison she knew would kill the person. She immediately locked lips and sucked all the poisons out.

"That was close" she sighed in relief after she was done and he was okay. She stared at the unconscious Luffy for a few moments before she realized how she had panicked seeing him almost die…and cursed herself. 'Fuck! I've grown attached to the idiot…'



———



The last day of Reverie was again less sucky to Reiju compared to the first five days. Vivi had excitedly come up to her again and the two had spent the entire morning together. They talked about some structures in the castle, their countries, swapped childhood stories, and so on. Ichiji came up to them while they were talking and tried to hit on Vivi, but Reiju stopped him saying she was just 14, and thankfully he went away…and that action had left Vivi staring at her with shining eyes and a happy smile. 'She's so innocent…She must be protected at all costs' Reiju thought when she saw her grateful eyes.

In the afternoon, she got caught up with her brothers and some other nobles, which sucked, but she managed to soldier through and soon the evening approached. Vivi came up to her again when the end came and much to Reiju's surprise, hugged her. After a moment of freezing up, she lightly hugged her back and patted her. They promised to meet again at the next Reverie and if one of them ever visited the other's country, to come greet them and parted ways.

All the other nobles also said goodbyes (which was lackluster compared to Vivi's pure intentioned goodbye) and soon it was time to leave.

Reiju, her brothers and her Father had a discussion that night where her father summarized what all had happened at the meetings. He had apparently made some deals with certain Kingdoms which would empower them and also offended a few more. He also informed them that they wouldn't be going straight back home to North Blue but take a detour to South Blue, visit a few places as he had some business with them and then go home. After the hours long discussion detailing and planning everything which stretched on well after midnight, they finally closed the meeting when it was early morning.

Reiju immediately went to the lab and upon going inside, sank into her comfy chair and sighed deeply. She thought it was over and they could finally go back home but now she had to spend more time in close proximity with her family. She didn't realize that she had chosen to go to Luffy instead of her own room to unwind. Subconsciously, she had wanted to see and talk to Luffy.

"What's wrong? I thought you would be happy now that the Reverie's done?" asked Luffy tilting his head in confusion. He had just spent the day training and had worked up quite a sweat.

"Father decided where we'll go next. Earlier we were just gonna head home to North Blue but there's been a change of plans. Something they talked at the meeting I guess…"

"Oh"

"Yeah, we'll be heading to South Blue first, visit a few places and then go home to North Blue"

Luffy smiled strangely at her and she tilted her head questioningly, "Are you sure you can just tell me stuff like this now? Aren't you scared anymore that I'll tell someone on the outside?"

"Oh please, I feel stupid that I even suspected you being some sort of masterful spy. You're just so stupid. As if you could ever be a spy or be smart enough to even think things through…"

"Hey!"

Reiju grinned, "So yeah, I'm 99% sure you aren't a spy. You're just a delusional lucky idiot"

"Hey!"

"Hehehe well even if you are a spy, what can you do knowing where we are heading? Anyone can find that out if they followed us"

Luffy pouted slightly at being called stupid so much. Now that he had Leo's frame of reference, he knew that he was indeed stupid and also knew how much of an idiot he actually was…and he was a bit embarrassed about it.

Reiju stared at him for a bit before she got serious and asked, "I'm gonna straight up ask you. Was there any lie you told me since we met?"

Luffy also got serious and stared back, "Well I didn't lie per se…but I kinda said half truths I guess?"

That sunk Reiju's heart and she actually felt a bit hurt but she didn't let it show. "What do you mean half-truths?"

"Hmm it's complicated to explain and if I actually told you the complete truth, you'll think I belong in an asylum"

That erased whatever hurt she was feeling and just left her bewildered. "What?…what are you talking about?"

"As I said, it's complicated to explain. I'll tell you one day when I actually have proof of it…" he then trailed off thoughtfully, "Don't know how I'll get the proof though…"

"I'm so lost…have you lied to me or not? Was you being in the pit orchestrated or not?"

"No no, nothing like that. I did end up in the pit because I got thrown out and saw you by chance…" Luffy sighed really thinking about how to explain himself and whether he should even divulge the truth. But he quickly decided against it. "You know what, forget it. I'll tell you one day when I have a better way to explain it. Don't worry, it's nothing harmful…You'll just think I'm crazy, like actually needs help from a doctor kinda crazy if I tell you…"

Reiju just sat in complete confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Luffy groaned into his hands, "Look, I don't wanna explain because you'll think I'm crazy. Yes, more crazy than you already think I am. You'll just have to trust me on this. It's nothing harmful, it's nothing that concerns anyone…" 'And I should learn to keep my mouth shut!' he chided himself. He was just confusing her by saying stuff like this and decided to be more thoughtful next time and not just blurt out stuff.

Seeing her still confused and wary face, he decided to change the topic, "Well okay I'll tell you…" he said and scooted closer to her as if he was divulging some grand secret. She also bent down to listen to him intently.

Luffy looked around himself acting like he was making sure no one else was listening before looking back at her and whispered, "I said I didn't have a leg fetish, but that's a half truth though. I do have a thing for thighs…"

Reiju just stared at him in shock and Luffy managed to keep a straight face for 2 seconds before he fell on his back laughing his ass off.

"That's the half truth?!" she yelled kicking him.

"HAHAHAHA YOUR FACE! YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN YOUR FACE! HAHAHAH!"

"Goddamn IDIOT!" she smacked and kicked him a few times. She did realize that he was trying to change the topic by making a joke, but she let it go for now. Whatever he was hiding, she would get it out of him on another day.

Reiju just sighed after she got her frustrations out of her system by kicking him repeatedly, "I should be killing someone like you who raises so many red flags but at the same time, I don't think you mean any harm."

"Shishishishi or maybe you just like me and want to keep me around so that I can lick y-"

Reiju smacked him again and he just grinned. It had become a sort of comedy routine by now and she would never admit it, but Reiju loved it. She enjoyed his company a lot. All his stupid jokes and stories, some of his weird quirks and questions had made her genuinely laugh more than she had ever done in her 20 years of living. And he had even helped her make a sort of friend in Vivi.

'Didn't know you could get attached to someone this quickly…' she sighed. The thought of keeping him as her own slave forever instead of dropping him off somewhere did pass her mind, but she quickly swatted it away. She was never gonna become a monster like her family and besides, Luffy was too motivated and had big dreams.

The ship started moving then bringing her out of her thoughts.

"We're leaving already?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, no reason to stay here anymore" she looked at the curious look on his face and asked, "Want to see outside?"

Luffy vibrated with excitement as he nodded his head vigorously. No matter what, this was the first island he had been on in the Grand Line (as far as he knew at least) and he wanted to see it with his own eyes.

Reiju first unchained him and then pushed the bookshelf to the side and then pushed on the wall which opened up like a door to the outside.

"Whoa, a secret door!"

"No, you idiot. You do realize this is a lab right? What if there's some major explosion or something? There are vents sure, but it's better to have a door to the outside in case of emergencies"

"Ah I see" Luffy said as he peeked out. The first thing he noticed was the massive wall of Red in front of him that stretched out in either direction with its height rising well above the clouds. He only now recalled that Mariejois was on the Red Line, so he couldn't even see the capital right now.

His eyes quickly left the wall though and he stared down at the rich dark blue color of the sea, the rough and choppy waves, and it hit him that he was actually on the Grand Line. He was mesmerized by the dark bluish water and he stared at the sea in awe. He looked in the distance and saw a few massive cyclones of water rising high up into the clouds. In another direction, he spotted a massive Sea King just chilling with its head above waters apparently enjoying the early morning rays of the sun. He felt the harsh winds blowing on his face, he heard the chirps and cries of News Coos and a few other birds and sea creatures, he heard the rhythmic sound of the waves crashing against the ship…and he instantly knew that this is what he wanted to see and hear for the rest of his life.

"Wow…"

Reiju noticed that he was actually looking at the sea instead of the Red Line and got confused, "You're saying that about the sea?"

"Yeah…" Luffy breathed, "It's beautiful." The thoughts he had had that seeing the places in the anime would ruin the actual thing for him flew right out of the window as he watched the shimmering sea. It was so gorgeous and the anime didn't even manage to capture a percent of its beauty.

Reiju watched the awed look on his face and wondered just what he found to be so amazing and tried to look for it herself but couldn't see anything. "What's so amazing?" she finally asked.

"The Grand Line. It's my first time laying eyes on it…This is where my dream lies."

"Oh" she finally realized that if his story was true, then this in fact would be his first time seeing it. She just stared at his face which was bubbling with excitement and awe for a few seconds and turned her gaze to the sea too. She took a moment to actually appreciate the beauty of the sea too and she noticed things she had missed before. The salty taste in the air, the rhythmic and soft crashing of waves against the ship and the Red Line, the calming sounds of the birds and other sea creatures…and she breathed in deep taking in all the rich salty air and breathed out slowly.

She then stared back at Luffy who still had shining eyes and lips curled up into a massive grin. 'Yeah there's no faking that…this really is his first time seeing the Grand Line' she concluded.

She turned her gaze back to the sea and remembered the first time she had laid eyes on the Grand Line. She remembered having felt this sense of awe too and she was sure she was looking at it just like how Luffy was doing now. She remembered her childish thoughts that the world was so much bigger than she had ever imagined, she remembered her mother's stories and realized that the world was vast, truly realized it…and for a few seconds, she had imagined leaving her stupid family behind and going off on her own to find something or someone who could give her love and a feeling of home like her mother did. And then Judge ordered her to come to him and her body moved without her permission and her wishful thinking died.

She had projected that wishful thinking onto Sanji seeing how he was free from their father's expectations. She helped him escape imagining it was her who was escaping. She gave up every dream and wishful childish thought she had and hoped that Sanji could live it in her place. That he could find people who would love and accept him for who he was, instead of her. That he would be free, instead of her. That he would live for the both of them.

Overcome by emotions and realizing that there was no way Luffy could be a spy, she did something she had never imagined she would ever do. She would later berate herself for being so impulsive but right this moment, she didn't care. She took a leap of faith.

"Hey Luffy…" she muttered softly, "Tell me more about Sanji"

Her heart felt like it was beating a thousand times a second thinking that this was it, she had messed up, he would show his true colors now and everything would be all over, someone would grasp her weakness now and her life would become more of a living hell from now on…but then Luffy just looked at her and gave her a smile…and that dispelled whatever scared thoughts she was having and replaced it with a warm fuzzy feeling.

"I don't know much but I've heard he's an amazing cook. I can't wait to try out his cooking! He's really really kind to everyone, more to women than to men obviously," he chuckled, "but still, he's turned out great. He's also found a father figure in the owner of the restaurant he works at"

"…Is he happy?"

"Yeah he's happy. But once he joins my crew, he'll be even more happy!"

Reiju nodded with a small smile. "I see…"

The two stared back at the sea feeling the winds rush past them enjoying the comfortable silence…

…and then Reiju frowned. "The hell do you mean he'll be more happy when he joins your crew? You haven't even talked to him yet! Stop deciding things for him!"

"Shishishi don't worry. He'll join me"

"What if he refuses?"

"Then I'll refuse his refusal!"

"It doesn't work like that idiot!"

Sounds of shishishi's and bickering and chiding continued in Reiju's lab as the Germa ship left Mariejois.

---

A/N: Thank you for reading! Hope you liked it!

This is a bit of a long chapter huh? Kinda ended up like that. I didn't really want to split it into two as the flow would be broken, so you have this long chapter. Are the chapters being too long a deterrent in your reading experience?

There won't be any romance per se in the story but there's tons of flirting and innuendos, which might seem like romance. I love One Piece because of it's world building and the love for adventure all the characters have. I do love to read romance but this is the kind of story where if the romance becomes a major plot, it might ruin it. So, no straight up romance but there will be hints of it. Hard to explain properly, so you'll just have to read and see.

Luffy will of course be extremely interested in learning about the Void century and all the other mysteries too. Pick one person who has read the manga who is not interested in finding about all that? None, right? Leo is also such a person and thus, Luffy is too now. I wonder how this will effect his relationship with Robin. (Just gotta wait and see~)

Anyway, thanks for reading!

 

[Kryptonian Steel]

Gonna be honest here, this is the best one-piece fic I've ever seen

 

[AncientFunOP]

A/N: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, so hope you have fun reading it too! As always, notes at the end.

---

Chapter 3 - Journey to South Blue
​

"We were on a gigantic snail this whole time?!" Luffy asked surprised as he watched the two huge elongated eye stalks of the snail ship they were currently on. It had been a few minutes since they left Mariejois and he had been so lost in the Grand Line waters that he hadn't even noticed the front of the ship nor the ship itself until then. After seeing the snail, he looked at the rest of the ship and realized there were a couple of castles on the ship, and then he realized that he himself was inside an actual castle. The ship had actual buildings on it!

"Yeah, our whole Kingdom is like this" Reiju answered with a smile.

"Right…Seafaring Kingdom" Luffy said only now recalling it. Their whole Kingdom was built on the backs of multiple gigantic snails that could disengage from one other.

"Yep. This is just a small snail ship we use for travel. We'll be meeting up and docking with another larger ship we left near an island as it was too big to bring to the docks of Mariejois"

"I see" Luffy nodded in amazement. Even Leo's world with as much widespread technology as it had, had nothing like this. Then again, he thought that he shouldn't be too surprised. This world had cyborgs like Franky and Kuma and also the Germa and the World Govt. had human cloning technology. 'Guess science is more advanced in this world but it's isolated to certain people and regions and not at all widespread' Luffy concluded sagely.

"Any preference?" Reiju asked handing a small map to Luffy. He studied the map for a second before looking back up at Reiju with confusion. "What?"

"The island you want to be dropped off at. These are the islands we're gonna stop at so if you know any, you can get off there" she said as she traced a finger over a path marked on the map. There were tons of sea currents and sea routes marked on the map which he didn't understand, but basically inferred that they were gonna stop at four islands in the Grand Line before heading to South Blue via the Calm Belt.

Luffy saw all the names of the islands in their path, but didn't recognize any. "Umm… going to the New World in search of Giant ossan is out of the question huh?"

"You'll die. Plain and simple"

Luffy nodded with a sigh. He had already thought of all ways he could get in touch with Ace, but it all required him to traverse the Grand Line by himself and he also didn't know where exactly Ace was to even have a destination. He also didn't know where Whitebeard was either so that was even more of a hurdle. So, Thatch's murder was something he couldn't prevent.

"Then I guess I'm just going back to East Blue. Any suggestions on where I can get passage to East Blue from any of these islands?"

"You can't navigate?"

"I'm pretty sure I'll die within 30 minutes if I tried navigating the Grand Line"

Reiju sighed, "And you dream of becoming the Pirate King…"

"I'll have my navigator when I set out!"

"Yeah yeah…Anyway no, I don't think there are any ships heading into any of the Blues from the Grand Line, especially to East Blue. Maybe Marine ships and if you're lucky, you can find some pirates who're heading that way…"

Luffy frowned, "The closest island to the entrance then. I'll think of something when I get there"

Reiju also frowned but suddenly realizing something said, "You know, it's easier to get passage to East Blue from South Blue rather than the Grand Line or even the North Blue. There are some merchant companies that do trade in between the four Blues and you can probably find a merchant cargo ship in South Blue that's heading to East Blue and hitch a ride on it"

She wanted Luffy to stay. She had only spent four days with him enjoying his company a lot and had even impulsively opened up to him a bit by asking about Sanji. She wanted to spend more time with him and also, the journey to South Blue would be more fun with him around.

"Sure" Luffy just shrugged and accepted. He wasn't good at geography or navigation and Leo's memories didn't hold any information about exact routes either, so he just decided to trust Reiju. He was sure he could travel on any of the Blues without dying at least. Besides, he had never been to any of the other Blues before so he thought it would be nice to explore a bit of South Blue before going back.

Reiju was surprised as she thought she would have to convince him more. "Just like that?"

Tilting his head, Luffy just said "Yeah. You said it's better so it's better"

"…Well okay then" Reiju happily chirped, "Guess we'll be spending more time with one another then. It'll take about a month and a half to travel to a South Blue island from here"

Seeing the happy expression on Reiju's face, Luffy thought that he should make her life as joyful as possible for the short duration he would stay with her. He didn't know what would happen in the far future when the Whole Cake Island Arc happens, and he didn't care either as he was sure he would have deviated from the story by then.

A few hours later, they reached the larger snail ship that Reiju had mentioned and it really was much larger than Luffy had anticipated. It had numerous buildings on it and even had roads and pavements. It looked like a small city almost. The buildings reminded Luffy of medieval Europe castles and towers but with a more modern touch. All the castles and towers were made of stone bricks with conical shaped roofs and the pavements and roads were made with stone brick tiles. And the snail the city was on was also massive.

And much to Luffy's shock, he would later learn that this larger ship he thought was a big part of their Kingdom turned out to be just a small travel ship they used for long travels and the actual snails that their Kingdom was on were much more massive.

The smaller snail docked with the larger snail ship and Luffy watched the docking mechanism in awe. The huge snail retreated into its shell and the shell had a circular ring on its side which connected to a circular ring on the bigger snail ship. The bigger snail ship had three such rings on its side indicating that it could connect to three small snail ships. The rings had latches that connected to each other and locked the two ships in place.

Luffy was then led outside the lab and he and Reiju walked through the castle making their way outside to board the bigger ship. His eyes brimmed with curiosity seeing all the new stuff and the massive infrastructure. As the two walked towards the bigger ship, Luffy laid his eyes on Vinsmoke Judge for the first time.

Judge was a massive man and looked pretty much like what he did in the story including the mask on his face and his pointy mustache. Ichiji, Niji and Yonji also came out of their own castles and the entire family made its way towards the bigger ship. Luffy was following behind Reiju holding onto a few bags like he was her attendant and she had asked him not to make trouble for her and to just keep his mouth shut and head down, so he tried to keep quite.

"Wait, is that my shirt?" Ichiji suddenly asked pointing at Luffy. Reiju had brought him a change of clothes from Ichiji's wardrobe which Luffy was currently wearing. It was just a bit too big for him, but he made it work.

"Yeah. He didn't have any clothes, so I took one from your room" Reiju answered nonchalantly. "Problem?"

"No but…that was one of my favorites"

"Oh hush you. All your shirts are pretty much the same" Reiju rebuked.

"Yeah Ichiji, it looks just like the one you're wearing right now" Yonji piped up with a grin.

That started a small argument with Ichiji and Yonji, and Niji also joined in a minute later while Reiju rolled her eyes at them, and Judge didn't even care one bit. Luffy just watched them and thought that they just seemed like normal siblings, but he remembered how they had abused Sanji during his childhood and also Cosette during the WCI arc, how they didn't care one bit if they were dying or their siblings and father were dying, and knew they were monsters. But Luffy didn't feel any hostility towards them. They were just products of genetic engineering after all and had just lost their emotions. If anyone was to blame, it was the bastard of a father they had.

He also saw the multiple servants and soldiers on the ship. There were some normal maids, butlers and servants but what caught his attention were the multiple sets of nearly identical men and women walking around the ship, who he soon realized were clones. He recalled that there were different types of clones in the Germa Kingdom, each having their own characteristics, like ones with huge broad shoulders, ones with a short bodies, ones with tall and slim bodies, and so on.

Reiju and the others all split up soon and she led Luffy to a huge castle. Apparently, each sibling had their own castle they could build in any way they wanted and the huge castle in front of him was Reiju's. It had multiple floors and even two towers protruding at the top that served as a sort of second and third terraces.

Luffy was given the short tour of the castle and found that the first two floors just had normal house rooms like bedrooms, kitchen, etc. The third floor was her lab and the highest floor was just an observation deck with a fantastic view. One of the protrusion towers which served like a second terrace was an open pool with a bar attached to it. And the other protrusion tower was a fully equipped high class gym.

It was extravagant, fancy, screamed rich and pretty much looked like a 7 star hotel from Leo's world. Luffy was marveling at how huge and cool it all looked when Reiju spoke up.

"Well it's a small castle but this is just an outhouse ship we use for travel so I didn't have it built that extravagantly. Our actual home is the Vinsmoke Castle which is in the middle of the main ship and that castle is adequately sized" she said with no hint of sarcasm.

Luffy just sweat dropped and muttered "Damn rich people"

"What was that?!" Reiju asked dangerously.

"Nothing nothing…" Luffy placated. He didn't care about luxury and all in the first place and Leo wasn't a materialistic person either, so his memories didn't affect him.

He was absolutely fascinated with the third floor where Reiju's lab was though. There weren't just poison related stuff in the lab but also many cool gadgets and weapons she had developed which seemed straight out of science fiction. There were 3d printers, taser staffs, cool guns with lots of different funky designs and functions, snail forms of dials which did stuff like record and print pictures and play sounds. And the most interesting thing of all was a small cloning machine! She had an actual miniature sized cloning machine that fit on a desk in her lab and Luffy vibrated with excitement when he saw it.

Reiju told him that this particular machine could only clone small animals like rodents and that she mainly used it to create more mice clones for testing her poisons. She didn't mention anything about human cloning or how most of the people on the ship were clones as it was supposed to be a secret, and Luffy didn't bring it up either.



———



Luffy quickly fell into a sort of routine on the ship. He spent the first few days to recover from his injuries where he trained just a bit but after he healed sufficiently, he started to train seriously like never before.

The gym in Reiju's castle was his favorite place to spend his time in as he had soon realized that it would help him grow much more stronger. Actually, calling it a gym was a disservice to it as it had amazing tech that Luffy had never seen before. There was a treadmill but the speeds at which it could go was insanely high. There were dumbbells and barbells but one could attach as much weights as needed without it seeming too bulky. There were step mills, pull down machines and many other gym equipment but these were just way more high tech and more challenging.

For example, the treadmill. Not only did it have insane speeds he had never seen before, it could also fill up with water up to the waist, thus making running on it more challenging. Well, that was what Luffy thought at first as the liquid was transparent like water but when he tried it, he found that it wasn't water but a highly dense and viscous liquid in which taking a single step was a Herculean task, thus increasing its difficulty exponentially.

And those were just the equipment he recognized. There were many more insane equipment which made him excited. There was a machine that was just a straight up compress machine which would push down on someone. There was a sort of small padded room in which the walls and ceiling all had guns and canons which would automatically fire projectiles like canon balls, arrows, bullets, etc., at a person inside the room. They were random too, so there was no pattern either, thus making it difficult to dodge them. 'To train Observation Haki' Luffy concluded correctly.

There was also what Luffy thought was a wooden dummy he had seen in some martial arts movies but when he tried it, he found out all the bars would actually move unpredictably and also hit back with enough force to make him yelp in pain.

Luffy's jaws were on the floor the first time Reiju had demonstrated all those equipment and he had instantly started training with excitement. He would train for at least 4 hours in the mornings before taking a break, then train for another 6 hours in the afternoon, break again and end the night with another 3 hours of training.

He also did all his training while wearing the sea stone cuffs. In the story during the Wano arc, story Luffy had been put into sea stone cuffs too and made to work in the prison mines. His muscles had visibly bulked up by the time he got the cuffs removed and he had gotten much stronger, so he realized it was a very effective training method and thus, decided to put himself through it.

It was very hard at first. Even though he had gotten used to being in the sea stone cuffs, it didn't mean he didn't feel extremely weak all the time. But he soldiered on knowing that this would give him an incredible boost in strength.

When Luffy wasn't training, he would spend his time in Reiju's lab, the pool or her bedroom. The two were practically inseparable and the only times they weren't together was when Reiju had to go to her family for meals or meetings.

Even when Luffy was training, Reiju would spend her time in the gym and had even moved some of her lab equipment inside the gym so she could chat with him while she performed her experiments and he trained. She would also train everyday with him but not as much as him of course. Most of the stuff in the gym was really simple for her as she was exponentially stronger than Luffy, and she just treated what Luffy was struggling with as a warm up exercise.

The two also held sparring sessions together which left Luffy frustrated as hell as she could just stand in a single spot and deflect any attacks he threw at her quite easily. He was frustrated seeing the massive chasm of strength between himself and her, but he berated himself for thinking like that and told himself not to rush things. She was New World levels of strong, so her strength was to be expected. It would take time and a lot of effort before he became as strong as her.

He also realized that he would be facing people who were as much as and even more stronger than Reiju in the Marineford war, and he knew he wasn't ready in the slightest. That was his major goal actually. To get strong enough to have a better chance at saving Ace.

He was pretty sure that Ace wouldn't stop chasing after Teach even if he told him that it would lead to a war. The two had promised not to interfere in each other's adventure and to also live without regrets, so Luffy knew stopping Ace from going after Teach would be almost impossible. He would at least tell him all about Teach's powers but who knew how the battle between them would turn out. Even Shanks was wary of Teach, so he definitely had some secret that made him so dangerous.

Either way, for now he decided to train like he was preparing for the Marineford war. Apart from the war, another failure of his was in Thriller Bark where Zoro tries to give up his life for him. It was something he didn't like one bit (no matter how badass the scene was for Zoro). It was his failure as a captain and there was no way in hell he was going to allow that to happen. So, he had to be strong enough so that he could face Moria and then also Kuma back to back.

Another failure was with Aokiji in Long Ring Long Island. He knew he wouldn't get strong enough to defeat an Admiral that early but he could at least prepare enough to put up a decent fight.

He sighed when he thought about his adventure. He didn't like that he knew all these future events already but he was also grateful for it as it gave him his wake up call way earlier. Losing his entire crew in Sabaody and then losing Ace in the war was the wake up call for his story counterpart, and it was only then that he had realized how outclassed he really was. But in this reality, he had gotten his wake up call much earlier when he got enslaved. The existence of sea stone was a shocking revelation to him and the days he spent in his solitary cage made him realize that he was weak. All the events that led up to him dying in the pit had made him realize he was really weak. And then he got Leo's memories of his adventure which just made him realize that he wasn't just really weak, he was utterly and hopelessly weak and outclassed.

He needed to get stronger no matter what and so, he pushed himself to extreme degrees and trained even after he was well past his limits. Even Garp would have been horrified to see how Luffy trained, and considering how he threw a 4 year old child into a pack of ferocious wolves in the name of training, that was saying something.

Seeing him like that however had left Reiju really worried as the way he was abusing his own body in the name of training was nothing short of horrifying. He would push himself so much that she had to actually inject some sleeping agents into him when he went too far so that he wouldn't kill himself from exhaustion. She understood why he pushed himself that much though. She had seen his horrible wounds after all and now that she believed his story, she realized that he must have been through a lot and was training so hard so that he would never be in such a situation ever again.

After he healed enough to have his bandages removed, she also realized in horror that the long burn slash across his back was supposed to be the Hoof of the Flying Dragon. She hadn't realized it in the beginning as it was covered with lots of other wounds, but now that those wounds were healing, the slash burn mark stood out. Those who didn't know about the mark wouldn't recognize it, but the people who knew would be able to tell due to the color and its vague shape after observing it closely. She had also treated him by herself so that no one else would see it and didn't even take him to the ship's doctor afraid that he might out Luffy.

She didn't want to ask him about his time with the Celestial Dragons either as she was sure it was a lot of bad memories. He must have felt useless and hopeless all that time when he was enslaved and thus, he was training like this now so that he wouldn't feel like that ever again. She didn't like that he was pushing himself so much, but there was nothing much she could do for him other than have spars with him and help him train.


———


As much as Reiju enjoyed spending time with Luffy and had let her guard down around him, a part of her couldn't help but think that he was someone suspicious and needed to be avoided. She hated that she felt that way towards someone she had opened up to so much, but she just couldn't help herself. Luffy was way too weird and knew about things he shouldn't. For example, they were talking one day and she had casually mentioned the existence of CP0 saying how strong they were, and he had nodded along saying that yes, they were indeed crazy strong. She hadn't noticed it at that moment, but when she later thought about it, she was gobsmacked as the existence of CP0 was a sort of secret that only the top of every faction knew about. A no name from East Blue like Luffy shouldn't even have known CP0 existed.

Another incident was that even though he claimed to have never left East Blue, he was very well informed about the Grand Line. No one normal from East Blue should have knowledge about Paradise, let alone the New World. It had taken her an embarrassingly long time to realize that he shouldn't even have known what the New World was.

The incident that made her extremely suspicious was when he had casually asked if she knew any Revolutionaries. When she had asked why, he had said that he wanted to talk to Dragon of all people! The Revolutionary Dragon! She was befuddled and when she asked why he wanted to talk to him, he just said it's a secret and didn't elaborate any further.

The suspicious and distrustful part of her brain was screaming at her that Luffy was someone that shouldn't be trusted, that he was a spy collecting all sorts of information on her, and that she should lock him up somewhere and interrogate him for answers. But the same suspicious part of her brain was perplexed as no one in their sane mind would actually just straight up ask questions like he did if they were a spy. He was making himself look so suspicious and if he was a spy, that would be the last thing he would have done. 'Unless it's a double fake out and he was doing that because he would think that I would think that a spy wouldn't do this?…' she sighed.

But most importantly of all, her intuition was telling her that she could trust Luffy. She was really good at reading people and had a sharp intuition that had helped her sniff out traitors before and that very same intuition was telling her that Luffy could be trusted. But logically, she couldn't help but think he was suspicious…Her brain was malfunctioning thinking about Luffy.

Reiju felt a sharp flick on her forehead and she realized that Luffy was in front of her looking at her with confusion, "You okay?"

"Yeah yeah" she waved him off. It had been less than a week since they had left Mariejois and currently, the two were in the gym where Luffy was training and she was just lounging around.

"Something's bothering you though…" Luffy pressed on.

Reiju just stared at him for a few moments before sighing, "It's about you. You're giving me a headache again"

"What did I do this time?" Luffy asked puzzled.

"You're suspicious…"

"Again? I thought you trusted me now…didn't you let it slip that Sanji was in fact alive?"

Reiju groaned into her hands for that impulsive decision. "I did. And it's not that I don't trust you…you're just…way too suspicious"

Luffy sighed and sat down on the floor in front of her "Okay, let's clear this up. What makes you doubt me?"

Reiju also sat down in front of him and started her questioning, "First off, why do you know so much about the Grand Line? You even know what New World is and even about some islands in the New World and Paradise"

"Well if it's about my knowledge, then Leo told me all about it"

"Okay. And how did Leo know?"

"Hmm he just did. He liked to read a lot and knew of all sorts of things and secrets of this world"

"Where's he from?"

"Nashville but he moved to New York later…USA basically. You won't find that place anywhere on any map as it's a sort of secret country almost. Not affiliated with the World Government or any faction for that matter. And they don't interfere with anything that goes on in the rest of the world either"

"This!" Reiju exclaimed accusingly, "How is this not suspicious?! A secret country?! What the hell?!"

"It's just a country no one knows about in the wider world. Why is that so suspicious?" Luffy asked honestly confused. He thought this cover was pretty good and it wasn't entirely untrue either as Leo's world wouldn't be found by anyone in this world nor does Leo's world affect this world in any way.

Reiju paused and took a moment to actually think about it. If what all Luffy said was true, then he was right. This world had so many unexplored islands, so it was entirely plausible for a secret country to exist. In fact, it would be strange if there wasn't one. "Okay…It's not I guess…" she trailed off but then frowned when another question popped up in her head, "So if that country doesn't interfere with the rest of the world, why would they know anyone or any secrets?"

"They just like to keep up with the news" Luffy shrugged.

"So…you gather information for them? For Leo?"

"What?"

"Umm so you like work for that country?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked completely perplexed.

"You said that they like to keep up!" Reiju hastily justified herself when he started looking at her like she was an idiot, "So you infiltrate powerful families like mine and then send whatever you learn here…to them…" she trailed off looking at the tired look Luffy was giving her.

"Nothing like that" Luffy sighed, "I can't ever go back to that country. Neither can Leo. Let's just say he got kicked out and I met him after. Then, he taught me whatever he knew…"

"Wait so you aren't blood related brothers?"

"Nope. We chose to become brothers. All my brothers are the same"

"How many brothers do you have?"

"Three"

"I see…so this secret country. Where is it?"

"Not on any map and no one can go there."

Reiju frowned knowing she wouldn't get anything more from him.

"Anything else that's making you suspicious?"

"Why did you ask to talk to Dragon?"

"Not my secret to tell."

Reiju pursed her lips looking at him with dissatisfaction causing Luffy to sigh in frustration.

"Look Reiju, I know lots of secrets of lots of people. I'm not going to tell one person's secrets to the other"

"Why the hell are you getting angry?!" Reiju yelled misreading his frustration as anger, "I'm the one who should be getting angry, not you! I'm not the one keeping secrets!"

In this very serious and tense situation, Luffy suddenly started chuckling to himself while shaking his head further pissing off Reiju. "The hell are you laughing at?! This is funny to you?!"

"No no," Luffy placated but was still smiling with amusement, "This just seemed like a couple bickering that's all…Leo and Serena sometimes used to bicker like this too whenever Leo kept some things from her…"

"Oh…" Reiju also reviewed the conversation in her mind and amusingly, it did seem like a bickering couple to her too. "Well, you're not wrong…"

The two went silent for a few moments before Luffy sighed, "Look Reiju. You'll just have to trust me on this… I'll tell you some time in the future of who Leo was and all…"

Reiju also sighed, "Yeah… If you were some spy aiming to destroy me, you already have everything you need and you could've even sent messages to someone by now…so, I've already lost…"

"Hm guess so, yeah." Luffy said getting up and ruffling her hair, "You worry too much. And if you already think you've lost to me, then just trust me more. Rely on me more…"

Reiju looked up at him with a strange look, "That is exactly what a spy who's trying to seduce me into submission would say…"

"Don't you think the spy that would be sent on this mission to seduce you would be older if that was the plan?"

"Hehehe yeah"

"Or are you telling me you're falling for me? Younger guys? That your thing? I'm sorry, but I don't want to be in a relationship"

Reiju punched him in the gut while he just giggled. She was still sitting, so she grabbed his collar and yanked him down bringing his face to her eye level. "Okay. I'll put my blind trust in you and even if a part of me is screaming at me to not trust you, I'll ignore it…Don't you dare betray me, okay? I already have enough monsters in my life. I don't want any more…"

"Ooh but I am a monster too Reiju. I'm gonna become the Pirate King, so I'll be crazy and monstrously strong"

Reiju shook him hard once, "You know what I meant when I said monster!"

Luffy chuckled but nodded his head and looked at her seriously, "I promise. I'll never betray you and I'll make sure that you choosing to trust me will be one of the best decisions of your life"

"Good!"

"Now can you release me? I feel like you're about to kiss me here…If you are, I don't min-"

Reiju injected him with a poison right at that moment and he instantly fell on his back, his body jerking like he was having seizures and felt like it was on fire. Reiju calmly and happily took out a notebook and started noting down the effects of the poison, and only after a good few minutes, did she inject him with the antidote. She again noted down the effects of the antidote.

Luffy panted hard as he got up, his body feeling fine but still the shock was just too sudden. He glared at Reiju with annoyance but she just cooed innocently, "If I remember correctly, you were the one who offered to be a guinea pig…"

Luffy sighed and nodded, "Well I'm meeting the consequences of my words I guess… Can't you give me a warning at least?"

"Nope" Reiju chirped and without warning, stuck another injection in him making him fall on his back once again and this time, he felt like his body was freezing.

'This is gonna be a thing huh' Luffy sighed in his head as he saw Reiju observing his condition and happily taking down notes. And it was as Reiju would randomly and suddenly inject him with poisons with no prior warning during his entire stay on the ship. He was probably injected with hundreds of poisons by the time he left her.

He was kinda happy that she was injecting him with so many poisons though. For some reason, story Luffy kept getting exposed to lots of poisons and kept getting more and more immunity to them. Reiju testing her poisons on him now would certainly help him in gaining more immunity and he had even asked her to inject him with some well known poisons too so that his body could create antibodies to combat them and become immune.


———


"We're stopping at an island?!" Luffy yelled when he noticed that the ship had stopped moving and spotted an island through the window. It had been just over a week since they had left Mariejois and he was currently training in the gym with Reiju lounging around lazily in the gym too.

"Yeah" Reiju answered nonchalantly.

"Why didn't you tell me?! Let's go explore it now!" Luffy excitedly jumped around pulling on Reiju.

"You want to explore? We'll just resupply and leave soon though…"

"Hey, c'mon! It's my first island on the Grand Line! I want to see what crazy things this island has!" Mariejois was on the Red Line and wasn't really an island, so that didn't count.

Reiju sighed but gave in after seeing his excited expression, "We're only stopping for 3 hours here, so we can't do much"

"Only 3 hours?! That's not enough time!"

"Go tell that to Judge"

"Okay!" Luffy said and was actually about to run and tell Judge to extend their stay but Reiju, who realized that he was actually going, panicked and caught him before he could run out the door. "What!? You actually were going to him?!"

"Huh? You said it yourself though?"

"I was being sarcastic idiot! Never ever talk to Judge okay?!"

"Okay okay whatever. We only have 3 hours! Let's go! Adventure awaits!" he declared pulling her outside.

"Fine fine" Reiju grumbled as she let herself be pulled along.

10 minutes later, Luffy was standing on the shores of the island with his eyes shining and bubbling with excitement. It seemed like a normal city from afar but once he got closer, he could see roads running along and connecting everywhere around the city. Roads were a specialty in this world as vehicles weren't widespread, so seeing roads had excited Luffy thinking there would be vehicles here and he wasn't disappointed as there weren't just vehicles here, there were Monster Trucks everywhere he looked!

"Monster Trucks…" Luffy breathed in awe and excitement as he practically bounced into the city and glomped the first Monster Truck he could get his hands on.

Reiju quickly peeled him off of the Monster Truck apologizing to the owner for Luffy's reckless and rude behavior but seeing the awestruck look on Luffy's face, the owner just laughed it off.

"Hey hey! I want to ride one! Where can I ride one?!" Luffy hastily asked the owner and he chuckled while giving directions to a race course derby where people could rent Monster Trucks and ride it in a field.

Luffy was off like a rocket towards where he pointed, well at least he would have been if not for the iron grip Reiju had had on him. "Relax will you. I've been here before, so I'll take you there…"

"These are Monster Trucks, Reiju! Monster Trucks! I've wanted to ride one for so long!"

"Really? How do you even know of them? This island is pretty much the first time I saw these" Reiju asked as she led him towards the race course.

"Saw it in movies and shows" Luffy answered only now taking in all the other things in the city. Many buildings were Monster truck themed, he could see food shaped like Monster Trucks and all the people were dressed like they were in a 70s punk rock band. Luffy did find everything interesting but he mostly wanted to ride a monster truck as soon as possible before exploring the other facets of the island.

30 minutes later, Luffy was screaming (in joy) as he rode his Monster Truck in an obstacle race course with a screaming (in fear) Reiju in his passenger seat holding onto the support handle for dear life as Luffy was crazy and reckless in his driving.

"SLOW DOWN IDIOT! WE'RE GONNA CRASH!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! THIS IS SOOO FUN!" Luffy yelled as he swerved around the race track almost crashing into the other trucks on the field. And it wasn't long before a few angry drivers drove up beside him cursing him for almost wrecking their ride.

"Kid! Stop now before we make you!" / "How dare you?! I almost crashed my ride because of your reckless driving!" / "Leave the premises already!"

"Shishishishi you can't stop me! I'm driving TO THE MOON!"

"The moon?! That doesn't make any sense!" another yelled.

Luffy laughed louder yelling "It doesn't have to! I'VE GOT A MONSTER TRUCK! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"THAT DIDN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!" Reiju yelled from beside him but only got louder laughter in return. Pretty soon, Luffy had a mob of Monster Trucks chasing him while he laughed in glee.

"The hell are you laughing for?!" Reiju smacked him not able to understand the appeal of having a bunch of people giving you chase.

"Reiju," Luffy turned towards her with a grin, "Just fucking enjoy this! This is a car chase but with Monster Trucks!"

Luffy focused his gaze back to the front while also taunting the others chasing him more by putting his head out the window laughing right in their faces which only increased the number of people chasing him. And Luffy loved every moment of it. There was a long line of trucks chasing him soon and seeing that, he got a mischievous glint in his eyes.

There was a big ramp in front of him and Luffy floored the accelerator whizzing straight at it with dangerous levels of speed, and the ones chasing him also increased their speeds. And soon, one of the longest chains of Monster Trucks started soaring through the air after going over the ramp and crashed onto the ground with lots of hollers and excitement. A crowd had also formed and not knowing the full situation, they just thought that all of them were putting on a show and started cheering for them. The ones who were chasing Luffy also got excited hearing the crowd cheer for them and soon, they started competing with Luffy and also one another instead of giving chase.

Luffy led the charge by doing all sorts of reckless and dangerous tricks with the truck (which pretty much destroyed the truck by the end), and the others also tried emulating him… and soon someone started blaring music, people cheered louder, the drivers showed off their own cool and unique tricks, and an hour later, a huge party was thrown with Luffy leading it.

All the ones he had pissed off had started playfully bantering with him and laughing at his ballsy but innocent and childish attitude. They even dressed him up in punk rock clothes with spiky shoulder pads, eye shadow, leather pants and Luffy loved his new look.

And Reiju? She was having the time of her life. She had watched in awe as Luffy slowly turned the angry mob into willing competitors and how he had pretty much started a party in the middle of the city with everyone who had hated him in the beginning now laughing along with him. She was also pulled into everything as Luffy's friend and even she was dressed in punk rock clothes with a black leather jacket and skirt, thigh high boots, eye shadow and everything.

She had so much fun that she didn't even realize when the three hours had passed by and a maid from the ship had to actually come and fetch her. Luffy was reluctant to leave so soon and even the ones in the city were protesting their quick exit and asking them to stay longer but alas, they had to leave nonetheless.

With a tearful goodbye from a few people, they took their leave with a ton of souvenirs and gifts. Luffy happily waved back at them as they left and even Reiju couldn't help but feel sad that they were leaving so soon.

"So, did you have fun?" Luffy asked with a huge happy grin as the two came back to her room after their ship left the shore.

Reiju just stared at him still not believing how much fun she had had in just 3 hours. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You know, just have the whole city throw a party for you… you pissed them off at first and then somehow an hour later, everyone was laughing and having fun alongside you…"

"I seem to have that effect on people" Luffy shrugged, "All I did was have fun. And seeing me have fun, people just joined in I guess"

"Right…" Reiju nodded having come to the same conclusion herself. All he did was have the widest grin and laugh at everything the angry mob threw at him, and slowly, they had turned it into a game and Luffy's laugh and joy was infectious.

"You still didn't answer my question. Did you have fun?"

Reiju gave him a huge goofy grin, "Yes, idiot. I had a lot of fun!"

"Shishishishi good!"


———


The remaining days with Luffy went by way too quick for Reiju's liking. She was for the first time in her life, having genuine joyous fun with him around. He was a hyper active ball of energy and she would never get tired of his stupid antics. He was also troublesome as he had no concept of danger or etiquette and would randomly start talking to her casually even when her maids or others were in their general vicinity, so she had make sure that she kept Luffy away from them too.

To everyone else, he was a slave, so he shouldn't be so casual with her. If her maids saw that, they would definitely get offended on her behalf, so she tried to keep everyone away as much as possible from her castle. She didn't tell Luffy to stop though, as she loved how he treated her like a friend.

The month and a half journey to South Blue took around two months due to some unavoidable delays. When they arrived at the first South Blue island and Luffy was going to leave, Reiju was extremely sad. Seeing that though, he had asked her how long they would be staying in South Blue and when she told him that they would be there for another month, he extended his stay and decided to get off at the last island they would be stopping at in South Blue, for which Reiju was extremely grateful and happy.

And thus, Luffy ended up spending a total of three months with Reiju. They went to explore every island they stopped at, participated in unique customs and festivals the islands had, and just had the best time ever. They had sparring sessions together, went to bars and dance clubs when they stopped at islands for long enough, had long conversations about the silliest of things and also the most vulnerable of things Reiju had locked away in her heart. She had never imagined she would open up to someone as much as she had with Luffy and she had the best three months of her life.

Reiju also came to know that Luffy could play the guitar and the piano pretty well, and could play some really catchy tunes and songs. He also danced a lot, the not-so-good-but-not-so-bad kinda dancing, but he danced with so much joy that she and everyone else who saw him could only smile and join in. Though for some damn reason, he was very good at dancing with a partner. Tango, Slow dancing, Ballroom dancing and also the Waltz- he did it with grace and poise. When she asked how he had learned that, he just said that Serena liked such dances and thus, Leo had to learn it for her sake and then Leo had taught it to him too. She had again gone paranoid as dances like waltz was only learned by royalty and she had started thinking he was royalty of some Kingdom, but she decided to ignore that as she had promised.

By the end of the three months, she had talked so much and done so many things with him that it seemed like a lifetime of adventure to her. She couldn't believe that there was a time in her life where she didn't know Luffy and wondered just how she had managed to go so long without experiencing the kind of joy Luffy brought into her life. And that was saying something as she had known him for only three months in her 20 years of life.

She had even ended up giving names and titles to some of the conversations and incidents they had gone through like…



THE POUTING BOUNTY POSTER



"Show me your cuffs" Reiju said one day when she and Luffy were in her lab. It was still their first week together and she decided to do something about his cuffs.

Tilting his head in confusion, Luffy just showed it to her and asked "What for?"

"Don't you want the cuffs removed?" Reiju said as she started scanning the keyhole in the cuffs to analyze and 3d print a key.

"Hmm well yeah but can you make it so that I can remove it and wear it like a bracelet?"

"What? Why?"

"For training. My body's made of rubber so my muscles don't develop that fast I think. Also, if I train in my weakened state and build up my strength, I'll be much more stronger when I remove them"

"I don't mind but are you sure? You'll be in your weakened state you know? Even you walking around with sea stone is a big deal and a part of me even suspects that you don't have devil fruit powers…"

"I got used to it I think. The slavers had me for six months but honestly, I don't remember much of what happened at the beginning. I felt so weak and I wasn't even self-aware most of the time. But as time went on, I started trying to exercise in my cage and soon I could at least stand and do basic functions like a human. More time, and I could even fight…"

"But you should still feel really weak right? I don't think you'll just gain immunity to sea stone if you wear it long enough"

"Yeah I feel very weak and have been feeling it for a long time now. I think I'm like 20% as powerful as I would be without wearing sea stone right now…but anyway, it's good for training. So, please turn them into bracelets"

Reiju sighed but acquiesced to his request, "Sure, I don't mind and it's easy enough"

She finished analyzing the keyhole and started the 3d printer to make a key which hardly took 10 minutes to be done. She then unlocked his cuffs and finally after what felt like a lifetime, Luffy got his full strength and rubber powers back.

"Oh god! I feel great! I missed you so much, my rubber body…" Luffy grinned happily twisting his body around in unnatural ways. It was honestly freaky in Reiju's opinion and her doubts of him not being a devil fruit user vanished. When he twisted his head 360 degrees and still kept going, Reiju freaked out and smacked him, "Stop doing that, you idiot!"

"Shishishishi! It doesn't hurt anymore when you hit me now!" Luffy triumphantly said with a shit-eating grin. Reiju had smacked him multiple times whenever he said stupid things before and he would always grumble that once he got his rubber powers back, her attacks wouldn't work anymore. 'Guess this is what he meant' Reiju thought with irritation seeing his shit eating grin.

This had an easy solution though. She just picked up one of the seas stone cuffs and hit him on the head with it. Luffy went wide-eyed realizing what she had done and proceeded to petulantly pout while grumbling.

'Ahhh the cute pout is back. I can never get enough of his cute pouting face' she squealed internally and discreetly picked up a camera and started taking pictures. When Luffy realized what she was doing, he gasped in shock and lunged at her to get the camera back, but she dodged and ran around while Luffy gave chase.

"Give it here! I'm the future Pirate King! The Pirate King shouldn't have pouting pictures of him!" Luffy yelled in panic.

Reiju, who was just giggling trying to escape his stretchy hands, started howling with laughter as she heard what he said. "PFFHAHAHAHA… I didn't even think about that! Oooh now, I'm gonna treat this like treasure. HAHAHAHEHE"

Another idea popped up in her mind and she lost it falling to the floor laughing her ass off while clutching her stomach. "I-I'll give this picture to the Marines and… Pffttt hehehehe, a-and tell them to use it for your bounty poster when you eventually get one… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA… IMAGINE THAT! It's the bounty poster of the Strongest Man in the World, THE PIRATE KING!… And it's this cute picture of you pouting. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Luffy actually paled imagining that. "DON'T YOU DARE!"

He was on top of her now trying to nab the camera as she lay on the floor holding onto it tightly like it was her treasure. It took a full 5 minutes for her to get over her laughing fit and relatively calm down. She looked into his panicked and pleading eyes with a mischievous glint. "…Okay okay even I'm not that cruel. Here, I'll erase it" she said as she proceeded to remove the film roll and made it look like she destroyed them.

Luffy exhaled a sigh of relief muttering 'thanks' and got off of her. Reiju sat up with a mischievous smile and hid another camera she had. She had discreetly switched the camera she had taken his pictures with another one, so she still had the pouting pictures. She didn't know if she would actually go through with the bounty idea but she would at least save those pouting pictures because it was just too cute.


THE VOICE CHANGE INCIDENT


Luffy had had an idea. Since his body was made out of rubber, he could actually change his voice by controlling the shape of his vocal cords by stretching or contracting it. Leo was a musician so he knew all about how sound was produced.

It was simple really. The shape and size of the vocal cords or larynx and also the shape of the vocal tract determined a person's voice. The vibrations made by the larynx travel through the throat, nose and the mouth causing the air to vibrate, and thus creating sounds. The tension in the larynx, and the shape and size of the vocal tract determined the pitch, loudness and tone of a voice. If Luffy could actually change the shape and size of his larynx and the vocal tract, he could theoretically talk in any voice he desired or even just amplify his voice.

He immediately started practicing by feeling out his larynx and it's shape. He would try moving it slightly and alter it's shape as much as he could while making sure it didn't feel like he was tearing it. He was wearing sea stone cuffs most of the time, so the only time he could practice it was when he was training without his cuffs on which was around 3 hours every day. It took him a couple of weeks before he actually managed to get little control of it and successfully managed to alter its shape slightly.

A few more days and he got enough control over it to start testing. He started by going 'Ahhhhhh~' while modifying his larynx and it actually sounded like someone was tuning a musical instrument. Seeing that it was a success and confirming that he could actually tune his voice, he started training it more by modifying the larynx and his vocal tract in different ways.

He didn't know what shape and size would produce what kind of sound so he just decided to brute force it. Thus, he basically went 'Ahhhh~' while modifying his larynx in different ways to produce different sounds and voices. It took another week of this before he got enough control of his larynx to actually use a completely different voice. He had only managed to make his voice really deep to talk like Batman or make it very high to sound like a woman. For now, he could do the basic spectrum from a deep voice to a high-pitched voice. And it had taken him just over two months of practice to achieve this. Fine-tuning sounds and imitating actual people's voices would take more time but he was sure he could train more and improve upon it so that he could actually imitate any person's voice he wanted perfectly.

When Reiju had first heard Luffy going 'Ahhhh~', she sweat dropped thinking 'What is this idiot doing now?' But when she had asked him, he had just said 'Sec~ret~' with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

It was almost comical. Luffy was doing his vocal exercises while he was doing other physical exercises, so he would be doing push-ups or sit-ups all the while going 'Ahhh~'. Reiju had laughed the first couple of times she had seen it but as it went on for almost two months, she started to get worried if he had hit his head somewhere.

When Luffy finally revealed what he was doing to her by just casually going "What's up?" in a woman's voice, she took a minute to actually understand what he was doing. She was flabbergasted as soon as she realized it and smacked him angrily, "You were actually trying to modify your larynx?! It's a sensitive organ! You could actually tear it and lose your voice, you goddamn idiot!"

"……Honestly didn't think of that" Luffy said sheepishly rubbing his head. "But I don't think it will tear. I abused the hell out of it for the past two months stretching and contracting it but nothing happened. Shishishishi" In the story, he abuses his entire body with his gears and apart from a few side effects in the beginning, nothing really happens to him. There were some theories that he was actually shaving off some of his life by doing that, but Luffy honestly didn't care even if it was true. So he didn't think that just manipulating the larynx would be a big deal.

"IDIOT!" Reiju screamed and dragged him to the ship's doctor to get him a checkup. She could treat wounds and scars but she was out of her depth regarding the throat, so she had no choice but to drag him to the doctor. Besides, it was just a throat checkup, so Luffy wouldn't even have to take his shirt off and expose the burn mark, so it would be fine.

Luffy protested of course saying how she was overreacting, but she didn't listen to him and just dragged him to the doctor. She explained to the doctor what 'the idiot' had done and asked him to check his throat and everything. The doctor sweat dropped, never expecting someone to even attempt something like this, but proceeded to perform scans and run tests on Luffy's throat.

As the doctor retired to his office to analyze the results of the tests and file a report, Luffy and Reiju sat outside in an uncomfortable silence. Luffy knew that if anything was wrong with his larynx, Reiju would get super mad at him. On the other hand, if nothing was wrong with it, then too Reiju would be super mad because he had attempted it.

"Honestly, what the hell were you thinking?" Reiju sighed exasperatedly shaking her head.

"…That it would be cool if I could talk in different voices" he said cautiously, " Like I could go 'I'm Batman' in Batman's voice"

"What the fuck is Batman?!"

"He's this cool superhero Leo told me about!" Luffy piped up excitedly, "He dresses like a bat and fights crime in the dark of the night. He has this really cool and deep voice which I wanted to emulate"

"Again with this Leo guy" Reiju huffed angrily, "He filled your head with too much stupid information. If he wasn't already dead, I would have punched the life out of him myself!"

Whenever Luffy said some strange things or stories she had never heard about, Reiju would ask from where or who he learned it from and Luffy would just say "Leo told me about it". He had explained to her that Leo read a lot, so he would tell him all sorts of stories and teach him stuff. It wasn't a lie technically. Just the circumstances and the method of teaching was an instantaneous memory transfer.

So whenever Luffy did or said something strange, he would just throw Leo under the bus. And in Reiju's mind, Leo had become the Bad influence friend who had corrupted the innocent Luffy. Which again, wasn't too far off from the truth. The only good opinion she had of him was that he had saved Luffy's life. Luffy had just said that Leo had given up his life for him but hadn't elaborated much and thinking it was a sad topic, she hadn't inquired any further either.

Luffy was still talking about how cool Batman was and Reiju was just humming along not listening at all when the doctor called them back into his office.

"Well, I don't see any damage to your larynx or any part of your throat, so everything is good. Being made of rubber really saved you. Fascinating really. Devil fruits sure are strange…" he trailed off wistfully before shrugging his thoughts off and adding, "But I advice you to not do that anymore. Who knows how much wear and tear you can take?"

Reiju finally sighed in relief only now realizing that she was holding her breath in apprehension. She wondered when this boy had become so precious to her that she would get this worried over him.

"Sometimes should be okay right? Like when I want to prank someone, I'll just go 'Boo' and watch them freak out" Luffy said voicing the 'Boo' in a raspy spooky tone. Reiju just dope-slapped him.

"Sometimes should be fine" the doctor said flatly with a sweat drop.

They thanked him and left his office with a fuming Reiju and Luffy had to spend some time appeasing her.



THE LIPSTICK DEBACLE


Luffy had suddenly walked into Reiju's room one morning while she was still applying makeup looking like he wanted to ask her something. Reiju, still putting on her cherry flavored pink lipstick, turned to him and raised an eyebrow asking what he wanted. He started to say something but then abruptly stopped and stared at her. More specifically, stared at her lips. He then licked his own lips subconsciously, gasped softly as if he had had a sudden realization and then his shoulder slumped down as if he was sad about something. Then, without saying a word, he left.

Reiju just sweat dropped at his behavior. When he kept staring at her lips and then licked his own lips, she thought that he was thinking about kissing her. Which was a surprise as she had spent all this time with Luffy and he hadn't shown much of a reaction towards her that indicated he wanted her sexually. Sure, he had stared at her for more than necessary when she was wearing really short shorts or just a bra in the mornings or sparring sessions but she had soon found out that he was actually admiring her strong physique rather than lusting after her.

To be honest, she was slightly peeved at that. She knew that she was sexy and here was this boy, in the midst of his puberty, and he wasn't showing any interest towards her. She wanted to tease him so much but he just didn't get flustered.

She also had this whole sensual vibe going for her where she would talk with anyone a bit sensually, but with Luffy, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. He already thought she was a pervert because of the 'Lick my feet' fiasco, so she felt embarrassed ever since then whenever she felt like sensually teasing him. And when such words did slip out due to habit sometimes, he would just look at her with strange amusement, which only further made her more embarrassed. So thinking that he finally paid some attention to her sexually, she wanted to badly tease him.

When they met later, she asked what his reaction was about but he just shrugged it off saying it was nothing. His shoulders slumped down a bit again so she knew that whatever it was, it made him sad. She kept pestering him for a couple of days, but he didn't give her a straight answer.

Realizing she wasn't going get an answer, she decided to change tactics. Make up embarrassing stories to explain his behavior and as the stories kept getting more and more embarrassing, he would start getting flustered and spill the real reason.

When they met later in the night, she decided to put her plan in action. "Luffy, what was that reaction a couple of days ago when you came into my room in the morning?"

"It was nothing. Just drop it already will you?" Luffy muttered.

She pressed on. "You were licking your lips staring at mine. Ooh, did you think of kissing me? Fufufu… And then realized you had no chance. And that's why you became so sad?" she asked with a smug look on her face.

Luffy just tilted his head and stared at her as if she was an idiot and that reaction only irritated her.

"What do you mean I have no chance? We've already kissed" Luffy stated simply.

"…Huh?" she blinked dumbly. Once again, any plan or interrogation tactic she tried to use on Luffy crumbled with just one statement from him.

He sighed before explaining. "Yeah, that's what I realized that morning. When you rescued me from the pit and I woke up in your lab, I tasted this cherry flavor in my mouth. I just wrote it off then and didn't think much about it, but this morning I finally realized where exactly that taste originated from. It was you. Your cherry flavored lipstick. You sucked the poison out of me directly using your mouth, didn't you?"

Reiju blushed knowing how that looked to someone who didn't know she sucked poisons through the mouth. He had already called her a pervert so many times and if he found out that she had actually sorta kissed him while he was unconscious, she would seem like an actual pervert. So, she tried to deny it. "Wh-wha? I did no such thing" she managed to stammer.

"I know you suck poisons out through the mouth. No need to deny it" Luffy said with a flat look on his face.

Getting caught in a lie further embarrassed her, "Well yeah, I-it was the o-only way to suck out the poison. And it was just a peck on the lips" 'Dammit! I'm the older one here. Why am I getting so embarrassed? Why am I stuttering?! Stop failing me, my damn mouth! And stop lying!' she screamed inside her head.

"Nope. I could taste it all around the inside of my mouth and gums. You stuck your tongue in me and licked all the poison out. Stuck it in deep. And it wasn't the only time either…I've felt the same taste a few times when I wake up after you inject your poisons. Guess you had to suck out the poisons when the antidote didn't work huh?" Luffy added only embarrassing her more.

She went even more red at that. It was true that she didn't need to lick his gums and all but she would get lost in the taste of the poison sometimes and she couldn't help herself when it was tasty. And the poison he was injected with was really tasty. It was also true that sometimes the antidote she was testing didn't work and she had to suck out the poisons from him. 'Calm down, calm down. I'm the adult here…HOW CAN HE NONCHALANTLY SAY 'You stuck your tongue in me' WITHOUT GETTING EMBARRASSED!?……OKAY OKAY CALM DOWN, CALM DOWN, Calm down…'

She quickly composed herself but her face was still a bit red. "Well, sorry for saving your damn life, you ungrateful bastard! Should I have left you there to die?!"

"Hey hey, I never said anything like that," Luffy placated, "I'm grateful that you did what you did"

"Then why the hell did you get sad after realizing that in the morning?!"

"Ahh that…well, I was kinda peeved that it was my first kiss and I wasn't even awake for it. That's all. Nothing major" Luffy said sheepishly rubbing his head.

"That's it? That's why you were sad?" Reiju asked incredulously. Noticing Luffy slightly averting his eyes however, she knew it wasn't the truth, "…No, that's not it. You wouldn't care about something like that and besides, that wasn't your first kiss. You yourself told me that you were great at kissing, so you've obviously kissed before. There's something more. SPILL IT. NOW."

Knowing he had no way out, Luffy sighed and confessed, "Weeellll… I noticed that the lipstick you used was cherry flavored. Then I started thinking that it would have been nice if it was meat flavored. Then I realized that there was no way something like meat flavored lipstick exists and that made me sad…"

A beat passed.

Another beat passed.

Another beat passed before his words got processed and Reiju's anger finally burst.

"YOU GODDAMN SONNUVA- OF ALL THE STUPID IDIOTIC MORONIC THINGS YOU COULD HAVE SAID! YOU WERE SAD THAT THERE'S NO MEAT FLAVORED LIPSTICK?! MEAT FLAVORED?! YOU GODDAMN IDIOT!" Reiju shrieked and started throwing whatever she could get her hands on at Luffy, causing him to promptly bolt out of her room.

A couple minutes later, Reiju was panting exhausted from her outburst. 'Of all the things he could have said' she sighed and rubbed her face in frustration.

"Hey…" she heard Luffy's soft voice. He was just outside her room with only his head sticking in watching her cautiously.

"…What?" she snapped irritably.

"I may not have been awake but you tasted really good. Maybe when I'm older, we can do it again?" he asked cheekily and bolted away without waiting for her answer.

She went red in the face again and yelled loudly, "You goddamn idiot! Who the fuck wants to kiss you?!"

She only heard his loud laughter in response.


TROUBLE MAGNET


Reiju had realized early on that Luffy was a trouble magnet that would attract trouble on any island they stopped at and honestly, if she wasn't there, he would have been killed multiple times already. They had been to four islands on the Grand Line and even though they had just stopped for not more than three hours at each island, Luffy had gotten into trouble on two of those islands which would have gotten him killed if she wasn't there.

He would somehow run into someone who was in trouble and just decide to help them out. It would be some simple situation at first glance, but it would soon end up embroiling someone powerful and Luffy would just charge into the situation fearlessly and get into fights with them.

For example, the second island they stopped at seemed fairly normal but they had run into a kid who was running away from some thugs, and they saved her. Reiju thought that that was the end of it, but for some reason, Luffy decided to tag along with the kid and escort her home. When she asked why he was doing that, he just grinned at her and said that his 'Spidey senses' (whatever the hell that meant) was tingling and his intuition was telling him that something fun would happen if he escorted the kid.

She had just shrugged and tagged along chalking it up to Luffy being weird as always, and since they just had to escort a kid, she didn't mind. She thought that they would drop her off at her home and then would continue exploring the island.And boy was she wrong.

The moment they had stepped into the kid's house, an assassin had attacked them. Reiju quickly defused the situation of course and was about to kill the guy but the kid begged her not to do it while crying and prostrating herself.

Luffy told Reiju that they should hear them out first to see why they attacked them and she agreed. With tears, the kid confessed that her name was Ivy and she was the princess of a neighboring country on the same island who had run away because she had found out that her father had been replaced with an impostor. She believed that someone had disguised as her father and when she investigated, she turned out to be correct. A pirate who kinda looked like the King had apparently schemed and kidnapped the real King while he replaced him. The King was kept in the town they were currently in apparently and thus, she was here to free her father, along with her guard. The fake King having realized this had sent assassins after her and they had thought that Luffy and Reiju were assassins sent by the fake King when they suddenly barged into her life out of nowhere.

Luffy had just laughed off the misunderstanding much to Reiju's annoyance. He had almost died by the guard's hands and he had the audacity to just laugh it off! Luffy didn't care one bit as he instantly decided that he would help the kid out much to Ivy's (and Reiju's) shock. His answer to why he was helping them was 'Because it seems fun!'

Reiju tried to stop him saying they didn't have much time, but Luffy shrugged it off saying they would be quick. And thus, operation 'Rescue the real King' began. It was really easy for Reiju as she could pretty much take out anyone there within seconds with her poisons but Luffy insisted on fighting. They infiltrated the building the King was being kept in, fought off a bunch of people, Luffy showing his serious fighting prowess for the first time in front of Reiju and within two hours, the real King was rescued and reunited with his daughter.

They literally didn't have any more time to spend on the island, so without even waiting for a thank you, the two left after making sure the King and princess were safe, and ran to their ship barely making it in time. Reiju had secretly snuck out with Luffy as she had realized from the Monster Truck island that Luffy made a lot of noise on any island they went, and she didn't want any attention.

"That was fun huh?" Luffy grinned at her and she grew annoyed looking at the state his body was in. He was battered and bruised pretty much everywhere as the number of enemies they had faced was a lot. He could have fought off anyone one on one, but there were more than 50 enemies trying to kill him all at the same time, so he had had a lot of trouble fighting them off. And if she wasn't there, he would have definitely died.

And that island was just the beginning. The third island they stopped at in the Grand Line was an island of Water slides where rows of water slides flowed like veins throughout the entire island and people usually used that as a transport method (They were always in swim wear as a result. Even professional office workers!). And he again found someone who was in trouble and decided to help them out. One thing led to another and they soon found the former ruler of that island plotting an evil plan of electrifying the entire water supply of the island which would have led to the death of thousands of people. He apparently had some grudge with the current ruler and also the citizens that they didn't bother to listen to as they were in a hurry and just beat up everyone involved. That was a more dangerous fight as Luffy had to face a Zoan user but he fought long and hard to defeat them. She just watched ready to jump in, in case he needed help while taking out the rest of the fodder, but he managed to defeat the person in time and saved the whole city again.

The pattern continued in South Blue where he found trouble in one of the three islands they stopped at and saved an entire village from an oppressive pirate crew because a little girl gave him food when he entered the village, and a few minutes later he saw that she was in trouble. South Blue was way easier and she didn't need to be worried at all as Luffy could easily fight anyone, but the way he just put his own life on the line for someone he just met a few minutes prior frustrated her a lot…but also made her respect him a lot.

When she had once asked why he helped all those people he didn't even know, his simple answer was "People who give food to others while expecting nothing in return are good people. So I liked them and saw them as my friends. They were in trouble. My friends were in trouble. And they wanted to fight. So, I helped them out. That's all."

Reiju was left speechless at his simplistic answer and belief. "So you want to be a hero?" she asked after she processed his words.

Luffy's face scrunched up in disgust as he blanched, "No way in hell do I want to be a hero! The only reason I helped them all out is because there was someone willing to fight. If Ivy didn't want to save her father, if the people in that Water slide island didn't want to stop that former ruler, I never would have interfered. They were my friends and they wanted to fight, so I helped them out. If they didn't, and I had no personal reason to interfere, I wouldn't have bothered"

"Huh…well, I guess that's true…" Reiju trailed off wondering how Luffy's mind worked. He was an enigma to be sure but his logic seemed perfectly simple and at the same time so complex too.

His thinking wasn't that profound or revolutionary but it was insanely hard to put into practice across all situations. It was fine if it was a single pirate crew or weaklings who were the enemies. But what would he do if the opponents were insanely strong or as powerful as the Yonko or the Admirals? 'He would obviously not fight them' was her conclusion. In the coming years however, when Luffy started his journey and did one crazy thing after another where he was always in the news for his daring actions, she realized that she had never been so wrong about something in her life. He would absolutely fight a small pirate crew or an entire nation or even the whole World for his friends.


JOIN MY CREW!


It was the fourth and last island they had stopped at on the Grand Line and Luffy and Reiju had obviously gone out to explore. Again, they would be here just for three hours for resupplying, so they didn't have much time. Unfortunately for Luffy, this was just a normal city and nothing unique stood out to him. They had a lot of malls and shopping stores though and seeing that, Reiju had pulled him into a shopping spree. She thought it would be a good time to buy him some clothes as he only wore some old clothes the soldier clones had.

Luffy grumbled but after seeing the excited expression on Reiju's face, he didn't protest much and allowed himself to be dragged into a clothing store.

Reiju had fun playing dress-up with Luffy while Luffy hated it. He just wanted to pick some red shirts and black or blue pants and be done with it, but Reiju vehemently protested saying that he had to try everything on before buying it. She kept squealing in delight whenever Luffy came out wearing a different pair of clothes she had picked out for him and was happily telling the vendor to pack whichever clothes she thought looked good on him.

After Luffy's clothes shopping was done, he wanted to explore the island but unfortunately Reiju said that it was her turn now and started picking out clothes for herself. Luffy just sighed and sat near the changing room accepting that he would be appeasing her. As expected, she came out of the changing room after trying on every dress and would ask his opinion on how she looked.

Another thing he had learned from Leo's memories was how to treat girls on dates. Although this wasn't a date, shopping for clothes was an integral part of the girlfriend experience. It had taken Leo a few tries to figure out the correct response when Serena asked for his opinions on her clothes and that was to be half honest. If it looked good, say it's good. But if it's not, then subtly say it doesn't suit her. Not outright say that it doesn't look good, but to subtly reject it. At least that's how it worked with Serena. Luffy followed the same thing Leo did with Serena and gave his opinions.

"Hot!"

"Nice! Suits your eyes"

"Hmm the color doesn't seem to go well with you. Try the same outfit in a different color"

"You look great!"

Reiju was honestly surprised that Luffy was actually giving proper advice. She figured he would just nod and say 'It's good' for everything but he gave compliments and also subtly rejected those he thought didn't look good on her. And for the most part, she agreed with him. 'Does he have a girlfriend back home or something?' she wondered.

After Reiju was done shopping, they just went around various shops and window shopped, went to various food stalls, bought lots of food and just had a jolly good time.

While they were exploring, a log pose shop caught Luffy's eyes. He hadn't ever seen a log pose himself so he went over and started looking at them curiously. There were all kinds of shapes and designs for the handles but the log pose themselves were the same- A spherical glass ball filled with a liquid and a needle hanging inside it. Some were rotating wildly while some were pointing in a certain direction having locked on to an island.

"Do you know about log poses?" Reiju asked after seeing Luffy curiously eyeing them.

"Yeah, Leo told me about them. I hadn't seen them in real life, so was just curious."

She hummed looking through all the log poses herself and soon picked one excitedly showing it to him, "Ooh this one is an eternal pose to Witech island. That's one gorgeous island! Perfect for a vacation!"

Luffy didn't recall any Witech island from the story, so asked "What's it like?"

"It's a tropical island. It has one of the most gorgeous beaches I've ever seen and the food specialties are to die for…" she trailed off with a smile reminiscing the time she had gone there, and Luffy listened with excitement.

Watching Luffy's excitement, Reiju giggled and decided to buy the pose for him. "Here, I'll buy it for you. You'll come to the Grand Line when you start your journey right? Visit this place then" she said and started haggling with the vendor over the price. Luffy just nodded and suddenly remembered how in the story, they had randomly sailed to find Drum Kingdom to get Nami a doctor after leaving Little Garden. He didn't want to take any chances like that in reality as if they had delayed by even a mere two days, Nami would have died. So he decided to buy one here.

"Do you have any eternal poses to Drum Kingdom?" he asked the vendor and he nodded searching and giving him the log pose.

"Drum kingdom? Why?" Reiju asked quizzically.

"I heard that they have the best doctors. I was planning to recruit my crew's doctor from there. Could you please buy this one for me too?"

"Yeah, I did hear something like that. Sure, I'll buy it"

She bought a couple more log poses saying that he should definitely visit those places too and the guy packed the 4 log poses safely putting them in a padded chest. They were all wristwatch sized log poses so they were pretty small and easily fit in a small chest. Reiju paid for them and then they started roaming around again.

Just before they had to leave the island, they decided to get some coffee so they went to a cafe and ordered after sitting at a table. While they were waiting for their orders to arrive, Luffy decided to ask her something that was bugging him from the beginning. "Hey, don't you want to know where Sanji is?"

She hadn't asked him about his exact location at all. Luffy had only told her that he works in a restaurant but hadn't mentioned which restaurant or where it was located, and she didn't look like she was curious about it either.

Reiju shook her head slightly "No, not really. He escaped from this family and is now living a good life. As long as he's happy, that's enough for me."

Luffy just nodded solemnly at that. "Don't you want to run away too?"

She was a bit reluctant at first to answer this question as this was straight up admitting she hated her family. She had never told a single person about her true feelings, but in the end she ended up being honest with him. Like they had already talked, Luffy had everything he needed to destroy her life already, so telling him one more thing wasn't that big of a deal.

"Of course I do…But I don't have a choice. Father would never let me go. Sanji was a failure according to him so he didn't care much about him but I'm too valuable for him to just let me go. He would send armies after me to get me back" she said with a sad smile.

Luffy didn't like it "Come with me then. We'll go to East Blue and you can join my crew."

Reiju was surprised but still had a small sad smile. "Are you asking me to elope with you?"

"In a non-romantic way, yeah"

Reiju chuckled at that but still had that small sad smile Luffy was starting to hate, "You're not strong. He would just kill you and take me back. Then my life would become even more of a hell than it already is…"

Luffy fumed irritably at the 'You're not strong' comment. He knew it was true. The Germa Family was New World levels of strong and as he was now, they would curb-stomp him easily. It was only after the 2 year training with Rayleigh that he got really strong and could fight with them in the story. Luffy just fumed in silence at his own weakness and the table was silent until their orders arrived.

Taking a sip of his chocolate milkshake, Luffy finally broke the silence. "I'll train hard and get really really strong. Then, I'll come for you and you'll join my crew" he stated resolutely.

Seeing the resolute confidence in his eyes and also the slightly suggestive way he had framed that sentence made her giggle. "Idiot…"

The 'you'll join my crew' statement finally registered in her mind, and she protested "Hey! Don't just decide what people will do. You have to ask them if they'll join your crew! Not tell them that they'll join your crew!"

Luffy just shrugged. "Don't care. I've decided that you'll join my crew, so you'll join"

Reiju sighed and smacked him. "That's not how it works! Man, I pity all your future crewmates if this is how you're gonna recruit them"

"Shishishishi"

"Don't just laugh!" she yelled and smacked him again.

They left the cafe after finishing their drinks and as they were making their way back, the atmosphere was still a bit awkward.

"I'm serious Reiju…" Luffy said knowing she didn't take his earlier words seriously.

Reiju just eyed him sideways, "Don't get my hopes up needlessly. I don't need that in my life"

Luffy sighed shaking his head in annoyance, "You and Sanji are so similar…A couple of self-sacrificial bastards that don't care for themselves and always try to take everything on by themselves…"

"…What?" Reiju blinked in bewilderment stopping right in the middle of the street.

"Forget it for now…" Luffy sighed and looked at Reiju challengingly, "I get that I'm not reliable yet in your eyes but within three years after I start my journey, I'll come for you. I'll beat Judge into the ground and whoever he sends after you, be it the entire Germa army. I'll make that bastard release you and then you'll join my crew. I'll destroy your entire Kingdom and take you with me if it comes to that"

Reiju was honestly taken aback by the resolute confidence and resolve in his eyes and didn't know what to say to that. It would be a dream come true if that actually happened, but would he really do that for her? Even if he wanted to, could he do that for her? Her father had control over her, but if Luffy really got strong enough to beat him and everyone in the army into the ground (she shivered with ecstasy just thinking about Judge being beaten to a pulp), she could actually escape from his grasp.

Luffy started walking again and she started following him without saying a word. She knew that he had a big dream and seeing the way he trained himself, she knew he was really serious about it. If he actually was serious about her joining his crew…and if Sanji also joined his crew, she could be with him too…

"I'll hold you to it then…show me your strength…" she muttered her voice barely above a whisper but Luffy heard her.

"Shishishi I will!"

Reiju nodded with a genuine smile as the two made their way back to their ship.


FUCK LEO!


"Hey Luffy, do you have a girlfriend back home?" Reiju asked Luffy one day as they were spending the afternoon lazing in the pool. That morning's sparring session had been intense so they decided to just take it easy and rest in the afternoon. Reiju was lounging in a chair beside the pool while Luffy was floating in the pool on an inflatable chair, both sipping a drink.

Even before the Lipstick debacle, she had noticed that Luffy would never get flustered if he saw her in sexy clothes. Once, he had even walked in on her changing and she was practically naked but he just went 'Oops, sorry' and walked out. He didn't get flustered even a tiny bit. He complimented her when she wore something nice, he would nonchalantly say 'You stuck your tongue in me' without batting an eye, took all her sensual teasing with amusement, teased back just as much, knew about sex positions and fetishes and would talk about them casually, and so many more similar instances which should have reduced a 16 year old into a blubbering mess but Luffy was different. It was like he had already experienced all this stuff which led her to believe he had a girlfriend. Thus, she asked the question.

Luffy, who was floating in the pool with a relaxed expression, turned towards her with a raised eyebrow. "What brought this on?"

"Just curious. Answer me dammit!"

"No, I don't"

"Is that so?" she said obviously not believing him. "Ex-girlfriend?"

"Nope"

"Do you hang out with a lot of girls?"

"Hm not really"

"…Then how the hell do you seem so…," she thought for a moment searching for the right word, "experienced with women?"

"Oh… Watching Leo I guess…"

'FUCKING LEO. I'M GONNA KILL HIM WHEN I SEE HIM IN THE AFTERLIFE!' Reiju vowed silently. She would always get irritated when his name was brought up as it would be usually followed by something stupid or something insane.

Luffy continued not knowing he was ruining Leo's image. "Yeah, Leo had a few girlfriends in his life. He told me of his experiences from being with them and how he learned to be a good boyfriend. Especially Serena. She was the love of his life and the two did a lot together…and I saw all that"

"Including his sexual experiences?"

"Umm yeah…" Luffy didn't really have a way to say that he had seen them go at it (from first perspective no less!) in a way that didn't seem sexual.

"So…like voyeurism?"

"No no…he just told me…" Luffy quickly said clearly not having thought about how this sounded to other people before.

"I see…So that's why…" Reiju said calmly but on the inside she was fuming. He was obviously lying and he had definitely seen Leo going at it with someone. If his enslavement was to be considered, then he was 15 before he got caught by slavers, so he was younger than 15 when Leo had exposed himself and his girlfriends in front of Luffy. She fumed in anger as she added another vow. 'I'M GONNA CASTRATE THAT FUCKER AND FEED HIM HIS OWN BALLS! HOW DARE HE TELL SUCH STUFF TO A KID WHO WASN'T EVEN 15 YET AND HAVE SEX RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM?! FUCK THAT BASTARD LEO!'

It was this incident that solidified the idea that Leo was an evil bastard who had corrupted the poor innocent Luffy got etched in stone in Reiju's mind.


USEFUL PURPOSE


Luffy had almost zero contact with Reiju's brothers and Judge. He was in close proximity to them only one time when they had come aboard the ship but even then, he was with Reiju. Apart from Reiju, the only other people he talked to were the chefs who made them food everyday, a couple of maids and the doctor he had visited a couple of times.

But there was one time when he was alone and had run into one of her brothers. He was just outside Reiju's castle after coming back from a doctor's checkup of his throat. Reiju was sleeping in that day so he had just went alone.

Yonji was also walking outside when he spotted Luffy and called out to him. Luffy had seen him and just tried to go inside the castle without meeting his eyes, but when Yonji called out to him, he stopped.

"Hey, you're that slave Reiju brought in right?" he asked coming up to him.

Not having a choice, he just replied "Yeah that's me"

Eyeing him up and down critically Yonji started speaking, "Reiju seems different these days. And you're the only different thing that has changed in her life in that last few weeks so I can only assume you're the reason she's changed."

"Changed how?" Luffy asked confused.

"Hmm well… take yesterday for example. We were sitting in the meeting room waiting for Father to come when she randomly said something like 'Purpose' I think, and then started giggling. When I asked her what was so funny, she just waved me off saying I wouldn't understand. What was that about?"

'Purpose?' Luffy thought for a moment before realizing what it was and nodded with a chuckle, "Yeah, she was probably remembering a joke I told her and was laughing"

"What's the joke? Tell it to me too" Yonji asked with a bit of interest.

"Sure!" Luffy nodded with a huge smile and then proceeded to tell Norm MacDonald's 'useful purpose' joke.

"There was this guy whose name was Jacque De Gautino back on our island…He was a smart fellow you know. Really bright, really smart… and all of us in the village…we had our hopes on him. That he'll do big things in life, you know…." he started narrating in Norm MacDonald's way of speaking, saying how Jacque De Gautino went on to college, got multiple degrees and was on his way to become someone great.

Yonji had lost interest by the time Luffy had started telling him about how he and his village believed that Jacque would be the next Pierceo or the next Maltacino. He was pretty sure they were all made up names.

Luffy continued "But one day , Jacque De Gautino just vanished. No one heard from him ever again… Anyway, life went on and years later, I was visiting this sea world. You know what a sea world is?"

Yonji who was about to fall asleep because of his boring story perked up and snapped "Yeah I know what a damn sea world is! Get to the joke already!"

"Okay okay I'm getting there. See, I was walking around…looking at the the different fishes when suddenly I saw someone in the crowd…guess who?"

"…Jacque?"

"No no it wasn't Jacque. It was just some attendant" Luffy said chuckling.

Yonji was about to hit him but Luffy hastily continued. "But that attendant showed me what I wanted to see! That place where you feed the baby dolphins you know. Cause I love dolphins, you know. Who doesn't? Well, that's besides the point but guess who I see there! Yes! It was Jacque! Jacque De Gautino! He was wearing the Sea World's uniform and was feeding the dolphins! He was working there!…I was so shocked! So I go up to him and say 'Jacque De Gautino, I'm ashamed of you! All of us at the village…we were pinning our hopes on you and here you are feeding baby dolphins… After going to college you were supposed to go on to do many great things…our entire island was pinning their hopes on you' But you know, having that much pressure on you by an entire island is a huge burden, you know?"

"…uh huh" If Luffy wasn't going to get to the joke in the next minute, Yonji would lose it and kill him.

"Yeah…so I say to him 'Jacque De Gautino, you could have done so many great things. I'm disappointed in you' and then you know what he says?…"

"…"

"He says 'Well, I believe I'm serving a 'youthful porpoise'" Luffy quickly said, the 'youthful porpoise' sounding a lot like 'useful purpose', and went inside Reiju's castle not waiting for a response.

Yonji just stood there stunned. He couldn't believe that Luffy had just wasted that much time building up a useless story only to make a stupid pun at the end. And he couldn't believe that he had stood there and listened to that damn story! By the time he came out of his stunned state, Luffy had already gone back inside Reiju's castle.

Luffy had told the same joke to Reiju the previous day while they were lounging at the pool. After saying the final punch line, he had started slurping his drink loudly while maintaining eye contact and walked out. Reiju had just sat there in the same stunned state Yonji was in. It was only hours later that Reiju was giggling remembering the stupid joke.

The next day there was another family meeting Reiju had to attend and she found Yonji giggling and laughing to himself as she arrived. 'Oh great, what cruel and funny torture method has he found now?', she wondered as she took her seat next to him.

Yonji looked at Reiju and started laughing louder leaving her confused. Seeing the questioning look on Reiju's face, he finally said in between laughs "I get the joke now. Pffffhaha… All that buildup just for 'Porpoise' HAHAHAHA!"

Reiju's eyes widened with shock. "You met Luffy?! And he told you the joke? And you listened to the entire joke?!" she asked incredulously.

"HAHAH Yeah, Luffy? Is that the slave's name? Yeah I saw him outside your house yesterday and decided to ask him why you were giggling in the last meeting saying 'purpose'. He then told me the joke. I'll be honest, I wanted to kill him a few times but the way he was telling it left me slightly curious, so I listened to the end. And it was hilarious! HAHAHAHA" Yonji lost it again.

Reiju also started giggling but on the inside she was angry-nay, she was downright furious that Luffy had done this. Yonji could have killed him if he didn't get the joke or didn't have the patience to listen until the end! And she honestly didn't know what she would do if one of her brothers killed Luffy.

Ichiji and Niji were just staring weirdly at the laughing pair and Yonji tried to tell them the joke too, but it didn't land as he was laughing way too much and that joke had to be told in the way only Norm MacDonald could do to seem funny.

Later when Reiju went home, she decked Luffy hard asking him how he could have done something so stupid. Luffy just laughed it off saying it worked out in the end causing Reiju to sigh exasperatedly. 'This boy is going to be the death of me'


CUDDLING


"God, what made you think you can hold your liquor?" Reiju said as she supported the drunk off his ass Luffy.

"I c-coouldd drink a lot moore beforee…" Luffy slurred as he wobbled around not liking his current state one bit. He had thought he could hold as much liquor as Leo could, so had started downing bottle after bottle in quick succession. And this was the result where he lost all control of his body and his mind was buzzing.

"Before what?" Reiju asked giggling.

"Beeforee I died…" Luffy slurred before promptly keeling over and slumped down face first on the floor.

"Died?" Reiju stood there confused. "The hell does that mean?"

"I diied…" Luffy mumbled before shaking his head and correcting himself, "Noooo…I didn't dieeee…Leoo died…"

Seeing how he seemed to have no filter on his mouth at the moment, Reiju decided to take advantage of this. She made him sit up and asked "Luffy, who's Leo?"

"Leoo? My brothaa from anotha mothaa! He is alsoo mee! Shishishishi…"

'What?' "Leo is you?"

Luffy nodded while giggling, "He's mee! And alsoo not mee~ Hahaha…"

'What the hell is he saying? Are Leo and him the same person or not? Split personality? Or is he speaking metaphorically?' Reiju was utterly confused, so decided to change the line of questioning. "When exactly did you meet Leo?"

Luffy lost his grinning face and deflated, "Whhen I wass enslaaved…deathhh pit…"

"You said Leo's from Nashville and New York, right? Where is that?"

Luffy smiled wide and with a flourish sang "New~ York~ Concreetee jungle wheree dreeamss are maa~de off…theeressnothing yoou caantt dooo~…Let's heear it foor…Neew Yoor, New Yor..New Yoorrkk…" he fell onto Reiju while singing Empire State of Mind and put his arms around her. He nuzzled into her stomach mumbling 'comfyy~' and fell asleep hugging her.

Reiju just sighed not getting anywhere with her questioning. 'Was that a song he was singing?' She looked down at Luffy who had wrapped his hands around her and tried to separate him but he grumbled tightening his hold on her. She just shrugged and went back to her room with Luffy hanging off of her like a limpet.



—



Luffy felt someone pulling his cheek trying to wake him up, but he felt a severe headache splitting his head. "5 more minutes Serena…" he mumbled and nuzzled into what he thought was Serena's neck but instantly felt a hard smack on his head making him wake up with a start and he realized just whose neck he was nuzzling against.

He sat up hastily, but that was a bad decision as he felt a sharp stinging inside his head and he barely managed to figure out where he was. "Never gonna drink again…" he mumbled as he realized he was in Reiju's room on her bed with her right next to him.

She was half naked wearing just a shirt and a thong, but that was how she usually dressed, so that wasn't saying much. He looked down at himself and sighed in relief when he found that he was still fully clothed before looking at the annoyed look on Reiju's face.

"What did I do?" he asked looking at her and trying to remember what had happened the previous night. He only remembered drinking and he was pretty sure they were at the bar near the pool. Did they shift to Reiju's room at some point?

"Well for one, you were up in my neck" Reiju grumbled.

"Sorry…thought you were someone else…"

"Yeah Serena right? Isn't that your brother's girlfriend? Why would you think you were sleeping with her?" she asked suspiciously.

"Umm…why am I in bed with you?" Luffy deflected the question with another question.

"Why else? You wouldn't let go of me"

"What?"

"You just hugged me and fell asleep. You wouldn't let me go no matter what so I just brought you back here…"

"Reiju that's bullshit. You could have easily ripped me off of you if you wanted. You wanted to sleep with me didn't you? Did you do something to me last night?" he smirked pretending to check inside his shirt.

"Deflecting questions huh?" Reiju said unperturbed, "Two can play at that game. Now, tell me why you thought you were sleeping with your brother's girlfriend?"

Luffy sighed massaging his head to get rid of the headache, "I slept with her sometimes…"

"You slept with your brother's girlfriend?!" Reiju asked shocked.

"Just cuddling!" Luffy instantly lied knowing this would take a very weird turn if left alone, "I like to cuddle a lot when I sleep, and she liked to cuddle too. So, we cuddled. That's it"

"Oh…well I can't deny that you are an amazing cuddle buddy…"

"…What?"

"Oh you don't know?" Reiju said with a tilt of her head, "The way you cuddled and hugged me…I don't know, it just feels nice I guess. I slept very well last night" And she really did. The way he just hugged her and pulled her head into his chest made her feel all tingly inside. He had even started slowly caressing her hair while running his fingers through her scalp that sent all sorts of tingles throughout her body which she had never experienced before. She didn't love him in any way romantically, and just thought of him as her first and precious friend and even though their current position seemed borderline romantic and sexual, she didn't care.

She decided to just let it happen and he didn't seem perverted either, so she didn't mind and soon fell asleep while enjoying his soft caresses. When she woke up in the morning, she felt immensely rested and felt really great. She had giggled seeing his sleepy face and started pulling his cheeks playfully…And then he said another woman's name and she reflexively smacked him getting annoyed.

"I-I see…" Luffy muttered. Leo and Serena did like to cuddle a lot so maybe his body was just doing whatever Leo did when he cuddled?

As he was speculating his newfound love for cuddling, Reiju finally asked about his comments "Hey Luffy, last night you said you could hold your liquor well before you died?…what does that mean?"

Luffy froze cursing himself and let out a sigh. He knew he couldn't lie in front of her so just dodged the question "Long story. Will tell you some other time…"

Reiju pursed her lips obviously dissatisfied with the response and just stared at him until he caved. Luffy gave another sigh "Listen, it's a story that's insane alright. You won't believe it"

"That's a roundabout way of saying you don't trust me" Reiju said with a bit of hurt leaking into her voice.

"It's not about trust. It's like if your daughter came up to you and told you she has an invisible friend, you obviously won't believe her right? But does that mean you don't trust your daughter? No, right? It's the same here. I'll claim something insane and without proof, you'll just think I'm a mental patient in need of help. So I'll tell you when I can prove it to you"

Reiju seemed taken aback by his perfect logic. "Wow……well, okay then…"

"And I do trust you. What makes you think I don't?"

"I don't know" Reiju pouted slightly, "It's just my nature I guess. I have been an assassin and in the middle of monsters my entire life…You just seem too good to be true…"

"Hmm yeah, I guess so…Well, I just have to whisk you away from here and show you a good life filled with people like me then"

"…You can say cheesy lines like that with no hesitation huh? You should have had a lot of experience saying things like that to other girls…"

"Not really, but I didn't mean it in a romantic way. I meant I'll make you join my crew and my crew will be filled with amazing people that you can trust implicitly"

"Oh…"

"Yeah, sorry if you're expecting a Prince on a white horse coming to claim your love. I'm not interested in relationships"

"Who the fuck wants that?! I wasn't thinking anything remotely like that!"

"Sure sure"

"I really wasn't! Stop making up stuff!"

"Sure sure"

"Gggrraahhh!"

"Shishishishi"



—


And that was just the start. There was another drinking party they had a couple weeks later where Luffy ended up drunk again and glomped onto Reiju and she had enjoyed another cuddle session with him. Apparently, his drunk self liked to cuddle.

After that, it kinda became normal for them to wake up next to each other in bed whenever they got drunk. Reiju didn't seem to mind and even liked it, so Luffy was happy for that. Besides, the two sparred a lot so there was already a lot of skin ship between the two and cuddling wasn't that different. By the time the three months had passed, the two had gotten so close that they cuddled together every night for the last two weeks of their time together.

And it wasn't the least bit sexual as Reiju almost treated him like a teddy bear and her hugging him was akin to crushing him to death. The first few times he hadn't noticed cause he was drunk, but when he was sober he realized that if he wasn't made of rubber, all his bones would have broken because of her crushing hugs. He had his cuffs on one time and he felt his bones creaking and breaking before he had to hastily remove them because she hugged so tight.

She also liked to move a lot in her sleep and so he would end up in weird, uncomfortable positions when he woke up in the mornings with his face buried under her, or his arms being stretched around her, and so on. Either way, the two ended up cuddling a lot during their last couple of weeks together without it ever becoming weird between them.

Luffy was aware that they had developed this weird relationship where they teased and flirted around a lot but it was all playful and it worked for them.


THE RUMOR


Luffy had no respect for any royal norms or etiquette. Reiju had learned of that the first day she had met him itself and he had only gotten more comfortable around her the more they spent time together. He would talk to her casually and had even shortened her name to Rei after a while.

Reiju obviously didn't mind and even liked being treated as an equal but the other servants and maids on the ship were a problem. They would obviously see him being so disrespectful towards her and start gossiping which was a problem Reiju had to solve. She didn't want to tell him to stop either and so, she tried to reduce the number of people who would enter her castle and kept Luffy out of their way when they came in for cleaning and other household things.

It was suspicious of course as Reiju had suddenly stopped many people from nearing her castle but she couldn't do anything about that. One day though, a maid was in her room tidying up the place when Luffy walked in casually.

He had just been through an intense training session and after taking a shower, he had come to her room to spend time with her. He just jumped on her bed like always even when she was on it not minding the presence of the maid. This was normal for them as they would end up drinking on bed sometimes and even read stuff together and play games, so he acted the same.

Reiju also didn't think anything was wrong with the scene and had even moved a little to make space for him until she saw the absolutely shocked and stunned look on the maid's face. It finally hit her that Luffy, her slave, had just jumped in bed with her and she didn't seem to mind one bit. If she protested and pretended to get angry now, it would obviously look more suspicious.

So she did the only thing that came to her mind. She casually sat up and started unbuttoning the shirt she was wearing while looking at Luffy, who only became confused at her behavior. He didn't even know that he was causing her problems by being so casual with her, so he was about to ask what she was doing but kept his mouth shut when her eyes seemed to be telling him to keep quite.

She removed her shirt and was now only in her bra, and she was only wearing a thong as usual, so she was almost naked. She then pushed Luffy onto his back while she got on top of him straddling him and started removing his shirt slowly and sensually. Luffy finally caught on to what she was doing when she kept secretly glancing at the maid in the room from the corner of her eyes, and so played along too as he put his arms around her waist.

Reiju ran her fingers on his upper body while moaning sultrily and acted like she was about to kiss him by dipping down but just when she almost reached his lips, she suddenly stopped and turned towards the maid, who was frozen on the spot looking at them with wide eyes.

Reiju raised an eyebrow at her and said "Get out" making her flinch and come back to her senses. She bowed down muttering apologies and quickly left the room closing the door behind her and only then did Reiju let out a sigh of relief. Her brothers brought in a lot of prostitutes, so this wasn't anything new, but what was new to them was her bringing in someone like that as she had never done that before. 'Guess rumors of me also bringing in prostitutes will spread among the servants now…' she sighed.

"I hope we're not gonna fuck to keep up appearances?" Luffy asked bringing her out of her thoughts and she looked down at the smirking face of the boy she was straddling. 'No hint of a blush even now?' she wondered. She thought he would get flustered at least now, but he only looked at her with amusement.

She had tried so many times to make him flustered by bringing up sensual topics like sex positions and fetishes but he just talked about it casually too. She had made a ton of innuendos hoping to make him falter just a bit but all he did was smirk in amusement or laugh.

She so wanted to get some type of reaction from him…so she resumed softly and sensually running her fingers on his upper body while bending forward and getting close to his face. She held his gaze for a couple of moments breathing hard pretending like she was turned on and bent down further so that her mouth was close to his ears. "Do you really not feel anything?" she whispered sultrily while still sensually massaging his body.

"Nope"

"Really?" Reiju breathed kissing his ears. She then slowly left a trail of soft and wet kisses on his neck while moaning just the right amount to turn anyone on. "Even now?" she sultrily whispered again.

"Nop-" she heard him begin to say but smirked triumphantly when she felt something harden below her.

"Hehehe…so you do feel lustful towards me…" she breathed right in his ear again making him shift slightly under her.

She slowly raised her body back up with glee thinking he would show a blushing and flustered face at least now…but all she saw was a neutral blank look on Luffy's face.

Luffy just sighed, "Even I have my limits you know… You sultrily breath in my ear and come on this strongly?…of course my body's gonna react…"

Reiju didn't let his lack of a blush get to her as she had at least managed to get some reaction from him. She just giggled still not getting off of him and continued to run her fingers all over his upper body and neck. She bent down to get close to his ears again and breathed "Let's see how long it takes you to blush…" while slightly licking his ears before sitting up again.

Luffy just stared at her for a moment knowing she was trying to tease him, and he didn't want to lose. He stared up at the teasing smirk on her face and slowly brought his hand up to her cheeks. He softly caressed her cheek while she allowed it to happen as she was amused and curious to see what he would do.

Luffy tucked a strand of hair falling over her eyes behind her ear and caressed her cheeks gently while staring directly into her eyes. "You're incredibly beautiful Reiju…" he whispered and gave the right pauses and stresses to get his point across, "Not just physically as it's obvious you're insanely hot, but also your personality…your attitude, your weird quirks, your perseverance, your genuine smile, your genuine laugh, your incredible kindness…everything about you is so so incredibly attractive…I love that I know you, the real you…and it's not enough to say this once, so I'll say it again. You're incredibly, mind-blowingly, magnificently, spectacularly, scintillatingly, dazzlingly, and every word that means insanely amazingly, beautiful…"

Reiju was absolutely caught off guard and as his words reached her ears, her cheeks burned with a deep shade of red, which only kept getting redder and redder as he went on, and by the end, her entire face was burning hot. It wasn't like she wasn't praised before. She had been proposed to and there was no shortage of poems praising her beauty, but they all were superficial or just plain infatuation or from someone who was trying to get her family's power or just trying to get in her pants.

But seeing Luffy's big honest and earnest eyes that bore holes right through her and those honest words that should have seemed cheesy…made her heart flutter. She was completely speechless, more than ever before, as her mind had completely blanked out and only his words were playing on a loop in her mind.

She didn't even realize that Luffy had sat up and she was now sitting on his thighs while their naked upper bodies were pressed against each other. Luffy put his arms around her and pulled her in closer putting her head on his chest, while he slowly caressed her hair. "I think getting kidnapped by slavers and ending up almost dead in that pit was one of the best things that's happened to me…I met so many new people, made a new brother in Leo, learned so much about this world, learned so many other things, went on one of the best adventures that I guarantee no one else has gone on and finally…I met you…" he whispered that last part softly into her ears making her shudder more. He finally separated and pushed her back slightly so that he could see her face…and it was still bright red and her mouth seemed to be quivering trying to form words but was failing spectacularly.

He finally burst out laughing falling on his back as he pointed at her face. "Oh god, I wish I had a camera right now. You should see your face! Hahahaha!"

Reiju finally regained her senses when he started teasing her again and she felt rage boiling up in her "THAT WAS ALL AN ACT?!"

She smacked him once and tried to smack him a second time feeling angry and embarrassed, but Luffy caught her hand and interlocked his fingers with hers before pulling her down towards himself making her fall on her side. She ended up lying next to him and the two were facing each other. Luffy cupped her cheeks with his free hand while looking into her eyes.

"Of course it wasn't, idiot…I meant every word" he said seriously and the blush on her face was back in full force. "But you need to understand that I'm really not interested in a relationship and just having sex with no strings attached will get messy and complicated down the line…so let's not ruin our relationship by having sex and all…"

"W-who the hell asked for sex?!" she tried to scream but only a hiss came out.

"Oh? I never said you did though? I was talking about myself…"

Reiju got even more embarrassed and she just wanted to hide in a hole and die.

Luffy continued with a smirk, "I'm fine with kissing though…I don't think kisses are that special and don't mind doing it with anyone…"

Reiju, who would have usually just smacked him, only became more embarrassed. She was far too lost in her mind to even rebuke him like usual…and Luffy knowing it was too much gave her an out by changing the topic. "Well, all teasing aside…I'm sorry. I didn't even realize I was causing problems for you by being so casual around you. I'll try to be more mindfu-"

"No!" came Reiju's instant response. Finally getting some other topic, she latched onto it to keep her mind occupied and not go into a spiral on thinking about what all he had said, "I'll keep all the others away. You be yourself and treat me the same…"

"Is that really okay?"

"Yeah yeah…I've already done…this, so rumors of me having a sex slave will spread now. My brothers do it a lot so it isn't a big deal"

"Ooh you've never done this before?"

"Not really, no"

"So…you're a virgin?"

Reiju just gave him a flat look "…Did you sleep with your brother's girlfriend?"

"Touché…" Luffy didn't press further knowing some things had to be kept secret.

Reiju giggled and buried her face in his chest again as they lay together. They usually fell asleep next to each other whenever they got drunk, but they had never done so sober. And Reiju definitely didn't want to let him go tonight, so she ended up hugging him closer and getting more comfortable with him.

"Umm…watcha doing?" Luffy asked confused.

"Well, I know your limits now. Only if I come onto you strongly do you react, so just sleeping like this should be fine right?"

"Yeah I don't mind…" Luffy trailed off before he just shrugged and hugged her too. The two got comfortable with each other and just lay there enjoying each other's presences.

"Thank you…for saying all that…" she whispered softly after sometime.

"It's a crime that you haven't heard that all your life. You deserve each and every word…"

Reiju just hummed, her lips widening as she heard his soothing heartbeats… and she soon fell asleep feeling better than she had ever felt before in all 20 years of her life. After that night, it became normal for them to seek out one another to cuddle together at night and the two became much more closer. They also started teasing and flirting more with one another trying to make the other flustered. Luffy never did get flustered but Reiju did sometimes get flustered a lot when he straight up praised her.

Meanwhile, rumors of Reiju having a sex slave also spread among the servants. After that incident, she made damn sure that no one approached her castle unless absolutely necessary, and had told all the servants and maids that Luffy was a bit loose in the head and she was only keeping him around because he was a precious lab specimen whose body reacted differently to poisons. Of course they thought that that was a cover story to keep her sexual escapades a secret, and Reiju let them think that as she really didn't care much. Her brothers and father didn't care about such stuff one bit, so even if they heard it, they would just shrug it off.

Also, many had seen Luffy's battered and exhausted state after he trained intensely sometimes and associated with it him having had intense sex with Reiju and rumors that Reiju was a fierce lover also spread. Reiju and Luffy had had a good laugh when they secretly overheard such topics.


———


They were at the last island they would stop at in South Blue and Luffy would be getting off here. They had both come ashore to the island and Reiju was looking around trying to find any place that Luffy could stay in or any place that could help him go to East Blue.

Luffy put a stop to it though and pulled on her arm making her stop her frantic searching. "Reiju, we only have an hour before you need to leave. Let's just spend it together yeah? I'll figure out where to stay and how to get back home myself later" he said pulling her away from the village towards the beach on the opposite end of the island from where they had docked. Reiju slightly protested but gave in after Luffy didn't let go of her hand as he pulled her along and they soon reached the beach. They both sat under the shade of a tree a bit away from prying eyes as they didn't want anyone from the ship to spot them.

"So, I guess this is it huh" Reiju sighed melancholically.

"Yeah…"

They sat there in silence both not wanting to leave the other but circumstances were pulling them apart. They didn't know what to say and just enjoyed the other's presence for a while.

"Hey, this isn't a goodbye…" Luffy pulled her into a sideways hug and spoke softly, "I'll definitely come for you once I get stronger. I'll be in the newspapers too so you'll know just how strong I'll grow and how much crazy shit I've planned. And don't worry, I'll definitely come get you and then you'll be free for the rest of your life. I'm sorry I'm not strong enough yet, but it's a promise."

Reiju just nodded solemnly leaning into the hug and resting her head on his shoulder. She had had so much fun with him these past three months that she couldn't even imagine a life without him. She slightly teared up thinking about how he wouldn't be around anymore and she would have to go back to a shitty life that didn't have Luffy in it.

"I'll call you from time to time whenever the connection is possible, okay?" Luffy said caressing her head.

"It doesn't work most of the time…"

She had given him a Transponder snail and her number but since the distance between North Blue and East Blue was too great and the Grand Line and Red Line in the middle would hinder any signals from reaching the other side, the snails wouldn't connect most of the time. Only at certain unpredictable times would the connection be made and there wasn't the slightest clue or a time of the day of when it was possible.

'I wish I had a phone…' Luffy sighed.

They just sat there, Reiju tearing up on his shoulder and Luffy softly running his fingers through her hair, listening to the soft waves crashing on the beach. They had already thrown a farewell party the previous night where they had gotten drunk, sang songs and danced to their hearts content. It was a fun night and honestly they were so drunk that it was a blur for the most part for both of them and they had woken up with a massive hangover in the morning next to each other.

Everything that needed to be said was already said and soon, it was time for Reiju to go. She broke from the side hug and got on top of his thighs before giving him a bear hug crushing him in her arms, and Luffy also put his arms around her tightly.

They stayed like that feeling the others warmth for a few minutes before finally separating slightly. "You better come for me…" she whispered into his ears.

"Yeah, I promise" Luffy whispered back with a smile.

They finally separated with a lot of reluctance and they held each other's gaze for a few moments with their foreheads touching. They finally got up sighing when they didn't have any more time and hugged one last time.

"Bye Luffy…" she said sadness laced in her voice as she finally started walking off towards the other side of the island where her ship was. Luffy followed her from a distance and watched as she reached the ship, turned around and waved at him with a sad smile one last time before getting on it. The ship soon left and Luffy sat on the shore watching it leave and disappear into the horizon with a blank look on his face.

"Hey White, I don't know if you're listening or not…but if you are, please get me a phone that can call anyone anywhere in this world…"

He remembered that White had said that he would need some tools to actually interfere in any universe and that it would also take some time. And by the message he had left when his mind broke, where he had said something along the lines of '…if you're hearing this message, then it probably means you survived…', he concluded that White couldn't even observe him currently. He didn't know if White liked or cared enough about him to actually gather the tools and observe him as he was a higher dimensional being who had just saved him on a whim. He owed his life to White but for White, he was the equivalent to a bacteria in the huge massive multiverse, and he didn't know about how those beings lived or if they even experienced life the same way he did. But nevertheless, he took his shot. Unfortunately for him, he was right and it would be a long time before White would even hear this message of his.

Luffy sighed cursing himself for being so weak that he was grasping at straws and expecting help from god like beings instead of strengthening himself. He once again vowed to get stronger so that he wouldn't have to leave anyone like this ever again…

Once he couldn't see the Germa ship anymore, he finally got up dusting the sand off his trousers and went into the village wondering how he could get stronger and also how he could get back to East Blue.

---

A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and had written even more stories detailing Luffy and Reiju's time together. Had to cut some off as they didn't seem that relevant to the story and was making the chapter way too long. Anyway, I hope you had a good laugh with some of Luffy's antics. (I had a laughing fit while writing the Lipstick Debacle, hope it made you chuckle at least)

The line 'It doesn't have to! I've got a Monster Truck' was a reference to Phineas and Ferb, if none of you got it.

I highly recommend watching the 'Useful Purpose' joke from Norm MacDonald on YouTube. Just type in the same and it will show up as "Norm Macdonald Tells The Most Convoluted Joke Ever - Conan on TBS" Had me laughing for days.

Wondering why I didn't write the results of his training? It's because its explained in the next chapter. The next chapter is a training montage (among other things) and I will elaborate what all he gained in his training with Reiju and how and where he trains himself further.

Also yes, Reiju will be joining the crew, just not from the beginning. Don't worry, not just post-timeskip, she will play a major role pre-timeskip too.

I think that about covers it. Stay safe and happy, y'all!

 

[Daonexus]

My god, dude are these prewritten chapters that you are posting or are you posting as you go?
Because if you are posting as you go, you are an absolute god for the quality and quantity of the chapters and you should look into making writing a career.

 

[AncientFunOP]

My god, dude are these prewritten chapters that you are posting or are you posting as you go?
Because if you are posting as you go, you are an absolute god for the quality and quantity of the chapters and you should look into making writing a career.

Click to shrink...

Hehe I had posted these three chapters on other sites over the past six weeks (one every two weeks), and just posting it here now so that I'm in sync on every site. Future chapters will be once every two weeks.
And thank you, this fanfic is mostly a passion project but also a way to improve my writing.

 

[Kalesin]

Like it so far, please keep the chapters rolling!

 

[RageMage]

... wow.
Just stunned by both the quality and quantity.
The story has real One piece vibes with plot progress and some nice slice of life.
Also some more realistic worldbuilding.
And most awsome of all original content!!!
You do a great job.

 

[AncientFunOP]

A/N: Surprise Early Chapter! I'm so glad that the Luffy and Reiju interactions in the last chapter were received positively. I was so anxious to see if you guys would like my interpretation or not, and I'm glad it turned out well. Anyway, happy reading this chapter. As always, notes at the end.

---

Chapter 4 - Training and Wyllians​

South Blue didn't seem all that different from East Blue to Luffy but it was way different when compared to the Grand Line. The sea specifically. He already missed the way the sea shimmered in the Grand Line which was deep blue, choppier, wilder, and all around gave the feeling of being dangerous, fun and beautiful all at the same time. East and South Blue waters had a lighter shade of blue and just seemed serene in comparison. Sure, it looked good for a while, but people like Luffy who had experienced the Grand Line would just find it to be too boring and a bit lacking.

But it was also good for him. He would have had a zero chance of survival if he had tried to navigate in the Grand Line. There, he would have capsized within minutes or his boat would have broken because of the rough choppy waves and even if his boat somehow held up miraculously, the wind and water currents were too unpredictable and rough, so he would have never reached his destination even if he followed a log pose.

But here in South Blue, he could just get in a dinghy and follow the general direction towards a particular island with the help of a compass. He had no clue about sea and wind currents so it would take a significantly longer time than what was necessary to get from point A to point B, but he wouldn't die or break his boat if he was just a tad bit careful. At least that's what Luffy thought would happen if he navigated. And boy was he so wrong.

Reiju had given him a list of islands which were big enough to have big merchant trade companies, but she wasn't sure, so she had asked him not to depend on it and find someone local who had more knowledge.

Hence, he asked around the island he had been dropped off at on how to get to East Blue from there. But it was hard to get any information as it was a really small island with just a few towns and the people there were mostly locals who had never been to more than 3 islands away from their own. Sailors just used their island to resupply their ships and that was pretty much their bread and butter.

But there was bound to be at least one person on the entire island who had some knowledge about the area, and with Luffy's magnetic personality, people eventually pointed him to the right person who turned out to be a journalist that was stopping by on the island and he was very helpful.

Luffy talked to him explaining his situation and the journalist gave him a few suggestions of what he could do. He first gave the same suggestion Reiju did of finding a trade merchant as some had regular cargo ships running to the other Blues every few months and with enough money, luck and persuasion, they could give him a ride.

Another option was to find a cruise ship of any Royal family or someone filthy rich that were going touring to the East Blue. Apparently really rich people sometimes went on cruises to the other Blues and if he was lucky, he could find one and get a job on their ship.

Another option was to find and join a pirate crew that were heading there and one more was to join the Marines and then ask and hope they transfer him to an East Blue branch. Obviously the Pirate and Marine options were instantly rejected by Luffy and thought that the first idea of finding a merchant ship was the most feasible.

The journalist also agreed and added, "It's really not that hard to find one you know. Many of these big trade companies have scheduled cargo ships going to the other Blues every few months and I'm sure East Blue is also one of them…What is hard though is the cost and security. No one will offer you a free ride and I'm sure you know the dangers of traveling on the seas as pirates might attack these cargo ships…Usually, the merchant companies have secret routes, so security should be a minor issue, but the cost on the other hand is a major issue. You'll need a lot, at least 40 million to convince anyone to give you a ride…"

"Yeah I guess so…" Luffy hummed nodding his head. 40 million seemed like a lot to normal people, but for him, it wasn't that big of a deal. He could just hunt a couple of bounties and turn them in to make that much quite easily. And he craved for danger, so if pirates attacked the cargo ship he would be on, then that would be a bonus for him.

"So yeah as long as you have money, you should be good" the journalist concluded.

"Got it. Thanks!"

The journalist also marked a list of islands that had big enough prosperous cities and Luffy compared his list to Reiju's. There were many similarities and Luffy decided he would first search on the islands that were present on both lists.

He thanked the journalist profusely for all the helpful suggestions and that very same day, he bought a dinghy, a few maps, food supplies, grabbed his belongings (which he got from Reiju) and set off to the closest island on the list which was three days away.


———


Two weeks later, he was still nowhere near finding that island. 'Navigation is so fucking hard…' he whined when he again found himself at a small random island that was way off course to his original destination.

He had found three different islands in the last 2 weeks, all way off course to his intended destination. He would just sail towards the direction where the island was, but for some reason, he would end up at some completely random island when he wasn't even expecting to find one. First time it had happened, he had docked and asked the locals where he was on his map and they pointed at an island that was way north of his destination. He had gotten new instructions from the locals and again set off only to sail for five days and end up at a completely different island again. The same pattern repeated as he had asked for new directions and had set off again.

And now again, he found himself at a completely random island for the third time. Reiju had drilled some basics of reading a map into his head and he thought he understood enough. Of how to know where he was, where his destination was, use the compass to know which direction the destination was relative to the starting point and just go in that direction. He had even thought 'That's it?' when he first understood it, but now that he was actually trying to navigate, it was way more complex. Majorly, the sea and wind currents. They were a total bitch.

The currents would unknowingly push him in some random direction with him not even realizing it and thus, he was being thrown way off course.

After the third island, he finally concluded that he was truly hopeless in navigation. Leo had only ridden a jet ski during a trip at a beach once and taken a ferry ride once…and that was all the experience he had regarding being on the sea, so his memories weren't helpful either.

Luffy had always thought that he would just randomly sail anywhere the waves took him when he set out on his journey and recruit a navigator, so he had never bothered learning about navigation even when Benn had tried to teach him the basics. He cursed himself now for not taking up Benn's offer then.

He had of course tried asking around on the islands he found himself at if anyone would be willing to navigate for him, but the islands were pretty small and no one agreed to take him to places. Reiju had given him around 4 million berries and even when he offered the whole amount, no one agreed to navigate for him (which seemed very strange to him, but he didn't give it much thought). So he was all by himself.

He sighed for the umpteenth time since he began traveling, frustrated at himself. If he couldn't even reach an island that was supposed to be three days away even after two weeks, he would just be wasting his time traversing the seas needlessly. The dinghy was small and he couldn't train in any useful way on it, so the whole two weeks had been a massive waste of time.

He had less than 15 months left before beginning his journey and he wanted to get way way stronger than his current self, so sitting idle in a boat felt like he was wasting his life and it was eating away at him.

"What to do…what do to…" he murmured sitting near the shore of the island he had found. He wished he would run into some pirates who he could defeat and then ask them nicely to navigate for him, but he hadn't met any yet.

He thought for a few moments before going for the simplest way - Just row the boat. Just furl the sails and row his way towards the direction of the island. That way, he wouldn't have to depend on wind currents and if he got sucked into a sea current, he would at least realize it and change the course or row faster to get out of it. It would be tiring as hell to row the boat, but he didn't have any other choice. Besides, that served as a sort of training while still being on the seas, so he did just that.

The original island he was trying to get to was around 15 days away from his current position, but fortunately, another island on his list was just two days away from him, so he set off towards his new destination called Myte Island. The two days was the estimate considering one would use the winds to sail, but since he was rowing now, it would obviously take him way more time.

Thankfully, the rowing idea worked to some degree because he no longer ended up way off course but just a bit off course. He still couldn't go to the desired particular island accurately and 'a bit off course' was still troublesome as he would miss the island and overshoot but he couldn't do any better than that.

Fortunately since he was just a bit off course, he spotted a cruise ship that was actually heading towards Myte Island too and thus, followed it. And after three weeks since he left Reiju, he finally landed on one of the islands on his list.

The city he docked at was called Gatte City and it was a fairly large bustling city with lots of people, fancy shops, malls, and most importantly for him, a big port with tons of ships docked at it. He didn't waste any time and immediately went around the port to search for any ships that was heading to East Blue.

Like the journalist had said, it was pretty easy as he soon found a merchant who actually had a cargo ship running to East Blue once every year and after some persuasion, he agreed to let him on it if he paid 40 million. But unfortunately, the next scheduled ship was 8 months away. He asked around in a few more merchant companies and other ships he found at the docks, but only found two more ships heading to East Blue 11 months and 18 months away.

He spent the whole day and the next going around the whole city trying his luck and even went to neighboring towns and villages to see if there were any ships, but at the end of the second day, he came back to Gatte city with disappointment as he didn't find any. He had also asked the merchants if any neighboring islands had any earlier ships, but just got 'maybe that company does?' and such vague unsure answers.

He sighed when it became clear that the earliest ship that was going to his home from this island was 8 months away. Apparently, East Blue wasn't that favorable a destination as there was less profit to be made from there when compared to West Blue, which was the most profitable, followed by North Blue. So, ships to East Blue weren't that frequent.

Luffy sat on the balcony of the room he had rented at an inn and thought about what he should do. He had two options mainly. One was to continue his search by going to other islands on his list and hope he finds a ship that left sooner. Second was to wait for 8 months and hitch a ride on the ship he had already found.

If he went with the first option, he honestly didn't know how long he would waste by just traversing the seas in search for particular islands. Just these last three weeks had taken a toll on his mental state as he kept thinking that he was wasting precious time which he could be using to train. He kept cursing and getting annoyed every time he landed on a different island, and he didn't know if he could do all that over and over again until he found an island which would take him home immediately.

He had also found cruise ships that were going to some of the islands on his list, but it was a cruise ship, so it was intentionally slow and had a lot of detours and stops. Again, he would feel like he would be wasting precious time.

"What do I do, kitty cat?" Luffy sighed as he pet a stray cat that had found its way onto his balcony. The reddish tabby cat just meowed and purred as it enjoyed Luffy's petting while Luffy treated it like a conversing partner.

"Okay, let's say I don't mindlessly go searching for the islands and choose to go on the ship I found 8 months from now. What do I do for 8 months? Train here?" he questioned the cat who just purred. "Your city is big and bustling sure, but it isn't dangerous in the least you know… I want an environment where I would constantly be in life or death battles 24/7 to get stronger…"

"Meow~"

"I should go searching for strong pirates to fight and gain experience?" he said pretending the cat had asked that question before answering himself, "Again, I have to go and search for the pirates and only then can I fight them. Searching for pirates is a harder task than actually beating them…" he sighed. "And even if I did find them, they're all way too weak…" Even though they might be stronger than those in East Blue, South Blue didn't have any strong opponents he could fight either. Bounties weren't an accurate representation of strength, but it was a good enough assessment for weaker bounties. And South Blue's biggest bounty he had seen at a tavern was 50 million.

"What else then?" he pondered. The training he did in Reiju's gym actually wasn't all that great as he first thought it would be. It wasn't bad either, and he had grown way stronger because of his training in the gym…but it wasn't quite as good as he had expected it to be. He was physically stronger, could fight adequately even when he had sea stone cuffs on, was about half as strong as he was originally while still wearing sea stone and way stronger if he removed the cuffs.

But he was nowhere near satisfied. Only his physical strength had increased and if he was heading into a bench press or a weight lifting competition, then those three months of training in Reiju's gym would have been helpful.

But he was a fighter. He wanted battles where his life was on the line and train his battle instincts. The spars with Reiju were actually more helpful to him than all the training he did in the gym, but then again, Reiju held back a lot. She didn't like it when she hurt him too much and so, didn't attack him with all she had. The only times he felt like he had grown stronger was when he had picked fights on the Grand Line islands they had stopped at.

Even the padded room with projectiles where he thought he could unlock Observation Haki was a total bust as he hadn't grasped it even after three months. Reiju had also suggested the same 'get whacked until you learn it' strategy to unlock Observation and he had been in that padded room everyday getting hit by canon balls and bullets, and felt like he almost got the grasp of it…but was just missing something to actually unlock it. There was something missing in all the training he did at the gym. Danger.

What he needed was will-be-killed-if-I-don't-push-myself kind of danger. An environment where enemies were aplenty and his life would always be in danger 24/7. He remembered Rusukaina island's environment and that was exactly what he needed right now.

And that line of thought led him to another line of thinking. "Okay, let's say I go in search of the other islands and somehow find a ship that's immediately going to East Blue. What then?" he asked the cat, "I go to East Blue and train there? The strongest guy there is Arlong and I can defeat him easily right now…The beasts in Mt. Colubo became child's play a long time ago…So there are no enemies left for me to fight against and grow stronger…"

Either here or in East Blue, he just wanted some place to test himself which would help him grow stronger. The last few months, the story, the spars with Reiju, the fights he had had in the Grand Line had all made him realize he was utterly weak. Reiju had not once broken a sweat during their spars and he was the only one who always ended up battered and completely spent. Even the fights he had charged in recklessly on the Grand Line islands would have led to his demise if Reiju wasn't there keeping an eye on the situation and doing a large share of the work.

He was extremely frustrated with himself for being so weak and the vow he had made with Ace where he had cried that he wanted to get stronger and stronger and stronger…after Sabo's death played in his mind. The scene of him being helplessly tortured, the scene of the slavers laughing as they punished Kell while all he could do was scream pathetically, the scene of Reiju's melancholic look as she waved one last time to him before she boarded her ship…all plagued his thoughts.

"I want to get stronger…" Luffy groaned his voice filled with desperation as he let his head hit the railing of the balcony.

"Mroww~" the tabby cat purred bringing Luffy out of his thoughts. It nuzzled against his face and licked him making him smile.

"You're right. I shouldn't be moping around like this huh?"

"Meow…"

"You think so too? Yeah, I should just do my best"

"Mrrow~"

"Puhahahaha~" a melodious feminine laugh suddenly came from the adjacent balcony and Luffy turned to see a woman pop up from behind the railing the next second. She looked to be in her twenties with bob cut blonde hair, sharp eyes and a tattoo of a rose below her eye. And judging by how she was looking at him with amusement, she had probably heard everything Luffy had conversed with the cat. "I'm sorry…it was just funny seeing a guy talking to a cat like this…"

"I don't mind" Luffy said with an amused smile.

The woman also gave him an amused smile as she took a drag from her cigarette. "I heard some pretty outrageous things just now…"

"Outrageous? Like what?"

"You said that all the pirates in South Blue were weak and then called yourself weak…that's either a contradiction or a very high standard"

Luffy just shrugged "I said what I said"

"I see" she said with a calculating look in her eye. She slowly took another drag from her cigarette thinking about something before speaking up again, "There's this local story around these parts of a Beast Island no one should go near…"

The woman nearly jumped out of her skin when she suddenly found Luffy's grinning face inches away from her own as he excitedly yelled "A Beast Island?! Where no one should go near?! Where is it?! Where is it?! Are the beasts strong? How big are they? Wh-"

"Woah woah stop kid" the woman clamped his mouth shut when it looked like he would go on. "Looks like that really got your attention huh?"

"Yes! Tell me more about it!"

"Okay okay I was going to. Calm down will you"

Luffy excitedly sat on her balcony waiting for her to speak while on the inside he was thanking his uncanny luck.

"It's pretty close, around 4 days by boat and over the years, I've heard some pretty dangerous tales from bounty hunters and washed up pirates who went near that island…They say there are animals like tigers and bears, only they are more ferocious looking and as tall as 7-10 meters!" she said making her voice spooky at the last part.

"Yahoo!" Luffy cheered throwing his hands up, "Where is it? Mark it on the map for me!"

The woman just stared at him incredulously, "Did you not hear what I just said? Animals, ferocious carnivorous animals like tigers, as big as ten meters!…" she paused when what she thought would scare him only made the grin on his face grow wider. "…you're insane…"

"Maybe. Who cares? Mark it on the map!…No wait, if you know where it is, can you take me there? I'm really not good at navigation"

The woman just looked even more incredulous, "You're asking me to come with you to the Beast Island?!"

"No no, just guide me until I can see the island from far away. You can leave after"

"…You have a death wish…"

"C'mon! Just take me there! If I die, it's on me"

"I don't even know your name kid…"

"Oh right. Hi, I'm Luffy, Future Pirate King. Nice to meetcha!"

"Pirate King…?" she laughed. He looked young, so she didn't take his words to heart and just thought he was playing around. "I'm Claire. Nice to meet you"

"Okay, great! Now, we're friends. Take me there!"

"No" she flatly refused.

"Why not?!"

"I'm not gonna send a kid to his death"

"Ugh…I'm not a kid. I'm 22"

"Sure you are" she obviously didn't believe him.

"At least mark it on the map for me"

"No"

"C'moonnnnn!"

"No"

Luffy grumbled under his breath for a moment before perking up with a grin. "You said it's a local story! So, of course others will know about it. I'll just go ask the locals"

He laughed when she stared at him like a deer caught in headlights and jumped back to his own balcony.

"Wait kid!" she called out desperately, "I'm not kidding when I say it's a dangerous island. You'll die"

"And I'm not kidding when I say I'm gonna be the Future Pirate King" he stated with a serious look in his eyes that sent shivers up her spine. "A bunch of beasts aren't gonna kill me…"

Claire now thought that he actually was insane and sighed in frustration. He had said some pretty outrageous things of wanting to be in an environment that would kill him, and thinking he was just a kid playing around and acting out some adventure, she just told him an actual place to see if he would still stick to the act or get scared. It was supposed to be just a normal funny conversation where she would scare him and then laugh while teasing him. That was it. That was supposed to be it. But he went beyond her expectations as he became excited and actually wanted to visit the island itself. 'He's either fucking crazy or just plain stupid…'

Luffy just grabbed the cat who was meowing at him, "C'mon Tabby, let's go ask the locals" he said before jumping off of the second floor balcony and landing on the ground with a loud thud alarming the pedestrians and also scaring the shit out of the cat he had just named Tabby. It hissed at him but he just chuckled and appeased it by tickling it. He then looked up to see the gobsmacked look on Claire's face and smirked at her.

Claire finally realized that he was actually strong and not just some kid trying to act strong. She then sighed exasperatedly realizing he wasn't going to stop and end up going to the Beast Island with or without her. Since it was her who had told him about the Island, she thought that she should at least take responsibility. "Okay fine!" she yelled at down at him. "I'll take you there!"

"Yahoo! Let's go now!"

The next day, he and Claire were in two dinghies heading towards the Beast Island with Claire leading the way. She was apparently a reporter who worked for a local newspaper and she traveled quite a bit around few of the surrounding islands collecting stories. She liked stories and would end up talking to people from all walks of life and had even published a few books. They ended up talking quite a lot as Claire had a lot of stories from her travels and Luffy loved listening to them.

Four days later, they finally spotted the Beast Island from afar.

"Okay, that is it…" Claire trailed off staring at the island and then at Luffy who was looking at it with excitement. "Can I really not convince you to not go? You're really fun, you know. I'd hate to see you die so young…"

"You worry too much, I'm not gonna die"

"You're strong sure but not that strong. Where does that endless confidence even come from?" she sighed.

"Shishishihi. Well I'm gonna go now. See you in around 8 months" he waved at her before he started rowing towards the island. "Take care of Tabby for me"

Tabby, who had also accompanied the two on their journey just meowed at him from Claire's boat, while Claire herself nodded solemnly. Luffy had asked her to wait for two hours as he wanted to first check out the island and see if the Beasts were actually a challenge or not (which had made her laugh). If the Beasts weren't, then he wasn't gonna waste his time and immediately go back with her. She waited for more than 4 hours and when he still didn't show up, she concluded that he had either died as soon as set foot on the island or he actually wanted to stay there to train. She sighed not knowing his fate and started going back to Gatte city hoping the boy she had come to like a lot in just four days would survive.



———


A very small bay which opened up to a wall of thick and tall trees that stretched out on either side, probably covering the entire circumference of the island, greeted Luffy. The closer he got, the more excited he became as the trees were much taller than he had thought, and he could already hear loud roars and screams of the beings present on the island.

He soon reached the shore, pulled his dinghy up into a small cove, covered it up with enough leaves so that no one could spot it, and excitedly stepped into the thick forest. Not even two seconds in and he laid his eyes upon one of the beasts that populated the island. It looked tiger-like in appearance but much larger, almost 6 meter tall, with sharper and longer fangs, teeth and claws. It kinda reminded him of the beasts back on Mt. Colubo, but these were much much bigger and by the looks of it, more ferocious. Testament to being a survival of the fittest kind of island, the tiger immediately lunged at Luffy upon spotting him and seeing a huge tiger like beast running at him, Luffy had only one response.

"Shishishishi"

He also ran towards it with a huge grin and punched it right in its jaw just as it tried to bite him. The tiger faltered a bit by the sudden and unexpected attack from the little human, but soon growled angrily and attacked him again. Luffy dodged its massive paw once but he was caught off guard when its tail came at him with incredible speeds. He got whipped so hard that he flew back for a good three seconds before crashing and breaking through a row of trees before his momentum finally stopped.

He didn't have time to take a breather as he had landed right in front of a huge 7 meter tall wolf like creature that tried to bite him as soon as their eyes met. Luffy barely rolled out of the way of its jaws but the wolf then used its powerful legs to stomp on him and pinned him down. He yelped in pain as its sharp claws dug into his back and when he saw its massive open maw coming at his head, he hastily removed the sea stone cuffs he was wearing and whipped its head with a stretchy arm snapping it backwards. It had also staggered back a couple of steps, hence freeing him, and he quickly collected the sea stone cuffs and climbed up a tree.

He got high enough panting hard thinking he was safe for now when a hard object crashed into his back making him yelp in pain and get lodged into the tree. He spit out blood as he turned just his head to see a bunch of massive baboon like creatures sitting on the top branches of the trees holding huge boulders. His eyes widened with shock when he saw two baboons pull their arms back and he realized that the baboons were throwing the boulders at him.

He hastily jumped to an adjacent tree just as a boulder came swooshing in and broke the tree apart where he had just been moments ago. A few more baboons started launching their boulders at him and he kept jumping from one tree to another and finally hid from the baboons' line of sight after he got far enough. He was panting hard and was already bloody.

"Ha…hahaha" he laughed softly when he realized he got what he wanted. He wanted to put himself through an extremely rigorous training session the likes of which would make even his gramps grimace. And this was it.

He steadied his breathing before staring down at his sea stone cuffs. He had planned to always wear the sea stone cuffs while he trained so that he could grow stronger exponentially faster but he had almost lost his life in his weakened state and barely managed to escape from the wolf using his full strength after removing them.

He stared at it for a few more moments pondering whether to wear it or not. He recalled his future fights with Aokiji, Moria, Kuma, and then all the insanely strong opponents in Impel Down/Marineford…and there was only one answer. Wear it. Any normal kind of training just wouldn't cut it.

He clicked the sea stone cuffs back onto his wrists, let out a deep breath before coming out of his hiding spot…and instantly came face to face with the dozens of baboons that were all looking for him.

"ALLONS-Y!" he yelled with a huge feral grin and a manic glint in his eyes as he lunged at the closest baboon while it and the others screeched at him all attacking at once.



———


4 months later


Luffy dragged the corpse of the supposed strongest beast of the island behind him as he made his way towards his make shift shelter that had become his temporary home on the island. He had just been in an intense battle with the creature he was dragging behind him, which was a massive 12 meter tall chimera like beast with features of a lion, wolf, alligator and so many more unrecognizable animals.

"This island is so strange…" he murmured to no one. Not only were the beasts massive, but there were also a few chimeras which looked like someone put a few creatures in a blender and made a new one. He expected islands like this in the Grand Line, not in one of the Blues. But then again, Mt. Colubo also had larger than average beasts and there was no explanation for that either.

The current creature he was dragging behind him was the strongest creature on the island which had almost killed him quite a few times during his early days, but after 4 months of training, he was more than capable of taking it on and winning.

Luffy took a minute to review what all he had gained from the past four months and grinned ecstatically. His strength and battle instincts had grown exponentially stronger and he could feel the amount of growth he had undergone. His muscles were still lean with just a slight bulk up, but it was intentional. He didn't want large muscles that would hinder his movement, so he trained his body in such a way that it would still be lean while his muscles compressed in on itself.

He was still wearing the sea stone cuffs and had only removed them on four instances where he had no other choice but to remove them and fight, as the situation he found himself in was hopeless to come out of in his weakened state. Like during his first week, he had accidentally dropped into a pack of more than a hundred wolves, all 7-9 meters big, and he couldn't outrun them without his rubber powers.

He had pushed himself harder than ever before, not even taking any breaks whatsoever. He even ate while he was in the middle of fights and only slept around 3-5 hours each day, while the rest was spent training. And because of this, gradually over the first month, results started to show as the fights started becoming easier.

But Luffy didn't like it. He was growing stronger only because he was fighting for his life all the time and if the fights started getting easier, he wouldn't feel like he was in danger anymore…So, he put handicaps on himself.

It first started off as a couple of boulders tied to his legs while he fought and trained. Then it increased to four boulders, then just two bigger boulders on each feet and so on…and currently, he was dragging four massive boulders, two to a leg, each twenty times bigger than himself and extremely dense and heavy, which created a deep trail on the ground wherever he went. On top of that, he was wearing a blind fold most of the time, so he was doing all of this blind.

He removed his blind fold for now as it was celebration time for finally beating the strongest beasts of the island all at once. Luffy hadn't just beaten the strongest creature, but also the massive pack of more than a hundred wolves, the troop of baboons, the bask of crocodiles, the strong chimeras- basically all the major hunters and predators of this island…and he had beaten them all one after the other with no rest in the middle for even a second.

As he had said to himself, normal training just wouldn't cut it and by extension, normal goals would also be unsatisfactory. So instead of his goal being 'To take out the strongest creature on this island', it was 'To take out all the strongest creatures on this island back to back with no rest.'

That was his mindset. His seriously messed up mindset. And he applied the same to all his short term goals too. So something like 'Do 100 push-ups today' would become 'Do 100 push-ups while balancing heavy boulders on top of myself in the middle of a wolf pack today.'

And with a mindset like that, it wasn't a surprise that he grew exponentially stronger. He had developed a very messed up and reckless plan of training himself which would result in the death of a person 999,999 times out of a million, but Luffy obviously didn't care and thought he could do it. Even if he couldn't, he would still push himself and force his body to do it.

As he kept pondering, he finally reached his shelter, which was nothing more than a tarp of leaves providing shade under a couple of trees and a campfire where he cooked all his meat.

After skinning the beast, he started roasting the meat over the fire and watched the stars as he waited for it to be cooked. He had found a few new things about himself in those 4 months and one of those was that he liked the night sky a whole lot more now and on many nights, he would just stare up in wonder. All the movies and shows about space from Leo's world fascinated him and he wanted to travel to space too. And this world definitely had aliens, at least that's what it seemed from the cover stories, so he thought it would be fun to meet one and if possible, travel among the stars too.

Another thing was that he slept a lot less. It wasn't due to Leo's personality, but his own experience under slavery. The slavers didn't let him go to sleep as a form of torture and would splash water, electrocute or burn him whenever he did fall asleep, and it had soon become a habit for him of not being able to sleep much.

He had already noticed it during his time with Reiju that he kept waking up within two hours of falling asleep and had to fall asleep over and over again every two hours throughout the night. Only if he was extremely tired or drunk could he sleep longer. Not due to nightmares as he never got any, nor due to fear, but just habit. He could easily offset that habit by fixing his sleep cycle, but he thought it was actually great that he had developed this new habit. He could spend more time training that way…

Luffy did acknowledge that he had become obsessed with getting stronger but he just couldn't help it. His last few months and knowing he will lose Ace if he was weak just made him push himself harder.

Either way due to this, he had developed a lot of techniques. First off, the Rokushiki techniques. Luffy was only interested in Shave and Moonwalk (which he had aptly renamed as Air walk because Moonwalk was reserved for the dance move) and so spent his time training those two techniques only. Shave was simple enough as he had to kick the ground around 10 times in the blink of an eye to achieve incredible bursts of speed.

There was no secret to Air walk as far as he recalled from the story, and it was just a person kicking the air so hard that it becomes a sort of foothold from which one could jump. Coby had learned these techniques within months and he had started from being a pudgy guy, so he thought that there was no way he would not learn these in a short amount of time. He was already strong, so he just had to train the right muscles to achieve it.

He knew he kinda used Shave in his Gear Second and also Air Walk in his Gear Fourth but he wanted to learn these two techniques in his base form itself. And eventually when he did use his gears, those techniques would evolve into something greater.

Like all other things though, he didn't just want to achieve Shave and Air Walk, he wanted to achieve it in his weakened sea stone wearing form, while also having boulders tied around his legs. He was putting his life in so much danger and body under so much stress because of this but Luffy wanted this. He wanted to fight with all those handicaps not only to get stronger but to also build his endurance up.

Arguably, his greatest asset was not his strength or his rubber powers, but his endurance and stamina. No matter how many times he lost, he had the resolve to keep getting back up and fighting until the opponent loses. And he wanted to go above and beyond his current self.

He recalled how in the Marineford war, he's running on fumes and Iva-chan's hormones, and after rescuing Ace, he let his guard down for just a moment due to his fatigue…which led to Akainu attacking him and him being helpless while Ace took the blow for him. Just one moment of fatigue. Just one moment of rest and Ace had paid the price…So, he thought that he should get used to fighting in such conditions. And thus, he put himself under another messed up training regiment.

He starved himself. Luffy, the Glutton with a capital 'G' Fucking. Starved. Himself. Willingly. While also wearing sea stone cuffs and also dragging boulders behind him. And then trained and fought in such a state.

It would have been unthinkable and impossible a few months ago, but after experiencing severe starvation under the slavers for months and knowing he would let his brother down if he wasn't used to fighting in such conditions, he had willingly weakened himself and fought in that state. He couldn't keep going for long in such a state though, so he was still trying to increase that time. That's how seriously messed up his training was.

But at the end of the day, it bore results. He had managed to use Shave while still wearing sea stone cuffs around 2 months in, and after another month he finally managed to use Air walk too, albeit it was just a couple of kicks in the air. Rankyaku was also a leg technique, so he tried it on a whim after successfully doing Air Walk, and actually managed to use that too. Again, it was just a weak Rankyaku that was barely able to leave a scratch on a tree but it was all while wearing sea stone cuffs, so he didn't know how he would fare in his normal state.

Apart from those techniques, he had obviously tried to learn Haki too. And he was quite proud to say that his Observation Haki was one of his greatest strengths currently. He had pretty much unlocked it in his second week on the island when he found himself in the middle of a pack of wolves while baboons also kept throwing boulders at him.

He had purposefully put himself in such situations trusting in himself that he would eventually unlock and dodge the attacks using Observation. Rayleigh kept whacking him in the head to make him unlock his Observation in the story and since he didn't have anyone here, he left it up to the ferocious beasts to attack and treat him like a rag doll while he closed his eyes and tried feeling for all the attacks.

Thankfully, his reckless and dangerous method had paid off as he slowly started sensing attacks aimed at him and managed to dodge it. It started off as more of an intuition really before he finally started sensing his surroundings. It was a voice of sorts. It wasn't an actual literal voice nor did it feel like objects were speaking, but that was one of the best ways to explain the feeling. A voice or a presence or an aura.

A bit more concentration and time on it and he could sense his surroundings accurately. It was a very short range around himself though, but he had trained it over the months and currently, he could sense things about 200 meters around himself.

Unfortunately, Observation was the only Haki he had been able to train satisfactorily. He couldn't learn Armament Haki much and even after grasping the concept of Haki, he couldn't coat it on his hands.

He could feel a sort of spirit energy inside him that he tried to channel into his arms and coat it, but he managed to succeed only once every hundred times he tried it and even then, it was just too weak to have any significance. He was sure he was missing something but didn't know what exactly.

He theorized that he just wasn't being hit hard enough. He needed to get hit by stronger attacks so that he's forced to bring out more of his Haki and coat himself with it, thus strengthening his Armament. In the story, Rayleigh probably kept increasing his strength while bashing him so that he kept pulling more of his Haki out and coat himself, thus getting stronger in response. At least that's what he could gather from the story.

So basically, he just needed to fight stronger opponents…but sadly, the beasts on this island just weren't strong enough. He also noted in horror that until he went to the Grand Line he probably wouldn't face any strong opponents. 'Sigh, nothing I can do for now I guess…East Blue will be boring as hell…'

And Conqueror's Haki was a no show as he wasn't able to activate it even once and neither did he know how to. He tried recalling what he had felt when he had unleashed it the first time, but he was way too preoccupied with rescuing Kell and escaping to have paid much attention to his new power. The story didn't really go into the core concepts of how these powers worked, so he didn't know how to train or even activate it.

"Guess I'm gonna have to wait to learn Armament and Conqueror's huh?" he sighed to himself as he ate the cooked meat. A good thing that came out of trying to train Armament was that he had learned Iron Body by mistake. He couldn't help but tense up his muscles whenever he was being hit, and he purposefully tried to get hit a lot to unlock his Armament, so he had unknowingly learned to tense his muscles up hard enough to make it strong. Once he realized what he had almost grasped, he trained it a bit more and got the hang of Iron Body too.

So at the end of the day, he had learned Shave, Air Walk, Iron Body, Rankyaku and Observation Haki majorly. He hadn't even bothered with Shigan as that didn't fit with his fighting style and Kami-e was useless since he had Observation.

As he sat near the campfire eating and pondering about his time on the island, he suddenly felt a presence behind him and at the same time heard a feral growl. He grinned ducking down just as a creature passed over where his head had been just a second ago and landed in front of him.

"Yo! We meet again" Luffy cheerily greeted the humanoid creature growling dangerously at him. It was a tall hairy bipedal creature which looked like a hybrid between a black hound and a human, so basically a were-hound.

Apart from all the huge beasts on the island, there was also a tribe of humans living there. During his first month, Luffy had seen a few of them from afar but they seemed pretty hostile, so he had stayed away.

Over the months, he had come to learn that there was a village of about 200 people in a deeper part of the forest but he had never gone there as whenever he got anywhere close to their vicinity, they would without a single question, attack him. They used spears, bows and axes mainly as weapons but from what he had observed, they were strong enough to protect themselves against all the predatorial beasts.

They wore basic beast hides as clothes and were pretty isolated as he had not once seen anyone get off the island apart from fishing. They had farms and fisheries too, so seemed pretty self sufficient.

Luffy didn't really want an entire tribe of people to run him off the island, so he kept his distance, but he would sometimes run into them while hunting. At first, they would just raise their weapons at him and he would just run away. He had tried talking to them at first of course, but they never listened to him and attacked instantly.

Over the months, they had come to sort of tolerate him as they would just leave him alone if they ran into each other. Luffy didn't know why but thought it had something to do with how feral he himself probably looked when he was in the middle of a pack of beasts while dragging around boulders on his feet battling them all with a grin on his face, sometimes while singing too.

But there were two people who didn't avoid him like the rest of the others. One was a little girl who would sometimes spy on him while hiding in bushes. He had caught a glimpse of her a couple of times in the beginning but she would always run away or hide if he saw her. But once his Observation got better, he would sense her a lot in his general vicinity just observing him. He thought that she was just a kid who was curious to see someone not from the island, and so spent her time spying on him. He had tried calling out to her a few times but she would always run away if he acknowledged her existence.

And the second person was the hound like humanoid creature who was currently growling in front of him. He was probably a Zoan user, the Hound-Hound fruit most probably, and this was the fourth encounter he was having with him. The first time was during his early days when he didn't have Observation and was taken completely by surprise by him.

The hound user was intensely aggressive and feral in nature and Luffy had almost died to him the first time. But he had successfully run away and had even thought it was a werewolf that had attacked him. The second time was just the next day after the first attack and he had tried to fight that time. The fight was hard and he would have lost but fortunately, interference by other beasts had prematurely ended their battle.

The third time was around 3 months in when the Zoan user had again tried to attack him out of nowhere but since he had Observation by then, Luffy saw it coming and intercepted his attack. Luffy was leagues stronger than the first two times he had faced the Zoan user, so the two had fought for quite a while and Luffy found himself enjoying the fight. The hound was the first humanoid creature he had fought on this island and he even thought it was a good thing as he got some experience in fighting bipedal creatures instead of just large beasts. The third fight was kinda his victory as he had the upper hand the whole time but again interference by other beasts had prematurely ended the fight.

And this was their fourth meeting. The hound growled at Luffy and started pacing around, looking at him with a manic gleam in his eyes. Seeing the mindless fury, Luffy had even wondered if he was an Awakened Zoan just like the Jailer Beasts in Impel Down but had quickly dismissed the thought as the hound was way too weak to be an Awakened Zoan. So there was some other reason he was losing his mind and Luffy wanted to know why.

"Why do you keep attacking me? Can we at least exchange a few words first?" Luffy asked as he sidestepped dodging a mindless lunge from the hound.

All he got in response was a growl before the Hound lunged at him again. Luffy internally sighed as he intercepted and began fighting him. He didn't mind a good fight but this was meaningless as he had no idea why he was even being attacked. And the hound didn't seem to be in control either so it was like fighting a feral animal that didn't care about its own body. He was all attack and no defense no matter how much Luffy hurt him.

The battle continued for a while as the two were about evenly matched. That is Luffy with sea stone cuffs and six massive boulders tied to his legs and torso was evenly matched with the feral and aggressive hound. It was a testament and clear proof that his strength had increased exponentially compared to the first time he had fought him when he had landed on the island.

"Okay, you're gonna stop and listen" Luffy said as he grew tired of the fight and pummeled him into the ground. Before he could get up, Luffy jumped on his back and put him in a choke hold. The hound roared and growled aggressively trying to break free but Luffy didn't let him get out of the choke hold.

"Hey, I'm trying to help here. If you are a Zoan, then you're losing control every time you transform. You need help before you go on a rampage and do things you'll regret"

Luffy remembered how Chopper had also lost control and gone on a rampage while in Monster Point on Drum once, and how much that had affected him. So he didn't want the hound user in front of him to go through something like that.

The hound struggled under him for quite a while but didn't lose his aggressive nature as he kept growling and trying to get out of Luffy's grasp. Just as Luffy was wondering if he should just knock him out, he felt another familiar presence enter his range and soon the little girl popped her head out of a thicket of bushes. Unlike all the other times she had just spied on him though, she gasped as soon as she saw him holding the hound down and burst out from the bushes while pulling her bow and aiming an arrow at him.

"Let him go!" she yelled with a serious determined look in her eyes.

"Oh finally coming out to say Hi?" Luffy said smiling at her, "And you know this guy?"

"Let. Him. Go! Or I'll kill you!" she growled.

Luffy sighed thinking that there was some story here and let the hound go from his grasp. She seemed like she knew him so thought that she could maybe tame or bring him back from his feral nature.

The Zoan user instantly put some distance between Luffy and himself as he growled and took in deep breaths but still observed Luffy with an angry look. He then laid his eyes on the little girl and instantly changed targets charging at her.

The little girl, who was sighing in relief when Luffy let him go, saw the hound coming at her and panicked. "Dad! It's me! Wait!" she yelled trying to seemingly placate him but her supposed dad didn't care as he lunged at her. The girl barely dodged by jumping to the side and fell face first into the ground as the hound passed where she was standing a second earlier.

Luffy, who was thinking that the hound would now regain his control, cursed himself when he just attacked the little girl too. 'So that's her Dad but he doesn't even recognize her? This sure is a mess'

As the hound rounded back and stalked towards the little girl, she started crying and begging for her father to stop.

"Dad, it's me! Allana…Please stop…"

He didn't even hesitate and lunged at her again while she sobbed and crawled backwards as she was still on the ground. She saw in slow motion as the hound, her own father, lunged at her with his maw wide open, his sharp teeth looking like razors, and just before she accepted the fact that she was going to die by her father's hands, Luffy came flying in and kicked him away, and considering he was dragging boulders behind him, they also rammed into him with so much force that he crashed through a few trees and got half buried into the ground before losing consciousness.

"Don't go hurting your own daughter" Luffy said sighing and looked back at the girl to see if she was okay. She was looking wide eyed at where her father had collapsed before turning her gaze to Luffy and flinched when she saw he was looking at her. She quickly scrambled to her feet intent on running away but just as she turned her back to him, Luffy caught her by her collar and lifted her off the ground.

"Ahhh! Let me go! You crazy outsider bastard!" she screamed squirming under his grasp.

"Relax, kiddo. It's okay if your dad keeps attacking me but he just attacked his own daughter. This is just messed up. Can you tell me what's going on?"

"You outsider! Let me go, or…or…my entire clan will come after you!"

Luffy actually did think that that would be the case, but looking at the little girl, she was clearly lying. 'So for some reason, the clan of people that live on this island don't care about her' he concluded.

Seeing that she wasn't listening and kept squirming, Luffy just shrugged and let her go. The hound was the problem here and he had already decided to get answers from him, so if she didn't want to talk, it didn't matter.

Getting her freedom back, the girl instantly ran towards a few bushes and dived into it. She put some distance between them before she stopped and seemingly observed him discreetly not knowing that Luffy could sense her every movement. Luffy didn't care much as he wanted to talk to the hound mainly, so walked up to where he had gotten buried. He had fallen unconscious but was still in his human-beast form.

Luffy dragged him back to his shelter and tied his arms and legs with some vines. He thought the girl would make a fuss again but she actually just disappeared from his range. 'Did she just run away?'

He shrugged and went back to eating the now burnt meat. He wanted to get back to training again but he had a guest now, so just postponed it for a while. He didn't care about their histories but the man had just attacked someone he probably cared about while being out of control because of a devil fruit. He was definitely stepping in and resolve whatever issue the man had.

It was half an hour later that the human-beast form hound turned back into a human. He was a middle aged man who looked to be in his thirties with unkempt beard, shaggy black hair and he was wearing beast hides like the other people he had seen in the tribe. He also had a tattoo of what looked like an eye resting on waves on his chest. He had seen the same symbol on some of the other tribesmen too and it was the symbol of a god they worshiped.

It was another half hour before finally something happened. Two presences entered his range and he bent forward slightly just before an arrow came whizzing by where his shoulder had been an instant earlier.

He stared in the direction of the two presences, the same place the arrow had come from, and two more arrows came flying at him. He moved just the slightest amount to dodge each arrow as he stared calmly in their direction.

A couple minutes later, a tall woman stepped out while aiming her bow at him. She looked to be in her thirties, had long cascading black hair, wore the same beast hide clothes, had the same eye tattoo but on her shoulder, and was glaring at him. The little girl was right next to her also trying to look intimidating by training her bow at him. 'Her mother?'

"Hi" Luffy said with a wave that only made them flinch slightly. 'Yep, they're trying to put on a brave front but are terrified'

"Outsider, what have you done to my husband?" the woman spoke calmly.

"He's right here" Luffy said pointing in front of him where the man was tied up lying on his side.

"He's transformed back" the girl sighed of relief. The woman however slowly stepped forward studying Luffy intently.

"I apologize if he attacked you, but he wasn't in control. So, I beg you, please let him go" the woman said but still had her bow trained on him.

"Yeah yeah, I'll let him go, don't worry. Just want to talk to him for a bit, that's all"

"…talk to him? About what?"

"He attacked her" he said pointing at Allana.

The woman flinched and snapped her neck at the girl, while the girl instantly looked away guiltily.

"Is that true?!" she yelled at her daughter, "Allana! Answer me!"

The girl gave an annoyed glare at Luffy first before looking up at her mom "He wasn't in control…"

"I've told you not to approach him whenever he's a beast! Why don't you ever list-" the woman stopped her rant suddenly remembering Luffy was still here and sighed looking back at him, "I'll deal with you later…Now outsider, why do you care about my husband's condition?"

"I really don't care, but he attacked his own daughter. I'm gonna put a stop to it before he does something stupid like that again"

The mother and daughter pair only got more agitated and became furious at him. "What gives you the right?!" the woman spat, "You, the clan, everyone's the same! My husband is just sick! He'll recover soon! What gives you the right to take his life?!"

"Leave my dad alone, you asshole!" the girl yelled.

Luffy just tilted his head in confusion "Take his life? I'm not gonna take his life. I just want to talk to him…"

The woman who was furious became confused "…what?"

"I said I just want to talk to him. Nothing more…He doesn't seem to be in control of his powers, so I'll see if I can get him to control it"

The woman slowly lowered her bow while staring at him incredulously "His…powers?"

"Yeah, he's a Zoan right? Looks like he's losing control in his human-beast form"

"Zoan?" the woman said testing the word in her mouth.

"Y-you know what's wrong with my dad?" the girl asked shocked and hopeful.

Luffy sighed "Do you not know what a Zoan is?" Seeing the blank look on the mother daughter pair, he continued, "you know, devil fruits?"

Still seeing the blank look on their faces, Luffy sighed knowing he'll have to give an explanation to them. "Well, looks like training is gonna be on hold for a little while longer…"

Just then, the man stirred groaning in pain. "Guohh…"

"Sol!" / "Daddy!"

The mother-daughter pair yelled for him while the man groaned trying to make out where he was. "Wh-where…" he looked around but when he found his arms and legs tied, he panicked and started looking around everywhere frantically. Upon spotting Luffy who was sitting across from him, he became confused for a second "Y-you…the crazy outsider?"

"Is that my name you guys came up with?" Luffy asked amused.

"Wh-what's happening? Why am I tied up?!"

"Sol!" the woman yelled again.

"Katie?!" the man turned his head to see his wife and daughter. "Katie…Allana…Oh no, did it happen again?"

Katie nodded her head with a sad look while the man became distraught and turned his head back to Luffy, "D-Did I attack you?"

"Yep. This was the fourth time actually"

"Oh no…." Sol looked horrified as he let his forehead fall back to the ground but looked back up instantly "I'm at fault here. So please, I beg you, you can kill me, but please don't hurt my wife and daughter! They have nothing to do with this!"

"Sol! Don't say stuff like that!" Katie snapped angry and desperate.

Before things could spiral out of control and they start saying their final goodbyes because of misunderstandings, Luffy clapped his hands getting the three's attention. "Okay, let's clear up some things. I have no intention of killing anyone. I just tied you up because I wanted to talk to you," he got up and ripped the vines tying his hands, "You can go if you want"

Sol sat up with his hands now free looking at Luffy with confusion "Wh-"

"But know that while you were a hound," Luffy cut him off and pointed at Allana, "you almost killed her"

All color drained out of Sol's face as he snapped his neck at his daughter and seeing her averting her gaze, his eyes welled up in tears and he began sobbing. Katie slowly made her way towards him while keeping an eye on Luffy, but seeing that he didn't make a single move, tried to hug her husband…but he pushed her away as if afraid he would hurt her and crawled away sobbing. "St-stay away from me…I don't want to h-hurt you"

Katie teared up pursing her lips desperately trying to hold her own sobs back while Allana slowly walked up to her father but seeing him flinch and crawl back as she came closer, she also began sobbing and bawling her eyes out. "It's my f-fault….I-I I shouldn't have c-come in f-front of y-youuuuu…"

Luffy understood the situation somewhat. The father probably ate a devil fruit and transformed into a hound. Not knowing what devil fruits even are, the other two thought he was sick. The father goes out of control for some reason though and Luffy didn't understand why. 'Things like this happen too huh?' he wondered. If one thought about it, not everyone knew about devil fruits and isolated clans like this would be even more out of the loop.

Katie wiped her tears away that had slipped out and looked at Luffy with desperation, "You know what's happening to him?"

"Yeah. If you all just relax and talk, I'll explain. You're making this a bigger deal than it has to be"

"Wh-what?" Sol said disbelief evident in his voice, "y-you know wh-what disease I have?"

"It's not a disease"

That seemed to piss off Sol. "Not a disease?! This sickness has ruined our lives! We were so happy before this happened to me! And you say it's not a dis-"

Luffy sighed deeply cutting him off. He wanted to get back to training but seeing the sobbing faces of everyone, he couldn't just leave them alone.

"Will you just sit and talk?" Luffy said tiredly, "Just tell me how and when this started"

There was some silence while the three thought it over but soon Katie took a seat across from Luffy pulling Allana into her lap and began "It was a few months ago. We were all living back at the village and one day out of nowhere, Sol transformed into…that and started going on a rampage inside the village"

Sol grimaced as he leaned back on a tree sitting away from the others, "I don't know what happened…I was just having an argument with my father when suddenly I got angry. The rage built up and the next thing I know, I was being held down by ropes by the strongest warriors in our clan. I didn't remember a single thing of what happened but apparently I had turned into a hideous monster and went on a rampage…thankfully the warriors quickly acted and no one was killed but many people got injured"

"No one knew what happened and our doctor also didn't find anything wrong with him" Katie picked up, "We kept him in a cage under observation and a few days later, he transformed again…Since he was in a cage, he couldn't do anything but the entire clan saw his feral nature and heard his angry growls…"

Sol stared up as he continued, "I wanted to be put to death as soon as possible before I could hurt anyone or give my disease to anyone else…."

"And we are not doing that!" Katie spat sending him a glare before looking back at Luffy, "We left the same night and have stayed away from the village for many months now. He transforms from time to time when he's under stress and usually locks himself in a cage…but sometimes he transforms when he's not in a cage like today and goes on a rampage hunting around the forest…"

"I see" Luffy said getting the full story and turned to Sol, "You probably ate an extremely disgusting tasting fruit before all this started, right? Probably had swirly patterns"

Sol's face grew confused for a second before he gasped and nodded his head vigorously, "Yes! Yes, I did! The day before this all started actually! I found a fruit unlike nothing I had ever seen before while out hunting. I took a bite and it was awful, so I just threw it away…How did you know?!"

"Well, that's called a devil fruit. It gives supernatural abilities to whoever eats them. Yours was probably the Hound-Hound fruit"

"Devil…fruits?"

"There are special fruits in this world that give supernatural powers to those who eat them. You ate one and got the power to transform into a Hound"

"Special fruits?" Katie said in disbelief, "So anyone who eats these fruits transform into animals?"

"Kinda. There are three types, one of which gives the powers of animals to the user called Zoan fruits. Sol ate a such a fruit which gave him the powers of a hound"

The three sat in silence not knowing whether to believe him or not but Sol finally opened his mouth "T-that's absurd…"

Luffy gave him a deadpan look "You yourself can transform into a hound. There's all the proof you need…"

"This is a curse put upon me by Wyllia. I deser-"

Luffy just brought a hand up and stopped him, "Listen, I don't care. Believe me, don't believe me, do whatever the hell you want. Just tell me why you're losing control. That shouldn't usually happen. Others I've seen all seem to control their powers very well"

"O-Others?! You've met others who can turn into hounds?!" Allana asked excited.

"Not hounds. There's only one devil fruit of any kind, so no one else can be a hound. But I've seen people who can turn into a giraffe, a mole, a leopard, and so on. From what I know, carnivorous Zoans are a bit feral in nature but not to the point of losing control like you. In extreme situations sure, but normal transformation should be easy….." Luffy thought for a while and came up with a theory, "Do you fear the power? Maybe because you're so scared of it, you don't even acknowledge that you can transform and hence you're not even conscious when it happens?"

"Of course I'm scared of it! It can hurt others and kill my fa-"

"So can arrows" Luffy said pointing at the arrows Allana was holding, "So can swords and axes. Are you scared of them too? No, right? It's the same with devil fruit abilities. It's just a power. How you use it and what you do with it is up to you. Stop fearing it and let it flow naturally. You should be able to control it"

There was silence again before Sol stood up abruptly "Let's go. He's just tricking us. What I have is a disease, not some fantastical power"

"But Sol…he seems to know what he's talking about" Katie argued.

"Who knows what his goal is here…We can't trust him"

Katie stared at her husband before looking back at Luffy who just had a blank look before getting up with Allana in her arms. "Thank you for saving my daughter, but we'll be taking our leave"

Luffy just sighed "Well sure. Carry some sea water around with you. And when he loses control next time, pour it on him"

"Sea water?"

"Yep. Sea water will make him weak. That's the price of all devil fruit users. If they even touch sea water, they'll lose energy, their powers and sink like a hammer. You don't have to believe whatever I said, but to make sure your daughter isn't attacked again, just test it out once"

Luffy didn't wait for a response as he got up and waved goodbye to them before going back to training.

A day later when Luffy was fighting a pack of wolf beasts, the family of three came back again. They waited until he was finished and as he sat on one of the wolf corpses panting hard, they approached him.

"Hello again" Katie greeted coming up to him.

"Why do you keep fighting all day and night like this?" Allana asked pointing at his feet that was dragging around 8 huge boulders.

"Training" Luffy said with a smile, "I'm pretty weak, and I don't have much time either, so have to train like this"

"Training for what?"

"Long story. Now, why are you all back?"

"I'd like to apologize first" Sol said stepping up and bowing his head. "Everything you said was the truth…I felt like all my energy was sapped the moment I touched sea water"

"Yeah it sucks"

"We believe you" Katie said, "We argued a lot yesterday and decided to ask for help…Is there a cure for this?"

"As I said, it's not a disease. It's just a power you get. And no, once you eat a devil fruit, that power is yours for life"

Sol grimaced and with a dreadful expression asked "Is-is it genetic?"

"Hm? Yeah probably, it does affect your genes too I guess. Not sure about the scientific aspect of it"

"He's asking if it's passed down to children" Katie clarified while holding her stomach.

"Oh you're pregnant? Congratulations! And no, it's not passed down"

That seemed to have taken a load off of the couple as they leaned on each other sighing in relief and tearing up. Seemed like that was a huge worry for them. Luffy stood awkwardly as the two seem to be lost in their own world and looked around catching Allana's eyes who also looked awkward.

"Your bow looks cool. Did you make it yourself?" he asked walking up to her. She became alarmed when he came near her but soon became excited when he asked about her bow.

She proudly presented her bow to him with a smug expression "Yes! I made this from scratch myself!"

Her bow had a lot of colors painted on and seemed very childish, so Luffy had guessed that. "You know," he said with a mischievous smile, "A bow is supposed to be a stealthy weapon right?"

"Yep! I can hide in bushes and take down a rabbit 200 kilometers away!"

"Wow…even Yassop won't be able to do that" Luffy smiled amused, "But all these bright colors will give away your position you know. Over the last few months, I spotted you almost instantly when I saw this yellow and pink color sticking out of the bushes whenever you spied on me"

Allana comically gasped and blushed profusely "I-I-I wasn't spying!"

"Bahahaha" Sol laughed heartily coming up to them and looked at Allana with amusement "What did I tell you? Those bright colors on your bow will give away your position"

"Shut up, you brute of a father!" Allana raged which only made Sol laugh harder, which in turn made Allana angrier and she started kicking him while yelling curses at him. Luffy grinned finally seeing the pair interact like a normal father and daughter as he remembered how Shanks used to tease him the same way.

Katie also came up with a grin and stood next to Luffy while watching the two play around. "Thank you"

"Don't mention it"

"Can he control the power?"

"Very easily yes. He's probably just mentally limiting himself and thus losing control"

"Can you please help?" Katie asked with a pleading expression.

"I'm not the one you need to convince"

Katie nodded resolutely "Don't worry about him. I'll make him get help"

She didn't wait as she grabbed the laughing Sol by his collar and dragged him towards Luffy. "Uhh…Katie?"

"You're going to learn how to control the power from him" she stated with finality.

"Wha? No! I don't want this! We found a way with sea water right? I'll carry sea water myself and if I ever feel like I'm transforming, I'll pour it on myself!"

"No, you need to be in control. We finally have someone who knows everything about this and is even willing to help. We'll have to be fools not to accept it!"

"B-but what if I hurt you or Allana?"

"Don't worry, daddy! I'm strong! I'll beat you back to your senses!"

Luffy sighed. "Don't be so scared of it. I've seen seven year old kids control this power on their first try. It's as easy as breathing"

"7 year olds?!"

"Yep! Now, just transform. You just need to let it flow naturally. If you're afraid you'll hurt others, don't be. I'll pummel you into the ground with just a punch. Ask Allana, I took you out very easily yesterday"

"Yess! It was so coool! He came like whoosh! and bam! He kicked you and you crashed through trees and boom! you fell down unconscious!"

"So yeah, just transform now. I'll take care if anything goes wrong"

Sol gulped looking at the hopeful expressions on his wife's and daughter's faces before looking at Luffy and nodding his head. He took a deep breath as if resolving to put his life on the line…

…and two days later remembered the same extreme resolve he had made and blushed in embarrassment because it turned out that controlling his powers was the simplest thing in the world.

Luffy had held him down when he transformed the first time while Katie and Allana had talked to him. He had slowly calmed down after struggling like a feral animal for quite a while before he fell asleep exhausted. After he woke up, he realized that the two were totally safe and Luffy had him under complete control. So, he transformed another time without fearing much.

He slowly regained consciousness and soon, he was in control of his human-beast form. He even talked in that form which had freaked out all three of them, including Sol himself, but with Luffy saying it was normal, and after a small spar, Sol was in complete control. It was just his own mind that was so afraid that it just shut down and closed itself off whenever he transformed, and thus he wasn't in control and went on a rampage.

This was an aspect of a Zoan user Luffy had never seen in the story, so he found it to be interesting. Only Chopper in his Monster Point and the Jailer Beasts were the mindless ones ever shown. 'Was it the feral nature of the Hound fruit? Was it because of Sol's weak mentality? Combination of both?' Luffy pondered. Oda did say once that he would reveal all these in the future, so he just shrugged and thought he would learn it down the line somehow.

Now two days later, Luffy had told Sol that he could also transform into a complete hound, so he was currently in his complete hound form with Allana riding on top of him, treating him like a dog and giggling with glee while Luffy trained and Katie sat to the side with a happy and warm expression.

"Yo Luffy! Stop training for a bit, will you?" Sol barked up at Luffy who was doing pull ups on a tree branch while having 10 very massive and heavy boulders hanging from his waist. He let go of the branch and fell down, the boulders making a huge crash as he fell.

"Yeah?"

"C'mon, have some fun and play around" Sol said with his tongue hanging out and a fiercely wagging tail.

"You're like a complete dog now huh?" Luffy chuckled making Katie laugh out loud too, while Sol got pissed and lunged at him, "why you!"

Luffy laughed as he caught him and started rubbing his belly against his protests. Sol whined but soon started enjoying the belly rub losing himself in the supposed heavenly feeling.

"Shishishishi"

"Hehehee doggy!" Allana also came up and started rubbing his belly while giggling. It went on for a few more seconds before Sol finally came back to his senses and immediately got up "Hey, that's demeaning! Stop doing that!"

Katie came up next to him and rubbed his ear which caused his tail to wag vigorously.

"Ah! Now you don't care?!" Allana protested.

"Your mom gets a pass" Sol said happily leaning more into the ear rub.

"Damn right I do" Katie grinned as she handed Luffy a huge bowl of hotpot she had just cooked.

Luffy hesitated just for a second before accepting it with a grin and started gulping it down.

"No need for any hesitation, eat as much as you want" Katie said having noticed his hesitation.

"No, it's not that. I was in the middle of training on an empty stomach and seeing how long I could last in such a state"

"Oh…"

"Man, you're so strong already. Why the hell do you want to get even stronger?"

"Well, there are stronger enemies I'll have to face in the future and I need to be ready for them"

"Hmm just who are you? Are some people after you? If yes, you can live here with us. No one comes to this island anyway"

Luffy gave a small smile "Appreciate it, but I got friends who need me. And I'm the man who's going to become the Pirate King"

"A pirate?!" Katie yelled wide eyed, "You're a pirate?!"

"Well, not yet. I'm gonna set out on my journey when I turn 17 which is still a few months from now"

That only made the couple more bewildered.

"Why the hell would you choose to become a pirate?!"

"It's my dream to become the Pirate King, the freest man on the sea. You're probably thinking of pirates who pillage, plunder and kill, but I'm not gonna become such a pirate. I'm gonna become a true pirate! The ones who are in it for the adventure! I'm gonna travel the whole world and eat all sorts of foods everywhere"

"…well, when you put it like that…being a pirate sounds great"

"Yes…it's a good dream"

"Shishishishi thanks!"

"…so you'll be leaving here in a few months?" Allana asked.

"Yeah, I can afford only three more months here"

"Only three?! That's so soon! C'mon, extend your stay!" Allana begged.

"Sorry kiddo," Luffy said ruffling her hair, "I got many people counting on me to return"

"Aww…then…then you're playing with me everyday for 7 hours at least!"

"7 minutes"

"6 hours!"

"10 minutes!"

"5 hours!"

"9 minutes!"

"Hey! You have to go up, not down!"

"8 minutes!"

"Ahh! 1 hour!"

"15 minutes"

"…20 minutes"

"Deal!"

"Yippeee!"

"Hey, forget the training maniac. Play with your dad!"

"No…you're really smelly now that you're a dog"

"Gakh!…I'm…a hound…not…a dog…"

"Stop wagging your tail and I'll believe you"

"Ahhh!" Sol fell down comically crying while Luffy and Katie just laughed.


———


It was the next day and Luffy decided he was finally going to move onto his next leg of training. "Guess it's about time I start training with my fruit…"

He had actually set the goal of defeating all the Beasts back to back as his final goal of fighting purely in his weakened state. From then on, he wanted to train without his cuffs on, mainly activate his gears. His body was more than ready to be able to withstand the strain of his Gear 2 and 3, and he wanted to make activating those gears as easy as breathing by the time he left the island.

He finally removed the cuffs that was always on and regained his full power after a long time. He stood still for a few seconds feeling his strength return to him and his lips curled upwards. He grinned in ecstasy at how much exponentially stronger he was when compared to just a few months ago.

His Observation covered a much larger area and when he tried all the Rokushiki, he grinned at how strong they were. Shave was so fast that he had a hard time keeping track of where he was even going, Rankyaku created much stronger and sharper wind blades which could easily fell a few trees. He could Air walk for a least 30 minutes before he got tired. He couldn't really test Iron Body as he needed stronger opponents to hit him, but concluded that it would be stronger too. Armament was unchanging as he didn't know what he was doing wrong.

He became even more ecstatic when he realized he could do all this in just his base form. He shivered with excitement when he realized that if he activated Gear 2, he would be exponentially stronger and all his techniques would evolve a step further. He didn't waste any time as he got into stance bending his knees and put a fist to the ground.

"Gear Second!"

Veins pumped his blood harder, blood circulation became faster, steam started rising out of his body as his skin took on a pink hue and he could feel how much more stronger this form was. He grinned feeling the power and knew all the training had paid off. He first used Shave and instantly crashed through a few trees because it was too fast for him to control. Rankyaku was much much sharper and stronger which could create a small fissure in the ground. He could use Air walk for only 10 minutes though as it was more of an endurance technique of his legs and Gear 2 ate away at his stamina, but he could leap higher or further in a single jump.

He tested all his techniques and also performed some of his Jet attacks for 20 minutes before he had to come out of Gear 2. He felt very tired but he didn't care as he was on an ecstatic high. He then bit into his thumb "Gear Third!"

He blew air into his bones and his arm slowly inflated getting bigger and bigger until it looked like the arm of a giant. He stopped when he felt he couldn't take in anymore air and admired the huge hand before launching it at a tree…and that was a big mistake as not just a single or few trees got destroyed but a large part of the forest area was flattened. And that was in a single punch. It was destructive on a scale he had never thought himself to be capable of.

He then started redirecting the air to the other limbs which turned out to be extremely painful. It was fine when the bones in his limbs were inflated, but when the air passed through his chest to travel to the other limbs, he felt like his chest would burst open. He wanted to test if he could inflate his whole body evenly, but his chest was a problem. He tried it anyway and maintained a bloated chest for 2 seconds but could feel that he was gonna pop if he forced it anymore, so redirected it back into his limbs. So it was just his limbs for now.

He came out of Gear 3, blowing out all the air and flying in circles in the air before crash landing into the ground in his miniature form, completely tired. He remained in that form for 10 minutes before turning back to his original state. He saw the destruction he had caused and grimaced thinking he couldn't train Gear 3 as much without destroying the island, but he would try blowing less air and practice redistributing it around his body at least.

From that day on, he started training Gear 2 and 3 for half a day at least while still continuing his normal sea stone cuffed weakened state training the remaining time.



———



Two months passed by in the blink of an eye and Luffy could now activate Gear 2 easily and hold onto that form continuously for at least half an hour before he needed to rest for an hour at least. He couldn't train Gear 3 much as he would destroy the island so he blew just a bit of air into his bones and practiced redirecting it all over his body. Other techniques were also coming along nicely as he increased the range, sharpness and strength of the techniques.

As for human interaction, Allana came to visit him every other day and would just talk to him while he trained. She seemed to be quite lonely as their family had been essentially exiled from their clan, and so Luffy didn't mind being her friend. She had quickly gotten attached to him and had even started calling him 'Aniki'. He would tell her stories from the seas and also a few from Leo's world and she would listen with rapt attention and excitement to everything. And she would share about her daily life and the culture of their clan.

Apparently they were known as the Wyllian clan named after their God- Wyllia. She was supposedly a Goddess that traveled the seas helping people from all walks of life and She even 'gazed' at them sometimes.

Luffy had asked for clarification and apparently some people over the centuries had felt a certain strong gaze on them during important moments in their lives when they were in a dilemma. They believed it to be Wyllia watching them and seeing how they would deal with whatever dilemma they were in, and reward them accordingly if they made the right choice. And that's why the symbol of their deity was an eye floating on waves signifying She was gazing at them while still sailing the seas helping people.

He had also asked about the strange chimeras and beasts on the island and apparently it was the Wyllian clan that was responsible. A few hundred years ago, their clan was supposedly a master at rearing and breeding the beasts and could create such mixed species using some secret rearing techniques. Those techniques were lost over time, but the mixed beasts had been created and left to roam around the island. The beasts just mutated and continued multiplying and thus, created the current chimeras on the island.

Luffy wondered if this was the place the Marines got all the beasts to populate their Beast Hell in Impel Down from, but Allana denied saying that only pirates and explorers sometimes came to the island, and either ran off or got killed by the beasts as soon as they landed. The Wyllian clan would apparently raid the ships of these dead people and thus, they knew what kind of people they were.

Other than Allana, Katie sometimes came up bringing food to him or just to talk. And Sol would come every now and then to actually play with Luffy or spar with him when he was in a battle mood. He was more childish than Allana sometimes but Luffy enjoyed his company. As childlike as he acted, Sol was a pretty responsible and dependable guy and he would go to any lengths to protect his wife and child, so Luffy liked him a lot.

One day, he was training with his Gear 2 activated doing push-ups and Shaves alternatively when he felt Allana'spresence running towards him. He frowned when he felt despair coming off of her and before she even got to him, he was in front of her. She was sobbing her heart out, panting hard and even had a few cuts and bruises with blood all over her clothes.

"A-Aniki, h-help. Mom and dad ar-"

Luffy didn't wait for her to finish as he scooped her up in his arms and started running towards their house. He had visited it a couple of times and Katie had even offered to house him during his stay, but Luffy had declined saying he had to be in constant danger to train his senses.

"What happened?" Luffy asked the sobbing Allana as he ran towards the house while in Gear 2.

"Th-the clan came an-and" she was hiccuping and sobbing so couldn't get the words out, so Luffy started patting her back.

"Don't worry, Allana. Whatever it is, I can help. You've seen how strong I am right? So relax and tell me who I need to punch to save your mom and dad"

That seemed to calm her down a bit as she relaxed relatively and began talking "T-they came to the house and saw Daddy in his beast form playing with me….they immediately started attacking for no reason saying he was a demon and his disease would spread…"

"Who's blood is that on your shirt?"

"M-mo-mom's…she protected me….they captured her when daddy started retaliating….and captured me too…b-but mom man-managed to h-help me es-escape.."

Luffy didn't get the whole story as she was too distraught and couldn't form a coherent story, but he understood the blood was Katie's, so increased his pace by pumping his vessels harder. A few minutes later, he spotted the house and also felt presences but it was only two in the house. One was Katie while the other one he didn't recognize.

He passed through the open door of the house and spotted Katie on the ground with blood pooled around her and a spear stuck in her stomach while another woman was trying to apply bandages.

"Mommy!" / "Katie!" both yelled causing the other woman to jerk in surprise and back away in fear. Luffy immediately went to Katie and inspected the spear stuck in her carefully, wondering if he should pull it out or not. He looked up into her eyes and she was staring at Allana seemingly glad to see she was safe. He looked at the other woman who was staring in fear looking at him "Are you her friend or foe?"

The other woman finally calmed down a bit and realizing Katie was still bleeding out immediately got her courage back as she shoved Luffy away and continued to apply some gauze on her bleeding wound "I'm a doctor!"

That was all Luffy needed as he started looking around wondering just what the hell had happened. It was like a storm had passed through the house as there were stuff strewn all around with broken chairs and tables.

"Hey, hey! Outsider!" the woman yelled getting his attention. "Take the kid away! I need space!"

Luffy saw that Allana was sobbing on Katie's chest, so picked her and brought her away while she protested "Don't worry, your mom's gonna be okay"

Katie had closed her eyes at this point and Luffy got worried looking at all the blood. "Do you need anything?" he asked the doctor.

"No no, I got this…It's just a bit complicated…because she's pregnant and those fucking assholes stabbed her right near her womb!…She and the baby will both die if I make a mistake here…"

"Okay, let me know if you need anything"

"Yes"

Luffy wanted to ask a lot of questions but seeing the doctor concentrating hard and Allana being a sobbing mess, he postponed it for now. He was worried about where Sol was too, but couldn't ask anyone as of now so just waited while comforting Allana as she sobbed into his chest.

After a few minutes, the doctor called out, "Hey! I need help!"

Luffy immediately was in front of her after peeling away Allana and placing her to the side "Yeah?"

"I'm gonna need you to pull the spear out. Slowly though! You mess up and the baby might get stabbed, so slow! By Wyllia's grace, it doesn't look like her womb was pierced but we need to be careful so that it won't get cut while pulling it out. Understood?"

"Yep! Just tell me what to do" Luffy said as he grabbed the spear.

The doctor stared at his steady hand holding the spear and nodded satisfied. "Good. You have steady hands"

The next three minutes was filled with Luffy slowly pulling the spear out while the doctor gave him specific instructions on how to move it while she observed the stomach area. Allana was holding her breath too making sure not to make any noise. But after the tense minutes, the spear came out and the doctor immediately set to stopping the blood and stitching the wound up, but seeing the small smile she had, Luffy sighed in relief knowing Katie was safe.

"Is-is mom gonna be okay?" Allana asked coming next to Luffy and grabbing him.

"Yes, honey. You're mom is safe and your sibling is safe too" the doctor answered.

"Thank youuu…." Allana sobbed now in happiness as she buried her head on Luffy's shoulder.

"Good, are you okay to talk now?" Luffy asked her.

"Yeah, this is just routine…" the doctor said giving him a sideways glance while applying bandages around Katie's wounds, "You're the crazy outsider aren't you? You're friends with Katie?"

"Crazy outsider? Is that what you all call me?"

"Yeah…who else is crazy to train like you do. We've even had bets to see how long it'll take for you to die from exhaustion"

"Well, we can talk at length about that later. Where's Sol?"

The doctor grimaced "They took him back home…"

"What for? And why the attack here?"

"Well, long story short. Wicker didn't like that Sol was hanging around on the island with his demonic hound blood. Bunch of reasons he made up to kick him out to e-"

"Okay, time out. I have no idea what the deal here is. Just tell me if Sol is in danger wherever he was taken?"

"Yes" the doctor sighed knowing he had no idea of their clan's affairs, so explained in simpler terms, "One faction wants to kill Sol. Another doesn't. They're arguing right now on what to do"

Luffy frowned "Then why attack here and try to kill Katie?"

"The faction that wants to kill him came to take him back. But when they came here, they found Sol easily transforming from beast to human. They didn't think that he had control of the demonic powers and hence attacked him. Katie got caught up and seeing her die made Sol snap. He became feral again but they captured him. They are taking him back home to show the others that he's still feral in nature and thus, should be killed"

"Okay" Luffy stood up, "Can I trust you to treat Katie?"

"She's my sister" she said looking up at him and Luffy grinned and nodded. "Okay then, I'll leave her to you"

"Where are you going?!" she yelled as she saw Luffy walking out.

"To save Sol. Where else?"

"You're an outsider. It'll make things only worse for Sol if you show up and create chaos"

"…But you said he'll be put to death if nothing was done"

"Might…but yeah he probably will…But there's still a chance he won't. But if you show up, it'll look bad for him"

"Ehh I'll just have to save him"

"Do you really think you can bring him out from the middle of the village? The strongest warriors will be gathered there"

"Oh that's what you're worried about. Don't worry, things will work out"

"I'm coming too!" Allana suddenly yelled coming out of a room with a quiver of arrows on her back and a bow in her hand.

Seeing the determined look in her eyes, Luffy nodded with a smile, "Sure, come along"

"Are you crazy?! Don't take a child!"

"Nah, Allana can handle it, right?"

"Right!"

"Now, you take care of Katie. I'll be back shortly"

Luffy scooped up Allana and ran towards their village without waiting for a response from the doctor. Honestly, Luffy didn't think they would put up much of a fight. He had seen some of their so called strongest warriors during hunting, and he was pretty sure he could take out each warrior with a single punch. The only hard part of this whole thing was saving Katie and now going to Sol before he was killed.

The rest was actually very simple. Luffy and Allana reached the edge of the village and observed what was happening. They saw that Sol was in a cage while being cartwheeled through the village. Pretty much everyone had gathered to see what was happening, so stealth was out of the question. And Sol was raging inside the cage but not an unconscious out of control rage, but a very conscious Sol was growling inside the cage at someone called Wicker for killing his wife.

"He thinks Katie is dead, it seems" Luffy commented.

"Yeah…so how do we get him out?" Allana asked looking around the area. "I know a path from here which is barely used. If we co-"

"No no, you're making things too complicated. C'mon, let's just pop out in front of everyone and take him back"

Allana stared at Luffy wide eyed but then remembered all the insane training he did and nodded slowly, "Aniki, if it's you, I don't think anyone can stop you"

"That's my girl!" Luffy grinned ruffling her hair.

"Hehehe let's go!"

"Yep!" Luffy grabbed her and a second later, he appeared right in front of the cage and caught Sol's eyes.

"Luffy!"

"Outsider!" came a chorus of shouts but Luffy ignored them as he focused on Sol.

"Don't worry, Katie is alive and safe"

It seemed like a weight was lifted off of him as he slumped down and let out a huge and deep sigh. "Thank Wyllia…."

"Outsider! It's the crazy outsider!"

Luffy observed all the people who were now pointing spears and arrows at him with an angry and wary look. One particularly large man stepped up with an axe and glared at him "Outsider! We've left you alone all these days because frankly, we thought you were crazy. But now you come into our village?! You have no right! Leave at once or else fa-"

"Oh shut it, Wicker" Sol cut him off from inside the cage. "He's my guest. There, problem solved"

"Sol…." the man called Wicker scowled.

"Shut up, you big asshole!" Allana yelled glaring at Wicker. Luff concluded that this Wicker guy was the one who led the 'Kill Sol' faction.

Wicker directed a death glare at Allana and seeing that, Sol, still in his human-beast form let out a growl.

"Uhh" Luffy interrupted looking at Sol, "Not sure what to do here. Can I just take you away? Or do you need to deal with something here?"

Sol managed to calm down looking at the carefree Luffy and sighed "Just break the cage first and protect Allana. I'll deal with the others"

"Sure"

Wicker looked on in amusement "You think you can break the cage?! HAHAH-"

Wicker's laugh died in his throat as Luffy just casually bent the bars before they creaked and broke off. Sol emerged from the cage and first hugged Allana while the rest raised their spears and bows at him.

An old man stepped up next "Sol…"

Sol looked at the old man and nodded "Father…"

"What have you become, Sol? Wyllia has cursed you and now the demon blood is affecting y-"

"I have done nothing that could have angered Wyllia!" Sol rebuked, "It's not demon blood. It's a supernatural ability you get after eating a special type of fruit. It's pretty common in the outside world apparently…"

"Supernatural…ability?"

"Yeah. We've been living on this tiny island, so we don't know anything. But Luffy here has met a lot of others like me who can transform into animals…It's very common in the outside world"

"You're being deceived!" Wicker yelled, "This outsider is crazy as we've all seen! Sol, you were always saying that we should expand and get off this island…so you're allowing yourself to be deceived! You'll bring ruin to everyone here!"

Sol stared at Wicker, then his supposed father for a while before he looked like he had made a decision. "Right…I always wanted us to get out and expand…but I've had enough. You almost killed my wife and my daughter. If Luffy wasn't here, all three of us would have been killed by you…So yeah, I'm done. I'll be leaving this island with my family"

"Sol!" his father yelled shocked.

"Father, thank you for taking care of me…but now that I'm like this, this is no longer a place I can live in safely" Sol said to his father with a smile before turning to Wicker, "Congratulations brother, you'll succeed as the next chief. Do whatever the hell you want, I give up"

Luffy just stood around not really paying attention. The only thing he concentrated on was that Sol wanted to go out into the outside world instead of just staying here.

Sol said a few goodbyes to his father and a few more people and within 30 minutes Sol, Allana and Luffy were heading back to Sol's house. Wicker wanted to start a fight but one glare from Luffy had shut him up.

"Sorry you had to see that" Sol said awkwardly rubbing his head. "We made you get involved in our clan affairs"

"Nah, don't worry about it…Sooo, you wanted to leave the island huh?"

"Yeah. I wanted our whole clan to expand outside and mingle with the outside world…but the people here are set in their ways and Wicker desperately wanted that not to happen. The current Tribe Chief is our father, so him and I are the next in line to succession. It was a battle between me and him but once I ate the devil fruit, everything changed. I banished myself but today when Wicker came to my house and saw that I was in full control, I guess he got worried that I'll again fight him for the Chief position…So he threatened Katie and made me get inside a cage. But then he…stabbed her….."

"It's okay, daddy! Aniki and Allie treated mom! She's okay now!"

Sol patted her head and looked gratefully at Luffy "Thank you…truly"

Luffy just nodded with a smile. They soon reached the house and Katie was conscious by then. She broke down in happy sobs when she saw both Sol and Allana were safe and the three had a long hug.

"You actually did it…" the doctor, who's name was Allie, said looking at the family with happy tears.

"It was easy. I just broke him out and Sol talked to them…We didn't even fight with anyone"

"Wait really? You didn't fight?"

"Nope!" Alana chirped breaking from the hug, "Aniki just glared at them and they all got scared! Hehehehe that was great! Aniki, teach me to glare like that!"

"That's right!" Sol also added happily, "I was expecting Wicker to start something but one look from Luffy and he stepped back."

"Wow…"

"Luffy…c'mere" Katie said holding her hands out for a hug and Luffy reciprocated. "Thank you so much…Allie told me how you helped…and for bringing Sol back…thank you…I don't think I can ever repay you…"

"Shishishi just live happy lives. That's enough"

"Hehe you're precious" Katie giggled ruffling his hair.

Luffy also giggled separating from the hug and Sol then told them what had happened back at the village. His decision to leave the island was received positively by Katie as she also looked like she wanted to leave the island too. Allana was even more happy because after hearing Luffy talk about some of the things found on other islands, she had become obsessed with going out too.

"I'd also like to come" Allie interjected getting everyone's attention. "I don't really want to stay here either"

"Of course you're coming. I'm not leaving my sister here" Katie said with a smile. She suddenly got an idea and grabbed Luffy who was still next to her "Hey, why don't you marry Luffy? If I wasn't married to Sol already, I would have already jumped him"

"Okay~" Luffy said separating from Katie. "I think I'll leave now. Need to get back to training you see"

"What? You don't think I'm good enough?" Allie asked offended.

Luffy stared at her from top to bottom "No…you're really beautiful, no I think the word 'hot' would fit you better. And the way you did your job as a doctor was admirable and amazing too. But I'm not interested, so sorry"

"O-Oh..I-I see…" Allie blushed profusely at the honest praise. She was just joking around but looking at him staring at her with those big earnest eyes and hearing him give out straight forward praise just made her really happy.

"Wow" Katie said wide-eyed, "I don't think I've ever seen you like this before…"

"Wait just a damn minute!" Sol interrupted pointing at Katie, "I think I just heard something I shouldn't have! Did you just say you'll marry Luffy if I wasn't here?!"

Katie just looked at him smugly as she pulled Luffy close again "I think I might just do it regardless"

"Gyyyaaah! That's it! Luffy! You and me! We're fighting to the death for Katie!"

"Oh stop it, Luffy will pummel you in seconds"

"Umm I gotta get back to training, so bye!" Luffy said as he quickly ran away.



———


Luffy hadn't had time to think about it then, but when Allana had come running asking for help, he had actually sensed her despair. He felt emotions from his Haki. During his last month, Allana and even Allie became regular visitors to his training area, so he tested sensing their emotions, but couldn't feel any. They weren't feeling any strong emotions, so of course he couldn't sense anything. He decided he would try it when there are more people around him.

The month passed by quickly and it was time for Luffy to leave. He had trained the same and all his techniques had gotten stronger. Activating Gear 2 was as easy as breathing and he could maintain it for 30 minutes. Gear 3 could be maintained for 15 minutes before he turned into his miniature form and then needed 6 minutes of rest to turn back to his original form. Observation was around 300 meters around himself while Armament and Conqueror's were still stuck. All in all, he was quite happy with how much stronger he had become in those 7 months.

Sol and the others also decided to leave with him and Sol had even hidden away a boat in case of such an event and thus, two boats set out of the Wyllian Island 7 months after Luffy landed on it.

The Wyllian family actually knew how to sail as they did go fishing a lot, so Luffy didn't have to teach them anything. But they didn't know much about the outside world, so he decided to help them settle down a bit. He still had a month left and apart from raising about 40 million for the ride, he didn't have anything else to do. He didn't want to miss the only ship he had found, so had decided to go back a month earlier in case of any changes in the ship's schedule or in case he got lost again.

Six days of sailing and the two boats finally arrived at Myte Island. Luffy sighed in relief as he successfully managed to reach the island with just a two day delay. He had asked Claire on how to traverse from the Beast Island to Myte Island and she had given him a very comprehensive list of things to expect while sailing that particular route and what to do in some cases, which included stuff like 'If you feel a strong east flowing wind on the third day, immediately check the compass and make sure you're not deviating', 'On the second day, there's a wind current that blows around midday. Either watch your boat like a hawk or just furl the sails and stop for a while. You can start again once that wind current is gone' and so on. Just this one sea route had so many complex directions, and he appreciated navigators a whole lot more and couldn't wait to meet Nami.

The four Wyllians looked wide eyed at the bustling Gatte city and the large amount of people, and were honestly a bit overwhelmed. Luffy took charge and first got them new clothes as their beast hides was attracting a lot of attention, and then gave them a short tour of the city. They weren't completely clueless as they did have books on their island about the outside world, so it wasn't hard for Luffy to explain things.

The family had decided that they would first see a big city and then decide whether they would live in the city itself or find some other island with a small village where they could earn their living through farming. And looked like that decision had been made as they all seemed to have fallen in love with the city.

While giving the tour, a cat suddenly jumped on Luffy's shoulders and he happily coddled it recognizing who it was. "Tabby! You missed me?"

"Mrrooow!"

"Luffy?" came a woman's surprised voice and Luffy turned to see Claire.

"Yo!" he grinned at her before pointing at himself, "I'm not dead"

It finally computed for her that Luffy was in fact standing in front of her and she gasped going for a hug."Oh my god! You're still alive!"

"Told you you were worrying for nothing" he smirked returning the hug.

"Right…Wow, you've grown stronger…" she said noticing his well built and defined muscles.

"Shishishi that island was amazing! And you were right about the beasts! All were at least 7 meters tall with the biggest being as big as 12 meters"

"Wow…I need a comprehensive story!" she yelled her reporter side latching onto him wanting to know the full story.

"I think these guys will do a better job of explaining the island" he said pointing at Sol and the others, who waved awkwardly at her.

"Who?"

"Friends I made on the island. There was a human tribe there and I became friends with this family who wanted to leave the island too…"

"A human tribe?!"

Claire was very excited to meet them and even offered to host a lunch so that she could get to know them better and learn of their island more. The Wyllians were of course more than happy to find a new friend.

A couple of days later, they had all settled in, courtesy of Luffy and Claire. The two had explained what all they didn't understand and even helped Allie get a job as a doctor in the best hospital on the island. Sol got a bunch of jobs as a manual laborer as he was pretty strong and his hound form was even stronger. He was afraid at first that the people would call him a demon again when he transformed but almost all places he went to just had people going 'Oh, a devil fruit user. Handy' and that was it.

Katie was pregnant, so she decided to get a job after she gave birth, so she just rested, and Allana was having the time of her life exploring the new island.



———



It was the third day since Luffy returned to Myte island and he was having lunch at Claire's house along with the Wyllian family. He had exactly three weeks left to spend here and he had to raise 40 million for the ride. He wasn't that worried as even if he didn't manage to make that much, he decided to just sneak on board. Even if he was found out later, what could they do? He was strong, so there was no threat to his life. He still decided to raise the money though.

Claire was really knowledgeable about these things so he asked her. "Hey Claire, I need to raise 40 million. Any bounties nearby I can take down?"

Claire just looked at him strangely, "Didn't you say you're leaving in 3 weeks?"

"Yeah"

"…then how will you raise 40 million?"

"That's what I'm asking you. Any bounties here around 40 million?"

"You want to go after 40 million high bounties?!"

Luffy sighed and slowly explained it to her again like she was a child "Yes. Me. Want to find big bounty. Take down. Give to Marines. Collect money. Understand?" which only caused her to get angry. She smacked him a couple of times for making fun of her, before answering his question with a huff. "The closest bounty you'll find here are the Malbary Siblings. They run these parts of the sea…"

"What?"

Claire sighed and with a solemn look started explaining, "A chain of around 10 islands including this one…they're all under the control of the Malbary Siblings…they're part of a huge mafia family who collect taxes and control all sea routes here…"

Claire had a lot to say and Luffy got bored in the middle of it, so stopped paying attention. Basically, there was a mafia family who controlled these parts and extorted money from everyone apparently. Luffy also realized that this was the reason why no one was willing to become his navigator all those months ago when he was searching for islands as they apparently asked for 'safety fees' if anyone was ever found sailing without permission. 'Why couldn't I have run into them…would have made finding islands easier…' he sighed. Claire was a reporter, so she apparently had permission from them to sail…but under strict conditions though.

"Stop stop" Luffy cut Claire off who had started listing off all the members of the family and how much power they all had. "Do they have bounties and if so, how much?"

"Totally, it would come up to around 120 million. They have quite a few people who have bounties on their heads in their family. They've bribed the Marines too, so th-"

"Please stop" Luffy begged when she started explaining again. "Where are they?"

"Umm another island a couple of days from here…are you saying you want to take this mafia family out?"

"What I want is 40 million. If they have bounties, then sure, I guess I'm taking them out"

"You're crazy!" Claire yelled shocked, "Do you have any idea of how strong they are?!"

"Aniki's stronger!" Allana yelled suddenly interjecting into the conversation surprising Claire. "There's no way Aniki will lose to someone!"

"Shishi that's right. So, can you take me there?"

Claire was having a hard time processing what he was saying but Katie looked at her amusedly and told her some of the things Luffy had done on the island in the name of training…and she couldn't believe a single word of it as it was just too outrageous.

Ultimately, Luffy convinced her and three days later, he found himself in a hotel room with a bunch of random people Claire had gathered after they had landed on the island where the mafia family was.

Apparently, these were all her colleagues from the newspaper she worked at who were all oppressed under the mafia and Claire thought that if Luffy was really going to attack them, it would be better with more people, and hence had called them all. The mafia family also controlled the local newspapers, and thus Claire and her colleagues all wanted to take them down too, but didn't have the strength.

They all asked Luffy if he was crazy and after saying 'Yes, I'm crazy', they finally stared discussing on how to take the family down.

"Okay, Braq Malbary will be on this island for the next whole week. But his brother is leaving tomorrow to another island and coming back only at the end of the week, so the best chance to attack is the day after tomorrow when there's only one of them. Their strongest forces will be halved as Daw and Soovar will be the only ones prese-"

"Will you all please stop" Luffy begged when they started making intricate plans and looked at Claire and the others tiredly.

"That's right!" Allana said nodding sagely, "You guys are making too many plans. We should just go and fight them"

"Allana!" Katie hit her lightly, "When did you become so reckless?!"

"Oh I know when" Sol sighed looking at Luffy who was giving an approving nod to Allana, "It's this bastard who's at fault"

"Shishishishi"

"Luffy," Claire said exasperatedly, "You can't take them all by yourself. It's suicide"

Luffy just looked out the window of the second floor hotel room they had gathered at and saw a huge building right in the middle of the island. "That's their house I'm guessing?"

"Yeah. The house itself has a ton of security. We need to infiltrate in quietly and make sure to take them out one by one"

The others also started agreeing with Claire and saying their own points when Luffy clapped his hand silencing everyone. "Forget about everything for now and just answer me this. How many of you want to punch the living daylights out of the mafia family? Don't worry about if it's possible or not. Just tell me if you want to punch them"

Pretty much everyone raised their hands, including the Wyllian family. They had gotten close with Claire over the past few days, and wanted to help her out when they learned she had also suffered under them, and hence had tagged along.

"Okay good. Then let's go punch the living daylights out of everyone you want"

"Wh-" some began bewildered when Luffy opened the window and grinned. "Okay, I'mma go now. Anyone who wants can tag along"

"Ooh I'm coming!" Allie piped up grabbing and clinging onto Luffy's back. "I might be just a doctor, but I also fought with beasts you know. These chumps should be easy enough…"

"Shishishi good"

"I'm coming too of course!" Sol smiled stretching and transforming into his human-beast form.

"Me t-" Allana began but Katie grabbed her, "The two of us will snipe from the surrounding buildings"

She was over 6 months pregnant, so couldn't move much, but she could still sit and launch arrows easily. Allana pouted protesting that she wanted to go with her Aniki, but Luffy chuckled and gave her the important task of protecting her mother if anyone came close and she nodded resolutely, while Katie and Sol looked amused at how much she listened to Luffy.

"What are you guys talking about?" Claire asked finally not being able to understand them.

"Oh Claire" Allie grinned at her as she tightened her hold on Luffy's back, "You'll soon learn why we called Luffy the Crazy Outsider"

"Shishishishi" Luffy jumped out the window and kept jumping on air as he went towards the big building while the rest watched in shock. Sol also jumped out and landed on the ground before running towards the building while growling like a beast. Katie and Allana just jumped onto ledges and jumped from rooftop to rooftop making their way towards the mafia base.

Claire and the others watched in bewilderment as Luffy threw Allie inside the building before one of his legs stretched all the way up before stomping down on the building, cleaving it into two and breaking it apart (Of course he had used Observation to make sure no one was there where he had cleaved it in two) And then the chaos started as screams and gunfire reverberated across the house which quickly spread across the island.

Shouts of "It's a Strawhat wearing bastard! GET HIM!" "No, run away! HE'S A MONSTER!" / "It's a MOTHERFUCKING WEREWOLF!" "Looks more like a hound actually…" "Then it's a damn WEREHOUND! Do the semantics really matter right now?! He's destroying us!" / "Heh..is that small woman supposed to take us dow-GYAAAH! She's a monster too! RUN AWAY!" / "Who the fuck is sniping at us?!" "There! It's a…it's a kid?!" "A MOTHER AND DAUGHTER?!" / "GYAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"…" Claire and the others just stood in stunned silence.

"…I want to punch the living daylights out of Braq…" one of the people Claire had gathered suddenly piped up watching the mayhem unfold.

"…me too…" another agreed.

"…Well…" Claire said looking at them and then the chaotic building, "What are we waiting for?! Let's go PUNCH THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF OUR TORMENTORS!"

"YEAHHH!" they chorused and soon joined in on the mayhem.



———


Luffy bounced from one street vendor to the next trying out all the new types of food that was a specialty of the island. In the middle of the island was the smoking, broken remains of the mafia family's building that he had a huge hand in tearing down, quite literally as he had gone into Gear 3 and punched the building to pieces. The island was of course throwing a victory feast after the downfall of the mafia family who's name Luffy didn't even remember. All he knew was that a few islands were oppressed by them, and now he had freed them while also having a ton of fun along the way.

Also, he was apparently 120 million rich now and if he wanted he could take the more than 400 million worth of treasure found in the mafia house. Obviously, Luffy only took around 50 million, 40 million for the ride back home and the rest for food expenses.

He was happy seeing Claire and a bunch of people crying with happiness while he didn't even know why and he wondered if this is how the story Luffy felt every time he saved someone. In the story, he doesn't really know what's going on most of the time as he doesn't care much. He didn't even know Nami's history or who or how Arlong had enslaved her island for 8 years. All he knew was that someone had made Nami cry and he had beat them down for that.

And here all he knew was that he wanted 40 million, knew that they had somehow hurt Claire…and thus, he took them down.

He didn't know a thing of what the mafia had apparently done and he didn't care either. 'Does it really matter?' All he needed to know was that they had hurt his friends and so, he had to punch them.

Either way, he now had money to get a ride, people were happy and throwing a feast and so he jumped in on the singing, dancing and eating.


———


There were still two weeks left when Luffy came back to Gatte city along with the Wyllians and Claire after the victory feast was done. He had wanted to quickly get off that island as people had started calling him a Hero and he had enough of snapping at everyone and correcting them that he was a pirate, thus he was back so soon.

He first handed the 40 million to the ship captain that was going to East Blue, and he just had to wait now. He thought it would be a boring two weeks but he had one more small but important adventure during those two weeks.

It was just after coming back from the victory feast and he was wondering what he should do with his remaining time when he remembered that Ohara was also in South Blue. He wondered how it was currently and if possible, he wanted to visit it. Ultimately though, it turned out to be a bust as no map had any entry of Ohara and even Claire had asked around but no one knew of it or found it on any map. But that searching led him to find another island he wanted to visit.

"Baterilla…" Luffy breathed seeing the place on a map. He immediately went to Claire and asked about it but she didn't have anything special to say about it. It was about 6 days away apparently and was just a tropical island as far as she remembered. He, of course, wanted to go there. And obviously, he pulled a reluctant Claire into his small trip. He only had two weeks, so it would be a tight schedule, but he wanted to visit it.

6 days later, Luffy finally laid eyes on one of the islands that he knew about from the story in South Blue. Baterilla. Birth place of his brother Portgas D. Ace and also the place where Portgas D. Rouge had died. It was also the place where a cruel, horrific and disgusting incident had occurred around 20 years ago where many of the pregnant women who were almost due, women who had just given birth in a span of a few months and their just born babies were put to death by the World Government just because they suspected that Roger had a lover there and maybe had gotten her pregnant. Rouge had sustained the baby in her womb for 20 months before finally giving birth because of this. And as a result of the extended pregnancy, she had died giving birth.

It sickened Luffy that such a horrific incident was even possible. He understood how scummy the World Nobles were and could see them ordering such acts without batting an eye but the actual Marines who were ordered to carry out the task, how could they? Killing babies?

Luffy shook his head trying to rid his head of these thoughts as he walked around Baterilla. It was a fairly normal tropical town with palm trees and cabanas and the people were just going about their day like any other island. It was 20 years ago that the incident had happened after all.

He wanted to go to a certain place on the island and after asking around and getting directions, he bought flowers and made his way there. It was to the graveyard. The one place where he could possibly find Rouge. He reached the place and went around searching for her tombstone and found it fairly quickly.

As he stood in front of Rouge's tombstone, he noticed that it was fairly well maintained compared to the other tombstones. 'PORTGAS D. ROUGE' was boldly chiseled on it and her epithet read 'One of the bravest woman, one of the kindest souls, one of the strongest mothers, You will be dearly missed'

As he stood there in front of her grave, he started remembering the anime scenes of her suffering in silence sitting on a rocking chair as she endured the pain of keeping the baby in her womb and also the pain of losing Roger. He remembered her saying to herself 'Not yet', her holding the newspaper which reported Roger's execution on a cliff, and finally after giving birth, telling Garp her baby's name as she hugged Ace and cried with a smile.

He sat in front of her grave, placed the flowers on it and after confirming that he was all alone, started to talk to her.

"Hello, Rouge. My name is Monkey D. Luffy. You obviously don't know me but on a very stretched technicality, I guess I'm your step-son," realizing how that sounded he hastily added "No no, Roger didn't have an affair and had me with another woman or anything. Nothing like that. You see, after you entrusted Ace to Garp, he brought Ace to Dawn Island in East Blue and left Ace with some mountain bandits so that no one would realize or suspect his real identity. That's where he and I met. Yeah, I'm Garp's grandson and Gramps one day decided that I would live with the mountain bandits too and left me there…"

"So that's how I met Ace. He was 10 and I was 7. Actually, the first time he saw me, Ace spat on me and tried to kill me a few times. Shishishi" Luffy chuckled and then went on to narrate about Dadan and the mountain bandits, how Luffy had chased after him, how Ace had tried to kill him multiple times, how after finally catching up to him, he had ended up in Gray Terminal, how he found about his friend Sabo, how they had both tied up him and then later saved him from pirates. He told her how Ace had this complex of being a criminal's child and how he would ask random people their opinions about Roger and any offspring he might have had, and after they expressed their hatred for Roger and said that any child he had should be considered a demon and be put down immediately, he started to feel all alone, unneeded and worthless.

Luffy told her how he, without even realizing it, had broken down Ace's walls and told him that he was needed and loved. He told her with a huge smile about all the silly adventures he, Ace and Sabo had got up to, how they would get into trouble with the bandits, their escapades in Goa, dining-and-dashing, and all the other tidbits and silly conversations they had had. He then told her about how they finally exchanged sake cups and became brothers.

He then in a somber tone told about Sabo's parents, the eventual separation and the Gray Terminal Fire incident where they lost Sabo. He told her that after Sabo's death, they had both made a vow to each other to do whatever they wanted and to live without regrets. He again shifted to a happy tone and started going through all the things he and Ace went through for the rest of the years and also about Sabo's rescue and how happy Ace would be when he learns of it now. He laughed as he told her about how he had gotten manner lessons from Makino and was now a polite young man.

"…When he turned 17, he left on his journey. That was more than 2 years ago now. The last I heard, he had formed his own crew called the Spade Pirates. He's probably on Whitebeard's ship right now and made a ton of brothers…"

He then picked up his Strawhat which was dangling behind him, held it in front of her grave and told her a bit about himself. "I got this hat from Shanks when he visited my village. This was before I met Ace… A lot of things happened but basically Shanks saved my life…and after I promised him that I'll gather a crew that is greater than his and become the next Pirate King, he gave me this hat. We made a promise that I'll return it to him once I become a great pirate… I only recently found out that this hat belonged to Roger once and he had entrusted it to Shanks when he was an apprentice on his ship, and then years later Shanks entrusted it to me. I don't really know the history behind this, and don't care much about it either other than simple curiosity, but you can say that it kinda carries Roger's will… So yeah what I'm trying to tell you is that I inherited your husband's will and I will become the freest person on the sea… I will become the next Pirate King!"

Luffy could feel a sort of warmth emanating from the grave as he kept talking to her about all this. In the anime, he had seen spirits of dead people kinda listening when people talked to them near their grave like Bellemere when Nami was saying her goodbyes in Cocoyashi. It could be just a literary device to invoke emotions in the audience but it could also be real. And if it was real, he had no idea how spirits in the Soul Plane interacted with the universe, but he just assumed and believed that Rouge's spirit was actually somehow listening.

"…I can kinda feel a warmth coming from the grave so I'll just assume you're here. No idea how afterlife and spirits work but doesn't hurt to believe it right? Shishishishi"

He smiled feeling the warmth spreading "In the future, the World Government will find out Ace's real identity, and they will try to have him executed. But don't worry, I promise that I'll do everything in my power to save your son!" Luffy declared with conviction. "He's my precious brother and I'll do everything I can to save him…so yeah, just wanted to tell you that Ace will live a long and happy life"

He had said what all he wanted it say and decided it was time to say goodbye, so got up and said his final words "Well, I better get going. It's another long story of how I ended up here and how I even know you, but I'll save it for another time. I don't think Ace knows about this place so I'll tell him and bring him here to meet you sometime in the future. Goodbye, Rouge"

He turned around to walk away but froze when he felt someone gently pressing their hands on his back. He just stood there feeling the warmth as he felt the arms gently moving up his back, reaching his head and started softly ruffling his hair under his hat. He felt love and warmth emanating from the touch and also heard happy crying words of a mother, 'Thank you!'

The feeling suddenly retreated just as soon as it had appeared and he turned around, but finding no one, just chuckled "Knew you were there. Shishishishi. See you, Rouge. I'll come with Ace next time"

Luffy went back to the boat where Claire was waiting wondering if he actually felt Rouge's spirit or it was all his imagination. He decided that if he ever met White again, he would ask him if it was real and if it was, how all this spirit thing worked exactly.




———



Luffy was standing in front of the cargo ship while it was getting ready to leave with a backpack that contained all his belongings. He had deposited all the important stuff he had gotten from Reiju at a bank safe on Myte Island before he went to the Wyllian Island, so everything was safe and sound. Claire, Tabby, Sol, Katie, Allana and Allie had all come to see him off and Allana was sobbing and yelling at him to not go.

"C'mon Allana, Luffy has a family too, you know. He needs to get back to them"

"B-but…he's my Aniki…." Allana sobbed.

Luffy just chuckled and ruffled her hair "I'll see you again some day Allana. You want to become a pirate too, right?"

"Yes!" Allana instantly replied.

"No!" Sol and Katie instantly rebuked.

"Luffy! Stop infecting her, she's not going to become a pirate!" Katie chided him.

"That's right! The world's too dangerous!"

"No! I'm going to become a pirate! I'll go with Aniki and make him the Pirate King! Aniki, take me away right now!"

Sol and Katie slumped down in depression while Luffy, Claire, Allie and even Tabby laughed.

"Well, you're too young to be a pirate, Allana" Luffy said feeling like Shanks. "The seas are very dangerous you know, and it'll gobble you up. So, make sure you become very very strong and only then can you decide to set out as a pirate. Who knows, I'll come back in a few years and if you're strong enough, I'll let you join my crew too"

"Hmmm" Allana tapped her foot for a while before nodding her head resolutely, "Yes, that's a good idea. It'll also give me time to take care of these two blockheads first and make sure they are completely settled. I'll also have a sibling I'll have to take care of…"

"Allana!" Sol and Katie hugged their daughter in tears seeing how much she cared about them.

"You guys are so funny!" Luffy laughed seeing their antics.

"So are you" Allie said with a smirk as she hugged him goodbye. "You're so fun. I'll miss having you around…"

"Yeah yeah…Take care, Allie"

"Thanks. You too"

"You're an enigma to be sure, Luffy" Claire said as she hugged him too. "Are you sure you don't want to known as a hero who saved us from the Marlbary Mafia?"

"The what mafia?" Luffy asked playing dumb causing Claire to sigh.

"Okay okay…you call yourself a pirate and don't even want fame…I wonder what kind of crew you'll gather and what kind of things you'll do…"

"Shishishi the best crew in the world! And we're gonna be doing some epic crazy things!"

"Sure sure" she smiled. Tabby jumped on his shoulder next and nuzzled into his neck lovingly. "Mrrow~"

"Bye Tabby. Take care of Claire and Allana for me okay?" Luffy smiled as he coddled it one last time.

"Hey! I'm the one who'll take care of Tabby, not the other way around!" Allana protested while the rest laughed.

Sol stepped up next and presented a gold trinket to him. It was small and a roughly square shaped piece of gold with the engraving of an eye resting on waves which was the symbol of their god.

"This is a token of appreciation for saving all our lives" Sol said grabbing Luffy's hand and putting the trinket in it, "I know you don't believe in God, but this piece of gold was said to be a part of Wyllia Herself. She broke off some of the gold ornaments She was wearing and gave it to our ancestors so that they can remember and worship Her. Wyllia takes care of anyone who has this gold trinket. Please accept it. May the blessings of Wyllia bring happiness to you"

Luffy had seen the tribe back on the island have a vigil of sorts and a number of these gold trinkets formed the symbol of their god. He obviously didn't believe in their god or had a use for the piece of gold, but for them, it was one of their most prized possessions…and they were giving it go him. "Are you sure? This is of religious importance to you, isn't it? Is it alright to give it to someone like me who doesn't believe in it?"

"Me and Katie each have one of these trinkets, so we're giving one to you"

"Please accept it, Luffy" Katie also added, "We owe our lives to you. I know you don't believe it but we do. This trinket will make Wyllia keep a watch over you too and keep you safe"

Seeing their determined expressions, Luffy gratefully accepted it. "Okay, I'll take good care of this. Thank you"

The ship sounded its horn signaling departure and he said his final goodbyes "Well, I better get going. Stay happy guys!"

"Goodbye Luffy/Aniki!" / "Meeeooww~"

Luffy jumped on the ship and waved them goodbye from the deck until the island was no longer visible. He then studied the gold piece, and finding nothing special about it, safely tucked it into the chest with the eternal poses and other important things.

Luffy stretched his body popping some joints and went to the make shift room the captain had provided him. He collapsed into the bed, happy that he was finally going back to his home. He didn't know it then but that small piece of gold would cause one of the happiest and memorable moments of his life…and also lead to one of the most despair inducing moments of his life.


———



Grand Line, Paradise, Deep undersea



In one of deepest recesses of the Grand Line where Sea Kings ruled, there sat a translucent figure on the wreckage of a long forgotten ship with drooped shoulders and face buried in her knees. She was a white fairy like creature as she had two beautiful butterfly like wings sprouting on her back while radiating beautiful soft golden light…but in stark contrast to her beautiful and ethereal figure, her mood was miserable and downcast. She had been in the same slouched position for decades having no will to live and unfortunately for her, she couldn't die either.

The figure suddenly sensed something and slightly lifted her head. She sensed that someone new had touched her- a part of her at least. She used her powers to take a look at the new person and it turned out to be a man wearing a Strawhat. It was also a new location as it wasn't on the same old depressing island the people who thought she was a God lived on, but in a bustling city in front of a ship. She also realized that some of her so called worshippers had also seemingly left the boring island too and had just presented the trinket to the man willingly. There were usually a lot of fights and killing to get a hold of that useless piece of gold, so it was kinda refreshing that someone was just being presented with it.

She stared at the man for a few moments hearing him laugh joyously without a care in the world. She heard one of her worshippers say that she takes care of anyone holding that piece of gold…and she didn't even have the energy to laugh. She couldn't even help the people most precious to her, so how was she supposed to help anyone else? All she could do was sit and watch using her wretched powers she didn't even ask for, as the whole world moved on. She hadn't even gazed at anyone on the island for decades now until this very moment. She stared at the grinning strawhat wearing man for a bit but soon lost interest and stopped her observation.

She buried her head more into her knees and continued sitting there without moving, living her miserable existence, thinking that she fully deserved the harsh loneliness and to feel miserable for the rest of her never ending life.



———



Myte Island, 2 months after Luffy left


"Done with the work?" Allie asked Claire as she finished writing a ton of documents at her desk. The two had become really close and had even moved in together after Claire bought a house on Myte Island.

"In a way I guess" Claire said with a sigh. "It's so tiresome when you're starting your own company you know…" she trailed off but then smiled, "But still, I think we're on track. With the 400 million berries plus all the records and underground channels we raided from the Marlbary mafia, we have a ton of ways to acquire resources…My new newspaper company should be established within five months…"

"…I have no reference to judge if that's good or not"

"Don't you see the huge smile on my face! It's fucking great! Do you know how long others struggle for to launch a newspaper company when that bastard Morgan keeps breathing down your neck over every little detail?! Less than five months is a miracle!"

Allie giggled seeing the childish enthusiasm of her face and they were going to talk more but there was a knock on the door.

"Allana is back with Tabby I guess" Allie said as she went to open the door. And sure enough Allana was back after taking Tabby out to play, but she had also brought company.

Two women stood at the entrance, one with a hopeful look on her face and the other with a bored look.

"Ran into these two while coming back. They're looking for Claire" Allana announced.

"Are you Claire?" the woman with the hopeful look asked. She was a woman in her late twenties with aquamarine blue hair tied into a high ponytail, wearing a long white trench coat over her dress that made her look like a pharmacist and had a few scars on her chin and left cheek.

"That would be me" Claire said getting up and greeting her.

"Ah. Hello. Nice to meet you. My name i-"

"Will you get on with it already?" the other woman snapped irritably at the blue haired woman. She was a young pink haired woman with an anti-eyebrow below her right eye, bright red lipstick on her lips and was wearing a white tank top and a jacket with suspenders reaching down to her shorts. And she was sighing with irritation.

"Shut your trap, captain!"

"Hey! Show some respect in front of others at least!"

"Don't want to"

"You! I'll have to teach you some manners!" the pink haired woman spat as she tried to touch (not hit, but just touch) the other woman. Thankfully, Claire cleared her throat getting their attention and making Pink stop.

Pink just sighed in defeat, "Okay okay, get to the point directly. We've already wasted enough time taking a detour and coming here based on a rumor"

"Will you stop talking for a few minutes!" Blue snapped at Pink causing her to pout. Blue then turned towards Claire and the others with a sheepish expression. "Sorry about that. My captain's patience is very small…unlike her very large appetite"

"Umm that's okay. How can I help you?"

"Are you pirates?!" Allana popped up suddenly in between excitedly looking at the two. Her calling the other woman 'captain' was a dead giveaway.

"Huh…" Pink just stared in bewilderment, "Usually it's shouts of 'Are you pirates?!' filled with fear and disgust…this certainly is new"

"Well," Allie smiled, "We met a pirate who changed the definition I guess"

"Did he do heroic acts but when people called him a hero, he vehemently denied in disgust saying 'I'm not a hero! I'm a pirate!'" Blue asked her voice getting louder and louder with excitement.

"That's Aniki's line!" Allana pointed out happily.

"Hehe yeah" Claire smiled, "Guess you're friends of Luffy?"

"I knew it…it is him…he's alive" Blue breathed almost on the verge of happy tears.

"Want to come in?" Allie asked seeing that there was some history between her and Luffy. The two nodded and they all quickly settled in Claire's living room.

"So where is this supposed mystery man of yours?" Pink asked.

"Luffy? He left around two months ago" Claire answered causing Blue's shoulders to droop and let out a deep sigh.

"Damn looks like we missed him. Any idea where he went?"

"Yeah. Back to his home in East Blue…not sure where in East Blue though"

Pink sighed and looked at Blue, "We can't go to East Blue in search for him"

"Yeah yeah I know"

"Mind sharing your history with him?" Claire asked having a gut feeling that this woman had a story to tell.

"Can you first tell me about Luffy? People pointed us towards you when we asked about him around the city. How did he end up here and what was he doing?"

"Well sure" Claire agreed and she, Allie and Allana summed up his stay with them from Claire meeting him at the hotel, his training and rescue of Allana's family and the the taking down of the Marlbary mafia.

"Wow…he sure lives huh?" Pink grinned, "I already like him"

Blue nodded with happiness, "Yeah, he's the same crazy hero I know"

"Ooh I miss him snapping at anyone calling him a hero…" Allie chuckled, "It was so funny. Almost nothing fazes him but when someone calls him a hero, he gets so irritated!"

"Hehe yes…" Blue also chuckled with a reminiscent smile.

"Okay now it's your turn" Claire said taking out a recorder, "Something tells me it's something amazing"

"Heh, you're a reporter?" Pink asked with amusement.

"Yes"

"Hahaha I dare you to publish this story"

"…is that a threat?"

"No no" Blue hastily placated smacking Pink, "What she meant to say was that my story is kinda messed up…and you'll make a lot of enemies if you ever publish it"

"Oh…well, I'll be the judge of that"

Pink just laughed while Blue sighed. "Before that, what do you think of the Marines?"

"Hate 'em. The mafia family was oppressing us for so many years and all they did was take bribes and let the atrocities happen"

"Okay, and pirates? And specifically Luffy?"

"Well, I hate them too. But I guess if it's a pirate like Luffy, then I like them. And I respect and adore Luffy. He doesn't even know it, but he freed me and a lot of people around these parts and gave us our freedom back. And all he wanted in return was enough money to get him home and a feast"

Kell smiled nodding along, "Okay then, I guess I can tell you my story. Well, let's start with my name. I'm Kell and let me tell you the story of 'The Laughing Pirate'…"



—


"I kinda feel bad leaving them all sobbing like that" Kell said awkwardly as she and her captain made their way to the docks after finishing their conversation with Claire and the others.

"Yeah that story does always make people cry… Anyway, you think that reporter chick has the guts to even write that into an actual article?" Pink asked with a chuckle.

"Nope"

"Thought so"

"But who knows…she met Luffy after all, so she might do something crazy too…"

"Luffy this and Luffy that…Not even a mention of his name for months but ever since we found out that a straw hat wearing man took out the Marlbary mafia, you've been talking non-stop about him and even dragged me all the way out here…"

"…I thought I left him to die, you know…no, I did leave him to die. I felt so guilty…he was the reason we all escaped from that slave camp in the first place and he didn't get out…"

"Hey! I'm the reason you escaped!"

Kell just giggled and stroked her captain's ego, "Yes yes, I owe my life to you too. And if you weren't there that day at Mariejois, all of us would have been captured again no doubt…But still, giving us hope and escaping from the slave camp itself was all Luffy"

"Yeah yeah I get it…I guess I owe him a lot too since he saved you…" she trailed off reminiscing the past few months, "You know, all those months ago, I would have never imagined that you would become such an integral part of my life and my crew. You're my quartermaster, my doctor and also my first mate… It's hard to believe you when you say you were a sheltered girl before your whole slavery thing. It's like you were born to be a pirate"

"Yeah well something just snapped in me I guess…Seeing such an innocent and joyous person like Luffy being enslaved like that…I just wanted to make him feel better, so I talked to him. But then they enslaved me to use me against him and seeing him break…" Kell teared up with a sad look on her face.

"It's okay. You're past that." Pink comforted her with a smile, "Your supposed savior is also somehow alive, so all's good"

"Yeah…" Kell happily said as she wiped away her tears, "Still I wonder how he escaped"

"Let's just ask him when we meet. The reporter chick did say that he'll start his journey into the Grand Line very soon, so if he's anything like his stories make him seem, we will run into him sooner or later"

"Yeah…" Kell nodded getting a bit more pep to her steps. "Well for now, I think we should concentrate on our adventure. We have to go to the Grand Line after all and we gotta survive it too"

"Yes! I'll leave all the treasury stuff and gathering resources to you. Take care of everything"

"Oh ho" Kell snapped, "Acting so high and mighty when you're the main problem?! Do you know how much it costs to feed you, you damn gluttonous bitch?! And to add insult to injury, you maintain that amazing slim figure and look so sexy! Where does all the food even go?!"

"Aww, thank you Kelly…" she cooed.

"I'm not praising you, dammit!" Kell tried to smack her captain but she just dodged and ran to the docks laughing while Kell chased her until they reached their ship. It had the Jolly Roger of a grinning skull with long cascading hair, a fringe, lipstick similar to their captain and behind the skull was what looked like a semi-eaten pizza.

"C'mon Kell! We're gonna be going to the Grand Line now for real!" she yelled as she jumped on the ship where the rest of her crew were waiting.

Kell just sighed but had a fond smile as she looked at her other savior and someone who had become her best friend. "Yes, Bonney" Kell smiled as she climbed on.

"Alright! Off to the Grand Line!" Jewelry Bonney yelled getting cheers from the rest of her crew.

---

A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it.

Well, that was a very long chapter huh? Can't believe it became so long. I just kept writing and writing and it turned out to be a whopping 35k word chapter. Cut down a lot to bring it down to this by eliminating all the useless stuff. Believe me, I tried to cut it down a lot and this is the final result.

This is more of a set up chapter so many things might seem unnecessary, but it'll make sense further down the line. Also, this will be the last time I'll be introducing so many OCs in a single chapter. Not much I could do, as South Blue isn't mentioned much in the story, and I had to invent islands and characters.

I think it's pretty clear in the chapter, but let me make it crystal clear that THE TRANSLUCENT FIGURE IS NOT A GOD. Who and what she actually is…well, you gotta wait for future chapters.

Also, I'm not creating some random story arc that has nothing to do with the canon One Piece. It will be like reading a filler arc if I did that, which I find to be boring. Everything will tie into the canon story.

Anyway, thank god the training montage is done. I usually find reading about training montages in other fics really boring so this took a lot of my time and patience to write it. I concentrated on Luffy's insane mindset though and I think I'm happy enough with it.

I think that about covers it. Stay safe and happy y'all. See you next week! (It's already spoiled on other sites, so might as well tell it here too- Next chapter is entitled 'Kuja')

 

[Zedfangrt3640]

so you ignored south blue being kid pirates' territory right before canon, or Torino kingdom, the island where chopper lived for 2 years?

 

[Kalesin]

New adventures, new friends!

As for his gears I think it's a little bit too fast. Then again we've never seen Luffy training in manga, except during the time skip, so who knows what would have happened if he trained rigourously instead of being his usual self...

Thanks for the update!

 

[Captain Usoland]

Incredible! The best new One Piece fic I've seen!

Oh I can't wait to see the butterflies Luffy will cause! I'm also looking forward to a Garp, Dragon, and Ace interlude about Luffy's absence.

I am a little surprised he didn't try to call Garp once he got free in the South Blue though. He could use his connections to easily get him on a Navy ship to cross the Blues.

 

[Madfish]

I am a little surprised he didn't try to call Garp once he got free in the South Blue though. He could use his connections to easily get him on a Navy ship to cross the Blues.

Click to shrink...

Probably either didn't' think of it, couldn't manage it with the local marines being corrupt or worried that he'd be press ganged into the Marines by him.

There's also got to be known at the senior level that Garp's son is Dragon and given what they were willing to do to kill Ace as a baby........

 

[AncientFunOP]

so you ignored south blue being kid pirates' territory right before canon, or Torino kingdom, the island where chopper lived for 2 years?

Click to shrink...

Honestly, didn't think I could make Torino kingdom interesting by making Luffy visit it. I barely remember any memorable characters from there. Besides, Luffy mainly wanted this time to train and that island didn't have anyone strong which could have helped Luffy, so there would be no point to him going there just in the name of visiting.

And Kid? I'm pretty sure a single pirate crew couldn't have controlled the entirety of South Blue. A couple of islands maybe and after creating his crew by unifying the gangs, Kid's more of a rampage through islands kind of guy rather than ruling over it. Luffy's just in a place in South Blue where Kid has never been to. Besides, I didn't think I could make any compelling changes by making Kid and Luffy meet this early, and I also remember Ace talking about Kid (and Cavendish, etc. Not sure if I'm remembering correctly) in some chapter. So, I'm gonna assume he already left for the Grand Line.

 

[AncientFunOP]

New adventures, new friends!

As for his gears I think it's a little bit too fast. Then again we've never seen Luffy training in manga, except during the time skip, so who knows what would have happened if he trained rigourously instead of being his usual self...

Thanks for the update!

Click to shrink...

I really thought a lot about him achieving his gears so early. I read the manga focusing solely on Luffy's fights and he didn't have any major struggles in East Blue and the first fight where he struggles and grows stronger was against Crocodile. Enel wasn't that big of a deal as he's mainly stuck in Nola the entire time and if Enel hadn't kept running away, Luffy could have defeated him very easily. And then came Aokiji where he loses and then the next fight, he's using his gears.

Sooo, I think it's reasonable for him to achieve his gears after putting himself through the kind of rigorous training I showed in this chapter.

 

[AncientFunOP]

Incredible! The best new One Piece fic I've seen!

Oh I can't wait to see the butterflies Luffy will cause! I'm also looking forward to a Garp, Dragon, and Ace interlude about Luffy's absence.

I am a little surprised he didn't try to call Garp once he got free in the South Blue though. He could use his connections to easily get him on a Navy ship to cross the Blues.

Click to shrink...

First, Luffy doesn't really like to depend on his grandpa much. And the Marines even more so.

Second, Imagine a random kid going up to a Marine base and claiming he's the grandson of one of the most famous people on the planet. Yeah, mock laughter is all he'll get. Besides, I don't think local Marine units even have the capability to get in touch with someone that high up directly. They'll have to run it by their superiors, who'll have to run it up by their superiors and so on until it reaches Garp's ears. They don't really have phones like we do, and do you really think the Luffy before slavery would have memorized Garp's personal den den mushi number?

 

[AncientFunOP]

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I wanted to finish writing the entire arc before posting the first part. As always, notes at the end.

---

Chapter 5 - Kuja, Part 1​

"I was so close" Luffy said with a surprising amount of calm considering the situation he found himself in. He was in one of three small boats that was carrying the entire crew of the cargo ship.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

"LOOK AT THOSE MASSIVE TEETH!"

All around him, people were panicking and screaming for their lives as they watched the many terrifying Sea Kings destroying and devouring their cargo ship.

"STOP SCREAMING AND MAKING NOISE IDIOTS!" the captain of the now sinking cargo ship yelled and only then did everyone shut their mouths realizing they were just attracting the attention of the Sea Kings. But it was way too late for such a warning as the Sea Kings had already noticed them and it was just a matter of minutes before they would be targeted.

Many of the really massive Sea Kings didn't care as they just looked away and enjoyed their sunbathing, but the ones that were smaller, well relative to the massive ones at least but were still about two times as big as their now sinking ship, eyed them as they continued destroying the ship.

Meanwhile, Luffy was just sighing in frustration. According to the captain, they were almost at East Blue. Just ten more days of sailing in their three-month-long journey and they would have apparently made it. He was that close to home.

It had been a very boring three month journey as the ship had to cross over the Calm Belt from the South Blue end, then cross the Grand Line perpendicularly, and then cross the Calm Belt which bordered the East Blue. They were currently in the second Calm Belt after having successfully sailed through the first Calm Belt and also the Grand Line, and during the entire journey, Luffy had been utterly bored as there was nothing much to do.

He couldn't train in any meaningful way as he would break the ship, so he had spent his time just activating and deactivating Gear 2, blowing just a bit of air and channelling it around his bones, practising air walk, meditating to train Observation and lastly, his favourite activity to do on the ship - mastering new voices by modifying his larynx.

He had become kinda obsessed with it and would spend day and night perfecting new voices. He had even bought a recorder on Myte Island so that he could record himself doing all sorts of impressions of people ranging from artists in Leo's world to Ace and even his grandpa. He would then play it back to himself to hear if he sounded like whoever's impression he was doing, and if not, perfect it.

Other than that, there wasn't anything else to do. He couldn't get off on any island as they were on the Calm Belt for the majority of their journey. He had already experienced being on it when he was with Reiju but they were basically on a small moving city and he had Reiju to spend time with, so hadn't felt bored then. But on the cargo ship, it was utterly boring as all he could do was stare at the unnaturally calm sea.

He had thought that at least while passing through the Grand Line, they would stop at some islands where he could have some fun, but they hadn't stopped at even a single island. Apparently, there were many small and secret sea currents that helped ships to traverse certain parts of Paradise faster, which they were using. Luffy had whined to the captain about this and he had laughed saying that if they didn't have these fast and secret sea currents, there wouldn't be any cargo ships going into any of the other Blues as they would be too scared of the unpredictable weather, would take too much time, and also be afraid of pirates. It made sense to Luffy and he had begrudgingly accepted it.

So that's why the ship had just gone through the Grand Line perpendicularly without even stopping at any island and had reached the other Calm Belt, where boring days had continued. Although Luffy hated the boredom, he was also kinda glad that nothing had happened during the journey that would have delayed him… but unfortunately for him, things went wrong just days before he could reach his home.

The ships did have a sea stone lining at the bottom which made them invisible to the Sea Kings below the surface, but in their case, Sea Kings had suddenly emerged out of the sea right in their path and upon spotting the ship, they had immediately attacked. One bit off a good chunk of the bottom of the hull before Luffy could do anything, and thus the crew had abandoned ship and escaped onto the lifeboats. Of course, it was just a matter of minutes before the Sea Kings would attack them too but the captain was hoping that the Sea Kings would only be interested in the big ship and ignore them.

"Everyone!" the captain whisper hissed getting the attention of all the people in the three boats, "The only way we'll survive this is by splitting up. All three of our boats will go in different directions and it's just a game of luck to see who the Sea Kings follow…"

Everyone paled, gulping in fear and apprehension, realizing that they would be using each other as bait. The captain sighed sadly as he continued, "We all knew the dangers of traversing these seas… I'm sorry, but some of us will not survive this…" he trailed off but then chuckled darkly, "Who knows? There are multiple Sea Kings here, so they might also split up and come after all of us…so…I guess this is it…"

Some sobbed, some became angry, and some accepted their deaths… and that's when Luffy spoke up in a reassuring tone, "Calm down, I'll take care of this. You all start rowing in the same direction"

"…What do you mean you'll take care of this?" the captain who was on an adjacent boat asked confused.

Luffy grinned showing his fist, "I'll just fight 'em off. Then, we can all go"

"Are you crazy?!" half of them yelled in disbelief and instantly covered their mouths remembering that they shouldn't scream.

Luffy continued unbothered "Oleg is the only decent navigator here who can get us out of the Calm Belt right? Anyone not with him will just get lost and die in the Calm Belt even if the Sea Kings don't attack them"

"Well, you're not wrong…" the captain said unsure of how to respond but shook his head when he realized just what Luffy was proposing, "Still?! You want to fight," he gestured to the ferocious Sea Kings ripping and chewing parts of their ship, "Them?!"

"Yep!" Luffy grinned knowing it would be a great fight as he grabbed the oars and started rowing towards the Sea Kings. The people in his boat all started screaming and dissuading him, but when he didn't stop, they jumped off and swam to the other boats leaving him all alone.

"Come back! You'll kill yourself!" / "Luffy, don't!"

Most of them had become good friends with him and were trying to dissuade him but Luffy just continued rowing towards the Sea Kings.

"Shut up, all of you!" the captain yelled at his crew before looking at Luffy with teary eyes, "This young man is sacrificing his life to buy us some time so that we could all escape!"

The rest of them went wide-eyed as they wrongly realized that that was exactly what Luffy was trying to do and became teary-eyed too. And soon, all of them started sobbing and praising him.

"Oh Luffy…brave young man…" / "I knew he was a great man. He always made us laugh…" / "Luffy! Do you have any last words? I'll make sure to relay it to the people back at your home!"

Some of them started saying that they should go to him and get him back but the captain silenced their protests by saying "Do you want to make light of his sacrifice?! He's doing this for us and you want to throw it all in his face?!"

Luffy, on the other hand, was internally chuckling hearing them come to all sorts of conclusions, but he was more interested in fighting the monstrosities in front of him to care about correcting them, so ignored them. As he got closer, the Sea Kings stared at him and he waved at them with a smile "Yo! I'm Luffy. Nice to meetcha!"

As Luffy expected, not even a second later, one of them started moving towards him with its jaw open intent on devouring him. Luffy cracked his knuckles with a grin as it came closer and started winding his arm up.

"Shishishishi this is gonna be fun… Gum Gum Pistol!" he yelled as he launched his fist at the approaching Sea King's jaw, making its head snap upwards.

"GROAHH!" the Sea King roared in pain as it got shoved back and before it could even reorient itself, Luffy airwalked right in front of its face. Just as the Sea King's head came down, it saw the grinning face of Luffy and a very long stretched arm behind him.

"Bullet!" Luffy's fist landed right on its forehead making it let out another roar of pain. Luffy sensed something coming from behind him, so quickly kicked off the air just as another Sea King's jaw snapped at where he was a second earlier. He looked at the Sea King's snout that was right below him and got a mischievous idea. He grinned as he wrapped one arm around its snout essentially locking its mouth shut.

The Sea King was surprised and shook its head sideways trying to shake him off which only made Luffy swing wildly in the air. Several Sea Kings, all similar in size, had come near them while Luffy was swinging around wildly, so he took that opportunity to use the momentum of the swinging against them as he whipped a number of Sea Kings one by one by just stretching his limbs and letting the Sea King do all the work. The Sea King he had wrapped his arm around stopped when it realized what was happening and growled dangerously at him.

Luffy didn't care as he then landed on another Sea King's head and yanked the one he had wrapped his arm around towards himself, which resulted in the two Sea Kings crashing into one another.

"Parkour! Parkour!" Luffy cried out in glee as he jumped from one Sea King to the next whipping and stomping them any chance he got while all the Sea Kings scrambled to get a bite out of him. He kept making them crash into one another, thereby starting fights amongst them, as he laughed and dodged any attacks from them while delivering blow after blow. He mainly targeted their forehead or the area right between their eyes where it would hurt them the most and also leave them dazed for a short while. Their hides were extremely thick, so anywhere else on their body would need much harder punches and kicks to hurt them in any way.

After a few minutes of fighting, he had successfully gotten the attention of all the Sea Kings that had initially attacked their cargo ship, and when he glanced towards the side, he saw that the two boats were moving away at a fast pace with not even a single Sea King following them. His plan had worked. All he had to do now was to keep them occupied for a bit longer until the boats were sufficiently far away and then he could just jump high up and airwalk back to the boats.

Fortunately, the massive Sea Kings just stayed in place without interfering as the smaller ones were all fighting Luffy. Unfortunately though, one of the Sea Kings Luffy was fighting suddenly turned its attention towards the two escaping boats. Knowing that they would die if he let it go, he landed on one of the dazed Sea King's head before biting into his thumb. "Gear Third!"

All of the Sea King's eyes bulged out when a sudden Giant arm manifested out of nowhere and watched in bewilderment as Luffy's giant hand grabbed the head of the Sea King that was about to head towards the boats.

"Groah?!" the Sea King whined in shock and confusion as it felt a hand grabbing its head and then felt itself being lifted out of the sea. Luffy groaned as he put all his strength into lifting the Sea King, and then swung it in an arc above his head before whipping it onto another Sea King.

"Gum Gum Sea King Hammer!" he yelled while grinning as he used the poor Sea King as a battering ram against its brethren. The Sea King he was standing on was still in a daze, so Luffy kept going. It was very straining as his Gear 3 arm was already heavy and he was adding the weight of the Sea King on top of it, but he still wanted to do it because it seemed fun.

Sea King after Sea King got slammed into by one of their own as Luffy continued the onslaught. The Sea Kings didn't know what was happening until it was too late and the first one he had aimed at had comically gaped right before it got rammed into. The others, of course, tried to escape but since they were all gathered in one spot because of trying to get a bite out of Luffy earlier, they were all in Luffy's attack range. After the fourth one got rammed into though, they finally wizened up and started diving back into the sea. The one Luffy was standing on also regained its senses and dived into the sea, so he lost his foothold too.

"That's it I guess" he sighed letting go of the Sea King in his giant hand, which plopped down into the sea foaming at the mouth and slowly drowned.

Luffy kept jumping in the air knowing that his Gear 3 was gonna end soon and he needed a solid platform to land on because he would shrink and wouldn't be able to air walk in that form. He looked towards the two boats which were very far by now and realized he wouldn't be able to get to them in time. He looked around for the small boat he had been on and after not finding it, concluded that it had been destroyed by the fight. Thankfully, all his belongings were on him in a small sling bag that went across his chest.

As he kept looking around for a solid platform, a Sea King suddenly popped up right from below him at an incredible speed and tried to gobble him up. It was incredibly fast and had probably charged up from way below the surface. If Luffy didn't have Observation, he would have definitely been swallowed up but fortunately, he sensed the attack from below and managed to dodge it, just barely though as his giant hand was a hindrance.

Luffy was just about to punch the Sea King when another Sea King suddenly popped out the same way, which he again barely managed to dodge. But then another Sea King's tail suddenly emerged from the sea and whipped him hard. Luffy sensed the attack too late and found himself soaring through the air, and at the same time, started deflating coming out of his Gear 3. The force of the tail whip plus the expulsion of air from his mouth made him soar through the sky in chaotic circles while his eyes tried to desperately search for a solid platform to land on.

That's when he caught sight of the massive Sea Kings that hadn't moved since they had surfaced. There were three of them and they were all just bathing in the sun without caring much for anything else.

They were pretty close too and seeing how they were the only things he could stand on, he launched one hand at the largest one and pulled himself onto its head. It was just in time too because as soon as he landed on its head, he plopped down panting hard in his shrunken form. Thankfully, the massive Sea King didn't even register that he had landed on its head while all the smaller Sea Kings that had taken a beating from him slowly reemerged from the sea and stared at him from below. But they didn't do anything else. 'Guess they're scared of the big one and don't want to disturb it?'

Sea Kings were never really explored much in the story, but they all seemed to have their own personalities, so the one he was on currently probably didn't like it when someone disturbed its sunbathing and the smaller ones were probably too scared to disturb it.

He shrugged just happy that he was safe for now and looked for the boats. They were pretty far away almost looking like dots on the horizon but he could still see it, so he wasn't worried about getting lost. And all the smaller Sea Kings just stared at him from below not at all interested in anything else but him.

"That sure was fun…" he fell on his back grinning.

He just had to rest for a few minutes now to return to his original state and then he could just airwalk his way back to the boats. But then he suddenly realized that since the Sea Kings seemed to be interested in him, wouldn't they just follow him?

Just as a few minutes passed by and his body became normal again, he was sitting and wondering how to escape without the Sea Kings spotting him when all the Sea Kings that were eyeing him suddenly snorted in unison and turned their backs on him. Some dived back into the sea while others swam a bit away and continued to sunbathe.

"Umm, what just happened?" he wondered looking around for anything that could have maybe spooked them but didn't find anything. He looked at the massive Sea King he was perched upon and saw that one of its eyes was open and trained on him. He was sitting on its elongated snout, so its eyes could perfectly see him and it was looking right at him, not like a predator or in any hostile way, but just a normal stare. "…Did you tell the smaller ones to go away?" he asked and waited for a response but didn't get any.

"Hmmm" he crossed his arms and legs and wanting to really talk to the Sea King, he started thinking about the Voice of All Things. When Leo died, there wasn't much in the story about the power but his story counterpart had heard Zunesha talking and also transmitted a message to Momo telepathically during the Onigashima Raid. But it had looked like even Bepo and the Heart pirates had heard him, so it was unclear if it was an application of Voice of All Things where he could just transmit messages to anyone or if it was some other application of Conqueror's. So he had no clue.

Logically, it was a power that he should have currently too as it didn't seem like he had to train in any sort of way to unlock it. Momo was a child and he had still done it, so physical strength didn't matter. Mental strength probably played a role as it gave headaches to story Luffy whenever he heard the Voice but he wasn't sure about that either.

Story Luffy's first instance of hearing Sea Kings was in Fishman Island, unless fillers were to be considered, then it would be him understanding Grandpa Ryu during the Warship Island Arc. Luffy was spiralling into all sorts of theories, so shook his thoughts of the story away and concentrated on his current self. He looked at the massive Sea King watching him and felt like maybe it was trying to tell him something.

'Did the others stop and go away because the big one told them to? If so, why? Was it because it could sense something in me? That I possessed the Voice? Or was it because it was amused that someone small like me had beaten them all? Or did it not like that so many Sea Kings were ganging up on me?'

The boats were still visible in the distance, so he thought he could afford a few more minutes and see if he could somehow hear it talking.

"Hello," he said standing up and waving at the Sea King with a smile, who still had an eye on him. "Can you try talking to me? I want to see if I can hear you"

The Sea King focused its eyes on him more clearly now but nothing else happened. "Hmm if you are talking, I can't hear you…"

The Sea King didn't make any movement and Luffy tilted his head thinking hard. "Voice of All Things?" he said hoping to get some sort of reaction from it but it just stayed silent and unmoving. "Can you transmit something to me telepathically? Can you understand what I'm saying?"

No reaction.

But then he said something that got a very massive reaction out of it. "Joyboy?"

Just as the word left his mouth, the Sea King jerked violently and both its eyes widened with shock looking intensely at Luffy. It started almost swaying and its body started trembling as if unable to control its excitement.

"Okay, that certainly seems to have gotten a reaction out of you" Luffy chuckled seeing the almost childlike enthusiasm in its eyes.

"So that means something to you, right? Can you now try talking to me? Is it telepathic? Voice-based? Or have you been doing it but I'm not able to hear you?"

It just stared at him while Luffy stared back wondering if it was saying something. The silence stretched on for a few seconds when the Sea King's body suddenly stopped trembling with excitement and went still. Then to Luffy's confusion, its eyes narrowed at him as if it was angry and it started growling. And a growl from this massive Sea King was very loud.

'…I shouldn't have said Joyboy?' he questioned himself with apprehension before the Sea King shook its snout violently making Luffy fall off. He airwalked in front of it hoping to understand what had made it angry and tried to start a dialogue "Umm I'm sorry. I don't know what I did wrong. I shouldn't have said that name? I don't know much about the name either and what it exactly represen-"

He didn't even get a chance to finish his sentence when its massive tail suddenly and quickly emerged from the sea and whipped him.

THWACK!

His Observation didn't even have a chance to sense the attack coming before he got sent flying far away by the sheer force. The earlier tail whip from the smaller Sea King was a love tap compared to this one as he flew far and fast. He tried to use air walk to stop the momentum, but the speed was much too great for it to work.

"…I'm blasting off… Man, is this what Team Rocket feels like every time?…" he trailed off with a sigh not even getting amused by his own attempt to lighten the mood. The attack was unexpected and painful, and he realized that there was no way he could defeat such a massive Sea King the way he was now. He was thankful that they hadn't interfered while he was fighting the smaller ones.

As he flew, he wondered just what had gone wrong. It was probably trying to tell him something but when he wasn't able to hear it, it got angry? 'Did it think I was fooling it? Wouldn't it get confused rather than angry if I knew the name 'Joyboy' but didn't hear it? Had someone else tried that before? Was there a precedent?' He didn't have enough information to come to any conclusion, so shelved the topic for now.

And that's when he realized a major problem and his face paled. He had been whipped so far by the Sea King that he couldn't see it anymore. Which meant he didn't know where the boats were anymore.

"Nononono…." he paled as he desperately tried harder to stop his momentum by kicking the air. After a few tries, he slowed down considerably and finally managed to stop. While airwalking in place, he started turning in every direction hoping that he was still close enough to spot the Sea Kings but alas, he couldn't see them.

He started airwalking towards where he had flown in from and also jumped higher to get a better vantage point. A couple of minutes later, he could just make out tiny points on the horizon that looked like Sea Kings and let out a massive sigh of relief.

He tried to look for the boats but didn't spot them anywhere, so decided to go near the Sea Kings and then try to spot the boats from there. He would, of course, be high above the surface of the sea, out of range of any attacks from the Sea Kings. He also sucked in huge amounts of air before blowing it out to propel himself through the air in conjunction with airwalk. That way, he could 'fly' in the air for a much longer time without straining his legs too much. He was glad that this was the Calm Belt where there were virtually no winds. Anywhere else, he wouldn't be able to pull this stunt for long as the wind resistance would be too high.

As he got closer though, he could finally make out the appearances of the Sea Kings and realized in horror that this was a different group. Panic slowly started to set in when he started looking around turning in every direction, jumping as high as possible to spot any signs of the earlier group of Sea Kings or the boats… but he was out of luck.

He gulped in apprehension as he made his way towards the group of Sea Kings he had found and landed on the biggest one, which didn't even notice him. He sat down cross-legged and sighed deeply as he looked into the vast blueness that stretched on endlessly. He was lost. He was completely lost in the Calm Belt.

"…The fuck do I do now?…"


———


It had been a week since Luffy got lost in the Calm Belt. He had fortunately found a few broken pieces of a ship on the Sea Kings he had found at the beginning and had grabbed it to use as a raft. It was just a small square-shaped piece of wood on which he could barely lie down on, but it worked as a flotation device. And thus, he had drifted in the calm blue sea.

He wasn't aimlessly going in a random direction either as he was using the eternal poses he had to navigate. They pointed to an island in the Grand Line, so if he followed the pose, he would eventually exit the Calm Belt and enter the Grand Line but with his lack of a boat, he would capsize instantly. So, he was going in the opposite direction to where the pose pointed. That way, he would cross the Calm Belt and exit to the East Blue. But then again, the islands could be lined up such that he was going parallelly to the Calm Belt or lined up such that he was taking a very long diagonal path across the Belt, so he wasn't sure how long it would take for him to exit it, or if he was even going to exit it. The deviations on the pose were too small too, so he could just be going around in circles too and he would never know.

He just hoped his luck would help him here and rowed opposite to where the pose was pointing to. He did jump high up from time to time and see if he could spot anything, but apart from three more Sea King groups sunbathing, he had found nothing over the entire week.

Whenever he found a Sea King group, he airwalked to the largest one and tried to talk to it. He, of course, didn't mention 'Joyboy', but he tried to just communicate with them hoping that he could befriend one and then they could give him a ride out of the Calm Belt. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hear anything and was unable to communicate with them. He still kept trying to concentrate though and even meditated hoping that he could eventually hear them. He was more of an instinctual learner and his powers usually unlocked in stressful and necessary situations, so he was sure if he was desperate enough, he would eventually unlock it.

He had found food only three times during the week and it was when he found the different Sea King groups. Some had wounds on them with exposed flesh, so just before he left the group, he quickly ripped a small chunk of flesh from the wounds and air walked away as fast as possible. He needn't have bothered though as the Sea Kings hadn't even noticed him.

Being all alone on such a calm sea not knowing if he would ever get out was terrifying, to be honest. At nights especially. Unnatural silence surrounded him as he couldn't hear any waves as there weren't any, couldn't hear any wind as there wasn't any… the only saving grace at those times were the stars and the moon. The tiny amount of light they splashed on this part of the sea was the only thing that kept him from going insane.

Things finally changed on the eighth day though. Early morning, just as the sun rose, Luffy's Observation flared up and he saw a reptilian Sea King emerging from the sea just meters away from him.

It had greenish-brown scales and looked like a reptile, more like a dinosaur really, with huge jagged teeth and fierce-looking eyes. Thankfully, it was the only one that had surfaced and wasn't enormous either.

"Oy vey" Luffy sighed when it spotted him and instantly came right for him. His makeshift raft probably looked like debris floating on the sea from below the surface, so he wasn't spotted that way. But he would of course be spotted when it emerged from the sea and then spotted him sitting on it.

"Hey, can you please talk to me?" he asked as he jumped from his raft and hovered in the air. But it didn't stop and came right at him with its maw open.

Seeing that it wasn't responsive, he didn't waste any time as he launched a Gum Gum Bullet right into its maw, making its head snap the other way. The Sea King groaned in pain and was stunned that it got hit, and more importantly that it hurt. It glared at Luffy after creating some distance between them, now more cautious of the prey and started circling him. He again tried concentrating and tried to hear it speaking but wasn't able to.

"Why do you want to eat me?" he whined when it lunged at him again and he dodged, "I'm the size of an ant to you, so what would eating me even achieve?!"

The Sea King huffed creating a gust of wind, seemingly understanding him and that's when Luffy felt a sudden pang of pain shoot through his head. He heard what sounded like gibberish noises but in between, he thought he could make out a word.

"…punched……"

Luffy was surprised when he heard a word and his face split into a massive grin as he thought that he had finally unlocked his power. In the story, he would always get confused and kept screaming 'Who's there?!' whenever he heard a voice, but currently, he was calmer and knew exactly what was happening. He thought that he could finally start a dialogue with it, so asked excitedly, "Punched? You're mad I punched you?"

He was hoping the Sea King would talk more but it suddenly lunged at him with its maw open, which Luffy of course dodged.

"Wait wait I can hear y-" he tried to talk as he kept dodging its attacks but it didn't care as it kept attacking. He decided he would beat it first and then talk to it, so started retaliating. But the Sea King immediately dived back into the sea when it looked like Luffy was getting serious leaving a jumping Luffy in the air.

Luffy sensed the creature with vigilance not knowing from where it would pop out but it just kept swimming underwater randomly. When he finally realized where exactly it was going, he cursed himself. It was going for his lifeline. His only saving grace, the broken piece of wood that had kept him afloat and alive… Before he could stretch his arm to grab it, it was swallowed up by the Sea King.

He kept kicking the air every two seconds making sure to keep himself calm and balanced so that he could keep the airwalk up for as long as possible, but seeing his raft get destroyed, he panicked knowing he needed something else to float on.

He eyed the scales, the teeth, the eyeballs of the Sea King that had resurfaced in front of him and wondered if they floated… he didn't think they would but he had to try at least. He was running on a timer too as he was losing stamina every second he spent in the air, so he quickly flung both his arms back and launched a Gum Gum Bazooka right in between its eyes faster than it could even blink.

The Sea King roared in pain as it got shoved backwards by his forceful attack. Luffy didn't let up as he kept manoeuvring in the air and launched a Gum Gum Stamp right on its head followed by a Gum Gum Spear which tore off a few pieces of its scales which promptly fell into the sea. He watched hopefully if the scales floated but unfortunately, they sunk.

The Sea King was initially overwhelmed and shocked that such a small human was hurting it, but soon its battle instinct awoke too, and finally saw the human in front of it as an equal instead of just prey. It saw his stretching limbs going for its mouth and when it found a chance, bit into one.

Luffy suddenly found one of his legs in the mouth of the Sea King and his face paled. The Sea King then spun its head taking Luffy on a wide arc before slamming him into the surface of the water.

Seeing the quickly approaching sea surface, Luffy quickly flung both his arms behind him and just as he was about to crash into the surface, used a Gum Gum Bazooka right on it. The force of the attack pushed him back up, and he immediately launched a fist at the surprised Sea King. The punch connected and it roared opening its mouth slightly, which was all he needed to yank his foot out. Thankfully, there were no puncture wounds on his leg and looked like it was just stuck between its teeth. He then jumped higher to get out of its range and calmed himself.

He stared at the Sea King, who looked angry that its plan hadn't worked, and knew he had to run away from it. He had almost died then. All it had to do was just dive into the water after catching one of his limbs again and he would be done for. He could use Gear Third and finish it in one punch but he would then shrink and also lose most of his strength afterwards, so he wouldn't be able to use air walk for a few minutes at least. Which would mean certain death in his situation.

Thus, he started airwalking away in a random direction hoping to find something else. He groaned when he saw that the Sea King was following him closely. "Looks like you want a fight huh? Just let me find something to stand on, and you'll get a fight"

He kept airwalking for a few minutes and was already feeling the strain in his legs. He was also sucking in huge amounts of air before blowing it out with force to propel him more in a single jump, thus reducing the burden on his legs somewhat.

'It would be great if I had a wingsuit right about now… Do they even have wingsuits in this world?' he thought as he flew in the air. He could just jump high and then glide everywhere, only using airwalk from time to time, and thus save a lot of energy while also being in the air for much much longer. But then he remembered that he was in the Calm Belt where there were no winds, so a wingsuit wouldn't be that useful… but still, anywhere else, it would be tremendously helpful and not to mention, he would look super cool gliding in the air. He promised himself that he would definitely get himself a wingsuit when he made it out of this predicament alive.

He kept air walking thinking about random things to keep his mind off of the pain he felt in his legs. It was already over its limit and he could feel his leg muscles tearing and screaming for rest. Airwalk was meant to be used just for short bursts of time, not continuously for an hour like he was currently doing. Using just airwalk, he would have reached his limit long ago, but as he also kept sucking and blowing air to propel himself, it alleviated some stress and thus, he was able to go on for so long. But he was reaching his limit.

His legs were bleeding by now as small tears had opened up and were already feeling like they were failing. But Luffy kept on jumping. He was forcing his body to obey his mind as he couldn't let himself die here.

And thankfully, his persistence paid off as he soon spotted a small dot on the horizon.

"Yess!" he cheered and immediately started going in that direction with increased vigour. It could be another group of Sea Kings sunbathing, a boat or a ship but he didn't care as long as it was something that let him stand and rest for a few hours. A few minutes later, he finally could make out that it was a ship causing him to cheer more, and a few more minutes after that, his enthusiasm dipped as he saw that it was two ships being pulled by Sea Serpents.

"Godfuckingdammit!" Luffy cursed realizing who the ships belonged to. "Why god why? I don't want to meet Hancock… Of all the people in the world, why her?"

He definitely did not want to run into her but he sighed in acceptance knowing he had no other choice currently. As he got closer to the ships, the more he felt anxious to meet Hancock. His legs, which were already pushed way past their limits and were barely holding on because of his strong resolve, faltered when his mind faltered. One jump in the sky failed and he found himself falling. He tried to kick with the other leg and it worked but the next kick failed again.

"Fucking work, legs! Don't fail me when I'm this close!" he cursed as he kept kicking and trying to stabilize himself in the air. He fell a good few meters but managed to stabilize himself and continued jumping, but because of this little mishap, he was closer to the surface of the sea now. In range of the Sea King that was still following him.

He sensed the tail coming at him way too late as he only had the time to turn his head in its direction before he was slammed with a tremendous amount of force. The Sea King had whipped him with its tail again. "Stop with the tail whipping already!"

He found himself flying at an incredible speed, his vision blurry because of it, but thankfully he had his observation and it looked like luck was on his side as he was sent flying towards the Kuja ship.

He felt his body crash into the deck as he heard the clear cracking and splintering of wood, and also heard loud surprised yelps from women. Before he could sigh in relief that he had landed somewhere solid, he felt something hit him hard right in his stomach, halting his momentum, in fact reversing it, and he found himself being flung away again the same way he had flown in. He only saw a very long leg dislodging from his stomach just before he got flung back and realized that someone on the ship had just kicked him back!

He definitely wasn't expecting that but didn't have time to think about it as he sensed that he was getting closer to the reptilian Sea King. He already had the momentum so thought he could use it to attack the Sea King, so adjusted his body to punch it, but his speed was too great for him to get a good stance and the Sea King again tail-whipped him back towards the ship.

"Are you kidding me right now?!"

He tried to desperately stop his momentum with airwalk but just wasn't successful because of the speed. He laid eyes on the ship that he was fast approaching and internally gasped when he saw a tall black-haired woman standing on deck… and he was heading straight at her.

The woman casually lifted her hand just before Luffy crashed into her and caught him by his neck. Luffy felt his neck being tightened in a death grip but since his body was rubber, his head and body comically stretched continuing its inertial movement… which resulted in his body crashing into her body and his head bashing against her head before they snapped back.

'………'

Cold and dark eyes, long eyelashes that accentuated her face, black silky locks of hair that flowed down to her chin which framed her face beautifully, her high forehead which was currently turning a bit red courtesy of the head butt, gold-snake-shaped earrings that gently moved as her face moved from side to side as her annoyed eyes studied him - It was the most beautiful woman in the world, Boa Hancock, and he had just unintentionally smashed his head against hers. The only thought running through Luffy's mind then was 'Fuuucck….'

Luffy liked Hancock from the story. She's bitchy at the beginning with how she kicks cute puppies and kittens, treats her own people like garbage and turns them into stone, but she does get better once her heart melts because of him. She was amazing, strong and seeing her in real life made him realize that her title as the World's Most Beautiful Woman was deserving of her… BUT, he wanted to avoid the whole falling in love thing.

He definitely did not want her to fall in love with him. It was just giving her false hope as he had no intention of ever seriously considering a relationship, let alone marriage. He wanted to go on adventures, always be on the seas, and only after he became the Pirate King would he even consider the idea of a romantic relationship.

She was an amazing woman and she deserved better than someone who couldn't reciprocate the kind of intense feelings she got for him in the story. And so, he had decided that he would do everything in his power to avoid meeting her if possible, but if they did end up meeting, he would befriend her, because she's very cool and he would love to have her as a friend, but make sure not to say things that would make her fall in love with him romantically.

"Sorry…" was the first thing he said to her when she started rubbing her forehead with her free hand.

"How dare y-" she began but a loud feral growl came from behind Luffy interrupting her and he turned his head around 180 degrees on reflex… before realizing what he had done and cursed himself. He didn't miss the slight twitch of her hand still holding onto his neck. 'Did she just flinch because of the unnatural head twist? Or is she mad I ignored her and turned?… I hope it's the first one…'

He shook his paranoid thoughts away as he saw the reptilian Sea King in the distance still glaring at him, but not coming anywhere near them. The Sea Serpents that were pulling the ships growled softly and the reptilian Sea King just huffed and dived back in.

'Okay… Guess that's that…' Luffy thought as he turned his head back and looked at Hancock who was looking at him with anger and annoyance, 'Now gotta deal with this…'

"Umm Hi. Thanks for saving me"

Hancock scowled in disgust as if just hearing his voice made her skin crawl and dropped him. Luffy felt his feet touching the deck and tried to keep his balance, but his legs gave out and he fell to his knees.

"How dare you intrude upon the Kuja ship?!" two other women growled coming forward brandishing their swords and naginatas at him.

"Did I look like I had a choice?" Luffy deadpanned giving them unimpressed gazes only now noticing the dozens of other women that were on deck, even recognizing a few faces from the story, "The Sea King just punted me here…"

"How unsightly!" Hancock cut in silencing everyone. "Not only do you intrude upon our ship, but you also have the gall to attack me?!"

"I'm sorry" Luffy bowed his head to her "That was just a mistake as you probably know. And I'm completely lost in the Calm Belt, so I came towards your ship when I spo-"

"Silence!" Hancock declared loudly making him sigh internally. "Get rid of this man right now" she simply said to the others as she turned and walked back towards a cabin door not even giving him a second glance.

"Yes, Snake Princess!" the others practically sang and Luffy willed his legs to move as he tried to stand up. At this point in the story and before he changes her with his words and actions, Hancock was quite cruel and doesn't even mind killing her own people. He knew there was no talking to her and in the state he was in, the others would just kill him immediately.

He stretched his arm and grabbed the top of the mast before pulling himself up. He stood on top of the sails, his legs protesting for rest as he studied the entire deck of the ship.

"His hand stretched?!" / "Did you see that?! Did his hand really stretch?!" the women freaked out over his devil fruit powers while he studied the layout and weapons of everyone. There were at least 30 women on deck, all warriors, the best of the best from their entire tribe, and they were all gonna try to kill him in a few seconds. There was no possible way he could actually get out of this without a fight unless he revealed to Hancock that he knew about her brand mark and history, and he wasn't gonna stoop that low. Even if he did, she would most probably personally kill him the moment he mentioned it, and Hancock was leagues stronger than himself, so he wouldn't be able to resist.

Hancock had also stopped when she saw that he was a fruit user and realized that the earlier head butt was unintentional as she stared at him with her dark calculating eyes.

"Get back down here so that we can kill you!" one of the warriors shouted just as another threw a spear at him. Luffy caught the spear when he saw multiple women also pulling their hands back intent on launching spears at him. The rain of spears and also arrows started and he deflected them all with the spear he had caught while trying to maintain a steady foothold as his legs were shaking. His stomach was also rumbling, so he needed food more than anything now as fighting them all on an empty stomach was suicidal.

"I can just leave if you let me rest a couple of hours!" he yelled at Hancock, who was still staring at him.

"You're a Marine?" Hancock glowered as she saw him using Iron Body to tank some of the projectiles being launched at him, and also saw him airwalking earlier.

"Hell no! I'm not a Marine!" he yelled back on reflex.

"You're clearly using Marine techniques. You're a liar too I see. Like all men"

"Just because I use a Marine technique doesn't mean that I'm a Marine. I just saw Marines using it and learned it by myself. I'm a pirate!"

"Quite, man. It does not matter whether you are a Marine or not. You still intruded upon our ship where no man is allowed to step one foot on. So you have to die"

"I had no choice… I was lost in the Calm Belt for days" he whined, "Can't you make an exception? It's not like we're on Amazon Lily right? We're on the sea on a shi-"

"Stop talking" Hancock coldly ordered before flicking her hair back and looking at her warriors. They didn't need her to say anything to get the message 'Kill him' as they nodded their heads saying "Yes, Snake Princess!"

Luffy sighed tiredly. He knew she wouldn't budge so just focused on his legs knowing he would have to fight his way out of this. One of his legs was useless as it was bleeding profusely with vessels burst internally, while the other was just a few jumps away from becoming useless too. He looked around himself and other than the other Kuja ship, there was nothing in sight. He thought of just running somewhere inside the ship and hiding for some time, but they had Haki, so that wouldn't work either.

Fortunately or Unfortunately, his solution came in the form of surprised yelps of shock from the women on the other ship. Many were standing on the deck while pointing at him with bewilderment and curious eyes. He didn't have time to think as to why they were acting like that as a person jumped from that ship and landed on the mast right across from him. A huge head, green glossy hair, a snake-like tongue sticking out of her mouth, and beautiful mesmerizing green eyes - It was Boa Sandersonia.

"A man?" she questioned tilting her head, "How did you get here?"

"Sonia!" Hancock called out getting her attention and only then did Sandersonia seem to notice that she was also on deck.

"Ah Sister"

"Get rid of the man!" she said dismissively before turning on her heel and retired into her room having had enough with Luffy.

"Yes, Sister" Sandersonia nodded politely before looking back at Luffy, who just sighed deeply before getting into a fighting stance.

"You want to fight?" she asked amused. She had already noticed his legs and knew that he was in no condition to fight.

"Not really. But you are trying to kill me, so I have no choice"

"Why did you even come here then? Thought you could kidnap one of us?" she asked with a glare but it turned into confusion when she heard what he said next.

"A Sea King punted me here…"

"…Huh?"

"Were you asleep or something? Everyone here saw that. The Sea King and Hancock even played a round of tennis using me as the ball"

Sandersonia actually laughed at that "You're kidding, right?"

"No, Sandersonia-sama. The man speaks the truth," one of the warriors informed, "He was whipped here by a Sea King… Also, his arms stretch unnaturally long"

"Damn, I wish I had seen that. I was below deck…" she said amusedly clicking her tongue. "And you stretch?"

"Yep" Luffy said demonstrating it by stretching his lips causing the women to get more bewildered.

" Ah I see"

He saw that she was at least hearing him out, so tried to bargain with her. "Can we not do this? I was lost in the Calm Belt for more than a week now and I finally found you. Just let me rest for a couple of hours, maybe give me a broken piece of wood to use as a boat and some food and directions, and I'll leave…"

"No can do. Sister has spoken" Sandersonia shook her head sadly. She could at least sympathize with his situation and thought he was really pitiful to have garnered her sister's ire.

"Guess I have no choice then. I can't die here" he sighed as he removed the sling bag hanging on his chest and threw it in the crow's nest to keep it safe before getting into his fighting stance.

"It's cute that you think you have a chance"

Sandersonia lunged at him intent on punching him into the sea and ending the fight quickly, but Luffy moved his upper body just enough so that he dodged her before delivering an uppercut to her chin. She was too surprised by the fact that he had dodged to even notice his hand coming at her and thus, she was caught off guard and got shoved off of the top of the sails. The others were stunned at seeing one of the strongest warriors being punched, but Luffy knew that that hadn't done much to her. She was just caught off guard and had just lost her balance, that's all. As he expected, she jumped back within a couple of seconds while smiling. "So you have Haki too? That's rare for such a young person like you"

She lunged at him again being more careful this time. Luffy side-stepped and punched aiming at her face again, but she dodged that quite easily and aimed a kick at his legs. Luffy spun around her dodging the kick while aiming an elbow jab into her stomach, which she swatted away before bringing her hands above his head intent on slamming him down, but Luffy sensed that and kicked off the ground to accelerate and head butt her in the stomach, making her go off balance again. She jumped back surprised by the short spat.

"Pretty impressive Observation too. We're almost evenly matched" Sandersonia praised.

"Nah, I'm better" Luffy smirked, "I'm not using my legs much, so even with that handicap, I can still keep up with you"

"I just wasn't serious yet. Let me show you how I am when I'm serious" she smiled disappearing from Luffy's sight before he suddenly felt a very hard punch right in his gut. He got flung down towards the deck where he crashed unceremoniously and before he could even think, he saw Sonia flying straight at him with her leg outstretched. He turned and barely managed to dodge her kick before lifting his left hand defensively as he sensed Sonia's punch. He then sensed a kick aimed at his legs which he tried to intercept, but his legs were too slow and he felt the Haki-coated kick connect on his leg. He grit his teeth in frustration feeling the pain course through him. 'So this is what Haki-infused attacks feel like…'

"So? What do you have to say now?" she said in a mocking tone.

"Who said I was serious?" Luffy smirked at her before activating Gear 2. His body started steaming and Sandersonia's eyes widened as he disappeared from her sight but soon saw Luffy's eyes just centimetres away from her own before her forehead exploded with pain as he had just head-butted her. Luffy didn't let up on the attack as he grabbed her shoulders before throwing his head back and slammed his head against hers again, disorienting her. He didn't let go of her shoulders as he stretched his legs behind him and delivered a Jet Stamp straight into her gut. He then wound his legs around her waist before falling back. He twisted his upper body multiple times before his hands touched the deck and while doing a handstand, he lifted her off the deck using his legs and then let his body unwind, thus creating a lot of momentum before slamming her into the deck head first. The deck broke and created a hole to the below deck through which Sandersonia and Luffy fell.

This had all happened in the span of three seconds and Sandersonia was too disoriented from the head butt to notice anything else. She was still in a daze because of the continuous attacks to her head, and since they were below deck, Luffy ran away intent on finding food. He needed every ounce of energy to get out of his current predicament, so he limped around following his nose to sniff out any morsel of food. Almost all the women on the ship had gathered on deck to get a glance at him earlier, so the inside was pretty empty.

His nose soon led him to the kitchen which was filled with all sorts of food and he happily devoured sack after sack of food in the pantry not even seeing what he was eating. He only spotted that there were cooks at the counter cutting up some vegetables after he was done with his fourth sack and noticed that they were all staring at him with their mouths agape.

"Um Hi? I'm just gonna eat some stuf-"

"Kyaaaah! A man!" One finally screamed while some of the others brought out their weapons. He was hoping the cooks wouldn't be combat warriors at least but it looked like a majority of them were warriors. But compared to Sandersonia, these were weaklings so he continued stuffing his face in hoping to consume as much as possible before everyone else showed up because of the scream. The cooks didn't attack as they were too shocked watching Luffy stretch his mouth unnaturally wide and just shove everything at once before gulping it down. By the time the others arrived, Luffy had bulged up considerably and was now looking like a blown-up balloon.

"Haaah! That was delicious! You guys are good" Luffy praised them patting his bulged-up stomach. The ones who came in hearing the commotion also stood still staring in shock.

It was only when Sandersonia came that things changed. "What the heck? How did you become so fat?!"

"Just ate" Luffy answered before getting on his feet and compressing all the food into energy. His body took just 5 seconds to transform from its bulged-up state back to its normal state and he again got into a fighting stance seeing how he was pretty much surrounded.

"…Okay, your body is weird" Sandersonia said with a weird look.

"Are all men like this?" another asked.

"Of course not!" another shouted. "I've seen men before. They definitely could not do whatever he just did"

"Then how is this possible?"

Before Luffy could say anything, Sonia immediately pounced on him. Luffy, now with more energy, was faster and immediately activated Gear 2. He started dodging and attacking as fast and hard as he could while trying to use Armament too. It only worked sometimes, like one in 20 punches, he would successfully use a Haki-coated fist, but it was still way too weak. He still hadn't quite grasped the concept and wondered if he could learn anything from the current fight. He tried to feel how it felt whenever Sonia attacked him with Haki-coated attacks and started learning.

The two continued to fight making a complete mess of the kitchen as tables and benches were thrown everywhere. Sonia was in her human form and she couldn't perform any attacks that would damage the ship, so she wasn't using her full strength. And that gave Luffy a fighting chance against her. Even if her Haki-coated attacks hurt a lot, he saw it as a training exercise and tried to desperately coat himself in Haki too so that her attacks wouldn't hurt him too much. Again, it only worked once every few times.

The other women also started attacking with arrows and spears soon, so Luffy had to dodge all those while also fighting Sonia. Some came at him with fists too, and he used that against them by dodging at the last second and making them attack each other. They were veteran warriors though, so that plan didn't work much. He was losing, so decided to change the battlefield. He grabbed one woman who was attacking him and threw her at the others near the door, before quickly using Soru to run out of the kitchen. He got two arrows embedded in his back for this little stunt but he was out in the corridor now where attacks could come from only two sides and it would also hinder Sonia a lot as her huge body would be a downside in such a small space.

The fight became easier in the corridor as the spears and arrows could only come from two ends, and the small space also meant they couldn't gang up on him. He put up a strong fight for 20 minutes taking out a warrior one by one but Sonia was formidable even when her huge body hindered her. She finally grew tired of fighting in such an enclosed space, so made a run at Luffy and kicked him upwards with all the strength she could muster. Luffy broke through the ceiling and found himself outside again and landed on the deck panting hard. He was bleeding from pretty much everywhere but he was used to fighting in this state. He had trained himself by purposefully putting himself in similar states after all, so he stood back up with unbroken resolve.

Sonia also jumped out of the hole and stretched her body "Now this is more like it. Fighting in stuffy places is too constricting"

Luffy just stared at her and all the women behind her pulling their bows and spears back getting ready to attack. This was gonna be an all-out attack by them and Luffy was in his battered state. He felt his lips twitching upwards at seeing such a hopeless situation though.

"Why are you smiling?" Sonia asked bewildered and thinking he had something up his sleeve.

"I've been feeling rather hopeless these past few days… Getting lost, having my raft eaten, having a Sea King chase me when I couldn't fight back… It was frustrating to say the least. I'm more of a punch my problems kind of guy so when I couldn't punch the Sea King, I was really pissed… But now I find myself in another hopeless situation. But this time?" Luffy raised his fist with a smirk, "I can punch my problems"

"…You're weird. Most people would be begging for their lives or trying to run away"

"I just know that I'll come out of this stronger than before. Haven't really fought a strong opponent for a while, so this is good exercise"

"You're really treating this like an exercise? You do realize you're going to die here right? You're just extending the inevitable"

"Nah. I can't die until I become the Pirate King"

"You? Pirate king? Do you even have a crew?"

"Not yet. But I will soon"

"Well sorry to burst your bubble, but you're dying today"

Luffy let out a deep breath and relaxed all his muscles as he got ready for the toughest fight of his life yet. "No, thank you"

And then the assault began. Arrows and spears were launched continuously at him which he barely dodged because of his damaged legs. Many warriors leapt at him with their swords and naginatas, and Luffy was deflecting weapons making them attack each other, tanking hits, running around the deck and making sure he wasn't getting overwhelmed. He kept using his rubber powers to whip and twang his hand to attack many women at once while his legs bled out more and more. Sandersonia mainly kept trying to finish the fight by punching him into the sea but Luffy was extremely cautious of that and even if she did manage to punch him hard enough that he got flung off the ship, he would stretch his hands grabbing the railing or bow or anything he could get his hands on, before snapping back and using that momentum against them.

He was abusing the hell out of Gear 2 too as he kept pumping his blood harder and kept using all of his Jet attacks while adding twisting limbs in frequently. He had never abused and pushed his body more than he was currently doing, but he was having the time of his life as he was on full auto-pilot as he dodged, tanked, retaliated and didn't fall down. Everyone could see him abusing his own body, pushing it way over its limit and many of them felt a sliver of respect flare up inside them. They were warriors after all and seeing him fighting with all he had against so many opponents with all odds stacked against him made them respect him. They were also ashamed of themselves as they were teaming up against a lone person, who was already heavily injured from the start. The ferocity of their attacks lessened considerably after they realized that weren't fighting with honour.

Sandersonia was the most affected as she completely stopped fighting him after seeing his undying resolve. She didn't think he really deserved this. From what she heard, he had actually set foot on their ship by a complete coincidence, swatted by a Sea King of all things. He was lost in the Calm Belt and she knew how precarious that was, but he had still survived and found them. He wasn't behaving disgustingly either like most men they met, who would gawk and stare at them with lust, so that was another plus point about him in her book. On top of all that, the way he fought even with the state his body was in was admirable.

She just stood there as she watched the others slow down their attacks too. Things actually came to a standstill after a spear got embedded in one of his legs and he fell to his knee. But much to everyone's surprise and admiration, he kept his fists up despite losing one of his legs and kept his eyes wide open looking for the next attack. The fire in his eyes never left, and even though he was panting hard, it was calm and controlled breathing which wouldn't hinder him.

Seeing that no one was attacking, Luffy took that moment to pull the spear out of his knee and threw it down. Blood was literally pooling all around him, but he didn't care as he stared at all of them challengingly.

"Sandersonia-sama, maybe we should stop?" one of the veteran warriors suggested feeling immense respect for Luffy. "I wish to fight him in a one-on-one duel honourably and kill him"

Sonia was about to agree with her when an angry voice rang out on the ship, silencing everyone.

"What is the meaning of this?" Hancock said in a cold voice eyeing the still-standing Luffy and then the others.

"Snake Princess!" the others all bowed down in shame for forgetting that she had specifically ordered his execution.

A sweat broke out on Sonia's brow as she had totally forgotten that Hancock was even here and she had specifically ordered her to take him down. "Sister…"

"Why is that man still standing? I told you to take care of him"

Sonia averted her gaze slightly trying to think of any way to get out of this situation when she caught a glimpse of all the gawking women on the other ship, and a lightbulb went off in her head.

"Sister, this man is strong. Why don't we use him?" she said pointing to the other ship. "He should be enough"

"Hmm?" Hancock eyed Luffy coldly and then at the women on the other ship before shrugging "Very well. It will cut down the time taken to do this disgusting task, so yes"

"Yes, Sister" Sonia bowed before Hancock turned on her heel and went back into her room again.

Luffy was utterly confused by the interaction. 'Use me?' he wondered seeing the other ship full of gawking women and then back at Sonia. As soon as Hancock retired to her room again, Sonia turned back towards him with a smile. "Guess you're not dying any time soon"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll explain but let's get you treated first yeah? You look like you're dying"

Luffy thought for a moment before shrugging and relaxing his battle stance. It was only now that all the wounds on his body registered in his mind and he grimaced seeing the many wounds. He shrugged it off before trying to Sonia and asking "Can I get some food?"

"You just ate the entire kitchen down there! And you're still hungry?!"

"Yes" Luffy shamelessly responded.

Sonia gawked at the audacity before smacking him in the head.

"Hey! What was that for?" Luffy whined.

"You're an idiot I see…Now lets first get you treated before you die"

"Sure su-" Luffy got cut off when she suddenly grabbed him and threw him onto the other ship. Luffy landed with a thud on his back not being able to use his legs and after a second, rolled over to get up but froze when he saw a bunch of women staring excitedly at him. An unconscious shiver ran down his spine watching all their eyes and something told him that he was just caught in some trap. Thankfully, Sonia landed on deck and dispersed the crowd before taking him down to the doctor's office.

The doctor was a tall and beautiful blonde who looked to be of the long-leg tribe as her legs were very long. "A man?" the doctor asked in surprise but immediately went into doctor mode after spotting all his wounds and started treating him, "My god, what the hell happened to you?"

"Believe it or not, he got swatted by a Sea King onto the other ship apparently" Sonia answered.

"You're kidding me right?"

"Nope. That stupid Sea King first devoured my raft and then kept following me for hours…" Luffy answered studying the doctor curiously. She seemed to be a bit different somehow with how she didn't gawk at him like he was a strange creature.

"Following you?" the doctor asked as she cleaned all his wounds and grimaced at the truly bad state he was in. "Following you how?"

"I was jumping in air to escape it"

"You a Marine?" Sonia interjected.

Luffy became irritated again "Do they have a monopoly over air walk or something? I just saw them using it and taught it to myself"

"Well, I guess that's true. And it's called Moonwalk I think"

"I call it Airwalk"

"Oh okay. Then, what are you and what were you even doing on a raft in the middle of the Calm Belt?"

"I'm a pirate. Well, not yet technically as I promised to set out at 17 which is still a few months from now… And I was just going back to East Blue on a cargo ship. Long story short, Sea Kings emerged, destroyed the ship, I got separated from the crew, drifted alone, and days later, I finally spotted your ships… Made a beeline to here but the Sea king tail-whipped me right towards this ship, then Hancock kicked me right back, and then the Sea King again whipped me back… I never imagined I would become a ball in an impromptu tennis match between Hancock and a Sea King. Shishishi its funny in hindsight though"

Sonia and the doctor had started laughing their ass off when Luffy got to the tennis match part. "SASASASASA You have a sense of humour at least" the doctor laughed.

"Shishishishi"

"What happened next?"

"Well, the fight started I guess. And when it was going well, Sonia said some cryptic words of wanting to 'Use me' to Hancock and she agreed to let me live and here we are"

"Oh you want to use this guy for that?" the doctor said nodding her head in understanding.

"Yeah, and what the hell do you mean it was going well? You were about to die"

"Nah, I still had a few tricks up my sleeve. I would have escaped"

"Sure you would have. Why didn't you use it then?"

"Last resort kind of thing. And what the hell does 'use me' mean?"

"You'll know soon enough… Is he gonna recover anytime soon, Leah?"

"Nope. Guy has burst the blood vessels in his legs that should've killed him but I guess he's a devil fruit user given how he stretches-"

"Rubber fruit" he answered while wondering just who Leah was that she knew about devil fruits. He glanced at Sonia casually when Leah said that and there was definitely some reaction from her. He couldn't understand what but knew there was more to this Leah person as she knew about devil fruits and also looked like she was used to being around men.

"Right, and he's abused his legs like hell…" Leah continued not having noticed anything, "I don't see this healing any time soon… At least a couple of weeks"

"Just give me meat. I'll heal faster"

Sonia completely ignored him, "Well, he doesn't really need legs for what he's needed so I guess that's fine"

"Rest of his body is battered too. Give him a day at least"

Sonia sighed "Fine. Make him sleep, I don't want to see him walking around"

"Sure" she said and before Luffy realized it, she had stuck a needle in his arm which immediately made him drowsy.

"Fuck…" was all he could curse before his world blacked out.


———


Luffy felt someone touching and stretching his body first. He then slowly regained his consciousness and opened his eyes but his vision was too hazy. His whole body ached and his head felt like it had been put through a grinder.

"He's awake! He's awake!" he heard muffled voices as his sense of hearing came back to him. His vision also slowly cleared after blinking a few times and the first thing he saw was a pair of blue eyes extremely close to him before he felt soft lips on his own. He didn't understand what was happening, but he closed his eyes again and instinctively kissed back enjoying the feeling.

He went to grab her neck but found that his hands were being held by someone else. He didn't care as he deepened the kiss invading whoever's mouth was on him with his tongue. The other person yelped and didn't seem to be experienced much, so he slowed down just a bit and became gentler as he guided her tongue softly with his own. It was only when he started hearing sensual moans that his brain fully rebooted, realized that he was kissing someone, and instantly broke the kiss. His eyes cleared up completely too and what he saw made him yelp in shock.

Three naked women were next to him, two on his right and one on his left, all looking at him with excitement and they were the ones holding his arms as they stretched them in all sorts of ways. Another girl was laying on top of him, and she was the one he had kissed. And over the one on his chest, he could see two more girls near his crotch and only then did he realize that he too was completely naked himself. His dick was also out and the two girls were curiously stretching it as if confused by it.

That was all his mind processed before he yanked his arms back and threw himself backwards, crashing into the headboard of the bed he was on. Some of the girls got dragged along with him and ended up falling on him with surprised yelps. He hastily crawled away from under them falling off of the side of the bed while looking around everywhere trying to figure out where the hell he was and only then did his memories come rushing back to him. Him landing on the Kuja ship, fighting Sonia and all the other warriors, her cryptic words of her 'using' him, and then the doctor injecting him with an anaesthetic.

His first realization was that his head and nape were empty, so ignoring everything else, he frantically started looking for his hat. Luckily he spotted it near the bed itself and stretched his arm to grab it.

"Come back…" one of the girls drawled sultrily licking her lips.

"The fuck is going on?!" Luffy demanded putting the hat back on his head.

"What do you think?" another blushed, "We want you to get us pregnant"

"WHAT?!" Luffy was even more shocked and wanted to quickly run away from there. He used his Observation and realized he was still on the Kuja ship. He also sensed Sonia nearby, so decided to go to her. He wanted answers and she was the one who probably set this all up.

He made a dash to the door and the naked girls didn't move much other than calling him back. He ran out the door making a beeline down the corridor and thankfully didn't run into anyone. He reached a door behind which he sensed Sonia and burst into the room without warning, too pissed to care about manners. Sonia, who was sleeping, got startled by the sudden noise and sat up in bed confused.

"Wh- You?!" she yelped in surprise.

"The fuck Sonia?! Why was I being raped the moment I got up?!"

"…Impressive beast you got down there…" Sonia said eyeing his naked self and anger laced in her voice as he had dared to barge into her room so disrespectfully. "At least cover yourself up first"

Luffy only then realized that he was still naked and sighed as he grabbed a cloth he found on a nearby sofa to cover himself up. He had turned his back to her while reaching for it and when he turned back, he saw that the look of annoyance and anger on her face had reduced significantly and now looked blank. He didn't understand why in the moment and didn't think about it until much later.

Sonia, who was about to punt him off the ship in anger, froze and flinched when she had seen the burn scar on his back when he turned. Any anger instantly melted away and was replaced with dread, and it was only because of years of practice that she had managed to school her expressions and kept her face neutral. Bad memories flashed before her eyes, but on top of that, she realized that not only did he have the brand, but it was also exposed and many people had seen it… and it was all because of her. And to her who would rather die than have her brand exposed, she felt that she had done something extremely horrible to him. She didn't know what to say or do as her mind had become chaotic in such a short interval of time, so she just remained silent and neutral.

"…So?" Luffy asked when she just stared at him not saying anything.

"That was my favourite shirt…" was all she managed to mutter out latching onto a random topic. She decided to focus on the conversation and not think about anything else, hoping to forget the brand and also what she had done.

"Who cares? Now answers, please? I didn't think the Kuja would do stuff like this…"

"Do what?"

"There were six naked girls using me! And they wanted me to impregnate them!"

"Yeah so?" Sonia really didn't see the problem. All men she had seen and all the mothers who had come back to the island after getting pregnant had told her that men liked such scenarios.

Luffy calmed down seeing the genuinely confused look on her face and realized that this was her worldview. The three sisters were used as slaves and god knows what was done to them by those disgusting Celestial bastards. That caused them to develop a fear and hatred for men, so he didn't blame her for her lack of understanding. Also, with the glorified and perverted fantasy stories of the woman-only-island they probably heard and especially with Hancock around, pretty much every man they came across most probably looked at them with lust and perversion. So the thought of a man not liking something like this probably didn't even cross her mind and thus, she saw no problem with it.

"Did you not like it?" she asked genuinely curious. She had overheard many mothers conversing about men and they all had said the same thing that men liked seeing women naked when they woke up and also liked being kissed no matter what the situation was.

"Of course I didn't like it!" he snapped back irritably but sighed and calmed himself down. The six girls had never even met a man, so more than being sexual, they were more curious about him and were experimenting with him. Which was also bad, but their ignorance was just too great for him to get mad at them.

Luffy let out another deep sigh, letting his annoyance go as he sat down on a nearby chair with his parts covered "Sorry…"

Sonia didn't say anything and just studied Luffy as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"I understand you've met the worst of men and I really don't blame you for having your worldview… there really are some fucked up men out there…"

Sonia just stayed silent staring at him with surprise.

"But you need to understand that people don't like waking up and randomly finding themselves being played with…" he said in a serious tone looking at her before sighing and getting back on topic, "Why did they want me to get them pregnant though?"

"…You do know that Amazon Lily is an all-women island right?"

"Yeah… Ah, I see" Luffy nodded understanding the situation, "So, you take some women out to the world from time to time and they get pregnant…"

It was just glossed over in the story as a woman would just leave the island for a while and come back with a baby to maintain the population. 'So this is how it happened in reality.'

"Yeah, we have a few regular islands we cycle through the years and were on our way to one such island when you literally fell out of the sky. And you're pretty strong too, so wouldn't mind adding your genes to our pool"

"Yeah I get it, but no way in hell am I getting anyone pregnant"

"Why not? It's not like we're asking you to raise the kids"

"I promised myself to never have kids until a certain event and I intend to keep my promise. Besides, if I did have a kid, I want to raise it"

"Really? I've heard that all men are ecstatic to hear that they don't have to raise kids"

"…How do you select the men?"

"Usually just go to a bar or something, find some strong men and the girls seduce them."

"Yeah well, there's your problem. You go to bars and all where men usually gather to hook up, so that's all you'll see…"

"That's all there is to see"

"You look for one-night stands, so that's all you'll get… Haah forget it. No matter what, you guys don't really want a relationship either, so I guess it works out… But I'm out"

"The only reason you're alive is because we wanted to use you for this," Sonia snarled, "Just get those girls pregnant and we'll let you go. You don't have a choice."

"Well," Luffy jumped up tying another cloth around his torso and got into a fighting stance, "Guess you're back to trying to kill me and I can finally show you what my last resort is and escape"

Sonia glared at him for a while as he vigilantly watched her before she sighed falling back on the bed. "Just get lost. Go to Leah"

"And then what?"

"You're disturbing my sleep. Get lost"

Luffy sighed as he relaxed himself. The entire conversation had been so strange. She was talking and answering his questions while her mood flip-flopped around from angry and calm. One moment she would be angry and ordering him, then the next she would be back to neutral… He just didn't understand what was happening.

And he was right. Sonia's mood was indeed flip-flopping like crazy. She focused on the conversation and was surprised by his soft and understanding tone while talking about how he didn't blame her for her worldview. She would want to rebuke or say something in return, but the brand mark would suddenly pop up, she would realize what she had done to him and her mind would go blank. Then she would shake those thoughts away and try to concentrate on the conversation, but it would pop up again. When he challenged her to a fight and told her that he would rather escape than bed someone, she grew irritated, finally snapped and dismissed him.

"Goodnight, see you tomorrow" she heard him say softly before the door clicked shut. She immediately regretted it though as the room descended into silence and she couldn't escape thinking about what she had done anymore. In her mind, someone seeing her brand was akin to death, so now that she had subjected it to someone else, she was feeling incredibly guilty. She couldn't take the silence and called Hancock immediately.


———


Luffy went back to the room he had woken up in to get his clothes back and also talk to the six girls. He slowly peeked inside and found that most of them had put their clothes back on and were discussing the earlier event with each other while pouting slightly. He also spotted his clothes on the floor.

He took a deep breath before walking in and their faces brightened up.

"Just here to get my clothes" Luffy hastily said before they could jump to any conclusions, "Whatever you wanted to do with me is not gonna happen"

"Why not?" one of them whined. "Sandersonia-sama promised that you would give us kids"

"Look, there was a misunderstanding. I don't really want to have kids and I hadn't told Sonia that before. So she didn't know either and made a mistake" he said as he walked up, took his clothes and started putting them back on.

"Then are we heading back to an island?"

"Yeah probably. Sonia will tell you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah guess so…"

"Good night" he quickly waved them goodbye before walking out. Seeing the women made him remember the kiss and he still felt the slight taste of her lips. 'Kissing is really really great huh…' he thought to himself as he walked to the doctor's office where Leah probably was.

He knocked on the door, and after getting a 'Come in' he entered and saw that Leah seemed to have been sleeping at her desk itself.

"Ahh the rubber man" she smiled, "That was quick…"

"Nothing happened…" Luffy said as he sat down on the patient's bed.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I refused… Anyway, how long has it been?"

"Around 28 hours now"

"That long?!"

"You were hurt pretty bad you know… never seen self-inflicted wounds that severe. And I heard about how the fight went from the others. It's pretty impressive you were able to walk, let alone put up a good fight with your legs that badly damaged"

"Self-inflicted?"

"Yeah. Most of the damage was because of you yourself pushing your legs and body over their limits. So yes, they are classified as self-inflicted"

"Hmm yeah I guess it could be seen that way"

"As a doctor, I want to strangle you to death for breaking yourself so much but as a warrior, I respect you"

"Shishishi good thing you're both then"

Leah nodded with a smile, "So what's your situation? You refused to sleep with them? You do realize Sandersonia-sama kept you alive for that one reason alone right?"

"Yeah, talked to her already. She's gonna decide tomorrow I guess. So until then, I'm your temporary guest."

"Heh guess you're right"

Leah seemed interesting. She looked like she had experience talking with men and not like the others who looked at him like he was some strange creature. So, he tested her.

"You're from the long-leg tribe or just have a sexy pair of long legs?"

Leah smirked at him "Long-leg tribe from my father's side"

"Looks like you've lived outside Amazon Lily?"

Leah's eyes widened with realization "Damn, got that information from just me not reacting to your pathetic flirty line huh? You're good. And yes, I did live outside Amazon Lily for quite a while. My mom took me and left the island when I was around 10"

"People do that?"

"Most don't, no. Mom had… some problems I guess. So she left and took me with her"

She didn't look like she wanted to go into detail about it, so he didn't press it. "So you came back?"

"Yeah, just a couple of months ago actually. My mom died a couple of years ago and after wandering for a while, I finally decided to come back. I lived in the New World… don't know if you know what that means"

"Second part of the Grand Line where islands are crazy strange. What was yours like?"

"People usually don't believe me and call me a liar if I tell them about it, so let's not"

"I know there's an island made of cake and other sweets, an island where sentient toys walk around, an island on the back of a giant elephant that moves around… so I know things get really strange. Tell me about yours"

Leah seemed surprised for a moment before a merry giggle escaped her lips "You're refreshing! And an island on an elephant? Never heard of that"

"Oh yeah, it's humongous. The Mink Tribe lives there"

"Ooh, the Mink huh? Never met a mink before… Well anyway, my island was called Tookak island. And the strange thing about this island is that…well, all the cities float"

"Floating cities?!" Luffy gawked.

"Not really but kinda" Leah chuckled, "You see, people built infrastructure on top of these really tall trees that grow on the island. But the trees secrete a special fluid that leaks out of their barks which has the unique property of making the trees invisible. So from afar, it looks like an island with city buildings hovering in the sky"

"That. Sounds. Awesome!" Luffy exclaimed with stars shining in his eyes.

"Yep!" Leah continued excitedly, "Wooden pathways ran all over the city connecting all the buildings and longer pathways connected one city to the next one. There were multiple cities and they formed a sort of circle around the island. At its centre was the capital- The biggest and best city called Mars. I lived there with my mom and dad, and it was amazing…"

"Whoa, that sounds amazing! That's definitely going on the list of places I'm gonna visit!"

"Sasasasa yes! It's a damn good place. Since it's so high up, lighting storms were a regular thing, so you could see a constant array of lightning falling down on lightning rods… and the people were amazing too! I used to play so much with everyone…"

Leah talked about her home and how much she loved it for pretty much the whole night. She talked about other strange customs, weird games she played with the other children, unique infrastructure, and so many more new things. Luffy listened with stars shining in his eyes asking questions and kept the conversation going. He loved hearing about new islands like this as it proved that what the story showed was a small percentage of what this world truly had to offer and that his adventure wouldn't be boring the entire time as he had so much more to explore still.

Before either knew it, the sun had peeked out from the horizon and they watched the sunrise together through the porthole in the room.

"Sunrises and sunsets are pretty much the same anywhere you are huh? Beautiful and majestic" Leah said wistfully looking at the rising sun, probably reliving some memory.

"Yeah, they sure are"

"Anyway, can't believe we talked the whole night… haven't talked this much…ever. So thanks for listening"

"I enjoyed it a lot and heard so many new things too, so thank you"

"Sasasasa"

Luffy's stomach growled just then so he stood up "Imma head to the kitchen to get some food"

"Uhh I don't think it's a good idea to just wander around. The others really haven't been around men and they can get a bit… what's the right word?"

"Hostile?" Luffy offered.

"Yeah but also curiosity and wariness and excitement and apprehension all mixed in one"

"Yeah, there isn't a word for such an emotion… I would understand that reaction from people living on Amazon Lily but the women on this ship are the pirates who travel right? Shouldn't they be used to men somewhat?"

"That's the other ship the Empress is on. This ship mainly has women who are to get pregnant this time. Other than the navigator, cooks and all, this is the first time the women on this ship are away from the island"

"Ahh I see. That explains it… Then come with me"

"Yeah sure" Leah also got up stretching her body and cracking a few joints. The two left the room and headed toward the kitchen where there were already quite a few women cooking or sitting around lazily at the benches. The moment they laid their eyes on Luffy however, they became vigilant, wary, curious and excited all at the same time. Leah gave him an amused smile while he rolled his eyes at her before going towards one of the cooks, startling her.

"I'm hungry" was all he said and the woman stared at him for a good while before slowly nodding "I-It will be ready in a while… so wait"

"Okay" Luffy then went to sit on one of the benches and Leah sat across from him while the others seemed to debate with themselves on whether to talk to him or not. They even whispered amongst themselves and started pushing each other towards him saying 'You go!' 'No, you go!'

Luffy just clapped his hands getting their attention "I'll answer any question, so go ahead"

Seeing him talk first, the women got braver and one of them asked "We saw your arms and legs stretching… Do all men stretch?"

"No, it's a special power unique to me"

"How?" another asked.

"Don't ask th-" / "You can say it's a curse"

Leah and Luffy spoke at the same time and Leah was surprised by his answer. Luffy knew that the three sisters didn't really tell the whole populace of Amazon Lily about devil fruits and explained away their snake transformations as a curse. Even the previous day when someone had asked how he stretched while fighting in the kitchen, Sonia had lunged at him suddenly to make sure he didn't say anything, and so Luffy understood that he shouldn't tell mention devil fruits to the others. Leah was of course an exception to this for some reason. She gave him a surprised and curious look but the other women continued.

"Oh, a curse huh? Just like the Snake Princess"

"Can I to-…Can I touch it?" one of the women hesitantly asked.

"Sure" Luffy just launched his hand and grabbed a table at the other end of the room, thus giving everyone a long arm to play with.

"Whoa…" all of them approached and played with his arm pinching and stretching it in all sorts of ways.

"Does every part of your body stretch?" another asked coming right up to him. When he nodded, she grabbed his head before pulling it and marvelled when his neck stretched.

"Hey hey, is it true that men have balls between their legs?"

"Of course it's not, idiot! I'm sure it's something the others told us to mess with us"

"Let's hear it from him then!"

"So, do you?"

Luffy sighed internally "Yes, we do have balls… It's our family jewels"

Leah sputtered out a laugh barely holding her laughter in while the others went 'Ooohhhh'. Just then, Luffy saw the six women who were naked around him the previous day enter the kitchen. They seemed surprised to see the impromptu 'Touch the man' session but waved at him hesitantly and when Luffy waved back with a smile, they smiled and came up to him. The other women who knew it was the six women's turn with him the previous night started firing questions off at them as soon as they sat at the bench Luffy and Leah were on.

"Hey, he's saying that men do have balls. Is it the truth?" one of the six women who sat next to Leah was asked.

"Yes, it's real alright. I thought it was a joke too but it's really there!"

"Ooh hey show us!" one asked Luffy.

"No" Luffy flatly refused.

"Oh c'mon. Just take it out and show us!"

"It's not detachable!"

"Really?!"

"Yes, I tried to twist it off," one of the six girls said horrifying Luffy, "But it didn't come off"

"Ooohhh!"

"And the mushroom is real too! When we touched it, it became bigger just like Elder Mother Sym told us! But no one mentioned anything about it stretching! It could stretch very long!"

"Ooh! That can stretch too?! How big was it?"

"Really big! It was vei-"

Luffy closed his ears off not wanting to hear a bunch of women talk about his dick in such detail. He understood that they were ignorant and just followed whatever an elder supposedly told them, but it was still embarrassing as hell. He rolled his eyes at Leah who was amusedly smirking at him but thankfully a plate of hot steaming fried rice was put in front of him breaking off the conversation.

"Eat up" the chef said and he looked up at her gratefully.

"Thanks!"

It took just two seconds for his plate to get empty and he lifted it back up to her "More please!"

"Wow, I did hear how much you eat yesterday, but that was way too fast" Leah said in amazement while a few others also started gossiping about his eating habits now. The cook looked stunned for a second but soon took the plate and came back with more food. Everyone watched in amazement as he devoured plate after plate without stopping until his stomach was bulging.

"Wow… do all men bulk up like this?" one said poking his stomach with curiosity. Even Leah was curiously poking his stomach.

"Haah that was really good. It was delicious!" Luffy praised the chefs giving them a thumbs up before standing up and digesting all the food coming back to his normal state.

"Whoa… that was amazing! Men digest food that fast?!"

"How does that even work?!"

"Men sure are strange creatures"

Before they could come up with even more strange conclusions, fortunately for Luffy, Sandersonia walked in and stared in bewilderment at the scene. She had talked a lot with Hancock the previous night, telling her everything and even Hancock was surprised by how well-natured Luffy was. After she told her everything, Hancock had asked whether Luffy was distraught in any way, and only then did Sonia realize that he was angry sure, but didn't care much about his brand. That was when she doubted herself if she even saw it right or if she mistook some tattoo for the brand. She couldn't exactly go and ask him to show his back either as it could be a brand… But ultimately, she was sure that it was the brand and felt guilty about it. So, she wanted to at least not kill him. And since he was unlike other men who lusted after them and vehemently refused to sleep with anyone, she had decided that she would use him in another way.

"Morning Sonia" Luffy greeted bringing her out of her thoughts while the rest were more polite in their greeting as they bowed while saying "Good morning, Sandersonia-sama"

"What's going on?"

"We just saw him eat" Leah informed with a smile and Sandersonia nodded sagely understanding the commotion.

"Well anyway, come with me"

"Sure" Luffy followed her out after saying goodbye to the others. "So, you gonna kill me or just let me leave?"

"If you wanted to leave, why didn't you until now?"

"I know you were observing me with Observation… Didn't know if you would let me… Besides, I do need to heal a bit"

"I would have preferred it if you did escape at night and saved me the trouble of having to talk to you again" Sonia said coldly but it was just an act.

"Harsh… well, I'll leave now, no issues. Can I get a boat and directions at least?"

"You missed your chance. Not letting you go now"

"Why not?"

"I thought about how to use you last night"

"I'm not sleeping with anyone"

"Yeah yeah you made that pretty clear. What I want from you is to help these women get used to men"

"…what?"

"Help them get used to men. Usually, someone has to keep an eye on all these women when they go on an island to find men and make sure they don't do something stupid. There's usually a group that takes care of all this but last week, many came down with the flu, thus, this task fell to me. The mothers who have experienced this already have given them some lessons but every time someone or the other messes up… and we have to clean up whatever mess they make"

"Messes like what?"

"We have told them to avoid certain kind of men. You know extreme drunks, really old men, men who look like they haven't bathed in months…but someone or the other don't know any better and just pick such men… Even had a slaver once who kidnapped one of us. The others had to track them down and get her back which was a huge headache…"

"I see"

She then turned to face him and pointed at him "And that's where you come in. Judging by how you didn't jump at the chance to bed multiple women and even went as far as to sacrifice yourself instead of doin-"

"I wasn't sacrificing myself. I would have escaped"

"Sure, keep telling yourself that. Anyway, you seem like a decent man at least, so help the others get used to men and teach them not to go for the wrong kind of men. Do that and we'll leave you at that island itself"

"Where's that island?"

"Just the edge of the Grand Line. Should take us about 3 more days to get there"

"That fast?!"

"We are using Sea serpents to pull the ship after all, so yeah"

"Oh right… But I need to go to East Blue, so bring me back and drop me off at the edge of East Blue"

"Sure, that works too. We'll be going along that way anyways"

"How long would it take for the whole thing?"

"Hmm, 3 days to get there. We'll stay a week on the island and then…hmm in about 3 and a half weeks from now, we should be close enough to East Blue"

He still had under three months left, so he could comfortably make it back in time. He just wanted to get home as soon as possible but seemed like the world had other plans for him. He sighed internally and nodded at Sonia. "Okay, deal"

Sonia gave a wide smile "Good. You'll also have to deal with keeping an eye on them while on the island and make sure no one gets in trouble either."

"…You're just using me to deal with troublesome matters which you don't want to do huh?"

"You catch on quick" Sonia smirked giving him a thumbs up. It was a win-win situation for her. She could give him a ride out, alleviate her guilt while also escaping from the troubling work and nothing seemed suspicious.

"Is this really okay though?" Luffy asked a bit confused, "Letting a man keep an eye on them and all"

"Hmm well we have to meet men on this little trip, so we're just meeting one earlier I guess. And you don't seem to have any interest in bedding them, so yeah… And if you turn out to be a slaver or something and kidnap one of us, we'll just hunt you down and kill you, so it's not a big deal"

Luffy sighed thinking that there was something more to this but just shrugged and agreed to it. "Fine fine, you did save my life. So, I don't mind"

"Good. We don't really have a place for you to stay, so just stay in the doctor's office. Good luck~"

Sonia walked away happy that she had gotten out of doing the menial work and Luffy went back to the doctor's office where Leah had gone back to and told her the situation.

"Wow, she really just delegated all the troublesome work to you"

"Yeah. You're the doctor, so tell me- did the others even get a sex education? Didn't seem like it judging by how they were talking back in the kitchen. They now think every man's dick stretches… I don't even want to imagine them trying it on normal men and ripping it off. And it will be kinda my fault. I can't have that on my conscious" he shuddered.

"Hmm, I'm not sure actually. I haven't been able to spend any time on the island since I came back two months ago as I keep getting pulled into trips like now… But they probably got some pointers from the previous mothers and the other doctors back on the island, but yeah, judging by how they were talking, I don't think they understood much"

Luffy shook his head in disbelief "Didn't think I would have to be giving the birds and the bees to a bunch of women in their twenties"

"Ooh now, this I gotta watch! A 17-year-old trying to explain sex? They will probably get an even worse idea of what sex is! Sasasasasa, I'm gonna get popcorn wait!" she ran out without even waiting for an answer.

Luffy just sighed wondering where he had gone wrong in life to end up here in such a ridiculous situation. One good thing out of this was that Hancock didn't really have much of an impression of him and just knew he existed. 'Wait a minute… Did Sonia tell Hancock that I refused to sleep with anyone? We're going to an island again, so she must know right?' he wondered and thought he should ask Sonia about what she had said to Hancock to convince her to let him live.

She was on the other ship and he still didn't know why she was accompanying Sonia. He didn't think the Empress herself was needed for such a menial task and he wondered why she was even here. Actually, even Sonia wasn't needed for such a task. If her claim of people falling ill and thus the task falling into her hands was true, it didn't explain Hancock's presence. And then there was Leah. Someone who lived outside Amazon Lily and had come back…

She even said that she kept getting pulled into trips and wasn't getting a chance to spend any time on the island, so was Hancock purposefully making sure she doesn't get a chance to be on Amazon Lily, afraid that she might reveal that their snake transformations are the result of devil fruits? Did she want to kill Leah? Was that why she was here? But that didn't make sense. Why would she do it after accompanying her to some island? Couldn't she have just turned her to stone on Amazon Lily itself? And also, Leah seemed to address them a bit differently. She still showed the proper etiquette while talking to Sonia, but she was a bit more casual with her as if she was a close friend. There was something more going on and Leah was his friend now, so there was no way in hell he was going to let something happen to her, even if it meant fighting Hancock.

He was brought out of his musings when Leah came back with popcorn and also brought a guest with her. Sonia also came in with an amused grinning expression "You're going to give them 'The Talk'? I didn't ask for that but now I have to see this!"

"Yeah yeah, just gather up everyone please"

A couple of hours later after everyone was up and had had breakfast, the women were all gathered up in the kitchen itself as it could hold everyone. Leah and Sonia were standing at the back with a bucket of popcorn in hand thinking it would be a hilarious show. And it was. Except not for the reasons they thought it would be.

They expected a blubbering mess out of Luffy when the women asked questions or when he had to explain stuff in detail, but all they got was a very straightforward and blunt explanation of the deed. He didn't blush even a tiny bit and made sure everyone understood what he was saying and answered any questions. Even questions like 'Why don't you have boobs? Are they detachable and you've kept it somewhere?' which had Leah and Sonia giggling under their breath, Luffy answered with a blunt tone.

To Luffy, the women looked like clueless girls who had no guidance whatsoever, so he just thought of them as such and didn't mind answering even the stupidest question. They had a biology book at least which explained with diagrams, so he used that to explain stuff to them. He made sure to drill the importance of consent into their heads and the six women had even asked if what they did the previous night was wrong to which he responded 'Yes. Yes, it was very wrong' and they apologized. Luffy just told them that they were ignorant and would get a pass this time, but to not do it again. He spent at least 3 hours answering questions and the women learned a lot. And he had to keep reminding them that men don't stretch and that it was only him that was unique due to a curse.

After the whole session was done, he told them that they'll have another session to tell them what kind of people to avoid when they get on the island and dispersed the sex-ed class.

"Wow…didn't expect you to do such a good job" Leah said coming up to him along with Sonia after the girls dispersed.

"Yeah…you even answered stupid questions with sincerity and never once blushed…" Sonia said bewildered. "How old did you say you were again?"

"Almost 17"

"Do you have much experience in this?"

"Giving a sex-ed class? First time I've done something like this. It was…an experience I guess. Not a bad one either"

"Practical experience then?"

"Hmm in a way, yeah…"

"What does that mean? You either do or you don't"

"It's complicated" Luffy cut off any more questioning. "I'm gonna get some air"

He walked outside to the deck and found the other ship to be just next to them. The other ship was the one he had seen in the anime, a red and black ship with two green Sea Serpents pulling it and had no figurehead as such. The one he was on was pretty similar but just a bit smaller and in an inexplicable way, less majestic. It also had no figurehead either and was being pulled by two red Sea serpents. Seeing the Sea serpents, he got curious to see if he could hear them, so jumped off the deck and climbed onto one of the Sea serpent's head. It eyed him curiously but didn't make any moves to swat him away or eat him.

"Is it okay if I sit on your head for a while?" he asked after catching its eye. The sea serpent just nodded and turned its gaze back to the front focusing on pulling the ship. These creatures were raised and spent time around the Amazons, so he was right in assuming that they understood human speech. He made himself home on its crown and saw the wide open Calm Belt which had almost killed him. He also spotted the reptilian Sea King that had chased him. It was still following him but kept a respectful distance from the ship, either scared of the Sea serpents or Hancock. "Guess you're not gonna give up on me huh?" he said staring at it intently before dismissing it and looking back at the Sea serpent he was perched on.

"Hey, you can understand my words right?"

The sea serpent he was sitting on turned its eyes upwards and the other one eyed him sideways, both nodding their heads before turning their gazes back to the front.

"Hm, and you also have a Sea King language right? Which you use to communicate with each other?"

Another nod.

"Can you try saying something to me? I want to see if I'm able to understand you"

The two just stared ahead not doing anything and Luffy just stared awkwardly not knowing if they were ignoring him or saying something to him. "Umm did you guys say something?"

Nod.

"Hmmm" Luffy scratched his head wondering how to listen to them. He had managed to hear one word from the reptilian Sea King, so he thought he would be able to hear them now at least. 'Wait, are these Sea Serpents even Sea Kings in the first place?' He didn't recall anything specific from the story, but just shrugged not caring about the classification. Zunesha wasn't a Sea King but he had still heard it, so it wasn't exclusive to Sea Kings. It was the Voice of All Things, so he should be able to hear these creatures too. 'Are there any trigger factors?' He thought about it more and suddenly remembered that he had also heard Rouge back at her grave. 'Was that somehow related to Voice of All Things too? Did I actually hear her because I somehow used this power?'

His mind kept making up all sorts of theories, but he finally shook all his thoughts away and started to meditate with his eyes closed, focusing on nothing but his surroundings with his Observation. He felt the slow breathing of the Sea serpents, his own steady breathing, the soft creaks of the ships… and tried to empty his mind. After a certain point, he stopped his Observation too and just let himself go not thinking about anything. After no idea how long, he slowly heard a very very low sound. He latched onto it but it felt like the more he concentrated on it, the less he could hear it and finally lost it. So he again just let himself go and emptied his mind letting his instincts take over.

After some time, he again heard the low sound. It was very low gibberish sounds from which he couldn't even make out any words. He didn't concentrate on it and just let it come to him. After a long time of just hearing low nonsense sounds, they became low whispers and he could hear what felt like phonetic sounds. It was a very surreal experience and again, he didn't focus on it and slowly let it flow.

As he was experiencing this phenomenon, there was a very loud shout right in his ear of "BOO!" which had him jumping in fright. He opened his eyes in panic and found himself a few feet in the air while a grinning Sonia was near where he was sitting. He gave her an annoyed glare as he landed back while she burst out laughing.

"Why did you do that? I felt like I was close to grasping something…"

"Something? Like what?"

"Ehh forget about it… So you also pull pranks huh?"

"Of course I do!"

"Well, you just opened yourself up for a prank war. Get ready to get jumped and scared…"

"I have Observation, so there's no way you can get me"

"Shishi we'll see" Luffy smirked getting a challenging smirk in return.

"Anyway, you've been up here for a very long time, so got curious as to what you were doing"

"Very long?" It was only then that he realized that it had become evening already and his stomach was grumbling. "Wow… how many hours exactly?"

"Over 7 hours"

"Damn… felt like minutes. Anyway, let's get me some food"

"Good god, you eat so much! Control yourself! We don't have enough for the rest"

"Is that so?" Luffy said before nodding "Okay, then"

"Wait, you really can?" Sonia asked bewildered.

"Yeah give me a minute" he said jumping back on deck and going to the doctor's office where his bag was. Leah wasn't there so he just went through his bag, brought out his cuffs and wore it. He went back out and walked up to Sonia, whose eyes widened with shock after seeing the cuffs.

"Are those sea stone cuffs?!"

"Uh huh… why the surprise? Never seen one?"

"Well it's not that…" she said staring at him intently, "Why aren't you collapsing? There's no way you haven't eaten a devil fruit, so you should be collapsing right about now…"

She even touched the sea stone and felt her energy being sapped before she quickly snapped her hand back "And that's sea stone alright"

"Wore them for a couple of years continuously and got used to it. My energy has of course been sapped greatly but I can still fight"

Sonia looked wide-eyed at him "W-why though?"

"Training" Luffy shrugged. "And situations like now too. My body requires me to eat a lot so if I wear these, it'll suppress it a bit and I'll need a lot less to survive. I still need a lot though, but it's comparatively lesser, so problem solved" he said with a smile and a thumbs up.

"I-I see…"

"See ya later. I still do need to eat" Luffy walked away not understanding why Sonia was acting weird. Did the sea stone cuffs trigger some bad memory in her? He thought about it a bit and concluded that it probably did. From what he had seen of her briefly, she seemed pretty strong, mentally speaking, so this contradictory behaviour confused him. He shook his head stopping his train of thought and decided not to pry too much. He already knew stuff he shouldn't and analyzing her just seemed wrong, so he let it go. He had a date with meat now after all so forgot about everything else.

Meanwhile, any doubts Sonia had of him being a slave were wiped away as no sane person would force themselves into sea stone cuffs willingly.


———


Luffy was carrying two drinks in his hands - one a green tea and the other a chocolate milkshake, as he walked towards Sonia's room. It was right after dinner and Leah had asked him to deliver the green tea to Sonia as he was heading in the general direction anyway. He reached her room and knocked on it with his leg.

"Come in"

Luffy opened the door and found Sonia lying on her stomach with a blanket draped over her. "Oh it's you" she said clearly disappointed.

"I get that you don't like me. No need to prove it every time" he said walking up to her and handing her the green tea. "Leah sent it"

She took it and started sipping it without saying anything while still laying on her stomach. Luffy started to walk out but then thought about all the questions he wanted to ask, so just sat on a nearby chair since the two were alone. Sonia raised an eyebrow at him wondering what he was doing when Luffy began.

"Just wondering about some things. I've been meaning to ask, but why is Hancock even here? Should the empress be even accompanying you guys on such a menial routine task? And what about you yourself?"

She didn't seem to mind him staying in the room and just responded. "First off, I've noticed from the start that you're quite rude while addressing others huh? Calling Sister as just Hancock and shortening my name to Sonia…"

"Ehh don't care much for etiquette in names. Her name is Hancock so I'll call her Hancock. Your name is a mouthful so shortened it"

"That is quite rude"

"It's fine it's fine"

"You are an idiot huh?" Sonia sighed. "And to answer your question- Yeah, Sister or I don't usually do this. As I said, many people that usually do this came down with a flu so they couldn't go. Elder Nyon…um she's an elder we know… she pretty much asked me to take this batch of women personally and hence I'm here. When I was leaving, Sister was coming back from patrol and saw me, so just decided to tag along I guess"

"Hmm I see" Luffy said not buying the story. Even if he wasn't actively analyzing her, he still noticed a lot of things he wouldn't have before - the slight aversion of the eyes during certain parts of the sentences, the over-explanation, the usage of exclusion qualifiers,… so many things pointed out to him that she was lying.

"What?"

"I didn't say anything"

Sonia glared at him for a while before opening her mouth again "You know, you're very suspicious"

'And now, shifting the target…' Luffy tilted his head "Me? Why?"

"Why did you tell the others that it's a curse instead of saying it's a devil fruit when they asked about your stretching?" she asked suspiciously.

"Well, I kinda know about your whole Gorgon eye curse that turns anyone that sees it into a stone statue thing…"

Sonia immediately got alarmed as her body tensed up but she still kept a cool exterior. "Yeah so?"

"It's obviously not true and I honestly don't care why you hide the fact that your powers are devil fruit related… Yesterday while fighting in the kitchen, someone asked me how I stretched and you quite suddenly lunged at me. That was enough for me to know that you don't want devil fruits to be known by everyone and so, said it was a curse and didn't expose it"

Sonia blinked in honest surprise at him. "Why though? I was trying to kill you. I was your enemy"

Luffy's first thought was to say that they were two different matters, but he suddenly remembered that that was exactly what he had said in the story too. That had made a good impression on Hancock, so chose not to say it in case Sonia somehow brought it up with her.

Instead, he just shrugged "Just a whim"

"Not only that, but you even told those six girls that there was a miscommunication between me and you and that's why I promised them that they can bed you…" Sonia continued in an accusing tone.

"Didn't want to deal with the conversation where I tell them they forced themselves on me, so just gave them an out… They were ignorant after all"

"Hmm what were you really doing all the way in the middle of the Calm Belt?"

"I already told you"

"I get the Sea King attacked you and all that, but why were you in the Calm Belt in the first place?"

"I told you that too. Got separated from the cargo ship crew and I spent a while drifting before I found your ships… What are you even suspicious about?"

"Don't know… you just seem strange"

"Strange how?"

"Well, Leah tells me you knew about some islands in the New World"

"Okay so?"

"You said your home is in East Blue. How do you even know about New World then? And you also don't seem surprised by the Grand Line. Usually, people from East Blue have an extreme reaction when they hear anything about Grand Line…"

"I was in the Grand Line for a bit…"

"You were? Why?"

"Involuntarily"

Luffy didn't mind that he was a slave but he didn't want to tell Sonia as she would sympathize with him. And if she told Hancock, she would also sympathize with him and maybe pay more attention to him? It was a long leap in logic sure, but he didn't want to take any chances.

"What do you mean involuntarily?"

Luffy sighed "Don't you know social cues people use when they don't want to tell you something?"

"Of course I do. But I still want to know because you're suspicious"

"Why though? What do you think I'll do?"

"I'm not sure… Things just don't quite add up with you"

She looked at him expectantly and Luffy sighed knowing she wouldn't let it go. "I was taken by slavers from East Blue and found myself six months later in the Grand Line in a death pit. Someone saved me and here I am trying to find my way back home. Happy?"

Sonia gasped as soon as she heard the word 'slavers' and had brought a hand up to cover her mouth. She berated herself that she should have realized that it was related to his slavery when he said he was in the Grand Line involuntarily.

"That burn on your back…" she said before she could think, "It is a brand…"

"Yep" Luffy confirmed and it finally hit him why the previous night's conversation seemed so strange. His back was exposed, so she had seen the mark and thus was taken off guard… 'Oh my god, did she think that she did something horrible to me? Is she feeling guilty?… Yeah. Probably. Everything makes so much more sense now. Why she answers my questions. Why she didn't just kill me… She's feeling guilty, so is being a bit lenient with me… Oh my god, did she tell Hancock?!'

"Which brand?" she asked bringing him out of his spiralling thoughts and he let go of the past and concentrated on how to answer here.

He had two choices - If he lied saying it wasn't a hoof brand, it would be like he was hiding it because he was ashamed. He definitely wasn't and the only reason he was reluctant to tell her was because of the whole Hancock situation. She already knew the truth so if he lied here, she would obviously think that he was ashamed of it and thus, hid it. And if she concluded that, it'd only support her own idea of being ashamed of the brand. Hancock especially thought that if anyone found out, they would think of her as less than human and shun her. And that was a load of bullshit. He still wanted to bring her and her sisters out of that line of thinking, so he chose to tell the truth.

"The brand of those Celestial bastards" Luffy answered not knowing how she would react.

Sonia gawked at him with her mouth wide open, not expecting him to be so open, before slipping out of the covers and walking up to him. She grabbed his shirt without saying anything and pulled it over his head. She saw the brand on his back and even though it looked a bit different, judging by the colour and vague shape, she could tell that it was the brand and she now had complete confirmation.

"What happened?" she asked with a mix of pity and understanding.

"Well, I was like the most uncooperative slave ever you see. No matter what they did, I just took it and didn't comply with anything they asked. I'm gonna become the Pirate King, the freest man on the sea, so hell if I'm gonna bow down to some bastards and follow their orders. When they were finally branding me, I kinda unleashed Conqueror's Haki making a lot of them faint. The guy who was branding me also fainted and just ended up dragging the brand across my back resulting in this" he said pointing at the long burn mark on his back. "I tried to escape then, but failed. Tried another time, but failed again. After that, I guess they thought I was too much of a hassle, so they lethally poisoned me and threw me out in the death pit at Mariejois. I got astronomically lucky, survived somehow and here we are"

Sonia's eyes had glazed over and she remained silent for a few moments staring at the burn mark on his back. Luffy wondered what was going through her head as she hadn't even reacted to the fact that he had Conqueror's. After a few seconds, she finally asked "…What do you mean you were uncooperative?"

"Pretty much what it means. They told me to stand, I sat down. They told me to walk, I kept sitting. They pulled my nails out and told me to say 'sorry' if I wanted the torture to stop, I just kept sitting. They held a gun to my head and told me to lick their boots, I pressed my forehead closer to the gun daring them to shoot… No one is allowed to take my freedom away so I just remained uncooperative…" he trailed off wondering why she was stuck up on that part of his confession. Why is him being uncooperative so shocking? He thought about and a moment later he realized why, so added, "I only have one weakness and that is my friends or family, and I was pretty much alone there, so they couldn't break me. I would have broken if they had someone precious to me there, but thankfully I was alone there so I had nothing to lose except myself"

Sonia's eyes widened with shock as she heard his words and she felt a new kind of respect blooming for the Strawhat man.

"Uhh I get that my body is desirable, but I don't wanna sleep with you either…" Luffy said as she was still holding his shirt over his head with one hand while the other was touching the burn scar.

Sonia took a moment to realize what he was talking about as she was too lost in thought and got pissed at him for making a joke like that. "Idiot! Your body isn't desirable!" she huffed letting go and walking back to her bed.

"Tell that to the ship full of women who look at me like I'm sort of candy they what to gobble up…"

Sonia sighed, her mind too preoccupied with the fact that she had in fact done a very bad thing to him. She had suspicions the previous night, but now that she had confirmation, she couldn't escape the fact that she herself had set up a situation where others saw his brand mark. And to top it all off, she had forced him to share the information with her too. If someone had done that to her, she would have broken down sobbing and it would have hurt her a lot psychologically, so she thought that she had done an extremely bad and unforgivable thing to Luffy. And she also realized in horror that she had just now straight up lifted his shirt and stared at it and even touched it. She was way too lost in hearing his confession that she didn't even realize it until then.

Feeling extremely guilty, she apologized "…I'm sorry for making you share that… I understand that it might be a shameful past"

And there it was. The thing Luffy wanted to make sure she didn't think that about him and indirectly, herself and her sisters. He had told her all that bluntly and without shame so that she wouldn't make that conclusion, but she ultimately ended up making it. She didn't even realize that he had no trouble telling her about all this and wasn't bothered the least bit by it. She was projecting herself onto his situation way too much to make an objective conclusion.

So now, he had to make sure to drill it into her head that he wasn't ashamed and that he isn't less of a human just because he had a slave brand. And make her realize that she shouldn't be ashamed and think of herself as less than human either.

"A shameful past? Why would it be a shameful past? I was just a bit reluctant to talk about it as people usually pity me, but I'm over it"

"…you're over it?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I survived didn't I? Now, I just gotta get stronger so that I never find myself in such a situation ever again. And I'm exponentially stronger than I was back then you know" he said flexing his muscles. "I'm gonna get even more stronger, and protect myself and my friends so that this doesn't happen again. And that's pretty much it"

"…Don't you think of yourself as… less than human because of the brand?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oh please, it's just a burn mark. As if that would define me" Luffy scoffed before continuing, "I'm defined by my ideals, my morals, my actions and my dreams… I get why you would say that though. Those bastards did try to drill it into my head that my only worth was as a slave to them and that I was less than human. And I always had only one response to that- I looked at them as if they were stupid and just said 'No I'm not.'… In hindsight, I guess me saying that was what increased the torturing they did to me, buuut I'd still do the same if I found myself in the same situation again… Man, it was so funny when they came in all threatening and menacing-like and told me I was worthless, told me I'm nothing but a pet to them and all… and when I just stared at them like they were stupid and simply said 'No, I'm not', it threw them off their entire game. The first time I did it, they were taken aback, but just laughed it off. But I kept saying the same thing and started calling them stupid or asked them if they had bad hearing or something and they just became bewildered. Shishishishi it was hilarious watching their faces!"

Sonia's mouth had fallen open as she stared at him with bewildered awe. She remembered the same things being said and done to her as she cried and sobbed… she couldn't imagine someone saying something back to the torturers or ever think that it was a hilarious situation.

Luffy continued excitedly "They were doing this to me in the middle of cages with other slaves to serve as an example as to what happens to disobedient slaves you see, and when I said stuff like that, I guess it inspired the others too. So when the next person was being tortured and she was told that she was worthless, she was a pet, she was less than human and all, she just stared at me for a second… then looked back up at her torturer… and simply said 'No, I'm not.' too! I burst out laughing seeing the gobsmacked look on the torturer's face and so did she. We both howled with laughter seeing our tormentors like that and pretty soon, all the slaves in the cages there started howling with laughter too screaming 'No! I'm not!' and 'Fuck you!' and started making fun of them… Man, that was probably the best moment there. Seeing their hopeless hollow expressions turning into one of desire and rebellion…" Luffy trailed off wistfully, "It was amazing"

Sonia had a gobsmacked look on her face not able to even imagine such a scenario. With disbelieving but shining and excited eyes, she asked "Wh-what happened next?!"

"Hmm I took that chance to attack the guy behind me, pushed a few more towards the cages. People inside the cages caught and choked them to death. Shishi yeah, we started staging a prison break while laughing like a bunch of crazy loons. One guy stole the keys and unlocked himself before unlocking the rest. We only found the keys to the chains though, so the sea stone cuffs on me and a few others were still there. But it had been a long time since I was wearing it so I was used to it. Sadly though, we were all starved for weeks having eaten only morsels of food every now and then, so couldn't put up much of a fight. This was like a year ago, so I wasn't as strong as I am now either… Well, a lot of stuff happened but by the end, sea stone nets, paralyzing arrows and some sort of sleeping gas snuffed out the rebellion before it could get bigger. But we killed a lot of those slavers though and a few of us managed to escape the underground slave chamber. I couldn't though and got caught again. After that, I was put in an isolated cell, and a short time later, I was lethally poisoned and thrown into the death pits. They said they wanted me to die a slow painful death for causing that much chaos among them. Never saw the others who escaped, so not sure what happened to them, but I'm hopeful they escaped"

"…you're like Fischer Tiger…" Sonia breathed in awe.

"Nah, Tiger was a hero. Me? I was just a clueless kid who didn't really know how the world worked. I didn't even know I was at Mariejois or that the bubble helmet wearing people were the Celestial Dragons back then… I just did and said what I wanted like always and that sorta inspired the others I guess. What Tiger did was so much more amazing"

Sonia just sat on her bed in stunned silence not knowing where to start. She remembered the cages, the death fights, the inhumane torturers… and imagining someone laughing in such a situation was…was… she didn't even have a word to express the disbelief she was feeling. Ironically, the only word to describe the situation that was coming to her head was hilarious. If she had been there and seen such a situation, she would have defiantly laughed out loud too. And not only did he laugh and fight himself, but inspired the others to do the same and led a rebellion. And to top it all off, he even said that Tiger was an amazing hero, so her respect for him shot up even more. She just sat there staring at him in bewildered awe.

"So Sonia, bottom line?" Luffy continued, "I'm not defined by the marks on my body. I'm not defined by what others did to me. Even if I was threatened by them saying they would torture someone precious to me, and I ended up obeying them and did some things I wasn't proud of…even then I'm not defined by those actions that I was forced to do… The only thing that defines me is what I willingly do with my life. I'm defined by the choices I make. I'm defined by what path in life I choose to follow"

Luffy got up from his chair and walked up to her while she stared blankly at him. He stood in front of her and stared up into her eyes, "So thinking it's a shameful past? Thinking what they said to me or did to me or forced me to do defines who I am? To anyone who suggests that me or any slave is less than human just because of a fucking mark?" he leaned forward, grabbed her collar and yanked her down to his eye level, and while strongly gazing into her eyes, he emphasized, "I will always laugh in the face of whoever tells me that and say four simple words - 'No. I'm. fucking. not.'…Got that?"

Sonia meekly nodded her head staring wide-eyed at Luffy hanging onto his every word as if she were in a daze.

"Good that you understand!" Luffy grinned letting her go and only then did Sonia come slightly out of her daze and started to breathe again not even having realized she had stopped breathing at some point.

He had said everything he wanted to say, so decided to leave and let her stew in her own thoughts. "Imma head out then… Good night"

Sonia just nodded still staring at him wide-eyed and Luffy left closing the door behind him. He thought he did a pretty good job of getting the point across without letting her know that he knew she also had a brand. He made it about himself and generalized it at the end too. She would hopefully apply it to herself too and hopefully, come out of that stupid mentality. And hopefully, she would talk to Hancock and Marigold too and convince them to break that sort of mentality too. He didn't want to say all this directly to Hancock as she would fall in love with him, but indirectly through Sonia should be fine. Hopefully.

He went back to Leah blissfully unaware that two other people apart from Sonia had just heard the entire conversation and had their worldview's shattered.

---

A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it.

Okay, let me address a few things that's been brought up by many people.

Pouring sea water shouldn't weaken the user - In Red, we see Luffy being weakened by people throwing buckets of water on him and I had the same scene in mind while writing that part. If you pour enough water on yourself, you'll kinda feel like you're being submerged right? You'll have a film of water around yourself, so it kinda feels like you're submerged, so I guess it works like that. So yeah, that should explain it. I know Oda has explained in an SBS how users feel weak when only when half-submerged and all, but I remember scenes from the anime where Luffy becomes weak just by putting his arms in the sea (Gomu Gomu no Screw comes to mind), so yeah…

Luffy shouldn't get shocked even if he's wearing sea stone cuffs - The argument here is that passive DF abilities will still have their effect even if the user is touching sea stone. By this logic, what are its effects on someone like Katakuri? Since he's made out of mochi and passive abilities are still in effect, even if he's cuffed with sea stone, shouldn't he be able to easily rip his arms out since it's just mochi and make new ones, thus removing the handcuffs? Seastone would lose all its meaning if passive abilities are fully in effect in users.

Most logical stance on this is that seastone weakens the powers enough that such things shouldn't be possible. So Katakuri's powers are weakened enough so that he can't just rip his arms out, and Luffy's rubber powers are weakened enough that he'll feel electric shocks. Plus, abilities are directly related to stamina, so since Luffy is starved, that also weakens his powers further, thus making it possible for him to get electrocuted.

Lots of debates and arguments could be had about this, but the above is the headcanon in my story.

Ohara is in West Blue - Yes, it is. Luffy doesn't find the island in South Blue, does he? Just showing that Leo's knowledge isn't always a 100% accurate here. It's also an inside joke with myself. I, for some reason, thought that Ohara was in South Blue and had written a story thread where Luffy finds an old Oharan map on the Wyllian island from an old boat that had washed up at that island (with passengers dead by magma). He then goes to Ohara, finds all the books missing but still finds one small book. He would later give that to Robin which would lead to a cute intimate moment(platonic) between them, but after I wrote a bit, I finally went 'wait a minute' and googled where exactly Ohara was and had to scrap this story thread. Besides, it's a good realistic way to show that Leo's memories aren't a 100% correct all the time. I'll just have Robin correct him later in the story.

Phew~ I guess that's it about previous chapters. I'll maybe go back and edit a few sentences to make it more clear when I have the time. Now, onto this chapter. Hope you liked it and if you feel that there's not enough Hancock here, just remember that this is just part 1. Part 2 is almost complete, and I'll post it within a week.

Stay safe and happy y'all. See you next time.

 

[Hellteddy]

Thank you for the updoot!

Hancock for waifu

 

[Kalesin]

And now he got all 3 of them instead of just Hancock, mwa-ha-ha-ha!

 

[KillerFish]

And he fails his Observation Haki roll whilst dumping his backstory and life philosophy on someone, inadvertently causing the thing he was trying to avoid to happen. Task failed successfully!

 

[AncientFunOP]

Edited the chapter a bit to make some scenes less explicit. No change in the story though.

 

[Jiopaba]

I'm really excited to see Luffy blowing up the canon timeline and meeting his old friends again, so I was a bit disappointed to see a Kuja sidebar and a "Part 1" at that, but it's really good! I'm certainly having a blast. And yes, Luffy accidentally making all three of the Amazon sisters fall in love with him instead of one would be peak irony, given his goals.