Archive of Our Own ^beta

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It wasn’t always that way. Previously he had no inclinations to anything outside the experience of his own person. Not that he ever knew that’s what it was. In his first encounter with the red haired pirates, his first thought was obviously what was taught to him. As such a young child what other perceptions he was supposed to have but those imparted by his grandfather, the most imposing opinion in anyone's recollection. So he yelled at them, an impertinent little brat as he was, and truly forever remains. Then he finds they quickly become his favorite people. Kind and exciting, the only ones too who can and are willing to keep up with him. He meets Shank’s daughter, hears about Yassop’s son, plays games, sings their shanties, and hears many of their stories.

To a kid who knew nothing beyond the village, of both the welcoming and the judgment of living in a small town, they became his hope, his everything. Oh how he wanted it, longed for the freedom they boasted, it was all he could imagine. He knew it too, that no one could be that disingenuous when speaking of something so wonderful so fondly. That was the beginning, the first time he heard whispers of stories beyond the seas, further than what the pirates who became his family had told him. Stories older than he knew anyone could exist graced him through the winds.

Shanks wouldn’t let him go with them. He’s used to being denied things, but he’s also learned very quickly about perseverance. So he doesn’t give up, never ever ever. Especially not after he’s told through Shank’s words about the pirate king. Though that wasn’t the first time he had heard of him, not truly, he’d just not understood what he was hearing when the shivers ripped down his spine when the songs of the sea came to him. Especially not since earlier just that morning the Red Force had come in feeling just that much freer above the waves than usual. Oh today would be the day, not like every other time he thought as much, not like the day he’d felt histories of battles bound to their participants by long healed flesh. Not like the day where he decided that what he needed to prove his prowess was a wound of his own, to prove to them his resilience. Today they would take him, today he would share in that freedom, he’d felt it before they’d even arrived, not that he really internalized what that feeling was enough to recognize it.

So when a small unimposing group of bandits came in to knock Shanks, his Shanks, down a peg just to be laughed at and laugh it off, no, no he could not tolerate that. As just a kid though, in reality, not that it mattered to him, what was he to do but reach for the whispers promising prosecution, promising retribution, promising freedom. He had to admit, despite the implications, the fruit was the worst tasting thing he’d find ever to exist. Maybe that was why it couldn’t swim, such a thing should be at the bottom of the ocean, where it could lay in its creator's embrace, far from prying eyes and greedy hands, but that would be absurd. So imagine his surprise, also after eating his fruit, in feeling the full effects of his open freedom, is it called into question. Gum-Gum fruit. Well alright. He felt it after he’d eaten it, the joy, the freedom, the warmth. Sure though, who is he to say what they do or don’t call it. Not when far in the distance too many greedy men sit around, holding chains to the necks of those enslaved. When far in the distance, islands upon islands follow their example in hopes of not joining the enslaved, clinging to their freedom by stealing that of others.

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Garp takes him up the mountain. Luckily it is only after he is better accustomed to his newfound openness, though his physical control could use some work still. Now, luckily he’s better attuned to which of the whispers floating by causing shivers speak of something current, or something long past. Which ones actually pertain to him, which is a rarity, even more so when he does understand their messages. As he is carried up the mountain though, the shivers return: Soon to be mothers wrapping and warping their stomachs in hopes if only disfiguring themselves will give their children just the chance at life. One such woman, golden skin kissed in stars from the sun, strawberry golden hair gently swaying in the breeze, determination set into every fiber of her being. She is beautiful and she is free and loving as much as she is in pain. Witnessing the slaughter of her peers, women she had known and longed to meet their children nearly as much as her own.

Ace. For someone only three years older than himself, the kid carries a lot of animosity: A shout in a bar, a whisper behind a pompous fan in a mock crystal city built upon the corpses of its people, the mumbles from the very curly haired woman he’d just been introduced to, mocking, distaining, pitying. Luffy supposes it’s natural. Doesn’t mean the kid shouldn’t apologize for spitting on someone unnecessarily, jeez. Even so, he’s here, Ace is here, they should be friends. So he follows him, again, and again, and again. The shivers still bother Luffy, but not as much when he’s busy chasing Ace. They’re harder to deal with when he’s alone, he’s never liked being alone, never could handle it despite it being a near constant for him. The people of Windmill were kind, but they knew where he came from, and found him annoying either way. What other kids were around tended to avoid him, he was always some kind of too crazy. Either he was too strong for them from the get go, or they found he knew too much yet nothing at all and that innately frightened just about anyone. Ace though, Ace was even stronger than he was. Not that he couldn’t beat him though, he totally could, totally.

It’s weird, extra weird, to feel simultaneous shivers go up and down your spine at the same time: A blond boy behind closed doors, behind bars, locked up. Words of disdain and disappointment. A “family” built upon a weak visage made from desperation to for appearances. An even more desperate bid at escape. One so close and the other so far, but despite the feeling they are not simultaneous.

Sabo, he decides, is good to have by Ace’s side. Two halves of whatever they made as a whole, a whole nutcase maybe. Seeing as they were about to kill him, or maybe not, and then maybe yes and with his only weakness too! How could they have known! He totally didn’t yell out not to throw him into water in his blind panic or anything, nope.

Bluejam brings with him all kinds of shivers, gross, disgusting, and unmentionable. Not that Luffy understands many of them so they’re quickly shrugged off even while being interrogated and beaten like a rubbery pinata. Eventually though as people tend to, they’ll have to get tired of this, and he’ll get out of here somehow. It turns out to be the best somehow when it’s Ace and Sabo who come bursting through the doors of his little torture shed to free him. Ace does yell at him a lot after he’s all patched up though, not that that’s any change from the usual. Being told he hates crybabies is a new revelation though. So he stops, until he manages to at least thank the two of them but then he stops again.

“Being alone is much worse than getting hurt!”

From the perspective of anyone else such words from a child should be unnerving. To Ace and Sabo too even with their own hardships they feel unease from such a declaration: Like being dunked in cold water, like being replaced, like being unwanted. Luffy shivers in front of them and they can only think it’s from a cold they don’t feel. Ace still thinks Luffy is just a little idiot, one whose love may change if he knows Ace is unworthy, but for now he feels not just needed but finally wanted. Sabo sees it too, what he’s been trying to beat into Ace’s thick skull this whole time finally sinks in, and he can only be grateful to that same little idiot.

Luffy is a weird kid to know, be around, and live with. He’s just about always running around or spewing some kind of random nonsense like his rubberiness makes him incapable of not bouncing in some capacity. Sometimes though, he stares out into nothing in near stillness. Nearly as unnerving as after something he shouldn’t have known rushes straight through him only for them to then be met with unbearingly deep eyes and hit with some unfathomable revelation usually in the form of something they didn’t think they needed to hear until then. Mentions of how they are loved, needed, wanted, how smart they are, how incredible, what a good team they make, how they will be invaluable to their own crews in the future the way they are to him. Things that become commonplace as they really should be but never were.

The three of them become brothers by vow in an exchange of sake though they all know they’ve been connected much longer already. Luffy tells them stories of those long before them who shared the same ritual, though with his storytelling skills it really comes up as nonsense. They listen to him anyway.

Luffy shivers a lot when they go through Hightown. Sabo can’t blame him. It’s as if any authenticity had been sucked out of the entire town along with their lives while trying to mimic the cruelty of Celestial Dragons. How that could be seen as admirable he has never nor could he ever understand. When the boys had encountered Sabo’s father he was struck with a kind of terrifying mortification, remembrance of where he came from. He does manage to temporarily set that aside though, he seriously thinks they should get luffy more than just shorts and tank tops, the kid must be getting sick. After that though, he’s got to go.

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Ace is real sick of the kids shit tbh. Not that he wasn't before but now he's seriously not sure if he can handle it. Not without Sabo. It's supposed to be the three of them. To make things worse, which is what led to this point (what point is that he'll get back to), Luffy was so adamant that Sabo loved them, that he couldn't want to leave them. Well he's an idiot anyway. He may occasionally say things that make sense, very rarely but it does happen, but this isn't one of those times. Because Luffy isn't smart enough to make anecdotes about blond boys and bird cages alright? Something or other about how it's happened before or will or something, anyway it doesn't make sense and he's dumb. Back to the situation at hand though, Ace is tied to a tree, Luffy is back to crying. Also Sabo goes from just being gone, to dead. So much for them keeping Luffy warm and healthy.

:For all their prosecution it is injustice that is the worst crime. A man stands above, a signature green cloak obscured in the raging storm betraying his stoicism. He is not the only one who knows that it is the lowliest of individuals that use their arrogance as excuses to look down on others. Thrones built of inbred lies are only bound to crumble.

Luffy, of course, has no idea what in the deep seas that was about, so he forgets it just about immediately. It has nothing to do with his brothers after all. It won't get Ace untied in his rage. It won't help Sabo. It won't bring him back. Not now and not much much later when he shivers through the feeling of re encountering a forgotten memory lying beneath the surface, a feeling once familiar returning the same yet so strange. Renewed purpose in the form of boundless hatred and the visage of a girl in pink and the image of a burned sun.

Ace now has to deal with everything himself, he's the sole big brother here and his idiot little brother has only ever gotten himself into trouble. He has to learn to be patient, Sabo isn't here for that now. Which also means Sabo’s not here to play guessing games as to what the fuck Luffy is talking about after he gets his weird fucking wiggles and staring creepily. He doesn't have the words to help Luffy convey whatever the hell he thinks may or may not, but probably not, actually be important. Sometimes he says things like he remembers the feeling of a pipe in his hands, like no shit, we use them everyday. Other times he'll, badly mind you, describe a place that may not exist just to longingly inquire how far away it is. Which isn't all that strange especially when he wonders if there's a meat island and how to get to it. It's only after some etiquette lessons with Makino that Luffy describes a place which apparently does exist but shouldn't that he remembers that occasionally with enough guesses Luffy is bound to get something right, even if it's the worst thing at the worst time. Makino looks at them horrified, neither of the boys know what's wrong. That is until Makino asks when Garp told him about Mariejois. She says some things that he didn't know Makino was capable of saying, learns a few new swears and insults in the process, and she asks that they forget all about it which it seems like after laughing at Makino’s new behavior Luffy already has.

:Stone collars some betraying the essence of the seas encircle the necks of those who should be free.

Ace is absolutely the most worried about leaving Luffy alone. He'd already promised years ago that he wouldn't die and he has no intentions of breaking that promise. It's just that if he's not physically there with Luffy there's no way he can be sure he's kept out of trouble. Which is really impossible anyway because if trouble doesn't find him, Luffy will find his own intentionally or not. Still, a promise is a promise and he's seventeen today.

:Treasure is simply whatever it is you've sought after all your life, whatever you wanted but didn't have, not necessarily riches and gold. For some their greatest treasure is the family they've amassed, even if it was through forced abduction.

Ace sets off to sea and once again Luffy is alone. Three years alone on Mount Cubo, he feels it won't be the longest he'll have to face. Not when knows he still has a brother out there.

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Adventure! Luffy has finally set out to sea! He gets snippets of shivers he's used to brushing off. He's seventeen after all, he's had a lot of practice, not that he's needed it. Hard things are hard y’know. Much easier to forget. Especially when he's much more preoccupied with finding his crew, and this whirlpool, and then starving. Seriously, he's super hungry. Like super super hungry. Don't mind the pink haired weak kid. Ace doesn't care for weak people so neither should he. No matter how much the kid reminds him of the feeling of the rare moments his grandfather would speak (not yelling) about the rare rare rare instances of when being a marine might sound appealing to anyone at all. This kid feels like the will to protect. He's the one who thinks he needs protecting right now though so clearly he's weak and stupid. All the way up until he's not. Coby, possibly for the real first time in his life (false starts and failed attempts not included), speaks his Will. Luffy's kinda proud of the kid. So he doesn't let that go to waste. Also, the fat lady feels like slippery greasy lies so no thank you.

Clam town is weird too. Stilted in a way not far from High town, like a facade. Or maybe more like a tripwire, just on the edge of something: A golden bullseye and a feathered hat. A single man sits alone in the center of a castle. The top is a lonely place if you let it be: A promise to a friend, theirs Will bound together. The end set in stone as much as the journey remains undetermined. He will be. It's entirely familiar to Luffy in the way he will be the pirate king. That's not what these people are feeling though. For the most part they're like him, going about their freedom, but they've also seen things, heard their rumors, things they can't forget. But he's got a swordsman to find, that now that he's eaten is first on the list. So they find this yard right? Right, and there's this guy in the middle strung on a cross: A little girl's like cut too short, he'll have to fulfill the promise on his own, not like he ever intended to lose anyway. She should be there though. She should be there to learn the namesake of their village, even under its current tyranny.

Okay so he goes in and feeds a starving man, gets him to totally agree to join his pirate crew, and runs off to fulfill his end of the deal. Not before checking on that other little girl who is here and alive and feeds them. That's cool, clearly she's a good kid, she fed Zoro before too after all. He gets to punch bowl head buttface too so that's satisfying. So back to the swords right, rocket up, break a statue, that was an accident so it's fine. The annoying daddy's boy is back but people other than Luffy get hurt when shot at so he'll just use the guy as a shield to avoid the bother altogether. Bowlhead knows where the swords are too so score! Luffy doesn't know how many guys have been tied to the center of the dirt yard recently but three swords seems like too many for one guy, not that he knows anything about swords. He grabs them all and jumps out the window, it's the fastest and he can see Zoro just outside so obviously why would he go further away from his destination to get there, foolish really. Screaming of the guy he's still holding notwithstanding the fall is great. Coby, oh look Coby is still here, unties Zoro until Zoro can hold on to the swords to free the rest of himself and they fight all the other marine guys who show up. Including the guy with the ax hand, which now makes the name make sense, ax hand Morgan, of course, ax hand. Anyway no biggie, beat them up, punch Morgan's bucket chin clean off his face, oof, oh well. He deserved it, Luffys sure. Party, hit Coby cuz their friends but so they're unaffiliated in the eyes of the marines for Coby’s dream, and get run out of town. All in a pirate day's work.

Zoro doesn't know what he's gotten himself into. When he somewhat forcefully agreed to be a part of this kids crew he thought there would be at least one other person already, even if it was the tiny glasses kid from before. Then maybe they'd know where they were going but no. His new captain is a weird guy, not that he couldn't tell from that first meeting and every subsequent interaction after. Somehow though, seriously Zoro didn't think that was possible after the display of the guy's apparently rubber body, Luffy gets weirder. Guy talks about just about everything but also nothing at all. Zoro figures that with all the nonsense he talks he's probably just bound to stumble recklessly upon something that hits a nerve. A land of samurai that were said to be the greatest and two kids long after willing themselves to be the best when only one of them can, that certainly strikes a nerve. If he hadn’t already given this kid the title of Captain he might have cut him down then and there.

Although, Zoro wouldn’t have agreed in the first place if he thought the kid couldn’t give him a damn good fight before that though. He has had the thought that the determination of the kid might actually outweigh his own. Were they going for the same title he might not be able to give such certainty to his place on the top in the face of the monster that is, it seems stupid to think it just looking at him, skinny vested kid who he’s already fished out of the sea twice. Speaking of, shouldn’t devil fruit users be more cautious over the open ocean? Zoro knows there are plenty of people on the seas with devil fruits, par for the course or whatever, but none of the others can disregard the clear danger it poses to them the way this kid does right? He has already come to the acceptance stage of grief that Luffy is indeed just an idiot. Nonetheless it seems bizarre that Luffy could sit on the front of their little dinghy right over the water without , he doesn’t know, not fear but something. Zoro holds his confidence that not much if anything could truly scare either of them but he’d still think that Luffy’s willingness to sit right over his biggest weakness would at least stem from confidence to not fall in. It takes him longer than he will admit to figure that there is no way Luffy made it this far falling into the ocean while he was on his own, so he can attribute these careless falls to Luffy’s own trust in Zoro. It's flattering a little actually, until the very next splash when it returns just to being annoying.

How could falling be feared when the final embrace is as welcoming as it is. The thought of no return may be regretful when it does split back to his mind just before losing his last breath but in the time before it does not feel like a loss. With his crew around too, just Zoro for now but there will be more, there is no fear at all really. Luffy knows that he can always rely on his crew to bring him back after his visits to creation. Also, Zoro makes really funny faces when he sees Luffy falling, sinking, and after they’ve both dried off.

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Hunger is the only thing swirling in the desolate pit that is his stomach, he says as much to Zoro, it comes out as just a long whine: You can get tired of even your most favorite food if it becomes the only food you have. Orange citrus groves are vast and endless as the open seas. The greatest playground for the imagination of two little girls with nothing else. Only until they realize just that, there is nothing else: The mountains Luffy remembers eventually became the same way, not that the meat ever did, but after his brothers left he’d seemed to have found every completely new adventure his little forest of giant creatures could offer him. So he set out without metaphorically looking back: Not everyone else has that luxury. Eight years is a long time to be chained to a single desk overlooking the very home you’ve sworn to protect. The very same one which now scorns you:

The inhabitants of Dawn can protect themselves, Luffy knows this and in the case they can’t they’ve got Grandpa and Shanks to look after them. Zoro doesn’t know how to get back where he came from, not that Luffy does either but he still laughs at him. He can see it in the lines of Zoro’s face that he himself hasn’t ever laughed as much. He swears to fix that, they’re free after all. Free. Freeeee. Freeeeeeeeee- BIRD. He can reach that bird and he does. Bird means meat means food means eat. Luffy hears a scream getting further back behind him, something along the lines of a swear surely but he’s going too fast and too far and past the bird, damnit. Until he isn’t because the bird caught him which is convenient until that also isn’t because Luffy has the unpleasant realization that him being in the bird’s mouth means that he may have become the food. Zoro, please help.

Being dropped unceremoniously by the bird is surprising, and as one reacts to surprises he screams the entire way down, also as one does when falling, he knows. Crashing into a crater in the ground is also far more convenient than into the ocean far away from where Zoro can find him so really things are looking pretty good. Then there's this girl who’s calling him boss and which is maybe just what people do here but he doesn’t get a chance to ask as she runs away. These very literal clowns then try to give him what might be considered a shake down but he punches them too. There hasn’t been enough punching since Clam town anyway. He’s still hungry, and that girl isn’t too far off. Her name is Nami, she reminds him of Orange groves. Could just be the hair, it's gotta be the hair, he doesn’t mention it.

She offers him food in a house that isn’t hers and he doesn’t care about who’s food it was as it's being eaten by him so it's his now. She’s a navigator: Someone who looks painfully like his brother fights for the redemption of those long lost and the freedom of those still here. There is a long standing fight for liberation from an unjust and uncaring ruling system and those within it can only fight to hold their heads up just to survive. Those who can fight do so for those who can’t even at the cost of themselves. When one person fights alone they are bound to bend, and without anyone to behind them they are bound to break: This girl is remarkably flexible despite her demeanor. Luffy likes her immediately, like Zoro, and a little like his brothers. She’s like if Makino was angry like a younger Ace. She’s smart too, has a plan and everything, he rarely has a chance to be a part of those, one has to wonder why

: Buggy sits alone at the edge of the water, huddling over his own fruit, when a young Shanks joins him. It's Buggy’s own fault really for thinking to hide the fruit in his mouth, he was bound to swallow it in that case: There’s a real clown in the center of it all, like, an actual clown. Clowns are like mythical creatures okay, people dress up as them but they aren’t actual things right. Except there's this guy. Rude of him to throw a feast and not let Luffy have any though. Boogey lights a cannon, Zoro shows up, Boondy stabs him, Zoro drags Luffy’s entire cage away

: There’s a long lasting and irrevocable relationship between someone and their dog. There is a loyalty there that cannot be taken away or replaced in the same way ever again. There is a trust and a love that once born could never die. Not without the death of its keepers, and maybe not even after then. So chouchou stands guard: Little old white dog sits in front of the one seemingly untouched building among the wreckage of the town. Like the Will of this single little dog has kept this place alive. Luffy respects that, even after the dog bites him. The old mayor tells Zoro and Nami the story Chouchou already brought to Luffy. Then there’s a man even the furries have rejected and his lion who crushes not only Luffy’s cage, score!, but Chouchou’s treasured shop. That was their last mistake. Luffy laments the shop with Chouchou, and gives him the only thing remaining of it. They both already know loss, but they also know how to continue to live. They both know the other will be okay.

Listen, Nami went through a lot, not really, of effort to get the key for Luffy’s stupid cage; And seriously if he can twist himself like that in the first place he should’ve gotten himself out before. There isn’t even time to complain about that though before there’s a swordsman on a unicycle going after Luffy then declaring a fight with an already stabbed and bleeding Zoro who blocked him. How stupid can Zoro be to accept that challenge too. These two she’s stumbled upon (who crashed into her) are a very new kind of stupid. Then there’s that dog though. She had thought the rubber kid was just an idiot, which he is, but she thought that was all. Seeing him make some kind of connection with the dog, weird firstly, but also endearing. Kid has some kind of loving code, pirates don’t have codes or morals so what’s his deal? Then again he did knock out the mayor but to be fair the mayor was about to run to his own death so pros and cons. The absolute unfathomable strength continuously coming from this kid happens to be both a pro and con. Pro being that it's on their behalf. If he was their enemy they would be, eloquently, fucked. Which very much is a con. Another thing being both is him Leaving their Fucking treasure Behind. Yeah that was a kind thing to do for a town that clearly needed the money to rebuild but also she stole that treasure fair and square so it wasn’t his to leave behind. Then there’s his adamance that they’re (already) ever going to be a crew. They are just a temporary alliance for the sake of furthering both of their goals.

Not to mention, because she’s rather been avoiding the idea of, his level of uncanny. Rubber-man. He’s a rubber man. Buggy was weird and creepy and awful but at least his body stayed the same even when chopped up. Luffy fully morphs himself into whatever horrible vestige he’s decided necessary in that moment. Zoro is totally no help either. He just raises an eyebrow at Nami’s very much not clear display of white faced shock when Luffy goes on about his version of what may be a triad on keeping someone else's freedom. Followed way too closely by how he wishes they would have taken more food, his mention of oranges has to just be a dig on her hair surely. Surely.

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When Luffy looks at Zoro he also sees connected to the white sword a young girl with a scowl to match Zoro’s own but for different reasons. When Luffy looks at Nami he sees another girl with red hair dressed in pink and that same burned sun. When Luffy looks at that sun while looking at Nami he doesn’t see that freedom but a serrated knife instead. When Luffy looks at Usopp, he sees Yasopp. Luffy knows that boys and dads don’t always have the best relationships though, especially notorious pirate dads, so he doesn’t mention it until he knows Usopp’s feelings on the matter.

Luffy knows there are liars in the world, and he knows people lie and have lied to him. Still though, being lied to is hard to identify. Many things can be true at once. Usopp is alone on the little hill above them after the vegetable kids behind him run, but he also has the backing of one of the most notorious pirate crews were they to hear anything happened to Yasopp’s son: There’s a meeting that happened somewhere out there, his older brother meeting with those very notorious pirates. Ace’s hard work in lessons of manners finally being put to their intended use. There was never a need of course, the crew loves Luffy and immediately by extension they love Ace: Zoro and Nami can tell Usopp doesn’t have anyone right behind him there though and isn’t actually a threat to them. They aren’t a threat to him so really there isn’t an issue either way.

Usopp is a good guy. He gives them a meal and tells stories to those kids and lets them play pirates, and gives hope to a sick girl alone in a mansion: There are two, no four, other people in that mansion but for the girl inside she may as well be alone. One is a liar, the things he says cannot be true but his self assurance makes it hard to tell. The other is nothing more than a metaphor of a lamb brought to slaughter: There is a ship nearby that will not meet the same fate. It will choose and carve its own path through the waves. It has strength, spirit, and Will: Luffy asks about it between bites, the ship that is. Usopp excuses himself. Zoro acts like Luffy ate Usopp when the veggie kids come looking for him. Nami laughs, it’s a good sound. It’s a good sight to see Zoro joking and laughing too.

Kaya is terribly lonely; she will admit only to herself. Merry and Klahadore do their best for her. It would be ungrateful of her not to think so. So it isn’t something she would ever mention. It is a shame though, Klahadore just has her health in mind, but she wishes she could dream. After being sick so long she’s just about forgotten how to do so herself. That’s what makes Usopp so truly wonderful. He is the one person who brings real light into her life. Actual hope. Let's hold on to her last remaining sense of adventure. For that she is ever the more grateful for when he continues to visit. Usopp seems to bring with him some unexpected guests, even to himself. She can only be delighted really, people from Usopp’s own crew, and strangers at that. It’s so rare for there to be unfamiliar faces around their little town. Klahadore may have her best interest in mind but she does have a mind of her own. It’s her birthday and she would really like to have company, so clearly against Klahadore’s wishes she follows her own. Usopp and “his” crew are invited to dinner. It’s funny really, it seems Usopp may have not been bringing her entirely false tales. Perhaps his stories hold more truth than she’d dared to imagine, Usopp just wasn’t the captain. Oh and what a funny crew he’s a part of. The Captain is a confusing one, but the intimidating swordsman seems to have a soft spot for him, and the navigator may deny her full involvement with them which is confusing but she seems fond as well.

Yeah alright Usopp’s gotta be honest here, he no longer has any idea what’s going on. Klahadore sucks, there’s never been any doubt about that but the pirates who have indeed actually shown up today were not something he expected. He for sure was not expecting them to offer their help either after officially finding out that Klahadore sucks with his plan to kill Kaya. Then the so-called captain falls asleep to hypnotism and very well to his death. So Usopp has to do something himself to save Kaya, as well as tell the very scary pirate hunter pirate swordsman and violent “witch” navigator that their empty headed captain’s head is now actually emptied of his brain which must have spilled out after breaking his head open after the fall off the cliff. He has to have some kind of disease against telling such scary people such bad news, this feeling of dread must be him coming down with that very disease. Which is miraculously cured after the very guy who very much should have just split his head open has very much just not done that and casually wakes up. The shock from seeing such a thing must be what cured him, like hiccups. At least he doesn’t have to tell the kid’s infinitely more intimidating crew members of his untimely death.

:Everyone is a child of the sea. The sea does not take kindly to her children abandoning her. She is further unkind to cowardice. Bravery is not a lack of fear, but pushing on despite it:
The island being his home island really should have given him the advantage of knowing there were two shores the black cat pirates could have invaded them from. Hindsight is 20/20. It is nice though that Zoro is there to help him with the hypnotist after he flees into the woods with Kaya. Not like he needed the help but it was nice to have Zoro as back up of course. His plan ended up being all the more perfected when his group reconvines to see Luffy headbutt Klaha-Kuro straight into the afterlife. All according to keikaku.

Pirates really are the worst kind of scum, Kuro isn’t an exception. There are no exceptions. Kuro already planned to betray Kaya but betraying and disposing of his own crew was apparently surprising to everyone but Nami. She doesn’t know what kind of pirate stories Luffy was told as a kid but this here is the reality. One he rips apart all on his own. One he dismantles from the very core right in front of her. He’d torn the figurehead of the black cat pirates ship right off and used it to bludgeon them all into submission in one fell swoop just to fall to hypnotism under that very figurehead. Justifiably frustrated she hits him awake just for him to be axed in the back of the head by the hypnotist’s frisbee blades. Then once again Luffy just walks his injuries off to “kick Kuro’s ass”. All because that isn’t how you treat your crew, your friends, your Nakama. It shouldn’t shake something in her. It shouldn’t make shivers run down her spine the way she’s seen Luffy do at seemingly random intervals. She shouldn’t get any closer to accepting some grand revelation or hidden knowledge that only she can understand.

Zoro is just mad he missed so much of the action, that he couldn’t have done more, that he couldn’t have fought blade hands but one, Kuro is the captain so he’s Luffy’s fight and two, do knife hands count as swords or not? Not with that guy at least so no loss of opportunity there.

There was never a doubt that Usopp would come with them. Really there was never a thought to the possibility that Usopp wasn’t going with them. It never crossed Luffy’s mind really: The ship is a part of the crew. She has a Will of her own woven into her purpose. She will bring them to the ends of their journey together, and what a journey it will be. Neither of them know what it will hold but he has faith that she will hold them through it all: The very “them” that their crew consists of also included Usopp after all: He feels just like his father, like bravery if not courage, like focus and a steady hand and an accuracy above all others. Many of the things he says may not be true to him but nothing is impossible. There is truth even in every lie if only because if it can be imagined it can too become real: The number of his crew has once again gone up and what incredible additions they’ve made. He expected nothing less.

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Cannons are exciting. Luffy hasn’t gotten to shoot a cannon on his own like this before. Which may be for good reason seeing as how a couple of Zoro’s old friends nearly got wiped out with Usopp’s shot. Luffy missed entirely which this time actually worked in his favor so he can’t be that upset about it. Usopp seems far more distraught over his potential near kill. One of them looks very nearly dead already though so his count would have stayed firmly at one were the healthy guy to not have survived.

It’s not that Luffy is blind to death, or unfazed in its tragedy, but he understands its reality. Grey terminal was nearly as much decaying corpse as it was rotting trash. For a kid to survive there, a fallen stranger must be just as much the passing scenery as anything else around. Sometimes you had to pry what valuables you could before someone else got them from the newly deceased given you found them first. The boys could hunt for their own food but some things were best accessible through trade. Plus, they needed whatever they could get for their pirate stash. So no, Luffy isn’t blind to death, he just knows he’s made it this far when it could have easily been his body they looted instead.

Luckily Nami’s to the rescue: Citrus and pinwheels. Nami has a deep seeded connection to both of them. Their curators both in turn have an old connection to war, to retirement, and keeping their peace for the things they love: Johnny and Yosaku are revived and lead the way to a place where they can all get some food. Nothing is more important than food. It’ll be a chef, then a musician for sure: Dark and desolate and cold. A single soul walks alone in its own corpse. In constant mourning over those who do not walk together. It has been such a long time. Such a long time. It no longer has meaning, yesterday, today, tomorrow. A melancholy rendition of Bink’s sake has been playing perfectly in tune in a solo for longer than he’d have been alive:

It is a cannonball that disrupts Luffy’s second life purpose of eating and sets him on the path of being a busboy. He’s very good at it if he does say so himself, but he’s a much better pirate so this needs to end sooner rather than when Zeff says so. He’ll get out of it. Not before he gets his own cook: There’s a certain appreciation one can only have if they have had the experience of being denied food. An appreciation and an understanding that the kind will decide no one else should ever have to gain the same way: Sanji, Luffy decided, will be his cook. A starving man who looks a prisoner in his own clothes shows up and Sanji feeds him. It’s that simple. The man is hungry, he gets fed. Luffy may not have eaten Sanji’s food yet, but he sees Gin’s face when he tries it. He sees Sanji feed a starving man, and that man puts his head down and says thank you.

: There is a woman confined to her bed, she almost reminds Luffy of Kaya. A little blond boy has yet to see her smile, but his food will change that. He will share something with her that will make her feel better. He wishes he could share more. Bring to her everything: There are only a few things you should bow down for in life so truly like that, and the one on top of that list is gratitude. Sanji brushes it off, it was unnecessary, but somewhere in there he seems unused to it: Ichi, Ni, San, Yon: Like he isn’t used to being appreciated. Luffy will change that. He may not know what the All Blue is but if it makes Sanji shine like that then they have no choice but to find it. Regardless of whether people think it actually exists or not: The One Piece is real: They will find it. Even if Luffy has to make it himself :The beat of drums, the Will to change, to morph the world itself to his own:

A rose blooms best in fertilizer he supposes. Sanji really can’t imagine what a goddess would be doing among these neanderthals otherwise after all. She deserves to be treated as the royalty she so clearly descends from but instead the idiots at her table ignore her gospel. What furthers this absolute sacrilege is that she is also somehow related to the busboy. There’s the scrawny longnose, a moss ridden caveman, and him. It shames Sanji really that he has no choice but to leave her with them lest Zeff have his ass. The other chefs are already going to be on his ass about feeding Gin without him paying. But the man is hungry, he can’t leave that be right in front of him. He refuses to regret that too, even when the same man comes back with his absolute bastard of a captain. It’s a shame he can see the captain is starving too, total dickhead, but he and Zeff feed him and his crew. It isn’t surprising when, after eating, Kreig stages a takedown of the restaurant. What is a bit more surprising is the busboy making a deal with Zeff to beat the guy in exchange for his debt being paid. What for sure is surprising is Zeff agreeing.

This is both a disaster and a blessing for Nami really. It becomes the perfect chance to escape. The ship is out of sight, the boys are distracted, and she needs to go before it's too late. She can’t let herself get attached anymore. She’s not surprised when Luffy decides to fight Don Kreig. He said he was going to be pirate king and that’s just straight up Luffy’s whole thing. What is shocking is Dracule Mihawk showing up having chased Kreig all the way from the grand line. Zoro, the idiot, challenges also straight up the world’s greatest swordsman, and like, yeah, that’s his whole thing too but there’s no way he’s there yet. There’s no way he can beat the final boss right at the beginning. He’s going to get himself killed. She can’t watch that. It really is best that she leaves.

“Wounds on the back are a swordsman’s greatest shame”

Luffy knows damn well Zoro isn’t going to die from this. He knows. Zoro wouldn’t let himself. Luffy knows he will be the best. So he doesn’t stop the fight, he doesn’t let anyone else interfere. What he does do is threaten the current world’s greatest swordsman that he’d kick his ass himself if Zoro didn’t have sword dibs. Doesn’t matter if Hawky believes either of them. Luffy’s got other asses to kick currently: In the face of absolute power what are the weak to do but surrender. Acquiesce until they can outwit. However, there is no outwitting in this instance. He has everything she loves just waiting to be crushed beneath him. She was just one little girl. Not a little girl anymore, but she still has the scars on her ankle from the chain to her desk and the tattoo on her shoulder to prove who she belongs to: An imitation of a dragon’s claw brand: There is no getting out of that. Not alone:

That’s why a captain has a crew, and a crew has a captain. Where one falters the other is there. Luffy kicks Kreig’s ass. Yeah he falls in the ocean when Zoro can’t get him out but that’s why Sanji’s here this time. See, he’s perfect. Already qualified and everything. So Kreig, or Kuro Usopp failure hatechild - see bad captain, crew throwawayer, and tchotchke weapons (Usopp’s are good, but that’s what also makes this guy a failure you see), gets his ass beat. So all they’ve gotta do is go get Nami. Luffy’s already refused Sanji’s refusal so they’re all set on that front. Sanji doesn’t think so but Zeff and the guys tell him his soup is bad which is a lie and he calls them on it but that apparently isn’t the point: They love him. They love him so much. His family: 0, 1, 2, , 4: knows him too well is all, and they’re all too stubborn: That’s the thing though, they all know that. So Sanji comes with them.

Their sendoff is beautiful if not a little stilted. Emotionally constipated restaurant of old men. Usopp obviously doesn’t have that kind of issue, too strong and brave to have that kind of fragile masculinity. That’s why he’s also crying along with Sanji. Obviously. Don’t catch a cold. Damn. That was really sweet. Hope Kaya’s doing well.

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:Do not speak unless they tell you to. Do not look at them. Do not raise your head. Do not rise at all. Do what they say. Do not make any noise. Follow every order. Eat what is given to you. Do not vomit. It may be the only thing you get. It may be drugged, but it is all you are going to get. They could easily take it away. They may take it away so eat quickly. Not too quickly though. Your desperation may be entertaining or unsightly. Either way you will get no food. Avoid punishment at all costs. Death is preferable, but they will never allow such grace. Ignore your collar, ignore the shackles, do not draw attention to them, they will be tightened. You are a cheap commodity. The hoof brand makes it so, and there is no hiding or changing that:

There is nothing more repulsive than taking someone’s freedom. No greater injustice. Luffy does whatever the hell he wants and won’t ever let that change. Things happen outside of his control. It can be devastating but it can also be what makes things so much fun. He’s going to damn well make sure that Nami has every opportunity to have that kind of fun. Cocoyashi reminds him of both Foosha and Clam town: They are her daughters, that is something she will never deny under any circumstances. Even these. She’s seen absolute hell in the marines. It’s where she got her girls after all. Every mother wishes they could have given their children everything. No mother should have to wish her kids wouldn’t have to see her shot: Luffy cannot change what has happened, what he can do is kick ass so they can move forwards; but not until Nami says.

The random things Luffy sees and feels are best when they don’t make sense. Usually they aren’t nice, they aren’t fun, and there’s nothing he can do about them. This though, this room with a single desk, the chain, shackle, and a quill, all dried in blood. This is repugnant. Luffy gladly destroys it. Usually the worst of the shivers Luffy doesn’t get a say in. He doesn’t actually get near their contents, they’re too old or too far. These days though, they’ve been awfully close by. The one good thing about it is that he has the chance to do something.

It has been a long, long time since Nami has seen the people of Cocoyashi happy. It has been just as long since she’s felt so free herself. Initially, when she saw her boys show up, all she could feel was dread. They were her little dream away from all of this. Something she couldn’t have, a happy little adventure when she could forget her responsibilities. Turns out they were her liberators, Luffy especially. It was unnerving before, the way he could look at her and seem to see everything. She’d just attribute it to there being nothing else behind his eyes, like he had nothing in there to stop from taking everything in, but perhaps not. Not when he trusted her with his hat, the very one she’s yet to return. Only prolonged having seen him eating her tangerines, she would have reprimanded him or demanded compensation, but halted in his comments that he knew they’d be good, that no one could have actually gotten tired of them. It’s only made worse that he just radiates gratitude, that he’s facing towards Bellmere’s grave. It has to be a coincidence, but she knows it can’t be. It's circumstantial at best, but Luffy, he’s a weird kid, but it might be weirder to think he is all coincidences. Plus, she just believes in him. She never mentioned where she was from, what she was facing, and worse she ran away. Still, he just followed along and dealt with it all like it was natural, like he already knew.

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Growing up with luffy made things both slightly easier and infinitely harder than the average childhood. Or at least Ace would suppose so, not exactly knowing what an average childhood looks like. The betrayal of Teach was a huge shock to the entire crew and a huge moral downpour. Of course Teach fell under his jurisdiction so it'd been his responsibility to deal with the asshole. He should've seen it coming, but how exactly when no one else had he doesn't know. Still he should have.

Luffy would make fun of him for thinking something so stupid. Say something about how it couldn't have been his fault. Made a quip in much simpler terms that its narcissistic of Ace to think he could have predicted such a future or done something no one else could. There's irony in those kinds of reprimand coming from Luffy. If anyone were to have inherently known anything it would have been him. Would he have known what to do with it, probably not but Luffy also probably never realized that he's the only known person who feels the things he does. Just in the way he tends to forget that other people aren't made of rubber. Falling from hundreds of feet or being shot across an entire island would usually result in severe injuries if not death. Being both an idiot always and made of rubber since six years old you can't exactly blame him. Still though, if Luffy were to have met Teach, Ace bets he wouldn't have liked him. That would've been enough of a sign. Luffy rarely has problems with anyone, so his avoidance is a pretty big sign.

Luffy likes Smokey just about immediately. He's a marine so he's stuffy and lame but he's not a bad guy. Plus he leads him to the execution platform with smoke clouds so that's cool. When Luffy initially looks upon the execution platform he's barraged with a torrent of different perspectives, a few sticking out more fervently: Shanks gripping his captains hat, tears welled in his eyes: Garp's remorseful gaze upon the pirate king himself after addressing the crowd: A young not yet Smoker making his way through the masses to look up at a smiling king: All interesting for sure, but none of which were the one he wanted to see. It's got to be from the platform itself that holds the view he desires. So Luffy climbs it: if you want my trea-: Baboon cuts off the shiver, leaving Luffy with a feeling like an unfulfilled sneeze.

The fat lady who hurt Coby shows up too but now she's not fat, also she says weird stuff but it's not important. The shivers is so close, the feeling he's just on the edge of. Buffoon closes Luffy's head and hands in a pillory and the view is just of the edge of his perception: The green cloak from before and the fervent protection of a parent on a warpath: Its not what he wants still. Not until Bongo is bringing the blade down over his neck and then: The knowledge that he is dying, not just in this moment but that it has been upon him the entire time. It has been inevitable. There is nothing he can do about it but he will not let it be the end. Piracy is about freedom and freedom has been severely lacking as of late. The body of the pirate king is failing, he is human, and he is dying. The dream however will live on. He cannot see his first mate live his retirement. He cannot see his friends live their dreams. He cannot watch his son grow up, but in his last moments he can carve out a new Era to bring about better days: and he Smiles.

There is no God and if there is they haven't done shit for Zoro so for what do they deserve his belief. Then again, seeing Luffy so deep in someone else's memory that it imprints over his own reality, the smile both impertinent and benevolent, what choice does he have but to accept maybe there is divinity. Lighting strikes over the one man who could withstand it and he walks away none the more harmed.

Sanji hasn't had much in his life to believe in, but mother ocean has always been a constant. If there is a God, she would be the closest thing to it for him. Then again, the stupid kid in front of him whom he has unwittingly pledged his allegiance to may be coming close himself if not just with his apparent God's favor.

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:It is both a grand blessing and a terrible burden to live a long life. For one, there is too much in this world to experience in only a short time. For even those who have lived the longest of lives there will always be more, it just becomes up to them if they can find the interest to appreciate it. For another, there is exceptional loss in outliving all the things with lifespans perishable before you: A gift or a burden: A gift or a burden: Loneliness and loss are things not unfamiliar to Luffy and his small crew. To them it is almost more an inevitability none of them dare to face. Luffy especially, but he knows it will come and he will face it when it does. Laboon is not unique in his turmoil, not alone in mourning or denial; But that does not mean it is any less a travesty: A quartet, a trio, a duo, a solo: Luffy will not give the whale false assurances for the return of his old friends, promises that aren't his to keep, so he instead promises himself. At the end of it all he will return and at each reunion they will rejoice.

The first pirate king could not be cured. He could not live to see the effects of his new Era. It is up to the living to tell the tales of the dead, and amass new tales for their following generations. Crocus sees the second pirate king and sees his captain's Will carried along within this new little strawhatted kid and confirms a suspicion that the owners of that particular hat must always be fools. It would however, be a disservice to this particular wearer to think it is just a hat and not a crown, a halo of straw to mimic that has yet to encompass the true rays of the sun.

:Not everyone in power has succumbed to the ever so common corruption. It is rare, but there are instances where those on top do not look down on their people but look over them. Watching over the community like a parent does a child on a playground. Generally not intervening unless necessary and always with the best intentions for their wellbeing. There are also many who think, if not delude, themselves this kind of ruler. It can be a kind of self justification at best and a complete disregard for others at worst. Usually it would be up to the people to determine character, the actions and consequences would prove and justify the people’s choice to trust their leader:

Ms Wednesday definitely isn’t her name but Luffy doesn’t call her out on it. She could just be getting used to it. People do that sometimes, choose new names. For some reason though for her it doesn’t feel that way. It doesn’t feel like she’s trying to fit into herself, come into her own person. More like she’s fitting herself to be someone else. Mr 9 however totally thinks he’s Mr 9, that’s just who he’s chosen to be. He ain’t no King that's for sure but he can play all he likes. Having them both on the Merry isn’t a big deal. Yeah they tried to kill Laboon but Luffy’s brothers tried to kill him a lot too in the beginning.

So they all head to Whisky peak together and it’s awesome. The people there love pirates and they throw a whole party with a feast and everything. So much so that they all get to relax and pass out afterwards: Your friends wouldn’t do anything to hurt you on purpose. That’s what friendship is, they have every single bit of ammunition to destroy you but chose entirely not to: So when Zoro comes out swinging (swords mostly) it’s Luffy’s job as captain to set him straight: Actions and consequences do not always provide the proof necessary. What one person sees rarely ever encompasses the entirety of the situation. You work with what information you have, but you must not be adverse to new information: Ah, Zoro wasn’t the first to strike, metaphorically speaking. The bounty hunters of Whisky peak were. Luffy’s bad ;P oops. If the world could be a little quicker with the shivers that would be helpful but all's well that ends and all that.

Zoro for his part is annoyed but that’s as far as it goes. His captain is an idiot and he’s picked that up from the start. He’s also seen the way the kid seems to just get rushes of insight sometimes that comes out a little uncanny. Not that Luffy ever shares whatever is going on in his head but just by watching the way it comes out in his actions Zoro figures it’s gotta be chaotic. Maybe unnavigable to Luffy too despite it being his mind. Zoro wonders if even Nami could chart that shit. He doesn’t think anyone could.

Like ms Wednesday, ms All Sunday isn’t her name either. Other than that Luffy can’t really get a read on her: She’s been running for too long. She doesn’t know who she can be either. All she can do, hold on to, is her search for knowledge, for meaning: She helped Vivi by letting her follow her, but also lead her and that other guy to what might have been their doom. She takes his hat too, which, not cool. But she doesn’t mess with it too much and gives it back. Being studied the way she does isn’t exactly something Luffy appreciates either, but it also isn’t bad exactly? Just weird, and he can do weird but not complicated and she’s making this complicated. He’d really rather just not deal with it again, makes his head hurt, so when she says they should meet again he gives her a curt no. It won’t last.

For the most part Luffy kind of continues to forget about Vivi’s presence on his ship. Carue is fun though. It’s nice to have someone else to play tag with. Tag is more fun with three people. Ace and Sabo may not have officially played tag with him all that much but they would get mad at each other often enough to start a chase that he’d say counted as tag. Ace wouldn’t agree but Sabo kind of did which means Luffy’s right: Which is bigger. Which is better? Who is faster? Who is stronger? Would it have ever mattered if you both lost sight of the purpose?: Broggy and Dorry are cool. Not to forget about the dinosaurs but Luffy likes the giants quite a lot. :When one of them does eventually win, the other will mourn their friend. They will bask in their final glory, and they will mourn their fallen friend:

:When should a queen bow to her people? As often as her people should bow to her: Vivi will be a good queen. Luffy hadn’t claimed her immediately like the others. There’s just something about her, he’s not sure what it is. Probably her attachment to her land. Which isn’t a bad thing, it's just not a very piratey thing. She’s good though and he’s been taking her in as one of his people. It really solidifies when on Drum though. Without her, he wouldn’t have been able to save Nami. For that he is grateful to her.

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Some little rubbery idiot climbed the entirety of the steel fucking cliff mountain to Kureha’s castle. Baffling is what that is. She could have just left him there too, shivering beyond frozen with the other two he seemed to have carried up the cliffside but Chopper clearly sees something in the kid. Kureha can’t exactly deny and say she doesn’t see something there too. So she has Chopper bring them inside and they cure the girl of something that should have disappeared in the Triassic period, patches up the blond for broken ribs and a bruised spine, and overall covers the rubber one in bandages. Kid just about shredded the pads of his fingers and toes down to the bone, he’s clearly beyond frostbitten, so the constant shivering is no surprise. What is surprising is how quickly he seems to be healing. Between books, experience, and her own adopted son, Kureha knows increased healing speeds on account of devil fruits. This kid however is still just ridiculous. The blond too to a certain degree. The green headed doofus she saw earlier too actually. Where the hell did these dumbfucks all come from she’s not sure she wants to know.

Foosha was a tiny little village without a large number of children. Among the children and the adults there were still very few people who would willingly interact with Luffy for long periods of time. He knows a thing or two about rejection even if it hasn’t been much of a deterrent to him, he still knows it: Differences are unacceptable unless profitable. To not fit in with the masses may as well be a crime for the ostracization that acts as punishment. A little blue nosed reindeer calf grew to feel grateful just for not being completely abandoned by the herd: Shaking off the feeling to the best of his ability he sees the fuzzy little creature that he’s just found out gets even better when it talks. He’s got to chase the thing down either for food or friendship, to be determined. Sanji chases with him so if Sanji says the little guy would be delicious Luffy might not actually argue.

Luffy can do whatever the hell he wants, he’ll be the pirate king, that's the whole point. He can do what he wants. The thing about that is that everyone else can also do whatever they want. He won’t stop that. Or begrudge anyone else their choices so long as they don’t interfere with anyone else’s. It’s just that the shivers come unbidden and sometimes he can’t shake them. He wouldn’t’ve heard Nami’s story from anyone but her, but it came to him fast. There was a lot of emotion there and he was a bit out of practice, so it didn’t really stop. The little creature he’s chasing though, he can hold off a bit, but not entirely: Hope can come in any and all forms. Cherry blossoms aren’t a foreign affair in daydreams but in a land of ice and snow that is all they could ever be unless a miracle occurred. He wanted a miracle. The only thing that could save them from a tyrant funneling the villagers to their deaths by removing their only medical attention would be a miracle. Nothing less would give these people enough hope to change their situation: That is until a hippo man threatens the little guy’s dreams. Then Luffy feels the hope a little blue nosed reindeer feels, after a hell of being shunned and shot for his increased differences, when a doctor just as strange finds him. Luffy knows what it’s like to finally find family. Luffy knows the desire for freedom, the ideal of a pirate, the truth of it all, and he sees it in Chopper too. They both know what a jolly roger means and it is a disgrace that Wapol, another false king, thinks he can fly that flag, or that he may have the power to take down the one Chopper clearly holds so dear. So Luffy does what he does best and kicks some ass.

Pirates are the embodiment of freedom and acceptance. They can do whatever they want and be whoever they are, whoever they want to be. No matter who judges them it doesn’t matter, they’re wanted anyway (by the government sure but also by their crewmates) and they revel in that. They’re strong and cool and they can save whoever they want. Pirates don’t have to abide by who people say they can or can’t try to save. Chopper thinks the right ones are basically like uninhibited superheroes. He’s seen pirates come around Drum before and it has been disillusioning to say the least. Wapol becoming a pirate just moreso. Luffy though, oh Luffy brings it all back to what it was supposed to be. He climbs up the cliffside all on his own just to save his crewmates. At the detriment of his own well being too, and his undeniable radiance and plain faith in the doctors who can help them it would be a wonder who wouldn’t fall into his orbit. He gives and gives and gives and in return takes whatever he the world will allow him. Chopper wants to give into that too, and having his false declinations bulldozed by Luffy of course he can. “Shut up, let’s go!”. It may not be the most eloquent argument but it’s more than enough for Chopper.

It was weird the first time but it’s really becoming a pattern now. Luffy’s crew members don’t tend to think themselves part of his crew up until some indeterminable point. Even when he invites them, it's really just a formality. Zoro was his the moment he heard of him, he felt the shivers go down his spine and he knew more about him than anyone but Zoro could tell him. He knew he was good, that his dreams nearly rivaled his own. He could see it in Nami too, the way she yearned for the open sea, for the freedom offered, and the way she desired to chart it all for herself. Nami’s binds weren’t as literal as Zoro’s were when they first met but he saw them all the same. Luffy just didn’t know how to remove them at the time. They’d get there though, and they did. Ussop didn’t think they were crew either, he didn’t think he was going with them from Syrup and that was just ridiculous. Sanji verbally refused him too, though he clearly accepted as far as Luffy could see. So Chopper was very much the same, most similar to Usopp really. It was so obvious from the beginning that they were crew that his token protest was really preposterous. It was funny being chased out of the castle by the old lady doctor throwing weapons though. Reminded him a lot of Gramps.

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Foresight and insight shivers were definitely a huge help. Ace wouldn’t admit to Luffy he missed that skill of his. Especially since Luffy wasn’t exactly forthcoming with his knowledge, one because he probably couldn’t parse it all out himself, and two, because Luffy thought everyone else also knew what he innately knew. Still it’s nice to see his little brother again. Somehow he managed to pick up the runaway princess of this very country that needs them, which Ace can’t say he is or isn’t surprised about. It is both entirely unexpected which also means it’s entirely within the realm of something Luffy would do. It is a little annoying that Luffy didn’t expect to literally run into Ace, ate all his food, and ran without seeing him until he intercepted Smoker, but knew enough about whitebeard to not be surprised about Ace suddenly gaining a father figure he was so adamantly against previously. Ace was rather pettily hoping to get some shock from his kid sibling out of that one but no, no apparently he’d seen that coming in on the horizon for a long time. Ace would hold it against him if he thought there was any cognition or malice in Luffy’s dismissal. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t look forward to knocking the kid around a bit while he’s here. Luffy’s always been a funny kid to mess with.

The Strawhat crew are a funny bunch too. Perfect for his oddball little brother, but he still looks out just in case. He trusts Luffy’s sense in people, maybe not his execution in his acquisition of allies but the kid does know how to pick them. Ace is still a worried older sibling though so he pays attention long enough to deem them worthy. It is a shame he can’t stick around though. So he reminds Luffy of his own duty and somewhat reluctantly takes his leave. They both remind each other to be careful though, Luffy uncharacteristically a little more adamant in his.

Shanks tended to stray away from the more difficult pirate stories around Luffy. Sure the kid wanted to hear anything and everything but he was still just a kid. He’d have no choice but to find out the realities when he grew up and became a pirate like he kept saying he would but it doesn’t mean Shanks had to ruin that innocence prematurely. A kid should be allowed to be a kid and a pirate ship is no place for that to happen safely so he would say. So yeah, Shanks wouldn’t take him or tell him the more gruesome of his stories. Luffy still, in a way, knew though. So when Ace said he was chasing someone who betrayed his crew and he felt the same sort of repulsion from the story Shanks wouldn’t tell him about the scars on his face: Found family is no less prone to loss than a blood one. Nor do blood ties make it any less likely for there to be betrayals: Luffy asked Ace to take care of himself and said goodbye with a little extra fervor. Not too much though, Ace is strong, he can take care of himself. He’s Luffy’s big brother after all. But Luffy’s already lost one of those, he doesn’t know if he can do it again.

: Five men living past their stolen time sit in a council made purely to raise themselves on others misery. They believe themselves more, they believe themselves untouchable, they believe themselves gods. Yet they are so, so very afraid of their downfall. It is inevitable, but still they cower, and believe their schemes may save them so long as they hold the chains to hope. So they tighten those chains until freedom chokes:

The thing about old age is that it doesn’t actually automatically come with wisdom in a package. What it does tend to come with is senility. Older folds like to always think themselves on the side of wise rather than insensible. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that the one man left in an abandoned Yuba is old man Toto who still believes he can find water if he just digs enough. It's nice to see him, it really is, and it's nice to have someone who still believes in Vivi and her family in the face of all the Crocodile propaganda. She just wishes he didn’t have to suffer for it, and suffer alone. So just as she has through it all she swears to him it will be better, she thanks him for his faith in her and asks him to rest; But he refuses, and Luffy the idiot only encourages him. Vivi has her own faith in the Strawhats but she wouldn’t be able to decisively tell you if it were just desperation or not. People in dark times can so quickly give themselves hope even to their detriment. Crocodile himself is a prime example of a false savior, a lying idol, placing himself in the spot of the hero just to take everything away from the innocents who trusted in him. So no, Vivi cannot be entirely sure. Back on Whisky peak she didn’t exactly have a choice. Nami brought the deal up to her that she couldn’t say no to but hadn’t exactly agreed with until later. When the Strawhats proved themselves capable she resolved herself to accept their aid, specifically their captain's strength but far from it to rely on his brains. His heart absolutely, it was beyond clear he was righteous, outrageously really. Still, no one could deny he was clearly a little less than intelligent to put it nicely. So when Toto told them about the water he swore he’d find underground and Luffy positively shivered in excitement at the prospect, no Vivi was not thrilled. Not that she could do anything against either of them.

But then he does one more impossible thing before breakfast, and finds it.

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Half of the strawhats are just about immediately enamored with the weirdo they’ve fished from the sea, and the other not so much. Luffy for one, is firmly on the former side of new-best-friend: Okama, gay, effeminate, transfem; Queer; Someone who is living true to themselves. Unabated by societal false shackles (or literal ones). 5.5: Luffy can’t exactly say he gets all of it but what he can sum it all up to is one thing, freedom. Bon Clay is a rather literal embodiment of being whoever they want to be, and choosing to be himself. Unfortunately it is only after the okama’s return to his own ship that Luffy joins the realization of the actual implications of Bon Clay’s power for Alabasta. Which is weird really, Bon Clay didn’t seem bad but he must be to impersonate and implicate Vivi's dad. It really is weird. Freedom (queerdom?) is being you unabashedly, but it’s never imposing on someone’s right to do so: To be different is unlawfully also to be feared. When people do not understand something they instinctively fear it, as foolish as that often may be, and when in fear creatures tend to lash out. Phobia in the case of prejudice is unacceptable as much as it is reality. People who have been scorned so, Kind people, understand the pain, and will themselves to keep such pain from others: 5.5: So Luffy really can’t pin why Bon Clay would have acted for Crocodile in the lands worst interest. Hmmm, makes his head hurt. Sometimes good people do bad things, that doesn't make them a bad person, just misguided. He’ll get a chance to ask one day surely, so he doesn’t think about it past the X on their arms.

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:Where there is water there is life, and where there is life there must be water. The desert acts as much as a sponge as it does a wasteland: So Luffy digs. The old guy had been at it for a long time before they arrived so Luffy will take it from here and through the night he digs. By morning both Vivi and old man Toto are looking at him like he’s done a grand magic trick. The former in disbelieving shock and the latter with wonder. Luffy’s just glad the old guy got what he wanted. He knew it’d be there.

There should not have been water there. For all they don’t know about the desert Nami is pretty damn sure there should not have been water down there under these circumstances and yet. Water. Out of everyone on this journey she would say she’s the one, besides Sanji, who is fondest of Vivi. Still, it is vindicating to watch someone witness Luffy grade miracles. She has to wonder though, when Luffy had refused to move from his random seat in the desert, if that was what it looked like when Nami herself finally relented and asked Luffy to help her. Nami was reasonably flabbergasted when he originally dumped their long going escapade all of a sudden, but she couldn’t deny Luffy once she saw the outcome he was getting at. Vivi needed to let them give their all too, she needed to see that she could.

Pirates go this way he says. God, Usopp loves Luffy, he does, but really? To be fair Usopp followed him but still. Then there’s the Marine who Also followed them straight into the same trap because he was so singly focused on Luffy so Usopp can’t feel that bad. There isn’t a whole lot to do while they’re in what they’ve learned is a seastone cage. So they entertain themselves, Luffy back at it again with those spot on impressions. Nami hits them.

There is absolutely no way that this kid managed to evade him. Smoker has vowed himself to catch the one pirate who was able to slip from his grasp. His home turf even. All because for whatever reason the revolution leader Dragon himself showed up to let the kid escape. Then once again with Firefirst Ace of the Whitebeard pirates. Something has to be going on with the nobody little idiot rookie for such occurrences. He is important somehow and Smoker isn’t going to let that kind of dangerous variable go. What a variable Straw Hat seems to be too. Crocodile being a villain doesn’t surprise him at all, but the wayward princess fighting for her ensnared country allying with the pirate is a wonder. Not ten minutes ago he had seen the Captain for god's sake forget the effects of seastone and put his hands back on it repeatedly. The kid was playing games with his sniper and mocking his swordsman and was reprimanded by their navigator like a child. Smoker really could only hope it was an act but unfortunately it looked doubtful. Not when the sniper continues to explain to his captain that the giant reptiles about to end their lives are not indeed bananas. So let it be known his mortification being saved by the whims of a fool.

Zoro is once again annoyed at how little action there has been but hey, he just follows his captain. Eventually there will be more than enough to do, Luffy just has that kind of charm about him. Mind not the cactus juice, or getting separated and slingshotted through the desert, the kung fu dugongs were kinda fun but some focus would have been nice not that Luffy has any. Nonetheless Zoro follows his captain and his captains' rare actual orders. So, he grabs the marine and drags his ass out of the flooding casino basement. Zoro wouldn’t have minded leaving the guy behind himself, can’t see much merit in helping him out but sure, Luffy's whims always lead interesting ways; and it is interesting for sure to see the embarrassment on the marine's face when Luffy says he’s cool. It is way better fighting through steel though. Zoro gets caught by most of the crew in Luffy’s ridiculous situations, but he’d be damned if he didn’t find they paid exactly how he needs them.

To survive while being actively hunted it is advantageous to be able to read people. It becomes painfully obvious the categories of people who will interact with you in such a situation. Those you can use, those who will use you, and those who don’t know yet they can use you. In order to survive, understanding the first category quickly proves imperative. Understanding the reality of the last category just as much. If they don’t know you, eventually they will, and knowing means either exploitation or death. Robin was lucky with Sal, she had to suffer through that reality. Fight her way through life, using others better than they could use her and getting out before the inevitable betrayal. She was either valuable to have or valuable to hand over. Pinpointing in another’s eyes when her value shifted became innate to her. Straw Hat however, was an unfathomable kid. Just looking at him it seemed there was nothing behind his eyes, no lights on, no one was home. Until something caught. He crushed the logpose she gave him, looked her straight in the eyes, and she was intrigued. For the blankness reflected from his eyes there was also endless depth. Like looking into the night sky and knowing there were endless galaxies beyond but only seeing darkness.

The will of D, another of the few mysterious things that kept her purpose alive. For the most part her life was meant to go on only to uncover these mysteries, so she drags the captain from Crocodiles sand funnel to see what he would do. Turns out to her continued surprise what he would do is exactly what he said. Crocodile carved holes right through the kid's abdomen but he still wouldn’t go down. Beaten, mummified, suffocated, poisoned, and the captain still refused to die. It was as inspiring as it was discouraging. Robin herself was tired. She would die buried under her and Crocodile’s own sins. Not before making sure the Straw Hat captain was given a chance, still then this would be her grave. Except the captain’s will wouldn’t allow that.

Chapter Text

She’s lonely. That was a pervasive thought Luffy had when looking at Robin. It was the one clearest thing he could garner from all the signals around her. There were too many shivers to grasp onto a single one with her. Not that he wanted to know what she wouldn’t say herself, but that just meant they all kept wisping around them. She was lonely, and they could all relate to that. She also wasn’t a bad person, and she didn’t really want to die. There is a difference between wanting to die and feeling there is nothing but death. Robin was letting herself go to an inevitability that wasn’t inevitable yet. So, like she pulled him out of that sandpit Luffy carried her and this country's king to the surface and promptly passed out.

Three days Luffy is unconscious, and it is the most uneventful three days the strawhat pirates have seen since forming at least as far as Sanji is aware. Now there was no doubt in his mind that they'd saved the beautiful damsel in distress. A princess even, only befitting for her to have a title to match her beauty. It is a shame Sanji can only play a prince, unable to bring his dearest Nami that same royal title she so obviously deserves. Still, he’s seen the two goddesses interact while on the merry ship of morons, Nami will get that title eventually, he's sure. Speaking of mosshead mcgee, dumbass hasn’t been doing anything but training in whatever proximity the activity will allow him to Luffy. Usopp has been playing well and tinkering so Sanji isn’t worried about him. Sanji isn’t worried about any of the men on the crew of course. Chopper of course has looked after Luffy and the others injured, including Sanji himself at first. Now though, the crew is all fine except Luffy and Sanji too is a little restless. Feeding that rubber garbage disposal usually means he spends a great lot of time cooking like he had on the Baratie when allowed. So maybe Sanji is a bit glad for the chance to help cook for the feast once Luffy’s woken up. Sharing recipe tips and new ingredients with the Alabasta chefs is nice too.

It must be unreal. Alabasta, her country, her home, her people, everything she has been fighting for has finally been freed from tyranny and suffering. All by some little ragtag group of pirates she just happened to run into. In hindsight she would have loved to say she believed in them from the beginning. That she just knew it somehow, a gut instinct the strength of their captain’s, but no. Vivi couldn’t say exactly when she decided they were trustworthy, that they were more than that to her. Between Laboon, Whisky peak, Drum, and all through Alabasta she’d just been slowly on her way to blending into them. Overshadowed in desperation and grief, she hadn’t quite fathomed her fondness for them. Sure, when she had that bit of a tiff with Luffy and the subsequent forced epiphany he’d hit her with she’d been all but washed away with the claim they took on her. Never was it really for the country or the people they never knew, they’re pirates after all. It was all for her. She asked, and they delivered, becoming friends in the process. Which makes it all the harder to see them go. Makes it that much more unbearable to the weight of her position when they have to keep their backs turned to her and Carue; But, X, Nakama really is a wonderful word though isn’t it? No matter how far you will always be a part of the crew. Your position, your past, both never mattered, because now you are together, and your futures intertwined. Words were no longer necessary in the face of that kind of bond.

There’s no way. There’s no fuckin way. Nico Robin, Devil Child, has just been accepted onto the crew just like that. Fuck Luffy’s intuition rushes. Not that anyone agrees with Zoro for longer than five minutes. Dartbrow was a lost cause from birth, Nami can easily be bought, Chopper is an innocent kid skilled doctor or not, and Usopp becomes just as entertained with her devil fruit by way of Luffy. Speaking of the main problem, oh she’s not a bad person he says, no worries he says. Zoro’s seen organizations fall on shady shit alright, enough people hired him (becoming world's greatest swordsman doesn’t pay okay and he needs to drink if not eat) to backstab their cohorts, that he has reason to be with worries. Captain is captain, however. Zoro didn’t trust Nami either, but Luffy felt something there and he was right. Zoro saw the moment Nami gave everything over to Luffy, trusted him so deeply and he saw the awe in her gaze after Luffy freed her from Arlong. He knows they all share that look when it comes to Luffy. He has a habit of razing the entire symbol of one’s torment to the ground. So, Zoro just resolves to keep an eye on Robin until he sees the moment for her too.

Robin’s cool, Robin’s funny. Said she’s got nothing else to do so they’ve got her. Luffy can accept that. He’s responsible for her life now, she says. Obviously, he’s her captain after all: Gray walls surround a single long table, agents lining the edges, they’ve been tracking her twenty years now unsuccessfully. They’d hunted her and watched for weaknesses. Anything to eliminate the threat to Their order: Robin’s been smart all this time but hasn’t been happy, hasn’t been living, Captain and crew now, he’ll show her freedom to live for. Somehow or another, he’ll work it out.

Chapter Text

Unfortunately for Nami, Robin isn’t quite the voice of reason she had been looking for when redirecting Luffy from his new hyperfixation on an island in the sky. It’s all too obvious Robin is an intelligent woman so it is reasonably vexing to see her so readily agree with their stupid child captain. Love him, Nami loves him, he’s her little brother and her captain, yes, but he’s a simple idiot. So both bless Robin, for being a whole adult woman to deal with their ship of children, and curse her for indulging the most childish one of them regardless of being captain.

Luffy can’t think of a food he’s ever really disliked. If it’s food, it's good. So finding the most disgusting and vile cherry pie is a new anti-adventure he is deeply displeased to experience. Same for the nasty guy sitting next to him. Luffy shivers looking at him, speaking to him, being near him, but refuses to feel further into it. Too unpleasant. The guy has the gall to try and eat or drink more than Luffy too. Which he totally can’t, Luffy will kick his ass in any competition, somehow, he doesn’t think he can lose to him, can’t afford to lose to him :The greater numbers are the greater chance for rubbish to slip through the cracks. For a mold to go unnoticed until too late. People who want only for power are just that kind of plague. People are just their pawns with opportunity as their plaything. There is no honor in backstabbing. No honor or redemption to be found in someone who never believed there was anything to betray. Lives or deaths beyond their own thought inconsequential:

Bellamy and his gang aren’t worth Luffy’s action. Bellamy feels like a puppet on a string imitating the wills of its orchestrator. So he lets him feel big, and doesn’t bother what little effort it would take to dodge. The pie guy from earlier sits outside the bar to congratulates him and claims belief in dreams and dreamers and freedom, but for all he boasts he feels a blight to it. Luffy doesn’t say anything to him and proceeds to put him out of mind. All but shaking off the smarmy grease the man mistakes for a personality and exudes like a repulsive physical feeling only recognized by Luffy: This man takes and takes and takes. Endless black and void, one that can never be satisfied, never be filled. So he tramples, discards, takes, and devours for naught but his own greed. He’s already done it, and it will never be enough, he will do it again, it will hurt :

Her captain is an idiot. An idiot who Lets himself be beaten up by some Weak Filth of your common Disgusting pirate. Followed faithfully by another Idiot who at this moment Nami is inclined to agree with Sanji's assessment that he is a blind moronic moss ball. Her boys are strong, so strong, they should never, ever, have to be beaten in a battle so obviously below their level. Which unfortunately she is told, was the point. It doesn’t make walking out of that bar any less humiliating for her. She should have been done being looked down on like that without anything to gain from the underestimation. And there really, really wasn’t anything that could have come out of there for them. Nami too, saw the way Luffy bristled away from the guy at the bar for all he was fighting so closely with him over nothing. Saw his silent aversion to the man continue after they were out. It was odd, the man had praised him (which Luffy never much cared for) and declared his belief in the dreams and freedom of pirates (which Luffy very much cares for) and yet Luffy remained blank. It was kind of awful. Luffy looked at this man like he’d looked at Arlong. He bristled like he’d been the personal bane of someone he loves, and that scared her. So it was more than enough reason to not to respond and for her to continue her personal retreat back to the Merry. 

:Noland never had anything to gain from lying to the king. Conclusion most simple, is that he was never lying. Noland was adamant, and the sea is vast and endless. She carries the dreams of many and consumes all at the end. That does not mean this was the end: The logpose pointed to the sky + The logpose points to islands = There’s an island in the sky. Easy. Doesn’t make sense why chestnut head guy is diving into the sea then. Chestnut head is a cool guy though. Luffy may not exactly get what he's doing but it’s important to the guy and he’s helping them get to sky island so they’re friends. Plus Bellamy was an ass already, just to him though so he didn’t bother; But Bellamy messed with his friend, which was a mistake: Still, it won’t be his last: Luffy kicks his ass and brings Chestnut guy’s gold back. And they get launched into the sky by the ocean.

: Part of being a pirate is notoriety. Proof of being a pirate is a bounty. It is a badge of honor among pirates and a higher bounty proves a ‘worse’ pirate. It is a wonderful thing to earn and laugh among your peers over the world government’s foolishness. They are a straightforward bunch. Foolish, but mostly straight to their point. It is a shame, a terrible, terrible shame that they are so easily persuaded and manipulated by their own justice. For they have donned it a sin to be a son, and thus give credence to a true villain. If a lesser man cannot get what he wants, he will fake his way to a better position by hiding behind lies. Too far below them now, Marshal D. Teach resolves to use the child he could capture as leverage against the crew he’d already betrayed: (The knock up stream is to voracious, and the captain too excited, and the name too unknown, for him to hear or understand the warning)

The world speaks to Luffy in interesting ways. Not that he understands that. To him, everyone comes by the same sensations he does. Visions, whispers, feelings, and memories. All of them wisp by and none of them truly catch. Maybe because he doesn’t actually work to grasp them, maybe not. There have been those in the past he had tried desperately to hold onto. Feelings he knew in the moment would be far too important later on. He knows that those he wishes he could’ve understood pertained most to Sabo, and now Ace. Dead men tell no tales once the sea takes them, so the sea tells their tales herself. He had a passing feeling at one time for Nami too back when, Chopper, Robin soon as well, Ussop, Zoro and Sanji’s time will come eventually. He can’t hold onto it all though. He can’t really hold onto any of the musings the world gives him as warnings to the future. Not that he wants any spoilers, but he also doesn’t want to see his loved ones hurt.

The big pie guy hurts. Something is wrong with him and the entire world around him knows it just as he does. Luffy doesn’t need the Shivers to tell him, so really if it would help they should be telling him something else. Though perhaps those kinds of messages are being relayed, just not to him. So all at once he lets them go, can’t hold ‘em anyway: He will regret this : Luffy enjoys the knock up stream in the feeling of all its glory, and lets the scenes the ocean brings him whip uselessly around beneath the Merry as she flies.

Connis wasn’t expecting any visitors from below, but she was raised to be friendly and polite, and that she is. Her and her father befriend and harbor these fugitives as despite their current legal status they are kind people. A Little strange but who is she to judge, perhaps their behavior is simply custom where they are from. It however cannot be considered normal anywhere to outwardly defy god. Even so, they are kind. There may not be much to go off of, but something, there’s a feeling she gets, she will help them find their friend. The one who so naturally picked up the Waver, the one who just upon meeting, she felt a sort of kinship with.

Why is it that every island they go to, even one in the fucking sky, there is some kind of evil dictatorship. Nami grew up under one with the arrival of Arlong. Then toppled one with her crew for a princess though she loved, did not compensate her like they had agreed upon. Nami pretends to be bitter about this. Each time her life is put on the line and this time once again she is alone, but unlike before it's temporary. This one may be her own fault for going too far and stepping onto a new island among the sky islands, but she won’t admit that either. Arlong, Crocodile, and now a motherfucking god. Though she may be terrified she still thinks, Luffy better get his ass over here asap.