Sake of Living
Lots of people thought Luffy was crazy. How many people would set of to sea without knowing where they were going? How many people would save a person they didn't know and couldn't even decide if they were good or bad? How many people would allow an obviously weak coward to join their crew when there were bound to be better people out there? How many people would insist that a stubborn cook who didn't even want to join them, join them, just because he had a dream? How many people would save someone who had betrayed them (apparently) and didn't even know their story? How many people would save a monster, a freak and protect its dream for it? How many people would risk their lives to save a person who had already declared that she didn't want to be saved by them, that she wanted to die, would go against the world just for her? How many people would stubbornly insist that a cyborg join them and would even go so far as to steal their underpants? How many people, upon meeting a skeleton on a lonely ship in the middle of the fog, would demand for it to join him? How many people would risk their lives for people they didn't know at all?
But Luffy did. He had seen their tears, their fears, and he wanted to help them. He called them nakama, friends, but more than that, friends he would trust with anything and everything. He didn't know a lot, but what he did know was what mattered most.
He knew that although Zoro seemed tough and cold to others, with his nakama he was happy (even if his captain asked him to do seemingly unreasonable and insensible requests).
He knew that Ussop, although he was a coward, he would do anything for his nakama (even if it meant having to beg to be allowed to join the crew again).
He knew that to Sanji, feeding them was pure bliss (even if it meant dealing with his captain's unreasonable requests for meat).
He knew that Nami, guiding them through anything and keeping them safe gave her pleasure (even if it meant that she would have to put up with her crews' idiotic actions again and again).
He knew Chopper fussed over them after battles because he cared about them and didn't want to lose them (him always fussing over Zoro was enough of proof of that).
He knew Robin was lying to herself, she really wanted to live, she just had to see that she had a place to return to, a place where she would be accepted, to let people tell her that she wasn't worthless, she wasn't replaceable (even if it meant putting his crew in danger, but then again, they didn't mind, they wanted her back too).
He knew Franky needed to live his dream for not only himself but for his adopted father who had cared enough to die for him (even if it meant having to repair the ship again and again because the crew, especially a certain swordsman, cook and captain, was too careless with it).
He knew Brooke was looking for a place where he could wash away the memories of loneliness with memories of people who accepted him, who called him one of them (even if it meant leaving behind his original crew, but that's what they would have wanted of him anyway).
Which was why after Ace's death (he had felt like shit, so many failures, one after the other), after Jimbe had asked him to count not what was lost, but what remained to him, he had counted nine things on his fingers. Nine people that mattered most to him after his brother.
"I still have my friends!"he declared, still crying.
Nine people who still cared and would never abandon him. It was because of them, he made them stay apart for two years so that he could get stronger to protect them, to never lose them. It was for the good times they had had before (laughter). It was for the times they cried (tears that flowed). It was for their dreams.
"I will become the pirate king!"
"I will become the world's greatest swordsman!"
"I will draw a map of the entire world!"
"I will become a brave warrior of the sea!"
"I will find All Blue!"
"I will become a great doctor!"
"I will find the Rio-Poneglyph!"
"I will travel the world on the Sunny and reach the end of the Grand Line on it!"
"I will return to Laboon one day and fulfill my promise!"
It was for the sake of living.