AN: This is my favorite story at the moment (so I am more likely to work on this story than the the other stories I have recently uploaded)~ I like it because it deals with being able to cross language and cultural barriers to make bonds with others! Hope you will enjoy it as well…!
.:.
The doorbell was ringing. A hologram image immediately lit up over the closed door, revealing a slim boy with brown skin and a long nose. He was frowning off towards something on his right and his arms were folded tightly across his chest. As he tapped his index finger against his arm at a gradually quickening pace, his eyebrows began to knit together.
"Oi, Luffy!" The image of the boy now moved to show him pointing animatedly at the camera and staring straight into it with eyes full of annoyance. "Oi—! Stop sleeping!"
The sudden shouts of the familiar voice shook a raven-haired boy from his nap. The boy lazily flung his head back over the rim of the couch seat and struggled to open both eyes at the same time. In a moment, his vision cleared and he stared numbly at the pale door with the image still furiously staring at him.
"Naa?"
Hi! My name is Monkey D. Luffy...! I currently live in a city called Nos Longul...
The hologram image made a beeping noise and a small red number glowing in the top right corner of the screen jumped from a six to a seven. The long-nosed boy groaned and slapped a hand to his face.
"Not an MR again... ugh, Luffy...! Get up and open the door! This is probably the sixth or seventh MR already, oi!"
The raven-haired boy blinked once and then continued to watch the face of his friend.
"Usopp...?"
It's a city that is full of mysterious things. Like the mysterious door images. Or the mysterious buildings that could shift within seconds to accommodate whatever occasion is being held there. And the perfectly flat pedestrian roads, all illuminated by mysterious lights beaming in from several angles. In any case, everything in Nos Longul is a mystery. Even the people.
"Hey, if you don't open the door this instant, I won't be showing you the cool stuff Franky gave me!" The image of Usopp declared grandly and then stared into the camera with one threatening eye. At the phrases, "won't be showing" and "cool stuff", the raven-haired boy blinked again before his eyes grew as round as saucers.
"AHHH—! Cool stuff!" Luffy sprang from his couch and pounced towards the pale door sporting seven new message recordings. "Ahh—! Usopp!" He yelped and hastily slapped a panel on the wall. The door slid open with a gushing sound of air and the boy came face to face with the long-nosed boy, who had his arms crossed again while his eyes were half-lidded and looking back in an unimpressed manner.
"Luffy," he started in a clipped tone, "Do you have any idea how long I was waiting out here?"
"Ahh, sorry, Usopp! Sorry!" Luffy clapped his hands together and bowed apologetically, "You'll still show me what Franky gave you, right? Please? Please? Please?"
Usopp sighed deeply and shook his head. "Didn't I call you ten minutes before coming here? You even answered! How did you fall asleep so fast?"
"Oh, uhh..." The boy scratched his cheek with an index finger, "I was waiting... and staring at the door... and waiting for you to get here..." Usopp raised an eyebrow at him, already predicting the boy's next words.
"... and then I fell asleep."
"You idiot!" Usopp shouted incredulously and smacked Luffy over the head, "Don't fall asleep when your friend is coming over in ten minutes...!"
"Neehee." The raven-haired boy recovered quickly and grinned, "Sorry, Usopp. But I was really excited and didn't get much sleep last night!"
Usopp watched his friend through narrowed eyes. Then, a smile split across his lips. "Hee hee, actually I didn't either." He swiped a finger under his nose, rubbing it back and forth excitedly, and then proudly lifted up a large bag sitting by his feet, "Here it is...! I haven't opened it yet, but I was really tempted to, you know?"
"Whoohoo!" Luffy threw his arms up into the air and ran back into his flat wildly. He hopped into a mess of plastic bags in the middle of the main room—each smelling faintly of sausages, ham, and salami—and started kicking them under the couch to make room for Usopp's bag. "Let's open it!"
The door slid shut in another wheeze of air after Usopp entered. Then, the long-nosed boy raised up the large bag to the lighted ceiling and set it down in the center of the room. Luffy perched himself on the very edge of his couch, watching the ritualistic scene unfold before his shining eyes.
"Urhrm..." Usopp began, clearing his throat carefully. The next second, he tossed his arms out and pointed at the bag dramatically, "Welcome! To the 21st 'Oh my god, I can't believe Franky let us have this stuff!' event of the year! Last month, we saw a collection of fossilized beetles from half a century ago as well as rusty arrowheads made by the Aborigines of our very own country...! We were blessed with a broken robot arm and then gifted with a scrap of a pirates' flag! Whaaaaat—will Franky have in store for us this time...!"
Luffy laughed brightly and clapped his hands together, eyes occasionally flickering to the large bag with eagerness.
Ah! What I meant by "Even the people"... well, the people in this city are mysterious too. Some of them have special abilities. Not everyone though. I didn't have special abilities yet and Usopp doesn't have any. Franky is half-cyborg, half-human. I guess he's a mysterious person too but that's not what I meant by mysterious. Anyway, these special abilities can make people take care of natural disasters, like absorb wildfires or earthquakes that occur close to our city—that's what my brother, Ace, does! He's with Whitebeard. Oh yeah, and Whitebeard is the guy who started the entire natural disaster control group. There are also other people who can separate things into pieces without touching anything. That's Buggy's ability. He's funny and runs the mechanical dismantling place thing. But he's also a mystery. Such mysterious abilities...
The long-nosed boy reached into the bag and then rummaged around the insides, twisting his face into funny expressions and trying to illicit as much laughter from his friend as possible. Finally, after screwing up his eyes, he yanked out the first object.
"Tadaa! It's—" Usopp squinted at the label delicately attached to the slightly rusted object in his hands, "—a replica of a twenty-thousand year old sword!" The boy's eyes bulged and he nearly dropped the object, "Woah, wait, what?"
Luffy sprung off the couch and tackled his friend to the ground. The raven-haired boy scrabbled to get his hands on the old sword and Usopp bravely fought to hold the object out of reach.
"H-Hold on a second, Luffy! No need to be so excited, you'll get your turn."
"Aw man, but I want to play with it now." The excitable boy pouted and sat back on the balls of his feet, bouncing impatiently. "Hurry up, Usopp!"
The other boy rolled his eyes and pushed the replicated artifact towards Luffy, "Alright, alright. You can take a look at it first but don't go swinging it around like what you did with the robot arm last time... you nearly stabbed out my eye with the finger!"
"Yay! I'm going first!" The raven-haired boy exclaimed and eagerly extended his arms towards the rusty object.
"Oi... are you listening to me?"
I don't know why the people of this city have these special abilities. Sometimes these abilities appear at a young age. Other times, these abilities come out at a much later age. Anyway, I mention these mysterious people because... it was only a few moments later that I discovered that I...
As soon as Luffy's fingers touched the edge of the rusted blade, the boy let out a soft gasp and managed a brief, "Usopp, what—?" before disappearing in a sudden rush of air. The long-nosed boy blinked.
"Luffy...?"
The boy glanced around the room in confusion. A bead of cold sweat started forming on the back of Usopp's neck and he quickly got to his feet.
"Luffy?" He tried a little louder. The boy glanced down at the artifact in his hands only to jump back in shock when he found it missing.
"L-Luffy...?"
… was also one of them.
.:.
As soon as Luffy felt his fingers around the sharp cold of the old and worn blade, the room immediately sprang to life, stretching out as if the entire space had become something painted onto the surface of a rubber band and then pulled. His feet seemed to be rooted firmly to the floor but the rest of his body and head kept stretching along with the room. He didn't think he could stretch any farther but somehow, his body kept pushing him to.
"Usopp, what's going on?" The boy tried to ask his long-nosed friend but instead of a coherent sentence, what he heard was a strange long and drawn out version of it. Just what was happening right now?
All around him, the colors of white, gray, bright yellow and green were also melding together in such intensities that he could not bear to keep his eyes open any longer.
"Ahhh—! Waaaaah—-!" Luffy screamed into the vivid void of colors and clenched his eyes and fists together, just bracing for the entire sensation to end.
And then it all stopped. The boy popped open his eyes—risking a look at his surroundings—and then gaped at the place he was now in.
Everything was so dark. Only a faded candlelight flickering in the distance shed some contours to the darkness. The faint dripping sound of water wormed its way along moldy stone walls, resonating against the several thick wooden stakes lined up a few inches apart from each other. The stakes seemed to reach towards the ceiling, caging up whatever things were held behind them.
Luffy shivered. This was definitely not his flat... In fact, if he thought about it a little more, the stakes looked rather like a prison cell. But rather than thinking about it too much, the curious boy instead decided to ask testily, "Usopp...?"
A sudden deep and low voice murmured back at him harshly, speaking in a fast paced language he could not understand.
WOAH. Okay, whoever this person—male or whatever—was... they were definitely notUsopp. Where the hell was he?
"Eh? Uh, I can't understand you..." Luffy crept towards the wooden cell, where the voice had come from, "Did you just say, 'I just want a cheeseburger'? Actually, I'd like a cheeseburger right now, too. I'm hungry." The person made a grunting noise that seemed to sound like confusion and the raven-haired boy cocked his head to the side in reply, blinking into the cell owlishly.
As his eyes adjusted to the dull lighting, the boy noticed the outlines of a man chained to the back wall of the cell. He could roughly make out the man's hair color—was that really a green or was it just a brown trying to pass off for green in the light? He also recognized the sudden stench that had somehow sunk into the air and into the very pores of his skin. How did he miss that disgustingly thick smell in the first place?
Blood.
It was coming from that man?
Luffy shuffled closer to the cell and scratched at the back of his head. Did someone beat him up and then lock him in here? Suddenly, the man lurched forward a little and the boy verified that the man's hair was indeed green. He noticed the lines of dried blood all over his face. The man's robe-like attire was also stripped with lines of blood, some a dried dark brown and some still a fresh, soaking crimson.
Luffy locked eyes with the man. The steel-green color of his pupils looked back into his own deep brown ones and for a moment, he couldn't think or move. Only one thought reverberated in his mind:
"Woah... cool..."
The man blinked and quirked an eyebrow at him skeptically. Luffy blinked at himself. Whoops, did he say that out loud? A bright grin spread across his face and he chuckled at his slip-up. As the boy continued to smile, the man's eyes narrowed dangerously and a feral smirk flit up the corner of his mouth. He muttered a few more sentences with fast syllables and Luffy's smile faded slightly. He didn't understand what the guy was saying but it didn't seem to sit in his stomach well.
"Umm... I don't know what you're saying but I don't think I like what you're saying."
If the man had understood, he didn't show it.
Luffy pressed his lips together and then sat back on his heels, starting a slow rocking back and forth in front of the prison cell. Would there be something that could help them understand each other...? The boy tilted his head and stared at the wooden cell walls, trying to think of a way to communicate.
He could feel the man's intense gaze on him and he felt several beads of sweat form on the back of his head. Thinking of a way to communicate fast would be a good idea. Yep.
Suddenly, a thought hit him.
"Aha!" Luffy's back straightened from his slouched position—causing the man to jump slightly—and then the boy beamed brightly again. He pointed towards the wooden stake.
"Wood."
The green-haired man stared back at him with a blank face.
"Okay... so that didn't work." Luffy rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then gasped audibly as another thought enlightened his mind. "Oh yeah! I completely forgot to introduce myself!" He sprang into laughter and the man seemed to frown at him with distaste. The boy pointed at himself and shuffled closer towards the cell. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy."
Luffy could almost see a question mark appear over the man's head as he furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion. The boy continued to point at himself.
"Monkey D. Luffy." He added an expectant smile.
The man suddenly sat up a little straighter and raised both eyebrows, "Mon kee... Dee Luu fee?"
Luffy nodded happily and clapped his hands together in elation. "Yeah! That's me...! Neehee."
The man gave him a wide-eyed stare before letting out a snort of laughter. Then, he lifted the index finger of his left hand and managed to point down at himself despite having his arms bound to the wall. His mouth opened and let out a strange rumble of words. The man smirked back, almost as though he were challenging him to a competition.
"Naa?" Luffy paused, trying to catch onto the strange words. Was that the man's name? It sounded like the wheels of those old model trains Franky used to own.
The man shook his head and repeated the rolling sounds again, slightly slower.
"Lolonoazoro?"
The man grinned and fell back against the wall, looking somewhat relaxed and content despite his strange and less than comfortable predicament.
"Lolonoazoro, huh?" Luffy tried the rolling syllables again and smiled at the funny feeling the words gave his tongue. "You have a weird name, Lolonoazoro. Can I just call you Lolo? No, wait that sounds stupid. What about Zoro?" Luffy snickered, which earned him a small, half-hearted glare. The glare quickly shifted to one of smugness though when the man said something again in his deep voice and then added a "Luu Fee" to the end.
"Hey!" Luffy chuckled and pointed a finger at him accusingly, "I might not understand exactly what you're saying but I can tell that you're making fun of me." The man only continued to grin at him smugly. Suddenly, the man's expression changed drastically when his eyes fell on something behind him.
"Oi! —-! —-!" Luffy jumped at the sudden recognition of the 'oi' sound. Huh. So was that something that every language had...? "Oi!" The boy jumped again when the man spoke in a harsher tone. He noticed Zoro point towards something behind him with one foot and the boy glanced over his shoulder.
"What? What? What do you want?" Luffy asked and scanned the floor behind him curiously, wondering what had created such a change in Zoro's behavior. A familiar object caught his eyes and he reached an arm over to pick it up. Huh, so it had come along with him to this place, too?
He turned back to the imprisoned man and lifted up the rusty sword that Usopp had shown him just minutes ago.
"You want this?"
From Zoro's wide-eyed and urgent expression, it seemed like the rusty object was quite important to him. The man licked his lips briefly and then began to shoot off in short, harsh sentences that sounded slightly like questions. Luffy gulped and quickly pushed the old sword into the wooden cell. "Alright! Alright! Here, you can take a look at it...!"
The man immediately clamped his feet over the hilt and pulled it up towards his face. Luffy watched his companion study the sword carefully and noticed the man's eyes dilate and dart back and forth. He watched as the man slowly set the old sword back down. Then, Zoro's head shot towards him, face completely immersed in confusion.
"Uhhh," Luffy scratched his cheek in reply, smiling sheepishly, "Don't ask me about it. I don't know either!"
After another few seconds of silence, the man's facial expression slowly returned to one of calm. But Luffy could notice a determined gleam within the man's eyes. It sent shivers of excitement down his spine. Zoro nodded to him and then gestured with a finger to come closer. The boy smiled and did as he was told, shuffling towards the cell until he could wrap his arms around the wooden bars. The green-haired man then pointed towards the broken sword and stared straight into his eyes.
"Uhh..." Luffy blinked and glanced from Zoro to the sword, "Okay, the sword...?"
The man pointed at the sword again and then lifted up three fingers against the wall. His eyes continued to bore into Luffy.
"Uhh," The raven-haired boy scratched his head and lifted up three fingers, "So... three swords?" He drew a figure of a sword in the air with his hands. Zoro smirked and then pointed towards the flickering candlelight. Luffy blinked. "Light?"
The man seemed to notice his confusion and shook his head, repeating the pointing at the sword, lifting up the three fingers, and then pointing at the candlelight. He nudged his head a few times towards the light and Luffy's eyes widened in sudden understanding.
"Oh! You want me to get you three swords that are over there?" He grinned and sprang up to his feet, "Okay, I'll be right back!" The boy was about to run off enthusiastically when two 'oi!'s stopped him.
"Hm?" He turned back and saw Zoro kick the old blade towards him. The look in the man's eyes seemed to tell him, "You'll need it." Luffy chuckled and bounced over to retrieve the rusted sword. "Thanks!" He sent the man a smile and a quick wave before hopping off again, "I'll be back, Zoro!"
The boy didn't wait for an answer and started padding down the damp stone flooring, heading straight for the corner that the dancing light was coming from. He rest the old sword against his shoulder—tapping out a relaxed beat to walk to—and was about to spring into song when he turned the corner.
A pair of eyes locked with his and he looked back at this person sitting in front of a small wooden table with a candle lit on the surface.
"Ah." Luffy started while scanning the area for the three swords. The person who sat at the table wore robe-like clothes—just like Zoro except cleaner looking—and he also sported something that looked like hard-shelled armor over his torso. The person's mouth fell open and he pointed at him with a shaky finger.
"Ahhh! —-!" Luffy ignored the man's frightened exclamation of foreign words and instead found his eyes drawn towards the three swords lying against the wall behind the table. A wide grin split across his face.
"Oh!" He pounced on the swords and happily gathered the bundle into his arms. "I found 'em, shi shi shi!" The boy was about to turn and walk back to Zoro when the sleek sound of ringing metal met his ears. He felt the sharp tip of something cold cut into his neck threateningly and he gulped.
What...?
This... wasn't good, was it...
"AHHH—!" Luffy immediately screamed, mind racing from the sudden death threat aimed towards him. Where the heck was he again? Why was someone trying to kill him? In a split second, the boy ripped away from the steel blade touching his neck and then ran for it, plummeting down the hall at top speed to get away from the possible killer. "AHHH, I'm gonna DIE!" From the loud shouts and sounds from behind him, it seemed like his killer was hotly pursuing after him. He glanced over his shoulder and let out another scream when he noticed three other men brandishing their swords in his direction. That guy's friends had joined him?
"AHH!" Luffy skidded to a stop at the last cell and noticed Zoro inside, steel-green eyes round in shock. The green-haired man was shouting at him and motioning at him hurriedly. His pursuers were gaining on him. He couldn't stop screaming. With all the noises surrounding him and his anxiety pumping at his blood in such a rapid rate, Luffy did the first thing that occurred to him.
The boy flung the three swords into the cell—at least Zoro would get the swords he wanted—and then turned to lift up the antique sword over his head as a gleam of steel flashed down upon him. He fell onto his bottom, back hitting the wooden bars of the cell, and squeezed his eyes tightly shut, yelling all the way.
Oh! He could already feel the blood spurting out from the two halves of his mangled body! How was he supposed to run away now? And there should be lots of pain soon. But maybe if he managed to keep both halves together with his hands, his blood could glue itself back together...? Wait—
Luffy peeled open his eyes when his surroundings had suddenly grown silent. He stared at the four killer men now taking several steps away from him. Their swords were still drawn but now up in a defensive position.
"Huh?"
He was still a whole piece and not two halves...?
A snort came from behind him and Luffy lifted his head to find Zoro now standing upright, directly behind him. The man had one sword in his mouth and another one drawn in his right hand. A feral grin was rising across his lips. He heard the green-haired man murmur a quick something and 'Luu Fee' through the white hilt in his mouth before moving to draw out his third sword. Luffy watched on in wonder as Zoro drew out the last one. It was pulled out in a such a slow and menacing manner that it felt as though a demon were descending upon them.
Zoro flung an arm out—carving at the air expertly—and the wooden stakes that once imprisoned him suddenly made a cracking noise and gave way. The killer men gasped and shook their weapons at the green-haired swordsman, shouting out several fast syllables. Luffy heard his new friend scoff and then step through the opening in the prison, smirking in a cocky fashion.
The green-haired man growled out a short and clipped phrase before narrowing his eyes at the armored men. Luffy pulled himself up to his feet and inched towards Zoro. He kept his eyes on the four men, muscles tightening in preparation to fight or evade the dangerous blades.
There was a tense silence in which the pair stared down the group of four, both waiting for the other to make the first move.
After another second, one of the men erupted into a loud, drawn-out yell and then rushed at Zoro with his sword, tip aiming directly for the green-haired man's head. In return, the man grinned and brought up his swords in a wide-stance, looking like Death carrying three scythes. At the same time, another armored man screamed at Luffy and rushed towards him with rapid steps. The remaining two men followed behind, each shouting out cries that seemed to rip at Luffy's skin.
"Wah!" Luffy yelped and dove towards Zoro, barely avoiding the thrust of steel aimed for him, "That's dangerous!" Just as his arms wound around the green-haired man's stomach, the boy felt a familiar sensation abruptly seize his surroundings.
The room was stretching.
"This again?" He frowned in frustration, watching as the armored men disappeared and the room continued to stretch upwards. He heard a grunt of confusion respond to him and Luffy's attention snapped towards the man in his arms. He gasped loudly, "Zoro! You're here, too?" Suddenly, instead of stretching upwards, the room seemed to bounce and retract quickly. The movement knocked the breath out of Luffy's lungs and he struggled to regain his bearings.
This was different from the first time. Why did it feel like he was being pulled backwards? Colors of deep black, blue, and bright red stung his eyes as they swirled around him. He could hear Zoro shouting into his ears in that rapid foreign language and he couldn't help but scream as well when the dark colors merged into ones of bright white and yellow.
With a loud air-sucking pop, the two of them found themselves stopped in the center of a bright room, still yelling at the top of their lungs.
"GYAHHHH—-!" A familiar voice joined theirs and they turned to find a long-nosed boy screaming at them hysterically.
Luffy squeezed Zoro in fright, "WAHHH! Usopp?"
"L-L-Luffy?" Usopp returned in confusion, pointing at the raven-haired boy standing beside a strange and dangerous looking man. The trio gradually calmed and at the sharp look from Zoro, Luffy sprang away from his side sheepishly. The boy blinked at the area and then tilted his head to the side, a frown on his face.
"I'm back."
Usopp marched towards Luffy and smacked him over the head for his blunt manner, "Where the hell did you go? You just disappeared into air a few minutes ago! And now you suddenly reappear again, screaming! I just called Franky and he—!" The soft ringing of metal cut him off and Usopp immediately froze, lifting his hands up high in the air as he began to sweat bullets. The boy's eyes darted towards the gleaming blade pressed against his neck and then the pupils wobbled towards the man holding the weapon. "A-And... just exactly w-w-who is that...?"
Luffy chuckled and hopped beside the green-haired swordsman, who was giving Usopp a deathly and bone-chilling stare.
"This is Zoro. He's my friend!"
"L-Luffy... can you get your 'friend' to stop pointing his sword at me then?"
Luffy's mouth formed an 'o'. "Oh yeah. Naa, Zoro, he's my friend!" He bounced towards Usopp and flung an arm around Usopp's shoulders, "See? Friends. So don't hurt him...!"
The green-haired man didn't seem to be listening. His eyes were jumping from Usopp to Luffy, then to the surroundings; and the more the man looked at, the more his eyebrows seemed to furrow together. He pulled the edge of the blade away from Usopp's throat and then stalked off towards the corners of the room, growling out angry sentences while peering at the strange apparatuses stationed around Luffy's flat.
"Ah, he's going to the kitchen." Luffy observed and scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Maybe he's hungry?"
"Hey..." Usopp gripped his friend's arm tightly and Luffy noticed that the boy's eyes had widened in a look of surprise and wonder, "Where did you find this guy...? His clothes are a mess and... he's... he's...!"
Luffy watched Usopp continue to gaze at the green-haired swordsman and he turned to study the man as well. "Huh? I don't know. He was chained to a wall behind some kind of wooden prison cell."
"W-What?" Usopp spun towards Luffy and gaped at him, wondering why in the hell his friend would free a person behind bars, "Luffy, what were you thinking! And we don't have wooden prison cells in the city! A-Anyway," The long-nosed boy rubbed his temples, "That's not what I wanted to say—Luffy, that guy... he's speaking Ancient Nironese...!"
"Haah?" The raven-haired boy blinked and glanced at Zoro, who was now pointing a sword at his instant microwave. "Ni...?"
"Nironese! It's a language that existed twenty thousand years ago and only a handful of people know it now...!"
"Oh... cool..." Luffy bopped a fist into the middle of his palm and his brown eyes sparkled brightly, "Ah! So you mean Zoro is twenty thousand years old?"
"No! How is that possible!" Usopp shook his head vigorously, "Just... you think maybe...?" The boy rubbed his chin slowly, "You know how your brother has those abilities... do you think that you...?"
"I have them, too?" Luffy's eyes widened at the thought.
"Yeah! And maybe you can teleport...! Or wait—! The wooden prison cells and the ancient language... maybe you..." Usopp knit his eyebrows together as he pulled the pieces together and slowly shared the strange idea he was coming up with, "...can jump through... time?"
"R-Really?" Luffy's mouth fell open. He was rewarded with a skeptical look from Usopp.
"Well, how else would you explain the 'disappearing after touching the replica of a twenty thousand year old sword and then popping back a few minutes later with a man who speaks a twenty thousand year old language'?"
The abrupt crashing noise from the kitchen put a halt to their conversation and they turned their heads to find Zoro glaring down at the instant microwave, which was now split into two halves and emitting occasional sparks of light. Luffy slapped his hands over his cheeks.
"Ahh! My microwave! Usopp! You know that something-nese, right? Tell him not to mess with my kitchen!"
Usopp yelled back indignantly, "I've only heard Nironese spoken by a visiting professor. I can't actually speak it—AHH!" The boy dove behind Luffy when Zoro lifted his gaze to them and began to walk towards them at a steady pace, swords raised slightly. "He's coming! Luffy, you're the one who brought him here—you talk to him!"
Just when they thought things wouldn't get any more hectic, the doorbell rang, accompanied by a loud and nasally voice which erupted when the hologram image flicked on.
"Suuuuuuupaaah—!" A man with bold blue hair and sharp sunglasses posed with his arms pressed together over his head, "Franky is in the house!"
"Hey, it's Franky!" Luffy chortled and then paused. Usopp and Luffy exchanged looks with each other before the raven-haired boy pointed a finger at the door."Wait! Why's Franky here?"
"Oh..." Usopp scratched his cheek sheepishly, "Right, uh... didn't get to tell you. When I called him, he said he'd come over to help figure out where you went. Didn't think he'd get here that fast though..."
The green-haired swordsman whipped his head towards the sudden image that had appeared. He let out a low growl and narrowed his eyes dangerously. Noticing the man's behavior, Usopp immediately gulped and gripped Luffy's shoulder.
"O-Oi! Don't you think your friend is acting a bit—"
And then Zoro lunged towards the image of Franky, swords pulled back for a heavy swing. Before anyone could react, the metallic front door fell into three pieces and burst into a puff of gray smog. Luffy's eyes bulged and Usopp's mouth nearly fell to the ground.
"AHH—-! Franky!"
"Oh my god, the door!"
The clashing sound of metal against metal buzzed through the air and the smoke cleared to the scene of a tense Zoro, his three blades pushing against a pair of thick arms.
"Oi, Usopp!" A slightly irritated voice bellowed from the thinning smoke, "What's the meaning of this?" The blue-haired man grunted out and then raised an eyebrow at the man attacking him. "Ah? You're not Usopp. Who the hell are you? Weird clothes..."
Zoro was also giving the man's choice of a speedo and unbuttoned T-shirt a strange look.
"Franky!" Usopp wiped at the sweat forming on his brow, "Whew, you're okay..."
"Oi, Franky!" Luffy pointed at the cyborg man, "Don't attack Zoro, he's my friend!"
"Haah?" The man with blue hair frowned, "I didn't attack him. He came at me on his own—who is this guy anyway? Never seen him around...wait..." The man whipped his head towards the raven haired boy and gasped, "LUFFY!"
"Yeah?" The boy blinked in return.
"You're here...!"
"Uhh... yeah."
Franky's eyes began to water and he pulled an arm away to rub violently at his eyes. His lips trembled as he cried, "Thank goodness. When Usopp called and said you'd disappeared I thought our days of friendship would never come back! I'm so happy I could cry! But I'm not crying!"
Zoro inched back slightly, wary of the crying man in front of him, and he watched on with a mixed look of mild disgust and great confusion. Luffy and Usopp, on the other hand, stared at each other for a second before inquiring curiously.
"Huh?"
"Wait, why would your days of friendship with Luffy never come back?"
Franky paused and looked up at them. "Hn? Oh. Well I accidentally mixed in the real artifact and from what you said about Luffy's situation, it sounded like the sword was cursed or something and took Luffy away."
"W-Wha—! Y-You mean... I got to hold a real twenty-thousand year old sword...?" Usopp's eyes bulged and Luffy gasped.
"Wow! I was holding a real sword? So cool!"
Franky gave them a roguish grin, "Yeah. Pretty super stuff, ah? I still have the replica in my office so I'll let you guys have it later. But I'm gonna need to take back the real thing to the department."
"Oh... oh yeah." Luffy lifted up the hand that still held the rusted sword and smiled at it, "Well, it helped me a lot back there so... thank you, Sword! I'm going to give you back now." He bounded past Zoro towards Franky and was about to pass it over when Zoro's eyes suddenly widened and he pointed his swords towards Franky menacingly again. A few quick and foreign sounds erupted from him and his mouth was set in a deep scowl.
"What's his problem...?" Franky rubbed the back of his neck and looked the man over from head to toe. "Who the hell is he anyway? You still haven't told me. And why does it sound like he's speaking another language? An illegal immigrant?"
"Ah, that's Zoro. He's my friend that I picked up a while ago and brought back here through a mysterious warping-stretching thing. He saved my life." Luffy explained, ignoring the blank look on Franky's face and the dead pan stare from Usopp, "Anyway, I think this sword is important to him..." He continued, remembering back to the urgent expression Zoro had on his face when he had seen the broken sword for the first time, "I think he wants it."
Franky snorted, "Well, I don't really care if he wants it or not. It ain't my business and I need to take it back to... wait a second...!" His eyes shot towards the sword Zoro was pointing towards him and then he grabbed Luffy's hand over, lifting it up to observe the rusted blade and darkened hilt. The room fell into a tense silence. After several seconds, Franky finally released the hand. He moved a finger to lift up the sunglasses on his face and then stared dumbly at the green haired man before him. His eyes were round and wide and a bubble of snot was threatening to fall from his nose.
"Franky?" Luffy waved a hand in front of the stunned blue haired cyborg, "What's wrong with you?"
"It's..." Franky finally managed to wheeze out, "...it's the same one..."
Usopp gasped, "I knew it! Luffy, you did go to the past...!"
"So I did?"
Franky rubbed his chin slowly, "So when you disappeared, you were actually jumping to that guy's time... is that it? Because you touched his sword from this time?"
Usopp nodded along, "It seems to be like that."
Luffy glanced from between his two friends as they spoke. Then, he pouted.
"Does this mean I'll be jumping into the past every time I touch something...?" The vortex of colors and the strange stretching feeling wasn't something he wanted to see or feel too often. Then again... if he could keep going into the past, maybe he could keep eating the same pieces of delicious meats over and over again...! That didn't sound too bad...
"That might happen..." Usopp muttered thoughtfully, "We'll need to test it out."
"Anyway, fellas, now that Luffy's fine," Franky jabbed a finger towards Zoro, who in turn sent back a sharp glare like a cornered beast, "What do we do about this ancient guy? He's probably completely disoriented and confused about what's going on around him. Not to mention he looks like he really needs a shower..."
"Ah." Luffy voiced and they eyed the green haired man's robes. They looked more like dirtied rags than robes and the various cuts and lines of blood along the hems and across the front and back looked as though it had been put partly into a meat grinder.
Luffy hopped towards Zoro, who flinched in return and gave the enthusiastic boy an incredulous look. Ignoring the look, Luffy promptly hooked his hands onto Zoro's robes and began pulling the larger male towards the hallway straight across from his front door.
"Let's go, Zoro! Time to take a shower, neehee! Maybe a bath, too. Those feel nice." He chirped happily and sent the swordsman a reassuring smile. The man still wore the look of incredulity on his face and he struggled at first to pull back. But after seeing Luffy's infectious smile he let out a sigh and followed after the boy wearily.
"Wow, he's had it rough back then..." Franky whistled at the sight of the man's back as they went down the corridor and into a door on the left. Usopp nodded and crossed his arms over his chest, adding a low-voiced, "Luffy said he found him chained to a wall in some prison-like place. I wonder what kind of guy he was...?"
Franky grinned. "Must've been a dangerous guy, ah?"
"D-Don't joke about that kind of stuff..." Usopp's knees shook and he sent an accusing glare towards the burly cyborg. "What if he decides to kill us?"
The blue haired man struck a pose and began to tap his foot to a dance beat, "Let's just see him try. When it comes to metal, I won't lose. Especially since today... I am feeling very... mmmmmmmhh..." He bent down and rolled his arms rapidly before flashing a supreme pose. "...SUPAAAAH—!"
Usopp sighed and shuffled towards the kitchen, "Anyway, let's figure out how to test out Luffy's new ability. And maybe even better, find out how to send the Nironese guy back to his time..."
.:.
4-koma (writer's version) omake:
"Ta-da! This is the all purpose room! I set it on the bathroom setting now. That's the shower!" Luffy grins and gestures to a section in the white tiled bathroom where there is a large spout hanging down from the ceiling. Another smaller spout is attached to the wall beside a panel of colorful translucent buttons.
"You see this wall, Zoro?" Luffy pokes at the buttons on the wall and sends a smile towards the green haired man, "When you touch it like this, water will come out. See?" Zoro observes with a look of slight wonder when warm water gushes down from the spout on the ceiling.
"Okay, now let's get you cleaned up!" Luffy grabs the front of Zoro's robes and pulls them apart, exposing the man's bare chest and strong shoulders.
Zoro slams a fist into Luffy's head, looking flustered, and yells out several angry syllables while pulling his robes back up. Luffy yelps back in pain, clutching his head and fighting back a tear from his eye, "Ow! But I'm just helping you...!"
.:.