Since the their reunion, much of the Strawhat crew felt as if they were constantly being pulled from one disaster to another. It wasn't so much that they followed trouble; instead, it felt like that trouble actually followed them.
Regardless, after everything that had happened so far in the journey, all of them welcomed a little peace and quiet on the seas – in the Strawhat sense of the word. Luffy was still jumping around like a little kid. Usopp and Chopper were joining their captain in some kind of game one of them made up just now. Zoro and Robin kept a careful eye on them as Franky and Brook tried to keep them entertained. Sanji was in the kitchen, happily making lunch while Nami sat outside judging the weather patterns.
It had been such a long time since any of them were able to just enjoy their time together. Even though it felt like the separation never happened, everyone were always reminded of it by the face of their captain.
Luffy was never ashamed of his scar or what it represented. His crew would never ask him to hide it either; however, they all would be lying if they didn't feel any kind of regret upon looking at it.
It was their reminder to stay strong and that this wasn't entirely a game. They were pirates sailing across deadly seas that no man has ever returned alive. They were the fearsome Strawhat crew that has opposed the World Government and several of the Shichibukai and a Yonko here or there. People died on these seas, and it wasn't like the seas favored them.
Perhaps a little, but that was no reason for any of them to put down their guard. In actuality, it really shouldn't be too hard when the seas surrounded all of them. However, when their captain was actually still a little kid and specifically requests that all of them have at least one party a week, it came be a little difficult to remember.
"Come on Luffy, that's cheating!" Chopper said as he changed into his animal form to Usopp's dismay.
Luffy laughed as he launched himself into the sky once again with Usopp's very expensive goggles on his head. Usopp screamed in despair and went on a money rant that would have made Nami proud. Soon enough, Luffy reappeared on top of Franky who took the goggles and ran off with Brook, who was apparently on his team.
"Why are we all picking on me?" Usopp yelled as he chased the cyborg around the deck.
"Because last night I saw you eat the last-"
"ISLAND!" Luffy yelled, and the crew stopped. Sanji ran from the kitchen with three trays and sighed. He had just finished making lunch as well.
"Sanji! Pirate lunches!" Luffy ordered. Sanji looked toward Nami.
"It'll take about another day with these winds to reach the island," Nami estimated, and Sanji sighed and placed the plates on the table. He took a moment to enjoy the sight before going back to the kitchen to start prepping for the adventure.
"Is that a volcano?" Usopp asked as he surveyed the island.
"A volcano? Like the one on Little Garden?" Zoro asked.
"It does seem to be active," Nami commented.
"Volcanoes are known to go dormant and then suddenly come to life again," Robin added with a smile.
"Yo ho ho! So it's a little like me then!"
"Yahoo! Do you think it's going to be a meat island? Since it already has a volcano, maybe all the meat will be cooked and everything and we can just eat it all!" Luffy ranted. Franky began turning the ship as per Nami's command in order to land safely. Once the course was set, the festivities could begin.
The day couldn't have passed any slower, but once it did, the island did not disappoint. They landed on the sandbank right in front of a very dense forest. No light seemed to be able to penetrate to thick leaves above and gave off a daunting atmosphere. Luffy couldn't have been happier.
"Let's go!" he announced and bounced off on his own adventure. The rest of the crew sighed as they began delegating tasks. They were low on supplies and at least one of them needed to watch the ship.
"I don't like these clouds," Nami commented when Zoro asked why someone should stay.
"Hey, shouldn't one of us go check on Strawhat?" Franky asked.
"Luffy? He'll be fine. He's been on this ship for a straight week. Let him have some fun," Sanji dismissed as all of them drew straws on who was going to stay.
Luffy, already deep in the forest, laughed as he jumped over fallen trees and swung on vines. It was forests like these that made him remember how much fun his childhood was. Now that he had a crew, places like these were at least three times more fun. Speaking of his crew, no one had said anything yet, and that was kind of annoying. They were having an adventure! It's kind of a requirement to be excited for an adventure like this. He gave his crew another second to be excited before he got fed up and stopped in his tracks.
"Oi! This is an-" Luffy began, but deflated when he saw that no one was following.
"What the hell? Did they get lost again?" Luffy asked as he scratched his head. Now that he was stopped, he took the chance to take in the scenery. The forest was as dark as it looked in on the outside, but somehow it managed to keep some kind of illumination. There was also a constant breeze in the background and if he wasn't careful his hat was going to –
Wait, where was his hat?
"Huh?" Luffy exclaimed as he felt the top of his head for his treasure.
"My hat!" Luffy was on the verge of tears. He promised Shanks that he would return that hat, and after everything, Luffy was sure that he was being really responsible with it after two years. If there was anything he learned at Rayleigh was to be responsible and he thought he learned something.
Luffy looked back at the trial he thought he took coming in. He might have lost it along the way or something. This was actually kind of annoying. Luffy began grumbling. If only his crew was here, he wouldn't have lost his hat.
"Are you missing this?" a voice asked from behind. Luffy turned and saw a small girl in front of him, which was kind of weird because there wasn't a girl there before. More importantly, she was wearing his hat.
"Hey! That's my hat!" Luffy yelled.
"Well it certainly isn't my hat," the girl replied with a smile, and then with a laugh, she started running away from him.
"Wait! You can't steal my hat!" All he got in response was another laugh. If Luffy was a better person, he would have called this encounter as suspicious and report back to the crew. Unfortunately for the world, he was not.
"You get back here you little brat!" Luffy yelled and followed the girl deeper into the forest.
Whoever this girl was, she was a real adventurer. Even Zoro would be complaining walking through here, and Zoro was one of the toughest people he knew. She managed to give Luffy the slip once or twice, but she always waited for him, which kind of made Luffy a little angrier. However, he would be lying if he thought this wasn't probably the most fun he's had since returning back to sea. It kind of reminded him of the time when he followed Ace into the forest, and he had to climb over those huge trees and avoid getting eaten by tigers. Luffy didn't even bother hiding the laugh that was bubbling in his chest.
Once he caught himself though, he steeled his resolve. That was Shanks hat and he was going to be in a lot of trouble if he lost it after everything he's been through.
He didn't really know how long he was chasing the girl. The forest was still really dark inside and he was only able to continue following the girl through the weird light patches or something. It was light, and that's really the only thing that mattered.
Actually, speaking of that light, it was getting really hot. Oh wait, that isn't light, it's fire. That's kind of cool. The only time Luffy saw this kind of fire was when Blue Jam or whatever that jerk's name was burned up the Gray Terminal which kind of sucked. However, then Ace and Sabo became a fire man so fire was pretty cool he guessed. Rubber was still cooler.
Wait fire?
Luffy screamed in surprise as he found his new shirt on fire. In the back of his mind, he wondered how much Nami was going to charge him for this damage, but he refocused and wondered where the flames came from. It was then that he noticed a large noise coming from what he thought was east.
"Uh oh," a voice said beside him. "Tawhiri isn't going to like this."
"There you are!" Luffy scolded as he grabbed his hat from the girl's head. "Steal is really rude you know."
The girl looked at Luffy for a second before quickly grabbing his hand.
"Hey! Where are we going?" Luffy demanded, but the girl did not answer and continued guiding him through the forest.
"Do you want to get burned by lava?" she asked in way that made the question not really a question. It was kind of like how Nami asked him questions.
"Lava?"
"The volcano is going to blow up, so we're going to play our game in a safer area."
"Oh, okay," Luffy agreed. "Hey! Wait! My crew! They're still at the beach. We need to get them too!"
"At the beach?" she seemed nervous, but she did not let go of his hand. "Tawhiri probably already got to them. They were probably the ones making a ruckus in the first place," she muttered as they continued running. "They'll be fine. If I promise you, will you follow me?"
The way she said that made Luffy believe that he could trust her. Nodding, he made her let go of his hand and then began following her to safety. Another roar erupted from the volcano and he could feel the forest getting hotter and hotter. As a side thought, he wondered if Chopper was doing okay. He wasn't there when they went to the Little Garden or whatever. He hoped that he wasn't too scared.
"We're almost there," the girl said as she made a sharp turn to the right, and before long, they had appeared in front of the entrance of cave that Luffy sworn was not there a few moments ago. He felt oddly out of breath from all the running, as if he hadn't just eaten Sanji's special breakfast. It was a good thing he still had his lunch strapped to his back.
Another eruption occurred, and the two of them didn't waste any time getting into further safety.
The cave, unlike the forest at the time, was very cool. It reminded Luffy of the ocean with how it smelled and how nice the mysterious breeze was. Like the forest, the cave was also mysteriously illuminated. However, Luffy was pleased to note that it was not fire this time.
At some point, the cave path evolved into a winding staircase that headed downwards. Throughout the journey, the girl didn't say another word. She began muttering to herself about something, but Luffy didn't really catch any of it. To be honest, he was beginning to become too preoccupied about his crew. As strong as they were, he didn't really think that any of them could beat lava. Maybe Zoro, but there was a lot of lava in a volcano, if he remembered the last time Rayleigh told him about them. If even Rayleigh couldn't handle fighting a volcano, he really didn't want his crew to do something about it without him.
If it came down to it, he hoped that they all got onto Sunny and escaped to safety. Something about them being separated again made Luffy's heart clench a little, but he tried to not let it show. He was about to ask the girl about them when she interrupted his thoughts.
"If you go to this room, you should be safe from everything. I'll come and get you later," the girl directed. Luffy never did like following people, and he has been doing that far too much so far.
"Where are my friends?" he asked.
"I told that they're going to fine! Tawhiri probably has them-"
"I don't care who this Tornado is! You took my hat and then my friends are all lost! You gotta tell me something by now!" Luffy demanded.
"Just be patient! I have to deal with this volcano-"
"Why are all you so loud? You remind me too much of my family, especially my brother. Can you just be quiet for a second?
"Just tell us where our shitty captain is we'll consider saving your ear drums."
"Sanji?" Luffy asked and walked through the corridor the girl had suggested earlier.
"Oi Sanji!"
"Wait, I think I hear Luffy." That sounded like Chopper. Oh that was good. Luffy was worried that Chopper might freak out with all the lava.
"Everyone!" Luffy smiled and was happy to see a small light at the corridor. As he entered the doorway, he was expecting to see everyone safe and sound. He was not expecting to see his friends all tied up as this stuck up jerk began glaring at him.
"Captain-san," Robin exclaimed with a surprised expression. That was pretty rare considering the amount of times Luffy had failed in trying to get Robin surprised.
"Look, it's your captain. Hooray. Now please shut up," the jerk ordered and sat down to lean against the cave's wall as if being angry tired him out.
"Luffy!" Chopper screamed in delight as he shifted forms and broke out of the ropes and ran over to him.
"Oi! Why didn't you do that earlier?" Usopp yelled.
"To his defense Usopp-san, we were just captured a few moments ago. I'm sure that if Chopper was given a little more time he would have-"
"You! Why are all of my friends tied up like this? Let them go!"
"Eh?" the jerk turned his head around to face Luffy, "You wanna head out during a volcano? Unless one of you have one of those interesting things you humans call Devil Fruits that will be helpful in that situation, I recommend that you guys stay here. However, I have no call over what you all do. Help yourselves. See if I care." He scratched his bare chest lazily as he looked away.
The jerk's attitude really bugged Luffy. It was probably because he felt like he was being ignored, and that is enough for him to get angry. Not only that, the jerk tied up all of his friends for no reason! Just because there was a volcano happening outside didn't mean he could use that as an excuse.
Hold on a second.
Something began to click into Luffy's head, and he just smiled. The jerk reminded him a lot of Torao actually. Maybe that's why he was being so rude. Torao got rude when he was trying to be helpful too.
"Luffy stop standing there like an idiot and help us out already!"
"Oi Marimo! Be useful for once and cut us out of here already."
Oh, if Zoro is asleep then it means that Luffy's suspicions were correct. He smiled even though the jerk had his back turned against him.
"Luffy?" Chopper asked tentatively, but Luffy grinned even wider that instantly calmed Chopper's nerves. Even though Luffy liked fighting, there really wasn't a point fighting people who were your friends after all.
"That should do it. Sorry about that. I forgot that it was going to explode again today but – oh! You found all of your friends!" The girl was back. "Good job Tawhiri!"
The jerk made a noise of acknowledgement but didn't look to greet the weird girl.
"Hey, you better explain a whole bunch of things though!" Luffy demanded. To be honest, Luffy didn't really want an explanation. He really didn't care about those kinds of things, but he has been captain long enough to know that you kind of needed those things when you were captured or something. It seemed like yelling worked because the girl seemed to just smile a little and nodded.
"It's all sort of a big mix up really. I guess it's best if we start at the beginning-"
"Would somebody just untie us already?!" Nami yelled.
"Oh, right."
Once the group was properly untied and punishments were dealt out to their idiotic captain who can't bother so sit still for more than five minutes, the group focused their attention onto the girl. For a moment, she was cheering on Luffy to fight back, but when they focused their glare back onto the girl, she was silenced. Chopper was in the process of waking up Zoro so that the group would be considered seriously. Once the swordsman was properly aware, the group began their own interrogation. Luffy was proud that his words finally got the group on track.
"Just who are you and what is your association with that guy over there? Is he a fruit user?" Usopp began as he aimed a slingshot at her.
"A fruit user? Tawhiri? Oh no! Here, let me just start from the beginning – it's much easier that way," the girl insisted and moved closer to the center of the room. The crew still readied their weapons, but waited and watched. Luffy, already decided that the girl was a friend, focused his attention onto the jerk.
For the first time since Luffy saw him, his eyes were focused on something. He seemed to be watching the girl as she walked. Luffy followed his eyes, but he didn't really understand what was so interesting.
"Hey, what are you looking at?"
"Shh," he signaled and pointed at the girl again. "Not many people get to see Papa's stories. In fact, ever since she has been separated, few gods ever see it either. You are one of the lucky ones to witness such an event within your mortal lives," he paused to consider something. "Perhaps she sees something in you."
The girl walked delicately over the floor as if she was afraid of harming the stone beneath her feet. She seemed to be searching for something under there and tiptoed around the center until she exclaimed and stomped.
The touches blew out, and Usopp screamed. An instant later, light slowly began to form from the center. A voice emerged so strongly that it felt like it was embracing them.
"I was not always alone," the voice began. "Long ago, I had a friend, a lover, I have no words to describe him. Rangi was always with me, and the love I had for him was indescribable." A beat from an unknown drum played. Brook began humming a small melody to go along. "We hugged for so long, kept each other warm and in company. Our love brought life between the two, but we couldn't- no shouldn't separate. I couldn't handle being away from him. I needed Rangi beside me.
"However, my children, the people I gave life to, did not appreciate being stuck. They got curious about light. They wondered what it would be like. I heard their whispers. I knew of their plans. Some wanted to kill us." The light from the center shifted from a soft white to a harsh red, and Nami visibly gulped as the temperature dropped.
"They decided the best way would to just separate us. My son, Tane, grew trees to separate me, the Earth and mother of all things, from Rangi, the sky and father of all things. They wanted me close to them while their father was kept away.
"They wanted us apart, and they succeeded. We cried out to them as to why they were doing this?" The light grew softer, and it slowly grew. "Rangi stayed in the Earth, and he cries to me often. I stay down here and sigh, hoping one day we can reunite. Years have passed. Many, many years passed, and I began to understand. Life is very short, but it is something worth living. My children – they wanted to live. Our love would not allow that."
The light grew even more until once again, the cave was illuminated again. The crew had not put down their guard.
"I built this island over the years. I've had this volcano grow and grow with every explosion. Over the years, it has grown, but it is not as high to reach the sky, to reach Rangi. Tawhiri, my only child that objected to the separation, has kept me company, but my other children who have disguised themselves among you, have not visited me thus.
"When Luffy here entered the forest, I saw his hat and thought that he, another man, had returned to help me. However, when it was evident that I was wrong, I played with him just like I played with all humans."
"Play with them?" Robin asked, he arms tensed. "Captain-san has been gone for several days now. You call this play?"
What? Luffy tilted his head.
"He didn't seem to notice. If you take note, this island's time doesn't act normal, at least in the forest. It must have felt like minutes to him in there. What matters to you if we just played for a little bit?"
"Shut up! Luffy is going to be pirate king! He doesn't have time to play around with you," Sanji argued and kicked his captain. "Come on, say something about it!"
Luffy was about to, but suddenly he was very tired from something. Did he missed a meal or something?
"Luffy?" Chopper checked his pulse.
"Shit. He hasn't eaten that dumb lunch of his yet has he?"
"I don't see what's the big deal. It won't be very long until Rangi and I are back together. This volcano is very close to being completed. It would only be another few centuries! You wouldn't even notice that he was gone!"
"Stop it! You are being selfish right now. Luffy is ours!" Nami screamed as she began one of her weather tempos.
Luffy could feel his hair begin to stand on its own as clouds began to form. In the background, he could hear the jerk stand up and mutter something, but since he was a jerk, he spoke too quietly to be heard. However, from the sounds of Zoro's swords clicking, it wasn't something very nice.
Honestly, Luffy really did want to fight. There were a lot of weird things going on in this island, and he didn't really appreciate being dragged along everywhere. However, the floor was really comfy right now. Chopper kept feeling his forehead like he did when Usopp got sick that one time. He wasn't sick though.
He was about to stand up, when someone pushed him back down again.
"We got this captain," someone told him, and Luffy smiled back as his response. It wouldn't be too much of a big deal if he just took a nap. Right?
He had his crew looking after him.
Luffy swore he only closed his eyes for a moment, but when he opened them again, the room looked messier than his bed. His crew were laid about around the room, but they all had smiles on their faces.
"Did we really just do that?" Usopp asked.
"Do what?" Frank asked.
"Just defeat some kind of god and her partner in crime back into the volcano just to save that guy," Usopp clarified, pointing at Luffy.
"I guess so," Brook answered, and the rest of the crew laughed.
"That's what you get with a captain that runs away for a week."
"Should have just left him here."
"Too much trouble than he's worth."
"A week? What?" Luffy asked.
"Don't worry about it too much captain. We got it handled. There isn't a thing that is going to let us separate us from you again." Zoro answered, and the rest of the crew made some noise of agreement.
"Gods might think that this world is theirs," Robin stated, but she turned her head from where she sat, and smiled, "But Luffy, you're our treasure."
Luffy paused for a second, touching his hat that laid on top of his head. Then he smiled wider.
"Gods, Luffy just help us up will you?" Sanji sighed as he took a drag of his cigarette and winced in pain.
"Right!" Luffy laughed and walked on over to help everyone up.
Luffy really didn't understand what had happened. He supposedly disappeared into the forest for a really long time, but he didn't feel like it was a long time. It felt more like a few minutes, and he only got hungry then. The girl was also some kind of god or something, but again, she looked like just an ordinary girl with a jerk for a friend. However, even though everything didn't really make sense to him, he was happy that in the end, his friends were there for him.
Because treasures are hard to keep, but the effort you make to keep them shows how much you truly care about them.
A/N: This was my piece for this year's OP Reverse Bang! It was based off of the lovely work from MissJenc.. Please check out the tumblr blog - OPReverseBang to see the artwork as well as the other pieces from those who participated! I had a lot of fun with it and I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for reading!