Storm
One of the first memories the child had was of a storm. The way the wind howled to the steady beat of the rain as the lightening danced across the sky to the rhythm of the sound in a spectacular show of lights. And for all the noise and the movement that was happening right there, separated from them only by a thin bit of glass, the child did not stir in the warm embrace of the woman as she crooned to her wide-eyed babe.
'Isn't it beautiful?' she whispered to the dark and the child in her arms so young she doubted he truly understood her words. 'I doubt you know this, but your father is a strong man, strong enough that he can command the storms, even if he can't swim anymore. He can direct the wind and the rain, guide the lightening, whisper to the thunder.
'So, don't be scared, Okay?' She murmured to her son. 'Never fear a storm, because it's just your father sending his love in the easiest way possible.'
The child looked at her with his wide eye's and flashed a brilliant smile. She chuckled softly and went back to watching the rain and the lightning that her husband had sent to tell her that he was still alive and fighting strong.
She would never guess the effects that her words would have on the boy in her arms, never know that long into the future storms would forever mean warmth and safety to Monkey D. Luffy, even if he never truly understood why.
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Luffy looked up the dark clouds gathered in the sky and tilted his head as the first drop of water landed on his nose, completely oblivious to Makino shouting for him to come inside. Instead he lifted his arms as if to embrace the water and flashes of light that danced above him. He laughed, loud and free and welcoming to the dark sky and early night.
And then Makino is there, tugging on his outstretched arms and telling him to come in side before he gets a cold a from the rain.
And he doesn't know how to tell her that the water is warm where it hits his skin and the thunder always sounded like a laugh to answer his own. How sometimes it felt like the only acceptance he would ever feel would be wind wrapping around him with its own embrace.
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Shanks stared at the boy as he ran around in the rain and danced with the wind. He hadn't truly believed Makino when she had said that the little kid wasn't afraid of storms, storms were the last thing he expected Luffy to be able to handle. Yet there he was, laughing and dancing in his own clumsy way with so much joy that it yanked at his heart.
Makino smiled at his confused look, but said nothing. Eventually Shanks couldn't handle the suspense anymore.
'Why's he out there? Why does he look so happy?'
Makino's smile starts to look a little sad as her eyes reflect the storm outside.
'You'll have to ask him. He never really gave me an answer.'
Later, when it eventually gets dark enough to bring the boy inside, Shanks does just that.
It's not an answer he's expecting though.
'Because it feels safe and warm.' Is the only reply he gets.
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Ace and Sabo watch their younger brother, gobsmacked. Luffy, their little cry baby, isn't scared of storms. It's worst because Ace had been teasing him about the incoming one all morning, so watching him so happy was almost embarrassing.
And then hands were wrapped around there own and dragging them out into the rain. Laughter echoed in their ears as it mixed with the wind and soon they were joining in as well. Laughing and shouting and dancing as if there was no care in the world. The water and wind a hug they hadn't realised they were missing and a partner in a dance they hadn't realised they knew the steps to. And when they have finally tired themselves out they lay on their backs with their faces to the sky, tilted back with their eyes shut and enjoyed the soft caress of rain running through their hair.
It would never be mentioned how it had felt like an introduction to a parent long gone, like a declaration of acceptance and love.
No one would ever talk about how warm the rain was as it splashed off their brother, or how they never got sick no matter who many storms they danced it.
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the first, true, storm they come across is always a shock to any new members of the crew, and no matter how many times they see it they doubt they will ever, really, be used to the sight.
Watching as their captain laughs and dances even as he shimmies up the mast as if he has not a care in the world. As the ropes seem to blow into his hands rather than away from them, as the waves that pelt the ship never seem to truly threaten to wash him way, but rather ensure that he is still standing.
The way, sometimes, it's almost as if the storm itself is working with their Captain, greeting him like a long-lost friends or precious child.
For all the dangers of the seas they travel, storms never seem to be one of them, no matter how many they encounter or how fierce they blow, they never seem willing to hurt the boy with the straw hat.
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Dragon looked through the file on his desk and couldn't help but smile, a smile that was hidden behind a locked door with strict instructions not to disturb him, but a smile none the less.
The Gomu Gomu no mi, how oddly fitting.
The file, the existence of which would forever be denied, would never see the light of day. In about ten minutes, when he had finished memorising everything that it contained, it would be burned to ashes and scattered to the wind. There was no one he trusted with this information, not a single person high enough on the food chain for him to consider trusting with this, his most important secret. The people that gathered the information and reported it to him did not know what it really was that they were reporting on, and rarely even remember giving the report.
But he isn't thinking about the soon-to-be-destroyed file and the reasons surrounding its temporary existence, he's thinking about the information it contains. He is concentrating on the fact that his little boy has eaten a devil fruit, one that gives him a body made of rubber, a body immune to lighting.
Yes, how oddly fitting in is. It couldn't have worked out better if he had organised it himself.
He who controls storms and directs the strike of lightening, isn't it fitting that his son be the only one untouchable by his most destructive weapon. That, by some strange twist of events, he shall never be able to hurt Luffy, whether by accident or design, using the thing he is told the child enjoys most. It's perfect that his son, child of the king of storms, is safe from any raging destruction he may deal upon the world.
Years later, when he watches that clown try and behead the only thing left that he truly holds dear, he will thank that twist of fate for his son's life as he directs his own blade at that which threatens his child, and watches as Luffy stands there unharmed and strong as he prepares to live the life he's chosen.
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This is my theory that Dragon has a devil fruit that allows him to summon and control storms. It is based on the lightening that saved Luffy's life in Logue town and gave his crew such a head start in getting to the grand line while Dragon was in town. I have not seen all of the anime so it is possible bits of this have been disproved, that's why it's a fan fiction.