OMIGOSH I'm SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN SO LONG. I have a lot of stories written that need to be typed, which is why they won't be updated. Review on the story if you want it updated with the incomplete chapter until I can finish it and I will! Anyway, there will be some new fics being uploaded today since I'm bored and might as well give y'all somethin to read in the mean time!
Luffy stared on in abject horror as Nami, Sanji, and Usopp were dropped to the ground as Akainu carelessly dropped their bodies uncaringly. At that moment, Luffy's desire to kill became such that his Haki went wild, knocking out everyone and everything so violently, everyone with the strength of will below that of marine of Smokers' level died. As it was, he and Tashigi would likely suffer some damage as well. Akainu looked at the straw hat captain grimly as even he dropped to the ground, fighting the darkness at the edges of his vision.
Luffy fell to his knees and collapsed forward onto the ground before suddenly jerking and pulling himself to his feet, eyes closed.
"Is- is he fighting while he's unconscious?" Chopper asked no one in particular incredulously.
Those remaining on the battlefield froze completely as the captain's eyes snapped back open and he grinned maliciously. Whatever that thing was, it wasn't their captain. The crew knew this and retreated from the battle field with their deceased comrades. Franky carried his fellow inventor, Robin carried her best friend and sister figure in her arms, and surprisingly enough, Sanji was carried by none other than the damn marimo.
"That'd be a no, I think." Brook said, no energy even to laugh.
Chopper nodded and watched with sadness, fear, and pain that he could not help their captain as he fought for their fallen crew and was beating back the marine Admiral, sacrificing his arms and legs to the marine's magma.
In the end, Akainu is defeated once and for all, and Luffy has to be retrieved as he falls into true unconsciousness.
As the crew left, none of them noticed the three individuals standing in the background watching sadly as their favorite pirate group carried their deceased comrades and unconscious captain back to the Thousand Sunny.
When Luffy awakens, Chopper stands by his bed, seemingly looking over a chart of some kind. Luffy opens his mouth to say something, but all that comes out is a garbled mess of incomprehensible gibberish. Chopper's head shoots up and he gapes at Luffy for a moment before shouting for the doctor, then pausing for a moment to shake his head and grab Luffy a glass of water to give him.
As Luffy sits up, he tries to lift his hand to take the glass but finds he can't move his hands- or his feet. Luffy looks at Chopper in a panic, then as Chopper opens his mouth to speak, Luffy's face hardens.
"Report. What happened, Chopper?" Luffy orders as he falls into a mode no one has ever seen before out of a fight- Captain Mode.
"Aye, Captain." Chopper salutes after his shock leaves him. "Nami, Sanji, and Usopp are gone. Akainu killed them." Chopper's voice shakes and falters slightly but as he looks at his surprisingly calm captain, he clears his throat and continues determinedly. "After that you passed out but somehow you kept fighting. It was as though you were possessed by your desire to win and avenge Nami and the others. You took out Akainu," Expecting a grin, all Chopper got was a sharp nod of acknowledgement. "But you damaged the nerves in your arms and legs terribly and almost died." Chopper reaches out to the blanket of the bed and looks up at his captain for permission to touch him. As his captain nods again, he pulls back the covers slightly and lifts up one of Luffy's bandaged arms. "You were burnt terribly by Akainu's magma and your nerves no longer work." Luffy gives Chopper a look that commands him to explain in layman's terms. Chopper takes a deep breath. "Captain, you're paralyzed. You should give up life as a pirate or-"
"Okay."
That one simple word stopped Chopper's world.
"What?"
"I'll give up my dream." As he says it, Chopper watches Luffy die slightly inside, a part of his heart withering to nothing.
The bright cheerful captain he once knew is gone, an empty shell in his place.
"Captain… but…"
"Nami… and the others… they're gone. I couldn't save them…"
Suddenly Chopper feels angry. Very, very angry.
"Yeah? And what about us, Luffy? Are we unimportant? The rest of your crew? Our dreams? Are they worth less to you than Nami's life? Is this what she'd want you to do?"
Luffy blows up. "NO! Of course not!" He stops, and calms. As he calms himself, the anger leaves his face and it is once again empty, as though part of him is missing.
Chopper gasps slightly to himself. Could it— "Just… Nami… she's… I don't know, different somehow? It's weird. I miss her differently than how I'll miss Usopp and his lies or…" Luffy chokes up, tears threatening to spill. "Sanji and his meat. Chopper, why do I feel this way? Why do I care for Nami more than meat?" Chopper gapes slightly at Luffy's strange logic, then smiles sadly.
"You loved her." Luffy looks even more confused.
"But I love all my nakama, and meat, and adven—"
"Not like that Luffy."
"And Ace," He hiccups and his eyes darken further as he remembers the death of his two most loved people. "Shanks and Sabo, so many people."
"It's a different love Luffy. It's the kind of love where you want to live your whole life with them by your side." Luffy refrains himself from stating that's how he feels about Ace and his other nakama as he feels Chopper is going somewhere with this. He's right, for once. "The kind where your heart races, and you feel complete, happy with them. You feel you could go anywhere and do anything just to make that person happy. When they are hurt, you feel their pain, you want to destroy anyone who hurts them; they are your special person. The person who you'll give your heart to, for theirs in return if you're lucky—Not literally, Luffy, metaphorically." Chopper states quickly at Luffy's look of disgust at having someone's heart. "You'll marry them and have children- if possible- with them." Luffy looks somewhat excited at the thought of 'building' a child and Chopper sighs and tells Luffy he'll explain later, before leaving to find the other crew members.
Unknown to Chopper, Luffy does understand- somewhat. However this experience may have changed him, he was sill Luffy after all. "I loved her, huh?" When he almost died, and he was rendered incapable of fighting, his rubber fruit left him to be found by another person, leaving his brain to actually allow electrical signals to move through it and understand things he would previously have passed off as 'a mystery.' He knows better now- again, only somewhat. At least some of his idiocy is genetic- look at Garp! Luffy lays himself back down and tries to move to a more comfortable position, but finds that he can't. Groaning, Luffy thinks over the past few days. He's lost three crewmates, the girl he loves, his rubber powers, and all ability to freely move his limbs.
"Monkey D. Luffy."
Luffy shoots up and sees that no one is in the room with him, which is quite confusing. Suddenly, a girl around nineteen or twenty emerges from the wall, causing Luffy's 'cool meter' to explode as he shoves off his childish thoughts and hardens his expression, glaring at the girl to assess her danger.
The girl, dressed in a long, flowing white kimono that fades into a pale blue in some spots, dark spots over the entire kimono in a way reminiscent to stars in the sky. She has long silvery hair and greenish blue eyes that gaze at Luffy sadly.
"Hello." She speaks in a soft, lilting tone.
"What are you here for?" Luffy demands. After four years in the grand line, two of which were spent training, some of his childish innocence has been lost in favor of protecting his crew.
"Nothing bad, I promise. I'm here to help, Luffy." The girl assures him. "My name is Chrystahl, and I can heal your arms and legs and save your friends." The Straw Hat captain jerks his head up to look at the girl in shock.
"What?" He gasps out, shocked.
"I have a devil fruit that not only lets me control all devil fruit abilities that exist, but allows me to make new ones, or even just make a second copy of an already existing fruit other than my own original fruit." She pauses a moment then scrunches her face slightly, holding her hands out and summoning various fruits into existence. Taking three, a largely red, a largely orangey yellow, and a final that is mostly blue, she sets the other four on the bed beside an immobile Luffy, and she wraps both hands around the three devil fruits before crushing them together into one devil fruit. Suddenly, the girl appears to remember something and summons another fruit- a yellow one- and crushes it slightly into the first combination of fruits. Chrystahl smiles softly as she looks at her work- a blob of fruit that isn't really in any one shape or another. It's vaguely circular, but very bumpy and misshapen. The fruit is largely an orangey color, with two thick blue swirls and bright, burning red swirls that are smaller but more numerous. Through the whole fruit, crisscrossing swirls and each other, are small yellow jagged lines.
"This is a devil fruit I just made- a hybrid fruit that, when you are ready, you can eat and it will grant you not only rubber powers, but control over water and fire. You will essentially have your powers, Ace's powers, and the ability to control water. Water will not weaken you, but keep this a secret from all but your closest allies. It will be a good advantage to have if they think you weak by sea stone and the sea herself. You will be able to communicate with creatures of the sea, keep your ability to swim, and the ocean will even heal you. You will be able to breathe under water, and your strength while in the water will physically match a fish man's."
Luffy looks in awe at the fruit Chrystahl presents him with before she once more summons something- a large bag with- unbeknownst to Luffy- Nami's climatact, the swords Zoro buys in Logue Town, a log pose, Usopp's sniper king slingshot as well as a manual on how to make and use the special ammo he uses in the new world. Besides that, Nami's maps of the east blue is there as well as a note from Chrystahl.
"When you wake up, you will be younger, able to move, and weaker. You will have your Haki, but it will be much weaker and everyone will be alive and well. Take these back with you and give them to who you think needs them. Do not eat them yourself, and do not eat the fruit I made for you until you wake up. If you eat it before then, you won't have those powers when you do wake up. I do not know where you will be when you wake up, but be careful. Train yourself in your Haki and devil fruit powers new and old. Train your physical strength and endurance and be careful."
"What do you want in return?" Luffy asks, thinking this girl may be similar to his navigator… was.
The young woman smiles sadly at him, then her face hardens, causing Luffy to tense up as well.
"It'll be hard, but I know you can help my friends and I reach our dreams. When you wake up, after you've found your crew mates in the East Blue, come find us. It won't be difficult. My family and I have always been near you, protecting and watching from afar. Take us into your crew and help us…" She pauses for a moment and glances at her feet, her face darkening. "Help us take down the world government." Chrystahl spits the last two words out with so much negative emotion, she seems drained after she speaks them. "Please, help us take out those who have caused so many so much pain."
Luffy looks shocked for a moment. Take out the world government? That's it? The ones who hurt Robin and killed his friends and his love, the ones who killed Franky's mentor and tried to kill Iceberg?
Easy.
"Of course." Chrystahl smiles and sets the bag of objects on Luffy's lap, putting the devil fruits in before wiping a hand over Luffy's eyes, causing him to collapse and begin to shimmer out of existence. (A/N: plot twist! She's actually evil! Jk, go on.)
"Thank you." Luffy hears as he fades from the bed, the bag following him.
Outside, Zoro woke up. He didn't know why, at first, but as he slid his only working eye open, he got the strong feeling that someone was watching him.
"Who's there?" He said quietly, detecting no hostility from the person.
A girl in a black Kimono with stars of all shades and sizes scattered across it in galaxies and lonely stars, and with green eyes and black hair appeared.
After confirming that she has no negative or malevolent intentions toward his crew, the Straw Hat's first mate relaxed his grip on his swords slightly.
She gave Zoro a similar speech to her friend's, but without telling him Luffy will have his swords or will be saved at all.
After answering Zoro's few questions- 'can I drink booze? Can I fight? Will my Nakama be there?' yes to all those- Zoro agreed easily, and the girl- Mae, she had introduced herself as- had told him their price, gaining a wicked grin from Zoro.
"Take down the World Government? Don't see Captain having much of a problem with it, and I don't have a problem either." Mae smiled at him and passed a hand over his eyes, thanking him.
Zoro's eye slipped shut, and the swordsman's mind faded into oblivion, his body following soon after.
Nami saw nothing. After she was hit by Akainu's magma covered fist, she felt excruciating pain for a few moments, and heard Luffy's agonizing scream of loss and anger. Then she saw nothing, felt nothing, was nothing. She felt however, a disturbance as a presence she recognized as Sanji's joined her, then Usopp. They both quickly faded away before she could see them though. She was so lonely.
Another disturbance within the darkness. She didn't know it so she didn't investigate until it stopped beside her. Nami tried to open her eyes, but it had been so long. A soothing hand passed over her face and she was able to open her eyes. In front of her was a man she had never seen before, glowing slightly within the endless darkness.
"Hello, Nami."
"Who are you?" Nami croaked, having not spoken in what felt like forever. The man's light brown hair fell in his eyes as he smiled gently at her.
"My name is Allen, but you have more important questions you wish to ask, do you not?" After he finished speaking, Allen sent an exasperated glare at his hair before blowing it out of his face and tossing his head back to keep it back. Then he turned his piercing, but still somehow warm blue eyes back to Nami.
"Am… am I… dead?"
Allen's face turned grim and sad. "You are."
"Sanji and Usopp."
"Yes. They tried to save you. Luffy finally succeeded and took out Akainu for good."
"Is he okay? What about the others?"
"Luffy is alive," Nami breathed a sigh of relief then tensed at the oncoming 'but' she could feel coming. "But only barely. He's paralyzed his limbs completely. According to my girlfriend, he decided, easily might I add, to give up his life of piracy. To give up his dream. Because he had lost you." Suddenly Allen brightened in amusement. "From what Chrys told me, he was very confused about why he cared for you more than he cared for his meat."
For a moment, Nami as well looks amused until she realizes what the glowing man is saying to her. "More than meat…?" Nami flushes at the implication, but suddenly thinks that it's not possible, and glares at the man, thinking him a liar of a caliber worse than Usopp.
Seemingly reading her mind, the man smirks at her cockily. "Now what reason do I have to lie to you? You're dead." Nami registers this and deflates a moment, then brightens. Luffy cares for her more than food, and while that may seem like a normal thing to most, it doesn't to the straw hat crew. Luffy may put his nakama on the level of meat, but never above it. And certainly not above his dream, which rises above even meat. Losing a nakama would be devastating, yes, but with time, Luffy would heal. Though the scars may not, he would heal, and continue his quest for the One Piece. "However," Allen begins. "You do not have to stay dead."
Nami jerks her head up and stares at the man. "What?!" She shrieks.
Allen flinches and covers his ears before grinning. "We're gonna help you out. You'll live, Luffy will move, the crew will be complete. However, we do request one thing." Nami tenses, preparing for some impossible demand. "Let us join your crew, and help us take out the World Government and their corrupt dogs." Allen states his request as though he has bottled his emotions on the subject up and shoved them into a corner of his head to be covered in spider webs and forgotten.
Nami is again incredulous. That's it? She ask as much and Allen confirms. That's it. "Easy."
Allen smiles, and passes a hand before Nami's eyes. "Thanks." The cat burglar's eyes fell shut, and her incorporeal body faded away from the darkness.
Luffy opens his eyes and finds two dark eyes staring into his own, and he jumps, slamming his head into whoever stands above him.
"Ow!"
"!" Luffy gasps. "… Shanks?" Luffy asks.
"Yeah anchor? Ya okay?" The red head Luffy hadn't seen in years was not only standing before him, but had two arms.
Am I… Luffy begins to think.
He then notices Shanks' straw hat on his head and grabs for the bag beside him.
"You came in here for something and we heard a thud. I ran in and saw you collapsed on the ground next to this big bag." Shanks reaches out for the bag and asks, "What's in it?"
"There's nothing in it." Luffy lies terribly.
"Are you sure…" Shanks trails off as Luffy turns serious eyes on him.
"Shanks. Enough." Shanks' eyes widen as the young boy before him commands him with the air of a captain, and the eyes of one as well. He nods, accepting that whatever is in the bag is very important to him.
Suddenly, a large crash from the bar sends both of them running out to the bar area to see Higuma insulting the pirates.
I am… Luffy thinks. I'm…
Zoro groans and the sound of a young voice stops calling his name. He pries his eyes open and slams them shut again quickly. Both of his eyes opened. That… what does that mean? He lifts his hand to his suddenly there again eye and sits up, opening the eye he is used to, glaring around him for the nimrod of a captain he believes woke him, only to find an old friend of his watching him as he leaps a foot in the air and lands in a crouch as far away from her as he can get.
"Tashigi?"
"Who's that Zoro? Did you have a weird dream again?" The girl asks him.
"Ku… Kuina?" Zoro asks again.
"Yeah, what do you want, twerp?"
Without meaning to, Zoro quips back at her. "You to leave, freak."
"Fine." His friend shrugs her shoulders and leaves.
When she said she would help him out she didn't mean…?
Zoro pulls himself to his feet and stumbles to a mirror, where he gasps. Looking back at him as his nine year old, unmarred- relatively- self.
She did. He concludes. She… I'm…
Nami opens her eyes to a gentle shaking. The bright light blinds her and she groans, rolling away from the shaking hand and mumbling, "Five more… AH!" as she rolls straight off the bed onto the floor. "Wha…?" Nami looks up and sees a blue haired woman she hasn't seen in years.
Bellemere… Nami realizes exactly what happened much easier and earlier than her male counter parts. Nami calms herself and mentally thanks the boy who sent her back. This way, she can try and save her mother.
Nami decides that the day Arlong arrives, she and her sister will leave to find Luffy and hopefully his grandfather to take down Arlong once and for all.
"Mother… Bellemere…"
I can't believe I'm…!
In the past!
