Hey all Void_Glitch here, after reading some few good time travel fic I was inspired to do my own. Major thanks to The-Lost-Samurai who wrote "Second Wind"
and "Once Again" by TheVictor as those were a big inspiration. I personally am not a big fan of stories that stick to canon and type what happened word by word, I mean what's the point? you know?
The straw hats and mainly Luffy did mature throughout the series and is very obvious post time-skip. He still has his dumb Luffy moments that we all love him for but he seemed to be more serious in other aspects and I want to keep that atmosphere the same with this story right of the bat.
He won't be too OC , only when its called for otherwise he will be the same Luffy you know.
Basically this story is what if Luffy, Zoro and two more straw hats got sent back in time. How will they do things differently and what are the consequences. ENJOY!
Disclaimer: I don't own one piece, Oda does.
Luffy Jolted from his resting position as he woke up only to find himself in a sealed wooden barrel. It was dark and damp yet it felt eerily familiar, he was dazed and confused as to where he is.
He tried to recollect his memories but a sharp jot in his brain caused him to grab his head and wince in pain.
Memories of a different life time flooded his cortex as images of events flashed in his head, emotions, experiences and moments of great impact all were forming in his brain.
His brain synapses were firing at a rapid rate, passing along the memories of each other as they each received them.
Duplicate memories were forgotten and new links were formed, the brain only truly goes through such an extreme rapid exchange rate of information once in its entire conceptual lifetime of existence and that's during its formation in the womb. It is a onetime event because the way the neurons are formed decide a person's character.
Having this happen twice to a brain will cause some minor changes, not as drastic as during conception of conscience but still enough change to alter a person's character ever so slightly for better or worse.
A tiny dribble of blood oozed out of his nose unbeknownst to Luffy as the pain in his head ceased and he could feel his heart rate resting again. Before Luffy could begin forming any coherent thought a wave of nostalgia hit him as he opened his eyes in shock upon realizing who was outside thanks to his observation Haki. His knuckles whitened as he tightened his fist and smashed through the barrel.
"COBY!"
Luffy screamed at the top of his lungs as he pumped his fist in the air right in front of the timid pink haired boy. Coby fell on his back in shock upon witnessing the strange boy burst through the barrel he hauled and yelling his Name.
"Y-yes?" was all he can muster under the circumstance. The Straw hat wearing boy seemed harmless but he had an aura the kept pulsating around telling Coby not to mess with him.
"Shishishi, it really is you," grinned Luffy as he pulled his straw hat to cover his eyes as he grinned. Fond memories of first meeting the dorkie pink haired boy flooded his head.
"How do you know my name?" questioned Coby as he subconsciously edged away from the barrel Luffy was in. His body was screaming for him to jump off the boat and swim as fast as he can away from this man, but something told him that he should stay.
"It doesn't matter, Shishishi this is the greatest," Mused Luffy as he stepped out of the shattered barrel. "Let's first get you to kick Alvida's ass and get out of here."
"IMPOSSIBLE, simply impossible." screamed Coby as he regained himself upon hearing Alvida's name. Getting on board of her ship by accident was the biggest mistake in his life, one he would regret forever. She scares him to his bones, just mentioning her name triggered a fight or flight reaction in Coby's body.
Luffy realized that this wasn't the same Coby he remembered. This wasn't the Admiral that would take down the most infamous pirates, the one with the unshakable resolve to seek true justice and not the twisted justice the government brain washes the marines into.
"Coby ," stated Luffy firmly as he interrupted Coby's panic attack. He looked sternly into Coby's eyes with slight disappointment, something that Coby would never forget.
"y-yes," gulped Coby in fear as their eyes locked together staring at each other, the Strawhat wearing boy's cheerful demeanor seemed to have vanished and his aura was truly frightening thought Coby, he could feel goose bumps all over his arms.
"Tell me Coby. What is your dream?" asked Luffy as he maintained his eye contact with Coby, he had to ignite the passion in him again reasoned Luffy. His ears twitched thanks to his veteran senses as he realized the person Coby needs to overcome and defeat slowly approach them from the top floor of the ship.
"My dream?" responded Coby but mostly to himself. His eyes carried a gleam of self-defeat and were distant in thought at the mention of those words. "My dream is not get killed on this ship and survive this somehow," he answered weakly not seemingly sure of his own answer as he stared helplessly at the floor trying to search for something he cant seem to find in himself to say. A strange feeling engulfed him as he muttered those words and saw the look the strange enigma in front of him gave him. What is it that made his emotion stir, was it shame?
"Ah dear," sighed Luffy as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "do you know what my dream is?" Asked Luffy, hoping a change of approach would help, if he remembered correctly stating his dream to Coby I what really left his strong impact.
"No I don't" answered Coby not sure where this is going. First he asks him what his own dream was then he expects him to guess what his dream is. If Coby could sum up all his emotions in one word then it would be, confused.
"My dream is to be the Pirate King and find Onepiece!" answered Luffy with an infectious enthusiasm. Something about the way he said it didn't make it seem like it was the thoughtless blabber of young kid stating impossible dreams, rather, he was stating it like a fact.
"THE PIRATE KING!" screamed Coby in shock as the weight of those words sunk in " IM-IMPOSSIBLE! Utterly impossible, simply imp- oww!" reacted Coby as he rubbed the now sore spot on his head left by Luffy's fist. "why did you hit me?"
"Because you're getting on my nerves" replied Luffy without a second thought , he scratched his head searching in his memories, 'was Coby really this annoying?' He asked himself.
"Oh..well..I'm used to it anyways." Trailed of Coby as he fell back on the ground and accepted his helplessness and pathetic excuse of existence, he really didn't feel like he was worth anyone's time. His wave of self pity came to a halt as he heard the next words out of Luffy's mouth"
"I'm not afraid of dying." Stated Luffy as he crouched down and met Coby's eyes. The pink haired boy saw the steel resolve in Luffy's pitch black eyes as they seemingly glared through his soul.
'...Such amazing resolution!' Thought Coby as he stared back, he was speechless to the words he was hearing. His mind was blank; he didn't know what to think anymore after facing such resolve. "Not fearing death," was all he muttered.
"That's right! Because it my dream and I won't mind dying for it," continued Luffy as he stood up and took his treasured straw-hat off his head and admired it. His gaze was looking past his straw hat as he remembered the promise he made and the sacrifices he made to get were he was. He truly didn't regret any of it.
"W-won't even mind death," Coby repeated to himself as he questioned all the actions and decisions he made in his life that led to this moment. It all seemed so trivial; his words came back haunting him from earlier and struck him like lightning. 'My dream is not get killed on this ship and survive this somehow.' He felt so angry at himself when remembering what he said, was his resolve really this weak? Was it really that bad to have a big dream and not fear death?
"C-can I really do it?" at last said Coby as he felt a warm sensation around his eyes, he started tearing up for finally letting his true emotions and dream bubble up and come out.
"Hmm what are you ta-" Replied Luffy in a grin as he finally managed to get through to Coby, but before he can say anymore he was interrupted by Coby.
"Will I be able to become a marine?" asked Coby form his place as he stared back at Luffy's unwavering form and infectious aura. Luffy notice a change in Coby's spirit that maybe the first time he met him in a different lifetime wasn't as obvious but thanks to his awakened Observation Haki he can easily see the change in Coby's demeanor. He felt more confident and there were only traces of the crippling fear and self doubt that seemed to be consuming him earlier.
"Shishishi a marine?" Laughed Luffy, he couldn't contain is excitement as he realized he is finally getting the Confident Coby he knew.
"Yes a marine," yelled Coby as he stood up, he was feeling a great fiery passion burn up inside him. He couldn't stop himself from yelling, in fact he felt like he can punch anything that stand sin his way.
"I know that means that we will be enemies since you're going to be a pirate," screamed Coby even louder as he can no longer contain the bottled up emotions he had. "I'm going to be a marine that is going to be an ally of justice and hunt down pirates and one day…one day even capture Alvida!" He finally finished as he finally exhaled the air remained in him.
"Sounds good to me! Ah just in time," smirked Luffy as he sensed Alvida swing her iron mace at his back. He side stepped the swing not wanting to miss a single reaction from Coby. The mace missed Luffy by a hair's width and smashed into the wood flooring right in front of Coby shocked face.
"And just who did you want to capture? Eh Coby," sneered Alvida as she lifted her mace up in the air again. She was too angry to realize how effortlessly Luffy dodged her strike.
"Hey Coby, who is the fat whale?" Luffy pointed absent mindedly at Alvida not even bothering to look at her. This only further enraged her, something Luffy was banking on, he wanted to make sure that Coby's resolve wouldn't falter, even though he didn't doubt his soon to be eternal rival.
"what did you say?" seethed Alvida, the entire pirate crew in the room backed away as they all knew that under no circumstance you are to mention anything about Alvida's body, yet alone call her a whale!
"I'm o-out of here!" stuttered one pirate.
"Did he just say that!" mumbled another crewman as he stumbled on the ground after bumping into a frozen pirate behind him.
"Oh man we are dead if we don't get out of here!" screamed another as he started pushing his way past the rest of the shocked crewmen away from Alvida."
"Tell him Coby how beautiful I am," ordered Alvida, she seemed to have regained some composer after getting her ego inflated upon hearing the pathetic excuse of a pirate crew behind her gasping in fear. She was still going to kill both of them to prove a point after what they said but her vain mind still wanted to hear the words that Coby would tell her every day.
"Coby, what is she talking about?" Questioned Luffy, looking at Coby with a confused expression he smirked as if to reassure the boy that he will be fine.
"Alvida-san i..," mumbled Coby. He was conflicted between his two clashing emotions raging inside him. However all it took was one glance at Luffy's reassuring face for Coby to get back is courage. "I don't know what you're talking about, YOU ARE THE BIGGEST FATTEST WHALE IN ALL OF EAST BLUE!" screamed Coby.
"That's it, you're minced meat" screamed Alvida, her firm grasp on her mace tightened as it towered above her head, now he finally did it.
Alvida finally snapped and there was a mad glimmer in her eyes, the same one that earned her the bounty.
That madness didn't go unnoticed by either Coby or Luffy. Upon hearing Coby's declaration about Alvida's size, the entire pirate crew in the room had run upstairs except Luffy and the pink haired boy facing Alvida.
Coby watched in horror as the mace came hurling down at his head 'this is it, I've finally stood my ground, I don't have any more regrets' his final thoughts kept echoing in his head as he finally stood up for something. What happened next shocked both Coby and Alvida, the latter to a greater extent.
Luffy's hand had grabbed Alvida's mace moments before it struck Coby, his face had a smug look as he paused and stared down at Alvida, the air was full of tension.
"took weak," muttered Luffy.
Alvida tried to move her mace but she couldn't even make it budge an inch. His hand smashed the iron mace into tiny bits as if it was dry mud.
That's when the realization finally struck her, it finally sank into her being that she was dealing with was someone clearly way above her league.
She looked down at the pieces of iron form her mace only to see her knees shaking in their place.
"This is for Coby," were the last words she heard before Luffy left fist smashed into her gut sending her crashing through the ships reinforced hull.
Coby was gob smacked, he couldn't believe his eyes, this person that had terrorized his existence for months was taken down with a single punch. His gut feeling was truly right in telling Coby how powerful this boy was, not that the aura he exuded disagreed.
"Shishishi, well that takes care of that, by the way my name is Luffy. Nice to meet ya!" Grinned Luffy as he outstretched his arm to shake Coby's.
"looks like the ship is starting to sink from the hole Alvida made," joked Luffy. His arm now stretched around Coby's abdomen who was too much in shock to comprehend what was going on. Luffy secured his straw hat on top of his head with his free hand as he jumped through the storage of the ship to the top deck.
A few meters away was Nami's small bought that she secured during the chaos of the cruise ship being raided by pirates.
Her idea of impersonating one of the pirates left a bad taste in her mouth but hey at least se managed to steal all the treasure the idiots collected from the cruise ship.
All it took was saying Alvida had sent her to collect the treasure.
She turned around to see what all the commotion was about form the pirate ship as it wasn't uncommon to see disputes between them over the most trivial of things, what she saw however caused her to double glance. All she saw was two figures burst through the bottom of the ship and fly a few meters in the air before landing on the top decks.
The men on the ship saw Alvida's body fly into the distance; many couldn't comprehend what they saw and somehow convinced themselves with a self-delusional story that wouldn't question their saneness.
They saw the main perpetrator holding the traitor in his arm as he burst through the bottom of the ship. They all grabbed their pistols and aimed it at Luffy, their pride couldn't let this slide. Even if he took out their captain, he was one single boy versus their entire crew.
"I don't know what you think you are doing you bastard," snarled one pirate as he cocked his gun ready to fire while glaring at Luffy's cheerful face.
"Traitor!" yelled another as he glared at Coby siding with the **Jedi errr I mean Luffy.
"We cant let you just walk out of here unscathed, you may be strong enough to take out captain Alvida but you can't possibly take all of us on your own." Yelled another pirate, voicing everyone's opinion as they all nodded in unison.
"Ah well sorry I had to be a bother, I just had to teach Coby a small lesson you see." Replied Luffy completely unfazed by the dozens of pistol barrels pointed him.
"L-Luffy san, what are we going to do?" asked Coby not sure of what emotion to feel anymore after the roller-coaster of emotions earlier.
"Don't worry about them Coby, these guys are small fries," stated Luffy as he burst a small controlled wave of Haki. He knocked out everyone surrounding them, all Coby heard was the sound of low moans as every pirate member dropped their guns and fell to the ground with their eyes rolling back unconscious.
Nami rubbed her eye twice after what she saw from here small boat, a second ago those two surrounded by the pistols had their fate sealed ,she felt for them giving their young age.
Next thing however baffled her as her brain tried to register what happened. Every person standing there except those two dropped to the ground suddenly. All she could hear was the laughing sound of the straw hat wearing boy. It sent chills down her spine and that's when she knew her stay here is over and she had to leave, something was abnormal about what she just witnessed and it didn't take a genius to figure that out.
Luffy was laughing like an idiot but stopped as he senses Nami nearby.
"What? I didn't know Nami was here last time. Oh this should be good," grinned Luffy as he ignored Coby's yelling and stared into Nami's eyes all the way from Alvida's now slowly sinking ship.
They both locked there gaze and it seemed they were the only two people in existence, Nami tried to look away but the straw hat wearing boy had a an authoritative aura that her body couldn't seem to want to disobey.
"Oyyyy! " yelled Luffy cheerfully as he waved his hand in the air towards Nami's Direction. She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and quickly ran to the mast. This seemed to have the opposite affect he desired as he saw Nami quickly unfurl the sail on her small boat and navigate her way out of the two ships.
"Luffy-san we need to get out," pleaded Coby as he finally noticed the ship was sinking slowly . He noticed a small boat tied to the left and yanked Luffy's hand as he made his way though the unconscious bodies only to scream one more time, he really is going to have a heart attack at this rate.
"Luffy-san your hand STRECTHED," screamed Coby form his place.
Luffy was too preoccupied observing the fear in Nami both visually and emotionally. Observation Haki when mastered had it's down side, allowing a person to sense every emotion, good and bad wasn't usually a comfortable feeling especially from someone close to you.
Nami was family, someone he would risk his life for in a heartbeat. He would even jump off in to the ocean into his doom if that meant she would cheer up.
Seeing her flee in fear of her after show him that kind of emotion wasn't something he expected.
'It's okay, we are back in time. I haven't met Nami yet' remembered Luffy as he sighed and let out all the air he was holding.
"Luffy-san, are you listening to me?" asked a concerned Coby, he flicked Luffy's hand away as if it was going to bite and watched it retract back to Luffy, the snap back force shook Luffy up allowing him to finally notice where he was.
"Ah yeah my arm stretches because I ate the Gum Gum fruit, I'm a rubber man!" explained Luffy.
"I thought Devil Fruits were a myth," Gaped Coby as he realized all the stories and rumors he heard were all true, something like a devil fruit granting you amazing powers was something of fiction not too long ago, but anything seems to be possible if he is around Luffy reasoned Coby. "We still have to get on a boat and get out of here!"
"Lead the way Coby, I'm not that good with navigation any ways," ushered Luffy as he hopped on the small boat Coby was slowly lowering.
"Where do you want to go Luffy san?" asked Coby, he wasn't that great with navigation but he knew enough to allow them to navigate to the nearest island.
"Hmmm I think it was called Clam Town?" answered Luffy with an uncertain look on his face as he tried to remember these insignificant things. Scratching his head slowly seemed to help but not as much as he thought it would.
'Man I usually leave these things to someone else' thought Luffy.
"Oh you mean Shells Town, I know where that is." Corrected Coby as he readjusted the rudder and unfurled the sale, he enjoyed the small things in life and prepping a small boat was one of those things.
"Yosh, Zoro here I come, you better not have destroyed the marine base!" Said Luffy as he pumped a fist in the air while standing at the front of the boat. He couldn't wait to meet up with his most loyal other half, it made things much easier since Zoro was one of the people that managed to travel back with him.
"You don't mean the bounty hunter Roronoa Zoro by any chance do you!? Shrieked Coby at the mention of the name, though it wouldn't really surprise him if Luffy new Zoro the more he thought about it. Is he planning to take on the infamous bounty hunter to raise his fame?
"Shishishi, yup the one and only!" Nodded Luffy sheepishly. ' Everyone, wait for me. I'm back and this time I'm much stronger. We are going to wreak havoc this time!'
Well that was a wrap up for the first chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed and are ready for what is laid ahead! I'm planning to touch on how they got sent back in the next chapter as well as slowly pick up the pace, especially in the east blue arc since there is SO much to cover!
P.S if you got the reference by the marked ** towards the end of the chapter then I hope you appreciated it, let's see who got it!
I already have the second chapter's rough draft written, but nothing is solid. Don't hesitate to let me know what you think through reviewing or PMign me, be it good or bad (I prefer bad lol). Follow and Review, till next time.
Void_Glitch