Sprinting through the streets of the Goa Kingdom three young boys once again fled their pursuser; in that day's case an older man who owned the ramen shop which had just been 'mysteriously' robbed. The waitress that worked there would personally never admit how confused she had been when she'd seated one older fellow, but three children had run away from the bill. The trio fled full force through the streets knowing they would have no real trouble getting away. After all, what was one old man to them? Of course, they would have done a much better job escaping if one of the three hadn't stopped dead in the middle of the road upon seeing something new.
The sign was colorful, vibrant, covered in glitter, and above all eye-catching. It was not the gold and silver that genuinely caught the youngest of the three's eyes instead it had been the pirate like figure in the background. It was the man with a hooked hand and a booted foot on a treasure chest, and a jolly roger behind him.
"What's this?" Luffy asked skidding to a stop and devouring the picture with his attention.
"Luffy!"Ace and Sabo tripped over themselves to stop as well; they, unlike Luffy, could not simply bend their ankles the wrong way round to turn. Both of them cried his name in slight irritation, they both knew one didn't just stop during a chase.
Come on!" Sabo grabbed a handful of his shirt and dragged the upper half of Luffy's body away from the poster. While Ace usually would have helped, his attention was likewise caught - temporarily he'd insist - by the fascinating image. It was probably the gold covering the picture that did so, or maybe it was the thick red coat of the pirate and the connections Ace made between that particular coat and a certain famous pirate.
Sabo without Ace's help could only drag Luffy so far. He was forced to release Luffy who snapped back into place and didn't even trip from the force. With a sound of aggravation he turned to his siblings. "Both of you! What are you staring at?!"
Luffy hopped in place pointing eagerly at the imagine: "Isn't it cool? Look Sabo, Ace, there's a pirate and everything!"
Shooting a look at what had caught his brothers' attention so firmly Sabo made a face. Personally, he didn't find the picture all that fascinating, it was just a poster for the theater and that year's fairytale."Yes Luffy, and a fairy." He grabbed a handful of Ace and Luffy's shirts this time intending to drag them both away and return to the high speed chase they'd been in the middle of. Thankfully Ace wasn't actually resisting him too badly, "there's also pixie dust and some nonsense about a ticking crocodile, come on."
"You know what this is?" Ace finally yanked his eyes away from the glittering poster.
Huffing Sabo focused back on the poster and nodded, he'd been right at the first look. "It's Peter Pan."
"Peter who?" Ace and Luffy said at the same time, heads cocking to the side in the exact same way.
"Peter Pan," Sabo stressed. He tripled checked to make sure the old man hadn't caught up yet. It seemed they were alright for the moment as Sabo couldn't hear furious yelling yet. They had made it a fair distance before Luffy had stopped dead in the road, "it's a fairytale, a play. The poster is for the theater."
"The what?"
"Is it food?"
Sabo released their shirts with a snap and gave the pair a deadpanned look. Sure he didn't expect Ace or Luffy to know about the theater, but to not know about fairy-tales? That was a bit much. At their continued blankness he started to flounder for a way to explain. "No! Luffy it's not food! The theater is… it's, uh, for stories! People get dressed up and act out different characters, music is played and everything. They- they uh… they start with an introduction. It's in this big round room with a stage, the music will start, and at the front this red curtain will rise revealing the narrator… the narrator is the guy who tells the story, and he'll say something like-" Sabo stood tall and proclaimed in a deep projecting voice, "'Once upon a time in the hidden heart of Dawn, a handsome young prince lived in a beautiful castle' or something like that," he flapped a dismissive hand even as his face warmed in embarrassment.
Turning his face away from his brothers so they couldn't see his expression he said: "After that the main character will appear-"
"Like the pirate!" Luffy said pointing at the poster. He was quite convinced the main character had to be a pirate, after all, the only stories he remembered starred Shanks or Gold Roger as characters. He had near purposely forgotten all the stories Makino had told him before meeting Shanks, or the horrifying ones his grandfather insisted he hear about.
"Or the prince." Ace's lips curled in disgust thinking of the ponce that ruled the Goa Kingdom.
Sabo scowled at his brothers for interrupting: "-anyway! Every fairytale will have different characters like the hero, the villain, the princess - who always has a dress and an animal sidekick. The story always ends with true love's kiss or something like that." Ace made a disgusted noise, Luffy beside him quickly copied even if he didn't know why Ace was making that sound. "Alright well that last one isn't completely accurate; I heard about one where the princess sacrificed herself for her sister, that worked too. Something about it being true love between family members," Sabo glanced between them and added, "brothers work too."
Luffy and Ace nodded approvingly and Sabo continued on: "Then finally and most importantly, you have to have a happy ending."
"Why?" Luffy asked.
Ace reached over and slapped the back of his head, "how else would the story end?"
"Ooh!" well that made perfect sense.
"So what story is Peter Pan then?" Ace found himself asking trying not to put too much emphasis on the character he really wanted to know about, "it had a pirate on it and gold."
"That one is about a boy who doesn't age, a pirate, and a fairy who makes people fly."
"And the pirate wins!" Luffy proclaimed.
Sabo felt his lips twitch slightly recalling the story and how that was definitely not how it ended. Still, they'd probably never see it, and Luffy was happy so- "of course he does, he's the freest in Never-land."
"I wanna see Peter Pan!" Luffy said, "can we go, Sabo? Ace? Can we?"
"Uh…" Sabo looked helplessly at Ace, he didn't want Luffy to know that the pirate in the story was a bad guy and acted so pathetically. The man had been defeated by a Crocodile for Poseidon's sake, they beat up crocodiles almost daily! Thankfully for him distraction came with a cry behind them, the old ramen man had actually caught up to them.
"You brats!"
"Uh-oh."
"Time to go."
"RUN!"
Luffy never did get to see the story of Peter Pan told for real and not edited by his siblings. He did get to see a few live shows with Ace when a traveling group visited Foosha village one summer. Luffy had enjoyed them and so had Ace even if Ace had secretly been trying to impress one of the actresses. So even if Luffy hadn't been to a real play, he could recognize them pretty quickly. Which is why years later as Luffy rushed to save his brother from the Marines he was able to identify the theater and a fairy-tale when he saw it.
On a stolen marine ship Luffy was sitting at the bow and staring at a quickly forming cloud in the distance. The closer the darkness came, and the closer the ship sailed toward it, the more Luffy realized it was glittering and immobile. It was also hovering about the ocean waves and was not high about them in the sky. Instead it seemed to coat the entirety of the area around Marineford.
Jimbe stepped up beside him eyes narrowed on the smoke. It was not the smoke from fire and destruction, nor a cloud, or even random occurrence from the Grand-Lines unusual weather. No, Jimbe knew what that smoke was the second he saw it shift and glitter in the suns light. He didn't hesitate a moment to grab Luffy dragging them both away from the bow and toward the helm yelling at the man lazily standing there: "Turn us around! Avoid it!"
When someone as strong as a Shichubukai sounded that panicked people tended to act and act quick. Buggy screamed at the group to turn them and the prisoners' dove at the wheel frantic. Jimbe reached the helm a moment later ignoring the five men trying desperately to turn the wheel. He added his own hands to the effort even though he knew it would likely be a pointless attempt. The ship had already passed through the gates of justice, and they were caught in the current. No matter what they did, forward was the only direction they would go until the doors were closed.
The bow of the ship plunged into the smoke and was lost from sight. Slowly the wood was overtaken inch by inch by the dark purple shade as if it had never existed. Closer to the bow of the ship Jimbe snatched hold of Luffy and quickly backtracked. The rest of the group from Impel down rushed to follow his example none of them daring to touch the threating glittering smog.
"Don't touch it," Jimbe needlessly emphasized as they launched down the stairs to the lower deck. The smoke continued to follow pillowing over the wood and seeping into every crack.
Too soon the entire makeshift crew was trapped against the stern of their stolen marine ship. Gathered together it did not take long for one unfortunate former prisoner to be tossed from the group. Everyone watched as the smoke seemed to grow and twist, it jerked like it was alive and enveloped the man in an instant. The crew screamed in terror as everyone struggled to escape, a few ever dared to jump over the railing convinced they could swim for it. The attempt only served to drag them faster into the cloud when the current caught them.
Buggy split into several pieces, his feet moving to the very edge of the ship while his upper body grabbed hold of Jimbe's arm. "What is it going to do to us!?" he screamed, was it poison? had Magellan caught up? Where they all going to die?!
"It's a devil-fruit," Jimbe answered grimly watching as more pirates and several of the okama group were overtaken and silenced, "I never imagined they'd use it."
"It?"
"What is 'it!?'"
"The tale-tale fruit, otherwise known as the fairy-tale fruit."
A few men snorted relaxing, one even let the smoke cover him without complaint. 'That doesn't sound so bad' was the general consensus.
"You're wrong," Jimbe told them backing another step away. He cast his eyes toward the ocean below, it was possible to take Luffy and avoid it in the ocean if he was careful, he'd have to abandon everyone else including Iva who was giving the smog a wary stare. "That fruits power will take us to a new world, a world where we'll lose our memories and personalities. We'll become no more than characters following a story we cannot control or understand; trapped until the story ends and there is no telling how long that will be. I have heard of a few that never returned even centuries later."
"What?!" the group screamed.
"Turn the ship around, do something!"
"But I have to save Ace!" Luffy glared at the purple smog in a fury for interfering.
"He'll be within," Jimbe told him, "as will the Whitebeard pirates that would have come to his aid."
Luffy paused as he said that; he turned slowly looking at the twisting tendrils. Ace was inside that and Luffy was here to save him… so Luffy had to go inside it too. It didn't matter if he'd never escape, he had to try. His crew would understand.
Without hesitation, Luffy stepped forward.
"Luffy-kun!" "Straw hat-boy!" Iva and Jimbe both grabbed for him and missed by a breath. Jimbe snatched his arm backward as the smoke snatched Luffy up narrowly avoiding the same fate. Ivankov however, he was a breath too slow; the darkness raced up his arms devouring him before he could so much as gasp.
Within the smoke Luffy glanced around, he didn't feel different or anything, he still remembered who he was and what he was trying to do. Though the ground under his feet was stable, it carried no sign that he had previously been floating on the ocean which was odd. Bouncing a bit to test the floor Luffy swung his body around glancing around for signs of enemies or his brother, or even the ship he'd been on, but there was nothing, just the smoke.
Luffy cupped his mouth and yelled into the empty space: "Ace!" his voice echoed into the distance and no one responded. "Jimbe! Iva!" Luffy tried different names wondering if someone on the ship with him was near. Still there was nothing but his own cries, so he tried one last gamble: "BIG NOSE!"
Silence. Luffy was alone.
Glancing around him Luffy squinted trying to make out a landmark, any would do: a tree, a mountain, even a rock would have been helpful to walk towards. There was nothing to be seen; Luffy was forced to pick a random direction and just start walking.
Minutes passed - Luffy wasn't sure how many since he wasn't exactly keeping track - when finally something changed. In the distance there was a sound. The fading notes of an instrument making him immediately think of Brook. Luffy had heard the same sound coming from the instrument Brook often played, a violin. Would he find Brook in the strange smoke?
Luffy started forward ears alert to follow the soft noise. With each step closer the more instruments could be heard joining together with the first. Following that was the low humming of male and female voices harmonizing together. The first sentence was more understandable than any sound before it had been. A deep male voice warbled out singing at the top of his lungs: "When you meet the someone, who is meant for you. Before two can become one, there is something you must do."
Luffy made a face and trotted faster until he found a bright red satin curtain hanging in the middle of nowhere. Not thinking twice about how odd the sight was, Luffy snatched it and tossed it aside. Right behind the curtain was a theater. Luffy found himself in the upper levels looking down at a stage. It was a theater designed remarkably similar to the one Sabo had described to him, but unlike Sabo's stories, not a single seat was filled throughout the entire building. Despite that, a play was beginning, and the music he had been hearing was coming from the stage. The curtain was already up, and a set of people in suits with dead expressions on their faces were playing the instruments. Standing dead center of the stage was a huge person, a man with a most peculiar mustache; and as Luffy watched he opened his mouth and revealed himself to be the singer.
"I've been dreaming of true loves kiss, and a prince I'm hoping comes with this." From the sides of the stage more people joined the man in the center. Luffy belatedly realized he recognized some of them from the pictures Ace had shown him, they were Whitebeard Pirates. They were all Ace's nakama, but why were they singing and not rescuing Ace?
"That's what brings ever-aftering, so happy!" the group sang together.
Luffy made a choking noise when Jimbe appeared on one side with a shark guy on the opposite. Both of them raised their voices: "And that's the reason we need lips so much! For lips are the only things that touch~!"
"Jimbe?!" Luffy yelled, what was he doing? They didn't have time to dance!
Whitebeard picked up his voice: "So to spend a life of endless bliss!" he spun on the spot arms thrown out, "just find who you love, through true loves kiss~."
The drawn-out note played, and the curtains dropped blocking the pirates from view. All but one light went out, the last one remained focused on a woman directly center of the auditorium. The small figure had been hidden in one of the seats noticeable only when she stood. She was clapping as loudly as she could the noise echoing eerily with how quiet the building was. Slowly the applause petered off, then she turned her eyes flicking around the upper levels from one point to the left, then to Luffy.
"Two then? More than I expected considering it should have only have been the Pirate king's spawn." She flapped a dismissive hand to her own comment and asked: "what did you think? Pretty good right? Considering it's Whitebeard and he's got the voice of a drowned rat," she gave a high pitched laugh doubling over at her own joke; then she suddenly sobered snapping straight up: "I hope you both enjoy my story, I wrote it special! Months of work you know…" her eyes narrowed, "you'd best appreciate it."
Luffy stepped forward and cracked his knuckles, "What did you do to them? And where is Ace!?"
"Not to worry, not to worry, he's waiting for you; they all are," she rubbed her hands together, "now! On with the show! And as the people say, break a leg." cruelty crossed her expression, "and I do really mean that; break… a… leg!" She spun and clapped her hands, then every light went out plunging the theater into darkness.
Luffy planned on diving forward to grab the marine and make the woman tell him where his brother was. Instead; unable to see where he was going, Luffy tripped over the balcony in front of him. The ground dropped away as gravity took over. His stomach plunged as he fell, and Luffy acted out of habit taking in a deep breath to balloon his body. However, when he tried, nothing happened, his body wasn't inflating. His devil fruit, wasn't working.
"EH?!" he screamed staring at his flat stomach. He tried again as the ground surged up, but once more nothing happened. In a panic, Luffy shoved his hand into his mouth to inflate his arm instead. But all Luffy succeeded in doing when he tried was to bite into his hand.
'What?'
He pulled at his finger, but it didn't stretch. He wasn't rubber anymore.
And then Luffy hit the ground.
The Coverart and my lovely partner for the One Piece Big Bang is 'Callanway' found on Tumblr, look them up for two additional pieces done for this fic 3
