The stranger suddenly jumped onto the railing of the Thousand Sunny out of thin air. He was a short, gangly man with dark eyes. He had a bright black and purple top hat, a black shirt, and white suspenders attached to white pants. He twirled his hat slowly and made a low bow.
"A thousand pleasant salutations to the passengers of this vessel! My name is Hashimo, and I ate the Life Life Fruit."
The Adult Trio made little response. Franky looked up from where he was fixing part of the deck for the umpteenth time. Robin had been drinking tea as she read a book while Brook serenaded with his violin. They gazed at the stranger passively.
The Scaredy-Cat Trio predictably panicked. Chopper latched onto Usopp's waist, who was busy pointing at the newcomer with an accusatory finger. Nami jumped up from her lawnchair with a shriek.
As for the Monster Trio, Zoro stayed against the mast, having awoken from his nap. His eye was half-lidded, assessing the situation. A few feet away, Sanji bit down on his cigarette as he stood in front of Nami, who was still shrieking about the sudden intruder. The two could taste it in the stranger's haki. He was dangerous, hiding behind an innocent façade. And if they could sense the danger, their Captain certainly could too.
Normally Luffy would have rushed to anything that smelled of mystery. But now he was standing in front of Hashimo, arms crossed and staring with a slightly feral smile. "Life Life Fruit, huh?" he subconsciously shielded all eight of his nakama behind him, shifting his left foot slightly as if daring the stranger to make a move.
"Precisely." Hashimo sat down where he had stood, two hands on the side of the railing. He started humming rather obnoxiously, and for a moment, nothing happened. Then, he lifted his right hand to reveal a branch growing from the railing, with a few leaves delicately swaying with the wind.
"My right hand gives life, and in return my left…" he lifted his other limb to reveal a rotting black spot, "takes it away. Think of it as exchange. I can't make things appear out of thin air, after all!"
"Amazing…" Chopper breathed in spite of his fear, the implications not lost on the young doctor.
"Th-th-that's not the point!" Usopp stuttered. "Answer this! Who are you? Are you a bounty hunter? Or the Marines? Are you an enemy or not? How old are you? Where did you come from? What-"
"So what do you want with us?" Zoro interrupted with a growl.
"Peace, peace, I'm not here to fight, I'm here to help. I am but a simple drifter, using my powers to make people happy," Hashimo smiled, his gesture not quite reaching his eyes. "A long time ago, I discovered that my powers had the ability to bring anything back to life. Inanimate objects," he gestured at the railing, "plants," the mikan trees, "even…people." He was met with loud gasps.
"I can sense it. You fellows have much experienced much sorrow and loss in your lives. What wouldn't you give to have one of your loved ones back from the grave? What wouldn't you give for…Portgas D. Ace, for instance?"
Zoro straightened up, hands on his swords, when Luffy threw out an arm to stop him.
"Wait."
"He's hiding something, Luffy. " Zoro clenched his teeth, but he could see it in Luffy's eyes. Behind the caution and anger was a flicker of pain, then a painful desperation that seeped into one word.
"How?"
"Luffy!"
"With my powers, it's simple. But like I said, I can't make something out of nothing. I would need material, of similar composition. How about…" Hashimo pointed behind Luffy, whose eyes followed in surprise and landed on the people behind him. "The lifeforce of one of your crew members."
In that instant, eight people's mind exploded with racing thoughts.
NonononoIdon'twanttodiepleasedon'tdoitLuffy
…Luffy?
Luffy-san?
You're kidding, right?
You wouldn't do that…would you Luffy?"
…What?
You dare to suggest that our Captain would forsake one of us?!
No! He wouldn't do that!...Would he?
But before they could open their mouths to protest, Luffy had already returned his gaze to the little man. "No." his dark, furious eyes said the rest.
But Hashimo didn't seem to be deterred. "Just think about it for a bit. In return for your precious brother, the former second commander of the Whitebeard pirates, you can rid your hands of any weakling you want, anyone you've ever held a grudge against, anyone's who's defied your orders. You are the Captain, after all."
"They are my nakama. Don't you touch them." Luffy clenched his fists so tight that throbbing veins were visible. The rest of the crew left out a sigh they didn't know they were holding.
"I believe it's time you left the ship." Robin spoke calmly, her graceful arms held close to her chest in an attack pose. The rest of the Strawhats began to follow her lead.
Hashimo chuckled. "I should have suspected as much." He turned to Luffy. "A pirate such as yourself doesn't rise so far, so quickly, without first garnering unconditional loyalty from his crew. Ah, by the way, I must apologize for just now. I actually lied. I can't bring back Portgas D. Ace using the life of one of your crewmates."
Outcries of rage and indignation bounced around the ship.
"It's a matter of composition." Hashimo slapped the altered railing twice in explanation." I need it to be as close to the original material as possible. Gender, height, health, experiences, strength, memories…there are many factors of uncertainty when dealing with human life. Honestly, the only person on this ship who could possibly serve as the starting material is… You." And he pointed a clean, manicured finger at the captain of the ship.
"YOU DAMN-" Zoro flew forward, swords brandished, only to be stopped by a thin but deceptively strong arm.
"My life...for Ace's?" Luffy looked utterly lost.
"Don't you believe a thing he says! He's lying!"
"What the shitty marimo said. Luffy, you've been his target the whole time!" Sanji had also surged forward, only to be stopped by Luffy's other arm.
"What do you think Portgas D. Ace would have wanted? I think he would have wanted to live."
"Strawhat-bro, let's blow this guy away." Franky cocked his shoulder missile launchers, while Brook walked forward and began pulling out his cane sword.
"He had such a glorious life. But so short. He died long before it was his time."
"Shut up, shut up!" Usopp had cocked his slingshot in front of Hashimo as Robin tethered the stranger down with multiple hands.
"It's what you wanted as well, wasn't it? You risked your life two years ago to save his. This is practically the same thing!"
Nami started shaking Luffy gently, speaking in an urgent voice. "Luffy, don't listen to him. Look at me!" And this moment, she wanted to kill the stranger. She had never killed a human before, but she could damn well try. But she couldn't do it without the Captain's orders. Because regardless of the times she knocked him upside the head for his stupid antics and argued about their next destination, she was his navigator through and through. And the last time she had defied him, she had sailed away and felt like her heart was getting ripped in two. She never wanted to feel that way again, to do that to her captain ever again.
None of them wanted to. In the past, some of them had fought against Luffy. Some had walked away. Some (more like all) had rejected his invitations and some were hiding secrets from him. And they were all soaked in deep, stinging regret about that time, two years ago, when they should have been there, should have moved heaven and earth just to be there, like he had for his brother. But they hadn't. And for that reason, they were still hesitating now, even though this little top-hatted fool should have been in a diced-up, smoking, acid-covered heap on the ground. Because they didn't want to hurt their captain again. Because their Captain's eyes were soaked in such pain and longing and -could that really be- hope. They were afraid that if they killed this abominable human at this very instant, their Captain would shatter like glass, into a million little bloodstained pieces.
"He didn't deserve to die so soon."
It was so quiet, you could barely hear it. The sound of elastic being pulled to its maximum tension. The groan of muscle. The scuff of a shoe ready to spin against the ground. The clank of three metal poles. They had to talk Luffy down, make him see the foolishness of this situation. But what to say?
"I think it's actually quite fair to suggest this to you. It is, after all…" the stranger gave a meaningful glance at the stunned boy. "Your fault that he died."
The anger was so palpable from their bodies that it threatened to set the deck on fire. They opened their mouths to object when suddenly-
"…my fault." Not a question, not a realization. A quiet statement of agreement.
Zoro snapped. In an instant, the stranger was split in half, a look of knowing still stuck on both sides of his smug little face, before the carnage fell into the waters below. Zoro quickly turned around and punched Luffy in the face.
Vaguely, the rest of the Strawhats were surprised. Zoro never punched. Even in his mock fights with Sanji, he would always attack with the sheath or the blunt side of his swords. In terms of violence, his swords did the talking. He never punched. But they didn't really care at the moment. They turned to look at Luffy, who was lying on the ground with a shocked expression on his face.
"You idiot." Zoro had never before had such an expression of absolute rage.
"Oy, Zoro. " Sanji warned, stepping in front of his Captain. The tense situation warranted use of the bastard's full name. If he tried punching again, Sanji was probably the only one fast enough to stop him.
"It's fine." Luffy was up in an instant, placing a shaking hand on Sanji's shoulder. "Thanks Zoro."
Luffy was staring into space. His eyes were suddenly, frighteningly vacant of emotion. For a few seconds, but what felt like an eternity, he did nothing. He didn't speak, didn't break down into tears, didn't scream. Then he slowly tilted his straw hat down, and walked toward the front of the ship. He lethargically jumped onto the figurehead and sat down, clearly not wanting to be disturbed.