the (as of yet) untold story of the straw hat pirates journey to the bottom of the sea
i had this idea after reading chapter 604, and i decided that if i could never see it printed i would write it down. so here you go. (i like to think that Luffy tamed himself a kraken and destroyed the other pirate ship instead of accidentally taking a hostage)
Luffy and the Beast
(working title)
For three days they sailed down. (leaving a bruised and thoroughly domesticated Kraken behind them)
Slowly, the clear blue of the ocean turned to black and light faded from the world. And with the light went its heat, as Nami said it would, so the crew of the thousand sunny retreated into her hold.
Though Life on the sunny was more like living on a cruise liner than a pirate ship, something felt wrong. "Claustrophobic" was the word Nami used.
All around them was blackness. The light built into the sunny's figurehead stretched their vision for nearly a mile, but there was nothing to see. Nothing moved in these crushing depths, nothing lived, and it went on forever. Despite the vast and disturbing truth lurking outside their walls, Luffy's nakama still carried on with a smile.
Zoro trained and slept, Nami studied for the journey ahead, while Sanji cooked for the whole ship (and fell madly in love with both Nami and robin in turns). Ussop made jokes and told stories, chopper laughed till he cried and so did Franky, while brook played along to their revels. Robin studied the past and watched it all with a smile.
But Luffy was quiet. He spent more time on deck, then in the ship itself.
He sat on his perch and stared out into the dark. With legs crossed and arms laid over his knees. His posture holding a predatory readiness, and yet something akin to meditation or prayer as well.
With his friends, he was the same old Luffy, the reason he gave for his long absences being "Someone has to steer the ship!"
Not many of his crew believed his lie, but they trusted him all the same.
And so the pirates continued thier journey along the base of the world.
6 days have passed. Luffy sits on the very edge of the ship. after 3 days he had discovered that if he projected a thin layer of haki around himself the bubble would retreat from him without breaking. And this allowed him an uninterrupted view of the black expanse.
He has trouble looking away now. There is something intoxicating about this place.
Part of it is how alien being under the ocean is to him, his having eaten a devil fruit limited his exposure to such things. But it was so much more than that.
Luffy could feel a power in this place. The water hummed with an ever growing force, exuding, now the energy of an atomic bomb and yet all was silent, motionless. It was unearthly music that resonated in his very bones.
Though the others had all felt its influence to a degree, only Luffy could truly hear the terrifying call.
A part of him wanted to run from it, but in the end he simply could not. He was going to be the pirate king, and no matter if he lived or died, he would do so as a king in his own right.
So Luffy waited and listened as they drew inevitably closer to center of the song.
RUMBLE
Luffy opened his eyes, and saw nothing but the half formed darkness of the seafloor. A mountain beneath their ship, a valley behind them, and the wild humming reaching a crescendo all around them. It seemed to follow the mountain up, and up into pillar of deeper darkness.
Then the god opened its eyes, two suns blazing darkly on a dead black sky, and Luffy felt a fissure being rent in his skull. It spoke in all languages and none at all, and it tore a message into Luffy's mind.
Who are you?
Luffy gasped for breath and fought the urge to vomit. Through the reverberating pressure he screamed his own message to pierce the blackness and touched the creatures mind
I am Monkey D. Luffy, and I am going to be the pirate king!
The mast resonates with the titan's laughter
You speak with me, king, as few have before.
Your will keeps you and those children alive as mine does the world and soon, you will shake the world as I do.
It was all Luffy could do to stay conscious as the force tore at his mind. Stretching and corroding the very fiber of his being.
Know that when your end comes, you will meet it here in my embrace, in the final days.
A tentacle the size of a sky scraper rose to hover in front of the ship and Luffy was suddenly thrown into the air, surrounded by a blinding light.
Now sleep.
Sleep and journey towards the end of the world.
The gods last word echoed in Luffy's fading thoughts and for an instant the world seemed to stretch, as Luffy surrendered to unconsciousness and the white light.
He awoke in his bed on the thousand sunny. His vision blurred at first but someone, Nami maybe, yelled for "everyone to get over here quick!" By the time he was fully conscious his whole crew was assembled looking happy to see him, if little worried. "How do you feel?" asked their reindeer doctor, while checking his vitals and reflexes. Luffy sat up but didn't answer, something was bothering him. A dream, perhaps.
"We found you on the deck yesterday nearly frozen to death" explained Franky. "And if Robin-chan hadn't gone to check on you, you might have been" said Sanji.
Luffy clasped his friends shoulder and said "thanks robin".
She smiled.
After a moment's pause he asked "where are we" and Nami perked up excitedly. "It's the strangest thing Luffy, we-" "we arrived more than a week early" exclaimed chopper with glee. They all laughed and smiled at their blushing reindeer friend before Nami continued "we cleared the deep currents in nearly half the time I expected us to. I guess those areas of the ocean are largely unexplored so the maps could have been inaccurate, but whatever the case we are only a few hours away from fish man island!".
Luffy smiled from ear to ear and said "then what are we waiting for" "LETS GO TO THE ISLAND UNDER THE SEA!"
Luffy jumped in the air and the whole crew smiled, just happy to be together after so long.
And with a message humming in the back of Luffy's mind they set out towards the end of the world
THE END
(hope you like it, it was just a weird notion i decided to elaborate on)