Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. Everything belongs to Oda and the people he shares licensing with. NO PROFIT IS BEING MADE OFF THIS STORY. This writing is done only for fun and writing critique. That being said, please support the official release.
INTRODUCTION: So, I had a literature assignment from my writing tutor a while back to read a novella called Train Dreams by Denis Johnson. The book's theming, according to my tutor, is magical realism. Turning something realistic into something unrealistic, but still preserving a feeling that this unrealistic thing could be possible, because the surrounding environment and the words themselves set the boundaries of the world you're writing within.
When I thought of magical realism, I thought of Gol D. Roger. Because the Marines constantly chased and berated him, like he was the source of the world's problems. Like if they killed him, then the good guys had won over a tyrant, and the world would be a little safer. When they did kill him at his public execution, his last words made the world infinitely more dangerous, and everyone was still feeling Roger's presence even though he was dead. There was one line in the book that specifically brought all these thoughts to mind—I've included it in the writing, and if you can find it, you can have a prize! Then of course, when I thought of Train Dreams, I thought of Franky … and things just kind of came together. It's not the best fic in the world, but it's loaded with symbolism, so hopefully you can paint your own images with the words I've laid out. Overall, this is just a story about dealing with death, and the fear of it.
Please enjoy the story, if you can. And if you get the chance, give Train Dreams a read. It's a fairly good book.
(XXX)
The dock's siren song called sailors to the sea that day, as any other day, and men slipped into their boats and over the sunset, jolly-rogers flapping desperately against the wind like minnows fighting a tidal wave. Babies awoke to the feeling of their fathers being gone, wives cursed their misfortune, and elderly seamen once again spun the same old tales in bars, swearing over their rum and sake that the men had been dragged off into the night by a curse.
That same curse beckoned young brothers Ace, Sabo, and Luffy to the docks. They normally stayed hidden in the forest, but sometimes they couldn't help but wander into town for a meal or to the water's edge.
They too, like all the men disappearing day by day, had a dream in their hearts of taking on the life of a pirate and reveling in its freedom. Sabo, the oldest, had decided that his 17th year, he would leave his hometown forever and become a captain on the high seas. And like he led his brothers in every other area of life, his decision led Ace and Luffy to mark their own 17th years as their disembarking day as well.
But that day was years off, and there were still many memories to be made between brothers. And so they found themselves now staring wistfully across the horizon, yearning for the ocean breeze.
"Hey," Sabo said. "Look at that ship."
His brothers looked to where he pointed over the water, and saw a couple small boats lazing along towards the harbor. They were waxed and gleaming in the sunlight, small and without sense of purpose, so they couldn't be any of the Marine ships that normally came ashore. They were more like luxury boats.
"What about 'em?" Ace asked, squinting.
"Those ships belong to some nobles. You can tell because they have their family crest on the front of each boat." With a mischievous grin, Sabo beckoned for his brothers to follow him down to the shoreline. "Come with me. I have an idea."
They gathered some large rocks from the shoreline, dragging back stones nearly half their size, and set it all in a pile on one of the boardwalks. Sabo checked back for the noble ships and saw they were still moving as sluggishly as ever. Then he turned to his brothers and revealed his ingenious idea.
"Let's use Luffy's arm as a slingshot and throw some rocks at them. Maybe we can bang up their ships a little."
"What if they shoot back at us?" Ace asked.
"They can't, their ships are too small to hold cannons." Sabo's adventurous expression faltered for a moment. "I know, because my father had a boat just like that."
Sensing the change in his brother's mood, Ace gave him a wide grin and said, "Alright, let's do it."
"Luffy," Sabo said to the youngest boy, "We're going to need to borrow your arm."
"Sounds like fun!" Luffy agreed readily.
Luffy stood on one side of the boardwalk and Ace grabbed his arm, stretching it over to the other side. Sabo hefted up a rock and warned, "Make sure you hold on tight, Ace."
Placing the rock in the crook of Luffy's elbow, Sabo slowly pulled it back a few feet, stretching Luffy's arm taut like a bow. While Luffy struggled not to move from his spot and Ace held on with all his might, Sabo aimed for the nearest luxury ship. Then he let go and it soared over the waves, leaving behind the sound of rushing wind. With a heavy clank, the rock bounced off the side of one of the ships, causing it to slowly tip to the right in the water. All the boys looked excited, feeling a thrill at the thought that with only a rubber boy and a rock from the shore they could shake a creature of steel.
Quickly Sabo retrieved another rock, and with Ace's and Luffy's help took aim and fired once more. This time, the other boat took the hit, rocking to the left farther than the first boat had to the right. The confused cabin-dwellers ran out onto the front deck in a panic. They yelled and shook their fists at their attackers, but the brothers were beyond listening. Drunk on the power a man can have over metal, they continued to fire upon the boats, nearly hitting the passengers a few times, until debris was raining down like bullets. When they began to run low on rocks, Ace made a quick trip back for more while Luffy latched his hand onto one of the wooden posts on the boardwalk so Sabo could continue firing. Eventually, the people aboard the ships became so terrified that they got back in their cabins and turned their ships around, heading back out to sea. All the while rocks were hailing down on the frightened vessels from behind as they fled into the horizon.
The boys kept up their assault until the boats were too far away. When the rocks finally stopped flying, they panted in exertion, smiles on their faces and drenched with the sweat of accomplishment. Ace shared a smile with Sabo, and even though they didn't say anything, the freckled boy knew what Sabo was thinking, how he felt on the inside. Sabo finally had the chance to strike back at the thing that plagued him, and he'd taken it. It felt like shaking himself free of a weight that he could exchange for something better. Ace knew the feeling, being tied to something—no, someone—that he wished he could just give away or destroy. He and Sabo could relate to each other in a way that Luffy could not relate to them. He wasn't familiar with their heavy feelings.
But he did have good eyes. He saw into the mist before Ace and Sabo had even turned back to the water, and called out to them, "Hey, look! Another ship is coming!"
Approaching from a long ways off was a ship, dark and dingy with many parts in need of repair—a muddy reflection of a sunken ship against the clear blue sky.
They felt something was off, but the brothers wanted to feel that excitement again. So they set up their human slingshot and readied a rock, Sabo taking quick aim. But he found that as the ship came closer, a fog was beginning to roll in, shrouding the boat in obscurity. He adjusted his slingshot several times and found his sight was wavering in odd ways, as if the angle of his sight was changing against his mind's instruction.
The boat continued its approach slowly, becoming bigger and bigger. This was no luxury ship. As it made its way toward the docks, it grew until its looming shadow felt like a whale that was coming to swallow the boys up.
"H-hey, onii-chan, let's just leave this one alone," Luffy said. "That ship gives me a bad feeling." He tried to retract his hand, but Ace held it firmly in place.
"We've fought alligators and tigers and warthogs all the time in the wild!" Ace said heatedly. "A ship is nothing!" But the way his coal-black eyes were shimmering, Luffy could tell he was just as concerned as his little brother.
They were both looking to Sabo now, awaiting some change in orders, but nothing came. Sabo just continued to aim, even though fear was rising in him as well. As the sight of deep brown wood filled his eyes from all angles, overwhelming his senses, he finally set free the rock in a determined arc, straight and true.
The projectile struck with a short, angry, creaking shriek. The whole ship shuddered with the sounds of faint unsettling, as if it were a beast waking up from a long nap. Luffy's eyes widened as he finally took stock of the mast and the sail's jolly-roger for the first time.
"It's a pirate ship!" he squeaked.
Ace was the next to notice, and what he saw made him pale as a ghost. "That jolly roger …!" He sounded horrified, and for the first time since Luffy and Sabo had known them, scared. "I know that jolly roger!"
All three of them broke out of their stupor to the sounds of footsteps thundering behind them. Sabo was the first to catch sight of a Marine making a beeline for the boardwalk. Out on the water, too, ships were closing in from behind the behemoth in front of them.
"Hurry, let's get out of here!" he cried, leading the boys back into town, taking multiple, complex secret routes back to Dadan's house to shake anybody who might be following off their tail.
When they all arrived, they were greeted by some bandits who grabbed them and anxiously dragged them into Dadan's cabin. They thought they were going to get scolded again, but surprisingly the large woman simply pulled them into a brief embrace.
"Thank God," she breathed, letting them go. "Where were you?"
"We were hanging out at the docks. What's wrong?" Sabo asked, sensing there was a deeper issue at hand.
"The Marines have been crawling all over the place. You were gone for so long I thought for sure you'd been caught."
"We saw some of those Marines at the docks just now," Luffy interjected. "Why are there so many?"
Dadan couldn't help but speak directly to Ace when she said, "There was a report that, supposedly, Gold Roger's ship was coming here to dock."
The young boy's face fell into pallor. He seemed to stop breathing, discreetly leaning his weight on Sabo until his panting breaths steadied.
"The Pirate King?!" Luffy cried. He was torn between awe and an instinctual need to go brave the Marines in order to fight Roger for his title.
So great was his excitement that Dadan's underlings had to hold him down as she continued to talk to the older brothers who were still swamped with shock.
"The Marines set up camp in town and found a large pirate ship approaching with what looked like his jolly-roger, right before you three returned." On her normally-angry face, the worry for her boys was plain, as she relived the anxious moments awaiting the brothers' arrival. "You've gotten in so much trouble around the village, I was worried that the Marines would make you their bonus prize. They're not above shackling children these days. Just think of Devil-Child Robin." She reached a hand up to wipe sweat away from her forehead. "I kept thinking of what they could have done to you …!"
Ace darted forward and latched onto Dadan's wide stomach in a big hug, clutching her close. The motion comforted her, and she held him tightly. But both she and Sabo knew that his embrace was more for his own sake. At the sound of Gold Roger's title, that little body couldn't help but quake with anger. If he didn't have something to cling onto, he would put his fist through a wall. Or worse yet, go challenge the Pirate King himself.
"Sabo," Luffy whispered to the oldest shakily, having done some thinking. "Do you think that ship we hit … was …?"
"I don't know, Luffy," Sabo said honestly, a cold sweat running down the side of his face, but a brave look in his eyes. They were filled with a stone-cold determination that could compete with the look Shanks gave that sea-king that tried to eat Luffy. "But if he comes for either you or Ace, I won't stop swinging until I kill him."
Even with his brother's words, a growing fear lodged itself within Luffy's mind, impossible to chase away. According to the legends, Roger was an enigma. He slipped in and out of the shadows of different islands, leaving nothing but destruction and piracy in his wake. There were constant sightings of his ship, and the Marines never ended in their pursuits. Roger was the sea's boogeyman, who parents claimed would steal away children if they didn't behave and do what they were supposed to.
"And," Luffy added audibly, "They say he's as a demon."
He didn't notice Ace's arms tighten like a vice around his caretaker's stomach, body trembling. But he did notice when Dadan shot him a poisonous glare, her hand resting protectively on top of Ace's wild, ebony locks.
"There's no such thing as demons," she said firmly.
"They say he's a curse, too," Luffy continued blindly. "They say maybe he doesn't even have to be a real person. That maybe he's just bad luck!"
"Are you telling me you really believe in curses?" she shouted, and everyone in the room stared at her in shock at her suddenly loud tone, save for Ace, who still kept his face hidden. "All curses bear the names and voices of men. If Roger is a demon, he's a demon born of the words of men. So many people hate him that he's been turned into a creature of wrath. You can call him anything you want, but he still simplifies into a simple voice, a simple figure, a simple man. He's only a man, with only the capacity to make a man's mistakes." She looked sadly upon the small boy shivering against her stomach.
When she looked up, she told Luffy, "If curses are real, then like man is the curse of the Earth, Gold Roger is the curse of man. Of man, by man, against him. Nothing more. If you want to become Pirate King, start by putting the current King on a reachable level."
Before Luffy could respond, Sabo gently tugged his arm. "Come on, Luffy. Let's go for a walk."
"But there are Marines out there," Luffy said weakly.
"I know," Sabo said, and the look on his face said refusal was not an option. As they left, Ace whispered a "thank you" to Dadan, and another to his older brother that went unheard.
Sabo led Luffy out of Dadan's house, holding the younger boy's hand and ambling along nowhere in particular, carefully evading the noise of patrolling Marines. By the time Sabo had decided they'd walked long enough, the evening was approaching, the sun running away from the sky and leaving their little troubled town all alone. They accidentally ran into an encampment of Marines and were chased into the woods. When Luffy found the Marines were no longer chasing him, he also found he was no longer with his brother.
He was weary and his vision was filled with dreams and wishes for a good night's sleep. He felt lonely and scared, surrounded on every side by Marines and curses and demons. Even if Dadan's words rang true in his mind, made him want to believe them, he couldn't stop this fear rising and falling in his chest. What if Roger was mad? What if Roger came for him and his brothers?
Walking home in the falling dark, Luffy almost met Roger everywhere. Roger on the road, Roger in the woods … Roger dancing up out of the creek like a spider.
(XXX)
Not long after Roger's supposed appearance, the Gray Terminal became a beacon of fire. Sabo had cried for his brothers, thinking they were dead. Standing in the streets as he watched everything go up in flames, he'd wept for the souls of all who perished in that "cleansing" inferno. He wept and hugged at the feet of the man who was to become a revolutionary with a bounty rivaling the likes of the Pirate King's. And as if his weeping and groveling had appealed to a Saint, his brothers were safely returned to their home.
All the people living in the Gray Terminal amongst the junk were just like Sabo. They stole what they could, living in a manner befitting savages. But it was the only thing they knew, whether they chose that path or not. Even though Sabo was of noble birth and his parents tried desperately to raise him up as someone befitting of a higher class, he knew what they really thought of him. No matter how much they needed him, to him he was the same as everything else in the Terminal. He was trash. Useful only for sitting in a dump of a town, making a stink, and making a statement. If he wasn't of noble blood, they would have watched him burn like the rest.
He couldn't wait long enough to even say a proper goodbye to his beloved brothers. The siren song that had always called him to the water would no longer be silenced. It was the only thing that could quench the thought of those flames whittling men and their life's work to dust. He left a letter for Ace, beseeching him to be the older brother for Luffy from then on. Then he stole a small fishing vessel and waved goodbye forever to his hometown.
Only an hour had passed since Sabo's departure when one of Dadan's underlings came to bring them the grave news. Sabo had been shot down by a ship coming into the port in order to begin an annual celebration. His body was never found. His water-logged hat was retrieved as evidence that he and his boat had sunk far into the depths of the sea. Sabo's picture was in the town's newspaper, and for one day, he was a famous pirate—just like he wanted.
Ace's lament was the most painful. He didn't cry, but ran out into the forest and let out a wail that cut through all the roars of the animals, the rustling of trees, and the quiet of the evening. His was a cry filled with hate for the crier.
While the older of now only two brothers grieved in the woods, Luffy sobbed in the house, pulling his hat down over his eyes. He heard whispers over his own crying and listened in without pausing to stifle his tears.
"I saw him, Dadan. I saw Roger at the Gray Terminal, walking through the smoke," said the underling who informed them of Sabo's death. "I saw him at the port, too, peeking over the railing of the attacker's ship!"
"Shut your mouth!" Dadan hissed. "That's ridiculous! How can you say that in front of Luffy?" When she saw the little boy was watching them, she said, "Luffy! Don't listen to this idiot!"
But it was already too late. Luffy's tears had been dammed up by a cold chill and an empty feeling in his soul. He knew it. Roger's curse was real.
And not even Sabo could save them from it.
(XXX)
Dadan had money problems, and they worsened after Sabo's death. Even with one less mouth to feed—and the previously-three brothers always fetched the meat for dinner anyway—she and her bandits were falling into a pit they couldn't climb out of. So they employed the solution a bandit always employs—steal the money from someone else.
Luffy hated when Dadan stole. She and her cronies would pilfer a few moneybags from rich men and then dump out their contents onto the floor so they could count the haul. Each coin was a dull, heavy ring against Luffy's memories. It wasn't so much that they stole, but that they were the ones who stole. They were mountain bandits. And according to Luffy's encounter with mountain bandits—the one that cost Shanks an arm Luffy could never grieve enough for in repay—mountain bandits were bad. They dishonored people. They cast anchors(1) into the sea. Those kinds of people didn't deserve another person's hard-earned money.
Sometimes, when Dadan counted her money, Luffy watched her finger each coin with a pained expression, as if each and every piece of gold burned her skin. She would always throw all the coins back into the bags and with a mammoth sigh, proclaim, "Not enough." Sometimes she'd lock eyes with Luffy, and he'd see all of her humanity in her stare. As if she were humbling herself before the anger, the sadness, and the greed, and let it leave her huddled in an aching ball on the ground, just struggling to keep alive. No … struggling to keep all of them alive. Sometimes, images of her and the young captain Shanks overlapped in his mind, and he felt himself feeling a twinge of admiration and nostalgia.
But before his childish mind could deign to praise his caretaker, he would squeeze his eyes shut and try to block out the sound of coins skittering along the floor.
No. Mountain bandits are bad. They were the monsters who tried to take Shanks' pride. And yet, Luffy was the one whose foolish retaliation cost Shanks his arm. Dark thoughts crept into the young boy's mind and taunted him: Shanks would never have lost his arm if Luffy had heeded his advice about avoiding confrontation with the bandits. He was no better than them.
No. I hate mountain bandits, he told himself stubbornly. I hate them.
(XXX)
There were many nights when Luffy did not wish to sleep. His dreams were home to the abominable sight of Sabo's ship being struck down, waves blanketing the wreckage of his ship in eternal slumber. The water crashed and swirled over Sabo's body, until his writhing and spluttering stopped, and he sank like an anchor, just like his brother would. And in the sand at the bottom of the ocean was the shadow of Roger, waiting with arms outstretched for Sabo's body to drift down.
Usually, the night after one of these dreams, even if Luffy wanted to sleep, he couldn't. Those nights especially were torture. Nightmares would come and go in a swift torrent of sleep, but when insomnia kept him awake, Luffy was forced to think about his dreams and remember how he and Ace failed to protect their brother. If only they'd escaped the Gray Terminal and sought out Sabo, maybe they could have saved him—that's what he told himself over and over, while waiting for exhaustion to come and turn him over to the nightmarish waves once more.
This particular night, Luffy found himself reaching his wit's end. He was close to tears but didn't want to cry for fear of waking Ace who was sleeping next to him on the floor of Dadan's house. Fear, fear, always fear—he was always afraid. It always stonewalled him, made him feel weak, and kept him holed up inside himself. He wanted the nightmares and the pain to stop, but he had a feeling they never would. The thought made him want to follow the same siren song Sabo had on the day he died, down to the docks and into the water.
Then he heard a faint noise coming from outside the window, like the sound of a humming bird. He sat up underneath his blanket and listened closely, and heard a familiar tune that brightened his heart and reminded him of the captain who left him with a straw-hat and a scar.
Binks' no sake o, todoke ni yuku yo…~
He quietly snuck out of the room and out of the house and found the source of the song in the clearing just beyond the front door. A shadowy figure dressed in colorful, flowing robes was singing with gentle joy, all of his face obscured except for a pure-white jaw. He wielded a violin, playing with a soft, choppy flow like that of a babbling brook, swaying to the music as he played. Luffy found himself swaying too, and was disappointed when the figure suddenly stopped playing.
"Hello there, young man," the stranger greeted him joyfully. "I see you've been having trouble sleeping."
"Who are you?" Luffy asked.
The stranger bowed to his audience. "I'm the Piper(2)! Wherever a child has trouble sleeping I will go and sing them a lullaby so they may rest."
There was hope in Luffy's tired smile. "Then you can help me get to sleep?"
"Of course I can!" the stranger sang out in a lyrical voice. "I have chosen a song that will give only happy dreams and make it so those who hear it never sleep badly again! I do hope you'll listen. I've worked so hard to perfect this song!"
Suddenly the man's tone became grave. "Don't you know? If I played a single note off-key, a person could have nightmares forever!" He drew his bow back and forth across his instrument in tempestuous illustration. The sound grated Luffy's ears, yet intrigued his soul. "I could never rest if I knew a person's life was filled with sleepless nights because of me! Though I'm already resting because I'm dead! Yohohohohoho~!"
"You're dead?" Luffy asked in astonishment. He looked closer and noticed that the hands holding the instrument were made of nothing but pure white bones. "Can you poop?"
"Yes, I can poop," the Piper said, answering the most important question first. "And yes, I am dead. I should be floating down the river with all the others who've passed on, but I am not. I cannot afford to leave this world just yet." The Piper's head shifted to the side, and Luffy could sense a gentle smile coming from beneath his hood. "I had a dream that went terribly wrong, and it killed me. Dreams can kill people! And there are so many hearts in this world filled with so many big, beautiful dreams. I want to protect people from my fate."
Kneeling down to look at Luffy, the Piper said quietly, "I've seen your nightmares, and they're very malicious. They could suffocate you at any moment. I'm surprised they haven't already. But I won't let them take you."
"If you're dead … does that mean you're a ghost?" Luffy asked curiously.
"A ghost?" the Piper cried, jumping to his feet. He looked around in fright. "Where?! … Wait, me?!"
With a happy laugh at the stranger's antics, Luffy said, "So you're not a ghost, then?"
"Heavens, no," the Piper said, voice shaking as he put a hand to his chest and breathed in deeply to calm down. "Not that I know of, anyway."
"Sorry," Luffy said (though he was pretty sure this guy was still a ghost). He hadn't meant to scare the man. But whenever dreams where mentioned, his thoughts always drifted to Sabo, and then to Roger, the man Luffy felt responsible for his brother's death. After Sabo was gone, Luffy listened to more and more rumors about the inhuman entity that stalked the ocean with the title of "Pirate King," and heard theories saying that not only was he an enigma, he was a ghost, haunting the hearts of young adventurers and harbors that rejected a pirate's way of life.
If the Piper was a ghost, then he would surely know other ghosts too. Then Luffy could ask if he knew if Gold Roger was a ghost.
"Of course he's a ghost," the Piper said, answering Luffy's thoughts. "But he's not dead."
He sat down on the ground beside Luffy, and the young boy felt welcomed to his side. Putting an arm around Luffy's shoulders, the Piper's touch felt more alive than the brightest of stars looking down on them from the night sky. "A lot of bad things happened to you. I know you want someone to blame. But I know too, that more than anything, you want to understand what has happened to your brother Sabo and what will happen from now on."
Luffy nodded, pulling his knees up and putting his arms around them. "Marines and the townspeople say it all the time—everything bad happens in the world because of Roger's curse. Is that true? Is this all because of Gold Roger's curse?"
"It's true," the Piper said, then turned his head towards the starts. Empty eye-sockets stared out of fractured bone at the darkness smothering the earth. "But it only seems like a curse because you don't understand it yet." He looked down on Luffy like a brother would gaze at his sibling, and Luffy felt like he was talking to Sabo again.
"Luffy," Sabo said, "Do you know what 'equivalent exchange' is? You give something to somebody, and they give you something back that is of equal value." He looked up at the sky again, as if trying to find himself among the constellations. "Roger's curse is like that. He'll steal something from you, something dear to you, but for a guarantee that you will get stronger … if getting stronger is your wish. He'll take from you until you have nothing left, and then you'll be the strongest man in the world."
"Does that mean I'll lose Ace too? Does that mean I'll lose Dadan, Shanks, Makino, and everyone else?"
Smiling, Sabo said, "Don't worry. As you get stronger, you'll be able to protect the things that are important to you. Things that are impossible will become possible. But most importantly of all, you'll be able to stand up to the one who stole from you, so he'll never steal from you again."
"I'll be able to stand up to Roger?" Luffy asked timidly. He was answered with a nod, and left to ponder in silence.
The young boy thought of his life so far. He'd been so weak with fear and ignorance that his own brother had slipped right out of his hands and into the abyss, falling right alongside the arm Luffy had cost the person he admired. Roger would take things from him, but compared to the price that would have been paid had Luffy continued walking in his blindness, a few losses seemed like nothing.
Roger would take the things important to him, and make him stronger. Stronger and stronger until no one could take anything away from him anymore. Roger was the person he had to defeat and stonewall for the curse to subside. Roger was his rival. The young boy realized now, that not only would he need strength to oppose Roger, he'd need power. The power that came from money and title, a legend that seemed untouchable. To gain that legendary status, Luffy would have to touch the legend of Roger himself. He'd have to touch it, and take a piece of it, and make it his own.
Tears welled up in Luffy's eyes. "But … why did it have to be you, onii-chan? Why did Roger have to take you away?"
"Who knows?" Sabo shrugged. "But these things happen." He smiled warmly at Luffy's concerned face and said, "Don't worry. It's not like I'm sad or anything. Sure, I didn't expect to die as soon as I did. I don't like to see you and Ace suffer either. But I'm happy now. I'm … free."
Sabo angled his head upwards and closed his eyes, as if getting lost in a dream. His face was at peace and the moonlight wrapped around him.
"Roger's treasure …" he said dreamily. "Where do you think it is?"
Luffy was silent for a moment, wiping his eyes. "Wherever it is, I'm going to find it," he decided.
A shrill laugh startled the young boy out of his daze, and suddenly he was no longer looking into the face of Sabo but back at the Piper. He wondered if the Piper's magic had brought Sabo back—maybe it had been an illusion, or Luffy's mind playing tricks. Even though Luffy tried to tell himself it was an illusion, the unmistakable voice of his brother and his comforting presence were too convincing.
"If you're going to find the treasure of the great Gold Roger, you're going to have to get plenty of sleep!" Tearing off a huge piece of his long fluttering robe, the Piper handed the cloth to Luffy, leaving no room for debate. "Come. Listen to my song. You'll dream sweetly tonight."
Using the colorful, thick cloth as a blanket, Luffy laid on the ground and settled himself into a comfortable position. He closed his eyes, waiting for the Piper to begin his song.
"And don't ever forget, your dreams can kill you. Always be aware," Luffy was reminded gravely, before the cheerful song he'd heard outside his bedroom chirped out its starting notes.
They can kill me if they want, Luffy thought to himself as he slipped into a deep sleep. I won't be afraid anymore.
That night, he dreamed he and Sabo walked across the surface of the ocean together, talking merrily to each other and to the slowly setting sun watching them over the horizon. They talked about Ace and Dadan and treasure and the first time the three brothers met. They talked about the places they'd been, and the places they wanted to see. Luffy left no word of love or admiration unspoken, and let none of Sabo's smiles go uncaught in his memory.
When the day finally slipped into night, Sabo waved goodbye and standing still on the surface of the clear blue deep, began to slowly sink. They never broke eye-contact, even when his face was finally submerged. There was no fear, no sadness, no loneliness. Only the bubbles of Sabo's breath were left behind, trailing his descent.
(XXX)
Every year, the Marines reminded all radio-owners of the day of Roger's death. The first time Luffy heard the broadcast was after Sabo's death and after his meeting with the Piper. He was hanging out with Makino at the bar and some sailor had brought a radio with him and was playing it rather loudly. That dream-soothing musician told Luffy that Gold Roger was still alive, but on the radio, a Marine's voice was bellowing out victoriously that "on this day, so and so many years ago, the great Gold Roger was put to death!" As he continued to speak on about how wonderfully the Marines had protected the peace of the entire world, Luffy fell into confusion.
"Gold Roger?" he said aloud. "Gold Roger was put to death?"
"No," said the man sitting on the barstool beside him. He was an older man, wise-looking and with a peculiar smile. His hair was silver and long, partially hidden by a wide-brimmed hat shadowing his face. "Gol D. Roger was put to death." After saying those words, the man placed some money on the counter, tipped his hat to Luffy, and then left.
The young boy couldn't help but feel relief, though why, he wasn't sure. But after all, it wouldn't make any sense for Gold Roger to be dead. If he was dead, why were people still looking for him? Why would they be chasing his jolly-roger and cowering in their homes, afraid of his wrath? There was no way he could've been caught. Luffy wondered if they'd ever manage to vanquish the infamous pirate.
A few years later on the anniversary of Roger's death was when Ace chose to leave Luffy and his home for the life of a pirate captain. Ace was 17, just like he promised he'd be when he set out. By then, Luffy was no longer ignorant of Roger's passing, and had become much stronger and much wiser. He and Ace saw each other off with a far happier parting than they had with Sabo, and Luffy found himself alone to take care of himself and Dadan. He'd grown up a lot in the past few years and didn't need to be watched over anymore.
Dadan was distraught with Ace's parting, even if she pretended not to be. She'd lost the boy she'd taken care of and grown close to since he was a baby and Luffy could tell it hurt worse than it would if she were losing her own son to adulthood. So Luffy watched over her, careful not to show it but never leaving her unattended for the first few weeks. He liked to think Sabo would've done the same thing.
He still admired his older brother even after all that time. Every day, he was a little closer to overcoming him.
(XXX)
Luffy didn't often read newspapers, but Dadan always kept up on current events. One day shortly after Ace had sailed off with his small ship and jolly-roger, she handed Luffy a newspaper and pointed to an article on the death of a man named Tom, who lived on the outskirts of Water 7. The article was many years old, but the paper still in good shape. From the article, Luffy saw that this man was supposedly the greatest shipwright in the world. Not only that, but he was said to have built the Oro Jackson, which was Gold Roger's ship.
"You might be interested in what they have to say about that guy. Seeing as how you're obsessed with that Gold Roger," Dadan said, but her words fell on deaf ears. Luffy had already started reading without needing to be convinced further.
He read up on Tom's tragic tale of the sea train and his stay of execution. How he was to be pardoned until his disciple's warships were used in an attack against the city. Everyone had thought he was a great man for the contribution he made to Water 7, and began to think maybe he was a kind man, until the attack happened. Then all their faith was abolished, and he was ridiculed as a deceitful, evil fishman. His own train carried him to Enies Lobby, where they put an end to the life of one of the greatest men in the world.
But what caught Luffy's interest even more was an accompanying obituary for a young man named Cutty Flam, the disciple whose warships were the cause of Tom's pardon being retracted. Apparently, as Tom was being ferried to Enies Lobby, Cutty had waited for it on the train tracks and got run over by it. The death was ruled a suicide. Even though the body was never recovered, Cutty's death was confirmed by CP5's Spandam. In the report he made, the Chief mentioned that when the train approached, Cutty shot at the train multiple times, and when that failed he faced the steam engine with his bare hands, as if he thought he could stop it with his hands alone. Thus earning the mocking headline: "Man in Water 7 Tried To Catch A One-Way Train."
Luffy wondered how long it would be before catching a train would no longer be impossible for him. He wondered how much Roger's curse would have to take. There was no use in being anxious, though, so he quickly cast aside those thoughts.
He decided he'd walk to Gray Terminal with the newspaper and reread it there. Dadan had already found a couple newspapers talking of Ace's infamy spreading like wildfire, which Luffy liked to take to the Gray Terminal and read aloud to the empty air. He imagined that from there, Sabo and all the other lost souls of the junkyard could hear and know they weren't forgotten. And Luffy knew Sabo would definitely want to hear about the shipwright for the former Pirate King.
As he headed towards the Terminal, he thought of the man who'd been run over by the sea train. The headlines of the paper had mocked Cutty, making him seem like a fool. Of course he would try to stop the train. Tom was his master and had done great things for Water 7—his contribution could not be repaid even by a person's life. How could Cutty have left the man to die without doing anything? If Luffy had been facing that train and Sabo were on it, he probably would've thrown his life away just for a chance that he might be able to keep the steam-powered bull from staying its course.
Ace, Sabo, and Luffy dreamed of being pirates together. Each one of them would have thrown away their lives for that dream, and Sabo did. Roger had showed Luffy first-hand that dreams were prizes that not just anyone could claim for themselves. They would test you mercilessly, throw evil people into your path, and things impossible to overcome—like fatal wounds, the Government, and lead-heavy grief. They would test you and eventually kill you, just like they killed Sabo and the Piper and hundreds of thousands of other dreamers in the Grand Line.
There was no way for Luffy to be ready for his trials. There were no preventative measures he could take and no reason to worry anyway. He could only cling to his resolve—the resolve that told him to chase his freedom and his ambitions, or die trying. But even if he died, he would live on like Sabo, Cutty, and Roger—in newspapers, legends, and the tears of people who cared about him.
If his dreams were a freight train that could run him over, he would stop it. If he failed to stop it—and he in fact might—he would be crushed under its weight and people would call him a fool for trying. But he didn't need their approval. He didn't expect anybody to understand.
Men like him and Cutty had no other choice.
(XXX)
Long after Luffy disembarked from his hometown in his 17th year, he found himself in a gloomy sea with a dependable crew and no fear despite the chilling, eerie winds closing in around them. While recruiting members, Luffy found Cutty—called Franky now—had survived his encounter with the sea train after all and let him join the Straw-hat crew. The young captain didn't mention having seen the newspaper article or knowing who Franky was. Truth be told, he hadn't remembered the article until after Franky had built the Straw-hats the Thousand Sunny, and by then a slip of old paper didn't matter much anymore. The past would be the past, and Franky and the Sunny would find good purpose in carrying Luffy and his crew into the future.
The Sunny was carrying them bravely through that gloomy sea like a ray of light, dancing across dark waves peeking in and out of the fog, when Luffy heard an old familiar tune ringing out through the air with a ghostly air, bringing back fond memories.
Bink's no sake o, todoke ni yuku yo~.
He recognized that voice. The music seemed to be coming from an old, rotting pirate ship that was sailing by. The old ship came to a stop right beside the Sunny and some of Luffy's crew members shrieked as they saw an old skeleton peering down at them, teeth clacking in time with the song it was singing. As everyone looked on in fear and awe, Luffy could only smile with excitement, feeling the strange sensation that he was about to pay a visit to an old friend, even though he couldn't quite remember who this old friend could be.
Even though his crewmates begged him not to board the ship, he did anyway, and took his chef, Sanji and his navigator, Nami with him. They met with the sight of a graceful, tall, thin skeleton holding a cane and a teacup. Nami was cowering behind Sanji, but the skeleton seemed to take no notice of any trepidation.
"How do you do?" the skeleton cried. "Yohohohoho!" He tipped his hat. "I'm so sorry about earlier, I was unable to greet you properly! I'm simply so surprised! It's been so many years since I've seen people."
He looked to Nami, and as if he hadn't noticed her there before said, "Oh my, you are the most beautiful lady I've ever seen!" His voice dropped a few decibels and he followed up with, "Would you please show me your panties?"
"Are you an idiot?!" she shrieked, giving him a stinging smack.
"How harsh!" the skeleton squealed, holding his head and drawing back. "I bruise easily, you know! Though I don't have any skin to bruise!"
Laughing loudly, Luffy asked, "What's your name?"
"Oh, where are my manners?" The skeleton tipped his hat to the young captain and answered, "My name is Brook. And who are you?"
"I'm Luffy," the straw-hat boy said, then gestured to his friends. "This is Sanji and Nami."
"Don't give him our names, stupid!" Nami cried. "What if he tries to curse us?!"
But her captain ignored her and, still talking to the skeleton, said, "We're pirates. Join our crew."
"Oh," Brook said. "Alright." He didn't seem to notice how Sanji's and Nami's jaws hit the deck. He tilted his head to the side, as if examining the boy standing before him with his nonexistent eyes. "But … why do you want me to?"
"I like you," Luffy said. "You remind me of someone."
"You remind me of someone, too," Brook said, his jaw clacking pleasantly. "You're a little bit like how Gold Roger used to be."
With a laugh, Luffy said, "You talk as if he's dead."
(XXX)
(1)- In case this reference was a little too vague, the "anchor" in this sentence is the definition that means "a person who can't swim."
(2)- Reference to the Piper of Hamelin, a myth that can be retold and interpreted in many ways, one of which being that a large group of children was killed by the black plague due to rats being called forth by the Piper of Hamelin. In this writing, the man is implying he "puts people to rest," or helps them "rest in peace."
Notes: I worked a long time on this, and have been wanting to write it for even longer. Some of the writing is a little clumsy, but I'm proud I finally finished it. The ending's a little bad, I know, but I feel like it needs to be like it is. Take what you want from the symbolism, and try to find deeper meaning in it—I don't want to ruin the adventure for you by telling you ahead of time, and anyway, I'd just like this to be a story one can reread. So if you get the time, read it over again.
I stole the Piper of Hamelin thing from the anime Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo? That anime is also fun and the first season finished a while ago, and the Piper of Hamelin riddle was very interesting. Go take a look if you want.
Please give me feedback! Review and favorite if you liked. Requests are always welcomed.