Revisionist Destiny: Creature of the Void
Aliens and portals. Reality warping and pirates. And a parallel universe to boot. The Straw Hats certainly have their work cut out from them when they meet a creature from another world, and from the future nonetheless. The Straw Hats must now embark on a dangerous journey to cross the boundaries of the universes themselves to watch for changes in a parallel version of their very own lives! But something is lurking in the dark. An evil predator that will feast on both worlds if the bridge between dimensions is not closed in time. Be very wary Straw Hats, lest you want to survive. Beware the Creature of the Void.
Chapter 2: Diversion in the Timeline? The Destined Meeting!
The crew stared at Ace and the younger version of their captain in Iddaq sent them back to observe this new timeline, they didn't get expect to get sent this far back in the past.
'How many changes to our lives are there?' Zoro thought in frustration, with a slight apprehension that in this new reality, he will never meet Kuina or even Luffy himself.
However, the crew currently was not interested in the past. They had to fix a current problem that was rearing its ugly head. Luffy was staring at Ace with a sad smile, and while the captain had gotten over the initial shock of seeing his brother, there was still a great pain in his eyes; and an even greater one in his mind. Luffy's heart started to pound in his chest, and sweat began to drip down the back of his neck. Luffy clutched at the scar on his chest, and he clenched his eyes shut in panic as his breathing began to get more rapid by the second. Luffy began to hear cannon fire and the screams of pirates and marines alike. Luffy dug his nails into his chest even harder, drawing small amounts of blood as he heard more and more cannons and screams. He could feel the hands of his crew as they tried to pry his hand away, he could hear the sound of Chopper calling for him, he could hear Nami sobbing in worry, he could hear Zoro trying to take charge and he could hear Sanji yelling and Usopp was panicking and Brook's bony hands rested on his shoulder… but they weren't there. Everything was numb and the sound of cannons had drowned out everything. Luffy was about to open his eyes, and see the faces of his crew. His friends were there for him, supporting him at every turn.
Luffy's eyelids opened and he stared at the body before him. Dark black hair, freckles and a soft smile of peace. And a hole ripped open in his chest, pouring blood onto the floor. Luffy started to panic, as he could feel Ace's blood on his hands; the blood of his brother. Luffy could swear someone was screaming louder than anyone in the room, but he couldn't tell who was doing it. He could also hear another voice, and it was getting louder and louder. But he couldn't place it. Who was it?
"SON OF DRAGON!"
Zoro had noticed something was off when Luffy started to grab his chest. Nami tried talking to him but the captain had completely ignored her. Chopper had said Luffy was having a PTSD reaction, whatever that meant, and the whole crew began to surround their friend in concern. Zoro tried to get Usopp and the others to calm down but they wouldn't listen. It seems these two years really had changed the dynamic of the crew completely, until the crew got back into the groove of things. Zoro saw Luffy look down at his palms as if he was seeing something, but before Zoro could think about it; Luffy began to scream, extremely loudly. So much so that some of the crew had to cover their ears with their hands to drown out the noise.
Zoro had never heard anything more horrifying in his life. Their captain, the man who was the bravest man Zoro knew, sounded so broken and scared. Zoro began to panic himself, never having seen such a reaction from Luffy before and never would have expected it either.
The whole crew watched as Luffy raised his head slowly, before the man's eyes widened in fear. Luffy shot backwards, knocking Brook, Nami and Usopp down to the floor. Sanji saw Nami scream and was about to reprimand Luffy on instinct until he saw the look in the rubberman's eyes. A look of pure hatred, and it was directed at the whole crew. A look they had never even considered could be directed at them.
Luffy stared at the lavaman before him in pure hatred. His right hand was still bubbling with magma, the same magma that had murdered Ace. That had taken his last brother away from him because Luffy was weak. But not anymore. Luffy activated Gear Second immediately, and covered both of his arms in Armament Haki.
"AKAINU!"
Luffy shot towards the man and socked him in the face, sending the man flying back. However, the admiral disappeared before reappearing to Luffy's right, rushing towards him. Akainu let out a kick towards Luffy's face, knocking the man back a bit. But Luffy grabbed Akainu's leg and threw him at the wall. Akainu reappeared a couple of metres away from Luffy, slightly cowering in fear of the pirate. Luffy smirked and threw his fist back; his arm heating up as he remembered Ace. Luffy's arm was now covered in flames and he was determined to finish Akainu off for good. Luffy threw his fist towards Akainu's face, intending on killing the admiral.
"LUFFY, PLEASE DON'T!" Akainu screamed in terror, his voice now that of a female.
The image of Akainu disappeared, revealing Nami cowering before Luffy's fist, tears rolling down her face in fear. The flames on Luffy's arms dissipated, and Luffy looked at Nami in pure horror. Tears began to well up in Luffy's eyes, and as he looked around the room, he felt his worthlessness increase tenfold.
Franky was leaning against a wall, his face swollen and bleeding as Robin tended to his wounds. Usopp, Zoro and Brook all had their weapons drawn, and were looking as if they were ready to strike the Straw Hat captain. Chopper was tending to Sanji's leg, which had a purple bruise the size of Luffy's hand. Luffy finally turned his attention back to Nami, who was looking at him with a face of pure fear; towards the man who was supposed to protect her. The man who had stopped her from feeling like this at every turn, was now the cause of her fear.
'If you ever take Nami's smile away, I'll hunt you down and kill you!'
Luffy began to step backwards, his eyes full of guilt and horror. Luffy tripped over himself and fell on his backside, shaking in fear of his actions. Luffy brought his knees up to his chest and tears began to roll down the boy's face.
"I'm sorry," Luffy began to mutter to himself, rocking back and forth slightly, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
The whole crew didn't need to speak to come to the same conclusion. In their eyes, there was nothing to forgive; because seeing their captain sobbing quietly to himself was proof enough that he didn't mean it. They watched as Luffy closed his eyes and counted to eight on his fingers, taking deep breaths while he did so. Luffy repeated this process for about five minutes; continually counting to eight over and over again. By the time Sanji and Franky were okay, Luffy had stopped counting and he opened his eyes; perhaps for the first time since Iddaq had sent them here.
Luffy got on his hands and knees and bowed his head, the guilt almost visible in the air to the crew. It was something they never wanted to feel in the air when Luffy was around, and now that they have done, they can sufficiently say they will do all they can to never feel it again.
"I'M SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!" Luffy sobbed in agony, his words barely forming together, "I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING! I DON'T KNOW WHAT CAME OVER ME! SANJI, PLEASE FORGIVE ME! FRANKY, I'M SO SORRY! NAMI, I DIDN'T MEAN TO MAKE YOU CRY! I BROKE MY PROMISE TO PINWHEEL-GUY AND I'M THE WORST CAPTAIN EVER AND YOU CAN ALL LEAVE IF YOU WANT BECAUSE I'M A HORRIBLE CAPTAIN WHOSE WORSE THAN ARLO-"
All of a sudden, a palm collided with Luffy's cheek and smashed him into the ground, cutting the man off before he could finish his sentence. Luffy touched her cheek in surprise; Nami had never slapped him before.
"Don't you dare," Nami said in anger, making Luffy look up at her in shock, "Don't you dare say you're worse than that man. Luffy, you're the best captain anyone could ask for! You've saved all of us so many times! You freed me Luffy! So, don't you ever think you're worse than that man who ruined my life! If anything, we should be apologising! We weren't there for you when you needed us and we let you down!"
Nami had begun to cry again towards the end of her speech, as she picked Luffy up by his vest and hoisted him to his feet.
"Don't say that! It was my fault you were all taken away from me and-"
Before Luffy could finish, the whole crew collided with Luffy and brought him into a hug; even Zoro and Robin. Chopper had launched himself into Luffy's chest and began crying about how he couldn't be a better doctor for Luffy; Usopp was holding Luffy's arm tight, crying about how he wasn't strong enough to help him; Nami was sobbing into Luffy's shoulder from behind Chopper, saying she was going to increase his debt by 100,000 berries for comparing himself to Arlong; Brook was hugging Luffy's back, not saying a word as he knew the effects of a traumatic event more than anyone and was stunned to see it appear in one of his crew; Robin was hugging Luffy's other arm, smiling softly at the man; Zoro and Sanji were to Brook's right and left, with Sanji's eyes tearing up and Zoro with an understanding grip on his captain's other shoulder; and Franky picked up the whole group in his arms, crying the hardest out of anyone.
Luffy's eyes welled up with more tears, feeling the warmth from all his friends. They forgave him, he thought as he looked at the crying Chopper on his chest. Luffy smiled widely and hugged as many of them as he could, so happy they forgave him. The crew didn't need to talk about the subject anymore, as all had been forgiven. If anything, this was a sign to the crew that their captain was still very broken after two years, and that he needed their support more than ever.
The crew remained like that for a while, before they remembered their purpose here. As soon as they thought that, the sounds of younger Luffy and younger Ace brought them back to reality. They all separated and Luffy looked towards the younger Ace with more content. This wasn't his Ace, Luffy thought, as he stared at the two boys arguing. Luffy had come to terms with that, still feeling the warmth of his crew around him. But the one's around him, they were his real crew; not some alternate universe mirror images.
"So this is what you looked like when you were little," Franky noted, inspecting the Straw-Hat-less Luffy, "You were a cute kid bro!"
Luffy chuckled and nodded, looking towards his younger self. He also began to take in his surroundings. He tilted his head and began to think, hurting his brain quite a bit. For the life of him, he couldn't seem to remember being on a ship like this with Ace.
"This is a marine ship," Robin noted, looking out the corridor after opening the door. The Straw Hats expected the boys to turn to the door as it had opened, but they didn't. They kept on arguing without a second thought.
"Why didn't they notice us?" Brook asked, his brow contorting in confusion. If he had brows that is.
"Because that wouldn't make sense narratively. Iddaq's powers wouldn't work otherwise, therefore we have our own environment to interact with. It's different to the flashback Iddaq showed us before, as I suspect Iddaq had to put more power in to sustain this mirror reality. However, that's why we can't touch the people; for the exact same reason. Because interacting with people would mean the environment would have to create new versions of them for us as well, which would cause confusion and panic," Robin explained, making the Straw Hats clap in amazement at their archaeologist's analytical skills.
"Wow Robin! You're so hot when you're smart!" Sanji said, spinning like a noodle, and making Zoro scoff in the process.
Chopper pulled a notebook and pen from his bag, before turning to Luffy with a small smile.
"Luffy, whenever something is different, I'll note it down okay!" Chopper said, making Luffy pat the boy on the back.
"Good idea Chopper! Well, I can tell you for certain that this never happened! I only met Ace when Grandpa took me to Dadan's!" Luffy said with a grin, making Chopper furiously write down this event in the book.
Before Luffy could explain how he and Ace met, the two younger boys' argument drew the crew's attention. Looking across the room, Luffy saw Garp looking at a bookshelf in the corner of the room. Luffy smiled when seeing his Grandpa. Sure, he and his Gramps always fought and bickered, but Gramps was still his Gramps. He had always done what he thought was best for Luffy, and Luffy knew that he and Gramps loved each other despite their occupational differences. Although, they both showed it terribly, Luffy had to admit.
"Why do you have to be so mean to me!?"
"I'm not being mean you little brat, I'm toughening you up!"
"You sound just like Grandpa, you big jerk!"
Everyone stared at Ace in amazement. The Ace they knew was so polite and clearly loved his brother dearly, but the boy here was full of anger and malice. It was amazing what time and puberty could do to a person.
"Did you and Ace always argue like this?" Nami asked, staring at Luffy curiously.
"Yeah!" Luffy said, laughing and rubbing the back of his head, "Ace hated me at first! Shishishishi!"
The crew watched as Garp walked over to the two boys, looking awfully tired as he did so.
"Uh oh," Sanji noted, remembering Garp's wrath back in Water 7. He couldn't imagine what it must be like to grow up with the Vice-Admiral.
"I do not! Say that again and I'll- what, hey let go of me!" younger Ace said indignantly.
"Put me down Grandpa!" younger Luffy whined, already starting to squirm in the man's grip.
Garp grabbed the two by their collars with a sigh, both of them wiggling to get out of his grasp.
"Garp looks so young here," Usopp said amazed, looking at the man's black hair with grey patches here and there.
"No wonder he went grey, what with these two!" Sanji said, already pitying Garp for his troubles.
"Oi!" Luffy cried, before pouting and crossing his arms. The annoying this was, Sanji wasn't exactly wrong.
The crew watched as Garp walked out of the room, the two boys wiggling like worms as he did so. The crew opened their own door and followed Garp to the deck of the ship. Usopp, Luffy and Chopper ran to the rails of the boat, looking at the water that looked so real and alive. Luffy stretched his hand into the water and didn't feel his energy draining at all. Luffy's eyes widened in shock as he felt the cold water, and he retracted his hand as if he had just been burnt. The crew watched as Luffy wiped his wet hand on his sash, before turning to look at the crew with a joyful grin.
"What is it Luffy?" Zoro asked, confused by the captain's happiness.
"The sea doesn't make me weak! I can go swimming!" Luffy said, making Chopper, Robin and Brook eye the water with interest, "I guess because it's not the real sea or something!"
Luffy jumped off the boat and dived beneath the water, making the crew watch in worry and anticipation. To their relief, Luffy broke through the surface of the water and started to laugh. The other Devi Fruit users could barely contain their elation, even Robin had a bright smile on her face.
"HEY ZORO!" Luffy called out, making the swordsman's head perk up.
"What Luffy?"
"I just remembered," Luffy began before he started to sink, "I never learnt how to swim! They called me Anchor back home!"
The crew watched as Luffy struggled to keep above the water, before he began to sink beneath the waves. They didn't know if you could drown in this fake ocean, but they weren't willing to find out.
"YOU IDIOT!" the crew shouted, but before Zoro could jump in, Robin dived beneath the waves.
The crew watched as Robin, whilst struggling to swim due to not having that ability for very long, seemed to be able to pull Luffy out of the water. Luffy grinned at her and stretched up to the deck, both two devil fruit users landing on floor rather harshly.
There was a second of silence among the crew as they watched Luffy and Robin. Luffy was watching the water droplets run down his skin, while Robin started to wiggle her toes in the small puddle that had formed on the deck.
Luffy and Robin began to laugh, both smiling brightly as they started to flick water droplets at each other. The crew smiled warmly at the two. It seems they had all taken their ability to swim for granted, because even Robin was smiling and laughing with such mirth in her eyes that the crew felt the need to swim with all the fruit users. Chopper and Brook were twitching with anticipation, but they knew they would find a time to swim later.
Nami noticed out the corner of her eye that Garp and the boys were frozen. She looked around to see a seagull in the air also unmoving, and her eyes widened in realisation.
"It seems time has stopped," Nami noted, making the whole crew look around in shock and amazement, "It must be Iddaq's power. Almost like closing the book and leaving a bookmark."
As most of the crew began to pay attention to the frozen Garp, the world began to move again. The seagull flew past into the distance and younger Luffy and Ace continued trying to escape Garp's grasp. The crew watched as Garp brought one of the kids to his left side in mid-air, doing the same with the other one on his right, and then before either of the two rambunctious kids knew what was happening, he slammed them into each other head first.
Luffy cringed in pain, almost feeling his other self's pain. The crew looked at Luffy in shock, their eyes asking him if this is how he grew up.
"Gramps was always harsh on me when I was little. But without it, I wouldn't be as strong as I am today!" Luffy said with a grin, almost looking fondly on his memories. Sure, his Grandpa beat him up really badly, but inside, Luffy knew that he just was grateful that his Gramps actually spared time to see him.
The crew turned their attention back to the boys, who were clutching their heads with tears falling down their eyes. Both Luffy and Ace tried to nurse the bumps on their heads, but to no avail, the bumps were determined to stay.
"That's enough! You two need to learn to get along, you're brothers for Oda's sake! Besides learning to get along with others is an important lesson to learn if you ever want to become a marine," Garp shouted, making the crew look at Garp incredulously. Luffy, a marine? The thought was too funny for any of them to handle, and soon, the whole crew burst out laughing.
"Hey!" Luffy said, but seeing his crew laughing so happily, the man couldn't help but join in, "Shishishishi, I would've been a terrible marine!"
The crew finally got over their laughter, only to see young Luffy and Ace scowling at the marine.
"Why do I get a feeling Luffy's about to do something stupid?" Usopp said, the familiar feeling curling up in his brain.
"Whatever he does, Garp's not going to be happy," Robin noted with a small smile, looking at little Luffy's shaking fists.
"But I already told you, I don't wanna be a marine, I wanna be a pirate! Just like Shanks!" little Luffy cried out, making Garp's eyes widen in anger.
Scowling, Garp shouted, "Why you little punk! How many times have I already told you, no Grandson of mine is going to become a pirate!"
"No wonder Garp was so angry at Luffy. He aspires to be like the very man he tried to put away all those years ago," Robin noted, watching the interaction take place between the two stubborn D's.
"Yeah," Luffy said, remembering how angry his Gramps was back in Water 7, "Gramps always wanted me to be a marine to protect me or something."
"Well, maybe Garp thought that if you were in the marines, they wouldn't care if you were Dragon's son," Sanji suggested, taking a puff out of his cigarette.
"Would that have worked though?" Chopper asked curiously, thinking about how bad the newspaper had described Luffy for being the son of 'The World's Worst Criminal'.
"We can't know for certain. The government hates bloodlines of criminals. They have the ideology that children of criminals must pay for the sins of their parents, and that criminal ideology is hereditary," Robin explained, knowing all too well what harm the governments ideologies can cause.
"What does here-thingy mean?" Luffy asked, tilting his head at the word Robin used. He hated it when she used big words, they were too confusing for him.
"It means that your characteristics are determined by genetic factors and therefore able to be passed on from parents to their offspring or descendants," Chopper explained to Luffy, but the boy seemed more confused, "It's why family members look similar."
"Oh!" Luffy said, smacking his fist into his palm, "I look like my dad, so the government thinks I'll do what he does!"
The crew sweat-dropped and sighed, waving their hands at Luffy.
"Sure, whatever," they said, used to Luffy's idiocy at this point.
They turned to Garp, who punched Luffy on the head, making a small bump appear on top of the big bump. The crew cringed at the sight of this and looked towards Nami, who furrowed her brow in confusion.
"What?" Nami asked, confused at her friends' reactions.
"Nothing at all," the crew said in unison, with the male members having sweat bead down their foreheads.
Nami was about to shout at them until she heard a quiet muttering to her left. Wondering what it was, the navigator turned to look at the source of the noise.
"I don't care what you say, I'll be a pirate someday, just you watch..." little Luffy grumbled, making Nami laugh into her hand.
"What?" the crew asked, looking towards Nami for answers as to why she was laughing.
"Oh nothing," the orange-haired woman said with a small smile, watching Garp walk away from Luffy and Ace.
"Now then, the reason I even came to your room in the first place is because we'll be docking back at Foosha village any minute now." Garp said, making Luffy run towards the front of the ship with glee, as he was excited to see his hometown again.
What Luffy didn't notice was another figure running next to him as well.
"You're right! This is great, I can't wait!" both Luffy's said, making the crew smile softly at their two captains. While this may be a parallel universe, it seemed some things never changed.
Luffy looked down at the young Luffy, before regarding him with a soft smile. This Luffy had lots of adventures to go on, and he couldn't wait to see his adventures and new friends.
Only Robin noticed Ace walk back into the cabin, and before she could comment on his disappearance, the whole world phased out of existence for a moment; before phasing back in onto a small boat.
"Whoa!" Franky said, gripping his head and grabbing one of the railings of the small boat, "That was nauseating!"
"I agree," Zoro said, gripping his swords as if a threat was about to appear.
"No," Nami said, her face terrified, "It can't be!"
The crew followed Nami's direction of sight to see two girls and one woman. Two of them the East Blue Crew recognised, and everyone recognised one of those two. The older woman could not be placed by anyone but Nami, although Sanji and Usopp had the faintest idea as to who it could be.
"NAMI!" the whole crew screamed in shock, except for the navigator herself.
"Who is that other girl?" asked Brook, watching as the two girls ran around the small ship they were on in glee.
"Nojiko," Nami said quietly, watching as Nami's eyes welled up with tears, "and Bellemere."
Usopp and Sanji's eyes widened when they saw the woman. They knew that seeing her dead mother must be hard on Nami, but before they could do anything to console her, Luffy placed his hat on Nami's head, making the woman turn around towards him in shock.
"Luffy?" Nami said, too shocked to respond properly.
"I don't know who that woman is, but she must be important to you right?" Luffy asked with a soft smile, making Nami nod with a trembling lip, "While she may not be the woman you knew, a version of your loved one is still alive. So, they aren't really gone, are they?"
Nami's eyes widened as her tears began to dissipate, before she looked fondly towards her mother, "No, they're not. Thank you Luffy."
Silence spread across the crew, as they regarded the situation before them. The only sounds were the giggling of two very happy sisters.
"Who was she?" Franky asked, looking towards the woman who had kind eyes and fuchsia-coloured haired.
"Bellemere, my adoptive mother. She was the best, kindest woman in the world," Nami said with a smile, looking at the former marine who seemed to be deep in her thoughts.
Before anyone could ask about Nami's childhood, Bellemere grinned and looked towards a familiar island in the distance.
"Nojiko, Nami, look! We're almost there!" Bellemere said with a grin, pointing towards the land mass in front of them.
"She sounds kind," Chopper said softly, making Nami ruffle the boys hat.
"She was," Nami said, smiling fondly at her mother.
Both girls smiles grew huge when they saw that they were about to go ashore.
Bellemere then said, "Yep, in less than twenty minutes we'll be docking at Dawn island, in Foosha village."
Nami looked at her mother in confusion, making the other Straw Hats glance at her as well.
"Nami! Why didn't you tell me you went to Foosha village before?" Luffy whined, crossing his arms in annoyance. Luffy imagining the prospects of meeting his navigator earlier on in life.
"I didn't…" Nami muttered, thinking about how this could change the future. If she met Luffy before, and thus Garp as well, maybe Bellemere wouldn't be killed by Arlong.
"Another change then," Robin said, noting it down in the notebook she had taken from Chopper, with the boy's permission of course.
"Definitely," Nami agreed, her eyebrows furrowing in worry. She still was worried that this change could make her lose things, like her dream. She couldn't possibly imagine living without her dream to draw a map of the world.
Before they could think about what these events could mean, they were transported to another ship. This time, the crew seemed a little less ill when they were teleported.
"Am I going to have to get used to that?" Sanji asked, feeling a headache coming along already.
"Whose boat are we at now?" Usopp asked, his sniper eyes focused on a man who looked to be carrying a sword and wearing a robe of sorts.
SMACK. SMACK. SMACK.
These sounds resonated around the ship as everyone turned their heads to see a green haired boy duel a blue haired girl. The fights was intense, with the green haired boy lashing out violently at the girl, while said girl elegantly parried the strikes with fluidity.
"Is that you Zoro?" asked Chopper, only to see the shock in the man's eyes.
Everyone took a step back from the man, having never seen such a look in his eyes before. Zoro was usually extremely composed and didn't let emotions get the better of him, but it seemed even the swordsman had his limits.
"Kuina," Zoro said, before frowning and closing his eyes, "You two were right to act the way you did. It's not easy, even if you prepare for it."
Everyone looked at the girl fighting the young Zoro, as she sidestepped away from his hit and smacked him on the head, knocking the boy down to the floorboards. It was evident to Zoro that he probably thought he could best Kuina in a confined space, but it was evident that he was proven wrong.
"Damn! You got your ass kicked bro!" Franky said with a chuckle, making Zoro smile a bit. Losing to Kuina didn't even make him mad, as it drove him to become a better swordsman.
"She always did," Zoro said, watching as the young Zoro growl and rub the red mark that had spread across his face.
"You got beaten by a girl?" Nami said with a smirk, "That's lame! I think I'm going to like this girl a lot!"
"SHUT IT WITCH!" Zoro shouted, only for Nami to smack him round the head, immediately silencing him.
"How many times have they duelled now? Three hundred and seventy-five? Or was it three hundred and eighty? No, the exact number is three hundred and eighty-two I believe. Yes, that's the correct number," the man's voice rang out, with a soft smile on his face. The whole crew looked incredulously at Zoro. It kind of reminded them of Brogy and Dorry, the two giant warriors who duelled for 100 years. Would Zoro have been able to duel this girl for that long, some of the crew thought. Knowing Zoro, if death came to collect him, he would probably get lost and come back to life.
"That many?" Sanji asked, annoyed that Zoro kept trying so hard to kick a lady's ass.
"I never managed to beat her," Zoro said contently, closing his eyes in remembrance of his friend. She was always his better, unlike that copycat marine who worked under Smoker.
'Who's that guy Zoro?" Chopper asked, gesturing towards the man with a kind smile on his face.
"My sensei, Koshiro. And Kuina's father," Zoro said with a warm smile on his face. Well, as warm as the grumpy swordsman could manage.
Zoro looked around to see all his old peers as well, and he frowned at the sight of them. Why would they accompany Zoro and Kuina on this trip? How'd Koshiro get permission to take them?
"I assumed you have already written it down Robin?" Zoro asked with a frown, noticing the notebook in Robin's hand.
"Not to worry, I already have," Robin noted, already having done so when she noticed the swordsman's confusion.
Suddenly, the world phased out again but this time, most of the crew were ready and they were fine when they phased onto the dock of Foosha village.
The crew watched with interest as young Luffy raced towards a building that said Party's Bar, clearly looking for something. Ace walked off in the other direction, disappearing into the distance without a second thought. Garp, on the other hand, seemed to be focused on something else entirely and started to walk away from the village entirely.
"Sweet! Makino's Bar!" Luffy said, trying to run after his younger self, but the whole crew phased out of existence again.
They appeared in front of Bellemere, Nami and Nojiko; all of whom had gotten off their docked boat. The crew followed the three as Bellemere led her daughters further into town.
"Where do you think they're going?" Chopper asked, curiously watching the family walk towards the secluded outskirts of Foosha village. To their left, they saw huge fields of crops, with a quaint little house in the centre. Towards the far side of the field, the crew could make out 4 graves facing towards the ocean. Not bothering to investigate more, the crew paid attention to the family of three again.
After a couple of minutes, Bellemere and the girls arrived at a small, quaint house. Bellemere ushered the two girls into the house and closed the door behind her. The crew all opened their own door and followed her in, only to see Bellemere looking at none other than Garp the Fist. Nami was confused by the look in Bellemere's eyes, as it was one of recognition and nostalgia.
"It's nice to see you again and all, but I don't think my girls wanna hear us talk about our time in the marines, so is there anywhere they can go while we talk?" Bellemere asked the big marine, making Nami lean against a wall for support. Her mother knew Garp the Fist? This was unreal. With this revelation, Nami realised that she really didn't know about her mother's marine past.
"You okay Nami?" Usopp asked, noticing her reaction.
"Yeah. It's just a lot to take in," Nami muttered, pressing her hand against her forehead.
The crew watched as Garp smiled happily, and this filled the crew with a weird sense of familiarity. That smile; it was exactly like Luffy's. The happiness seemed to radiate from it, and it made the crew realise that maybe Luffy and Garp were much more alike than both of them liked to admit.
"Sure is, have them head over to Party's bar, they'll be looked after," Garp replied, pointing his thumb in a direction behind him, as if that would help the two girls locate the place.
Nami smiled as Bellemere quirked an eyebrow. This Bellemere was clearly not her mother, but she had the same mannerisms. Whenever Genzo would catch Nami stealing something, Bellemere would always raise that eyebrow at both of them with that look in her eyes. The very same look she was giving Garp now. Before Nami could get lost in her memories, the sound of Bellemere's voice cut her off from her nostalgia tour.
"You want me to send my little girls to a bar?" Bellemere asked, making the crew smile at the woman's motherly instincts.
"You tell him girl! WOW!" Franky shouted, striking his 'super' pose.
"Don't worry about it Bell, the bartender there is really sweet. Her name is Makino, and she'll watch out for them," Garp replied with a laugh, making Luffy perk his head up in happiness.
"Makino?" Luffy asked with a big smile, making his crew turn towards him.
"Who's Makino?" Brook asked, interested to see who could provoke such elation in Luffy at the mention of their name.
"Makino owns the bar I used to always go to before I met Ace and Sa- I mean Dadan. She always looked after me and she's very important to me," Luffy said, with pure happiness in his eyes.
"I'd like to meet her one day," Nami noted, wanting to meet the woman who seemed to be a motherly-figure to her captain.
The crew watched as Bellemere closed her eyes and grit her teeth, however, they had no idea why.
"Why does Bellemere look so angry?" Chopper asked, looking at the frustrated woman.
"I reckon it's because Garp called her Bell," Nami guessed, smiling at her mother's reaction to the name.
"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" Bellemere said through her gritted teeth, making Nami laugh. She was glad she still knew Bellemere to this day, as it made her proud to be her daughter.
Garp proceeded to laugh in a Luffy-like fashion, seemingly paying no heed to Bellemere's frustrations.
The whole crew sweat-dropped, before looking at Luffy, who blinked at them in confusion. Those two were definitely related, no doubt about that.
Bellemere merely sighed, before opening her eyes and saying, "Alright then, I'll trust your judgement."
"Wow. They must have history if she's willing to trust Garp's judgement," Sanji noted, making Nami nod in agreement.
They watched as Bellemere crouched down in front of her daughters, to be able to look them in their eyes.
"Nami, Nojiko, I want both of you to do as he said, go to Party's Bar and ask for Makino, tell her Garp sent you, okay?" Bellemere explained to her daughters, trying to make sure they knew exactly what to do.
"Okay Bellemere," the two daughters and older Nami said, the latter of whom did it on instinct.
Nami blushed in shock, before looking at the crew. None of them had seemed to notice her outburst, except for Robin, who grinned at her. Nami gave a small smile back at her friend, before looking fondly at her mother.
The two girls left the house, leaving Bellemere and Garp all alone.
"Now...let's get down to business." Bellemere said, turning towards the Vice-Admiral with a serious look in her eyes.
"Business?" Franky asked, frowning in confusion, "What kind of business would she have with Garp? This wasn't a catching up session?"
"I have no idea," Nami murmured, a bit confused herself.
However, Garp's smile disappeared and he nodded, almost as if he was about to explain to the Straw Hats as well.
"Alright then, if that's what you want. As I told you in my letter, the Marines are close to finding you, and you know they show no mercy to deserters. I know you had a good reason for going AWOL, but no one up top would care about that." Garp explained, making the whole crew gasp, except for Robin, Sanji and Zoro.
"She went AWOL?" Brook asked, shocked that the mother would put herself in danger like that.
"What does AWOL mean?" Chopper asked, a bit confused at the marine terminology.
"It means to absent from where you should be without the intent of deserting," Robin explained, familiar with Marine terminology after listening in to so many of their calls, "However, the higher ups probably don't know she didn't desert from a battle, as opposed to just leaving the marines entirely."
There was silence in room as Nami regarded this fact. She never realised that Bellemere put her life in danger to raise her and Nojiko. It wasn't surprising however, as Nami knew that's the kind of woman Bellemere was. It made her feel bad after all those times she complained about their financial situation. Had Bellemere put herself on the map by making more money, the marines would have found her. The lack of money they had was a true blessing in disguise, Nami mused to herself.
"Where do we go from here?" Bellemere asked, making the whole crew turn to Garp with interest.
"I think I might be able to fix this, but it's going to take time, and a lot of it. Even with the best case scenario, where everything went perfectly, I'd need a year at the very least," Garp explained, making Luffy smile. Sure, his Gramps had a bad way of showing his love to him, but he still looked after his own friends. For his whole life, he had never realised something, but now he knew. He was proud to be related to Gramps. He was risking his position to help Bellemere escape, and it's something Luffy would do himself. However, this thought also made Luffy frown. Why didn't Gramps do the same for Ace?
Luffy pondered on this thought for a second before it all clicked. His Gramps had done the same for Ace, for both brothers. Their whole lives Gramps had pleaded and ordered that they would become marines, and he did that to protect them. Luffy didn't know much about his own dad, but the government hated Luffy because of this. Like everyone said before, the government hates bloodlines. Luffy knew that if his own grandkids had to become pirates or else they would die, Luffy would act the same as his Grandpa. Luffy finally understood and agreed with his Gramps, and their next meeting would be filled with a lot less arguing, at least Luffy hoped it would. Rubbing his head, Luffy only wondered if Gramps could have only hit them less hard.
"But while I'm doing this you can't be in Cocoyashi, so I need you and your two girls to remain here in Foosha village until I've finished doing all I can. I can provide you with this house, but I'm afraid that's all I'll be able to do. You'll have to find a way to support them and yourself without your tangerines...I'm sorry that I have to put you in such a difficult position, but it's the best I can do." Garp further explained, making Nami chuckle.
"What is it?" Zoro asked, confused due to Nami's reaction.
"Nothing. It's just that Bellemere isn't going to like this deal," Nami pointed out, and true to her word, a scowl managed to etch its way onto Bellemere's face.
"Is that so? But what about my tangerine orchard back home? Who will take care of it and harvest them when their ripe? And the villagers, what about them? I told them I'd be gone for two months maximum, what happens when I don't come back? Finally, what about Genzo? If we're more than a day late he'll be forming search parties quicker than you can knock someone out, and he's not one to give up either, everyone will be busy searching for us for months. We can't have that happening," Bellemere ranted, making the whole crew notice the similarity between the woman and Nami; which made them slightly doubt Nami was adopted at all.
Franky did his signature pose again and grinned at Nami, "WOW! Your mum sure is SUPER Nami!"
"She sure is!" Chopper said, amazed at how the woman stood up to Garp.
"She sure is," Nami said quietly, gazing upon her mother with love.
Garp proceeded to nod his head in agreement with what Bellemere said, "I understand your worries, but don't let them get to you now. Focus on providing for your family here, while I make arrangements to take care of all those problems for you. I promise you, I'll get it done."
"Wow," Sanji said, slightly shocked, "Garp sure sounds reliable here."
"I know," Usopp said, looking towards Luffy who began to pick his nose and eat the contents, "Unlike a certain someone at times."
Bellemere sighed and agreed, and the whole world phased out again.
Now in front of the crew was Koshiro and his students. They were making their way through the main town, and the crew's attention was completely focused on the younger version of their swordsman. They watched Zoro's attention shift towards a certain young boy being thrown out of the Party's Bar.
Young Luffy landed on his ass and tears welled up in his eyes due to the pain, but the child was clearly determined as he ran back into the bar.
"Didn't you have your powers yet?" Robin asked, seeing the blunt force hurting the young captain.
"Nope! I got them when I was six!" Luffy said, stretching his cheek for emphasis.
Twenty seconds had passed, and Luffy flew out of the building once more, with his back facing away from the establishment. They watched their young captain growl and spin around, running back into the building.
"Who's laughing?" Brook asked, curious as to who would be laughing at their captain, feeling a small amount of anger well up in his chest.
They watched young Zoro approach young Luffy, who had just been thrown out for the third time. Young Zoro looked like he was about to speak to young Luffy, but young Luffy ran back into the bar once more.
"So, Luffy and Zoro are going to meet early?" Chopper asked, as Robin noted this development down in her book. The whole crew wondered about how the dynamics would change if Luffy and Zoro became good friends earlier. However, as they looked at their Luffy chatting to their Zoro, they realised with a smile on their faces, that nothing would change at all.
"It seems so," Robin said calmly, wondering how drastically things would change in terms of the history of events.
The crew, along with the younger Zoro, opened the bar doors to see a bunch of friendly looking men, drinking, eating and laughing, having a great time. That's when young Zoro's eyes found the young black haired boy, as he stared down who appeared to be the leader of the group. The crew had noticed their captain as soon as they walked in, used to being a bit over-protective of the man. Luffy smiled when he saw a man from his past, and was about to shout out before his younger self cut him off.
"I'll show you how strong I am! And then you'll have to let me join your crew Shanks!" young Luffy exclaimed, making Luffy burst out in laughter. Did he sound that wimpy back then? No wonder Shanks had made fun of him!
"SHANKS!" the whole crew shouted except for Robin, however, all of them except Luffy took a step back.
"The Yonko?" Usopp said with a stammer, before his eyes focused on his own father. Usopp looked away before anyone could notice his reaction. He didn't want the crew to have to deal with his emotional baggage as well. Luffy was about to open his mouth to speak out loud about Yasopp, but Usopp shook his head; as he did not want the crew to know. Luffy nodded seriously, and turned his head back to Shanks.
"Yeah! That's him!" Luffy said, looking at a familiar hat adorning the red-haired mans head, quickly checking to see if his own hat was on his head. When he couldn't feel it residing in its spot, panic built up in his throat. He darted his eyes around only to see his hat residing on Nami's head. Calming down, Luffy focused his gaze back on Shanks.
"Why is a Yonko in a small village like this?" Franky asked incredulously, while Nami felt the sweat bead down her neck at the sight of the formidable pirate.
Shanks just laughed harder at Luffy's statement, "Like I'd ever let a five-year-old join my crew! You're far too weak, you'd wind up dead in a day! You don't have what it takes to be a pirate Luffy!"
The crew looked at their Luffy in amazement, and seeing the familiarity in his eyes, they knew this was similar to the man's childhood. Despite knowing Shanks was teasing him, the crew felt a little annoyed at the sight of their captain being degraded in such a way.
"You wanted to join Shanks' crew?" Sanji asked, making Luffy nod in slight embarrassment, "And how'd that turn out for you?"
"Similar to this," Luffy said with a grin, "Not that it matters now. Because I'm going to surpass Shanks anyway!"
The crew smiled at this and turned to the young Luffy, who was still angry at the man's words. The crew knew there was no malice behind the red-haired man's tone, and they were sure he was just as proud as them as to how their captain turned out.
"I do too! And I'm not weak, my punch is stronger than a pistol!" little Luffy exclaimed, clenching his fist in anticipation.
"I'd say it's a bit stronger than a pistol now," Usopp remarked, making Luffy grin at him.
"More like a cannon," Sanji said with a smirk, but even he knew a cannon could not compare to the man they called their captain.
Luffy charged forward towards Shanks. However, just as he was close enough to touch the much older man, he was snatched up by the collar by said man, who continued to laugh as he chucked Luffy in the opposite direction with extreme ease. The crew watched as the younger Luffy flew towards them and the young Zoro, making the older Zoro cringe in pain pre-emptively.
"Why me?" the older Zoro asked as he looked towards his best friend, "Even in another universe you always have the need to crash straight into me!"
Luffy just burst out laughing, making Zoro smack his head into the floor. Luffy just continued to laugh, making Zoro chuckle along with him.
"Oh cra-" they heard younger Zoro begin to say, before Luffy crashed into him, knocking him back several feet and right over onto the ground, putting both of them outside, although just barely.
The crew noticed that Zoro had cushioned the impact for Luffy a bit, so it only took a second for the boy to realize he had hit something besides the ground and get up because of it. The crew laughed at the familiarity of the situation.
"Looks like you're good for one thing Mosshead," Sanji remarked, smirking when he saw Zoro tense up.
"Wanna fight, you poor excuse for a cook?" Zoro asked, making Sanji turn towards him with a growl.
Nami smacked the two into the ground, making the two men have large bumps on their heads. They were right. Nami was a bit like Garp as well.
Before the other boy could speak, young Luffy offered his hand to help him up, wiping away the tears that had wanted to come out not even a minute ago. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you."
The crew blinked before they turned to their captain, who was watching the two kids with a big grin.
"Why don't you ever apologise to me?" Zoro growled, making Luffy laugh with his signature 'Shishishishi'.
Young Zoro stopped rubbing his head and looked up at young Luffy, which if he was standing up wouldn't need to be done, and spoke, "It doesn't matter, something stupid like that isn't gonna hurt me anyway."
"His brain damage is past the point of no return," Sanji noted to the crew, and Nami could not stop the two rivals from clashing this time.
Once young Zoro had finished saying this, he took young Luffy's hand and let the younger boy help him to his feet. Now that they were both standing, young Zoro shook the black-haired boy's hand and said, "Well since we crashed into each other, guess we'd best introduce ourselves huh? My name is Roronoa Zoro."
"Hey Zoro! At least you're not tied up the time!" Luffy remarked with a grin, making Zoro glare at him mid-fight with Sanji.
"You just had to bring that up, didn't you?" Zoro said with a snort, before turning back to Sanji. However, Zoro then saw a smug grin appear on the cook's face, making the swordsman dread what was going to come next.
"You got tied up? Was that to prevent you from getting lost?" Sanji mocked, making Zoro continue the fight with greater intensity.
The crew sighed and turned to see younger Luffy with a big grin on his face. They knew Luffy liked meeting strangers; this had to be a constant no matter what universe they were in.
"My name's Monkey D. Luffy, glad to meet ya!" younger Luffy said, pumping his fists in the air.
"You know, it's weird hearing that without hearing 'I'm going to be King of the Pirates' as well," Usopp remarked, making most of the crew nod with him. It kind of was an itch in their brains that needed to be scratched.
"That's because I'M GOING TO BE KING OF THE PIRATES!" Luffy shouted in their ears, making Nami smack him into the ground. However, the crew released the breath of worry they didn't know they were keeping in. Of course that statement was vital to their mental health now.
"Could you keep it down?" Nami seethed angrily, making Luffy nod with a pout.
They watched as young Zoro couldn't help but smile in return, though not as large as Luffy's. "So... your punch is stronger than a pistol huh? Care to prove it?"
Everything stopped as the whole crew looked at the two boys with dread, except for Luffy and Zoro that is.
"Uh oh," Brook noted, making Robin laugh into her hand at the crew's reaction.
"This can't end well," Nami said, knowing she couldn't hit the two boys to get them to stop.
The crew's dread escalated when they saw an even larger smile appear on the younger Luffy's face. The whole crew knew that younger Luffy and Zoro were about to get along swimmingly. They watched as younger Luffy looked at Zoro with those eyes, the eyes of a man who knew he could win anything. The eyes of their captain.
"Want me to show you?"
"Bring it."
The crew suddenly appeared in front of Nami and Nojiko, who just watched as Luffy and Zoro got thrown out of the bar.
"Didn't that just happen?" Luffy said, a bit sad he couldn't see himself beat up Zoro.
"Yeah," Zoro said grumpily, wanting to see how his younger self would have held out against the only man Zoro would follow.
"Remember what Iddaq said?" Robin pointed out, making Luffy and Zoro look at her with interest, "We follow the events of their lives in the perspective of a story book."
"A mystery book," Luffy said with a nod, making Robin smile in confirmation.
Both girls were taken off guard for a moment, so both remained silent even as both boys got to their feet and introduced themselves, not that either girl heard their names, not really paying attention to what they were saying.
Neither boy seemed to notice the two girls, even as they continued to speak to each other. Which was weird, since if they just turned their heads a few centimetres they'd be quite capable of seeing the girls.
"You two are as oblivious as ever," Nami said annoyed, a little on edge to see a completely different take on her life.
"Idiots," Sanji said, taking a puff from his cigarette, "How could you not notice Nami-swan and Nojiko-chwan?"
The two did not reply as Nami and Nojiko walked into the bar, so they followed them inside. There was no point in seeing the events outside again, as it would not help them with their mission at all.
As they walked into the bar, they noticed that most the patrons had expected Luffy to be the one to walk back in, so most of them were curious about the new arrivals. Nami and Nojiko seemed to shrink under the gaze of all the men in the bar, and yet they still managed to not show any hesitation as they made their way over to the bar itself.
"How dare they make them feel uncomfortable?" Sanji said with a growl, only for Usopp to hold him back, explaining to Sanji that these people weren't really there, so Sanji couldn't beat them up.
They watched as Nojiko puffed up her shoulders as to look more brave. Nami laughed at this action, seeing as Nojiko was trying to protect her sister.
"Excuse us, we're here to see Makino, Garp sent us," Nojiko said, making Luffy grin in excitement.
"MAKINO!" Luffy said, running up to the bar and sitting on one of the stools.
The crew looked at the scene with keen eyes, all of them expressing interest towards seeing the woman that Luffy held in such high esteem.
The dark green haired woman who had just served the red-haired man just a few feet away perked up at those words. "Is that so? You two must be the daughters of one of his friends, right?"
Sanji's eyes turned into hearts and Brook began to check to see if he was appropriately dressed. The rest of the crew smiled at the sound of her voice, hearing the motherly tone to it already.
The woman smiled in return after the two girls nodded their heads, "Well it's nice to meet you, I'm Makino. Please take a seat girls."
"MAKINO-CHAN!" Sanji said, twirling around like a noodle with Brook classily approached her.
"May I see your panties?" Brook asked like a true gentleman, only for him and Sanji to be smacked into the floor by two fists.
Everyone's eyes widened when they saw who the culprit was.
"Not Makino," Luffy said in an eerie voice, making Sanji and Brook nod quickly and rapidly.
Luffy grinned brightly at them and sat back on the stool, while everyone else thought it was a good idea not to speak ill of Makino… ever.
They watched as the two children complied and climbed up onto two of the stools, as they did, Makino got two glasses and filled them up with orange juice, which both girls gladly accepted. But before they could even take a sip, their eyes, as well as everyone else's, were drawn to the entrance of the building as both the green haired boy and the black-haired boy entered the establishment. What really stood out was the fact that the one with green hair had a red bruise on the left side of his face, and it was no coincidence that it was the same size as Luffy's hand when it's balled up into a fist.
"Got your ass kicked Mosshead," Sanji noted, while Zoro nodded in approval. It was nice to see that his captain was still strong, in any universe.
Everyone burst out into laughter, except for older Zoro, younger Zoro, Robin, and the two Luffy's. Both Zoro's didn't seem upset, they both knew they had asked for the challenge and Luffy had only obliged them.
Though they entered together, Zoro stayed back as Luffy approached Shanks once more. He climbed up onto the stool beside him before speaking once more, "Listen up Shanks, I'm not going to stop until you make me a member of your crew, and that's that."
Most of the crew's faces paled at the mention of Shanks again, and they turned to see Luffy casually sitting next to the man.
"Since when did it become possible for us to forget about one of the Yonko casually sitting near us?" Usopp asked, tears streaming down his face.
Luffy turned to the crew with a laugh, amused by their reactions.
"Shanks is cool guys! You don't have to be so scared!" Luffy said, chuckling afterwards. His crew were so funny!
"It's a matter of principle," Nami said with tears streaking down her face, with Chopper nodding along with her, tears streaking down his face as well.
"Is that so?" the crew heard Shanks say in response to young Luffy's comment, "Well, let me reward you for your tenacity then; here, have a drink on me."
He passed the now full glass to Luffy, which the young boy proceeded to thank him for and take a large gulp, which caused Shanks and the rest of his crew to burst out into laughter once again, Makino joining in this time. In reaction to this, the dark-haired boy put his glass down and asked grumpily, "What is it this time!?"
Luffy started laughing, though the whole crew had no idea why. What kind of idiot laughs at himself? Looking at their captain, who was rolling on the floor while saying that he was such a wimpy kid, they knew what kind of idiot would do such a thing. The kind who is the captain of their crew, they thought with a sigh.
"Pirates don't drink orange juice you little fool!"
This served to just anger the young boy, "You big jerk! Why'd you trick me like that!?"
"Sorry little buddy, but you're just far too easy a mark!"
The whole crew burst out laughing at this point, and even young Nami and Nojiko were laughing as well. To think their captain had such pranks played on him by a Yonko was surreal.
"I can't believe how funny that is! No wonder Shanks did it," Luffy barely said through his laughter, wheezing and spluttering on his own saliva due to laughing too hard.
"Does this mean Luffy has challenged most of the Yonko now?" Brook barely wheezed out, making the whole crew laugh even harder.
Young Luffy huffed in frustration, before crossing his arms in defiance and turning away from Shanks. The young black haired boy then proceeded to get off the stool and head towards the entrance of the establishment. "Come on Zoro, let's go."
The crew watched in amazement as Zoro obeyed Luffy's command. To think those two would act like they do today in under 5 minutes of knowing each other was incredible. Brook thought back to Thriller Bark, and how easily Zoro sacrificed himself to Kuma that day. Looking at their younger selves interact, Brook could see the burning loyalty at its purest, which fascinated the skeleton.
The crew turned to Makino and Shanks, the former of whom spoke out to young Nami, who's eyes had followed the boys out of the bar, "I'm not sure who that green haired kid is, however I know the other one pretty well, his name is Luffy, and he's stubborn, but also sweet. If you want to follow after him, I'm sure he won't mind."
The crew smiled softly at Makino's kind words about their captain. It was good to know Luffy had someone who thought of him like that from his childhood, as they had all worried he only had Ace and Garp there for him.
They watched as Nami smiled brightly, making Sanji gush about how cute Nami was, before running out after the two boys. Nojiko tried to call out to her, but to no avail, she had already left the bar. Luffy grabbed Nami's hand, making her yelp and causing Sanji to yell, but he dragged his navigator out of the bar.
"Shishishishi, let's see us become friends Nami!" Luffy said with a huge grin, making Nami smile back as well.
The crew sighed as did Nojiko, before all of them ran after their respective Nami and in the crew's case Luffy as well.
The crew had easily caught up to the two younger boys before even young Nami could. Just as they skidded to a stop, they heard young Nami's voice call out, almost as if she were talking to the crew as well.
"Hey, wait up!" young Nami called, making the two boys turn around to see who was calling them.
Young Zoro spoke at a low volume so you could only hear him if you were close, which the crew were, "I have no idea who she is, do you know her Luffy?"
The crew turned to see Luffy's response, only to see him mesmerised by the young Nami running towards them.
"What's with that expression on his face?" Usopp asked worried, his brain struggling to interpret what he was seeing, "I've never seen it before."
"I don't know," the rest of the crew responded, worried as well. Even Luffy himself was confused as to the expression on his other self's face.
Young Nami had now closed the distance between them, but before she could speak, young Luffy said something first, not really realizing what he said until after he said it. "You're really pretty..."
Time stopped. All the members of the crew's mouths were left agape, except for Luffy and Robin's. Of all the things they had expected him to say, THAT was not one of them. This didn't make sense. Luffy didn't have an interest in women, at all. He was not even swayed by Boa Hancock herself. Everyone slowly turned to look at their Luffy, who started to sweat in both confusion and fear of the dark aura covering Sanji. Nami herself felt cold and slightly honoured. For the idiot captain to call out her beauty clearly meant something about herself, as he wouldn't know love if it hit him around the face. However, mostly Nami felt weird. Luffy was like her brother, her anchor, and a million other things; but never in a billion years would Nami have thought of him like THAT. And she expected the same from the man himself as well. She began to dread what this new universe would change about her and the others, Luffy specifically.
"He said it, not me," Luffy quietly said, pointing at the young Luffy, but it was too late.
"HOW DARE YOU HIT ON NAMI-SWAN!" Sanji screamed, kicking Luffy into a nearby building with a tiny amount of Haki.
Zoro drew his swords immediately, pointing them at Sanji with a glare, "What do you THINK you are doing?"
Sanji scoffed and walked towards the rubberman, who had pulled himself out of the wreckage of the building Sanji had ruthlessly kicked him into.
"I didn't mean to try to hit her before!" Luffy said with guilt, thinking back to his actions from earlier. Despite the crew making up, guilt still ate away at his mind without any remorse.
Sanji stopped walking towards Luffy and sighed. How could he be angry at his captain when he didn't know anything about women and love in the first place? Stamping on his cigarette, Sanji realised he needed to treat his Luffy and Nami as separate entities to the ones in this new world.
Sanji offered Luffy a hand and mumbled an apology, making Luffy grin and shake his head. If Sanji could forgive him for his actions earlier, Luffy could do the same. Not that Luffy could even consider never forgiving one of his crew ever. The two walked back in silence, a silent understanding between them.
When they got back, the rest of the crew didn't even bat an eye towards them, seeing as the two had already straightened things out. Only Zoro seemed on edge, slowly sheathing his swords. Meanwhile, young Luffy's words had caused the young girl to blush madly, and young Zoro to do a double take at the young black haired boy, now looking at him as if he was nuts. "Are you crazy? She's not pretty at all!"
The crew turned towards Zoro as if he had something to say on the matter.
"I agree," Zoro said with a scoff, making Nami punch him into the floor faster than the eye could see, so fast that Kizaru would have blushed for shame.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" both Nami's screamed at their respective swordsmen, however, young Nami had not hit young Zoro yet.
The crew blinked at the unison of their words. It had happened with Luffy before and it was happening now, and it was starting to get a bit creepy. But it was mostly amusing to most of the crew, even Sanji. It was nice to see that despite the void separating the two universes, they were connected by more than temporal strings.
"You heard me," both Zoro's replied simply. However, the crew had decided that their assessment that it was slightly creepy rang true as well.
"How would you like me to give you another bruise to match the one already on your big ugly face!?" "Sorry! Your words seemed to have gotten lost on the way to my ears, you lazy bum!" young Nami and Nami said respectively.
Both Zoro's were slightly taken aback by Nami's shark teeth and feral appearance, older Zoro much more less so.
"You don't scare me, little girl" "What!? You going to beat me up with clouds, you stupid Seawitch!?"
Both Nami's lashed out, punching both Zoro and young Zoro with their left fists.
Young Zoro fell on his backside, his face already feeling swollen.
'Crap! That hurt almost as much as Luffy's punch did!' they heard young Zoro think, making the whole crew laugh at the swordsman's expense. Hearing other people's thoughts was just like hearing a voice talk all around them, so it wasn't nearly as nauseating as what Robin had dubbed as 'phasing'.
Zoro, on the other hand, fell straight into Luffy's arms, while his whole body went limp.
"Awwww," Luffy said with a laugh, "He's all tuckered out."
Nami stalked over to Luffy, causing the man to cower behind Franky, Zoro still in his arms. Luffy felt a familiar fear spread around his body, the fear of a navigator's wrath.
Younger Luffy also cowered, taking a few steps back from the young girl in fear.
"She's scary…" "Nami's scary! Help me!"
Nami punched both Zoro and Luffy to the floor, and walked off with a huff, making Usopp and Chopper yelp as she stalked past them.
Young Nami, on the other hand, realized that she had just done that in front of a boy who had just gotten done complimenting her, so the red hue on her face went back to being from embarrassment as opposed to anger, and just like that her sharp teeth were gone, as if they had been illusion, and she went back to looking shy. As Luffy realized this, he sweat dropped; as did all the Straw Hats as well, even the unconscious Luffy and Zoro.
Nojiko ran up to the group, and the crew turned to look at the amused expression on her face. It seemed Nojiko had witnessed the whole events like they had, but didn't seem to know the cause.
"Exactly what did you do to get hit like that? You really must have made her mad," Nojiko asked, almost like she was speaking to the crew as well, making Usopp and Chopper shudder in fear of the other people seeing them. They didn't want to have to explain the situation and/or meet a Yonko yet, no matter what Luffy said about him.
Young Zoro scoffed before replying with, "I just told her the truth, she isn't pretty, not even in the slightest."
This caused a tick mark to appear on Nami's head, so she kicked the grounded Zoro for good measure, making the man grunt in pain.
"Sea…witch," Zoro breathed out, before falling back into unconsciousness.
Nojiko sighed at that, "Yep, that'd do it. You brought that one on yourself."
Young Zoro however just turned away, scoffing once more, causing Nojiko to sigh once more. "Anyway, since we're here, might as well introduce ourselves. I'm Nojiko, and this is my little sister Nami."
The conscious East Blue Gang smiled at seeing Nojiko, thinking back to Cocoyashi village with nostalgia. It had been a wild ride for all of them, and it was nice to see how Nami and Nojiko were before Arlong ruined their lives.
This brought the smile back to young Luffy's face, as he replied with, "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, and that there is my friend Zoro. It's good to meet you guys! It's always great to make new friends!"
The whole crew chuckled at this. How many times had they heard those words come out of their joyful captain's mouth. While the War of the Best may have scarred him, Luffy will always be Luffy, no matter what.
His smile seemed to be infectious, as Nami and Nojiko cracked small smiles of their own at his words. Even Zoro couldn't help but smirk at Luffy's words, even though you couldn't see it with his back turned. The rest of the crew also felt the infection that was Luffy's grin, and as Zoro recovered from Nami's beating, he couldn't help but smile as well.
The crew then phased in front of Koshiro and his students again, and this time they were at the dojo. Zoro sat up in interest, looking at how this new building compared to the one he grew up with. Once they got inside, it seems they had just realised the absence of one Roronoa Zoro.
When they did come to the conclusion that he wasn't inside the building with them, Kuina face palmed, saying, "I knew his sense of direction was bad, but this is just ridiculous..."
Koshiro merely shook his head slowly, barely believing Zoro got himself lost when all he had to do was follow them.
The whole crew gasped, except for the unconscious Luffy and the conscious Zoro, as they looked at Koshiro and Kuina with sympathy and understanding.
"To think… someone else understands," Usopp said with a smile, clasping his hands together in glee.
"We are all comrades in our suffering," Franky said, wiping the tears in his eyes and strumming his guitar, "I'm not crying damnit. I call this one: 'Lost Hope'"
"I'm glad we're not alone," Robin said morbidly, as even she could not get over the fact that they were not alone in this matter.
"I feel a weight lifting off my shoulders," Nami said, a bright smile accompanying her words as she showed all her teeth.
"So, the disease has been around his whole life," Chopper noted with fascination, being sure to remember this for later in a medical examination of his crewmate's brain.
"Yohohohoho! Their bones must be weary!" Brook noted with understanding, recalling all the times he had gotten lost.
"To think that Mosshead's stupidity has hurt people everywhere," Sanji said in awe, taking a drag out of his cigarette.
The whole crew got on their hands and knees, bowing towards Koshiro and Kuina, "WE FEEL SO BAD FOR YOU!"
Zoro stared at them from where he was sitting, as he processed their words and actions. He just couldn't understand what they were talking about.
"Hehe, Zoro's stupid," Luffy snickered quietly in his unconsciousness before his head slumped to the side, causing Zoro's mind to click in realisation.
"SCREW YOU ALL! I'M GOING TO CUT EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!" Zoro shouted, shooting up and drawing Shusui and Kitetsu in anger.
Before Zoro could carry out the deed, they phased into a forest, which distracted Zoro from his rage. In the forest, they saw Ace walking along, not paying attention to his surroundings. As Ace and the crew, who were dragging Luffy along the floor, entered a clearing; they saw a blonde kid sitting on top of a rock.
This boy's clothes were quite unique, he wore a large, fancy black hat with goggles on it, and a fancy blue and black outfit to match, Ace and the crew hadn't really seen anything like them.
"Hey you, what are you doing out here?" Ace asked the boy, acquiring the blonde's interest.
"Who's that?" Chopper asked, confused as to who Ace has just met.
Robin stared at the boy in awe, not having expected to see the man at all. Her curiosity peaked as she realised she would also be seeing the past of another one of her friends.
Luffy, having just woken up, looked at the boy in shock and happiness, rather than grief and pain. He had mostly gotten over his other brother's death due to time and his friends. But that still didn't stop him from weakly calling out the boy's name.
"Sabo?"
Hello there! I hope you enjoyed Chapter 2 of Revisionist Destiny: Creature of the Void!
If you have any questions about this story, feel free to PM me or drop a review.
Be sure to check to the story this follows by ultimatedbzmaniac called One Piece: Ultimate Adventure.
All hate is welcome, even ya bois the flamers! I love you all so leave all kinds of reviews!
Next up will be a chapter of Changing's One's World! It's not because quite a few people nagged me via PM lmao!
This is, TheHumulisScriptor, signing out!
