A/N: I was thinking I might start doing personal replies to reviews…? I've just always thought that it's really nice when authors do that, but I've never done it myself because… I don't know why. So I was thinking, maybe I could try it out with this story, and if it works out apply it to some of my other fics.
Okay, replies starting as of this chapter!
They found Sanji serving up lunch when they walked into the galley. The other crew stopped what they were doing as they arrived, regarding them curiously.
"Back again?" Sanji asked around his current cigarette.
Sabo nodded. "The trees won't let us through. Looks like we'll be here longer than we thought."
Almost simultaneously, the Mugiwara crew's eyes darted to their captain. It lasted for barely a fraction of a second, but it was enough for Sabo to notice. He decided to pretend he didn't.
"Did you make enough for us to join you?" Sabo asked, directed at Sanji. As the chef went back to the kitchen to whip something up, he and his brothers took seats around the table.
Slowly, the other crew began to eat, until it was only their captain staring pensively down at his meal.
Sabo glanced at Ace and their Luffy, but the two of them were watching the kitchen impatiently. Thanking God his brothers thought with their stomachs, he looked back at the other Luffy — who was gazing right at him.
They met eyes and Sabo felt almost locked in place. The look in Luffy's eyes was intense and piercing; he'd never seen anything like it on his own Luffy's face. He was suddenly hyperaware that the two of them were directly across from each other, and the slow, somehow hesitant clink-and-chew of the Mugiwaras eating became stifling, claustrophobic.
Just as Sabo stopped being able to breathe, an arm clothed in blue broke his line of sight by placing a plate piled with food in front of him. He looked up to see Sanji placing similar plates in front of his brothers as the Mugiwaras' clink-and-chew gained speed.
By the time he looked at Luffy again, the other captain was shovelling food into his mouth rapidly, arms stretching all over the table.
Next to Sabo, Ace growled, knocking a rubber hand away from his plate. His brows furrowed in frustration at the same thing that had made them lift in confusion that morning: the other Luffy was a food thief.
Their own Luffy had already finished the (much higher than theirs) plate Sanji had given him, but instead of stealing more he was giving Ace his trademark puppy-dog eyes. Half of Ace's plate quickly disappeared into Luffy's stomach.
The Mugiwaras seemed just as baffled by their Luffy's behaviour as they were by the Mugiwaras'.
"That's just not right," one of them, Usopp, said quietly as he watched Sabo give his brother a steak. The other Luffy stole it immediately.
"Thank you for letting me borrow your books, Robin-san."
The woman's eyes glimmered in the sun as she smiled at him with what looked like amusement. "It is far from a problem, Sabo-kun."
He smiled back somewhat warily; she still, after all, reminded him uncomfortably of Miss All-Sunday. He knew, though, that he would have to trust her if he was going to stick around the Thousand Sunny much longer, as she was exceedingly helpful. Already, the two of them had a theory of where they were: the Island of Miar, which was said to be able to alternate between thousands of versions of its own appearance, and to somehow bring together different versions of those who walked upon its soil.
Sabo sighed to himself. There was very little written anywhere about Miar, and nothing about navigating it; if he was to get back to the Wild Cards, it seemed like it would be on the island's terms, not his own. Ace would be ecstatic.
Sabo looked across the deck, where his brother was fishing with one half of the doppelganger duo and two of the Mugiwaras. The fact that Ace and Luffy, of all people, liked fishing was amazing to him. He himself never had the patience for it.
"Ace!" their Luffy called, emerging from below decks. He raced across the deck to his brother, and just as he was maybe a metre away he tripped — and all of a sudden both Luffys were tumbling into the ocean.
In a flash, Ace was in behind them, and Usopp — who had been fishing with them — was yelling for the green-haired swordsman before jumping in himself. The baby moose had already tried to jump in but was restricted by three arms that popped up to catch him.
Sabo ran over to the railing and arrived just as Zoro dived in, his heart hammering so hard it didn't have the time to drop at the realisation that Robin had just used Miss All-Sunday's power. "Oh, fuck," he muttered as Robin approached. "This isn't good. Your Luffy's a devil fruit user, isn't he?"
A gleam of curiosity entered her eye. "Yes," she said. "Isn't yours?"
He smirked. "I would have figured you could guess by the way he was eating, compared to yours."
"I merely assumed he was better versed in etiquette." Robin glanced down at the water, where Usopp had come up for air. "Your Luffy is not a devil fruit user, and still he cannot swim?"
"No," he said simply. He didn't want to explain to the woman who was Miss All-Sunday the reason, but he reminded himself — he had to trust her while he was here. He had to. "Luffy's got this — injury — on his back. And he can't swim because it acts up in water."
"An injury?" a concerned voice piped in. Sabo looked down to see the baby moose, Chopper, now released from the hana-hana arms. "Is it really that bad?"
"Uh, yeah," Sabo said, reminding himself that this creature was actually a doctor.
"I should take a look at that," Chopper said, peeking anxiously over the railing. "How did it happen?"
"U-um…" Sabo's eyes darted from Chopper to Robin.
Luckily for him, she seemed to pick up on his distress, and interrupted, "Is your Ace not a devil fruit user either?"
"No," Sabo answered gladly. "I'm the only fruit user out of the three of us. I ate the mera-mera no mi several years ago."
Robin's eyes shone in amusement. "Oh, really?"
"Ace ate that in our world!" was Chopper's input.
"Did he?" Sabo looked down at the baby moose in surprise. The other Mugiwaras hadn't been exactly keen to volunteer information about the other Ace. "Is he—"
At that moment there was a loud splash as his own Ace resurfaced, the Luffy wearing a vest in his arms. A second later, Zoro popped up as well, carrying the Luffy with sleeves. Usopp followed soon after.
Robin quickly offered them her arms; Zoro and Usopp simply took them and let themselves be pulled back up, but Sabo had no doubt Robin noticed Ace's hesitation. He recognised Miss All-Sunday's power as well, he was sure.
When they were up, the Luffys were laid down on deck. Chopper rushed back and forth between the two and Zoro and Ace resuscitated their respective Luffys with practised familiarity. The Mugiwara Luffy was up first.
Luffy hacked up lungfuls of water before gulping fresh air. His eyes fluttered open, and a second after taking in the situation, he grinned. "Thanks, Zoro! You saved me again!"
"No problem," Zoro said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm used to it."
"It wasn't my fault this time!" Sabo would have thought Luffy was protesting, but for some reason he sounded kind of proud. He pointed at his other self. "It was his!"
Just as Zoro looked over, the sleeveless Luffy opened his eyes with a gasp. Immediately, he tried to sit up, but he didn't get very far. He shuddered in pain, and Ace pushed him back down into a lying position. Chopper appeared at his side.
"Turn your head," Chopper instructed, placing one hoof on Luffy's shoulder and the other in the middle of his chest. Luffy did so, coughing, and the seawater that left his mouth soaked into the grass. "Does it still hurt?"
Luffy shifted experimentally, and a second later, shook his head.
Chopper nodded in response, easing back a little. "Well, that's good," he said, "but I still need to look you over, Luffy… L-Luffy-san. You should come down to the infirmary."
"What? Why?" The Mugiwara captain blinked. "He was only drowning."
"DON'T TREAT DROWNING SO LIGHTLY, LUFFY!"
"But I drown all the time!"
"THAT'S NOT A GOOD THING!"
Luffy pouted. "Fine, fine." He snuck a look at his other self, whom Ace was pulling to his feet. "I don't get it, though. He looks alright."
Chopper paused, shifting on his hooves. He glanced at Sabo. "I… I just want to give him a check up. Just in case."
Luffy shrugged, hopping over to Usopp and the abandoned fishing poles while the other him followed Chopper to the infirmary. Zoro took a seat nearby, in case the rubber captain fell in again, and soon fell asleep.
Robin was heading below decks on Chopper and Luffy's heels. Exchanging glances, Ace and Sabo jogged to catch up, but then—
"Ace," the other Luffy called from the side of the ship. "Aren't you going to fish with us?"
They paused, looked at Usopp and Luffy, and then at each other. After a second, Ace gave a single nod, and went back to join the two. Sabo couldn't help seeing the concerned look Usopp gave his captain as Luffy scooted over to make room for Ace on the railing.
Sabo backed away, and quickly disappeared to find the infirmary, where his little brother was in the hands of a practical stranger and a once enemy.
Half an hour later, Luffy sat on the bed in the infirmary, swinging his legs as Chopper finished up his examination.
A hoof pressed cautiously into the small of his back, right on the spine — the weakest spot left by the injury. Luffy jerked away from the touch, teeth digging into his tongue and the insides of his cheeks as slow burning, thrumming pain lanced up to his shoulder blades.
He felt a steadying hand on each shoulder, one slender and one very, very familiar, and opened the eyes he didn't know he'd closed. Robin and Sabo stood over him, watching and scrutinising for any further signs of pain; Robin retracted her hand, even as Sabo let his linger. Luffy was glad.
"I'm just concerned that it's still affecting you so much," Chopper said, handing Luffy back his discarded vest. "That injury has to be at least…"
"Twelve years old," Luffy supplied.
"By the recovery period and the way you run around, I would have thought a wound like that had healed," the doctor mused, "yet it still acts up?"
Sabo, hand still on Luffy's shoulder, said, "It was, um, agitated, a couple years ago. Badly."
Chopper nodded, and after a few similar tests along Luffy's spine, which Luffy did not find nearly as painful, he allowed his patient to leave.
Robin left with the two brothers as Chopper stayed behind to note some things down. She put a hand on Luffy's arm and felt him freeze under her fingers.
"Are you quite alright… Luffy-san?" she asked, loosening her grip and allowing him to slink out of her hold. "Your back must cause you a lot of trouble."
"Only in water," he said, choosing not to mention his one weak spot — not to her — even though she had clearly seen how it affected him. "I'm fine, really."
Robin nodded, but the crease of worry in her brow didn't dissipate. "Are you—"
"He said he's fine," Sabo interrupted, wrapping an arm around his little brother. "If you'll excuse us, we- we need to talk to Ace."
"When those giants realised that they were in fact talking to the Great Captain Usopp, the honorary warrior of Elbaf, they immediately jumped to help! Together, we crossed great barren deserts that took the fastest of men days to walk in a matter of hours, and arrived in the nick of time to save the kingdom's beloved princess, Vivi!"
"Liar," said Zoro. Ace could hear the fondness in his tone.
"It's completely true!" yelled Usopp, at which Luffy grinned.
"It is? Really?" Luffy asked, eyes sparkling. "That's amazing, Usopp!"
"Luffy, you were there."
"So?"
"So you know it didn't happen like that," Zoro reminded, making Luffy stop to think.
"Oh, yeah." Luffy looked back at Usopp, pushing a fist into his palm. He laughed. "Liar."
"Fine, so it wasn't true," Usopp grumbled with a shrug, returning his attention to his fishing pole. "At least it was entertaining."
"Very entertaining," Ace agreed. Usopp looked up at him with the same almost-shock he got from the Mugiwaras every time he spoke, but he could tell the sniper was inwardly pleased. "Like a fairy tale."
"W-well," Usopp said bashfully, adjusting his suspenders. From the corner of his eye, Ace could see Luffy beaming at their interaction. "That's nothing! There's a magical land in the sky that tells bedtime stories about when Luffy—"
"Ace!"
They all turned around at the yell — not including Zoro, who was already facing that direction — and saw Sabo standing by the door that led bellow decks, the other Luffy at his side. "We need to talk."
Ace immediately pulled up his line and began packing away his fishing rod, despite the Mugiwara captain's obvious disappointment. As Ace sped away after his brothers, three similarly distraught expressions settled on the faces of those left behind — though Usopp's and Zoro's were directed at their captain, rather than at Ace.
Ace made a note of that as he strode through the ship's halls behind his brothers. He swore to himself he would find out what the other him did, even as the door the captain's quarter's closed behind him.
"She's Every-Friday!"
"All-Sunday," Sabo corrected, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He felt a headache coming on.
"Whatever," said Ace. He began to pace in the opening from the bed to the desk. "It doesn't matter what her name is; we still can't trust her!"
"Her name's Robin," Luffy said, but his brothers ignored him.
"We're going to have to trust her, Ace. She's trying to help us get back to our crew. Even if we don't like it…"
"How the hell could we like it? How could we trust her?! After what she did to Luffy—"
"She did nothing to me!" Luffy yelled, finally getting their attention — and their shock. "She's not Miss All-Sunday."
"What are you talking about, Lu?" Sabo asked as Ace gaped. "Didn't you see those arms? We already thought she might be her, but the fruit power seals it."
"She's not Miss All-Sunday," Luffy repeated. "She's Robin. I mean, I was upset too at first, but I thought about it. They're not really the same people, are they? Not more than me and… the other me."
"You're crazy," said Ace. "Crazier. Whatever. Are you saying we should trust her?"
"Yes, I am."
"I... I think he's right, Ace." Sabo ignored the shock on Ace's face. "I mean, Robin probably never even joined Baroque Works in this reality. Why would the other Lu have her on his crew if she had?"
Ace stared at them for several seconds. "That tears it — you're both insane. I mean, I know both of you are forgiving, but Luffy, you're the one she—"
"That's enough, Ace," Sabo interrupted, frown deep on his face. "We promised we wouldn't bring it up again, remember?"
"R-right," Ace mumbled. His cheeks heated up in sudden shame; they'd vowed not to talk about it in an attempt to stave off Luffy's nightmares about the incident. "Sorry."
"Forget about it." Sabo shook his head, walking over to the bed and flopping down on it. "Let's go to sleep — and you get the floor this time."
—Breathe—
—Throat sore from screaming, he can see amusement and curiosity mixing in a way that's almost fascination—
—old pains—
—Breathe—
—Arms—
—growing off his own body and holding him down—
—and her heel in the small of his back—
—Breathe—
—Throat weak from screaming and sand in his mouth, crunching between his teeth and sticking where there's blood—
—Decade old pains—
—Slow at first then white hot and—
—uncontrollable—
—Breathe—
—Almost fascination—
—Throat raw from screaming—
—Breathebreathebreathe—
—His legs giving out underneath him and he can't even breathe—
—and her eyes gleam—
Luffy woke up drenched in sweat and pressed into Sabo's chest. He didn't try to go back to sleep.
