Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece
Summary: Across the seas two people who had lost nearly everything suddenly gained an understanding of the future that they didn't have before. It was too late to change the things that virtually ruined their younger years, but they still had time to improve the future… Right?
Warnings: Luffy and Law might end up being OOC because character development. Strong Language. Violence, more graphic when involving Law.
Note: Edited for most mistakes. It was also mentioned to me following cannon too closely can be off putting, so I will be implementing some ideas which will take this a bit more off course in the next few chapters.
Chapter Two: Recruiting Zoro
Coby was actually a pretty decent navigatour it seemed, because they were getting there pretty fast. Luffy kind of wished he was smart enough to remember all the little details, but his mind just kind of blanked out on anything that wasn't important. If he'd known he was going to be time traveling, he would have been paying a lot more attention in his life.
Law was leaning against his sword, just relaxing. He'd taken his hat off, letting the wind blow through his hair. He also watched Luffy to make sure the idiot didn't end up in the ocean from the way that he was hanging off the boat. It seemed no matter how small the boat was, the idiot felt the need to hang off of it like a monkey. Seems that the name sake was quite accurate.
"You know Coby; marines aren't all they are made out to be. It's all blind; there is no room for any personal thoughts. There are good and bad pirates, and there are good and bad marines. You should come and join my crew; we won't be doing anything horrible like other pirates, just mainly fun adventures well trying to fulfill our goals and dreams."
Luffy had spent a lot of time trying to think about what he'd say to attempt to get Coby swayed over to his crew.
However if Coby learned anything from Luffy in the past hours, it was to follow your dream. Coby very firmly knew that his dream was to be a marine. There wasn't anything else that he'd ever wanted from life. Therefore Coby was essentially every point that Luffy practically blew up his brain trying to think about.
"If we maintain this course, we will reach the base soon." Coby instructed.
"That's pretty impressive Coby, if it was me I would never be able to get there. Don't let Traffy fool you either, he can't navigate at all. That's exactly why you should join my –"
"Luffy-ya, he doesn't want to join. Ask him after he learns more about the marines and knows about how corrupt they are. You might get somewhere after that." Law jumped into the conversation, pretty tired of hearing all the reasons why Coby should join.
Luffy pouted, "But that could take years Traffy~"
"You know Luffy, you shouldn't be joking around so much. Zoro the Pirate Hunter is meant to be held in that base. He's the man that goes after others with the ferocity of a blood thirsty animal, then he slices them up. People say that he's a demon in masquerading as a man!"
Luffy just laughs, "Shishishishishi, that's exactly why I'm going to that island! Roronoa Zoro is going to join my crew!"
"….."
"…"
"WHAT!"
About an hour later, they reached the base and Coby was still shocked by the idea Luffy had put forth. Law of course knew about this already, but he was pretty surprised about Zoro being known before he set forth with Luffy. The doctour had always wondered why Zoro was called 'Pirate Hunter' well he himself was a pirate. The more you know.
"Finally here! Heh, Traffy we're getting the next member of our crew soon." Luffy said in an excited tone, Law just raised an eyebrow at his Captains childishness.
They started making their way through town; it actually seemed to be a pretty normal town for a navy base. People going around and shopping, the only difference was well, the giant headquarters that was found in the middle of everything.
"Luffy… You should probably change your mind about him being in your crew." Coby says as they move along the road.
"It's too late, I've already decided he well. Besides, I'm pretty sure he's actually a big softie on the inside." Luffy states, with a strange knowing look.
"HE WAS ARRESTED BECAUSE HE WAS A BAD GUY!"
"Hmm, I wonder if Zoro's in that giant base over there." Suddenly everyone jumped away from him in horrour. Law looked around and snorted, how people could be this scared of Zoro when he was currently ranked rather weak was beyond him.
"It seems that Zoro's name is taboo here." Coby whispered, stating the obvious.
"Shishishi, they're cowards just like you. You'll fit right in here, Coby." Luffy reached down and patted Coby's head before something caught his attention.
A vender was selling metal rods, all different sizes. They were most likely meant for building something; various people were buying from the man as well, so it could be assumed that they were okay quality. What really interested Luffy was something that he'd been contemplating over the years.
Last time he went though the Grand Line, he didn't have a weapon. He had another chance though, and weapons looked super badass. Luffy had always thought that using a sword with his devil fruit power would look downright stupid, but using a pipe was something that he'd already known how to do… Never mind the fact that it would remind him of Sabo…
It wasn't the time for grabbing such a thing though really, perhaps on the next island. Right now they were so close to getting his swordsman back, he couldn't bring himself to separate from that path even for a moment.
Before long they came across a rather impressive gate, Coby started crying in happiness. Luffy just ignored it in his excitement to finally see one of his original crew members again, and climbed up the wall and sat there, staring at Zoro with glee clear in his eyes. Law watched with a softened expression, genuinely glad for Luffy-ya to have found part of his crew again, knowing that if he was in that same position, he'd act pretty much the same.
From his seat, Luffy pointed over toward Zoro, "If we untie him, he can escape."
"DON'T SAY SUCH STUPID THINGS! WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE LET HIM OUT! He'll probably try to kill you Luffy!"
"It'll be okay, I'm strong." Luffy explained, and Coby gave a face vault over Luffy's supposed obliviousness. Law just shook his head from down on the floor, facing away so he could make sure no one came up behind them.
"Oi you guys! You're an eyesore." Zoro spoke, his eyes shaded in a frightening fashion.
Coby gave a feminine screech, causing Luffy to burst into laughter, holding his stomach and trying not to fall off the wall as he gave into his hilarity. His laughing stopped when he noticed a ladder popping up and Traffy whispering frantically, "Oioioi little girl, what are you doing?"
Luffy looked over at the girl and blinked; she in response held up a finger and made the universal 'shut the hell up' sign. The kid then shimmied down a rope and walked over to Zoro.
"You must be hungry, I made you some onigiri." The girl stated, unwrapping the morsels she'd brought.
"You're gonna get yourself killed, Shorty." Zoro stated, attempting to scare her into going away.
"You haven't eaten anything in weeks. Here!"
The girl held out her hands, showing two rice balls for the taking.
"It's my first attempt, but I tried really hard." She smiled at him innocently and tilted her head.
Zoro looked around, starting to get nervous, "I'm not hungry I said! Get going, you're an eyesore! Get out of here!"
"…. But…"
"Get out of here before I hurt you! –"
Zoro was cut off as a group of people started to walk toward them. Three marines, one of them was someone Luffy actually recognized. It was that freaky coward son with the weirdly shaped head.
"You shouldn't be bullying kids. Hehehehehe, you've got more fight in you than I thought Roronoa Zoro ." Came the coward sons voice.
Luffy just watched calmly, "Ehhh… Another weirdo came in. This town is filled with weirdos…"
"Oh thank god, those must be the marines. That girl will be safe now."
Luffy scowled though, he remembered what happened next. Coby's innocent world view would soon be broken. The young captain almost wished that it didn't have to come to crushing Coby's dreams. Luffy turned toward his First Mate, "Traffy, be ready to create a room. Something bad is going to happen."
Law simply nodded, he'd had a bad feeling that the marines were bad eggs here since they walked on the base. Something was just slightly off.
"Hey, these onigiri look pretty good." He stole one from the girl's hands just as he said it, ignoring the girl's weak protests as he stuffed it in his mouth. Suddenly he shouted out, "GROSS! It's covered in sugar! Onigiri should be made with SALT! SALT!"
"… But I thought that they were taste better sweet."
The girl was cut off from possible farther explanation when the bastard son grabbed the onigiri and threw them on the ground, stomping on them all the while screaming about how gross they were and how horrible a cook the little girl was.
"Stop! Stop!" The girl cried, and Luffy scowled harder.
It was difficult to watch and not jump over there and punch the ever loving hell out of that idiot. At the same time, Luffy knew that a lot of things were reliant on him not messing up the time line too much. He remembered what Traffy had said to him before they'd left.
Flashback:
"Luffy-ya, I know that you are horrible at following plans but pay attention to this because it involves life or death situations with your crew. If you change things too much, unexpected things could change. If for example you want force someone to give you meat, but later that same person is someone you need to make meat for your crew to live, they might not do it when you need them too." Law explained in the most Luffy understandable manner that he could.
Luffy was actually nodding along, paying deep mind to this. He thought of a few times already where he would need to stop himself from doing something, as unhappy as it made him; he knew that in the end it might be needed.
"Traffy is so funny using meat in his explanation though. Why are you so obsessed with meat Traffy? You should have said something before, if you ask me reallllllly nicely I might be able get more meat for us. I won't share mine of course, because I'm a pirate. But I could get you some considering your obsession…."
Luffy trailed off, but looked deep in thought. Law could feel his eyebrow twitching.
'At least he understands… But I'm never explaining anything to this idiot captain of mine again… Last thing I need is for him to continue getting the wrong idea…' Trafalgar thought, staring at his captain as he randomly burst out into giggles, 'God I can't believe it was my BRILLIANT idea to have this man as my captain…'
End Flashback:
"Wh-what a terrible thing to do." Coby said, watching the scene sadly, and snapping Luffy out of his thoughts. Luffy almost wanted to point it out and attempt to pry the man away from his dream again, but decided to wait a little bit longer. Even he knew now wasn't the time.
The girl was almost in tears, "I worked so hard to make those…"
"Ohhh? Haven't you seen this paper? Anyone who attempts to help criminals will be executed. –Marine Captain Morgan. Hehehehe, even this little brat knows to fear my daddy."
"Does that mean that he's Captain Morgan's son?" Coby asked, almost fearful of the answer. It seemed more and more like Luffy and Law where right about the marines with every passing moment. Truthfully, he didn't want to admit it to himself if it were true. This was his lifelong dream and he could practically feel it breaking underneath him.
But didn't that mean that it wasn't a true dream, if it was so easy to break under the smallest bit of pressure after leaving Alvida's?
Any incoming answer was stopped as the freak son pointed his thumb over his shoulder with the words, "Toss this brat out."
The marine looked completely dumbfounded, something like that went completely against his morals but… "Oi! I said toss the brat out! Throw her over the wall! Are you deaf?! I'll tell my daddy!"
The coward gave in, "YES SIR!"
Luffy watched threw narrowed eyes; these were the type of people he hated. If you were going to become a marine in the first place, you should do it because you have a sense of wanting to do the right thing. The way the coward gave into those horrible orders was pathetic. At least Coby was learning something here.
The man walked over to the girl solemnly, holding out his hands to grab her even as the girl screamed for him to stop.
"I'm sorry little girl, tuck yourself into a ball." The man whispered, just before throwing her over the edge.
"Traffy." Luffy prompted.
A bubble of light blue surrounded them, followed by a word, "Room."
The girl was switched with something unimportant, a rock of some sort, and she fell into Law's arms. Law quickly placed her into the floor, uncomfortable holding the young girl.
"Th-thank you." The girl said, tears still coming out of her eyes from the traumatic experience.
"Are you okay little girl?!" Coby whispered urgently, "What a terrible person… Does it hurt anywhere?"
Luffy left the fussing to Coby, and watched what was going on below with Zoro. Soon it would be time to re-meet his swordsman, and he was rather ecstatic despite the situation's general level of bullshit.
"… You bastard." Zoro glared at the man, people like him where truly the trash of the world.
The boy just laughed, "You sure are stubborn to have survived this long."
"Heh, I'll make it through the whole month."
"Well, enjoy it well you can." Came the smug voice, laughing as he walked away,
"Only ten days left!"
"If you live that long." With that he walked away, closing the gate behind him.
Luffy smiled the second he did, it was his turn it seemed. This would be fun; he finally got to meet Zoro again. Luffy practically skipped over to where he'd been the first time, maybe ten paces away from Zoro, the only real difference between the first time he'd done this, was the different clothing.
"You know, people say you're a bad guy. I bet you're just a big softie on the inside though." Luffy said in a matter of fact tone, unable to resist adding in a tease to his former first mate.
"You're still here?"
"They left you out here to be publicly humiliated… Makes me wonder if you're actually strong." Luffy added with a smirk.
"Mind your own business!" Zoro growled out, starting to get annoyed.
"Hmmm… I would have escaped in three minutes."
"I've got more will power than you. I'm going to survive this. Don't forget that."
"Heeeeeeh… Suit yourself." Luffy turned around, waving over his shoulder.
"Wait a moment," Zoro added, causing Luffy to cause. Luffy remembered this moment well, because despite the fact he didn't outwardly announce it until later, this was when he'd decided that Zoro would join his crew. "Can you give me that?"
Luffy crouched down in front of it, picking it up and faking a look of shock, "You're gonna eat this? It's just a clump of dirt now."
"Shut up and give it to me!"
Luffy raised an eyebrow and placed it into Zoro's mouth, snickering as the man chocked it down with a cough.
"Told you so~"
"It was delicious. Thanks for the food." Zoro announced, his eyes still shaded.
Luffy just gave a small, smaller and more meaningful then one of his wide grins. This was his swordsman.
"Really? He ate all of it?" The little girl exclaimed in happiness.
Coby, Law, and Luffy along with the little girl they'd picked up had walked back into town after Luffy had his conversation with Zoro. The little girl actually seemed pretty attached to Law, trying to stay as close to him as possible and holding onto the leg of his pants. It made Law stand even more rigidly then he usually would, almost as though he was worried he'd somehow hurt the girl.
Coby on the other hand was looking rather down. Cracks in his dream just continued to form, he couldn't stop himself from drawing horrible parallels between the way that marine had treated that girl, so similarly to the way that Alvida had treated him. Never mind the fact that Zoro didn't seem evil at all, Coby's world view just continued to deteriorate.
"Mhmhm~ He ate all of it."
"I'm so happy!" The girl said, interlocking her fingers.
Suddenly Coby couldn't help but ask, "Is Zoro really as bad as people say?"
"No!" The girl answered without a lick of hesitation, "They spared us and tied him up instead."
"… What happened exactly?" Law asked, kind of curious as to what was truly behind this whole situation.
"It was all Helmeppo's fault! He's Captain Morgan's son…"
Flashback:
"Move it! Make way for my cute pet!" Helmeppo said, surrounded by the growls of feral looking wolves. "Anyone who refuses will be executed!"
Helmeppo smirked as he made his way, all the people listening to what was being said, and making themselves scarce. It made him feel powerful, the way they all cringed away from him in horrour at just one mention of the power he holds. His attention was caught on a small little shop, and he kicked the door open with a chuckle.
The wolf entered, started to immediately eat the meat off of someone's plate. Everyone in the restaurant moved away with a shriek.
Helmeppo scowled however, when one brave little girl got up and started to hit the wolf, attempting to get it to leave.
"Oi, you! Do you have a problem with my pet?!" The smug man drawled out.
"Rika stop it! You'll get into trouble!" Rika's mother shouted.
The wolf turned around to attack Rika, in that moment the little girl was so frightened she couldn't move, but a chair came out of nowhere and batted the beast away from the girl.
The one who'd done it remained silent from the various questions he was receiving, only to eventually speak up because the annoyance wouldn't stop shouting, "Let me eat in peace."
Helmeppo'd had enough, and moved to attack Zoro. This of course only ended with the man's sword on the roof, and the weakling getting punched in the face.
"I've had enough of you and your pet." Zoro said, pulling out his sword and putting it to the blonde's neck.
"Are you sure you want to do this? If my daddy finds out about this, those two women over there will be executed… So how about we make a deal. I'll tie you up in public view instead of them. Let's say… One month. If you survive, I'll let you go free. What do you say?"
"A month huh…"
Zoro dropped his sword.
End Flashback:
"…That was three weeks ago. Helmeppo keeps punching and kicking him while he's tied there!" The girl finished explaining, only to end up in tears.
It was an emotionally taxing story, but the surprise was the one who felt most affected by it. Law as a doctour didn't like the way that they were treating Zoro. Beating him up, not allowing hm food or water, and though he might not be the nicest person around he did take pride in his abilities in that field. Despite the fact Law knew he needed to stay out of the proceedings as much as possible as not to change too much, the doctour side of him wanted to go and get Zoro now and give him a medical check.
"So that's what happened…"
Suddenly there was a loud crashing sound; the group of four walked toward it, only to be met with the face of the smug bastard, demanding free food and talking bullshit, "I've had enough of this game, which is why I decided to execute Zoro tomorrow. Get ready for a great show."
Luffy scowled, his eyes darkening with rage. Before he knew it he'd hit the bastard so hard he left an imprint in the wall he'd smashed into, "Tch, Zoro is going to be my swordsman, there's no way in hell I'm ever going to let someone like you so much as touch him."
"Y-YOU CAN'T PUNCH ME! I'M MORGAN'S SON! I'LL HAVE YOU EXECUTED!" Yelled the spoiled brat, holding his rather hard head with a enraged expression.
"Luffy-ya, go get our swordsman. Me and Coby will stick together well you do so." Law said, completely ignoring the presence of the blonde.
Said pirate looked away from the fallen figure he'd been glaring at, and turned toward Law with a half smile, "Our swordsman huh~ I knew Traffy would warm up to this!"
With a childish laugh, Luffy ran toward the base intent on gaining another member.
With Coby and Law
Coby had just watching the proceedings in shock, The way that Luffy claimed the other was weirdly touching. The pinkette himself always wanted something like that.
Nakama.
"You know Coby-ya, The Captain doesn't really want to destroy your dream. I think it's been really hard on him, he wants you to join, but at the same time he understands how important a dream is. I don't really care either way… But I do think you could do better than these sniveling brats that say they stand for justice when in reality all they are is weak, weak and hypocritical." Law finished off in a harsh tone, watching as the coward crawled out of the restaurant then broke into a run.
Coby just stared up at Law in stupefaction, having never expecting anything like that to come from his mouth.
Trafalgar Law himself was kind of shocked by what had come from his mouth, it wasn't usual for him to say something like that. In the end he just put it up to Luffy rubbing off on him.
The words had effect though. Even Coby could see the way the marines acted as despicable, the final pieces of his rose coloured glasses were ripped away with the words Law had spoken, "I…. I don't know yet. Either way though it doesn't matter. Luffy just walked into danger, you can't seriously mean to just stay here! Come on, we're going to Luffy!"
Coby proceeded to grab onto Law's sleeve and pull him along, worried about his new friend.
"… Don't order me around." Law mumbled under his breath.
With Luffy and Zoro
It was only a few moments of running later that Luffy found himself face to face with his swordsman once again.
"You again? You have too much free time."
"I'm going to untie you, and then you are going to become my nakama." Luffy stated.
"What?" Zoro questioned, just who did this kid think he was, demanding such things from him.
"I'm looking for nakama to join my pirate crew." The rubber-man stated as he stepped closer to his swordsman.
"Like hell! You want me to lower myself into becoming a villain? Like hell!"
"There's nothing wrong with becoming a pirate you know."
"Pirates are scum. Who would want to be that?"
"Why do you care? You're already known as an evil bounty hunter. Besides, not all pirates are like that, those are mostly new age children who think they know what being a pirate is all about when in reality they have no idea." Luffy drawled out
"I don't care what society thinks. I've never done anything I've regretted. I'm going to survive and accomplish my goal."
"Oh… I see. However I've already decided that you'll become my nakama, which shouldn't be too much of a problem considering you don't care what society thinks of you."
"YOU DIDN'T EVEN ASK!" Zoro yelled, and Luffy completely ignored.
"You use katanas right?"
"Yeah, but that stupid son stole them and put them somewhere."
"I'll go get them for you, but if you want them back you will have to become my nakama."
"YOU DIRTY TRICKSTER!"
Luffy ran off toward the building, pretty excited to finally get his swordsman back. Not only that, but he'd get to beat the ass of the corrupted marines that where here, making the situation even better.
"… He's going to go into the base all by himself…?"
Luffy just grinned as he heard it softly. At least this time he hadn't embarrassed himself by heading the wrong way!
Luffy snickered as he finally found the area that he was in the first time, double checking to make sure he had the positioning correctly before sending his arm up and using his gum gum rocket to bring him up, laughing even harder as he took the rope to slow him down, causing the same thing to happen that had the first time.
The statue broke, the entire first half of it falling to the ground, Luffy landed in a crouch and listened for the tell tale sound of the head shattering into little stone pieces. That's what that corrupt fucker gets after all.
Turning toward the group, Luffy made his face expressionless and bowed, "Sorry."
He spoke tonelessly, causing many of the people around him to face vault, realizing that it wasn't really an apology at all. At the very least the kid didn't feel remorse over it.
"CAPTURE HIM! I'LL KILL HIM MYSELF!" The marine captain screamed after he came out of his shock over the loss of the symbol of his overwhelming power.
"Daddy that's him, that's the one that punched me!"
"I've been looking for you useless son!" Luffy grabbed him as he tried to get away, "Come with me, we have things to do."
Luffy dragged the blonde off, completely ignoring the marines that were calling after them. Also ignoring the loud noises that the pathetic blonde was making. Once they were in the halls that Luffy knew stored the room that had Zoro's sword, Luffy slowed his running down to speak to the son, "Which one of these has Zoro's katanas?"
"I'll tell you I swear, just stop dragging me all over the floor!"
Luffy reluctantly stopped, and gave a look at the man he was holding.
"You passed it, just one room over. They're in there."
"…Damn I was hoping to avoid that." Luffy spoke under his breath, turning back to face the marines that had just caught up.
"Hand the captains son over!" They shouted, raising their guns.
Of course, Luffy knew that guns wouldn't have any effect on him, that didn't stop him from placing the blonde in front of him as a shield as he said, "No. If you want to shot, go ahead."
"NO STOP DON'T!" The blonde yelled, just as Luffy charged forward through the marines with no regard toward his shields safety.
"Shishishishi, such a good shield moron son, maybe you aren't so useless after all."
With Coby Law and Zoro:
Coby and Law got to Zoro a few moments after Luffy had finished talking to him, Coby attempting to take off the bindings, and Law watching out to make sure that there weren't any marines sneaking up on them as the pinkette did so.
"Please escape, Zoro."
"If you untie me, they'll kill you."
"I don't care, I can't watch this anymore. These marines… They have made a complete mockery of my dream… I can't just let them to this to someone like you who doesn't deserve it." Coby said, all the while thinking back on what Rika had told them about Zoro and all he'd done for the small family.
"Stop it! I'm not going to run away, I've got ten days left."
"Luffy-ya didn't tell you? Just like him, we overheard the marines saying that they were going to execute you tomorrow. The useless son said so, and caused your future captain to hit him hard enough the man practically made an imprint on the wall behind him." Law mentioned in an almost off handed fashion.
"He did… WAIT A SECOND! FUTURE CAPTAIN?! Not going to happen." Zoro ended in a growl, which was broken when Coby spoke softly again.
"Luffy is being chased by marines; well anyway I'm not telling you to become a pirate. However could you please help Luffy. He's the only one that can save you, and right now I believe you are the only one that can save him." Coby finished in a strong tone.
Law on the other hand, barely hides the scoff that wanted to escape his throat. Luffy did not need help with these weaklings, and if he had needed it, Law would be the one providing it as the First Mate.
Though it was kind of … Cute that Coby would attempt to garter help in such a way.
"Ohh… We have company." Law spoke, just as the marines walked up and pointed their guns at them.
There was near twenty uniformed officers and the captain towered from behind all of them, stomping forward as he spoke, "For the crime of treason against me, the three of you will be executed immediately, followed by your freak friend!"
Coby was leaking tears all over the place, his knees only barely capable of holding up his weight. Zoro even looked worried, as opposed to Law who just narrowed his eyes and grabbed the hilt of his sword.
Luffy was watching all of this from out the window, grabbing the swords and getting ready to descend.
"Gomu Gomu no ROCKET!" Screamed Luffy as he flew out of the window and right in front of the group of his crew members, allowing all the bullets that had flown to hit him, stretching his skin to unnatural levels before it rocketed back.
All the while, Coby watched horrified, and Zoro felt kind of guilty that it happened to the kid, thinking Luffy was dead. Law just shook his head; Luffy was such a show off sometimes.
"Shishishishi! Haven't I told you guys, I'm strong!"
Just as he spoke, Zoro and Coby noticed that the bullets had flown toward the marines and Luffy was completely unharmed, causing both of them to gasp in shock, especially Zoro.
"W-what the hell are you?!" Zoro said in a breathless tone.
"Me? I'm Monkey D. Luffy the man who will become King of the Pirates!"
End Chapter Two:
Authour Note: I was kind of half and half about splitting this whole Zoro thing into two chapters, but the chapter would be too long otherwise I think.
On a totally unrelated note, I'm completely obsessed with Nanastu no Taizai right now (Seven Deadly Sins known otherwise) Like damn, I'm obsessed. Not enough fanfiction about the series, makes me upset.