When the Heart Calls Home

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any of its characters.

WARNINGS for this chap: Blood... mild torture. That is all!


*Harbor 7*

The island was unlike anything Luffy had ever seen before. He looked around himself in awe. The Atsushi Ossan had given him sandals to wear before going onto land. Luffy didn't like it at first; he wanted to feel the sand underneath his feet but he did what he had been told all the same. They had been walking quite a while through a thick tropical forest with a tanned man leading him. The man was rather skinny but very tall. He wore all black and his dark brown hair was slicked back with heavy loads of gel and tied back into a small pony tail. He looked almost nervous for some strange reason. They were alone and were walking quickly. The tall guy kept looking behind himself, as if making sure that the boy was still behind him but Luffy was paying more heed to all the new sights that he was seeing. There were lush green plants growing everywhere. Large tropical trees rose high up in the air and spread large canopies above him, rich green vines dangling from the trees' branches. A few rays of golden sunlight broke through the thick canopies every now and then. And every so often there would be sight of a colourful bird flying just below the canopies. The light breeze rustling the leaves of the forest carried the scent of the ocean with it and the sounds of strange whistling were sometimes heard, probably that of some type of bird. To say that the island that Luffy was on was large would be an understatement.

Luffy still didn't understand why mother had sent him off onto the ship and what he would be doing at this strange new place, but he simply decided he would accept it and wait to see what would happen… for now. After a longer while of walking in silence the man before Luffy came to a stop and motioned for the boy to do the same. They were now in a small clearing in what seemed to be the middle of the forestry island. A thin outline of a square marked the middle of the clearing and beside it stood a large stone statue that had a face of what looked like a tribal mask with intricate designs on it. One hand was resting over the statue's heart, and the other was outstretched in an almost longing manner. There was a large "H7" marked on its bottom half. The tall guy that had led them here walked over to the statue and pushed one of the fingers of the outstretched hand in. Luffy watched in wonder as, magically, the large outline of the square next to the statue began to fall in on itself, revealing a long stretch of stairs leading down into a black hole. The tall guy looked like he had done this many times before for there was not a single hint of surprise on his tan face.

"Come." He said. Luffy silently obeyed, following after him into the hole. The stairs seemed to be never ending and when Luffy was beginning to get bored with seeing nothing but more stairs leading downwards in front of him, he finally reached level ground again. Before him was a long, dark hallway. The only lights were a few torches burning here and there that had been placed into the gray walls. When the two figures had reached the end of the hallway, they reached an even larger hallway. It was incredibly spacious and almost everywhere Luffy looked, there was a door every couple of feet apart from yet another door along the walls. They all had numbers on them.

24…25…26…27…28… Luffy silently read the black numbers on the doors that he passed by. "How many doors are there?" He couldn't help but ask, his curiosity beginning to peek again. The tall man didn't stop walking as he answered after a brief moment of hesitant silence, "… There are many kid."

"What are they for?" This time the tall guy didn't answer. There was a grim frown on his face but his eyes gave away nothing. They stopped walking when they got to a specific door that read, "Deletion Room" in thick black letters. It seemed to be the only door (at least from what Luffy could see) that was actually named and had no number on it. The tall guy knocked on the door with a heavy fist until a voice was heard from a hidden speaker, "What is it?"

"Got another new delivery for you Crocodile." The tall guy answered flatly.

"… Bring the child in." The voice replied.

Luffy found himself being roughly pushed into the now open doorway leading into a bright room. He heard the door close behind him again and he had to squint against the bright pale light in the room. When his eyes had adjusted to the white lighting, Luffy got to have a good look around himself. The room in which he was in was average sized. The walls were painted a ghastly white and to the right of the room there was a strange contraption. The contraption was also white and had an oval shape. It looked like it was lying down to Luffy. There were multiple buttons on its side. Luffy resisted the urge to go over and touch the strange thing. Before him, there was a man sitting next to the machine on a large chair. He had a long scar running across his face and wore a large green cloak. He had on a lazy expression and a cigar in his mouth to accompany it. His hair, like the tall guy, was also slicked back. But the most particular thing about him was the golden hook where his left hand should have been. His cold eyes looked the raven haired boy up and down, seeming to analyze him.

"So, this is the one?" He asked.

"He's the one." The tall guy gently pushed Luffy towards the man known as Crocodile. The boy stared at him with wide eyes. He wasn't sure that he liked the man sitting before him very much.

"I see… so kid, I saw you were eyeing this beauty here just a moment ago," the man patted the white contraption next to him, "Care to find out what it does?"

Instinct told Luffy to run, but the tall guy that had brought him here held him firmly by the shoulders and prevented him from doing so. Crocodile held some papers in hand and was currently flipping through them and scanning its contents. He looked up and an ominous smile graced his lips, "You are a perfect asset to me… Luffy. Come here and I'll show you how this lovely contraption here works. I promise that you'll enjoy it." The tall guy forced the boy forward until he was standing right next to the machine. Crocodile turned and pressed a couple of buttons on the machine, causing the top to open up and revealing a… bed? No, it wasn't a bed. Luffy had a feeling that whatever it was, it wasn't good. "NO!" He cried, bit, kicked and struggled when the tall guy lifted him up and placed him inside the machine onto the bed. The man ignored his feeble cries and strapped in his body with iron clasps; one large one across his small chest, two others firmly locking his hands in place, and yet again two others stationing his feet. The panicked boy managed to get in a good kick to the eye before his right foot was fully clasped in.

"Gah! Damn you little…!" He heard the man muttering curses as he quickly closed down the opening to the machine, leaving Luffy alone with his futile attempts to free himself. What are they going to do to me? I have to get out of here, I have to run. Why can't I move! "LET ME OUT YOU BASTARDS!" His attempts were becoming more desperate as he heard the machine come to life! The lights in the contraption went off and he was left in the dark as he could only helplessly wait to see what fate was going to befall him. Suddenly hot scorching pain went through his whole body and he let out a bloodcurdling scream! It felt like fire was going through his veins and burning every cell in his small body. Another scorching shot of pain went through his body as Luffy was still trying to recover from the first shot of unearthly pain. Another loud scream erupted from his throat. This process continued for a long time. More shots of pain rushing throughout his whole body over and over again until blood began gurgling out of Luffy's mouth. He coughed and let out one final scream as another shot of unbearable pain went up his body and his eyes saw white just before he was granted the relief of drifting into darkness, his writhing body now going completely limp.

~Break~

The brown eyed boy awoke, still inside the machine in which he was put. But the top was open and the lights were back on inside the contraption. He was confused, very confused. Where was he? Why was he here? But most importantly, who am I? The child wondered. Thinking back, he tried remembering what his own name was, or where he even was. But there was nothing. His whole memory was completely blank. It was almost like he knew that there was supposed to be something there, but the information he was looking for was locked behind a door and he wasn't able to reach it. Suddenly he heard a deep voice breaking into his thoughts,

"Crocodile wait. What would you have me do?"

"I'm assigning him to you. I'll leave it to you to train and teach him our ways." Another voice answered. The boy blinked when he heard something like a door shutting. He was caught by surprise when two large hands reached into the thing that he was in and released the clasps that were currently holding him down. When he was free, the boy stood up on shaky legs, wondering briefly why he was so tired. He got out of the machine and looked around himself. He had never been here before. At least, he didn't think he had been here before. There was only he and another man in the room. He looked up at him. The man had sharp grey eyes and was of average height. His face and hair was hidden behind a black hood. There was a cold air about him.

"Who are you Ossan?" The young child asked. The man was silent for a few moments.

"Naa? Are you deaf or something?" But the man didn't seem to have heard him. He ignored the comment and answered,

"I go by the name of Tetsuo. But you will refer to me as "Master," is that clear?" It wasn't a question.

The boy nodded. "I would tell you my name but I don't know who I am or where I come from… in fact, I don't remember anything at all!" He said, childishly cocking his head to the side.

Master was silent for a moment and than motioned for him to come and follow. He led the child out into the dark hallway, going past many doors with numbers on them.

"Oi Ossa – … I mean Master, why is it so quiet in here? Where are we?" He asked with curious eyes looking around this new place.

"There are many other people living in this place. But all the rooms are soundproof. Meaning that they cannot hear us, and we cannot hear them. The only room in these hallways that is not soundproof is the 'Deletion Room.'"

"The 'Deletion Room?' What room is that?"

Master simply said, "All that you need to know will soon be revealed to you. But for now, do not ask any more questions." That quieted the boy. He wanted to go exploring this place! He wanted to see what lurked behind the many mysterious doors! But despite his urge to do so, he obeyed quietly. After a while longer of walking past more doors with more numbers, the raven haired boy was beginning to get bored with the silence and began humming an off-tune song that he made up on the spot. The Master simply ignored it. Finally, they had arrived at their destination. They were standing in front of another door with the number 56 painted on it. It was than that the boy also noticed a strange human-like figure carved right underneath the 56. It looked almost completely human and yet it was very different. When he turned around to look at the other doors on the opposite side of this wall, he squinted to see that every other door also had a similar symbol to the one under door 56. And yet at the same time they were all slightly different than the next. He was distracted again when he heard a door open and turned around to see that Master was waiting for him to go into room 56. He stepped inside eagerly, wondering what it looked like inside. This room was about the same size as the room that he had come from. The room was empty though save for two beds; one to the left side of the room and the other to the right. Master closed the door behind him and faced the boy.

"You can choose which bed it is you wish to sleep in. There is a candle under each bed and some matches along with it in case you ever need more light than just the torch. The other bed however, will most likely be occupied by another person. That person will be your… room-mate."

"A room-mate? Cool! Who is it going to be?"

"I will now tell you what you need to know for now." Master ignored him. This annoyed the child but he didn't say anything. Instead he quietly listened.

"All you need to know is your name. You will know and accept that you know nothing about yourself but your name. Your name is Monkey D. Luffy and that is all that you will remember of yourself." He said with not a hint of emotion in his cold voice.

"Luffy," the boy tested it. It sounded nice… familiar somehow and yet it sounded so strange and distant at the same time. But the man was quiet, like he was expecting Luffy to reply to what he had just told him. He flashed him a bright grin that reached all the way up to his ears as he said happily, "Yea!"

Master had a sly but pleased smile come upon his face as he said, still in that cold emotionless tone,

"Welcome to 'Harbor 7' Luffy."


Well, this is the last chapter taking place in the past! Next chapter we will travel into the present time! Reviews are always appreciated and mistakes pointed out to me will be gladly corrected! ^^ Flames will be used to warm me up! ^^