A/N: I really appreciate reviews! Seriously, I hardly ever check my e-mail, so I can only track how much a story of mine is liked through the reviews. Keep em' coming. I love reading to your comments, theories and ideas! They make me a happy author.
angelrider13: ACE IS ALIVE HERE! WHOHO! I plan to drag him in at some point. :)
So, here is the second chapter!
- DW
02
Our plans need re-adjusting.
.
Her initial shock refused to leave, and it clung to her like a cold in winter. As Vegapunk lowered the half conscious man to the ground and let him take a look around, Ricka and Toma shared a significant glance. In that one look they both confirmed that it was indeed Luffy that they pulled through, and not an induced hallucination from the energy through the portal, the same energy that made a man go insane. They could still hear the man's quiet giggling.
Have we messed up or is this some sort of cosmological prank? She thought while staring blankly at the violently red shirt Luffy was wearing. It looked oddly fitting on him, though Ricka had never seen him wear that color before. In fact, everything he was wearing seemed to perfectly contradict everything he usually wore (their Luffy, not this one – their Luffy?!), even though it looked oddly normal on the thin man.
"Ricka, get over here and make sure he hasn't broken anything," Vegapunk demanded, shaking her out of her stunned musings. Ricka opened her mouth to protest, before realizing that she was the only conscious person in the room with medical experience – she was the doctor.
"R-Right!" she stuttered instead and made her way over to the two of them. Her leg was scraped by a rather sharp splinter that used to be a desk leg, but it didn't even register. Her mind was at a loss as to why it was her best friend sitting amongst the debris, staring up at her like she was a stranger. There was also the mind-boggling matter of him being the strongest fucking person in his own world. It was quite the conundrum.
Fumbling with her first aid kit, she kneeled down next to him and searched for any cuts or bruises. He was pretty scuffed up, having been thrown through a wall and all, but was otherwise fine. He didn't even flinch when she used the alcohol to wipe clean his cuts. Their Luffy would normally whine and fuss, even if it didn't actually hurt that bad.
It was alien and slightly disturbing.
The front of his shirt was open, and she could clearly see a massive scar in the shape of an X. Ricka tried not to look at the grisly shape, but her eyes were almost drawn to it. It looked like a burn scar, and a pretty nasty one at that. This is so bizarre, she thought, noting the way her stomach was churning. She knew that this wasn't Luffy, but at the same time it was and they (they?) looked so similar.
"Say, Vegapunk, where exactly am I?" Luffy spoke for the first time since the little noise he had given when abruptly woken up. The man was glancing around the room with mild confusion, obviously not recognizing it, though it seemed as though he recognized the eccentric inventor. If he recognized him, then maybe there was some hope, maybe he really was Luffy after all!
For a moment the elderly man frowned before a huge smirk swept across his face, "Marineford." If Vegapunk expected a comical outburst from the kid, like Toma and Ricka did ('how did I get here so quick' or 'why is everything broken'), then they were all surprised when his fists clenched, looking like he was ready to murder someone.
"Why?" Luffy asked … no, demanded. The tone sent shivers down Ricka's spine, and she momentarily paused in her application of first aid to stare at how white his knuckles had become.
Vegapunk's smile turned into a grimace. "Oh, I guess I haven't explained what's going on yet." Luffy pushed Ricka's hand aside from where she had been bandaging a larger cut on his wrist before getting to his feet. She rose too, and Toma came over to stand beside her. He had been previously trying to rouse the others, but people more or less well off than him went to do the job instead. "You see, you are now what we call an 'alternate universe'. Events, people, even the world itself could be altered from yours."
"Another world?" he looked shocked.
"Yes. We can send you back soon, so there isn't a need to panic," Vegapunk said quickly, raising his hands in a placating gesture.
The man continued to frown, "What about my Nakama? They'll be worried if I disappear!"
"… I honestly didn't think about that."
Ricka and Toma both slapped their palms to their faces, sighing in dual exasperation. The man was a genius beyond his time, but sometimes he overlooked tiny details that had to do with the response and not the actual invention. Luffy opened his mouth, ready to let loose his anger at the scientist, but thankfully Ricka had seen it coming and put her hand on his shoulder.
"The Lab is destroyed, so we can't do much about it right now, but he'll come up with something," she sent Vegapunk a glare, indicating that he was to leave. He took the hint, sliding away to his computer, which had recorded all the data from the portal. Ricka and Toma stared at Luffy as he continued to examine the destroyed room. She was about to say something, but was interrupted.
"So, Luffy, are you really the strongest person in your world?" Toma asked, grinning widely in excitement. He was obviously very impressed with the supposed title. Luffy's mood changed instantaneously, going from frustration to pride in a matter of moments.
"Yeah!" he declared, giving a 'Shishishi' of happiness, hands on his hips and smile nearly blinding.
"Even stronger than Whitebeard?"
"Of course!"
"I doubt that he'd be happy that you stole his title," Ricka murmured nervously.
"He's dead, so he can't get upset anyway."
"Dead?!" both Toma and Ricka exclaimed in astonishment.
"W-Who killed him?" Toma asked, starting to shake. It was one thing to become the strongest man, but the other one had died first? What the bloody hell had happened in that world?!
Luffy spat the name out in disgust, "Blackbeard."
"Does Blackbeard cause you a lot of trouble?" Ricka asked. In their world, Teach was one of the four Yonkou and the one who pretty much started the war. They had their hands full with him, so he must be a pain for the people in this other Luffy's world too.
"Not anymore."
"What do you mean, 'not anymore'?"
"I beat the crap out of him! It was really hard to do though, because he stole Whitebeard's Devil Fruit!"
They shivered, even as the red-wearing Luffy laughed at some memory.
Toma grabbed Ricka and scooted away from him. Luffy just tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Dammit, I'd never really considered the possibility," Toma swore under his breath. "Ricka, we have to be careful around him. This isn't the Luffy that we know. He's someone else, understand?"
She nodded, already having come to that conclusion. It was just … disconcerting when he had the face of her best friend.
Rumble~
"Ne, hey, you two, can I get some food?"
"Although, they are going to be similar …"
Seeing Luffy eat was always fascinating. The way that he would impulsively stuff his face like a starving wild animal, or that whenever his Grandfather was around he would eat extra fast and choke half the time, was a sight to behold. It was like he inhaled it, simply forgoing chewing and swallowing. During Luffy's mealtimes, everyone would move to other tables so that they wouldn't have their food stolen by wandering fingers. The kid was flexible and had a long reach. To other people, it was disgusting and resulted in a lack of appetite, so they gladly handed their food to him. This just filled more of his bottomless pit of a stomach.
However, there was always a line to be drawn. This … this was just ridiculous. The amount of food he was shoveling down his gullet easily exceeded his normal (or their Luffy's) appetite. Spectators had given up on the idea of eating to simply watch in awe as he finished plate after plate without showing any sort of sign of slowing down.
Bottomless pit indeed.
Ricka grimaced and pitted his Nakama for the food bills they must have if this was normal.
He was different. So different and yet at the same time exactly the same. He was still childish, laughing at the silliest things and acting so carefree. The laugh was the same too. But there was a certain edge in his eyes that made her feel like she was dealing with a wild animal. Certainly a very affectionate wild animal – rub his belly and feed him and he was content – but he had claws and fangs that could tear through them without any effort.
Physically there were some obvious differences. This Luffy seemed more flexible and lithe, but definitely more muscled (considering that his chest was bare for the most part and they all could see the shape his muscles were in … she regretted nothing). He also didn't carry any weapons, and when Toma asked him what he fought with, he replied "my fists". Freestyle fighting … hmmm …
So that was rather strange.
Another thing that she noticed is that when Vegapunk had mentioned something that he didn't really like hearing, he had gotten downright scary. She wouldn't have believed it otherwise, but he could and would get mean if he needed to. Their Luffy could be stern when pressed, but it felt more like an adult catching a child with his hand in the cookie jar, not a demon just waiting for the chance to attack.
So similar, but so very different.
Word was slowly spreading through Headquarters of the mysterious project that the Science division had been working on. People were starting to flood the room, packed into the edges like sardines to catch a glimpse at the 'strongest man in the world'. They were just as shocked as Ricka and Toma were when they found it was Luffy. She saw the doubtful glances and shaking heads. They couldn't believe it. However, they hadn't seen his scary side yet. It was all the proof she needed.
Toma raised an eyebrow at her from across the table that the three of them were currently seated at. The two of them were sitting a few feet away from Luffy, trying to stay out of the splash zone. He noticed her glowering at the rather large crowd.
"You okay?" he asked, ducking his head as a bone of some animal flew over his head. She nodded but said nothing in reply.
"Hey, uh … you! Is there any more?" she was startled and looked to the side to see Luffy's abnormally large eyes staring right at her, without blinking. She suppressed the urge to shudder and answered his question.
"Y-Yeah," she stuttered and motioned towards the window into the kitchen. After about thirty seconds, yet more food was wheeled out so that the man could continue gorging. She cursed herself – normally she wasn't this skittish.
Another thing that bothered her was that this Luffy had absolutely no idea who they were. He didn't recognize Toma or Ricka, his two best friends. It made her sad that he was so much stronger in his world but hadn't needed the two of them. Well, he did say that he had Nakama – just not them.
Frowning and looking back towards Toma, she noticed a burly man stalk towards their table. He had separated from the ring of bystanders around the room and was steadily advancing without resistance. "Is there something you need?" she drawled when he approached. Suddenly, she recognized the man; it was Garth, someone that their Luffy bunked with. He hated weakness and sometimes picked on Luffy just to get a rise out of the normally cheerful kid. It was also pretty obvious that he wasn't exactly the smartest of men, and a stereotypical muscle head. Luffy beat the crap out of him every once in a while, but Garth was as stubborn as a bull.
He smirked, "Naw, I just wanted to talk to my friend here." It was obvious that the only reason Garth was here was because he'd heard the outrageous rumors and wanted to disprove them. He expected this Luffy was weaker because he wasn't wearing the Marine's uniform, which was absolute bullshit.
If this Luffy was the strongest man, then she somewhat expected him to get angry or try and backtalk Garth. But … Luffy ignored him. It wasn't the kind of 'if I don't pay attention to him he'll leave me alone' sort of ignoring, it was that he genuinely either didn't care or didn't notice. He continued to stuff his face, not paying any attention to the now irritated Garth.
"Oi! I'm talking to you!" Garth got absolutely nothing out of the red-shirted man.
Toma and Ricka shared a confused glance. It was simply baffling. Garth was just as confused and stood there with his mouth half-open and eyebrows upturned. When he didn't gather the reaction that he wanted, slammed his fists down on the table and shouted at the much smaller man.
Again, there was no reaction, just face-stuffing.
By this time the entire room was focused on the little scene in the center of the room. They had also realized that this wouldn't have been their Luffy's reaction, and was eager to see what this newcomer would do.
Garth had enough of being in the background, and did the most natural thing. He grabbed the piece of food that was currently in Luffy's hands and tossed it over his shoulder.
Yeah, that got the guy's attention all right.
"Bastard! I was gonna eat that!" Luffy growled, glaring at the man. Garth took this as an act of weakness and laughed, throwing his head back. Now that he had the strongest man's undivided attention, he was reveling in the chance to try and drive him into the ground.
"Sorry, I just needed to talk to you, and since you were so distracted, I needed to grab your focus!"
Luffy frowned in return, "Then what do you want?"
Garth was taken aback and needed a moment to organize his thoughts. "Uh … Well, I don't know what you're trying to pull, but if you think we're going to believe this bullshit, then you're going to be in a world of hurt!" He smiled in mockery and confidence, believing that he had done a good job at being intimidating. Behind him, some people looked uncertain, while some rolled their eyes or outright glared at the people from the Science division.
Ricka could practically see what Toma was thinking at that moment. The crowd was displeased and refused to believe the possibility that maybe this was a different, stronger Luffy from another world and not their Luffy, who would have punched Garth in the face already. (It seemed that the Luffys shared an honor of meal time.)
She watched as Luffy lowered his chin, but not in a submissive gesture. The way that his hat (the one he refused to take off since the get-go) shadowed his eyes so one was out of view caused the air around them to grow thicker. The menacing aura combined with the intimidating appearance of the shadowed eyes made Ricka's gut clench in fear and her breath catch in her throat. "You want a fight?" he asked in a lower, deadly calm voice.
Garth, poor, ignorant Garth, pressed on. He laughed right in Luffy's face. "You mean with you? That would be a waste of my time!" Instead of getting angry, like they expected once again, Luffy shrugged and continued eating. Garth's attempts at goading him on failed completely. Enraged, Garth threw his fist at the other's face, intending to knock at least a few teeth out.
And then, something miraculous happened, stunning everyone in the room into a vegetative state. Like he knew exactly where it was going to hit, and without pausing in his eating, Luffy grabbed Garth's fist with one hand, effectively and completely stopping it. Garth growled and tried to release his hand, but the grip was like iron.
With an effortless flick of his wrist, Luffy sent Garth flying over his shoulder and into the other wall.
The crowd parted like the red sea, staring with jaws on the floor at the Garth-sized hole in the wall. The unconscious man was imbedded deeply in the brick. In that moment they knew, without a doubt, that his man was not to be messed with. He wasn't their Luffy.
He was the strongest man in the world.
Footsteps echoed through the eerily silent room (not including the sounds of scarfing). The doors were flung open and the silhouette of Sengoku himself filled the doorway (the seagull hat was the giveaway). He took one glance at the hole in the wall and still eating Luffy, and effectively summed up the situation in his head.
"Monkey D. Luffy!" he called. The man called paused to look up at Sengoku. Whether it was in fear or respect, Ricka couldn't tell, but after that display of raw power she assumed it was the latter. "I need to speak to you."
The Vice-Admirals (minus one Monkey D. Garp) were whispering among themselves. In the war room they sat with tense shoulders and spoke in hushed voices. Doubts and theories flitted around the room, filling it with a dull droning only this sort of activity could create.
The strongest man in the world (or his world) was at Headquarters, and rumored to be stronger than Whitebeard himself.
Immediately after the explosion that occurred in the Science Lab panic and discord had rippled through Headquarters. All of the Admirals and Vice-Admirals had been assembled for an emergency meeting and shortly after Vegapunk had entered to explain the situation. Monkey D. Luffy was the name of the strongest man. It left them all speechless; they had no idea what to make of it. Kizaru and Aokiji waited patiently for Sengoku and Luffy to arrive. They sat on either side of the Fleet Admiral's chair, watching the door like birds of prey.
They arrived without a special entrance and with a lack of gusto. The Vice-Admirals didn't even realize that Sengoku had arrived until the man cleared his throat rather loudly. They immediately quieted down and watched as he proceeded to his own seat across the room.
In the doorway, looking just as boyish as they expected, was Monkey D. Luffy.
"Get out of the way kid," a gruff voice rumbled and the person belonging to the voice shoved Luffy aside to enter the room. It was Admiral Akainu, who hadn't gotten the memo and did not know that he pushed aside the reason the meeting had been called.
They all watched in mild horror as Luffy's fists clenched and he gritted his teeth in half-suppressed rage. For what reason, they couldn't fathom. Pure hatred rolled off of him in waves. Only when Akainu had taken his seat that Luffy looked right at Sengoku. "Make him leave," he snarled, motioning towards a somewhat confused Akainu. The man didn't understand why the kid was calling the shots.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. Admiral Akainu is a key part of our military and has just as much right to be here as anyone else," Sengoku tried to reason with the kid, but it didn't seem to be working. Though his voice was patient, it was also very strained and tired.
"I don't care. Get rid of him or I will," the threat was left hanging in the air.
"Ha-ha-ha! Is this kid for real? Who the hell is he?" Akainu's barking laugh filled the room, accompanied by the sound of him slapping his knee.
"He's the reason we're here. This is the person Vegapunk got," Sengoku stated as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. That effectively shut Akainu up, and the older man eyed Luffy with some distrust. He didn't laugh again. "Luffy, I don't know what you have against him, and I don't really care. If he stays quiet, will you let him stay?"
Sengoku was being rather lenient, everyone thought. He obviously trusted Vegapunk, despite the pain that the scientist sometimes was. Luffy looked like he was going to throw something, but instead frowned and nodded once. "Take a seat then."
Cautiously, and shooting Akainu a distrusting glare, he sat down at the empty chair closest to the door. Everyone's eyes were focused solely upon him, but he did not fidget under their gaze. After a moment of tense silence, Luffy's impatience got the better of him. "So, what did you want then?"
Sengoku paused for dramatic effect, before sighing, "I hate to admit it, but we need help. I don't know if Vegapunk told you yet, but we brought you into this world to ask for your assistance."
Luffy blinked owlishly at them for a few moments. They could practically see the gears turning in his head as he processed what they were asking. "My help?" he said it to himself more than anything, just to confirm that they were serious. Sengoku nodded in response to the rhetorical question. Luffy then laughed – not a chuckle or his trademark 'Shishishi', but a full blown howl of laughter.
They were quite taken aback. There they were, having poured in countless Belli's into the project, hours upon hours of labor, taken the time to send Garp on a faux mission and had stooped so low as to ask for a single person's help (albeit in their world he was a solider in their army), and he laughed at them. It was pretty insulting!
Akainu and a few of the Vice-Admirals looked ready to object, a few rising to their feet in rage. Sengoku put up his hand as a call for order, and as the laugher died down they reluctantly took their seats. Luffy then looked straight at Sengoku, a mischievous grin on his face. "What's in it for me?" he asked.
They were all confused, but thankfully Sengoku took it all in great stride. Vegapunk himself had said that there was a chance that he wouldn't help them. He was prepared for this. "What would you want in payment?"
"Meat!" he declared immediately, causing a bead of sweat to form on everyone's temple. Luffy then paused to actually consider the proposition, "And lots of money. Nami'll kill me if I don't bring at least that much back."
Sengoku was unsure how much 'lots' entailed, but pushed it to the back of his mind, "Very well."
"What?! You can't actually be serious!" Akainu objected, breaking his implied order to remain silent. He slammed his fist against the table and glared at his superior.
"Hold on a minute, why don't we give the kid a chance first? Vegapunk assured us that he was the real deal, after all." Surprisingly, it was Kizaru who had spoken, getting to the point before Sengoku. The Fleet Admiral nodded his head and looked over at Aokiji.
Aokiji always had great ideas, so it was no surprise to him when they all fixated on him, searching for the logical answer to their problem. Even Akainu had halted in his protest to listen to him. "How about we have him take care of one of the former Shichibukai?"
The Shichibukai were widely known as one of the three great powers on the Grand Line – a sort of in-between. Not really on the Marine's side, but not really pirates (at least, not anymore). However, when the war started, the Marines had demanded that they chose a side and go with it. Unfortunately, most of them had chosen piracy. Some claimed to be simply watching the war unfold, but the Marines, being suspicious of all pirates, never really believed them. If Luffy indeed was the strongest man, then defeating one of the Shichibukai wouldn't be a problem. If he was a fake, he would be pulverized.
The tension started to dissipate, and everyone calmed down. "How about we have him take care of that traitor Jimbei?" someone suggested.
There were nods of heads, and they looked towards the boy for his answer. He was frowning. "I won't fight Jimbei for you."
"Why not?"
"I won't fight Jimbei!"
"How about Crocodile? He's been a real pain in our ass since that whole Alabasta fiasco," another Vice-Admiral suggested. Like the first time, they looked for Luffy's answer.
"Alabasta?" he asked instead. "Did something happen there?"
"In the middle of their civil war Crocodile caused a massive explosion in the capital city. Among the dead were the Royal Family and the pirate Nico Robin, but most of the deceased were innocent citizens."
Luffy's eyes took on a murderous glint, and a shiver of apprehension and an instinctual fear for one's life passed through all people in the room. Even the Admirals and Fleet Admiral found themselves wishing that they wouldn't have to fight the small man.
"I'll take care of Crocodile."
