"I was surprised by your appearance at the auction." Rayleigh said, studying them with a serene smile. "So you want this ship coated?"
Zoro nodded and crossed his arms, waiting for the man's final answer. He had been willing to go along with them once he had returned to Shakky's bar from the auction three hours later and asses their ship.
"You do know that it's-"
"Yes, I know." The swordsman cut him off swiftly. "How much time would you need?"
"The better question would be how much will it cost." Nami said, approaching the two.
Rayleigh considered it for a moment before answering. "Normally I'd rip you off quite good even if it's a very small ship."
His blunt answer made the navigator's temple pulse.
"But for giving me a reason to get rid of Saint William and assuming I'll get the whole story out of your swordsman, you can get away with a two hundred thousand Berri."
Nami's shoulders sagged in relief. "Deal." She agreed weakly.
Zoro scowled. "My story is none of your concern."
"It is, actually." The grey haired man returned his scowl with a knowing upturn of the lips. "I see that Raftel did quite a number on you two."
The dooming silence that settled around them was thick enough to swallow all the oxygen in the atmosphere.
Zoro only remembered seeing black before his brain registered that they were back inside the bar. He was seated on a stool again while the rest of the Strawhats were settled comfortably back on the sofa. Luffy was back at devouring all the food, while Cloakie opted to seat himself next to Robin.
The tension was broken by Rayleigh.
"How did you manage to travel all the way into the past, Zoro?"
The swordsman opened his mouth, but Cloakie was the one to speak first.
"I brought him here."
"Why?" Zoro asked before Rayleigh could speak again.
"Well, since we're here, I might as well tell you about my plans." Cloakie sighed and leaned back into the sofa.
Zoro stifled a biting comeback that might make the guy change his mind and opted instead to raise an eyebrow in invitation.
"Whatever you saw on that island was not even half of the whole story."
The stranger's confession didn't shock him as much as it should have.
"I know what's coming, Zoro. I came here to find a way to prevent it."
"So you dropped everything and fucking disappeared. Is that what you're saying?!" The swordsman scowled, his forceful tone contrasting greatly with the soft nuances of the stranger's.
"Yes." The blunt answer caused a few protests to spring from the Strawhats, but Rayleigh's question stifled them immediately.
"So that's why you're like this." The man's eyes glinted behind his glasses. "You used Raftel's powers to travel back in time through the waterfall."
"The string of life..." Zoro's soft whisper easily carried across the room.
"So it's true then." Robin concluded.
"How can you even travel back in time?" Usopp asked, his head shaking in disbelief.
"Of course there is a way." The former first mate of the Pirate King smiled enigmatically. "But time is unchangeable no matter how hard one tries. You've seen it for yourself. Which brings me to my question." He fixed his eyes on him and the man under the hood seemed to shrink back under his gaze. "What do you plan to accomplish by coming here, Cloakie?"
All of a sudden, the stranger was sitting straight again and seemed to jut out his chin as he answered. "You're wrong, old man. I can change time."
"Don't be stupid!" Zoro snapped and clenched his jaw in annoyance. "Raftel won't allow this."
"What Raftel doesn't know, won't make it mad." Cloakie answered easily as he slipped from his seat and bounced towards the green haired man, stopping a breath's way from him. "Which brings me to my plan." He repeated Rayleigh's former words with a small change.
"Well?" Zoro urged, feeling he had to give his consent first for the idiot to start spilling the beans.
"I will kill Blackbeard, Zoro. And you have to help me."
The statement was partly confusing to the Strawhats, but it was enough for Zoro to make his vision go red. He felt like something severed inside of him, allowing an unbearable heat, that his brain absently identified as burning rage, to flow through his veins and cloth his skin in a translucent veil of pure anger and bitterness that he forgot to breath for a minute. In that very moment, Zoro decided to forgo all the rules and regulations, all the years he had spent travelling with this man, all the adventures and shit they had endured together and allowed his mind to entertain the single thought of murdering the cloaked man in front of him who had caused eight people so much suffering and heartbreak and so many more years of loneliness that could never be accounted for. With those feelings clouding his senses save his Observation Haki – which he put to good use in finding his intended target – Zoro let loose this volcano of emotions onto the very culprit.
"You damned bastard!" His roar shook the windows' glass and reverberated around the room long after the words have been spoken. Zoro felt his hand collide and curl around an unnaturally textured neck, but he continued to walk until Cloakie's back had hit the wall with a dull thud.
He barely heard the commotion the Strawhats were making or Rayleigh's orders to calm down.
"You came here for nothing more than a stupid ambition that won't do you shit! Time is irreversible, you can't change it no matter who you kill or allow to live. They will die no matter what you do! You bastard telling me that killing that man can change the future is bullshit and you know that! You've been stuck in the rift between space and time for three years in vain, LUFFY!"
Through his heaving breaths and slightly blurry vision, Zoro heard more than saw the newest wave of gasps elicited from his past crewmates.
"What's this shit?" The stupid cook's question more or less defined this whole situation, the swordsman thought.
"How is it possible...?" That might have been Usopp or Nami, he couldn't tell.
"So one cannot fully materialize until his name is called." Robin stated more to herself, solving again a riddle without sense.
"Not really, he won't be able to take a concrete form until he is recognized. The waterfall is only able to produce a shadow of one's self in the world." Rayleigh explained. "Or else time could be changed. This is exactly what you wanted, didn't you?" This time, his words were directed at the raven head glued to the wall.
Luffy's eyes narrowed on the raging form of his swordsman and disappointment flashed through them.
"You don't get it, Zoro." The man ignored the inquiring gazes coming from all around and concentrated on his first mate. "I'm trying to prevent a war here." His words were spoken softly again.
"Bullshit, Luffy." Was Zoro's predictable answer. Honestly, it was getting old. "Whatever you've seen can be changed, but this can't!"
Luffy shook his head, slightly longer strands than his past self's swishing with the motion. "I tried, but whatever I did that man ended up becoming more and more powerful. By coming here I learned so much more than the first time around."
The swordsman shook his head, hoping to ease some of the oncoming headache. "This is just like running from your problems! Did anyone even know, or did you decide it by yourself like a moron?"
There was only so much Zoro could take at once, but he had to know the details, if only to use them as blackmail later against whoever had aided their idiotic captain in capsizing everything in a matter of minutes.
"Stop treating me like an idiot!" Luffy snapped, forcefully shoving Zoro back. "I know very well the consequences, but I needed ideas and time to think about them alone. Coby and I decided that it was the best solution."
"Coby...?" Zoro's voice broke at the end.
That levelheaded, justice preserving, no nonsense guy that didn't give two shits about Devil Fruit powers making people better? The furious nonbeliever in supernatural things and impossible coincidences?
How the fuck?
"The only one I have to talk with left is old man Whitebeard." Luffy continued, undeterred. "After that I'm going after him. And I needed a swordsman."
Zoro blinked in surprise and Luffy crossed his arms and huffed.
"But I see now that I should have summoned Brook here."
The green haired man's eye twitched. How dare he? His temperament flaring, he opened his mouth to give the guy a piece of his mind before the implications caught up with him. Him coming here might be really lucky. He didn't know what Coby and Luffy had planned and talked about, but it was now certified that these two idiots shouldn't be allowed in a room alone anymore.
The swordsman understood their intentions, but he truly doubted it would work, no matter how many resources were poured into it or how many things were sacrificed. Things won't just right themselves because they killed the guy at this point in time. Everything could have easily been solved if they would have applied their cunning plans to solve the problem in their own time. Which brought Zoro to his current dilemma: why didn't they?
"Why didn't you try to stop everything in our time? What the hell could have happened to convince Coby, of all people, to agree with your crazy spouting?"
Luffy looked offended, but answered evenly. "It was kept a secret… but Impel Down was destroyed."
Now this was a surprise. "What?"
"Blackbeard destroyed it and liberated most of the criminals, which are now under his command and free to roam through the world. The World Government kept this mass destruction a secret from the people because with Enies Lobby and Impel Down out of the picture, every bloody pirate out there would turn their weapons to Marine Headquarters. Not to say that they didn't."
Zoro's lips pressed in a tight line. He had heard a few rumors back in his time's Sabaody, but he never thought they were true.
"Why didn't Coby or you tell us?"
"Because you had your dreams to take care of, not me." Luffy said simply, shrugging. Then he suddenly brightened. "So you'll help me?"
"No." Zoro said firmly. "But we're going to see Whitebeard. Maybe he'll be able to set your head straight." The swordsman mumbled, sitting himself back down on the stool and ordering another, bigger drink. He had a feeling he would need all the alcohol in the world to get through the next few days.
Luffy mumbled and slid down to the ground, pouting.
"So Luffy's the crazy one in the end? Or the marimo?" Sanji asked, playing with the cigarette between his lips. He shrugged when the two in question shot him particularly dirty looks.
"I don't know about you guys, but this feels like one of those impulsive things that Luffy'd usually do if he was left by himself for too much time." Usopp commented uncertainly from his seat. He gulped when future Luffy shifted his glare on him.
"Does time even flow the same as in the future?" Everyone turned to look at Nami's quivering form. "I mean, if one day passes in our time does it pass in the future too? Is it simultaneous or it doesn't flow from our perspective because we're not in the future yet?" The orange head was slowly descending into hysterics and, judging by Chopper's tearful form next to her, he wasn't faring much better.
Robin's hand slapped her over the mouth and thankfully stopped further paradoxes from being thrown into play. Her eyes were downcast, shadowed by her bangs.
"Ro... bin?" The small reindeer asked in the deathly silence that had settled over the room.
"I guess it's time to start the coating." Rayleigh sighed and stood up, slinging the equipment onto his back. "Luffy!"
Two pairs of eyes snapped up to look at him. The older man resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Future... Luffy." He corrected himself slowly. "Come give this old man a hand."
The raven head ruffled his disheveled locks in bafflement before standing up and following Rayleigh's already departing form.
Zoro saw him throw a last glance in his direction before the door swung shut. He allowed himself to sigh in relief, trying to shake off the remaining ire still lurking inside his chest.
"You did well." Robin's voice effectively startled everyone left in the room.
Zoro raised an eyebrow and looked back at the woman, only to find her with a slightly glazed look in her eyes.
That's new. Usually Robin was the most lucid person you could ever find.
"I can't believe you're keeping your eye like that, though." She giggled and in that moment it dawned on him with surprising clarity.
It was his Robin.
"How..." The swordsman managed to stutter through clenched teeth. He was more than freaked out by this.
"We arrived at Raftel faster than I anticipated." Robin spoke quietly, her smile never wavering. "It seems Nami's skills are as sharp as ever, though the New World gave us quite a hard time. I used what I learned from the tablets to access the waterfall's powers and transport my mind into my past self's body for a while, just like what happened to you. It seems I arrived at the right moment."
"Congratulations." Zoro said sarcastically. "You've seen it all then?"
"Mostly, yes." The black haired woman nodded affirmatively. "I will relay everything to the others. And we got your past self covered as well, though he's quite a handful." She bit her lower lip in an effort not to laugh and Zoro recognized the signs immediately.
"What?" The swordsman rolled his eye.
"He's still afraid of Franky, but has no problem sitting at the table next to Brook." Her fits of laughter made the man in question flush and scowl.
"Shut up, woman! He's confused." He defended, well, himself.
Robin hummed merrily. "I wonder about that."
With a last wink, her head dropped and Zoro knew she was gone.
Zoro glared the whole way through Fishman Island and only when he saw the Going Merry emerge in the New World's waters did he allow himself to release the metaphorical breath he had unknowingly been holding.
Once again, he was in Rayleigh's debt for the help they've received on their short stop at Sabaody. He had asked the man for the quickest way possible to pass the Red Line without having to stop on the underwater island and wait for someone to coat the Merry again, though there was still the problem of contacting the Yonko to make a meeting possible. The Dark King had promised to call a fishman friend of his – which Zoro was glad to find out it was Hachi – and ask him to speak with King Neptune to add this little thing on the rather consistent report Whitebeard received every month from the fishmen. As luck would have it, the king had actually agreed to send in the report earlier, thus meaning there would be less days of waiting for the Yonko to arrive at Red Line. Zoro knew he would forever be in the king's dept as well, but he didn't mind. These people were kind enough to help a random group of kids without too much gain, though he had a feeling that everything went so smoothly because Rayleigh was involved.
So now they had successfully passed the underwater island and Zoro could not be happier for the avoided disaster. The swordsman did not think he would have been able to deal with the Love Cook's perverted tendencies or past Luffy's knack for screwing up and creating a civil war in the midst of everything that was on his shoulders at the moment. The Dark King had gladly offered him the Kuuigos Wood and explained to Nami the basics of using it. Not for the first time, the green haired man was left thinking that their journey would have been certainly easier if Franky would be there with them.
"Right?" Luffy asked from his seat on the railing.
Zoro berated himself for falling too deep in thought to not notice the raven haired man approach. He absently noted that they were almost near the White Strom.
"It would have been easier with Franky around. He knew how to use those." The man pointed to the Wood Usopp and Sanji were struggling to launch towards the surface, with Nami yelling at them to move it.
Robin used a few summoned hands to help the two while Chopper kept steering the rudder.
"You should go help them."
Zoro threw the man a side eyed glare. "Same goes to you, doesn't it?"
Luffy's wide grin made something knot in his stomach and he supposed it would be wise to leave now and help the others before they'd sink because of their stupidity or the current would snatch them away like the last time they passed under the Red Line. Though they had had an obscene amount of luck then didn't mean they'd encounter the whales again this time and Zoro wouldn't risk taking a detour. They needed to find Whitebeard as fast as possible. It had been proved already that time in the future was flowing – quite fast too – and they had to move before things went to shit.
"Say, old man Zoro."
Before the green haired man could move, Luffy's past self appeared on his other side, a curious expression clouding his face. Zoro frowned at the address, but he didn't comment on it. He supposed it was true in a way.
"This guy Blackbeard," the teen's future counterpart flinched, though only Zoro noticed it, "is he really dangerous?"
"Yes he is." The older pirate answered before Zoro could negate it.
Luffy didn't look too happy about this and the green haired man sighed.
"Yes, he is dangerous," he repeated, face carefully blank, "though I doubt even now that he'd be something we would have had any problems with if some of us would have concentrated on stopping him." He glared at his captain pointedly.
The cloaked man scowled. "I told you I tried!" His shout easily sliced through the air and distracted the others from their posts.
At least the Wood is up, Zoro thought dryly.
The Strawhats watched as Luffy's future self jumped down from his perch on the railing and landed in the middle of the deck. His cloak opened with the motion to reveal a pair of light blue shorts tied with a black sash around his waist and an open long sleeved red cardigan that allowed the angry scar in the shape of an X over his chest to be in the foreground. The swordsman swore under his breath when he saw jaws fall at the sight, though Luffy remained ignorant of the reactions since was still looking at him and his past self. He jabbed a finger in the green head's direction accusingly.
"I tried for years and you know it!"
Zoro sighed. "Alright, I got it. Get back here."
"Luffy!"
Two heads snapped in Nami's direction. The swordsman chuckled at the startled look the navigator showed in that moment, though she quickly regained her composure.
"Where did you get that scar?"
"It looks awful!" Usopp added, his hands already in his hair.
"Let me have a look at it, Luffy! I may be able to do something!" Chopper ran closer, already recounting various medicines for scars.
Luffy's chuckle stopped them all in their fussing. He had a smile on his face, but his eyes were shockingly dark and haunted with memories of a past they had yet to live. It made the air around the ship suddenly descend to a cold stall and Usopp shivered unconsciously at the overshadowed form of his friend.
"Thanks, but it's alright. I've had it for almost fifteen years already."
Everyone's eyes widened and Zoro saw younger Luffy slowly walk towards his counterpart, but he simply opted to lean back on the wooden railing and cross his arms.
"Who did it?" The straw hat wearer asked, looking at the scar with a curious expression, though there was a small furrow in his brow.
"This is a reminder," Luffy lifted a finger to point at the scar as well, "of my weakness."
His words rang true and Zoro couldn't help but look down at the deck with a grim expression on his face. They have all been weak and, worst of all, they hadn't realized it until it was too late. Looking back at it again, he could clearly pinpoint the moment of raw fear when he looked at Kuma's face knowing his hand was descending unmercifully fast towards him, ready to blow him away from his crewmates and onto the very island where he will be able to train and become stronger. Some days, he felt like that man had clearly been telling them back then to stay put and improve their skills wherever he had sent them, but they were too dumb to realize it and, hadn't it been for the war, they would have returned to Sabaody and the disaster would have repeated itself over and over again until they were all dead.
Ace's death was the catalyst to Luffy's growth and with him, they all were able to grow as well and reunite with him to continue their adventures. And now, years later after their dreams have been accomplished, Zoro looked back and despite it being a morbid thought, felt like this was truly how it should be. Their past had nothing to change if this would be the end result – them accomplishing their dreams. This felt like yet another sign from whomever was out there that they should now concentrate on righting the future, in the future. Not here, this wasn't the place they should be in.
The younger pirate captain nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer and turned around to nag Sanji about dinner.
Zoro released a sigh and stepped away from the railing intent on offering his help to Nami. For a little price drop in my debt, the swordsman thought ruthlessly. If nothing else, he'd take what he'll can from this situation.
Unlike last time, it was sunny and tranquil in the New World's waters when they emerged to the surface. Zoro took one look at their surroundings after the bubble broke and inhaled the salty smell of these familiar waters greedily, basking in the curious feeling of belonging assaulting him in that moment.
"We're home," his captain declared loudly and Zoro raised an eyebrow. The man offered him a cheeky grin, "ne?"
Despite his still conflicted emotions about Luffy, the swordsman couldn't help the smirk that spread over his lips at those words. Indeed, it was home. A home that had been unnaturally empty ever since a certain someone had vanished. Hell, even Paradise hadn't been the same. It was like the Grand Line itself was mourning as well. Over the course of three years, traversing Paradise and the New World could be either done without problems, like navigating in one of the Blues – the waters were so calm and no strange or fucked up weather phenomena would appear for months at a time. Which prompted many to say that the Pirate King had tamed this unpredictable force of nature, a fact that Zoro could neither deny nor validate – or they were practically impossible to travel in – with things raging from tornados of Sea Kings to islands changing their magnetic fields randomly, thus fucking up the Log Poses big time. These were dark times when not even the most suicidal had the gall to even think of setting course for the Grand Line. The greatest ocean in the world was behaving – for lack of a better word – like a puppy abandoned by his master. A quite temperamental puppy, to be honest.
Which reminds me, Zoro hummed as he turned towards Luffy's relaxed form back on the railing. From the corner of his eye he spied the younger straw hat wearer sitting in his favorite spot, though Zoro knew the kid was listening attentively. Along with everyone else on the ship. It was unavoidable now that they had dropped anchor and the waters were tame.
"Your puppy," he smirked when Luffy rolled his eyes. Everyone has been having one hell of a time with that particular joke for years, a fact that had surprisingly made the raven head more and more irritated after a while, "has been behaving like shit."
Now it was certain everyone was listening, given the deathly silence reigning over the Going Merry. He heard a rustle of fabric, signaling younger Luffy's shifting on the figurehead in order to have a better view of the new interesting subject of conversation.
The cloaked man sitting on the railing grimaced. "It's not my puppy or anything."
Zoro gave him a deadpan stare. "Sea King tornados." His captain's grimace melted into an impressed expression. "And moving islands." The swordsman added as an afterthought.
"Woah, moving islands?!" The younger captain asked excitedly. He scurried closer to the two while his crewmates groaned.
Usopp even kneeled on the deck and prayed to the heavens that they won't ever have to encounter such a thing.
Luffy's raised eyebrow urged him to continue explaining, though Zoro saw the excited gleam in his eyes and knew the man good enough to know that with this bit of information he had struck gold.
"The Grand Line transforms into a literal puzzle for months at a time. Islands somehow shift place and it's a game of luck to find your destination. Especially when the Log Pose suddenly points into the opposite direction you've been going in the whole time."
Nami's knees buckled, but Robin had enough presence of mind left to catch her before she'd hit the ground completely.
"Though they usually return to their original places after some days, so you just have to wait them out, I guess." Zoro shrugged, adding this little tidbit of explanation for Nami's benefit. He had some heart left in him, after all.
"But I'm pretty sure you didn't get lost in there, right Zoro?" Luffy laughed, crossing his arms and Sanji stifled a snort from his spot next to the galley's door.
Zoro considered this for a moment before saying in all seriousness. "No, I was actually in charge of navigating when this happened and we found Sabaody all right."
Somehow this story amused his captain to no end as he began laughing heartily, his past self, the love cook, Robin and Usopp joining him not long after while Nami was still slumped on the ground, shuddering and Chopper looked between the two extremes uncertainly.
Whitebeard arrived four days later, just in time before they would die of starvation, since with two Luffys on board – and now the older one could actually eat because he had a form and was no longer a shadow, something which Zoro regrets ever since – their rations had dwindled alarmingly low and Sanji was forced to refrain from making so many snacks for the girls. Which in turn made him irritated and then Zoro got irritated by his attitude as well and this slowly descended by the fourth day in an almost full out war between the two while the others had no choice but to watch helplessly from the sides, none of them having any energy left to spend on scolding the two morons. It was this or listening to two Luffys whine about being hungry at the same time.
This is how the Whitebeard Pirates had found them. The atmosphere surrounding the small ship could be cut with a knife, though the captain was happily cheering and waving them over, all the while asking them for food.
Marco had been surprised to see King Neptune's report come in so early and he was even more shocked about the contents of said papers. At first, he had feared that it might be trouble, but then the Strawhat Pirates were mentioned and of course everyone on board knew about them – Ace had never shut up about his little brother since joining them – so the blonde knew that the kid wanting to meet them was certainly anti-climatic. After all, hadn't the fire user told them on one occasion not long ago that his little brother was a rookie just entering the Grand Line? How did they even get to the New World so quickly? Not to mention so unscarred?
Marco had been suspicious until the old man gave the order to set course for the Red Line, something even more surprising, given that he had voiced his doubts to him not long before that. But Whitebeard had shaken his head and replied with an easy smile.
"I just have to set straight a couple of kids, is all."
What does that even mean?, the Phoenix thought cynically.
His brothers' shouts shook him out of his reverie and he absently noted that the anchor had been lowered. Directing his steps to the plank connecting the two ships, the blonde was surprised to find a raven haired man – longer locks, no straw hat and certainly an adult, though he still looked recognizable enough to be identified as Strawhat Luffy – along with a green haired swordsman – who was certainly Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro. He then looked to the left and saw where the real Strawhat was at, still begging for food. Next to him were unknown faces that didn't own a bounty poster yet – an orange haired woman, a long nosed man, a blonde smoker and a strange raccoon along with Nico Robin, of all people.
Raising an eyebrow at the strange landscape, he turned back to the two waiting men.
"Permission to board the ship?" Roronoa asked gruffly.
Marco considered this for a minute – he could very well tell them no and be done with it, though the old man could easily override his answer – before he put his hands in his pockets and raised a second eyebrow.
"I was told to welcome Strawhat Luffy and his crew." He threw a look at the pouting straw hat wearer slumped over the railing to accentuate his point. It was a stretch since Roronoa was part of said crew as well, but he wouldn't take chances of this being a big setup and fall into the trap.
"Gurara, let the kids pass, Marco." Whitebeard's words confused the Devil Fruit user even further. Nevertheless, he stepped back and allowed the grinning raven head and his swordsman to pass.
"Thanks, old man!" The cloaked man grinned as he approached Whitebeard's towering form. Even sitting in his chair with wires and medical machines surrounding him, the man looked as imposing as ever.
Luffy plopped down to the ground in front of him while Zoro stopped a few meters away and crossed his arms.
"Sorry, but I didn't find any good sake in Sabaody."
The old man raised an amused eyebrow at the still grinning pirate. "I suppose I can overlook it this time. After all, you have more important business to discuss with me than just a friendly chat, right?"
Luffy nodded, a serious expression melting his earlier grin. Behind him, Zoro shifted impatiently. It went unnoticed by his captain.
"So what does the Pirate King want to speak with me?" Whitebeard boomed before the raven head could open his mouth.
The green haired first mate resisted the urge to sigh in exasperation. He should have expected it, to be honest. He didn't need Observation Haki to feel the shocked vibes emanating from the Going Merry's inhabitants and the Moby Dick wasn't faring much better.
We've been talking about Raftel this whole time and they are surprised by the title? Idiots.
"Wha..." Luffy's younger self mumbled, his jaw unhinged and dangerously close to the ground. His friends were not far from the same reaction, though the absence of rubber's flexibility hindered their jaws' descent.
Shocked mutters broke out just as quickly throughout the Moby Dick, causing a general uneasy atmosphere to settle above the crowd.
"I want you to tell me everything you know about Blackbeard." Luffy spoke calmly, uncaring of his surroundings.
"Why do you care about him?" The old man looked genuinely surprised by the inquiry.
"I need to kill him." The raven head declared bluntly. "And I need to know everything I can about him."
Whitebeard laughed, some of his crew joining him.
"You shouldn't concern yourself with him. Ace is going to take care of the traitor." The Yonko's eyes narrowed at the wave of Conqueror's Haki that burst forth from the man in front of him. Whether unknowingly or not was yet to be seen.
"Unfortunately," Luffy began, his tone controlled and void of emotions, "my brother died in his quest to do that."
Was that an accusing undertone he heard there?
"And the world went to shit after that." The Pirate King tilted his head from side to side in thought. "Well, mostly."
Tension settled between the uneasiness still hanging over the Moby Dick at the confession. Many Whitebeard pirates looked scandalized at the notion and some of them even started firing rapid questions and threats at the raven head, though one look from Zoro silenced most.
"What do you mean Ace died?!" The younger Strawhat Luffy roared, soaring with energy once again. When his glare didn't seem to have an effect on the man sitting opposite the mustached old man, the teen growled. "Oi! Don't ignore me!"
Whitebeard ignored the ruckus going on around them, opting instead to continue assessing the man in front of him with a critical eye.
"Where's your straw hat, kid?" He asked quietly.
Luffy's smile was sad. "I've left it back on Raftel."
"Then we moved it to the castle on Kuraigana Island." Zoro spoke for the first time since boarding the massive ship. "And now it's on the Thousand Sunny, docked back on Raftel, I suppose."
Luffy nodded and faced the old man again.
"Blackbeard has been steadily gaining power through the years. Even after I became the Pirate King and kicked his ass, I wasn't able to kill him." The pirate explained, his fists clenching in the material of his shorts. "No, I hesitated to kill him. And that had been my biggest mistake. It was his fault that Ace died, but I wasn't even able to avenge him in the end!" The man released a self-deprecating chuckle.
"Old man Whitebeard." Luffy placed a hand on the wooden deck between them. "My mistake has caused innumerable casualties and wars. I need to end it now!"
"Gurara. Don't be a fool youngster." The Yonko leveled Luffy's glare with narrowed eyes. "You killing him now won't make any difference. I thought Raftel had told you so."
Zoro snorted.
"What Raftel doesn't know, won't harm it." Luffy repeated his words from a few days ago.
"But it will harm you in the end." Whitebeard replied patiently. "Don't think it won't realize what you've done. If what you're telling me is true, then Blackbeard has made quite a name for himself through the world. If you kill him, then the future would be turned upside down and the island would try to right it."
The Pirate King opened his mouth to protest, but the Yonko wasn't done.
"Who knows, you might even end up going back and finding out that nothing had changed but the person behind those incidents. Are you willing to go back to your time and find out that it was Ace in Blackbeard's place?"
Luffy's sharp intake of breath was the only thing that was heard in the crippling silence.
"That chance is one in a million." The black haired man scowled when he regained his composure.
"And with our luck, it might actually happen." Zoro said, a smug expression on his face. "And then you'd have to stop your brother and I doubt you'd want to do that. I told you this won't be a good idea, Luffy."
"Oh? So the first mate was against it all along?" Whitebeard chuckled heartily.
"Then what the fuck are you telling me to do?!" Luffy slammed his fist in the same place his hand was earlier, face shadowed by long black bangs.
"I'm not tellin' ya to do anythin', kid." The Yonko said easily. "You're the Pirate King, the seas are under your care. If you command it, you can even get Raftel to teach you how to control them."
Zoro saw his captain's expression falter and he looked up slowly, suddenly looking years younger, like a doppelganger of his past self save the trademark straw hat. The swordsman could safely say that he hadn't known about that either and he felt renewed hope spark to life in his chest.
"Really?" He bit his lip uncertainly and whispered. "I've seen Roger do that, but…"
Whitebeard seemed surprised for a moment before he nodded his head and that was all Luffy truly needed, though both time travelers were shocked at the following statement coming from the older man.
"You're Ace's brother after all. I'm sure you'll be able to do it."
The Pirate King gave such a wide grin, it took Zoro slightly aback. He hadn't seen it in such a long time, yet there was still an undertone of uncertainty in his posture. Sighing, Luffy straightened his back and looked into the older man's eyes.
"I've learned many things while travelling in this time, but I need you to teach me one more thing, old man."
He paused and Whitebeard nodded.
"Please tell me everything about your Devil Fruit abilities."
A/N: Happy Easter! (for those who celebrate it today like me xD )
Decided I should just post this now and keep up with the schedule
gasp, the plot suddenly deepens! Like the feels, but let's not get into that owo
Anyway, don't forget to leave a review on your way out!
See you tomorrow! :D