LOST TIME

The Soul Arc Part I

Wow...Honestly, I never thought I'd make it to chapter 7, and right now, my spirits are kinda sunk because I'm not getting many reviews...so please, reviews would be much appreciated, especially since I'm on the borderline of a slump, (Cookies to those that review!) and my inspiration is somewhat near the bottom, even though I've got this whole ark planned out, so please review! And now for lost time!

Chopper quickly ran up to the deck, bellowing, calling for Luffy, until he found him sitting in the crow's nest. Bearing the bloody injection needle, he crawled up, and plopped down next to Luffy. "Luffy! I just found this in the ship's hold..." He held up the bloody needle, breathless, and Luffy's eyes seemed to widen. He jumped down from the crow's nest, and shot towards the hold, Chopper in tow.

"That Needle's a sign. sometimes it comes out of the box over there..." Luffy said as he suddenly realized something.

Luffy threw the box open, his sign clattering a few feet away, and pulled out an old dusty book. He flipped it open, then frowned, a look of anger on his face. "Chopper." He spoke slowly now. "Did you touch this box?" "No, I read the sign, you know, the one that said do not open, so I left it alone!" Luffy grimaced, Then began flipping through the book.

"Too late. Our position has been given away." He put the book back into the case, then locked it shut. "I knew I should have locked it last time." "What are you talking about?" Chopper asked, curious on what had Luffy so uptight.

"Whitebeard's sending his men after us, and that was a tracking book, discovered and invented by his crew. The blueprints of it were found by his crew, and it has a lot of information about him and his crew in it, as such it is tempting to open, but if it is, the main one, which Whitebeard always has on him, will tell him and his crew where this one is. It has a whole page which has numerous runes dedicated to this purpose.

Unfortunately, it's indestructible as well, and once it has been implemented in one place, it cannot be moved unless activated by Whitebeard and his henchmen.

"S-so, he's sending people after us?" "Probably. But don't worry, last time it was a couple hundred guys with minor devil fruit powers, like flight, and things like that." Chopper shivered. "So he sends devil fruit users after us?" "Yeah, mainly because one piece was the Ijin Ijin Fruit.." Chopper's eyes widened. "The devil devil fruit? What does that do?" Luffy looked down at him, now even more serious.

"It gives one the ability to give and take devil fruit powers. So far though, Whitebeard is only focusing on the give. He can only take to some extent. Because of him, I can't stretch my head." As if to show an example. Luffy pulled on his head, but nothing happened, while stretching his arm up.

"So thats what we're dealing with.." Chopper mumbled, then nodded at Luffy. "Good night captain!" the reindeer said, saluting, then walked off towards the men's quarters. Luffy sat there, then stomped on the book. "Not again." He mumbled.

Morning came, and as such, screams from Chopper woke most everyone up. "EVERYONE! IT'S THE BARATIE! LOOK! THATS IT, RIGHT?!" Chopper yelled, pointing to a giant fish shaped restaurant, floating on the sea. "Yeah." Mumbled a slightly sleep deprived Nami, who wandered out of the navigation room.

Luffy stood up, then stretched his arms and reached towards the restaurant pulling him and the ship right up next to the restaurant, then promptly stopped it by pushing hard against the wall. Kicking down the gangplank, he called to the rest. "All off!" then promptly walked into the restaurant. Eyes wandered over towards the entrance when Luffy walked into the restaurant, slowly moving towards the chef's room. He entered, and ran into a man with a very odd circular lower part . '

"HEY! WATCHA THINK YOU'RE DOIN IN HERE SQUIRT!?" The man looked over, eyes suddenly widening. "Luffy? Izzat you kid?" Luffy looked over at the man who wore an eye patch, seemingly unfamiliar to him. "Doncha remember me kid? I'm Patty!"

"So Sanji left off after finding out I was alive?" "Yeah, he even brought our new ship with him. Looks a lot like the one he took you to Arlong park in. Green and white, striped." Luffy nodded. "And where did he say he was going?" "He said he was heading towards the sea of fire towards the southeast. He thought he'd find you there, as that's where it was rumored you were headed on the part of the navy." Luffy laughed. "That's some crappy Intel on the navy's part."

"Yeah, mainly because the sea of fire is the one place where no man would ever go." Another chef wearing sunglasses walked over. "Carne! Come to join us?" "No, actually I just wanted to point that out. Now I've gotta get back to doin' your job." He pointed at Patty. "You owe me." then walked back. "The sea of fire?" Luffy asked, confused.

"It's a desert that's seemingly endless. However legend tells that an ancient city which is possibly the most technologically advanced in the world lies right in the middle. But nobody's ever found anything. Supposedly the weapons there are the strongest in the world. Like the trees of the devil fruit supposedly grow there." Patty replied.

"Most everyone who comes here is talkin' about it. I guess the Navy put 1 and 4 together and got 2. They think you're after the weapons, and you're trying to take over the world. Or they're just trying to..." Patty stopped mid sentence. "Oh my god..." He whispered. Then stood up.

"Luffy, the navy is trying to exterminate all of your old crew members...and perhaps even more...They're trying to draw pirates and your old crew there, and then kill them."

Luffy's eyes shot open, sudden realization flowing in. "Thanks Patty, so Sanji went there?" "Un." Patty replied. "Then we've gotta go save him." Quickly Luffy shot back towards the ship, warning everyone of the danger their former comrades now faced. Soon the sails were up, and the ship was shooting off towards the south east, in search of whoever was there, and ready to meet any dangers that came their way.

The desert appeared on the horizon, a seemingly endless amount of orange stretching for perhaps miles, no visible sign of it being an island, and sand stretching for miles along the orange coastline. No ports adorned the end, and no boats were visibly docked there. As such, the thousand sunny sailed up to the shore, and then spotted a small green and white ship. "Sanji's here." Luffy said, hopping out of the boat, along with the rest of the crew, not noticing a small body shaped ship perhaps a number of meters away, with a smiling man named Motoko staring intently at them, when his comrades came out. To them, there was no green and white boat, only the thousand sunny, and they watched the four forms disappear along the shoreline. Suddenly Motoko straightened up, and shook the smile off of his face.

"Damn, this illusion trick really takes it out of you. So what'll it be Seji? You're the master of assassination among pirates!"

"I've got just the thing." The one named Seji hopped out of the ship, now wearing an all orange shirt, cloak, and mask, with the ying yang symbol adorning it. He smiled behind his mask.

"You guys go on ahead." And as the body shaped ship sailed off into the horizon, he smiled, eyes now blood red, and he repeated, "I've got just the thing."

Brook shuddered as they marched through the desert. "Captain...It would appear there is a devil fruit user here..." Luffy looked at him. "You can sense that?" "No...Not normally at least, but this devil fruit user was trying to control my heart, to change my emotions, manipulate me. They're obviously a new kind of user." Luffy cursed.

"Whitebeard's henchmen are here, but what kept you from being affected, Brook?" "Easy. I am simply a spirit. Nothing more, perhaps a shell as well, but only a spirit. This user can only take control of one's heart. And I do not have one."

Luffy unsheathed his sword, ready for action. Nami grabbed her perfect clima-tact, ready for action as well. Brook pulled out his cane sword, and Chopper turned into heavy point. Now moving slower, and slightly more on alert, the crew of four moved forward at a slow pace, watching the desert sands.

Blood red eyes glared from Brook, angrily to Chopper, who seemed to stop, then continue moving, and the red eyed man smiled. "One of four down."

Chopper look over at Luffy. "This is pointless. We'll never find Sanji in this huge desert. What ever drove you to do something this retarded Luffy? I thought this year had changed you. HONESTLY! Thanks to you, we're in a god forsaken desert, looking for some psycho pervert chef, who now has close to ten billion beri, and is probably a PLAYBOY psycho pervert who relies on prostitutes to live!" Chopper stared angrily at Luffy. "Why not just turn around now before this retard makes another mistake!" Luffy stared at Chopper, confused. "Why are you so angry Chopper?"

The man was close to laughing, but instead, he focused his eyes on Nami, eyes once again changing from cloud grey into blood red.

Nami blinked, then stopped, staring at Chopper. "He's right you know! HONESTLY! Luffy you're possibly the stupidest person I know! Why the hell are we looking for that psycho! Right Chopper?!" Chopper nodded back, then promptly turned with Nami and started towards the ship. "WAIT!" Luffy yelled after them.

"We've gotta find him! He's Nakama!" Nami and Chopper shuddered at the word Nakama. "Nakama? Luffy, to you the only Nakama you ever had was that old bastard Shanks. And look what you did! You went and killed him! Your one true Nakama! The only other Nakama you have is the meat that you eat all the time!" Chopper spat at him.

"We're going." Nami turned. "Nakama, Nakama, Nakama! Is that all you have on your mind? Just because people were once your 'Nakama' (And I use that term loosely.) you feel you have the right to drag them back onto some rotting piece of floating dog shit?! I Don't think so!"

Brook suddenly fell to the ground, unable to move. "Luffy...somethings attacking my spirit, trying to reach my...AAAARGH!" "L-look, you guys are all under some spell! S-some devil fruit user is manipulating you!" "Not quite. There's nothing wrong with us stating our opinions, and does there SEEM to be anything wrong with us? We'll meet you back at the ship when you're done being an idiot."

Seji Chuckled, watching the arguing unfold, after incapacitating Brook by temporarily giving him a heart preventing his spirit from contacting his body, and giving it commands. Now he turned his gaze on Luffy, and blinked twice. Something shut him out. "Spirit energy." He hissed. "Hate that. Guess I'll have to torture him some more!" Seji laughed and turned his gaze towards Nami again.

"Once again, Nami blinked, then, "You know, to be quite honest, I really can't take any of this bullshit. Fighting so YOU can have your revenge! What are we fighting for? One piece? Too little, too late! And another thing Luffy, you know that we're risking our lives just so you can accomplish your childhood dream and avenge your idol. We didn't even KNOW the guy! WHY drag us into it? Go to hell Luffy. Go to hell. I'll take Sanji's boat, and get the hell out of here. He's probably dead anyway!" She sneered. "And he probably wouldn't care anyway."

Luffy dropped to his knees, unable to move. Apparently a bit of Seji's spell had, in fact gotten through his spirit force barrier, and now images of him killing Shanks, basic guesses on Seji's part, but to Luffy, in fact, they seemed real. Eyes shut, Luffy pounded the ground, as Nami, and Chopper walked away, and Brook's body, filled with sand sat in the orange sand of the seeming horizon.

Seji laughed, not loud, but more of a chuckle, as he prepared for his next act, throwing a dagger towards the group. Using his manipulation, Nami picked up the dagger, and was about to stab Luffy, when Seji turned around, more for amusement, than to check his flank, when he spotted a green and white striped ship on the shore. "Thats right Shit puppeteer, the calvary's here." Seji looked up into the eyes of Sanji. "Never, and I mean NEVER mess with a lady's feelings." Seji trembled, and began to stare at Sanji, when a foot sent him flying through the air, concentration now broken, causing minor ties to be broken, and the images stopped for Luffy, who watched as the man landed next to him.

"Bad place to land puppeteer." Seji looked up. "Aaaaagh Fuck." A fist drove him straight down into the sand, then pulled him up after a few seconds. Sand bursting from his mouth, scratches all over him, the once mighty ruler of feeling, Seji locked eyes with Luffy, His eyes bursting with fear, while confidence adorned Luffy's stare.

"So it was YOU?! You're the one who was manipulating their feelings?"

"Y-Yes...P-please don't kill me...I was only following W-whitebeard's orders!"

"Put them back to normal. DO IT NOW!"

"I-I c-can't! O-only Motoko can! H-he's in c-charge of t-this operation! N-not me! I'm just an underling!" Luffy punched him "WHERE IS HE?!" "In a body shaped ship...F-floating towards the northwest Marine b-base!"

"Thank you. Now that wasn't so hard, was it? Now you die, useless."

"NOOOOO! Please! I can put the reindeer back! I-I Pr-Pr-Promise!" He snapped his fingers, and Chopper returned to normal, collapsing on the ground from being controlled for such a long period of time. "A-and there is another way to put the girl back. A sh-shock, y-you know, like something very sad, or so-something sudden! L-like i-if you have the hiccups! And I can tell you more! Just please! Let me live!" Luffy raised his fist, and tore off the man's mask. "You're coming with us. Just don't try anything. AND FIX BROOK!" Brook suddenly shot up after the man snapped his fingers, sighing from relief.

"So do we kick this Motoko guy's ass or what? It's your choice Luffy!" Sanji stepped forward. "Don't I have a say? I mean, I just saved your lives." "So you're re-joining the crew Sanji?" "I dunno...you guys are going after one piece STILL?!" Sanji took a long drag of his cigarette, then looked at the sky as Luffy spoke. "No, this time, we're going after Whitebeard as he found it. And also, he's using it to take over the world." "So we're the Pirate Harbingers of Justice now?" Sanji said, still in a cool and collected voice. Luffy smiled. "Personally, I kinda like the world as is. And we were peace main pirates, only stepping in when it concerns us. Really, this affects everyone. And Whitebeard's bounty is somewhere in the trillions now."

Taking another long drag of his cigarette, Sanji looked down at Luffy. "Yeah, sure, I guess I'm in, if Nami-san is, but looking at her right now just goes to show you that these bastards won't let that happen." He finally smiled, and reached out towards Brook and Chopper, helping them up. "all things considered, I'm glad that I came here!" Luffy sweatdropped.

"So you guys still have the thousand sunny. And you." He pointed to Luffy. "Luffy, you seem a lot smarter than last time. You been teaching or what?" "I've been learning-" Chopper interrupted. "He's got a stack of books he's read this high!" To make a point, he reached up as far as he could as heavy point. Sanji closed his eyes, and took another drag of his cigarette. "Damn, Luffy, you've got some explaining to do. But for now, lets get this Motoko bastard." Sanji muttered, then grabbed Seji.

"You! What's your name, and where will Motoko be in the northwest?!" "My name is Seji, and I told you. He's going to the marine base there called 'Seiha Shima.' Probably to report your death. He'll be expecting me." "Then we'll bring you to him. Congratulations, you just became bait." "W-wait! There's another one of us, we're called the soul trio. Motoko actually is under this one. His name is...Kokoro." Luffy blinked.

"I've heard of him. What's his power?" "I-it's too terrible to explain...he, he can control one's soul! He can even pluck it out and use it for his own good. But he still is taking orders from Motoko, sort of testing him to see how he accomplishes this mission. He's Whitebeard's Jail guard, his power matching that of Whitebeard's First mate!" "Well then, we'd better get going!"

Seji sat next to Nami, bound and gagged in the hold, Nami pacing around, still in a trance. Much to Sanji's discomfort, the group had decided to put her down there, just for her own, and everyone else's safety. And also to piss Seji off. While Nami ranted about her various hatred of the group above her, consulting with herself, Seji was beginning to regret what he'd done. "I'm quitting the minute this is over." He thought in his mind.

After a long explanation, Sanji was beginning to understand what had happened all those years he was gone. "And I wondered what happened to Robin-chwan and Nami-san! I even had this ready for one of them! Had it made about a month ago just in case of this scenario! Never thought you were dead Luffy! You just don't die that easily!" Sanji reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace. Luffy smiled. "Well it looks like we'd better get on our way, we should be at the fortress in a few days! Then we can cure Nami and head to water 7 on the grand line!

Translations

I've begun using some japanese text, so here are the translations for it!

Ijin/Devil

Seji/Heart

Shima/Island

Seiha/Domination

Un/Yeah

Kokoro/Mind, Heart, Soul

I just found these on the internet, and decided, what the hell. So there you go!

Next chapter will be up soon! The explanation of Luffy's sword will come then too.

Once again, thanks to Nimak for basically breaking my slump and inspiring me to do this

whole chapter! Thanks Nimak! He gave me the whole idea for this chapter, so a lot of credit

goes to him!