Chapter 9: That Which Has Become Your Light

Disclaimer: …Do I have to say it? *cries* "Idon'townOnePiece."


It took a stranger for them to accept it.

Docked another island in the New World, they had decided they could all go out and were currently walking in one rambunctious group down the street. The civilians there knew who they were, but had decided that the Straw Hat Pirates really weren't there to cause havoc (the bad kind, at least), and refrained from calling the Marines. In fact, they were downright welcoming to the pirates. Waving and greeting them, laughing at their antics, watching them curiously. Simple things that no one minded.

So, perhaps it was no surprise that it took them a while to notice her. She was slipping in and out of the shadows as she followed them along, her eyes fixed on all of them at the same time. Analyzing. Thinking.

It unnerved Zoro, who had noticed her first, to no end. And that was quite the feat.

It had bothered him at first, when he had visually noticed the figure following them, that he hadn't detected her presence with Haki. But there was a light-hearted and relaxed mood following them around, so he assumed he had let his guard down some and immediately changed that. That was, until he noticed that no one else had noticed her at all.

Or so he thought. At one point, stopped outside a library for Chopper and Robin, Zoro noticed that a certain amount of excessive energy was missing. And he looked around and saw his captain standing about two feet away, completely silent, looking towards the stranger. And Zoro realized that his captain had always been aware of her. And when a slight motion of the stranger caused his captain to relax and become as typically energetic as ever, he raised his own gaze to meet the stranger's.

Not that that was possible. For some reason he couldn't see her eyes. So clear they were dark, so dark they were clear.

And then he blinked, and she was gone.


All of them noticed her next time. She was practically demanding their attention.

But somehow, Luffy didn't see her.

She was standing next to the last building before the docks. Her dark hair ruffled in the cooling breeze. Staring straight towards the Thousand Sunny with an unwavering gaze.

So they all came to a stop, except for Luffy, who continued towards the ship at an ever-pace-increasing headlong spring with his usual carefree grin and laugh.

Neither side spoke a single word for a long time.

And then she made them realize what they had been avoiding.

"'Lest you wish to lose that which has become you light, do not leave this wound untreated."

He was not the same as he had been. He had changed. Carrying something on his shoulders. A future so huge that not even the angels could see all of it. Burdens so heavy the world seemed light. An infinite drive forwards. A shadow that chased him. Fighting a war on all fronts. The final piece of an endless puzzle. Destined to walk his own path alone, to be the cause of what was to come on his own strength. By his own Will. The keystone to bring everything.

Continuously bleeding. Weakening. Cracking. Still holding strong. Marching towards an inevitable defeat. Because he could not heal his wound alone.

They looked away from the stranger toward the silhouette on the figurehead. Shoulders low. Hat swinging loosely on the string around his neck. Hair ruffled in the breeze. Eyes glazed and empty. His hand continuously tracing an x pattern over the scar that had haunted their dreams.

An act. A joyful one. The happiness that filled him when he was with them. So easily replaced by pain and loneliness. The mask he wore. Trying to hide his suffering from them. Standing up for them while his wound ate away at him.

He was not the same as he had been.

Wind whispered past their ears and when they looked back, the stranger was gone.

What they had realized so long ago had been recognized.

He was not the same as he had been.

It had taken a stranger for them to accept it.


M'kay. So this is about something a tiny bit different. You know how Luffy seems like he's not so affected in the anime/manga anymore? So, this Luffy acts like that, but he is affected. So while the crew knew that he was affected instinctively, they couldn't accept it in reality because I mean, who wants someone to be suffering from what Luffy went through? (*cough*darkersideofme*cough*) So, a stranger helped them out. XD a very mystical stranger who wasn't actually human. Btw, I'm sure you know, but yes, Luffy is "the light".

Hope you enjoyed! Please review!