Chapter 25

So I think I'm gonna add a psychotic counterpart to Luffy in his mind from the influence of fourth gear. Think Ichigo's inner hollow (if you've seen bleach). The full manifestation of it will come in later. For now, it'll be cryptic messages and headaches.

Zoro and Luffy took each other out and were laying in the sand.

"Luffy! I knew this was a bad idea!" yelled Nami, hurrying down to him. Robin followed to help Zoro. Nami crouched by Luffy's side.

"Luffy, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm-ugh..." Luffy clutched his forehead.

"Ah! What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing. Just a headache."

"A-Are you sure?"

"Yeah-urgh-haaaa" Luffy passed out again.

Inside his head:

"Luuuuu-fyyyyyyy! He he he he. Wake up!"

Luffy gasped and shot awake.

"Luffy! What happened to you?!" asked Nami, laying next to him in the bed in the back room of the infirmary.

"Did you...hear anything just now, Nami?"

"Huh? N-No. Hear what?"

"A voice. It sounded...twisted. Evil."

"You're imagining things. Anyway, both of your powers were something else. You and Zoro were completely equal!"

"...No, we weren't." said Zoro through the other room.

"Huh? But you guys took each other out with about the same amount of damage..."

"Something wasn't right. That was a fluke. When Luffy rushed at me, I could sense that his attack was far above mine. But in the last few seconds before we clashed, for some reason his attack became significantly weaker, dropping to the level of mine."

"Huh? What happened then?" asked Nami. "Luffy?"

"I-I don't remember."

"Not good enough. Luffy, you must remember as much as you can. Anything at all. I don't think you weakened out of pity." said Zoro.

"I-I remember charging the attacks and running...and then...some kind of...force took hold of me. I passed out before we clashed."

"Force?" asked Nami.

"Zoro, did you notice anything...strange about me before we hit each other?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, I did. When you first started running, you were focused and determined. However, in the few seconds before you hit, you smiled for some reason."

"Smiled? But he smiles all the time." remarked Nami.

"This was no ordinary smile. It was a grin. Almost psychotic looking. It's like he was fighting...for sport, for the sheer thrill of battle."

"I wonder...if that has anything to do with that voice." said Luffy.

"Luffy, I would be cautious with using that transformation from now on. This is just a guess, but that voice you heard and the force are one and the same. That technique comes with a price that may influence your mind and change the way that you think." said Zoro.

"But that technique is my best hope for defeating Akainu!"

"I said NO!"

Luffy flinched.

"Until we find out more about it and you learn to control it better, I don't want you putting anyone in danger!"

"How do YOU know he'll put us in danger?!" asked Nami.

Zoro sighed. "I don't. But I don't want to take any chances. How would you feel if Luffy lost control of himself and started attacking us, you, your child?!" Nami gasped.

Luffy got up and walked over to Zoro. He looked angry. He gave Zoro a powerful slap across the face.

"L-Luffy?!" cried Nami.

"Don't ever say things like that! I promise on my life that I will never attack neither Nami nor Rose. NEVER!"

End.