Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.
Training with Rayleigh was exhilarating, exhausting and frustrating. Sitting with him around the campfire, grilling some animal or another that they'd caught just that day, Luffy felt hungry beyond belief. He already knew that nothing they prepared would ever measure up to Sanji's cooking, but at this very moment, Luffy could have eaten the beast raw for all he cared.
The old man was sitting on a nearby rock, reading the newspaper that the News Coo had brought by earlier. Luffy was brought out of staring forlornly at the cooking meat by a random comment the bespectacled man uttered, "Ne, Luffy? When was your birthday, again? Wasn't it in May?"
"Eh? 5th of May. Why?"
The old man closed his eyes, finding something humorous in the situation that escaped Luffy, "Because that's tomorrow. Do you want us to do anything in particular apart from training?"
Last year, he'd set off on his birthday. The year before, they'd had a birthday party at the Party Bar. It wasn't like he'd ever celebrated his birthday on the Grand Line before. But... this time, it'd be the first birthday he'd celebrate without either of his brothers anywhere in the world. Both had left his life far too early, far too soon.
It hit him, then. He'd never get to see Ace again. Sabo's death was like a wound that never closed, but Ace's was fresh in his memories, pressed upon his soul in ways he could never articulate. Luffy knew the way Ace died intimately, had felt the way his older brother's body had slipped from his grasp with that ugly, huge, all-consuming hole in the middle of it. None of his own injuries had seemed quite as important, quite as disturbing as that fist's way through his brother's body. His breathing picked up speed. Oh, he was shaking, when had he started doing that?
And then Rayleigh's calming presence was in front of him, counting to seven to help regulate his breaths. Luffy knew that spiel. He'd panicked, hadn't he? That hadn't happened since more than a month ago. Deeply, he consciously breathed in and out.
What had set him off this time? The thought that for the first time there'd be none of his brothers roaming the world while he celebrated his birthday? Tears came to his eyes. For the first time, he'd be all alone… no. Shaking his head, he did what he'd learned to do every time such thoughts threatened to overwhelm him during the past few months: he still had his crew. His nakama would be there, just a bit longer than a year from now, wasn't it? He'd be reunited with them soon.
And while they wouldn't be a substitute for his brothers – they couldn't be, they wouldn't ever even dare to try – they'd be there. They'd be there for him, just like Rayleigh was currently. Looking up with watery eyes, Luffy told the elder, "Let's catch some alligators!" Disregarding completely that there mightn't be any for them to find on this particular island, as Rayleigh's eyebrows rose up and he tried to reason with the younger captain.
But that wasn't important, not right then. Jumping up, Luffy declared the meat had finished roasting and tucked in heartily to Rayleigh's continued surprise at the amount of food the teenager managed to devour in one single sitting.
He'd be 18 by tomorrow. Luffy would celebrate it the way he wanted to, brothers present or not!
… and if he cried a lot and ate a lot and talked Rayleigh's ears off about the shenanigans he and his brothers had gotten up to together whenever one of their birthdays rolled around, that was his decision.
AN: I realise what times we're living in currently and that isolation may be how a lot of the western world operates right now. I do hope you celebrate birthdays the way that you see fit and if that's by singing a happy birthday to your loved ones via phone call then that's that. Personally, I already did that and it did make the birthday girl's day a little bit brighter, methinks. Stay safe and healthy, dear readers~
