I do not own One Piece by Eiichiro Oda or any other references to other works I may use in this story.

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"People talking"
'People thinking'
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Chapter 1: Darkness before Dawn

When I arrived at the island, I found a dock with some signs of repair, rough but effective. Also what appears to be a small rotting wreck is peeking out of the water. Beyond that there is little evidence of the kind of life I'm looking for. I move forward thinking that if nothing else I would find answers.

Moving inland and through the lightly wooded forest, this land sings the song of an uninhabited island being invaded. Startled birds squakings and fleeing to the trees, the rustle of underbrush being pushed aside indicating retreat, and splashes through running water. But no speech nor the staccato beat of tools sounding out. Approaching the center of the island the tops of some ruins begins to peak out over the foliage. Following this sight the first sign of a person; a thin stream of smoke rising slightly to the right of my course.

The hope of finding someone blooms as I run towards the smoke's source. Having a proper direction I can sense one person. He feels tired and kind of old. Getting closer brings the sound of a cracking fire over my footsteps. As the fire comes into view, my attention is drawn to the huge cooking shank of what seems to be from a seaking. Slowing to a stop, my eyes slide to the man sitting as he silently cooks.

His hair is black peppered with white, his back and shoulders look tired as if time and the world has completely ground them down. 'Who is this man? Does he know anything about who I'm looking for? Will he help me find Straw Hat Luffy?'

Before I could speak the man shifted in his seat with a bone weary sigh. His voice sounded just as tired as he looked, "So someone finally came. Are you here to kill me? Not that it really matters. Out of curiosity are you here for money, glory or justice?" In spite of his questions the man's voice didn't change even when talking about his death and he hadn't moved from staring into the fire.

Taking a steadying breath I answer with as much conviction as I could, "No, I'm looking for something, or better yet someone." I cautiously begin to approach the man before continuing, "Really I just need answers that can only be found here. And I think you are the only one who can help me find them."

"And what answers can a lost soul like me have?" the man asks as he turns with a groan. His squinting eyes are almost sunken into a worn, tired face. "What are you looking f-... Coby!" the man suddenly squawked as he fell off his seat. His eyes popping open as he finally saw me.

Startled by my name I looked closer at the man. With his eyes fully open, they looked round and not sunken. His face was circular and the look of surprise made me take decades off of my first impression. But there it was, a scar. A small, thin, almost insignificant scar under his left eye that told me everything I needed to know. "Luffy!"

* Line Break *

After getting over the shock, Luffy and Coby sat down around the fire. Luffy returns to stoking the fire and adjusting the cooking meat, "So what answers can I give you, Coby? Who are you looking for?"

"I was looking for you, Luffy. I needed to know if you were alive, or at least where your grave was." stated Coby looking at Luffy as he took the shank off of the flames.

"Why? I've just been here. Alone." came Luffy's reply. Finishing up his task, his hands starting to play with his worn knife, unconsciously keeping busy sharpening some nearby sticks.

"So, you quit being a pirate here? I thought this was where the One Piece is?" asked Coby in shock and confusion.

"No, it's not. And I can't be a captain alone." Luffy stated sharply. Continuing with a hollow tone, "We didn't split up Coby; they're dead!"

Coby hung his head, "I'm sorry. I heard about the attack, well multiple attacks …"

"Then you may know more than me. Hard to say, I wasn't really awake for the last one." Luffy said, sharpness fading as an inquisitive frown formed. He stood up and took his knife to the shank cutting off chunks that he speared on to the new skewers. As he worked he continued to talk, "But I have to ask, how are you here? I know you can navigate and are strong enough to make it, but I can't see the Marines allowing a potential Admiral taking off enough time to get here." Turning around he handed Coby a few of the skewers then sat down to eat his own supper.

Coby's sarcastic chuckle didn't raise the mood, "You tend to have time when you resign in disgust. No, it helped that they underestimated my abilities with few times they tried to forcibly reenlist me."

Luffy whipped his head around in shock, "You quit? What disgusted you so much you quit?"

"Where do I even start? Luffy, you do realize in your pirate career you saved numerous islands and at least three countries who were part of the World Government. Countries, we were supposed to protect. And that's ignoring the ripples from saving those countries, like the criminals organizations destroyed, crippled or arrested." All Coby got was a shrug from Luffy.

"The problem is at the same time, me and possibly even the entire corps didn't even get orders that could match your success rate even if you guys didn't need evidence to act. Sure, we protected and escorted the nobility and I helped with several hostage situations, but it bothered me. It wasn't much, but when you add in the rumors and the stories I heard as I climbed the ranks: 'unreported' slave camps, searches for superweapons for 'safe containment', and even the crimes of existing." Luffy silently nodded in agreement to Coby's complaints, his crew had run into enough of those 'rumors' themselves.

"And on the other hand there are events like last year. The old pirate Shiki tried to wipe out all of the East Blue with monsters. Garp was there and dealt with that one but I think the marines took all of the research and I shudder to think what they could be doing with it. The biggest act by the marines in years and it was done by one retired old man." Though Coby had to silently agree with Luffy's eyes saying Garp was anything but just an old retiree. "And that still doesn't bring back the islands lost during that fiasco.

"The last straw came when I was escorting nobles from one of the founding 20 countries home from the Reverie. Before leaving, I was repeatedly encouraged to pass off the job either to a subordinate or some volunteers. Originally it didn't bother me even after the first pirate attack by submarine no less. By pirates I now think I helped capture before that Reverie even started. But, then I found more than one bomb on board and after that assassins that felt like the escort volunteers attacked while shouting of 'extinguishing the light.'"

Seeing the confusion mounting on Luffy's face Coby finished his story, "Luffy, the noble I was escorting was Vivi." Like a shot the sound of wood splintering echoed around the two. Coby brought his hands up in assurance, "She made it home safe, I made sure of that, but that was it. I turned in my resignation that month."

"That doesn't explain why you came here Coby? Why me?" Luffy asked, still looking at Coby as his tension receded.

"I wanted to know if you were alive. And to see if you had any answers. You were good at inspiring that in others."

With a shake of his head, Luffy replies, "I'm not sure I can anymore. Since they were... gone, I haven't had the will to dream." His eyes drifting down to his hands, the food now uninteresting.

"A pity, with the rumors I've been hearing it feels like the whole world is coming apart. Islands disappearing, countries going silent, and Black Beard has started cutting a swath through New World," Luffy flinched a little at the name. Coby sighs, "Sometimes I wish we could have stopped this before it began."

Luffy offers the only thing he could, "If you want, you can rest here. Maybe even a month or two, it's peaceful here."

"Ha. Never thought I would see the day you would like to be peaceful."

"You would be surprised. I've even taken to sky watching. It occasionally helps me... forget."

Looking at the setting sun Coby felt the tiredness he had been holding off begin to return, "I might like that. Though it is almost dark, won't we need shelter."

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry about it. It stays fairly warm at night if you stay off the coast, and the nights are almost always clear here. No rain to worry about."

"Then I'll take you up on that generous offer."

* Line Break *

The night passed peacefully for the two reunited friends. And they slept better than either had in a long time. The following day went by fairly quietly with the collection of fruits and heating the remaining meat for meals. Luffy also carved a new knife handle to replace the one he damaged the previous evening. Small talk was sporadically had throughout the day with Coby helping update Luffy more on the world and Luffy guiding Coby on the fairly small island's places and resources. They were short but comforting to both men.

Coby broke the ice into a longer conversation near sunset, "I can see how a quiet life is possible here. You said you took up stargazing as well?"

Nodding solemnly Luffy lets out a sigh, "Yeah it makes it easier to remember the happier times. We will be able to see them pretty soon." Lifting up his knife, Luffy points in the direction of the ruins, "You can always see the first star appearing over the ruins."

"That is interesting, you mean it gets dark over there first?" asked Coby following the knife's direction.

"No, I mean the first star is always there." Luffy answered, as a pale almost pink star slowly revealed itself over the last rays of the sun.

"Pretty. A little odd but pretty," it was hardly the weirdest thing in the Grand Line. The two just laid down, falling into a companionable silence watching all the stars fill the sky. "It's beautiful I can see why people take the time to do this."

"Never have?"

*Sigh* "Not since becoming a marine, too busy or tired or just chaotic. But I did a little before, when I dreamed of my freedom." Coby stated wistfully

"Yeah, it wasn't very often, but sometimes we would look at the stars. Robin would even tell stories, no what was the word, legends about the stars. Hunters, Land Kings, stuff like that."

"Yes, man has been looking to the skies for centuries. They've made so many stories trying to understand, explain, and follow them. and for every dreamer they have meant so much more from wishes to friends. And to sailors they're the greatest navigational tool, their eternal guide, the unchanging map. Although I must say, I can't remember seeing a star where your little wishing star is."

Silence

"Luffy, did you fall asleep?"

"Could you repeat that Coby?" his voice no louder than a whisper.

"What, not seeing your wishing star?"

"No, the part about sailors."

"To sailors the greatest navigational tool, the eternal guide, the unchanging map."

"Eternal... map," came a mutter of contemplation.

"What was that, Luffy?"

"Just a mystery for another day. Goodnight Coby." Luffy rolled over seeming to go straight to sleep.

"Yeah, night Luffy."

*next day*

After breakfast Luffy had a question, "Hey Coby, do you want to check out the ruins today? There was something I wanted to show you. Something that you said last night reminded me of it."

"Well we certainly didn't have anything else planned," he replied with a chuckle.

Luffy leads them towards the ruins and into what looks like it was once the central building. Coby thinks it was a temple with an open front with the other three sides of the building once solid now pitted and worn with the passage of time. The open roof left the room open to the elements, but the lack of rubble showed no signs of a collapsed roof. The inner walls were dirty but looked undamaged.

"The part I wanted you to see is over here," Luffy said as he approached one of the cleaner sections of wall. "I may have read this wrong but here it is. "

Here lays the land were all ways lead

And here all paths connect

For those lost and unable to return

Turn to the eternal map

As the mists of time hide the tracks

Take the road least traveled

Stay the course following your wish

And you may find your way anew

"But what does it even mean Luffy?" asks Coby, a little scared by the power in the words. But looking them over showed him that Luffy had no misread them

"It's a mystery, Coby. One I found on my first month on this island. But last night it became a mystery I feel I need to solve. The first part is easy, we're standing on it after all." chuckling at the fact that he only now realized it. "And you gave me the answer to the 'eternal map' last night."

"The stars!" came Coby's answer with a gasp, "But what about the rest? I mean all paths could be talking about log poses but rest is just plain confusing." He shook his head wondering where Luffy was going with this.

"But with the map the rest of it is starting to make sense. This poem seems to speak to me, but only now that I feel that I have some direction, a course, a spark of hope if you will." With a wistful air about him Luffy begins to smile, "I think this is the key to time travel."

"That's crazy Luffy, I can agree the second half is talking about time. But it could just be as easily talking about something like reincarnation or death."

"Not as crazy as you think Coby. Everyone will travel the road of death eventually. And I have met others who have been sent forward in time before, something like a 20-year jump. We thought it was with a devil fruit." The small smile on Luffy's face reminded Coby that he was speaking with the king of weird and adventure. "And if people have traveled forward, then the least traveled path should be backwards."

"Ok, let's pretend that's true for a second. If you are so determined to do this, we still need to figure out the rest of this to even try," said Coby hoping to reason with him but getting sucked into Luffy's excitement. "'Find your way anew' probably means success, but several of the others are just guesses. And that still leaves two lines without answers."

"Yeah no clue." Luffy grumbles with a pout.

Coby started scratching ideas into the dirt on the floor. "Ok, let's look at the earlier lines. 'The land' is here, 'paths' are probably log poses. 'Turn to the eternal map…' we know the map is the stars so does that mean we look up? I guess at night? Maybe something in the stars will tell us something."

Looking at the wall Luffy began speaking, "What about 'stay the course and follow your wish?' Stay the course probably means to keep moving forward. But the wish part sounds more like a direction or a place, than well a wish." Luffy's last wish had a place even if he still had no idea where it was. But his gut said this one had a direction as well.

Coby sighs in frustration, "We may need to wait until a new moon to solve this out Luffy." Coby stands and begins pacing to deal with the building energy.

"Why, what's a new moon?" asked Luffy, deciding to lean against the wall to watch Coby.

Coby stopped his pacing, turning to look at Luffy. "It's the opposite of a full moon, Luffy. A night without moonlight so the stars will be at their brightest and we will be able to see all of them." explained Coby before he resumed his pacing in thought.

"Oh that stinks. When there's no moon at night, this island is covered in a thick fog that sticks mostly to the ground so that you can hardly see anything below your knees. It gets cold and wet so I tend to sleep in trees or on ruins those nights." replied Luffy with disappointment coloring his tone.

"Yeah that would be awkward," Coby agreed, looking down in thought. His eyes found he had walked over his notes leaving little but the design of his boot heels. "That could hide a lot of what we are looking for if it is around your … feet ... or … footprints. That's it!" Coby exclaims spinning towards Luffy.

"What's it?" Luffy asked, tilting his head.

"The fog or mist of the new moon, a full star map without the moon blocking any of it, and mist hiding any footprints or tracks. OK that gives us time and it's less than a week from now." Coby said excitedly.

Luffy nodded in thought. "So, all that's left is the wish that's a place, and maybe up."

"Wish up, and it has to be here like the first line said." Coby pondered tapping the side of his head. "Wish … up … bright stars … dark night maybe."

"Maybe starlight …" Coby started saying before interrupting himself "No-no, but familiar. Oh I wish … wish maybe. No … I wish I may. That's it! I may have it."

"Have what?"

"It's a children song, a charm to wish on a star, not a shooting star though, but the first star of the night." explained Coby, still thinking the idea over.

"And on this island the first star of the night is always above this temple." Luffy said in shock.

"To follow the wish means to follow the star, and to do so at a new moon. But even if something happens are you sure you want to try this Luffy? It may kill you." Coby's worry creeping back into his voice

"I'm already dead in the ways that matter, Coby. If nothing else this will be one grand adventure," came the reply with a True D smile on his face.

"If that is the case then we can only make sure you're truly ready to sail."

*evening before new moon*

The days approaching the new moon were filled with an excitement not seen on the island In decades if not longer. When not gathering essentials like food or water, Coby worked with Luffy to try to remember or stuff in as much knowledge as he could into the rubberman's skull. Knowledge was the biggest factor if they wanted to change anything. And with no idea how he would go back they couldn't do much else.

Coby gave Luffy the crash course in everything he could from people of importance, to major (relatively recent) events, to what items to look out for. He found out connecting as much of the information as he could to Luffy's friends helped Luffy remember anything.

Coby's advice for training came with the reminder that Luffy had also been trained by Garp but without the help of calmer subordinates. Though Coby was surprised to find Luffy had already had almost all of the methods to do the Six Powers figured out, but not the way to train the body to do them. When asked, Luffy only told Coby that he had a perfect live example of the techniques beaten into him years ago. Coby still gave as much as he could.

The night was coming.

"Are you sure I can't talk you out of this?" nervously asked Coby.

Luffy shook his head "No, are you sure you don't want to come?"

Coby shook his head in response "No Luffy, I want to stay back and if this doesn't change anything, I still want to help change the world myself."

Luffy nodded in understanding "I understand, but do you want me to recruit little you?"

"No, to help people as a great marine was my dream, and still is in a way. Neither of us should take that away from him though it can't hurt to give him a push." stated Coby, looking off in the distance for a moment.

"I'll miss you but I'll see you again." said Luffy, sadly smiling at Coby

Coby nodded in response "That you will, are you prepared?"

"Yep here comes the night." Luffy said looking at the horizon.

Walking towards the temple as the night fell the mist began to blanket the island. To Coby's surprise it wasn't coming from the sea, but from the middle of the island, billowing out of the temple. Upon entering they looked up and they saw the island's star. The mist seemed to seep out of it almost solid like a pillar or waterfall.

Seeing this, Luffy turned to Coby with a smile "See you later Coby may we have grand voyages ahead."

"And may our dreams be our guide," smiling with tears in their eyes they parted ways. As Coby watched Luffy walk forward he swore he saw several blurs of mist following the once and future captain.

Eyes focused on the star Luffy began walking into the pillar, each step raising him higher and higher his dream, his wish to return where it all began. His crew alive, his adventures unknown, and a little dinghy off to freedom. A straw hat sitting on his head and promise in his heart.

* Line Break *

Authors note:

Yep It's a time travel fic folks. This has been inspired by a lot of stories. Granline madness based time travel has been used before but not in this way. First I read of it goes to 'Rewind One Piece' by FunahoMisaki. As for fix-it fics we used to have 'Will of D' by AnimaniacDude but the author has heavily rewritten it to an entirely different story.