Hey guys! Fun fact! Getting dumped feels horrible... Also, it really fucks up your motivation...

Ok, real talk though, I am very fortunate to have so many chapters pre-written right now, because I haven't been able to even think straight enough to do any writing this week. Hopefully I can get back up on the horse soon… But regardless, enjoy.

Wealth, Fame, Power…

Chapter 44: Confessions

"What are you talking about? What do you mean I'm just like you!?"

"Hmph," The old man started, picking up his newspaper and settling back down into his seat. "Forget I said anything kid, just get the hell out of here. And take those braindead friends of yours with ya, I don't want them waking up and pestering me about Laboon again."

But in true Luffy fashion, the words went in one ear and out the other, leaving the rubber man even more fired up to get to the bottom of this. "No! I'm not going anywhere! So either you're gonna tell me how you just knocked out my friends without even touching them, or I'm gonna keep trying to kick your ass! I don't care how long it takes, I won't give up!"

"Grr, damn brat, why are you even with those shady bastards? They've been trying to kill Laboon for weeks now. I already told them that he's my friend."

Again, hearing the word friend triggered something inside the teen that made him relax slightly. "Wait, are you talking about the whale? You're friends with it?"

Dropping his newspaper for the last time, the old man stood back up and leered at the rubber man. "First of all, Laboon is a he, not an it. And yes, we're good friends. I'm the doctor who patches him up every time he rams his head into the side of Reverse Mountain."

"Ok, now I'm even more confused…" Luffy scratched his head, clearly no longer as wound up and angry as he was before.

"Look kid, all you need to know is that those two trouble makers back there can't be trusted. They probably fed you some bullcrap story so you would help them fight me."

"But why? They told me they just wanted the whale meat for their starving village? Why would they want you?"

"Hah! That's easy! They wanted my massive bounty of course! I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm sure they wanted Laboon too, but they've been trying to take me out every time they come in here. Poor bastards, I always feel sorry for them so I can never bring myself to kill them."

"Your bounty… Oh…" Luffy breathed, slouching his poster ever so slightly.

"You ok kid?"

"I'm so stupid! They told me they were bounty hunters! And I still trusted them!"

Huh? This had to be a joke. Was this brat really a pirate!? "What the hell? What kind of pirate trusts a bounty hunter!? Are you messed up in the head kid?"

"I… I don't know… She said she was my friend… And she seemed so nice…"

Pausing for a moment, the old man only stared at Luffy for a solid ten seconds before bending over into a fit of laughter! "Ahahahaha! So you've got a soft spot for the ladies do ya? Well ain't that swell, you might just be a real pirate after all!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Luffy asked genuinely.

"C'mon kid, don't get slow with me. This is man to man so you don't have to hide it. That blue haired gal is quite the looker after all. Any man could have fallen prey to someone like her."

Luffy seemed to finally catch on to what the man was getting at and responded immediately. "Ohhhhh! I get what you mean now! And I guess she looks pretty good, I've seen better though."

"Oh? Have you now? Well, do tell then, otherwise I'll be forced to think you're a sucker for any old pretty face." It was very obvious that the old timer was beginning to enjoy the conversation, as his smile was growing wider and wider by the second.

And the rubber man was no different, grinning ear to ear as he exclaimed his next sentence confidently. "Shishishi! Oh yeah! You should see one of my crewmates, she can be pretty mean sometimes, but she's a whole lot better looking than Vivi, that's for sure."

The elder man laughed once again at the mischievous tone that Luffy used behind his words. It had been a while since he talked to a fellow pirate, and boy was it a breath of fresh air.

After the small fit of laughter calmed between the two, Luffy spoke up, his curiosity getting the better of him. "So uh, who are you? And why are you living inside of a whale? And what are you-"

"Jezz kid! One question at a time! You're giving me a headache!"

Luffy obediently closed his mouth and nodded, waiting patiently for the man to speak again.

And yet again, the old man couldn't stay angry for long when he saw how strongly the boy was trying to contain himself. "Alright, well here goes. My name is Crocus, and obviously, I'm a doctor. Is that enough for ya?"

"Aw what!? Who cares about that boring stuff!?" Luffy said lamely. "You told me you had a bounty! So does that mean you're a pirate!?

"Meh, screw you brat! I swear that's all anyone cares about these days," Crocus grumbled bitterly. "But yeah, I'm a pirate, or at least I was, back in my glory days."

"Cool! What's your bounty? I just got my first one last week, it's thirty million!"

Crocus looked surprised for a moment before clearing his face and putting on a cocky smirk. "Wow, thirty million eh? that 's not too bad for a first bounty, but it's nothing compared to mine."

Still waiting, the rubber man shook in annoyance when the elder only inspected his fingernails confidently. "Aw c'mon! You can't just say that and then not tell me!"

Widening his smile even more, Crocus continued his little game. "Are you sure you wanna hear it kid? You might just shit your pants and run away screaming."

"Tell meeee!"

"Heh, fine then, it's seven hundred million."

Instead of vocally reacting like he normally did, Luffy just dropped his rubber jaw all the way down to the floor, having it make a small thump on the sand below.

"Hello? Kid are you alright?" Crocus asked, waving a hand in front of the boy's face.

"NO WAY! You're amazing, old man! I've never even heard of a bounty so high! So cool!"

Shaking his head with a smile gracing his lips, Crocus set the records straight. As much as he loved all the praise reminding him of his younger days, he needed to be totally upfront when it came to something like this. "Yeah, I agree kid, it's not a bad bounty, but trust me on this, It's nowhere near the highest bounty in the Grand Line, I can assure you of that. There are some really serious pirates out there that could take me down in a heartbeat. So don't start getting all impressed like that, it's not good for my ego."

"Really!? So there's stronger people than you out there!?"

Crocus nodded, looking the teen deeply in the eyes, watching for any sort of fear or hesitation.

Needless to say though, he saw the opposite.

"Aw heck yeah! The Grand Line is gonna be so fun! I can't wait to see how awesome everything is!"

"Huh, well how about that? You are a real pirate after all," Crocus started.

"Hmm?"

"You really remind me of my old captain, kid. Being a pirate is all about adventure and wanting to see the whole world. And wanting nothing more than to just go out and take it all. You really do have the spirit kid, what's your name?"

Beaming again, the boy answered. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, and I swear on my life that I'll be the next Pirate King!"

"Hmm… Monkey D huh? Tell me then, where exactly did you get that hat?"

"Oh, this thing? My old buddy Shanks gave it to me a long time ago. And as soon as I meet up with him in the Grand Line, I'm gonna return it to him, safe and sound."

Luffy waited patiently for the elder man to respond, but nothing came. Only a blank stare that seemed to reach right into his soul…

Until of course, he fell to his knees in a random fit of laughter. "AHAHAHAHA! I can't believe it! That stupid brat actually gave away the hat! Ahahahaha!"

"Huh? What are you talking about, old man? Do you know Shanks?"

"Know him?" Crocus said as he steadily gout to his feet. "That little squirt was on my old crew, the Roger Pirates."

"WHAT!?" Luffy screamed. "Shanks sailed with the King of the Pirates!?"

"Wait…" Crocus began again shakily, as if he was all of the sudden very frightened. "You didn't know that already!?"

"Uh uh," the rubber man shook his head.

"Oh no…" The old man grabbed his hair with both his hands. "I shouldn't have said that then… Rayleigh is gonna kill me…"

"Who's that!?" Luffy exclaimed, now keeping his ears sharp and open for any new information.

"Nothing kid, nothing. And I hope you never have to find out, otherwise, I'm a dead man."

"Aw c'mon! At least tell me what Gold Roger was like! That's all I wanna-"

"Shut it kid! I'm not saying anymore about my old crew, so either ask me something else, or beat it."

"Man, you're no fun!" Luffy pouted.

"I Never said I was!" Crocus bit back immaturely.

"Alright well how about this, tell me about what just happened to those two," the straw hat teen pointed behind him, directing attention to the two unconscious people. "What did you do to them, and why didn't it work on me?"

After gritting his teeth for a moment, Crocus responded. "Has anyone ever told you that you ask really annoying questions?"

When only silence came from the teen, Crocus sighed and gave in, being very careful in choosing his next words, he couldn't risk revealing too much about this subject. Otherwise Rayleigh really would come find him and kill him. "Well shit, here it is then, but this is all I'm telling you, got it?"

Luffy nodded profusely.

"The reason you didn't fall when I used that technique is because you're special, just like me."

"But you already told me that! What does it mean!?"

"Be patient brat! I'm getting there! That technique I used, which I am not going to name by the way, is something that cannot be trained. You have to have been born with it. And if you can learn to master it and use it correctly, you will become an unstoppable force."

"Woah… And you're saying I have it?"

"Yes, that's the only reason you were able to fight mine off. But judging by the fact that you still fell to a knee, yours is still underdeveloped. Because Mine is considered weak by normal standards."

"Oh wow… And how do I train it!? C'mon, at least tell me that!"

"Nope sorry kid, this isn't the time or the place. And you're way too weak to even think about training this specific skill. You'd probably die before you mastered it."

"Aww, that's so lame! Can't you tell me anything about it? Anything at all?"

Crocus paused for a moment and put his hand on his chin. He supposed that there wasn't any harm in pointing the boy in the right direction, but he would have to be vague. Very vague. "Alright, fine. But this is all I'm gonna say, I mean it this time brat."

Luffy nodded his head up and down violently, clearly exhilarated to learn more about this cloudy subject.

"Welp, I hope to the gods above that old man Rayleigh doesn't find out about this…" Crocus mumbled to himself. "Ok kid, tell me this, when was the last time you were mad?"

The rubber man took the question in stride, thinking back calmly to all the times he'd felt himself go over the edge. "Hmm, I'm not sure. I mean, I guess I get mad at the people that I fight, but not all of those have felt personal. I was just doing what I had to to protect my friends."

"Ok, then you know what I'm talking about, good. You know the difference between business anger and real anger. And right now I'm talking about real anger. The kind that makes you see nothing but hate, the kind that makes you clench your fists so hard that your fingers break. If you want to find the key to this technique, you're gonna have to know what it feels like, and the best way to find that out is to unleash some serious anger."

"Ah man, I can't think of a time that I was like that! I mean there was that one time when that Buggy guy destroyed Shank's hat, but that was easy to get over when he turned out to be such a pushover…"

While the rubber man thought to himself some more, Crocus's eyes were expanding to the size of plates. Did he just say Buggy!? You damn red nosed bastard! What in the world would possess you to destroy Captain Roger's hat!?

"Oh… I've got one…" Luffy remembered, his expression turning somewhat grim. "Back in the East Blue, my crew and I were going up against these fishmen that had taken my friend's village. They had forced her to be a part of their crew and we had come to help her out. But when I was fighting their bastard of a captain, he said something about her that made me totally lose it. I was so angry that I could barely even think straight, and I'm pretty sure I would have gone over the edge like you said if he hadn't spoken up and snapped me out of it. After that I just kept fighting normally, but I haven't been that mad In a long time…"

"Yep… That sounds about right. It sounds like your opponent knew of this technique's existence already, and had felt it before. Otherwise he wouldn't have tried to stop you."

"Woah…"

"But this friend that you just talked about. She wouldn't happen to be the looker on your crew that you were talking about before, would she?"

In classic Luffy fashion, the rubber man completely missed the underlying tone in the man's words and went forward to answer honestly. "Shishshi, yep! How'd ya know? She's my navigator, Nami."

Trying to hide his sheepish grin, the old man continued. "Forget about how I knew, just watch out for her. I have a feeling that she's gonna end up being the one to solve your problem with this technique."

"Huh? What does that mean? Does Nami have it too?"

Sighing and holding his forehead, Crocus was done with this crap for the day. "Never mind brat, just pick up those two idiots behind you and take a hike. I've got things to do, and you clearly have a crew outside of this place waiting for you."

Right as the old timer uttered these words, the ground under the two pirate's feet began shaking savagely.

"Wahh! What's going on?" Luffy called as he struggled to stay on his feet.

"It's Laboon, he's coming up for air…"