Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or the Nasuverse
"I'm the man who'll become King of the Pirates!"
An adventure…
No, that's not quite it…
A Dream.
One man's Dream.
Monkey D. Luffy's Dream.
"Yes, This could work! Come now Pirate King, you can rest when you're dead!" The unholy creature cackled with delight, crimson eyes shining.
Fire.
"Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho~"
As far as the eye could see the boy was surrounded by fire. An all-encompassing hell with no escape, he would surely die here.
So the boy started to walk.
"Where…?"
His words came out in a raspy whisper and his lungs were straining with the effort. Unable to process what was going on, he reached for the familiar comfort of his ***.
"My…"
"Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho~"
'My what?' A sharp pain shot through his very being like a hot knife and his vision dimmed slightly, it was all he could do to not pass out as he staggered forward.
And yet the boy continued on.
Stubby feet and weak knees, they were definitely his, the boy knew that instinctively, but somehow they felt… wrong.
"Gather up all of the crew, It's time to ship out Bink's brew~"
"H-Help us!" A crying mother cradling her bloodied child laid before him, half of her body suspended under fallen debris, "Somebody please help!" Her frenzied eyes made contact with his, but her pupils filled with an emotion unrecognizable to the boy and she quickly looked away, sobbing wordlessly.
The boy made to move towards them, but something stopped him. What could he do? The baby was not moving, not breathing, and the blood flowing out from underneath the rubble indicated that the mother would soon follow.
"Wave good-bye, but don't you cry, our memories remain...~"
So he continued walking.
Screams followed him and suffering was left in his wake, everything under the night sky fell to the wayside as he moved forward. 'I don't know these people,' the boy told himself, 'I have to stay alive and make it out, for my crew.'
At the moment the boy couldn't remember exactly who his crew was, but in that moment the desire to survive for them was overwhelming.
"Our days are but a passing dream, everlasting though they seem, 'neath the moon we'll meet again, the wind's our lullaby~"
It could have been hours, days, or even just seconds, the boy did not know, but he had walked... and walked... and walked... until his legs buckled with every step and his lungs threatened to burst out of his chest.
For this short eternity he was focused on only one thing:
Living.
Passing the strangely amused golden man without a second glance, he trudged onward.
Ignoring the blank-eyed stare of the red haired boy laying in a pile of debris, he marched forward.
Not noticing the curious gaze of the empty priest in the distance, he forged ahead.
"Gather up all of the crew! It's time to ship out Binks' brew~"
An aberration, that would be the best way for the boy to describe it.
"Sing a song and play along, for all the ocean's wide~"
He stopped moving as he reached it. The disgusting black hole leaking malevolent mud and unimaginable suffering that was floating above a pillar before him, so close that the boy imagined for a moment that he could reach his hand out and grab it.
"After all is said and done, you'll end up a skeleton~"
The singing…
"So spread your tale... from dawn till dusk...~"
No…
"Upon these boney seas...~"
His own singing faded into the night as he gazed upon the Thing.
The boy didn't currently know anything about the who, what, where, or why of his circumstances, only that in this moment his very essence screamed one truth: This monstrosity did not belong here, that it should not exist. Everything about it was wrong Wrong WRONG, and it infuriated the boy beyond measure.
So, for the very first time, the boy imposed his Will upon this world.
.
.
.
And the Thing cracked.
.
.
.
"Luffy..." A tired voice, one not suited to a seven year-old child, escaped his lips, "Yeah, that's what my name was… I'm sorry everyone... it looks like I'll be joining you sooner than I thought."
"Shishishishi..." As he fell to his knees with a quiet, melancholic laugh, Monkey D. Luffy smiled.
'There has to be someone left.'
'Someone will need my help.'
'I will save someone.'
If Kiritsugu Emiya was currently able to form a coherent thought he would certainly lament over the hopelessness of his situation. Instead, as the man clumsily made his way through the rubble-ridden epicenter he struggled to remember what he was even doing in the first place.
He had lost everything.
After willingly sacrificing the lives of those he cared about for his goal he had finally reached the Holy Grail, his salvation, and it turned out to be nothing more than another weapon of destruction.
After going to such lengths he couldn't just let his efforts be for nothing.
So he walked.
Eyes frantically scanning for any sign of life, any reason for him to keep moving forward.
And that's when he saw it.
A sliver of something had caught his eye. The man lurched forward with hurried steps, heart nearly beating out of his chest.
No doubt the scene in front of him would be forever etched into his memory.
A young boy with short black hair and tattered clothes blackened by the smoke was kneeling, almost vacant eyes looking on at a mountain of cursed mud, smiling.
Most would find the image more than a little disturbing, but Kiritsugu couldn't, it would be hypocritical of him if he did.
After all, he held a smile of his own.
A broken smile, but a smile nonetheless, because in that moment his very essence screamed one truth:
He would be able to save this boy.
As Kiritsugu thanked the child whose consciousness was swiftly fading for saving him in turn, The Everdistant Utopia found its way from the hands of the man into the body of the boy.
AN: This idea came to me after re-watching the scene when Jinbei wanted Luffy to be a hero to the people on Fishman Island. I have no clue how the real Luffy would stack up against heroic spirits but I intend to incorporate elements from both stories for his abilities, it might be a buff or it may be a nerf to him, but that's the joy of creative liberty.