When Luffy woke up, he knew only three things: one, he was in the wrong place, two, he had to find his "Nakama", and three, he was really hungry. He could also recognize such facts as his lying down, the ground feeling more like sand than the familiar grass or wood(whatever those were), etc. Slowly, hesitantly, almost, Luffy sat up. He felt… confused. His first action was to bring up a hand to touch his face, as he felt something was wrong there. And, to be sure, where he would expect soft, elastic(elastic?) flesh to be placed, he instead found a hard, bony mask covering the entirety of his face, the only openings being two large holes for his eyes and two smaller ones for his nostrils. Beneath the aforementioned nostrils, there was a piece of the bony thing covering his mouth and even protruding down his chin. Somehow, Luffy knew exactly what this was: a skull. Or, more accurately, a caricature of a skull.

Luffy's hand trailed upwards, wandering his body, exploring new undiscovered regions, all familiar yet somehow… different. Wrong. Touching the top of his head, Luffy could feel lush, short hair. It wasn't there. Luffy couldn't remember what "it" was, but something about not having "it" sent him reeling, and his hands quickly traversed the entirety of his person, largely ignoring any and all new discoveries, such as his body being entirely white and somewhat hard-ish, his fingers being pointed like claws, the odd X-shaped hole in his chest, the strange tail, his lack of "clothes", ignoring all this in favour of finding the thing that was supposed to be on his head. Luffy snapped around to look behind him, his body trembling anxiously. His treasure. It was gone.

But before he had been able to dig through any more than four feet of strangely snow-white sand, his nose caught wind of something. Something was nearby. Something small, something alive, something… edible. Luffy's mind went blank, his missing treasure forgotten, and he fled the hole he had dug, sprinted on all fours towards the sign of life like an animal, and tackled into it without a second of thought. It was a large, black, leathery creature, looking like a strangely two-tailed zero-headed lizard, with no discernable front or back. Luffy could faintly hear a voice crying out at his sudden presence, but it was dull and distant, in a different room entirely, so to speak. It seemed to come from the general direction of the strange lizard-like creature, but Luffy couldn't really tell from the murderous haze that was covering his mind like a red mist.

The lizard could not move, despite Luffy being significantly smaller. Luffy was only as large as a normal-sized human, if not smaller, standing at around 175 centimetres, and yet he had incapacitated this ten-meter long lizard by simply being in its presence. Luffy may not have known what this was or what this meant, but the lizard sure did. For the slightest of moments, the lizard hollow was acutely aware that he had been attacked by something far beyond his own power, and that his time of being was drawing to its close. This moment soon passed, however, and the very being of the lizard hollow, its very will, was crushed under the sheer unconscious power of the little youth currently simply clinging onto his back. The lizard fell down, limp and dead yet still alive, not able to physically react to the sheer power of the man atop him.

Luffy, all of a sudden, recognized what was happening. From behind the fog that was his bloodlust, he sensed that his will was seeping out, crushing this creature to death. It was as if his conqueror's haki was constantly on, and in a more physical sense than ever before. This was no fun. With a strange familiarity, Luffy subconsciously reigned in his will, allowing the lizard to finally move freely. Confused and startled, the lizard stood once more, suddenly believing its former fears to have only been a hallucination. It did not have another thought of this ilk, however, since he was suddenly very much dead, a fist plunged deep into its body.

Luffy gorged himself upon the bloodless carcass of the lizard, his will so powerful that not even the lesser souls could stir him from his hunger-induced feast. He ate everything he could get his hands on, but when he started tearing at the skin, he realized something. He wasn't wearing anything. Hm. That's not how it's supposed to be. Luffy quickly tore himself a couple of things to wear, namely a vest and a pair of shorts. He recognized that he would rather wear an actual shirt and that this "vest" was a bit of an old-style for him, but it was easier for him to make, so he was fine with it.

Now, he wanted to get going. He didn't know where he wanted to go, but… somewhere. He wanted to meet people, find humans and befriend them, explore new places… find… something. He didn't know what it was that he wanted to find so much, but he just had to find it. He had to.

For the next months or so, Luffy wandered the ivory desert, easily defeating and consuming any fellow hollow he came across, yet never truly satiating his hunger. It was all so… boring. Luffy was, frankly speaking, bored out of his mind. Was there nothing to do here? Apparently not.

And then, one day, he came across a very large hollow. It was around fifteen times Luffy's height, and just the sight of it made Luffy drool. Sure, nothing he ate here truly felt real, but it was at least SOMETHING. Luffy pounced on the creature, which, not expecting the spirit-less little flea to suddenly attack him with such force, promptly toppled over, falling under the heel of the unassuming kid-looking hollow that was Luffy. Luffy tore off the mask with a single swoop and started eating before the creature was even properly dead. It wasn't long before it was though.

But in the middle of his extravagant meal, Luffy was hit with something. Something within him changed. He could remember… something. A boat. "Nakama". An endless, blue sea. The "One Piece". A straw hat. A man with red hair. A war. Brothers. Hardly all of it came back to him, but Luffy could feel he was somehow more… whole. Luffy… that was his name, yes… Monkey D. Luffy… the man who was going to become the Pirate King!

What was this mask?... He didn't want it. It didn't feel right. It didn't fit. He shouldn't be wearing a mask. He was proud of who he was, damn it! Luffy's powerful arms shot up to the unfamiliar structure covering his true face, grasping at either side and pulling at it as hard as he could. It felt like that one time he had tried to rip off his arm to free himself so he could save… someone. Self-amputation. The word lingered in his head as he unconsciously kept himself from truly pulling at it. But once he realized this, once he truly understood what he was trying to do here, he could actually go at it with rejuvenated strength. And so, he ripped the accursed piece of bone and soul off, revealing his true self underneath. Large, curious eyes, with its whites blackened and the pupils an eerie yellowish-white colour, a large mouth always ready to break into a grin. A little piece of the mask remained underneath his left eye, but Luffy could tell, somehow, that removing this piece would be going too far.

Luffy could almost immediately tell the difference. He felt more… like himself. "Shishishi", he laughed, mostly for himself. He looked down at the mask, still in his grip. Sure enough, it was a sort of skull-caricature, looking much like the skull on his infamous flag, minus the bones and the straw hat. Luffy sulked at the thought of his straw hat. But just as he started to fall into doom and gloom, he could feel the mask turn to sand, his fingers no longer grasping anything at all. Looking down, he suddenly saw something in the sand. Something yellow and red and familiar. A large grin, too big for any human, spread across Luffy's face as he bent down and picked up the straw hat, immediately and without any hesitation placing it upon his head. Things were looking much better.

And, sure enough, within only a month or so, Luffy encountered something different. Something that wasn't sand and weird creatures (walking meat). It was a castle! Luffy almost wept at the sight of an actual, honest to god adventure. Maybe he could find his Nakama here? He missed them so much. Whoever they were.

The castle was white and had a strangely bulbous shape. Not that Luffy was complaining, of course, it was just a tad strange. But strange was good! Strange was new! Strange was fresh!

It was without even the slightest hint of reservation or hesitation that Luffy burst through a wall, entirely uncaring about the structure, where he was going or even what this sort of full-frontal assault would do in terms of enemy-making. Really, he didn't care. Whatever hit him, he knew he could handle it. Sure, he looked like a snow-white kid with a straw hat clad in weird pelts, but he knew he was stronger than he looked. He always was. In his amazement and wonder at staring at all the things around him, all the new sensations he was experiencing, he actually forgot that he was in a constant state of hunger. So, when he came across an inhabitant of the castle, a rather normal-looking human-like hollow, he didn't really care to stop and grab a bite, but instead simply punched it into oblivion and continued his mad dash through the castle, drinking in any and all sights with an energetic and somewhat desperate fervour.

In another room entirely, a couple of human-looking hollows were discussing the recent appearance of a non-descriptive hollow that had simply burst in through a wall and beaten up one of their superiors without the least amount of thought or intent. In fact, he was so non-descriptive and the amount of soul power he excreted was so little that they only picked him up by the fact that he had beaten up someone. These hollows were currently in a bit of a stupor, going about any and all solutions to this sudden problem they had on their hands. What was there they could do? The man, or rather, kid, was just kind of running about, not heading anywhere specific, passing by many important rooms and treasures without a care in the world. It was as if he hadn't been to a place like this in a year or something, which was actually the case.

After seeing the boy casually defeat three more high-classing superiors and hollows, the group realized that this boy, although not an obvious threat, could definitely pose a possible future threat if he met even more superiors, because, in a word, he might just defeat them. There was only one thing they could do. Defeating him was not an option, so they chose the next best thing. Send him to the world of the living. At Least there he couldn't pose a problem to THEM per se.

Luffy, still running about with no actual goal, only occasionally brought out of his awe-inspired wonder by someone telling him to stop right there (criminal scum), only to themselves be pummeled within seconds, suddenly felt the ground give out beneath him, and he was in a white void. He could feel some sort of pressure, as if he was falling slowly, but other than that… nothing. All of a sudden, all the air was blown out of him, and he collapsed into a heap of boredom. Oh well, might as well sleep. Now, most hollows would not dare so much as take a nap out of fear that some other powerful spirit within them might take control, however, Luffy didn't even consider this, because none of the spirits he had consumed, no matter how powerful they had previously been, could dare stand up to the sheer will of this boy.

After a couple of hours of falling, Luffy, unbeknownst to himself, since he was still sleeping, crashed into the world of the living. Nobody could see him except a few, but not even them noticed him, because as powerful as he was, his mastery of concealment was infallible. And so, with a spiritual crash, Luffy landed right in the middle of a playground, where everything spiritual and magical happens. Still not quite awake, Luffy slept soundly, despite having fallen from several thousands of meters in the air. And, as it so happened, a young man just happened to be walking through this particular playground on this particular evening. Ichigo, Shinigami newbie who still hadn't done much of anything, couldn't help but stop and stare at the odd sight before him. Some kid had passed out, face first, in the middle of the playground, wearing extremely eccentric clothes. His entire body was white, or at least, as far as Ichigo could see. He was also wearing strangely animal-looking clothes, which were mostly just ripped up pieces of black leather with holes in them. And, in stark contrast to the entire black-and-white outfit, the kid wore a yellow and red straw hat on his head, covering most of his head, but not quite hiding his raven-black hair.

Ichigo wasn't someone to just leave a kid out in the open like this. He had morals, after all. "Hey, you alive?" Ichigo asked sarcastically, poking the boy. The boy simply snored even louder in response to this, and so, Ichigo decided that this kid would not wake up anytime soon. Sighing at his code of honour, Ichigo lifted the side of the kid, rolling him over on his back. As he did this, not only did he realize that the kid couldn't have weighed more than 70 kilos, but he was also… a hollow?...

No, that couldn't be right. Ichigo had seen hollows. Big, black creatures with holes in their chest and a mask that covered their faces. This kid had a hole, that was for sure. Well, hole and hole… It was more like a large scar that simply happened to go through the entirety of the boy's chest, showing that the back of the leather "vest" was, well, black. He didn't have a mask, that was for sure. Well, he had this jagged-looking thing underneath his left eye, but that was it. He was just a kid. This couldn't be a hollow, right? Well, the best way to find out would be to either wake the poor sod up, or… check if the hole is real.

Cursing inwardly, Ichigo reached his hand towards the boy's chest, and with a slow motion, stick one of his fingers into the deep groove. Nope, nothing. It wasn't painted on or anything. At this, Ichigo quickly retracted his hand, staring at the boy oddly. He couldn't leave him here, could he?... if the boy really WAS a hollow, he couldn't just leave him to ravage the human world, and if he took him somewhere else, he could at least be there to defeat him once he woke up. He couldn't return home, that was for sure.

Hoisting the snoring boy up onto his back, Ichigo headed home, at a somewhat slower pace than usual, since he was carrying someone - something - on his back. Hmm. He had to get a hold of Rukia, she might know something about this. With one hand holding onto the leg of the boy on his back currently getting a piggyback ride, Ichigo rummaged about his pockets to get a hold of his phone. After a couple of minutes, Ichigo recognized the moment as having happened earlier that day, at which time he had concluded that he had forgotten his cell phone at home. Grumbling curses under his breath, Ichigo continued heading home. He'd just call Rukia once he got there.

After a couple of minutes, Ichigo started noticing familiar landmarks, and sure enough, he was home. Pushing his way in, carefully making sure nobody was up and about at the moment, Ichigo sneaked inside and ran upstairs to his room. He didn't slam the door exactly, but he closed it pretty hard. With a strangely nice-looking twirl, he removed the snoring boy from his back, took him in his arms, and put him down on his bed. Looking about the room, Ichigo quickly found his cell. Flipping it open, he pressed the button for Rukia's cell, and brought it to his ear, knowing the ensuing conversation would probably give him tinnitus or something of that ilk.

"Yeah this is Rukia, what's up," he heard a female voice say from the other side of the line. "Yo, uh, Rukia, I think you might want to come over," Ichigo replied, trying his best to not have to explain the situation. "I'm in the middle of something, what do you want?" she answered, apparently not picking up the sense of hesitation in Ichigo's voice. "Well, uh, I may have found a hollow?" Ichigo answered bluntly. It was probably a hollow, right? I mean, what else could he be? Ichigo didn't know if his family could see him yet, but he didn't really want to find out. "You-, what!? I don't sense any changes in the spirit energy though…" Rukia replied, seemingly fiddling with some other device or other to figure out the truth of Ichigo's reply. "Well, see, that's the thing, he doesn't SEEM like a hollow at all…" Ichigo said off-handedly.

"...What do you mean?" "Well, for one thing, if it wasn't for the weirdly shaped hole in his chest, I wouldn't have thought he was a hollow at all!" "Weirdly shaped how?..." "Well, it's shaped like an "X", and, I'm not sure if I said this, but he just looks like a boy? Like a really normal boy, maybe even younger than me." "A weirdly shaped hole, and… ! does he have a mask?" "Huh? No, that was the other weird thing, he isn't wearing any mask at all! The closest thing is this little piece that's underneath his left eye. It's in a weird shape, too," "! I-, wait, what do you mean you "found" him? Is he just wandering around, or?..." "No, he's asleep," "He's-, what?..." "Asleep." "...Hollows don't sleep." "Then explain why a hollow is sleeping on my bed right now." "He's-, I'll be there in five, don't-, don't wake him up!" -beep-

Don't wake him up, eh. Ichigo looked over to the kid sleeping peacefully atop his bed, not a care in the world. But it was odd. Why hadn't anybody greeted him at the door or anything?... Oh, right, dad was on a business trip, and both of his sisters had some sort of field trip with the school. So, he was all alone. "Welp, better make some food for myself since nobody else wi-," "-Food?..."

Ichigo snapped around to face the voice that had suddenly piqued up. And, to be sure, the hollow-boy was currently sitting up on his bed, rubbing his black eyes, looking pretty tired, but still quite… energetic. "Uh…" Ichigo made a sound at the sight of the hollow being awake, less than a minute after Rukia had told him not to wake him up. "...You said food?" the boy asked, his eyes staring up at Ichigo expectantly. "Uh, well, yes?..." Ichigo answered, not really knowing whether to be confused or scared. The boy grinned broadly at the idea of getting food though, which put Ichigo, at least somewhat, at ease. "Can I have some? I'm really hungry…" the boy said, promptly slumping over on the bed as if to prove his hunger. "I mean, sure? But aren't you, y'know, a hollow?" Ichigo asked, hoping his blunt answer wouldn't be taken in a bad way. The boy simply leaned his head to the right, furrowed his brows, frowned, and asked "what's a hollow?"

Either this boy was wearing a very strange cosplay of some sort, or he was a very, very stupid hollow. Either one was similarly likely, and he considered giving Rukia a "false-alarm" call but decided against it since she would probably know more about this than he did. But then again, she had sounded pretty panicked, even though this boy didn't even seem remotely like a hollow, apart from his appearance.

"Well, I guess you don't need to know, but uh, if you come along downstairs, I can give you some food?" Ichigo asked. At this new prospect of food, the boy laughed a peculiar little laugh ("shishishi") and hopped off the bed with all the agility of a monkey. Ichigo lead the boy out of his room and downstairs to his kitchen. During the whole time, the boy was staring around the place as if he had never seen a house in his life. Everything was amazing, and nothing was uninteresting.

"So, have you got a name?" Ichigo asked, turning on the stove and rummaging through the fridge for anything edible. "Monkey D. Luffy," the boy answered without any hesitation, drooling as he stared over Ichigo's shoulder at all the different kinds of food he had in the fridge. Eggs, milk, greens, paprika, everything looked delicious to Luffy. Ichigo nodded silently. "And you?" Luffy asked, clearly not really interested in anything but the idea of food. Real, actual food. "Ichigo Kurosaki," the red-haired youth replied, fishing out some eggs, butter and bacon. Might as well be simple.

Ichigo, irritated at the hollow-looking boy constantly drooling on his shoulder, directed Luffy to at least sit by the table while he made food. "Maan, I haven't had real food in… a year? Ehh, a long time," the boy mused to himself as he leaned his entire upper body on the table, looking pretty much famished. "What do you mean you haven't had real food in a year?!" Ichigo exclaimed, any and all fear he might have felt for the boy replaced by a proper feeling of irritation. "Well, I had been stuck in this weird white desert for months, and all that I could eat there were these weird black creatures, but they didn't even taste any good, and once I actually found a cool place, everything went white, and… here I am? Is the food done yet?..." the boy whined. Ichigo didn't really understand what white desert the boy, Luffy, was talking about, but those large black creatures he was talking about…

"Did those creatures have white masks?" Ichigo asked, completely ignoring the question about the food he was making. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess they did?" Luffy replied. He could honestly barely remember any of his encounters with the creatures since his mind kind of went blank, but they usually had masks, right? Yeah probably. "Heeey, is the food done yet?..." Luffy whined, his stomach growling loudly. "Yeah yeah, almost done," Ichigo said, transferring the still sizzling bacon and eggs to a pair of proper plates. Setting the two down on the table, he went to grab some cutlery, only to come back to a pair of entirely empty plates. "You…" Ichigo shot an accusing glare at Luffy, who averted his gaze to the side and whistled in one of the worst ways Ichigo had ever seen someone attempt to feign innocence.

"S-, sorry…" Luffy finally mumbled, looking down at the table in quasi-shame. "But you still have some food, right?" Luffy asked, looking up at the slightly confused Ichigo. No? He didn't? Noticing Ichigo's confusion, Luffy stood up, his nose in the air, and started walking around. "Here, here, and…" Luffy said, sniffing the air for something that smelled pretty good, until he finally stepped right up to Ichigo and took a deep breath, "-right here!"

Luffy grinned widely as he pointed out Ichigo as being something that "smelled good". Ichigo could feel a chill run up his spine. He had forgotten the whole "hollow-or-not" that was going on here, but…

"...If you sit back down, I'll make you more food?..." Ichigo asked in an attempt to divert the attention of the kid from himself and to more food. Luffy took the bait and happily sat back down. And just as Ichigo had gotten back to frying eggs and bacon, he heard the door crash open and Rukia burst into the room, panting and wheezing as if she had just run a marathon at top-speed. Her frenzied eyes wandered the room with a fervour Ichigo had seldom seen. The first thing she saw was Ichigo, standing by the stove, but just as she was about to ask him why he wasn't looking over the hollow, she heard someone say "yo" from the other side of the room. And, to be sure, sitting idly by the table like a proper human boy, she saw the hollow. "You woke him up!?" she screamed, which made both Luffy and Ichigo stick their fingers in their ears. "He woke up! How was I supposed to know he would wake up at the mere mention of food!?" Ichigo shouted back, and Luffy realized he didn't like loud noises like this. Leaning back, Luffy looked at the two squabbling people with mild interest, only barely picking up on what they were saying.

"He-, what-," Rukia turned to look at Luffy. Yup, that was a hollow. And not just any kind. "Has-, has he said anything?..." Rukia asked Ichigo, sliding up closer to him so the hollow couldn't hear them. "Uh, he said his name was Luffy, and that he had been walking around some desert, eating hollows for over a year," Ichigo answered, not exactly knowing what he was talking about but hoping it made sense to Rukia. It did. "Holy shit…" Rukia said under her breath. But she understood why Ichigo didn't mind making food for "Luffy", after all, he looked human enough, and he seemed pretty passive, and… there wasn't even a trace of spirit energy floating about him. In fact, the very fact that he wasn't giving off any spiritual energy at all was far more worrying than if he did. Because this meant that, despite looking no older than Ichigo himself, this boy, this creature, had far more technique than he should.

"Hey, I don't think he's that bad, sure, he told me I smelled like food, but… I really don't think he understands the situation he's in, so I think he'll answer any question you ask him, simply because he doesn't know we're the, hrmm, "enemy"," Ichigo whispered, noticing just how strangely terrified Rukia looked. Rukia turned to him and gave a nod. "I'm going in," she whispered back as she went to sit next to the hollow boy, who was, at this time, inspecting the fancy pattern on the back of the plates with big, googly eyes.

"Hi, uh, I'm Rukia. Do you know where you are?" Rukia asked the boy, who gave her a strange look. But as he opened his mouth to answer, he seemingly realized something, as his eyebrows furrowed and he was struck into contemplation. "No, no I don't… where am I?..." Luffy finally answered, looking pleadingly to the woman sitting next to him. She looked pretty normal, but she also kind of reminded him of some other black-haired woman he had seen, and she really did give off the impression of actually knowing something, which Luffy knew he didn't. Maybe she could help him find his nakama?! "-You're in the world of the living," Rukia answered honestly while Ichigo went back to frying eggs. "-What?..." was the only reply Luffy could possibly give. World of the living? Was there any other world?...

"Before this, if Ichigo's explanation was anything to go by, you were in Hueco Mundo, the world of hollows. The creatures you ate were hollows," Ruika explained. Luffy tilted his head in confusion. "What's a hollow?" he asked. "A hollow is a fallen soul which has given into despair, hunting other souls, living or dead, to satiate its never-ending hunger," Rukia explained. "Whoa, scary, hope I never have to meet any of them," Luffy commented, shaking his head, mentally dismissing the idea of ever meeting such a terrifying creature. Rukia could barely believe what this kid was saying. He really didn't know anything, did he? "Hollows all have a couple of traits in common, such as a white mask covering their face, a hole in their chest or elsewhere on their person, and the hunger that defines them," Rukia continued. "Oh, yeah, when I woke up in that - pesto mouth? - I was wearing a mask, weird, huh? I didn't think much of it at first but after a month or so it started feeling wrong so I took it off, shishishi!" Luffy reminisced, laughing at the memory that, to a hollow, was almost the same as self-decapitation. Rukia ignored the comment, but it did confirm something - he was definitely an Arrancar, that was for sure. He just didn't know he was. Did he even know he was dead?...

"So, in short, all those creatures you fought in HUECO MUNDO, were hollows," Rukia continued. "What, really? Pfff, they were weak. Now I'm disappointed," Luffy said, mostly to himself. "And, unless you hadn't realized it before, so are you," Rukia said. She knew she was gambling everything here, but she couldn't allow this kid to just go on believing he was alive when he clearly wasn't. Luffy simply stared at her blankly. "...Huh?" he finally said, his face devoid of emotion. Rukia simply pointed to his large gaping X-shaped hole. "Huh? This? But this-, I got this in the war…" Luffy explained, his right hand prodding slightly at the cavity, jerking back as he found his fingers sinking into it rather than skidding along it. It wasn't right. "...What war?" Rukia asked, now genuinely interested. He couldn't have been much older than a high-school student, and yet, not only had he participated in a goddamned war, but he was also entirely unconscious of his own death.

Luffy gave her a look that seemed to say "were you born stupid or did you have to take lessons?" but, since she had been so kind as to explain so many nice things, Luffy decided to explain things right on back to her. "You know, the Battle of Marineford, when the Whitebeard Pirates and the Navy fought to free or execute A-, the second in command of the Whitebeard pirate fleet?" Luffy explained, shooting a meaningful glance at her to see if it rang any bells. It did not. "Uh, who won?..." Rukia finally asked after way too long. "...The navy…" Luffy answered glumly, looking away sadly. It had been three years since then, but it still hurt. "Isn't that a good thing though? The navy are the good guys, right?" Rukia asked, noticing how down Luffy seemed to be about the whole war. "No! The marines are the enemy! They killed Ace!" Luffy exclaimed, standing up and slamming the table furiously. From this reaction, Rukia could tell this "Ace" guy was more than just a friend. "I'm-, I'm sorry, my condolences, but, if the marines are your enemy, does that mean you're…?" "A pirate," Luffy finished for her, looking oddly serious. But he quickly gave her a big smile to show her that he had pride in this title. He did not, however, mention how he could barely remember who this "Ace" guy was. This was the first name apart from his own that he had remembered. But Ace wasn't someone he could "find". Ace was dead, Luffy knew that.

Rukia couldn't believe this. Not only was this kid a soldier in a pirate-marine war, but he was also a pirate of all things. Wait. Hold up. "How long ago was this war you're talking about?" Rukia asked. "Huh? About uhhh, three years?" Luffy said, wondering himself if he was right about that. Might have been longer. It had been so hard to tell the time back there… Luffy shuddered at the very thought of having to go back to that hellscape. He liked this much better. "Hey, will you two be my friends?" Luffy asked, smiling at the thought of making new friends. He still wanted to find his Nakama, but being alone was worse than being in pain. Rukia gave him a very strange look.

"Um, see, here's the thing, you're a hollow, and, well, we can't just let hollows run around doing what they want," Rukia said, hoping this kid wouldn't take the "no" too harshly. Luffy frowned. "Why not?" he asked. He still hadn't fully accepted the idea of him being a hollow, since that would mean he was… dead, and that was impossible. He was going to be the pirate king! He couldn't be dead, right? Then again, this girl had spoken of dying with regrets, and not fulfilling one's dreams certainly did count as a regret but… "because we're-, HE'S, a shinigami. Shinigami fight hollows," Rukia explained in as simple terms as she possibly could, pointing a thumb at Ichigo. Luffy looked over to Ichigo. "I don't wanna fight him, he gave me food!" Luffy said sternly. This gave Rukia an idea. "Luffy, you… would you eat Ichigo? Or me?" Rukia asked seriously.

Luffy didn't even know how to respond at first. So, after deciding that staring blankly at people was a little rude, he decided to assume it was a joke, and laughed at the very idea. Rukia, however, was having none of it. "I'm being serious," she said, crossing her arms. Luffy stopped laughing. Leaning back, he crossed his arms as well. "No," he replied simply. "I eat meat! And humans are not meat!" Luffy started with a grim expression on his face. He was serious. Rukia found herself understanding this boy way more than she expected to. He was a surprisingly simple, honest boy who simply didn't know what was going on. Out of the corner of her eye, Rukia could tell Ichigo was giving her a death glare.

I'm sorry this ended a bit abruptly, much like one of my other fanfics (also starring a confused Luffy goofing off), I wrote this a year ago for nobody but myself. So, if I get enough responses on this, I might continue it just because, well... I'm a sucker for doing things for people.