Hey guys! Forzarismo here! Remeber when I posted that notice about the next chapter being up in about a couple of days? Well...I lied, so here's part two! I hope you guys enjoy, and apologies if some of the characters, ESPECIALLY Robin are a little OOC, she's a very complex character to write, I ain't gonna lie. Now here is where I reveal to all of you guys what Luffy's new devil fruit power is. I would like to thank each and every one of the people who participated in guessing Luffy's new power. Now...ON TO THE CHAPTER MY FELLOW READERS!
Disclaimer: Thankfully I didn't drop the soap, so as of right now, I'm plotting against Eiichiro Oda in order to gain the rights to One Piece. Any help would be appriciated, whether it be donations or joining me in being outside of his house while holding a picket sign. Thank you.
Chapter 5: An Unseen Change: Part 2
'I knew it would was only a matter of time…' Robin thought as she bitterly chuckled at her predicament, if you can call it that.
She was being led out of her cell towards the top of the Marine ship for her inevitable execution. While going through one of the corridors, she and her executioners were stopped by a very tall marine wearing white slacks, blue shirt along with a white vest.
"What do you want, Kuzan?" Robin spat out distastefully towards the Marine Vice-Admiral.
Kuzan just looked at her emotionlessly before sighing in irritation. "You just had to live the life of a criminal didn't you Robin. I told you that if you were to go through that path, that I would be the one that would capture you." Kuzan answered despite not really answering her question. "I don't know why you just turned yourself in though. You could've continued living on had you kept doing what you do." Kuzan stated as he continued looking down on Robin.
Robin just looked at him with a withered expression. "Maybe I'm just tired of having to constantly be on the run from the government for so long you know? 10 years of constant betrayal can really affect someone, especially when the place they had called home before no longer exists." Robin stated solemnly as she started looking towards the ground with a sad smile plastered on her face.
Kuzan just shook his head and started walking past her. "I really wish you weren't there when Ohara was destroyed. Would definitely remove this feeling in my heart." Kuzan cryptically commented as he started getting farther from Robin. Robin just went on wondering what Kuzan meant by that. Unknown to her, and everyone else, tears were falling down from Kuzan's eyes as he entered his office.
'I'm so sorry…I truly am…Olvia' Kuzan thought as he tried his best to not let out so much as a whimper before entering his office.
Down in the prison area of the ship…
The dust-like gas was beginning to compress itself right when two marines came in there.
"Damn Jonathan! How dare he give our smoothie to a criminal. HEY KID! DID YOU DRI- huh? What's with all of this gas here?" Shepherd wondered as he looked into the cells one by one with the help of Nezumi.
"He probably did drink it. Don't worry though, as long as we kill him and have a normal fruit nearby, we can have our fruit back. Besides, he's just a kid! What's the worst that could happen?" Nezumi responded as he prepared the cell keys and a kairoseki knife when they find Luffy's cell. Once they reached the final cell, they were horrified to find that there was blood everywhere as well as a straw hat near the chains that binded luffy.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!?" Nezumi yelled in shock as he opened Luffy's cell to see if he's hallucinating or not.
Behind them, the blue, dust-like gas started to compress itself to form a well-built, tall, lean man. He stood 6'6 and his black neck-length hair complimented his body tone. His scar under his left eye made him look both more menacing as well as help define his slim facial features. Overall, he looked to be a handsome young man. He stood over the two men emotionlessly with hazy eyes as they have yet to register the fact that he is currently looming behind them. He then proceeded to kick Shepherd right into Nezumi, making them hit the bloody back wall with enough force to knock both of them out. He then entered the open cell, and reached down for the straw hat, putting it on his head. The moment Luffy put on the hat, he regained consciousness.
The first thing he realized was that he was naked, causing him to instantly look for some pants, which he conveniently found. The next thing he noticed was that there were two knocked out marines in his cell. Moreover, he noticed was that he was no longer bleeding and he didn't have that bullet wound behind his left leg. Lastly, he realized he was much bigger than before. Even when he was 24, he never became this tall, remembering something about his Gum-Gum Fruit having something to do with it. After a minute or so, Luffy got the hang of his new body, and remembered he had something important to do.
"This isn't the time to be messing around!" Luffy berated to himself, but was surprised by how deep his voice had become (A/N: think of Hashirama Senju's japanese voice from Naruto Shippuden). Quickly bringing himself back on track, Luffy brought his left arm up with his palm open and unknowingly blew a large hole through the Marine ship's deck with a bluish-white transparent beam, leaving a perfect circle. Luffy turned his head quick enough to see the beam in action. When the beam hit the wood and metal, there was no sound of wood cracking or metal breaking, just a shimmering hum. It was as if everything that got hit by the beam disintegrated into nothingness. To say that he was amazed was a HUGE understatement.
"SO COOOOOOOL!" Luffy exclaimed as stars appeared around his eyes.
"What was that!?" A marine from above the deck exclaimed as he saw the near soundless beam go through the deck. He peered over down to see what had happened, only to see a fist coming towards his face at high speeds. After Luffy knocked out the marine, he sent his arm out again and he grabbed on the ledge of the hole he made and launched himself out of the prison area of the ship.
Once he got out, he had to let his eyes get used to the bright sun when he realized that he and the Marine ships were in the middle of nowhere. He then closed his eyes and spread his Observation Haki to its utmost maximum range. Luffy noticed that his Observation Haki was improved vastly. His haki's range wasn't increased, but rather the detail in which he can sense things within his range was increased to the point that he can sense even microscopic animals moving around in the ocean. He then felt two presences that he is EXTREMELY familiar with. He looked towards his right and saw Robin kneeling down on an execution platform with an executioner on each side of her. He then felt the presence of Admiral Aokiji (A/N: as of right now Vice-Admiral Kuzan) inside the same marine ship. Luffy didn't know why he wasn't outside with the rest of the marines, but took that as a stroke of luck and rushed towards the execution platform with a smile plastered on his face.
With Nico Robin…
Nico Robin just looked towards the horizon of the ocean as she realized that this was her final moment of life on this very planet. She felt regret for turning herself in to the marines. She's still so young, she probably could've met someone who would actually take care of her. The possibility of this to her though, was impossibly low, since she is a criminal with a false story on how she gained her bounty and being constantly betrayed since the age of 8 for 10 years straight, it can really ruin someone's perception of the world. She looked down towards the ground beginning to break down when suddenly, she saw something that caught her attention.
She saw a whitish beam go through one of the Marine ships without so much as to making a sound (from her perspective). Apparently, only a stray marine noticed the beam as he went over to check it out. He was hit by what looked like a fist in the face and was out cold. She then saw the same arm stretch out at impossible lengths. She just looked in wonder at what was going on. She then saw a rather handsome man come out of the hole with the help of his stretched arm. He appeared to be in great shape and was only wearing the standard Marine pants and the straw hat on his head. Once he got out, she saw how he retracted his arm so it returned to be the same length as his other arm. She then noticed that he was staring right at her with a happy look on his face. Nico Robin was looked on in disbelief by what happened next. The man sprinted towards her with an unbelievable amount of speed as he dashed and knocked out as many Marines while he was at it.
Back with Luffy…
"STOP HIM!" Yelled one of the Sniper Vice-Admirals on the ship as he and a couple other Marines took aim towards Luffy and fired at him. When Luffy saw the Vice-Admiral aim at him and shoot, Luffy brought his hand up as if to block it when a big bluish-white transparent disk appeared as if to give Luffy some cover. When the bullets touched the disk, it was as if they were being erased from existence, even the kairoseki bullets were no more as they hit the disk-like shield.
"…W-what was that? Our bullets just disappeared the moment they hit his shield! Even the Kairoseki ones!" One of the Marine grunts exclaimed in fear as he and a couple of the other grunts instinctively took a step back from Luffy. Before the Vice-Admirals can try to boost the morale of their men, Luffy blasted everyone in the vicinity with a strong dose of Conqueror's Haki, basically knocking out everyone in the vicinity, including Robin which was by complete accident.
"Whoops!" Luffy said as he went up to where Robin was at and got the key to her handcuffs that fell out of one of the executioner's pockets. Once Luffy got her out of the Kairoseki handcuffs, he noticed something mind-blowing to him.
'Kairoseki doesn't weaken me anymore...SOOO COOOOOOL!' Luffy exclaimed in his mind happily as he picked up Nico Robin bridal style as he started to geppou himself and Robin out of the vicinity of the Marine battleships. Luffy barely had time to react when Vice-Admiral Kuzan launched multiple ice javelins towards Luffy and Robin. Thanks to Luffy's Observation Haki though, he was able to dodge all of them as he continued his retreat.
"Bring her back this instant!" Kuzan yelled at Luffy as the distance between them was getting bigger and bigger by the second.
Luffy being Luffy, just stuck out his tongue at Kuzan, ticking off Kuzan. 'He's only delaying the inevitable!' Kuzan thought angrily as he jumped down towards the ocean, making it freeze right as his feet made contact with said body of water.
"Ice Time!" Kuzan murmured as he froze the water all around them, even going beyond the horizon. "You are not going anywhere kid!"
Luffy was now a little worried as he might have to fight Kuzan. He had a knocked out Robin in his arms and he would have much more difficulty fighting him without the use of said arms.
'Go down…Let me take care of everything…' A feminine voice said out of nowhere.
"Wait what!? What was that!?" Luffy exclaimed as he stopped in mid air looking around only to find a bluish-white transparent bubble form around him. Then, as if it were acting on its own, his body geppou'd towards the ice at an incredible speed.
'What's happening!? I can't move my body!' Luffy thought as he closed his eyes and tried to brace himself for impact…except the impact never came.
Luffy was dumbfounded as he found himself deep under the ocean water as well as the ice above created by Kuzan.
'Like I said…Let me take care of everything…' The same feminine voice said again chuckling at Luffy's reaction at hearing her voice again.
With Vice-Admiral Kuzan…
Kuzan just looked on with surprise apparent on his face at what he saw. This man was one moment running through the air when suddenly, he just stopped and formed a bubble around himself and Robin, and 'flew' his body towards the condensed ice Kuzan created and just phased through it as if there wasn't anything there. Kuzan looked on for a couple of moments before letting out a light-hearted laugh.
'I hope you know what you are getting yourself into young man.' Kuzan thought as he headed back towards the Marine battleships in order to get everyone back up so they can head back to Marineford.
Back with Luffy and Robin…
"Wha…? Where am I? What's going on?" Robin asked to no one in particular as she realized she was actually under a layer of ice in the ocean being carried bridal style by the handsome man wearing a straw hat. After realizing all of this, her face reddened considerably as she took a good look at her savior's face. He was even more handsome as she saw his facial features in great detail from the smooth, soft-looking skin he had despite having a very lean figure that most women would love to have on their dream man. The one thing she noticed about his face was the scar under his left eye, which actually in her opinion, brought out more of his handsomeness.
"I see you're awake now. How ya doin? My name's Luffy!" Luffy said in a cheerful voice that seems to always bring out the best in people as he looked down towards her with a cheeky grin. Robin just chuckled as she felt herself actually feel safe for once in her life.
"My name is Robin. Nico Robin." Robin stated as she was looked around herself, seeing that Luffy appeared to be flying as he wasn't moving his legs and that the bubble was moving at incredible speeds as they past schools of fish and a sea king or two. Luffy then sensed a presence so familiar to him that he can describe it in one word which is: food. 'Sanji! Baratie here I come!' Luffy thought happily as he somehow changed direction towards Sanji's presence without having control of his body. After a minute or so, the island of ice was no longer above them and they ascended towards the sky and out of the ocean. The moment they exited the ocean, a massive gust of wind hit both of them, which Robin wasn't prepared for as she quickly gripped onto Luffy's chest.
"Finally! I can move my body now!" Luffy exclaimed happily as he geppou'd himself in the same direction he was going.
Robin was astounded by the feat Luffy pulled off as he was literally running on air. Robin then realized that she was still holding tightly onto Luffy's chest, and blushed heavily as she let go slowly as to not fall out of Luffy's arms. 'This is too much for me today…' Robin thought as she saw a fish-shaped boat out in the distance. This caught Luffy's attention as well as he geppou'd Robin and himself there at full speed, causing Robin to instinctively grab onto the closest thing near her, which was Luffy's chest…again.
'I've got to stop doing that! You don't even know this guy Robin!' Robin berated herself as she let go of Luffy for the second time. Despite this though, she couldn't help but feel a slight attraction towards him. Before she could think any deeper into it, They landed on the deck of the Baratie, and besides the Baratie is a rather large ship that seemed to have been docked near the restaurant ship for quite a while. Luffy set her down and found himself attracted to the rather beautiful ship.
The ship itself is plated with gold, and is definitely five times the size of the Baratie itself. It appeared to be a pirate ship as they had a black flag with their trademark jolly roger. The jolly roger looked to be a skull grinning maliciously with the beri symbol on the middle of its forehead. It had a golden cane with an amethyst gem on top of it going through the middle of the skull with a saber and a rapier crossing each other behind the skull. The ship looked to be well prepared for long-term battles as it had twenty large cannons on each side of the ship counting for a total of forty cannons. Meanwhile at the front there were eleven large seven-barrel gatling guns that look like they can move around quickly so they can aim properly (A/N: It's literally the GAU-8 Avenger, A.K.A the 'brrrrrt' gun). Above the eleven gatling guns was the figurehead which looked like a greyhound's head completely made of gold and with eyes made completely out of amethyst. The shape of the ship seemed to be like the Marine battleships from Marineford, with the exception that it's plated with gold and is painted purple wherever there isn't gold as well as being longer and more streamlined than said Marine battleships. The crew on the ship seemed to be lively, to the point that it reminded Luffy of Shanks' crew. Then a guy jumped down from the ship all the way down towards where Luffy and Robin were at.
The man was rather tall, much taller than Luffy but shorter than someone like Kizaru or Aokiji. He had dark skin and dreadlocks that appeared to be neck-length. On the top of his head, he had a fur top hat and he had some teashades on as well. He is wearing a black tank-top, Purple jean, gold-toed combat boots and a purple coat with his crew's jolly roger right on the middle of it. He also had freakishly long arms, a definitive trait from the Long-arm Tribe. His hands had gold knuckles with the one on the right having the word 'YOUNG' and the left one having 'MONEY'. He appeared to have a lean, muscular body like Luffy, except a bit thicker.
"Yoyoyo! What's up! The name's Drizzy…'Young Money' West Drizzy! I am the captain of this wondrous ship, 'Le Róchelle Eleganté' and one of the most badass crews to ever be created on the face of all the Grand Line, The Young Money Pirates! Do you two have any business with us?" The man now known to the both of them as Drizzy introduced himself to the 2 Straw Hats.
"Hi! My name is Monkey D. Luffy, future Pirate King! And we are just here to eat!" Luffy said as his stomach rumbled while he grinned sheepishly. Robin just chuckled at Luffy's stomach as she got the feeling that his stomach would be the most money consuming thing whenever he builds up his crew.
"Do you have any money?" Drizzy and Robin asked the rubber man, to which Luffy shook his head no.
Drizzy just chuckled at Luffy's predicament. "Well you two can come eat with us! It's on the house!" Drizzy said much to the happiness of the rubber man. Luffy then tried to run inside the Baratie, but was stopped by both Drizzy and Robin.
"Now, now Straw Hat-san, you can't just go inside without the both of us being presentable." Robin stated while smiling as Luffy looked at her and himself and nodded. Drizzy also nodded at Robin's statement and motioned the two to follow him towards his ship. When they reached the deck, They were greeted by Drizzy's crew which were actually pretty friendly as they greeted the two new people on their ship.
"Wait…Your crew isn't eating in the restaurant ship?" Luffy asked the captain as he looked at Drizzy's crewmates.
"They are actually, we just couldn't fit the entire crew in there. Half of them are eating in there while the other half are eating here." Drizzy explained as they entered his ship and into a finely decorated corridor.
"How many crewmates do you have?" Luffy asked genuinely interested.
" I have about two hundred crew members exactly. Now let me take you two to my quarters. I have some clothes for the both of you that you can wear. Luffy, you are only wearing that strangely nice-looking straw hat and those wacky pair of pants. The lady appears to have recently escaped from some kind of prison as she's wearing a tealish jumpsuit, so she is in need of something more tasteful." Drizzy said as he brought Luffy and Robin into a room and were amazed by the amount of clothing there was in this room, with Luffy thinking that this dwarfed Nami's wardrobe by a landslide.
"Now you can grab whatever, just make sure you two are ready in a couple of minutes." Drizzy told them while Robin just looked at him suspiciously.
"Why are you helping us? You'll most definitely gain nothing and you don't even know if we're here to assassinate you." Robin suddenly said that caused the Young Money captain to turn around with a serious look on his face, To which he started to chuckle for a good couple of seconds.
"I guess you would be suspicious of someone who just suddenly gives you new clothes and food when you have been hunted down for 10 years. Isn't that right Nico Robin?" Drizzy asked as Robin subconsciously froze in fear of someone from the East Blue knowing who she is.
"How do you know who I am?" She asked carefully with fear radiating around her causing Luffy to go into alert. Drizzy saw this and just rose his hands up to show that he won't do anything to the both of them.
"Woah, woah, woah! Let's not get hasty here! Many people who're high up in the food chain know about you. Well, that and I have a good connection with the Revolutionary Army, so there's that as well…Oh! And some of my crewmates are rather skilled in getting any information should we need it."
Drizzy explained as he messed around with his coat.
"And I take it that you are one of those high up in the food chain?" Robin asked the dark-skinned man.
"Exactomundo! Take a look at this!" Drizzy exclaimed as he gave Robin a piece of paper. When she looked at it, it caused her to freeze in fear. Luffy took the paper out of her hands and was genuinely surprised about the man's bounty.
Wanted
Dead or Alive
'Young Money' West Drizzy
476,000,000 Beris
"How did you get such a large bounty?" Luffy asked the man as he wanted to know what he did to get such a high bounty.
"Well let's see…I stole some government secrets such as future projects…umm…My crew fought against a Buster Call and we came out unscathed…Oh! I fought Vice-Admiral Borsalino and technically won! And finally, Last but not least, I rigged Marineford's speakers to play my mixtape using their den-den mushi!" Drizzy explained happily as he took a good look on Robin's face.
He noticed how when he mentioned the words 'Buster Call', she stiffened up for a quick moment before relaxing herself. This didn't go unseen by Luffy either as he knows what Robin has been through before joining his crew.
"How did you beat Borsalino?" Luffy asked as he remembered the only way he beat then-Admiral Kizaru was by firing a kairoseki bullet and hitting him in the neck, paralyzing him completely.
"Oh, I just turned myself into a hyperreflective block of gold and sent him away somewhere when he turned into light." Drizzy replied nonchalantly.
"So you ate a devil fruit?" Robin asked the long-armed man.
"Hell yeah! I ate the Gold-Gold fruit! Now I don't have to worry about being broke ever again!" Drizzy replied as he turned around and grabbed one of the shirts in the wardrobe and turned it into gold.
"That's amazing! You can turn anything into gold!?" Luffy asked as he looked on in amazement at the fabric-turned-piece-of-gold shirt that now laid on the floor. 'Knowing Nami, she would kill to get that fruit.' Luffy mused to himself
Meanwhile, at Cocoyashi Village…
While drinking tangerine juice with her sister Nojiko after training with their mother, Nami sneezed suddenly.
"What's wrong Nami, you getting a cold or something?" Nojiko asked her sister as she finished her own glass of tangerine juice.
"Oh, it's nothing. I think someone is talking about me, might be Luffy." Nami responded as she now thought about the black-haired boy. The look on Nami's face caught Nojiko's attention.
"ooooohhhh…Looks like someone has a crush on our future captain." Nojiko teased to her now blushing sister who was now shaking her head in denial.
Back to Le Róchelle Eleganté…
"Yes I can turn anything into gold, but enough chit-chat! You two need to look good before you enter the ship restaurant." Drizzy said as he left the two to change into their preferred clothing.
A few minutes later…
When Drizzy came back to get them, he noticed that they looked rather good in their clothing.
Luffy was wearing a pair of light blue jeans with a teal shirt under the red cardigan he also had on. He also had on a pair of red boots with the ends of his jeans tucked inside of them and had a yellow sash wrapped around his waist.
Robin wore a simple, but rather beautiful dark purple knee high dress with low heel pumps. She also had a pair of orange aviator sunglasses above the white cloche hat she has on. On her wrists, she has on a simple gold bracelet that has floral engravings all over it.
"Now you two look good! It's as if you two are made for each other." Drizzy complemented the two, causing Robin to blush slightly while Luffy just chuckled at his comment, having a slight blush on face as well.
'Why's my face hot?' Luffy thought as he turned towards Robin, who hesitated looking at Luffy before putting on her usual stoic face and looked at him with amusement.
"Well? Let's go or are you not hungry?" She asked Luffy teasingly as she walked ahead of him. Luffy soon followed, but had the sudden urge to look a little lower at Robin, but resisted it quite well as a cart of food was conveniently being placed outside by a young kid with swirly eyebrows.
"Sanji…" Luffy murmured as he looked at the young kid giving new dishes to the pirates while taking their dirty dishes and putting them on the cart. Sanji turned to his left and looked towards the two new faces, with the man drooling uncontrollably to the point that he practically had a waterfall of saliva coming from his mouth. Sanji looked at them and presented the best dishes he had available in the cart to them. Robin politely thank the young Sanji while Luffy just grabbed the plate and expanded his mouth to dump the entire dish into said mouth. Everyone minus Robin and Drizzy looked in surprise and awe as Luffy finished the dish in less than a second and he did not seem full at the slightest.
"That. Was. DELICIOUS!" Luffy exclaimed happily as he gave the plate back to Sanji who looked at Luffy with a prideful look on his face.
"You think it tastes great? This is my first time serving customers with food that I made myself." Sanji said pride emanating from his body.
"It's one of the most delicious foods I have ever eaten! Can I have more please?" Luffy asked as reached out towards the food cart.
"Hey! That's not all…for you…" Sanji exclaimed but couldn't stop the wrath of Luffy's stomach as he dumped all of the food, dishes included, into his mouth, before spitting the dishes out in a neatly stacked fashion. This of course caused almost everyone (with Robin being that exception) to look at Luffy with dinner plate-sized eyes and wonder what kind of devil fruit he ate.
"Yo! What kind of devil fruit did you eat!?" Exclaimed one of the Young Money Pirate grunts as he saw Luffy's stomach expand to accommodate the food that just entered Luffy's mouth.
"I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit making me a rubber man!" Luffy explained to the entire group as he stretched his cheek to impossible lengths in order to prove his claim. At that point, everybody believes him, but it left Robin with a suspicious look directed at the man who had saved her from execution.
'He says that he ate the Gum-Gum Fruit and the way he showed how his power works would definitely prove that he actually did eat it. But that devil fruit power doesn't explain the abilities that he had showed when I was about to be executed. I seriously doubt that rubber has properties such as disintegrating everything that touches it. Did he eat a second devil fruit? No, that's impossible, the human body isn't capable of holding two different devil fruit powers.' Robin thought deeply as she now was looking at the empty cart with no food since that was annihilated by Luffy's stomach.
"SANJI! WE NEED HELP IN THE KITCHEN! HURRY UP AND GIVE THOSE DISHES ALREADY!" yelled a man who had a rather magnificent-looking (And by that I mean really tall) chef hat and a braided mustache as he came out of the Baratie.
"COMING CHEF ZEFF!" Sanji yelled back down towards the chef as he took the cart down as well.
"...I think I found my crew's cook." Luffy said as he looked on at Sanji with a twinkle of joy appearing in his eyes. Robin just looked at him and chuckled at Luffy's response.
"Why don't you look for someone more around your age Straw Hat-san? You could look for cooks who have more experience than that kid, no offence to the kid of course. The food he gave that he apparently made was rather tasty." Robin spoke as Luffy gave her a confused look.
"What're you talking about? Of course I'm around his age, I'm 7 years old!" Luffy said nonchalantly and everything went silent.
Everyone just stared at the man as if he was crazy. He couldn't be 7 years old, not by a long shot. Some of the pirates thought that the boy put some kind of drug inside of the food that were on that cart. The other pirates just thought that the man was just plain delusional. Robin however, looked underneath the underneath, and tried to think of a viable reason to what Luffy had just said.
"How did you your body get like that if you are 7 years old?" Robin asked trying to get more information on Luffy's 'predicament'.
"Well, before I went on to rescue you, This really nice marine gave me a weird-looking smoothie and I drank it. It tasted really horrible and then I felt my stomach explode, making me cough up blood. Soon after, blood was coming out of everywhere and some parts of my body started to glow. Then, out of nowhere, my body started to melt and then I felt it expand. That's all I know before I woke up and found myself to be this big." Explained Luffy as looked at Robin's face which looked on with surprise.
"D-do you know what you just drank there?" Drizzy said as he looked at Luffy, who just shrugged.
"I…Guess since the only other things that taste like that are devil fruits." Luffy said as he looked to a recently back Sanji with two carts full of food.
"Do you what kind of devil fruit it is?" Sanji asked as he stopped the carts in front of the 3 pirates.
"I don't know, I was never told." Luffy responded to the little swirly-browed kid. "Oh! I have to ask you," Luffy said as he knelt down to Sanji's height. "How would you like to join my crew as a cook? Once I pick all the crewmate I will need that is." Luffy asked the young Sanji who looked at the man with surprise.
"Thank you for the offer, but I'm going to be staying here to repay the debt I owe the old geezer." Replied Sanji as he gave a look at Luffy that meant 'That is my decision and that's final'. However, Luffy being Luffy, is someone who gets what he wants through sheer stubbornness, which is how he got almost all of his crew members originally. So of course Luffy was trying to find a way to get Sanji to join him. Fortunately he thought up of something that in his first life he wouldn't even being capable of conjuring up what he planned to say.
"What's your dream Sanji?" Luffy asked even though he knows what is Sanji's dream.
"To find the All Blue!" Sanji said as memories of reading the legend of the All Blue flooded his mind. To this, Luffy smiled.
"Well, you can't find the All Blue if you just stay here. I'll tell you what, let's make a deal. I will pick you up in 10 years, and by then, I want you to be the best chef you can be." Luffy said trying to convince Sanji to join his crew.
"Well…who else is going to be there in your crew?" Sanji asked, a little tempted by the offer.
"As of right now, I have Nami and her sister Nojiko who are around your age-"
"Deal." Sanji interrupted Luffy before he could even begin to scratch the surface of their abilities.
"Really? You'll join?" Luffy asked completely surprised by the outcome he surely did not expect to happen.
"Yep! I'll try to convince the old geezer to let me go with you" Sanji said as he turned around to go to Zeff, only to bump into him the moment he turned around to run.
"You don't need my permission brat, You can go now if you want to." Zeff said as he looked at Sanji and then looked up towards Luffy.
"Can I speak to you for a moment tallhat-ossan? privately?" Luffy asked the ex-pirate-turned-chef, who merely grunted as he motioned Luffy to follow him into the Baratie. Once they reached his bedroom/office, Zeff turned around and faced Luffy.
"What do you want with boy? There's nothing special about him, aside the fact that he can cook well for his age." Zeff asked Luffy as he sat down on his bed.
"Actually, he has great potential tallhat-ossan. I was going to ask you to teach him how to use haki." Luffy responded to Zeff.
"Haki? Can't believe I've heard that word out here in the East Blue of all places." Zeff chuckled as he got a good look at Luffy. He saw that the man he was looking at was radiating massive amounts of power, even with the aloof expression he currently had.
"Sure I'll do that, even though I was going to teach him in a couple years, I think it will be better if he learns to manifest it right since he's younger." Zeff reminisced as he stroked his moustache.
"You know haki too tallhat-ossan?" Luffy asked surprised.
"Of course, when you've been to paradise as well as the New World, haki becomes a necessity for survival. Heh…and to think that my journey ended in a storm while raiding a ship here in the East Blue. You better take him, he is my last hope for finding the All Blue." Zeff responded as he reminisced on what happened in his life that led up to now.
"Thank you tallhat-ossan. You'll see that Sanji will find the All Blue for you, as well as for himself." Luffy said before leaving Zeff's room, not seeing Zeff's smile.
Luffy soon went back up towards the ship again and found Robin just by herself calmly looking around her surroundings as she drank a glass of wine given to her courtesy by Drizzy himself.
"Robin," Luffy said to Robin to get her attention.
"Yes Straw Hat-san?" she asked, wondering what he wants.
"It's time for us to go." Luffy said as he turned his head to see Sanji walking towards him.
"Sooo…What did the old geezer say to you?" Sanji asked hopefully.
"He gave me the okay! He'll also train you into some things as well." Luffy said happily to the young Sanji. "Now…it's go Robin. See ya guys! thank you all for the food and clothes!" Luffy exclaimed happily as he picked Robin up bridal style, but this time Robin was prepared for it and didn't give a blush this time, but just chuckled at how Luffy treated her. Before he can leave though, Drizzy stopped him.
"Now, now Luffy, you know you just can't leave like that without taking all of your things." Drizzy told Luffy as he handed him a piece of paper.
"What's this?" Luffy asked confused as to why he was given a piece of paper, until he opened said paper.
"You know, as a way to contact us whenever you create your crew so we can be allies. I see great potential within you, and I have a knack for finding talent." Drizzy claimed as he waved them off, which Luffy took note as he geppou'd him and his 'passenger' to his home island.
Later at Dawn Island…
Ace was getting really worried for his older brother Luffy. He hasn't seen him at all today, and even his mother Rouge was beginning to worry for his younger brother. He couldn't bear to lose him like how he recently lost Sabo today. As if Heaven answered his call, He saw a tall man wearing a straw hat carrying a woman landing in front of him. At first he got weary and was ready to defend himself and his home. however, when he used his Observation Haki to sense them, he was surprised by who he actually is.
"L-Luffy…?" Asked the very confused Ace who looked at the two people walking towards him. He saw the very tall man smile at him with happiness.
"I'm back Ace, and with a new friend." Luffy responded as he and knelt down to hug Ace, who was too shocked to resist and to berate Luffy for being gone for so long.
"W-what happened to you Luffy? Why are you so big?" Ace continued to ask which confirmed Luffy's statement in which he actually is 7 years old to Robin.
"I accidently ate a second devil fruit." Luffy deadpanned as he let go of Ace.
"Oh…What kind of devil fruit power is it?" Ace asked Luffy before taking a good look at Nico Robin. He wondered what she was doing here with Luffy.
"I don't know Ace. But about Sabo…" Ace stiffened at hearing that name. "He's alive…So don't worry about him!" Luffy stated happily to Ace in order to try to cheer him up.
"THAT'S A LIE! DOGRA SAID-!"
"Does Dogra have haki Ace?" Luffy asked seriously stopping Ace from rage-induced tantrum.
"N-no…no he doesn't…" Ace said as he realized Luffy's implication.
"Right! Ace, I was there when Sabo was attacked by that World Noble. He survived and was rescued by a ship who happened to be nearby." Luffy explained to Ace who was letting out tears of relief.
"Luffy! I'm so glad your back! Me and Ace were worried about you! Oh? Who's this?" Rouge yelled out as she ran out to see what what was going on outside of her humble abode, ignoring the fact that Luffy is now a 6'6 lean man.
"Hi Rogue! This is Nico Robin! And she's gonna join my crew!" Luffy said happily while Robin remained passive of the stares she was receiving from both Ace and Rogue. She was surprised to see their reaction to her be rather well considering the other reactions she has gotten from people who know who she is.
"Well hello there Ms. Robin, I hope you would stay for some dinner. Today we are having wild boar as you can see by the dead boar Ace and I brought." Rouge said as she pointed towards where there was indeed a massive boar about half the size of the house. She sweatdropped and then turned her head to see Luffy drooling in anticipation.
'Hadn't he just eaten? Maybe it's because he's made out of rubber that allows him to eat so much.' Robin mused to herself as she was motioned inside of the house along with the rest of the group. She felt her dress being tucked, and turned to see the freckled kid look at her with a serious expression.
"If you dare try to harm my mother or my little brother and try to escape…I will find you, and I will kill you." Ace whispered that last part just low enough only for Robin to hear. She just smiled at the kid's willingness to protect his precious family.
"Don't worry, I won't do anything of the sort." she reassured Ace while giving him one of her rare genuine smiles. She was beginning to actually beginning to like Luffy's family. While she was eating the stew that Rouge prepared, she was putting together what had happened over the course of this day, and a question came up in her mind.
"Why were you in that Marine battleship Straw Hat-san?" Robin asked suddenly, making the entire table silent. Rouge and Ace looked at Luffy in shock about hearing him being somewhere he wasn't supposed to be.
"Is that why you were gone for most of the day Luffy?" Rogue asked.
"What did you do?" Ace further pressed on.
"I…I'll tell you all when it's more appropriate. I don't feel like talking about it…" Luffy said quietly as he looked down at his stew before picking it up and slurping it down slowly. Rogue and Robin noticed the emotion that was going through and didn't press further. However, Ace was not as knowledgeable in reading in-between the lines and as such, continued to press on.
"Luffy what're you hiding-"
"ACE!" Luffy yelled at Ace out of frustration, completely surprising both Rouge and Robin at his outburst while Ace just looked at him in a mixture of both surprise and shock. "*sigh*…Tomorrow…I'll tell you three tomorrow." And at that, Luffy left to his bedroom to sleep, leaving the rest in the dining room to just wonder what what going on with Luffy.
Unknown Area…
Luffy found himself in lab of sorts. It seemed very advanced considering all of the things he found there looked very technological, even more so than Dr. Vegapunk's lab. While walking through the lab, he heard a slight hum towards his left, and decided to follow the noise. When he got closer he saw a slender woman with dark blue pinned-up hair and crimson red eyes. She was wearing a green turtleneck shirt and a brown skirt that reached below the knees. over her turtleneck, she was wearing one of those white science lab coats and had a pair of reading glasses on. She appeared to be reading a book while holding a ball made up of bluish dust-like gas in the palm of her right hand. She then took notice of him and dispersed the ball into nothingness while she closed the book.
"Hello Luffy…I was expecting you sooner or later…" Said the unknown woman as she got up and took off her glasses.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Luffy asked the woman as the last thing he remembered was getting inside of his bed thinking about what to say to Rouge, Robin, and Ace about why he was in a Marine battleship.
"You are inside you mindscape of course." She chuckled at Luffy's wonder as he looked around the place in amazement.
"As for who I am…I am the Atom-Atom Fruit. You can call me Ms. Atom if you want though."
Bet you guys didn't expect that one now did you?
I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and as always, don't forget to favorite, follow, and review! What powers do you think Luffy will unlock with the use of his new devil fruit? Also, what do you guys think of the OC I came up with? Would like to know your answers in hopes of improving both my writing as well as my fic.
Forzarismo
October 29, 2015
