What if we never met?
By: KuroKame
On their way to Alabasta, the Straw Hat Pirates anchors for the night to get some rest. But getting some decent sleep can be hard, especially when crossing unknown waters.
I actually wrote the first chapter in April this year, but I wasn't sure that I was going to upload it. I have been working on it quite a lot over the summer, and chapter 2 is almost done already. It hasn'tgone through beta(like the rest of my stories...) because I haven't heard from my beta-reader in a while. I just hope that nothing has happened to them... Anyway, I'll take the chance and get on with the story!
And, as always and forever, I don't own One Piece or its characters in any kind of way, which is probably a good thing, since I'd never be able to come up with an amazing storyline like the one Oda-sensei has done.
"I don't want to be your nakama."
"No, Luffy-san. Go away."
"Quaaaaaa…"
"Didn't you hear what they said? Go away."
The voices pierced through him like arrows of ice. They were all turning their backs on him; he could feel their presence fade into the dark, misty shadows that surrounded him. All his nakama were leaving him alone in the dark, but not without looking back at him - taunting him in his helplessness. Their voices echoed in his ears, turning into horrible, hollow imitations of his nakama as they vanished into the darkness.
"Like I said, we were just working together temporarily. Don't take it personal."
"No. No more lies, no more stories. No more adventures, Luffy."
"I'm not a pirate. I'm just a reindeer…"
A flash of orange and sky-blue pierced through the darkness as the smell of tangerines, gunpowder and strange herbs tickled his nostrils. One by one, they turned away, their scents fading as they disappeared into the shadows like mirages in a desert. Far away, the sound of waves crashing against the hull of a ship and the creaking of wet wooden planks was transformed into a cackling laughter as another voice called for his attention.
"I don't want to follow a moron like you anymore. I'll find All Blue on my own."
He was gone as well, only a puff of smoke hanging in the thick air, twisting like a transparent snake until it also faded into the shadows. Luffy fell to his knees in the dark that surrounded him, the voices of his nakama echoing in his mind. He reached out his hands, trying to call their names, ordering them – begging them – to return to him.
A captain was nothing without his crew, and Luffy was nothing without his nakama. Not a captain, not a Pirate King, nothing at all.
The thickening air got stuck in his throat and no sound passed over his lips, but the sound of his own voice calling for his crew taunted him as it bounced off walls concealed somewhere in the vast darkness, echoing only inside his head.
Alone. They had left him all alone.
A shadow, darker and more firm than the other misty darkness appeared in front of Luffy as the rich smell of blood, sweat and sake filled the air. Looking up, Luffy caught a glimpse of green hair and cold, sharp eyes through the black mists moving around him. Rising to his feet and reaching out his hand towards the familiar shadow, he was greeted by the flash of metal and the shrill song of a sword slicing the very air to shreds. Luffy eyes widened as he felt the presence of the sword right in front of his face. The shock of Zoro turning against him sent a cold, sticky feeling through his body.
"Zoro… Don't you dare turn your back on me!"
His voice didn't seem to belong to him. It appeared out of the darkness in front of him, somewhere along the blade of the sword that was still pointed directly at him, but he could still hear that it was his voice. His and no one else's. But before his voice could say another word, another voice reached his ears, saying his name with a cold, firm tone, and as it did, the black mists parted, revealing a sight that would forever be imprinted in Luffy's mind.
Zoro was standing in front of him, ready to fight with his swords raised and the black bandana tied around his forehead. But Luffy could feel that it wasn't the Zoro he knew. No, this was the demon so many pirates feared; the infamous Pirate Hunter Zoro. The way his eyes fixated on him was enough proof for Luffy. Zoro had never glared at him like that - except for the one time they had fought fiercely enough to kill each other over a misunderstanding. But this was different, and Luffy knew it. This time, it didn't seem like anything he could think of to say would make Zoro stay.
"Get away from me. I wish I never met you."
The sharp tone in the deep voice caught Luffy off-guard, his outstretched hand falling limply to his side as he stared at his swordsman, the first person to join his clan – the most loyal nakama he ever had. As the owner of the sharp voice also turned away and was swallowed by the shadows, Luffy knew that he was alone. The cackling laughter of the waves grew louder as the invisible water was not crashing into the hull of a ship anymore. Instead, it was flowing over the dark floor, threatening to drown him in its icy coldness as it licked the soles of his bare feet.
Luffy pressed his hands over his ears, trying to shut everything out –the darkness, the water and the laughter. Then he threw his head back and screamed. But his scream was drowned out by another voice, a high-pitched cry that pierced through the darkness like a white-hot needle and made him lose his balance. Falling as if in slow-motion, Luffy felt his hat being swept off his head, and gave up a faint gasp.
He turned his head to look after his hat, following it with his eyes as it whirled around in the darkness. Once the hat touched the floor, the solid surface rippled like water and swallowed the captain's treasure instantly. Luffy's eyes widened as his hat vanished into the black liquid below him. Reaching out his hand towards his lost treasure, he felt his body being jerked upwards just as the darkness around him was dissolved into a grey, blurry fog.
– e – e –
With a loud gasp, the pirate captain sat up in his hammock and looked around in the dimly lit room below deck. He was breathing very fast, and his eyes darted over the familiar surroundings. To his right was the couch, where Zoro was sleeping, and above the swordsman's head was the hammock where their newest nakama, Chopper the doctor was sleeping. To his left, he could see the shadow of Usopp sleeping curled up in his hammock, just as always. Breathing deeply to calm down, Luffy slowly convinced himself that it had only been a bad dream. All his nakama were still with him. As he looked down in front of him, he let out a sigh of relief. His hat was also still with him. It was lying in the same place at the foot side of his hammock where he had put it before he went to sleep. He picked it up, his fingers gently caressing the many stitches in the material before he put it on his head.
Sleepily scratching the back of his neck and pressing the hat further down over his black hair, Luffy swung his legs over the edge of his hammock. The bottomless pit that served as his stomach was howling for food, and he had to admit that he wouldn't say no to something to eat. Silently, the captain slid down from his hammock, landing soundlessly on the wooden floor below and looked around to make sure that no one had woken up. A mischievous grin played across his face as the only sound that was heard was the snores of his nakama.
Luffy was so used to the surroundings that he didn't need any more light than the thin rays of moonlight that shone in through the small holes in the ceiling to know where everything in the room was. There was, however, one thing – or well, person – who kept moving around all over the ship. And that was Sanji. Luffy had found that his cook never slept in the same place two nights in a row, which of course made it harder for the captain to sneak out to get a midnight snack.
Tripping over a sleeping Sanji while trying to swipe the meat prepared for the next day's dinner wasn't something Luffy enjoyed very much. That was even worse than falling into one of Sanji's creative traps. Because even if Luffy had learnt to make out where the giant mouse-traps or the snares were hidden, Sanji always came up with new traps and ways to protect his kitchen.
Then again, Luffy was always up for the challenge to get past the traps and the cook guarding the precious meat.
Encouraged by the thought of getting a chance to fill his always empty stomach, Luffy had almost completely forgotten about his nightmare. He slowly moved from the place where his hammock hung from the ceiling towards the mast, careful not to make too much noise that could wake his nakama. Just as he put his hand on the ladder to climb up to the main deck, a loud cry followed by low muttering voices made him jump and turned around. His eyes darted around, trying to find the source to the noise.
In the bunk to his left in front of him, his long-nosed marksman was tossing and turning, clearly suffering from a bad dream. In fact, when Luffy looked around in the room once more, he noticed that everyone in the room seemed to be having nightmares. He was also happy to notice that he was able to locate where Sanji was sleeping once the cook joined in the muttering.
The green-haired swordsman was lying sprawled over the couch, the blue-nosed reindeer in his hammock above Zoro's head, the long-nosed sniper in his bunk and the blond cook sitting with his back against the mast only a few decimeters from where Luffy was standing – all of them were muttering in their sleep and moving idly without waking up. Luffy was used to waking up and hearing his nakama talking, arguing or even fighting in their sleep, and he never really paid any attention to it. He didn't intend to let it bother him this time either, since he knew that as long as Sanji was talking in his sleep, the cook wasn't going to keep him from taking a midnight snack.
Just when Luffy was about to climb up the ladder to the deck above, he heard the voices of his nakama whispering his name, one by one. Frowning, he turned back to the dark room, his eyes moving from Zoro on the couch to Chopper, Sanji and Usopp. Their voices blended with each other and with the sound of waves slapping against the hull on the starboard side as they continued talking in their sleep.
"That ship… it's destroyed… what happened to it? The pirates were starving, but now… Pati… Carne… Owner Zeff… Am I all alone?"
"They're coming… the pirates… I have to protect Kaya… No one believes me… I'm all alone against the pirates…"
"He's back… Wapol… Doctorine… The island is in danger… I'm alone!"
Luffy blinked. Even if he only caught fragments of what the others were saying, he couldn't help but feel that their words sounded familiar. His mind was still focused on the food waiting up in the kitchen, so when he tried to think of why his friends' words were sounding so familiar, only faded images of battles flashed before his eyes. Somehow, the battles all felt important, but the hunger soon pushed the images away and urged him to hurry up and get to the kitchen before he woke someone up. Then, in the middle of the low murmur, Luffy heard Zoro's growling voice and looked over at the swordsman on the couch.
"I'll survive a month, like I promised… I'll show that stupid son… I'm on my own… I don't need anyone else…"
A deafening silence fell as the sleeping crew stopped muttering in their sleep at once. It was only broken by the occasional snore from one or two of the men in the room, the tapping sound of Luffy's bare feet as he climbed the ladder and the light creaking of the hatch in the ceiling as the captain climbed up onto the main deck.
The moon hung in the black sky over the ship, surrounded by at least a million twinkling stars. In Luffy's hunger-driven mind, it reminded him of the ice cream with liquorice-sauce and sprinkles that Sanji had made for Vivi and Nami the day before. Feeling his stomach growling for food, Luffy looked around over the deck to make sure that there wasn't anyone else there. Then, he slowly crept up the stairs towards the galley, grinning widely as he thought of the food that waited for him inside the kitchen. But as he came up the stairs, he found an obstacle blocking his way. Carue, Vivi's giant spot-billed duck was sleeping in front of the door to the galley with his head under his left wing. If he woke the duck up while sneaking into the room, Luffy would have to share the food with him, and that wasn't something he wanted to do.
Luffy frowned and moved closer to Carue as silently as he could. He slowly reached out his hand towards the handle, turned the doorknob and carefully pushed the door open. Carue quacked quietly when Luffy stepped over him, but didn't wake up. Luffy grinned happily as he quietly shut the door behind him. Now it was only him and the precious food, and no one nearby to keep them apart any longer.
A few minutes later, Luffy pushed the last empty plate to the side where he sat alone by the table in the galley, patted his stomach and sighed. The food he had taken from the fridge hadn't been nearly enough to satisfy his hunger. Instead, he was feeling hungrier than before. That wasn't a nice feeling, but he managed to gather enough willpower to resist getting up from the table to get seconds – there wasn't much food left, and Luffy was definitely looking forward to eating breakfast later. Also, Nami had said that it probably would take more than ten days to reach Alabasta, and that the food supplies had to last until then. To Luffy, this simply meant that Sanji wouldn't let him have food when he wanted it anymore. But it would sure be nice to have just one more piece of meat…
Leaning forward over the table, Luffy folded his arms and stared out into the darkness. His eyelids were starting to feel heavy, and he thought of going back to the quarters below deck to get some more sleep, but decided that the table was just as good to sleep on as his hammock. While he tried to find a comfortable spot to lean his head, the nightmare from before returned to his mind. It lingered in his thoughts like nightmares tend to do, but as Luffy slowly drifted off to sleep, only one sentence kept buzzing inside his head with his swordsman's voice.
I wish I never met you.
Just before Luffy felt the world fade into complete darkness, one question appeared in his mind. If he hadn't met his nakama – the people who meant the most to him in the whole wide world – what would have happened to them?
To Be Continued... -cackle-
So, what did you think? Too cheesy? Too weird? Too lame? Well, don't be afraid to tell me... I'm not overly protective about this story... Yet.