Notes: I started this fic back in June, thought I'd continue it, forgot about it for several months, and when I finally rediscovered it I didn't hate it. There's no plot, just introspection. But since I can't leave Luffy alone, I figured I'd post this just for the hell of it.
The title comes from the Duran Duran song, but between you and me, it's the DDR remix that was in my head when writing. My love of Shaman King and Yoh Asakura's laid back "everything will work out" philosophy reminds me of Luffy, and probably contributed to this.
Warnings: None.
Pairings: None. Nakama only in this one, baby.
Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda, and all the companies who have laid rights to it. Since I don't feel like putting out the whole list, let's just say I have no part and this is a piece of fanfiction in which I profit in no way but through my own demented glee, shall we?
Ordinary World
by Karaleyn
For many people, the older they were, the less they believed. It was as if there was a certain age when the world was not supposed to be wonderful and fanciful dreams were not supposed to exist. The focus should shift to more practical plans, with hopes being pressed to the back of one's mind and common sense taking control. The shift in character could be seen slowly in some, with their eyes dimming steadily until their smiles no longer encompassed their expressions and all their conversations had to do with what was seen directly in front of them.
Luffy had never understood that shift. To him, the world was the world, and if it wasn't going to change, why should he change his view of it? Dreams created in childhood days long past were no less real today than they were then. It wasn't as if the summers became less intense, or water was less tangible, or the sea ceased to exist. He had decided when he was seven that he would be the Pirate King, so he would be. There was no question in his mind, no doubt whatsoever. It was a constant in his life, a dream that had stayed firm in his mind for a decade as he prepared for his destiny. While others his age eventually lost their hope, Luffy had remained persistent, possibly obsessed depending on the definition, and it was through that consistency that he had gained the confidence to continue moving forward.
The world, for the most part, was very simple to him. Not because he was simple-minded, or because he was incapable of understanding anything beyond simple ideas. The world was simple because that was the world, because seeing it any other way was a waste of energy, because living in a simple world was easier and more entertaining than living in a complicated one.
Luffy liked to laugh.
He liked to be with his nakama and he liked to experience new adventures. He liked to spend warm summer days resting on his special spot on the figurehead, feeling the calming gentleness of the waves as they guided the Going Merry through the seas.
He loved the sea, too.
He loved the smell of it and the feel of the stray drops splashing up like his own personal mist when the ship fell into a wave too abruptly. He liked the feel of it, to an extent, but his enjoyment on that level was greatly hindered because he was a Hammer. He could only like the feel so much if he knew that he would lose all his powers and possibly die at the mercy of a body of water that had forsaken him. Because of that, he enjoyed the spray of the ocean more than being surrounded by it, so he could still feel the water without being unable to do anything else. And even though it was really, really salty, he even liked the taste of it on some level. There was something satisfying about seawater on his tongue. It was probably just that he had dreamed of being at sea for so long that any reminder, even such an intensely salty one, still reaffirmed that he was in the middle of the ocean, on a ship with a crew he thought of as nakama, on his way to becoming the Pirate King.
So, life was simple.
He existed with his nakama... he had fun with them, teased (and was teased by) them, protected them as they protected him, and encouraged their dreams as they encouraged his.
He had complete faith in his nakama, as it should be.
His goal of becoming the Pirate King had not changed, of course, nor had the constant comforting weight of Shanks' straw hat flattening his messy black hair. If something was wrong, he fixed it. If something was good, he enjoyed it. He protected those who needed protecting, but ultimately was there to see that they could at least begin to protect themselves. The world was not really black and white, though, nor was it grey. There was no need to look at the world in any of these views, because then he would be spending all that time trying to categorize everything he saw into one box or another.
Things were good; things were bad. Sometimes he thought something was good and it turned out it was bad, and sometimes he thought something was bad when it was really good. He couldn't be bothered to try to understand patterns for why this was; it simply was, and that was all he needed to know. Sometimes he felt lost, but it was an incredibly rare feeling, usually only occurring when he was not yet sure what it was people needed in the situation.
He also didn't care about the past, and the only thing he needed to know about the future was that his dream would come true. He had seen too many people get caught up in worrying about what once was. If it Had Been, then thinking about it now would not change its existence. It was more important to decide if it should Still Be, or if it was better as Had Been. Scrutinizing all the sides of a situation tended to complicate things too much.
In Luffy's opinion, the correct choice would be clear if he just looked at the situation hard enough, and if he knew just enough to understand the context. Bad things needed to be punished, good things needed to be celebrated. Life was not cut into Good and Bad, and people were not always Good or Bad either, but in any given situation there was the Best Choice or Action, and Luffy tended to gravitate toward that and nothing else. Debating too much complicated things, and made it harder to see the only thing that was truly important: what was happening, and how it could be fixed if it was bad.
The world was simple like that.
-End-
Not sure where I'd go with the fic if I continued, so this is the end I guess. For any awesome people who care about what I write, I am still working on other OP fics... I just have been so uninspired with All Things Writing lately that it's taking forever.
For all Zoro/Luffy fans, if you didn't catch it in my profile, just a reminder that Quatrina Raberba and I are working on a fic at our collaboration name Karaleyn Raberba here at ffn. Go check out our fic Breath (formerly Toppling Reason). You have no idea how much we already have written.. it's crazy. So also keep checking back, because we're trying hard not to make people wait too long for updates.
Thank you for reading, sorry for my ridiculously long notes, and if you so choose to hit that review button or send me an email, know that I very much appreciate it and would love to hear whatever you have to say! Even if you completely disagree with my opinion of Luffy. I enjoy debating with people when it's not just a bunch of insults being thrown back and forth. D