Luffy was panicking. How could he forget? Today was the day Shanks came to Foosha Village and Luffy felt like he couldn't breathe. Could he really face him today?

Could he act like the little boy he was supposed to be? And not a young man, even Makino was noticing something was wrong.

Luffy was no longer the naïve, happy boy, he remembered being. At least not like he was before. Nowadays he had his quiet moments, times he would rather stare into the ocean for hours on end. He didn't chase the village kids like he used to, it was exhausting pretending so much, it hurt too much that they found him different. Especially when he knew there were people out there that accepted all parts of him.

He now understood what he didn't back then. He thought if he tried hard enough the kids would change their minds about him. But now he knew that now matter how much you tried, sometimes people don't change. He had the scars to prove it. He knew their treatment would only get worse when he ate his devil fruit. He remembers ramping up his efforts in befriending them thinking the kids would find him cool with the rubber fruit. But they threw rocks at him and called him a freak. That's what Queen called him too during his experiments, Luffy thought viciously. So when Makino asked why he wasn't chasing the village kids anymore he simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "They don't like me and I have better things to do," Makino frowned but stayed silent. He mostly hung out in the forest and with Sabo when he got the chance. He had avoided Ace so far but the urge to see him grew stronger every day.

In the meantime, questions regarding what to tell Shanks started to give him a headache.

Several Hours Later

He went to visit Makino to help around the bar. It was something new he was doing this time around. It surprised her a lot the first time he visited the bar and actually washed the dishes instead of breaking them. He laughed for a long time that day.

Now though, he was fumbling the plates, breaking cups, and being a general nuisance. Makino finally sat him down at the counter and said, "Look at you! Finally acting like your old self. You act so mature sometimes, it's like you're a different person Luffy, I don't recognize you sometimes and it scares me," Makino said while washing a glass. She put the rag down and looked at him, "Luffy, are you gonna tell me what happened to you at your last training with your grandpa? You've been acting weird ever since and disappearing for weeks, I told Garp, and he just grunted and said not to worry about it, like always, that man is so irresponsible, I tell you" she finished. I nearly bursted into laughter, she thought jiji's training had me messed up? shishishi. How funny. The old man probably thought Makino was overreacting. But this was good. He didn't like lying, especially to people he loved, but Makino already believed it to be true. He wasn't the best liar but in Wano he eventually learned how to. He had to. But now he just chewed his grilled cheese with beef and told Makino, " Jiji's training is tough, don't worry so much Makino, I can handle it," Luffy said, spitting food everywhere. Makino just shook her head and continued washing the dishes.

Then he felt it, as he continued eating his pile of sandwiches, that person's haki , he did his best to keep his own tightly coiled inside him, he didn't want to flare his haki, it was a general greeting between Kings but today he was 8 year old Luffy, he wouldn't know anything about Conqueror's haki, much less how to use it. It felt like the noise at the bar got louder, the clinking of glasses, the stomping on the ground became more intense, and Luffy's breathing became labored. Luffy began to scratch his chest, itching harder and harder until his fingernails became dull and blood tainted him.

"Luffy, Oh my Enel, Luffy, honey, what are you doing? What did you do to yourself? Let's go to the back and get you cleaned up," Makino frantically yelled, fluttering around him.

Luffy let himself be led by her, the noise around him fading into the background, and tried to focus back on the feeling of Makino's skin against his hand as she pulled him away. As he tried to come back to awareness, another presence pinged at the back of his mind, getting closer and closer to Party's Bar.

A/N: I'm back! I got sick shortly after posting the last chapter and was out for a few weeks and didn't really have the energy to write. Thank you for being patient as I get back into author mode and post new chapters for a few of my stories. I haven't abandoned any and don't plan to. Thank you for supporting me! Let me know how you like the new chapter? Thoughts on au Luffy's character? Stay tuned for Part 2 :)