Soooo, I got an ideea from a friend and wanted to see how it would turn out. Dunno how I'm going to make this work, but if you have any advice to give, shoot!
"Now, now... This cannot be your end, can it?" The question was said with no emotion, as a towering figure walked closer to the new Pirate King.
Monkey D. Luffy for his part, didn't move a muscle. He was sitting on the shore of the legendary island, Laugh Tale, looking lifelessly at the setting sun, not uttering a word.
"Don't ignore me, Luffy. I have been with you since Wano, even before then but without you knowing it. Do you think I haven't prepared a plan for this scenario?" He asked, a little annoyed at the young man's lack of response.
"What is there left to do now? You can't bring them back, can you?" Luffy asked, in a bitter and defeated tone, while glaring a little to his companion.
"Well, I ain't a God to bring the dead back, but there are still plenty of thing that I can do. One of those is to open a rift in space and time. And the other.." The man never got to finish his sentence, as the young man looked at him with a shocked and hopeful expression.
"W-what did you say?Y-You can send me back?! You can! There is a way to save them, Joy!" Luffy shouted in his raspy voice, his eyes gaining a little bit of that fire Joy Boy used to see.
"Let me finish first, Luffy! What I was going to say is more important that the time travel power." The man, Joy Boy, said as he shook his head.
"Sorry, old man. I just..I just want to save them, you know?" The young man said, as he scratched his head a little.
"I understand that completely, Luffy, but this power will come with some conditions. I have already negotiated these terms with those old otherworldly powers, so let me explain how this is going to work. For some time now, divine and powerful entity's wanted to create a special group of people to erase their screwups from the worlds they control." Joy Boy calmly explained as he looked at the young King.
"Huh? Like a crew?" asked Luffy, confused at where this was going.
"Yes! Like a crew, formed by some very powerful people, that travel from one world to another and solving some of that worlds problems. Right now, they are missing a captain for this crew, and they want you to fill in that position. This is their condition to help us. What do you say, Luffy?" asked the man, as he looked at the pirate intently.
"B-but what about my crew?! If I go along this plan, I would still be able to sail with them, right?!" Standing up shakily, the young Pirate King made his way towards his only remaining ally.
"*Sigh* I'm sorry, Luffy, but you won't be with them on this journey. If we rewind time, those people that we talked about will be your crew. The other ones, will live their lives happy and safe. Isn't that what you want, Pirate King?" Joy Boy asked, as the young man began gripping his shirt.
"What is the point in this?! They are my family, my nakama! How can I abandon them? What about their dreams? The places we've been to? The memories we made?!" Luffy shouted, as he began to cry silently after his rant.
"Oi! Do you think so little of me, Luffy? Let me finish telling you the rest of this plan, with a little bit of gusto from old Joy Boy." The man said, as he grinned towards the pirate.
"What are you talking about, Joy?" asked the confused and irritated Pirate King.
"Listen here, almighty Pirate King. While I understand it hurts not being able to be with your old crew like the good old days, you should look at the advantage this new crew is going to give you. They are some of the strongest people I ever saw, with indomitable wills, people that you will grow to love, given enough time. As for your friends, I can assure you that you aren't abandoning them. What those little divine shits don't know is that I have some tricks up my sleeve." Joy Boy chuckle as he patted Luffy's shoulder.
"What are you planning, old man?" asked Luffy, confused at the peculiar man's word's.
"I will give your friends their memories back at some point, but only after you started conquering the Grand Line again. And to sweeten the deal, I'll give your brother, Ace, his memories back from the start. That way it will be easier for you to come up with plans for your friends, while having quite a powerful ally right off the bat." explained Joy Boy, felling better as Luffy's expression changed from a frown to a small smile.
"That does sound better, it's something that I can work with. Yosh! I accept their proposal to become the captain of this crew! Now, let's hurry and go back, Joy!" Shouted Luffy, as his eyes regained their fire.
"Hahahaha! Now that's more like it! Let's do this shit, Luffy!" Shouted Joy Boy, as he grinned at the Pirate King.
In a flash of light, they were both gone from Laugh Tale, leaving behind 9 freshly dug graves with different tombstones.
"This time, I will make sure your dreams come true!"
"Oi, Luffy! Wake the hell up!" A high pitched voice shouted, starling the pirate from his sleep. He slowly sat up, straighting his back and letting out a small yawn. He opened his eyes to face the person that dared disturb his sleep, only to find that he was no longer on Laugh Tale. Instead of the majestic view of waves crashing on the shore of the island, he was greeted by the large and tall trees from the forest he grew up in with Ace and Sabo. Speaking of which, he looked at his right, where the younger form of his older brother, Portogas D Ace, was staying, looking quite pissed for some reason.
"AAAAAACCEEEEEE!" Luffy shouted, pulling the older boy close to him into a tight embrace.
"I missed you too, Luffy.." muttered Ace, as he hugged his younger brother back.
They stayed like that for a short while, neither saying a word.
"ACE, I'm so glad you're alive! I'm so glad!" the younger boy shouted, as he hugged him tighter.
"Luffy, you have some serious explaining to do. Why the hell are we here, no, how the hell are we here? What did you do? Strike a deal with the devil?" asked Ace, as he looked down at his brother.
"You could say that, but it doesn't matter! We're back and we can save them! I'll explain everything, Ace, so don't worry right now." Luffy said while grinning at the older boy.
"What?! Of course it matters! And what do you mean we're back?" Ace asked, confused and irritated at his younger brother's words.
"Ok, ok, Shishishishi~ I managed to bring us back after Sabo's fake death, and give you back your memories, with Joy's help." Luffy said, never losing his large smile.
"We're back? Back in time? How could this be possible? And who is Joy?" asked the confused freckled faced boy.
"Yes, we're back in time! And Joy is my cool friend, he was the past user of the Gomu Gomu no Mi that helped me take down Kaido!" Shouted the ex-Pirate King, as he looked at Ace with happiness all over his face.
"Luffy, I can't even begin to explain how insane all this stuff sounds, even if it's you. If all of this is true, then why did you come back?" Ace said, being blown away by the sheer absurdity of it all.
"My crew died before we landed on Laugh Tale. We were ambushed by the Blackbeard pirates on the sea and couldn't fight really well as we we were all still recovering from Wano. Even with all of that we managed to win the fight, with Teach being killed by me." Luffy began to explain."Now, after all of this, we were literally at death doorsteps, but we continued on. What we didn't realized at the time is that the Marines have been following Teach from afar and when they got defeated by us, those bastards decided to go after me and my crew. I don't want to into details, but we got defeated really quick by them, and the only reason I survived is because I was tosed overboard by Akainu, and managed to cling to some wood from the Sunny. I floated randomly to Laugh Tale, where I recovered a little before making a small raft and going to search for my ship. I found it somehow, floating close to the island, but I didn't find anyone alive. I brought the ship to the shore and buried my nakama there, on Laugh Tale. A few days later, Joy Boy told me about this plan and I agree to his conditions. He even managed to give you your memories, which is great." The young raven haired boy finished his tale, as he looked over his shoulder at Ace.
"That's a lot to take in." Ace muttered, as he massaged his temples. "So, we are back in Goa Kingdom, huh? Makino, Dandan and...Gramps, we will see them again." As his thoughts wonder to the people that they knew around this time, he couldn't help but feel conflicted about his Grandfather.
"Yeah, we'll see them really soon. But first, Joy, why don't you explain the rest of the plan to me and Ace? It would make things easier." Luffy suggested, and before Ace could ask who was he talking to, a rather large man, dressed in a red shirt, black shorts and wearing a familiar strawhat appeared out of thin air before them.
"Good thinking, Luffy. Now, It's a pleasure to meet you, Portogas D Ace! I am known as Joy Boy, the previous user of the Hito Hito no Mi, Model Nika. Remember that, Luffy." The man, Joy Boy, said as he raised his hand towards the young boy to shake. His eyes however, where glaring at Luffy when he said the last part.
"Shishishishi~ Sorry, sorry." Luffy said as he looked sheepishly at the man.
"N-nice to meet you." Ace stuttered, as he shook the hand before him.
"Now that introductions are out of the way, I can explain more about what are we going to do here." Joy Boy said, as he sat in the shade of a tree. "
First thing first, I am going to tell you about your new crew members and where to find them. The first member of your new crew is a swordman and he is on this island right now." He began.
Location: Outskirts of Fosha Village
Outside of the village Ace and Luffy grew up in, travelers saw an interesting sight. The mountain bandits that were going to rob them blind were laying around moaning in pain as their lider trembled in fear while their saviour was clutching his collar. Said saviour was a young teenager, dressed in a white yukata with only the left sleeve on while leaving the black shirt underneath it visible on the right side. This outfit was completed with his black pants and boots. His appearance was quite peculiar, his curly hair being an intriguing shade of silver, a bored expression on his face supported by two dim crimson colored eyes. He strapped the sheathed katana on his waist with the help of his grey obi, and turned to the people that he 'saved'.
"Ne, old man, I'm looking for someone that lives around here. Could you help me with that?" the boy asked, in a bored tone.
"O-o-of course, young man! Anything to repay your kindness!" Stammered the old man, as he approached the boy.
"I'm looking for Monkey D Luffy. Do you know him?" He asked, as he picked his nose.
The older man looked a little baffled at this, but answer nonetheless. "I'm afraid I don't know anyone with that name, but the mayor of the next village might help you with that. I will talk with him once we get there." offered the man.
"Well, that's fine by me. Lead the way, I'm craving sugar." The boy said, as he began following the old guy.
"Of course, I'll treat you to their bar. One more thing, could you please tell me your name?" He asked as they began moving along the dirt road.
"Name's Gintoki, Sakata Gintoki. Nice to meet you, I guess." The now named Gin said, as they walked towards Fosha.
So, what do you think? Leave a review and see ya next chapter.