A/N: An update after only a week?! Shorter chapter but at least you guys don't have to wait 6 months for another one lol.
The Founder
The Butcher
The Firefly
The Prince
The Sea Witch
The Anomaly
The Angel
The Battleship
The Gravedigger
Chapter 10: Young King (Relapse II)
"Hello?" Luffy's voice echoed. "Is there anyone there?"
All around the rubbery Captain was complete and utter darkness. The empty landscape stretched on for kilometers on end and there was nothing at all save for Luffy himself.
Suddenly, a small spark of orange flickered in the distance. Immediately, Luffy's eyes shot up.
"A fire?" he said to himself as he made out the object in question.
Without hesitating, Luffy sprang to his feet and sprinted towards the light. Every step he took, it made no difference as the light at the end seemed unreachable. As he did, numerous voices came in waves all around him.
"A wound on the back is a swordsman's shame."
"I Will Never… Never… Never… Ever Lose Again!"
"Luffy… Please Help Me…"
"Why would anyone want to be friends with a monster?!"
"I love this kingdom!"
"God or not, anyone who lays a hand on Nami will not be forgiven!"
"I QUIT THIS CREW!"
"I WANT TO LIVE!"
"Goodbye… Merry…"
After what felt like a lifetime of running, Luffy finally arrived in front of a small campfire, it's light illuminating some of the darkness around him. The millions of voices still lingered in his mind as he scanned the nearby area.
"Who are you?" he finally spoke.
At the opposite end of the campfire sat a darkened figure.
"So you've finally come, huh? I believe the real question is, who are you?" spoke the nearly identical man across from him. An older, much more mature Monkey D. Luffy met him eye-for-eye on the wooden log he sat on.
"LUFFY!" Sanji shouted as Mihawk retracted his blade from the limp body of the former Straw Hat captain.
Mihawk's eyes perked up to meet the cook's and stepped to the side just in time to avoid a blast of flame. When his eyes returned to the cook, he noticed that he had disappeared entirely.
"Smoke Cleaver!"
Mihawk hopped backwards just as Sanji's smoke sharpened axe-kick left a large gash where he landed.
"Fire, smoke, and dust powers?" Nami asked out loud. "I thought humans could only possess one devil fruit power at a time!"
"I'm quite curious on that as well," Mihawk said as he entered a defensive stance.
"Sorry, I don't have devil fruit powers," Sanji said as the buckle on his belt flashed red. "But I am wearing my family's weapon-zero belt. I can copy and store up to 2 devil fruit powers at a time."
"You said 2, did you not? So I wonder how you can use 3?" Mihawk asked.
Sanji's legs flared with fire. "I'm just naturally good with heat."
"You too are full of surprises, Vinsmoke Sanji," Mihawk said. A sudden powerful blast of wind sent him crashing through the restaurant entrance, smashing several tables until inertia finally stopped him. "But unfortunately, the seats of power and even the All Blue is out of your reach for the time being."
"Bastard…" Sanji gritted through his teeth as he tried to stand, but only fell back down. "How do you know… my dream?..." he said with his face flat on the ground.
"You should be less concerned about my knowledge, and more about your dying friend."
"Oh shit!" Usopp screamed, suddenly remembering his departing captain. "Luffy!" he cried as he immediately hopped to the lower level next to the limp body. Mihawk made no move to stop him and merely stepped to the side.
His eyes now returned to Zoro with a smile.
Zoro on the other hand glared his old master down with the fury of an angered demon. His face remained stoic, however his eyes held the deepest contempt of any man he had faced second only to Teach. Zoro had enough control over his Haki that it did not reflect onto the landscape around him. Instead, he focussed every ounce of hate, anger, hurt, and betrayal into the mind of Mihawk.
Mihawk merely laughed it off. "I wonder if you are still as tenacious as your old self, one who would do anything no matter how ruthless or evil to protect his crew…"
"What game are you playing?..." Zoro growled. Mihawk simply smirked in response.
The swordsman lifted Yoru into the sky where it pulsated with a red glow.
"Blood Well"
The screams of hundreds could be heard around the crew as they watched a legion of red spirits leave the bodies of the defeated Kreig pirates. Even those who weren't dead yet such as Gin and Pearl had their souls ripped from them and their cries faded into nothingness as the life left their bodies.
"What type of monster is he?..." Patty whispered among the wide-mouthed Baratie staff and Straw Hat crew
All of the souls were collected into one floating orb about the size of a cannonball in which Mihawk held in his hand.
"This right here is your 1 up card, so to speak," Mihawk said. "It contains enough life force to fully resuscitate your captain and restore his life into this world."
Zoro gritted his teeth. "At the cost of hundreds of lives..."
"Oh come on," Mihawk moaned. "They are just pirates. Scum of the sea. Their lives mean nothing to you, do they?"
"Nonetheless…" Mihawk smirked. "I believe I saw a little girl with her mother in the brig of the Kreig flagship… I wonder if their souls are collected in the blood well too?"
"MONSTER!" Nami screamed at Mihawk who simply laughed her off again.
"The blood well will dissipate in about 10 minutes, in which all souls will return to their respective hosts, and coincidentally, I would say your captain has around 10 minutes left before he bleeds out." Mihawk laughed.
Mihawk's laugh grew and grew until it echoed across the seas. A red bolt of lightning struck him suddenly, and as quickly as it appeared Mihawk and his boat were gone.
"Choose carefully, Zoro…"
"And I suppose that brings us to where we are now."
Luffy remained silent as he took in everything his older counterpart told him. As he glanced over at the other Luffy, he noticed a few things. His red cardigan was torn in various places, his eyes bled hopelessness, and a giant "x" was burned into the centre of his chest. But through all that, Luffy swore that he saw the reignition of that fighting spirit within those cold, dead eyes at the beginning when they first met.
Luffy stood up. "So what now? I'm dead right?"
The older Luffy gave an empty chuckle. "Not exactly. We are in the state between living and death itself. I'm the one holding back the end, but my powers are reaching its limit. It's only a matter of minutes now."
Luffy sighed as he sat back down across from his counterpart. "It sounds like I had quite the adventure. Even if I didn't experience them directly, I'm glad a version of me did."
For the first time in their meeting, the older Luffy smiled back at him. "Time is up," he said as a white light began enveloping them.
"One last question before you go, Big Luffy," Luffy asked his counterpart. "Did you regret anything in your life?"
"Not a thing," the older Luffy smiled.
The whole landscape around him began shaking as the darkness from before faded away and an endless white world surrounded him. He heard the faint sound of humming and his eyes immediately flew to a small little girl merrily skipping towards him.
It was the same little girl he saw at Orange Town!
"Boop! Reset!" Hana giggled gleefully as she poked Luffy on the forehead. The gesture sent off an echo of orange rings that bounced around the room and the landscape went black again.
"LUFFY!"
And at the sound of his name being called, he flash opened his eyes.
"Aaaaaaaaand we're online!"
Luffy jerked upwards in a sitting position, headbutting Usopp in the process.
"Ah fuck!" Usopp shouted as he pinched his nose in recoil. "I think he broke it!"
"He's up!" Patty shouted with joy as tears fell from his eyes. "Monkey D. Luffy, you magnificent bastard!"
Luffy took a look at the view around him. The Baratie was torn to shreds and it looked like it would take weeks to repair. But amongst it all, were the cheering and hooting of every Baratie chef, waiter, or even customer for those who stayed behind.
Nami stomped over and punched him hard, but immediately enveloped him into a hug with tears in her eyes. "Never do that to us again. Promise us."
Luffy's rubber body ensured that Nami's blow didn't affect him at all, but it offered little protection to her piercing words.
"Promise," he responded as he returned her hug.
The one person that had yet to interact with the revived captain could not move at all. He was too frozen in shock. He swore that it was impossible when a wave of haki washed over the sea as soon as his captain opened his eyes.
Immediately, said eyes flashed over Zoro and a wry smile left him speechless.
"Kept you waiting, huh?"
-Epilogue-
Much later in the night, after all the comradery was exchanged over a party hosted by Head Chef Sanji himself, Zoro found himself sitting on the side of his bed.
He did something he only did twice in his life ever.
The first was when he heard news that Kuina died on a very fateful Sunday morning.
The second was when he suffered his only ever true defeat at the hands of Dracule "Hawkeye" Mihawk.
He cried.
"What have I become?..."
Mihawk was not lying. The image of a broken mother holding her crying child in her arms would haunt him for eternity.
A/N: Metal Gear Reference
Citation of earlier quotes
"A wound on the back is a swordsman's shame." -Zoro, after losing to Mihawk
"I Will Never… Never… Never… Ever Lose Again!"- Again, Zoro after losing to Mihawk
"Luffy… Please Help Me…"- Nami asking for Luffy's help at Arlong Park
"Why would anyone want to be friends with a monster?!"- Chopper, first meeting with Luffy
"I love this kingdom!"- Vivi, following Alabasta
"God or not, anyone who lays a hand on Nami will not be forgiven!"- Sanji facing down Enel
"I QUIT THIS CREW!"- Usopp, 3rd saddest moment at Water 7
"I WANT TO LIVE!"- Robin, 2nd saddest moment at Water 7
"Goodbye… Merry…"- Usopp, unanimous saddest moment at Water 7
I might be on hiatus for a while though. I've got a few ideas for a new League of Legends and Final Fantasy XIII project I might work on. But I promise one more update before Christmas lol.