Wishfull-star: (＾▽＾)

ocdbrownie: Thank you so much, I'm glad you stuck with it! We've just passed 300,000 words posted, so thanks for coming along for the ride!

My duuuudes! Wano is nearly over, the climax has passed! Bad news in a sense since I'll have to finish the story and it's been over a year since I wrote this, so I might have plot holes that I can't remember. I don't really want to reread 30 chapters to remember my own fic lol. Just glad Wano will be over soon after four freaking years. Enjoy!

They talked about their own experiences, besides Sanji, until they got to the deeper parts, and the more dangerous creatures came out.

Though Luffy was able to not frighten animals anymore, he could still do it voluntarily. But it wasn't necessary, and the monsters mostly left them alone. For now, at least. Luffy noticed something a bit annoying. Everybody looked at his arm more. When it didn't move too much unless he was doing something with it, they looked at it. "Please stop looking. It's not gonna change, and I can use it just fine now." He brought it up and waved it around, and stretched it, covered it in haki. Chopper was amazed by it.

The others nodded. They'd try not to look. It was just unsettling to them, like it had been for Luffy at the start.

Zoro took him inside by the hand, his right hand, and to the bedroom. He pulled his kimono down and to the side. It sure was a different look than before. But he looked even more buff. He trained with Hawkeye after all, after the guy tried slicing him in half. Luffy took the hint and bit down.

His blood still tasted better than anyone else's he's ever had before. Zoro ran his hands up Luffy's back, one hand rubbing fingers in Luffy's scalp. He let out breathy moans, but was able to control it now. He didn't moan super loudly. Luffy pulled away and licked the spot, and began to cry.

"I'm so happy, too," Zoro said in his ear, knowing why Luffy was crying. Not in sadness but complete relief. "Let's go watch the scenery." Zoro said, kissing Luffy softly, their lips moving together slowly, lovingly. They left and went outside. Sanji was bleeding from the nose badly, and Chopper was setting up blood bags.

"What the hell? Those are Luffy's blood bags!" Zoro said in annoyance and anger. Luffy asked what on earth happened. Apparently Sanji looked at Nami too long. This was weird… was he more obsessed with women now than before? He ate three of the lunch boxes Hancock made as he watched Sanji get treated in worry.

He asked, "Will he be okay?"

"Well, if he can control his nosebleeds, then he should be fine I think."

"God, what a loser. Getting sick from a nosebleed?" Zoro scoffed. Brook wondered what on earth happened to him for him to act like this. The reaction was completely over the top and concerning. Luffy nodded. He wondered if it really had to do with where he went. There were women in the new kama group. Even if they used to be men, well, they were women now. Pretty ones for most people! Luffy had seen them all. They were a fun bunch of people. Luffy hoped Bon-chan somehow made it back to level 5.5 and was safe there. He liked to imagine his friend hadn't died there.

Luffy smiled at his memory. What a lifesaver he was. "Hey, what will pop the bubble?" Luffy asked, looking at a school of fish. He wondered if he could catch them. Nami said the bubble could stretch to a certain extent, but they wouldn't be trying anything stupid.

"That means you! And Zoro, nothing stupid at the bubble, understand?" Nami threatened. Luffy nodded and Zoro scowled, looking away. Luffy watched his crew in content silence, so happy to be back. They all made it. Things went according to plan perfectly. It was strange, but lucky! Luffy was excited for Fishman Island now that he could control his aura completely.

Chopper came over, and commented on that. "Yeah, I can control it completely now. Animals aren't afraid of me unless I want them to be. I hope the same is with fishmen. Jinbei wasn't afraid of me at all. Even when I kind of went too far against Blackbeard. He didn't think I was a monster or wanted to get away from me," Luffy said with a happy smile. "I can't wait for everyone to meet him!"

Chopper asked how Luffy had killed Blackbeard when Ace couldn't even do that. "I strangled him with a seastone chain. Along with some other stuff, but I don't want to talk about that. The seastone stopped his fruit from working. I'm so glad I was collecting them through the prison and the marine ship," Luffy explained proudly of his idea.

"It's so cool that you handcuffed Kizaru!" the reindeer said. Usopp came over and said it was hard to believe.

"It was lucky! Same with Magellan. The poison man. He was a dangerous guy. Neehee, we ruined the prison's reputation! It was scary and stressful, but also fun in some ways. When I was scaring away the animals or turning them to my side. Shishishi!" The others didn't find his story funny at all.

Sanji was awake now, and wiped his bloody nose. Zoro looked at him in disgust. "You really are weak. Bleeding out from seeing a woman's boobs or ass. Using up Luffy's blood bags for a damn nosebleed."

"Shut up!"

"It's okay, I have Zoro now. Shishishi!" Zoro blushed. "There's enough blood bags for a while," Luffy said. He wanted to tell them he found somebody else like him, but didn't want to give Hancock's secret away. "Neh, I found somebody else like me. One of the pirates on Amazon Lily."

Everyone was shocked, and demanded to know why he didn't say that in the beginning. "I forgot. But she drank blood and could use senses, too."

"Wow! And right after Rayleigh told you!" Luffy laughed, and agreed it was a weird coincidence. Then he saw a huge fish that looked great. He asked Nami if he could catch it.

"No, that's way too big for the bubble!" Nami replied snappy. Luffy pouted, crossing his arms. "You have enough lunch boxes from Hancock." Just at her name, Sanji's nose started bleeding again. Everyone sighed.

"Sanji woulda' been killed on Amazon Lily," Luffy commented lightly. Robin said she was surprised Luffy wasn't killed there, too. "Cause I guess I didn't act like a guy. I saw Hancock naked twice and didn't really feel anything."

"Luffy-san! How lucky!" Brook cried. Usopp and Frankhy looked angry, too.

"Not really. If he felt nothing seeing her naked, then there's nothing really special about it," Nami said, though her cheeks were a bit pink. Luffy simply said Zoro looked better in the bath. The women giggled.

"I missed this. So cute. And seeing you all embarrassed… gold," Nami mocked Zoro.

He said, "You look pretty good in the bathtub, too." They were surprised by the response since before, he hated when Luffy said embarrassing stuff like that. Sanji looked at Luffy in disgust. How could he feel nothing at seeing Hancock in the bath!? Luffy just laughed. He was happy to be back!

"Oh, Nami, do you want this coat?" Luffy asked, handing her the robe Hancock gave him. "It's super soft and warm," he added. Nami was more than happy to have it. It was long on her since Hancock was taller.

"It's beautiful, I love it! She has very good taste," Nami said happily. Sanji got mad at Luffy for getting that reaction. "Sanji, stop it. You have no competition for any woman. Luffy doesn't like girls! When will you get that?" Besides, Sanji could never get Nami, anyways. She was gay, too, even if Zoro and Luffy were the only ones that knew. He could see Robin figuring it out somehow, though.

A huge sea king was coming after them, and Nami shouted at Luffy to scare it. Luffy used haki, not his aura to deter it. It froze and swam away. "That wasn't what you usually do." Luffy turned around and said he had a new power. "Another?"

Sanji said, "Haki, right? Thought so." Luffy commented that it awakened during the war. Right before Akainu was going to get him, he used it. Then he bit his lip hard, not wanting to have a flashback so soon and in front of everyone.

"Let's not talk about the war anymore," Robin said, seeing Luffy's hand shaking and how hard he was trying to not show it. Chopper and Zoro were the only ones to really know what happened. But everyone agreed. Though it was Luffy who was bringing it up most of the time. It passed quickly. Talking and thinking about Akainu was the worst trigger. He was the one to rain down magma fists and boil people alive.

He went inside quickly, hearing his crew sigh, feeling bad for him or maybe upset he went through that all alone. Without them. He heard, "I wonder if us being there would have helped," from Nami.

"Probably would have been harder," Sanji said. "He would have had 8 more people to worry about instead of one. Nine people couldn't sneak into a prison like that. Though I do think if we'd been there afterwards…"

Chopper pointed out it was the experience that gave him PTSD. Even if they were there afterwards, the experience would have still been there. "But I wish he'd gotten treatment. Two years of untreated PTSD must have been very hard."

"He was strong enough to do that. He was strong enough to live and save Ace, even if it had permanent side effects," Zoro said seriously.

The others agreed. Their voices calmed him. Hopefully being around people who knew him well would help. He was with Rayleigh longer than he was with them sailing, but they knew one another more than Rayleigh ever could. He smiled at being back on the Sunny, back with his second family.

He left the interior, feeling much better. The ship was just cruising right now. 10,000 meter was pretty deep. And it was much slower going than how fast getting to Skypiea was. "Hey, guys. I do think it's the blood stone that causes the mutations, or whatever it is. There was a huge blood stone on Amazon Lily. Two women at least had had it there."

Robin smiled, saying the mystery had been bothering her for the last two years. No new information was dull. "Neehee, we'll find more answers in the New World! I know it." Robin smiled, and Luffy watched as the sun grew harder to see. The huge roots beside the ship really did look like candy.

He wondered who was protecting Fishman Island now if the Whitebeards were no longer a yonko crew. And who was the fourth one, now that Whitebeard was gone? Didn't the four of them keep the New World stable? Well, stable enough? Had somebody filled the seat? Or was it empty? Well, they'd find out soon enough.

"I have something to tell everyone. About how the Sunny is undamaged. Hachi was originally going to guide us down, but he got hurt and had to retire to Fishman Island. Along with Duval, he was hurt protecting the ship. Once the marines found the ship, they tried to destroy it."

"Then how is it okay?" Usopp asked in shock and confusion. They all felt that way at the moment.

"Because it had one more defender. The very man who tore our crew apart two years ago. Member of the seven warlords… Bartholomew Kuma!" They were all surprised. He had been an enemy. Luffy was the most surprised. He'd seen Kuma at the war and how he'd become a full machine, or at least a weapon with machinery. He'd lost himself. So why did he protect them?

"When I arrived days ago, he was there, and said 'I've been waiting for you'. He was covered in blood and wounds. I demanded to know why he was there, and all he said was 'mission complete'."

Robin looked thoughtful. "He was a former revolutionary. This could be because of that." Luffy told them about the last time he saw them, how he didn't recognize his friend anymore and attacked him. "It's just a thought. But I see no other reason he would protect the ship than something having to do with the revolutionaries. It could be because of you. You are Dragon's son, and the world knows that now, after all."

It could be possible. But nobody would know. "No, Robin is right. The reason he protected it was because he was a revolutionary. Or at least, had been. I asked Rayleigh about it, and he told me the words Kuma said to him during the defeat. He was a revolutionary and had an interest in keeping our crew alive.

"If there was a reason, I would have to assume it had to do with Luffy. Otherwise, why would they want to save our crew?"

Robin lightly said Dragon was a man that was hard to figure out. Franky continued. "But then Kuma, after they were gone, had told Rayleigh he had little time left. He voluntarily became a human weapon and lost his personality." Luffy knew all of this from the feather warlord that Hancock later said was named Doflamingo. The only warlord he didn't know personally. Who he hadn't fought against or become allies.

So strange. He wondered why Kuma did that, in detail. But Franky answered. "Vegapunk, the man that changed him, did the operations, allowed him to implant one mission into his mind. That mission was to protect our ship until one of our members returned to it. Then his mission was over. I don't think we'll ever find out why he did that specifically, but the truth is: he saved us twice."

"I get why he sent us away, to show how weak we were, but I wish he'd sent us all together!" Chopper said.

"If that was how it was done, things would not be how they are now. We wouldn't have each had one on one training in some way. Luffy said Rayleigh refused to train anybody but him, only him. I think being separated, though painful, was necessary," Sanji said, smoking a cigarette. "What a strange situation. Four warlords, former and current, helped Luffy out. Kuma, Jinbei, Hancock and Crocodile. I don't think any other rookie crew has encountered and become allies with so many powerful people."

Everybody agreed. Though Law had met Jinbei and Hancock. He wasn't going to talk about Law, or Ace's justified hunch. How did he know how to treat Luffy? He wondered that a lot, and hoped to meet him in the New World. Luffy asked if they knew who were the warlords now. Who replaced Jinbei and Blackbeard.

"Hawkeye, Hancock, Doflamingo, Kuma, Buggy, Edward Weevil, and Trafalgar Law."

Luffy, Zoro and Nami's jaw dropped. "Buggy?!"

"He's not cut out for a warlord," Zoro said with a sigh. Nami said he was an idiot, and Luffy had already explained his place in the war, weak.

"The only reason Buggy is there is most likely because he was on Roger's crew and had been close with Shanks. Edward Weevil claims to be Whitebeard's biological son, so they added him as well."

Luffy asked, "Hmmm, how tall is his mom."

"Why does that matter?"

"Cause Whitebeard was huge! At least 20 feet tall!"

Sanji snorted. "So, you're suggesting the size difference might be way too big to be possible?" Luffy nodded. "Wow. Zoro really polluted your mind, hasn't he?" Zoro brought his swords out and they got into a fight. Robin said, amused, that it was a good point. But Whitebeard was gone and could not dispute or confirm it.

Luffy said the man was a good captain. "He loved his crew as his sons. And Ace didn't even get to say goodbye to him to save me." Nami said it was sad. But that the man must have died happy for his sons being able to get away. And Ace lived, too. "Yeah. I think he'd be happy they fled even if he died, too. That's what Marco said happened, what Ace told me. But I'm surprised about Law!"

"Why?"

"Cause he's the guy that got me and Ace away from the war," Luffy said. Again, they asked why he hadn't said anything until now. "I don't know, I got distracted." But more sea creatures approached, huge teeth and curious or hunting the ship. It was getting darker now. The surface is getting further and further away. He looked forward to not being in the dark.

Enhanced sound and smell were useless down there. He wished he had better sight, it would help now, but it had never manifested. And he wouldn't be greedy, he was lucky enough already. So, he kept his scary aura out, without even needing to glare. He looked out at the sea all around them. The bubble felt so thin, like it would pop suddenly and they would die.

Well, the majority of pirates died down there, without ever making it to Fishman Island. Luffy sat in the swing, his aura scaring away all curious or dangerous creatures. He was only using it to scare away animals, not intimidate people. He swung leisurely, breathing deeply, happy to take in the scents of his nakama.

Zoro came over to him, and started pushing him from behind on the swing. It was cute, and Luffy liked falling back into his big, warm hands. "What's with the new mark?" he asked at the ring around his arm.

"From something that happened in Impel Down," Luffy said vaguely. Zoro didn't push, thankfully, but only asked if there was any difference. "No, it just formed there. Nothing has come of it so far. But two years in and nothing happened," Luffy explained honestly. His lover then asked what kind of guy Law was like. "Well, I was unconscious for most of the time. He just told me about how to try and use my arm with the nerve damage, and prescribed medicine for any mental trauma, but Amazon Lily didn't have the medication. He seemed smart and good at being a doctor since he helped me."

"Hmm," Zoro said. "Did you really see Hancock naked?" Luffy giggled. He asked if Zoro was jealous. "Maybe a little."

Luffy said he did see her that way, and that she seemed to like-like him, but never once did he prefer her, or any woman there, over his boyfriend. "You have no reason to be jealous. I'm yours. And you're mine," he said firmly.

"Aye, captain."

"Hey! There's something approaching from six o'clock! It looks like a sea monster… no, a ship!" Luffy and Zoro ran from the swing and looked up behind them. It was a ship, pulled along by a sea monster! Luffy walked to the back, and saw it was the cow sea monster from the East Blue! How did he get there?

It didn't see him, or wasn't scared anymore, and helped to smash the enemy ship against their bubble. They were coated too, of course, and their ship was a bit bigger than the Thousand Sunny. They looked like they were trying to board the ship. But only one person got on before the cow sea king finally saw Luffy and Sanji, who'd beaten him so long ago.

"Hi, cow!" Luffy called. The sea king fled the scene almost immediately. "Bye, cow!" But the guy who now was the only one on their ship didn't realize he was alone now, and threatened them, to kill every last one of them. They all looked at the guy with a blank look. He was alone and wouldn't put a scratch on any of them. Not after how strong they were.

"Now, men! Attack!" the guy shouted.

"Neh, you're all alone, you know," Luffy said, and pointed to the bubble behind him. The sea cow had pulled his ship and everyone on it away out of fear of Luffy and Sanji both. Trapped all alone, the creepy guy, whose sleeves were too long, begged them to not throw him out of the bubble to drown or implode.

"God is looking down on you all, you know that, right!"

Franky threw him across the deck. "He was the one who was talking about killing them." Zoro demanded to know who he was. He was the captain of that ship, wasn't he? The intruder looked afraid of Zoro. He was so strong, people should be afraid of him!

"Ah, no I'm not captain of that ship! I'm, uh, just a guy who was forced to work by them all! Man, I'm sick of that ship, this is perfect!" Luffy unnecessarily said he was lying.

Sanji said, "I think we all know that." Nami asked him where he got Moomoo, but the guy just made a leery look at Nami, calling her cute. It was gross, but Nami looked largely unaffected. Sanji was the one to get angry and upset, kicking him in the face. "Nami-san, you're all right!" Luffy furrowed his brows when Sanji had a violent nosebleed again, the force throwing him backwards.

This could be a real problem. That was losing a lot of blood. Zoro was scowling about it. It wasn't only a problem if Luffy ran out of blood bags, but at the rate he was having severe nosebleeds, he would waste a lot of them just because he saw a woman. The mermaids were supposed to be beautiful, and he'd been looking forward to Fishman Island since the East Blue. If he saw all those pretty mermaids, well, it would be bad for his health.

Chopper said they had to give him rehabilitation for this problem. How would he do that when Nami and Robin were there the whole time? They wore revealing clothes all the time, and today Nami was just wearing a swimsuit top.

"Neh, Nami, don't you get cold in a bra only?" Luffy asked, changing the subject.

She said it was fine, she wasn't cold at all. If she was, she had that beautiful coat now! "How dare you ask her that!" Sanji said weakly from laying on the deck. Nami sighed.

"You know, you would attract more women if you weren't so intense about it. Brook, you should stop asking to see panties, too. It's creepy. Sanji is good at cooking and is strong. If you changed your personality a bit, you'd probably be approached by more women," Nami said honestly, not in a rude way, just matter of fact. "And I'm not interested, so don't try it on me," she added, when Sanji looked at her hopefully.

"Yohoho, Nami-san is harsh!"

"It's harsh to tell a man I'm not interested in a romantic relationship?" she challenged. Brook backtracked at her irritated voice, and Luffy giggled. "Now, what do we do about this idiot?" she asked, looking at the intruder. "And tell me where you found Moomoo, he's supposed to be in the East Blue."

"We just found him swimming around! It's a mark of undersea sailing to have a beast drag you along!"

"Ooh, really?! I can tame one right now!" Zoro said it didn't sound like a very good idea in a patient voice.

"Besides, he's just trying to save his own ass," Franky said. They tied him up, not throwing him out. When Usopp pointed out the log pose was pointing the wrong way, Nami confidently said it was fine. If they went straight down, they'd get caught in the currents. Luffy frowned in worry when she mentioned there were mountains and volcanoes on the bottom of the sea.

Luffy would definitely freak out if a volcano went off in front of him. "Um, are there active volcanoes down there? Like, they'll erupt?" Luffy asked, holding his hand up. Nami said it was possible. She didn't know much about the volcanoes there. "I'm not really good with volcanoes."

"Huh, why?" Usopp asked.

"From the war," Luffy said.

"Oh. Well, if a volcano does erupt, you could go inside," Nami said simply. "I'm sure we could navigate the ship just fine without you on deck." Luffy nodded, and was slightly embarrassed. He didn't want to show he was still broken so soon. It was enough for them to see how he moved his arm now, he didn't want them to see the weakest part of him.

Zoro wrapped his arms around his waist and rested his chin on his shoulder. "Nami, how do you know all of this stuff? Was it really all learned just now from Rayleigh?" She nodded. "You got smarter, huh?"

"That's right. Especially with weather, with how I spent my two years," Nami said proudly.

"That's my Nami-san!" Sanji said. The orange hair sighed, but said nothing. Usopp commented that Grand Line currents made no sense. Was it actually safe? "Well, people make this trip all the time. And there is just one. We should all put warmed clothes on since it'll get colder the deeper we go," she explained.

Then she smiled and put Hancock's jacket on. "Ooh, it's so soft and fluffy. I can't believe she gave you this, it must have been expensive to make." Luffy said she had a lot of fancy clothes. Sanji glowered at him. The captain wondered how long this unfounded jealousy would last.

Luffy stopped paying attention when they got in a long winded conversation about deep water currents under normal currents. He turned to look out at the dark ocean around them. He was happy they were finally advancing. The teen, just barely at 19, felt much more confident than he had the first time they arrived at Sabaody. He was happy that the feeling of fear and worry about making a bad decision was gone.

Luffy went inside and to his old clothes, and got a jacket. He didn't get cold easily, but he was wearing an open vest. He had two. One with long sleeves and the other without any. The vest with no sleeves showed all his marks, while the other hid his arms and only showed the marks on his stomach.

After all, he'd decided long ago that he would show his marks in hope of attracting others like him. Fellow... things. No name given. Fellow monsters. He left the interior of the ship as the others went inside to get their own thicker clothes. Well, everyone who wasn't already wearing long sleeved shirts.

Luffy moved to Zoro and said he missed seeing his strong arms. The swordsman looked at the kimono unhappily. "Though I like seeing your chest, too, so it's okay," Luffy said, running his fingers along the long, exposed scar. He thumbed the scar on his eye and asked what it was from.

"Training with Mihawk wasn't the safest thing. There were so many times I was nearly killed," Zoro said lightly. Luffy narrowed his eyes. He hated Zoro getting hurt. "I'm not upset about the first defeat, that gave me this scar. It was a good lesson in my strength and how I wasn't strong at all back then." Luffy nodded, understanding his feelings and having expected them.