One Man Alone cannot be a Pirate

By: Zephyire

DISCLAIMED

Chapter dedicated to: Veronica The Mischievous (1st reviewer)

Summary: After the battle with Baron on Secret Island, Luffy faces a devastating fact about his nakama. Moustache offers Luffy his hidden treasure in hopes of pulling Luffy from his depression. Back in Time Fic. Serious Powerful Luffy. A second chance at becoming the Pirate King. Two devil fruits?

Chapter 3: Living Without

Gasping, Luffy's eyes flutter open a second time. This time, however, he was back at Moustache's secret base.

"Ugh," he moaned. Looking around he saw Moustache warming up some goat milk and the pirate family talking at the short table in the corner. Pretending to be asleep, he eavesdropped on their conversation.

"I really thought that he could do it."

"Yeah... especially when his nakama popped out of that flower's back. I thought for sure that they were still alive."

"But Baron did tell him that they were dead when they were sucked into Lily."

The mother put her arm around Digi. "And if it weren't for that deer-man, Digi wouldn't be here either."

Moustache walked over to the table and set down five cups of steaming goat's milk. The goat in question was chewing some of the green grass that had popped up around the island after Baron's defeat.

Moustache then walked over to his nightstand. He picked up the picture of his nakama and sighed. He placed it back on the stand and opened the second drawer. Pulling out a chest, he looked back at the picture. "I'm sorry guys, but our treasure isn't ever going to do us any good now. The least I can do is to give it to someone who will use it," he whispered. Moustache closed the drawer and walked back to the table. He sat down and reached into his explorer's hat. Pulling out a key, he put it into the lock and turned.

Luffy, unable to see what was in the chest became even more curious when the pirate family gasped.

"Is that…?"

"Hai. It was our treasure, but we never used it. But, perhaps, Luffy could find a use for it…"

Luffy, unable to contain his curiosity, pushed himself out of the futon. Sharp pangs of pain shot through his arms and chest and he crashed back to the ground. Moustache slammed the chest closed and the group turned toward Luffy.

"Hey. Luffy. You gonna be okay?" Moustache said from his spot at the table.

"They're really gone aren't they?" Luffy asked, moving back on the futon.

Digi nodded sadly. "Those statues, the ones that grew out of Lily's back…they turned to dust when we touched them."

Luffy stared unblinking at the ceiling. "I think I'm going to go back to sleep," he said rolling onto his side hiding the tears that streamed down his face.

OMAP

After a week of apathetic Luffy, Moustache approached the depressed boy. Luffy was sitting on the top of the mountain where his battle with Baron had taken place. Rather than the rocky area it had been, it was now a vibrant, lush peak. With one hand, Luffy ran his fingers through the grass. With the other, he held his straw hat. There were several holes where arrows had pierced though the straw and slowed down enough so that he had a circular area on his back that had not been riddled with puncture wounds.

"Nami can't fix you now," Luffy said staring toward the sea.

The sun, just rising from the east was a dull yellow-green. Several feet away from him, Luffy heard the metal trap door open. Moustache climbed out and walked toward Luffy. Clutched under his arm was the same chest that he had show the Tea-cup Pirate Family a week previous.

"Luffy…" Moustache started. "I know that it's hard to continue without your nakama, but the truth is, life goes on."

Luffy grunted.

Moving to sit down, Moustache continued. "I have a gift, more of a thank you, that I wanted to give you. It was the Moustache Pirate treasure. It would mean a lot to me if you accepted."

Luffy turned toward Moustache. "Will it bring them back?"

Moustache sighed. "No Luffy, I don't think it will."

Luffy turned back to the rising sun.

"But you once told me your dream. That you would one day become the pirate king. That dream lives on Luffy."

"Moustache, you should know that one man alone cannot be a pirate. Without my nakama, my dream is dead."

Moustache pulled out the key to his chest. Inserting then turning the key, the box snapped open. Inside was a spherical blue ball. A spot of green stem came out the top and a swirl on one side of the fruit wound its way from the center of one side to the other.

"This was our… is my treasure. We found it at out last stop before coming to this island. We stayed at Ohara for a month. We made friends with several of the archaeologists there including Dr. Clover. He told us of his quest to study the Void Century using Poneglyphs and asked that we take several of his precious tomes and items so that they might survive if he was found out. The books themselves are mostly the known history of man with side notes in the margins written by the doctor himself. I keep those in my base on the bookshelf. Among the items were log poses, details for inventions, and this."

Moustache held up the Devil Fruit with one hand and placed the now empty chest back on the ground.

"He called it the Kaze Kaze Fruit."

Moustache placed the fruit in Luffy's lap and stood up.

"I don't really know what will happen when a DF user eats a second Devil Fruit. One theory is that the two demons will fight within your stomach for supremacy and which ever is more powerful will stay, kicking the other out of your body. A second one is that the two demons will rip apart the user's body. I don't believe that either is true. Frankly, I don't think that it has ever been attempted. But please, Luffy, understand, what you've experienced with your nakama will always be with you." Moustache began to walk away.

"Goodbye."

Moustache climbed down into the tunnels leaving Luffy alone with his thoughts.

OMAP

Luffy stared at the fruit. Sighing, he put his hat down next to him. Luffy stood up and faced the setting sun. Dull orange light bathed the surroundings. Holding the fruit up to the sinking sun Luffy paused. A flash of green rolled by Luffy like a shock wave. Smiling, Luffy placed the fruit to his mouth.

In a single bite, half the fruit was gone.

OMAP

Luffy gasped as the world seemed to melt around him. The remaining half of the fruit vanished with a quiet 'pop'.

Suddenly, Luffy's limbs began to contract and his chest, neck and head shortened. His hair stayed roughly the same, if a little shorter and his scar beneath his eye began to throb painfully. Placing one small six year old hand under his eye, Luffy fell on his butt. The world suddenly came back into focus.

Luffy was standing in Makino's bar back in Fusha Village. Everyone in the bar was silently staring at Luffy. Make that, they were staring at Luffy's left hand that was stretched half way across the room. Luffy looked behind him and saw his hand clutched by Red-Hair Shanks who was sopping wet with sake.

Shanks who had been sitting on the ground near the bar jumped up and began shouting.

OMAP

AN: Just so you know, I hate the anime but love the manga. Therefore, while several arcs are passed over in the anime (like Laboon) and they also renamed several items like the log poses - grand compasses in the English show.

Interesting fact: Digi's hearing is actually the mantra technique introduced in the Skypiea arc.

Also, Moustache's name is Brief Moustache… well, I'm too lazy to change it, and so I'll continue to use his last name.

P.S. I didn't know any of this until I was looking up minor characters (Makino) on Wikipedia.

Sorry for the short chapters, but I think that if they got longer, the time it would take me to write them and update would increase dramatically. And I might lose interest.

Next time: Luffy vs Higuma