Luffy, Always Bounces Back

by Abigail Skywalker

Luffy is a child, How did this happen? And how will the adult pirate crew take on this new responsibility. How do they protect a boy who lives so unguardedly, but now he's weak, and can't protect himself.

2. Bath Time

Thank you everyone who has reviewed. I don't think I have ever got that many reviews all at once before, it's really exciting. Thank you guys.

ichigi111kurosaki

sess18

Shannon Sumner

wushu723

scatteredPhilosopher

AfroRadish

By the way Shannon Sumner, I can't just reveal how Luffy became Little now can I? That is for the crew to work out. It's a mystery.

So to recap.

Luffy can't remember anyone on the crew. He is eight years old. He remembers Ace and Sabo. He has decided he wants to be the King of the Pirates already. He is getting used to his gum gum powers, but he is not good at it yet.

We saw how Nami loves children during the Punk Hazard Arc, when she tries to save them all from being marine experiments. She hits Luffy a lot a tells him off quite a bit, so what will she do now he's just a kid? Will the hitting continue or will she become super protective?

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Luffy, Always Bounces Back: Bath time

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Chapter 2

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These were the sort of occasions when people come together and discuss things of a serious nature. And indeed it was true the Strawhat Pirates were very worried about their Captain, and wondering how in all of the Grand Line's weirdness, had their Captain become a child. They could do nothing that they knew of that might help him in any way. He remembered nothing of their adventures, and to put it plainly it was terrifying. The idea that he didn't really know them like he used to was strange, like that time when the entire crew apart from Robin lost their memories, except now it was just Luffy. For he had, in his own way, always been keeping the group together. He drove them forward with his enthusiasm, and although he still had that enthusiasm and in abundance. He did not have the strength or will power to back it up.

So they were gathered outside, sifting through the relevant and irrelevant events that had taken place the last couple of days. To find where it had exactly gone wrong, and what Luffy might have done to get this way. It didn't help when they had an oblivious child running this way and that trying to distract them from their discussions every few seconds.

"Al-right everyone! Gather round! Gather round!" The brave and fierce Captain Usopp called. He pulled on to the deck a massive black board that he had put together in the construction room below, and proceeded to write on it with a stick of squeaky white chalk.

"So, for now we can conclude that this was an accident. We have not been attacked, or approached by enemies, and no one has attempted to kidnap Luffy, and he hasn't gotten lost anywhere recently. So,... WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!" Usopp's calm persona vanished into the fresh breeze. "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO! IF THERE ARE NO ENEMIES THEN HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET HIM BACK TO THE WAY HE WAS BEFORE? WE HAVE NO ONE TO ASK WHAT IS WRONG? AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

It was obvious he was having a hard time adjusting to the information, but there was someone on the crew that seemed to be hardly effected by the strange occurrences at all.

"We mustn't jump to conclusions." said the calm archaeologist, Nico Robin. "Just because we haven't seen an enemy doesn't mean one isn't out there."

"Robin! That doesn't help!" Usopp said worry and nervousness laced throughout his loud voice.

Robin answered, "I'm just pointing out the obvious. We need to remain alert. But I must say it is far more likely that Luffy has fallen in, or eaten something strange that has made his body change so drastically."

At her words everyone took another glance at their Captain, who just so happened to be playing with the only one who wasn't able to join their conversation, Tony Tony Chopper. He was riding the Reindeer's back as he ran around the ship and thoroughly enjoying himself, as his new friend Chopper tried to shake him off. The crew sighed. Knowing their Captain there could have been a number of different things he could have eaten from the Island they had been on yesterday. What were they going to do next?

"Oi!?" Luffy called out to the boring group. Curious he stopped his ride and charged towards them and came to a pause in front of Zoro, of whom he suddenly found very interesting and stood there staring at him.

Zoro sighed, "What do you want Luffy?" He gave his very best 'you will hate me, so go away' glare. To which or course the dear child Captain was not in the least affected.

"Come fight with me! I can beat you up!" Luffy pucked out his bottom lip, and pulled out his fist. "Don't cry if I hurt you! My punch is like two pistols!"

"Really?" Zoro smirked at Luffy's challenge. It was hard to take any sort of threat from his Captain seriously, especially in this state. "Okay, give it your best shot." He leant backwards and waited for his Captain to hit him.

Luffy seeing his opportunity, punched out his fists as hard as he could. To the shock of the whole crew his arm was shaky and wobbly like the freshly cooked noodles that Sanji liked to make. But they missed their target Zoro perfectly, and he hadn't had to move an inch. The unfortunate Usopp, however, who just so happened to have been standing behind him was sent spinning and twisting off towards the starboard side of the boat. Usopp thought fast, and instantly grabbed a hold of Luffy's arm to prevent being thrown overboard and he came to a stop.

Luffy was not so fortunate. Having his arm stretched but held in captivity by someone stronger and heavier than him simply meant the force of gravity had been reversed. So instead of pulling his arm back to him as he intended, he was pulled by the elasticity of his own arm, out of the circle of pirates and catapulted, screaming, out to sea.

The crew rushed to the edge of the ship watching in horror as their Captain did not try and reach back and pull himself in as usual, but instead just fell like a rock and hit the ceiling of the sea beginning his descent down into the wild depths.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Nami smacked both Zoro and Usopp over the head. "QUICK GO AND GET HIM BEFORE HE SINKS!"

Robin crossed her arms and many more appeared and reached out to grab a hold of Luffy. They got him, but with the way he was grabbing her and trying to pull himself up onto something that just was not there, sea water making her arms too weak to pull him in. "I can hold him up, but someone needs to get him." she said, her voice sounding strained.

Franky ran to operate the Coup de Brust! But Nami stopped him. For it might just cause the ship to land on him if they didn't get it right, and they didn't want Robin to lose her hold on him. Zoro and Usopp made for the Miny Merry, Brook jumped overboard and started running on water, which caused Nami to yell at him for being so stupid because he would probably sink too. And Sanji made it just in time to prevent Chopper from jumping overboard aswell.

It was Usopp that rescued Luffy from the sea in the end with his brilliant fishing wire that he fired and retracted from his utility belt, while Zoro dived into the water to save their drowning musician Brook.

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Once Luffy had been brought back on board, Nami grabbed him and wrapped him up firmly in a towel. She used as second towel and rubbed dry his wet black hair. He might be her idiot Captain, but she could tell when a child was scared and right now Luffy was a child, not her Captain. She sat down with Luffy in her lap and stroked his back over the towel. She could still feel his arms and legs shaking from the fear of drowning. Luffy tried to push away from her.

"Don't touch me! I'm not afraid of dying or drowning. I'm not afraid of sea monsters either." The entire crew could tell that Luffy was lying, tears were streaming down his face. It was as if in being in denial he could somehow change his weakness into strength. Luffy tilted his head down trying to hide his tears and put his hands onto …

"My hat! My Shanks Hat! Where's it gone!" Luffy cried. The look of anger, and worry etched into his young face, as his hands were unable to find anything at the top of his head.

"It fell off you before you went flying." Nami said, pulling his hat out of nowhere and placing it on her Captain's head, "Don't worry Luffy, I've got your back." There must have been something in her words that broke a chord with him, because he just hugged her and burst into tears on her lap.

"You guys carry on the discussions." Nami spoke as she stood up, and moved Luffy up holding him tightly. "I'll take Luffy back inside and clean him up. And I'll see what I can do about making some of his clothes fit him better. We'll be back soon." She carried him into the bathroom and started to run a bath. Maybe if she could help him realize that water wasn't all that scary if you were careful around it, he would calm down a bit more. She turned the taps and the warm water came splashing out into the creamy white bath tub.

"Oi Nami?" Luffy asked, he seemed a bit calmer just being away from everyone else. He was always louder when people were watching. Such a performer.

"What is Luffy?" she smiled at him encouraging him to go on.

"Is this an inside fish pond?" She had to stop herself from bursting out in laughter.

"No, Luffy."

"Is it a mermaid bath?" So he had heard of mermaids had he?

"No, Luffy." She replied with a small giggle.

"Do you wash your clothes in here?"

"No, I don't normally, but you could if you wanted to." She smiled down at him. "This is where I wash myself." she took off her jean pants, and made sure her bikini was still very much in place. Luffy might be a child, but she wasn't going to be naked around him. Not that he would have cared. She looked down at him and saw his wide eyes take in the enormaty of the bath itself.

"THIS IS YOUR BATH BARREL! IT'S SO COOL!" He started running left to right trying to see every aspect of the 'bath', "It's so big! WOW!" He grinned up at her with his hands closed over his head protecting his treasure. "It's like a King's bath!"

"Perfect for the Pirate King, hey?" Nami said. Luffy grinned at her and gave her his good, famous, and old-fashioned giggle thing.

"Come on." Nami said standing up and stepping into the water. She added some bubbles to the mix, and sat down. "Get ready for your bath and get in." she patted the bubbles beside her and blew them across the bath.

Luffy, excited about being in such a massive bath, pulled off his very large and bulky teenagers clothes and jumped in. Nami grabbed him and pulled him out of the water. Why did Luffy always have to be so hyperactive? The grin he gave her though when he came back up was all she needed to see to know just how amazing her Captain was.

Nami frowned, remembering the shock of seeing him flying out to sea, she looked at her Captain. She couldn't believe how much the crew had not really appreciated all the work and strength of Luffy. Seeing him unable to do even the very simplest of his devil fruit moves made her feel bad. He was definitely a very different person. She had always assumed that using a devil fruit power would have been easy, but it obviously wasn't. To Nami it was easy enough to deal with the foolishness and idiotic behaviour of the normal Luffy, she just kicked him or punched him and he would take it smiling. It was her way of venting out frustration, and his way of showing he cared enough about her and her worries to let her do that without complaining. But she wasn't used to seeing him so vulnerable and able to get hurt so easily and so upset over the small things. It made her feel very protective.

He was excessively loud, noisy, and playful in the bath, and she had to prevent him from sliding under a number of times. "Luffy, be careful." she said after the third time.

"Heshishishishishi!" Luffy giggled, and moved away from her to do something else.

"No, it's time to wash." She grabbed him and sat him down in front of her. She poured some of her shampoo into her hands and rubbed it into his hair. He had very thick black hair, but she could never remember him actually cleaning it. He was such a mysterious boy. She had never asked him about his parents or family or where he grew up. In fact she had never really asked him about his childhood at all. "So Luffy, where were you before you woke up here."

"I was sleeping at Ace, Sabo's and my secret base." He reached his hands up over his head. "It's in the biggest tree ever and I want to have my own spy glass so that Ace doesn't take it." She frowned she still wasn't quite sure how Luffy's mind worked, but there was something interesting about this story.

"So, who is Sabo? Luffy."

"He's my big brother, along with Ace. We are going to have our own pirate crew one day." he paused as if thinking about something important. "Maybe not, we couldn't decide on who would be Captain, so our pirate flag ended up all messed up." he looked back at Nami. "I said I'd become the King of the Pirates, and they would have to make me their Captain, but they said I was too little." he pouted again.

"Well, that was good advice." Nami spoke up. "You need to grow up first and become a strong young man before you can become a Pirate King, you know." She moved the shower head down from it's place on the wall, "Close your eyes Luffy." and proceeded to wash out all the thick soapiness that was in his hair. She remembered what she had been like at this age compared to Luffy she had been really naughty. He was actually quite a good kid. She would have tried to hit her mum while washing her hair, she had hated it when she was younger, and then insisted that she could do it herself.

Once she had given him a good conditioning as well, she ran out the bath and got dried, and then dried the small child as well. She had been quite sure that she was a lot bigger when she had been this age, but then Luffy had always been a little bit small. Maybe it's because he's so elastic. She got dressed again wrapped Luffy up in his towel.

"Alright!" she said, "You ready for some new clothes?"

"Yeah!"

She took him to her room. Any of her clothes would fit him better than his own. She pulled out some of her t-shirts. "How about this Luffy?" It was one of her old vests that had been left on board the Thousand Sunny in the two years they had been apart from one another, but had somehow not gotten to damp, which was good, it held a lot of memories.

"G.O.L.D." he frowned, "Why does it say it's gold when it really isn't?"

"It says gold, because that is what I like. And I'm a pirate who likes gold, so why not wear it." She pulled it down over his head, and although it had been super tight on her it fit him fine. She was glad it had been so elasticated because it fit him nicely.

"There now doesn't that look good." She said. Now all she had to do was find him something decent to wear for his bottom half. She pulled out an old skirt she hadn't worn in ages. She could cut it up and sew the seams together. Yep, that would work.

For the next one and a half hours she was sewing up her old skirt, while giving Luffy some of Sanji's snacks that she had thought she could finish later, but never quite did.

"Okay! Done!" She said, and held them out to him. "Here try this one on now." He pulled them on and tied them up, and they fitted just as well.

"Thank you Nami!" he clapped his hands and jumped up and down in his new clothes. "I got gold! I got new stuff." He grabbed his hat, bolted out the door, and ran down to the deck. Nami felt exhausted, but happy. She seemed to be always fixing Luffy's stuff.

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Sanji looked at his Captain in horror, "Why are you wearing Nami's clothes, Baka!?"

"Nami gave them to me. Because we both like gold!"

"Huh? What the hell? That doesn't make sense?"

"Yes, it does!"

"No, it doesn't."

"I don't care!" Luffy turned his back on the cook.

"Oi Luffy, you need to be careful from now on all right?" Zoro said.

"I don't care! You're not the boss of me!" Luffy ran away from him and started climbing up the mast again.

Nami came out of her room when she heard the noise and saw what was going on. Now, what did Bellemere use when she used to get mad.

"Luffy!" She called up to him bringing his attention back to her, "Forget those idiots! Why don't you come down for now? I've got some paper and colouring tools you can use. Do you want to draw some pictures?"

His eyes lit up at the idea of doing drawing. He loved drawing. He jumped down and ran to her. "Where? Where? Let me have some! I want to draw!" He was grinning as she fetched him some paper from her room, picked him up plopped him down into a deckchair. It was quite surreal seeing how calm it made him almost instantly.

"You will make a wonderful, stunning, beautiful mother some day, NAMI!" said the love-struck Sanji with hearts in his eyes. "You are just so..."

"Manipulative." added Zoro. Earning a kick in the face from Sanji for his honesty.

"What the hell did you say about my sweet Nami!" Sanji's face was burning with fury.

"I don't care about your delusions for our Navigator. You Stupid Love Cook. We need to focus on helping our idiot Captain." Zoro replied bluntly. Picking himself off the ground he walked to the abandoned chalk board, and picked up Usopp's leftover chalk. They hadn't gotten very far in their discussion since she had left. Typical.

Zoro continued, "What we need to do is go everywhere Luffy went yesterday, and basically retrace his footsteps and try and find anything unusual that might have caused this change." He tapped the chalk board wrote down in big bold letters, 'SEARCH THE ISLAND FOR THE CAUSE OF LUFFY'S AGE LOSS.' "This," He hit his words with the chalk tip, "is what we need to do today. He was on the Island all of yesterday it only makes sense."

"Yohohohoho! Yes, swordsman san." Brook said, filling the air with his catching laughter. "It makes a lot of sense, I can see what you mean. Although I have no eyes." (he pauses for effect). "Yohohohohoho!"

Luffy got up and ran over to them. "Nami! Nami! Here's a picture of you!" He held up his newest drawing and shoved it into her hands. "See!" He said pointing.

You could almost make out at it was a person, it didn't really have any curves. But the skin colour was very obvious, and so were the colours for her bikini, but what really made the picture look like Nami was the flaming orange hair that cascaded down her back and almost reached her feet.

Nami hugged Luffy. "It looks very good Luffy."

Luffy pointed it some orange and yellow dots on the white page, "Look, I even drew you some Gold."

"So you did, you are very clever Luffy." and she hugged him and kissed his forehead. He really was an adorable child.

She saw flames ignite out of the corner of her eye and turned around to see what it was.

"Alright! Listen up everyone!" Sanji yelled. "We really need to find what caused Luffy to shrink. Let's go!" He jumped off the ship and swam for the island.

"Do you really think he's doing it for Luffy?" Franky asked no one in paticular.

"Knowing his history." Robin replied, "I seriously doubt it."

"Yohohohoho! Everyone should know, that Luffy is this way because he doesn't drink enough milk. It makes your bones healthy. I should know because I'm all bones. Yohohohohoho."

"Shut up you moron!" Zoro and Nami yelled at him

"Hashishishishishshi." Luffy didn't understand the joke, but he knew he liked these people they were pretty cool. He ran to side of the ship where Sanji took off and leaned over the edge. "Everyone!" he yelled. "Let's go to the island!"

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End of chapter 2. Super long, but quite fun.