As the sounds of his captain's snoring fills the room, Bushido began to mediate. It didn't take him long to entire the mysterious void within the recesses of his mind, his physical body falling backwards onto the floor of their small dingy with a thunk.
His younger self is lain on his back, eyes dully staring at the ceiling, and does not immediately notice him. Bushido sighs and clears his throat. The change is instantaneous. The boy is in on his feet in an instant and hurls himself forward at max speed, hand outstretched and snarl etched on face. The speed would seem godly for an East Blue pirate and still impressive for a Grand Line pirate.
But for Bushido it was as if the man was wading through honey to reach him, he easily avoided the lunge at his throat. "Calm yourself." He ordered. His other self responded with a fierce uppercut. Bushido let Haki coat his chin, the skin turning a shiny obsidian. There was an impressive crunching sound as the blow connected.
Bushido watched the bounty hunter fall backwards, his lips were drawn into a thin line and Bushido was proud that the man had not cried out. "This may seem sudden," he announced, "but I can't let you have our body back."
Zoro's green eyes blazed with fury and the boy sprang forward, throwing an avalanche of punches towards the older man. Letting his Observation Haki predict the future, Bushido slipped between the blows with ease. "Too much is at stake," he continued, "I can't waste this chance"
The hail of punches didn't falter as Zoro grit his teeth in frustration. "Stop talking in riddles! Explain yourself!"
"We died."
The punches faltered and the younger man gaped. "Y-you're lying."
"But I intend to use this second chance to the fullest."
"Stop screwing around!" Bushido let the fist smash into his face, his nose snapping from the force of it.
Blood poured down his face and he locked eyes with Zoro. "This time I will save Luffy." Seconds ticked by as they stared each other down, faces inches from each other. Then, Bushido began to feel tugs at his counciness. "Goodbye."
And Bushido's good eye opened staring up at the rising sun.
Bushido contemplated the talk with his younger self as he swam laps around the slow moving dingy. He had reacted like he thought he would: angry and in denial. He wished he had longer to explain things but the sunlight on his face had roused him.
That was another thing, he had only been talking with his younger self for about five minutes but about six hours had passed. That meant that either it had taken him most of the night to access the weird void, unlikely, or that time was perceived differently there.
The green-haired man was brought out of his musings by the sound of the only door onboard the small craft slamming open. "Zoro!"
The swordsman grabbed the edge of the boat and vaulted onboard the now cramped deck, were his captain was flailing around in a circle. "Yeah?"
The teen's face went from panicked to relieved in an instant. "I thought a fish might've ate you," Luffy said seriously.
"A fish," Bushido deadpanned.
"Yup," Luffy replied, popping the p. "Hey," he said, taking in Bushido's drenched from, "what were you doing?"
"Swimming laps," the time traveller replied, grabbing his shirt to dry his hair.
"Sounds interesting," the raven-haired teen mused before coming to a decision, "I'mma try it." The boy dove over the railing with a laugh.
Bushido pinched the temple of his nose before diving in after his hammer of a captain.
Some things, it seemed, never changed.
He quickly grabbed the red vest of the drowning boy and effortlessly threw him through the water and back onto the dinghy, which lurched in complaint of the abuse. The swordsman quickly followed, smacking the wet teen on the back of the head as he landed on the railing with perfect balance.
Luffy burst out in another fit of laughter, clutching his sides merrily. "That was scary, thought I was gonna die."
Bushido rolled his eyes. "I have a funny feeling that's not going to be the last time you dive overboard.
Luffy's brown eyes flicked towards Bushido's left hand. "Hey, why were you carrying your sword while doing laps?"
"Because I'm a swordsman."
"Makes sense," Luffy agreed before getting distracted by picking his nose. While the nose picking was taking place, Bushido studied Wado Ichimonji warily. The sword still bombarded him with his memories if he wasn't concentrating and he had no clue if that was only applicable to him.
He didn't want Luffy stumbling across his blade and being assaulted by his memories, of his failures: of Ace, especially. So he had vowed to never let the katana leave his side. In theory, easy enough. But the green-haired man had a feeling it would be much harder in practice.
Tearing his eye away from the white sheath, he looked at his captain. "Oi, Luffy," he called out, "Hit me with a flurry of attacks."
Flicking the booger away,and without taking questioning a thing, Luffy took a battle stance and angled himself towards Bushido. "Gomu Gomu no Gatling!"
It had been literal years since Bushido had seen the flurry of fists move so slowly and he could probably have dodged just with his battle-hardened reflexes alone. But he concentrated on his Observation Haki. He began to subtly weave through the fists without moving from his crouched position and after about ten seconds it was over.
Luffy gaped when he saw that Bushido was unscathed and hadn't moved from his perch on the railing. "How?"
Bushido smirked, he had him hook, line and sinker. "It's a special skill that can let you see slightly into the future, sense people and read emotions if you get really good at it."
Starry-eyed, Luffy pumped his fist. "So cooooooool. How'd you learn it."
"A great swordsman taught me...and I can teach you."
Luffy bounded towards him and seized him by the shoulders excitedly, nearly toppling both of them over the edge. "Really?"
"Yup," Bushido confirmed with a nod, "we can start after lunch."
Lunch consisted of Luffy inhaling a few apples and then they were back on deck, The rubber man bounced on the balls of his feet. "So, what do we do?"
The green-haired man ripped the bandanna off his arm. "Come here for a second."
Luffy leaned over and Bushido tied the bandanna around his eyes before spinning him around really fast. As Luffy whined like a kicked dog, Bushido moved to the centre of their small deck. "Now," he ordered, "walk towards the door."
The raven-haired teen nodded sagely. "Ah, I see." Before briskly walking into the railing and then off the ship.
Dusk fell and Bushido threw his catatonic captain onto his hammock with a grunt. In seven hours, the boy had fallen into the water nearly two hundred times before finding the door. And that had been pure luck rather than any sort of planning on Luffy's part.
Bushido fell back onto his own hammock and sighed This was going to be harder than he first thought. Rayleigh must've had the patience of a saint. Before he could muse any more on the subject, his consciousness was being drawn to the void.
His younger self was laying on his back, asleep. Bushido gave him a swift kick to the side. "Get up."
Zoro leaned up with a hiss, hand on his side, and glared up at him. "Stop doing that."
Bushido arched an eyebrow. "That?"
"Leaving and then coming back every couple of minutes," the bounty hunter elaborated as he got to his feet.
"Sorry,," Bushido replied with a shrug, "time seems to flow differently here. It's been a day in the real world since I last visited."
The younger man's eyes widened in shock. "No way in hell has been a day! You were here only a few minutes ago!"
Bushido held up a hand to silence him. "Stop yelling. It seems you also can't feel the passage of time."
A low growl built up in the back of Zoro's throat. "I thought you'd only been controlling my body for an hour or two but now you tell me that it's been days? I'll yell if I damn well please."
Bushido rubbed his temple. "Pouting like a child isn't going to fix anything, I've made my decision and I'm going to stick with it. I need to train them up, so they can be even stronger when the time comes."
Zoro slumped back down onto the ground, temporarily giving up. After a few seconds silence, he spoke. "Has Captain Morgan freed me yet?"
"Oh, no. I killed him."
"You did what? W-we had an agreement, you bastard!" Zoro was on his feet again, fist plowing towards Bushido's marred chest. Once again, the hand smashed into Haki and cracked. Zoro's eyes were filled with hate as he fell back.
Bushido shook his head. "The deal was never going to be honoured, I know you knew that on some level."
Zoro looked down at the inky ground. "So where is my body now?"
"With the captain." The time traveler smirked in spite of himself.
The bounty hunter choked on his spit. "You made me join the Navy of all things?"
Bushido's smirk only widened. "Nope. Piracy."
And then he awoke.
"Land Ho!" Luffy crowed out as leaned precariously over the railing. Bushido sighed and pulled him back from what was certainly have been a watery grave had the rubber boy been alone.
"Can you sense anyone?" Bushido asked as he himself searched for lifeforms. He located Buggy and his men partying in the bar, a small animal down a street, the townsfolk a little ways from the town and her.
Nami.
A lump formed in his throat and tears prickled in the edge of his eyes. He blinked them away. Now was not the time. He turned and instead observed Luffy, whose forehead was crinkled in concentration. The boy spoke after a few seconds. "Nope," he admitted sullenly, "still nothing."
Bushido clapped on hand down the teen's shoulder. "No worries. It'll take a while before you notice anything. Besides, it seems that the townsfolk have fled the town because of a pest problem."
Luffy cocked his head to the side. "Pest problem?"
Bushido hooked his thumb under the hilt of Wado Ichimonji and flicked, exposing part of the deadly steel blade to the air. "Yup, the Buggy Pirates are in town."
Luffy laughed. "You sound like an old man."
The green-haired man grinned in response. "Then, how about this? That Shanks guy you were talking about? Rumor has it that Buggy was in the same crew as him."
Bushido moved his head to the side as Luffy rocketed past him over the bay and into the town, determined to meet Shanks' friend. The swordsman sighed before quickly paddling the rest of the way, he threw a rope around the pier and was off in a sprint.
"I'm coming, Nami," he thought to himself as he raced towards their navigator.
