You know, it's really rather remarkable how quickly I can write when I set my mind to it and have enough free time. The question is, just how good in quality is it? That's for you to tell me, of course. I sincerely hope that you enjoy this chapter.
When the light faded this time, the sounds of the ocean's swell that they had heard on Whitebeard's ship grew the slightest bit quieter, but did not vanish. The ground beneath them was hard earth, and the land behind them sloped up abruptly. Before anyone could speak, a very loud foghorn-like noise made them cover their ears.
"AHH! What the hell…wait, I know that noise," Luffy said, spinning around. The proof of his statement was shown immediately: they found themselves on a landmass close to a cliff that sloped down sharply to the ocean. A few meters away from where they stood was an enormous black mass. Looking further up revealed an eye on its side and a massive mouth on its top; it was a whale.
"Laboon!" Brook cried joyfully, but then puzzlement came over his face…though I don't have a face. Yohohoho! Skull joke!
"Wait a minute, what are we doing here? Did any of you lose someone at the Twin Capes?"
"I don't think so," Nami said, pondering. "It's definitely not me, Zoro, Usopp, Chopper, Robin, or Franky…is it your crew?"
"It can't be, Laboon was about the size of a rowboat when we entered the Grand Line," Brook replied.
"And Big Bro Ti was attacked on Foolshout Island, nowhere near the Twin Capes," Jinbe said.
"It can't be me, I still haven't made up my mind," Sanji said.
"So the only one that leaves is—Merry! Of course!" Usopp said, grinning.
"Back at the start of the Grand Line was when she really started taking damage. Her head broke off when she hit Laboon, and Luffy tore off the mast. If we stop that from happening and make sure our past selves take better care of her, she should make it to Water 7 in good enough shape!"
"All right! And when that happens, I can super repair the ship! No, I've got it: I'll upgrade her with Adam Wood, and turn her into the Thousand Merry!" Franky said, posing.
"The Thousand Merry, huh? I like the sound of that. Let's do it," Zoro said, smirking.
"Well, we'd better get started fast: here we come!" Sanji said, pointing to the current running down the mountain.
"Don't worry, I'll handle it," Robin said, crossing her arms. "Oh, and Sanji? So long as we're here, could you do me a favor?"
"I'd love to, sweet Robin!" Sanji cried, going into love mode.
The five members of the recently infamous Straw Hat Pirates had been in a state of joy as they descended Reverse Mountain into the Grand Line. This came to an abrupt end as the ocean spray cleared up as they neared the bottom of the mountain, and saw a massive black wall in their way that they quickly identified as a whale.
"W-w-what are we gonna do?!" Usopp asked, panicking.
"Should we fight?" Luffy asked.
"IDIOT, how are we supposed to fight a 100-ton whale?!" Nami snapped.
"D-d-do something! Our path is blocked, how do we escape?!" Usopp continued.
"Calm down!" Sanji said, suppressing his own anxiety. "If this creature looks like a giant wall to us, we must be a speck."
"That's right! It's highly possible that this thing isn't even aware that we're here," Nami realized.
"We'll still run right into it if we don't change course!" Zoro pointed out, and then pointed to the left.
"Look, we can get by on the left! Port! Hard to port!"
"THE RUDDER'S BROKEN!" Usopp shrieked.
"Do something! Anything!" Zoro shouted, running along with Sanji towards the helm room. But a sudden lurch forward of the ship made him fall over, along with everyone else. Luffy barely clung to the figurehead with his rubber arms as his body flew several feet forward before snapping back and sending him flying into the mast. He got back on his feet quickly, and sprinted to the front of the ship.
"YOU GUYS HAVE GOT TO SEE THIS!" Luffy shouted, his jaw dropped to the deck.
Nami was the first to look over the edge along with Luffy, and her own jaw hit the railing even as the ship slowed down.
"EVERYONE, HURRY AND GET UP HERE!" she yelled.
Sanji came fastest, and Zoro and Usopp slowly followed. A collective silence fell as the Straw Hats simply gaped at the sight of what had prevented them from crashing into the whale: the spontaneous appearance of two positively enormous arms from the front of the ship that were pushing against the water to slow them down.
"…Since when can ships grow arms like this?" Sanji asked weakly. When the boat came to a stop, one of the arms raised its hand and pointed to their left. They turned, and saw a group of figures in black on one of the capes.
"We'd like to have a word with you," came a cool female voice in the direction of the arms. The Straw Hats turned just in time to see the arms suddenly vanish in a flurry of flower petals, and exchanged looks. Luffy was the first one to recover.
"All right, everyone! Row towards those guys, and let's find out what they want!"
"And how the heck they could do that arm trick, and somehow speak to us," Usopp responded weakly.
Slowly, the crew gathered the oars and began rowing towards the cape; the whale would have been all but forgotten were it not for its bellowing. When they finally reached land, another surprise awaited them as a massive net of normal-sized arms formed from the top of the cliff, extending down to their ship. Luffy wasted no time in climbing up the net, and the rest of the crew followed at varying paces, not entirely comfortable with the situation. Reaching the top, they found nine cloaked figures of varying shapes and sizes, all of their faces covered by black hoods.
"Before you ask, what just happened was due to my Flower-Flower Fruit powers. My body parts bloom like flowers wherever I'd like them to," said one of the figures in the same voice they'd heard back on the ship.
"I…guess that makes sense, but how did you make them giant?" Nami asked.
"One thousand smaller arms to make two bigger ones," she replied.
Nami shrugged, and Zoro stepped forwards.
"Thanks for explaining, and saving us, but why exactly did you do that? Do you help every crew that comes down the mountain from running into that whale?"
"No, we had a special interest in protecting your ship," she replied. A pair of screaming voices coming closer from nearby delayed any more questions. The Straw Hats turned, and their jaws collectively hit the ground once again as they saw another of the cloaked figures flying towards them, with an oddly dressed orange-haired man in one arm and a blue-haired young woman in the other. They continued screaming until they were set down a short distance away. The figure that had carried them walked back over.
"Done as you requested, sweet Robin, and Crocus should be out shortly," the figure said in a familiar voice.
"Thank you, Sanji," Robin said, walking over to the figures. The last word she spoke made all of the Straw Hats look with astonishment at the figure.
"SANJI?!" Luffy asked incredulously. The figure chuckled before removing his hood. He had a small goatee and his hair covered his right eye instead of his left, but there was no mistaking him.
"Hello, captain," he said casually.
"What the hell?" Sanji asked, looking at himself…if a bit older.
"Just a minute, we'll explain everything. But first…" the older Sanji said, gesturing to the other figures. Four of them also removed their hoods, and once again, the Straw Hats' jaws hit the ground.
If this keeps up, my jaw might become as flexible as Luffy's, Nami thought absently, staring at what was clearly her older self. She also absently thought that she might have to try growing her hair out like that; it looked good on her.
"What the hell is going on here?" Zoro asked, taking in the sight of a green-haired man with one eye and a smirk that gave the impression that he wasn't someone to mess with.
"Wow, was I really that scrawny before?" asked the older Usopp, who had a look of confidence about him and seemed to be much more muscular.
"WHOA! Are you…me?" Luffy asked, staring at the man in front of him. There…was hardly any difference at all, except that the Straw Hat was missing.
"Straw Hat Pirates, meet the Straw Hat Pirates," older Sanji said, smirking.
Several seconds passed before anyone could speak.
"Wait a minute. If you're me, where's your hat?" Luffy asked. His older self chuckled.
"With Shanks, of course. I gave it back to him when I kept the promise that I made him."
All of the Straw Hats looked at him incredulously, but none more than Luffy.
"We're you guys from about three or four years in the future when we've already fulfilled all of our ambitions, and the Straw Hat Pirates have become the crew of the Pirate King," older Usopp said.
"AWESOME!" Luffy said, literally glowing with excitement. Many of the watchers sweatdropped.
"I never understood how Luffy could do that," said a tall, thin figure that had not removed his hood.
"…OK, so…you're us from the future. Then who are the rest of these guys?" Nami asked weakly.
"Our crew, of course," older Nami spoke up. "You don't think it was just the five of us all the way to the end of the Grand Line?"
"But we're well aware of our captain's stance on knowing too much about the adventures that he's going on," older Zoro said, looking at younger Luffy with a smirk. The younger crew all looked at him, and he nodded.
"Yeah. I don't want to go on any boring adventures; I'd sooner quit being a pirate altogether. But still…why are you guys here?" he asked curiously.
"An old man we met used his Devil Fruit powers to send us back in time to save something that we lost on our first adventure. Each of us got to choose one time period where we lost someone, but there was one that we all agreed that we wanted to save," older Zoro said, walking over to the cliff's edge. The past and future crews followed after him, and followed his gaze down to…their ship.
"…You came back here to save the Merry?" Nami asked in confusion.
"Merry was our friend," older Usopp said softly.
"On our journey across the Grand Line, she got so damaged, and we didn't have a shipwright to make all of the repairs that we needed. All we had were my mediocre skills, and I did everything that I could to take care of her. It was when we reached Sk—um…" he trailed off, counting on his fingers.
"The sixth island on our journey that she started to take on a life of her own. She had been damaged again, but she had enjoyed spending time with us so much that she took on a form of her own and repaired the ship. I remember seeing her, like a ghost carrying a hammer, and saying, 'it's OK. I'll carry you all a little further.' When we reached the eighth island on our journey, Water 7, home of the best shipwrights in the world, we decided that we needed a professional to take care of the ship.
"But it was too late: the keel had been cracked, and not even they could fix it. It was hard for all of us, especially me, but we had to get a new ship. But that wasn't the end of it; something happened on that island that forced us to infiltrate a Government base. In the end, we were surrounded by Marine ships, about to be blown away…but Merry came to save us, sailing all the way to where we were on her own and helping us get away. We were just starting to enjoy the trip back when…she broke in half."
Usopp's voice trembled as he continued.
"A ship with a bunch of the shipwrights from Water 7 was there to pick us up, but there was nothing we could do anymore for Merry. We gave her…a Viking funeral. I still remember it like it was yesterday: we watched as she burned, seeing her off as snow fell from the sky. And then…she spoke to us. 'I'm sorry,' she said. 'I wanted to carry you all a little further. I had so much fun. I wished our adventures would never end.' She just apologized, like it was her fault. Luffy knew that it was ours, and said as much; we wrecked her, and I sucked at repairing her. It was our fault…but she said that she didn't mind. She was happy. Her last words were, 'I know you always treated me with love. Thank you…'"
And that was as far as the sniper got before he collapsed on his knees, crying. The future Zoro and Sanji had their faces shadowed, Nami was on her knees as well, Luffy was ducking his head in a vain attempt to hide his own crying, and half of the figures behind them were bawling as well. The past crew looked with astonishment and sadness; the story was ridiculous, but not any more than the fact that they were looking at their future selves, who were part of the Pirate King's crew. They actually felt tears running down their own faces as they heard the story. Past Zoro was the first one to speak up.
"So, what can we do to keep that from happening, besides making sure Usopp gets some better skills until we get our shipwright?"
"Let's see…besides that and just making sure you treat her well, the only threat I can think of is after the…fourth island you visit, when you have to deal with a Marine fleet that fires iron spears instead of cannonballs. Oh, and try to have a protection against fire onboard," future Sanji said.
"And when you reach Water 7, look for a man named Franky; anyone in town should know who he is. Tell him that you'll provide the money for him to buy Adam Wood if he promises to use it to upgrade your ship. Nami?" future Zoro asked, looking at the past navigator.
"The Adam Wood will cost 200 million berries."
Nami stiffened, but in light of the story she just heard, she kept her anger in check.
"What's so special about this Adam Wood?" she asked.
"It's the most sturdy wood in the world," future Usopp said, getting himself together.
"Even cannonballs just bounce off of it. To put it in perspective, Adam Wood was used to make the Oro Jackson, Gold Roger's ship, the only ship that ever made it through the entire Grand Line—uh, besides our Thousand Sunny, that is. And Franky was an apprentice to the man who built the Oro Jackson; you could not ask for a better man for the job."
Nami let out a small sigh, but there was determination in her eyes as she nodded.
"So…is one of those guys Franky, then?" past Luffy asked, pointing to the other figures. The biggest and most oddly shaped of them stepped forward and removed his hood, showing a man with a metal nose and a buzzcut.
"That's me. But I'll look a lot less super when you find me at Water 7. Also, if you have trouble persuading me, tell me that there's someone who forgave me a long time ago that would be proud to see me build the ship of my dreams with gusto. That last part is important: make sure you say 'with gusto.'"
Usopp wrote down the odd instructions before walking up to him.
"So, how long are you guys going to be here?"
"Not long, about 45 more minutes, but that should be long enough for me to give you a crash course in keeping your ship in shape."
As their conversation continued, Nami spoke up.
"So, why did you come to this particular time? Did we crash into that whale the first time?"
"Yeah. Our idiot captain fired the front cannon at the whale to slow us down. It worked, but the figurehead broke off. And that's Luffy's special seat, so he decided to punch Laboon in the eye."
"HE WHAT?!"
All of the past crew looked dangerously at their captain, who raised his hands.
"Hey, I didn't do anything!"
"Then he swallowed the ship," Sanji continued casually.
BONK!
Luffy extracted his head from the ground with some difficulty.
"And then when we got out thanks to the old man who watches over the twin capes and Laboon, Luffy tore off the mast and rammed it into Laboon's head."
BONK!
Luffy extracted his head from the ground with more difficulty.
"WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU DO THAT? WHY THE HELL WOULD HE DO THAT?" Nami demanded, looking back at future Sanji.
"Because he heard Laboon's story. And I think that it would be better if you heard that story from him," future Sanji said, replacing his hood as the other future Straw Hats did the same, as an old man with flower petals around his head approached them from nearby, having climbed up the cliff while they were talking.
While the past and future pirates had been talking, Robin had other things on her agenda. Namely, doing what she could to make things easier for herself and her crew in the near future. To that end, she'd asked Sanji to fetch the two Baroque Works agents that she knew were in Laboon, and Brook had suggested he ask Crocus to come out as well. Now she stood face-to-face with the two Baroque Works agents, who had stopped their indignant demands as soon as she removed her hood.
"M-Miss All Sunday?! What are you doing here?" Mr. 9 demanded, Miss Wednesday beside him only staring in shock and apprehension.
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with, Mr. 9. I'm here to talk to Miss Wednesday, so if you'll wait over there," Robin said, pointing to the far side of the land where the mountain sloped up.
Mr. 9 slowly complied, not daring to disobey her. As soon as he was out of earshot, Robin sighed.
"Princess Vivi of the Alabasta Kingdom. I don't know how much of what I'm going to say you'll believe, but I'm only here to talk, not to fight."
Vivi grimaced as she looked at her, but said nothing.
"My name is Nico Robin, and I am not the Miss All Sunday that you know. The figures you see there are members of the pirate crew that I joined, indirectly as a result of the events in Alabasta. With the help of a man with a time-based Devil Fruit, my crew returned to this time to give some assistance to their past selves. I'm taking the chance I have now to do what I can to make up for my past mistakes."
Robin bowed her head to Vivi.
"I am sorry for what I have done to you and your country."
It was a minute before Vivi spoke.
"What are you going to do to prove it?"
Robin looked up.
"My crew and I cannot stay in this time for long. What I can do is give you advice to help you. Ally with my crew; they will help you return safely home to Alabasta, and defeat Baroque Works. And when you see my past self, tell her this: 'the Straw Hat Pirates are those that Saul spoke of, and will help you find the Rio Poneglyph.'"
Vivi could only stare with a distinct lack of comprehension but shrugged.
"I guess we'll see if you're being honest. Why did you ally with Crocodile in the first place?"
"Protection. The World Government sees me as a threat because I'm the only one left in the world who can read the Poneglyphs. It's not even the threat of reviving the Ancient Weapons that they're most afraid of; 900 years ago, a century began of which no history is known, but it ended with the birth of the World Government. There is nothing that they're more afraid of than that history becoming known. For the 20 years before I found that crew, I was forced to remain on the run, relying on various groups for protection and using them as shields when they outlived their usefulness. Crocodile was just the most recent of them."
"…And what's different about this crew?"
"They're pirates only in name. For the sake of just one of their friends, they declared war on three Warlords, three Emperors, and the entire World Government, and won. They're far from the level of power that they will be at, but the captain is strong enough to defeat Crocodile as he is now."
Vivi reflected upon all of this quietly. It was a few minutes before she raised her head.
"Thank you for telling me all of this, Nico Robin."
Robin nodded, a small smile on her face as she turned away.
"Oh, and one more thing: I promise you that Igaram will survive until the end of the war."
Vivi was puzzled at that last note, but shrugged it off as Robin beckoned Mr. 9 back over, slipping back into the guise of Miss Wednesday for now, but looking at the retreating figure that was replacing her hood with hope burning more brightly than she had thought possible before.
"…So, he's been waiting for 50 years for his crew to come back to him, but they just ditched him and ran away? That's horrible!" Usopp said disgustedly, as Crocus finished his tale.
"It would be horrible if it were true," said the cloaked Luffy, drawing everyone's attention.
"Just a second," he said, walking over to the cliff and removing his hood again for a moment.
"LABOON!" he yelled. The whale looked over at him, and the past crew along with Crocus looked in astonishment as the massive whale seemed to cower a bit. Luffy beckoned, and sweating, the whale approached the shore. Luffy replaced his hood and patted the whale's front before walking back over to the group.
"Conqueror's Haki? Impressive," Crocus said.
"Conqueror's what now? What the hell did he just do?" Sanji asked.
"Later," future Luffy said. "Like I was saying, that's not what happened to Laboon's crew. I guess that rumor got started when half of the crew was infected with an incurable disease and had to be shipped off to prevent what was left of them from being infected. Then the rest of them met a group of pirates with insane strength, and every last one of them was killed."
The past crew and Crocus all looked at him with confusion; his tone was strangely upbeat for saying such a morbid revelation.
"You're saying that awfully lightly, young one. And how would you know that to be true anyway?" Crocus asked.
"That's quite simple, really," said the tall, thin figure, stepping forward.
"You see, all of them died in that attack…but one of them, as it happens, ate the Revive-Revive Fruit."
The figure slowly removed his hood…and the past crew freaked out as they saw a skeleton with an afro beneath. Crocus stared in shock.
"…Brook?" he asked.
"Yes, Crocus, it's me. It's just unfortunate that we died in an area with so much fog; it took a year for me to find my way back to my body, and you see the result. It's quite a good thing that the fruit's power is so thorough that it can sustain me even in this form."
The past Straw Hats slowly recovered and watched as Brook produced a violin seemingly from nowhere and walked over to Laboon, who looked at him with no fear, but confusion.
"Laboon. I'm sorry that I took so long. It's me, Brook!"
With that, he began playing his favorite tune on the violin, moving with a dance that made Laboon's memories stir. Despite the lack of skin, there was no mistaking it. Tears surged down his face as he attempted to nuzzle the skeleton, cutting off his song. It was an awkward embrace, but they managed to make it work. The past Straw Hats' fears slowly faded as they saw the sight.
"That's so wonderful," Usopp said, rubbing his eyes.
"Looks like we've spoiled the future a little more, so sorry about that, Luffy," future Nami said.
"Heh, no problem. It's worth it, for something like this," past Luffy said, grinning.
"And he's a musician? Oh, now I really want to know…all right, how long do I have to wait before we meet Brook?" Luffy asked.
"Figures that the musician would make him break that rule," future Usopp chuckled. "The ninth island in the Grand Line. You'll know you're getting close when you find a barrel in the ocean that's supposed to be an offering, but shoots off a firework when you open it."
"Just be careful: I won't say much, but you'll have a hell of a fight on your hands on that island," future Luffy said.
"Got it. Now, no more questions about the future, everyone!"
"Oh, come on, Luffy, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Can't we at least have one question for our future selves?" Usopp asked.
Luffy pouted, but then he seemed to realize something.
"All right. One question each, that's it."
The past and future crew faced each other. Zoro spoke first.
"What happened to your eye?"
Future Zoro chuckled.
"Figured you'd ask about that. Let's just say it was lot more work than we thought training to become the greatest swordsman in the world. I found another teacher during our journey when we all had to train to take on the second half of the Grand Line. I just wish I could see your face when you find out who he is. He lives at a place called Kuraigana island if you want to look it up."
Younger Zoro suppressed his curiosity and nodded.
"Did you ever find the Clear-Clear Fruit?" Sanji asked. His future self stiffened.
"No, but I found the bastard who did eat it around the time we met Brook, and the way he used it made me glad I didn't find it. You're fine as you are now...and you get something that just works just as well later on."
Younger Sanji blinked slowly and then nodded.
"How did you manage to keep up with the rest of the monsters in the crew?" Nami asked. Her older self produced a golden baton from her cloak, and showed it to her, squeezing one end of it and causing it to grow into a staff.
"This is the Clima-Tact. Usopp came up with the idea first: using the weather as a weapon. The first version was just a glorified party toy, but it could generate mirages and miniature thunderclouds, complete with lightning strikes. The way it is now, it could annihilate a whole island if I wanted it to. And I'm REALLY looking forward to using it on Arlong when we go back to save Bell-mère."
Past Nami's smile was positively feral as her future self said that.
"Wish I could be there to see that."
Past Usopp had a thoughtful look on his face as he considered the idea of the Clima-Tact, the blueprints already forming in his mind. He shook himself out of it, however, when he considered what to ask his future self.
"Hmm…"
"I don't recommend asking what Nami did; my preferred style now isn't something you'll be able to access for a while," future Usopp said.
Past Usopp shrugged and thought it over.
"Oh, I've got it! What was my first bounty?"
"The same as Luffy's, 30 million. But you can make it higher if you start training more seriously now," future Usopp said smugly.
Zoro and Sanji looked as though they wanted to ask about their own bounties, but the question Luffy asked next drove those thoughts miles away from their minds.
"Did you save Sabo?"
The past crew looked at Luffy.
"Who's Sabo?"
"He was my older brother, but some stupid nobles killed him when I was a kid," Luffy spat.
"The World Nobles, easily the most evil people in the entire World Government," future Usopp said, disgust clear in his voice.
"But the answer's no, Luffy. I didn't save Sabo, because he didn't need saving. He survived," future Luffy said.
Young Luffy's eyes widened.
"What?"
"Members of the Revolutionary Army—"
"I'M saying it this time, Robin!" Luffy snapped. Robin and several others chuckled as future Luffy turned back with a huff.
"The head of the Revolutionary Army, Dragon, was visiting the island at the time, and he adopted him. He's the second-in-command of the whole army now…or will be in two years, I can't remember when he got the title. But he lost his memories from that explosion, which is why he hasn't shown himself to you yet."
"The Revolutionary Army? Would it even be safe to try to get back into contact with him, then?" past Sanji asked. For some reason, most of the future crew chuckled.
"Oh, trust me, you guys have nothing to fear from Dragon or anyone loyal to him," future Luffy said.
Past Luffy's one-track mind ignored the part about the Revolutionary Army, only thinking about how Sabo was alive. One more thought invaded his mind, however.
"Wait a minute. If Sabo's alive, then who did you decide to save?"
The future crew's laughter died immediately, and they stiffened in unison, exchanging looks. An uncomfortable silence fell before future Luffy finally sighed.
"Ace. A pirate named Blackbeard defeated him and turned him over to the World Government to become a Warlord. He was executed."
Luffy felt his blood run cold at the thought, but that lasted for less than a second.
"What can I do to keep that from happening this time?" Luffy demanded. Future Luffy thought for a minute and then looked behind him.
"How much time have we got left?"
"About half an hour, I think," Robin said.
Future Luffy removed his hood, and the grin he gave was just a little too feral for the past crew's comfort.
"All right, everyone! Time for a crash course in Haki and Six Powers training!"
It was a very sore, bruised, and exhausted crew that faced their future selves as light began to envelop them. All of them stood on the deck of the Going Merry, Mr. 9 and Vivi next to them. Usopp had next to him a thick packet of notes on shipwright skills that would be expected to last him until they met Franky. All five of the past crew, however, listened closely to the future captain as he shone.
"Today, you've seen proof with your own eyes that you can reach your dreams. We won't be coming back to this time again, so make sure that you can see us again yourselves one day when you look in the mirror," future Zoro said.
"Luffy, make sure to keep up the training and remember what I said: if you're good enough when you get to Jaya, you can stop Blackbeard before he starts. But otherwise, train ten times harder from then on. And everyone, this is an order from your captain: never give up on your dreams, no matter what comes at you!" future Luffy commanded.
"Right!" the five past Straw Hats said. The light intensified around the cloaked group for a second and then winked out, taking them with it.
…Would any of you think less of me if I admitted that I cried when I wrote out Usopp's story of Merry? Truly, that is one of the saddest moments in the entire series, and I'm immensely glad that it can be fixed here…though the idea seems to have strayed somewhat from saving just her. Then again, if you had an hour to talk to your past selves, what would you do? I'd probably change as much as I could for the better.
So, once again, kudos to my beta, lunanime. And until a result is chosen, always remember: Patience is a virtue.