So, Luffy had chosen to accept Umi's deal of a second chance, and soon finds himself back as a child at home in Foosha Village...but there immediately turns out to be a catch to his second chance!
When the light faded away, Luffy found himself lying on his back, staring up at a ceiling. He sat up and looked around. He was back in his room, the room he had when he lived in Foosha Village with Makino! He looked at his hands to see they were small and clean of blood, and he looked over his whole body, to see it was small and unwounded.
He hopped out of bed and ran over to his bedroom window, where he looked outside. All the villagers were going about as usual, and the sun was shining brightly over it.
He was back at home! It had worked!
He threw his hands up and cheered, "Yahoo! Thank you, Umi!"
The woman's voice replied with a tone of amusement, "You're welcome, Luffy."
At that moment, the door opened, and Makino walked in.
"Luffy, are you awake? Why are you shouting?" she asked, raising a brow but was smiling.
Luffy looked over at her and gasped, "Makino!" He dashed over to her and gave her a tight hug. "You're okay!"
The last time Luffy had seen Makino in his old timeline was when he and his allies had gone back to Foosha Village so Luffy could pay his treasure tab to Makino. Apparently during the time Luffy was gone, she had a son, who was almost a year old. He was such a happy baby. Luffy had no idea what became of them after the Holy Clan showed up at Mariejois. Knowing the ill fate of his friends, he felt like they may have been just as unlucky.
Makino patted Luffy on the head and said, "Of course I'm okay. Did you have a dream that I wasn't?"
Luffy pulled away and said, "Sort of. I had a dream that I became a powerful pirate captain, but my crew and friends got wiped out by this army of bad people who believed Devil Fruit users are evil! I was very sad, but then the sea goddess, Umi, showed up and gave me a second chance to do things right! Everything is going to be okay this time, I promise!"
Makino's brows rose high, but she smiled, "The sea goddess, huh? Such fantastic dreams from the mind of such a small girl."
Luffy smiled, "Shishishi! Yeah, I guess s-wait, what'd you say? I'm a small what?"
Makino frowned, "Um, girl?"
Luffy's eyes furrowed, "Girl? Why'd you call me a girl?"
"Cause...you are one?"
When Luffy looked down at his body again, he now realized that he was wearing a simple nightgown, not the usual clothes he wore to bed when he was a kid!
"Um...excuse me, Makino," he (she?) said, before running into the bathroom and slamming the door.
"Umi! What the hell!" he (she?) shouted internally.
Umi chuckled in his (her?) head, "I'm sorry, I should've told you! There was a chance that your physical body would be different when you entered this new timeline, but it was hard to say what. I was almost betting you'd get a different hair, eye or skin color. Never took gender into account..."
"I'll say!" Luffy exclaimed. "I would've liked a warning about this!"
"Hey, if you don't like it, you can ask Ivankov to change it once you meet him," Umi suggested.
Luffy furrowed his (her?) brow and thought for a moment. If he (she?) had to be a different gender to change things, then maybe he should stick with it. He (she?) could probably get used to this after a while. Of course, this meant Sanji might flirt with her like he did with Nami and Robin...which Luffy could use to get more food out of him! Maybe this new body wouldn't be so bad after all!
Luffy smiled, "Nah, I'll get used to it. It's alright, Umi."
Umi chuckled again, "You're a real trooper, aren't you? I respect that."
"Luffy!" Makino's voice called from the other side of the door. "Are you alright in there?"
Luffy opened the bathroom door and stepped out, "I'm okay, Makino. I…just needed to go really bad."
Makino nodded and began to walk out of the room, saying, "Well, I'll get your breakfast put together. You change into a nice dress today. Your grandfather is coming to visit, remember?"
Luffy groaned, "Oh man. You mean I have to deal with his training again?" She had nearly forgotten about all the hell Garp put her through when she was a kid. The jungle, the pit, the balloon, Luffy was going to have to endure that all over again! Not to mention he's going to nag her to be a marine instead of a pirate while he was at it!
Makino smiled weakly, "I suppose so, but he's only doing it to help you get strong, okay. You want to be strong when you grow up, don't you?"
"She's right, Luffy," Umi's voice added. "After all, it was because of his training that you made it through the East Blue and the Grand Line originally."
Luffy hummed to herself. That was true. With Luffy being a little kid again, she'd have to build up her strength all over again, and putting up with Garp's training would help with that.
"I guess I'll tough it out, like I did before," she said aloud without really meaning to.
Makino smiled, "That's a good attitude, Luffy."
After breakfast, Luffy left the bar and began to walk through the village to get to the docks. Her grandpa was going to arrive soon and she wanted to get his training pretty much done and over with as soon as possible.
She tilted her head and mentally asked, "Hey Umi, I still have all my Haki skills right?"
"You should. Armament, Observation and Conquerors. You can use them whenever, but with the same limitations you had before you died," Umi confirmed.
That meant once Luffy got her devil fruit back, she could use all the Gears she figured out! Including Gear 5! She might make faster progress in this timeline than she did in her old one!
"Luffy!" a familiar old voice shouted.
Luffy winced and looked over to see none other than Mayor Woop Slap, sitting on the front steps of his house and looking at her with a very stern gaze.
"You better not spout any of that pirate nonsense while your grandfather is in town," he said. "He is a respected hero of the Marines, you know! Nothing would pain him more than hearing you dream of being one of those scoundrels!"
Luffy rolled her eyes, "Well, if it pains him that much, I hope he has enough morphine on his ship for it!"
She ran off as Woop Slap shouted, "Don't you get fresh with me, young lady! I'll tell Garp about that!"
Luffy soon took notice of the large Marine ship docked at the port, where she soon saw the tall figure of her grandfather walking down the gangplank.
"There he is, the old bastard…" she thought to herself.
Her heart was filled with frustration as the memories of her time with Garp flowed through her head. His insane training, his attempts to force her to give up her dreams of being a pirate, his failing to prevent Ace's death. It was all so terrible, and to think Luffy was going to have to endure all that again! Maybe she ought to run out to sea eleven years early to avoid it all.
As soon as the old man took notice of her approach, he smiled his usual big smile and greeted, "Hey Luffy! Did you miss me?"
Then, just like that, the memory of the last time Luffy saw Garp played out in her mind:
Garp was carrying Luffy's wounded body through the battlefield during the fight with the Holy Clan, saying, "I'm sorry, Luffy! I'm so sorry! I should've been a better grandfather to you! I should've never chosen my job over you or Ace! I wish I could take everything I did wrong back!"
Then, he handed him to Zoro and the last thing Luffy saw was Garp turning to face an approaching group of Holy Clansmen, fists up, ready to fight to save his grandson's life, like he should've done years ago...
When Luffy snapped out of the flashback, she found herself hugging Garp's leg tightly, tears running down her face.
Garp was looking down at her with raised brows, "What's this all about, Luffy? You're in tears and we haven't even started training yet!"
Luffy sniffed and wiped her eyes before looking up at him and saying, "I'm just…really happy that you're alive, Grandpa. Please don't die!"
Garp's jaw dropped slightly, but he soon grinned and said, "Hey, I may be getting up in my years, but I'm not going down in a fight anytime soon, so don't expect me to die in a battle! If death's going to come for me, he'd better do it in my sleep, or else I'll fight him! Gahahaha!"
Luffy couldn't help but laugh, "Shishishi! That'd be so cool, Grandpa!"
Despite Luffy's sudden waterworks, Garp still took her up to the mountain to fight the local monkey band. As usual, they were hanging out in the trees or on the forest floor, picking bugs to eat and chattering amongst themselves.
The old marine clapped his hands together, "Okay, Luffy. You know the drill; fight the monkeys."
Luffy frowned, "Why is it always the monkeys, Grandpa? They never bother anyone!"
Garp looked down at her sternly, "Because these monkeys are roughly your size, and because of that, they're the perfect fighting partners for you! Now get to it!"
Luffy sighed and looked at the monkeys, who had started to take notice of her. While the small ones, likely babies, hid away in the brush and trees, the older ones began to bare their teeth and screech at her, hoping to scare her away.
It felt a little wrong to fight these monkeys, since they've never been a problem for anyone, but it was what Garp wanted, so Luffy had to deal with it again.
Then, she remembered: Umi said she still had all her Haki skills, and she still had memories of her old fighting techniques, not to mention techniques she'd seen others use that she could try to replicate. Beating these primates would be a cinch!
But Luffy didn't want to seriously hurt them, since that could leave them helpless to predators. How to go about beating them without doing too much damage? Oh, right. It was obvious.
Luffy focused a glare on the monkey band, who began to screech and whoop more menacingly, seeming about ready to attack. Then, she activated her Conquerors Haki, and in an instant, all the animals collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
She grinned. She really did still have that power! Things were going to be pretty easy for her once she got on the Grand Line, for sure!
She looked back at Garp, saying, "Okay, Gramps. I beat the monkeys. Can we go hooo…"
When she saw her grandfather's face, her voice dropped off and she immediately realized that using Haki was a BIG mistake.
Garp's eyes were practically bugging out of his head, his jaw was dropped very low, and he was uttering some sort of long gasp-like noise, which sounded like a strained wheeze.
Luffy winced, "Uh, Grandp a? Are you okay?"
After another moment of shock, Garp suddenly snapped out of it, asking, "Where'd you learn how to do that, Luffy?!"
Luffy winced more. Damn, using Haki in front of him was pretty stupid. She'd have to be more careful about what she did with her powers in the future.
"Uh, nobody," she lied. She couldn't exactly say Rayleigh taught her, since she wasn't supposed to know who he was yet. "I, uh, heard that some pirates are able to take down people with a single stare, so I thought I'd give it a try. I didn't think it'd actually work though!"
Garp wiped his sweaty brow, taking steady breaths, "Luffy, that power you have isn't as simple as staring; it's called Haki, and the one you used just now is called Conqueror's Haki, which is the rarest type of all!"
Luffy forced her brows to rise, "Whoa, really?! Damn, I didn't know that! Do you have that power, Grandpa?"
Garp shook his head, "No, I do not. I wasn't that lucky."
Luffy furrowed her brow, "Does Dad have it?"
Garp shrugged, "I don't know. If he does, I never saw him use it."
"What about mom?"
Garp's brows rose at that question, but after a minute he says, "Again, I don't know. I don't know who your mother is, remember?"
"Oh, right," Luffy replied, though mentally she thought. "I don't think he'd ever used Haki whenever I saw him fight, which is kind of weird since Haki's supposed to be really good for Logias to fight people using Haki against them. I'll have to ask him once I meet him, whenever that will be…"
Then she asked aloud, "What other types of Haki are there?"
Garp scratched his beard, "Well, there's Observation Haki, which can allow one to perceive things at incredible distances, and then there's Armament Haki, which is supposed to be a technique to help fight Logia fruit users."
Luffy grinned, "Do you have any of those techniques, Grandpa? Could you teach me?"
Garp managed a smile, "Maybe someday, but…not today. It might be too early for you!"
Luffy sighed, pretending to be dejected, "Aw, okay." She knew how to use it anyway, but it didn't hurt to ask her grandpa to give her a refresher.
She was about to start the trek down the mountain, but Garp grabbed the back of her collar.
"Hold on a sec! Where are you going?" he asked.
Luffy looked back at him and said, "Uh, back to the village. The monkeys are out cold. There's no point in fighting them."
Garp shook his head, "Oh, no! You're going to sit here and wait for them to come to, so you can give them a fair fight! No Conqueror's Haki allowed! Got it?"
"Aw, come on, Grandpa!"
God, I hope they don't reveal that Garp CAN use Conqueror's Haki, otherwise this chapter is going to be embarrassing!
Edit: Okay, so Garp DOES had Conqueror's Haki, he's just not listed on the One Piece Breezewiki page! I'll try to be more mindful in the future!
Who is the Logia user Luffy is thinking of, I wonder? You'll find out a lot later in this series!
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