Law had never really put much thought into how he'd die, but dying for someone he cared about seemed like a pretty good way to go. A pain in his chest had been the second-to-last feeling he'd had, but the real last one, before he had hesitantly let go of carbon dioxide, was hope. He didn't know why, but something just felt oddly right about this. Like this wasn't really where it was all coming to an end. It was just another impossible milestone to surpass - death.

"I'm surprised a hardened heart like yours could care for someone so deeply, sir." Female and ethereal, something spoke in the vast nothingness Law was being drowned in.

"A hardened heart?" He almost laughed. "What is this? Some kind of cheesy romance book? Who even are you?"

With an echo, she hummed. "Oh, I apologize. I seemed to have thought you liked those. You do read them quite often."

Law noticed that she was avoiding his other question, but he figured they could save it for another time.

"I do like them, but don't go around exposing me, you bastard," he said. "Who is this supposed person that I care so deeply about anyways?"

He listened for a few seconds, hearing nothing but silence and wondering if the woman he'd just heard had been a mere figment of his imagination. Until a sense of seriousness developed within this black hole. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up on guard, as if he'd been electrocuted.

She said, "You have a chance, sir. Will you take it... or leave it?"

Law furrowed his brows. "Chance? For what exactly? Are you God?"

A sound almost like a laugh escaped her, and it was horribly distorted. Law cringed, trying to find even an ounce feeling in his limbs so that he could reach for Kikoku, if his sword was still around him. To no avail, however.

"A chance to live and restart. Not only you, but your most important person, your majesty." She explained. "As for whether I am God or not, that does not concern you at the moment."

"Your majesty? What? And also, you seem awfully sure of yourself." If he could, he would clench his fists. "Sorry to disappoint you and all, but I don't have a most important person, so, disrespectfully, shove it up your ass, lady."

Silence ensued, until an expected explanation finally came forth. "But you do, sir. No matter what you say or what you do, everyone has one, and nobody can deny who it is either, for the heart is a very honest organ. Plus, why else would someone such as yourself risk your life to protect someone who you claim isn't your friend, and merely your ally?"

Law snapped, ready to strangle whoever or whatever it was. "Are you talking about Mugiwara-ya? How about you stop spouting bullshit and tell me what the hell you actually want."

A small sigh escaped her lips, followed by a moment of silence. Then, she spoke. "Fine, but I have already explained what I need to. I just want an answer. Will you take the chance, or not? This is your choice."

Law thought grimly for a moment, trying to process everything that had happened. What the hell would he even do if this all turned out to be true, as this random woman claimed? What if he was just going fucking crazy, and this wasn't even real? And, even though he felt stupid for saying it, he had to admit that he'd come to care about Mugiwara-ya at least a little (but surely not enough to be called his most important person, was this woman being serious?)

Law sighed. "I don't exactly know what the hell I'll be getting myself into if I accept your offer, but I guess no one does until they try. The New World is so damn strange, after all."

"Is that a yes, your majesty?"

He grinned. "I suppose as long as it'll get you to stop nagging me. Especially with the whole 'your majesty' thing. Don't call me that. Anyways, are you hinting that Mugiwara-ya would be the one coming back with me?"

A very light chuckle, barely noticeable. "He is."

"Dear God, that has to be bullshit," he said, shaking his head. "I would have at least thought it would be Bepo, or something, but I guess I'll believe it. Anything is possible at this point."

"Very well."

Light and colors finally began to bleed into his vision, blinding him for a few seconds. "I believe that Mallory has chosen very wisely to take your life with the arrow, my king. It would have turned out differently if it had been the other way around. I am Carna, by the way. Remember that name, please. I will get back with you at some point; do not worry. Do not waste this chance, for it is a one-time opportunity."

Law furrowed his brows in confusion. 'Arrow?' Who the hell is Mallory, and what business does the woman have ordering him around?

Good grief... I hate women. Law grimaced as he felt the grass beneath him, and the moon shone down upon him. It's like they expect me to read damn minds.

--

An image of a fist of magma through a fiery chest was enough to send Luffy into a hyperventilating frenzy as he shot up from his sleep, the wooden floor creaking beneath him when he clamped his mouth shut and brought his left hand to his chest.

Where am I? He looked around, seeing only a single open window and plain wooden walls surrounding him.

The skin on his chest was smooth and waxy from sweat, and he didn't really have enough time to think about why that shouldn't be right since there was supposed to be a scar there before someone groaned next to him.

"Mmm..." Shuffling and creaking reached Luffy's ears. "Damn it, Lu... What the hell are you doing?"

Luffy froze. No... what...?

Luffy spun around to face the groaning blanket next to him, a head just peaking out from behind it.

Freckles surrounded by bandages. Messy dark hair and a grimace he knew all too well on the face of this twelve-year-old boy.

"Ace...?" He choked a little, holding back tears.

There was no mistaking it, because this was his and his older brother's tree house from years ago, and there was Ace, right in front of him and snuggled into a blanket. Luffy's hands were tiny… hell, his whole body was. And his chest bore no scar.

Had he just woken from a nightmare into another one? Where were his crew members? Where was Torao? Surely this wasn't real, and maybe he was just sleeping in Chopper's infirmary or something, being treated. The last thing he remembered was being heavily injured during a fight with Sakazuki and not being able to move. Torao was trying his damnedest to fend off any enemies from him in his incapacitated state, and then he remembered falling asleep, or what he'd hoped was just sleep and not something so much worse than that. If he was having a nightmare right now, than he was still alive, right?

"Oi, Luffy? Hello? Are you deaf? What's up with you?" Ace waved his hand around in front of Luffy's face, and Luffy swallowed. He'd never had a nightmare this vivid-looking before.

He stared at the boy for a minute, and then activated armament haki on his fingers out of the other boy's view (which was extremely difficult for no reason). He pinched himself as hard as he could on the thigh.

Holy shit...

It hurt like hell.

No... I have to be dreaming.

He let go of the skin between his fingers, a bruise forming, and he felt like crying. One of Usopp and Chopper's group hugs or Robin's head pats when he was sad would have been really great right now; he just wished someone would wake him up and tell him this wasn't real and that everything was fine.

What in the world is happening?

Luffy flung his rubbery arms around his brother, wrapping them around several times, burying his face into Ace's shoulder and crying silently. He didn't know why his brain liked to play sick jokes on him like this, but if this was the last time he would see his brother ever again, and he was dying in the infirmary, he'd definitely want to get one final hug from his older brother.

Ace seemed too surprised to say anything at first, opting to rub his back in small circular motions. His shoulder felt wet, and he wondered if his little brother was okay. Luffy usually was a pretty happy-go-lucky kid, except maybe for the times he got into trouble. He'd seen him cry before, but never break down like this.

"Are... you okay?" He asked awkwardly, not really sure how to approach the situation.

"Sorry...," Luffy sniffeled softer than any forest mouse he'd ever heard.

That caught him off guard even more. Luffy apologizing? That was impossible. Unless maybe he'd actually taken up the offer from Makino for manners lessons - but that didn't really seem likely.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Ace asked, raising a brow.

Luffy didn't answer him for a couple of seconds, almost seeming like he was thinking about what to say, which was also very unusual.

What the hell is going on with him?

"Does Ace... hate me?"

Ace was almost choking.

He said, "What?" in disbelief. "What are you talking about? No, of course I don't hate you, you idiot."

Maybe he had been too mean recently... But Ace was sure he had been using the lessons he was learning from Makino; where was all this coming from?

Luffy was contemplating what he should do. This couldn't be one of his nightmares; all the times he'd encountered Ace in them, his older brother would berate and blame him with scorn (even though he knew Ace would never actually blame him for what happened), and this felt so real. It was slightly cold, and there were things about the inside of the treehouse he didn't even remember being there before. It was almost as if… he'd gone back in time.

He gulped. He knew that time travel was possible, since Kin'emon and the other samurais were living proof of it, but there was no way... That was a devil fruit power, and he hadn't met anyone before who could have eaten the fruit after Momo's mother died.

"Ace?" he said, wiping his face and pulling away. "How old am I?"

Ace blinked once, twice, and then a third time before looking at him as if he had grown a pair of horns.

"Uhm, did you hit your head something?" His older brother raised his hand toward Luffy in genuine concern, placing it on his shoulder.

"No... I... just forgot." Luffy lied very convincingly.

Ace blinked again. "Okay... You're... ten years old, Lu... Do I need to bring you to Makino in the morning?"

Makino had been the only one they knew that they could come to if they needed to be fixed up or anything. He remembered one time when he was twelve, he got scratched by some animal across his back, and Ace had been panicking all the way to Party's bar. When he was getting bandaged by the bartender, it was funny watching the Mayor try to calm him down.

Luffy tried to laugh. "No, Ace... I'm okay. Actually, I'm going outside for a second."

Ace gave him a questioning look, "You're going outside by yourself?"

"Yeah."

Ace narrowed his eyes at him. "Well, if you don't come back inside within the next five minutes, I'm going to beat the shit out of you."

Luffy stared. He'd forgotten how protective Ace had been when they were younger. "Oh, okay."

Ace then proceeded to cover himself back up with his blanket, shivering a little. "I mean it, Luffy. I swear."

"I'm not five, Ace," he responded rather sarcastically.

"Fine, whatever," Ace said, blushing. "Just go."

Luffy walked to the exit of their tree house, which looked just like he remembered it. His little body was aching and he felt completely exhausted for no reason; as he climbed down the ladder, his knees actually buckled. Man, he was miserable.

Having been outside for way longer than five minutes now, Ace was probably looking for him. As he walked as far as his little legs could take him, he heard water and found himself at the beach. The waves seemed like a good thing to listen to while he sorted all of this out in his head.

He grabbed handfuls of the white sand, rolling the little grains of it between his fingers.

"Your Majesty."

He jumped, dropping the clumps of sand and looking around, feeling nothing with his weakend observation haki even though he was sure he had just heard a voice.

A laugh echoed in his mind, confirming that indeed, someone was there, but not here. "Do not be afraid, Monkey D. Luffy. I'm sure you're confused though."

Luffy gripped his strawhat, furrowing his brows. "Majesty? Who are you? An enemy? Did you put me here? Where is my crew and what did you do with them?"

"I am Carna. I am not your enemy, but your ally. Technically, I did not put you here, but I did have something to do with the reason you are here." The woman, he'd decided that's what it was, spoke with wisdom, as if she knew more than she should. "Your crewmembers, sir, have been returned to their original states, according to how far back you and your accomplice, Trafalgar D. Water Law, went, but they do not remember anything. Only you and Law have been blessed with the ability to remember, for you two were the victims of the arrow."

Luffy blinked. "Uh... okay, Carcass, but I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. What's an arrow?"

"Please call me Carna, your majesty," she said. "Your friend, Trafalgar, was..."

"Oh, Torao?! Is he okay? And what's with the 'your majesty' stuff?" Luffy interrupted.

"Ah, yes... Torao? Is that what you call him? How cute. He's okay." She chuckled. "I think this would be easier if you could see me though."

Before Luffy could respond, he was enveloped by blinding light and the scenery changed around him. The trees behind him transformed into shelves and various statues. The first thing he ultimately noticed though was that he was back in his original nineteen-year-old body, uninjured. The room was tall, and holy shit, that was a massive man standing before him.

He had antlers, like a buck, but he was wearing things on them that were lit up. And then he had this thing around his waist tied really tight, and if Luffy weren't rubber, he would probably die if it were on him. This guy was, by the looks of it, even bigger than Big Mom—where on Earth did he find clothes big enough?!

"Alright, now that you can see me..." came a familiar sounding voice.

"Woah! Wait, you're a guy?" Luffy yelled from below, interrupting again.

She blinked, trying to hide her annoyance. "Sorry, sir, for the disrespect, but I am most certainly a woman, thank you very much."

"Oh, sorry then, Cat-What was it? Cat-something-is. Cat piss." Luffy rubbed his neck while he laughed.

She said, "That's even worse than the last time." then she added, "And it's Carna, please, your highness."

Luffy was about to open his mouth when Carna stopped him. "Allow me to explain to you what's going on before you speak, sir."

Carna slid a book off of a shelf that Luffy had seen earlier, titled Magmus, flipped to the last few pages, and then showed a page to him.

A drawing of a stick with a pointy thing on the end of it was shown to him, along with a crescent-shaped object with some sort of string attached to it.

"This," she said, pointing at the crescent. "Is a bow, and this," she said, pointing at the other object. "Is an arrow. Understand? Together, they are called Chronotreus. It had originally been Magmus, our enemy's, weapon, but it was stolen from him by my late husband's father."

Luffy slowly nodded, completely ignoring one part of what she was saying. "So, if it's a weapon and all, like, do you just throw it at people? That sounds kind of lame."

"You use the bow and the string to propel the arrow at your target, Your Majesty. It is certainly not lame. It is almost like a gun."

"Oh..." Luffy muttered, even though he didn't completely understand. "So you shot me with it?" he asked. "Drop the 'your majesty' by the way! I'm not your king."

Carna sighed, putting the book down. "We will discuss what I mean by 'king' later, but my daughter, Mallory, shot your friend, Torao, with an arrow through the heart. It is not just any ordinary arrow, however, so he is not dead."

Luffy blinked. "Wait, you shot Torao?! What's up with you? I'll fight you, bastard!"

Carna then shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Torao is fine. The arrow is special; you two were sent back in time."

"Sent back... so it wasn't a devil fruit power?" Luffy asked.

"No, it wasn't, sir. And the power you're talking about can only send people forward in time anyways."

"Oh, yeah! I forgot about that part." Luffy's stomach grumbled. "Do you have any food around here?"

Carna snapped her fingers, and a plate of freshly cooked meat appeared before Luffy. "I certainly do, your highness."

Luffy looked at the woman with stars in his eyes, immediately grabbed a piece of meat, and stuffed it in his mouth. "How'd you do that?"

Carna smiled. " 'Tis but an old trick of mine, sir."

Luffy pouted. "So you aren't going to tell me how you did it?"

"We have other matters to attend to, my king," Carna replied.

"Meh, whatever..." Luffy said as he scarfed down what was left on the plate. "Thanks for the food, big lady!" He added. "And also, I'm not your king! The only king I'll be is the Pirate King."

Carna exhaled slowly. "You're just like Roger."

Luffy raised a brow at that and looked up at her from under his straw hat. "Gold Roger? Is that so? And why is that?"

Carna was surprised by the sudden maturity in the man's voice. Perhaps he only acted like a stable human being when he thought it was necessary.

"My kingdom, your kingdom now, was Roger's kingdom. Roger was our king, which is why he was referred to as the 'Pirate King.' He was able to reach the last island, our island, on Earth, like nobody else had ever done. Not even the World Government could reach there." Carna said, taking her hair and curling it between her fingers. "We are gravely indebted to him. However, in his jealousy, Magmus, had him executed."

Carna sighed, and grasped Luffy's right hand with both of her hands. "But, before he died, Roger gave us a prophecy on many stones, and we laid them around the world to warn everyone. We have found that no one but a single person is able to even read them anymore. The prophecy foretold that-"

"Stop!" he said. "If I'm going on an adventure and becoming the Pirate King, I'd rather not know anything! What's the use in some boring voyage like that?"

Carna blinked, taken aback, but she responded with, "But, your highness, you are already the King of Pirates, along with your accomplice, Trafalgar."

Luffy blinked, just staring at the large woman before him.

"What...?"

--

A/N: And that's the end of chapter one. It is now 6:00am and I came up with this idea on a whim as I was staying up late, and I can definitely say that I am happy with it and impressed! This is my first fanfic and there are already so many secrets at once everywhere! I'm very excited to write the story along and reveal more about my little head canon of the One Piece world! But anyways, hope you liked it! This will be LawLu in the future since it is my favorite ship though, haha! I put two references to other series in this chapter, so tell me if you can figure them out. Thanks for reading and I'll be putting out the next chapter soon. Bye!