Chapter 1

"I'm so boooored."

Sitting on a reclining beach chair was an old man of at least seventy years. Though despite his age, his face wasn't as wrinkled as one would expect and he seemed to radiate an aura of power around himself. Not that there was anyone nearby to even notice. From where he sat on his beach chair looking out over the ocean, he could turn around to look behind himself and through a small bit of jungle to see the opposite shore of the tiny island he called home.

The old man let out a sigh as he lifted a bottle of beer to his lips and took a sip, "When can I get off this god forsaken spit of land?!"

His grumbling went unanswered.

"It's been sixty years since I arrived in this world!" He slumped and continued to complain to himself, it was the sixtieth anniversary since he arrived in the world of One Piece after all, "I bet Luffy has already become the pirate king! Zoro probably became the greatest swordsman, but has since been replaced due to his age by now. No way he lived long enough to be some eighty year old man and still be the top swordsman in the world! Nami..."

He frowned, "Nami definitely hasn't accomplished her dream of mapping the world yet. If she had, she would have found me by now! Usopp... What was his dream again?"

He frowned further. Though he'd tried to keep his memories of the world fresh, he'd forgotten so much that he could only remember the things that really stood out. Even then he could really only remember things as generalities. He'd never really liked Usopp's character so the only things he really remembered were the big nose, constant lies, and something about plants?

"Whatever. Never liked that sniveling worm anyway." His age might be making the mild annoyance he'd felt with Usopp as a character more than it had been, "Chopper probably became the greatest doctor to ever live. Though I wonder if he lived long enough for that? I know animals like reindeer don't live as long as humans. Did he die 'young' or did he gain the lifespan of a human from the Hito Hito no Mi?"

He sighed again and finished off the bottle of deer in his hand before tossing it to the side. There was a loud clattering of glass hitting glass as the bottle joined a rather large pile of similar bottles. The old man twisted and flicked his wrist in an odd manner that caused a fresh bottle to appear in his hand. A casual flick of his finger popped the cap off with a hiss of escaping gas. He took another swig before continuing his rant, "Bet Sanji found the All Blue near Laugh Tale. Man I would have loved to try some of his cooking! Then there was Franky... I honestly can't remember what his dream was."

The old man frowned and chugged some of his beer down as he dug through his mind trying to recall what Franky's dream had been. It'd been sixty years since he'd last seen anything to do with One Piece. After a few minutes he gave up with an audible sigh, "I really did forget. Damn!"

He chugged the last of the bottle of beer and tossed it onto the pile before summoning another into his hand. After opening it and taking a sip he continued, "Robin, if she followed Luffy to the end, she'd have achieved her dream too. Most likely. I'm sure that either along the way or finding the One Piece itself would fill in the blank history she was so interested in."

He frowned as he scratched at his stubble covered chin, the once dark facial hair now pure silver, "Was that the whole crew? I feel like I'm forgetting someone..."

He sat for a few moments in through before he snapped his fingers, "Right! That skeleton dude Brook! The hell was his dream anyway? Ugh, old age sucks. I think that's all of them... Errr, wait. Wasn't that one fish guy supposed to join at some point or something? Or was he just an ally?"

He groaned in frustration and drained the nearly full bottle of beer in one go. His growing buzz likely wasn't helping with his recall, but he just plain didn't care at all. Rather, he tossed the empty and summoned another. After draining half of it in one pull, he turned to look off to his side, "How about you? Going to give me something to help me remember?"

There was no one in the direction he was looking. Not even a ghost. He'd truly been alone on this island for sixty years. He'd been so alone for so long that he'd lost his sanity. Regained his sanity. Lost it again, and regained it again, so many times that he'd lost track. He wasn't sure if he was currently insane or not anymore. None of that changed what he was looking at though. There, right in front of his vision, was a floating screen. Sadly it wasn't something as epic as gaining a system or something after being reborn in the world of One Piece.

No, he wasn't that lucky.

Rather it was a screen that looked extremely similar to a slot machine, the so call Gacha. It wasn't even an amazing one either. Not like those stories where people got free pulls on a daily basis or could buy more pulls for cash or accomplishing quests. Not that he could do any of that being stuck on his island and all. Rather, the Gacha he had only gave him two pulls per month. One in the middle and one at the end. The only exception? This one particular day every year, his birthday. Today he turned a wonderful seventy-five!

He'd long ago lost count of the days that passed on the island. It if wasn't for the Gacha appearing, he'd have absolutely no idea how old he was, or how long he'd been on the island. Sometimes the two weeks between pulls seemed like months, other times it seemed like only days or hours. His sense of time was complete garbage now and if it was just the pulls every two weeks, he'd still not know how only he was. No, the only thing that let him know a full year had passed was the number of pulls he got on his birthday.

[Number of pulls remaining: 75]

That's right, he gained one pull for every year that he had lived. Almost everything good he'd ever gotten from the gacha had been pulled on one of his birthdays, with a few exceptions. Thankfully, after being stuck here for so long he had amassed quite the number of useful things that made life alone slightly less dreary and tedious. Honestly speaking, between the ages of twenty and fifty, he'd probably been the most powerful being on the planet. He was certain he could have easily bodied Kaido.

He couldn't help snorting at the memories of his youth. He'd been so excited to be in the world of One Piece. At fifteen years old, he'd been a bundle of excitement and energy, thrilled beyond belief to have an 'awsome amazing gacha system!' and high on the belief that he would soon leave the island for an epic adventure with Luffy and the other Straw Hat pirates.

What a dumb little bastard he'd been.

He'd been so excited the first day when he saw he had fifteen pulls available. It was only later that he realized it meant he was fifteen years old that day. It didn't help matters that his first pull had been a guaranteed 'Ultra Super Secret Rare' that turned out to be a Devil Fruit. That was the first glaring clue that he was in the world of One Piece.

Honestly, the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Merlin was a busted ass Mythical Zoan and he hadn't wasted a moment to choke down the extremely horrible tasting thing. Honestly, it was only because of that Devil Fruit and one of his later pulls that day that he'd survived those first two weeks. With the exception of the Super Secret Rare "Unlimited Military Rations' pull, everything else he'd gotten had been common items. A sword, a gun, some clothing, some food and drinks, nothing really exceptional. And he only remembered that much because it was his first ever use of the gacha.

After that first day he'd been super gung ho to make himself stronger. He did everything in his power to make himself more powerful. He got good results too. It didn't take all that long for him to grow stronger than any human from his old world could ever be. Having a Mythical Zoan's bonus strength and recovery didn't hurt. Though, from what he suspected, his base state bonuses weren't all that great, physically speaking.

After all, his Zoan was based on the wizard Merlin and some of the legends surrounding him. That meant his strength wasn't in the physical, but in the supernatural! As in spell casting. Which was a complete and utter pain in the ass to learn without something to go on. Still, he figured it out after a few months.

He'd spent months working on everything he could think of to get stronger. Things like Haki and the Rokushiki were where he started. While not all of the Rokushiki were things he'd use, the Rokuogan was an excellent skill to try and cultivate!

Of course, all that working out and training also got his mind off of the one major drawback of his entire situation. He wasn't allowed to leave the island on his own. No effort on his part could ever allow him to leave the island and explore the world. He was restricted to this one small spit of land in the middle of the ocean until someone else came to the island and took him off of it. At first, that didn't seem like such a big deal. In the show pirates were landing on islands all over the place all the time.

Apparently, his luck was just that shitty that no one had set foot on his island in a full sixty years. What kind of bullshit was that?!

Just thinking about it made him pull out and down another entire bottle of beer. Still, he'd spent the first few years hopeful. He'd mastered everything he set out to learn, even getting the occasional bit of help from his gacha draws. But after he turned twenty, his excitement started to wane. That was also the first time he actually tried to leave the island. His first attempt to use his flight spell to leave the island showed him the futility of the situation. Despite using a compass as a guide to fly in a straight line, he ended up flying directly back to his island from the opposite side that he'd left from. Being able to use a compass only let him know he was in one of the four Blues. He didn't even know which one!

He killed another beer in his frustration at his situation. Once he had a fresh one, he looked back at the gacha screen once more. At this point he honestly didn't want for anything. He had everything needed to live a perfectly comfortable, if boring, life. Or what remained of it for himself. He doubted he'd die of old age anytime soon. After all Garp, if he remembered right, had been in his seventies when the series began and was still a hell of a powerhouse, probably either the strongest, or second strongest, Marine of them all. He was certain Garp could kick the shit out of the three admirals. It was just that weirdo in seagull hat that he wasn't sure of. So, he probably had a few decades of life left since strength seemed to determine things like that.

Joy.

While he could live comfortably, he had nothing to live for. If it wasn't completely anathema to who he was, he probably would have tried to kill himself a long time ago out of sheer depression and desperation.

With a sigh, he decided to get the rolls over with. Annoyingly, he could only do it one pull at a time, no bonuses for multiple pulls at once. Though the first roll on his birthday did have better odds of getting something nice, it wasn't as good as the bonus from his very first roll on his very first birthday on this island. He watched, bored, as the wheels on the slot machine-like gacha rolled. They spun so fast that even his enhanced eyesight couldn't make out the images as anything more than a colorful blur.

Thankfully they only spun for fifteen seconds before coming to a halt, "UR, UR, UR, huh?"

Most people would have likely been thrilled to be getting an Ultra Rare item. That usually produced something on the level of a named sword. He already had five stored away. A sixth meant piss all. The gacha screen flashed brightly and let out a little melody as it dispensed his prize. With a bright golden flash of light an image with a description appeared on the gacha screen.

[Minor Flask of Pure Gold Extract: Pure Gold, a legendary item that stops the aging of anyone who possesses it. This is not that. However, it is made from a process involving Pure Gold that, rather than freeze someones age, reverses it. Once consumed this potion will reduce the drinker's age by anywhere from 15 to 25 years.]

He groaned and pushed the button on the screen that summoned the item into his hand. He threw the vial over his shoulder without a care in the world. Instead of shattering on the ground behind him, it disappeared into the air with a small golden ripple. He shook his head in disappointment, "Stupid things. That's the third.. or is it forth? Whatever, I'll never use those things."

Not only was that his fourth flask, but he also owned a ring with a tiny sliver of pure gold in it that would, essentially, make him immortal. Or at least, immortal as far as time went. Death by damage could still happen. As for why he didn't use either item? Because he didn't want to be stuck on this island any longer than necessary. Just because he couldn't kill himself, didn't mean he was against dying of old age. Living for a minimum of another sixty years to a maximum of another one hundred? Or even eternity? Hell. No.

Given how things had gone so far, that'd be another hundred years, or eternity, all alone. No thanks.

The next dozen rolls were all common items. He had dozens of regular swords, flintlocks, and all kinds of other junk. Every piece of trash got tossed over his shoulder and disappeared into the same golden ripples that the flask had. There was a small light show as he rolled up an SR item.

[Ancient Revolver: A revolver made during the Void Century. Made with of an alloy consisting Seastone and unknown metals, it has the durability necessary to fire the massive .50 caliber bullets it's chambered for.]

He actually took a moment to look over the massive revolver that appeared in his hand. It was an impressive piece. It reminded him of the revolvers from South Blue that he'd gotten multiple copies of. The difference in size and power though... Eh, whatever. It wasn't even close to his most impressive weapons. He had several Meito stored away. Two of the twelve Supreme Grade Swords, Shodai Kitetsu, a 'cursed' katana, and Ace, Gol. D. Roger's personal saber. Then he had three of the twenty-one Great Grade Blades. Owning them was what convinced him that Zoro was likely dead. They were Shusui, Enma, and Ame no Habakiri.

He didn't pay any attention to the dozen swords he had from the fifty Skillful Grade. He practiced with one named Kashu until he was skilled enough to wield a Supreme Grade sword propely without insulting the blade. All of them had at least some form of spirit residing within them and if he dared try to wield Ace or Shodai Kitetsu, the swords would have killed him. Of that, he was certain. The gacha said so.

Sadly, there was a distinct lack of guns with such a high quality. He'd been a huge fan of guns in his past life so never finding anything really amazing was rather saddening. He honestly wanted to make some using what he could remember of them from his past life. Sadly, he'd had to settle with just making a series of spells based on rifles and other firearms.

The next thirty roles were trash until another SR popped up. One that, once upon a time, would have filled him with absolute rage. Now it just got an eye roll of annoyance.

[Franky's Speedo: A high quality speedo made by Franky himself. Unworn.]

As soon as the speedo appeared in his hand, he cocked it back and threw it with all of his not inconsiderable might. He watched the blue bathing suit sail through the air with some satisfaction. As it splashed in the water several hundred meters away, he spotted a small sail on the horizon.

A couple of decades ago seeing such a sight would have filled his heart with hope and anticipation. Now he just blankly watched it for a few moments before turning away from it. He'd seen dozens of ships at sea, even tried signaling many of them, all to no avail. Every time they would just sail past without ever coming within a dozen kilometers of his little prison. The ship that got the closest had been a pirate ship, one with a flag he'd never seen. That ship pissed him off so much that day. He knew they'd seen him. His eyesight had been so good he could see them clearly taking turns looking at him through a spyglass and laughing at his misfortune.

If they'd dared to come any closer he would have sunk them with a few well thrown canon balls.

He dismissed the past and continued to roll his gacha chances. Nothing even remotely interesting came up. He paused with only five left to retrieve another beer. He took a sip as he looked out into the ocean, only to violently spit up the beer and begin coughing. The boat he'd seen a while ago was significantly closer. Close enough that he could see that it was a tiny boat, only big enough for two people at most, with a small cabin on the stern. The proximity of the boat was not what surprised him, however.

No, that honor belonged to the woman steering it.

"Nami?"

His eyes continued to widen as the little boat sailed closer. He was certain of it! Short orange hair, a short skirt, and a short sleeved shirt to hide the Arlong mark on her shoulder. Once she got rid of it she tended to wear tops with thin straps and rarely wore things that covered up her arms. Given her looks...

"Did I appear in this world over half a century before the canon story began?"

His first question was a whisper but his second was a pain filled roar, "Did I miss the chance to sail with Roger?!"

If he hadn't been sitting in his beach chair, he would have fallen to his knees and pounded the ground in frustration. Any fan of One Piece would love to sail with Luffy. That was a given! But the chance to sail with the Gol D. Roger?! To see everything the world had to offer?! To be with him when the legendary One Piece was either made or found? Or what about being a good friend with Rayleigh? Or having a hand in training Shanks when he was a kid?! He could have seen and done so much! Oh, how fun would it have been to take part in breaking up the Rocks pirates that had such legends as Big Mom and Kaidou on the crew?

Or hell, what about meeting Big Mom before she became a giant ugly hag? If he remembered right, she had been fairly attractive when she was younger. Though if her personality was still shit that wouldn't have mattered. Still! This meant he was older than all four of the Yonko! Well... maybe not Whitebeard, he wasn't sure how old that guy was, to be honest.

No. Forget all that! Nami was sailing directly towards his little island! That's what mattered here! He kept a close eye on the little boat as it continued to sail closer. As it sailed to within a distance of less than a kilometer, the reality of the situation hit him. He could leave! As soon as he got on her boat, he could leave the god forsaken island he was on and enter the world for the first time!

His eyes began to burn as tears slowly leaked from them. It was the first time he'd cried in at least two decades. Years ago he would scream, wail, and cry out in frustration at being stranded. Eventually his tears dried up and a maudlin acceptance had come over him. He'd been prepared to live until his final breath was taken alone in this hell of his.

But seeing Nami getting closer gave him something he'd been lacking for such a long time... Hope. Hope flooded his body, brought tears to his eyes, and reignited his desires. It was a small flame at the moment, something that could easily be smothered in despair. But it continued to grow stronger as the young woman continued to sail closer.

When Nami's little boat beached not too far from him, he was practically sobbing. Judging from the weirded-out look Nami was giving him, it probably wasn't a pretty sight. He was a seventy-five year old man after all! The large pile of empty beer bottles and beach chair along with him wearing only a pair of board shorts and flip-flops probably didn't help matters. Even if he had muscles that looked like they were carved from marble and a natural tan that women in his last life would have killed for, he was still old.

Nami, despite her situation, was still a rather nice person deep down so she tried to initiate a conversation with him, "Uhm... Are you alright? I wanted to chart this island after spotting it but I didn't see you until I got closer."

She looked around the seriously small island and didn't spot any other boat but hers, "Are you stranded old man?"

"Ah..." He choked on the first word, the heavy emotion he was feeling making his voice so thick he couldn't even speak properly. He swallowed thickly and coughed to clear his throat, "Yeah. I'd really appreciate a lift off of this island."

Nami eyed him for a moment before her eyes swept over the island again. From her point of view, all she could see was the old man, his chair, and a pile of beer bottles. There wasn't any signs of him having been here long such as a simple hut, fire pit, or anything else someone would need to make to survive while stranded alone. The only visible food she could see was a few fruit trees and the island was far too small to have any real wildlife other than the occasional bird maybe. She didn't even see any fishing equipment.

She focused back on him, "Looks like you got lucky with me coming along so soon to rescue you." Her eyes narrowed a bit, "But my rescue isn't free old man, it'll cost ya!"

He frowned a bit before recalling that while Nami was always looking to make some money and collect as much Belly as she could, she was particularly bad while trying to scrounge up the hundred million Arlong demanded for the release of her island.

"I'd be more than willing to pay for my rescue off of this island..." He cleared his throat as he climbed to his feet, "Unfortunately, I don't have a single Belly to my name."

It was true too. Out of all the things he'd gotten from the gacha, he'd never gotten any currency from it. Seeing her eyes narrowing as she started to reply, he cut in, "But, I do have other things I could perhaps bargain with."

Nami scoffed, "Like what?" She gestured to the empty island, "I don't see anything around here worth anything and you clearly don't have anything on you worth anything. It looks like you even drank all of.. whatever it was that you had."

"Beer", he chimed in.

Nami rolled her eyes, "Beer then. What, exactly, do you think you can bargain with?"

He grinned as he held his hand up. With a golden ripple over his palm, a fresh bottle of ice cold beer slowly rose up, "Things aren't exactly what they seem."

Nami's eyes widened and so much they seemed to bulge while she simultaneously gaped at him. She didn't recover from her surprise until he'd opened the bottle and began drinking it.

"How did you do that?!"

He finished his beer and tossed the empty onto the pile before answering her, "I've got an excellent Devil Fruit."

"Devil Fruit?! Those are real?! I thought they were a myth!"

He nodded along, "Most people who live in the blue's believe the same. They are incredibly rare outside of the Grand Line. Even in the Grand Line they aren't all that common."

She pondered that for a moment before speaking, "So.. what, you can make bottles of beer or something?"

"Er... no. Though that would be a pretty awesome Devil Fruit ability! I know there's Devil Fruit's related to things like syrup, mochi, and candy, so why couldn't there be one for beer, sake, or alcohol in general? It'd probably be a Logia type too, I think most liquid based ones are."

Nami had a combined look of flabbergasted and confused, "Devil Fruits are that weird? And Logia? No, never mind that. If you aren't making beer, then where is it coming from?"

"Ah! Right. Sorry, it's been a long time since I've had anyone but myself to talk to. I tend to just ramble on about whatever comes to mind at the time. So, uh, my Devil Fruit is a Zoan type. Oh! Those are all based on various animals and let the people who eat them transform into a hybrid form and then the full animal. For instance! If you ate the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Grey Wolf you could turn into a hybrid form that would look like a werewolf, or a full change into a Grey Wolf."

"Uh huh...", Nami had a look of mild disbelief, "And yours is?"

"Oh! Right! Mine is the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Merlin!"

"Merlin? … Isn't that the old guy from those tall tales about magic and stuff?"

"Yes! Exactly like that!"

"So, you expect me to believe that you do magic?"

"Well, I dunno if it's really magic or just standard Devil Fruit weirdness. What I do know is it sure looks and acts like magic! Watch!"

With that, a man in his seventies began acting like an excited child as he held his hands up with his palms facing to the sky. A simple magic circle that consisted of a pentagram inside of a circle sprang to life over each palm. From his right hand a ball of flames burst to life where it danced and crackled merrily. From his left a large snowflake made entirely of crystal clear ice formed and gently spun in a slow circle, "See!"

Being able to use elemental attacks was one of the first things he'd worked on back when he was a kid. Now he was a master at using them and had spells for all sorts of occasions. He also had a complete series of 'forbidden' spells that he never intended to see the light of day ever again.

Nami stared at the display before her before shaking her head and getting back on point. The old man kept throwing her off by going on random tangents, "Okay, so you can do something like magic. What does that have to do with you making a bottle of beer appear?"

"Oh! Right! See, I used magic to make a space I could store stuff inside of. Think of it like a giant invisible warehouse that only I can put stuff inside of or take stuff out of. It's super cool!"

Nami brightened as she 'caught on' to what he was saying, "Oh! So you've got a bunch of gold and stuff in there?"

"Er... no. No treasures like that, sorry. Flat broke as far as gold, gems, or cash goes."

It was true too. The gacha never gave him things like that. The best it did was when items had things like gold inlay or gems as part of their design. Even then it never gave him things like pure jewelry. Except that one ring with the Pure Gold in it. But like a regular diamond ring or something? Nope.

Nami sighed and shook her head, "Fine, so you don't have any treasure. If you want me to take you off this island you're going to have to bargain with something old man." She frowned a bit before asking, "What's your name anyway? I'm Nami, the greatest navigator in the world and your only hope of rescue!"

"Oh! Right, right. I'm so excited I forgot my manners. My name is..."

He froze as his mind ground to a halt. He... He couldn't remember his name. He hadn't used his name since coming to this world. He'd had no one to tell it to or anyone to call him by name. He could remember important names of people in this world... mostly, but only because he'd focused on trying to remember them. He'd never put that much effort into remembering his own name. His name in his old life... he'd never remembered that and the Gacha had only told him his name that first day. He'd practiced it a lot then... but he'd never had to use it since the day he learned it.

He swallowed hard, his voice thick with emotion as tears once more prickled at his eyes, "I... I can't remember my name. It's been decades since I've spoken to another person. I've... I've forgotten my own name."

Nami gaped at him in surprise. She quickly recovered and gently asked, "Just how long have you been on this island?"

He sighed and looked up at the sky. He probably shouldn't tell her about the gacha. Something like that was nearly too unbelievable for anyone to understand. Not to mention if word of it ever got out he was one hundred percent certain that the Celestial Dragons would send the entirety of the Marines after him. He'd become the most wanted man in the world in an instant.

"I first woke up on this island when I was fifteen years old. That was over fifty years ago now, probably closer to sixty."

Just because he didn't want to expose the gacha didn't mean he had to outright lie to her. He lowered his head to look at her, only to see some tears in the corners of her eyes. She sniffled a little before speaking, "You've been here, alone, for that long?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

Nami sighed, "Alright old man, I'll take you off this island. But you owe me one! Though I'm not really sure what you could do for me given your age, even with that weird Devil Fruit of yours."

"Is my age a problem?"

She shrugged, "Not so much a problem but, if you were younger, I'm sure I could have at least asked you to perform manual labor without feeling bad."

He blinked, "Younger huh?"

Golden ripples formed in the air as four small vials filled with glowing golden liquid appeared. Each vial was one of the flasks with Pure Gold extract. Each could reverse his age a somewhat random amount and make him younger like Nami desired.

Nami watched curiously as the small vials appeared. They looked interesting and were definitely her favorite color, but she had no clue what they were. She watched, surprised, as the old man popped the cork out of two of them and drank them simultaneously. Once more she was shocked out of her mind as the old man began to visibly grow younger.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

He downed two of the four vials and was surprised to hear the echoing words 'eighteen' and 'twenty-three' in his mind. The moment the words faded he felt his body begin to change as a powerful warmth rushed through his entire being. Aches and pains he hadn't even really registered any longer faded away as he grew younger by the moment. In less than a minute his age decreased from seventy-five to thirty-four.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

He glanced over to Nami and smiled. He looked significantly better at his current age. His silvery hair had transitioned back to a luscious thick black color. The gray stubble on his face darkened, the bags under his eyes vanished while his previously light blue eyes darkened to a deep ocean blue. His already impressive physique seemed to shrink a little while simultaneously becoming far more defined making his already strong looking muscles look even more powerful.

Still... he was a bit too old to be spending time around Nami and the others if he was in his thirties right? He looked at the remaining two flasks and made his decision. He popped the cork out of one while storing the other away. If he drank both he'd probably be so young he would be unborn. What would happen to him if he got the full twenty-five years didn't even cross his mind. He was slightly high off of the feeling of being younger combined with knowing he would soon be free. Without a second thought he downed the third flask.

'Seventeen.'

His body further de-aged until he returned to being just seventeen years old! Other than his body becoming slightly smaller and thinner, though still reaching 182cm (6 feet) tall, his strength didn't seem to wane any, rather it just became even more compact. He looked like an exceptionally fit and strong seventeen-year-old young man.

When he looked at Nami once again, she looked utterly stunned. She was simply staring at him with an absolutely blank look on her face while her mouth hung open. It was a few moments of awkward silence before Nami seemed to recover. She thrust her hand out and pointed a finger at him accusingly and shouted, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! HOW DID YOU DO THAT?! WHAT WAS IN THOSE VIALS?!"

He couldn't help grinning as her shouting like that somehow seemed nostalgic to him. Once she quieted down he replied, "Just something I picked up. The vials have an extrat of something known as Pure Gold. When drank, each vial will reduce the age of the one drinking it by fifteen to twenty-five years." He puffed out his chest, "I'm now seventeen again so I can help out with the boat!"

Nami's eyes seemed to transform into Belly signs as she instantly realized how much something like that could be sold for, "Alright old man! You should have said you had something like that before! I would have gladly given you a ride for those vials. I'm sure they could be sold for millions each and would be more than enough to cover the rescue fees!"

He hummed and tapped his chin, "Nah, they could probably sell for billions, if not more." He looked into her eyes as he became deadly serious. His sudden shift in demeanor caused her to sober up from dreams of piles of Belly, "That is, if you could survive trying to sell it."

"W-what do you mean?"

"Something like that... everyone in the world would fight for it. Rather than get billions of Belly for it, you're more likely to be killed by someone stronger than you and have them just take it."

Yet again, Nami froze in surprise. Images of people as strong, or even stronger than, Arlong all coming after her to take the extract from her flooded through her mind. She grimaced and lamented her own weakness but had to concede that the old man was right. She'd quickly be robbed and killed if she tried to sell something so valuable. Finally, she let out a sigh before giving him the hairy eye, "Fine. But if you have something like that, surely you have something else I could have and sell!"

He nodded amiably, "I'm sure I've got something. But, if it's alright with you, can we get a start on leaving this island?" He looked slightly desperate as he continued, "I really want to get away from it as soon as possible."

Nami continued to eye him for a moment, before she huffed and nodded, "We can go. Help me push the boat off the shore and we can leave. But don't think you're getting out of giving me something valuable for saving you old man!" She paused and looked him over with a frown, "Though calling you 'old man' seems odd now that you're actually a year younger than me."

He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't feel like an old man, didn't even when I was old. Kind of hard to mature much when you're all alone for half a century! So, if you don't want to call me old man, gimme a name."

She blinked and looked at him with a small amount of shock, "Alright... Give me some time to think of one."

After that the pair of them worked in silence and easily got the boat off the shore and into the water. Once they hopped on, Nami started to give him some orders to help her sail the boat. While one person could sail it without any real issue, it was significantly easier to do so with two people. As they started to circle the island so Nami could have more information on it for a future map, she glanced at him, "I can't think of anything for a guy, so I'm just going to call you Merlin. That's the name of your weird Devil Fruit right?"

The now named Merlin nodded, "Yup."

She smirked, "Alright Merlin. I've got a few things I want to do before putting in on an island. But before any of that..." Her eyes narrowed dangerously at him, "How do you feel about pirates?"

Merlin stopped to think for a moment. The murdering, raping, and pillaging pirates were just scumbags so he had no problem saying, "I despise them."

He didn't really consider Luffy and his crew to be pirates. In fact, the only things that made them pirates were Luffy's insistence that they were and their jolly roger flying proud. They behaved more like adventurers than pirates.

Hearing his reply made Nami smile, "Good. Our first job is hunting down the pirate Alvida and robbing her of all of her treasure. I got a tip about a luxury cruise ship that was going to sail through her territory soon. I plan to be on that ship so I can rob Alvida while she and her crew are busy with the ship."

Merlin tapped his chin as he pondered that. It all sounded very familiar to him, "Do you have a picture of this Alvida?"

Nami nodded and, after digging through her stuff, handed him a pile of bounty posters, "Those are all the pirates known to be in the East Blue right now. Alvida's poster is in the pile."

He flipped through the bounties until he came across a hideous woman with a bounty of five million. Even seeing her face he still didn't recognize her, so he shrugged it off and spoke up, "You know. With my help it would be pretty easy to capture this pirate and turn her in for the bounty. You could have it all if you wanted."

Nami turned sharply to stare at Merlin, "You mean it? You'd capture her and let me have the bounty money?"

That was five million Belly! If Merlin could really capture Alvida and give her the money, that would be as much as she made on average with each of her runs out to sea! She was so close to the one hundred million! An extra five million would save her weeks, or even moths, of effort in robbing pirates! Pirates with decent loot were getting so rare that she'd recently begun thinking about heading into the Grand Line to find someone wealthy to rob.

Merlin nodded without concern, "Yeah. I had nothing to do on that island so all I did all day long was train. I'm extremely strong. Not to mention what I can do with my Devil Fruit. Case in point..."

He lifted his hand and called out, "Guide-to: Alvida."

As soon as he spoke, a floating ethereal compass appeared hovering above the palm of his hand. The needle on the compass spun for a moment before pointing in one specific direction. With a smile, Merlin turn to look at Nami, "Just follow the compass point and it will lead us directly to Alvida."

Nami looked between Merlin and the compass a few times before grinning brightly, "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

AN

I'm not sure where the idea for this story came from, it just wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it. So, I did. I wrote four chapters of it, each chapter topping out at 7k plus words. I've always written chapters until I feel like they're done. For this story the chapters seem to come out significantly longer for whatever reason.

Anyway, if you really enjoyed it, it's up to chapter 4 on pat-reon slash thomasdarkrose

Until next time!