A/N: I had planned on putting this up on Christmas, but things got in the way. Hope you all enjoy it and I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.
It had been a day since Luffy defeated Crocodile. Dawn was slowly approaching on the second day as the Straw Hats was still sleeping inside the palace. Some of them were talking in their sleep, with the occasional 'Captain Usopp', 'Mellorine', and 'Crap Cook' being said in their sleep, each with a dream going with those words. All except for the Captain, who was outside the Palace.
Luffy was standing outside in the quiet with his head slightly down and his eyes closed, lost in thought as he remembered the promise to Phil.
-Flashback-
Luffy was taking a walk inside of the strange village he was in, looking around at everyone and everything, including the enormous dome of rock that surround said village, with only a few holes in the top for sunlight to get through. He had been sent out by Phil so that the old man could take a nap, having been tiring himself out from Luffy's constant nagging about wanting to go back. After about 2 hours of aimless wondering and sightseeing, he returned to Phil's home.
"I'm back!" he yelled as he came in and took off his cloak that Phil lent him. "Old guy?" he called out as he walked further in until he saw the old man sleeping in a chair. "Hey old guy!" he shouted.
"Snnnrt! I'm up! I'm up!" Phil said in a groggy voice, clearly still tired before he looked around and spotted Luffy. "Oh. It's you Luffy. How was your walk?"
"Boring." he said.
"Can't be helped. You can't make yourself known." Phil said as he stood up. "Anyone recognize you?"
"No. No one knew me." Luffy said.
"Good." he said as he walked into the kitchen.
"Why do I need a cloak anyway?" Luffy asked, causing Phil to sigh as he began to cook.
"I've told you before," Phil said in annoyance. "You're an outsider."
"Why couldn't we stay at that last island that we were on?" he asked. Shortly after Phil had pulled Luffy out of his time, fed him, and explained his plan to send him back, both of them had traveled to his village due to Phil being able to open a hole in the air and instantly appearing in the strange village.
"Didn't want to risk you being seen." Phil said. "It'll be easier keeping you out of trouble and out of the public eye if you're somewhere that the World Government doesn't know about."
"The World Government doesn't know that this place exists?" Luffy asked.
"Nope. And only a handful of the citizens here know how to come and go from here to the outside world." Phil said.
"Really?" Luffy asked. "Why so few?"
"Sorry. I'm not really supposed to tell you all this in the first place." he said.
"Oh." Luffy said before asking to go back again.
"I SAID NO!" Phil snapped.
"Aw come on!" Luffy whined. "Why can't I go back now?"
"Because the truth is that we both need to get back at full strength." Phil said after trying to calm down. When Luffy tilted his head in confusion, Phil sighed and began to explain. "It takes a lot out of me to rip open pathways through time. I can't just do that whenever I want to, so we gotta wait until you're back to your full strength from your time in Impel Down and I've rested enough to open a hole through time again."
"Oh." Luffy said. "So you just wanna sleep a lot?" Luffy asked, not really getting it. Phil just sighed and facepalmed.
'It's like I'm talking to a wall.' he thought before taking a deep breath and looking at Luffy. "Actually, I need to talk to you about going back to the past."
"What about?" Luffy asked.
"I need you to promise me two things." Phil said, holding up two fingers.
"Promise?"
"Yes." Phil said with a serious tone. "First. No matter what, you cannot let anyone, and I mean ANYONE, outside of your crew know about me or my powers. Not ever your brothers!"
"Why not?" Luffy asked.
"Because the more people that know about my powers, the chances of the world knowing of them will increase." he said. "The Open Open fruit's existence has been kept secret in my family for many generations." He then placed his hands on Luffy's shoulder and looked him right in the eyes. "Promise me, Monkey D. Luffy!" Luffy looked back at him before nodding.
"Don't really get it, but okay. I promise!" Luffy said.
"Good. Now your crew will be the only one's you can tell about my powers, but I'd like to try your best to keep it a secret for as long as you can until think they're ready to understand. Your first mate Zoro should probably be the first one to explain this to."
"Why not all of them at once?" Luffy asked in confusion.
"Because after seeing all your adventures, he'll be one of the few on your ship with a level enough head to not try and seek me out and ask me to change something in their lives." he said before walking towards a window. He stared outside as Luffy thought back to his friends and how all of them had something horrible happen to them in the past before Phil spoke again. "All around the world are people who have had tragedy strike them in life. Some can push onward from these experiences. Others would bear a grudge and would want to change it if they could. And many would wish to just use this power I have to simply wreck lives or gain power." He then turned his head slightly to side eye Luffy. "Do names like Arlong, Hody Jones, or Doflamingo make you understand?" he asked. He got his answer as he watched Luffy's eyes widen in shock and understanding. "It seems you do understand. And if the World Government got it's hands on this power, they could change history and alter fate so that people like Gol D. Roger, or Dragon, would be wiped from existence, which in turn would mean that you and your brother Ace would never have been born." That bit of information shocked Luffy to the core.
"WHAT?! ACE WOULDN'T BE BORN?!" Luffy yelled, causing Phil to plug his ears.
"Stop yelling!" he hissed. "That's why only my family knows about my powers. My ancestors knew the consequences of revealing this power to the world and kept it hidden from the world! Do you understand?"
"You're power is dangerous!" Luffy said, surprising Phil.
"Wow. You understood that faster than I thought you would." he said. "So, do you promise Luffy?"
"Yeah. I promise." Luffy said as Phil turned to finish making some food, which was mostly meat and a few pastries for dessert. "Food!" Luffy cheered with a smile before he began tearing into the food.
-Present-
Luffy watched as the sun began to rise over the horizon as the sounds of people stirring and beginning to work to repair the city began to fill the air. He stared out in the distance before closing his eyes as he came to a conclusion.
'My friends know something's up.' he thought as he remembered his nightmares and how he would wake from them with his crew looking at him with worry in their eyes. 'Guess I can't keep it a secret any longer. Sorry Phil, but I'm gonna tell them the truth.' he thought as he breathed in the morning air before turning and walking back towards the inside of the Palace. He walked back in to see his crew sleeping peacefully before his eyes fell on Valerie, Grace, Greg, and Vivi. If he told them too early and some of them didn't join, then he'd have broken his promise to Phil. Until he knew for sure who was coming and who wasn't, he had to wait. He watched as his friends slept before hearing one of them stir.
"Hey Vivi." he greeted with a smile.
"Oh. Morning Luffy." she said with a smile as well. "Why are you up so early?"
"Had a few things on my mind." Luffy said.
"I see." she said as she got up and stretched. "Oh. Father recieved word from the Marines. They said that they wouldn't release all of them, but they allowed our Kingdom to decide what happens to many of them."
"Really?" Luffy said, relieved and sad that some were released but not all of them. "I gotta thank him later."
"Actually, he said he wanted to talk to you later." she said. Luffy's smiled dropped when he heard the slight nervousness in her voice, but didn't question it as his stomach growled. "I'm hungry." he said before deciding that now was the time for breakfast. "SANJI! FOOD!" he yelled.
"Shut up!" Sanji snarled in his sleep as a few others rose from their beds to glare at Luffy.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"Go to sleep jerk!"
"It's too early for this crap!" they grunted, with Luffy laughing.
-Some time later-
It was later in the day as the Straw Hats had split up to wander around the city, with most of them had gone off to gather supplies or train. Luffy, along with Valerie, Greg, and Grace, were walking down the streets in disguise.
"So you're leaving Greg?" Luffy asked as they walked down the street.
"Yeah. I told you before that I was only helping until Baroque Works was gone." he said.
"I heard that you're gonna stay here and be a fire man." Valerie said.
"Yep." he said as he looked away, hoping that none of them could see his eyes threatening to well up before he rubbed his eyes under his glasses. "Darn sand."
"Well, I won't stop you from your dream." Luffy said as he smiled at him. "Good luck Greg."
"Thanks. And you too Luffy." Greg said.
"And what about you two?" Luffy asked.
"I'm...still deciding." Valerie said.
"Me too." Grace said.
"Hmmm." Luffy said before looking ahead. "So where are we going?"
"Well, some agents that we worked with have been allowed to set up shop in the city to help make up for their hand in trying to overthrow Alabasta." Valerie said.
"Really?" Luffy said.
"Yeah. And when we told them that it was because you asked the King to deal with them and not the Government, they wanted to meet you." Grace said.
"They were shocked to hear that you stood up for them." Greg said. "Guess you made an impression on them."
"We're here." Valerie said, gaining their attention as they looked up to see a two story building in front of them. In big letters read 'Spider's Cafe' with a closed sign on the door. Greg walked over to knock on the door a few times before backing away.
"We're not open right now." came a voice from inside.
"It's us Paula." Grace said. They remained there before Paula, the former Miss Doublefinger, opened the door to see them all standing there.
"Oh. Mr. 5, Miss Valentine, and Miss Goldenweek." she said with a smile before seeing Luffy in his disguise. "Is that him?" she asked.
"Yes." Valerie said. "Can we come in?"
"Of course." she said as she opened the door, letting them all come inside. Inside were Mr. 4 in a pizza boy outfit, Miss Merry Christmas dressed as a princess, and Lasso, now looking a bit like a tank, getting everything ready for when they were to open.
"Hey Paula! Who's here? Oh it's Mr. 5 and the rest of them! Glad you could make it!" Miss Merry Christmas said rapidly. "Why they here now? We're not open! Not open! Nopen!"
"Hello~~~~!" Mr 4 said in a drawn out voice.
"It's Greg."
"And I'm Valerie."
"I'm Grace." they said, having long shed their codenames. She then turned to Luffy before saying, "And this guy here is Luffy." Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas both looked at him in shock as Luffy dropped his disguise by the door.
"So this is the kid that defeated one of the Seven Warlords huh?" Paula asked as she looked at him from head to toe.
"Doesn't look all that strong, but still won the fight! Yep! Didn't expect it! Not one bit! Nope!" Miss Merry Christmas said.
"So you guys were trying to take over Vivi's country?" Luffy asked.
"That's in the past." Paula said as she brought him a plate of food. "Now we own this place while serving our sentence to this Kingdom."
"Hence the soldiers passing by this place more often." Valerie said as Luffy dug into his food.
"Right." she said as she raised her foot up onto a nearby stool and raised her pant leg, showing off a small bracelet around her ankle. "And these Sea Prism Stone anklets, with the guards holding the keys." Luffy looked at it closely before he placed his finger on the anklet, which caused him to grow weak and fumble over himself.
"Yeah! These things itch!" Miss Merry Christmas said as she swung her leg around, showing that she had one as well.
"Yeah, that's sea prism stone." he mumbled.
"You have Devil Fruit powers?" Miss Merry Christmas asked.
"Yeah. I ate the Gum Gum Fruit." he said as he stretched his cheeks out. "I'm made of rubber!"
"Rubber~~~~?" Mr. 4 asked as they all looked at him.
"Yep." Luffy said before letting his cheeks snap back and laughed.
"Anyway," Paula said as she put her leg down and Luffy finished his meal. "We wanted to meet the one who beat Crocodile for ourselves." she said with a smile on her face. "And also to say thank you."
"Thank you? For what?" Luffy asked in confusion.
"Believe it or not, our dreams came true thanks to you." she said. "If you hadn't of requested leniency for us, we'd be rotting away in some prison cell. Instead, I'm running my own café."
"Pizza~~~~ boy~~~~!" Mr. 4 said with a big smile.
"And I'm a princess!" Miss Merry Christmas said as she showed off her dress.
"Really?" Luffy asked as he looked at them all before smiling. "Shishishishi."
"And you three." Paula said as she looked at the other three. "We have room here for you three to work if you're interested."
"I'm in." Greg said as they shook hands. Paula smiled before they all looked at Valerie and Grace.
"I'm still deciding if I wanna stay a pirate or not." Valerie said while Grace nodded.
"We'll leave them open in case you decide to stay." said Paula as it was close to opening. "Well, better get ready." she said as she handed Greg a hammer, nail, and sign. "Hang that up."
"Right." Greg said as the others walked out the door.
"Straw Hat." Paula called, making Luffy look back as she held up folded scrap of paper. "Take this."
"Okay." Luffy said as he stretched his arm out and took it from her. He then left with Grace and Valerie as they left for the Palace, where the King was awaiting to talk to Luffy.