A/N

This chapter totally got away from me. It started as funny shenanigans but then Luffy asked a question and Dick had an existential crisis. So that happened and any real plot was pushed into next chapter.

Chapter 17- Peace Decends, for now

A few days after Dick's surgery and the call with Batman and Red Robin, Dick was laying on his deck chair very consciously not moving. Turns out that a guy with a moniker like "Surgeon of Death" and the bedside manner of a wet cat, has very interesting ideas of physiotherapy. Not even Deathstroke pushed as hard when he was seriously hurt as Trafalgar Law when the pirate decided to "move things along". Dick should never had bragged about how flexible he was, because Law took that as a challenge to bend him in ways that would have tied Plastic Man in knots. And he brushed off Chopper's concern with a brisk, "If I break him, I'll just fix him again."

Jason thought it was hilarious until Zoro challenged him to spar. Then it was Dick's turn to laugh as the fearsome Red Hood ran for his life from a green haired swordsman who sometimes got lost on his own ship.

Dick was actually pretty proud of his brothers though. They were getting along great with the pirates. Damien adored Chopper and Bepo and tolerated the rest. He meditated with Zoro, talked history and philosophy with Robin, and even played games with Luffy and Ussop. It helped that the young former assassin felt challenged by the rubbery captain. Luffy was strong and kept pulling tricks out of his sleeves. Like Haki, which seemed like a special power that most people could learn here, even without devil fruit powers. Damien admitted to wanting to learn it, so there were lessons that included a bit more hits to the head than Dick was comfortable with, but his baby brother was determined.

Jason, on the other hand, fit right in with the craziness, even as he tried to deny it. It helped that no one judged him here. Even Dick had to do mental gymnastics to avoid thinking about the murders his little brother had committed and still did every once in a while. Can't be a crime lord in Gotham without spilling some blood. But here, when Jason tried to shock the dinner table with stories of mobster heads in a duffle bag, almost everyone just shrugged.

"I delivered 100 still beating hearts to the Marines to get my Warlord title," Law said without blinking.

Robin laughed behind her hand. "Fufufufu, I helped a Warlord try to take over a country by starting a civil war."

"I've lost count of how many ships of pirates I've sank, leaving the men to be eaten by sharks and sea kings," Jimbe added thoughtfully.

"Yohohoho, how morbid you all are," Brooks laughed.

Zoro just smiled, his blood thirst leaking out for just a moment before reining it in to argue with the cook for more sake.

Damien had been quiet, probably thinking about his own past. Dick saw him talking to Robin later and he had seemed lighter after that.

Now, Jason was arguing loudly with Robin and Franky over his copy of Pride and Prejudice. Apparently he let them read it and now they had opinions.

Franky, who was a more avid reader than one might suspect, loved the romance and drama of it. He cried manly tears as Mr. Darcy struggled with overcoming his pride so he could be with the woman he loved.

Robin loved the prose and style of Jane Austin's writing. She liked the glimpse into a different world with new customs and history. And she thought Elizabeth Bennet was a fool while Darcy was weak. Jason took it personally.

They had been arguing about it all day and Jason had promised to ask Tim to bring more books by Austin to prove some obscure point about the time period and style. Dick was so proud.

Now if only he could move and join in with some of the fun, but everything hurt and he wasn't ready to hide that fact from his overly concerned brothers or frantic reindeer doctor. He hadn't felt so worn out since Bruce's early lessons, when he was trying to dissuade Dick from his vendetta by wearing him out with practice every day. Dick snorted. Look how that turned out.

"How ya feeling?" Luffy said, coming out of nowhere to sit next to Dick. He sat on the deck, so even reclined, their heads were on the same level, giving Dick some unexpectedly intense eye contact.

Dick considered how to answer, but decided Luffy wasn't hiding any intentions in the question so he could be honest. "Sore, but in a good way. I can tell I'm healing."

Luffy nodded. "Recovering from getting hurt is one of the worst things, almost worse than getting hurt in the first place. I usually just sleep it off, but then I miss meals and I'm sooooooo hungry." He fell back with a thud as he lamented those missed meals, but he bounced back pretty quick. "So I learned to eat in my sleep."

"And now I get no rest," Sanji said as he brought over drinks. He was always making treats for the crew and their guests. Only the girls got the frills with little umbrellas and personalized garnish, but nothing that came out of that kitchen was less than amazing taste wise. He handed Luffy a sunrise looking tall glass which smelled heavily of oranges but Dick got a huge glass of something as green as Zoro's hair. At Dick's skeptical look Sanji glared. "You better drink every drop of that. Its full of nutrients that will help you heal and calories that your body needs."

Dick chuckled as he took a sip through a thoughtfully placed straw that meant he didn't have to sit up to drink it. His eyes widened and he took a bigger drink. "This is amazing, definitely one of the best smoothies I've ever had. What's in here?" he said when he came up for air.

Sanji smiled but waved off the compliment. "Of course it's good," he said dismissively before leaving to hand off the rest of the tray of sunrise drinks.

Luffy laughed, his glass already empty. "Sanji's the best. All my crew is the best because the Pirate King would only have the best on his crew." He looked at Dick out of the corner of his eye, assessing in a way that was kinda out of character for the the goofball captain.

Dick nodded. "They seem like great people, impressive too. I'm really glad we met you guys even if I had a rough introduction to your world."

"Your world sounds pretty cool too," Luffy admitted. "With all the heroes and all, but no pirates so that sucks. And I wouldn't want to be a hero. I like to eat my meat."

"Okay?"

"And you guys seem to like it, but Hoody and Dami seem to like it here too, so I wanted to know if you like it here."

Now Dick was concerned. Luffy actually seemed like he was anxious, which was super out of character for him. "It is kinda nice here. And it's certainly not been boring."

Luffy nodded really hard and if he hadn't been made of rubber, Dick would have worried about whiplash. "Right? There are lots of adventures here." He pulled his hat over his eyes, finally breaking eye contact. "So, I wanted to ask if you, as their older brother because you know them best, if they might want to stay and maybejoinmycrew?" he finished in a rush.

Dick blinked as he processed that. He wanted to say, "No, obviously not," as a quick kneejerk reaction. But he stopped. As weird and carefree as Luffy was, he was asking seriously and deserved a serious answer. And he was trying to be respectful by asking Dick first.

"I, I don't know," Dick said carefully. "I mean, they have lives back home. Friends and family and duties…" he trailed off. But was that enough to keep them on Earth? In Gotham? It wasn't unprecedented for young heroes to leave, even permanently for a different world. Supergirl, Superman's cousin, had left for the future to join the Legion of Super Heroes. She was even dating a version of Braniac. Dick, even left Gotham for a long time to become Nightwing. Superboy spent several years off planet.

But Jason had the Outsiders and his territory in Crime Alley. Would he give that up for the Strawhats? Honestly, the answer was: maybe. He had a lot of trauma and guilt to deal with. None of that mattered here. Maybe he would like a clean start, without Bruce or Dick hanging over him and no memories of crowbars or warehouses.

Damien was even less clear. Maybe he could use some time away from Gotham to find himself away from the expectations of his father or worse, his mother and grandfather. The youngest Robin needed to stretch his wings. Could he do that here? Would he want to?

"Why do you ask? And what about me?" Dick finally got out though the mess of thoughts in his head.

Luffy shrugged. "I like them. They're nakama, so I wondered if they wanted to stay here as nakama or if they needed to go home like Vivi. She's still Nakama, even if she's not with us." He grinned impossibly big. "I knew you wouldn't want to stay. You have your own adventures, like Ace did. I wish you would stay, but I knew you wouldn't. You're still Nakama, though."

Dick laughed, a warm feeling in his chest from being accepted. "Yeah, I could never stay but I admit it would be nice."

Luffy nodded. "Yeah, big brothers are like that."

They say in silence for a moment as Dick finished his smoothie. "I wouldn't bet on them saying yes," he said finally with a little hesitancy. "But I do think they would like being asked. Damien probably won't admit it but he craves attention and validation. And Jason…Jason needs to know that people want him, that we love him."

Luffy nodded wisely. "Ace never believed until the very end that he was worthy of love. But he lived without regrets and found his own adventures and Nakama. I'm proud of him."

"He was your big brother right?"

Luffy nodded and sniffled a little.

"As a big brother, I know that he would be proud of you too. You're an amazing guy, Luffy."

Luffy climbed onto the deck chair and gave the reclined hero an octopus hug. Dick laughed and held on tight even as his ribs groaned. When the hug seemed to last longer than expected, he lifted his head to see that Luffy had fallen asleep. After a moment, Dick gave in and fell asleep too.

Damien and Zoro wandered over after finishing their meditation. Zoro just shrugged and sat down near his captain to catch his own nap. Damien tsked at the napping pair before climbing in to cling to Dick's back. Luckily the deck chair was built for people like Franky and Jimbe so there was plenty of room. Especially when Chopper saw what was happening and was quick to join in. Damien quickly pulled the little reindeer into a cuddle, and Luffy stretched his arms to hold everyone without waking up.

With that peace descended on the deck of the Thousand Sunny, for a moment. Then Sanji called out "Dinner!" and everything returned to the chaotic normal.