Luffy, to be totally honest, hadn't been especially surprised when the bird he'd launched himself at turned out to be large enough, and motivated enough, to carry him off. That's kind of just how his life works, and as distressing as having his head stuck in a giant bird's beak had initially been, he's been Monkey D. Luffy for about seventeen years now. You get used to it.

That established, he never exactly expects the things that happen to him, either. It's more fun that way, anyway. He didn't expect the bird; he didn't expect the cannonball that'd eventually come to release him from the bird; and he sure doesn't expect he'll have any clue what happens to him next. Not until it gets moving and happens to him already.

"Dammit, why were there cannonballs flying at me…?" he complains, anyway, sitting up on the wrecked pavement. Luffy likes surprises, but even he knows not all of them are, like, comfortable. He's pretty sure he hears someone gasp off to the side, but whoever they are, he can't see them through the dust yet. He huffs and gets to his feet. "At least I'm safe now. And… what just happened to me was awesome."

Over the settling dust, now, Luffy can just about make out two people sitting on the front stairs of one of the townhouses around him: a girl who looks to be about his age, slack-jawed and wide-eyed, and a much younger girl with a duffle bag, visibly fit to burst with a childish sort of excitement Luffy recognizes from the mirror.

Without his permission, but also without any resistance on his part, Luffy feels himself start to grin too, and that apparently is all the encouragement the kid needs. Promptly, she barrels into him with all the speed her little legs can bring to bear. The momentum she's able to gather in this is minimal, but Luffy is still reasonably confident it would've at least had someone who wasn't him stumbling back. Little hands latch onto the hem of his shirt.

"Captain!" she exclaims, and Luffy, who, really, doesn't have very high standards at all, is sold. He's not sure on quite what yet, just that he is. Wide, gimlet, very yellow eyes all but gleam up at him. "We want to join your crew! I'm Treva and I can see the future, and she's Nami and she can read nautical charts!"

"Whoa." Luffy's own eyes widen, and snap up to the woman who is presumably Nami. "You're a navigator? That's perfect, I've been looking to recruit a navigator!"

"I never agreed to anything. I just have reason to believe our interests might align, for a while," Nami defends immediately. She scowls. "And anyway, aren't you focusing on the wrong thing here?"

"I've been looking for a navigator," Luffy repeats, confused.

"He has been," Treva assures Nami, very seriously. Nami facepalms.

"A ten-year-old just claimed precognition to you," Nami reminds Luffy from behind her palm.

"Oh," he says. "Right." He turns his attention back to Treva, who seems to perk up at that in nervous expectation, her hold on him tightening just a bit. "Make sure you don't tell me anything, okay?"

"O—" she starts to chirp, almost sing-song, before his words actually catch up to her. Her eyes go huge, and her face turns… almost purple, Luffy thinks. Her hold turns into a vice grip, or as much of one as a teeny kid can manage, but Luffy is made of rubber. So, he doesn't mind. "Wait… Wait, what? But my… My information is useful! I swear it's useful! I can—I'm—I mean…"

"Are you crazy?" Nami demands, jumping to her feet, hands fisted in a such way that promises to Luffy that, should he fail to scrounge up a very good explanation for her very quickly, she will strangle him. "You actually believe her, just like that? And you don't want to know?"

"Well, yeah." Luffy shrugs, unintimidated. Absently, he places one of his own hands on top of Treva's head, which seems to distract her with astounding efficiency from what Luffy is pretty sure was gearing up to be a tantrum. "It's no fun if I don't get to find out for myself." He beams down at Treva. She looks up at him like a deer in headlights, her eyelids peeling back so far that white fully rings her irises. "You can still gimmie advice, and I won't stop you from acting on stuff you already know. Everybody does that. Just make sure you don't ruin any surprises for me!"

"Okay!" Treva promises, grimly determined in the way only small children and Luffy himself can manage to be. "I swear I won't! And I'll give you good advice, definitely, I'm very smart! So smart!"

Luffy laughs. Nami puts her head in her hands. Treva lets go of Luffy to pose with her chest puffed out and her tiny little fetus-fists planted on her hips.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Treva laughs, with her whole body. She's so smug. "It's settled, then! From now on, I'll be the Strawhats' strate—"

"Mascot!"

"I—" Treva whips around to stare up at Luffy, baffled and distressed. "What?"

"Mascot," he repeats. "We need one of those!"

"But Chopper is already the mascot!" Treva insists, pleadingly tugging at Luffy's shirt with both hands. "Chopper! I can't compete with him at all!"

"Chopper, huh?" Luffy blinks at her. "Sounds like a swordsman's name. We already have a swordsman, though."

Treva tugs on him again, more urgently. "I'll feed you if you don't call me the mascot again. Please let me not be the mascot, I don't want to lose my job when we get to Dru…"

Just then, Luffy remembers that he's super hungry. His stomach does too, because it chooses that moment to growl loudly; he clutches it and falls to his knees. Treva escapes being dragged down by letting go of his shirt, but she still stumbles a few paces back and into Nami's legs.

Nami raises an eyebrow at Luffy, and Treva looks at him hopefully. Luffy looks piteously back.

"You can be whatever you want, so long as you feed me."

X️XX ️ ️

Luffy finds himself being manhandled into the house by the ten-year-old, who stations him at the dining table and hurries off, presumably to find him food. In the meantime, he stuffs his face with the bread from the table's bread basket, and Nami takes a seat on the table's edge. She watches Luffy warily.

"I didn't fully believe her before, to be honest," she admits to him, volume normal, seemingly unworried about Treva hearing her. "I mean, who would, right?" A beat. "Well. You, apparently. But no normal person."

"Why shouldn't I believe her?" Luffy asks, muffled around the bread. Nami looks at him in open disgust. "It'd be a pretty stupid thing to lie about."

"Kids lie about stupid things all the time. I guess it really is different in this case, though—she said you'd show up and fall from the sky where and when you did, and here you are." Nami rolls her shoulders. Something about him makes her uncomfortable, Luffy thinks, but decides not to pursue that line of questioning. If she needs a while to get used to him, that's fine; she'll have plenty of time, now that she's on his crew. What a relief it is, really, to have a navigator. Especially if Zoro is as terrible with directions as Luffy had been starting to suspect.

"So do you live in this big house all by yourself?" he prompts instead.

"This isn't my house. Treva doesn't live here either," Nami clarifies. "We're just staying here for the time being. Everyone's left this town because of this pirate, Buggy, who rolled in and scared them all off." She inclines her head to him meaningfully. "That's actually part of what we need you for. Treva says you can help us drive him out."

"Probably," Luffy agrees. Treva, apparently done slapping together what Luffy deduces to be her best attempt at a sandwich, runs over to him as he does. She clutches the plate tightly, careful not to drop it, right up until she's deposited it in front of him. Luffy feels his eyes go huge, and he barely waits for her to let go before he inhales the entire sandwich into his mouth. Around it, he burbles an appreciative, "Mmm, yum! Thanks, Treva!"

Treva's own eyes go possibly even bigger than his had, her expression melting into an awkward, openly delighted sort of pride-joy-success jumble. She rocks onto her tiptoes and back, hands balling into little fists at her sides, too excited to be still. It's a feeling Luffy knows well, so he isn't surprised when she does some more contained flailing, only to settle on pumping one teeny fist in the air. "Any time, Captain!"

"You could be our cook!" he suggests, only half-joking. His grin widens when Treva blanches at him, which is probably pretty gross with his mouth full of sandwich, because Nami gives him another look.

"No! No, no, no!" Treva protests, forming an emphatic X with her hands in front of her chest. "Sanji's the cook! Sanji! I can't compete with Sanji either! I'll lose!"

Luffy laughs at her. "You should have more confidence, Treva!"

"I have plenty of confidence!"

"She has too much confidence," Nami snaps, and rolls her eyes at the both of them. Luffy remains distinctly unchastised, regardless, and from the looks of it, the same is true of Treva. They turn identically immature grins on Nami, who glares back.

"This Bug-whatever guy, though," Luffy circles back. He swallows the sandwich down. "You said part. What else d'you guys need?"

Treva rounds the table to take the chair opposite to Luffy, dropping her duffle bag on the floor next to her and raiding it for a book, which she sets on the tabletop. She shuffles to sit on her knees on the chair, for the sake of having the height to fingertent over the top of the book. "We're going to save Orange Town, this town, from Buggy, and take all his stuff. We're gonna need his stuff. He has a map of the Grand Line."

Luffy nods, following. Treva, emboldened, goes on.

"After that, we're gonna pick up two other guys, 'cause we're gonna need them too and they're really cool, and useful, and strong." She hesitates, just slightly. She doesn't stop, exactly, but Luffy makes note of it all the same. "And then we're gonna go and beat up a bunch of fish guys on another island, like we're gonna beat up Buggy, but worse 'cause they're worse. If we have everyone, we'll win. You probably shouldn't kill Buggy, because he's gonna do a bunch of stuff later and really he's not so bad, but killing Arlong and his fish-guys is basically fine."

Nami grimaces at Arlong. Luffy makes note of that too. When she speaks up, though, it's only to frown at Luffy in askance and observe, "Treva says you have Devil Fruit powers."

Luffy nods again, in confirmation this time. "Yeah, I ate the Gum-Gum fruit." He hooks a finger in his cheek and stretches it out unnaturally far. "I'm a rubber man."

Nami blinks at him. Somewhat strained, she says: "Oh. So that's how you…" She gestures vaguely. "With the bird."

"Yup!"

"I see."

There's a moment's quiet, wherein Luffy pilfers another roll of bread. After he's downed it, he cocks his head at Treva, who had been content to watch him and Nami with saucer-sized eyes.

"How's seeing the future work, anyway?" he asks. "Can you see it right now?"

"I'm not looking now. It's something I have to turn on." Treva drums her hands lightly on her book. "It's like… I can see possible futures that could happen. I can mostly look at whatever I want, but it's kind of muddy, and it gets muddier the farther away it is. Or if I'm trying to follow myself, that's the hardest. It's like trying to sort through a bunch of strings that're all tangled up together. Some people are easier to follow than other people, though, like you!" Treva throws her arms in the air, up over her head, and beams at Luffy. "You're the easiest to follow!"

"So it's easiest for you to follow idiots," Nami quips, unimpressed.

"I-dee-ots!" Treva giggles, muffled behind one hand. It's a joke that will probably make sense to him in hindsight, Luffy guesses, judging by the levels of self-satisfaction exuding from her. He finds himself preemptively amused.

Nami looks at Treva strangely, no doubt having similar thoughts to Luffy's own, but she just shakes her head and turns back to Luffy. "I'm pretty sure she ate a Devil Fruit too, if they're real."

"Huh." Luffy blinks at Treva. "You don't know if you ate a Devil Fruit?"

Treva shrugs. "I've always been able to see it, so I would've had to have been really little. Fruits are healthy, though, so it's possible Gramma fed me one when I was really little without realizing it was a magic fruit… She always made sure we had lots of fruits on hand, you know. All sorts of fruits, even after I told her tangerines were the best fruit, because it's bad to be picky…" Treva trails off thinking about it, but then shrugs again. Nami's face does some interesting things at tangerines, but Treva doesn't notice or doesn't care, getting back on track. "I tested it after Nami told me it's probably a Devil Fruit, though, and it is."

"By tested," Nami interjects, indignant, "She means she vaulted over the side of the boat. Into the ocean. And sunk like a rock."

Treva beams. "And Nami saved me!"

"Whoa!" Luffy beams at Nami also. "That's so cool, Nami! You saved her life!"

Nami puts her head in her hands.

"Can you see the future whenever you want?" Luffy asks Treva further, when it becomes apparent that Nami has given up on talking sense into either of them.

"Yeah, but it's really obvious." Treva opens her book and lifts herself up higher on her knees for a better vantage over it. As she flips her way to a blank page, Luffy realizes that rather than any kind of print he can recognize, the book is full of nonsense letters chickenscratched haphazardly onto the paper. "It's easier if I just show you."

That's all the warning Luffy gets before Treva braces herself with a palm flat on top of either page, leans forward, and gapes, slack-jawed. Her eyes glaze over fully red like a bug's or maybe a demented rabbit's, and as Luffy watches on with interest, some kind of liquid comes sloughing steadily out from her mouth—his first instinct is to mistake it for blood, but it's too bright, almost candy-colored. It's viscous, like ink, and seems to cling to the book in a thin layer of film as it washes over the pages and cover. It seeps into the paper, leaving behind more chickenscratch in its wake.

"Cool," Luffy enthuses, as Treva's eyes return to normal. She preens under his approval, completely free of goop; there's none left behind, which Luffy is almost disappointed by.

"I think you mean gross," Nami grumbles. Luffy and Treva pay her no mind.

"It always happens when I look, it's gotta come out onto something." Treva pats the now-marked paper affectionately. "It'll ruin the color of whatever it sticks to, though, and make it all brittle, so that's why Gramma got me this book to carry around. This bad boy can fit so much future in it."

Luffy reaches over to poke the book himself. It's very dry, and fragile-feeling, like fallen autumn leaves. "Can you read it?"

"I know what it says, but I don't think it's really reading." Treva shrugs. "Gramma says it's not any kind of language or code or anything like that, 'cause the… repetition, or whatever, of the letters—it's wrong. There's not enough of it for it to be a real writing system."

"Huh," Luffy says, and retrieves his poking-hand. Apparently, that's too much for Nami, who squints at him suspiciously.

"Are you really going to let a ten-year-old onto your pirate crew, after that ten-year-old tells you it has some kind of family, without asking any questions?" she demands.

"Well." Luffy blinks at her. "Yes."

"I have a transponder snail," Treva reassures them both. She scrambles to pull one out of her duffle bag, holding it up in front of Nami's nose insistently. The transponder snail appears nonplussed by the manhandling, as their kind are wont to be. "I call Gramma every day, I told you. And Luffy's a real pirate, so it's fine!"

"Whoa," Luffy breathes, peering over at the transponder snail even as Nami swats it away. Much more gently than she would if it was an adult holding it up to her face, Luffy assumes, when it doesn't go flying. "I've never seen one of these in person before."

"They're pretty rare in rural areas," Nami agrees. "It's not unusual to come across them in cities or bigger towns, though." She eyes the snail appraisingly. With an amount of approval that catches Luffy off guard, she adds: "Treva's got ten of the things in her bag. Swiped them on her way out of Granny's house, apparently."

Treva nods, absently. Her attention's drifted back to her book and the snail she'd pulled out, returning them both back into her bag with as much care as her little hands can manage, at least in the snail's case. "Gramma won't miss them, she just breeds them as a hobby. Once we get our ship, I'll have the space to do that too when these ones get big enough, and then we'll have a whole bunch of snails to stay in touch with people and start broadcasting the…" Treva trails off while zipping the bag back up. Her eyes widen just a bit, as if in sudden comprehension, and she goes scrambling off of the chair to stand proudly with her fists on her hips.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" she laughs. So, so very smug, even smugger than the first time he'd heard it. "The snails are a surprise tool that will help us later! Just you wait and see, I'm gonna make that guy so proud! Definitely!"

"Okay!" Luffy agrees easily, enthusiastically, even though he has a sneaking suspicion that she has no real idea of how to work any kind of communication rig. Nami facepalms.

"Anyway." Treva slings her duffle bag back on, strap over her head and across her chest. "Zoro should be making landfall soon, so we should go pick him up, or we'll definitely lose him."

"Oh, yeah." Luffy stands too. "He's pretty bad at directions, huh?"

Treva smiles. It would be fairly cryptic, if she was older, and didn't remind him quite so much of an oversized stuffed toy. "You ain't seen nothin' yet."

X️XX ️ ️

Full to bursting with confidence, Treva leads Luffy and Nami to the docks, clinging to Luffy's hand like a lifeline all the while. He's amused enough by the wide-eyed glances she keeps throwing back at them over her shoulder, as if to check that they're both still there, that he lets her, and helps her stay upright when the constant failure to keep her eyes on the road results in a few close calls where she nearly eats dirt. He's pretty sure the consideration earns him a handful of points with Nami, who regards the both of them with wary qualification, so everybody wins.

Treva lets him go when they reach the shore, spinning to face them with her arms gesturing grandly out and as much smug flare as she can muster.

"Here we are!" she declares. "With a good ten minutes or so to… spare…"

Treva trails off, blinking at one docked boat in particular. Her arms fall to her sides. After a beat, she points at it and turns to Luffy with huge, blank eyes.

"That's you guys's boat," she tells him, uncomprehending.

"Huh." Luffy looks at the little dinghy. "Yeah, that's our boat alright."

Treva, apparently unsatisfied with his response, continues to stare. "Why?"

Nami looks between them with obvious, mounting dread, but Luffy only shrugs. "Guess Zoro must've followed that bird here."

"But that's not possible." Treva looks like she wants to start stomping her feet. Luffy, despite a certain familiarity with the urge, hopes she doesn't. "It shouldn't be possible, because Zoro lost sight of the bird, and he only makes it to Orange Town because… Because he…"

Treva tapers off again, and her eyes bug out even wider, practically bulging out of her head.

"But he never would've lost sight of the bird, because Nami took a different route and never ran into the Buggy pirates on the water, and they never got in his way." Treva gulps. And then, in the teeniest little voice: "Oh, no."

Even though that's what she says, to Luffy, it sounds distinctly like, FUCK.

X️XX ️ ️

Note: Until things go fully off the rails, some of the dialogue will be lifted straight from canon.