Prologue

"Protecting the Straw Hat's ship?" Vegapunk scoffed. "Programming that will not be a challenge." Peering down at his experiment, the scientist turned the idea over in his mind. "If the Straw Hats are that important, why didn't you send Straw Hat Luffy back to Shabody when you faced him at Marineford? It wouldn't have gone against any of your current programming."

"Monkey D. Luffy was resolved to rescue his brother. Pushing him away at that time would be pointless."

Snorting, Vegapunk turned back to prepping his equipment. "That resolve got him nowhere. Protecting his ship will be just as pointless. As soon as Straw Hat Luffy returns and sets sail, that will be the end of that pirate. He cannot stand against the marines on his own."

"No." Vegapunk turned at the firm conviction in Kuma's voice. The Warlord met his gaze. "The Straw Hats will not be idle. When they return, their strength will be enough."

Vegapunk chuckled at his experiment's belief. Shaking his head, he took two steps closer to examine Kuma's reactions. "Do you really think those rookies only need a bit of training to rise above the force the government is bound to send against the child of Dragon? I saw the footage from Marineford. Straw Hat Luffy won't last a month after he comes out of hiding."

"Straw Hat's will is strong. They will return with ample resolve." Kuma had a great poker face, but the scientist had years of work invested into the cyborg. The slight tic in the jaw and slight smoothing of the brow would be an angry scowl in another being. When was the last time the Warlord had such a large emotional reaction?

"Straw Hat might be captured before he can return to the ship. What you ask could result in your body protecting an empty ship eternally."

"One of the Straw Hat crew is sure to return." The tension in Kuma's shoulders relaxed a minute amount, the equivalent of a small smile.

"So, it's the crew you're more interested in," Vegapunk nodded in understanding, calculating his next comment to confirm his hypothesis. "With the captain's shoddy performance at the Summit War, the crew would be a better bet."

The complete stillness and lack of immediate response betrayed just how much emotion his experiment was holding back. Suppressing a smile himself, Vegapunk waved a hand negligently. "You can have your request. It won't matter if the Straw Hats have their ship or not. Their captain will either lead them straight to the marines or their crew will scatter the next time they get in over their heads."

The Warlord's eyes closed for the last time. When next they opened, Kuma Bartholomew would be no more. Dr. Vegapunk had worked on this project for years. There was no question on his creation's success. Even programming the protection of Straw Hat's vessel would be no difficulty. After discovering how to allow the AI to use Kuma's devil fruit ability, the scientist was tired of the project. It held no challenge. The government had other scientists build and program standard Pacifistas. Dr. Vegapunk refused to work on such mundane tasks. But the marines insisted he personally finish the modifications on the original.

What a waste! Vegapunk could be experimenting on how to recreate Kuma's ability to push other's to far locations nearly instantaneously. Just how many laws of understood physics were broken by this aspect of Kuma's devil fruit power? What a gem the Warlord had in his arsenal. The Grand Line held many mysteries that did not conform to the standard physics of the four Blues. That was why Vegapunk loved working there. But never before had the laws of space AND time been so challenged.

The thought made him pause during Kuma's programming. Space and time. Time. Kuma could push a person far enough in such a short amount of time, but what about just traveling through time? Or still travel through space as well as time, but rather than shortening the time it takes to travel, it increased or reversed time? IF time could be traveled the way Kuma could push people through space… the possibilities!

Quickly, Vegapunk finished programming Kuma's request and followed it with another command: Push a person through time and report the details back to Vegapunk immediately following said attempt. The scientist happily marked the Pacifista project as completed. If it worked, Vegapunk would have a new project to work on in the future. For now, the government would have their sentinels and Vegapunk could return to Science.

-Scene Break-

"He's been here ever since," Rayleigh explained to Luffy as they turned the last corner on their way to the Thousand Sunny. The captain caught sight of the person Rayleigh spoke of right away. The bear-man was sitting calmly in front of Sunny, closed book in hand, staring straight ahead without moving.

"His hat has a hole in it," Luffy noticed. "Hey, Rayleigh, can we get him a new hat? Or fix this one?"

Chuckling, the Silver Prince nodded. "I'm sure something could be arranged."

Kuma stood when the two reached the clearing. Luffy set down his pirate lunches. Rayleigh hung back as Luffy approached Kuma. Just before he reached the Warlord, Luffy stopped and bowed low. "Thank you very much for saving my nakama!" Rayleigh grinned, proud of his student and glanced away to give the two a little privacy. Luffy stayed bowed, determined to show Kuma just how much he valued what the bear-man had done for the Straw Hats two years ago.

Neither of them noticed Kuma reach up and remove one battle torn glove. His mission to protect the ship was over, and the next programmed objective was needed: send a subject through time and report results to Vegapunk.

The Warlord took one step and reached out the ungloved hand. The AI was not programmed to ask where the subject wanted to go, as Kuma was accustomed to doing. Instead, the Pacifista placed its paw on the top of Straw Hat's head and pushed Luffy through time, focusing on where the subject would most desire to go. For Luffy, who only lived for the present, there was only a single option. The one place in time where Luffy broke his promise – to live life with no regrets.

Marineford.

Author's Note:

My goal is to not use any Japanese words, except Nakama (which frankly has no English equivalent that sums up what that word means to Luffy) and Haki. So don't keep reading if you want "Gomu Gomu" battle cries and such. I can't stand "Rubber Rubber" so I'm just going to have him perform moves without the battle cries mentioned. We'll see if I can manage. I'm still catching Japanese terms even though this is like my 7th revision on the original draft I made.

Note – Don't plan on me regularly writing fanfiction on my other stories. This was an idea I had jotted down back when Marineford first happened and all those time-travel fics to try and save Ace started appearing. Really, Luffy would never be happy in the past and I couldn't understand why people felt Luffy would ever do anything except try and get back to his original time… unless his nakama were dead. But I didn't really agree with most author interpretations in those storylines either. Hence, this came about. Good idea?

Not sure if I should try and save Ace and Whitebeard for real. I have 9 chapters sketched up, but I go back and forth on those two topics. Ace is pretty common to save, but Whitebeard? And then I get to Ace and wonder. Luffy realizing it is not a dream, and then realizing he failed to save Ace a second time leads to interesting ideas. So… Who knows which I'll end up publishing? The 10th chapter on all my outlines feels forced, so I think it will depend on which option I feel flows better. I'm pretty sure of what I've got until Chapter 6. No set update schedule. Hope you look forward to it!