Chapter 13: The fall of Arlong ParkNotes:

Sorry its been two weeks again :( Retail at Christmas I hate it, but it pays the bills. I won't make promises on a schedule at present but will try not to go over two weeks but chapters may be shorter.

Some heavy angst ahead and also dark themes of murder.

(See the end of the chapter formore notes.)

Chapter Text

"You're lucky Nami-ya." Law noted finishing wrapping up the wound on Nami's head. "With the amount of strain you've put yourself under the last few days, and a concussion this bad you could have sustained permanent damage."

Nami smiled cheekily winking at the doctor. "Takes more than a bump on the head to take me down."

"I think it's more Blackleg-ya being able to keep you steady while running around the island." Law raised a brow at the girl who smacked him gently on the shoulder.

"I will have you know I did plenty of my own running, well until the pain got to much." Nami sighed gently prodding at the bandages until Law grabbed her hand pulling it away from the tender wound.

"You need to be careful, Strawhat-ya won't be too impressed if I return you damaged." Law stated standing up and going to rinse his hands.

"Eh, Luffy always has worse, I'm sure he'll understand." Nami grinned. "Beside he'll be too happy celebrating becoming King of the Pirates to notice."

"Sure." Law noted busing himself with scrubbing at his hands.

"You believe he'll do it right?" Nami questioned carefully pulling herself into a seated position, ignoring the way the room swayed around her.

"I've learned to always believe that Strawhat-ya is going to do the impossible. This certainly feels impossible." Law sighed bringing himself to sit beside the girl.

Nami hummed, nudging the doctor softly with her shoulder. "You know if he actually pulls this off life will change for all of us.

"Shut up Nami-ya, my life won't change any." Law rolled his eyes at the redhead who laughed joyfully, she always loved making Law redden with embarrassment.

"You should consider joining us, after all this we could do with something to celebrate, I mean it'll be too quiet without Zoro and Sanji..." Nami trailed off sadly looking to the tent door where she knew the cook was somewhere in the camp beyond.

"I think the new king of the pirates is enough of a celebration to see us through for a bit, the fall of the government would also be a good one!" Law snarked jokingly, before following Nami's gaze. "He's holding up surprisingly well."

"He's been too busy taking care of me to really stop and think about it, I'm worried that this reprieve may be what brings it all down on him." Nami sighed brushing her hair off her shoulder.

"Blackleg-ya is strong, you all are." Law put a cautious hand on Nami's arm. "You Strawhats taught me how to believe, Luffy will win this, he has too for all of you."

Nami grinned at the doctor remembering the guarded man they had first met and how far their alliance had come. "He'll do it for you too you know, you may not be a strawhat, but you are family."

Law raised a brow at Nami a small smirk playing on his lip. "For my sins."

Nami nudged her shoulder into Law resting her head against him, silently basking in the small escape from the war around moments the peacewas interrupted by the sound of a sharp gunshot echoing through the camp followed by crashing and screams, their reprieve was over.

Sanji was unsure what to make of his new Captain, his first impression of the kid was that he was naïve to the horrors of the world. The endless optimism he had shown in his fight against Krieg and his crew, the barrage of cheerful requests for Sanji to join the crew had left a false image on the chef's brain, but now as he stood watching the same boy frozen in front of a gory scene, he realised how wrong his first impression had been, and yet he couldn't turn away from his Captain.

Maybe it was the fact that his captain's victim had made their beautiful Navigator cry, forced her to draw her own blood in a fit of desperation, but did the fish man really deserve this?

Sanji looked up catching the swordsman's calculating gaze. His eyes firm in challenge even as heheld on to the captain's bloodied wrist.

Arlong had been defeated, but as Luffy roused to reality he realised how far he had gone, where the last time he had dropped a building on the fishman rendering him unconscious but breathing, this time he had pulverised him into an unrecognisable goop on the ground.

His face crumbled as he looked on in horror at the scene around him, even in the war he had not sunk to taking a life, choosing to be a pirate who sought adventure, fun and freedom, not one who brought pain and suffering in his wake. He had never wanted to be a pirate like Arlong, even as his crew fell, he kept his innocence. Now as he looked up to his wrist still held in Zoro's firm grip, he could see that he had lost control, and he couldn't even remember how he got here.

His last memory was of Nami once more hurting herself in her desperation to rid herself of her chains, the knife plunging again and again into her arm, trying to rip the ugly branding from her skin. He vaguely recalls placing his hat on to her head a grounding support to his navigator in her time of need, but then there was just a blinding white, stripping him of all memories and leaving him with the haunting echos of drums.

"Zoro..." Luffy's voice came out cracked and broken as he met his swordsman's eyes, what he wouldn't give to see his Zoro, the warrior who had stood by his side through every trial, the man who might be able to understand what Luffy had become, but instead he was faced with a version of his first mate who still had his innocence, who was naive to the darkness of the world, who would look upon his captain and see only a murderer.

Zoro looked back watching his Captain brake under the weight of his actions, watched as the boy's face fell in resignation and drowned in his guilt, he had known even back in Syrup Village that somethinghad been lurking, but his Captain had not been able to face the reality, but now it lay stark between them, and he could only hope this wouldn't ruin his Captain.

On instinct Zoro brought the rubber boy in, holding him as he collapsed, offering him his unyielding support. "I've got you Captain, you just need to hold it together till we get back to the ship, you can do that right Luffy. You're my captain that means you will be strong in front of our crew, they need you to be strong." He held Luffy as he hyperventilated his breath sounding like an alarm against the stark silence of the room.

As Luffy looked up he had to blink to clear the image of a different Zoro staring down at him, one with a scar over his eye and a challenge in his brow, how could this Zoro sound so similar to his Zoro? How had he known exactly what the captain needed?

Nodding weakly Luffy closed his eyes, focusing inward feeling the aura's of his crew around him, he located Nami and Usopp somewhere outside of this wretched building still innocent of the truth both beacons of hope in the certainty their Captain would pull through and save them from the oppressing pirates that had ruled this country for too long.

He could feel Sanji watching on, his conflict at the scene before him, and yet even as his chef watched him at his worst, laying in a pool of blood and guts, he could feel theunwavering loyalty, something Luffy felt was unearned but had been given freely.

"Chef!" Zoro commanded looking to the curly browed crewmate. "The others don't need to see this, I've got things here, you take Luffy back to the Merry, get Johnny and Yusaku to keep guard while I deal with this. Can you do that Curls?"

Sanji looked to the green haired swordsman his mind running a mile a minute, what had happened here shouldn't be acceptable and yet as he looked to his broken Captain he felt a drawhe had been fighting since the boy had first turned up at the Baratie, against his brain urging him to turn tail and run, his very being called out to the rubber boy in front of him, it was as if fate was calling him, telling him that no matter what he needed to be at this boys side. It had been the very thing that had pulled him instinctively into the water when the boy had fallen to the ocean in his fight with Krieg, and now it told him that this wasn't who his Captain was and urged him to help the boy to fix what was broken.

He thought of Zeff, his father in all but blood who had told him that this boy needed him, in the end the choice was easy, he was a straw hat, and he would always be there when his Captain needed him.

Stepping forward he gathered the now silent boy in his arms, careful to ensure he was holding him in a way that disguised the blood that coated his arms and clothes. He nodded to the swordsman a silent promise passing between them to protect this secret to savethe crew from the knowledge what had happened here and to rescuetheir Captain even from himself.

As Sanji left, he could see Nami's village gathered around the entrance to Arlong Park, eagle eyes pointed at Arlong's castle. He could make out Nami and Ussop both exhausted and injured from their own battles, waiting expectantly for their Captain to emerge victorious.

"You up for this Captain?" Sanji asked the shivering but silent figure in his arms.

He received a tense nod as the boy took a deep breath a huge grin breaking out on his face as he released it.

"Luffy!" Nami's voice rang out concerned at the sight of the boy being held in Sanji's arms.

"It's okay Nami." Luffy laughed assuring the redhead joyfully. "I'm just tired, so Sanji is going to bring me back to Merry for some meat, right Sanji?"

Sanji blinked at the captains flawless acting, concerned at how easily the lies seemed to come to the boy. "Right..." he muttered before shaking himself out of it, he had his Nami –Swan to put at ease after all. "The shitty captain overdid it a bit, so I must act as a pack mule while Marimo ties up some loose ends. You must be hungry Nami-Swan, how about I whip up a feast to celebrate our victory?"

"Oooo... A feast, yes to celebrate the legendary Captain's Usopps dastardly plan to take down the Arlong pirates!" Usopp grinned posing triumphally, until he received a whack over the head from Nami.

"Shut up you idiot, although food sounds great, the whole village has been suffering under Arlongs rule, so maybe we could all celebrate together?" Nami asked vulnerability shining through as she looked at her Captain who seemed so small in Sanji's arms despite the grin plastered on his face. "You sure you're okay Luffy?" She asked softly her observant eyes taking in how the boy was huddled in the chefs arms.

"Don't be silly Nami, its nothing meat won't fix, so come on Sanji, meat!" Luffy's voice remained upbeat even as he burrowed further in Sanji's grip, trying to hide himself more from the onlookers desperate to avoid questions.

Sanji nodded at his Captain understanding how close he was to loosing the act. "Hey you two idiots." Sanji addressed the two pirate hunters. "The swordsman has some things to tie up here, stand guard make sure he's not disturbed."

Johnny and Yusaku nodded happy to help their big bro.

As Sanji deposited Luffy in his captains' quarters he watched the boy's face fall back into despair, the act melting away the moment he was away from prying eyes. The guilt that the boy was obviously feeling helped ease Sanji's mind, the boy was obviously not a natural killer, and he would wear the scars of this forever more.

He paused at the exit torn; he sighed before lighting a cigarette using the action to gather his thoughts.

"You know the fact that you're feeling like this shows you're human." Sanji turned to meet his captains shocked eyes. "I know what evil looks like, and this isn't it."

Luffy's eyes widened as he realised Sanji was referring to his biological family, emotionless soldiers who would move on after every death.

Luffy nodded his lip and eyes watering as he spluttered out a thank you to his loyal chef.

"Don't mention it, shitty captain, just make sure you don't let this break you. It'll be hard to traverse the Grand Line without our captain." Sanji allowed a small smirk to appear on his lips.

"I won't" Luffy promised wiping at his tears.

Sanji nodded before making his leave.

Zoro gathered what remained of the tyrant Arlong, carefully ensuring the scene was cleared of all evidence of what had occurred within these thought back to the moment he had entered the room, his captain had been unrecognisable; his hair a stark white with daunting red eyes, a haunting laugh that echoed around the room as Arlong took shot after shot from the powerful demon. As Zoro had stepped forward into the room the figure hadn't even regarded him, continuing his onslaught on the fishman who had already fallen to the ground his last breath passing his lips.

As the figure towered over the fishman the laugh drawing deeper and deeper thumping in a strange rhythm.

"Luffy!" Zoro called trying to stir his captain, but as the figure wearing his Captains skin looked up, he realised he could not feel Luffy in this body.

"Swordsman!" A laughing voice echoed around the room as the figure tilted his head.

"Who are you?" Zoro muttered his hand going to his sword.

"I'm the person who's going to save you all." The figure grinned manically, its fist continuing to rein down on Arlong's corpse.

"Where's Luffy?" Zoro edged further into the room cautiously.

"He's here, but he wasn't strong enough, so I decided to help, now we'll never lose again" The laughter continued to echo vibrating the room that seemed to be bouncing around the figure.

"Give back my Captain!" Zoro cried out drawing his sword ready to halt the figure, but as he passed by his sword turned to rubber limply bouncing off the demon.

He was surer than ever that it was not his captain that was in control, instead the devil himself had taken up residence in his Captains body.

"Oh I will swordsman, after all I'm doing this all for him, I need to make him happy again." The figure giggled, swaying happily.

Throwing his sword to the side Zoro launched forward grabbing hold of one of the boys hands still wildly smacking into what remained of Arlong, as his hand met skin a jolt lurched through the rubber boy, his hair regaining its normal dark colour and his eyes closing, he lurched forward as though his strings had been cut.

Relieved to have his Captain back Zoro had no time to process before Curls entered the room gasping in shock at the sight before him. Damn Curls had made it so Zoro couldn't fill his captain in to what had happened, couldn't let the boy know it had not been him that had done this, he needed to speak with his captain, but first he needed to protect him.

Once the swordsman was happy, he had hidden all evidence of what had occurred he exited the building a bag in hand holding what remained of the fiercest pirate in the East Blue.

"Big Bro!" Johnny greeted happily as he exited the palace.

Zoro grunted throwing the bag at Johnny's feet. "Take it and go, the bounties yours if you leave now and don't tell anyone about this."

"Wait, what big bro?" Yusuke asked stepping forward to regard the bag that was too small to hold a body.

"You heard me, take it and leave. You have a ship, you can claim the bounty in the next village, we are pirates, you're both pirate hunters, so take the bounty and go." Zoro growled, trying to put some fear into the two bounty hunters.

Yusuke reached the bag opening it before lurching to relieve himself of what was in his stomach. "H-how?" He spat out glancing concerned at Zoro who just straightened his back glaring down at the two.

"I'm a pirate, don't you know we are ruthless." Zoro spat selling the act of being cold hearted to his old friends, cutting all ties to his old life. "Now, get out of here, and take the trash with you."

Johnny and Yusuke scrambled to leave, setting sail immediately to the next island taking the evidence of what became of Arlong with them.

Zoro headed back to the merry where a celebration was beginning to take shape outside, a raging fire cooking the finest meats, but unusually there rambunctious captain was nowhere to be seen.

Catching the chefs eye who was casually flitting across the beach running the impromptu barbeque, effortlessly slicing and dicing ingredients.

"Hey Mosshead, could you bring the captain some food, he's being too lazy to get out of bed." Sanji stated the moment he saw him, allowing the perfect excuse for Zoro to slip away and see to his Captain.

Zoro didn't argue grunting in acceptance as he grabbed a plate of food to bring to his Captain he headed towards the ship.

When he approached, he could hear the captain's voice ringing out from an ajar door to the boys' quarters.

Luffy couldn't stand to be left alone with his thoughts, the constant reminder of what he had done caused him agony as his fragile heart fractured under the thought of what would happen when his crew realised he was bad.

They would leave, he knew it, they were the kindest most loyal crew he could wish for, his family in all but blood, but how could they forgive him this, he had killed, and he hadn't even been in control. For as long as Luffy could remember he had loved to fight, had taken joy in reining victorious, but he had never taken it too far, but now he couldn't trust himself to not lose control.

Staring at his still bloodied hands Luffy decided he needed advise from the one person who would understand, someone who had faced his own bad decisions and come out the other side stronger, he needed his dad.

Shanks was awaiting his call, he was intimately aware of what this date had meant for Luffy in the first timeline and knew this would be one of the first major fights for the boy in his reawakening, the fact that he had taken out the strongest pirate in the East Blue mere weeks after setting sail had shocked the older Captain, but he knew Luffy was special. He knew the second time around Arlong would not be able to hold a candle to Luffy's skill but the fact that this pirate had such an impact on the boys navigator gave Shanks the insight that this would be a tough challenge for his boy mentally.

As soon as his phone started ringing Shanks was on receiver. "Anchor" He sighed into the line.

Luffy sniffled his tears making their way down his face. "I did something bad Dad."

Shanks wished he was at his boys side so he could bring him into a hug. "Oh, Anchor, what happened?"

"I killed someone..." Luffy's voice cracked under the emotion a white dagger launching itself in Shank's heart.

Of course he had killed, it was the normal pirate way, but Luffy wasn't like that, he was special, he was innocent. "Luffy, listen to me, it's going to be okay. I know you, you wouldn't kill in cold blood, so walk me through it, what happened?"

"I...I...I don't know!" Luffy sobbed. "I w..was going to stop Arlong and then I can't remember anything until I came back to and Zoro was holding my bloodied hands. Sanji saw it to and now they'll all find out and leave me."

"Hey, hey no one is leaving you Anchor. We are going to get to the bottom of this, what is the last thing you remember?" Shanks soothed desperately.

"Urm.. I was with Nami, Arlong had betrayed her, and I was angry." Luffy sniffled.

"Okay so you were angry, was this the same kind of anger as last time?" Shanks asked cautiously remembering his last call with the boy,

"Maybe, he made her hurt herself." Luffy confessed.

"Do you remember anything else Luffy, anything at all?" Shanks asked.

"Drums..." Luffy admitted cautiously.

As Luffy made the admission Zoro decided it was time that he revealed his presence, gently pushing the door open.

Luffy looked to the door. "Zoro?" He questioned loosely biting his lip nervously.

"Captain, if I may I have some details that might help you discover what happened." Zoro regarded his Captain carefully waiting his permission, at Luffy's nod he entered gently placing the food down the Swordsman settled down beside his captain on the bed.

"You said you heard drums, well when I entered the building there was someone else there, someone who's laugh sounded like drums. It was a demon in your skin with white hair and these red eyes." Zoro explained his eyes calculating the captain's response.

Luffy's eyes widened in shock as Shanks swore on the line.

"I thought you hadn't been able to reawaken your fruit?" Shanks questioned his tone serious.

"I couldn't... or at least I didn't think I could..." Luffy queried. "but... I've been hearing the echoes of drums for a while now."

"Luffy, you need to be careful, if anyone finds out before your ready it'll all be lost." Shanks implored.

"DO YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT." Luffy snapped to Zoro's shock.

"Why do I feel like I'm missing something?" Zoro questioned raising a brow at his Captain. "If I'm going to be covering up for you, don't I deserve the truth?"

Shanks sighed on the line. "Kid, I think you and your first mate need some privacy, call me back when you can, me and Benn will do some research and try and get some answers."

"Dad I..." Luffy called out desperately but hearing the click of the line cutting off.

Zoro regarded his Captain who started shaking in fear of what was to come, he could face telling grown adults about the future, but Zoro? He didn't want to risk changing the person his swordsman would become, but he was right he deserved answers.

"I..it all began on an island called Laugh tale, or maybe it began before that, when I ate the Hito Hito No Mi." Luffy closed his eyes unable to look at his swordsman. "The government wanted for a long timeas it contains the powers of the Sun God, they would stop at nothing to get it. When they found out that I had it, they started a war to try and stop me becoming king of the pirates."

"Wait what war?" Zoro asked confused, he couldn't sense any lies from the boy but surely, he would know if there had been a war?

"It hasn't happened yet, but it will in about 5 years." Luffy explained his voice timid.

"That's impossible!" Zoro stated his mouth falling open in shock but as he met his Captains eyes, he could almost see the flames of the war flickering in the boys' brown orbs.

"I didn't want to tell you till you were ready, but you always knew me to well, I could never hide anything from you." Luffy's eyes watered. "Just like you could never hide anything from me, I failed you Zoro. I made you throw away your dream. I am so sorry."

As Luffy collapsed in grief Zoro looked on in horror, he could see flashes in his head, moments of what he could only assume was Luffy's memories, he saw himself back-to-back with, wait... was that a skeleton? He could feel his life slipping away and feel his captain's grief as if it was his own. It was too much; he needed to escape. Needed to think.

Before he realised what he was doing his feet had carried him away from the ship, through the still thrumming celebrations and all the way back to Arlong Park. As he stared at the monstrous building, the heavy weight of the truth settling around his shoulders Zoro roared his sword flaring out time after time until the building in front of him was no more.

Notes:

So Arlong Park fell, next chapter will be Nami based as her a Luffy have a heart to heart, I had thought to put it on this one but I wanted to explore this. I wasn't going to have any of the strawhats learn for a while but I couldn't help but tell Zoro, I think him knowing will create an interesting dynamic as Luffy tries to gain control on what's happening.

Also Zoro having flashes of the future... interesting.