Remake: Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

by RoseDragonWitch

Remake of original story: Not all treasure is gold and jewels. In the middle of some strange ruins, the Straw Hats accidently end up watching their captain's memories of him and Ace. They all knew that there was a strong bond between these brothers; only now do they see how deep this bond was and how much pain had been caused.

5. Promise between Men

Chapter 4: Promise between Men. The Passing of the Hat

"So that was how Luffy first met with the infamous Red-Hair Shanks," Robin said thoughtfully as they watched how the Red-Haired crew stepped off the ship, the memory fading about them.

"He seems like a nice enough guy," Brook offered with a tilt of his head. "He reminds me a little bit of Luffy-san, actually. But what is the significance of the straw hat? Luffy-san received it from him, correct? But needs to return it? I'm a bit confused."

"Luffy never went into full details about it except that he made a promise to Shanks to return his straw hat one day," Franky answered back, now burning with curiosity.

Meanwhile the others were trying to put the pieces together on who Uta was.

"So… this Uta you're talking about is supposed to be a world-famous singer?" Zoro asked with a bored yawn. "Are you sure that this is the same one?"

"I mean… I don't know," Chopper said awkwardly. "She has the same name and she does look a bit like her… but…?"

"But she's Shanks's daughter? I didn't know that!" Usopp added in a stunned voice. "I didn't even know that Shanks had a kid!"

"It's not that surprising," Robin spoke up, "As I said before, so little is known about Red-Haired Shanks that the idea he may have children wouldn't be unreasonable. I assume that he wished to keep quiet about it so that she isn't hunted by the World Government. If they knew about her, they may try to capture her to use her against Shanks."

"I suppose that make sense," Sanji said slowly, thinking it all over, "But let's not get our hopes up too high just yet. We don't know if they're the same person."

"What are the odds that they're two people?" Chopper demanded, really hoping that it was true so that he could meet the real Uta someday.

Before he could come up with an answer though, the next memory came back and this time they were back in the Party Bar with Luffy, Shanks, and the rest of the pirates—already looking like they were in the middle of a good party. It was a lively scene with the crew partying and laughing, drinking and eating all the while cracking jokes with each other. Uta had joined them at first, but quickly finished her meal before asking Shanks if she could have a quick look around the shops here, which he agreed so long as she returned soon and not to purchase anything out of budget.

After she left, the rest of the pirates seemed to drink a big more energetically, as if they felt that they could cut loose without having to worry about Uta watching.

"Wish I could have some of that booze," Zoro sighed longingly, looking at all the bottles of sake that were being passed around.

"Well, too bad!" Usopp said to him, slapping Zoro's chest irritably. "Good luck with finding a way to get a sip."

"If you do, I could really use one too," Nami sighed, sounding tired.

"Makino!" Luffy chirped up as the woman worked hard to serve as many drinks as she could, "You're so busy!"

"Yes, Luffy I know," Makino said, still beaming, and yet her smile seemed to be a little forced as she gave the men a nervous sideways glance. Though these guys seemed to be a joyful, fun bunch… there was no denying the fact that they were still pirates. She leaned over and patted Luffy's head with an affectionate smile as Luffy continued to observe them—more out of curiosity than distrust this time.

"Oh, I didn't think it would be possible, but she's even more beautiful than before!" Sanji sighed, hearts back in his eyes as he looked at Makino. "Serving drinks with that sweet smile? That's service! Oh, what an angel she is…?"

"Cool it, lover boy," Nami sighed in annoyance. "Something tells me you aren't her type."

"Who's the kid anyway?" asked Shanks suddenly after taking another long chug of ale before turning to look down at Luffy again before questioning, "Is he your little brother? He was nice enough to let us dock earlier."

Makino smiled again before answering, "Sadly, no. Me and the mayor just happen to know his grandfather, so we do tend to keep an eye on him when his grandfather's not here."

"Guess that answers our question," Nami said quietly, growing more and more invested in this story as Luffy pulled himself up to sit at the bar next to Shanks as Makino promised to bring him some dinner if he waited patiently.

"Where'd you come from old man?" Luffy asked him curiously and at that, the men who weren't as tipsy as everyone else suddenly started laughing—but they weren't the only ones, for the Straw Hats burst with chuckles as well when they saw the affronted look on Shanks's face.

"As honest as ever I see," Robin laughed.

"His manners sure haven't changed a bit since he was a kid," Sanji also laughed as Brook held onto his middle.

"It hurts!" Brook laughed. "My gut feels like it's gonna burst from laughing! Not that I have a gut to burst! Yohohoho!"

"Old man?" Shanks spluttered, and one could see the patience fading from his face, "I'm not even in my thirties yet, you brat!"

"Compared to him you are old, captain!" a fat pirate commented, enjoying a slab of meat on a dagger before falling over from his seat as he started laughing too.

"Lucky Roo…?" Robin said, recognizing him.

"You know him?" Chopper asked.

"Only by reputation," she said as she looked around at the rest of the crewmates and suddenly recognizing a few more faces. "A few others as well. Benn Beckman… the first mate… Lucky Roo who is the chef… and…?"

"Hey, be nice, Captain! He's just a kid!" called another voice and they turned to see that another man at the closest table had spoken up. At the sight of him, Usopp all but froze up in shock, his mouth fell open and his eyes bugged out of his head as a cold sweat broke out on his face. The man's skin was tanned and sea worn as his sandy blond hair fell over his face… but Usopp was looking directly to the blue bandana he was wearing and the name written on it… 'Yasopp'.

"Yasopp… the sniper of the Red-Haired Pirates," Robin finished. "Certainly some big names gathered here."

"Dad?" Usopp whispered softly, staring at the man, afraid to blink in case he missed it.

"Dad?" Chopper repeated in amazement. "You mean that's your dad, Usopp?!"

"Oh, right, I remember when we first met, Luffy said something about meeting your old man," Zoro said thinking back.

Usopp sniffed a little, finally getting a good look at his father, drinking in every part of his face. It had been so long that he had all but forgotten what his dad even looked like!

"I can definitely see a family resemblance," Franky smiled, clapping their sniper on the shoulder. "You look just like a younger version of him! Wow! That or it's like looking into your future or something!"

Usopp grinned proudly as he exclaimed to them all loudly, "That's right! It only makes sense! After all, this brave warrior of the seas had to get his talent, and good looks, from somewhere."

"That's for sure," Nami whispered to herself, rolling her eyes.

"That's awesome, Usopp!" Chopper cried, stars in his eyes.

"It must be nice for you to get a good look at your father, Usopp-san," Brook said softly, though it was hard to tell without skin, but he appeared to have been smiling.

Yasopp kicked back in his seat before adding with a wicked grin, "Kids are honest to a fault and ask whatever's on their minds. No harm in letting him be honest, right old man?"

"Who asked you, you drunk bastard?" Shanks demanded, "Last I checked, you're older than me!"

"Now, now, Luffy don't anger the customers," Makino said, sticking close to Luffy.

Zoro wasn't sure if he was the only one who noticed the nervousness in Makino's tone through all the laughing. Apparently, he wasn't…?

"It's all right, Makino," Shanks sighed, jerking a thumb at his tipsy crew. "Believe me, it doesn't take much to get these losers all laughing."

"Who the hell are you?" Luffy asked again, really not paying any attention to his manners.

Shanks went back to his food before answering half-heartedly, "The name's Shanks and that's all you need to know."

"So you really are pirates!" Luffy concluded slowly. "Okay… so why you here?"

Shanks took his time chewing, as if wondering how best to word it, before giving a great swallow and answered, "Just a kind of vacation of sorts."

"Pirates on vacation? That doesn't sound like something that happens a lot," Nami offered, thinking about how nice it would be that they could get a break—but then remembered whenever they tried something bad happened. She sighed at that, knowing that this was the reason why they could never have nice things.

"I don't know, after a day of pillaging and being hunted by the Marines, I think a little time off without worry would be a welcomed relief," Usopp offered brightly.

"Oh… well, why? Don't pirates get to go wherever they want? Why come here when you could end up going somewhere a lot more exciting? It's pretty boring here," Luffy asked curiously. "I think that's really cool that you guys can go wherever you want."

"Luffy! I don't think that your grandfather would like it if he heard you talking about pirates," Makino warned as the boy pulled a face at her.

He just turned his short attention span back to Shanks and asked, "So… do you guys get to go on adventures? How long are you gonna stay? Where are you going next? Tell me! Or are you just some lame ones that don't go anywhere?"

"The little guy has a death wish," Zoro laughed at Shanks surprised look at the accusation. "If Shanks was like most pirates, he probably would've killed him a long time ago."

"Luckily for us, he seems to have a lot of patience for kids," Nami stated, feeling better. She had been worried at first, but this Shanks guy seemed to be a good sort—for a pirate anyway. It was still far too early to be able to judge if he was a good or bad person yet, but he seemed like a real easy-going guy. And if he was Luffy's friend, which her captain always spoke so highly about, then he couldn't be bad, right?

"You sure do ask a lot of questions, kid," Shanks said at last as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "But, yeah, we do go on a lot of adventures. We're just stopping for a time to recharge, so to speak, before heading back out there. I'm thinking at least a few months. It's a good chance to get a good look at the East Blue before we head back to the Grand Line."

"Wow! The Grand Line?!" Luffy asked with his eyes bright, "That's where my gramps works. Though he's not a pirate so he's not as cool."

"Luffy, please," Makino said softly, crouching down next to him, "You can't say things like that. We don't know when he'll be back so the last thing we want is for you to get into trouble, right? I'm sure that they don't mind telling you stories but please don't say anything that could get back to him, okay?"

"Hey, since when am I a bribe?" Shanks asked, looking between the two of them but Luffy looked terrified at the very thought of what his grandpa would say or do if he was here.

"I don't want gramps to hit me again!" Luffy cried, rubbing his head just thinking about it, "I wanna stay here and learn about being a pirate. But wait, grandpa just left so we should be good right?"

"I don't know, but we shouldn't tell him otherwise he might not want to come back to visit for a while… or maybe he'll come back a lot sooner?" she added, looking conflicted on this.

"Yeah, I can't imagine Garp would be happy if he knew his grandson was becoming friends with pirates," Robin said sympathetically. "I think that his 'training' would become a lot more—violent?"

"I'm almost scared too scared to even think about it…?" Usopp whispered as he thought it over before he grew very pale and shrieked at whatever images popped in his head.

"Did you just scare yourself?" Zoro asked with a roll of his eye.

"Hey, hold on a sec, you're saying his grandfather hits him?" Shanks demanded with a frown, realizing what Luffy just said.

Makino blinked, seemingly forgotten how strange it sounded to someone who wasn't aware of the situation.

"Well… it's… how do I explain this…? It's complicated?" Makino asked with a tense smile.

"Oh, that is perhaps the best way that one can describe it," Zoro shrugged, unable to think of a better word for this situation.

But Shanks looked back to Luffy and asked directly, "What's so complicated? I mean, from the way you're talking, I get that the old man doesn't like pirates but that's no reason to hit you."

"Gramps wants me to be a marine," Luffy admitted with a frown. "But I don't want to be a marine! It doesn't look or sound like it'd be any fun at all! Training all day, following rules, you can't go anywhere without permission! That's why I think it'd be a lot more fun being a pirate!"

"Yeah, that makes sense," Franky laughed. "Who'd want to work for the government anyway? It'd take all the fun outta life!"

"Well, I guess I can't argue with any of that," Shanks said, thinking that over. "Yeah, it's great being a pirate… I mean sure, it'd be better without the bounty hunters and Marines on our asses all the time, but job hazard I suppose."

"Why'd you become a pirate?" Luffy asked him.

"Hmmm," Shanks said, thinking it all over. "Guess it's kinda complicated for me as well. Like you said, I knew that it'd be freer than locking yourself up in Marine Headquarters for most of your life. Marines… they're given an order, and they do it no matter what… the best thing about being a pirate is that you can do whatever you want, whenever you want."

"Yep, I can see right away that this guy is a big influence on Luffy," Sanji smiled. "Almost like seeing an older version of the rubber brain…?"

"What's your name anyway, kid?" Shanks asked, sounding a lot more interested in Luffy now.

"Monkey D. Luffy," he answered back with an innocent look. Shanks only smiled and nodded before freezing, his eyes widening in shock once it all fully sank in what he said. Not just him, but upon saying his full name, the entire bar fell silent almost at once, staring at Luffy with dumbfounded expressions.

"What's wrong?" Chopper asked, just as innocent as Luffy was here, who was clearly looking around in confusion to why the partying just stopped.

"Just give them a moment. After all, Shanks was a member of the former Pirate King's crew, so I'm betting that he ran into Garp more than once out there," Zoro asked, waiting for it all too fully hit.

It seemed that his thoughts were right on the money, for Shanks seemed to be putting two and two together.

"Monkey… D…?" Shanks repeated slowly, looking back down at Luffy with greater interest. "Luffy… your grandpa… is he a marine too?"

Luffy nodded before Shanks quickly added, "And what's his full name?"

"Garp," Luffy answered back, "Monkey D. Garp."

Once Luffy confirmed their worst fears a handful of the pirates spat out their drinks.

"WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTT?!"

"That's how I felt when I first heard the news," Sanji muttered as everyone seemed freaked out at the thought that this was Garp's home. After all, even he heard of the famous hero of the marines. To find out that his half-mad captain was that man's grandson was a stunning surprise. Of course, after meeting the legend himself, he could see the family resemblance.

"DID YOU JUST SAY MONKEY D. GARP? AS IN GARP THE FIST?" someone shouted out in terror.

"Heh," Yasopp chuckled at the thought, "That maniac who's always chasing us around? He lives here? Damn. You picked a real fun spot, didn't ya, Shanks?"

"Shut it! How was I supposed to know?" Shanks demanded.

"I didn't even know he had a kid… let alone a grandkid," Beckman said, looking only mildly surprised compared to the rest of the crew.

"Grap's grandson? So he's related to that nutjob out on the sea who throws cannonballs like they were pebbles?" someone else asked.

"Yeah, there's no doubt, they're related," Usopp muttered as they all nodded, seeing it as well.

"Well, I guess now we know why pirates don't come to this part of the East Blue that often," Lucky Roo chuckled.

"Ok… enough, settle down, you idiots," Shanks said slowly, looking at Luffy with new interest. "Your grandfather is Garp… the hero of the marines?"

"Yes," Luffy said, still looking confused to their reactions.

"So that means that he had to have a kid… Luffy, where are your parents?" Shanks asked curiously and Luffy just shrugged.

"Don't have any," he answered rather bluntly.

"Ok, I get why Garp didn't tell him anything about his dad, but it makes me wonder about his mom now," Nami muttered softly to herself.

"No idea. If Luffy doesn't know anything about her, then chances are she either she left or died," Franky offered in a grim tone. "I guess I gotta give Garp some credit for taking him, so to speak."

"Taking him in? He's just left his grandson for who knows how long with random people, by the looks of it," Nami retorted, still not happy about this. "He's got the nurturing instincts of a Coo-Coo bird."

"Huh… I see," Shanks muttered. "But your grandpa isn't here right now, right?"

"Nope, he left just before you all arrived," Luffy answered back with a sour expression. "He was doing more training with me. He tied me to some balloons and sent me flying, telling me to get myself down without dying."

"Why?" Shanks asked sweatdropped at the mental picture.

"He said it was to make me into a strong man," he grumbled.

"How is this training gonna make you a man?" Shanks asked, looking baffled by such a thing before he looked to Makino, who shrugged helplessly.

"Garp… he prefers a more hands-off approach to raising children," she offered with a shrug. "I try not to judge Garp-san since we're safe from pirates thanks to him. He won't tolerate pirates causing trouble with his grandson here after all."

"Well, I'll be damned," Shanks said as the rest of his crew started laughing at the irony here. Shanks did too after a while and a few drinks and Luffy was happily stuffing his face when Makino set a full plate of food in front of him.

Just as the party was getting into the full swing of things, another person entered the bar. This time, it was a middle-aged man with a cleft chin, grayish-white mustache and beard, with wearing oval glasses and leaning on a walking stick with a rather grumpy expression.

"Who's this guy?" Zoro asked unimpressed.

It turned out that the man was the mayor Woop Slap, who heard that pirates were in town and at the bar. He was demanding answers to see what their intentions were. As they talked and ate, Shanks, who was very interested in how Garp was with Luffy, asked him a few questions while Luffy was occupied with the rest of the crew, listening to them singing a few songs.

"That's about it," Woop Slap answered with a tittering nose, "Everyone in the village has looked after Luffy at least once since Garp doesn't seem to stay longer than a few days at a time. Of course, I get it, his duties take him all over the world so he has to put his duty ahead of everything else at the moment, but I think that it would be good if he would try to spend a little more time with Luffy."

"Yeah, I don't think so," Sanji said, "Perhaps if he didn't try to force his stupid ideas on the kid then they'd have a better relationship. I think it's probably in Luffy's best interest if he didn't show up as often."

"Just showed up one day with a crying baby in his arms," Woop Slap went on, tapping his cane on the floor. "I asked him who's kid this was and his answer was something like 'This is my grandson, Luffy. I need you to take care of him for now, I'll be back in a few weeks to check in on him.' And when I demanded who was gonna pay for it he just said to 'put it on his tab' before he left!"

"You know, if someone told me that story about literally anyone else, I'd have thought that they were just idiots but…?" Zoro said slowly, finding himself believing that was exactly what happened.

Everyone just laughed at that, even Luffy was enjoying himself before looking to Shanks and asked, "So you travel all over the world, Shanks?"

"Yep, been to a little bit everywhere and we're nowhere near done," he answered with a grin.

"Then… can I come with you?" Luffy asked with bright eyes.

"He barely knows them but he wants to go with them?" Brook asked in surprise.

"Well, he's only known him for about an hour but already he's being treated better than he is with Garp," Zoro shrugged.

"Why would Shanks bring a weakling like you with us?" asked an imperious voice and they looked to the door to see that Uta had reappeared, having completed her shopping and she was giving Luffy a rather evil grin as he stuck his tongue out at her.

The memory faded after that, and soon began a sequence of memories that included mostly of Luffy begging Shanks to take him with them, and Shanks would always say no, usually teasing him just to make him angry.

Luffy wasn't one to be deterred though. Every single day he would rush through the town to the Party Bar where, 9/10 times would Shanks and his crew be there. Every single time, without fail, he would go charging in, begging Shanks to take him on their next adventure only to be rejected.

It got to the point that Luffy would throw tantrums until Uta, saying that she was protecting Shanks from him, would drag him outside to keep him distracted. Funnily enough, somehow these little excursions would suddenly dissolve into a series of competitions between the two, which would grow ever crazier with each passing day.

Not that this was necessarily bad though, for at one point during their contests, a pair of bandits came out to ambush them when they were on their own. Despite the fact that they were still kids, they were able to fight them off long enough before running and laughing all the while at the stunned expressions on their faces.

"I can't tell if they're friends or not," Chopper said at one point as the two would race through the village, with Uta taunting Luffy as he gave chase.

"Oh, this is common with little boys and girls," Robin reassured him with a laugh. "They're enjoying each other's company but they don't want to admit to it."

"You know they kinda remind me of someone with how they're acting," Sanji said as he tried to put a finger to why this felt so familiar.

"Yeah, but were? I know that I've seen something like this before," Zoro added as he rubbed his chin as he thought.

The others just looked at them in exasperation before Usopp muttered, "Geez, who do you think? Two people who can't seem to get along and always insisting with stupid contests to prove who's better? Zoro? Sanji? None of this is ringing any bells?"

"Nope," they said at the same time, generally not getting it as the others shook their heads, none of them having the heart to remind them that it's exactly like how the two of them fight.

"Anyway, I think she's a bad influence on him," Usopp muttered. Which was true, because after a few losses, Luffy would become extremely competitive and wouldn't stop until he won at least on contest for the day. It didn't help that Uta never passed up an opportunity to tease him, which would lead to fighting and Luffy more determined than ever to show her he was strong… which would lead to stupid behavior such as leaping from a cliff at one point, causing Uta to scream out in shock.

One such memory took place on another sunny day, and this time the two were in barrels as they raced each other from the docks and out to sea with paddles. Shanks's ship was easily the largest one in the harbor as the village quickly shrank behind them, as they followed after to see what happened next.

"Crap! Are we running on top of water?!" Usopp cried out, finding all of this too weird even by their 'normal standards' as Straw Hats. Their feet were submerged into the sea, but they were still floating on the unsettled waves as if standing on solid ground. This was easily one of the strangest things to have ever happened to them.

"Now this is interesting," Robin said with bright curiosity as Chopper screamed in terror. "You don't see this every day."

"How is this possible?" Nami gasped.

"How is any of this possible?" Zoro asked as Chopper clung to his leg, as if terrified that he would fall into the water if he let go.

"It's not even wet though," Franky said, lifting up his sunglasses so that he could look at his feet. He jumped up and down a few times, but still felt nothing.

"Yohohoho! You get used to it if you move fast enough!" Brook laughed as they kept up with the two children, who were moving as top speed.

"I'm sure I'm faster than you!" Luffy yelled at her.

"No way! I'm faster!" Uta retorted, both of them neck and neck as they sped along the water.

When they spotted a large rock in the distance, Luffy yelled, "Whoever gets to the rock first wins!"

"Sounds good!" she shouted back as they paddled even harder, their little faces set with determination as they used all their strength to beat them. At least, until they got close enough to realize that the 'rock' wasn't made of stone. But rather…?

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" Usopp bellowed out in terror as a Sea King rose up—looking like a large oversized brown eel with glowing red eyes and blue fins.

"Where did a Sea King come from?" Nami screamed out, "They're hardly ever seen outside the Grand Line or Calm Belts?!"

Luffy and Uta turned as white as ghosts once they realized that they were in serious trouble and the only reason they weren't eaten yet was because the Sea King had its back turned to them as it was munching on a large fish.

The two remained surprisingly quiet as they spun around and paddled harder than ever to make it back to shore before death noticed them. They were both so freaked out that they didn't even dare to turn around to check if the sea monster was after them. Thankfully, once it ate its fill, it dove back under the water and out of sight, causing the Straw Hats to sigh with relief as they followed after the two—still moving like their lives depended on it.

"Why are you turning back, Luffy?!" Uta called, though her face was also filled with terror, "The race's not over yet!"

"You too, Uta!" he retorted, just barely holding back tears, "Are you scared?!"

"No way!" she yelled back, though none of them were fooled and even laughed as the two hightailed it back to land like there was no tomorrow. They didn't say a word as they ran along the beach and to a small cliff overlooking the ocean where the two collapsed onto the grass, breathing hard.

"That was close," he panted after they caught their breath.

"What was that?" Uta demanded.

"Just the local sea monster," he answered as if every island had their own local sea monster hunting in their waters.

"He just says that so casually," Usopp muttered with a shake of his head, "As if he wasn't scared out of his mind just a second ago."

"Well, he survived it, that's what matters," Franky laughed. "It'll make for a funny story later."

It seemed to be a funny story right now, for suddenly the two were snorting with laughter and were unable to stop for a while. It was adorable to watch and everyone was smiling at the sight until Uta sat right up and made a confession.

"I have a dream," she said happily, "I will travel around the world with Shanks, make so many songs, I'll build a new genesis!"

Upon hearing the conviction in her voice, Luffy beamed happily and popped up next to her as he declared, "Okay! I'll build a new genesis, too!"

"Does he even know what that word means?" Nami asked with a laugh.

"It means a new beginning, right?" Chopper asked eagerly.

"They do say that every journey is a new beginning," Robin chuckled at the thought.

"Don't say it like it's that easy," Uta warned even as Luffy just laughed and excitedly told her why he was so set on becoming a pirate.

"I wanna go to so many places, meet so many people… and eat every kind of food!" he grinned as the rest of the crew could only smile, knowing that it sounded so much like Luffy.

"Well, at least that part of his dream came true," Brook chortled with an air of happiness. "A pirate's life for me and all that, Yohohoho!"

But all good things had to come to an end sooner or later. For in the next memory, they were back at the docks with Shanks carrying Luffy by the scruff of his shirt off his ship. Still demanding that Shanks take Luffy with him.

"I can't believe you snuck on…" Shanks said with an air of annoyance as Uta skipped along, looking smug—where it was clear who had ratted Luffy out to Shanks.

"He keeps this up, even Shanks is gonna lose his patience," Brook pointed out.

"You gotta give him credit though, he's no quitter," Sanji commented. "Then again, Luffy usually does get what he wants, doesn't he?"

"Stubbornness is the key, I guess," Usopp agreed.

Uta just grinned as Makino and Shanks talked, whispering to Luffy, "If you become much stronger than now I'll ask him with you."

Luffy pouted once more, but he nodded in agreement as the two rejoined the rest of the crew and left him behind. Luffy stuck his tongue out at Uta, making a face before she grinned back and called, "When I return, I'll test you to see if you became any stronger!"

Despite the mocking tone underlying the scene, it was still a sweet moment before it all faded. With Luffy having a determined expression, as if he was eager to prove to them all that he was strong.

"While I do feel bad for Luffy, it's far too reckless to be going out to sea as a pirate at such a young age," Robin said, speaking from experience as Shanks brought Luffy back to Makino, who apologized and thanked him for bringing him back. "Luffy is just a child here and even with a strong pirate crew, there's no promise that Shanks and the others would be able to keep him safe. So it's really in his best interest that he stay here until he's older."

"Not that it's gonna stop him even if they do explain it. Which they probably did several times," Nami sighed fondly.

The next memory soon reappeared, this time revealing Luffy as he sat huddled under a tree that overlooked the harbor. The sky was a dark red color—almost a crimson-red like blood and it brought a rather grim mood once that all settled in. But the Straw Hats were more focused on little Luffy, who kept his head down as he hugged his knees to his chest, as if lost in thought.

"Has he been waiting there the whole time?" Usopp asked in surprise.

"I guess," Zoro said, now curious as to why Luffy would choose to wait here when he could have been running off and playing with others.

"Yes, I noticed that Luffy-san doesn't seem to have many other friends here," Brook asked, thinking back to the people he had seen before. While everyone seemed to be very kind to Luffy, almost all of them had been adults. Even then…?

"Now that I think about it," he went on, "So far, I didn't see any other children in town that are close to Luffy in age. The only person around here who looked to be even close was Uta-san."

"Really? You don't think Luffy has any other friends?" Chopper asked, suddenly feeling sad.

"I'm sure that he has people who care about him like Makino and the mayor, but I noticed that too. Even the few kids around already looked to be teenagers and I can't imagine that many would be spending a lot of time with a little kid," Nami said as she glanced down at the village below them.

"That's not unusual," Usopp spoke up from experience. "I mean, my village was about this size and my friend Kaya was the only one who was around my age. Even then we hardly ever talked because she came from a wealthy family and they were protective over her. Otherwise, there were the Usopp Pirates but I was older than they were."

He paused there, thinking about how lucky those three were to be the same age, so they had each other to play with. He wondered how they were doing right now?

"The Usopp Pirates?" Chopper asked, his eyes bright, "You mean you were the captain of another pirate crew?"

"Heh! You betcha! They were…?!"

"Three little kids," Zoro cut in and Usopp shot him a dark glare.

"Oh…?" Chopper sighed in disappointment.

"The point is, I think that Luffy doesn't have a lot of friends to play with so he's missing Uta and the others," Brook offered before Luffy let out an excited gasp. They immediately turned to see what caught his attention and saw through the deep red glow of the setting sun, Shank's ship slowly heading towards them.

Luffy beamed a happy smile as he leapt up and went running towards the docks again.

"Why are we always running?" Nami panted, growing tired of this as they followed him.

"He's a child, this is just how they get around," Robin chuckled, finding it all endearing. By the time that they reached the docks, the sky had turned even redder and Shanks's ship had just pulled in while darkness began to sink in through the red.

"Welcome back!" Luffy called, hopping up and down in excitement, "What was your adventure like this time? Hey! What's your problem, guys? You look down!"

It was true. The entirety of the Red-Haired Pirates had disembarked, but rather than the cheerful, laughing bunch that they had first seen…? Zoro's eye narrowed as he got a good look at their solemn faces, most of them barely giving Luffy a second glance and no one was answering him—as if he wasn't even there. Their faces were dour, almost haunted, some of them looked as if they were completely lost in their own heads.

"Something happened," he said as everyone felt like the air was taken from their lungs.

"Yeah… but… damn. Whatever it was, had to be really bad," Franky muttered, now almost afraid to ask what could change the atmosphere so suddenly. They couldn't have been gone that long, right? A few weeks at most! What could have happened in such short a time?

Luffy seemed put out by their lack of answers and attention, and snapped back, "Forget it! I'll ask Uta!"

He turned back to the ship, calling out excitedly, "Where are you, Uta?"

But Uta didn't answer him. She didn't even appear. Instead, it looked like the last person to disembark was Shanks. Like the rest of his crew, his head was bowed and a sad aura seemed to hang around him. They couldn't see his eyes though, which were hidden by the rim of his hat. Upon seeing him like this though, the Straw Hats knew that something really, really bad had to have happened.

Luffy, however, didn't seem to realize this at first as he ran happily up to Shanks and asked, "Shanks! Where's Uta?! Where did she go?!"

Shanks didn't answer him.

"Oh no…" Nami whispered, seeing the expression on Shank's face—how it was devoid of emotion. "You don't think… something bad happened to Uta, do you?"

"He's not saying anything," Usopp gulped, feeling oddly cold as Chopper sniffled worriedly.

Shanks still didn't say a word, he didn't even turn his head to look down at him, as if he was unable to meet Luffy's eyes. After a few more seconds of silence, Luffy seemed to realize that something was up and his smile slowly faded.

"No way," Luffy said quietly, his voice one of stunned disbelief as a trickle of worry mixed in, "Don't tell me… did something happen to her?"

Shanks just patted Luffy on the head and said with a forced smile, "Don't worry, Luffy. Uta left the ship to become a singer. That's all."

"What? No way. Why?!" Luffy asked as tears flooded down his face and he slapped Shanks's hand away, not believing a word he was saying, "She loves you so much! She'd never leave the ship! Something must've happened!"

Shanks stood there, still as a statue, not speaking even as Luffy demanded an answer, hitting Shanks over with his small fists as he cried.

"I'm done with you!" he yelled before he turned and ran away, hollering miserably as he did.

"You don't think that Uta died or something?" Usopp gasped to them as the memory faded. "No way! She was with Shanks, my dad, everyone! What could have happened?"

But no one had a clue how to answer that since no one in the memory wasn't willing to even mention it. It was impossible for them to know the truth if they didn't say anything.

"Even the strongest aren't invincible nor can they be there at all times," Robin stated with a frown. "I don't want to jump to conclusions but I would guess that something unexpected happen and the Red-Haired pirates weren't able to keep Uta out of it. That's as much, I think, we can draw from."

The next memory showed Luffy sitting at the docks again, only it looked to be a later afternoon this time, with their child-version captain watching the waves beneath him.

"I'm surprised that Luffy picked up almost immediately that something was wrong," Franky offered. "Normally, he can't read a room."

"Luffy may be dense in most forms of life…?" Nami offered. "…but he can be really in tune with other people's emotions and can dial in on how other people are feeling instantly. Wish I knew how he does it."

"Hey, Luffy!" called a voice, grabbing their attention and they looked up just as Luffy did, looking hopeful, only for it to be dashed when he saw that it was Benn Beckman who was making his way towards him.

"Oh, it's you, Beckman," he said in a disappointed tone.

If Beckman was offended by this, he didn't say anything as he took a seat beside him, and the two watched out over the ocean in silence.

After a long moment, he asked softly, "Forgive the boss."

"Why?!" Luffy demanded, "He's not telling me what happened, so it's his fault!"

Beckman just shut his eyes and answered, "Everyone has a thing or two that they can't talk about."

The Straw Hats remained still, feeling torn on what the best option would be. Luffy was still pretty young so he wouldn't fully understand why they would be keeping something like Uta's fate a secret but was really keeping completely silent the best option?

Luffy didn't want to sit there any longer, all but running away from Beckman, who watched him leave without trying to stop him. With no other choice, they followed Luffy, who just seemed lost and confused on what to do and where to go. In time, he just wandered about higher above the village, walking for perhaps hours in silence as he tried to think about what to do next.

"They sure were acting like someone died," Sanji said bitterly, "They don't even want to voice what happened."

"Still, he was Uta's friend too… they should at least have told him if she's alive or dead!" Brook said in an upset tone before adding, "They don't have to go into details, but Luffy-san is just going to keep on wondering if she's out there or not!"

"She might be…?" Chopper pointed out, thinking how Shanks kept saying that she left to become a singer. Could it be that the famous Uta and this Uta were one and the same? Maybe she really did leave and the rest of the crew was just upset about it?

"I just… feel terrible… what do you do in a situation like this?" Franky asked, "Not the memory part, I doubt that just anyone can say they've been inside their captain's head, but what do you say to a kid who lost a friend? Even if she's still alive, it doesn't look like Luffy's gonna see her again any time soon, if at all."

"There's really nothing you can say that can soften a blow like that even if we were there," Zoro stated stoically. "I'm sure that Luffy has long since made peace with this fact. What good would it be to bring up such painful memories now?"

More frowns were passed around the crew, but no one could think of a way to argue against that. It was true, even if they weren't happy with how he worded it.

They followed after Luffy for another 10-15 minutes before they came to a pass between more cliffs and the forest where there were a couple faces they hadn't expected to see again.

"Hey, aren't those the bandits who attacked them the other day?" Chopper gasped out at the sight of the two, who were grinning evilly at Luffy as he tried to walk by them.

"Yeah… that's not good," Sanji said, knowing that Luffy was outnumbered this time and they were sure not to let this matter go. Sure enough, the bandits began taunting Luffy, tripping him up, and throwing insults before they began to throw punches at him.

"Bet they feel real proud after beating up a kid!" Nami yelled in outrage, her hands shaking from fury as she wanted to give those two a thunderbolt to the face. How dare they do that to a kid? She just couldn't forgive scumbags like them who would ever strike a child like that!

But Luffy just took it, though it wasn't like he had much of a choice this time around. He kept hissing out insists before he was too tired to fight back and instead muttering a mantra to himself as the tears fell: "I'm strong… I'm s-s-strong…"

It was painful to watch and some of them even launched forward, trying to aim for some kind of attack to get them to stop. No matter what the circumstances where, this was way overkill for a kid! But apart from some snarls of frustration from not being able to touch them, they were nothing but air to these guys. The memory was becoming blurred and black at the edges, showing how hard it was for Luffy just to stay conscious, and they knew that he was close to blacking out. Just as the two were about to deal a finishing blow, however, a cigarette came flying out of nowhere, actually causing the bandit holding Luffy to scream in shock before dropping him as he tried to cool the burn on his face.

"Where'd that…?" Sanji asked before looking up to see who had appeared.

Beckman had reappeared, his face set and looking on with a firm but calm expression. Though that did nothing to hide the livid aura that seemed to radiate off him; his eyes narrowed at the two bandits like they were something disgusting at the bottom of his shoes.

"Benn Beckman? Did he follow after Luffy?!" Chopper gasped out.

"Who cares?! Luffy finally has someone here to back him up," Usopp grinned, knowing that this was gonna be good. But the memory was growing faint at this point as Luffy struggled to keep his eyes open.

The last thing they heard before Luffy passed out completely was Beckman growling out, "I'm taking the boy back!"

"Damn, I wanted to see Beckman take them out," Zoro sneered, knowing that it would've been a good show. Even though this was the past, he could sense it from within Beckman a pure, raw power that drew his attention. He couldn't hide the infamous shark grin coming to his face as he was filled with a strong urge to test himself against the man. It's been over twelve years at this point and he was sure that he must have grown even stronger… his hand went to rest on his swords at the thought.

"Looking real scary there, Zoro," Nami muttered, not liking the evil grin he had.

"Just thinking about how much fun it would be to meet these guys, that's all," he said in amusement.

"I'm just glad that he showed up when he did. Thank goodness he went after Luffy-san," Brook said as he dabbed at his forehead with his feathered boa.

The memory returned and they saw that it was completely night now, the sun having set at this point while a silver moonlight lit up the fields about them with dancing shadows. Beckman was carrying Luffy piggy-back down a steep and grassy slope, obviously taking him back to the village. From the faint, silver light they could see just how bruised and swollen Luffy's face had become and even some of Zoro's amusement faded at the sight. Still, he was stirring, opening up his eyes and looking around in confusion before Beckman noticed this.

"You're finally up," he said in a soft voice.

Luffy didn't answer right away as he wrapped his tiny hands around Beckman's neck and held on, letting him take him back. He seemed to be crying again.

"I wanna be strong…" he whimpered quietly.

"Awww…" Nami cooed sadly at the broken tone in Luffy's voice.

"Yeah…" Beckman answered back as Luffy began crying more openly.

"I wanna be strong…" he repeated.

"I know. I know the feeling," Beckman said gently with a touch of sadness, as if he truly meant it.

They all knew it as well. They all knew all too well the feeling of helplessness. Of not being able to help someone you cared for or protect someone you wanted to protect…? Their hearts went out to little Luffy, wishing that they could tell him that it does get better—that he does grow stronger. All the Straw Hats had someone in their lives that they had wished they could save, or protect and they felt like they left them down. Even though most of them were still pretty young when such losses happened, they couldn't help but wonder 'what could have happened…?' if they were as strong as they were now.

But the thing that they all thought of at that moment were the events of two years ago…?

Saboady…? Where they couldn't protect each other.

And Marineford… where they couldn't be there to protect their captain.

"Why can't you tell me?" Luffy asked tearfully, clearly not thinking about his own injuries and just wanting answers, "Did something really bad happen to Uta? Is that why you can't talk about it?"

Beckman sighed, and once more they were dying to hear what happened to that spirited girl, but all Beckman said was, "Forgive us. I wish I could tell you without causing any more pain. But the truth is difficult for us to accept. Just talking about it causes us pain. That's why we don't say it."

That seemed to be the deciding factor for them all. Several of them began to weep for Luffy, knowing how painful it was to lose a friend… and at this age as well! Luffy said nothing else for a long while as they neared the village, the warm glow of the houses looking inviting even from this distance.

After another few minutes, Beckman finally broke his silence.

"I'm not gonna tell you to forgive him," he said finally, "Just know that Shanks wouldn't be keeping quiet about it if it wasn't important. But how about, if you're feeling better by tomorrow, why don't you come down and see the boss at the bar? I think that it would cheer him up if you did."

Luffy hid his face against Beckman's shirt, keeping quiet for another long moment before whispering sadly, "I don't think he'll want to see me. I said a bunch of mean things to him."

"I wouldn't worry about him being angry. If he's mad, then believe me when I say it's not directed at you," Beckman reassured him. "You come and see the captain tomorrow… and I promise that he'll be glad to see you."

The memory faded as the Straw Hats were left trying to digest what they witnessed.

None of them could say a word as what was said fully sank in, finding it difficult to even breathe as their hearts felt like they were breaking. They could only wait until the memory returned, and like they thought, they were back at the bar, though it was significantly quieter than usual despite it being full. Luffy soon came in, his face and head bandaged as the few pirates who had been talking, turned to look at him. It was honestly a little creepy as Luffy marched in, not looking at any of them as he made straight for Shanks, who was at his usual barstool.

"Hey, Luffy," Shanks said without looking at him.

"Let me on board your ship," he said, as if nothing changed between them.

"No," he answered.

"Cheapskate," he shot back grumpily.

"Aren't you done with me?" Shanks asked as Luffy pulled himself up to sit beside him at the bar.

"No, I'm not," Luffy said before Shanks finally noticed his bandages.

"Where did you get all those injuries?" he asked in surprise.

"Like Beckman hasn't already told him?" Usopp offered.

"I don't think so," Zoro said, watching said man out of the corner of his eye as he observed the two, wondering what was going to happen.

"I fell," Luffy snapped back.

"No way," Shanks said doubtfully. "How'd you fall to get hurt like that?"

"I FELL!" Luffy yelled, giving him a hard look but didn't elaborate any further and Shanks let it go.

He even was able to crack a genuine smile before reassuring him, "Okay, you fell. Then I won't ask any further questions."

Luffy seemed torn now about what to say next. It was clear to them all that he was still mad at Shanks for not giving him a clear answer, but he seemed to be thinking against bugging him about it again.

"I have no further questions for you either because it's yours and Uta's business," he said at last. Upon hearing that, some of the other pirates who were listening in, were also starting to smile.

"You're talking like a grown-up," Shanks prodded, now really surprised that he was letting the matter go.

"Then can I come on board?" Luffy asked as Shanks chuckled.

"Oh, is this why Luffy doesn't ask about someone's past?" Sanji asked, a whole new understanding for Luffy came to him.

"I believe it may be part of it," Robin answered as Makino came over, bringing Luffy a full plate of food, causing Luffy's mouth to start drooling. "I think that, while he's not happy with Shanks, he came to understand that by pressuring someone to talk against their will, is only going to lead to more pain all around."

"Luffy, I've got something to celebrate your maturity, too," Shanks said as he planted a small flag on top of his food, causing Luffy to become happy and Shanks laughed so hard he hit his hand against the bar's counter.

"See, you're a kid!"

"That's not fair, Shanks!"

And that was when the entire bar started laughing, causing Luffy to yell back, "Don't laugh!"

Despite the prank, the atmosphere seemed to change between Luffy and the Red-Haired Pirates. With Uta not around, it was like she left behind a void that Luffy had unknowingly filled.

Shanks, in particular, seemed to have grown closest to Luffy, despite never agreeing to take him on their adventures by constantly teasing him for being young and weak. But it never seemed to be in a mean-spirited way, and Shanks usually found ways to make the boy smile before long. He and his crew would occasionally leave for short voyages, but they always seemed to return in no time, any tiredness fading from them upon seeing Luffy's wide smile as he waved from the docks. Shanks would even allow Luffy to ride their ship around the harbor just so he got an idea of what it was like to sail a proper pirate ship.

It was also common for Shanks to take him fishing, even showing him how to bait and hook the line and how best to pull it in to avoid the line breaking—more than once having to grab hold of Luffy before he went tumbling into the harbor. Other times they would just sit at the cliff side as Shanks would take off the straw hat and tell him about his former captain—though never by name—and about how it was given to him when he was still just a young boy.

"Oh, Luffy," he said fondly as he tossed the straw hat up and down in the air, "The stories that the hat could tell if it could talk…?"

"He was formerly on Roger's crew but I wonder why he didn't tell Luffy about that part?" Chopper asked curiously.

"Well, it was a well-kept secret for a reason," Franky said, thinking about Tom sadly. "I mean, a lot of people got in trouble just for meeting the King of the Pirates so maybe he wanted to avoid that happening to Luffy?"

Another thing that Shanks enjoyed were these little tests whenever Luffy would continue to beg to go along with them. Luffy always ended up losing with Shanks finding ways to trick him, but it usually did dissuade him from asking again until the next day. At least until one particular trick where Shanks hid a coin under a cup and Luffy had to try to guess it… which he only later revealed that it was hidden in his mouth. Luffy thought that two could play that game and tried to pull the same trick but…?

"Dude… did bro just swallow that whole damn coin just so that he wouldn't lose a bet?" Franky asked with a snort of laughter.

"Moral of the story… never challenge Luffy. Shanks learned that lesson the hard way," Sanji sniggered.

"I think it was worth swallowing the coin just to see the looks on their faces," Usopp laughed as the pirates around them just stared with stupefied expressions.

"I think that this is just another good example to why Shanks didn't let Luffy board his ship," Robin offered as she grinned. "Luffy isn't one to listen to orders. I think that Shanks knew that."

These memories helped to cheer them all up and they enjoyed watching them having fun. These guys always seemed to know how to have a good time such as the constant singing whenever the bar was full. Brook, in particular, almost wept with joy when they started singing Bink's Brew, and they were making sure to teach Luffy the words until he had them memorized. Brook even joined in with them with his guitar as he sang along, so glad to have others joining in on his favorite song.

In fact, the entire crew seemed to enjoy having Luffy as a captive audience as they trained or practiced. Yasopp, for one, never passed up an opportunity to show off his shooting skills and was not shy about showing how deadly he was with a pistol. He even claimed that he could shoot the antenna off an ant with such confidence that it wouldn't surprise them if he could pull that off.

More annoying than not however was when he would talk about his son, whom he had to leave behind when he joined Shanks's crew.

Upon hearing his name, Usopp instantly perked up, excited and eager to hear the stories he had to tell and boy did Yasopp tell them. He would go on and on about even the tiniest details, causing the Straw Hats to hear more about Usopp as a baby than they ever wanted to. More than once, Luffy would beg that he change the subject after hearing about Usopp so often, which caused Yasopp to stick an empty mug over his head at one point.

"No wonder Luffy recognized you on sight when we first met," Nami said, feeling like someone was dragging nails across a blackboard at this point.

"For a kid he left behind at a young age and hasn't seen since, he sure does talk about you a lot," Zoro growled to their sniper. Honestly, the way that Yasopp went on about Usopp, you would think that the sun shone outta his ass or something.

"Don't be jealous cause my dad's a famous pirate!" Usopp countered proudly.

Other memories would take their turns with teaching Luffy various things, which helped to explain some of Luffy's other quirks. Such as in the case of Lucky Roo, who always seemed to have a piece of meat in his hands, and was also the one who showed Luffy the best way to cook and season just about any kind of meat with simple ingredients so that even a child could do it.

"That explains why meat seems to be the only thing that he can cook without burning down the kitchen," Sanji said as he watched Lucky Roo show Luffy the safest way to turn the meat over a campfire without risk of burning himself.

"It's like Luffy's almost an honorary member of Shanks's crew after all this," Nami chuckled, smiling at the bright smile that Luffy always seemed to have around Shanks and the others.

"Yes, he seems to be close to all of them. Sadly, sooner or later, Shanks and his crew will be forced to move on from here," Robin pointed out before looking over at Zoro, Nami, and Usopp—who seemed to have more understanding of Luffy's time with the Red-Haired pirates and asked, "Did Luffy say about how long Shanks and the others were in town?"

"If I remember correctly, Luffy said that it was close to about a year," Usopp said while thinking back, "Sure they would leave on occasional trips around the East Blue so it wasn't like they gave up being pirates. It just wasn't until about a year after they first arrived did they leave for good, at least that's what Luffy said."

"I see," Robin muttered, finding that slightly strange but didn't question it before adding, "At least for that year, Luffy had some friends who looked after him. I guess after that, it's not such a surprise that they greatly influenced him at such a young age. That must be a nice feeling to have those like family looking after you."

"Hmm?" Chopper asked. "What are you talking about, Robin?"

"Just wistful thinking," she sighed, watching how Luffy and Shanks were sitting by the water again, with Luffy asking if he could wear the straw hat.

Shanks just laughed and ruffled Luffy's hair before answering, "Sorry Anchor. This is a precious treasure. I don't let just anyone touch it."

"Ahhhh, come on, you can trust me," Luffy pouted, but he didn't press the matter as Shanks only continued to laugh.

"It's just that it would've been nice to have someone looking out for me like that," Robin sighed again. "Not that I begrudge him for it. I'm happy that Luffy did have people like them, Makino, the mayor, and Ace looking after him. I think that it's safe to say that he is who he is today because of that."

"Ace…?" Chopper said slowly, a little surprised that Robin would be bringing him up when they haven't seen them yet. His eyes wide as he remembered Luffy's brother, before he clamped his hooves over his mouth as if he said something bad. They all looked to each other—all of them thinking about the elephant in the room. Not one of them had ever once mentioned Ace in front of Luffy after they reunited—it was just something that didn't come up. They had been so happy to see each other again after two long years of training that it never crossed their minds. In fact, Usopp tried hard to think of a moment where Luffy had mentioned Ace or the war… and the only time that came up was when they were on Fishman Island and Luffy told Camie that he had wanted to see Jimbei again. Even then though, the war had been mostly brushed off as Luffy focused instead on Jimbei.

It wasn't like Luffy had forbidden them from asking… but it was almost like a taboo subject among them not to mention such things like Ace or Marineford.

"Speaking of… Ace…?" Usopp said slowly and carefully, almost like he was afraid of saying the man's name, "Where is he? I haven't seen any trace of him yet…?"

Sanji breathed out a puff of smoke as he answered, "I think that's a simple answer. It could just be that they haven't met yet. After all, Ace was adopted by Luffy's grandfather right? That's what I remember the paper saying when it talked about the war. Luffy was raised alongside Ace as stepbrothers or something like that, right?"

He remembered feeling shocked at the revelation that not only was Ace the biological son of the former King of the Pirates, but that he and Luffy weren't actually related by blood. They had such similar personalities, they looked very alike, not to mention their bottomless stomachs…? If someone had told him that they weren't actually related, he would have had a hard time believing that. Those two were brothers in all but blood, he supposed.

"So will we see Ace again?!" Chopper asked with his voice muffled through his hooves.

"These are Luffy's memories so there's a good chance if we watch for long enough," Robin said, her thumb underneath her chin as she thought that over. "But that's the whole problem."

"What do you mean?" Chopper asked, lowering his hooves and looking at her in confusion.

"The problem is that we're watching these private memories," Zoro said darkly, getting at what Robin was suddenly so concerned about. Upon saying that, it fully hit them what they were doing and they all felt like someone had hit them over the head with something heavy for not realizing it sooner.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Franky said at once anxiously. "Does that mean that Luffy doesn't know that we're watching all this?"

"I honestly don't know," Robin answered as she continued to watch Luffy listened as if entranced by Shanks's story of some of the giant sea monsters that he had seen that made the one that lived here look like a baby eel in comparison. "But if these truly are his memories, which I feel safe enough to say that they are, there is a good chance that we're watching them without the captain's knowledge or permission."

"Ack!" Usopp called out in panic. "Quick! Turn it all off then! I wouldn't want it if someone was looking into my head without me knowing!"

"Yes! We need to leave!" Chopper called out hurriedly.

"I would be happy to help with that if I knew how," she answered back dully.

Nami frowned with concern and asked, "But there has to be a way out! One that doesn't involve keeping us trapped here until we're finished watching his life story?"

"I don't know," Robin answered again sadly. "I only know what I told you. Whether or not Luffy knows that we're watching is the question. But until we can figure out a way out of here then it seems that we are stuck watching."

"Oi!" Usopp said to her, waving his arms around dramatically, "That's not fair! If Luffy's at the Gates of Hell then he deserves to keep his memories private from us if he wants them private doesn't he?"

"Would you all leave her alone?" Sanji snapped at Usopp. "If Robin-chan doesn't know how to get out of here, then no one does. It's not fair to snap at her for something she has no control over."

They all looked at each other, knowing that he was right. None of them blamed Robin for this, it's just that they were all touchy they all were when it came to their pasts. All of them had their secrets that they preferred to keep buried, which Luffy had never pressed them to talk about if they didn't want to. So this felt like a huge betrayal on their parts.

Zoro gave a frustrated sigh and frowned, "There isn't really much we can do about it. We don't really have a choice in the matter."

Chopper shifted on his feet in an upset way before asking, "What do we tell Luffy when we find him?"

"Maybe it's better if we don't mention it," Usopp said to himself.

"No, we will," Zoro said without room for an argument. "If it were me, I'd be angry as hell. Hard to say what Luffy will do when he finds out, but how can we expect him to trust us if we can't even tell him the truth?"

Sanji sighed as he lit up another cigarette, having a bad feeling that he was going to be going through more than usual before this 'adventure' was over.

"As much as it pains me to admit it," he stated gloomily, "Moss Head here is right for once. Until we get out of here and find Luffy, we'll watch this. And when we do find him, we'll be honest. No matter what we see, it won't change the fact that he's our captain. So it would be a huge act of duplicity if we kept quiet about this."

Everyone frowned heavily at them before the memory shifted back to the Party Bar with Luffy in his usual spot by Shanks's side. Rather than continue on with the argument, they turned to watch as Luffy spoke up again, once more begging Shanks to take him out and how much he wanted to be a pirate even as Shanks continued to laugh.

"Alright, who's been encouraging him?" Shanks asked the crew at large, who only laughed out again.

"Why won't you take me?" Luffy demanded.

"How can a boy like you become a pirate?" Shanks asked him in a playful tone.

"Why not?" Luffy demanded hotly.

"Luffy," Yasopp spoke up again, something that made Usopp beam with delight whenever he got to see his father. "Listen. It's not about how well you can or can't swim. A pirate is a lot more than that."

"But I can fight!" Luffy said, punching the air in front of him. "My punches as strong as pistols!"

"Are you kidding?" Usopp asked with a snort of laughter, "They're now stronger than cannons!"

"A pistol? Wow… really?" Shanks asked, going back to his plate of food in front of him and the other pirates started laughing again at the complete disinterest in Shank's voice.

"WOULD YOU STOP LAUGHING AT ME?!" Luffy shouted at them and the Straw Hats couldn't help but laugh along as well.

"You're still just a kid," Lucky Roo informed him as he enjoyed his usual slab of meat.

"You're about the same age as my kid," Yasopp added and Usopp couldn't stop the proud smile on his face.

"I'm not a kid!" Luffy shouted out, gritting his teeth together as he glared at them all. "I'm a grown up!"

Shanks told him to relax as he put a small glass of juice in front of him. As always, when face to face with food, Luffy's anger disappeared like magic as he happily took a sip. But, once again, Luffy fell into a trap because Shanks started laughing so hard that he was pounding the bar with his hand.

"What's so funny now?" Nami asked.

She got her answer at once when Shanks pointed out, "See? You are a kid! What kind of pirate likes juice?"

"But I like juice," Chopper said in confusion.

"Shank's is just teasing him, Chopper," Sanji laughed. "I like this guy…?"

"That's a dirty trick!" Luffy shouted at him angrily. As everyone else started laughing he snapped at them all, "Stop laughing at me!"

"Luffy sure was hot-headed back then," Franky laughed so hard that tears were in his eyes.

"Oh, we all know he grows out of it. In contrast to now, it takes a lot more to make him mad. However, at the same time, he still acts like he did back then," Robin laughed.

"Yeah," Nami agreed, "Which just proves that he's an immature kid like I always thought."

"I prefer to think of it as being young at heart," Robin smiled.

"I think all kids are like that at that age," Zoro sniggered, knowing that he was hardly better at that age. Now that he looked closer, Luffy did seem to be slightly older in this memory compared to a lot of the others and he wondered how much longer it would be before Shanks would be leaving. He knew that Luffy was going to be crushed when that happened and he would be left alone.

Makino stepped in at that moment, giving Luffy a sympathetic smile and another bottle of sake for Shanks.

"Luffy, how about you calm down and eat?" she asked before beaming at Luffy, "How about it?"

"Oh, he's so lucky to be waited on such a kind-hearted woman!" Sanji croaked out, falling to his knees as he looked at Makino. "Oh, love… the likes of which I've never felt before… she's enchanted me as if she had cast a spell… as we speak I'm falling deeper and deeper into her eyes…"

"Would you shut up, you idiot?" Zoro grumbled.

"Are you ready to die yet you shitty swordsman?!" Sanji cried, jumping to his feet, fire starting to burn on his leg at once as Luffy thanked Makino and promised he'd pay her back with his treasure tab.

"Treasure tab?" Chopper repeated, you could almost see the question marks floating above his head. "What's that?"

"I think he means that he'll pay her back later when he gets some treasure," Sanji said, having recovered from his newly broken heart.

"The poor woman," Nami sighed with a smile. "Letting him eat at her bar without paying…?"

"What treasure?" Shanks asked, obviously thinking the same thing. "You shouldn't lie you know."

"Oh, I don't think he is," Franky laughed, "Luffy can't lie to save his life."

"I am not!" Luffy said determinedly, before looking back to her and saying firmly, "I'm definitely going to be a pirate someday! And when I come across a lot of treasure, I'll come back and pay you with that!"

Makino smiled and laughed, though it was clear she didn't expect that to really happen as she answered, "I look forward to it!"

"She's so nice! Now we really have to come visit her someday! I really like her!" Chopper decided as Luffy smiled at her.

"Hey, Shanks," Luffy said, his mouth full of food and Sanji sighed at such atrocious table manners once again. Seriously, he would have to try harder to beat some manners into Luffy when this was all over.

"How long are you going to stay this time?" Luffy asked as Shanks continued to enjoy his drink.

"Well…" Shanks said, thinking it all over for a moment, "It's been a nice break. But we decided that we'll probably set sail a couple more times and then we'll leave this town for good and head back north."

"Only a few more times…" Luffy said softly, taking a long time to swallow as he glanced down at his food. Makino gave him a sad smile and sighed from where she was cleaning glasses behind the counter.

"I thought so," Zoro said as he folded his arms. "It seems that the year that Shanks and the others spent here is almost up. So he knows that soon he'll be forced to say goodbye to them all for good."

Meaning that Shanks would soon be giving him his straw hat. He was now very curious to the story behind that.

But then, Luffy brightened up and said to Shanks, "I'll be a great swimmer by then!"

At that, Shanks started to laugh again. "Sure… we'll see about that."

"In other words, no," Franky said knowingly.

"Even if he was a great swimmer, I doubt that Shanks would still take him," Robin offered. "But this is proof that Luffy hadn't eaten a Devil Fruit yet. So maybe it's a good thing that he ate one before wasting the time in perfecting swimming."

"Yeah, while it would be really cool to have abilities like you guys, I like being able to swim," Franky agreed. "That'll just be one more person the rest of you guys would have to fish out if I fell in. Man, being a pirate must be a real health hazard for you Devil Fruit users."

"You get used to it," Robin chuckled. "We don't become weak in the water unless about half of our bodies become submerged so, while tricky, it's doable."

The words were barely out of her mouth by the time the door to the tavern was kicked in and a group of men came marching in as if they owned the place. The Straw Hats turned to see a large number of them, all of them dressed alike like uniforms and smug smiles on their suspicious-looking faces. They gave off the impression as if they were kids walking into a candy store with no intention of paying.

"Who are these losers?" Zoro asked darkly.

"Look like bandits to me," Sanji claimed, remembering seeing bandits sometimes back when he was still a chef at the Baratie. The pirates fell silent, looking up, as if curious to see what these men were going to do.

"Sorry for the interruption. So these are the pirates I've heard so much about," the man in the front said, obviously the leader of the group, before marching over to the bar. Luffy looked up at him in confusion as the man stepped on the door he kicked over and leaving a boot-shaped print in it. "They all look like idiots to me."

"Doesn't he have any idea who he's talking to?" Nami asked incredulously. "Shanks is one of the Four Emperors after all."

"Actually, if I remember correctly, Shanks didn't become an Emperor until about six years ago," Robin said, trying to remember any details she heard of Shanks. "So his reputation wouldn't have been up to that level yet."

"Either way," Zoro said with a rather evil smirk. "It looks like we're heading to a good show if we're lucky."

"How would we be lucky to watch people get killed?" Nami snapped at him.

The pirate crew didn't say anything as they kept a close watch on the bandits, still waiting to see what they would do. The group approached the bar, with Luffy watching as Makino walked forward to greet them.

"Welcome. What can I do for you?" she asked. There was a hint of uneasiness in her tone, but she stood in front of him with a forced smile.

"We're bandits," the man smirked at her.

"Really?" Usopp asked sarcastically, "We hadn't notice."

"Damn, this place sure seems to have a bandit problem," Franky said as he thought of the two losers who punched Luffy when he was alone. Those two idiots were probably part of this gang by the looks of things.

"We're not here to destroy your bar. We just need about ten barrels of sake," the bandit leader said with clear intentions that he wasn't going to pay

"That's no way to address a lady," Sanji snarled, filled with an ache to kick this loser's face in.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that we're all out of drinks at the moment," Makino answered him politely.

"Hmm?" the bandit asked, his eyebrows raised, "That's strange. These pirates seem to be enjoying themselves here. What are they drinking then? Water?"

"Those jerks," Sanji warned. "They better not do anything to her just because they don't have any drinks for them."

"It's sake," Makino answered him, "But it's also the last of our stock."

"I have to say she's kinda growing on me too," Zoro smirked. "She's got a lot of guts."

Shanks looked up at them. "Oh sorry," he said to them all, "Looks like we went and drank the place dry. But if you want, there is still a bottle left that's unopened." Shanks then held up the bottle that Makino had just brought him. "If you want it, it's all yours."

The bandit's eyes suddenly darkened, as if he couldn't believe that Shanks would dare speak in front of him before he shattered the bottle, the drink splashing all over Shanks and the bar. Makino and Luffy gasped while the bandits all laughed at the sight of it; though the pirates didn't seem fazed by it at all as they turned to their captain—whose head was down with the hat shading his eyes so they couldn't see his expression.

"What's with him?" Nami yelled out furiously. "I know that his crew drank all the sake, but that's no reason to act like a jerk!"

"What a waste of perfectly good sake," Zoro sighed tragically.

"Do you even know who you're talking to?" the bandit said coldly. "I am a bandit. I'm a wanted man who's worth eight million beli."

"Big deal," Sanji said, puffing a little on his cigarette. "We could take you out without breaking a sweat."

The bandit went on, "One bottle won't be nearly enough. Don't take me lightly."

"What do they expect them to do? They're out of booze here! What? They expect to just magically produce more out of thin air?" Usopp asked.

It was quiet for a brief moment before Shanks looked up, "Now the floor's all wet. Sorry about that Makino."

There was a slight pause there before Franky asked, his head tilting slightly, "Is it just me, or does that sound like something Luffy would have said?"

Robin giggled. "It's not just you, Franky. I guess now we know where Luffy learned that from."

Shanks then knelt down and started picking up the shards of glass and asked, "Do you have a mop?"

"Though I doubt that Luffy would offer to help clean up," Nami added as Makino shook herself awake and went around from behind the bar. "O-Oh, no, it's fine, captain," she reassured him, "I can manage it."

But as she stepped out, the mountain bandit drew his sword and slashed it along the bar, cutting a groove into the wood and sending everything on it crashing to the floor to make an even bigger mess.

"Well, if you enjoying cleaning," he sneered at Shanks, who was now leaned up against the bar, now soaked with sake. "Now there's more to clean." He put the sword back and said, "No point wasting our time here while there's no sake. Let's go, men!"

With that command, the band of bandits turned and filed out of the tavern—all of them roaring with laughter.

"Later, cowards," the leader called over his shoulder with a sneer before he followed after. The Straw Hats were now looking over at Luffy who was shaking in his seat—but not from fear, rather with anger. The only sound left was coming from the remaining door swinging squeakily from its hinges.

Makino quickly kneeled down next to Shanks. "Are you alright?" she asked worriedly, using the towel in her hand to help clean him up. "Are you hurt anywhere, Captain?"

Shanks merely waved his hand at her as he reassured her, "I'm fine, it's no problem."

As soon as a grin unfolded on his face it was as if he broke a curse so that his crew broke out into loud, energetic laughter at their captain, with Shanks laughing louder than any of them.

"They really got you!" Yasopp yelled laughing. "That's funny!"

"You look pretty dumb on the floor there, Captain!" Lucky Roo laughed as well as Shanks kept laughing loud with Makino still trying to clean him up.

There was something oddly impressive with how unconcerned that Shanks and the others were. But Luffy sure wasn't happy. Luffy jumped up onto his seat, looking furious at them all with his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

"WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!" Luffy then yelled and caused everyone to look over at him as he yelled out angrily, "THAT WASN'T COOL! WHY DIDN'T YOU FIGHT BACK? NO MATTER HOW MANY THERE ARE OR HOW STRONG THEY LOOK, IF YOU DON'T FIGHT BACK THEN YOU'RE NOT A MAN! NOW I SEE I WAS WRONG ABOUT YOU GUYS!"

"Really?" Chopper asked worriedly.

"Nah," Zoro smiled, waving his hand down at him. "It's one of the first rules you gotta learn out here. Sometimes there are fights that aren't worth getting angry over." He looked over to Nami as he said that, remembering the bar fight they had in Jaya over two years ago, and how angry she had been at them for refusing to fight. But this time, he could see that she was frowning slightly, as if thinking about what he just said.

"I know how you feel, Luffy," Shanks said calmly, looking up at him from the floor, "But all he did was spill sake on me. It's not worth getting upset over."

"Whatever," Luffy huffed at him as he looked over to a small chest sitting next to him on the counter and then reached in to grab something. The Straw Hats leaned over to see what it was he had taken and saw a large, purple fruit decorated with unusual swirls upon its skin in his hands.

"Yow!" Franky asked in surprise, having never seen anything like that. "What's that? It's the funniest looking fruit I've ever seen."

"That's because it's a Devil's Fruit," Robin informed him with a smile.

"Really?" Nami asked curiously. "I've never seen one in person."

"Is it…?" Usopp said, but before he could finish speaking, Luffy took a big bite of it.

"So that's what happened," Nami said, smacking her forehead. "Idiot has no idea what he just did, did he?"

"Very few people do," Robin smiled sadly, thinking back to when she had accidently eaten her Devil Fruit years ago.

"Yeah," Chopper agreed with a nod. "I didn't know the fruit I ate would do this to me."

"Well, you were still a baby reindeer at the time, right? You wouldn't know the difference?" Usopp pointed out in a mischievous grin.

"Shut up!" Chopper yelled, his face a little red when Nami gave a little 'awwing' sound at the thought of Chopper as an even littler reindeer.

Shanks had wiped off the straw hat before he put it back on and looked up at Luffy while telling him, "You shouldn't eat out of frustration you know…?"

"Shut up," Luffy said through a mouthful of fruit.

Shanks blinked before his eyes widened in panic, realizing that something was wrong. "Wait! What are you eating?!" he shouted just as Luffy finished swallowing the last of the fruit.

"Too late now," Robin giggled, "I'm surprised he was able to finish it all in one go with how disgusting they are."

"Do they really taste that bad?" Usopp asked curiously and at the question, Robin, Chopper, and Brook all seemed to grow a little green in the face as he whispered, "Okay, sorry I asked."

"LUFFY!" Shanks yelled, getting up and staring at him in horror, "Don't tell me you just ate the fruit that was inside that chest?"

Luffy just looked at him in confusion, not understanding why he seemed so upset. Instead of answering, Shanks grabbed him and turned him upside down, shaking him as he yelled, "Spit it out! Spit out every piece."

"What—are—you—doing?" Luffy cried with every shake and that was when his legs stretched out and he literally fell flat on his face. He hung there comically for a few seconds before he bounced right back up.

The Straw Hats all started to laugh, having seen this so many times that they were used to it, but seeing the stunned looks on everyone's faces was just priceless.

"Yohohoho, poor Luffy-san," Brook laughed sympathetically.

"Though it's a good thing that he did eat it if you think about it," Nami beamed. "After all, it's because of that annoying ability that he's still alive after everything that's happened to us over the last two years."

"Does this mean…?" one of the pirates gasped out.

"He couldn't have…?" Yasopp gasped.

Luffy was staring ahead of him, his face slightly red from where it hit the floor. But his eyes were wide in shock as he asked, "What just happened?"

Shanks lifted him up so that they were eye to eye even while upside down and he shouted, "LUFFY THAT WAS A DEVIL FRUIT! THE DEVIL FRUITS ARE THE TREASURES OF THE SEA! IF YOU EAT IT YOU LOSE THE ABILITY TO SWIM FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE BUT THE ONE YOU ATE ALSO TURNS YOUR BODY TO RUBBER!"

The pirates started panicking and Luffy stared freaking out. "WHAAAAAAAT? NO, IT CAN'T!"

"YOU'RE AN IDIOT!" Shanks yelled as the memory went dark once more.

Nami shook her head fondly as she asked, "He is isn't he? But then again, what does that make Shanks for leaving something like that lying around? I mean… he should have at least kept that chest locked but no, it was sitting there, in a bar, in an open chest? It's like he was daring someone to eat it."

"Is that common though? Eating a Devil Fruit by accident?" Franky asked, suddenly curious, "What about you three? Did you know what you were eating?"

"Mine was by accident," Robin confessed. "I was still quite young, around Luffy's age, I believe because it was shortly before my eighth birthday. The archeologists of Ohara were studying it and no one was around…?"

"And you ate it like that?" Nami asked in surprise, having thought that child Robin would have more sense than child Luffy.

"Well, while I have heard of Devil Fruits, until then I'd never seen one, so I had no idea what it was until it was too late," Robin answered with a smile. When she had gone to visit the archeologists at the Tree of Knowledge, they had been studying the fruit. She hadn't eaten anything at all the night before because her aunt had sent her to bed without food and in the morning she had run off before her aunt would force her to do even more chores. When she saw the fruit there on the table, she grabbed it without thinking…?

"At the time, I thought that it had just been an exotic-looking fruit that one of the archeologists brought back to study," she reasoned. "You need to remember that Devil Fruits outside the Grand Line are exceptionally rare. So rare that they are considered to be myths. But it has been useful of course…?"

"Yeah," Chopper agreed, jumping up so that he was on Zoro's shoulder. "I remember when I ate mine!"

He had still been that blue nose reindeer who had been forced to walk behind the rest of his herd. His herd rejected him because of his nose…? He had been so young at the time that he didn't remember much of his time before eating his Devil Fruit, but he could recall the pain of being kicked to the back of the herd while they migrated. Whenever they ate, he was forced to stay behind and wait until they finished grazing on whatever plant they could find and dig up whatever roots he could salvage.

On this particular day, his stomach was so hungry that he was in pain. He was starting to struggle keeping up with everyone else from his lack of energy before he spotted a fruit under the shade of a nearby pine tree. It wasn't like anything he had ever seen before and couldn't help but stare at it as it lay, half-buried, in the snow. He remembered putting his nose to it to sniff it, but couldn't smell anything. He turned it over with his nose and his stomach was now crying with hunger before he swallowed it all. He ate his in one big gulp because he was afraid that one of the others would notice it and eat it before him. He could still remember crying at the exertion of swallowing each unpalatable mouthful all the while.

"After that," Chopper said as Robin patted his head kindly, "I started transforming!"

"What about you Brook?" Usopp asked eagerly. "Did you eat yours by accident too?"

"No," Brook admitted. "I remember that day as if it happened yesterday. Not long after I joined the Rumbar Pirates, we got into a fierce battle with some Marines that had been chasing us back in the West Blue. The Devil Fruit came bobbing up from all the wreckage."

"So you knew what it was beforehand?" Zoro asked.

"At first, we couldn't decide if one of us eat it, or if we should sell it," Brook went on. "It was a problem… none of us had ever seen one before and we didn't have the slightest clue to what powers it had. This was before the encyclopedia of Devil Fruits had been written, so we knew that eating it would be a gamble. But they let me decide what to do with it."

"Why you?" Sanji asked.

"Because I was the one who fished it out of the sea!" he laughed. "It was a rule on our ship. Whatever we find, we decide what to do with it. In the end, I couldn't resist the temptation and ate it. Though, to this day, my tongue can still taste it…? Ah! Not that I have a tongue anymore! Yohohoho!"

"And what did you do when nothing happened?" Franky asked, folding his arms as they waited for the next memory.

"I thought that it was just a fake at first," Brook confessed with a shrug and plucked a few strings on his guitar. "I didn't feel any different, nor did I start to transform or gain any special powers. But I learned the hard way that it was the real thing when I next went for a swim! I almost drowned! Yohohoho!"

"And you figured out what kind it was later on?" Usopp asked with wide eyes.

"Twas merely a guess," Brook answered. "We heard a rumor about the Revive Revive Fruit and how it was supposed to grant it's user a second chance at life though the first life would only make you unable to swim. It wasn't until I died and came back as All-Bones Brook did I know for sure!"

"Well, it's good," Robin smiled. "Otherwise we never would've met you."

"Yohohoho! Your words are so kind, Robin-san!" Brook laughed, tempted to ask about her panties for the day before the scene returned. They were still in the village just down the road from the bar, and Luffy was walking happily along towards it as a few people watched him.

"Hey Rubber-boy!" a fish monger said good-naturedly as he passed. "Why are you in such a good mood lately? The pirates set sail without you, you know. Won't be much of a pirate if you can't even swim."

Luffy just laughed and waved cheerfully at him before adding, "It doesn't matter if I can't swim! If I sink like an anchor, then I'll just become a pirate that doesn't fall overboard."

"Who does he think he's kidding?" Usopp asked, remembering all the times that Luffy needed to be rescued from drowning. "Even taking a bath is hard for him."

"I'm glad I ate the Gum Gum fruit!" he said, grabbing his face and pulling it so that it stretched out, causing all the villagers to all stare. "Look what I can do!"

At that moment, the mayor approached, as if he had been watching him from the shadows.

"Oh, this guy again," Zoro said as he marched over to Luffy, demanding, "You think being stared at because you're a freak is a great thing, eh? Well, this village doesn't need any more idiots, sonny!"

Robin's eyes darkened at that, remembering how the other children had been scared of her after she ate the Devil's Fruit and ran away from her like a monster. Next to her, she could hear Chopper sniffling a little, and knew that he could understand what it was like.

"A freak?" Nami repeated angrily. "That's a terrible thing to say to a kid!"

"Oh," Luffy said happily with a little wave, as if he hadn't heard a word the man said. "Good morning Mayor!"

"Luffy-san doesn't seem to mind," Brook answered happily.

"Of course not," Zoro answered. "He's made of rubber now and he's proud of that."

"For the last time Luffy, I won't allow you to become a pirate!" the major declared. "It'd make the village look bad! Now the captain's not such a bad fellow but you stay away from those pirates."

"Guess he didn't listen," Robin said with a smile.

"I think that's a safe guess," Nami laughed.

"I mean, it's been practically a year at this point, right?" Usopp pointed out as well, "You think he would have tried to put a stop to it all a lot sooner."

Predictably, Luffy just stuck his fingers in his ears as if he couldn't hear him and went charging on ahead like nothing happened and they followed him back to the tavern where Makino was restocking behind the counter. As always, she seemed happy when she saw Luffy enter and the two sat and talked for a few minutes before she got him another glass of juice.

It looked completely different when it was just the two of them here without any laughing pirates drinking and poking fun at Luffy. Luffy seemed to sense this as well and was sulking at the quiet setting.

"Almost don't recognize it when it's empty," Franky said, looking around, "it's kinda depressing now."

"Luffy doesn't look happy about it," Chopper said as he watched Luffy play around with the glass in a bored way, his face looking lonely.

"The Captain's been away for a while now," Makino said, breaking the silence, "You miss them don't you, Luffy?"

"Not a bit," he said stubbornly. "I still haven't forgiven them for that thing with the bandits yet."

He finished his drink before he leaned over the bar, the glass still in his teeth as he went on, "I overestimated Shanks and the others. I thought they were the coolest pirates. What a letdown."

"Really?" Makino asked him with a knowing smile. "I think being able to laugh after what happened is much cooler."

"Makino, you just don't get it," Luffy said persistently. "There are times where a man must fight!"

"I agree with that," Zoro said, glad that Luffy would come to learn the difference eventually. "But there are also times to know when to back down."

"Really?" Makino asked with a bright smile. "I guess I just don't understand these things."

"Ah… Luffy-san is so lucky to have known such a kind and beautiful woman looking after him," Brook said. "I'm jealous."

"She truly has a heart of gold," Sanji sighed longingly. "I must come and visit her one of these days…?"

"And traumatize her? Why would do that?" Zoro asked as Sanji glared at him.

Makino tilted her head to the side before reassuring Luffy, "I'm sure they'll be back soon."

Even though Luffy said otherwise, it couldn't have been any clearer that he was feeling lonely and missed the others, especially Shanks. Still, her words seemed to help cheer him up slightly but before he could answer her, the door to the tavern was kicked open again, putting an end to their conversation. Looking up quickly, they saw that it was the same bandits from before who walked in. They were all looking around, as if expecting to see someone there… all of them smirking horribly.

"Them again?" Franky asked darkly. "Darn… I was hoping to see more with Shanks. At least he had a sense of humor."

"Yeah, but this can't be good," Nami said softly as the bandits looked around.

"I see that those pirates aren't around today," the leader said with a satisfied smirk as he walked in, looking almost disappointed. "We were passing through and we thought we drop in for some sake."

They all took seats and the leader barked at Makino, "Why are you standing there? We're customers!" He slammed his hand onto the table and yelled out, "SAKE!"

Makino put down the glass she was cleaning at once and cried, "Yes, of course!"

Sanji looked furious, now standing in front of the leader and yelled out, "Oi! That's not how you address a lady!"

"Sanji, they can't hear you!" Usopp reminded him.

Sanji was shaking with anger as he yelled out as Makino scrambled to find drinks, "I know! But I can't stand by and watch a lady being treated like this! This sucks! I can't even kick this bastard!"

"We had a great time that day!" one of the bandits said. "Did you see the looks on their loser faces?"

Luffy looked up at them all at once, shaking in anger at how he was talking about his friends.

"I don't like this…?" Usopp said nervously, knowing that Luffy was barely able to hold back his anger.

"They couldn't do a thing," another laughed. "Even after you gave their captain a sake bath, boss!"

"What a bunch of cowards!" a third bellowed out, already sounding drunk.

"What horrible people!" Brook called out angrily. "Just because they don't waste their time harassing others doesn't make them cowards."

"Apparently, you aren't the only one who thinks that," Robin said, looking at Luffy, the fury growing more and more with every word.

They all roared with laughter as their stupid-looking leader bellowed out, "I really wanted to kill them all. That's what all pirates are after all. Cowards on the seas…?"

Unable to take it anymore, Luffy yelled as he jumped up onto his seat, "SHUT UP!" At those words, everyone in the bar was now looking at him as he kept screaming out, "DON'T MESS WITH SHANKS'S CREW! HE'S NOT A COWARD!"

Makino's looked terrified as she grabbed him and tried to tell him to be quiet. "Luffy, stop it," she begged, but he ignored her as he went on to yell, "Don't talk about Shanks and the others like they're idiots!"

"What was that, brat?" the leader asked him with a scowl. "You have a death wish?"

"A lot of people think that," Zoro admitted coolly.

"Luffy, please, sit down," Makino whispered pleadingly, trying to stand between him and the bandits.

But Luffy wasn't listening as he glared up at the bandit, "I said for you to shut up about Shanks!"

"Why do I have a bad feeling that this isn't going to end well?" Nami asked, her hands on her hips. "Luffy's hot-head is now going to get him into a lot of trouble if he's not careful!"

"Yes," Brook said worriedly. "But wasn't Luffy-san upset with Shanks-san too?"

"They're friends," Sanji pointed out. "If you're friends, you can insult each other all you like. But if it's some random jerks like that, they deserve to get told off."

"Yeah, but he's still just a little kid," Usopp pointed out. "He's not as strong as he is now!"

"I don't think he's thinking about that," Robin reasoned.

"When does he ever think?" Nami sighed.

Sure enough, the bandit leader reached out and grabbed Luffy by his shirt, and holding him up to his face. "Listen, you little brat, you need to learn who you're messing with."

"Let me go!" Luffy yelled, now fighting to get away.

Makino rushed forward and grabbed the bandit's other arm as she begged, "Please, sir! Let him go! He didn't mean to…"

But the bandit wasn't listening as he shoved her away and she hit the bar before stumbled to the ground.

"WHY THAT PIECE OF SHIT!" Sanji yelled as he took a running leap and tried to kick him, only for his foot to pass through like smoke. "Damn it!" he cursed out again. "How dare he get away for treating a lady like that? If I ever met up with him in the present then I'm gonna KILL him!"

"Makino!" Luffy cried, now furious as he kicked harder than ever. "You can't do something like that to her! You're going to pay for that!"

"Thank you!" Sanji cried out, tears in his eyes. "Someone agrees with me! She's too beautiful to be treated like this by such scum!"

"Ahhh!" Chopper cried out in panic as they watched the bandits leave the tavern, taking Luffy with them, "Now what are they gonna do?!"

"What all scum do," Sanji hissed furiously, when they followed them. "Continue to be scum! Remember those two that beat Luffy up when he was on his own? I don't think that they're above beating him to death here."

"No! There has to be something that we can do!" Chopper cried out.

"Even if we could, this is all history, Chopper," Zoro said as the bandit quickly realized that Luffy's body wasn't normal. A few freaked out when they saw how his body stretched out as they pulled him along, even the leader seemed momentarily stunned.

"Oh, right! I forgot! Blunt attacks don't work on him now!" Usopp laughed out as a few of the bandits tried to throw out some punches, to little effect.

"But many of them still have swords. If they think it through, they could still stab him to death or cut him to ribbons," Robin pointed out and Usopp grew pale once more.

"Why Robin?" he asked sadly, shaking his head as he cried. "Why do you enjoy doing this to us?"

"Interesting," the bandit leader said as he watched Luffy's body stretch out. "Yeah, looks like punches and kicks are no good."

"Damn!" Luffy yelled as he tried to pull himself free, but still raring for a fight. "Say you're sorry!"

"A rubber-man?" the bandit said looking at him curiously. "I never imagined there were such strange creatures in the world."

"Let me go!" Luffy yelled again, as the bandit threw him down to the ground and after a few more kicks; placed his boot on his head to keep it down. Even though they knew it wouldn't hurt him, the Straw Hats were quickly growing angrier with each second.

"Does anyone mind if he suddenly dies a violent or painful death here?" Zoro asked, his hand back on one of his swords.

"Not at all," Franky growled out, his eye jerking violently.

"A different type of human," the bandit said with an evil grin. "He must be worth good money if we sell him."

"What did he just say?" Brook demanded crossly.

"You heard right," Usopp said, gritting his teeth, his hand going to his slingshot.

"Damn it!" Luffy cursed again as he fought to get the bandit off him. "I won't forgive you for this!"

"Why so upset?" the lead bandit asked smugly. "We were just enjoying a nice drink and you had to come along and ruin it."

"Yes, you did!" Luffy shouted, not able to speak clearly with the boot in his face, "Apologize right now!"

The bandit just laughed at him as he pressed down harder with his foot.

"He's really starting to tick me off," Zoro growled, his hand twitching on his sword as if aching to draw it.

"You're not the only one," Brook said, also sounding angry. "They're the sort of rotten people I hate! Those who devalue life! I can't stand the smell of them, though I do not have a nose to smell with!"

"Now is not the time, Brook!" Usopp yelled.

"Please! Let the child go!"

The Straw Hats, and everyone else turned to see Makino, hands clasped tightly and looking terrified as she came running up with the Mayor at her side.

"Wah!" Sanji called out, hearts back and his legs twirled around. "Makino! My love… are you alright?!"

Nami finally had enough and yelled out, as she delivered a hard punch to his head, "KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY!"

"Makino, Mayor," Luffy gasped out.

The Mayor came forward to say, "I don't know what Luffy did, and I have no intention to fight with you because of it! But enough!" He then fell to his knees and begged, "I'll even pay you if you want; just please, let the boy go."

"I guess he's not such a bad guy after all," Usopp said, hoping that this could end before Luffy got hurt.

But the bandits all just smirked as the leader said calmly, "The old man knows how the world works. But… no!"

"What?" Chopper yelled out, his eyes popping out. "He's not going to let Luffy go!?"

"Did you really expect him too?" Nami asked angrily, for some reason, thinking of Arlong. "Jerks like him never keep their word even if they give it to you."

"But it's too late now," the bandit went on. "I cannot spare him… you see…" he kicked Luffy harder. "He made me angry. I cannot let a kid this weak insult me in front of my own men and get away with it."

"You started it!" Luffy yelled defiantly, "You mountain ape!"

"Nice one," Zoro said lightly. "I guess he was better at insults back then… but he can't do much like that."

"How can you say something like that?!" Usopp yelled him, "Don't you know what'll happen to Luffy?"

"That's easy. He'll die," Zoro answered before seeing their expressions and added in annoyance, "Luffy obviously survives. Let's just watch and see…"

"Fine," the bandit, stomping harder on him one more time before he drew his sword, now looking annoyed, "I've decided that I'm not gonna sell you. I'll kill you instead."

Despite his words, Zoro flicked his thumb so his blade could just be seen. He couldn't help himself—though they hadn't voice it—they had all become increasingly protective of Luffy, especially after these last two years. The others were looking angry as well, some of them even drawing weapons—just aching for a chance to have a go at this jerk.

"LUFFY!" Makino screamed in panic.

"Please!" the Mayor cried out imploringly as he looked up, "Let him go! He's just a child!"

"I was wondering why the bar was empty on such a fine day," a causal voice from behind them. They all spun around in time to see Shanks and his crew standing behind Makino and the Mayor, "So this is why."

"Where'd they all come from?" Franky asked impressed. They were alone until just a second ago but it was like they just appeared out of thin air.

"Captain Shanks!" Makino called out in relief, truly believing that things were going to be alright now.

"Oh good!" Chopper cried out happily. "Shanks will take care of everything."

"I hope so," Brook said softly as they looked back to the helpless Luffy, still fighting to get up even as Shanks continued to grin as he stepped forward.

"If it isn't the bandits from the other day," he said before turning his teasing grin on Luffy just to ask, "What's the matter, Luffy? I thought you said that you have a punch like a pistol?"

"Shut up!" Luffy snarled from where he was.

"I have to agree, now's not the time," Franky said, for some reason choosing now to start his signature posing. "It's time to SUPER kick some ass!"

"Pirate," the leader said smugly, "Why are you still here? I suggest you leave and continue cleaning if you don't want to get hurt."

However, Shanks instead began to slowly walk forward towards them, even as the bandit leader pointed his sword at him with a clear threat, "I don't know why you're here, but leave before we kill you."

"I'd love to see him try," Sanji sneered. "There's no way that one can become an Emperor for being weak after all!"

Shanks didn't even answer him as he kept walking forward. Suddenly, another one of the bandits said with a cocky grin, "Didn't you just hear what he said?" he raised a gun and pointed it straight at Shanks's head. "Don't take another step or I'll blow your brains out."

He cocked the gun, and the other bandits laughed. At this, Shanks did stop, but he still kept that smile on as he was still in complete control of everything going on.

"Since you drew your pistol I assume that you're willing to use it?" Shanks asked casually.

"Huh?" the bandit asked stupidly, having not expected such a nonchalant attitude. "What are talking about?"

"I mean are you willing to risk your life?" Shanks asked calmly pointing to the gun in his face, "These aren't toys to scare people with after all, you know?"

At those words, Nami, Zoro and Usopp all smirked and even started to laugh at the nostalgia that came along with it.

"Oi, what the hell is so funny?" Franky asked them, wondering just what was so funny at this moment.

"Yeah, fill us in on the joke," Sanji agreed.

"When we first met Usopp, Luffy intimidated him with that same speech," said Zoro grinning. "He showed up at the shore and pulled out his slingshot and was about to shoot. Just those words were enough to scare him shitless."

"Yeah…" Usopp laughed before realizing what he just said and added indigently, "Hey! Shut it, you jerk!"

"It is the truth, Usopp," Nami laughed a little until a gunshot rang through the air, bringing them all back to the matter at hand. When they looked up, the bandit with the gun was on the ground while Lucky Roo was now standing there with his own smoking gun—still eating a slab of meat on his knife. Everyone else was staring at him in shock and surprise, having not seen him move at all.

"You killed him!" a bandit yelled in shock, taking a few steps back.

"That was fighting dirty!" another cried out.

"Dirty?" Benn Beckman asked with a roll of his eyes, "Who did you think you were dealing with here? You're not dealing with saints here."

"I think I'm liking this guy more and more," Zoro smirked. He made a mental note that if they ever had to fight the Red-Haired Pirates he'd like to take him on.

"We're pirates," Shanks proclaimed proudly, as if that solved any and all questions that the bandits had.

"Shut up!" the bandit leader yelled, "This is none of your business!"

The good-natured look on Shank's face just seemed to melt off to be replaced with anger at that before calling out in warning, "Listen up, bandits. You can spill food me. You can pour drinks on me. Hell, you can even spit at me. I'll just laugh it off." But then his face grew furious as he said, "But… no matter what the reasons… I WON'T FORGIVE THOSE WHO HURT MY FRIENDS! Now for the last time, let the lad go!"

The words seemed to echo around them and Luffy was staring up at Shanks with literal awe in what little of his face that could be seen from behind the bandit's boot.

"WOW!" Chopper cried out, stars sparkling in his innocent eyes. "Shanks is so cool! I want to meet him!"

"I can see why Luffy looks up to him," Sanji smirked. "Shanks is definitely his main influence on who he is today."

Despite the warning though, it seemed that the bandit leader still hadn't learned his lesson for he just laughed and asked mockingly, "Won't forgive you say? You bunch of pirates who float around on the sea want to challenge bandits?! What a joke! Kill them all men!"

At his command, the bandits all raised their weapons and charged ahead.

"Amateurs," Zoro said while shaking his head, seeing how clumsily they were waiving their swords. "They barely know how to use those things."

Beckman clearly thought the same thing as he stepped forward and said, "I'll handle this. I'm more than enough for them."

Shanks just grinned as his friend strode forward, pulling out the rifle he had tucked in the sash at his waist, stance relaxed and casual. When the first bandit came at him, he used his smoking cigarette to run it into his face so the first bandit hit the ground before the cigarette did. He then raised his rifle up like a club and, in no time at all, the bandits were all lying face-down in the dirt.

"Don't flatter yourselves, bandits," he told them, pointing the rifle at them as he lit another cigarette, "If you want to fight us, you better bring a warship with you."

"Wow…" the heard Luffy whisper in wonderment, even with a boot still stuck in his face.

"Luffy took the words out of my mouth," Nami said, a smile spreading across her face as well. If this didn't cement the idea of 'cool' pirates into Luffy's head, she didn't know what would.

"Not bad… though they were just taking out these weaklings. They're barely fighting at all so we have no idea how strong they really are," Zoro added, his hand on his swords again as he watched Beckman walk back to his friends. "I'm dying to see what they can do when they're allowed to go wild."

"You would," Nami sighed at the thought, though having a bad feeling that they will find out one day.

Staring at his defeated men, the bandit leader wasn't acting so cool anymore. In fact, he grew pale and was now backing away, "Ah! Wait a minute! The kid's the one who started this!"

"Aren't you a wanted man?" Shanks taunted with a smirk.

"He's so cool!" Usopp and Chopper yelled out, now star-struck.

Robin chuckled, at that, "They are something else aren't they?"

Now desperate, the bandit leader threw something down on the ground at their feet before it exploded to create a giant cloud of smoke.

"And they say just told them off for fighting dirty," Sanji said with a roll of his eyes.

"A smoke bomb?!" they heard Shanks's voice yell out.

"Come on, kid!" the bandit's voice rang out along with Luffy's protests.

"Luffy!" Shanks's voice called out before faded.

"I can't see anything," Brook said as the smoke got thicker and darker, "Ah! But I don't have eyes to see with anyway. Yohohoho!"

"What's happening?" Chopper cried out as it only continued to get darker until everything faded out.

"I've never seen a smoke bomb make everything this dark," Franky said looking around before adding to himself, "Though that's not such a bad idea for a new weapon. I'll have to work on that."

"Idiot, the memory's obviously changing!" Nami yelled at him. She was right, for soon, they were standing on the ocean waves, everything coming back into focus.

"Oh, I didn't miss this," Usopp said, still finding it so awkward to be standing on the water. But what was…?

"Now's not the time! Look at what's happen!" Sanji yelled, pointing ahead. They looked up to see that the bandit leader was standing in a small row boat with Luffy sitting as far away as possible from him at the other end.

"That's not good," Robin said, now sounding anxious. "If he falls in, he'll die for sure."

"How can you be so calm about this?!" Usopp yelled at her.

"I'm calm about most things," she said coolly.

"I'm more surprised that he was able to hustle it out to sea with a little kid so fast," Zoro couldn't help but comment.

The bandit laughed darkly, looking more like the cocky bastard they came to loathe now that he was away from Shanks and the others.

"We got away," he said smiling evilly at Luffy. "They will never think to look for a bandit at sea. I only brought you as a hostage, but now there's no more use for you. I've always killed those who irritated me… you will be the 57th."

"You jerk!" Chopper yelled out furiously, transforming into Horn Point. "Wait, till I get hold of you! You'll wish that you were never born!"

"Yeah, besides… fleeing out to sea? That's usually the first place that a pirate would think to look," Brook offered.

"You aren't helping, Brook!" Chopper yelled this time.

"Not if you die first!" Luffy yelled at him. The bandit chuckled, smirking as he walked over and kicked him into the sea, laughing out, "Good riddance!"

"Luffy!" Usopp yelled in panic.

They watched as Luffy flew through the air, as if in slow motion, before he hit the water. He ended up coming back up for a moment, but he was floundering in the sea, trying desperately to keep his head above water.

The bandit laughed out loud, as if he couldn't think of anything funnier than watching the boy in front of him drowning. But what he didn't noticed was the dark shape that swam underneath the boat.

"W-What's that?" Nami croaked out, watching the dark shape beneath the waves.

"I think our large friend from before may be a bit hungry now," Franky said as the bandit finally stopped laughing as the water behind him rose up.

Usopp, Nami, Chopper, and Brook all yelled out in panic as the Sea King they saw before appeared. They hadn't been able to see the front half properly the first time since its back had been to them, but now they were able to get a close up view of its glowing, red eyes as he looked hungrily at the helpless prey in front of it.

"WHAT?!" the bandit screamed out as he stared at it in horror. "WHAT IS THIS MONSTER?!"

"You can tell that he's never been out to sea if he doesn't even know what a Sea King is," Sanji said, but he wasn't smiling this time, wondering what on earth was about to happen next. He got his answer as the Sea King opened its mouth wide before closing its jaws around the boat, swallowing the bandit whole.

It took a couple seconds to sink in what they just saw.

"Wow… didn't see that coming," Zoro stated with a quaking eye.

"Now that's what I call 'just desserts'," Robin whispered.

"Who cares?" Brook screamed, now freaking out as Luffy was now starting to sink, his head barely able to break the surface of the water, "Luffy-san is going to be eaten!"

At that, they all looked to see that the Sea King paused, having finally noticed him, and its red eyes watching Luffy before it charged. Luffy's terrified scream broke through the air as they all screamed out his name in terror.

If you blinked, you missed it all. They heard Luffy's screams, saw the flash of razor sharp fangs as the Sea King dove. For a moment, they feared the worst—forgetting that their captain was still alive—for they couldn't see Luffy anywhere and there was blood in the water.

But then, a head with bright, red hair broke through the surface with Luffy clinging to him as he was safe in Shanks's arms.

"IT'S SHANKS!" Chopper yelled out as the two struggled to stay afloat while the Sea King turned around, ready for another go. But before it could charge again, Shanks looked up and glared hard… making it stop dead in its tracks.

"Get lost," Shanks said, his voice as cold as ice, an aura of malice radiating off him in a subtle but unmistakable way that sent chills even through their bodies and an urge to run away. The Sea King clearly thought the same way for after a moment of silence, it dove beneath the waves and disappeared, leaving the two of them alone.

Everyone was stunned for a few seconds before Usopp whispered with a nervous croak, "Was that…?"

"Conqueror's Haki," Robin confirmed calmly. "So he does have it."

"That was amazing!" Chopper said, thinking back to Fishman Island when Luffy did that to the giant Sea Bear, "That was just like what Luffy did before!"

Speaking of Luffy, he was crying again. Tears were in his eyes as he cried in a tiny voice, "S-Shanks…?"

"Thanks, Luffy," Shanks said in a soft tone, "Makino told us what happened. Thanks for sticking up for us." Shanks paused as Luffy continued crying, "Come on, there's no need to cry—you're a man now."

Usopp, his hand over his heart, was finally able to suck in a relieved breath now that they were safe. He even began muttering, "They're ok! They're both ok and it's over."

But Zoro was staring in amazement at Shanks, filled with a new kind of respect once it fully hit him what happened. "I wouldn't say that," he said quielty, "Take a good look at Shanks."

Usopp was about to ask what he meant before he realized that the water underneath him was mixed with red…?

"B-But… Shanks… your arm!" Luffy sobbed with guilt ringing clear and his tears overflowing, "YOUR ARM!"

The rest of the Straw Hats finally noticed where all the blood was coming from when they got a good look at the man—and saw how Shanks's entire left arm was gone, all that was left was a bloody stump just past the elbow.

Chopper was crying out anxiously, wanting to leap in and treat him, knowing that if his arm wasn't bound and treated now then Shanks was only going to lose more and more blood.

Nami's gasped as she stared at the blood flowing out and Luffy still clinging to Shanks's shirt. "His arm…?" she whispered. "He just… just like that…?" They all heard that Shanks had lost his arm from when they met Rayleigh, but seeing how it happened and why…?

"I can't imagine what must be going through Luffy's head right now," Brook whispered, staring at the child form of his captain as he continued to cry.

"I think mostly guilt. You blaming yourself and believe that nothing you ever do will ever be able to make up for it," Sanji answered back, having a very clear idea to what Luffy was feeling—having gone through something similar. The image of Zeff, bone-thin, with his missing foot suddenly came to mind.

If Shanks was in any pain, he ignored it as he gave him a gentle smile as Luffy clung tighter to him. "Luffy… it's just an arm. I've got another one. I'm just glad that you're alright."

Without another word from him, with Luffy still sobbing his heart out, Shanks swam them both to the direction of the shore, soon enough coming close enough to where the rest of his crew was waiting and calling for their doctor when they saw the blood.

"I never knew what a great man he is," Usopp said in awe as the memory faded. He couldn't stop the pride he felt for his father for sailing around the world with a man like him and was more eager than ever to meet the man behind the legend. "I knew he was a strong pirate… but now I know that he's a great man as well!"

"I can't argue with that," Zoro said with a newfound respect, "I gotta say… he's something else."

The memory soon reappeared and they were back at the docks now with the Red-Haired pirates loading up crates of food and barrels of sake onto the ship. Usopp's eyes immediately zoned in on his father, who was already boarding with a barrel under his arm, before he noticed that Luffy and Shanks were watching them work—with Shanks now having his missing arm covered up with a black cloak.

"So you're leaving for good this time?" Luffy asked as Makino, the Mayor, and the other townsfolk came to say goodbye.

"Yep," Shanks said brightly, tilting the straw hat back so that he could see the waves better. "It's been a nice extended vacation, but we've stayed long enough. It's about time that we move on." He looked back at Luffy before asking, "Sad to see us go?"

"Yeah…" Luffy confessed, but he kept smiling. "But I made up my mind. I'm not going to ask you to take me with you. I decide that I'm gonna become a pirate all on my own."

"Wow, after all that fuss and begging he's finally accepted that he's not going?" Franky asked with a shake of his head. "Only took a year and cost him an arm, but hey, Shanks did the impossible and changed Luffy's mind."

"Be nice," Nami chuckled.

Shanks seemed to have been thinking the same thing though for he turned and stuck out his tongue to tease, "Heh, I wouldn't take you even if you begged me! You don't have what it takes to be a pirate!"

"For someone who lost an arm, he's surprisingly upbeat," Robin commented.

"Yohohoho, well you know what they say! That's half the battle in life! Having a good attitude," Brook laughed.

Luffy blinked at that, taken aback by the insult, before his anger was back and he retorted, "YES I DO!"

At his voice, all of the other pirates on the dock turned to watch Luffy as he proudly declared, "One day I'll have a stronger crew than yours! And then I'll find the world's greatest treasure! You hear me? Someday I'm gonna be KING OF THE PIRATES!"

The weight of his vow could be felt all around them as waves of understanding washed over them all. Zoro, in particular, was suddenly reminded of that night so long ago when he had made a similar declaration with his rival and he smiled at the memory.

"So that's why he's so obsessed with becoming the King of the Pirates," Zoro said as he shut his eye. "It all makes perfect sense now."

"Luffy-san is very determined!" Brook said happily.

"And he's been keeping this promise all these years just because he was angry at Shanks?" Nami asked, shaking her head. "Why doesn't this surprise me?"

"Oh, I don't think that he was really angry, Nami-swan," Sanji said while blowing smoke rings, also smiling. "It's a vow between men. A promise that he will grow stronger and that he wasn't going to let Shanks's sacrifice be in vain."

"I agree," Robin nodded. "Yet, I get the feeling that there's more to it than a promise. I can't help but wonder what else it is that drives Luffy."

For the first time, Shanks didn't laugh when he listened to Luffy's proclamation before he smiled, as if he believed it wholeheartedly.

"Oh?" he provoked, "So you're going to get a crew that's better than all of us?"

Luffy didn't answer him at first, tears threatening the corners of his eyes before Shanks reached up and slowly took off his precious straw hat.

"Well then. This hat is my gift to you," Shanks said before placing it on top of Luffy's. Luffy stood still as a statue as Shanks added to him quietly, "This hat is an important treasure to me, so you have to promise me that you'll return it in good condition." Shanks pulled away from him before finishing, "And only after you become a great pirate. That'll be our promise, Luffy."

Chopper laughed joyfully at the sight, his own little hooves gripping his own hat tightly as he grinned, "Shanks is really nice! So that's why the hat's so important to Luffy!"

"Yes, the man who once saved his life has been waiting for him out here on the sea for years!" Brook said, now looking deeply touched by what he was seeing as tears ran down his face at the scene.

"Luffy is very lucky indeed," Robin agreed with a soft smile.

"He is," Nami agreed. Luffy took the hat in his hands as he watched the Shanks board the ship. Makino came up behind him and stood with him, smiling as kindly as ever as she waved goodbye to the others.

"Raise anchor!" they heard Shanks yell. "And set the sail!"

"Aye!" the rest of the crew yelled before they began to pull out, but making sure to have the time to wave to Luffy, Makino and the others. All the Straw Hats, except for Usopp—who was staring at his father—was looking at Shanks. They watched his ship until it sailed away from them and disappeared over the horizon.

"That's got to be the sweetest thing I've ever seen," Robin smiled as she watched little Luffy put the hat back firmly on his head, and rub the tears away.

"Yeah… so Luffy has been fighting to keep a promise for all these years," Zoro said softly, his hand on Kuina's sword. "It's like saying that it was a challenge for him to grow stronger… and it was a challenge accepted."

(Hey everyone, so far this chapter had the most changes so it's slightly late. I didn't want to add everything and I know I probably put a few things in and out of order, but I didn't want to add so much that it became too long. Also, this will be the last chapter for this story for the rest of the year just due to increased workload and the holiday's right around the corner so I won't have that much time to work on this. But I promise to have the next chapter up in January so I hope that you enjoy this until then!)