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Chapter Text

Zoro’s soulmark gains color in a dusty courtyard of a shitty marine base, and Zoro doesn’t even get to see it.

He’s eating the filthy food the straw hat kid is giving him, when his chest starts to itch horribly. He doesn’t get what’s happening, not at first, but when he winces at the sensation, he moves his head just far enough to spot the sudden spill of color over the kid’s right hand.

He noticed the soulmarks spanning both of the kid’s arms, of course. It would have been hard not to; it’s literally the largest and the most obvious configuration of marks he’s seen in his entire life. Most people have one or two soulmarks and hide them religiously under clothes and accessories – soulmarks are private things, and it’s considered vulgar to flaunt them. This kid doesn’t even try to cover them up; not that he can – the flowers start from the back of his hands all the way up his shoulders and meet somewhere over his collarbones. They are simply too big, too noticeable to hide under any kind of outfit short of winter clothes. So, yeah, Zoro noticed. He just hasn’t even considered looking for his own flowers in the confusing pattern of petals and leaves.

He looks now, when bright green colors the bamboo shoots stretching proudly from the kid’s fingers and all the way up his elbow, intertwined with spiky purple thistles that bring vividness to the entire arrangement. Zoro gapes.

“What?” The kid tilts his head in confusion. Following Zoro’s gaze, he finally looks down and notices the colored flowers on his own skin. “Huh. So that’s why it’s so itchy,” he says, and starts showing food into Zoro’s mouth again.

Zoro chokes.

The kid pauses once again. “What? Aren’t you going to eat?”

“That’s all you’re going to say?!” Zoro shouts once he regains his breath.

The kid shrugs. “Yeah.”

“We’re soulmates!”

“So what?”

So what if he is Zoro’s soulmate?

The complete disregard for one of the most sacred bonds in the world is staggering. This is the first time Zoro’s ever seen someone dismiss the mere idea of a soulmate so quickly. Even Zoro, who told his own sensei that no soulmate would stop him from becoming the world’s greatest swordsman, gapes at the kid. The kid in question stares blankly back, not even seeming to realize the weirdness of his words.

What the hell?

“You don’t care?” asks Zoro, who once thought that he’d have to beat his soulmate off with his swords if they ever decide to stick themselves to his side. He can’t allow anyone to distract him from his goal.

“Nah,” says the kid. “Are you going to eat?”

Zoro eats, and then asks him to tell the little girl the food was delicious. Impossibly, this is the thing that brings a delighted smile to the guy’s face, and not the coloration of his soul mark or finding his soulmate.

Zoro lasts all of five minutes before he stops resisting his curiosity and looks down at his chest. He’s wearing a shirt, but it’s thin and white, so the suddenly vibrant colors of his soulmark are easily visible. Even before he looked, though, Zoro had known which one it would be – the itchiness he felt was exactly in the place of hollyhocks and poppies that rest in the middle of a small bouquet tattooed over his heart.

Looking at the dark pinks and purples of the hollyhocks and the brilliant red of the poppies, Zoro vaguely remembers perusing plant manuals with Kuina and identifying soul flowers written on their skin. Hollyhock represents ambition and fruitfulness, while red poppy stands for fun-loving and enjoyment of life. Good, auspicious flowers – Kuina was jealous of them, having only her father’s hyacinths and geraniums.

He wonders what she would have thought of this.

He does not have time to wonder for long, because the kid – Luffy – is back soon, and pushier than ever.

Basically, Zoro gets blackmailed. Yeah, he’s not really proud of it.

But his new captain has ambitions loftier than even Zoro’s and enough determination to do it. When Zoro threatens him in case Luffy – captain and soulmate all at once – ever gets an idea of keeping him from his goal, the only answer he gets is a laugh shishishi! and I’d accept nothing less from Pirate King’s nakama.

This just might work out, Zoro concludes. He’s beginning to see why the universe gave him Luffy as a soulmate.

Somewhere in the Pure Lands, Kuina must be laughing at him. She did always say anyone with his flowers on their skin would have to be just as crazy as him.

.

.

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“No,” Nami says, knowing it’s futile.

“But I want it,” Luffy answers, predictably.

‘It’ is a simple black fedora that looks nothing like the clothes Luffy likes to wear. Usually, Nami wouldn’t have minded, but the price is exorbitant. She’s certainly not paying for it, and she knows for a fact that Luffy is broke. There was a meat buffet in town this morning.

“What are you even going to do with it?!” Nami asks in exasperation. “You won’t even wear it; you already have a hat!”

Luffy frowns, thinking very hard. His face is starting to go red.

“I know!” he exclaims, punching a fist into his palm. “My hat can wear it!”

“…What?”

“My hat!” Luffy helpfully explains. “Like this – see?” With that, he unceremoniously snatches the fedora from its display and plops it down onto his head, right over the infamous straw hat. It fits surprisingly well.

The grin that stretches over his face is radiant, and Nami feels herself faltering.

“No,” she says, forcing steel that she doesn’t really feel into her voice. “I’m not wasting any of our precious money on a hat, Luffy.”

“Oh, okay.” Before Nami can embarrass herself by dropping her jaw at the easy acquiescence, he continues. “We can just steal it then.”

“Luffy!” Nami gasps. “No, we can’t just…” Nami stops, because they can. They’re pirates – they can steal from whoever they want. And this is a very expensive store. Losing some merchandise here and there won’t be a big hit to them.

Luffy grins even harder. “Why not?”

Yes. Why not? “Okay,” Nami says. In four a penny, in for a pound. “Stay here. If we’re stealing, we’re taking more than just a hat.”

…

They find out very early on, back in East Blue, that Sanji should never be allowed to go clothes shopping.

It is an easy mistake to make, Nami and Usopp argue after the disaster is over. Sanji is always dressed in well-pressed and well-fitting suits and his shoes and ties always match – was it so wrong to assume he knows some things about fashion? Was it wrong to think he has good taste? Yes, his shirts can sometimes look… questionable, but that is no proof of bad taste, really.

They couldn’t have known, Usopp wails as Luffy laughs himself sick, and Zoro grumbles that they shouldn’t have trusted the shit-cook with anything important anyway.

Either way, the mistake has already been made. Sanji had left Going Merry with a stack of berries and Nami’s request to acquire some clothes suitable for the first stretch of the Grand Line, until they personally become more familiar with the weather requirements. He did return with clothes. They’re just…

“Oooh, look at this!” Luffy exclaims. He’s holding out some kind of coat, long and thick, certainly suitable for winter temperatures. It is also violently orange, with black stripes that somehow make it look worse.

“Heh, this one is actually pretty good,” Usopp says, plucking a plumed hat from a big pile of eye-searingly colorful scarves and gloves.

Zoro is eying a pair of pants with undisguised distaste. They’re lime green and covered with pictures of butterflies.

“Did Sanji buy something for himself?” Nami asks in morbid curiosity.

“Yeah,” Usopp says. “He shuffled it all into his bunk pretty quickly, but I think I saw a golden shirt. Some kind of silk, it looked like.”

Nami drops her face into her palms. “He’s going to look like a pimp.”

Zoro snorts. “Won’t help him any with women.”

Usopp snickers, only to clamp his mouth shut at Nami’s glare.

“I like this!” Luffy says from behind them, and the three of them eye each other in sudden dread. They turn around.

Luffy is holding a pair of bright yellow crocs. It hurts the eyes to look at them.

“Luffy, no!”

…

Surprisingly, Nami is the one least likely to actually steal clothes. Yes, she bargains and flirts and threatens her way into obtaining astronomical discounts, but it’s all perfectly legal as long as she leaves at least some money behind, right?

Luffy, on the other hand…

“What did you do?!” Usopp wails as the crew tramples their way through the town and towards the docks. There is a sound of hot pursuit behind them.

“Shishishi!” Luffy laughs, delighted by the whole experience. He’s lugging a rucksack practically spilling over with clothes. “Me and Zoro went shopping!”

“What kind of shopping is this?!” Nami shrieks, and takes a hard right at the intersection, snagging Zoro’s arm to stop him from going the wrong way.

Zoro shakes her off. “It’s not like we had any money on us, did we, witch?!”

“You still owe me!” Nami defends herself. “You don’t deserve any money. In fact, all of your money should be mine anyway.”

“Crazy witch.”

“Don’t talk about Nami-san that way!” Sanji interrupts from behind with a well-aimed kick to Zoro’s ass. Zoro doesn’t quite fall onto his face, but it’s a close thing.

“Oi, watch it, swirly brow!” Zoro snaps. “Can’t you see that I’m carrying things here?!” Zoro’s rucksack is almost as big as Luffy’s. For some reason, he’s not carrying it on his back, holding it in his arms instead.

“Hey, hey, Luffy,” Usopp says, “what was so good that you just had to steal it?”

“Oh, right,” Luffy grins and, without stopping or even paying attention to their pursuers, stretches his arm to rummage inside the pile of clothes on his back. “Look, see!” He retrieves a captain’s coat, long and black with golden buttons. “Isn’t it cool, Usopp?!”

“Okay, yeah, that’s pretty cool,” Usopp admits. “But what’s everything else?”

“Well, Zoro also wanted some cool stuff, so we looked for it, and then we looked for stuff for everyone else, and then we took it all.”

“But why did you steal–”

Nami is interrupted by a sound of cocking guns coming from in front of them. She brakes abruptly as they are met face-to-face with a small company of Marines.

“Halt, pirates!” the commander says. “For stealing from honest citizens of this island, you are arrested–”

Luffy plows through him without paying any attention to his speech and casually bludgeons his way into the Marines. Those who do not dodge quickly enough get scattered around by the sheer force of his charge. “Come on! Chopper and Vivi are waiting on Going Merry! I bet they’re gonna love the stuff we got them!”

The rest of the Straw Hats sigh in exasperation and follow after him without hesitation.

…

“I’m afraid I have to go shopping soon,” Robin informs the crew during breakfast on her second week sailing with them. “While Navigator-san has been extremely generous with her clothes, it does not change the fact that I was forced to leave Alabasta in a hurry. My wardrobe is woefully empty.”

Sanji twirls around her with a platter of colorful juice. “Of course, Robin-chan! In fact, I would be happy to accompany you on your endeavor.”

Robin smiles thinly. “Cook-san is welcome to–”

“No!” Zoro, Usopp and Nami shout in unison.

Luffy falls from the bench, laughing.

Chapter Text

To be fair to the hotel manager, they are wearing disguises. They are not very good disguises – the Marines recognized them as soon as they detained the crew for possession of illegal food ingredients – but it’s not like a hotel manager on some out-of-the-way island has to keep up with the newest bounties. It’s normal. Understandable, even; nobody’s ever accused the Strawhats of looking like a pirate crew at the first glance.

That still does not explain how they get mistaken for a band.

“This is Brook’s fault,” Nami says as she pulls a sequined dress over her head.

“I find that unlikely,” Robin says, adding finishing touches to her makeup. She offers Nami a smile, violently purple lips standing out dramatically against her pale face. “I do believe they think Brook is our manager.”

“We do not have a manager!”

“We are a band. We need a manager,” Robin points out reasonably. “Nevertheless, I think this should help us lose the Marines. They’d hardly think to look for us here.”

“Would have been easier to have Luffy fight them,” Nami grumbles, but she finishes getting ready all the same and strides out of the door towards boys’ changing room.

Robin smiles in understanding. “Sanji would have been devastated.” Those food ingredients really did make him happy. He would have hated seeing them trampled in the ensuing conflict.

Nami grumbles but says nothing as she carelessly barges into the boys’ room. Thankfully, everyone is clothed, except Franky. But everyone’s already seen most of Franky anyway, so nobody pays him any attention.

“Nami-swan! Robin-chan!” Sanji dances towards them. “You look amazing! Like mythical fairies coming down to bless us in our mortal world.”

“Thank you, Sanji.”

“Yeah, thanks, Sanji-kun,” Nami adds, unable to tear her eyes away from the man’s shirt. “What are you wearing?”

“Oh, the staff gave it to me.” Sanji turns around a little to show off. “It doesn’t look half-bad.”

‘It’ is a gaudily decorated silk shirt in the most eye-searingly possible shade of green. There are ruffles. There are sequins. It clashes horribly with Sanji’s hair.

“Very impressive,” Robin says, unperturbed.

Sanji almost faints out of happiness.

Nami looks away from the affront against taste and nature and counts all the other heads in the changing room. One’s missing. “Did Zoro get lost?”

“Yeah,” Franky says, now thankfully in possession of underwear. His nipple lights are on, presumably to add to the party atmosphere. They’re also giving out an electric blue light, so Franky was probably late changing because he started fiddling with his body on a whim again. “Zoro-bro wandered off after you left.”

Nami prays for the day she’ll stop being surprised at Zoro’s terrible sense of direction. “We’re literally one door down from you.”

There is a series of shrugs in the room. It’s Zoro. No other explanation needed.

“Zoro was supposed to sing with me,” Luffy says, a little mournfully.

Nami jolts. “Isn’t Brook the singer?” she asks urgently.

Brook sips from his teacup. “Ah, Nami-san, I am the manager. I’m afraid I cannot sing with you. Though leading my young friends towards success is indeed a worthy pursuit.”

Apparently, the fact that Brook is their only actual musician does not factor in these kinds of decisions.

“But… Luffy?” She does not say that everyone’s heard Luffy sing, and he’s terrible. He’s enthusiastic, for sure, but he cannot carry a tune and unless the song is Binks’ Sake, he will forget the words and just make up his own. They’ll never pass as an actual band if Luffy gets to sing.

Usopp shrugs. The sparkles in his hair glitter with the movement. “He wants to sing. Said only the captain can be a lead singer.”

“I get to be on drums!” Chopper says, excited. He’s changed into his heavy point and has somehow managed to squeeze into a pink suit that looks like it’s about to get ripped at the shoulders from the strain.

Nami hopes those drums are very sturdy. She’s not paying for any damages.

“And the Great Usopp will be on keyboard. You know, I played for a royal family in East Blue once. They said they’ve never heard such heavenly music before and rewarded me with piles of gold. They still talk about it to this day.”

“Really, Usopp?!”

Ignoring the byplay, Franky picks up a guitar. “Yew. It’s going to be super. All the crew playing in a band together…” He looks at them with a teary face, and starts to bawl. “Something got into my eyes.”

“Shishishi!” Luffy laughs, throwing his arms around Franky and Brook. One half of his clothes is tastefully ripped, and the other half is sequined – the straw hat clashes with everything else he’s wearing, though someone’s taken the time to add a sparkly ribbon over the usual red one. “It going to be a big party!”

“Nami-san, are you ready for your own performance?” Brook asks, completely unperturbed by Luffy’s manhandling, though the tea in his cup is in danger of spilling. “The nice young man that invited us here said we should be on stage soon.”

“Why would he – oh, right, you’re the manager. Yes, we’re fine.”

“Very well,” Brook stands up, depositing his teacup back on the table with a gentle clink. “Then I shall give you a few pointers for–“

“Oi, Brook, wait a minute. I didn’t get my costume.”

The whole crew turns towards the door, only to see Zoro come in as if nothing is wrong. There is blood on his clothes.

“What did you do,” Nami says, very calmly.

“The hallway moved, so I ended up back on the beach,” Zoro shrugs. “Get me that costume, or you’re going to make us late.”

“Don’t talk to Nami-san that way, you damn marimo! It’s you who’s making us late!”

Zoro takes one look at Sanji, and grins. “At least I’m not wearing a shirt that looks like someone’s puked on it.”

“What did you say?!”

The arguing almost manages to drown out the stomping of dozens of boots coming closer and closer.

“Zoro?” Robin says. “Did you perhaps encounter Marines on your way here?”

Distracted, Zoro looks away from where he’s been nose-to-nose with Sanji, one of his swords already half-drawn. “Huh? Oh, yeah, but I took care of them.” Everyone immediately focuses on the blood on his clothes.

“And they couldn’t have followed you?”

“Maybe? I don’t know, the streets are pretty complicated here, so I don’t know how.”

The Strawhats exchange a look as the sound of stomping boots comes ever closer. The shouts of the Marines are becoming audible.

“Gotta run!” Usopp says, snatching his clothes and weapons in one big bundle and hightailing it out of the window.

“Usopp!” Nami cries out in outrage. “Don’t you dare run faster than me!”

There is a wild scramble as the crew gathers their things and starts to flee as fast as they can.

“Ooow,” Luffy says, pouting. “I wanted to sing.”

“Not to worry, captain,” Brook hefts his guitar and starts strumming, every note accompanying the beat of their footsteps. “I shall handle it. Though I have no hands, yohohoho!”

The opening notes of Binks’ Sake ring out, and the crew starts to sing.

Chapter Text

They don’t notice the seastone nets until it’s too late.

A small armada of Marine ships has surrounded the Sunny and forced them to spread out. At their level, the number of enemies is not a problem, but it does mean that Nami is the only one around Luffy to provide cover fire, everyone else too far away to help. Nami and Luffy pay it no mind – the Strawhats are nothing if not used to taking out strong enemies on their own. And these Marines are not that strong.

They are tricky, though. There are two Vice-Admirals keeping Luffy occupied and forcing Nami to take out anyone aiming at her captain’s back. She can clearly see that the Vice-Admirals are not powerful enough to actually beat Luffy, even though they’re New World level, but they’re clever and cunning, and Luffy’s always been weak to tricks. Nami keeps half an eye on them as she rains thunder and hail on the surrounding Marines, but Luffy’s managing – having fun, even – so she’s not really concerned.

She shouldn’t have kept her eye on the Vice-Admirals. She should have kept her eye on the Marines behind them.

Nami doesn’t notice the nets flying until it’s too late. Luffy does, but he can’t dodge in time – one of his opponents grabs for him at the same moment the other makes a move towards Nami, and that’s enough for her captain to get distracted. A second is all that is needed. The seastone nets land, and Luffy goes down hard.

The Vice-Admiral that made a grab for Nami changes directions abruptly and aims a sword at Luffy’s back.

All the surroundings go silent. Intellectually, Nami knows that the battle is still raging around them, but there is a buzzing in her ears and an anger so loud that it drowns out everything else. She can see a straight line of explosions coming closer and closer, ships cleaved in half one after another. Zoro, having sensed something wrong, is rampaging towards them. He won’t get here in time.

Nami hefts her clima-tact and bares her teeth. “You shouldn’t have done that,” she says.

The Vice-Admirals pay her no attention. That’s fine. They’ll regret it.

“Zeus!” she shouts. Zeus springs out, takes one look at her face and flies far away, up and up and up, shaking in terror. “Black Balls. Weather Egg.” Zeus grows larger still, blotting out the sky and the sun until they’re stuck underneath a massive cloud, no light in sight. Nami spares no expense. It’s only Luffy and her in this part of battle, and Luffy’s rubber. He won’t get hurt.

Electricity crackles in the air, the bright discharge painting the world in horrifying shadows. The Marines are paying attention now.

“Stop her!” one of the Vice-Admirals shouts. Nami ignores him. The sword has still not landed in Luffy’s back, and that’s all that matters. “Stop her right now!”

The Marines surge. They’re too slow.

“Zeus Breeze Tempo!” Nami shouts, and a terrible thunderbolt falls from the sky, as wide as a house. The sound of it makes her ears pop painfully. With impeccable aim, it strikes the ship Luffy is on, and it’s so quick that no one has a chance to run.

She once downed Big Mom with this attack. The Marines stand no chance.

The ship is obliterated in a second. There is no trace of the Marines left – not even their bones remain, crushed and burned after Nami’s attack. There is only a small, trussed up figure slowly sinking into the sea that is still steaming after the impact.

Nami doesn’t hesitate to jump in.

Minutes later, after she’s hauled Luffy up on the beaten-up deck of another Marine ship, after she’s caught her breath and stopped the trembling of her limbs, she aims a punch at Luffy’s head. “Don’t do that again!”

Luffy’s still wrapped in the seastone nets, but he has enough energy to smile. “Shishishi!” The gleeful grin stretches his face unnaturally wide. He’s looking at Nami with all the affection in the world, the way he only looks at his crew. “Why not? Nami was there.”

As if Nami being there means that he can take his eyes off his opponents and allow a moment of weakness. As if Nami being there means that he’s perfectly safe.

Nami couldn’t have stopped the smile growing on her face if she wanted to. “Next time,” she says, and gently starts untangling him, “I’m charging double.”  

Chapter Text

Perhaps the worst thing about the entire situation is that Luffy does not cry.

When they turn around a bend in the path and come face-to-face with three very familiar-looking boys, Luffy gasps, “Ace.” And then, when he finally registers their young appearance, “Robin.”

Robin draws close to Luffy, more cautiously than she has in years. “I don’t know, captain,” she says choosing her words with utmost care. Her wide eyes trail over the boys before latching onto Luffy’s face with frightening intensity. “I’ve never heard of something like this.”

Luffy tilts his head and the whole crew crowds around him, looking anxious. Nobody touches him, but everyone looks like they want to, gazes fixed onto him filled with quiet worry. Sanji and Zoro plant themselves at his sides and do not look like they will move any time soon.

The kid Ace inserts himself between his brothers and the looming crew, hefting up a steel pipe. He looks angry, and terrified, but his hands do not shake. “Who the hell are you?!”

Nobody quite knows how to answer. They look at Luffy, but he stays silent, sliding his hat to cast a shadow over his eyes. Steeling herself, Nami approaches, face softening as she looks at the boys. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

“Ace.” The blond-haired kid – Sabo – grabs Ace’s shoulder.

Ace ignores him and glares at Nami. “Don’t come any closer!” Every once in a while, his eyes dart towards Jimbei and Franky, the largest and outwardly most dangerous members of the crew. He very conspicuously tries to avoid looking at Brook.

“Ace,” Sabo says, more urgently.

“No! Look at those weirdos, Sabo, I’m not letting them near Luffy!”

Uniformly, the crew flinches. The guilt is eating them alive. Ace once entrusted Luffy into their care, and they failed him. The shame will never go away.

“Hey!” Little Luffy suddenly shouts, face scrunched up in a frown. He’s pointing at their Luffy. “That’s my hat!”

The boys fall silent. Ace takes one look at their Luffy, taller and bigger, but with the same straw hat on his head and the same round face. His eyes flit over the scar under his eye and then the one on his chest, and he scowls. “What the hell is this shit?!”

“Ace,” Sabo says once again. “Look around.”

Ace does, and his frown deepens. They’re on an autumn island – surrounding them is a dense forest of red-leaved trees as far as the eye can see. The crew doesn’t really know where Luffy grew up, beyond somewhere in East Blue, but it must not be anything at all like this island if the sudden dread on the boys’ faces can be trusted.

Ace, after a moment of bewilderment, flares up. “Where are we?! Where did you take us?!” Backing away a few steps, he crowds his brothers backwards.

Little Luffy, much less restrained and seemingly paying no attention to their location change, adds, “And why do you have my hat?”

“Don’t talk to them, Luffy!”

“Ace…” Nami starts, conciliatory.

“And how do you know my name?!”

Nami opens her mouth to speak, but a hand on her shoulder stops her. She snaps her mouth shut with a click and backs off immediately, leaving the boys gaping.

“Ace,” their Luffy says, and even Ace stops to listen to him. His face has gained that frighteningly blank look that makes it impossible to tell what he’s thinking. “You’re Portgas D. Ace, and you’re my brother.”

“Luffy?” Sabo says, cautiously hopeful.

“It can’t be!” Ace snaps. His eyes are wide, and he’s clutching his pipe until his knuckles turn white. “He’s a liar!”

Luffy inclines his head to meet Ace’s eyes. “We – Sabo, you and me – stole Dadan’s sake and swore to be brothers. The first time we met, you tried to kill me. When Porchemy found out about your pirate stash, he took me and–”

“Luffy?!” Ace cuts in.

“Ace,” their Luffy says, and then turns his gaze to his other brother. “Sabo.” For a moment, the crew thinks he might cry, but Luffy’s never been one for doing the expected. He smiles instead, big and toothy and entirely sincere. “It’s so good to see you! I missed you!”

Now both of them seem bewildered, eyes straying from little Luffy to the pirate captain addressing them. “… What is going on?” Ace whispers, and Sabo shrugs, though his grip on his pipe has relaxed almost completely. They seem incapable of suspicion under Luffy’s cheerful gaze.

Little Luffy has no such difficulties. “You’re me?! Older me?! That’s so cool! Are you a pirate?! Are you a pirate captain?! How many adventures did you have?! No, don’t tell me that! Tell me about meat! What kind of meat did you eat?! Is there some special island full of meat?!” His stomach growls. “I’m hungry. I want meat.”

“Figures,” Sanji says, relaxing now that he’s on a familiar ground. He lights up a cigarette. “I can make you something to eat, but we’re going to have to go back to the Sunny. Don’t have any supplies here.”

“The Sunny?” Sabo asks.

“Our ship, Thousand Sunny.”

“I have a ship?!” Little Luffy is practically vibrating out of his skin.

Ace and Sabo exchange loaded glances, look at little Luffy and then at their Luffy, pensive. They’re met with open sincerity on Luffy’s face, and Sabo sighs. “I guess we can go see the ship.”

Little Luffy whoops. The crew switches their attention to their captain, who is still uncharacteristically silent.

“Captain?” Robin prompts.

Luffy jams his hat even further down his head and says, “Let’s go back to the Sunny.”

…

As the kids run around and oooh and aaah about the ship, the crew gathers by the mast, strangely serious. Luffy immediately makes his way towards his special spot, and all of them track his progress, some more obvious than others.

“Well,” says Sanji, lighting up another cigarette. He’s gone through half a box by the time they reached the Sunny, and Chopper’s starting to hover, wringing his hooves. “That happened.”

For once, Zoro does not take the easy jab. “Luffy’s dealing.”

But for how long? nobody says, but everyone worries. Luffy can survive more than most – more than any of them would ever ask him to – but this? This seems unfair. This seems as if it might break him.

“Nobody should be forced to bear such a burden,” Jimbei says solemnly, and it carries more weight from him than from anyone else. He’d been at Marineford with Luffy. He’d seen it all. The rest of them only know of Luffy after two years of healing. Jimbei remembers the aftermath.

“Robin, do you have any idea why this happened?” Nami asks. She’s half-hugging herself, fingers caressing her tattoo. “I mean, it can’t be random, there’s no way they appeared there by coincidence just as we were on the island.”

“No,” Robin shakes her head. “I’ve never heard of something like this. The boys obviously didn’t even notice that they’ve time traveled. I’ll have to do some research.”

Nami nods. “I’ll join you. I don’t think we’ll be leaving this island until everything is dealt with; I may as well help you.”

Sanji puffs at his cigarette. “I’m going to the galley; now I have two black holes to cook for.”

“Three,” Usopp adds, and then flinches as everyone glances at him.

“Huh?”

“Three black holes,” Usopp grimaces and looks away, hands wringing. “Do you remember Ace in Alabasta? He ate as much as Luffy.”

“Right,” Sanji exhales. The rest of the crew is stiflingly, uncharacteristically quiet. “Three black holes.” With that, he walks off towards the galley, stiff-backed and scowling.

“This is so not super,” Franky says.

Nobody denies the truth in his words.

It is Brook who breaks the silence, reaching for his violin. Though there is no expression on his face (not that he has a face, yohohoho!), his whole being excludes a certain kind of grim determination. “I think we should make the most of this situation, nevertheless.” Hefting his violin, he breaks off from the group and makes his way towards the boys. “Robin-san, Franky-san. The three of us never met Ace. We should get to know the brother our captain loves so much.”

Opening chords of Binks’ Sake ring out over the deck, and little Luffy comes as if summoned, Ace and Sabo trailing after him. “Are you a musician?!”

The rest of them exchange glances.

“Yow,” says Franky. “Brook’s right. Nico Robin, you need to do your research, but when you’re done, come meet Ace.”

“Yes,” Robin nods, her thoughts distant, her eyes far away. “Of course.”

Franky peels away from the group and follows in Brook’s footsteps, excited shrieking of ‘a robot!’ announcing his arrival. Nami grabs Robin’s hand and squeezes, hard. The two of them leave, desperately holding onto each other.

Zoro and Jimbei meet each other’s eyes. Zoro inclines his head towards Usopp and Chopper, who are huddling together, and Jimbei nods.

“Come,” Jimbei places his hands on their shoulders, warm and comforting. “We should join them. Our little captain should not have a boring time on his own ship.”

That leaves Zoro alone by the mast. He spends several moments looking blankly at the cheerful group now running around the swing, before he turns his gaze away and strides towards the figurehead. Their Luffy is there, leaning against the lion head of the Sunny and staring at the horizon. Only the cries of passing seagulls break the silence.

Zoro says nothing. He throws himself down on the deck and leans against the railing, closing his one good eye and looking for all the world like he’s ready to take a nap.

It takes some time for Luffy to speak. “Zoro?”

“I’m here, captain,” the answer is immediate.

Luffy stays on the figurehead until the sun starts to dip towards the horizon, and Zoro does not move an inch away from his side.

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Luffy wakes up in the middle of a familiar jungle on Dawn Island, which is weird, because he fell asleep in Flower Capital, after-party of Kaido’s defeat still raging around him.

Luffy wakes up alone, which is even weirder, because Luffy hasn’t been alone for a very long, long time.

He looks around. Luffy’s Country looks the same as the last time he’s seen it, back before he left on his journey. Beside it, Ace’s Country is as empty as it has been for the three years Ace has been gone. The sounds of the forest are echoing around him, familiar and soothing, but there is an itch at the back of his neck that doesn’t go away no matter how much Luffy scratches. His nakama are not here, and Luffy doesn’t like it.

“A dream,” Luffy says and nods, because that’s the only reason his crew might not be with him. Then, remembering Usopp telling him that he should pinch himself if he ever thinks he’s dreaming, Luffy stretches his cheek and allows it to snap back. It hurts.

“Not a dream,” Luffy says and nods again. “A mystery.”

He doesn’t like this mystery. Mysteries are the best when his crew is around to explain and be amazed with him.

The problem has an easy solution, though. Luffy will just go look for his crew and solve the mystery when he finds them.

Clambering to his feet, Luffy stretches his Observation Haki as far as it can go, which is a lot. He doesn’t sense his crew, though there are vaguely familiar presences where Dadan’s Country should be. He should go there then, Luffy decides. Maybe someone knows what’s going on.

It’s only when he takes a step forward that he realizes there are more weird things going on. His steps are smaller than they should be and when he looks down, the ground seems close. Not much, but Luffy’s very good with distances, because it’s hard to slingshot himself with his rubber when he doesn’t know where to go.

Looking himself over, Luffy notices that he’s skinnier, too. All the muscle that he got working in Udon is gone, but so is all the muscle he got sailing and fighting on the Grand Line. And, most importantly, the scar on his chest he got from Akainu is gone, too.

Luffy starts frowning then, because this is getting really weird.

“To Dadan’s country,” Luffy nods with renewed determination and strides off towards those familiar presences.

Dadan’s country looks the same as it did before Luffy left, and so does Dadan when he finally barges in, heedless of a couple of bandits he bowls over at the entrance. Dadan frowns. “Oi, brat, what the hell are you doing? Shouldn’t you be hunting?”

“Dadan!” Luffy grins widely and pounces. Wrapping his arms and legs several times around Dadan’s body, he squeezes. “I missed you!”

Dadan splutters. When she speaks, she sounds kinda choked, “You saw me yesterday!”

Luffy shakes his head. “It’s been ages! I really, really missed you guys!”

Someone starts bawling. Luffy doesn’t care enough to look, but he does release his grip on Dadan to hop back onto the ground.

Dadan bonks him on his head. It doesn’t hurt, because he’s made of rubber. “What’s wrong with this thick head of yours now?!”

“Nothing,” Luffy says. Kaido did hit him on the head a few times, but Chopper took care of it and, anyway, there are no injuries from the fight on his body, so his head is definitely okay. “Why am I here?”

“What?!” Dadan asks, confused. “You’re the one who barged in here, you little shit!”

“I know.” Maybe Dadan is just too stupid to understand. Luffy wouldn’t be surprised. “Why I am on Dawn Island? I don’t remember getting here.”

Dadan looks at him like he’s crazy. Luffy ignores it, because people keep looking at him like that for some reason, and he’s never figured out why. “You shitty brat, you’ve always been here. Like hell did I imagine years of dealing with your lot.”

Luffy frowns. Something is really, really weird. Dadan says he’s never left, and Dadan’s not a very good liar. Luffy always knows when she lies. He asks the most important question. “Where’s my crew?”

“Your crew? Kid, you don’t have a crew; you promised the other brat that you’re not gonna set sail until next year.” She squints at him, suspicious. “Did you find some poor bastard to join your crew on this island? You said everyone here is weak.”

Luffy’s really getting worried now, because none of this seems right. He pauses to glance at the bandits and they look exactly the same as when Luffy set sail. He looks down at himself, and he looks exactly the same as when he set sail too, except he’s a little bit shorter. His crew’s not here, and Luffy knows they would be if they could, because his nakama would never leave him. And Dadan says he hasn’t left Dawn Island yet, and Dadan is a very bad liar.

Luffy’s head is steaming a bit from all the thinking.

“I know!” Luffy exclaims, and punches his fist. “This is like Kin'emon, only backwards!”

Kin'emon said that people couldn’t go back, but Kin'emon is not really smart, not like Robin or Sanji or Torao. And he doesn’t even know what Devil Fruits are. Kin'emon probably just doesn’t know everything there is to know about time travel, and now Luffy’s back. That makes sense.

“Kin'emon… What?!” Dadan frowns. “Who’s that? What are you blubbering about now, kid?”

“Kin'emon is a samurai,” Luffy explains, because it’s not Dadan’s fault that she doesn’t know who Kin'emon is, since time moved. “He’s my friend.”

“Your…” Dadan clamps her mouth shut. “You know what, I don’t want to know! Probably another crazy weirdo, like you.”

Luffy nods, because Kin’emon is pretty weird. But he’s also Luffy’s friend, and that means that Luffy will have to help him again, even if Kin’emon doesn’t know that they’re friends. Then he thinks some more and realizes that if time moved, that means Kin’emon is still not here and won’t be here any time soon. That makes him frown.

Kin’emon is not the only friend who needs Luffy’s help. If time moved, that means Luffy’s crew is also back where they started. And if that’s true… Some of them are fine. Some of them aren’t, and that’s wrong. Nami, trapped with Arlong and trying to save her village all by herself. Brook, alone and a little crazy in that weird foggy place. Robin, still running and running and running, not really living. Vivi, crying because of Crocodile.

Luffy grabs his hat and jams it onto his head. His scowl deepens.

“Oi, oi, brat,” Dadan says, taking a step back and looking nervous all of a sudden. “What the hell is going on? You look like you’re gonna kill someone.”

“I need to set sail,” Luffy decides. Then, without waiting for an answer, he turns and goes back to the forest. He needs to pack.

“Wait!” Dadan runs after him. “Luffy, wait! What the hell?! You’re not supposed to set sail until next year! You promised.”

That makes Luffy pause. He did promise to Ace and Sabo that he will set sail only at seventeen, like Ace did and Sabo should have. But Ace is dead and Luffy is nineteen right now even if he doesn’t look like it, so he won’t actually be breaking any promises. That means it’s okay to set sail now, and anyway, Ace would have wanted him to save his crew. He met them back in Alabasta and really, really liked them. Luffy knows his brother wouldn’t want him to have any regrets.

And then Luffy stops cold.

Time moved. Time moved, and everything is back, Luffy on Dawn Island and Dadan in her country, and Dadan says that Luffy should have set sail a year from now. That means that Ace has been gone for only two years. Ace was never in Impel Down. Marineford did not happen.

Ace is alive.

“I’m setting sail,” Luffy decides with new determination. Ace is alive. Ace is alive and Luffy needs to find him before Blackbeard does, because Ace will not die. Not again. Luffy is strong now. He can protect everyone.

“Luffy!” Dadan shouts behind him, but she’s too slow to catch him and Luffy doesn’t listen.

His crew and Ace are waiting.

Chapter Text

Zoro figures out something is wrong as soon as he wakes up on account of the fact that both of his eyes are working. 

He’s lying against a tree in some forest that looks a bit familiar. There are people sleeping on either side of him, and Zoro’s hand drifts to Wado Ichimonji, because these people are not his crew. He doesn’t even have to look at them to know that much — their breathing is all wrong. 

But when he does look, he recognizes them anyway, years-long memories pulling two blurry figures into his mind. “Johnny? Yosaku? What the hell?” 

They stir at the sound of his voice. Yosaku mumbles something drowsily, but Johnny actually opens his eyes to squint against the morning sun. “Zoro-aniki? Did something happen?”

“How come you’re here?”

Johnny looks at him a little dubiously. “…We slept here?” 

“Huh,” Zoro says. It wouldn’t be the first time that he ended up somewhere away from his crew because they got lost or space moved. But he’s pretty sure that not even space can move so much that he would end up in East Blue when he fell asleep all the way back in Wano. 

He looks around. The first thing he notices is, of course, that he can look around with two eyes. The second thing he notices is that this is definitely East Blue because the most dangerous thing he can sense with his Observation Haki is a nearby fox. He hasn’t been somewhere this peaceful in years, ever since they crossed the Reverse Mountain. The third thing he notices is that Wado Ichimonji is at his side, but Enma and Kitetsu are gone. Instead, there’s two cheap katanas he used to haul around until Mihawk sliced through them. 

That, before anything else, makes him realize what happened.  

“Huh,” Zoro says. “Time moved.” Makes sense. Space can move, so it’s not all that weird that time can too. And the samurai definitely said something about time-travel, though Zoro didn’t really listen. Didn’t seem all that important at the time. 

“Zoro-aniki?” Johnny snaps him from his daze. Even Yosaku is awake now, looking bewildered at the whole situation. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Zoro decides. It’s not like he’s injured. He stands up, adjusting his swords in his grip, feeling a bit weird without the traditional clothes he’s gotten used to wearing. In fact, his body is all kinds of strange right now; too weak, and with not enough muscle, most of his scars still missing and not pulling at his skin. Even the fact that he can see from his injured eye kind of bothers him. He lost that eye fair and square. “Let’s go.”

Johnny and Yosaku scramble after him. Zoro ignores their flustered panic and strides forward. 

“Where are we going?!” Yosaku asks. “What’s gotten into you, aniki?!”

“To find my captain,” Zoro says, as if it’s obvious. Which it is. Since Luffy’s not here and Zoro can’t sense him with his haki, that means that the first thing he needs to do is find Luffy. Everything else can come after. 

“Captain?” Johnny asks. “But you don’t have a captain!”

“Yes, I have.” 

“You’re a pirate hunter. Not a pirate.”

Zoro hums, unconcernedly. He looks left and right, a bit confused, before choosing a random direction and continuing on with utmost confidence. “I am one now.”

“What?!” Yosaku yelps. 

“Since when?!” Johnny asks. 

“Years,” Zoro answers, truthfully. He spares a moment to think about whether it really does count as years if time travel is involved, but since he lived it, it must count. And then another thought occurs to him, so he ignores Johnny and Yosaku’s confusion in favor of asking, “Wait, what’s the year now?”

Johnny and Yosaku stop abruptly. A bit impatient now, Zoro also stops and turns around to glare at them. They look at him as if he’s about to die. 

“Zoro-aniki…” Yosaku says, voice wobbling. “Are you really okay?” 

“Do you have a fever?” Johnny adds. 

“Does anything hurt? If you hit your head, we can fix it, I promise!”

“We’re not doctors, but we’re smart! We’re going to figure it out!”

“There’s no need to be scared. We’re here with you!” 

“Nothing’s wrong with me,” Zoro confirms with utmost confidence. He’s pretty sure not even Chopper could find anything wrong with his current body. It’s not like there is anything in East Blue that can hurt him. “So what’s the year?”

Johnny sniffles very loudly, and then winces when Zoro aims a dark look in his direction. 

“It’s 1521,” Yosaku answers, huddling closer to Johnny. 

“Oh,” Zoro says. So a year until Luffy sets sail. He still has a lot of time to find him. “Let’s go.”

“Zoro-aniki!” Yosaku wails. “Where are you even going? You’re running in circles!”

“To find Luffy,” Zoro says, as patiently as he can. Didn’t they go through this before?

“Luffy? Is that your captain?” At Zoro’s nod, Johnny frowns in confusion. “Where’s he, then?” 

This time, Zoro’s the one that stops as he abruptly realizes he has no idea where to find Luffy. He knows Luffy’s from East Blue, because that’s where they met. He knows Luffy must be from somewhere close to that Marine base town they met in, because there’s no way Luffy sailed far on his own, and he met Coby only a little bit before that. But he doesn’t know where Luffy grew up. He doesn’t even know the name of Luffy’s home island; it’s not something the crew has ever talked about. The past is the past, and it stays that way unless someone wants to share. 

Luffy never does. 

Zoro frowns, thinking. He doesn’t know where Luffy is right now, but he knows where he will be. So the best thing to do is to go to that Marine base island and wait for Luffy to show up. It’ll happen sooner or later; there’s no way Zoro came here alone without the rest of the crew. They’ll find each other eventually. 

“We’re going to the Marine base island,” Zoro declares, and starts walking again. 

Johnny throws his hands up in frustration. “Which one?!”

“There’s more than one?”

“Yes, there is more than one. So which one?”

Zoro gives it some thought. “The one with the dickhead in charge. The axe guy.”

“Axe-Hand Morgan?” Yosaku suggests. 

Sounds about right. Shit nickname for a shit person. “Yeah, that one.”

Johnny and Yosaku exchange glances. Johnny sighs, as if he’s gotten tired of something. Zoro can’t imagine what; it’s not like they were walking all that fast. “Guess we’re going to Shells Town.”

Zoro agrees, because meeting up with Luffy is the most important thing right now. If time moved, then a lot of things have changed. A lot of things can change. He’s got no idea what Luffy would want to do in a situation like his, but he’s certain the adventure will be different this time. Luffy would never allow it to stay the same. Luffy would never go on a boring adventure. 

The rest of them will just have to follow what he decides anyway. It’s not like Luffy would ever steer them wrong.

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