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Chapter Text

The Strawhat's had observed that their captain had been acting a little out of it again. This wasn't the first time that Luffy just seemed.... distant? They had just left Thriller Bark and he had started acting like this. He had acted like this while leaving Alabasta as well. It was starting to concern the crew since Luffy was never this quiet.  

Finally Robin approached him.

Captain?

Ah Robin! Do you need something?

Its just that you seem to a bit absent(?), you could say. Is there any issue? You know that you can rely on us for anything.

Luffy seemed surprised by the question. He looked at the rest of his crew and saw that they were looking at him with concern. He is the captain he shouldn't be a burden to them. What is he doing.  Luffy shook his head pushing those thoughts behind.

I am okay! 

His crew didn't seem to believe him.

I am just housesmick...

Homesick?

Robin corrected him.

Yah! That thing!..... What?

I am just surprised that you know that word.

Nami commented. Homesick was not a word she would have expected Luffy to know. If anything, she expected him to think that the house was sick on hearing the word homesick! They had been away from home for a year now, so it is understandable. 

Well why don't we call your family?

.....how?

Using the Den Den Mushi!

Usopp suggested. He didn't like his best friend being like this. He himself at time would miss his island or mom from time to time, calling his friends did help.

 On hearing Usopp, Luffy went into thought. Which is VERY strange mind you! On top of that he started muttering a bit, while it is just pieces of  a sentence, it is STILL muttering!

I can't......Makino.......Dadan..no...Woop Slap...no number.....Ace's number?.....it is.......

So what do you think?!

Usopp's exclamation had pulled Luffy out of his thoughts.

We can call Ace. I think.

You think? What do you men Luffy-bro?

I don't know Ace's number....

And you didn't ASK in Alabasta!!!!

Nami pretended to get angry. She had heard a bit of Luffy's muttering since she was standing near him. She hated that he was striking off names! How could they not give her captain anyway to contact them! Even Nojiko and the rest of the crew's family gave each other a number to contact. Even though the crew is almost always on an adventure, they still called their family every other week or at least once a month. They still contacted their families every once in a while, it was a suggestion Luffy made seeing how the crew was sad to leave their families.

I Forgottttttt!

Whined Luffy.

Since we can't call Ace.... Ah! How about you tell us about them?

About my family?

Yes!

Luffy considered turning down the offer for a minute but Usopp was pretty exited so he accepted.

Sure!

Great. Shall we sit in the gallery?

Sure. I will go prepare some drinks.

Sanji walked off towards the gallery and the rest of the crew followed him. Reaching the gallery, they settled down on the table while Sanji was in the kitchen.

Luffy go ahead!

Well, I come from Dawn island-

________________________________________________________

Dawn island is a small, out of the way island. Looking on it you would see a very excited 6 year old. This 6 year old is called Luffy and he had just heard from the Mayor Woop Slap that a ship was seen on the horizon. Not many ships came to Dawn, the only ships being Garp's or the merchant's ship but that came once a year and Gramps had already visited a month ago. 

In a day the ship had docked. It was a pirate ship, something that little Luffy had never seen. Gramps had told him that pirates were bad and marines were good but; what good marine punches his grandson? Luffy had gone out to meet the pirates with Woop Slap but Makino hid him behind her when she found him.

"What do you pirates want from our village?" Woop Slap asked

"Nothing. We just want to restock and get some drinks." said a red headed man

"If you try anything, we will call Vice-Admiral Garp" Woop Slap warned

"You won't need to call him at all. I am sure of it." The redhead responded

"Hey, why is your hair red?" Luffy asked. 

Luffy had somehow managed to get out of Makino's grasp and get to the pirate without anyone noticing.

"Luffy!" exclaimed the villagers

"Don't mind the boy. He is just a kid." Woop Slap said

"It's fine, I can satisfy a kid's curiosity." The redhead laughed

"So?" Asked the ever so patient Luffy

"Why is your hair black?" Asked the redhead

"I don't know." Luffy said immediately

"I don't know either." Said the redhead

"So its a mystery!" Said a satisfied Luffy

"Hey-" The man looked down to read Luffy's shirt "Anchor, do you know any good place to get food?"

"Yah! Makino makes AMAZING food! Her cooking is the BEST!" Luffy said vibrating  

"Makino?" asked another man from the pirate crew

"That would be me." Makino said stepping forward

"Are you his older sister?" asked the other man

"You could say so." Makino said smiling

Wait Wait Wait Luffy how old is Makino?

She was 12 years older than me sooooo ahhhhhh 

She is 29 Luffy.

Thanks Robin! Shishishi

And at that time she was?

Robinnnnn.

If it is 10 years ago, she was 19 years old.

Okay Continue.

So as I was saying-

"Well hello Miss Makino." Said the redhead.

"If you want drinks you can come to my bar." Makino offered

"We will take you up on that one." The other man said

The rest of the crew hurried up in docking to head to the bar. Luffy skipped beside Makino as she led the 2 men to her bar.

Aaaand that's how I met Shanks!

Why don't we take a break from storytelling to eat?

Sanji offered.

SANJI! FOOD!

LET ME SERVE FOR THE LADIES FIRST!

FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!

I HEAR YOU GLUTTON!

Chapter Text

The crew sat at the table, across from the kitchen, eating food as Brook told jokes and Zoro fought with Sanji over alcohol again. Luffy laughed as he watched his crew, he looked a lot better than before, which was a relief to everyone.

After the dishes were put away everyone returned back to the circle in the gallery. They settled down while Luffy started to recount his story again.

The crew sat in the bar while Makino served them. The red headed man sat next to the young boy and introduced himself as Shanks and the black hair to be his right hand man, Benn Beckman. 

The crew kept camp in that village for a year before leaving.

So how did you get your strawhat Luffy? 

Silly Sanji! Shanks gave it to me! He said I have to give it back when I see him again!

A day as slow as any other, Shanks had teased Luffy about not being brave enough to be a pirate and Luffy decided to prove his bravery by stabbing his eye, which lead to him getting his scar under his eye. 

Another day, a bandit had insulted Shanks which made Luffy angry. But since he was brushed off, he decided to eat the first thing in reach instead, which happened to be the Gum-Gum no mi.

Shishishi You should have seen Shanks face!

Classic Luffy

Nami-

Luffy, continue the story.

Fineeeee

So to defend Shanks' honour, Luffy stood up to the bandit but he lost and the man was going to shoot him when Shanks appeared. He man got scared and fled to the sea.

A few crew members gasped in horror, namely Usopp and Chopper.

He didn't actually throw you in the sea, right?

He did but Shanks saved me!

So the bandit dropped Luffy into the sea but a Sea King ate him and his boat while Luffy panicked in the water. Right before Luffy also became fish food Shanks grabbed him, losing his arm in the process. He scared the Sea King away after that.

After that the crew left with Shanks giving Luffy his strawhat. Then Garp picked him up and sent him into the forest to live with bandits.

Garp-san really has some unique parenting techniques, sending him to bandits right after getting kidnapped by one.

Shishishi It was good! I met Ace and Sabo there!

Sabo?

My brother!

The bandit boss of the forest was Dadan, Luffy stayed with her and her men. That was where he met Ace, who was also left there by Garp. He would follow Ace for months, avoiding traps and the huge animals. Eventually he got taken by some bad man who were chasing Ace and Sabo for their money. That man hit him again and again. He punctures in his body from being hit with spiked gloves and could barely breathe but he didn't falter. He never said a word even when he felt his eyesight get more blurry, his breathing becoming shallow from his broken ribs or when he lost too much blood.

But Ace and Sabo came and saved him. They beat up all the bad people and took him away from them. He recovered from his injuries and everything got better. 

After that they became brothers! They were never apart and built their own treehouse and would hunt alligators to eat. 

But one day Sabo's dad came to take him away, but Sabo was their brother however that man didn't care and took Sabo away. They couldn't chase him through the fire that was happening in Gray Terminal.

Sabo wanted to be free so he became a pirate before 17 and set out. 

What do you mean by 17? Did all of you plan to set off at 17?

Yep! Ace and Sabo said they would set off first and wait for me out there, that they would become great pirates.

That's sweet.

Ahh Robin-swan smiled.

Stupid love cook.

Shut up moss head.

The pair which had been arguing were hit by an angry Nami, while Robin chuckled. The only one who didn't seem amused was Luffy, who seemed sad.

The day that Sabo, he encountered a celestial dragon. His ship was shot down and he was never seen again. 

Why are all of you looking at me like that? 

Oh Luffy we are sorry for your loss.

A cuddle pile formed on the deck as the crew hugged Luffy.