Chapter Text
Uta still had a hard time believing all of this was real, but it wasn't one of her created dreams.
No, Luffy had burst into that dream which had become a nightmare and cleared it away like the sun clearing the clouds. Now she was free, a member of the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy her captain, and her his musician. He'd shown her the ship, the Thousand Sunny, that they were soon going to be sailing away on, and they'd shared a precious, quiet moment away from all the crowds and chaos for just a while. It had given Uta a little time to process, to breathe, and to savor her new reality.
She'd been a little greedy, taking the time to cuddle and hold tight to Luffy, still dealing with the fear that she'd open her eyes and he'd be gone. But every time she did, and he was still there and it brought a little more hope to her heart.
This was what freedom really felt like.
It wasn't a magical world in your dreams, free of everything except what a god told you was true, it was this. Her new reality on the open sea, and all the people she'd get to know.
Now, after that quiet moment had passed, she was being tugged along in her new Captain's excitable wake.
"I gotta go find Traffy," Luffy had explained. "And make sure Ace and Sabo didn't disappear again."
"Traffy, Ace and Sabo—" Uta mused with a tilt of her head. "Are they likely to vanish, Luffy? I mean they'd say bye first, right?"
"They better not vanish!" Luffy huffed gruffly. "But the last couple of times I ran into both of them they sure did."
He was dragging her and Zoro back toward the tents on the island where most of their pirate allies had been set up. It seemed like a bit of a party atmosphere had gotten started in their absence, with a lot of people forming little clusters, passing around bottles of booze.
Ace and Sabo, Uta had been told, were Luffy's other adopted siblings. A pair of older brothers who Luffy had thought were dead until recently. Or had been dead until recently? Or something? It was a little unclear the way Luffy told it, but apparently they were sharing one body.
Uta hadn't been aware that was something you could actually do—but then again, she had a god currently shut deep inside her heart, sooooo who was she to say what was possible or not? Either way, she'd eagerly followed along.
She'd of course made sure to tell Luffy that if Ace and Sabo were his other adopted siblings, that of course made HER theirs too! And she was starting to get excited to meet them!
"They're gonna be excited to have a sister," Luffy promised. "They'll be sorry they missed you. But that's okay. Anyway, Traffy said he could give Ace his own body, so that's why I gotta track him down."
"Like, he can give Ace his own body RIGHT NOW? That's so cool! Can Traffy like, create new life outta thin air or something?"
Uta was still hanging on Luffy's arm, refusing to let him go just yet. Admittedly, he seemed just as reluctant to let go of her. He had his arm coiled like a spring around hers.
"I donno, that's why I wanna ask! Croco interrupted us with a silly meeting before I had a chance to before."
"It's a hell of a question," Zoro murmured from where he stalked nearby.
"It sure is, Mr. Zoro—honestly, if someone had an ability like that I'd be impressed. I can only create things like that in people's dreams!" Uta bobbed her head. "...which isn't exactly a good solution for someone looking for a new body unless they wanna be asleep constantly."
"No, he's kinda like a dream already," Luffy mused. He paused at the outskirts and looked around, orienting on each of the groups of people. "Aha! Traffy!!"
He pulled her toward a knot of colorfully dressed, variously sized pirates sitting in the grass passing a bottle back and forth.
Traffy, as Luffy always seemed to call him, jolted and quickly passed the bottle to the next person as he turned with a wave of his hand ."Straw Hat, Zoro, and Miss Uta. Glad to see you've calmed down a bit."
Uta stuck out her tongue. "Thanks to Luffy~. Heheh, wow…some of these guys are huge, aren't they? I noticed it a bit, but up close it's really striking!"
A couple of the pirates Law was sitting with gave her little grins or waves, elbowing each other in response to her remark.
"Maybe I'll be ten feet tall when I'm older. You don't know!" Luffy huffed, and stomped his foot.
"I hope so!" Uta laughed. "Maybe I'll be super tall too!"
Still, even as she waved to the pirates with Law, she listened closely. She was admittedly really curious.
"Anyway, Traffy, you wanna tell me more about that thing you said about Ace?"
"About how we're working on getting a new body for Monet?" Law asked. "And how I could probably put in a word to get one for Ace too?"
"Yeah, that thing!" Luffy nodded excitedly. "I think anyway?"
"Oh yeah, wasn't Doffy gonna talk to ol' Caesar about that?" One of the tallest members of the group, a long faced man with a jaunty hat, elbowed Law.
Law rocked a little before elbowing him back.
"Yeah, yeah, Dia…" He snorted through his nose and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees with a grin. "Doffy's plannin' on having a little chat with Caesar about using some of his old MADS knowledge to see if we can grow a new body for Monet. If we can manage it, I can take her out of Sugar and put her in the new body. I just can't do it if it ain't an organic one, you know?"
Uta put her finger to her chin in thought.
"Wow, you can really do that? Use science to grow a whole body for someone?" Her brow furrowed before she excitedly followed up "If you can take a soul out of someone—can you take Tot Musica out of me???"
Luffy's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah!! Traffy, could you take a devil fruit out like you did for those SMILE guys on Wano?"
Dia whistled. "Damn. Can you do that, Corazon?"
Law looked like a deer caught by a predator, for a moment as all the pirates turned toward him expectantly, his eyes wide as he waved his hands.
"Fuck, fuck no absolutely not! I mean, not yet anyway. The SMILE was different, it…it didn't enmesh with the body and spirit like a devil fruit does. I can't yank it out without killing either of you!"
Luffy sighed and deflated like a limp balloon. "Aw, there goes that idea." He shrugged it off. "Anyway, I guess that's not as important as a body for Ace anyway. Uta and me can handle the whole god thing!"
Uta felt a sting of quiet nerves—the memory of being nearly overcome still fresh in her mind as she nodded her head. She pushed them down, smothering them under the assured thought that she HAD handled it. She'd pushed Tot Musica down—and she wasn't going to let Luffy beat her at something else. She could handle it.
She flashed a bright smile. "Sure can! But…that's a pretty neat power!"
"It has its uses," Law smirked and leaned towards them. "The thing is, if Caesar can't grow them a new pair of bodies—he can ask his old buddies for help. The Vinsmokes are here too, with their brand new girl I'd heard."
"New girl?" Luffy cocked his head and then something seemed to click. "Ooooh! Rebecca! Yeah! Well… let's go talk to Caesar!"
Bonney watched from behind a bottle of her own as Luffy and Uta came bursting onto the scene talking about clones and soul grabbing. She didn't speak up, not yet. She let them get to the point before she tipped back a long sip and leaned forward.
"You're going to go talk to Caesar Clown?"
"Huh?" She watched as Luffy's gaze searched the crowd for her when she spoke up, and finally landed on her, his nose wrinkling. "Yeah, is that a problem?"
"Why d'ya immediately think I'm picking a fight?" She stood up and dusted herself off. "No, It ain't a problem!"
Law was staring at her again, staring with that 'please don't cause a scene, i'm begging you' face of his.
She stuck her tongue out at him, before she shrugged her shoulders. "I wanna come too, Luffy."
Uta leaned over and whispered to him, and she could pick up 'who is this?' in her hushed sentence.
Straw Hat grinned and waved his hand over at her. "Oh, this is Glutton Bunny. She's cool I guess. How come you're coming along?"
Bonney pressed her hand to her face, her eyebrow twitching slightly as she worked with remarkable constraint not to snap that her name wasn't actually fucking 'Glutton' and to MAYBE stop telling her favorite Idol that it was. That being said, her constraint never was her strong suit.
She opened her mouth to growl out her real name as Uta waved over at her.
Before her response could escape her throat, another voice cut in.
"Because I invited her, Straw Hat." It was Doflamingo, who was walking up to the group along with some girl she didn't know.
"Ah…" came Bonney's aborted reply, as the smile came back to her face "Yeah! 'Cause I was invited!"
Uta chirped. "oh! Well that's cool with me, Gluttony!"
UGH!!!! Bonney twitched and her smile went a little rictus. "Jewelry, actually! Hey, Doflamingo! Is that a friend of yours?"
"Huh, Jewelry what?" Luffy blinked at her. He was used to people yelling at him for getting their names wrong, but usually they didn't care if he was wrong about their titles and he was actually pretty sure gluttony was her title?
Maybe he was wrong though. Whatever.
He didn't have much time to think about it anyway as the crowd got even bigger. He looked over to where Mingo was blocking the light with his big silly coat and wondered who the 'friend' was. Mingo seemed to have a lot of friends.
That was a good sign, right? Traffy liked him, and all these people liked him and–
Luffy's brain, such as it was, came to a screeching halt as he saw the 'friend' standing in Doflamingo's shadow.
"Rebecca??"
Rebecca leaned over past the edge of Doflamingo's coat with a sheepish smile as she waved to Luffy. "Lucy!! It's so good to see you again!!"
She looked a little different now. Her hair was white, like really shiny white, and she was dressed a bit like Sanji's sister… but it was that same old Rebecca smile as she clasped her hands behind her back.
At the very least he wasn't the only one confused. Other people from the cluster of pirates sounded just as surprised…including Law, who stared between them with an expression that he vocalized with. "What the fuck is this, Doffy?"
Luffy looked between Rebecca and Doflamingo, and Law as the gears in his head stuck and refused to turn for a moment. At least Law sounded as confused as he felt, that was… something.
"This is Rebecca," Doffy drawled with a chuckle. "She came around to have a fight with me and we ended up talking things out instead."
"You've been so magnanimous lately, Doffy," a little voice added. One of the girls? Luffy looked around. No. No, it was the big stone giant guy who had wrecked Dressrosa. Luffy bit down a giggle as he heard Zoro behind him huff through his nose.
One of the girls actually did kind of nudge Luffy to the side so she could peek out at Rebecca in astonishment. "Rebecca talked things out…?"
Rebecca's smile only grew more sheepish as she held up her hands. "Hey, Mr. Law! Haha, I know this seems a little weird—admittedly, it wasn't what I expected when I hunted Doflamingo down either…b-but well…"
She was blushing a little as she glanced up at Mingo. That was a dire sign, wasn't it? Was there some kind of magic spell on Mingo's lap??
Luffy stepped back, biting his lip again as he looked between Mingo, Law and Rebecca. He ignored whoever it was who pushed him out of the way. Not important right now.
He pointed a finger at Rebecca. "You're okay with Mingo now? Seriously?? After all that stuff?"
Law pinched the bridge of his nose. "Rebecca, I dunno much about your circumstances, I wasn't there in Dressrosa till the very end. But weren't you a prison gladiator? Daughter of the royal family? I got the sense you were pretty pissed. Don't get me wrong, I'm fuckin' GLAD you're not trying to kill Doffy anymore, but you can see why Luffy and I are a little surprised."
Rebecca held her hands up, turning a deeper red, it jumped out a lot more against her new hair, and waved them back and forth.
"It's complicated!" She bit her lip. "You don't know this, Law, and I never told you it either, Luffy…but when I was little, between the death of my mother and meeting the soldier…the Donquixote Family took me in on my aunt's request."
Luffy threw his hands up.
This was clearly more complicated than he'd given it credit for. At this rate he was gonna have to start asking people who asked him for help if they were sure they wouldn't rather make out with whoever they wanted him to beat up instead.
And he had absolutely no patience for this right now.
"Okay! Whatever! We'll talk about that later, Rebecca! I'm gonna take Law and whoever else wants to go and ask Caesar if he can make a body for my brother, does anybody have a problem with that?"
Rebecca chewed on her lip nervously for a moment, before she flashed a thumbs up.
"Later, Luffy! But gosh, if you're trying to grow a body— for your…" It was her turn to look a little confused "Huuuh?"
"No problems from me," Jewelry Bonney held her hands up. "I just need to talk to the gas-freak myself too."
Well this was mortifying! Utterly, completely mortifying. Of course Rebecca wanted to tell Luffy all about this, he was a dear and special friend to her. Lucy, who's help she would always cherish!
But the absolute last thing she'd wanted was to run into him while she was still attached at the hip with Doflamingo and have him just…shout that…in the middle of a huge crowd that included a bunch of people who probably still hated her for betraying the family years ago.
She felt flushed, dizzy, and a little sick as she tried to explain herself only to be cut off with a 'whatever' and a 'talk about this later'. Sure. Fine, that was awesome. That worked for her except now all eyes were on her again! It was like the coliseum but WORSE.
Resting her hand on her sword belt, she tried to calm her emotions. Forgiving Doflamingo hadn't been easy– she didn't even fully forgive him for everything– but he'd excavated the good memories from underneath her hurt, and they'd…settled it. Settled it with her welcoming back into the family just in time for them to form a connection with the Vinsmokes through her union with the siblings.
Rebecca of the Donquixotes, provided everyone accepted her ba—-her inner monologue ground to a halt mid sentence to Luffy.
"If you're trying to grow a body for your…." The Vinsmokes had been cloning bodies for years, that much was easy—but whyever did Luffy's brother need one?? "Huuuh?"
Luffy as usual didn't bother answering. He just declared "Good!" and started stalking away, gesturing for the others to follow.
Zoro sighed and sidled up to Rebecca. "Sorry about all that."
Rebecca rubbed the back of her neck with a sheepish laugh, glancing up at the swordsman as the crowd began to follow Luffy.
"Hey Zoro—It's great to see you again!" She meant it, of course…the time she'd spent with the Straw Hats, short as it was, was precious to her. She'd come to like them all. "It's o-okay. I know how Lucy can be sometimes. I do wish he'd pulled me aside for it, though."
She glanced towards the Donquixotes with a tired smile
Zoro shook his head. "You know how he is. I'm sure he just didn't think of it. Are you okay though?"
Rebecca looked up at him again with a quiet smile.
"A lot's happened since we got split up, you know? Like, a whole lot—for both of us."
She chewed her lip thoughtfully "between the Vinsmokes, my augmentations, and now the Donquixotes, I don't even know where to start. If it's Doflamingo you're worried about—I'm okay, I promise. Like I said, it's complicated. I'd been badly hurt by them, I lost my mother to them too, but, I also had a lot of happy memories from when they took me in that I've been pushing down."
Zoro nodded. "I get it. Things aren't always as simple and straightforward as the captain would like them to be. If you ever need somebody to talk to that isn't involved, well. I can't promise I'll have much to say, but I've been told I'm a decent listener."
Rebecca's smile grew wider , and she reached out to squeeze his shoulder fondly. "Thanks Mr. Zoro—I'd like that, you know? I always got the sense you were, and I'll be honest, I could probably use that. It's a lot to keep bottled up, and I could use a practice run for trying to explain myself to Lucy!"
She laughed, and patted the sword by her hip. "Maybe we can even spar while we do it? I'd like to test myself against the man who's gonna be the world's greatest swordsman."
Zoro put his hand on her shoulder. "Now that sounds like a good time."
Rebecca's nerves finally started to subside as she smiled gratefully. It did sound like a good time! After all—swordsmen always communicated their best over a clash of blades.
That was something both the Donquixotes and the Vinsmokes taught her well.
Crocodile had been drinking with the Straw Hat crew for the better part of an hour. Even with their infrequent run ins in the years after Marineford it was still a slightly surreal experience. A good one though. Straw Hat was a hell of a pirate, and he'd put together a hell of a crew. A crew Crocodile ashamed to admit to himself that he'd need the help of in the coming push– and even a crew he wasn't humble enough to deny he'd had a hand in putting together.
He refilled his cup, raising it once again over to Vivi and Robin, before he noticed that Straw Hat himself was finally showing up to the party, along with a large gaggle of other pirates.
"Straw hat! I was wondering where you'd run off to. Your crew's been showing us some hospitality."
"Hey, Croco. Guys, is Caesar around?"
'Hey Croco', that was all he got. Well. It was better than a punch in the face.
Vivi laughed into her hand, nearly tipping her own cup over in the process. "Hey Captain!! Welcome back!"
"The Clown?" Nami snickered under her breath. "He's with Chopper, Luffy."
"Over here, captain." Caesar, who Crocodile admittedly hadn't been paying much attention to, waved from nearby.
The gaggle of pirates Straw Hat brought with him was eclectic if nothing else. Donquixotes, Supernovas, the works. While Straw Hat was turning his attention to that, Crocodile took stock of them. Doffy and Trafalgar. The new Vinsmoke girl. Uta. Zoro. Some of the Donquixotes. Usual crowd. Jewelry Bonney stood out though.
"What's the situation, Doffy?"
Doflamingo just grinned and gestured back to Straw Hat, who had plopped himself down in Caesar Clown's lap and grabbed his face.
"Traffy said you can make bodies."
"Ahhhh… yes? Captain?" The longsuffering mad scientist was looking around as if for support or explanation. With Straw Hat, probably none was forthcoming. Chopper lightly patted his arm with his hoof and an apologetic smile.
"There, there, Caesar…"
It was Trafalgar who took mercy on the poor bastard, pressing Luffy's hat down on his head as he leaned forward. "Straw Hat—and the Donquixotes—are looking for help with that little issue we identified in the dream world. The 'two people in one body' issue? It's a little more widespread than just Monet and Sugar. There's another too, and Luffy got real excited about the idea."
A small Donquixote that looked like a doll piped up, her hands on her hips. "Caesar—" she ran over and practically dropped on his side. "It's Monet! You can do it, right?? Grow someone a new body?"
"Oh is that all," Caesar drawled, waving a hand as Trafalgar leaned in and the doll girl came over. He put his arm around her. "Yes, yes, that's easy as pie. Well, it would be if I had access to a laboratory anyway. And no, before someone mentions, the Vinsmoke flotilla is not going to cut it. The cloning technology there is at least a decade out of date."
Crocodile squinted. "Two people in one body problem?"
Luffy looked back over from Caesar's lap and nodded. "Yeah! My brother Ace is stuck in Sabo's body and I guess she's having the same problem?" He gestured at the doll girl beside him. Sugar, he was pretty sure she was called.
Crocodile slowly processed what Luffy had said, and nearly spit out his drink, swallowing thickly. "Ace? Fire Fist Ace? What the hell do you mean by that, Straw Hat?"
Luffy's grin widened considerably. "He's in Sabo since after he died! Caesar's gonna make a new body for him!"
Crocodile turned toward Mihawk and Smoker, now, like Caesar had been, himself hoping for support or explanation.
Fire Fist Ace, the poor bastard who'd been pinned under Whitebeard's tyrannical thumb, had died at Marineford despite all efforts. And now… what? He was a ghost? He was possessing some other guy? They were gonna bring him back to life? Was that what Crocodile was hearing?
Mihawk's lips had formed a hard line, and his eyes closed. "So I see—he's taken up residence in a body of a brother. If it's happened twice it means established precedent. Interesting."
Smoker held his hands up, but he looked—well. Just as confused and taken aback as Crocodile. Likely, similar thoughts were flying through his head.
Sugar nestled under Caesar's arm, and turned her gaze towards Crocodile.
"It's happened twice that we know of so far. Hi, I'm Monet—one of Doflamingo's agents. Law, Smoker and Luffy killed me on Punk Hazard a while back, and I found myself waking back up in my adopted sister's body with her—and I was hoping to call on the talents of my dear friend Caesar to rectify the situation. And frankly, I would be overjoyed if we can help Luffy and his brother's too."
The new Vinsmoke cautiously raised her hand. "I know the facilities on the flotilla are a little out of date, but I'm sure the Vinsmokes'll be able to help, Mr. Clown? They've got a lot of data on cloning, and maybe even a lead on a good lab to use!"
"Thank you for the insight, Rebecca, that's a good look for you by the way," Caesar drawled. "There's actually a lab in the general area we could use, assuming we could get to it."
The wonderful, in-control feeling that Crocodile had had since the Uta issue had been resolved and the Marines were sent running was slipping away, moment by moment. He felt like he'd dissolved into a pile of sand and people were tracking his bits across the ground.
"You need a lab," Crocodile said. "To bring some ghosts back to life."
"That's right, Croco," Doflamingo purred with his usual maddening grin. "Oh, and we were going to ask Caesar about doing something about Kuma for Jewelry here, too."
"Thanks, Mr. Caesar!" Rebecca chirped, though it was quickly lost in the shuffle around Crocodile.
Mihawk's hand rested on his shoulder though, and he heard his first mate murmur. "We'll just have to go with the flow, Captain."
Jewelry Bonney, who seemed to have gotten in good with Doffy in the last two hours or so, walked to the front with an uncharacteristic nervousness as she shifted to a younger form.
"There's something wrong with my daddy," she murmured. "They experimented on him, I guess. With that Pacifista program…I'm hoping maybe you can help bring him back."
Caesar sat up straight, nearly toppling Straw Hat out of his lap. A long smile twisted over his lips. "Kuma the tyrant? The Pacifista model? The poor bastard that rat Vegapunk's been experimenting on for years? Now that would be an interesting challenge!"
Crocodile leaned into Mihawk's touch and rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. He was feeling lost, for sure. But bringing back Ace. Fixing Kuma, who was as Caesar had said, a poor bastard— that'd sure spit in the fucking eye of the World Government, wouldn't it?
"Where's this lab?" Straw Hat demanded of Caesar. "We should go there!"
For once, Straw Hat took the words right out of Crocodile's mouth.
"Wherever it is, we should probably get going soon." Someone else cut in. Everyone looked over to find the man of the hour, Sabo– or was it Ace?? Crocodile wondered-- along with Isuka and his revolutionary army buddies. "Miss Hancock asked me to share some bad news with Luffy and Sir Crocodile."
Crocodile pinched the bridge of his nose. He'd had a lot of long days in his life, but this was turning out to be possibly one of the longest.
"Alright, lay it on us. If that's alright with you, Straw Hat?"
Luffy had turned to Sabo with big eyes. "Bad news? Is everything okay?"
"I'm afraid not. The reason that we sailed here with your fiance in the first place is because the Revolutionary Army has been destroyed. The World Government annihilated our island with some kind of superweapon, and I have no idea if or when they'll be able to use it again."
Crocodile's stomach lurched.
Oh.
So not just one of the longest. One of the worst. Great.
Tashigi followed the conversation in the wake of Sabo's terrifying pronouncement with difficulty. It was long and involved, and a little bit frantic, with pirates all talking over one another.
In the end it was decided that the Straw Hats, the Donquixotes, and the Vinsmokes would make ready to sail to Queen Ellery Island where the lab Caesar had mentioned was located. He'd also mentioned that there were complications, so that was on the table for further talk apparently.
Crocodile and the others would communicate with the rest of Cross Guild and figure out their own headings. Wherever anyone was headed next, it was clear they shouldn't spend more than another 48 hours on Elegia. The less time, the better, really.
Tashigi leaned heavily in Smoker's lap. She felt her nerves jangling at the lot of it, especially the uncomfortable idea that the government had some kind of island destroying super weapon
Her nerves jangled even more when Caesar Clown, who still unnerved her at the best of times after their encounter in Punk Hazard, mentioned her name unprompted.
"You might as well send Smoker and Tashigi with us, Crocodile, if you're divvying people up. While we're solving problems in the laboratory I might be able to do something about the woman's brain damage by way of apology– if Law can't do something about it here and now, that is."
Smoker jolted underneath her, and his arm looped around her shoulder protectively. "What in the hell are you talkin' about, Clown? Brain damage??"
The world's strongest swordsman, Mihawk Dracule, glanced up with lidded eyes from where he was whispering with Crocodile. "...isn't it obvious? "
Tashigi found herself too flustered to speak immediately, especially with the flurry of powerful voices talking over her, and she hunched a little into Smoker's arms.
Caesar gestured to Mihawk with a 'see' gesture. "Brain damage. You must look at her eyes sometimes? One of her pupils is much smaller than the other. Her balance problems are obvious, I'm sure Mr. Mihawk here has all kinds of things to say about the way she's compensating for the weakness in one arm. She's probably sensitive to light and has speech issues as well. Memory problems, maybe?"
Mihawk nodded slowly. "It's easy to see the compensation—not to mention all that Caesar said. Her stance and posture in combat suggest some form of formal training, but she seems to hit a sort of 'hitch' in it…especially as she compensates."
Smoker's arm tightened around her, and she felt his chest rumble with a concerned growl.
"...Tashigi's got amnesia. And she gets overwhelmed sometimes. But…give her a damn second." He glanced down at her "Tashigi, deep breaths."
Tashigi swallowed, and took a deep breath as instructed. She rested her hands on Smoker's arm.
It was true. It was all true. She did have balance problems, and weakness in her arm that seemed to come and go no matter how much training she put in. She was sensitive to light,and sometimes her tongue didn't seem to work right when she wanted to talk.
And as for memory.
"I.. it's true. I don't remember anything before I wound up with the Navy. When I was ten or so. I… was injured when they found me, I think. Do you really think it's brain damage?"
She looked over to Mihawk, and to Law, rather than at Caesar, who had made his opinion very clear.
Law rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully, before he glanced up at her. "The symptoms indicate it probably is, Tashigi. Especially if you've had an injury. It's either that or some kind of degenerative disorder, but—given the injury, brain damage is most likely."
Mihawk nodded firmly. "And did the problems with your arm, your posture, all the rest start as far back as you remember?"
Smoker squeezed Tashigi again, and she could hear him hiss out a puff of smoke. "...fucking hell..."
"It's okay," she murmured gently to Smoker, squeezing his arm. Was he feeling bad for her? Guilty? Whatever it was, there was no reason to. She nodded to Mihawk. "As far back as I can remember. Which is about…ten years ago? No, 11 now."
"Huh?" Straw Hat finally piped up. "But you aren't all that old, are you?"
Tashigi shook her head. "No, I don't really remember any of my childhood at all."
"A few times you and I tried to see if we could dredge any of it up," Smoker murmured. "never went anywhere."
Another of the Straw Hats, Nami, chewed her lip. "You're right about my age—huh." she leaned her head back to look at the sky, "But you can't remember anything in that first ten years—hey, Tashigi."
She turned her attention over, nervously mirroring the gesture and chewing her own lip. "Um, yes, Miss Nami?"
She didn't know why they were all discussing this right now? Weren't there more important things to talk about? Though, if she did have brain damage, and someone could fix it…
"Don't let everyone talk over you," Nami looked down with a little smile. "Even if you used to be a marine, I'll back you up. If you want them to fix it, let 'em know and I'll shake down the clown or Law till it happens. If you don't, or want a little time to think about it, tell 'em to back off."
She flashed a grateful smile at Nami. They'd helped one another a bit on Punk Hazard, and Tashigi had fond feelings for her. She didn't even have to tell herself that they were misplaced, now that they weren't marines any more.
"Thank you. Um." She squirmed in Smoker's lap. "If there's something wrong, and it's something that can be fixed, I'd like that. But please don't put it high on the priority list on my account. I know there's a lot going on."
Nami playfully stuck her tongue out with a thumbs up.
A heavy hand placed atop her head, as Smoker huffed another breath of smoke. "...if it means helping you it's up there on my damn priority list, that's for sure."
Law closed his eyes. "I can take a look. Can't promise nothin' but I noticed the Elegians had a doctor's office—and I am a genius surgeon."
"And if the surgeon of death can't handle it, I can almost certainly figure something out when we get to Queen Ellery," Caesar cooed obsequiously. "Like I said, consider it my apology for Punk Hazard."
She swallowed, and nodded. "Alright then, whenever you have the free time then, Law."
Tashigi returned Nami's thumbs up, only to notice that Zoro was staring at her intensely. Something about it made her look away.
There was so much happening.
Luffy's brain wasn't good at prioritizing information. Usually it picked one priority to focus on, and let everything else go ignored. If it was really important someone else could bring it up later and tell him about it.
Right now what was important was getting a body for Ace. That was why he stopped paying attention when everybody started talking about something else, and just let himself take a breather for a while.
That was until he noticed that Zoro was upset about something. He hadn't said anything, and Luffy didn't know what it could be, but Zoro's posture and expression were tight, and his breathing was a little heavier.
Luffy knew when Zoro was upset. He reached over and he touched his arm, giving him a quizzical look.
"I'm gonna go with them," Zoro muttered, answering his unspoken question. "When Law takes a look at Tashigi."
"Huh? Oh sure, that's fine. I'll be okay for a bit, there's lots of people around."
He thought about asking what was up. Zoro was weird about Tashigi sometimes, but he was pretty sure it wasn't because he was in love with her or something. At least, Luffy didn't think so? Admittedly, he didn't know.
His thoughts drifted some more while the crowd around him talked about the next island, where the lab Caesar wanted to use was. There was something about some secret marines? And the Charlottes? Whatever. That didn't make a big difference to Luffy, if there was a problem, he'd smash right through it.
As his attention wandered, Luffy's gaze fell on a pair of figures who had approached the group without speaking. Everyone else was so wound up in the conversation that they hadn't noticed them at all.
The unceasing stare that fell on him was familiar—bright and luminous eyes over an attempt at a smile on an otherwise inexpressive face, the weird gourd shaped thing cradled in her arms, and a white dress—-
"Look. It's Luffy," The girl's tentative smile went a bit wider as she poked the much, much taller person beside her. Someone who they'd last seen vanishing into the night on a broken death machine.
Luffy scrambled to his feet immediately and threw himself on Lim in a huge hug. "Lim! Adio! What are you doing here?"
Crocodile leaned over to the others as Straw Hat completely shattered the conversation they were having, leaping up and embracing some people that Crocodile had never seen.
"Should I know them?" he murmured.
Robin shook her head with her usual enigmatic smile. "No, but she knows you rather well."
For some reason that made Vivi laugh into her hand. Smoker on the other hand was thunderstruck. "Well I'll be fuckin' damned—he did survive. Good. Fucking GOOD."
Mihawk tilted his head to the side. "...curious."
The girl hugged Luffy tightly, though she kept hold of whatever weird water bottle she had in her hands as she squeezed him tight and went into a spin while she laughed. "I came to see the show—I wanted to make my own memories of this era. When Adio came back I begged him to take me."
"I'm so glad!! Do you want to meet Uta, I have Uta here! Oh and Croco's here too!" Luffy giggled uproariously at that, and that only made Crocodile even more confused.
Crocodile looked between Robin, and Smoker, and Mihawk and the girl. "She knows me? You know this guy, Smoker?"
"I do want to meet Uta!" the girl said excitedly, her hand over her mouth as she smiled. "especially after seeing the once in a lifetime show!"
Her eyes suddenly snapped over to Crocodile, and her smile grew wider. She looked young, 20's the latest, but there was something very odd about her that was difficult to put his finger on. As if she wasn't quite human.
"Oh!! Oh! The real Crocodile! I actually revisited my memoirs of our trip to Alabasta before I left! Can I speak with him?"
Smoker glanced between them. "Croc, this is Adio and …I think she said her name was 'Lim'. Adio's a pirate, last of his people, I…might have pulled a few strings to help him escape after he brought a buster call down on her island in a scheme to create a force stronger than the Marines with an old superweapon."
Robin chuckled softly "and Miss Lim is rather a big fan of yours. Or rather—the memory of you."
"Huh." Today just got stranger and stranger. But whatever this was might be something that could help them against the World Government and their super weapon. And the girl seemed cute. "Sure, why not. Let's have another drink.