Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The last island they were on wasnt too strange, at least luffy had thought. What was a little weird though- is that while gathering supplies for only a few short days, apparently chopper had gotten a cold or something, Luffy couldn't quite remember exactly.

But then it spread to everyone except luffy. Zoro complained at choppers insistence to slow down training, meanwhile it was taking alot of effort for sanji to not sneeze on the food. Sometimes, luffy had to stretch his arms into the kitchen to redirect sanji's sneeze by putting his hands on sanjis mouth. Luffy wasn't going to let his food sneezed on, even if it was by his favorite chef.

"Ugh... I'd go wash your hands, cap." Sanji would reply with annoyance, the stuffiness of his nose was evident within his voice.

Hell, this sickness had affected even brooke whose bones were shaking, and meanwhile franky was shivering. The strawhats would be lying if they said they weren't a little envious of luffy's tolerance to illnesses.

The night that they left the island, nami and chopper encouraged luffy to be the one to guard the ship, Because "sick people needed sleep" as if he didn’t understand. He would do it anyway as luffy was already planning on it the moment he learned his namanka fell under the weather.

The night was peaceful, with luffy looking out into the sea, the moonlight reflecting on the calm waves. He was leaning over the ships railing, with a face that didn't quite suit him. He thought about many, many things. Things he would never voice to his crew.

'Gah...all this thinking doesn't suit me.' Luffy sighed and ruffled his hair.

Sometimes luffy thought about how much his crew would care for him if he was just a little smarter. He wondered what it would be like to just...be better. Would he still be the captain if he were to show weakness? But... luffy already felt as if he was weak not just physically, but mentally too.

Luffy was always aware he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, nor was he ever that great at reading or anything. Anything luffy just didn't know how to do just proved to his consciousness that he is weak.

'If only...
Fuck, why am i being like this? My crew is here now, everything should be okay!'
Luffy grumbled, becoming more frustrated by the second.

...

It turns out luffy had fallen asleep right next to the railing.
'Tch.. How smart. Right next to the railing where i could fall in.' He mocked himself, glancing at the sky to gauge what time it was.

"Hey!" A sudden shout that sounded like a kid reverberated through his ears. Luffy immediately perked his head up, and the shadow of a child loomed in the doorway. "H-huh..?" Luffy groaned, not believing his eyes for a second. But there was his first mate, although.. he wasn't as tall, and.. hm... oh! His zoro looks like a kid!

"W-who the hell are you? Why am i on a ship?!" The flustered kid pointed his finger at luffy, demanding answers that luffy could not give. Behind him, luffy could see two others that were just a little shorter than zoro was - sanji and nami.
His crew...were turned into children?!

"W..what the hell..?" Luffy muttered underneath his breath, rubbing his eyes a few times. Luffy immediately went to go approach his now short little namanka, however zoro and sanji came forward.

"L-listen to us! W-who are you?!" The squeaking voice of sanji yelled at the foreign man, er... teenager.
"Y-you all don't recognize me?" Luffy realized and gulped, still taking in the three's small forms.

"Should we recognize you?" Zoro sneered, now waving around one of the swords that was now too big for him to hold.
"Yeah, actually. You should. Before you do anything drastic, just know that i am not an enemy. Alright? Would i be able to go past you? I know there should be others in there." Luffy barely managed to say; hoping that he seemed somewhat trustworthy.
"Then explain how we all got here without knowing it!" A rebeliant nami glared at luffy, making his heart tear a little.
"I will, but I'd rather do that when everyone else is here. I dont have any weapons, see?" Luffy opened his sweaty palms, revealing callused hands.

"....c'mon, don't i FEEL at least a little familiar, even if youve never seen me before yet?" Luffy practically begged while looking for some type of connection to just make them listen.
The three looked between another, exchanging unsure glances.
"Fine. But if you try anything, we will beat the crap out of you!" Sanji hissed, meanwhile luffy giggled and gave him a smirk.
That smirk...It felt familiar to sanji. It felt familiar to all of them.

Entering the men's room, luffy could hear coughing. Alot, coming from multiple people. Luffy's mood darkened immediately, his heart beating out of his chest for a reason he couldn't quite put together at the moment. There, in their usual sleeping spots except for one, was chopper, franky, brook, and jimbei. They lay bedridden; as luffy immediately went up to them. The three kids, now joined by a small, kid ussop stared at the black haired teen examining the bedridden people they didn't recognize.

Hell, the kids themselves couldn't recognize each other, but after making small talk and coming up with a plan to explore, they had started to be a little protective of the people they woke up around.

"H-hey! Dont get too close!" Zoro tried to threaten, however when they had seen the teenagers face, they all suddenly felt a little sympathy.

Luffy was devastated. What had happened? How could he let this happen! His cute doctor chopper was breathing heavily, along with franky whom was making a slightly pained expression. Brooke's bones were clattering together, and jimbei was sweating bullets.
Even though they weren't in a kid form, their bodies were not in the okay.

Luffy's next thought was about who wasn't here- robin. In almost an instant, luffy dashed to the women's room.
"O-oi! Where are you going?!" Zoro tried to follow, but luffy was too fast.

"T-that guys speed is insane!" Ussop exclaimed, shocked.
"....do you guys trust him?" The orange-haired girl questioned, glancing at the bedridden people, or...monsters? She has never seen a humanoid deer or fish in her life, and god forbid that skeleton moves out of that bed.. she would freak out.
"What he said earlier... i dont know yet. I will say though, i do have a weird inclination to trust him." The green-haired kid said with a sigh.

"Im usually good at sensing out liars. I don't sense any malicious intent." Sanji shrugged, although still tense. He wasn't about to trust recklessly. None of them were.

"The names zoro, by the way."

"...your name sounds familiar. My names nami."

"Sanji."

"Uh.. my name's ussop."

This was weird. Too weird to be a coincidence, that all of each others names felt like a memory.

Before they could voice anything else, the black haired teenager with a worried expression was carrying a woman, that also had black hair. He layed the woman down on where he would usually sleep without hesitation.

"There..just so i can keep an eye on all of you guys.." a sigh of relief came out from luffy as he looked toward the four kids and his other crew that were bedridden.

"Uhm, hello? Do you want to explain what happened or what?" A impatient nami furrows her brows in annoyance, her suspicious mind going places it shouldn't.

"Oh.. uh... i-i dont really know how you all ended up like this.. but uhm.. before this, you all were..are part of my crew. Then, just a couple of days ago, everyone got sick except for me. Thats... pretty much all i know. I don't know how, or why you guys got turned into kids. I-i don't know what i can do to make you guys believe me, but.."

Luffy felt a little helpless. I mean, he didn't even know the bare minimum about what chopper said a day prior! Luffy just had to hope that they would believe him.
A groan came from behind luffy; it was one of his bedridden crewmates.

"C-chopper..!"

"Luffy...." chopper moves his head to the side, facing the tense children. He stares at them for a moment, taking in their small forms.

"You'd better believe your captain, hehe..

Oh, luffy?"

"Yeah..?"

"If they dont believe you, s-show them the picture of all of us.. theres one in the infirmary.. showing them their bounty pictures would be good too..."
Luffy had a hard time responding to chopper, who had glazed over eyes. God, he felt like a couldn't do anything.
"W-why? Why are only some of us sick and others..." he glanced towards the kids, a solemn look on his face.

"Ugh.. i think its because those guys don't have devil fruits and haven't made any modifications to their bodies like franky.. maybe this illness doesn't fully affect fishmen..? Ergh..."
At choppers rapidly declining state, luffy sighed heavily; something he rarely did, at least infront of his crew anyway.
"D-don't you worry chopper. I-ill get help, so just.. stay here."
Luffy tried reassuring chopper, which he think it worked on chopper, but it didnt work on himself. Luffy looked toward the kids who were staring at the raven haired teen with...pity. something luffy didn't like being looked at with. After a short silence otherwise from heavy breathing, luffy spoke with a slightly depressed tone:

"....do you guys believe me?"
"Theres not much we can do, anyway. As long as you don't hurt us or decive us, then i don't care." Zoro crosses his arms, already seemingly familiarizing himself with the space.
"Also as long as there a place to train, that would be good-" a sudden smack on his head from behind made him whip around.
"HEY! What was that for!?"

"You idiot! How can you be just fine with this! This... i-i want to go back.." nami had yelled, but her voice gotten more quiet as she spoke. The girl looked down, remembering how she was just drawing a map in her room that had only felt like hours ago. Now she was here. On a pirate ship. In the middle of the ocean.
"Sorry, i.. just need a moment. I-ill be out on the deck." Nami slumped over defeated as she walked towards the deck, leaving a gloomy atmosphere to roominate.
Luffy himself felt like doing the same, but he had to be strong right now.

"I can show you proof, if you want.."
"N-no, i don't think your a bad guy." The small voice of ussop echoed roominate. the room, even though he was kind of hiding behind the blonde kid. Luffy's eyes lit up in response, and smiling.

"Hehe! Thats good to hear, ussop. What about you, sanji?"
Luffy purposely used their names now, he hoped to indicate to them that he was familiar with their names. Sanji looked a little embarrassed by being called his name, but responded anyway.
"Hm.. its better than being in the situation i was in. I'll decide to put a smidge of trust in you. I swear, though, i won't be buddies with ya though." The kid exhaled sharply, closes his eyes while turning his head away.

"Now, i want to go cheer up that girl." Sanji made his way towards to deck as well, with ussop following. Luffy glanced back at the green haired kid, and pointed to the hallway.
"The room with weights 'n stuff are that way. It's mainly only used by you-..er, the older version of you."
Zoro nodded, not saying a word but going in the hallway where luffy had pointed to.

Luffy sighed once again, he never signed up to be a babysitter! But..this would be a excuse to call a certain someone. Someone who would be able to help him, even if the guy didn't want to acknowledge it. With a smirk on luffy's face, he headed to the captains quarter's; and stepped right infront of the transponder snail.
He was going to call Torao.

Chapter Text

"WHAT?!" The very loud voice of law reverberated through luffys ears, causing him to back away from the transponder snail. 

 

"T-that hurt my ears.." luffy whined, making a sour face and puckering his lips.

Law sighed on the other end, as luffy could tell exactly what his frustrated face looked like as he talked.

 

"...so your saying, half of you crew is bedridden, and the other half turned into kids, and you want me to help with... that?! What if i get sick when i come over?!" 

 

"Torao would wear a mask. Also, im pretty sure it got them sick only cause we were on that stupid island, it could have been somethin' they ate." A contemplative luffy said, taking another bite of meat that he had grabbed on his way.

 

"....Then you'd be worse off then them if it was.."

 

"..still, could ya come over..? Im kinda at a loss here, and we are allies, right~?"

 

"I was already on my way as soon as i seen that it was you calling, you damned...ugh, ill be there in.. around 24 hours. Ya hear?!" Luffy couldnt help but giigle, hearing laws voice get more frustrated but somehow caring the more he spoke.

"Yeah yeah, i should be good until then... see you soon, torao." Luffy said in a quieter tone, that was soon followed by a brief moment of silence before a response came.

 

"Y-yeah, catch up to you soon, strawhat-ya." Law had mumbled with an embarrassed tone, as luffy could easily tell that law's face was red. In the backround noise, luffy could hear someone talking in the back round, although he couldn't quite tell what they were saying. 

"S-shut up!" Law hissed, then in a quick tone said;

"B-bye." 

 

Luffy couldn't help but smile a little, it was nice to hear his voice again. The transponder snail hung up, and luffy's smile was slowly faltering as his new reality set in. He had to be a good influence to children! This is not what a pirate was meant to do! He felt somehow quite defeated already, and yet his day just began. 

"Okay...phew.. here we go." Luffy went straight to the infirmary, the place luffy disliked the most.

 

His reasoning for disliking it? 

 

He hated staying in the same spot for too long, he felt trapped in that room alot now that he thought about it. It brought back memories of when he was more young, during the time when he was supposed to be at dawn island. But he wasn't, and his grandfather had found out about it far too late. 

Luffy shook his head; nows not the time! Luffy made his way toward choppers personal belongings that he kept in one of his drawers, luffy used it was a place to hide food a couple times so he knew it well. When luffy opened the drawer, he stared at the picture of his crew intently. If they knew about his.. capture when he was young, would they still see him as the captain they regard as their sunshine? Or would he be another broken soul for them to pity? Would they... would his crew even... care? What about law? What would his reaction be? 

 Luffy shuddered at the thought, his gaze became downcast as he quickly grabbed the picture as started to head towards the deck. He was not going to be prepared for what he saw.

 

Out on the deck, was sanji, nami, and ussop chattering, but it was completely casual. Ussop was doing most of the talking and was telling a story, just as he usually would with nami and sanji actively listening in. Luffy's composure completely crumbled for a second; he didn't expect them to get along this easily with each other, but now it was time for him to try to get along with them. 

 

"Uhm.. hey." Luffy interrupted ussop a little awkwardly, the picture in his hands visible. 

 

"Here's the picture, if you guys want to see it." 

As soon as those words left his mouth, a small figure from behind him took the picture right out his hands and went to group up with the other kids.  It was zoro, of course. Luffy would always be able to sense zoro coming, but decided to not make any sudden movement's. 

 

With curiosity in their eyes, they examined the picture.

 

"W-wow.. i look better than i expected." Nami exclaimed, cupping her cheeks. From what luffy could tell, she wasn't so frustrated anymore so he internally rejoiced. With ussop, it was more so the same reaction. 

 

"I-..we look so badass!" Ussop exclaimed pointing at himself. Sanji looked blankly, but soon huffed in approval while zoro nodded his head; seemingly staring at his muscles in the picture.

 

At around the same time, everyone's eyes were focused on the middle of the picture. There, was the raven haired teen infront of them in the picture, a cheerful smile was plastered over the boys face. 

 

"Oh, this pictures from two years ago, so I'd look a little different." Luffy noted, feeling the glances of the kids that looked between him and the picture.

The only real difference they could see was the huge "X" on his chest. 

 

"Where did you get that scar on your chest, if ya dont mind me askin'?" The small Zoro said in a indifferent tone, still looking at the picture. The others gulped; unsure of the teens reaction. 

Luffy sighed but chuckled, and gave them a short but concise answer.

"Oh.. i got this from a navy admiral. I think it was just a couple months after that photo was tooken..er, taken." 

 

The kids eyes widened at the same time, and almost in unison, Shouted;

"Y-you fought an navy admiral?!"

 

"Yep. We are all pretty notorious nowadays." Luffy smiled, looking at the kids eyes light up as he talked about how famous, rich, powerful, and how... righteous the straw hat pirates were.

 

"Doesn't each person in a crew have different roles? What's ours?" Ussop questioned expectantly.

"Well, the ships doctor, Shipwright, musician, helmsman, and archeol...archeologist is currently bedriddden right now," 

"W-wait, the ships doctor is bedridden? T-thats bad..." The little sanji puts on a contemplative look, as if trying to figure out a solution.

"Ah, not to worry. I've already contacted another doctor who can help me- and you guys." Luffy reassures sanji, putting a hand on his shoulder as he sat down on the ground next to them.

"Anyway, nami is the navigator, sanji is the cook, ussop is a sniper, and zoro is the swordsman!" 

 

"Then..what role are you exactly?" 

 

"I'm the idiot captain." luffy responded, his gaze turning to the ocean.

 

-

 

After not even a few hours, luffy soon realized he really couldn't do anything without his crew. He had tried to do nami's job, but ended up having to leave it to the little nami who barely knew a thing about navigation. He felt more hopeless than anything.

Worst of all, he had to eat a small dinner; because he couldn't just pressure the little sanji in making bucketloads of food especially when he probably wasn't used to cooking for so many people in the first place, so he had to live off of snacks (which there were none left since this afternoon- luffy had already consumed them all prior.) 

 

It felt a little empty not only in his stomach but at the table as well, as the kids agreed they wanted to eat on the deck and luffy wasn't going to pester them. 

 

As night approached, somehow the tensions rose between the kids. Luffy was in robin's little book corner in the womens room- to see if she had any medical books about devil fruits, maybe to find something to help half of his crew not have to feel so yucky. 

 

Thats when he heard shouting coming from the deck; he immediately raced over, bracing himself for the worst. Zoro was about to unsheathe the sword that was too heavy- and sanji had taken a defensive stance, with a frightened nami and ussop watching to the side.

 

"OI! what are you guys doing?" Luffy walked closer, a skeptical look on his face. Even though sanji and zoro got into fights all the time, the difference was they were adults. Fights between his crew as children just didn't sound right to luffy.

 

"This bird-brain!"

 

"Stupid moss-head!" 

 

"G-guys, now lets just calm down-" ussop tried to intervene to no avail;

 

"Shut up! This has nothing to do with you!"

 

As soon as luffy arrived closer, the little sanji pointed at the scoffing zoro.

 

"This guys horrible! You shouldn't have let him on your crew ever! Do you know how little he cares for a girls beauty when he see's it?!"

 

"Sorry, but i dont think i can do anything about zoro's views-" 

 

"..then what can you do, idiot captain?" Sanji's quiet but serious words made the whole deck go silent- leaving luffy stunned, his eyes fixed on sanji.

 

"I mean, seriously! You had to have people just do the work for you, huh?! Can you do anything by yourself? All that I've noticed is that you've needed our help just to do-"

 

"You should go to bed." Luffy's monotone voice made everyone freeze as he looked at the little sanji without any clear emotion on his face.

 

"It's late. You ALL should actually get some rest." As soon as those words left luffy's mouth, nami and ussop were already darting towards the door. 

"Y-yeah im going to hit the hay! Good night everyone!" Nami stuttered, a cold sweat visible on her face. 

"G-good night!" Ussop said, a little louder than he wanted to. 

Sanji grit his teeth, he didn't want to do what luffy said, but his expression.. it was a scary contrast to the cheery teen from earlier. Sanji looked to his side; he could tell zoro was weirded out too. In the end, thats what he decided to do.

 

-

 

Later that night, luffy was left to ruminate on sanji's piercing words. Luffy thought that sanji was definitely right; i mean, what could he do? He was a protector of sorts but did that ever come to fruition when it came down to it? His brother died because of him; his crewmates also suffered because of his stupidity. 

Luffy hit his head a few times against the railing of the deck, a growling coming from his stomach at the same time. He buried his face in his hands next, as if to hide from his own doings. 

He should be fine right now; he thought he handled the situation kind of well, and he's VERY lucky he himself didnt turn into a kid or become bedridden as well. Yeah, yeah.... he should be thankful.  

 

-

 

Luffy didn't sleep that night. He was all over the ones that were stuck in bed, making sure they were still breathing. He had to be sure. 

 

After morning arose, luffy was more tired than he thought he would be- perhaps paired with staying up on watch for two nights in a row really did matter. The kids had already woken up. Playing around, with zoro taking a nap; as if nothing ever happened the night before. 

Luffy sighed; he hated things not getting a proper resolve. He wished that it could've went differently, but now every time he comes close they get tense.

 

Looking to the side of the ship, something caught luffy's eye. It caught him so off guard he almost gasped. A ship, but not just any ship; a navy ship.

A navy ship was headed towards them. 

Chapter Text

The navy ship was approaching fast; luffy had only a minute before the ship came close enough to hit the sunny. 

‘Shit! How did I not notice earlier!’

In an instant, the children all looked to where the teen was staring and gasped. Luffy, the “adult” of them all, uttered in a low tone;

“Get to the infirmary, now!” All the children were unsettled by Luffy's serious demeanor along with the clear flag of a military ship; it made them all rush inside without a word of reluctance. 

“A-are you going to be okay? That's a lot of people to deal with on your own..” the little nami said in a slightly worried tone, trying to look over Luffy's shoulder to get a better sight. Luffy simply  laughed, patting, almost slapping zoro on the back.

“Ha! Shishishishishishi! Silly nami..  I could easily defeat 10,000 men without even getting tired!”

Before anyone could speak further, luffy simply but amicably walked away and was headed straight for the door already.

“Watch me on the navigation deck, if you want.”  As luffy was leaving, he grabbed the infamous straw hat and stretched his arm backwards; putting the hat on Sanji who was right next to Zoro. 

“W-wha….H-HOW IS YOUR ARM STRETCHING LIKE THAT?!”  Ussop recoiled, while nami gasped in surprise. Luffy left the room, closing the door behind him.

“T-that was a devil fruit..?” Sanji questioned as he fixed the straw hat on his head, curiosity and.. Wonder sparkling in his eyes.

“I want to see him in action!” Zoro suddenly scrambled towards the other door that led not to the deck, but to the navigation section of the ship luffy had previously called the Sunny. The others followed, and looked through the window only to see...

Nothing...?

"Eh?" Zoro tilted his head to the side, blinking repeatedly as if something were to happen the moment he opened his eyes.

The children watched the disturbingly quiet navy ship, tension and fear lingering in their hearts.

-

Using haki was now pretty normal for luffy at this point; and didn't hesitate to use it this time either. After all, luffy couldn't afford to make mistakes right now with all of his crew out of commission.

Stretching his arm to the other ship's sail and landing on the ship, it was quiet. Trying to find food supplies was luffy's goal; there weren't many ingredients left and luffy didn't know how long his crew would be bedridden or children for. Luffy explored the ship, kicking around unconscious marines and taking all of their weaponry and throwing them out into the vast ocean. 

 After a while, luffy encountered a door to the captain's quarters. Maybe this guy had a fridge in his private room. 

As soon as he opened the door, the pungent smell of pure alcohol made him freeze up, and instinctively he went to plug his nose. Luffy hated that smell nowadays; except the smell of zoro's alcoholic beverages, he didn't mind those all too much.

 

The room was quite dark, and the first thing luffy could see was a marine. That same marine, was laying up against the wall; somehow still conscious despite Luffy's haki. He must have been the captain of the ship; he was definitely older than most with grey hairs protruding from his beard.

“Y-you… damned bastard!” the marine shouted, gritting his teeth. This man was weird.. Familiar, in a way. Luffy had such a strong inclination he couldn't help but ask.

“..do i know you from somewhere?” he asked as a sudden chill came over him. 

“y-your straw hat? Monkey d luffy, eh?....yeah, yeah, i recognize you. The one that pretends he has a name. That's what they call you, nowadays.” The man grunts, struggling to breathe due to luffy’s suffocating haki.

“I have a name. It’s Monkey D luffy. Use it!” luffy approached the delirious captain, picking him up by the collar of his uniform. 

“Not a chance, number 560.” 

That's when it hit luffy. Luffy hasn't just seen this man years ago, but.. this man, he had just seen him on the last island he was on! Luffy remembers it clearly now- this man had been super friendly to his crew, selling them an “exotic fruit.” He gave slices of it to his crew, even if he had to shove it in their mouths. He complimented this man for how “Yummy” it was. 

What's even more concerning, was that luffy ate one of those “exotic fruits” in its entirety. If this is what's come of his crew; what would come of him? Why wasn't he turned into a kid or bedridden yet?

Complete silence had filled the room, with luffy now staring at the marine with a blank expression. Luffy had never wanted to hear that number ever again, because that wasn't him. Not anymore. Not that desperate child. He would never go back to the way he once was.

Luffy threw the man down to the ground in a sudden outburst of haki, and the man scrambled to prop himself up against the wall; or so luffy thought. As Luffy approached the man again, this time The man pulled a Gun out of one of his pockets and started shooting at the rubber-man. 

Thankfully for luffy, only one bullet fired even though the man had kept clicking the trigger over and over again: a desperate whine coming from the man.

Luffy expected to be hit with the bullet as soon as he saw the gun as he was in very close range, but something was wrong…

This was Not a normal bullet. 

It was Seastone. 

Luffy crashed to the ground faster than the man had fallen unconscious. The bullet had hit his lower thigh, and he curled up into himself, grasping his own thigh for a few seconds; his labored breathing becoming whines. 

“S-shit! Ow.. ow…” he hissed, slowly but carefully examined his own wound. It didn't look so bad on the outside, however this hurt a lot more than from what it looked like.

With great difficulty, luffy stood up on one leg, his right arm stretched to the ground to act as a crutch. Even though luffy had been hit with sea stone, the primary effects would impact him more later when he didn't have any adrenaline. He had to get out of here, out of this place. His thoughts had all been jumbled up yet his adrenaline kept him walking until he got to the deck. With his other arm, he grabbed the head of the sunny and hoped to god he would land back on his ship without any complications. Fortunately for him, he had made it back on the ship with a very tough landing, almost faceplanting into the sunny's deck. The bad news was that the kids had seen him. 

“H-hey! are you going to be okay? Actually- of course you're not going to be okay!” Ussop screeched as all the kids watching ran alongside ussop. As they reached the teenager, they noticed the cold sweat on his face and the very weak smile he had tried to give them.

“I-ill go to the infirmary to see what I can find!” nami offered, noticing Luffy's hands clutching his thigh in pain. Ussop went with her, a little squeamish at the sight of blood.

“O-oi.. what happened to the cool, confident, guy you were before, eh?” Sanji said, trying to make a distraction so Luffy would focus on him. 

“I-i never would have thought that this normal marine ship would have guns with seastone bullets..” Luffy grit his teeth, clenching his eyes shut.

“What does a mineral or whatever have to do with this?” Zoro frowned, his arms crossed while trying to act unbothered. 

“Seastone is another weakness for devil fruit users..” luffy huffed. Before anyone could respond, the sunny tilted unnaturally, as if something had made contact with it. At first, luffy thought it was another attack, but when he had seen the shadow of a certain pirate jump on his ship he relaxed just a little. 

The kids were rightfully mortified. “T-Theres someone on the ship and he's headed straight for us!” Sanji grabbed his hair with both of his hands, freaking out. 

“Guys… don't worry … we know him, he's the doctor I called…” luffy grinned weakly, even throughout his extreme drowsiness.

“Strawhat-ya! W-what the..!” Law had made his way over to the three of them, immediately taking notice of luffy's leg.

 “shit, that has to be seastone..” the very tall man muttered as he crouched down, inspecting luffy's wound while being watched intently by the cook and swordsman. Without another word, law put his hand underneath luffys legs and back, picking him up without any effort as luffy winced. 

Nami and ussop had run back to zoro and sanji, medical bandages in hand; now hiding behind them.

Law knew things would only get awkward from here and to why he's carrying their captain bridal style, so introducing himself was the best bet.

“I'm the doctor Luffy may or may not have mentioned yet. For medical purposes, I'm going to take him back to my ship.” Law said with a stern tone, readjusting Luffy so he's more comfortable. The tall man speed walked to the edge of the deck from which he came, and with a slight sigh, jumped off. The children, who were following him, gasped in surprise. They knew that there was definitely a ship there; but surprised them nonetheless.

“C'mon, there's dinner being prepared!” A voice shouted from down below, a sharp but somehow inviting tone. The children had to other option to oblige.

-

Luffy eyes blinked wide. He didn't know what time it was, didn't know where he was, and where the children were. Luffy immediately sat up, a cramp settling in his calf made him writhe as he looked around. 

Oh yeah.. luffy had gotten hurt, and hallucinated law was there. But.. this was his ship, was it not..? Luffy examined his own leg. He figured it hasn't been long since then. 

A quick knock and the door opening grasped Luffy's attention immediately, with Law quickly staring back at Luffy.

“You're awake…” Law said quietly, pushing further into the room and sitting down on the side of luffy's bed.

“Y-yeah. Thanks torao, I really owe you one…” luffy looked away with shame, a light pink color spread across his cheeks. Law could only sigh.

“Is my crew okay? Are they still.. asleep?”

“yes and yes- but..Are you feeling alright?”

“Hm.. about that, do…do you trust my instinct?” Luffy said hesitantly, clearly hoping for a serious answer matched with a worried face, one that  law’s rarely seen on him before. That simple fact that luffy was worried made law all the more anxious, but law could only pretend to remain calm. 

“Yeah, of course.. why?” 

Luffy avoided law's gaze, a telltale sign that something was wrong. 

“I-i think I'm going to get the same illness as my crew. I don't know how to explain it, but…I feel it.

But.. i-i don't want to go back.. not there.." Luffy put his head in his hands, Luffy's hair strands scrunched in-between fingers. 

Law's eyes widened. He never would have guessed luffy would Fear something this much. Law always knew luffy as the idiot but the brave one, the leader; the strong one. But none of those describe luffy right now. Law sat there heartbroken, rethinking the man he had a crush on. Scootching closer to luffy, he wrapped his arms around the teen, maybe to soothe him just a little bit. 

“l-luffy, you know no matter your past, your crew and I will still be there for you.” Law tried to console, but to no avail.

“n-no law, you don't understand! This would change things! A lot of things! I-i…shouldn't ever be seen like that ever..” luffy got quieter as he spoke, as law’s grip had released somewhat and was able to pull away. 

Law didn't quite know what to do, he now knows about a “horrible” time in luffy’s life, but for luffy to despise it so much..? Something was clearly amiss. Law felt like the answer was just right in front of him, but no actual clue on what it is.

Before law could mutter an Apology, the door opened once again. Luffy, immediately perked up; ready to put on a smile just like always. This time, however, Luffy's smile faded. But in actuality, he was more shocked at the people standing in the doorway. 

It was his crew! And… They were normal! Zoro and nami stood in the doorway, while he could spot sanji and ussop behind them. 

“luffy!” Nami exclaimed, immediately going up to him, while the others entered the room. Luffy turned to look at law. He wondered if torao somehow.. cured them?!

“Torao.. Did you cure them?”

“Not quite, luffy. It's been a day since you went unconscious..” Law ruffled the back of his head, a little hesitant to say his next words.

“Overnight, your crew returned to normal. The part of your crew that were bedridden don't even have a fever anymore, they're just sleeping now.  It's.. quite strange.”

Luffy thought back to being on the marines ship; and how Luffy was essentially the one who caused this. 

Luffy slouched over, avoiding the eye contact from his crew.

“Do you guys.. remember everything?” He questioned, trying to gauge how mad they would be when they found out.

“We remember everything.” Zoro glanced at an awkward sanji. 

“Sorry for my words as a kid, captain. You know I would never say that now that I know you.” He got closer, and sat next to nami on the bed. 

“It's alright.” Luffy replied; for some reason, Luffy's brain didn't believe sanji. It wasn't like he knew about Sanji's circumstances, but the things he said.. were definitely true in Luffy's mind.

But now, he was the one who had to take responsibility. He couldn't take back his actions. Luffy just had to play it off as normal, just as he always did even when things upset him. 

Robin, brook, And chopper woke up soon after and immediately came to the infirmary; while jimbe and franky had joined them minutes later. Law & chopper were explaining their conditions to the rest of the crew, and what to do if something like this happens again. Because after all, they didn't know the cause yet.

“Uhm.. guys?” Luffy's guilty face said it all as he spoke with remorse. His crew and law only stared at him, waiting for him to explain. He could feel everyone's face becoming serious, nami's fist curling up already. 

“I think I know what caused this to happen…please don't get mad at me!” Luffy only bowed his head like he normally would, looking down in shame as he sometimes did when he truly felt bad. But this time the feelings of incompetence intensified, I mean; he even dragged law into this. 

As soon as luffy was going to speak again, something itched at his throat. He started to cough incontrollably, the rasping within his coughing made the crew set aside their current feelings.

“You alright luffy?” Ussop asked, a concerned look on his face as he examined luffy. Nami uncurled her fist as well, realizing how sleep deprived he must have been this entire. Luffy was a bit pale, and there were eyebags, but nothing to definitively prove that he’s sick.

“I..i-i think im probably going to turn into a kid or something soon too. I don't know why it's happening now, but.. I'm confident that it was that fruit that I made you guys eat.” luffy uttered hoarsely. 

“ah..” The crew took a couple moments of silence before one curious archeologist interrupted that silence.

“But that would mean that you ate multiple of those. But why would you turn into a child or get sick? I thought you were resistant to this kind of stuff.” Robin crossed her arms, tilting her head to the side in contemplation. 

A sudden gasp from law and luffy surprised everyone else, some a little more inpatient than others. 

"What is it?!” Nami frowned, as Luffy and law exchanged glances. 

“It's the seastone, isn't it?” 

“You're the doctor.” 

The realization finally set in for the crew; since luffy got hit with the seastone, his immune system would have been weak to the effects of the fruit.

“Crap…” 

Chapter Text

Something Luffy didn't expect was the wave of nauseousness coming over him as the people in the infirmary talked over one another, even going as far as shouting as far as Luffy could tell. It was all too overbearing for him right now. Struggling to concentrate on his own thoughts, he needed to block out their loud voices. He covered his ears, closing his eyes. For a moment, he could hear commotion still in the background, But after a few seconds the voices died down immediately. 

‘What? Was something wrong?’ Luffy thought, debating whether to open his eyes and uncover his ears; to which he did.

Everyone was staring at him with.. shock. Luffy couldn't understand, why were they staring at him like that? Was something not right?

“L-luffy… you got a massive nose bleed. H-hold on.” Law said to him in a quiet tone, as he now understood everyone's reactions. He looked down at his lap, to which the first thing he could taste was iron, how peculiar he didn't notice before. On his lap, there was one of the blankets luffy had wrapped himself up in, now covered with red liquid. Immediately, the first thing luffy thought of was to get it off him! He didn't need law to be mad at him any more than he already is by making him come here. Luffy tried to move his hand to grab the blanket, but his movements were slow. So slow, in fact his thumb just seemed to not want to do it's job and grab the blanket.   

“luffy, can you hear us right now?” chopper asked, his little body approaching the bed, putting his hooves on the edge of the bed.

“ummmm yeahhhh… whyyyy?” it was now indisputable that luffy’s motor functions were getting slower, just as he thought. This was just affecting his body, not his brain. He felt as if he wasn't even here right now, with his crew. Only a couple seconds later, luffy’s eyes closed; his back hunched over as his nose still bled. 

“l-luffy?” Ussop questioned while Zoro sprung into action, readjusting luffy on the bed so he laid down. 

“That's never happened before.” nami said in a quiet tone, but enough for the others to hear.

“What's never happened before?” Robin questioned the nervous red-head, her eyebrows furrowing.

“he’s never fallen back asleep just like that after getting injured. From what I knew, he just springs right back up again after resting from a injury. He really must have been worn out by keeping watch for practically 48 hours..” nami sighed, putting her gaze on anything but luffy. The crew did the same. They still felt incompetent although everyone knew that they would do anything to help luffy. Except give him as much food as he wants, but that's for another day. 

“Anyway, I noticed something strange when examining you guys as children.” law took a glance at the strawhats who were affected. Nami could be seen gulping, as ussop tensed up. Sanji and Zoro sent questioning glances, adjusting their posture slightly. 

“Well.. I found it strange that you guys turned into children with seemingly the same physical conditions and well as the same clothes you were wearing at the time.”

“What do you mean, physical conditions..?” Robin questioned. Law looked toward one person, as if asking for their consent.

Sanji nodded his head, an annoyed look across his face. 

“This better be for a good point, surgeon.”

“...yeah, it is.” Law sighed as he glanced at Luffy before resuming.

“I mean like injuries, from back then. I wonder how.. How it works. I'd have to form a hypothesis, but…

“Get on with it.” zoro grumbled.

“I think luffy is going to turn into a kid with injuries. Before you guys came...nevermind.”

The whole room almost turned into yelling, but before it could, chopper intervened immediately. 

“What makes you come to that conclusion! I and the crew know about some times where he has gotten injured as a kid, and with his grandpa, but..that's just a rare occasion I thought!

“All the strawhats that turned into children were the exact same age. You guys were all 7 years old, even though you are all different ages originally. I'm going to go out on a limb and say luffy’s going to be 6 or 7.” 

“And what's that got to do with anything?” franky mumbled from outside the door. “Luffy said he didn't meet Ace until he was 7 or older.” Robin stated, frowning.

“...from the way luffy acted, it was like he knew that it wouldn't be a good time whichever age he turned into. And from what you guys said…”

“Are you insinuating our dear captain is hiding something from us?” brook said, his voice monotone. 

Law sighed, feeling the glares of others. “...listen, this is something I'll tell you guys once. You all know nothing of being a captain of a ship; and in fact, you should know best about this “soul king.” Usually, brook would offer a sarcastic response, but this time he fell silent. 

“As I was saying, being a captain comes with responsibilities no one else knows about except for captains themselves. I think Luffy doesn’t share some things with you guys because he’s scared and pretends he isn't.”

“Hah..! I'm the one that’s scared half the time! That buffoon.. Barely has anything to be scared of!” Nami protested, crossing her arms in disbelief; but the others' interests were piqued, with some of the strawhats leaning closer.

“He’s scared of being weak and he's scared of being lonely. He also fears not being able to protect you guys.”

“..i don’t doubt the last one, but for the other two fears.. How do you know that stuff? You're not a psychologist.” Robin said in a reprimanding tone, slight beads of sweat appearing on her face to show how worried she was.

“Ah.. right. Long story short, I discovered it after..Marineford.” law leaned against a nearby counter area for medicine, while allowing the strawhats to process that one word that could sway them.

8 hours later-

 

The strawhats were back on their own ship, with luffy being carried to the sunny's infirmary bed. The strawhats didn't want to invade their captain's privacy for now, so they all mainly avoided the infirmary room. It was getting really late; and although most needed a good night's sleep, they couldn't bring themselves too. Instead, they all sat at the table with law, occasionally being handed a drink by sanji. 

Brook had said that he wanted to grab something back in the men's quarters he wanted to show franky. That involved passing by the infirmary. 

 

A groan escaped his mouth, his body aching as it always has for the past three years. But something.. something this time was wrong. In an instant, the boy opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings.

‘A…bed? Why am I on one of those? No, wait..where am I?’ The boy's gaze wandered to the medicine cabinets, and the dark room had just a little light that was peeking out from the bottom of the door. How could he not notice that he got moved again? He knew of others who had gotten amnesia, but never thought it would happen to himself. 

At the ship's slight movement, luffy almost fell to the ground; he wasn't used to it yet. In fact, he felt quite nauseous, but his alertness kept him from paying any attention to it because he now has other problems to deal with. Luffy's light footsteps toward the door were excruciatingly long, he did have to fight himself just to get the courage. Maybe with enough luck he would be docked on an island and be able to escape. He had a feeling he already knew what kind of ship this was.

 Sliding closer to the door, and gently opening the infirmary door, he froze. In the hallway, there was a very tall and lanky skeleton staring right at him! He wasn't a complete idiot, he knew about devil fruit users and that the one staring at him with hollow eyes was one. I mean, how could he not know? It's the reason why he was captured in the first place. 

The devil fruit user got closer, and closer to him! He needed to run before this guy Killed him or sent him back! “H-hey..!” The skeleton hollered, but it was too late, and the boy had already reached the end of the hallway. 

Brook examined the little luffy as he had run away. Brook knew the look of fear very well, and looking at his current physical condition.. It wasn't good. He needed to hurry and tell the crew. 

He backtracked his way to the table, where all of them looked back up at him with a strange glare. 

“Is everything alright, brook?” Robin questioned.

Brook had no choice but to tell them their captain had indeed turned into a child and had run away from him.

“I'd be scared as shit too if I woke up and saw a skeleton coming towards me.” zoro muttered as some of the strawhats giggled. 

“Let's go find him. He ran towards the deck's direction, yeah?” Law got up from his chair, with everyone else following him close behind.

Luffy couldn't believe it as soon as he made it out on the deck. They were in the middle of the ocean! Luffy clasped his stomach, trying to rid itself of its grumbles. Luffy approached the railing, looking up into the moon. It had been a while since he was outside. The gaurd was always on duty, so he only got to see the sunshine and moonshine in its raw beauty when he was forced to be transported somewhere else. 

 But in the end there was now no hope of help and he'd be in this constant loop where he had hope and then lose it over and over and over- 

“Oi, kid.” 

Luffy gasped, whipping his head around as he looked at the large amount of approaching people. Too many for him to deal with. Beads of sweat covered his face, and his back leaned against the railing. Maybe falling into the water was the better option for him at this point..

When everyone heard nami gasp, they immediately expected the worst, and yet.. it was still somehow nothing compared to what they were thinking. The little boy was wearing a small t-shirt, but for the boy even that was oversized. The first thing they noticed was how.. thin he was. Even from just staring at his backside, they could see a quarter of his slightly sunken face, and his eyes. Oh god, his eyes reflected little emotions except for fear, distrust, and insecurity. There wasn't even a smile on his face.

 The strawhats sat in silence, bewildered. This.. wasn't their captain. This was somebody they didn't recognize. Only one person was able to remain a somewhat straight face. 

“Oi, kid.” Law stepped forward, ready to unmask the miserable looking child who had once been called a captain.