"Mom," He desperately bawled. "Why can't I be with you?"
He didn't get an answer. His eyes welled up with more tears, as a single tear rolled off his mother's blue eyes. Oh his mother wanted to comfort him so much, to wipe the tears away, but she couldn't.
"Why am I supposed to be lonely?" He looked down from the place where he was trapped by his duties. The tears blurring his sight.
"I'm sorry," That's all his mother said before diving in. Fresh tears welled up in his eyes as he curled up in himself and sobbed. He hated being lonely.
Footsteps echoed through the darkness, which was lightened by his glow and the sun's ever present brightness.
"Son," The voice which could be the harshest he had ever heard spoke up. With his red watery eyes he looked up to see his father, who sat beside him.
"Why?" He asked, his throat sore and heart all feeling heavy. "Why me?" Why me when all my other siblings are with each other, with Mom, and... free. Why am I bound to the duties? Why?
His father read all of those from his drenched face, without him having to actually voice it.
"It's the duty of the prote-" His dad began and he didn't want to hear it at all. Not again and not anymore. It was so hard.
"I'm tired," A low voice filled with pain came from the young god as he looked below.
Creatures interacting with each other, his brothers and sisters playing and performing their duty playfully with no restriction. Do they miss him? He doesn't know. 'Cause its only in some centuries that they remember to greet him. Why? Why was he created like this? To live this lonely existence, where he could only watch from afar.
.
Ace felt something was wrong, but wasn't able to point to what was wrong. All he knew that someone he loves needed him. One look on Sabo, he felt he saw him looking the same. His tense shoulders, and the way he was scanning the area confirmed it.
At sudden, a low sob hit their ears, making their head snap to their little brother who's clinging to Ace's unbuttoned shirt and shaking. Ace stood up at once, ignoring the ever present eyes of Whitebeard and Marco. He cradled Luffy in his arms perfectly as he looked at Sabo. Luffy didn't let go of his shirt. One look on Deuce showed that he had got the message.
"Thanks for the party," He heard Sabo speak as he headed towards the Piece of Spadille. The Spades retreating with them.
"Hey, Lu," Ace whispered hoping that his brother would hear above the violent sobs and the shaking he was going through.
The sky was getting a gloomy shade of gray, making Ace and Sabo frown. They knew the sky reacted to their brother's whims sometimes and it was the perfect picture of what their brother was going through. He was sad and in a nightmare. The air started feeling heavy with humidity and a faint rumble of thunder echoed as Luffy started crying harder holding Ace.
"Ace," Sabo said. Ace hummed in reply showing that he was listening. "We need to get him up." He knows that but how much even he tried to shake him, the boy held to him as if he would die if he can't get a single touch. The wind was also picking up, stirring the leaves and dust on the ground. Few drops of rain started to hit the ground and luckily they had reached the ship by that time.
"...Why?" Luffy whispers in the most heartbreaking way.
"We get off the Island tonight. There will be shifts for the night. Deuce is the first one to go. We will be out in some minutes." Ace ordered his crew and went in his cabin, with Sabo following.
"Lu, there is food," Sabo tried and it was the first time that the boy didn't even wake up from that. Whatever he was dreaming must be terrible for him. It was worrying them further. Their hearts hurt just looking at Luffy, how could they let this happen? Did it have something to do with the transformation?
"There is gator meat! Your favorite!" Ace tried in a hopeful tone. No response, that shattered the rest of the hope they were holding on. The only response they were seemingly getting was that Luffy's hands were getting tighter against theirs. Even Sabo was now caught in it.
Ace bit his lips. He didn't know what to do at all. "Do you think he needs his mother?" Ace asked Sabo hesitantly.
"I don't think so," Sabo said looking out of the window. The water was not raging. It was calm, almost giving them a decent weather for setting sail right now, except for the rain and thunders. But they knew it was all due to the presence of Luffy they got the privilege and they didn't mind it.
"Is it related to the transformation?" Sabo asked with a gulp to himself more than Ace really.
"Lu, please get up, it's alright.." Ace shook the boy softly again. Sabo took this as a chance to get Luffy off his coat, showing that the boy was clearly having some difficulty in breathing with all the tears which were rolling from his eyes.
"Luffy, we are here," Sabo said softly. "Please get up. Your big brothers are waiting for you." That was looking like it was working. The boy was not sobbing so violently. His shaking was also reducing.
"You can even talk to Dad right now if you want. That reminds me we haven't called him to tell about the result of the war," Ace said gently in Luffy's ear. The boy was not sobbing. He was looking calmer.
The brothers took this opportunity and encouraged the boy. Luffy was finally awake, his eyes teary and looked red. He lunged onto them, making them almost lose their balance. He was bawling again.
They offered encouraging words to the teen and rubbed his back and slowly he was calming down. They sat on the bed and looked at Luffy who was wiping his tears.
"Dad, Iva, Ace, Sabo, Koala, Hack," He murmured and looked at them, biting his lips and his eyes shining with the onset of tears. "Won't leave me alone, right?"
"We will never," Ace and Sabo said in unison and hugged the boy.
"Want to talk about it?" Sabo asked softly. The boy fidgeted for a while before settling down and looking at them. He nodded and with few more words of encouragement he told them the nightmare which he had seen.
It was not a nightmare. That was what Sabo first deduced from the story. It cannot be a nightmare but didn't feel reality even.
"T-They were my memories," Luffy choked out in a low voice, looking at his hands and then at the sky which was now clear and the moon was shining.
Suddenly, everything was clicking to place. Garp's worrisome words. The fact that their brother is practically a reincarnated person and whatever he was saying was way too complicated for today's world. They found the reason Luffy always said why loneliness hurt more than being actually hurt. It made them only feel worse about how they treated him when tbey first met.
"It won't ever happen again," Ace said.
"Want to gaze at the stars?" Sabo asked making Luffy smile widely and nod. All the previous tears forgotten, but his eyes still red.
"I will go tell Deuce to go back then," Ace said already moving. The deck would be empty, giving them a free pass to hang out normally. Sabo was grateful for that.
"Let's go!" Ace's head poked in after a few minutes and told. The little menace ran before him, launching himself to the crow nest. They laid there watching stars and pointing shapes which they made into people, food and dishes and objects.
.
Somewhere in the New World, a cackle was heard, which turned into a huge grin as the famous news reporter saw the clip which his bird had brought him.
"This will be the best news we have had in a long while! Hahahaha!!"
He quickly called to some people to get more information about the topic, making him grin wider and wider.
.
It was a week after the war, when the bomb dropped. Sabo and Luffy were in Baltigo. Sabo getting some paper works of solo missions while Luffy playing tag and hide and seek with the new recruits after their daily trainings.
Dragon was apprehensive about sending Luffy to missions. The last he had sent him and Sabo with Koala and Hack, they have informed him about how Luffy was having a very bad headache and was crying all the while, whenever they were encountering places with slaves. Luffy was getting inconsolable that he had to stay with his Mom most of the nights. Dragon had a very vague idea on what was happening. But he wasn't sure.
For the time being, Dragon had decided to train Luffy instead of going to rescue missions. But with his quest of adventure, Dragon knew it would be hard to contain him in one place. So, he had decided that he would be only going to destroy marine bases and get information from them.
"Lu!!" Sabo's voice boomed through the playground making Luffy come out of his hiding place and run to Sabo, who didn't have time to play with him today.
"'Bo!!" He said lunging on his big brother. "Did Ace call? Is food ready? Are you free? Will you play with me now?" He launched his questions, making Sabo chuckle and carry the brat who hung to him like a leech.
"Nope, we are going to visit Dad. He called us over. Apparently some important news," He said, making the boy frown. "I will play with you after that."
That made the boy laugh loud and bright. He skipped off from his back and started running to their Dad's office. "Sabo's it!"
The running changed into a tag game which they happily played along the corridors chasing each other until they finally reached the door and entered with bright smiles on their face.
"Sons," Their Dad called them, giving them a smile. Luffy's smile was infectious after all. "Have you read today's newspaper?"
Sabo shook his head while Luffy did it more enthusiastically. Dragon pushed the paper which was laying on the desk forward to them. The front page caught their sight in an instance. There were pictures. The picture was clearly of the time before the war actually started, when they were standing before Whitebeard and his pirates.
"THE 3Cs ALLIED WITH SPADES TO GO AGAINST WHITEBEARDS AND BOTH LIVE TO TELL A TALE!"
.
"Dammit!" Sengoku banged his head on his desk, while Garp was busy laughing and munching his rice crackers. "What do you feel is so funny, Garp?!!" Sengoku glared at Garp, making the latter snicker.
"Just how the reckless idiots went after Whitebeard," Garp starts laughing again, like a proud grandpa. He was the second to know about the fight and from the sounds of it, Eddie was on losing ends the moment he had lifted his weapon.
But the question was how had Morgan got his hands on the news. Specially when Sabo had told him there was no one in the near vicinity and the island was inhabited except for animals. Well, it doesn't matter now. Though it was sure a good experience for them and hopefully Luffy and Ace will learn their lesson of not going against Emperors very soon in their journey.
Sengoku glared at Garp, making him stiffen his laughter, and pout. Seriously, Sengoku thought, he is in his early 70s and he is having the audacity to pout in front of him like a child when he is experiencing the tortures of the five elders from listening to their endless rambles of comprehending Portgas D. Ace and the 3C's.
"How?"
Bang!
"How the heck Whitebeard let the crew go alive?"
Bang
"Just how did the 3Cs know that the Spades were in that ship?!"
Bang
"What are their connection with them?"
Sengoku couldn't understand it. How did a rookie crew came out alive of the whole commotion?! Even if the 3Cs are revolutionaries, which he seriously doesn't want, and get the news of the capture, how did Whitebeard not made them join his crew and let them go? If the 3Cs would be on the Moby then it would have been easier to catch them and get their so so many documents back. But no, they had to escape.
All the while when they were trying to find the origins of the supernova 'Fire Fist' Ace, who had reached Shabondy in just six months!
The only thing he is grateful from the encounter is the somewhat clear picture of the 3Cs, which is only of Cyane and Cyra. He really wishes that Cole is dead otherwise that guy would be also a headache for him to look into.
The hood was off their faces but their masks didn't reveal their identities. Who are these two and what do they think of themselves?!!
Sengoku lifts his head to yell at Garp again, when he sees a proud grin on his face. Sengoku feels anger course through him.
"GARP?!" Sengoku shouts, making Garp blink. "Do. You. Know. Them?" Sengoku gives a deathly stare to Garp. His chest rises up and down dramatically as he keeps his glare targeted at Garp. But all Garp does is grin and shrug and tries his best at changing the subject completely.
"What does it matter?" Garp picks his nose with his pinky. And it does change the topic as Sengoku bangs his head again on the desk. Garp starts to wonder if the desk was made of Adam Wood.
"Those Elders just keep ordering around telling to find the 3Cs and capture them," Sengoku mutters and looks at Garp, defeated. "And now the other on their list is Fire Fist. They either want him captured to summon the 3Cs or they want something big from him."
Garp tried to hide the flinch his best. He had to remind himself that Ace is strong and no way in hell is he going to get captured.. Right?
"How the heck will we find them? When the supernova doesn't follow the log and the 3Cs appear whenever they want." Sengoku said banging his head on his desk again. That relaxes Garp, but still he will warn Ace to be sure.
"We can forget about them!" Garp said to defuse the situation.
"How?! The Elders will take my ear off if they ever know how many important documents were stolen till date! Some of them are even classified ones. How the heck do they even know where to find them?!" Sengoku gritted his teeth and clenches his fists.
He hates the group. The public doesn't know the humiliation the marines had to suffer for their pranks on them and the chaos they always leave behind. That will be a shame for the marines. The only clue for them is Fire Fist and the heck! No one can even predict his path. The less in New World now!
Sometimes the man doesn't even take any of the three routes indicated in the log pose and finds his way to a completely different island! He hates them!
After the 3Cs came into existence, not only his paper works started increasing but also his grey hairs. And after the entry of the Spades Pirates, he is seriously contemplating to take retirement. Yeah, retirement sounds good. How good it would be to live in a peaceful Island, he wouldn't have to hear the words of those pompous old men. They can go fuck themselves if they try to call him again after his retirement. He could live peacefully with his goat and wouldn't have to hear any attacks on the bases or the new exploits of the Spades anymore-
Purupuru Purupuru
Sengoku glared at the denden mushi, which dared to shatter his beautiful World. He picked up, readying himself for another problem.
Click
"Sengoku!" Sengoku stopped his urge to roll his eyes at the caller. Why can't the Five Elders leave him alone for one minute even?!! "Why haven't you captured the Spades or the 3Cs yet?! We need answers!"
Sengoku wants to curse these arrogant shit pieces. He can see Garp eyeing the snail vehemently. Garp had never liked these men, and now he also doesn't like them much.
"Sorry, sir," Sengoku felt his mouth taste like ashes. "But we are trying our best."
"What are you trying your best?" Another one of the Five Elders spoke and Sengoku saw red. He wanted to shout at those fools that they can try to capture them if they are so eager. "They need to be apprehended the fastest you can!"
"Sorry sir," Sengoku tried to speak politely. Not for the first time he regretted taking the position of the Fleet Admiral and probably not for the last. "We will find them soon."
"You better do it."
Gatcha
Finally the call was over. He started to become more jealous of Garp and his probably only smart choice of staying a vice-admiral. He plopped his head on the desk and was about to-
Purupuru Purupuru
The tick mark on Sengoku only increased as he picked up the snail, which started ringing again.
Click
"Fleet Admiral!" Ok, the panic in the voice speculates what he had been thinking. Something is again wrong.
"The 3Cs have destroyed the Iron Pirates and taken their ship off just after their war with the Whitebeards."
What a good news. At least these pirates are reducing the number of other pirates. But wait what?!!
"What?!" Sengoku shrieked, "Only the main ship, right?!"Sengoku questioned hesitantly.
"No sir! The whole fleet was destroyed!" Sengoku leaned back in his chair. The whole fleet was destroyed!? That doesn't surprise him anymore after their encounter with the Whitebeards. But a crew of 2 or 3 pirates destroying a crew of at least 4000 members?
"Where are they now?" Sengoku tried one time more to find their location, maybe there was still hope.
"Sir, the pirates say that they vanished with the waves! No one knows where they are!" Another bombshell dropped and Sengoku disconnected the call. His hopes were shattered once more. He can see Garp grinning ear to ear, looking very proud. Does he like the 3Cs or he hates the Iron Pirates? The latter seems more plausible. Garp and liking pirates? Not possible.
"What the heck?" Sengoku feels on the verge of concussion rather than a headache. "It's their fifth year in the seas and yet we never get their location! Why?!"
Garp laughs at the question, receiving a glare from him again. But Garp feels good that those old fools are feeling lost. He is proud of his grandsons for achieving this feat.
"How are we supposed to kill them, if we can't capture them?!" Garp freezes at it and then scowls at that. No way, he can let his grandsons be killed. He makes a mental note to call Dragon and the boys later to inform this. But whose side is he? The Revolutionaries or the Marines or the Pirates? But he knows, he isn't taking sides. It is just, family is above everything. Family matters.
.
Purupuru Purupuru Click
"You have reached the Ship of Cards!"
"Bwahaha!" Garp laughed at the silly code. "Where is the brat?"
"Jiji!!!" The sound of crashing came from other side and the face of the snail changed into a smile before a half hearted scowl.
"That's Garp 'The Hero'!!?!" Several Spades shouted. He laughed again. The last time he had visited them in Banaro was the most interesting one. But the loyalty they showed was what impressed him the most.
"Hang on the line," He said with a smile. "Need to call the other brats too!"
"Okay!" Ace said and sounds of footsteps followed. He assumes the brat is going to get some secrecy. That's good.
Purupuru Purupuru Click
"Yo! Luffy here~!" Garp chuckled at the enthusiastic greeting and he could see the fond smile on Ace's snail.
"Bwahaha!!" Garp laughed. "How are my Grandsons doing?"
"Jiji~!" The sound of shuffling was coming from other side of the snail. "Sabo and I are fine~!"
"Doing well too!" Ace's snail said with a smirk.
"Ace-ni~!" Luffy's energetic voice filtered through the snail with unadulterated joy.
Garp found a smile on his face. What was the last time have he seen Luffy and Sabo? It was ages ago, when Luffy was seven. He won't blame on his stupid son for taking away his grandkids, but he misses them. They are all grown up and matured, happy and polite. Ace had changed the most. The darkness which had always lingered in his eyes, was no where to be seen.
"Hello! Old man and Ace!" His another grandson's voice came from the line.
"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Grandpa, huh?" Garp pouted, which was sure to be reflected on the other side of the snail. He can imagine Sabo poking his tongue, as the snail.
"Yo! Lu! 'Bo! What's up?" Ace's voice came.
"Don't ignore your Grandpa!" Garp said in an angry tone, but he was really happy to be angry.
"But I have called for another reason." His voice became stern and serious, making the brats sit up and pay attention.
"The Elders want to kill you three and Ace you better be on guard." Garp spoke, his hands lifting the rice cracker. "They are trying to capture you for two things now. I doubt they have the first information about Roger though but it's better to be careful and the connection you have with 3Cs."
"Makes sense after the newspaper was released," Sabo replied back.
"I will, Jiji," Ace said with a cocky smirk.
"You three better be," He said with a smile, cracking his knuckles. "Or better be prepared for my fist of love." He could feel the snails freezing as well as his brats. It feels good to terrorize them.
"Have you seen your new bounties?" He asked to break their shuddering.
"Hell yeah!" "It's big!" "It's so cool!"
The three said together making him chuckle. His hands lifted the bounty posters. "Good. See ya later then."
Gatcha
He looked at the innocent bounty posters of his grandsons.
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE
'FIRE FIST' ACE
550,000,000
The poster had Ace's picture with his floral open shirt fluttering in the air and his D grin full on view. The orange crystal necklace which he had seen Rouge wearing once or twice, hanging proudly with the red beads. Garp traced the smile with his fingers and looked at the other posters.
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE
'BLUE SLY' CYANE
550,000,000
The poster had Sabo. He was standing proud and looking straight, with his black mask hiding the smile which was visible. His white shirt's first three buttons were unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled. In his hand was his trusty pipe aimed forward. From his neck was dangling a blue crystal with a necklace, similar to Ace's. He has to say, Dragon had taken good care of the boy too.
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE
'RED MANIAC' CYRA
500,000,000
It was of Luffy's. The little boy who was wearing a red unbuttoned half shirt in a similar fashion of Sabo. His black mask hiding the impossibly wide smile on his face. His hands looked in a position, which said he was ready for the fight. Like his brothers, the familiar red crystal which he had never seen the boy part with dangled on his neck.
His grandsons were mature and strong enough now. So, he is less worried about them.
'Idiots.'
A/n:
Luffy's adventures are going to start soon!!! And the chapters are going to be long. You have been warned!
About what Luffy is going through, anyone having any guess of what's that?
So.. The GEAR 5 IS FINALLY OUT!!! How much did you all like it? Was it up to the expectations? For me personally, it was like I was watching Tom and Jerry and I enjoyed it~!