Chapter 14 - Chapter 8: Dawn of Adventure

"Loguetown!" Luffy cheered as he finally docked on the shores of said East Blue Island. He had rowed for three days in the direction the Kuja navigator had given him and just when he began thinking that he had veered off-course again, he thankfully spotted a cruise ship which was heading to Loguetown and thus, followed it to reach his destination without any detours.

He wanted to run around, wanting the see the execution platform and take in all the sights of the place which began the Age of Pirates but he controlled himself as he first had to find a way home.

He spent a couple of hours at the port going to cruise, cargo and other ships, and asking them if they had Dawn Island as one of their stops and if so, how long it would take for them to get there. Fortunately, there was a cruise ship with Goa Kingdom as one of its stops, but unfortunately, it would take around a month for it to get there. He still had just under two months left so he could make it comfortably, but spending that much time on a cruise ship just felt wasteful. He could get directions and set out on his own, but given his awful navigational skills and uncanny luck, who knew where he would end up, so he didn't want to take that chance.

His main priority was finding Nami as he wanted to end her suffering as soon as possible but he had no idea where she was. She should be traversing the seas anywhere in this huge sea and he had no idea how to find her. The others were fine where they were, so he wasn't worried about them much and hence, chose to go home first and after letting Makino and the others know that he was alive, set out to search for her.

He looked around a bit more but when he didn't find any other ship going to Goa within two months, he bought a ticket for the cruise ship which was departing in about six hours at night. Thus, he had an evening to kill and so, began exploring the Town of the Beginning and the End. It wasn't that obvious in the anime, but Loguetown was massive, with tall stylized buildings everywhere, all sorts of unique shops and wares, and of course, had a large number of people. No wonder his story counterpart was so lost while trying to find the Execution platform.

He first went to see the execution platform and just saw it from below as he wanted to make the declaration when he was leaving East Blue, went to the Gold Roger Bar from the anime and talked for a long time with the old man about Roger, got a haircut, bought some new clothes for himself including a simple and thin full-sleeved black trench coat, and of course, went around to all the food stalls and restaurants.

He was hoping he could run into Dragon too as he roamed around. It wasn't clear if he came to Loguetown by coincidence or to specifically see Luffy off after seeing his bounty, but he still searched for him or any sign of the Revolutionary Army, but couldn't find anything.

When the time came for him to leave, he went to the port, got on his ship and was finally on his way home happy that nothing had happened on the island that would delay him. But alas, just an hour into the month-long journey, a pirate ship showed up to raid the cruise ship causing Luffy to grow annoyed. 'Stop fucking with me, Fate! I love that you keep pushing into all sorts of ridiculous scenarios, but please, just let me get home first…'

Predictably everyone on the cruise ship started panicking, screaming their heads off about how they were all going to die and started running around the ship looking for a way off. The captain of the cruise ship tried to calm the passengers down saying that he had already called the Marines and they would be there any moment, but the passengers couldn't calm down.

Luffy was standing on the deck staring at all the chaos with an impassive look on his face getting annoyed at the world which just didn't allow him to go home. He watched in growing irritation as the pirate ship came parallel to them and pirates started swinging onto the cruise ship. The pirate ship was in very bad shape too probably because of some storm. 'Great, they'll want this ship' Luffy thought irritated.

Just as the pirates began rounding people up and demanding jewellery, he got a bright idea which made his irritation go away. He excitedly stepped up and got the attention of one of the pirates and asked, "Hey! Who's your navigator?"

"Oh, he died in the last storm. And thanks for reminding me," he said with a smile as if he wasn't robbing him and turned to someone saying, "Hey! We should kidnap a navigator here!"

"Ooh good idea!" the other guy said and before they could start, they found themselves flying back to their own ship after feeling a very heavy jab in their stomachs.

It was Luffy who had kicked them, his irritation back in full force, and he continued kicking and tossing every pirate off the ship. He was hoping they had a navigator who he could nicely ask to escort him home, but when they denied having one, he grew annoyed again and started taking care of them.

A big burly man stepped up seeing him and tried to threaten him, "I'm the captain! With a bounty of 4 million, I'm the strongest person on these seas. My nam-"

"Great!" Luffy cut him off, getting tired of hearing his voice, and then kicked him hard right under his chin, sending him flying back to their broken ship with a loud crash. Once their captain was down, the rest started screaming and tried to take hostages, but before the thought had even processed in their minds, they found themselves being thrown back to their own broken ship, while the passengers stared in shock at the display of strength demonstrated by Luffy. After he had thrown the last pirate off the ship, he called out to the cruise ship captain. "Can we please get on with the ride? I need to get home"

That brought the captain out of his shocked daze and he slowly stepped forward respectfully as he was afraid of Luffy's strength. He spoke cautiously not wanting to offend him by mistake "First of all, thank you for saving us. I have already called the Marines, so when they get here, I'll explain the situation to them and then we'll be on our way"

Luffy let out a deep sigh cursing the world, but accepted his fate and hoped the Marines would come soon and they can get back to their journey. He could technically kidnap the navigator of the cruise ship, but he didn't want to do stuff like that.

"Fine" Luffy grumbled to the captain before walking away and sitting on the railing. Most of the passengers were scared of him and didn't even attempt to approach him but a few brave ones did go up to him and thanked him for saving their lives.

Around 20 minutes later, a Marine ship was finally visible and Luffy's irritation only increased as he spotted Smoker and Tashigi on the other ship. The two would be an ally of sorts in a few places on the Grand Line and he even liked them but currently, he didn't want to deal with them as Smoker would no doubt ask questions on who he was, why he was so strong and so on. He decided to keep out of the way and let the cruise ship captain explain the situation to Smoker and just hoped he would go away.

Unfortunately for him, after Smoker talked to the cruise ship captain, he took one look at him and suddenly started approaching him while examining him carefully. Smoker was huge and pretty much looked like what he did in the anime with broad shoulders, the two perpetual cigars in his mouth, his stoic face that would scare even a grown man, his Marine jacket that exposed his upper body and a jutte on his back.

"So, you're the one who took care of all the pirates?" Smoker said as he stood in front of the Strawhat-wearing boy, something at the back of his mind telling him that he somehow knew him, especially when he saw the Strawhat.

"Yeah" Luffy replied with a tired tone.

"Thank you for stepping in and saving the lives of everyone here. What's your name?"

"Luffy"

"Hmm…Luffy…Luffy….."

The nagging feeling at the back of Smoker's mind that he somehow knew him only intensified when he heard the name. He pondered for a few moments before giving up and decided to ask Tashigi. He spotted her taking some written accounts from the passengers and called out to her.

Luffy tilted his head, more curious at his reaction now. "Why?"

"I don't know. I think I know you from somewhere but I can't recall and so I'm calling her. She's book smart"

Luffy just hummed wondering why he would seem familiar to him while Tashigi soon came up to them. She also looked similar to her story counterpart with a slender waist where her sword rested, had chin-length black hair and was wearing red rectangular glasses which she kept adjusting.

"I feel like I know this boy from somewhere," Smoker began before she could say anything, "His name is Luffy and that straw hat of his seems familiar. Does it ring any bell?"

Tashigi stared at him and pondered while humming with a hand on her chin for a few seconds before gasping and excitedly pointing at Luffy "It's him sir! The boy who went missing a couple of years ago! Pretty much every Marine base got his description. A boy named Luffy with a scar under his eye and wearing a straw hat"

"Ahh yes! That's it" Smoker nodded finally remembering it too.

"They had missing reports about me?!" Luffy muttered stunned.

'Of course they had! Makino especially would have made sure that the entire East Blue would be looking for me!' Luffy realized and started to feel guilt rise up in his chest for not even having considered it. "All the more reason I need to head back home soon…" he muttered to himself and then looked at Smoker "Are you guys done here? I need to head back home as soon as possible"

"Not so fast. You're coming with us and giving us an explanation of where you disappeared to"

Luffy whined in protest his irritation rising to new levels, "Oh c'mon! I just need to go to Dawn Island. Why the hell do I need to go with you?!"

"Because a report was made with the Marines to search for you and now we've found you. We need to process you, find out what happened and report to the relevant parties that we've found you" Smoker explained calmly.

"No, I won't come with you!" Luffy adamantly stood his ground. He had had enough of the world messing with him and he was going to go to Dawn without any detours no matter what happened. "Makino probably made the report and I'm going directly to her, so there's no reason for me to come with you"

"Don't force me to hurt you, kid" Smoker growled trying to threaten him.

"Okay, so I'll just have to beat you up and then be on my way. Fine, let's fight"

Seeing that the situation was deteriorating and fully believing that Smoker would curb-stomp the boy, Tashigi decided to step in as she didn't want to see a random boy get hurt. "Wait wait, you said you wanted to go to Dawn island right?"

Getting a nod from him she continued "This ship will take around a month to get there. You come with us and if everything is fine, we can let you go today itself and I know someone who can take you straight to Dawn Island in around two weeks tops. What do you say?"

"Really?! Then sure, I'll come with you!" Luffy cheered happily, his mood doing a complete 180. 'Finally! Something that helps me get home faster!'

Smoker directed an irritated look towards Tashigi for stepping in but sighed and let it go. They soon tied up all the pirates, with Luffy happily helping them out too, and headed back to Loguetown.

———

A couple of hours later, Luffy was sitting across from Smoker in his office in the Loguetown marine base and Tashigi stood beside him as they began the interrogation.

"First off, why are you wearing cuffs? Did you escape from some prison?" Smoker started. He had noticed the cuffs under Luffy's sleeves on the way back and was on high alert the entire time because of it.

"Oh these?" Luffy asked rolling his sleeves up and exposing the cuffs fully. He was wearing the sea stone cuffs as he didn't really need his full strength in this part of the sea and it would serve as training too. He was purposefully wearing the full-sleeved trench coat to hide the cuffs so that people wouldn't see it and freak out thinking he was a prisoner.

"These are just bracelets" he said clipping them off and putting them back on again.

Smoker and Tashigi sweat dropped simultaneously thinking 'Who the hell makes bracelets which look like cuffs? And why the hell would anyone actually choose to wear it?'

After an awkward silence, Smoker cleared his throat and continued, "Where did you disappear to? And what did you do for the last 2 years?"

"Been to a few places. I was in the Grand Line for a bit and then found myself in South Blue. Took a while to make my way back here"

"You were in the Grand Line?!" Tashigi asked shocked.

"Yep"

"How did you end up in the Grand Line?" Smoker asked suspiciously.

"Slavers" Luffy flatly stated. That brought a shocked gasp from Tashigi and a look of understanding from Smoker as he slowly nodded. They realized he had been kidnapped and sold as a slave, somehow escaped and was finding his way back home now. There was silence in the room for a few moments before Smoker asked "How did you escape?"

"I was useless to them so they threw me out. Someone found me and helped me. Then they dropped me off in South Blue. Took me a while to find my way back and now I'm here"

"I see" Smoker nodded solemnly and sighed massaging his temple. "Did you see who kidnapped you or know where you were kidnapped?"

"Hmm not really. I got lost fishing near Dawn Island and a few days later found a ship. Asked for help, they gave me food, I lost consciousness and woke up in a cage. I don't remember the faces"

"Okay" Smoker nodded. "I'll put the same in the report" he said not wanting to make him trudge up any more bad memories. It was just a missing persons case that had gone cold pretty much six months after the report was made as there was no lead and so, Smoker wasn't really interested in making Luffy delve too deep now that he knew slavers were involved. It was also just a boy who was put through something horrendous, so he let it go. "It's late now so just sleep at a nearby inn. Tashigi, escort him. We'll have someone take you to your island in the morning"

"That's it?" Luffy asked surprised thinking he would be getting asked way more questions.

Smoker just nodded, "Yes, that's it"

Luffy stared at him wondering about his earlier reaction when he had mentioned slavers. His eyes had dipped to his shoulders for just an instant before he quickly brought it back up again and it took Luffy a few seconds to realize what that meant.

"You're not gonna ask to see my back?" he suddenly asked causing Smoker to tense up and do a double take. They had a staring match for a tense few moments before Smoker broke off from the gaze and turned to Tashigi, who was looking at the two of them in confusion.

"Tashigi, can you get him some…" Smoker said and pointedly looked at Luffy who happily said, "Chocolate milkshake please"

Tashigi just nodded and went out still looking confused leaving the two men alone.

"Okay Luffy-" Smoker started but Luffy cut him off instantly.

"Can you please call me Strawhat? Hearing you calling me Luffy just sounds…wrong"

"…Alright…?" Smoker said a bit confused but just chalked it up to preference and continued, "Do you have a brand on your back?"

"Uh-huh"

"Okay. Never tell that to someone. It's for your own go-"

"Is every Marine told to hunt down slaves with a hoof brand?" Luffy interrupted not even hiding the fact that he had a hoof brand.

Smoker gaped at him for a second before leaning back in his chair sighing deeply and realized that the boy already knew everything he wanted to warn him about. It also confirmed that he did have the hoof brand to him.

Smoker evaluated him for a few seconds before finally breaking the silence. "…I've only heard rumours…about what happens to people with that specific brand…I didn't think it was true…"

"Hunted, starved, humiliated, tortured, pitted against other slaves in death matches to win morsels of food… to name a few things" Luffy answered. Smoker's face remained blank as he processed his answer.

"…You know, I've wondered a lot," Luffy continued with a curious look on his face, "Why the Marines who should uphold Justice turn a blind eye when the Celestial bastards treat the rest of the world like trash…"

Smoker tensed up hearing Luffy disrespect the Celestial Dragons but stayed silent.

"…A few Marines sure, I guess they could be evil or brainwashed into thinking that the Celestial Dragons are gods who can do whatever they want…But the rest? The ones who truly want justice to prevail in the world? The ones like you… What makes you turn a blind eye?"

Smoker averted his gaze sighing. "…I know it sounds like an excuse…" he began after some time, "But I truly don't know what happens with the Celestial Dragons. First off, there are only rumours that the Celestial Dragons use slaves. And even then, I've heard that they only enslave criminals and pirates to use as labour. I've heard that those who do have the brand are the ones who deserve it…that instead of getting sent to Impel Down, they just get sent to work as labourers under the Celestial Dragons…"

"…That makes a lot of sense" Luffy nodded. "So you think that the Celestial bastards only use bad people as slaves huh? Lack of information is the problem I see… And even now, you don't really know me, so you don't know if I'm telling the truth or not. You either trust the words of a random stranger like me who could be a Revolutionary spouting lies and propaganda for all you know, or you trust the words of your higher-ups and all, some of whom you might even respect. And it's obvious who you're gonna choose. Am I right?"

Smoker gave a small nod.

"Then why warn me not to show the brand?"

"Off chance that it could be true"

"And what makes you think I'm not some criminal who deserves to be enslaved? You basically told me to go after realizing that I might have a brand instead of checking my back and following protocol"

"Back at the cruise ship, the captain told me how you asked the pirates if they had a navigator first and then beat them all up. I'm assuming you asked so that you could essentially threaten them to take you home. You could've easily kidnapped the navigator of the cruise ship too if you wanted, but you didn't. So, I know you're morally right at least… Besides even if you are lying, it's not like you did something bad. All you are to me now is a missing person, so I'll let it go. If I later find out that you are indeed some criminal, I'll hunt you down myself"

"I see"

"And why did you tell me about your brand? If you knew that Marines do hunt down slaves, then why confess to me and even bring it up when I didn't even ask for it?"

"You answered your question yourself. Your eyes dipped a bit to my shoulders when I mentioned slavers, so I understood that you know about this at least. After a few basic questions, you said I could go. You didn't bring it up. You didn't ask to see my back"

Smoker nodded understanding his reasoning.

"Besides," Luffy grinned, "Even if you did try to capture me or something, I'm strong enough to pummel you into the ground"

Smoker just scoffed thinking he was being ridiculous. The two then sat in silence having come to an impasse of sorts where one couldn't trust the other, while also not having any reason to be hostile to the other.

"You may leave now" Smoker said when it looked like Luffy wasn't moving from his spot.

"I'm waiting for my chocolate milkshake"

"…Right" Smoker sweat dropped and the two sat staring at each other in awkward silence until Tashigi showed up a few minutes later. She hadn't even taken one step inside the office before Luffy was in front of her gleefully taking the milkshake out of her hand and gulped it down in less than two seconds after thanking her.

"Okay, I'll go now. Let's go, Tash," he said to Tashigi first before turning to Smoker and waved at him with a grin, "You're a good man, Smokey. See you around"

Smoker watched the Strawhat and a confused Tashigi walk out, his eye twitching in irritation at his nickname and let out a sigh after the door closed. 'He's really perceptive…' he thought as he wrote down 'Ran away from home' in the reports and added a random story of where he was for the last two years.

—

"What was all that about?" Tashigi asked not understanding what had passed between Smoker and Luffy.

"Something between me and him, don't worry about it"

Tashigi just hummed as she escorted him to the inn. "By the way, my name is Tashigi, not Tash"

"It's a nickname"

"Oh…" she wanted to argue that nicknames were used between friends but seeing how he had even nicknamed Smoker as Smokey, she just let it go. Just after a couple of minutes of walking through the streets, they saw a small crowd gathered near a shop where it seemed like an argument had broken out between a few Marines and some civilians. She groaned slightly facepalming and turned towards Luffy. "Can you wait for a few minutes? I need to deal with that"

"Sure" Luffy said and watched as Tashigi went towards the small crowd that had gathered to watch the argument. From what he could gleam, one of the Marines had bumped into a child making her fall and scrape her knees. The father of the child had gotten angry and started scolding him, which in turn caused the Marine to get angry and snap back. Surrounding people got involved and it had evolved into a small group confrontation.

Luffy just watched as Tashigi made herself known and upon seeing her, the civilians actually stepped back and calmed down instantly. And seeing that made him recall how Smoker was first introduced in the story. With a little girl bumping into him and dropping her ice cream, which caused her father and the onlookers to look fearfully at him and the father started apologizing to him immediately. Sure, Smoker didn't do anything, but the important fact there was that the civilians were afraid of him and thought he would actually harm a child. It could just be prejudice as he was such a strong and big man who could turn into literal smoke and so they were afraid, but they should have trusted the Marine uniform he wore and know that he wouldn't do anything to a child. But they didn't. They fully believed that a high-ranking Marine who should uphold Justice would do something as bad as hurting a child just for bumping into him.

And the same was happening here with the civilians being afraid of Tashigi. They weren't calming down because they thought that a high-ranking Marine had shown up and would take care of the situation but because they were afraid of Tashigi. She was seen with Smoker pretty much all the time, so they feared her too.

She quickly took care of the situation apologizing to the civilians and they awkwardly said they were at fault too and left, but they were fearful the entire time. 'This is kinda messed up…' he thought as Tashigi dispersed the crowd and came back to him.

"Okay, let's go"

Luffy just nodded and they continued. As they walked, Tashigi let out a sigh muttering "…need to give some sensitivity training to them…"

"Sensitivity training?"

"Oh…I was just talking to myself" Tashigi waved it off with a smile, "Don't worry about it"

"Hmm, so you think your men need to learn to handle situations like that better?" Luffy asked with a pondering look on his face.

Tashigi sighed not really wanting to broadcast her problems aloud but now that it was out, she just went along and vented to Luffy a bit. "Yeah, some of our men don't get how to handle sensitive situations. People get emotional and might lash out like the dad back there, but we should be calm and handle it appropriately. They shouldn't also get emotional and lash out escalating the situation like that…"

"I see…" Luffy said, his lips slowly widening into a mischievous smile. He so badly wanted to tease Smoker and he saw a chance now.

Just as they reached the inn and Tashigi was about to take her leave, Luffy grinned at her "Hey, you're heading back to base now right?"

"Hm? Yeah, we still have an hour of work left… what's up?"

"Shishishishi you'll see" Luffy didn't explain anything and dashed somewhere else to find something. Tashigi looked puzzled as to why he asked that but didn't ponder on it much and just went back.

20 minutes later, Luffy entered the Marine base while acting like he was distressed and had hung a whiteboard around his neck with '10 year old boy' written on it. He began wailing loudly getting the attention of the entire base and everyone turned towards him, saw his appearance and his board, and were left puzzled.

"Daddy! I lost my dad! Waaahhh!" Luffy cried in a falsetto puzzling the Marines even more. He approached a Marine behind a complaint desk while still acting like he was crying. "Mister, I lost my dad! Waah!"

The Marine behind the complaint desk was lost on what to do as he and everyone could see that he was just acting and his board was also a dead giveaway. Thinking he might be a mentally ill patient, the Marine awkwardly went along with it. "Uh yes, can you explain what happened? Where did you lose your dad?"

"Waaah! I want my dad!" Luffy cried harder and louder getting the attention of all the Marines, and even some civilians in the building, and they all stopped whatever they were doing to observe what was happening.

Tashigi and Smoker also came out of their office after hearing the distressed wailing to see what was happening and were surprised to find Luffy acting like a child.

"Luffy? What are you doing?" Tashigi asked stepping up to him.

Luffy dropped his distressed expression and smiled at her, "You said you wanted your men to get some sensitivity training right? So, let's do this exercise. I'll come in as different people with different problems and we'll see how they handle it"

"Uhhh…" Tashigi was gobsmacked and didn't know what to say but Luffy continued pointing at the Marine who he had approached. "And you!"

"Yes!" the man stiffened up.

"You see a 10 year old boy crying," Luffy said while gesturing at his board, "You first calm him down by making him sit and then ask what happened. Not just jump straight to asking where he lost his dad"

"Oh…right…" he said clearly confused as to what was happening.

"Okay, we'll do another one" Luffy said and dashed out not giving anyone a chance to talk to him and 20 seconds later walked in with a hunched back. '80 year old grandma' was written on the board this time.

Everyone just watched with confused expressions as he slowly limped his way to the complaint desk. "Excuse me, young man. I was just mugged…"

Smoker, deciding that it had gone long enough, stepped up intending to put a stop to it, "What are you doing, Strawhat?"

Luffy stood up straight and frowned "Do you not understand the exercise? I'll come in as different peo-"

"Yeah, I get that. But why are you doing this?"

"Ehh I'm bored as I have nothing to do and I got to know your men's sensitivity problem, so decided to do this. It's fun right?"

Smoker sweat dropped and looked at Tashigi who looked guiltily at him and tried to explain herself, "Um…we kinda saw another argument break out with civilians and our men on our way to the inn and I told him a bit about it…"

"Oh c'mon, this is a fun training exercise!" Luffy argued, "Let me do this a couple of times and you'll see. Now, order your men to go along with it!"

Smoker rubbed his temple sighing as he didn't want to deal with whatever this was, so just relented thinking he would get bored after a few minutes and leave, so just nodded and looked at his men, "Okay, we'll be doing this exercise. Just go along with it"

"Yessir!" the men yelled saluting.

Luffy grinned "Okay, let's start over"

He went back to the entrance, hunched his back and again walked to the complaint desk with a limp, "Excuse me, son. I was just mugged a few minutes ago…" he said using his abilities to modify his voice to a shaky grandma voice which made the others think that he was a ventriloquist.

"Oh no. Can you give me the description of the man?" the guy asked playing along.

Luffy straightened himself and shook his head with disappointment before turning to all the others who were standing around looking on with curiosity and addressed them, "Now, can anyone tell me what he did wrong?"

There were two seconds of silence before one Marine spoke up. "He should have checked you for injuries first and given you medical attention"

Luffy pointed at him and grinned "Exactly. One point for you!" while the guy at the complaint desk went "Ahh, that's right!"

"Okay, let's do over" Luffy said again hunching his back and repeating his lines. This time, the guy came forward, made him sit, gave him a glass of water, asked if he needed medical attention and then got his complaint about where he was mugged and what was stolen. In the end, Luffy smiled at all of them, "Okay, that was great! Let's keep going"

He went out again and the Marines looked on in anticipation to see what he would come in as next slowly beginning to enjoy it. Luffy walked in with an attitude a few seconds later with 'Sassy entitled rich 16 year old girl' written on the board and they all groaned.

Luffy walked straight up to the complaint desk like he owned the place and immediately spat, "Hey you! My daddy says he won't give me an allowance anymore! Make him give it!"

The guy groaned internally, "Listen, young lady, we don't deal with su-"

"I don't care!" Luffy snapped, "Just make my daddy give me my allowance or I'll have my daddy sue you!"

—

It had started off normally with Luffy coming in as 'Father who lost a child', 'Concerned about suspicious bag Lady', 'Person with noisy neighbours', and so on with the Marines collectively discussing and deciding what to do for each case. And it really was fun and at the same time, a learning experience. Even Smoker could see his men discussing what to do and what not to do with each case, and agreed that what Luffy was doing was a fun way to make them learn. Tashigi was even more surprised as she had tried to give them pointers on how to deal with sensitive cases before, but apart from nodding their heads, they hadn't learned anything or given it much thought. But now, they were animatedly discussing how to deal with such situations of their own accord.

Luffy was having the most fun as he tried to act like different people and he could see everyone watching with excitement as to what he would show up as next. After a few rounds of actual real-life scenarios though, he started getting playful.

He came in as 'Hannibal Lector, Psychopathic cannibal' and the whole room froze. He walked up slowly and took a seat across the complaint desk.

"Hello, my name is Hannibal Lector" he said in a sophisticated British accent.

"Y-yes, Mr Lector, what can I do for you?" the Marine asked nervously.

"Well, you see…" he began slowly but stopped staring at the hand and neck of the guy while licking his lips making the guy even more nervous. Things got chaotic when Luffy lunged at the guy trying to bite his head off while screaming "Give me your brains!" and the room erupted in panic. A couple of them actually pretended to pull him off and subdue him while Luffy acted like he was resisting like a crazed person.

"Good job guys!" he praised grinning after he dropped the act and the Marines erupted in laughter.

Things only escalated from there as he next came in as 'Ghost hunter' and started looking for ghosts and reporting who the ghosts said their killers were. Next, he came in as 'Creepy little kid' and scared the shit out of everyone by making his voice really creepy and raspy.

He did a couple of roleplays purely for his own amusement like when he came in as 'Little boy whose mother was just eaten' and started yelling "I'll kill every last one of them! I'll slaughter every last one!" and laughed his ass off while the rest just looked on confused.

Tashigi was also having a jolly good time with her subordinates having never bonded with them like this before. Smoker, however, was as stoic as ever and Luffy saw his eye twitching in irritation when he started coming in as crazy characters. And thus, he made it his goal to crack him. He tried a few zany characters but nothing made him give even a little smile, and in fact, only made him more irritated as the actual exercise had now turned into a comedy show. However, he finally broke when Luffy came in as 'Garp'

"BWAHAHAHA! BWAHAHAHA!" Luffy laughed out loud clutching his stomach just like Garp, then paused before adding in his own voice "Don't expect me to enter by breaking right through the building" and then got in character again continuing his bellowing laughter. The reaction in the room was clearly divided for Garp. Those who hadn't seen him in real life had confused looks on their faces, while those who did collapsed to the ground laughing. Smoker finally broke too, letting out a small chuckle and shaking his head in amusement and everyone looked at him with gobsmacked expressions as they had NEVER seen Smoker laugh before.

"Yes! I made Smokey laugh!" Luffy yelled triumphantly throwing his hands up while the others looked at him as if he were a god. Smoker instantly lost his smile and regained his stoic face but Luffy had achieved his goal.

He had one last character he wanted to come in as, so soon walked out and came back in again with 'Smokey' written on the board. He had stuck two pencils in his mouth to represent the cigars and walked with purpose towards Tashigi grunting the whole time with a serious stoic look on his face.

"Tashigi," he grunted making his voice deep, "Have the men search the island for those damn pirates! No one escapes from my clutches!"

The whole room tried to hold in their laughter, their faces turning red from suppressing it and Luffy grinned internally deciding to give one last push to break them.

"My name is Smoker. I had a cigar in my mouth even when I was in my mother's womb. Fate loved me so much that it decided to give the Smoke-Smoke fruit to the guy named Smoker"

And that was it. The whole room burst into raucous laughter, with most of them falling to the ground clutching their stomachs in pain. Luffy dropped the pencils while also chuckling when he saw that even Tashigi was having a hard time holding her laughter in. Smoker, however, was glaring at him, so he decided that it was time to get out.

"That's my cue to leave. Goodbye, Loguetown Marine Base!" he yelled and quickly dashed out, leaving the laughing Marines to their ill fates as Smoker would definitely punish them.

———

Early next morning, Luffy was buying food supplies before heading to the dock where a boat would take him to Dawn Island when he ran into Tashigi. Luffy caught her eyes and grinned waving at her and she sighed stomping up to him with a peeved look.

"Did you have to pull that last one?! We all got punished because of that!" she whined even before saying hi.

"You were laughing very hard too if I recall correctly"

Tashigi slightly blushed in embarrassment, "Well… I never said it was not funny"

"Shishi well, what punishment did you get?"

"Overnight work for a whole month for the entire base…"

"Oh damn… sorry I guess. It was just too funny not to do it"

"Oh well whatever," she sighed letting it go before smiling at him, "Before that one and all the crazy characters though, it was a pretty good training exercise. All of them actually discussed and argued on how to handle scenarios which has never happened before! I've given seminars before but nothing went through their heads, but yesterday they were all excitedly discussing and even stayed late for that! So, thank you!"

"Yeah, you gotta make it fun for them. They're all adults now, you know, and adults hate being in classes and stuff. So make it a fun social game and they'll actively participate"

"I see. Makes sense," Tashigi said nodding with an understanding look before suddenly perking up with an idea, "Hey, why don't you join the Marines? You're pretty strong and also have good insight. And since you're strong, you can even fast-track through the Marine training in lesser time!"

"Nope. I'll never become a Marine" Luffy vehemently declined.

"Oh c'mon, it'll be great! I'll even help you! You can do so much good!"

"Tash," Luffy said with a serious look, "Becoming a Marine is the last thing I ever want to do"

Tashigi lost her enthusiasm at his resolute refusal "Why not?"

"Paperwork," Luffy shivered as if he was talking about something evil, "It sucks!"

"Wha?!" she gaped causing Luffy to chuckle. She was a pretty naive Marine who thought that the Marines always did the right thing and had a pretty black-and-white view of the world where Marines were good and pirates were bad. Smoker didn't seemed to have told her of the rumours and still kept her in the dark about the bad side of the Marines, or she had heard them but just dismissed them as baseless rumours. In the future, she does realize her error in thinking and reevaluates herself but until then, she would still hold that black-and-white belief. And he didn't know if he could convince her otherwise right now with just words, so just chose to deflect it.

"Shishishi well, that's a reason too but mainly, I have other things I want to do"

"Oh…" Tashigi was still curious about why he had vehemently declined to become a Marine, but she didn't know enough about him or his goals to argue with him.

They had somehow ended up walking together as Luffy bought food supplies from different shops while talking and Tashigi was shocked at the amount he was packing.

"Umm, you do know it'll be a max two-week trip right? You don't need that much. There are islands along the way to resupply too"

"It's fine. I eat a lot, so nothing will go to waste"

"…I see"

As they walked, Luffy caught sight of her sword from the corner of his eyes and wondered if her named sword had any sort of will as shown with Zoro's swords and if he could feel it somehow.

"Is that Shigure?" he asked pointing at her sword.

Tashigi, who was slightly annoyed and confused at his earlier refusal, suddenly became ecstatic as he recognized her sword and excitedly responded, "YES! Are you interested in swords too?! Are you a swordsman?"

"No, I'm not a swordsman. I just know a bit about named swords. May I see it? Never seen one in real life before"

Slightly disappointed that he wasn't a swordsman but still pretty excited that he knew about named swords, she nodded and carefully handed him the sword with a radiant smile.

Luffy observed the sword while also trying to feel any sort of energy coming off of it. The sheath was elaborate in design with a bumpy texture at the base which was green, while the rest of it was white and smooth just like what he remembered from the anime. The green hilt had a 4 petaled design but the blade itself was simple like a regular katana. It was simple, sharp and elegant in design. Luffy tried to sense any sort of will coming off of it, but felt nothing.

Luffy gave it an approving look with a smile. "Simple and elegant" he said as he sheathed it and handed it back to her.

Tashigi became even more ecstatic hearing that. "Yes! Its simple design is what I like the most about the sword. Because of its simplicity, it's versatile and I can perform so many different kinds of attacks like…." she rambled on about how great her sword was for a few minutes and Luffy happily listened to her talking animatedly. He loved when people talked about what they were passionate about and seeing her opening up made him happy.

When she realized that she had been speaking non-stop for a few minutes, she become embarrassed and apologized. "Ah sorry…I usually don't get a chance to talk about it so became a bit overexcited"

"Don't worry about it. You really like swords huh?"

"Yes!" Tashigi declared with a happy smile, "I've been training in the sword ever since I was 6. My grandfather ran a dojo you see and he was a very strong swordsman. I got interested in swords because of him…" she had a wistful smile talking about her grandfather.

Luffy didn't remember any such detail from the story about her. Actually, she wasn't shown much other than during the Alabasta arc and the Punk Hazard arc, and his story counterpart didn't even know who she was in Punk Hazard.

"What's your dream?" he suddenly asked.

Tashigi became excited as she told him about it, "I want to liberate all the named swords from bad people. So many pirates and bounty hunters defile these swords by making use of it for making money or committing evil acts. The swords will be crying because they are being used for such acts…" she trailed off sadly fully believing her own words. "So, I want to defeat such bad people and liberate the swords!"

"And why be a Marine?"

"I also want to uphold Justice by putting bad people behind bars and protecting people using my sword!"

"I see" He didn't like the dream but it didn't matter as it wasn't his dream. It was hers and it was like Coby's dream, so he hoped she would achieve it. Her first statement was a bit naive but he didn't really want to argue over it as she would eventually learn that she has a very naive opinion in the future anyway, so he didn't say anything.

"That's a good dream" Luffy smiled giving her an approving look and that only made her happier.

Thankfully, she didn't ask him about his dream as he would have 100% blurted out that he wanted to become the Pirate King, and he didn't want to get into it right now. Instead, she again asked him to join the Marines with a hopeful expression, "You also think it's a good dream right? So why not join the Marines? You can help a lot of people that way"

Luffy hummed thinking about how to answer her. "Have you ever been outside East Blue?"

Tashigi tilted her head at the tangential question but answered anyway, "Um no. Have only been in East Blue"

"Okay then see more of the world and then ask me that question again. Actually, just visit a place called Saobody Archipelago and then come to me to ask the same question"

"Huh? Why?"

"You'll understand some day…" Luffy trailed off mysteriously and quickly put an end to their conversation. "Well, I better get going now. My ride's waiting for me at the dock. It was fun talking to you, Tash. See ya around" he said and walked off towards the dock waving goodbye.

"Ah right…See you" Tashigi waved back watching him go with a confused look on her face. She didn't understand what he meant by seeing more of the world but filed away the name of the place he had mentioned to look up later.

———

It had been an uneventful travel from Loguetown to Dawn Island. Thankfully. The navigator of the boat didn't talk all that much apart from the needed small talk but he did his job properly. Luffy also rowed most of the time, thus increasing their speed and reducing the time needed to get reach the destination.

And finally, with just 6 weeks left until his 17th birthday, Luffy laid his eyes on the island on which he should have spent the last two years on. He was finally back home.

He expected to see some villagers or fishermen at the shore, but the place was pretty much empty for some reason. When they got closer and even docked at the shore without any signs of anyone showing up, he started to get worried wondering if something had happened.

He thanked the navigator and walked through the village wondering where everyone was and his steps quickened with every passing moment. He used his Observation to scan the area and picked up a few presences in a particular direction on the outskirts of the village. He dashed towards that direction as fast as possible and when he finally spotted people and saw what they were doing, all his worry flew away and he was just left puzzled and also amused.

A huge crowd, pretty much the entire village, had gathered at the graveyard of the village where a tombstone with 'Monkey D. Luffy' carved on it was erected with flowers, food and all sorts of memorabilia strewn around it. They were holding his funeral.

Luffy wasn't surprised that his funeral was being held as the thought that they might have assumed he might have died had crossed his mind, but he was puzzled as to why they were holding it now. Did they just randomly decide to hold it today after two years? It just didn't make sense.

He climbed up a tree discreetly to watch the proceedings of his own funeral in amusement as his eyes looked for Makino, Dadan and the other bandits, maybe even his Gramps or even Dragon… but his eyes kept roaming around not finding anyone. He spotted all the villagers and even Mayor Woopslap but apart from Woopslap, he didn't spot anyone who he considered to be really close to him present there. Had they not come to his funeral?

He shook those thoughts away and just started thinking of ways of how he could comically show up in front of everyone. Should he scare them by pretending to be a ghost? Should he casually walk up and say 'Hey, who died?', or should he drop from the sky right in the middle of everyone? Or… he kept thinking of amusing ways he could reveal himself, but a sudden thought crossed his mind that made him instantly dash towards Party's Bar.

'There's no way Makino wouldn't be at my funeral!' he yelled inside his head in a panic as he dashed towards the bar hoping nothing bad had happened. As soon as he reached it, he tried the door but it was locked. In a panic, he yanked the door a couple of times trying to break the lock on the inside when a familiar voice from inside shouted, "Go away! I told you I'm not participating in that stupid funeral! There's no way Luffy is dead!"

All tension leaked out of Luffy as he leaned on the door panting hard and letting out a massive sigh of relief. 'Okay okay, nothing is wrong…' he consoled himself and took a few moments to compose himself before finally saying, "Hey Makino… Can I have some food? I'm hungry"

There was a beat of silence before loud scrambling reverberated from inside followed by sounds of running and the door soon opened revealing a distraught and teary-eyed Makino.

"Luffy…?" Makino breathed slowly bringing a trembling hand up to touch his face as if unsure whether he was actually real or not.

"Yep" Luffy said as he grabbed her hand and that gave confirmation to her that he really was there. She immediately glomped him sobbing, making Luffy lose balance and fall on his butt as Makino desperately hugged him tighter and tighter.

"Is this really happening?" she whispered to herself. "Are you really here?"

"Yeah, I'm back" Luffy said softly patting her head as he felt guilt rising up in his chest. Makino had changed. He didn't let it show on his face but he was shocked when he saw her appearance. The always smiling Makino was now thinner, looked pale and a bit sick, had unkempt hair, and her eyes were marred with dark circles clearly sleep-deprived.

"I'm back, Makino" Luffy softly said again and Makino nodded as she sobbed harder whispering "Welcome back…"

It took a while for Makino to calm down as she got her happy sobbing in control and pulled back from the hug wiping her tears away.

"You're finally back after so long" she said cupping his face studying him closely, stretching his skin a bit, and after making sure he was okay, her face morphed into an irritated scowl as she made a fist and softly bonked him on the head.

"Where the hell were you?! You had me worried sick!" she screamed before adding with a sob "We th-… I th… Everyone kept saying you were dead…"

"Sorry for taking so long. Things kinda ended up that way…" Luffy just apologized not knowing what else to say as he looked guiltily at her. There was an awkward atmosphere for a moment before Makino soon got up and dragged him by his hand inside the bar. "Well, all's good now that you're here," she said finally showing a smile, "You're telling me everything that happened"

As he was being dragged, Luffy noticed how weak her grip was and softly pulled her making her stop. Makino looked back just as Luffy pulled her towards the kitchen. "That can wait. You need to eat, Makino. How long has it been since you last ate?"

She tried to protest but she was just too weak and let herself be dragged towards the kitchen while wiping her tears away. "Fine, let's eat first. You did say you were hungry"

She smiled looking around a bit, happy that she was again getting a chance to cook for him but soon facepalmed, "Oh sorry Luffy. There's nothing made. Give me a few minutes, I'll cook up something"

"Nope," Luffy said as he gently pushed her to the dining table and made her sit. "You take rest, I'll cook something"

Makino's already sleep-deprived mind went for a spin as she heard his words and a giggle escaped her lips, "Hehehe… I thought I just heard you say you'll cook… I really do need sleep"

Luffy ignored the comment as he opened the fridge, found some eggs and other ingredients and started making simple scrambled eggs.

"…you're really cooking?" Makino asked incredulously watching him crack open some eggs into a bowl and beat it along with some milk, salt and pepper. He then started the stove, placed a pan and after heating some butter, poured the blended egg mixture into it. She rubbed her eyes not believing what she was seeing and despair slowly gripped her heart again when she saw Luffy curling the eggs into soft curds. "I'm dreaming, aren't I?… You're not back…"

Luffy wanted to feel amused that she would believe she was dreaming rather than accept that he was cooking, but seeing how sickly she looked, he just couldn't. She kept muttering to herself as she slowly lost the shine in her eyes she had just regained and was about to fall asleep due to the emotional rollercoaster. He wanted to ask a million different things as to what had happened for her to end up like this, but first, he had to make her eat.

He quickly finished seasoning it and placed a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her. Leo was an orphan, so of course he had to cook for himself and also for the other kids at the orphanage sometimes. He wasn't really an expert or anything but he could cook basic dishes well enough.

Makino just stared at the plate of food in a daze and slowly brought the spoon up to her mouth. But just after taking the first bite, she broke down crying hard again, "This really is a dream… there's no way Luffy could ever cook something like this…"

Luffy couldn't hold back anymore and chuckled softly getting a sad despaired look from Makino that instantly made him sad again.

"Stop laughing…" Makino whined as tears kept pouring down her face while also continuing to eat hungrily. "This is really good"

"Thanks"

"I'm just praising my mind for making such a vivid dream. There's no way this is real…Luffy could never make something this good"

"Okay, let's assume this is a dream," Luffy smiled playing along, "I'm just a projection your brain is making to help you talk and cope with my disappearance"

"See?" Makino cried wiping away fresh tears as they continued rolling down her face, "Luffy could never say stuff like that"

"Yes yes," Luffy placated leaning on the table next to her while wiping her tears away gently, "Since your mind is making me up, just talk to me. Maybe it'll help you relax. It's been so long since we last talked, you know"

Makino lightly nodded her head humming and thinking that at least she got a chance to talk to him in a dream.

"So what happened?" Luffy asked as he began feeding her while she obediently ate, "Why haven't you been taking care of yourself? And what's with the funeral? I mean I know disappeared two years ago, so I was expecting it. But why now?"

Makino sighed grumbling a bit, "It's because of those men who came a couple of weeks ago. They told us some story of how you sacrificed your life for them in the Calm Belt… Ever since then, I haven't been able to eat or sleep properly… the others just accepted it too…"

"Ah so that's what's happening here" Luffy nodded finally understanding what had happened. It was the crew of the cargo ship he had gotten a ride on from South Blue to East Blue. He had last seen them escaping while he fought with the Sea Kings and was glad that they had escaped safely at least. He was also kinda slightly peeved too as that had led to Makino's current state.

"Ever since then, it's been funeral this and funeral that. Everyone stopped looking for you around a year after you disappeared but I knew you were alive. And I was right! From what the men told us, you ended up in South Blue and were making your way back here?"

"Yeah. I did end up in South Blue"

"Hmm, but since those men told us that you had in fact died, everyone was ready to put you to rest… But I know that you're somewhere out there. I know you're alive. Dadan also doesn't think you're dead… you will come back soon. It's almost your 17th birthday, so I know you'll come soon. You made a promise to Sabo, so I'm sure you won't break it… you also haven't paid your treasure tab yet, so there's no way you'll leave me hanging right?"

"Yeah, I'm sure he will" Luffy said gently patting her head and she leaned into it finding comfort while she continued to drowsily talk. She had finished her plate by then and was now feeling even more sleepy. He knew this would be a hilarious story in the future, but for now, she needed rest more than anything. "Come, let's get you to bed. When you wake up, I promise you that Luffy will be here"

Makino just groggily wiped her eyes nodding softly and Luffy supported her as she tried to walk while leaning on him. When it became clear that she was too sleepy, he just picked her up in a princess carry and went towards her room which was above the bar.

"It's been so frustrating Luffy…" Makino continued holding onto him, "I called Garp the next day itself when you didn't show up that day for Ace's first bounty celebration and left a message for him. It was a whole week later that he was finally available and called back. And when I told him that you were missing, that stupid old man didn't care. He just laughed saying you had probably gotten lost somewhere and would show up eventually… It was only a whole month later and repeated angry calls that he finally listened to me and sent out your information to all the Marine bases and they started looking for you… until then, it was just us villagers who kept looking for you…and we couldn't cover much area"

"I see"

"That stupid old man…" Makino grumbled, "Not once did he come here to see what was happening…"

"I'm sure he was busy. He probably sent his best men to search for me"

"Yeah, I know…I was just venting…" she sighed, "Garp was probably just as worried and did his best to make sure you were found," she then gave a soft sad smile as she lightly pinched Luffy's cheek, "Another reason I know you're not real. You would have just said 'Stupid Old gramps' like always…"

"Just got a new perspective of the world you know, and I've changed… You've changed too. You were so polite back then, but now you call people stupid? The Makino I knew would never have called someone stupid"

"Well, that Makino had never been on so many frustrating calls… I've felt so powerless all this time, Luffy" she said burying her face into his neck, "When the Marines didn't work out, I tried to get in touch with Ace and even Shanks…but I had no idea how to. I kept calling and calling Garp's line begging him to get in touch with Ace somehow…but he was so busy that he couldn't receive my call and even when he did, he kept saying he didn't know where Ace was… Your brother joined the Whitebeard pirates a few months ago you know. It was long after you disappeared but still, I asked Garp to at least then get in touch with Whitebeard and ask Ace but he didn't even do that… Poor Ace has no idea that you've disappeared…"

"Well, that's good. He probably would have destroyed the whole of East Blue trying to search for me" Luffy said with a chuckle.

Makino let out a small chuckle too, "Yes, I'm sure he would have… I also tried to get in touch with your dad…"

"You know about Dragon?" Luffy asked surprised.

"Yes, Garp told Mayor Woopslap and me about him when you were still a baby… ahh baby Luffy…you were so cute back then," she said pinching the current Luffy's cheeks. He reached her bedroom then and she kept mumbling 'Cute Luffy' and other things like he was a baby as he placed her on the bed and tucked her in. Makino hummed getting comfortable inside the blanket.

"So, Dragon?"

"Hm? Oh yeah… I was sure there were some Revolutionaries in the Grey Terminal, so I went there along with Dadan to try to look for them, but it didn't lead anywhere…"

"You did your best, Makino" Luffy said sitting next to her and gently caressing her head helping her to relax, "There's no way you could have reached me given where I was"

She just hummed not giving what he said much thought and continued, "I also wanted to reach Shanks…but had no idea how… he had left one number all those years ago but it wasn't connecting…"

"He had left a number with you? You never told me…"

Makino's face slightly flushed causing Luffy to understand what had happened instantly and he smiled mischievously at her before asking a question that a lot of people in Leo's world wondered about, "Did you ever have a thing for Shanks, Makino?"

Her lips twitched upwards as her face became just a bit more reddish, "Well…kinda yes…he was so dreamy…"

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed knowing he could tease her later with this and just gently patted her head reassuring her, "Now, go to sleep, Makino. And when you wake up, Luffy will be here"

"Hmm" Makino hummed closing her eyes. Luffy kept caressing her head until she fell asleep and just before drifting off, she mumbled "I don't want to feel powerless…" with desperation laced in her voice.

Luffy sighed deeply after she fell asleep and realized what an asshole he had been. Not once had the thought crossed his mind of what the people here on Dawn Island would have done when he disappeared, but it should have been an obvious thought. He kneaded his forehead berating himself for a few seconds before letting it go and concentrating on the present. He was here now, so it was time to make things right with everyone.

He first wrote a note for Makino telling her that he was, in fact, real and that he was going to Dadan's place. He wanted to talk to all the villagers but wanted to meet Dadan and the others next, so slipped out of Party's bar and ran towards the bandit hideout in the forest as fast as possible.

20 minutes later, he dropped a beast he had hunted along the way with a loud thud right in front of the bandit hideout. Dadan and the others quickly ran out and froze when they saw Luffy sitting on top of the beast.

"Yo!" he grinned raising his hand just like he had done all those years ago when Garp had first brought him to them.

"LUFFY?!" all of them gawked with disbelieving eyes, especially Dadan, whose eyes quickly teared up. He jumped down just as all of them lunged at him dog-piling on him screaming happily at him all at once.

"Oh my god! It's really you!" / "You're alive!" / "Where the hell did you disappear to?!" / "We were so worried!"

"Yeah yeah, I'm alive. Just ended up getting stuck somewhere" Luffy answered with a chuckle looking at each one with a smile but saw that Dadan alone was standing back with a disinterested scowl. The others saw it too and let Luffy go as he grinned, got out of the dog pile while the rest made space for him and walked up to her.

"Hmph! The idiot troublemaker is still alive huh? God, now I have to deal with you again" she scoffed.

Luffy was glad that she hadn't changed much and knew she was just acting like a tsundere while desperately trying to hold back her tears. He jumped, wound his arms around her neck and rested his head on her shoulders. "Missed you too, Dadan"

That seemed to shock her but she just couldn't hold back anymore and soon put her arms around him too while crying "I knew you stupid idiot wouldn't have died just like that! I knew you were alive somewhere out there! Why did you take so long to come back, you idiot?!"

"Sorry, just ended up like that"

"Well, who cares! You're alive and that's all that matters!"

The others also broke down after that and dog piled on Dadan and Luffy again as they all yelled "Luffy's back! Luffy's back! He's alive!" in glee.

———

Makino slowly woke up feeling more relaxed than she had felt in a long time and found she was in her bed. She didn't remember much but realized that someone had tucked her into bed and also saw a note crumpled up in her hands.

She slowly sat up but as soon as she read the note, she jumped out of bed, almost falling in the process and ran downstairs to the bar. She burst into the bar and was surprised to find a large number of people inside the bar staring into the kitchen, but for some reason, all of them were deathly silent with disbelief clear on their faces with some even rubbing their eyes as if not able to believe what they were seeing. She wondered what was happening and made her way to the kitchen whose door was open and froze when she saw a Strawhat wearing boy putting frosting on a cake.

She didn't spot Dadan and the other bandits or even Mayor Woopslap sitting inside the kitchen who were watching Luffy with gobsmacked expressions too.

"Eh it's a bit burnt and is too sweet, but this is the best I can do, I guess. Baking is hard" Luffy said as he showed the cake he had just baked to everyone and placed it in front of Dadan and Woopslap.

"…This has gotta be a dream," Dadan said pinching herself, "Luffy cooking? Is the world ending or something?"

"I've asked myself the same thing a million times already," Woopslap said looking at Luffy with disbelief while rubbing his eyes, "I'm gonna go with someone gassing the entire village and all of us are having a shared hallucination"

"Oh c'mon, I've picked up cooking a bit," Luffy whined, "I cooked for myself all the time back when I lived in the forest too, you know"

"All you did was roast meat over a fire!" Dadan snapped, "And you just ate it raw many times not even being able to wait for it to cook!"

"Shishi, well try this now. It's only slightly burnt" Luffy said as he cut up the cake into small slices and shoved a piece each into the mouths of Dadan and Woopslap.

After spending some time at Dadan's, he had come back to the village and to his surprise, so had all the bandits. Apparently, the bandits and the villagers had bonded quite a bit when they sent out search parties while looking for him, and thus, Dadan and the others could come into the village without any issues now. As for his reveal to the other villagers, he had chosen the casual 'Hey guys' plan causing some to scream 'GYAAAH! IT'S LUFFY'S GHOST! HE'S COME TO HAUNT US!', some to faint, some to cheer happily while some others glomped him tearing up.

"My god, this is not bad at all" Dadan muttered in disbelief after finishing her slice.

"Yes, this is better than what even I can make" Woopslap said before many others started asking for a slice and only then did Luffy notice Makino standing at the kitchen door with a shocked expression.

"Makino! You're up!"

"Makino!" Dadan also cheered upon seeing her and grinned at her, "Look! Just like we told everyone - Luffy came back!"

"No, t-this… I'm still dreaming…? Luffy is cooking…" she said pointing at him.

"Oh c'mon! Is that really so shocking?"

"YES!" almost everyone within earshot yelled in unison, still not able to believe that Luffy was cooking.

"Then I won't cook anything for you all!" he pouted with a huff lifting the cake off the table to eat it all himself but immediately kept it back and caught a running Makino who crashed into him.

"You're real…you're actually back…. This isn't a dream?" she cried again.

"Yes, yes, I'm back" Luffy said patting her back, "This is round two, you know…We already had this whole conversation right before you slept. I was a projection your mind made up…remember?"

Makino slowly separated from him as her memories became clearer, "Th-that was really you…? You talked so differently though…"

"I've changed, Makino" Luffy grinned getting close to her ears and whispered, "Shanks is dreamy huh?"

"Wha?!" Makino blushed only vaguely remembering that she had in fact said that and tried to remember in a panic if she had said something more.

"Wow, you tease people now too?" one of the villagers asked seeing Makino of all people getting flustered.

"Yep! I love seeing people get flustered and blush"

Makino's quickly reddening face had everyone watching with surprise and amusement but it was only for a few seconds though as she soon huffed and pulled Luffy's ear. "What is this, Luffy?" she said in a reprimanding tone, "What kind of bad company did you keep over the last two years that you're making fun of people like this?"

"Shishishishi"

Makino's anger instantly faded away hearing his familiar laugh and she just hugged him close again, "…Whatever. I'm just glad you're alive and back…"

They stayed like that for some time, while all the villagers just looked on happily, some with tears. The village had never been the same since Luffy disappeared and now that he was back, it was like new life had been breathed into it. Not only were they getting Luffy back, but also Makino, who was pretty much out of it for the whole time.

"Alright alright," Luffy patted her back after a while making her let go, "Enough with the mushy stuff. Let's celebrate!"

"YEAH!" the others cheered while Makino nodded happily with a smile.

Luffy then went to the piano at the end of the room and sat down surprising everyone.

"Wait what? You can play?!"

"Yep!" Luffy grinned, "I've picked up a lot of things while I was away… Now, questions about where I was later! Let's enjoy right now!"

"YEAHHH!" the villagers cheered, but twenty seconds later, they were again shocked into silence when they heard Luffy playing the piano really well and when he started to sing too in a completely different voice, their jaws dropped to the floor.

Luffy stopped playing when he realized he was the only one singing and stared back at all the questioning looks from the others. "My rubber fruit. I learned how to modify my vocal cords to change my voice"

"Luffy!" Makino yelled in a berating tone, "Vocal cords are sensitive organs! You can't just modify them like that! What if you tear them?!"

"Shishishi you're like the third woman to tell me that," Luffy laughed before reassuring her, "It's okay. I've been doing it for quite a while now and nothing has happened"

"Luffy…" Makino sighed, "You're still as reckless as ever…"

"Yep!" Luffy said before looking at everyone, "I can change voices to anyone I want. See?" he said and changed his voice to Makino, "Why isn't anyone having fun? I specifically requested it," then changed it to Garp's, "YOU CAN ASK QUESTIONS LATER! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

Hearing Garp's voice made the bandits jump in shock and fear but hearing the voice coming out of Luffy was just too amusing and they started to laugh, and so did the others.

"PARTY NOW! BWAHAHAHA!" Luffy continued in Garp's voice breaking all the tension and ice, and finally, the party began.

———

Luffy had changed. That was the conclusion anyone who spent five minutes with him came to. He could sing well, play the guitar and piano well, dance with a partner well, could articulate himself much better, and even use big words while talking which seemed like he had gotten an education.

Makino was shocked the first time she heard his new voice-changing abilities and even seen him dance with a partner gracefully. He teased people a lot more now too and would even lightly flirt with some girls, which had her fuming. 'What kind of people did he spend the last two years with to change him this much?! And they've corrupted him too!'

But he had also matured. A lot. He was still the goofy boy she knew who could brighten up anyone's day with his smile and boyish charm but he seemed much more… she couldn't find the right word, but 'experienced' seemed fit to describe him. He seemed to be much more experienced in life.

Most of the changes were good (except for the flirting part), but there was one change which concerned her. And that was that he had gotten much better at lying and deflecting questions. He still did seem to be a bit bad at lying, but deflecting questions? He did it effortlessly. Any time anyone asked where he was for the last two years, he just laughed saying he got lost while fishing and ended up at some port. Then he had apparently slept on a ship and the next thing he knew, he was going towards South Blue. He then wandered around South Blue trying to find a way back and thus, had taken so much time.

'He's lying' was the first thing that came to everyone's mind when they heard his story and when they tried to ask follow-up questions and probe further, he somehow deflected the questions and changed the topic effortlessly. The others let it go thinking he didn't want to tell them, but Makino was saddened by his behaviour.

He had never kept secrets from her and even if he did, it would be something small like him eating a cake she had left out and even then, he would quickly confess if she confronted him. But now, she couldn't get a read on him at all in some cases. She was really saddened by the fact that he kept so many things from her now, but she understood that he was an adult now and didn't want to talk about some things. Just seeing him sitting at the counter while talking animatedly with others while she was behind the counter tending the bar like always was enough for her. Although, she did wish he wasn't so hell-bent on making everyone blush. She was also a victim of that as he kept bringing up how she had said that Shanks was dreamy and seeing Luffy of all people tease her like that only made her more flustered.

It was currently the third night since Luffy had come back and Makino, Woopslap, Dadan, Dogra, Mogra and the other bandits were tagging along with Luffy as he went to the cliff where Sabo's gravestone was erected. He had disappeared for the entire day, no one knowing where he was and he had only shown himself in the evening and asked only those who knew of Sabo and Ace's existence to come along with him as he wanted to tell them something.

They finally reached the cliff and Luffy sat down in front of Sabo's gravestone while holding another stone slab he had picked up from the village's stone mason. He began carving on it while the rest settled around him wondering what he was doing.

"I made another brother while I was away," Luffy said as he carved 'LEO' on the stone slab causing the rest to let out surprised gasps. A brother was a very important bond to Luffy and if he had made another person a brother, then he must have been very important to him.

"He died too?" Makino asked sadness laced in her voice.

"Yeah" Luffy said finishing his carving and showed the name to everyone.

"Leo… Who was he?"

"Hmm well, he was a musician… it's complicated to explain but in some ways, my bond with him runs deeper than Ace or Sabo"

That shocked the others even more than before which only increased as Luffy kept talking.

"He's the one responsible for many of my changes. Playing instruments, reading books ranging from fiction to philosophy, understanding how this world works, cooking, being able to articulate myself better, using big words like articulate, flirting, a ton of stories… all these things, I got from him. We kinda met when we were both dying, he sacrificed his life for me in a way and gave me a second chance at life…"

He then looked at everyone, "Nobody in this world knows who he is, so just wanted to let you all know…"

There was a brief silence before Dadan finally broke the silence, "Luffy…what exactly happened to you?"

"Yes Luffy, you keep deflecting whenever anyone asks, and your story of what happened to you is made up" Woopslap also pressured him.

Luffy didn't want to tell them about his slavery as they were sure to get sad and feel sorry for him. But he also saw that his lying was hurting his relationships with them, so finally decided to tell them about it.

"…Got enslaved for a few months" he said and the rest breathed out loud nodding slowly, already seeming to have realized it.

"…yeah, we had assumed the same…" Woopslap sighed rubbing his face while Makino started tearing up. When he had disappeared, they had speculated a lot about what could have happened to him and him getting caught by slavers was a very real possibility. And seeing Luffy dodging all their questions up until then made them sure that their speculation was right.

"Do you have any sort of brand?" Mogra asked.

"Yeah" Luffy said as he began removing his shirt. Everyone froze when they saw the long burn slash on his back and only a few realized what it was supposed to be.

"Oh no…" Makino breathed tearing up more realizing he was caught by the worst kind of slavers.

"Is…Is that the hoof?" Mogra asked unsure as he and the others studied the brand.

"Yes…" Woopslap sighed rubbing his eyes, "Were you in Mariejois?"

"Yeah"

"Th-This is…horrible"

"I was only enslaved for six months guys…" Luffy said hugging Makino and comforting her, "After that, I got thrown out, met Leo, got rescued by a princess, got a ride to South Blue, spent a few months training on an island, got on a cargo ship to here, had a small little adventure after getting lost in the Calm Belt, and now I'm here. Alive, safe and happy…"

When it looked like they still weren't convinced, he continued, "I went on an amazing adventure after I got free, met a bunch of new and amazing people, realized a lot of things and my goals for the future also changed a bit…I know so much now and it was all because I got caught and almost died. The positives that came out of this far outweigh the negatives, so believe me when I say this - I'm happy that I got caught" 'Not to mention, I now have a chance at saving Ace' he added quietly in his mind.

Everyone could see that he really was telling the truth and that he was completely okay. They nodded in acknowledgment with a little smile, but their moods were still down imagining the horrors he must have faced.

"You met a princess, huh?" Mogra asked grinning as he tried to bring the mood up.

Luffy matched his grin and nodded, "She's really cool and she's gonna join my crew in the future too"

"Woah! A princess is gonna turn pirate?"

"Shishishi yep! She's a bit of a pervert though. She asked me to lick her feet the second time we ta-"

"Luffy!" Makino grabbed him in alarm, "What the hell did she do to you?!"

The others were also gobsmacked and had their jaws on the ground while Luffy just laughed.

"…is she hot?" one of the bandits hesitantly asked getting a glare from Makino and Dadan.

"Yep, Rei's insanely hot" Luffy said causing both women to snap their necks at him in shock while the men just grinned perversely.

"Luffy! Is she the reason you've become so…" Makino paused trying to find the right word but wasn't able to.

"Become so much like a playboy?" Dadan offered and Makino nodded agreeing with her.

"Shishishi Leo actually. Well, I guess Rei is also partly responsible. She has this whole sensual vibe, so I couldn't help but tease her a lot… and I guess I found that I like making people get flustered a lot! But mostly, it was Leo's influence. Shishishishi"

"My poor innocent Luffy…" Makino cried comically. "What the hell did that Leo bastard do to you?!"

"I guess you've grown up but still," Dadan sighed shaking her head, "I had never ever imagined you of all people saying stuff like this… You've become a man huh?"

"Guess so"

"Is this what mothers feel like when they see their sons grow up?" she muttered to herself before realizing just what she had said and blushed profusely. She immediately snapped back to her tsundere act, "Not that I think of your stupid face as a son or anything! I just said that in general! I really don't care for you!"

"…Dadan, this kind of thing is cute when people like Rin do it… an adult like you doing a tsundere act is…meh…" Luffy said shaking his head and causing Dadan to scoff at him and do a 'Hmph!'

"Who's Rin now?" Makino asked with a sigh.

"Oh she's this character from Fate/Stay"

"You sure say some weird things now too…" Woopslap sighed shaking his head, "Songs we've never heard before, randomly bring up characters from books and movies and all… you sure have been through a lot…"

"Shishishi yeah well, enough about that. There are two more things I've wanted to say to you all," he said after he dispelled the depressive mood. "I'll be starting my journey earlier…"

"Really?" Makino asked confused, "When? and why?"

"I'll be leaving tomorrow"

"WHAT?!"

"YOU HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN HERE FOR THREE DAYS, BRAT!" Dadan yelled. "AND YOU'RE ALREADY LEAVING?!"

Luffy looked at them all guiltily but he had made up his mind. "Sorry, but I need to… People might be in trouble and I need to go help them"

"There's just over 5 weeks left though," Woopslap said, "Can't you wait that long?"

"There are many people, my friends, who are suffering out there… Spending even a week doing nothing and staying here partying makes me feel like I'm wasting too much time… I just can't. I need to go"

Everyone became silent again as they saw the look of determination in his eyes and slowly came to terms with it realizing he wouldn't change his mind.

"I'm coming with" Makino suddenly said sending Luffy's mind for a spin.

"What?!"

"I'm not joining your crew…" Makino clarified, "You and I both know that I'm not fit for life on the seas…"

Luffy nodded agreeing with her, "Then why?"

"Just…I want to spend some more time with you… Since you should've been here for another month, I'll accompany you for that long. Just one month and I'll come back here"

Luffy saw the desperation in her face and knew she wasn't telling him something. He didn't know what but agreed nonetheless. "Okay"

"Are you sure, Makino?" Woopslap asked, "It's dangerous out there"

"Yes, I'll be fine. It's just a month"

"Don't worry, I'll keep her safe" Luffy reassured, still wondering why Makino wanted to come with him.

There was a brief silence again which Luffy broke getting up, "Well, one last thing I wanted to tell you…"

He first picked up the gravestone he made for Leo and staked it on a mound so that it could overlook the sea from the cliff. He knew Leo's preference of where his grave should be and this was the perfect spot for him.

"I don't know you," Makino said resting a hand on his gravestone, "But thank you for saving Luffy. I'm eternally grateful" 'Though I will disembowel you for corrupting my innocent Luffy!' she vowed silently in her mind becoming the second person after Reiju to vow that they would hurt Leo in the afterlife if she could ever get a chance.

The others said similar words too and Luffy smiled happily.

"Okay, and now," he grinned and pulled Sabo's gravestone out of the ground much to everyone's shock and their shock increased even further when Luffy broke the stone into two and threw it into the sea. He then turned to face them and grinned wider, "Sabo's alive"

There was only a beat of silence before the shout reverberated.

"EHHHHHHHH?!"

———

Luffy woke up early the next morning after having partied the night away in Sabo's name in the bandit hideout and then went to the lonely house he had in the village. Garp used it the rare times that he came to the village and it was his house too. He seldom stayed in it but he had felt like visiting it on his last day there.

He quickly took a shower and stood in front of a mirror studying himself. He had bulked up a bit compared to two years ago but was still lean enough that people would think he didn't have many muscles. He still had a ton of scars that were a result of his training which were slowly fading and the brand slash on his back was a permanent fixture. He wore his iconic red vest, blue pants and added a simple full-sleeved trench coat over it to complete his ensemble.

He had three bags to take on his journey. One small sling bag that went across his chest contained the chest with the eternal log poses, the transponder snail, the recorder, and lastly the shock staff. Two more bags contained a few clothes along with something he had spent the whole of the previous day collecting.

He stood in front of the mirror studying himself as he picked up his hat and slowly put it on his head with a grin. "I'm ready. Shishishishi"

He hung the sling bag across his chest, grabbed the two bags and walked out of his house towards the shore and saw that the whole village was waiting for him there. He walked through the crowd high-fiving and fist-bumping them as he made his way to his dinghy.

He saw Dadan at the end and jumped to hug her even though she was acting reluctant, but when he didn't let go, she eventually put her arms around him and hugged him tight. "Be safe, brat… And make sure to tell that idiot Sabo to come visit us" she whispered and Luffy nodded letting her go. He next hugged Dogra, Mogra and fist-bumped the other bandits.

"I don't like mountain bandits…" he said looking at all of them and then with a cheeky smile added "But I like you guys!" which opened up the waterworks on Dadan and the others as they bawled their eyes out, which in turn caused some of the other villagers to cry too.

He next shook hands with Mayor Woopslap and cheekily said "I'll make this village famous as the place where the Pirate King was from!" knowing that it would irritate him. Irritate him it did and he started lecturing about how it still wasn't too late for him to give up and just stay in the village. Luffy just chuckled and moved on.

The last person was Makino who was standing right in front of his dinghy next to a barrel full of apples while holding a bag. They stared at each other for a second before smiling and getting into the dinghy. He first helped Makino in and then put the barrel of apples and his two bags into the dinghy getting a curious look from her.

"What's in there?"

"Money" Luffy grinned and Makino curiously opened up the bag only to reel in shock at the sheer amount. "Luffy, how much is in here?!"

"Around 200 million berries" he answered nonchalantly.

"…Wh-where did you get this much?!"

"You know how I disappeared the whole of yesterday? I was in Goa Kingdom stealing this much money"

He had pretty much spent the entire day going from house to house in the Goa Kingdom and stealing a bit of money from each place. He didn't steal an outrageous amount and only small amounts like 5 to 10 million in each filthy rich house or shop so that they wouldn't even notice it missing. He didn't even break into any safes or anything and just picked up money that they had left lying around, so he stole from houses and shops that didn't really care if that much went missing. And it was so easy stealing everything as he used Soru and airwalk to go in and out of everywhere without anyone noticing.

Makino gaped at him before asking "Why?"

"Need it for something" he deflected the question getting a peeved sad look from Makino, but he quickly got in the dinghy too and pushed off the shore while the villagers waved their goodbyes.

Not even a few seconds into his journey, the sea king that had taken Shanks' arm, the Lord of the Coast showed up growling at him. Most of the villagers gasped in surprise and screamed at Luffy to come back but Luffy just smiled at it and greeted it "Yo! It's been a really long time!"

The Lord of the Coast just looked at him while licking its lips like he was a tasty treat and lunged at him. Luffy pulled his arm back with a grin and launched it at the sea king yelling "Gum Gum Pistol!"

His arm stretched and a punch landed straight on the sea king's snout, which shoved it backwards, broke off a couple of its teeth and also caused it to lose consciousness. It remained afloat for a few seconds before slowly sinking into the sea while Luffy and Makino exchanged smiles thinking the same thing - He had come a long way since the day it had almost killed him.

'Hey guys,' he looked into the sky thinking about his crew and friends, 'I'm coming soon, so hang in there for just a little more!'

"I'M GOING TO BECOME THE KING OF THE PIRATES!" Luffy loudly announced to the world and set out on his long, long journey that changed the course of history.