The end was abrupt and came out of nowhere. Luffy was sitting on the bow of the small boat while Makino, Zoro, and Nami were relaxing, looking forward the the next adventure, when he suddenly sensed an overwhelming bloodlust coming right at him.
He instantly stood up, removed his handcuffs, wrapped one arm around the other three, and jumped up and back out of the boat. They didn't even have time to process what was happening when the boat they were in suddenly became ground zero for a magma-shaped fist. The vapour created from the contact between magma and sea created a small blast that blew up what remained of the boat, and Luffy kept jumping in the air as he observed where the attack had come from.
"Wh-what's happening?" Nami whimpered while Zoro took his swords out recognizing that they were under attack.
"Akainu" Luffy growled recognizing the magma attack as his work, but he couldn't see him anywhere. His Observation was going crazy as he sensed not one, but a mass of powerful auras all around him.
"Luffy, what's happening?" Makino asked scared.
"I don't know… Calm down"
"Is your arm…stretching?!" Nami asked shocked.
"Yes, I ate a devil fruit that turned my body into rubber. Now, we have bigger things to worry about. I don't know what's happening, but one of the most dangerous people in the world is somewhere around us and is trying to kill us."
Seeing the always smiling and carefree Luffy being extremely serious as his eyes studied his surroundings vigilantly told them everything they needed to know that they were in a life or death situation.
'Why the hell is he here?!' Luffy overworked his brain. 'The call with Sen? Did he overhear us?…Still doesn't explain why he would personally come to attack me. And what's with this mass of powerful auras I'm feeling all around me?!'
Luffy thought that the situation was dire, but he severely underestimated just how dire it was. The scenery they were seeing was of an open sea with absolutely nothing to see for miles, but the space all around them suddenly distorted for a second before it completely changed. And what he saw made Luffy's heart sink.
Massive Marine Battleships surrounded them from all sides and there were at least a hundred of them, all armed with at least two hundred men each, and cannons pointed right at them. On one of the closest ships, Luffy finally spotted Akainu standing menacingly on deck, but he wasn't alone. Aokiji and Kizaru were both standing next to him, while Sengoku, Garp and even Kong stood behind the three Admirals. Luffy airwalked in the air observing each of them and they all had neutral to hardened looks of determination on their faces, including Garp.
As if that wasn't enough, to his right, he saw all Seven Warlords of the Sea - Mihawk, Hancock, Moria, Doflamingo, Jinbe, Crocodile and Kuma all standing on a single ship staring right at him.
"Heeh I guess you saw the attack coming even when I created an oasis…" Kizaru drawled and Luffy realized that he had somehow manipulated the light around them changing the scenery, so that they wouldn't see the battleships. 'He could do that?!'
"Wh-what's happening?" Nami whimpered, truly terrified while Zoro caught sight of Mihawk and was staring at him. Makino was looking at Garp questioningly but he had a stone-cold expression on his face.
Luffy was too overwhelmed to even talk by the sudden and unexpected ambush. He calmly landed on a piece of wood that had broken off their boat, observing the entire fleet before facing the ship with Sengoku. 'Is this really happening? Or am I dreaming?' The situation was just too absurd for him to wrap his mind around and he hadn't the faintest idea of why this was happening. Only a war with a Yonko would warrant such a line-up of people.
"Monkey D. Luffy!" Sengoku yelled getting everyone's attention, "You are charged with Piracy and are sentenced to immediate execution! That is all!"
"What the fuck are you on about, Sen?! Even if I was, what's with this gathering of people and hundreds of battleships?!"
"I would like to know that myself," Hawkeye spoke up, "Are you telling me that all seven of us were gathered, along with the Admirals and even the Commander-in-chief Kong himself, for eliminating…" he looked at Luffy's group, "These four?"
"HAHAHAHA Are you that afraid of them?" Doflamingo laughed standing above everyone on the crow's nest, "All I see are four… nothings actually. They look like simple civilians more than anything"
"Shut up!" Kong ordered. "We ordered you to show up and you show up, no questions asked. The order to execute Monkey D. Luffy came directly from The Gorosei themselves. They also ordered the entire fleet along with the Admirals and the Seven Warlords to be dispatched for this execution. Don't question the Gods of this world."
'What the hell is going on?!' Luffy screamed inside his head as he tried to think of why this was happening. Even if he punched a Celestial Dragon, they would send one or two Admirals…but this was way overboard.
"BOY!" Doflamingo yelled at Luffy, "What did you do for such an extreme reaction from the World Government?"
"I have no idea, Mingo!" Luffy yelled back.
"Luffy!" Garp suddenly interrupted, "Give Makino here! She shouldn't be involved in this!"
Luffy looked at his grandpa trying to figure out what he was thinking, but just saw the face of a cold old man. He finally stopped thinking about why this was happening and concentrated on what he should do now. Getting Makino, Zoro and Nami to safety was his first priority, so he nodded before looking at Makino, but she immediately shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere!"
"I don't know what's happening, Makino. This isn't some normal situa-"
"I said no!" Makino snapped before looking at Garp, "Garp! What the hell is happening?!"
"Oho? What's this?" Moria spoke up surprised, "Looks like these people know our beloved Marine Hero?"
"Didn't you realize it yet?" Mihawk said, "His name is Monkey D. Luffy. Garp's full name is Monkey D. Garp"
"He's his grandson?" Jinbe said surprised.
"HAHAHAHA Garp's own grandson is being hunted like this?!" Doflamingo laughed. "Well, this is certainly interesting!"
"ENOUGH!" Kong yelled putting a stop to everything. "Garp! I respect you, so I held off until you got this Makino woman to safety, but she's choosing to stick with the pirate. She has to die too!"
"No wait!" Garp jumped off the ship and headed towards Luffy's group. He jumped in the air in front of Luffy as the the two studied the other, both with neutral looks that gave nothing away.
"Makino, come" Garp said holding his hand out and before Makino could protest, Luffy lightly hit her to knock her out and she fell limp in his hands. He airwalked up to Garp and handed Makino over while trying to see if his gramps was sending some sort of secret message, but got nothing.
"These two too." Luffy said pointing back, "They have nothing to do with me"
Garp looked behind Luffy and saw the determined expression of Zoro and the scared and confused look on Nami. "Who are they?"
"That's Zoro. He's a famous bounty hunter. And that's Nami. A navigator I hired temporarily. They didn't know I was a pirate and have nothing to do with me"
Garp scoffed, "You expect me to believe that you didn't tell someone you met that you were a pirate? You can't shut up about it"
"I haven't set out yet. My birthday is still a couple of weeks away, remember? So I'm not a pirate until then"
Garp shook his head, "You're not Luffy… Senny told me what you told him on the call and the Luffy that I knew couldn't have said things like that. And now I see you lying without batting an eye. You're definitely not Luffy…"
Luffy stared at him for a second, still holding out hope that he was bluffing but seeing the cold look on his face, he knew Garp was being serious. His face hardened even more. "I'm not lying. Take them away, they have nothing to do with me"
"He is lying," Zoro yelled causing Luffy to snap his neck at him and desperately pleaded with his eyes telling him to keep quite. Makino had Garp to look after her at least, so he knocked her out, but he didn't want to knock Zoro or Nami out as it would definitely look suspicious and who knew what they would do to them once they regained consciousness.
Zoro stared into Luffy's pleading eyes and shook his head before declaring loudly, "I'm Roronoa Zoro, and Monkey D. Luffy is my Captain!" He then looked towards Mihawk and pointed his sword at him, "And you, Mihawk, are my goal! I will beat you and become the World's Greatest Swordsman!"
"Hoh? Is that so?" Mihawk said with a glint in his eyes.
"Kid's sure got guts. He's saying that even in a situation like this" Jinbe nodded approvingly.
Luffy on the other hand was feeling a mixture of pride and despair, something he never knew one could feel at the same time.
Garp then looked at Nami who shivered under the attention. "And what about you? Who are you?"
"I-I-I'm his navigator…" Nami mumbled softly. She had no idea who most of the people there were, but seeing hundred of ships, seeing people who looked like monsters, seeing people flying in the air… she was terrified out of her mind and the only person she felt safe near was Luffy. So, she chose him.
"Well, there you have it" Garp said turning his back to Luffy without another glance and jumped away back to the ship, while Luffy landed next to his two crewmates. Nami held onto his back shivering while Zoro looked around with all three swords out.
"That was foolish guys. You don't realize it but these are some of the strongest people in the world who can destroy an entire island within seconds if wanted"
"What's done is done," Zoro said calmly, "How do we get out of this? There's no way we can survive this with just the three of us"
"Right. We need allies," Luffy said as he observed everyone present. He couldn't get out of this with just fighting and no one there could plan a way out either. He had use his head to get out and he overworked his brain thinking of ways that could work.
They didn't have anymore time to talk or think as Kong declared loudly, "OKAY, NOW THAT THAT'S DONE! ALL SHIPS! FIRE!"
Luffy instantly turned to the Seven Warlords and roared, "I KNOW WHO SITS ON THE EMPTY THRONE!"
At the same time, the multiple warships fired their cannons at them. Luffy held both Zoro and Nami close to him, shielding them with his body as all three heard the unmistakable sounds of hundreds of cannon balls flying right at them, followed by loud deafening explosions… but they didn't feel anything hit them.
Luffy grinned seeing pink strings encasing them in a cocoon as explosions continued on the outside.
"What's happening?" Zoro asked confused at suddenly finding themselves trapped.
"Listen guys, Devil fruits are real and there are a ton of strange powers out there. So you'll see a lot more weirdness if we are to survive this. Don't question things and just go along with it."
"Right right, of course," Nami said before smacking him on the head, "What the hell did you do?! Why are so many people coming after you?!"
"Shishishi I honestly have no idea. But this is fun huh?"
"Luffy," Zoro smirked, "I knew you were fearless… but this is too much even for you…" he then put Wado in his mouth, "And that's how I know I did the right thing choosing to stay by your side"
Luffy nodded feeling a sense of pride swell up in him.
Nami sighed deeply as she brought out her shock staff, "Suicidal bastards, both of you!…But I guess since I chose to stay with you, I'm also the same… If we survive this Luffy, you'll have to pay me 5 billion for scaring me so much"
"Shishi of course!" He could see that the string cocoon started unwinding, "Thanks guys. Let's survive no matter what happens"
"Yeah!" / "Yeah!"
The cocoon soon opened up all the way revealing Doflamingo flying above them, and to Luffy's surprise, even Mihawk was standing on a piece of driftwood next to them with Crocodile standing on the other side. There was smoke covering them, so they had a little time to talk.
"Boy!" Doflamingo looked down at him, "Did I hear you right?"
"Yep! Help me and my friends get out of here, and I'll tell you who it is. No arguments, no negotiations."
"And what's stopping me from getting that information right here right now?"
"You can try," Luffy grinned, "But I have absolutely nothing to lose here. And I won't open my mouth if I don't want to"
"I can hold your friends hostage," he said as he moved his fingers and Zoro suddenly started moving against his will.
"What the hell?!" Zoro muttered shocked.
"Stop that" Hawkeyes said and with a single slash, cut all the strings controlling Zoro. He then stared up at Doflamingo, "If what the boy said is true, then I have an interest to learn of it too. I propose we rescue them and take them to a neural location where all three hear what he has to say and then go our separate ways. Do we have an accord?"
"No arguments from me," Crocodile spoke up for the first time and Luffy waved at him with a grin.
"Heh," Doflamingo smirked, "You're really scary. And I really don't want to fight you here. So yes, we have an accord"
"Shishi great then!" Luffy let out a massive sigh of relief. He was hoping Doflamingo would help him if he revealed that, but having Hawkeye on his side was more than reassuring.
"DOFLAMIGO! MIHAWK! CROCODILE! WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Kong roared loudly when the smoke cleared and it revealed the three Strawhats completely safe.
"AHAHAHAH I know you heard what the boy said! That should be enough explanation to explain why I'm protecting him!"
"He's obviously lying!"
"This is the only thing that makes sense," Hawkeye replied calmly.
"Yeah, you're scared of him and he isn't even that strong…" Crocodile said as he pointed at Luffy with his hook, "So, only logical conclusions is that he knows something he shouldn't"
"He's lying!" Kong reiterated, "There is no one who sits on the Empty Thr-"
"Name ends with the letter M!" Luffy yelled grinning wide.
"KILL HIM! NOW!" Kong roared his veins bulging, and that was enough confirmation for the three Warlords to know that there was some truth to Luffy's words.
Before anyone could even move though, a beautiful and mesmerizing voice sang loudly, "MERO MERO MELLOW~"
Luffy grinned wider when he saw Hancock in all her beautiful glory releasing her beam at the ship with Kong and the others. All the Vice Admirals and pretty much everyone else on the ship other than Garp who was holding Makino, Sengoku, Akainu, Aokiji and Kizaru got petrified. Considering how that was the biggest and main battleship, it was a blow to the World Government, but the major players weren't that easy to take out.
"Hancock?!" Kong growled in shock, "What the hell are you doing?!"
"Silence!" Hancock ordered, "Suffer the consequences for hurting my-" she turned towards Luffy and blushed while cupping her cheeks- "My Beloved! LUFFY~ I'm here!"
"H-Hey Hancock!" Luffy waved at her, resulting in her squealing while singing his praises. Kong's veins bulged as he looked at the grinning face of Luffy, "He's turned four Warlord against us within seconds… He really is a dangerous individual. EVERYONE ATTACK!" he roared before attacking Hancock and she started retaliating.
Doflamingo landed right next to Luffy and incredulously asked, "The World's Most Beautiful Woman is in love with you?"
"Umm… we were friends the last time I saw her…"
"You befriended her?" Mihawk asked also incredulous coming up next to him.
"Yeah"
Doflamingo stared at him for a couple of seconds more before nodding, "You're much more interesting that what it seemed like at first. Who are you?"
"Monkey D. Luffy, Future Pirate King"
"Pirate King eh?" Doflamingo grinned as he flew up just as Kizaru came at them and intercepted his attack. "I'll make sure to extract all your secrets!"
Hawkeyes intercepted Akainu, while Crocodile intercepted Aokiji.
"Stand down, Hawkeyes!" Akainu growled, "Do you want your Warlord title to be revoked?!"
"If what the boy said was true, nothing matters anymore. All twenty of the Original Kingdoms will demand an answer from you whether someone occupies the Empty Throne. And some of them will rebel once they learn the truth. You'll have your hands full to even worry about me"
Akainu growled as he jumped back and started launching magma fists at him, but Mihawk swung his swords gracefully cutting down any magma that came near him.
"Beautiful," Zoro muttered watching him in action. And feeling just the force of the impact of all the attacks, he realized that he was nowhere near strong enough for him.
"Guys, we need to go!" Luffy yelled wrapping an arm around both Nami and Zoro before he started airwalking just as Sengoku came flying at him.
"You brat! You're much more troublesome than I thought!" Sengoku growled as he chased him.
"Shishi you get a desk guy yet, Sen?" Luffy laughed as he concentrated all his willpower to keep his legs moving as fast as they could. He had long since entered Gear 2 and was focusing every part of his body to move according to his whims. But it was nowhere near fast enough as Sengoku soon caught up to him. Luffy sucked in air and blew up like a balloon just as Sengoku's fist hit him, and he got flung backwards far away like a ball.
"Thanks for the assist!" Luffy grinned before blowing out the air he had sucked in, further propelling himself faster while also controlling the direction in which he flew. Sengoku's veins bulged as he chased after him, while Luffy flew to the ship where the remaining Warlords were. Jinbe, Kuma and Moria were still there, and Luffy landed on deck under the watchful eyes of the three warlords.
"Kishishishi you sure have guts! Coming right to your enemies?" Moria laughed.
"Yep! Not interested in knowing about the Empty Throne?"
"If there is someone who truly sits on the Empty Throne, the world will be thrown into chaos…" Jinbe said as he stared at Luffy.
"Yeah, any chance you'll turn your back against the World Government?"
"I apologize," Jinbe said as he got into a fighting stance, "But I do have my promises to keep and I don't know you well enough to trust your words"
"Guess so," Luffy sighed as he got into attack position too. Before the two could start fighting though, dozens of shadows pounced on Luffy, burying him in mass of darkness.
"Luffy!" Zoro and Nami yelled worriedly, not at all understanding what was happening and now shadows were suddenly popping up. They tried to get near him, but a shadow each stopped them in their tracks and they had no choice but to fight them.
"Kishishishi! Now now, this should be easy enough."
Nami didn't last long as her shock staff didn't work on the shadows and soon, got pinned down. Zoro held on for a couple of minutes, but no matter how much he cut the shadow, it didn't fall, and thus, he too was pinned down within no time.
Sengoku landed just then and saw all three dispatched on the deck and sighed in relief.
"That was way too easy," Moria laughed but he soon choked on his laughter when he saw Luffy literally munching on the shadows.
There were three reasons Luffy had chosen to go to the ship with the Warlords - One was to turn Jinbe to his side, which failed. Second was to consume shadows and become Nightmare Luffy, which was working. And lastly, he wanted Kuma to use his paw-paw powers to send them somewhere far away. For that, he needed some privacy with Kuma, so decided to clear the area.
He kept absorbing the shadows into him- some he ate, some he just pushed inside himself and his skin grew blue, he got buffer and and his smile widened as he stared at the shocked reactions of Moria and Sengoku.
"I-Impossible!" Moria mumbled shocked, "You shouldn't be able to absorb so many!"
"Is this all you have, Moria?" Luffy taunted, "You're way too weak then"
"How dare you?!" Moria yelled falling for his taunt, "Let's see how many you can take then!"
Dozens of shadows got released as he challenged Luffy and Luffy smiled feeling himself grow stronger as he consumed more and more shadows.
"Idiot!" Sengoku cursed realizing what Luffy was doing, but it was too late and before he could stop Moria, Luffy punched his face in, flinging him back and he crashed into the next ship drilling a hole into it.
Luffy knew he didn't have much time in his Nightmare form and he would also be too tired after the transformation ended, so he went to attack Moria next. He didn't attack him directly as he banged his fist on the deck of the ship and it cracked making Moria lose his footing and fall into the below deck while cursing Luffy.
Luffy didn't waste a millisecond as he lunged at Jinbe next. The two's fists met, creating a massive shockwave, and the next instant, Luffy forced the shoulder muscles in his arm to contract, forcibly activating a tiny bit of Gear Fourth on just his arm. The muscles at his shoulders contracted and he released the built up energy, and Jinbe suddenly felt a second punch land on his fist out of nowhere. The surprise attack did make him falter as he got launched backwards and fell into the sea.
He had successfully cleared the area for just a few precious seconds by sending Sengoku, Moria and Jinbe away. Luffy instantly grabbed a shocked Nami and Zoro, who couldn't wrap their heads around everything that was happening, and ran to Kuma. He was standing still the entire fight, just observing him, and Luffy hoped his plan would work.
"Please blast us out of here!" Luffy pleaded, "I know you were a Revolutionary once with my dad, Dragon! Please, at least send these two away!"
"You're Dragon's son?" Kuma asked surprised.
"Yes! Please, I beg of you!" When it looked like he wasn't listening, he pushed Zoro and Nami forward, "Please! Just these two! Send these two away!"
"I'm sorry, but no. I have people I have to protect too and helping you here while I know nothing about you is illogical," Kuma said in a machine-like voice, and Luffy's only hope of getting them out of there ended. Moria jumped back up onto the deck just then and Jinbe also swam back and landed on deck followed by Sengoku. Luffy's transformation ended too and he flew in the air for a bit as all shadows poured out of him and lande back on deck a few feet away from where Zoro and Nami were, before he fell to his knees panting hard, and tired beyond belief.
Another body was thrown right next to him and Luffy saw a bloody and beaten up Hancock barely holding onto her consciousness. A bloody Doflamingo, followed by a half-frozen Crocodile was thrown onto the deck next, and Kong, Kizaru and Aokiji all landed, victorious in their respective fights.
"L-Luffy…" Hancock mumbled as she reached out for him and he slowly forced his hand to move and managed to grab her hand. He pulled her closer to him while he himself sat down with his legs crossed and placed her head onto his lap.
"Kizaru is no joke…Damn, I wanted to know the secret," Doflamingo panted, "… Sorry kid, I thought I could make you join my family after taking you away from here, but guess it's not possible now"
"In your dreams, Mingo… Though, it would have been nice to meet Senor Pink at least…"
"You know him?" he asked turning to face him in surprise.
"Kinda yeah. Know about his relationship with Russian and why he dresses up like a baby. He's one hard boiled man!"
"Heh…Ahahaha! He sure is!"
Mihawk landed on deck next, but he wasn't hurt in any significant way. "Sorry, but you've lost. I cannot defeat everyone here alone and take you all out of here"
"It's okay…"
Akainu landed on deck next, with one of his arms cut off as magma created another one slowly, and he glared at Mihawk before turning to Luffy. "Let's just get this over with!"
"Are we killing the Warlords too?" Aokiji asked.
"Four of them? Hell no!" Kong growled as he stared into each of their eyes in warning, "But this is a warning. Don't cross us again"
"Heard you loud and clear" Crocodile sighed in humiliation.
"Luffy!" Nami cried as she tried to crawl to him, but Jinbe held her back while Zoro was trying to slash his way to him, but Hawkeye got next to him and pinned one of his arms down with his sword.
"Hawky," Luffy said getting his attention, "The guy you're pinning down is going to become your successor. So please, take at least him away from here. No one will chase after you to get him"
Mihawk stared at the struggling Zoro under him and saw him try to cut his own arm off so that he could be free. He nodded at Luffy and kicked Zoro's head hard, knocking him out. The last thing Zoro saw was his captain's smiling face as he lost consciousness.
Luffy then turned to Jinbe. "Arlong…" he said and both Jinbe and Nami's eyes widened, "You let him go all those years ago and he has made an island in East Blue his base. He's become just like the Celestial Dragons, demanding tribute from the people on the island, killing them if they don't up… He killed her mother right in front of her eyes and then forced her to work for him. He's branded her on her shoulder and her life has been a hell since then. You owe it to her to get her out of her and save her…"
Nami was in disbelief, "L-Luffy? How do you know that?"
Jinbe trembled as he held Nami back, realizing that his actions had led to her torment, and he nodded at Luffy. He knocked her out too and the last thing Nami saw was her captain waving goodbye to her with a bright smile on his face.
"Why are we letting him talk?!" Akainu suddenly said and that brought everyone back to their senses and they had no idea why they were letting him talk either.
"That's right! Kill him now!" Kong ordered and Sengoku moved forward to do the deed.
"Shouldn't we capture him so that we can learn why he thinks there's someone who sits on the Empty Throne?" Akainu asked.
"No, the orders were clear. Kill him on sight"
"Well okay then" Akainu nodded and Sengoku moved ahead.
Luffy stared down at Hancock who was looking up lovingly at him. "I know you love me, and I'm sorry I couldn't reciprocate or get the time to know you better." He kissed her forehead as she smiled at him with tears in her eyes, before he raised his head just in time to see Sengoku thrusting a sword at his head.
"It's been a short but fun run" He grinned wide as he felt the sword impale his brain and his eyes slowly closed… And thus ended the tale of Monkey D. Luffy, who died for a second time in this world, only this time, he didn't come back.
—o—The End—o—
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"AF means APRIL FOOLS! This was uploaded on the 1st of April as a joke. 😂"
-author
Haha! This was a prank chapter written by the author for April 1st. Although today isn't April 1, this chapter was too fun to ignore, so I decided to upload it anyway. Hehe! 😁
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