********
Luffy finally had some alone time. When he was in the pit waiting for Reiju to show up for 6 long agonizing hours, he had kept his mind blank so that he could save every ounce of his energy, so he hadn't thought of anything. This was the first time he got some time to actually think. He leaned back against the desk, crossed his arms and started going through everything.
The first thing was what had happened when he had come back to life. After he had lost consciousness in the Soul plane, he had found himself in a blank space again, but this time it felt more familiar. Like he was in his own body instead of the almost weightless feeling he had felt when he was in the Soul plane. He didn't have time to ponder where he was because he spotted a whitish spiral cloud moving away from him. He didn't know why but he felt that it shouldn't be separated from him, and so had instinctively reached out and grabbed it before it could move any further away from him and the white cloud actually seemed to jump in surprise.
The cloud had then coiled around his arm like a snake and one tail end of it actually came right up to his face as if studying him carefully. He didn't know what the hell was happening but the whitish cloud seemed familiar…as if it was a friend he had had his whole life. The whitish cloud studying his face actually seemed to be swaying in happiness before it coiled around his chest and he soon found himself opening his eyes and saw the death pit.
He had put off thinking about what the hell that was but now that he had time, that was the first thing he wanted to process and tried feeling for the white cloud again. He already had a theory as to what it was. The familiar feeling from the white cloud was what he felt when he had first eaten his devil fruit and had been with him ever since. Yes, it was probably his devil fruit essence. It was unbinding itself from his soul as he had died and was leaving him but when he came back to life and inhabited his own body again, he had yanked it back to himself just in time, and the essence had binded itself back to him again. 'Phew! Almost lost my devil fruit huh?'
He tried to feel for that again or go back to whatever that blank space was (probably my mindscape Luffy concluded), but he couldn't. So he gave up on figuring it out for now.
Then his thoughts wandered to his devil fruit itself. It wasn't just a Paramecia type Gum-Gum fruit but also a Mythical Zoan fruit?! And that too the Sun God Nika?! 'What the hell?!' It felt like everything he knew about his fruit was false. And who the hell was Nika anyway?
Sengoku had the Mythical Zoan: Model Buddha, which gave him the powers of Buddha, who was a historical figure in Leo's world, but Luffy had never heard about Buddha in this life. But then again, he wasn't much of a reader or someone who cared about history that much, so he probably just didn't know. So his fruit was also based on a historical figure? His fruit gave him the powers of a guy called Nika, who was a Warrior of Liberation. Also known as Joyboy? Was that Joyboy? Or was he Joyboy? Was it a title? Was it another name for Nika? Or anyone that ate his fruit is known as Joyboy? SO MANY QUESTIONS!
The power of his fruit was described as the 'Most Ridiculous Power in History' and could do anything the user imagined. He started grinning when he remembered the literally comical way his body had worked when he was in his awakened form in the battle against Kaido and couldn't wait to unlock it himself.
If anything he could imagine could be made reality, he started getting excited thinking of all the ways he could actually use it. He stopped himself as that was still far into the future and he had to awaken his fruit first… But still, it wasn't just a simple fruit huh? It was a Paramecia type fruit but it's awakened form was a Mythical Zoan. Or was it always a Mythical Zoan but the powers actually unlocked when he awakened it? He was sure there was more explanation to what type his fruit actually was in future chapters, but he had to find out on his own here, which he was more than happy for.
Then to take a step back, came his Gears. He actually had a vague idea of inflating his bones and muscles to become a giant in his childhood years but when he had tried it, his body felt like it would pop, so he hadn't achieved it. But he had thought that he could do it once his body got stronger and looks like it actually did work. Gear 2 and 3 were amazing to say the least and Gear 4 with all its variations along with Haki was super powerful.
Then his mind wandered to Haki and it's three forms. 'To think there was something that strong waiting to be unlocked…' He was awed by it and couldn't wait to unlock everything. He had already unlocked Conqueror's while saving Kell and he also realized that Ace had unlocked his during their childhood years when they were fighting against the Bluejam pirates. He also realized why the Fist of Love hurt now. 'Stupid Gramps was using Armament to hit me!'
Then came the techniques the CP9 agents used which had made story Luffy acknowledge that a human body could even be trained to be that strong. The Rokushiki techniques were amazing to say the least and he realized that Gramps used Soru all the time when he was chasing them in the forest. Ace, Sabo and him had even discussed how he seemingly teleported from one place to another. The result of the discussion was of course 'Because Gramps is a monster'
He had also seen his grandpa using Geppou when he was tied up to balloons and got swept too far away by the winds. Gramps would just show up in the sky somehow which had shocked Luffy the first time he had seen it. But again had just chalked it up to his gramps being a monster. He cursed his grandpa for not teaching him and his brothers all this as it would have made them so much stronger.
Luffy stopped himself from going down a rabbit hole of thinking about battle techniques and started thinking about the world itself.
Void century, the Great Kingdom, the Ancient Weapons, the silhouettes in Florian Triangle…and so many more mysteries! And not to forget the Space Pirates on the fucking moon! 'Like what the hell?! There are aliens there right now?! And they are Pirates?! THAT'S SO FUCKING COOL!!'
He didn't really care for history before he died but one of the biggest selling points of the One Piece manga were all the mysteries Oda had sprinkled in throughout the story, and Leo was extremely interested in the deep lore and history of this world. So now, he couldn't help but be interested too. He actually loved that he could understand these things now and could appreciate just how rich and wonderful this world was.
He thought about islands all the way up in the sky to islands all the way deep under the sea and couldn't help but vibrate in excitement. Being from East blue, he had no idea that his world was so wonderful, exciting, dangerous and thrilling. He couldn't wait to actually go to these places and see them in real life as just seeing them on a screen was obviously nowhere near as exciting as it would be in real life. He was peeved that this wouldn't all be a surprise for him though…
Now, his thoughts finally turned to his own personal adventure. Did he want to go through the same adventure as what was shown in the story? Could he actually pick a completely different route on the Grand Line and have an entirely new adventure? The answer was an instant and a 100% no. He couldn't in good conscience leave any single person he knew from the story in trouble. If he did anything like that, it would eat him up from the inside and he would break down eventually.
He imagined a single scenario of him not choosing to go to Whiskey Peak and in turn not go to Alabasta. Vivi would certainly die at Whiskey Peak itself at the hands of Mr.5 and Miss Valentine, and there would soon be a headline of "Hero Crocodile saves the country of Alabasta from its corrupt king". If he actually picked a different path and read something like that in the newspapers, he would surely die of guilt and shame.
'So, I'm gonna be having the same adventure as my story counterpart…' he thought with a sigh but quickly shelved the topic for now. He would think of what to do when he actually was on the journey and see how it played out.
For now, he needed to think of how to get back to Dawn Island, and what he needed to do before that. He was too late in the timeline to actually save anyone in any meaningful way by ridding their tragedies before they could happen. Kuina was already dead, Bellemere was already dead and Cocoyashi was under Arlong's rule, Banchina was dead…and so on. And in the present time, all his crew and friends were physically and relatively safe…but still some of them were in a lot of pain.
His mind started wandering to Nami, to Brook, to Vivi, to Robin, to Yamato, to Conis, to Aisa, to Rebecca, to Shirahoshi, to Momo, to Ace, to Kyros, to Viola…and all their back stories suddenly started playing in his mind all at once…and when his mind reached Otama, Otoko, all the people in Wano starving and suffering because of Kaido and the smile fruits, tears started pouring from his eyes as his heart clenched.
Otama had called him Aniki and saw him as a brother, and she was currently probably all alone and hungry. He remembered the scene of her selling the hats she made with her own hands with a bright happy smile while she starved…and he cried as he couldn't do anything for her currently. He didn't care about many people and didn't see himself as a savior or a hero, but he wanted the people he knew to be well fed and happy.
He didn't know what was happening but all the sad stories started surfacing to the top of his mind and he started banging his head on the ground to make the pain stop.
He took a few deep sighs and tried to calm his nerves down but it wasn't just his emotions that were running wild but Leo's memories were also affecting him. Leo had seen all these scenes as just a fictional story and had felt extremely bad for all the characters, but now that those memories were his and Luffy kinda saw the world from Leo's point of view, he couldn't help but be horrified that all those animated and fictional characters that went through hell were in fact real.
The strongest and strangest emotion Luffy felt was actually his own tragedy. Leo was devastated when Ace had died but he had been much more devastated when he saw story Luffy dealing with Ace's death on Amazon Lily. Leo and Serena both had bawled their eyes out watching story Luffy bang his head and scream his lungs out for Ace after the Marineford war…and Luffy now saw himself crying and experiencing all that as if he was a different person and felt all the emotions Leo felt. And adding to that, now Luffy, through Leo's frame of reference, realized that Luffy was a real person and felt strong emotions towards Luffy, which was he himself. It was an incredibly jumbled and messed up point of view which made absolutely no sense and his mind became even more chaotic.
He started banging his head on the ground harder to make it all stop, and soon he didn't know if he was Luffy or Leo. Was Serena here? Was Ace here? Was this a fictional universe? Was he a comic book character? Was he Leo in an acid trip imagining about being Luffy?! Haha that was so funny! Yosh! I'll go become the Pirate King! No, wait he already did? Was he Luffy dealing with Ace's death? What?! Ace is dead?! Serena is dead too! Is Nami okay?! Is David gonna be fine without me now that I'm dead? Is Otama fed?! Did I give her food?! Wait I'm dead?! Leo's dead not me! I'm Luffy! Is Robin safe?! Brook is not alone anymore right?! I saved them all, didn't I?! No, I haven't even started my journey! I died before I even started my music career! Music career?! What has music got anything to do with saving them?! Because Pirates gotta si-
All his jumbled-up thoughts abruptly stopped, and he felt his mind suddenly clearing. He stopped banging his head as he slowly breathed in and out and felt his body relaxing.
"Ah I was afraid this might happen" Luffy heard White's voice saying in his mind.
'White?' he tried to open his mouth but no voice came out as he focused on breathing.
"This is just a memory I put inside you, so I can't answer you" White's voice giggled making Luffy smile. That actually made him come back to his senses and he just listened to the message White had left. "So, your mind just broke. I had put this message in your head in case this did happen. You have two conflicting memories, which is mostly fine but the problem here is that the memories were carried on from your soul to your physical body. Just imagine that your body has a brain and your soul has a brain. Both are usually in sync as they both learn and form neural networks at the same time since birth, but in this case, your soul brain, which has a ton of new memories from Leo just integrated with your body brain…so things will get chaotic and messed up if you start overworking it. Don't think about anything too emotionally triggering for a couple of days and let your body and soul brains integrate and sync with one another and you'll be fine after that. So this is just temporary, don't worry"
'I see… thanks for this!'
"I'm gonna assume you thanked me just now and so, you're welcome! And if you're actually hearing this message, then it probably means you survived. Congratulations! Have fun with life, Luffy. Toodles~"
And then White's voice was gone. Luffy sighed in relief knowing that this was just temporary and he wouldn't have any long term affects because of this. He was wondering why he was fine in the Soul plane but was having an identity and memories crisis now, but the soul and physical brain syncing issue explained it.
He felt his body was now relaxed, so opened his eyes and saw that the floor had become red with blood. At least he was back to reality now and knew who he was and where he was.
"Damn…" he looked around and thankfully only the spot in front of him was bloody. He touched his forehead and found it was bleeding a lot. He wiped it all off on the bandages on his arm and thought he should clean the blood on the ground up somehow. He looked around for any cloth he could find and he did spot one on the sofa, but he couldn't reach it because he was chained up.
He sighed when he didn't find anything else and just used his legs which was covered in bandages to wipe the floor. It wasn't clean and his bandages only got dirtier but he could just explain it as his wounds opening up if Reiju asked.
He sighed again after he was done and sat down leaning against the desk trying to keep his mind clear. He started humming Uta's songs to keep his mind relaxed and after a while, drifted off to sleep.
———
'Is he sane?' was the first thing Reiju thought when she arrived the next day morning to check up on him and handed him some food, which he began devouring happily. She had seen the whole breakdown the previous night and wondered just what the hell had happened.
It was weird from the beginning itself as he had just leaned against the desk, crossed his arms and closed his eyes as if reminiscing something. He had started grumbling, then giggling, then grumbling again, rubbing his forehead while mumbling 'Stupid gramps', then vibrating with unparalleled excitement before deflating again. 'What the hell is he thinking about?!' was running through her head.
And then the breakdown began. He first started tearing up slightly and wiped them off, but then he started sobbing and then clutching his head in pain before he started banging his head on the ground. He kept mumbling 'Stop! Make it stop!' while he kept banging his head and then even more weird stuff started happening when sometimes giggles and huffs started getting mixed in while he cried saying incomprehensible stuff. She was about to rush out and go to the lab to make him stop from hurting himself anymore but then he had somehow brought himself out of that crazed state himself.
He had breathed in and out slowly coming back to his senses and then finally was himself again. He grimaced at his own head and the blood splattered on the floor, and then like an absolute idiot wiped it all off using the bandages which were wrapped around his limbs. Then he just started humming a song with a small smile before drifting off to sleep.
She honestly didn't know what she expected to catch him doing. The most she had imagined was him trying to free himself or try to contact someone using some unknown means, but she had just found him in turmoil. Probably remembering his torture she concluded logically.
"You good?" Luffy asked as he finished his food and noticed a worried look on her face.
"Yeah yeah" 'I'm not the one who lost it last night idiot'
Luffy noticed that it was actually morning and thanked her again for thinking of his morning meal too.
"Anyway, I gotta get going" she said with a sigh getting up.
Interpreting it as her being in a bad mood for having to go to the castle again and mingling with the disgusting nobles, Luffy spoke up, "You know, there's this blue haired princess called Vivi at the meeting too. She's kind too just like you, so maybe talk to her?"
Reiju blinked in honest surprise. 'Was this it?! Was this his plan all along? Make me talk to the Alabastan princess? But why? What would me talking to her prove? Was he sent by Vivi? Was she trying to communicate something with me? No, that's ridiculous. She could just come up and say something to me if she wanted.' Reiju's distrusting and paranoid side started making all sorts of speculations again.
"Just saying that's all" Luffy continued when she didn't answer, "She was gonna be my second choice if you didn't happen to save me and I got a chance to see her"
"I see" He could be just telling the truth or this was some elaborate plan. She decided that she would observe and talk to this Vivi and judge for herself what the case was.
———
Luffy spent the entire day either training his body or thinking about what to do. He had slowly processed the thoughts so that he wouldn't lose it and it had worked as he had come to a few conclusions.
First was what had led to the Marineford war - The murder of Thatch. He had seen the date in the newspapers and realized there were still 18 months left before his 17th birthday. The story didn't really explain when exactly Ace had joined Whitebeard, when he had become the Second Division Commander and when exactly Teach had killed Thatch. Also didn't explain how long Ace had been looking for Teach before they met in Alabasta, so there was no reference to whether the event had already happened or not. For now, he assumed that it was yet to happen and wondered if he could prevent it altogether. And the answer was a No.
For him to go up to the Whitebeard crew and tell them that one of their crew members will kill another crew member would be a one way ticket to hell for him. He imagined a random boy coming up to him and saying Zoro was going to kill another crewmate, and he didn't have to think for a second of what his response would be. He would punt the boy and dismiss him completely not even giving what he said a second thought.
And the Whitebeard crew were an actual family who called their captain 'Pops' and considered each other as actual brothers. Plus, Teach had been with them for decades. If Whitebeard or any of the crew members actually heard him say that Teach was gonna kill a crewmate and he didn't go out in a body bag, then that crew would be the worst crew ever.
So, he couldn't go to any of the Whitebeard crew members. He could only go to Ace as Ace would believe his words. But would the others believe Ace? It was a resounding 'no' again. They would feel betrayed by Ace that he would even think that about them and Ace would lose all credibility.
So, the last option to prevent the murder was to actually be present on Whitebeard's ship and catch Teach red handed. That was the only way Thatch's murder could be avoided.
Now, the biggest question of how he could achieve this?…and he drew an absolute blank. He could get in touch with Ace somehow and have him pick him up from wherever Reiju would drop him off. But how the fuck was he supposed to contact Ace? He didn't even know if Ace had a transponder snail let alone the number… He so wished this world had smartphones right about now which would solve all his problems…
He racked his brain about any way he could achieve it. He could call the Marine HQ, get in touch with his gramps, have him somehow call Ace…if he even had a way…or gramps could even get in touch with Whitebeard himself and then to Ace through him. But would that actually work? Would gramps actually call Whitebeard without Luffy giving any explanations? The answer was again a no. He couldn't depend on his gramps for this at all. Next would be Dragon…but again, he had no idea how to get in touch with Dragon…
"I so want a phone!" Luffy whined when all his problems ultimately lead to 'how to get in contact with someone?'
He decided to ask Reiju if she had a way but doubted it too.
Other than the Marineford war, there was really no other event that he could prevent or solve right about now with his current level of strength. He could definitely not sail the Grand Line alone as he would drown without Nami. And his strength also wasn't all that great that he could easily traverse the Grand Line by himself or even hitch rides. If he didn't have strength, then he would obviously get stuck with someone unsavory again and would probably fail… He wasn't strong enough to achieve anything he wanted right now. He wondered just how he was going to go home to East Blue from wherever Reiju was going to drop him off, but shelved that topic for now as he would worry about it when he was actually on an island.
He sighed in frustration when he realized how utterly and hilariously outclassed he was by opponents in the New World. Even the opponents in Paradise would be too much for his current self. He needed to get strong. Much much stronger and then even more.
———
Reiju had had a relatively good day. There were plenty of the same shitty stuff as the previous days but she had kinda made a friend that day. As Luffy had said, she decided to observe and talk to Vivi that day. She had observed the young blue haired princess for quite a while and she quickly learned that Vivi was someone who wore her emotions on her sleeve.
She was a young girl so her guards, someone she called Pell and Igaram, had easily warded off any approach from any man trying to woo her. She did have a few friends with whom she would talk the entire time like a chatter box and Reiju had discreetly tried to hear what they were talking about and she found out that they were just talking about their countries cuisine and culture.
After four hours of surveillance, Reiju just couldn't see this young girl as a mastermind of some elaborate plan. Deciding that she had to talk to her to see if there some bigger conspiracy here, she finally approached her after lunch.
After a bit of tension in the initial conversations, Vivi had opened up to her when Reiju had just straight up told her "Listen, I just wanted someone who is not an asshole to talk to. I'm tired of all these assholes trying to woo me for the past 5 days. You seemed nice so I approached you. I have no intention of setting you up with anyone let alone my brothers. You're too cute for them"
Vivi was apprehensive at first when the only Princess of the Germa Kingdom had approached her as she was sure the pink-haired princess was here to try to set her up with one of her brothers. Others had already tried that tactic and whenever someone tried it, she would discreetly signal Pell or Igaram to interrupt them so she could politely escape from the person. But when Reiju straight up told her that she just wanted someone to talk to as she was tired of all the 'assholes' ('My! Such crude language for a princess!' she thought not knowing that the universe was laughing at her as she would soon be entering Baroque Works and she would have to learn all this crude language herself to fit in), she was more than happy to talk to her.
The two had spent the better part of the day together and had had a really nice time. The first thing that became obvious to Reiju was that Vivi loved her country. She would bring up interesting local specialties like food, clothes and desert animals exclusive to her country. One more thing Reiju learned was that Vivi was extremely teaseable. She would blush at the slightest compliments and would go completely beet red at even the slightly suggestive jokes.
Reiju had a lot of fun that day teasing the blue haired princess and by the end, she concluded that this innocent young princess was just that- an innocent young princess. She had seen her talking to the slaves in the death pit once, so maybe Luffy just saw that too and decided she was kind too. There was no bigger conspiracy here.
———
"You were right about Vivi. She was easy to talk to and we spent pretty much the entire day together. Today was sooo less sucky compared to the last few days" was the first thing Reiju told Luffy as soon as she came to the lab.
"Shishishishi that's great. You look happy too"
Reiju then proceeded to tell him some of the conversations that they had had and more importantly how easy it was to tease Vivi. She told him how easily she went beet red at even the slightly sexual topic(even just kissing!) and all the ways she had made her go red in the face. Luffy got a mischievous glint in his eyes and filed that piece of information for later use, and the two had a good laugh at the poor blue-haired princess's expense that day.
"You know, I thought that this was some elaborate plan you were cooking up and maybe Vivi was involved somehow"
Luffy paused from eating and stared at Reiju, "You're never gonna trust me huh?"
"Nope"
Luffy nodded with a sad smile, "Well okay then…just gotta break down your walls too"
"…what?"
"Hmm Leo, my brother…he said that I'm someone who can break down peoples walls really easily and plant myself in their hearts… So, I guess I'll make you like me too"
Reiju blinked in honest bewilderment, "How the hell can you say something so cheesy with a straight face?"
Luffy just shrugged, "You get analyzed as much as I have, you can't help but acknowledge things about yourself"
"Analyzed? You were analyzed? By whom?"
"Leo, Serena and a bunch more people… they all dissected each and every part of my life, my personality, and had lists of all the bad and good qualities I possess, theories of why I worked I way I worked, a ton of debates of why people like me…" he sighed thinking about the thousands of posts people made analyzing his character, "It's soo fucking embarrassing…"
Reiju just sat there not knowing what to say. 'He was analyzed like a lab specimen? What the hell?!' "Why?"
"They just liked me I guess…"
"Who's they?"
"My brother Leo, his girlfriend Serena…and a ton of their friends" Luffy sighed, "Well anyway, I got some questions to ask…"
Reiju wanted to know more about the analyzation topic but then again, she had no idea what exactly to ask either.
"If I wanted to get in contact with Giant ossan…umm I mean, Whitebeard, how could I?"
'…What the hell?!' "You want to get in touch with the Whitebeard? Why?" she asked completely bewildered and caught off guard.
"Another brother of mine was going to join his crew. I wanted to know if it's already happened or not…Ooh maybe it was in the papers? Is there a new commander for Whitebeard recently? Fire Fist Ace?"
Reiju blinked again completely gobsmacked. Any small doubts she still had of this guy being a spy flew right out the window as what spy would say something like this? They would usually keep a low profile and collect information about her slowly and build trust…but this guy just straight up told her that he wanted to get in touch with someone massive.
"Hello?" Luffy called out when she didn't answer and that brought her out of her stupor.
"Uhh no…I don't think I've seen something like that in the papers…"
"Oh…then I gotta wait until Ace joins his crew…" Luffy crossed his arms and began thinking.
"You really think your brother can just join Whitebeard's crew and become a commander?"
"Ace is strong. He definitely will…well, after he tries to kill Whitebeard for a while at least…"
"…What?"
"Don't worry, don't worry. Giant ossan is strong, he won't die by Ace's hands"
"…What?!" Reiju was losing her mind not understanding what this boy was telling her. "What the hell are you talking about?!"
"Ugh too much to explain, forget it…anyway, I still have to get in touch with Ace somehow. Know any means of getting in touch with Giant ossan? I'll call him after Ace joins"
"He's Whitebeard! The strongest man in the world! Stop calling him giant ossan! And not anyone can just call him, you idiot!"
Luffy nodded sadly, "Yeah…I've been trying to think of ways on how I can get in touch…"
Reiju breathed and took a second to calm herself down. This boy was utterly insane was an established fact in her mind now. "Why do you want to get in touch with him?"
"I want to get on his ship somehow…but I can't think of any way. Do you know where he is? I know he's somewhere in the New World…"
"Yes, he's in the New World but no idea where exactly"
Luffy nodded, "And I don't think I can just traverse the Grand Line with my current level of strength…"
Reiju scoffed, "You got that right. You'll die in paradise let alone New World"
"Yeah…" Luffy trailed off with a sigh, "I need to get much much stronger"
"Well at least you recognize you're weak…" Reiju sighed.
"Umm can you like…" Luffy pointed at chains still binding his arms to the desk, "Remove these? You can chain my legs up. I need my hands to train"
"…you want to train now?" she asked bewildered, "Your injuries are quite significant you know. You need to to recover first… Don't you see the condition your body's in?"
"It's okay it's okay, I heal very fast. Besides, if I want to become the Pirate King, then I should be able to handle this much at least"
"…" 'Well, At least he recognizes that becoming the Pirate King will be hard.' Reiju had given up trying to understand Luffy at this point. She acquiesced to his request and chained him up such that his leg was attached to a chain but he could walk a few steps away from the desk if he wanted.
"Thanks!"
Reiju just sighed wondering why she just couldn't say no to him. He was supposed be a slave, but he didn't show the slightest bit of fear or respect towards her, called her by name as if she was a friend, teased and made fun of her…if it was anyone else in her place, he would have been killed by now.
But she didn't hate it either. It was refreshing and new. She just sat in her chair as Luffy first checked where all his wounds were and how significant they were, and after shrugging like an idiot, just started doing push-ups…but his fingers and wrists bones were still broken.
She grew irritated and smacked him on the head making him stop and he looked at her confused.
"Why?"
"Your bones in your wrists and fingers are broken idiot. You need to let it heal first at least"
"It's okay…I don't feel much pain from it"
"You take rest right now or I'm injecting you with the sleeping agent again"
Luffy slowly crossed his legs while glaring at her with a pout, which looked extremely cute to Reiju. "Now, that's a good boy" she patted his head which he swatted away glaring more which only made her giggle. Luffy grumbled something but Reiju didn't care as she was having fun seeing his reactions.
"Now hush," she said taking a seat, "I need to concoct some stuff"
Luffy watched as she began taking all sorts of chemicals from the cabinets and started measuring them out, mixing and heating some liquids in a Bunsen burner. He vaguely remembered performing experiments like this back in school in Leo's memories but Leo didn't have much interest, so he had mostly forgotten about it. He did remember some chemical reactions and could still name the elements in the periodic table though.
Then his mind wandered to element names like Californium, Americium, Europium and wondered if those elements had the same name here in this world too.
Reiju could feel his curious eyes on her and felt him hovering over her watching what she was doing intently. She flinched slightly when he brought his face over her shoulder and observed what she was doing. A second later, his head was resting on her shoulder with their cheeks touching and she didn't know what the hell he was doing. 'Does he have no concept of personal space?'
"What are you doing?" she asked pausing her experiments.
"Just watching. I vaguely remember doing stuff like this…It's kinda fun huh?"
She just eyed him sideways with a sigh, "What I meant was…what are you doing resting your head on my shoulder?"
"Oh" Luffy blinked and lifted his head, "Sorry, I've been told I got no concept of personal space"
"Clearly"
Luffy just hummed and then asked, "Are there elements called Californium and Europium in the periodic table?"
Reiju blinked at the random question, "Yeah…why?"
"Why are they named that?"
"What?"
"Why are they named like that?"
"Umm…I don't know? Why do you wanna know?"
"Just wondering…what about Einsteinium? It's named after Einstein right?"
"Yeah…"
'Ooh so Einstein was a real person in this world too?…' He couldn't help but compare the two worlds and wonder how names of things ended up the same.
"Why are you so weird Luffy?" Reiju asked with a sigh not being able to understand this boy at all.
"Shishishishi"
"Don't just laugh!" she snapped smacking him on the head.
"…once I get my rubber powers back, this won't hurt at all…" Luffy grumbled rubbing where he had been hit.
Reiju just sighed, "There's a book over there if you're interested about elements. Maybe it'll have the answer to your weird questions" she said pointing at the bookshelf next to them.
"Ooh okay!" Luffy cheered and 10 minutes later, for the first time in his life, Luffy willingly started reading a book. He really wanted to find out if places like California existed somewhere in this world…
Reiju just stared at the boyish curiosity on his face as he read the book for a few seconds before going back to her experiments. She would hear him giggling or laughing out loud from time to time and when she asked what was so funny as it was a chemistry book he was reading, he would tell the origins of the names of the chemicals and she couldn't help but laugh too.
It would nag at her and she wanted to know why certain things were named like that too and soon she found herself sitting on the ground next to him going through some books finding answers to his weird questions together.
They both laughed and giggled when they actually found stuff like how Californium was named that because the guy who synthesized that element had a dog called Cali who kinda went inside his lab and messed up everything, but because of that, some random chemicals got mixed in and serendipitously, a new element was created. His dog had apparently died because some toxic chemicals ended up falling on it, so in honor of his dog, he named the new element ForCali, but someone messed it up and ended up calling it CaliFor and 'ium' was added to most element names, and thus Californium was named.
There were a ton more funny name origins for so many elements and Luffy laughed his ass off reading about it and by transitivity, Reiju couldn't help but laugh too.
—
Reiju woke up with a start and was shocked to find herself still on the floor of her lab leaning against a book shelf with a sleeping Luffy next to her. She couldn't believe that she had let her guard down so much that she had fallen asleep next to someone who a part of her mind still thought could be a spy.
Last night was very fun to say the least and she couldn't believe how much she had genuinely smiled and laughed. She didn't remember the last time she had laughed as much as she had in the past three nights she had spent with Luffy.
He had laughed at the most stupidest things and even though she didn't find it that funny, she couldn't help break down into a fit of giggles hearing him laugh. His laugh was very infectious.
She sighed at herself wondering what the heck she was doing letting her guard down this easily in front of another but she couldn't help but think that Luffy was honest. She was a master at reading people after all, so she knew that whatever Luffy said or did, he had no hostility in him. He said very strange things of wanting to meet Whitebeard and even called him 'Giant ossan' as if he was just some random person, said his brother wanted to kill Whitebeard but also wanted to join his crew, said that he was analyzed like a lab specimen a lot by another brother and a bunch more people…She had no idea what to make of all that and he didn't seem like he wanted to talk more about it either.
"Mornin" Luffy mumbled as he got up yawning and rubbing his eyes and that brought her out of her musings.
"Morning…you didn't do anything to me last night, did you?"
Luffy blinked confused at the question, "Do what?"
Reiju groaned internally again cursing herself for making another suggestive joke. 'Why the fuck doesn't he get flustered?!' she screamed internally. "Nothing…forget it"
But Luffy took a few more moments to think about it before finally realizing what she meant. "Oh" he grinned, "Well that should be a question I should direct at you. You're the pervert after all"
Reiju smacked him hard again, "I'm not a pervert!"
"Shishishishi"
Reiju wanted to get back at him, so she picked up the poison she had created the previous night and injected it into him. Luffy was surprised but before his mind even processed what had happened, he slumped down losing consciousness and his body started jerking as if he was having seizures.
Reiju watched for 2 seconds before what she had done hit her and she panicked. The poison was not completely ready and still needed to be perfected, so she had just injected him with a poison she knew would kill the person. She immediately locked lips and sucked all the poisons out.
"That was close" she sighed in relief after she was done and he was okay. She stared at the unconscious Luffy for a few moments before she realized how she had panicked seeing him almost die…and cursed herself. 'Fuck! I've grown attached to the idiot…'
———
The last day of Reverie was again less sucky to Reiju compared to the first five days. Vivi had excitedly come up to her again and the two had spent the entire morning together. They talked about some structures in the castle, their countries, swapped childhood stories, and so on. Ichiji came up to them while they were talking and tried to hit on Vivi, but Reiju stopped him saying she was just 14, and thankfully he went away…and that action had left Vivi staring at her with shining eyes and a happy smile. 'She's so innocent…She must be protected at all costs' Reiju thought when she saw her grateful eyes.
In the afternoon, she got caught up with her brothers and some other nobles, which sucked, but she managed to soldier through and soon the evening approached. Vivi came up to her again when the end came and much to Reiju's surprise, hugged her. After a moment of freezing up, she lightly hugged her back and patted her. They promised to meet again at the next Reverie and if one of them ever visited the other's country, to come greet them and parted ways.
All the other nobles also said goodbyes (which was lackluster compared to Vivi's pure intentioned goodbye) and soon it was time to leave.
Reiju, her brothers and her Father had a discussion that night where her father summarized what all had happened at the meetings. He had apparently made some deals with certain Kingdoms which would empower them and also offended a few more. He also informed them that they wouldn't be going straight back home to North Blue but take a detour to South Blue, visit a few places as he had some business with them and then go home. After the hours long discussion detailing and planning everything which stretched on well after midnight, they finally closed the meeting when it was early morning.
Reiju immediately went to the lab and upon going inside, sank into her comfy chair and sighed deeply. She thought it was over and they could finally go back home but now she had to spend more time in close proximity with her family. She didn't realize that she had chosen to go to Luffy instead of her own room to unwind. Subconsciously, she had wanted to see and talk to Luffy.
"What's wrong? I thought you would be happy now that the Reverie's done?" asked Luffy tilting his head in confusion. He had just spent the day training and had worked up quite a sweat.
"Father decided where we'll go next. Earlier we were just gonna head home to North Blue but there's been a change of plans. Something they talked at the meeting I guess…"
"Oh"
"Yeah, we'll be heading to South Blue first, visit a few places and then go home to North Blue"
Luffy smiled strangely at her and she tilted her head questioningly, "Are you sure you can just tell me stuff like this now? Aren't you scared anymore that I'll tell someone on the outside?"
"Oh please, I feel stupid that I even suspected you being some sort of masterful spy. You're just so stupid. As if you could ever be a spy or be smart enough to even think things through…"
"Hey!"
Reiju grinned, "So yeah, I'm 99% sure you aren't a spy. You're just a delusional lucky idiot"
"Hey!"
"Hehehe well even if you are a spy, what can you do knowing where we are heading? Anyone can find that out if they followed us"
Luffy pouted slightly at being called stupid so much. Now that he had Leo's frame of reference, he knew that he was indeed stupid and also knew how much of an idiot he actually was…and he was a bit embarrassed about it.
Reiju stared at him for a bit before she got serious and asked, "I'm gonna straight up ask you. Was there any lie you told me since we met?"
Luffy also got serious and stared back, "Well I didn't lie per se…but I kinda said half truths I guess?"
That sunk Reiju's heart and she actually felt a bit hurt but she didn't let it show. "What do you mean half-truths?"
"Hmm it's complicated to explain and if I actually told you the complete truth, you'll think I belong in an asylum"
That erased whatever hurt she was feeling and just left her bewildered. "What?…what are you talking about?"
"As I said, it's complicated to explain. I'll tell you one day when I actually have proof of it…" he then trailed off thoughtfully, "Don't know how I'll get the proof though…"
"I'm so lost…have you lied to me or not? Was you being in the pit orchestrated or not?"
"No no, nothing like that. I did end up in the pit because I got thrown out and saw you by chance…" Luffy sighed really thinking about how to explain himself and whether he should even divulge the truth. But he quickly decided against it. "You know what, forget it. I'll tell you one day when I have a better way to explain it. Don't worry, it's nothing harmful…You'll just think I'm crazy, like actually needs help from a doctor kinda crazy if I tell you…"
Reiju just sat in complete confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Luffy groaned into his hands, "Look, I don't wanna explain because you'll think I'm crazy. Yes, more crazy than you already think I am. You'll just have to trust me on this. It's nothing harmful, it's nothing that concerns anyone…" 'And I should learn to keep my mouth shut!' he chided himself. He was just confusing her by saying stuff like this and decided to be more thoughtful next time and not just blurt out stuff.
Seeing her still confused and wary face, he decided to change the topic, "Well okay I'll tell you…" he said and scooted closer to her as if he was divulging some grand secret. She also bent down to listen to him intently.
Luffy looked around himself acting like he was making sure no one else was listening before looking back at her and whispered, "I said I didn't have a leg fetish, but that's a half truth though. I do have a thing for thighs…"
Reiju just stared at him in shock and Luffy managed to keep a straight face for 2 seconds before he fell on his back laughing his ass off.
"That's the half truth?!" she yelled kicking him.
"HAHAHAHA YOUR FACE! YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN YOUR FACE! HAHAHAH!"
"Goddamn IDIOT!" she smacked and kicked him a few times. She did realize that he was trying to change the topic by making a joke, but she let it go for now. Whatever he was hiding, she would get it out of him on another day.
Reiju just sighed after she got her frustrations out of her system by kicking him repeatedly, "I should be killing someone like you who raises so many red flags but at the same time, I don't think you mean any harm."
"Shishishishi or maybe you just like me and want to keep me around so that I can lick y-"
Reiju smacked him again and he just grinned. It had become a sort of comedy routine by now and she would never admit it, but Reiju loved it. She enjoyed his company a lot. All his stupid jokes and stories, some of his weird quirks and questions had made her genuinely laugh more than she had ever done in her 20 years of living. And he had even helped her make a sort of friend in Vivi.
'Didn't know you could get attached to someone this quickly…' she sighed. The thought of keeping him as her own slave forever instead of dropping him off somewhere did pass her mind, but she quickly swatted it away. She was never gonna become a monster like her family and besides, Luffy was too motivated and had big dreams.
The ship started moving then bringing her out of her thoughts.
"We're leaving already?" Luffy asked.
"Yeah, no reason to stay here anymore" she looked at the curious look on his face and asked, "Want to see outside?"
Luffy vibrated with excitement as he nodded his head vigorously. No matter what, this was the first island he had been on in the Grand Line (as far as he knew at least) and he wanted to see it with his own eyes.
Reiju first unchained him and then pushed the bookshelf to the side and then pushed on the wall which opened up like a door to the outside.
"Whoa, a secret door!"
"No, you idiot. You do realize this is a lab right? What if there's some major explosion or something? There are vents sure, but it's better to have a door to the outside in case of emergencies"
"Ah I see" Luffy said as he peeked out. The first thing he noticed was the massive wall of Red in front of him that stretched out in either direction with its height rising well above the clouds. He only now recalled that Mariejois was on the Red Line, so he couldn't even see the capital right now.
His eyes quickly left the wall though and he stared down at the rich dark blue color of the sea, the rough and choppy waves, and it hit him that he was actually on the Grand Line. He was mesmerized by the dark bluish water and he stared at the sea in awe. He looked in the distance and saw a few massive cyclones of water rising high up into the clouds. In another direction, he spotted a massive Sea King just chilling with its head above waters apparently enjoying the early morning rays of the sun. He felt the harsh winds blowing on his face, he heard the chirps and cries of News Coos and a few other birds and sea creatures, he heard the rhythmic sound of the waves crashing against the ship…and he instantly knew that this is what he wanted to see and hear for the rest of his life.
"Wow…"
Reiju noticed that he was actually looking at the sea instead of the Red Line and got confused, "You're saying that about the sea?"
"Yeah…" Luffy breathed, "It's beautiful." The thoughts he had had that seeing the places in the anime would ruin the actual thing for him flew right out of the window as he watched the shimmering sea. It was so gorgeous and the anime didn't even manage to capture a percent of its beauty.
Reiju watched the awed look on his face and wondered just what he found to be so amazing and tried to look for it herself but couldn't see anything. "What's so amazing?" she finally asked.
"The Grand Line. It's my first time laying eyes on it…This is where my dream lies."
"Oh" she finally realized that if his story was true, then this in fact would be his first time seeing it. She just stared at his face which was bubbling with excitement and awe for a few seconds and turned her gaze to the sea too. She took a moment to actually appreciate the beauty of the sea too and she noticed things she had missed before. The salty taste in the air, the rhythmic and soft crashing of waves against the ship and the Red Line, the calming sounds of the birds and other sea creatures…and she breathed in deep taking in all the rich salty air and breathed out slowly.
She then stared back at Luffy who still had shining eyes and lips curled up into a massive grin. 'Yeah there's no faking that…this really is his first time seeing the Grand Line' she concluded.
She turned her gaze back to the sea and remembered the first time she had laid eyes on the Grand Line. She remembered having felt this sense of awe too and she was sure she was looking at it just like how Luffy was doing now. She remembered her childish thoughts that the world was so much bigger than she had ever imagined, she remembered her mother's stories and realized that the world was vast, truly realized it…and for a few seconds, she had imagined leaving her stupid family behind and going off on her own to find something or someone who could give her love and a feeling of home like her mother did. And then Judge ordered her to come to him and her body moved without her permission and her wishful thinking died.
She had projected that wishful thinking onto Sanji seeing how he was free from their father's expectations. She helped him escape imagining it was her who was escaping. She gave up every dream and wishful childish thought she had and hoped that Sanji could live it in her place. That he could find people who would love and accept him for who he was, instead of her. That he would be free, instead of her. That he would live for the both of them.
Overcome by emotions and realizing that there was no way Luffy could be a spy, she did something she had never imagined she would ever do. She would later berate herself for being so impulsive but right this moment, she didn't care. She took a leap of faith.
"Hey Luffy…" she muttered softly, "Tell me more about Sanji"
Her heart felt like it was beating a thousand times a second thinking that this was it, she had messed up, he would show his true colors now and everything would be all over, someone would grasp her weakness now and her life would become more of a living hell from now on…but then Luffy just looked at her and gave her a smile…and that dispelled whatever scared thoughts she was having and replaced it with a warm fuzzy feeling.
"I don't know much but I've heard he's an amazing cook. I can't wait to try out his cooking! He's really really kind to everyone, more to women than to men obviously," he chuckled, "but still, he's turned out great. He's also found a father figure in the owner of the restaurant he works at"
"…Is he happy?"
"Yeah, he's happy. But once he joins my crew, he'll be even more happy!"
Reiju nodded with a small smile. "I see…"
The two stared back at the sea feeling the winds rush past them enjoying the comfortable silence…
…and then Reiju frowned. "The hell do you mean he'll be happier when he joins your crew? You haven't even talked to him yet! Stop deciding things for him!"
"Shishishi don't worry. He'll join me"
"What if he refuses?"
"Then I'll refuse his refusal!"
"It doesn't work like that idiot!"
Sounds of shishishi's and bickering and chiding continued in Reiju's lab as the Germa ship left Mariejois.