The days that followed settled into something that almost resembled peace.
Shells Town was healing. It was a slow and imperfect process, but then, genuine recovery often is. Broken windows were boarded up, overturned carts righted, and the scorch marks, both physical and emotional, that were left behind by Morgan's reign were slowly being scrubbed at with stubborn determination. Marines worked alongside civilians now, hauling lumber, repairing docks, returning stolen goods with quiet apologies and stiff bows.
Trust wouldn't return overnight, but the process had started.
And, while the town rebuilt itself, Luffy did what he now found came natural when the world slowed down.
He trained.
Luffy stood barefoot on the packed dirt outside the town, straw hat set aside on a fence post, shirt discarded and draped over it. The morning sun warmed his skin as he rolled his shoulders, green-tipped hair fluttering slightly in the sea breeze.
He bounced once on his heels, then again.
Then he vanished.
Koby barely tracked the motion, barely, before Luffy reappeared several meters away, skidding to a stop and carving a shallow groove in the dirt with his heel.
"Too much," Luffy muttered to himself. "Legs were ahead of my balance again…"
He inhaled, steadying his breath, then tried again, this time slower, deliberately restraining the instinct to push.
This new body was a change, and he was still trying to hammer out some of the finer points of control.
At lower levels, like his brief fights with Alvida and Morgan, the limited power output kept him in control. But, even without One For All, trying to exert his body's full force still had him off balance.
Koby stared, eyes wide.
"That was… that was faster than yesterday," he said.
Luffy grinned over his shoulder. "Yep!"
Zoro, sitting nearby with a sword balanced across his knees, snorted. "You say that every day."
"And every day it's true!" Luffy replied cheerfully.
Zoro rose to his feet, rolling his neck, and readied his weapon. "Again."
Luffy's grin sharpened.
The two moved at once.
Wooden practice weapons cracked together, Luffy wielding a thick training staff, Zoro holding a bokken instead of steel. Their clash sent a sharp crack through the air, followed by a flurry of rapid exchanges. Luffy's movements were fluid but unorthodox, his staff snapping forward with elastic precision, his reach extending just a little too far, retracting just a little too fast.
Zoro adjusted immediately.
"So that's how you're fighting now," he growled, stepping inside the staff's reach and forcing Luffy to pivot.
"Still figuring it out!" Luffy laughed, twisting and letting the staff bend slightly under pressure before snapping it back.
As they collided again Luffy couldn't help but laugh. "My main weapon is still my fists," He paused as a loud crack sounded out from the point of impact, "but options are nice!"
They broke apart, both breathing a little harder.
Zoro skidded back a step, boots digging into the dirt as he rolled his shoulders, breath steady but heavier than before. Across from him, Luffy spun his staff once and let it rest against his shoulder, grinning like he was having the time of his life.
"Man," Luffy said cheerfully, "you really don't slow down, do you?"
Zoro snorted. "Not planning to."
They lunged again.
Bokken met staff in a rapid exchange. Zoro's strikes were precise, ruthless, every swing aimed to end a fight. Luffy's movements were looser but deceptive, his staff bending and extending just enough to throw off timing before snapping back into place.
Zoro clicked his tongue, adjusting mid-swing. "You fight weird."
"Thanks!" Luffy replied, ducking under a slash and hopping back. "I worked hard on that."
Zoro halted abruptly, lowering his weapon.
Luffy blinked. "Huh? You done already?"
Zoro didn't answer right away. He stared at the ground for a moment, then lifted his gaze, sharp and unyielding.
"I'm going to be the world's greatest swordsman."
The words landed heavy. They were spoken without shouting or drama,but the absolute certainty in his tone spoke volumes.
Luffy's grin widened.
Zoro continued, voice firm. "If that dream gets in your way… if sailing with you ever makes me weaker, then I'll cut you down myself. Captain or not."
For a heartbeat, the training ground was silent. To the side, Koby was drenched in a nervous sweat.
Then Luffy burst out laughing.
"SHISHISHI!" One hand went to his stomach, the other wiped at his eyes. "That's awesome!"
Zoro frowned. "…You're not offended?"
"Why would I be?" Luffy said, planting his staff in the dirt and leaning on it. "That just means you're serious."
He stepped closer, eyes bright, showing neither challenge nor threat.
"If you wanna be the world's best," Luffy continued, "then you're gonna need a lot of strong enemies."
He jabbed a thumb at his own chest, the pride in his voice belying the gravity of the words. "And good news for you, I plan on picking fights with pretty much all of them."
Zoro stared at him.
Then, slowly, a sharp grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"…Tch. You really are crazy."
Luffy held out his hand. "So? You in?"
Zoro didn't hesitate. He clasped it.
"Until I reach the top," he said. "And maybe even after."
Luffy beamed. "Welcome aboard."
Nearby, Nami watched the exchange as she approached with her own staff, her eyes already narrowed. "…Great. Two idiots with impossible dreams."
Koby, however, stood a little straighter. The drive to follow their dreams, the dedication to their training…It made him feel like his own goals were somehow more attainable.
Twenty minutes later, an exhausted Nami glared up at Luffy.
"Why," she demanded, jabbing her staff into the dirt, "am I doing this again?"
Luffy crouched across from her, mirroring her stance with his own staff, a slightly smug grin on his face. "Because, even stealthy little cat burglars need to know how to defend themselves."
"I don't fight," she snapped.
"Maybe not," he quipped back, "But there isn't a world where either of our lines of work keeps you safe 100% of the time."
Her staff froze mid-motion.
"…you might have a point…" She begrudgingly responded.
Luffy tilted his head. "Plus," He added, "It's clear you've run up against something you had to run from."
She scowled, scenes of her hometown being ruled over by that big-nosed blue bastard.
Luffy himself remembered Midoriya's past struggles with self confidence before continuing. "And I speak from experience when I say those scars don't start healing until you can fight back"
She lunged forward. Half inspired and half annoyed at the reminder of Cocoyasi's situation, even if he didn't know it.
Her strikes were fast, cleaner than they had been yesterday, but Luffy deflected it easily, redirecting the force and tapping her wrist with the end of his staff.
"Again," he said.
Nami hissed in irritation but reset her stance.
"You know," she muttered, "most captains don't force their navigators into combat drills."
"Most pirate captains. But we, dear navigator-chan, are no pirates." Luffy replied simply.
She hesitated.
That gave him just enough time to gently sweep her feet out from under her. Not enough to hurt her, just enough to drop her onto her backside with a startled yelp.
Luffy leaned over her, grinning. "See? You're already better than yesterday."
She groaned. "I hate you."
"No you don't."
She rolled her eyes, and tried to hide the small grin that threatened to spread. She would complain, but she stood back up, and she continued to train.
Koby trained harder than anyone. Relative to his ability of course. Luffy and Zoro beat him in terms of sheer volume, but Koby was the only one to routinely drop at the end of his sets.
It wasn't because Luffy pushed him the most,but because he genuinely wanted it.
Sweat soaked his uniform as he ran drills until his legs shook. He stumbled, fell, got back up, and fell again. Every time, Luffy was there. He didn't bark orders or mock him like Koby was used to, but was watching closely.
Adjusting.
"Your center's off," Luffy said, nudging Koby's shoulder lightly. "You're thinking about what happens if you miss."
"I-!" Koby panted. "I don't want to mess up."
Luffy smiled softly. "That's normal. But fear makes you hesitate, and hesitation gets you hurt."
Koby nodded, swallowing hard.
Again.
Again.
Again.
And slowly, very slowly, he started to move with purpose.
Zoro watched from the side, arms crossed.
"Kid's weak," he muttered, but a glint of appreciation sparkled in his eye as he watched the boy drag his battered form upright again. "But he's got potential."
Luffy heard him, and grinned as he went back to correcting Koby's form.
That night, Luffy sat alone on the beach.
The moon reflected off the water in rippling silver waves as they gently broke against the shore. He sat cross-legged in the sand, eyes closed, breathing slow and even.
He was meditating, at least the way Izuku had learned to, by reviewing, replaying, and absorbing. He focused inward, towards the rush of future events he observed in that other plane.
The memories came in flashes.
A man with white crescent mustache towering over a battlefield. The world shook as he swung a massive fist, the very air seeming to shatter around the blow.
The ocean froze in place, the massive waves caused by giant's quake freezing in place before they can impact the battle.
Magma fell from the sky onto the horde of charging pirates as bolts of pure light rained in the distance.
The world shook as the mountain of a man, Whitebeard, Luffy heard the crew call narrowed his eyes. A suffocating presence exploding outward and scattering fists of magma before they could make impact.
Haki.
He didn't understand it, not fully. But he felt it in the memories. Pressure. Will. A presence so strong it bent the air around it.
The scene shifted, a massive fist coated in magma barreled towards him, but he was too weak, too tired to move.
A hand reaching out, Ace's hand, slipping away as the blow meant for him claimed his life.
"No!"
Luffy gasped, breath hitching, chest tightening painfully as the image burned into him. The sand around him was pushed away in waves as his newly awakened haki spilled from him.
Fire.
Magma.
Ace falling.
Luffy clenched his fists so hard the sand began to compress beneath his fingers, the arcs of lightning from One for All crackling around him.
"…I won't let that happen," he whispered into the night, a declaration that he wouldn't lose another brother. If the original Luffy could be said to be hellbent on saving Ace, this fusion of Midoriya's heroic soul drove that determination into something harder than diamond.
The memories shifted again.
A man in a familiar top hat laughing, flames, just like Ace's, danced on his fists.
A village burned in the background, a hulking man with long purple hair and a matching beard loomed overhead..
His chest tightened as focused on the blond man in the top hat.
Laughing.
Alive.
"…Sabo?"
Luffy's eyes snapped open.
He stared at the ocean, heart pounding.
Alive.
That purple haired brute has called him a revolutionary. It was a lead.
He swallowed hard, then smiled. His determination soaring again.
"I'll find you," he said quietly. "You and Ace, I'll protect you both."
The sea didn't answer.
But it didn't need to.
As he made his solemn vow, a new memory surface. It was something that happened as Deku and Luffy's soul merged.
The astral waves engulfed them, and began pulling them deeper into the sea of stars. They felt themselves slammed together, and quickly lost consciousness.
Vellor chuckled as he watched the now combined souls descend back to the one piece world. After a few moments he reached into a different section of his domain, and pulled back a handful of light.
"It would seem the others are as tired of that abomination as I. Very well," smiling he blew a breath of life into the power in his palm. "This will aid you greatly, my champion."
The starry void once more reached up to meet his palm, as he allowed something new to enter the world.
He followed it inward, and found himself standing in a place he recognized immediately, but completely empty.
"…So the vestige plane stuck around," he murmured.
He turned slowly, taking it in. The space had changed. Where once there had been endless fog and half-formed silhouettes, there was now a shore of soft, luminous sand beneath his feet. Above him stretched a vast, star-filled sky, eerily similar to the beach in Vellor's domain.
As he watched, he realized these lights were something he was intimately familiar with.
"With a makeover," he added dryly.
Before he could inspect it further, the sky itself seemed to ripple.
Lights fell.
Dozens, maybe even hundreds of motes descended from above, drifting gently like falling stars. They were the same lights Vellor had pulled from the void, the same ones he had released into the world.
Luffy watched them in stunned silence.
Then realization hit.
"These are…" His breath caught. "…quirks?"
Awe and confusion warred in his chest as the lights hovered around him. Each one radiated a familiar sensation, like a memory he hadn't lived but still knew.
Hardening.
Electrification.
Zero Gravity.
He recognized them instantly.
"These are quirks Izuku studied," he whispered. "Cataloged. Analyzed."
But that made no sense.
One For All had only ever held a handful of quirks, those passed down by its previous wielders. Even then, the quirk had started destroying its wielders, It couldn't contain this many.
Unless…
The thought barely finished forming before something else answered it.
Dark tendrils crept from his arms, slow and deliberate, their presence sending a chill through him.
His stomach twisted.
All for One.
The power he had fought against.
The power Midoriya had given his life to destroy.
For a split second, panic flared…
Then a voice whispered through the void.
Calm. Certain.
Vellor.
"To empower allies," the voice said softly, "never to hoard power. Stripped of its hunger, it will be your ultimate tool to tip the scales."
The tendrils didn't feel wrong.
They didn't pull.
They waited.
Tentatively, Luffy reached out toward one of the glowing motes.
The light drifted away from his fingers, repelled as if by an invisible barrier.
He blinked.
Then smiled.
"So…" he thought, a spark of understanding clicking into place, "…that's what you meant by stacking the deck."
The unease faded, replaced by something warmer. Controlled. Purposeful.
Luffy opened his eyes.
He was back on the beach, lying on warm sand beneath a quiet moon, the sound of waves rolling in steady rhythm nearby. He exhaled and let his body relax, staring up at the night sky.
New tools.
New responsibilities.
A longer road than he'd ever imagined.
And somewhere out there, a world that needed changing.
He closed his eyes again, a small smile tugging at his lips, and let sleep finally start to take him, plans already forming, stars reflected in his dreams.
It wouldn't be easy, but it would bring his dream that much closer to fruition.
He would need help though, and the biggest support he could ask for would be arriving in a few days time. For now, he would sleep, plan, and train. There was a long road ahead of him, and if these memories had taught him anything, it's that there would always be someone stronger waiting to challenge him.
Three days went by like this, until finally, the air from the sea changed.
Nami felt it first.
Then Zoro.
Then Luffy, who broke into a goofy grin and jumped to his feet.
"Oh," he said brightly. "He's here."
A massive Marine ship cut through the water toward Shells Town, its sails billowing, presence undeniable. The figurehead sculpted into the head of a hound.
On the deck, a familiar figure leaned over the railing, arms crossed, grin wide and dangerous.
"BWHAHAHAHAHA!"
The laugh carried across the harbor like a cannon blast.
"HEY BRAT!"
Luffy waved enthusiastically. "YO! GRAMPS!"