The whole group exited out of the cave, but they went separate ways with Makino. She headed back to the village since both clones disappeared. The strawhats and the two brocons headed back into the forest. The brother sworn brothers wanted to pay a visit to their caretakers, since they were on the island. Along the way, they all had a little chat.
"Ace, back to the question before." Luffy reminded him, which made the older one gulp. "How did you figure out about my situation?"
Everyone but the strawhat kept silent. They continued to walk, but they could only hear their footsteps and the animals around him. All of them didn't dare to have eyes contact with the teen, which made him frown.
He repeated his question. "How did you know about my situation?"
"We're sorry." Zoro apologized, which made Luffy's frown even deeper. They all stopped walking and looked at the ground. Luffy stared at them as they made sure to keep their eye contact away. "After you left, Silvia made us watch your past. The past on the island. We watched up to where you defeated the demon and watched your family and friends say goodbye to you."
Luffy had his eyes covered by his strawhat and by now all of them were all looking at him for his response. There was only silent, but after a while Luffy replied.
"I see." He said calmly. Too calmly. "I'm going to have a stroll."
Luffy left the rest and Chopper tried to go after him, but Zoro shook his head. They did invade his privacy. They have to at least give him some time to himself. They could only watch as Luffy left them.
"Just give him some time." Sabo stated. "He'll come around, but if things don't' go out as planned, we can always bribe him with meat. It has always worked before."
Ace nodded. "Let's just go to Dadan's for now."
The strawhats just looked at each other. They didn't really have a choice in this situation, so they followed the two brothers to a hut.
Meanwhile with Luffy, he was sitting on a treehouse and looked up at the sky. They had seen all of it. the past he tried to go past and never look back. Would they still act the same around him? Would he be treated any different? Will things stay the same?
Luffy closed his eyes and thought back on all their adventures. Looking back at the memories of the clone that he created. They seemed to be happy and joyful, surely, they would understand and not look at him any differently. They were his nakama and he was theirs. Though it didn't change the fact that they looked into his past and his privacy, but then again, it wasn't their choice to do it.
It was the goddess of time who was at fault. The damn gods liked to play him with and everyone he loved. It was annoying, but he couldn't do anything about it. They were gods after all. He just had to live with it and make sure that they don't get his loved one into it.
"Why is it always me?" Luffy asked to himself. "Why is there trouble wherever I go?"
It was probably fate or destiny that was doing that to him. He was supposed to save the world, which he did, but there would be more enemies that would want to destroy it. Funny, how he challenged the world to get Robin back and when he punched a celestial dragon he became the worlds enemy, though he was the one who protected it.
Luffy gave a loud frustrated sigh as he scratched his head. He never liked thinking. It was too tiresome and frustrating. He would let all the thinking to be done by Robin and Sabo. They seemed to like thinking.
By the time he was out of his thoughts, it was getting dark. Luffy heard his own stomach growl and then he patted it.
"I'm hungry." He said as he got down from the treehouse and made his way to the hut he lived in his childhood.
While Luffy was doing his thinking, the rest of the group made their way to Dadan's hut. Once they were in front of it, the strawhats frowned at the condition of it, especially Franky. It looked like it could collapse at any moment, but Ace and Sabo smiled at it as it brought back many memories.
Sabo knocked on the door and it opened to reveal a curly orange haired woman. She looked the same as in their childhood. Behind her were the other bandits with their daggers drawn.
"Who is it!?" The woman yelled as she looked at the group. "Leave now!"
"Old hag, it's us." Ace stated.
The bandits eyed him and realized who he was. They looked at Sabo and thought he was familiar, though they all knew that the rest were new.
"Ace! What are you doing here?" Asked Magra. "Didn't you leave to become a pirate three years ago?"
Ace grinned. "I was in the area and thought I should drop by and cause some trouble."
"We're here to pay a visit." Sabo corrected. He took off his top hat and placed it on his chest. Then he bowed and after placing his top hat back on his head. "It's been a while Dadan."
"Who are you?" Dadan questioned.
"I'm Sabo."
All the bandits' eyes widened.
"You can't be Sabo, I watched him die with my own two eyes!" Exclaimed Magra.
Sabo explained. "You saw my ship get shot down. I survived thanks to Dragon. He saved me from drowning, and I have been with him ever since. I had amnesia, though, so I didn't remember anything. But now I got my memories back."
The bandits had teary eyes but wiped them. The strawhats were watching the whole scene and didn't think that the mountain bandits were that bad. The attention was now all on the crew as they were the strangers here.
"And who are they?" Asked Dogra.
"They're Luffy's crew." Ace answered.
"Luffy?" Magra looked around but didn't find the kid. "He's here? Where is he?"
Sabo smiled. "He went for a stroll."
"I see. But what are you going to do now?" Dadan stood tall, secretly happy to see the brats. She was worried as the news of Ace's execution was taking place, but it seemed that he managed to escape and come here.
"We're spending the night here and be leaving tomorrow." Sabo announced, which made the bandits sigh. They were becoming more like Garp. Pushing everything on them and expect them to do it without protest.
"Only for the night though." Dadan said with another sighing escaping from her lips.
They all entered the building and the crew looked around. It definitely wasn't stable and could break apart at any moment. They all sat down and caught up while the strawhats talked to one another. Soon the sun was setting and in came in Luffy.
"Luffy!" His crew cried in joy, while the bandits screamed in horror.
All three troublesome brats were all back in the hut they had been raised. Luffy still had his strawhat covering his eyes, which made his brothers sigh. They had to use plan B.
"Luffy, we know you're still mad," Stated Ace. "but you can have as much meat as you want, so forgive all of us?"
Luffy's head lifted, and he smiled. "Deal!"
Everyone sweat dropped at how fast the mood changed around the kid, but it was how he was. At least they got his forgiveness. They all had dinner and as promised, Luffy got to eat as much as he wanted. Sanji ate in disgust as he ate along with Luffy's care takers and his fire user brother. It was an eventful day and there was and eventful dinner.
Dinner was done and it was time for all of them to go to bed, though before the strawhat crew went to bed, they all shared something about themselves to make up for watching Luffy's memories. They could feel their bond and trust grow stronger, which was good for the crew.
In the morning, all the visitors were kicked out of the hut thanks to Dadan, but they did say their goodbye to them. The group were walking towards the cliff that was facing the ocean. They stared out it with peace in their mind.
Zoro had enough peace and asked, "What now captain?"
Luffy answered with a smile, "I'm disbanding the crew-"
"WHAT!?" They all screamed cutting him off. Some of the crew had teary eyes while the rest had their eyes opened. "Why? Is it because we watched your past?"
"No, wait for me to finish!" Exclaimed Luffy, trying to calm down his crew. "It's only temporarily."
Everyone sighed out with relief. Even his brothers sighed. Their brother was still a mystery, but now that they knew some of his past, they could figure if out a bit.
"Why are we disbanding the crew captain-san?" Robin questioned.
"We're not strong enough, so we have to train by ourselves in our own areas to improve." Luffy answered. "I don't want to lose like we did in Sabaody Archipelago. If the New World is the same level, we won't make it. That's why I decided for all of us to train for 2 years and meet up at Sabaody Archipelago."
"That's a long time." Complained Chopper.
Usopp whined, "Yeah but if we don't want to die, we have to."
"How are we going to get there?" Sanji asked. "Are you going to send us there?"
Luffy shook his head. "Silvia will."
"The time goddess? Are you sure Luffy?" Ace looked unsure. "She was the one who made us watch your memories and she is also one of the gods."
"She owes me one, so she has no choice." Luffy laughed, which made everyone else sweat drop. They were talking about a goddess. Did he blackmail her as well?
Out of nowhere, a fox masked woman appeared. She was wearing the same clothes as before and was just floating there. All of her stared at her and she stared back.
"Hi?"
"Silvia." Luffy called out with a serious tone. "I heard that you showed them my memories."
"I did." Confirmed the goddess. "It was the only way to save you."
Luffy frowned. "You didn't have to make them watch my memories; you could have told them about the demon inside me. It was unnecessary."
Silvia sighed. "Fine, you win. What do you want me to do?"
Luffy smiled. "I want you to send them to a place where they can train to get stronger for 2 years."
"That's it?"
"Yep! Oh, and maybe return Sabo and Ace back with their nakama." Luffy added with a thoughtful look. "We wouldn't want them to stay in the East Blue."
"If that's it, then sure." Silvia said with a tired tone, she walked over to Zoro and let him say his goodbyes before he was going to his training space.
"You better get stronger captain." Zoro grinned then Silvia tapped him, making him disappear.
Moving onto Nami, the orange woman said, "I'll see you 2 years later!"
Once she was gone, it was Usopp's turn. "I'll become a strong warrior then become a brave warrior of the sea!"
"I'll make my cooking even better than it was before." Declared Sanji before he was tapped on the shoulder and disappeared.
"I'll study medicine and become a better doctor!" Exclaimed the reindeer as he was sent off from the island to his training ground.
"I'll see you later captain-san." Robin bid farewell.
Franky left while doing his pose. "AWO! I'll become even more SUPER! Just you wait Luffy-bro!"
"YOHOHOHOHOHO." Brook laughed as he left. "I can't wait for all of us to meet again."
Once all his crew were gone, Luffy smiled and looked at his brothers. It was their turn. The time goddess let them have their farewell as well.
"This is it." Sabo said. "We'll be separated again. Just remember whenever you're in trouble, just call for me and I'll come. Doesn't matter what I'm doing or whose orders I'm on, I'll be there."
"That's my line." Ace claimed. "But it goes the same for you Sabo. We wouldn't want you to 'die' again."
"Ha. Ha. Very funny." Sabo rolled his eyes.
Luffy laughed. "Shishishishishi. Call me and I'll be there when you're in trouble!"
"You're the one in trouble!" His brothers had shark teeth and looked at their younger brother.
"But Ace was the one was on the execution platform." Luffy reminded.
Sabo sighed. "You're both troublesome."
"OI!"
"I'll be leaving first." Sabo decided as he walked up to his brothers, giving them a group bear hug. "Remember, we're brothers and we'll be there for each other no matter what."
"You didn't have to remind me." Ace stated, while Luffy was laughing.
Releasing from the hug, Sabo made his way to Silvia and smiled at his brothers before disappearing. Ace sighed as he knew it was time for him to leave as well. Before making his way over to goddess, he smacked his brother on the back of his head.
"What was that for Ace?!"
"This is for entering the war, you're so reckless!"
"But it was to save you!" Luffy cried out. "I didn't want to lose another brother. Since we both thought that Sabo 'died', I thought that I was going to lose my last brother."
Ace sighed. "Luffy... I have my own nakama. I have my own crew. I can take care of myself, but thanks, I guess."
Strawhat smiled at his brother as he walked away from him and disappeared along with the goddess. He was by himself staring out at the sea. He may be alone, but he didn't feel like it. He was free at last, by he had to grow stronger so that he could protect his nakama, brothers and many others. To grow stronger to protect their freedom, along with his.
Luffy's wings appeared, and he flew into the sky. He was going back to Amazon Island to train. Maybe Hancock could train him. Whatever it was, he was going to grow stronger. With that, he sped off into the sky and headed back to the Grandline with a smile on his face.
The journey of becoming pirate king was just beginning.
The End
I hope you enjoyed it!
Until next time!