I don't KNOW OKAY
Have this little concept in mind that the reason why Luffy covers his eyes with the brim of his hat or with his bangs is because it starts to look like how his eyes look like in Gear 5th.
Basically, whenever he's feeling a strong emotion; his devil fruit's real abilities surface. His eyes are just the only thing indicating the change.
of course, there's SanLu
***
Blood. Smoke. The horrible stench of burning rubber filling the air.
A man cladded in red grinned devillishly as he pulled his magma-coated fist back; the limp body of his victim falling forward.
The Whitebeard pirate crew watched, mortified at what they had just witnessed.
Ace's... Ace's brother just-
"L-LUFFY!!!" The world halted when another wave of Conqueror's haki shot out from yet another D-bearer, this time; strong enough to make even Akainu, the bastard, waver. Giving Newgate the chance to release his wrath onto the admiral.
Portgas D. Ace ran to the side of his younger brother's, the little boy that he raised without any aid from anyone else (the exception of the Dadan family and the kind barmaid in Foosha Village.), side. His entire body shaking, sweaty hands collecting the limp body; cradling the dying-
"Luffy... Luffy, Don't do this." He frantically whispered, his quivering hand cupping the cheek where Luffy's crescent scar rested. Ebony brown eyes were quickly losing their light as the young captain was at death's door.
A bittersweet smile lifted the corners of his mouth after he had coughed up a concerning amount of blood. "I s-saved you..." The younger man's eyes started to well up tears of his own when he realized what was about to happen.
"I- I'm sorry fo-r being... careless..." The 2nd Division commander hugged his dying younger brother, hopelessly clinging to the young man like a lifeline while his Oyaji brutally murdered the man that had given his younger brother the gaping hole in the first place.
Luffy had been quiet after he had mumbled his last words to his brother...
The helpless tears became angry.
The best thing to have ever happened to him was gone.
Portgas D. Ace, a man made of fire, a head-strong commander of the Whitebeard pirates, screamed in agony, pain, sorrow.
His crew brothers gave their youngest a look of sympathy, life as a pirate was hard, there was loss, betrayal, misunderstandings. But seeing their short-tempered brother breaking down and crying for this pirate rookie gave them a clear message.
Straw hat Luffy was Ace's heart.
And without a heart. Nothing can function properly.
"Ace. Ace, we have TO GO!" An older blond man tried to shake the Fire Fist out of his pained dazed. Ace could mourn his lost later, when they were safe, where his brother could be given a proper burial.
"Marco... Do I.... Deserve to live?"
***
Garp's head was slammed to the ground, the aging marone hero was bleeding from the head and it dripped from his forehead to his chin. Angry tears running down his face as he tried to fight back his old friend's hold on him.
The marine hero didn't even need to tell the Fleet Admiral to hold him down, one swift movement from him and he was sent baralling to the ground.
Ace's grief-filled, ear-splitting cry echoed through the battlefield. The marines cheered when they heard the so-called 'Demon Child' mourn, they happily cheered as his eldest grandson break down at the face of the world's cruelty.
Garp knows he's breaking too. The marine hero knew he wasn't a great grandfather but he was thinking of clearing things up if he ever saw his grandsons again. However, this time? He doesn't think it would happen.
"Luffy... My grandson..." He murmured softly to himself, "MY FUCKING GRANDCHILD!" The marine hero stood up, the buddha no mi user's eyes widened when hsi friend was actually rising to his feet.
Sengoku knew something had awoken in Garp.
Something ferocious, something to be feared, something that would make him see him in a different light.
Maybe he should quit before the marines actually manage to kill Fire Fist.
***
Shanks looked disheveled, Buggy knew it wasn't the time for him to reprimand the red-haired captain.
He had the exact same expression he had after Captain Roger's execution. His eyes were a storm of emotions, the eyes of an angered beast. Shanks turned into someone Buggy coukd barely recognize before.
However, after the red-haired man visited a certain place in the East Blue and returned with a missing hat and arm. He had returned to his former self. Partying, laughing, and bright.
Buggy wordlessly turns away from his former crew member and fellow apprentice. Maybe he should go look for the bastard's straw hat.
And history repeats...
The pink-haired marine that was on the ground, in fear of the Emperor, Shanks could see he was mourning too. For the same person.
"G-gomen...nasai..." Coby was his name, he whispered under his breath.
Shanks felt the haki of his crew right behind him, the gathered around. He could feel their haki flaring in anger, Luffy, their anchor, the kid they had all silently agreed to adopt into their crew, was...gone.
"I am here to stop this war."
Captain, Rouge-san, please look after anchor... After all, he did take care of your son.
"Anyone who thinks otherwise is welcome to fight the Red-haired Pirates!"
Anchor, I'll miss you. I hope you'll feel better in the other side.
***
Dum dat dada...
Drumming.
Where in the world is the drumming coming from? What?
A supposedly dead body started to stand up, although clumsily, the bloody thin cloth covering him slipped off when his feet stood their ground. The supposedly dead pirate's posture was slumped, that didn't stop him from raising his head.
"He- HE-"
"HE'S ALIVE!"
"GET AWAY FROM HIM! HE'S AN ACTUAL DEMON!"
"M- monster! MONSTER!"
Marines shrieked left and right when they had witnessed the hole regenerate, a disturbing sound was made when burned organs rebuilt itself and flesh covered the injury like it was never there. Which wasn't true since there was now an 'x' scar.
What scared them most was his eyes, they were just like the Warlord Mihawk's! Golden eyes of a hawk...
"Holy shit, Anchor..."
Luffy saw a man with a missing arm and red hair.
After that, he started to feel dizzy again. He crashes to the ground again, his hawk eyes fading back to his ebony brown. Luffy crashes back to the ground.
***
The straw hats were on the Whitebeard Pirates ship, the Moby Dick, Edward Newgate could only sympathize with the rookies. Each had a depth of sorrow on their faces, but what caught his eyes the most was the blond one. Black Leg Sanji.
He was the cook of the Straw hats and rumor has it that he was also Straw Hat Luffy's lover. The man had been silent, staring at the 2nd Division commander; his eyes frantically shaking- begging for it to be some sort of cruel joke and for the supernova to pop out of no where to receive a scolding.
When Ace had reluctantly informed them of the aftermath of the war, how his crew brothers managed to convice him to leave without the body, how they had entrusted him with Red-haired Shanks.
Their reactions wasn't something to joke about, surprisingly, the first one to break was the Archeologist. Nico Robin. The others soon followed after, the reindeer doctor spouted about how he had dissapointed all of them after being welcomed to the crew, he was hugged by the sharpshooter. He was Yasopp's son, the old man could tell.
The first mate was gripping Wado Ichimonji's hilt tightly, to the point where there were veins showing. The skeleton musician stared up into the sky, questioning what he had done to deserve two of his captains ruthlessly take from him, the Cyborg Shipwright hadn't known the young man for long but there was twinges of guilt.
The orange-haired navigatir tried to console the archeologist, she tried to be strong, it was what her captain wanted after all. The pain was too unbearable, but she had to push through for the future of this crew.
"OYAJI! IT'S THE RED FORCE!"
The Straw hat crew had practically changed, the Red Force equals Red-haired Shanks. The very same Shanks that had saved their captain long ago, the same Shanks where their captain had received his starw hat from...
"Permission to board?" They were thinking so deeply and were lost in thought; the Red Force was mere feet away from the Moby Dick now. The captain asked for permission from Whitebeard.
"Permission granted you gaki... Make it quick, my crew and I aren't in the mood-" Newgate froze and cuy himself off, this haki signature... Hadn't it faded away after Akainu had..? Shanks smirked at the disbelief, the same reaction he had.
The red-haired man's eyes stung, tears threatening to fall when his anchor, his pirate prince, stood back up. The gaping hole regenerating as steam clouds came out. Luffy raised his chin, no doubt his messy bangs getting in the way.
"Anchor?!" Shanks gasped at the sight of familiar hawk eyes, but the pupil wasn't slitted; it was still a circle... Anchor's eyes were golden.
It faded back to his brown eyes and he collapsed. Luffy would've met the ground face flat again if it weren't for Shanks.
The Red-haired captain dropped his cutlass when he felt Benn's haki was near by, he held the young man for dear life.
Luffy was okay, Anchor was okay, it was a miracle. A fucking miracle.
"Yasopp? Wanna board too? Usopp's here." Shanks gleefully called out to his own sharpshooter when he pointed to Anchor's. The long-nosed teen sputtered, his tear shot eyes going wide comically, that's right! His dad was part of the Red-haired Pirates!
"Really captain? I wanted to make a cool entrance!" Yasopp was cleaning his ears with his pinkie, sneering at his captain, his gaze trails off to his son. His teenage son who was becoming a man... A man who thought he had lost his captain.
"Oh, while you're at it. Help Anchor get on." Yasopp was already out of their line of sight, he comes back dragging a mobile IV stand that was connected to someone, blood was currently being transferred to them.
The straw hats watched wearily at the interaction, Shanks seemed far too happy to be appearing strong after his loss or did he simply just not care? Zoro's teeth grounded together at that thought. Robin had calmed down, hugging Nami close who was breathing heavily as she tried to compose herself infront of two emperors.
"OI!!! YOU GUYS!!!" Like they were all waking up from a nightmare, Luffy of all people rises from the deck and waves with the hand that was connected to the IV. "I SAID BE CAREFUL ANCHOR!"
"I wanna go to them! I wanna go to themmm!!!" Luffy whined loudly, his arm starting to hurt after moving it around so much so quickly.
"BAKA, DON'T MOVE YOUR HAND LIKE THAT!" Out of sheer reflex, Chopper reprimands his captain; forgetting for a second that he was meant to be dead.
It took all of them a minute to process it.
Luffy was alive. Having a bickering match with an Emperor and his sharpshooter, the first mate of the Red-haired pirates helps the still-healing young captain of the Straw Hats. Benn could tell that they were still in disbelief.
"Luffy..." Ace was the first to walk forward. An 'x' scar replaced the gaping hole, the younger brother grinned whole-heartedly at his older brother and Ace's heart squeezed.
"I told you I'd come back! I made a promise to you, remember?!"
"I'll... C-come ho- ..me, promise..."
Luffy never broke a promise, he'd defy death if he had to keep one. Ace figured that out, only now. Luffy was Luffy, very much unlike his big brother but at the same time so similar.
However, Ace almost always breaks his promises; take marineford for example. He promised not to die yet he almost did.
Luffy, on the other hand, promised to come back and he did.
"Luffy...!" The Fire Fist broke down once more, feeling complete again. These weren't tears of mourning, it was happiness, relief... He couldn't believe it but it was a such a dream come true.
Ace hugged Luffy as tight as he could. As if he loosened his grip he'd vanish into thin air, the straw hat captain giggled and oly hugged back. Ace wasn't willing to let go but Luffy needed to reunite with his crew.
Reluctantly, he lets him free and his crew ambushes him into a dog pile. With the captain up top, Chopper checked over his injuries and then checked the IV drops, Nami and Sanji started to cry again while scolding the captain for being reckless, the first mate; Roronoa Zoro had seemed to calm down, his haki wasn't so dangerous anymore. Nico Robin had a relieved smile on her face but still had puffy eyes. Brook was singing Luffy's favorite sea shanty for him, the young man clapped like a child and sang along. Franky and Usopp started to tell him scrap ideas they had for new inventions.
The crew had lightened up the atmosphere. The Whitebeard's felt like a weight had been lifted off of them and this sudden change of behavior and tone was due to a super rookie, a man mad enough to punch a Celestial Dragon, mad enough to burn down the Government Flag. Monkey D. Luffy was truly a blessing in disguise.
"Never again..." Shanks heard Ace murmur.
"Crystal clear, Ace."
Crystal Clear.
***
"Phew! I'm glad he ate that devil fruit!" The Pirate King, Gol D. Roger wiped the bead of sweat thay ran down his forehead.
"We would've been done for..." The mother of Black Leg Sanji, Sora, sweatdropped as she slumped over on the cloud.
"I was scared of what would happen to Ace if he really did die." The wife of the Pirate King, Rouge, had sagged. A hand on her beating heart as she furrowed her brows at the memory of her son's pain-filled screams.
"Don't get me started on his crew..." Bellemere, a former marine woman, twirled her gun with just her index finger while she blew out a cloud of smoke.
"Yep. They're a giant mess." Kuina, a young dark blue-haired girl raised her hand as if to add her own opinion.
"I'm thankful he exists." A loaf-headed man commented, looking down at the circle the clouds created for them to get a good look on what their family has been up to.
Thatch smiled when Ace had started to scold their youngest brother. They all laughed when it was Ace who got scolded back.
***
Dragon's haki was flaring in hatred and anger, veins visible on his forehead and neck, his eyes closed as he tried to contain his Conqueror's haki. His eyes stung.
Sabo wasn't doing good as well, he was shaking. This couldn't be right. He just remembered them, the world doesn't have the right to do this to them! Sabo gulped down a lump of anxiety, why was he thinking like this anyway.
Why had he started to say that it was unfair? He barely knew Straw Hat Luffy, besides the fact that he is his Boss' son (mind you, he isn't taking the news well.)
Sabo! Let's be free together then!
"No... God, please... No!" Sabo screamed his heart out, his throat sore from his loud wailing, why his baby brother? What did Lu do to this world? Are they really this blind-sighted to the Celestial Dragons that they just... Just DO THIS?!
***
To be continued... Part 2 coming soon!