"Luffy": talk
"Sabo": whisper
"ACE": shout
"Gomu Gomu no": the skill's name
'idiot': thinking
<Joyboy>: voice of all things
-Syrup Village-
On an island, a boy who looked to be the same age as our favorite captain was standing on a cliff, looking toward the sea with a little sadness visible in his eyes. The young boy was more muscular than Luffy, he wore a pair of goggles on his head, his curly black hair was tied up in a bun, he was carrying a small bag full of different bullets on his right shoulder, and a gun on his left waist, while the black slingshot was on his other side. That boy was none other than Usopp.
Suddenly, he decided to take all the air into his lungs, and shouted as loud as he could while running down to the town.
"PIRATES! PIRATES ARE COMING! EVERYONE, PIRATES ARE COMING! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"
Then he stopped at the middle of the town, and burst out in laughter while saying
"Ahahahahahaha..............You have all been fooled by the great Usopp"
After that, Usopp quickly stopped laughing, ready his goggles and slingshot with normal rubber bullets that didn't do harm to anybody. He was waiting for something, while a grin was on his face
Suddenly, the people of the town came out of their houses, hands were holding all kinds of weapons. Some even threw their shoes or pots at him, but Usopp didn't seem to be scared at all.
"We're tired of you Usopp, you damn liar" the people said.
"But you guys make the best targets for my training", Usopp whined like a kid.
The young sniper then shot every single one of the townspeople in the head, not even missing one. After he made sure that everyone was shot, Usopp decided to run away with a satisfied smile in case those people wanted him dead for real after they got back to their feet.
-The crew-
"Luffy? You look..........different?" Nami asked
The navigator had just woke up from her sleep, and the first thing she saw in the morning was Luffy. But there was something different about him. Luffy's hair was full white, including his clothes. The captain was watching the sun rise while his back was facing her.
Zoro also woke up from the side of the ship and decided to follow Nami's graze. Looking at the white-haired kid who was trying to feel the wind go through his hair, Zoro was surprised to see his other crush was there. It was a rare sight for the swordman, since the white-haired kid didn't appear often, and Zoro only met him a few times.
"Loki? What are you doing here?"
Nami looked at Zoro confusingly. She didn't quite get what the swordman had said. Wasn't that Luffy? But when 'Luffy' turned around to face her, that was when Nami had noticed those bright yellow eyes. Now she was definitely sure this wasn't her captain. The white-haired boy had proved that he was more immediate and superior than Luffy just with the aura around him. It was like he was a god, and she needed to bow down to him.
"Zoro! Long time no see!" Loki said cheerfully.
"Yes, I miss you too", Zoro mumbled while a deep blush appeared on his face. Little did he know that Nami had noticed it.
"Uhm, care to explain?" Nami looked at Zoro amusingly
"Well, he is Luffy's other personality", Zoro explained while scratching his cheek.
"Nice to see you, Nami. I'm Monkey D. Loki, the other half of Luffy". Loki greeted her with a big smile.
"Why are you here, Loki?" Zoro asked him again.
"Lately, I noticed that Luffy hadn't been sleeping, so I forced him to sleep by coming here. And we'll change back when that idiot has a proper rest." Loki said.
"What do you mean by that? Lu-Loki?" Nami asked
Then, out of nowhere, Loki jumped into Zoro's arms and settle in. Zoro didn't seem to mind, so he let him stay like that. Besides, it wasn't the first time Luffy or Loki jumped into his arms like that. However, Nami seemed to be hyped by that moment, she was trying not to squeal out loud like a fangirl who saw their favorite ship. Loki then spoke up.
"Luffy has struggles when it comes to sleeping. He always has those horrible dreams in which everyone is dead in front of his eyes or he's alone in the dark, so instead of sleeping, Luffy decided to stay guard for you guys to sleep."
The information had made the other two stay silent. They weren't just shocked, but they also felt empathetic. Especially the swordman, he loved his captain deeply, but now he was even more overprotective than before. And not just Luffy, but also their future crewmates. Nami knew what it was like seeing your loved ones dying before your eyes. Even though it was just a dream, but Luffy must have experienced something in the past that caused him to be like that. Now not just Zoro, but Nami also wanted to protect the little sunshine that they called captain.
"Is there anything we could do to help him?" Nami asked worryingly.
"Well, try to make him feel comfortable. And make sure he eats enough. Because of his power, Luffy has to eat a larger meal than a normal D." Loki instructed.
Zoro and Nami quickly took notes. After that, they decided to spend time with Loki in the time being in order to know more about him until they reached their next stop.
It was noon when they arrived at their destination. As the island came into sight, both Zoro and Loki felt the nostalgic presence on the coast. As soon as they docked their ship, the boys decided to stretch their bodies and walked to the shore. It wasn't long before Nami also felt the presence.
"Someone is watching us" Nami said cautiously.
"Don't worry, Zoro will protect us, right?" Loki grined mischievously.
Zoro looked at the face Loki was making. He couldn't believe that he had fallen for this demon in disguise. But he couldn't say no to him either, so he could only nod at Loki's words while the red tint was still on his face.
The three of them then walked toward the town, but suddenly stopped by the scene of dozens of flags surrounding them, then a voice spoke up.
"Stop right there! I'm Captain Usopp, the great protector of this village! State your business here, or else my 800 million followers will chase you to the end of Hell!"
Zoro immediately recognized the owner of the voice, so he decided to play along.
"That was quite an impressive number of subordinates, don't you think, Captain?"
"SUGE~" Loki shouted with stars in his eyes while running around, looking at all the flags.
Nami didn't know what to do besides face palmed at Loki's antics. Even though the white-haired boy had a dangerous aura around him and proved that he was far stronger than Luffy, but he didn't seem much different from the black-haired captain. Nami then spoke up with a bored tone.
"He's clearly lying, you idiot."
"Shit! I have been found out" the voice exclaimed.
Loki then burst out laughing along with Zoro while Nami was looking uninterestingly. Usopp, who was behind those bushes with three other kids, quickly recognized one of the voices which belonged to a certain Marimo that he had met a while back when he was a kid. The young sniper quickly shot up and raised his slingshot.
"DON'T YOU DARE LAUGH, MARIMO!" Usopp shouted.
"What are you going to do then, Long-nose?" Zoro provoked while giving him a smirk.
"You asked for this, Marimo!" Usopp replied while also giving him a smirk.
Nami was scared looking at the scene since she didn't know the curly-haired boy, while Loki was amused by the tension between those two, as both of them didn't even move an inch. Suddenly, Usopp decided to move first. He quickly shot his bullets at Zoro and the swordman also quickly shielded himself with his sword. But that was it. Zoro didn't fight back while Usopp was lowering his slingshot. Then both of them were smiling at each other like old friends.
"It seems like you have improved a lot, Usopp" Zoro complimented.
"Of course, I have been training a lot, you know". Usopp rubbed his nose
"Try to impress someone?" Zoro said teasingly.
"W-What?! I-I'm not tr-trying to impress anyone!" Usopp stuttered while lowering his head to hide the blush
Zoro then laughed at the long-nose's reaction while putting his sword back in its sheath. Loki was looking confused because he didn't understand what Zoro had said to Usopp to make his face turn red like that. Suddenly, Loki remembered what Luffy had told him about his crew in the previous timeline, so he spoke up.
"Wait! Aren't you Yasopp's son? Then your sniper skill must be amazing!" Loki said with so much joy in one sentence.
Usopp was shocked that he knew his father. He decided to slide down to the trio from where he stood, then gave Zoro a questionable look. The swordman immediately caught the unspoken question, so he spoke up.
"You remember the 'Anchor' that old man and the crew always talked about?" Usopp nodded.
"And this is that famous 'Anchor'" Zoro said, while pointing at Loki.
"Yo, my name is Monkey D. Loki. Nice to meet you" Loki greeted
"I'm the great Usopp, and an old friend of Zoro." Usopp greeted back.
"Uhm, Usopp? Can we go somewhere else? We have something to talk with you", Nami said.
As soon as Nami stopped talking, Loki's stomach quickly growled to signal that he was hungry. Usopp then invited them to a restaurant in his town. When they arrived, Nami had noticed that the restaurant only had a sign that simply said 'Food', which showed that this was the only restaurant in this town. Besides, this town was very small, she was wondering if there was a doctor in town since she didn't see any hospital or infirmary on her way to here.
As they ate, Loki decided to know more about the new boy, so he asked Zoro and Usopp to tell him about their story, Nami also seemed quite interested. Listening to Usopp talking about his father and the Red Hair Pirates's adventures with admiration and pride, Zoro, Loki and Nami somehow felt happy for him. Usopp knew his dad was amazing, but it felt different to have someone to share the story about his dad's greatness than to be the only one, except his mom, to know about it.
Suddenly, he remembered that they had something to talk to him, so Usopp decided to ask
"Earlier you said that you guys have something to talk to me, right?"
"Ah, we almost forgot" Nami said.
"I was the one who told them to come here. Since we needed a sniper, so care to join us, Sniper King?" Zoro asked.
"I would love to join the crew, but I still need something to do, so I'll give you my answer later" Usopp said.
"OK, so the next question. Do you know where we could buy a proper ship?" Nami asked.
"As you've already seen, this town is quite small, so I can't really help you with that. I'm sorry" Usopp said guiltily.
"What about that mansion? I'm sure the people living in there could help us" Loki casually said while still putting food into his already full mouth.
"How did you......?" Usopp was shocked, but he quickly recovered.
"You don't need to go there! Besides, they can't really help you, so you have to find a ship somewhere else".
Usopp then looked at his empty wrist and excused himself, saying that he had to go somewhere else. The crew decided to let him be and they turned back to their meal. After a while, Loki suddenly fell down to the table with his face dug into the noodles, which caused Nami to jump. The navigator looked at the young captain with concern, but Zoro didn't seem to care at all, he kept eating like nothing happened
"Don't worry, he has narcolepsy and so does his family" The green-haired boy comforted her.
Then they saw Loki's hair and clothes changing colors, which Nami had guessed that Loki and Luffy were changing place. The now black-haired boy suddenly sat up, some of the food still on his face, which made him look very ridiculous. Nami couldn't hold herself, so she burst into laughter while Zoro used the tissues to help the captain clean his face, a smile also on the swordman's face. Luffy didn't know what to do besides pouting at his situation. Nami then stopped laughing and told him what had happened when he wasn't there.
Suddenly, the three little kids, who had helped Usopp a while back, came rushing into the restaurant, nearly falling over each other. The crew found them quite hilarious. Then, out of nowhere, Nami, Zoro and Luffy decided to cause some mischief. They were smiling evilly while looking at the kids, which caused the younger trio to shiver.
"WHERE IS THE CAPTAIN? WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?" One of them stood to the front and shouted at the crew with all of his courage even though his legs were still shaking.
Luffy then gave out a burp while patting his big belly satisfyingly, even though he didn't eat anything.
"Nihahahahahaha......What a good meal! I'm so full now". Luffy laughed.
This got the kids to look at him with a horrifying look. Zoro then looked at them amusingly while Nami gave out some giggles.
"About your captain". Zoro tried to put on the most evil grin that he could think of.
"He was delicious", Nami finished while her face was on her hands and her elbows were on the table. She also gave them an evil smile just like the swordman, which caused those kids to scream out loud in fear.