Chapter Text
“…she’s so dang tiny, how’d we make something so small and perfect…” Luffy wrinkled his nose, wondering why Gramps sounded so weepy as a gentle finger swept over his head. Luffy wanted to open his eyes, but it was a struggle.
“You said the same thing when Dragon was born,” A soft voice Luffy didn’t recognize responded, with a soft laugh, and he was shifted, his whole body being moved like he didn’t weigh a thing. Luffy managed to crack open his eyes, nuzzling into the soft skin that his cheek was cradled against. His vision was blurry but clearing little by little.
“Ah, look at those eyes!” Gramps boomed, and his face came into focus. “As pretty as her mother’s!”
Luffy blinked and stared, transfixed, at his Gramps' face. And it was Gramps. No doubt about that. Except that he was about forty years younger than the last time Luffy had seen him. Not a hint of silver in his black hair, the only wrinkles in his skin were the laugh lines at the corners of his eyes.
“Garp, you’re shouting,” Luffy squirmed and looked up at the woman whose chest he was cuddling against. This would be his grandma. Or is she his mother now? Dark-eyed, dark-haired, with tanned skin, Monkey D. Nari looked just like the picture Garp had kept in the breast pocket of his jacket at all times. “Do you want our daughter’s first memory to be of you shouting in her face?”
From the corner of his eye, Luffy saw Garp pout, holding out one thick finger near Luffy’s face, muttering, “...am not,” petulantly, before brightening as Luffy grabbed his finger, “Nari, look how strong she is!”
Nari softened, the exhausted lines of her face disappearing as a smile blossomed, “She’s our kid; she’s gonna be the strongest.”
“Damn straight!”
Luffy suffered as his grandparents, now his parents, cooed over him, his mind working.
Monkey D. Luffy was not an old man on his deathbed anymore.
Monkey D. Luffy was not a man at all anymore.
Monkey D. Luffy was now a baby girl.
His gramps and the gram who had died long before his original birth were now his dad and mom.
Was he even Luffy anymore?
Once they name you, your consciousness will merge with the kid’s, Luffy will cease to exist, and you’ll just be her. The voice came from somewhere in the deepest recesses of his mind, and though it wasn’t familiar, it was comforting.
This is the second chance you wished for, remember? To right the wrongs you hadn’t been able to help last time, like Ohara, or Tom’s death at the hands of CP9 on Water 7 or Arlong’s invasion into the East Blue. This is that chance!
As a girl?
Hey, listen, we couldn’t just toss you into just anyone. This baby, the one you’re currently occupying like an invading foreign power? She never got the chance to live last time. She died shortly after she was born, and your grandma followed soon after, thanks to some pretty serious complications.
But now we both get to live?
Yup, we interfered as much as we could and saved both lives, merging you with the baby in the process. Once the merge is complete, she’ll have your memories, but none of the experience. She’ll have to gain that all by herself.
Ah, man, so I’m back at square one?
Yup. With no Devil Fruit, either. Or at least, not the one you’re used to.
Damn. So what will I be able to do?
You’ll be sort of like her conscience.
Can I pick her path?
If you want.
Luffy grinned. Well, mentally, he grinned, what little control he had over his newborn body was ebbing. The merge must have already started, as above him, Garp and Nari started talking about what to name him. He considered his options. He could do the pirate thing again; he’d been damn good at it, after all, but staring up at Gramps, looking more vibrant than Luffy had ever seen him, Luffy had a different idea.
I think this time, maybe I’ll be a marine.
You sure? You know how bad they get.
Yeah, that’s the point.
…I see. The voice sounded thoughtful, and Luffy knew it understood what he meant. They’re about to name you; last chance to change your mind.
I’m sure.
“...You named Dragon; I get to name her!” The soft grin on his face offsets Garp’s accusatory tone.
Nari adjusted her grip on Luffy and snorted, waving one hand, “Fine, fine. What’re you thinking?”
“Luma.”
“Luma? What’s a Luma?”
“Like Luminary! Look at her, she’s like a ray of sunshine already, and she ain’t even ten minutes old.”
“Shouldn’t that be Lumi then?”
“L-u-m-a-n-a-r-y.”
“That second ‘a’ should be an ‘i’, dear.”
“Ah, shit, really?”
“Yes.”
Garp pouts for a second, “But Luma sounds nicer.”
Nari hummed and played the name around in her mind as she gazed adoringly at her sleepy-eyed baby girl, an odd alertness still lighting those dark irises. Slowly nodding, she saw Garp beam at her, “Monkey D. Luma it is.”