Chapter Text
10 Years to Departure
“Hey, Shanks.”
Still sprawled on the ground between the barstools and with alcohol running in rivulets down his face, Shanks turned away from his laughing crewmates to glance back at seven-year-old Luffy.
“Thanks for bringing my fruit back to me again!”
“Hah?”
Eyes bugging out at the remainder of the purple fruit skin and green stem sticking out of Luffy’s mouth, Shanks immediately leapt to his feet with his heart in his throat.
To be so close to kickstarting the prophecy—Captain Roger’s prophecy—after all he had done, all he had sacrificed, just to have it all slip through his fingers because a little kid chose the wrong snack… The thought was unbearable.
“You—you! Luffy, what did you do?!”
“Shishishi!” With one last swallow, the fruit of Shanks’s labor (literally!) disappeared, stem and all. A red gleam of the eyes and a white shine to his hair swept over Luffy’s visage like mist, and disappeared just as suddenly. “My ultimate move! Gum Gum Bounce Back!”
Not bothering to process those nonsensical words, Shanks grabbed the child by the ankles and lifted him up, shaking him in a fit of madness. “Spit it out, Luffy! Spit it out!” All that accomplished was the boy’s legs stretching out like taffy and the rest of his body splatting against the floorboards.
There was momentary silence from all in the bar before Luffy’s body sprang back up and swung around like an accordion. Luffy exploded in joyous laughter.
“Relax, Shanks! I’ve bounced back a buncha times already. This should be the last one though. I’ll kick Imu’s ass this time for sure!”
Shanks’s hands went slack. Behind him, Beckman inhaled sharply and Yasopp seemed to choke.
Rayleigh once said, sometime after they returned from Laugh Tale and Shanks and a recovered Buggy returned to the Oro Jackson, that reality and truth was more ridiculous than fiction and lies.
Shanks wasn’t sure at the time why the man was so insistent about it.
But now, faced with a giggling rubbery child and a name that sends icy tendrils of dread along his left arm, Shanks could do nothing else but place a hand over his eyes and mutter, “Oh, this is ridiculous alright.”
***
Zoro blinked.
He looked around and found himself in the empty yard behind the Shimotsuki Dojo.
Frowning to himself, he wondered how he should go about his training this time around.
He shrugged.
Well, a simple test of his haki just to make sure it was all functioning. Then, continue strength exercises to accommodate his young body while practicing sword forms to enforce muscle memory.
He’ll just feel out when it’s time to head off the island and make his way to Luffy.
***
“What are you up to, Sweetie?”
Usopp could hear the puzzlement in his mother’s voice as he began to make a ruckus in the kitchen next to her bedroom. He knew that for all he liked to shout up and down the streets of the village every day, he was known to be a calm and quiet child when in the house out of consideration for his mother’s bedrest.
But this time he had a mission that would contribute to his mother’s long-term health so he figured he would eventually be forgiven. He did wince though as some pots toppled over into a neverending cascade of metallic clangs.
“I talked to a really skilled doctor, Mom! He gave me the recipe for a new medicine for you to try!”
Banchina made a skeptical noise.
Rushing to her side, Usopp waved a scrap of paper in front of her face. “And I swear this isn’t just a made-up story, either! Here’s the list of ingredients. All natural and normal things, see? Even—even if you don’t believe me, please just try it anyway! Please!”
Stealing a well worn tactic from Nami, Usopp stuck out his lower lip and gazed imploringly at his mother. As he was still in the body of a child, he knew the efficacy of his method of persuasion increased by 80%, at least.
Gently taking the paper from Usopp, Banchina skimmed its contents. She raised an eyebrow at what was obviously the boy’s handwriting, but didn’t point it out as she finished reading.
“Well, you’re right that these are all normal foods and herbs,” she started hesitantly, but a fondness crept in as she continued, “and I guess this is quite the unusual combination. So who knows? This might just be the miracle cure to get me up and going again! And I can’t say no to my little warrior, after all.” She placed a hand on Usopp’s cheek. “Go ahead and start making it. But make sure to ask the neighbors for help before you turn on the stove!”
Usopp cheered outwardly while inside he gave a sigh of relief.
He just hoped he recalled Chopper’s instructions correctly. Though, he’d be quite the doofus to already forget it all when it was the last thing he was told before Luffy bounced them all back again.
***
9 Years to Departure
The air pressure dropped dramatically.
It was going to be today. Thanks to Nami’s lessons in weather reading, Sanji knew it down to his bones.
In all his time on the Orbit, there was never a storm quite like the one approaching. Not until the day a certain crew of pirates would attack it.
As a trainee chef—and a mere child at that—there wasn’t much Sanji could do to change the ship’s course while he was on it. The best he could do was scare passengers away by adopting some of Usopp’s silly pranks and making use of his haki to turn the ship into a “haunted cruise.” It still attracted some ghost hunters and fanatics here and there, but with the severe drop in patronage and the many cuts to the staff and crew in the year since Sanji bounced back, there were hundreds less people who will fall victim to the storm and ensuing shipwreck.
Sanji couldn’t ever do anything for the shitty geezer’s old crew either, but after a dozen or so times bouncing back, he made peace with the fact that not everyone could be saved. He had his own precious people to look out for and in this case, it was Zeff and the handful of chefs on the Orbit who he got to know so much better in the year he relived and worked with them, over and over and over again.
When the final damning wave envelops both ships, Sanji fights to stay conscious until he can sense that his fellow chefs are already far, far away from the worst of the storm, drifting along on their emergency boat that Sanji had strong-armed them all into before the Cook Pirates even attacked.
As a familiar arm grabs hold of him amongst the sinking wreckage, Sanji finally lets his conscience—and consciousness—rest.
***
Weighing the two potatoes in her hands, Nami squints and gives a considering hum.
Then she sighs and places them back. “These are really good potatoes, mister. I want to pay you for what they’re worth but with the berri I earned at the farm yesterday I guess I’ll have to get them from a worse stall.” She sighs again, a low slump to her shoulders.
“Oh, my dear, don’t you worry about that,” the merchant was quick to reply. He lifted a hand to his face and whispered, “Just for you, I can give you a discount. Just be sure to tell all your neighbors about the best produce merchant in the East Blue!”
Nami’s eyes sparkled. “Gee, mister! You’re so cool!”
Once an entire sack of potatoes was in her grasp and she was only a mere 200 berri lighter, Nami skipped down the boardwalk and back into the village.
“And where did you learn to be so crafty?”
Nami turned and playfully stuck out her tongue with a wink. “I told you! From the future!”
Hand on her hip, Belle-mere rolled her eyes. “Of course. That’s your excuse for everything. I swear one of these days I’ll get an actual answer out of you.” She sighs and puts her hands up in a shrug. “Well, it was that merchant's choice to lowball himself like that.”
Nojiko popped up beside her, bright-eyed. “Potatoes! Hey, maybe we can start a potato garden to go with the tangerine grove!”
Nami smiled as she watched her mother and sister chat and make plans as they all cheerily walked home.
Belle-mere was always a tough one to try and convince about time travel. Though admittedly, Nami never tried too hard. She was content to let Belle-mere think she was playing pretend, to let them live out their lives peacefully as a family before the call of the sea became too strong for her.
Jinbei made a promise to her. He made a promise before every single leap back in time.
“Arlong will not touch Cocoyasi Village nor any waters of the East Blue,” he said.
“Our captain is so good at bringing freedom to his nakama. And his nakama can bring freedom to each other, too,” he promised.
They’ve “bounced back,” as Luffy likes to call it, fifty-six times now. Fifty-five lives have passed in which Nami hasn’t seen Arlong even once.
It has gotten harder to remember what his face looked like. This time around, she may no longer even remember the pain.
***
A young blue-nosed reindeer trudged through the forest, trailing several yards behind the last of the herd.
He had no name. He had no parents. He had no dreams beyond survival and belonging.
He didn’t know it yet, but in three years’ time, he’ll eat a strange fruit and finally have all that and more.
His future family could not do more to help him until then. Attempts were made in previous lives but it always delayed the appearance of the fruit. It simply had to happen on its own.
And when he finally takes that bite, he will remember.
He’ll have memories of the sea and the sun and the safety and the smiles.
Then he’ll get up on his hind legs and he’ll run run run to a quack doctor and cry his heart out to the man’s utmost confusion.
They’ll sit down and talk and he will introduce himself as Tony Tony Chopper.
Doctor Tony Tony Chopper.
***
5 Years to Departure
It was the easiest task in the world to strike a partnership with Monkey D. Dragon.
The Revolutionaries were already seeking Robin out in the year she was transported to via Luffy’s powers. In her first life she was an experienced archaeologist and highly skilled spy. Just give her a day and she’d find the closest Revolutionary to her down to the exact square meter. By the twelfth bounce back, she could find Dragon within a week.
She wouldn’t actually do it, of course. No need to scare the #1 most wanted man in the world as a first impression.
Instead, she found a calm innocuous island in the West Blue with a bustling city and let a Revolutionary member come to her. It was once she accepted the invitation to their base of operations that she would finally meet Dragon face to face.
He explained the RA’s cause, expressed his remorse and sympathies about Ohara, and offered out a hand for Robin to join them.
“Thank you.” she had said. “But rather than ‘comrade,’ would you be open to calling me ‘ally’ instead?”
“Why is that?” he had inquired with no judgment in his voice.
Robin had given an easy smile. She knew who Dragon had met before coming back to Baltigo. “I have to get back to my captain at some point, right?”
Without missing a beat, he had returned in kind, “Luffy would never forgive me if I kept his nakama from him.”
No, he certainly wouldn’t. Whether it was an enemy pirate, an enemy government entity, or even his own father, Luffy would tear the world apart to bring his nakama back to his side.
And no, Dragon did not know this because he also joined the Straw Hats in bouncing back in time. He knew this because his own son made the choice to seek him out when he was at Dawn Island.
Robin had giggled and cheekily asked, “So you took one of his brothers with you instead?”
All she received from that was what she described as stubborn silence.
Suffice it to say, the start of her alliance with the Revolutionary Army was smooth sailing.
She would say she hoped the same for her partnership with Sir Crocodile, who should be seeking her out any day now, but what would be the fun in that?
***
“I heard you were looking for a secretary.”
Iceberg looked up from his newspaper and frowned. “Would it kill you to at least knock before you break into my house?”
Crossing through Iceberg’s living room and sinking into the couch across from said man, Franky lifted up a newly opened cola. “If it really bothered you, you’d stop stocking your fridge with these. Anyway, answer the question.”
Despite rolling his eyes, Iceberg did so. “As a matter of fact, yes, I am. It’s one thing being CEO of a new company, but mayor of a city too? Someone needs to handle my schedule just so I know when to sleep.”
“I’ve got some recommendations, then,” Franky exclaimed as he set the cola down on the coffee table and swung open a compartment within his massive left bicep.
Iceberg was never going to get used to the new body Franky built himself. The explanation Franky gave for it was just as absurd.
When Tom was put to retrial after the completion of the sea train, he ended up claiming with pride the title of shipbuilder of the Oro Jackson, and was thus taken to Impel Down. Franky had managed to intercept and infiltrate the ship Tom was on, but their mentor told Franky to leave him to his imprisonment. To this day, Iceberg did not know how Franky could give up on saving Tom so easily.
After that, apparently Franky made his way to some island rumored to be the hometown of Dr. Vegapunk and that is where he made the modifications to his body. Two years later, he returned to Water 7 a massive cyborg with unfathomable functions and the ability to swim through the ocean and breathe underwater like a fishman.
Not only that, but instead of helping to found the Galley-La Company with Iceberg, he spent his days on the coast gathering a band of rowdy outcasts.
When pressed for answers, the best Iceberg ever got was that Franky planned to leave again one day but in the meantime, he would watch Iceberg’s back. Who from? Well, considering all the relentless hounding by the World Government for some particular blueprints, he could take a good guess.
It was a wonder Iceberg didn’t drink more, but perhaps he was just too much of a workaholic to be an alcoholic.
“You know a good secretary?” Iceberg responded skeptically. “Well, I might as well hear you out.”
Without a word, Franky handed over the papers he retrieved from his bicep compartment. Looking them over, Iceberg raised an eyebrow.
“This Mozu and Kiwi are literally children.”
“You and I were around that age when we first apprenticed under Tom.”
“Yes. We were apprentices. What I need is a skilled, responsible, and experienced secretary.”
“Good point. So they’ll be your apprentices.”
“I—” Iceberg sighed. Why did he even try? “I’ll at least give them an interview. Considering their ages, if they are actually valid candidates then having two of them means they can share the workload. And if they aren’t…well, I’ll see for myself if they would make fitting apprentices.”
Franky grinned and went back to downing his cola. Iceberg took the time to set the papers at his desk where he would find them again.
“There’s one other thing I came here to talk about.”
“Oh?” He returned to his armchair, folding up his newspaper.
“Did Tom ever tell you about Pluton?”
Iceberg froze in the middle of placing the newspaper down.
“No. But…a government official once mentioned it. I don’t think he meant to let it slip but it seems to be something the World Government is searching for.”
Franky clasped his hands together and leaned forward, face the most serious Iceberg had ever seen.
“I can tell you about it then. At this point it’s better you know too much than too little. But let me ask first: are you willing to hear the full truth and prepared to deal with the consequences?”
That made Iceberg quite apprehensive.
“Can you at least tell me what the risks are first?”
Franky laughed. “Sure. They’re not too crazy actually, considering Tom and I burned the blueprints to Pluton years ago.”
On second thought, Iceberg should have been drinking more since yesterday.
***
2 Years to Departure
“Yohohoho! Take a look at this, Jinbei!”
“The concert ended only ten minutes ago and you’re already reading the paper?”
Brook laughed again as Jinbei closed the door to his dressing room. As the fishman said, Soul King’s concert had only just ended and Brook wasn’t even fully out of his costume yet.
Since a year ago, Brook made it a habit to check the News Coo deliveries every week. He was eager to be the first to see any articles or photos of Ace or Sabo, as he was sure either one or both of them would set out to be a pirate by then. And sure enough, the news he was waiting for finally arrived.
“It’s a good thing I am! Look here. Ace has already made it into the Grand Line, and with an impressive 35 million berri bounty to start!”
A grin spread across Jinbei’s face. “Ace, you say? Sounds like things have been going well for Luffy then.”
“Oh, how I miss our captain,” Brook sighed. “We’re still a good two years away.”
“Think of it this way, Brook. That’s two years in which you can write a new album and go on one more tour.”
“My, my! I think you’re getting a little too comfortable being my manager,” Brook exclaimed jokingly. “To think, your true motive was to work me to the bone! Yohohoho!”
Jinbei laughed along with him. He plucked off the sunglasses and mustache disguise that was sitting on his face. “If I didn’t have to hide my identity from the government as Sharkus Jimmy, I wouldn’t have minded continuing to do this work! But, I also do miss our captain and crew. And I’m sure Laboon is eager to meet them as well.”
Goodness knows how he was able to hide in plain sight all this time. In the first year of this bounce back, Jinbei declined the invitation for a Warlord position and the government took that as the green light to actively hunt the fishman down.
Supposedly—Brook heard this through the grapevine of his fanbase—the Marines thought that Jinbei’s capture and execution would permanently disband the Sun Pirates and discourage any other fishmen or merfolk from turning to piracy.
Such narrow minded thinking, as if races of people were a monolith and all fishmen and merfolk thought alike.
Alas, Jinbei expertly evaded capture all these years by rescuing Brook from the Florian Triangle, escorting him to the Twin Capes to reunite with Laboon, and—after a silly series of events that would take too much time to explain at this moment—assuming an alter ego: Sharkus Jimmy, the stoic no-nonsense manager to the rising music star Soul King.
Brook had another purpose for seeking stardom in this life as well.
If this was to be their last bounce back, the skeleton man wanted to create something lasting, not just for his crew to keep close to their hearts, but for them to share with the world.
Brook began to write songs detailing their adventures, not so much as a play by play, but with metaphor and poetry and dynamic imagery. Each Straw Hat was given a theme that Brook found fitting for them and he hoped they felt the love through the melodies, wherever in the world they currently were.
“Speaking of meeting,” Brook began, “I think it’s time we start that VVIP List, Mr. Manager.”
Jinbei laughed in response. “How long do you think it’ll be until Ace makes his way to us?”
“Hm, hm, hm~” Brook hummed a little of one of his new songs as he thought it over. “He’s already in Paradise, and his crew seems to be very sizeable. I’d give it a couple months. Surely he has more interesting things to do than visit a couple of old souls such as ourselves, yohohoho!”
Ace loved to seek out and visit each of Luffy’s crew members once he set out from Dawn Island. It happened in more bounce backs than not and Brook knew for a fact that all his nakama looked forward to re-meeting the young man each time.
Jinbei smiled back softly. “No matter when it happens, he and Sabo are at the very top of the VVIP List.”
“And when they finally arrive,” Brook threw his guitar strap over his head and flipped his sunglasses over his eyes (sockets!), and strummed a few chords, “we’ll give them a concert they’ll never forget!”
***
1 Day to Departure
There are Rules…technically.
Luffy and Rules don’t really mix.
Nevertheless, the Straw Hats know there are Rules and thankfully, they exist more like guidelines for them to remember than something to strictly follow.
Rule #1: Luffy’s Fruit can only take him and his companions as far back as the moment Luffy acquires said Fruit.
Rule #2: Members of the Clan of D. are deciders of their own fate. Not even time travelers can force them on a path they do not choose.
Rule #3: The Straw Hats will always, always, always, end up back at the moment when Luffy first used his Bounce Back power. And therefore, Luffy will not be able to Bounce Back again until they’ve reached that moment.
Using these Rules, Jinbei knew which actions were possible, which were impossible, and which were pointless.
For example, Jinbei had attempted in the first bounce back to implore Whitebeard to see early on the darkness and deception lurking under Marshall D. Teach’s skin. It cost years and honestly a lot of his good will with the Emperor for the man to finally see it. Teach was expelled from the Whitebeard Pirates some time before Ace even joined.
However, by the time they made it back to Elbaph and the scene of Luffy’s Bounce Back, who was already there with his last life’s frightening dual powers and an overwhelmingly powerful army of thousands?
It was a nightmare trying to buy Luffy enough space and breaths to power up the next Bounce Back, what with them all pressured between Blackbeard’s forces and Imu’s own might.
No, between that life and a few more flubs in future lives, the Straw Hats learned their lesson.
They all had twelve years to gather information, explore new corners of the world, meet new allies and adversaries, prevent tragic ends, and change the course of their own lives.
In the earliest Bounce Backs, Jinbei was admittedly worried that his captain would grow weary—and worse, bored—of reliving the same life over and over again. Some of his nakama shared the same sentiments.
Jinbei even began to wonder, What if I didn’t make plans? Or, How would the world change if I just took a vacation? Once even, Which God’s Knight would I run into first if I did like Fisher Tiger and climbed the Red Line to Marie Geoise?
Wilder and wilder thoughts started to creep in the more times Luffy used his ultimate move. It was the same for his nakama.
Unbeknownst to their captain—or maybe, with his uncanny ability to know a person’s soul, he knew perfectly well—his crew were given a unique brand of freedom. The sort that went beyond chasing a dream.
For goodness sake, they were time traveling!
At first Jinbei thought, when would he ever get the chance again? Turns out the answer was “when Luffy became powerful enough to do it.”
There were still Rules, of course, but suddenly the constraints were gone.
Suddenly each new life, despite being the same, was an entirely new adventure. It didn’t matter if the people and the islands were the same.
It was the Straw Hats who came back changed and changed and changed again and that made all the difference.
And just as Jinbei knew Luffy would, he looked forward to seeing what new adventure his nakama brought on this final Bounce Back.
The starry night sky slowly but surely bled into daybreak. Brook woke up and hummed a familiar jovial tune from the ship’s main cabin. The golden sun rays peeking over the horizon marked the first dawn of Luffy’s journey at sea.
The Thousand Sunny rocked gently over the calm waves as she made her way to Elbaph. Her crew was gathered on the grassy deck, some in the middle of preparing for battle as others were simply reclining in their favorite spots.
The Captain himself was lying in the center of the lawn, humming a little melody.
Suddenly, he sat up, an excited grin never leaving his face.
“Everyone.”
So in tune with their captain as they were, the crew turned their attention to him in unison.
“Do you all know what path you want to take next time?”
One of the crew made an inquisitive noise. “Why the sudden interest? You’ve never asked us before. ‘Don’t spoil it for me!’ you always said.”
“Dummy! Why wouldn’t I want to know what my nakama want to do?” Their captain dropped onto his back again. Staring at the clear blue sky, he said, “Besides, this is going to be the last time.”
Hearing that, the crew all shifted.
“Something feels off on Elbaph this time. So I might have to use it again. And if I do…”
He made a fist and thrust it towards the sky.
“I’ll definitely, definitely defeat them!”
“Aye, Captain!”