Chapter Eight- Time

The Thousand Sunny, Galley

"So, here's what we know," Nami said, pointing to a piece of cartography paper pinned to the wall. She placed her finger under the first bullet, a picture of a dragon and a hastily drawn stick figure woman. The Straw Hat crew, minus Luffy and Chopper, stood around her. Sabo leaned his back against the wall and listened.

"The Revolutionary Army learned that this woman was going to be sent after Luffy because of some mysterious prophecy, and somehow she was supposed to make Luffy easier for the World Government to…recruit." Nami said, struggling with the word.

A few of the Straw Hats smothered laughs at the thought, but she ignored them. If the situation wasn't so serious, she would find it funny, too.

"From what this guy says," she pointed to Sabo, "that's exactly what would have happened if he didn't show up."

"But what made Luffy-bro go after her to being with?" Franky wondered.

"I don't know," Sabo admitted, "they were searching for him, so I doubt they lured him there."

"Last night, Luffy had a bad feeling. He was on edge," Robin said, remembering how distracted Luffy seemed the night before. He knew something was wrong even before the island was in sight.

"So Luffy could sense her?" Zoro asked.

Nami shook her head, "we don't know. All we do know about this woman is that she's a slave, and her devil fruit did something to make Luffy's scar heal," Nami said, gesturing to the next bullet: the stick figure woman.

"If they want Luffy so badly, why did she leave him behind?" Sanji asked, looking between Zoro and Sabo, "you said she left him and took off."

"Something went wrong," Sabo answered, "when I attacked her and she let go of Luffy, she looked...horrified."

"Wait, you think she messed it up?" Usopp asked, "that's good then, right? I mean, she didn't get to finish whatever she was doing to him."

"It depends on what she was doing to him," Robin said, holding up a book. "When I didn't find anything useful in the newspaper, I decided to flip through this." The image of a devil fruit adorned the dusty cover.

"There is no fruit, save the Opi-Opi no mi, that can enable the user to completely heal such a severe injury on another person. However, there is a subclass of paramecia users whose abilities include time manipulation. It's possible that the woman didn't heal Luffy, but simply brought his body back to a time before he was injured."

"Time?" Brook asked, cocking his head, "would that really be possible?"

"Well, we've seen fruits of that nature before," Robin said.

"Wait, are you saying that this woman made Luffy time travel?" Usopp asked, confused.

"In a sense. There's very little information available about these types of fruits, but the Life Life fruit listed here is the best match. It's said to grant the user the ability to take and give life freely to plants and animals."

"But not humans?" Sanji asked.

"Humans are much more complicated. Apparently, when the ability is used on humans, the user forfeits his own "life", taking on the victim's memories and conditions, and reverting the victim back to a previous state in life."

"If that's the case, and the woman did use this ability, then it's possible that Luffy won't remember anything that's happened in the last two years. Additionally, anything he's learned, and any injuries he's sustained, will be lost. We won't know for sure until he's awake, but we should be prepared for some kind of change in him."

For a long moment the crew took in this unwelcome information. Nami bit her lip nervously. Two years ago, Luffy was strong, but not strong enough to be here, in the New World. Now, with the World Government after him, Luffy would be an easy target. She just hoped Robin had the wrong fruit.

Nami spared a look at Sabo, the red welt where her hand met his cheek was still pink. She couldn't help but feel a little ashamed of her reaction. He never answered her question, and she wouldn't ask him again. As far as she was concerned, Luffy was the one owed an explanation. But she was going to make sure he got it, when the time came.

Luffy's older brother was lost in thought. She could see his expression darken as he took in Robin's words. Nami wondered why Sabo didn't know about this already. How did Dragon expect him to fight this woman without knowing what he was up against?

"Robin," Sabo said tentatively, breaking the silence, "based on his physical condition, where… in time, I guess, do you think Luffy's body and mind are now?"

Robin frowned. "I'm not sure…" she admitted, her brow furrowing, "what's wrong, Sabo?"

"Could he be reliving Impel Down?" The question put a rock in everyone's stomach. The thought of Luffy waking up, thinking he was in the middle of saving a brother who was two years in his grave, was agonizing.

"It's possible. It's hard to tell for sure, but he's likely stuck somewhere between Kuma's attack and Ace's execution."

"If you're right, and he goes back any farther, we're going to be in a lot of trouble," Sabo sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Do you have any smelling salts?"

Chopper gasped and sat up with a start. His stomach hurt terribly, and it took a moment for the room to come into focus. Sanji stood over him with a small bag that Chopper quickly recognized. Around him, the rest of the crew looked on with worry.

"Chopper! Are you ok?" Usopp asked from the foot of the bed.

Chopper shook the fuzzy feeling from his head and gently prodded the bandages wrapped neatly around his middle.

"I think so," Chopper said, looking over at Luffy who was unconscious beside him. Someone had cleaned Luffy up, and it looked like the wound from earlier was completely gone. Not only that, but Luffy's scar was gone, too!

"What happened? I remember bringing Luffy here, and his scar healed up all of a sudden, then…" Chopper fell silent, frowning. What happened after that?

"You were attacked by marines," Robin said gently, "Luffy used his haki to disable them."

"I...called for him," Chopper nodded shakily, the memory of his pathetic defeat coming back in small snips and pieces, "but, I don't think he heard me. I don't think he was awake." The last sentence was little more than a croak. Sanji handed Chopper a glass of water, which the small doctor drank up greedily.

"I think I know what that was," Sabo said from the back of the room. Chopper looked up at him, surprised to see him there.

"That's the guy who saved Luffy?" Chopper asked, looking at Zoro.

Zoro nodded, "he bandaged you up. Luffy, too. He's a member of the Revolutionary Army."

"He works with Luffy's dad?" Chopper asked, looking at Sabo with a new curiosity.

"That's not all," Nami said, giving Sabo a pointed look.

Sabo nodded, appreciating the fact that the navigator was allowing him to explain.

"Now that your doctor's awake, there's things you should know. About me, about Luffy, and about what happened at Impel Down," Sabo said.

"Luffy never really talks about the war. Were you there?" Usopp asked.

"No, but I should have been. I should have been there for my brothers."

Sabo didn't give them time to react, despite the shocked and confused looks on most of the crew's faces. He had a story to tell, and he needed to tell it quickly.

He skimmed briefly over the beginning. He explained how it was that Luffy came to meet Ace, and himself. How they came to see Luffy as a little brother, and swore an oath of brotherhood. How he ended up injured, with no memory of his past, and grew up training in the Revolutionary Army. It wasn't the complete story, it wasn't even most of the story, but he couldn't share that. Not here, not with strangers. It was just enough to give them what they needed to trust him; To understand that he never willingly abandoned Ace and Luffy to face the World Government alone.

"So, there was another brother all along," Sanji said, "and when Ace died, that shithead must have thought he was all alone."

"Poor Luffy," Chopper sniffled, rubbing at his eyes, "and we weren't there for him at all!"

"That's terrible," Nami said, feeling worse about her earlier interaction with Sabo than ever. How must he feel, knowing Luffy went in alone to save Ace. Knowing that Ace died there, not knowing his brother was still alive. She rubbed salt in a wound. Still, that didn't explain why Sabo never sought out Luffy after the war. If he knew Luffy was hurting, why stay away?

"He knew he still had us," Zoro said, not liking the thought that Luffy would ever think he was completely alone in this world.

"No, Chopper's right, Zoro-san," Brook said, shaking his head, "it is difficult to remember what you still have when it's not right in front of you. Luffy needed us, but we failed him."

"I understand how you feel," Sabo said, "but there's no time for regrets. There's more, and you're not going to like it."

"Ten years?" Nami whispered, her knuckles going white from clenching the edge of her seat.

Everyone looked at Sabo in horror. Sabo stared at the floor. Could Luffy feel this? Could he sense his crew's hearts breaking all around him. They looked crushed, and Sabo hated being the bearer of bad news. He'd taken it just as badly himself.

"You never told me," Robin accused, looking upset, "I was with you on Baltigo for two years, and no one would share details about the war!"

"I didn't know, Robin. Not until Ivankov briefed me a few days ago. He said it was the only way to save Luffy, and even then, the chance of survival was barely 3%. He should have died in Impel Down, without ever getting to Ace."

"That shitty Okama," Sanji growled, enraged. How many times had he asked about Luffy when he was stuck on that Hell island!? Ivankov knew better than anyone what Luffy went through, and he wouldn't share a damn thing!

"Luffy said he was immune to poison now, but I never… I never imagined the price!" Chopper cried, tears rolling freely down his face, "there has to be a way to fix the damage!"

Robin placed a soft hand on his trembling head, and Chopper wrapped himself around her leg.

"Damn it, Luffy!" Sanji cursed, balling his fists by his side. "We leave you alone for a week and you pull a stunt like that!"

"We should have been there," Zoro growled, "he always gets reckless when he's in a situation like that. He wasn't thinking about himself at all!"

"You're one to talk," Nami said dryly.

"But, there's got to be something we can do!" Usopp pleaded, looking to Chopper, "if anyone can figure something out, Chopper can!"

Chopper blushed, but didn't do his usual bit. The truth was, he'd never heard of anything that could fix severe internal damage. As soon as things were back to normal, he would work until he found a way to reverse it! He would never give up, but he knew deep down that the likelihood of completely healing the damage the hormone treatment did was remote. The thought of losing Luffy terrified him.

"Why are you telling us this now?" Franky asked angrily, having had enough of the doom and gloom talk.

"Because it's not over. Luffy still has wounds appearing and disappearing all over his body. It may have slowed down, but he's still regressing. If Luffy gets stuck sometime between the poisoning and Ivankov's injection, we won't need to worry about ten years. The poison will kill him, and we won't be able to stop it," Sabo explained. Lines of worry were etched across his face.

"Could that really happen?" Franky asked, looking to Robin.

"If it's truly the Life Life fruit we're dealing with, anything could happen," Robin answered soberly, "it was never meant to be used on humans."

"We won't stand by and let Luffy-san die," Brook said resolutely.

"Neither will I," Sabo replied, "which is why you need to let me take him to Ivankov."

His words stole the air from the room. The Straw Hat crew collectively tensed at the statement. Zoro, whether subconsciously or otherwise, moved himself a few feet until he was standing directly between Sabo and the infirmary door.

"We'll all go," Robin suggested, attempting to defuse the tension, "the marines are looking for Luffy, you'll need our help."

"They'll be looking for Luffy on this ship," Sabo said, "you can lead them off his trail while I get him to safety. It's his best chance."

"He's right," Nami sighed, "even if we left Sunny behind and went with Sabo on a different ship, it would only be a matter of time before the marines found us. We can draw them away."

"I don't like it," Franky said, looking Sabo over skeptically, "once the Revolutionary Army has him, we'll never find Luffy. We don't even know if he'll need that Ivankov guy."

"I thought you might worry about that," Sabo said, reaching into his breast pocket. He pulled out a large piece of paper and began ripping it into smaller pieces.

"I made Luffy a vivre card while I was patching up Chopper," he explained, handing the pieces out to each member of the crew. He placed the largest piece back into the safety of his pocket.

"Thanks!" Nami said, turning her piece over in her hand, "this is going to save us a ton of trouble tracking that idiot down every time we stop at an island. Now we just need one for this guy." She jabbed a thumb at Zoro, who muttered an insult under his breath.

"I'm guessing you know how it works?"

Robin opened her mouth to answer, then froze, her eyes growing wide in surprise.

"They've found us," she said, "they're preparing to board! There's dozens of them!"

"Damn it, at a time like this," Zoro cursed. He looked over to Sabo, conflicted about the options before him. Every instinct told Zoro to keep Luffy close, to keep him in the safety of their trusted group. He didn't think Sabo was lying; Not about being Luffy's brother, and not about wanting to protect him. But Sabo was not one of them. He was still an outsider, an unknown.

"Robin," Zoro called, "you're going with them."

Robin nodded, and Sabo didn't protest. Luffy was scooped up and tossed on his back. Sabo wrapped Luffy's arms around his neck, carrying him piggyback. Robin pulled him to the back of the ship, where a stairway of hands awaited them. The rest of the crew were on the other side of the deck, preparing to fend off the attack while Nami and Franky decided on an exit strategy. If the Marines were smart, they'd have a blockade of some sort at the end of the river. It would have to be a very tall blockage, though, because Sunny was stocked with plenty of cola.

The Marines were closing in. Men lined the perimeter of the ships, preparing to board the pirate vessel as soon as they were in range. Robin doubted they would be noticed at this distance. Still, she and Sabo made themselves friendly with the shadows as they crossed across the open riverbank and into the cover of the forest.

Battle echoed behind them for a good while, until the sounds faded and it was just the three of them.

And one other.

"COUP DE BURST!" Franky shouted as the ship took to the sky.

The Straw Hats looked back at the marines, who were quickly becoming small indistinguishable specks behind them. An unlucky few who'd clung to the rear rail fell to the ocean below. The marines who had attacked Chopper were tossed down to their allies, who quickly fished them from the sea.

Sunn'y landing wasn't smooth, but they were safe. At least for the moment.

Nami gave orders faster than anyone could follow them. A storm came and went, fast and fierce, and the crew came out of it tired and drenched. It wasn't until the sun was down and significant distance was crossed before the crew really stopped and sat down. Sanji had out a spread of food as good as any he'd ever laid before them, but appetites were dampened.

"Stop that," Nami scolded, looking at Chopper and Usopp. The pair each had their piece of Luffy's vivre card out on the table. They were staring down at them, watching carefully for the slightest change.

"But what if something happens! We won't know if we don't have them out!" Usopp argued.

"Even if it does start to smolder, there's nothing we can do but trust Robin," Zoro said.

"Moss for brains is right, for once," Sanji added, "Robin-chan won't let anything happen to that rubber idiot."

"What was that, cook?" Zoro growled, leaning in toward Sanji.

"You heard me-"

"Stop!" Chopper cried, sounding terrified.

Sanji and Zoro turned, their argument instantly forgotten. Chopper was holding his vivre card. Small flames danced along the edges, burning it away much faster than Ace's card had burned in Luffy's hand.

"They're burning up!" Brook exclaimed, pulling his own card from his pocket. They all followed suit.

"Luffy…" Usopp whispered, despising the feeling of helplessness that was swallowing him whole.

"Damn it," Sanji cursed, glaring down at his share of the card, "we can't just sit here and watch this happen!"

Zoro had a hand on his swords, his fingers itching to do something. From the way the cards were burning, Luffy was dying, and there was no way of knowing if he was close to Baltigo, or locked in a cell in some Marine ship.

"We can follow them," Nami said, rising from her seat. She looked pale, but the determination in her voice was masking her fear. "We've only seen Marine ships once on open water and we lost them, but at least we know they're still looking for us. If we double back now and avoid them, we can find Luffy and Robin."

"We can't sit around and do nothing," Franky agreed.

"I'll get the infirmary ready in case they're hurt!" Chopper said, jumping to his feet. He winced, his wounds quickly reminding him of their presence.

"Zoro-san?" Brook asked, pausing the others.

Zoro hadn't moved from his seat. All eyes were on him now, and even Sanji seemed to be waiting for confirmation. Zoro wasn't second in command by proclamation. Luffy simply didn't rank people that way. Nevertheless, if Luffy was the heart of the crew, then Zoro was its backbone. With Luffy's life at stake, the rest of the crew were more than willing to fall in line.

"We're going," Zoro said, "make sure you're ready. We're ripping apart anyone who gets in our way."

Level 5.5, Luffy's mind

Luffy gasped for breath. He couldn't catch it, he was suffocating. All this pain! It was consuming him, stabbing at him from his core like ten-thousand needles. He was chained to a cold slab of stone, but he could have been anywhere for all the difference it would make. He thought he might be screaming, but his mind was so disconnected from his body that he really couldn't be sure. There was only one thought that prevailed through the storm of agony.

I'm not gonna die until I save Ace.

His body was freezing. It was on fire. This was what being torn apart felt like. Still, this wasn't worse than losing his last brother. He'd live this a thousand times if it meant Ace walked free.

I'm NOT gonna die until I save Ace!

Luffy saw the darkness creeping in. It came from the edges of his vision, dripping in from all directions like blotted ink. He wasn't aware that this same darkness had consumed his last memory. Or the one before that. Or all the memories before that. All he knew was the here and the now.

Until that time was gone, and that pain was gone, replaced by a new pain and the growling of wolves.

Marine Headquarters, The New World

Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, well known by his alias Akainu, sat rigidly behind his desk. His eyes were cold with disdain as he looked down at the aged wanted poster. The grinning face of Straw Hat Luffy looked back at him, mocking him.

"Send one to each of the Emperors, except Red Hair," Sakazuki ordered, handing a small stack of envelopes to the marine standing across him.

"Yes, Sir!" The marine answered, quickly taking his leave.

Akainu crumpled the poster up in one hand, burning it up before tossing the ashes into the trash bin. The old fools had lost their minds, but it wouldn't matter. Soon, every pirate on the sea would be searching for the brat until someone finished the job he'd started. And if his men found him first, he would personally take care of the boy.

One way or another, Straw Hat Luffy was going to meet his end, and there would be one less devil roaming the seas. It was only a matter of time.

A/N Sorry for the hiatus everyone! A lot of cool stuff happened in the last three years, and my life looks a lot different now. Still, I never stopped planning for this story. It was just the task of actually writing it was so hard to find time for. I'm exciting to be writing again :) A huge thanks to any of my original readers of this story, I'm sorry you had to wait so long. And to any new readers, welcome! Thank you for reading, and I hope you'll share any feedback you might have. Chapter 9 will be up by September 2019.

(Just kidding, I promise!)