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His body wasn't ready.

He was weak.

He had noticed it immediately when fighting Mihawk.

He was slower.

He was less powerful.

His spirit was out of synch with his body, throwing off his higher level Haki Techniques.

He wasn't even sure he could enter his higher level Devil Fruit forms.

He needed to start training, and hard.

He was running out of time.

Luffy stood up abruptly and returned his attention to his surroundings.

Zoro was standing in front of him.

"We need to talk," They both said in stereo.

Without another word they left towards the Going Merry.

A plate of food laid unnoticed on the table.

~~~~~~~~~~~On the Going Merry~~~~~~~~~~~

Luffy and Zoro silently contemplated each other in The Captain's Quarters.

Luffy didn't know how to start the conversation.

Zoro had a question though. One that had been burning in him for a while though.

"How do you know so much?"

Luffy sighed and sat back on his bed before reconsidering Zoro.

"How much do you know about the world?" Luffy asked back.

"Bar gossip," Zoro replied. "Mostly boring stuff, but I know who the people at the top are. That's how I found out about Mihawk."

"And what do you know about Devil Fruits?" Luffy asked.

"Not much," Zoro admitted, "They give you abilities but you can't swim."

"There are 3 types of Devil Fruits," Luffy explained. "Zoan turns you into an animal, Logia turns you into an element and you can't be touched without Haki, and Paramecia gives you random abilities."

"And you have a Paramecia." Zoro said

"Yes," Luffy answered, "but there's this other Paramecia called the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi."

"And what can it do." Zoro asked.

"Many things," Luffy answered. "Broadly speaking it can reject things, but one if it powers…" Luffy paused and focused intently on Zoro.

"What do you know about time travel?"

Zoro internalized the question and considered Luffy closely.

A long moment passed before Zoro finally answered.

"What is something only I could have told you" He asked

"Kuina." Luffy answered solemnly.

Zoro inhaled quickly in surprise, before exhaling slowly and leaninging back against the wall.

"Ok," He answered, "Why did you come back?"

Luffy sighed deeply. "Last time…" The faces of his dead crews flashed through Luffy's mind and he took a shuddering breath before continuing. "Last time we didn't survive." Luffy's eyes sharpened in anger as he remembered why. "The was this MADMAN, he killed everyone and destroyed the world." His eyes focused back on Zoro, "I came back with one Goal." My smiled, throwing Zoro off. "I'm going to become Pirate King," He explained, "and this man is standing in my way."

Zoro regarded his Captain.

"Who is he?"

"Marshall D. Teach"

~~~~~~~~~~~Later~~~~~~~~~~~

Zoro laid thoughtfully on the on the deck of the ship, contemplating what he had learned. Luffy had be spare with the details of the future, wanting him to experience the adventure it happened. He also said that he didn't want Zoro getting relaxed, because things were already starting to change. Kaya. Zoro sighed deeply again. On the bright side, Luffy was kicking up his training.

~~~~~~~~~~~Outside of the Baratie~~~~~~~~~~~

Luffy jumped up onto the deck of the restaurant, landing in front of Sanji.

"Hey Sanji!" Luffy greeted. "What are you doing?"

"Smoke break," Sanji replied, "Geezer gets mad when I smoke inside."

"Ah, yeah!" Luffy remembered "I'm finally done with being an errand boy as of today, 'cause of that promise I made with the old man!"

"Right," Sanji grinned, "Congratulations."

"So then," Luffy smiled at Sanji, "You wanna…"

"I ain't gonna be a pirate," Sanji interrupted, "I'm going to stay here and be a cook, until the day that damn Geezer acknowledges my cooking…" He looked at Luffy and smiled wide. "Hey, do you about the All-Blue?"

Luffy smiled and lied. "No"

From the balcony above Zeff watched Sanji and Luffy. It had been a while since Sanji had been so animated.

~~~~~~~~~~~Inside the Baratie~~~~~~~~~~~

A while later Luffy and Sanji entered the employee dining hall.

"Where's the food?" Luffy wondered, scanning the dining hall."

"Hm?" Sanji frowned, "Where's our seats?"

"There ain't no chairs for you." A chef answered.

"Heh heh, yeah." Laughed another, "You're going to have sit on the floor."

"What? This is a freaking restaurant, how do we…" He sighed deeply before following Luffy to the food table. "Fine, whatever."

"Something's strange about them." Luffy noted.

"They're always strange." Sanji replied.

"Hey!" A chef yelled, standing up. "Who was in charge of making this morning's soup?"

"Oh! That'd be me," Sanji smiled, "Pretty good right? I made it especially g…"

"HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO EAT THIS CRAP?" The chef yelled, smashing the bowl to the ground.

Sanji growled and slowly stood up, "Hey, does good food not satisfy you?"

The chef scoffed, "This is pure crap of the highest quality. It makes me want to puke. Did you put your actual shit in this or what?"

"I'm perfectly confident about my soup," Sanji growled, "Maybe it's your damn tongue tha-!"

"YUCK," another chef yelled, spitting soup out, "Eww, this is terrible!"

Another chef stood up and threw his soup on the ground, "Just throw it out! No way we can eat this filth!"

"THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE ALL DOING!" Sanji yelled.

Another crash sounded behind Sanji, who swiveled around furiously. "Geezer." He growled.

Zeff pointed down at the soup all over the ground at his feet. "What's with this disgusting soup? Is it supposed to taste like sludge or what? We'd go out of business if we served this to customers!"

"DON'T JOKE WITH ME YOU DAMN GEEZER!" Sanji yelled, grabbing Zeff. "HOW IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT FROM THE SOUP YOU MAKE?" Sanji demanded. "WELL?! SPEAK UP!"

"The soup I make…?" Zeff growled.

A strong right hook caught Sanji off guard, throwing him onto the ground.

"DON'T GET COCKY!" Zeff yelled, standing over Sanji with his fist raised. "It's a hundred years too early for a lil' eggplant like you to be comparing my soup with yours! I've have cooked all around the world!"

Sanji stared up angrily at Zeff. "DAMN IT!" He yelled, before stormed out the the room, slamming the door behind him.

The room was silent as Luffy sipped on his soup.

"This soup is pretty good if you ask me." Luffy commented.

One of the chef's sighed and rubbed his neck. "Yeah, we know. Everyone here knows how good Sanji's cooking is."

"But," Zeff spoke up, "If we didn't do that, then that idiot would never listen to us." Zeff looked at Luffy. "Hey kid…"

"Hm?"

"Would you mind taking that lil' eggplant with you. Take him to the Grand Line with you, it's his dream."

"No," Luffy answered.

"What?" Zeff growled, "Didn't you want cook for you ship? Are you not satisfied with him?"

"It's not like that," Luffy said, "I do want him to come, but he said he wanted to stay here and be a cook."

"So you won't accept unless he says it himself?"

"Yup."

"Well," Zeff sighed, "You do have a point, but the problem is whether that rebellious brat will be honest with himself or not."

Everyone's attention shot towards the door as someone entered. Nami stood at the door, with Sanji right behind you.

"Hey Nami," Luffy grinned, "What's up?"

"The ship is ready to go." Nami answered.

"Is everyone ready?" "Luffy asked, his eyes flicking between Nami and Sanji.

"Yes, I...we all are." Nami answered with a small smile.

"Great," Luffy smiled reassuringly at her. "Let's go then."

"Wait," Sanji said as Luffy stood, "I'll go too. Take me with you." Luffy's smile grew as Sanji continued. "I'll accompany you on your journey to becoming The Pirate King. After all," Sanji grinned, "We both have crazy dreams, so I'll tag along to fulfill mine. I'll be the cook for your ship, sound good?"

Luffy threw his arms up and cheered, "Sounds great!" Luffy ran out of the room, pulling Nami by the hand behind him. "I'll go tell everyone!"

Sanji grinned as he watched his captain go. His attention turned back towards the other cooks. "That's how it's gonna be guys." He said, "Sorry for all the trouble I put you through."

Zeff smirked.

~~~~~~~~~~~Later, on the Going Merry~~~~~~~~~~~

Luffy gazed out at the sea smiling.

"Hey," Nami greeted as she leaned up against the railing beside him.

"Hey Nami," Luffy grinned, "What's up."

"Just thinking," Nami said, her eye's focused on the horizon.

"About your home?" Luffy inquired quietly.

Nami sighed, "Yeah."

Luffy gently placed his hand on hers, drawing her attention. "Hey," he said reassuringly. "This nightmare will be over soon." He squeezed her hand for comfort. "This will all be over soon."

"Hopefully not all of it." Nami said, blushing and looking down towards their hands. "I like this crew."

Luffy smiled widely. "And we like you."

Nami's blush deepened, but before anything else could be said their attention was drawn towards a commotion.

"Gin?" Luffy asked, "What are you doing?"

Gin had taken a knee in front of Luffy.

"I formally request to join your crew."

Short chapter, but dialogue heavy. Which gives me the most writer's block. I'm finishing this semester soon, so I'm going to have some more time to write. I was thinking about writing and AU Naruto story, so I can switch between them when I have writer's block. What do you think?

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