Warnings: Shenanigans, language, oddities

Disclaimer: Eiichiro Oda owns all things related to One Piece. I own my words and plot.

The Unexpected New Development

Something in the distance enthralled Luffy. He refused to move from the bow of the ship, even when the sun rose and bedtime approached. He wouldn't leave the bow to play with Ace, to eat Sanji or Thatch's food, to pull pranks with Sabo, or even to sleep. He was like a statue, still and unmoving.

"Hey Luffy, do you want to come eat?" Rose asked, standing a few steps behind the child. Luffy didn't say anything, only shaking his head to show he had heard the woman. Rose sighed silently to herself before stepping back and walking towards the galley entrance. Marco was looking at her from the doorway and as she approached, she answered his questioning stare at her with a solemn shake of the head.

Rose stepped up the wooden stairs quietly and entered the galley. They closed the door, instead leaving Thatch to watch the child through one of the windows.

"Do you know what's going on with him, Rose?" Izou asked the red head. The woman only shook her head dejectedly.

"I was never told of anything like this happening. I can only assume my mother didn't know about this, and neither did my grandmother. Or my grandmother never said anything about this to my mother," Rose trailed off, looking out the glass of the door at Luffy, still sitting on the bow.

"He's never acted like this before," Ace grumbled, arms crossed. One of his fingers tapped his bicep incessantly. "It makes no sense that he would just wake up and start acting like this for absolutely no reason."

"Do you think it has anything to do with the All Soul?" Robin asked, looking to Rose with her sparkling blue eyes. Rose shrugged helplessly.

"It might, but I honestly have no idea," Rose mumbled.

"He can't stay like this forever," Nami said, laying her hands flat on the table with a slam. "He'll need to eat and use the bathroom at some point! Yeah it's been three days, but he won't stay there for much longer I don't think. It's Luffy! He normally can't sit still for more than two seconds!"

Thatch suddenly cursed, straightening. Everyone looked over, but he moved quickly, pulling the door open with such force it fell off of it's hinges. He sprinted outside to the bow. Concerned, they all quickly followed after the brown haired man.

Luffy was gone.

"He literally disappeared out of thin air!" Thatch told them, voice fast and oddly high pitched. His eyes were wide open, staring directly at the spot Luffy had been sitting in.

"Drop the anchors!" Marco yelled, turning to Zoro and Sanji. "Everyone start searching, he can't have gone too far!"

"I did it!" Luffy cheered to himself, throwing his arms in the air as he laughed and jumped around in circles. Well, jumping could be loosely used to describe it. He was literally floating in the air, "jumping" off of imaginary ground to mimic the motion of jumping. He was surrounded by the fluffy white clouds, the endless blue, and far below the gigantic expanse of ocean.

Luffy stopped jumping, staring beneath him. It had taken him a super long time to figure out how he could make himself float in the sky, but he knew it was possible. Roger told him it was. He had to focus on making all of his cells push upwards, which involved making his blood cells change their form so they had wings. It was wicked difficult, and Luffy was going to be honest it hurt a lot and his body was glowing blue. Luffy had never had to focus so much in his life, but now he had done it. He was flying.

"Right! I have to find the island!" Luffy reminded himself, cutting his celebration short. He hummed to himself, shielding his eyes from the sun and looking all around. He looked directly below his feet, staring at the ship that held his friends. It was barely visible! He knew he needed to at least know the direction he had to go to get back to the ship though, otherwise they would kill him later, but how? He snapped his fingers. "I got it!"

He bit into his finger hard enough to draw blood. He focused his mind on the drops, and watched with glee as the drops multiplied. It was his blood, but not blood from his body. Man, he was gonna miss this after the ceremony ended.

He drew with his finger, creating a glowing blue orb in the sky. It shined brightly, the light illuminating the area as far as his eyes could see. He flew to the top of the orb and stuck his finger in the top. A line shot out from the bottom, moving at high speeds down to the ship below. Luffy watched as it expanded like a spiders web and attached itself to the ship, from what he could tell. Luffy laughed.

"I'll be back!" He yelled, turning and flying in the direction of the sound that was calling him. He had never heard it before, but in a way it was hypnotic, the sound of beating drums, clapping hands, and chanting. He flew after the faint sound, hoping that it would somehow get louder.

Rose stared at the blue spiderweb encircling the crows nest. Her eyebrow twitched. "I think I know what Luffy did," Rose told everyone as they gathered around, looking at the crows nest with confusion. Marco looked to Rose first.

"What did he do?"

Rose's lips pulled into a scowl. She cursed Roger in her head, because she could imagine him laughing boisterously right about now. "He figured out how to fly."

All was silent and still for a few seconds. A gentle breeze wafted over the ship. Everyone stared at Rose. Their eyes were open wide and their jaws were dropped, leaving their mouths gaping.

"Fly?!"

Rose sighed, face palming. This was the last thing she needed to make her headache worse. Her charge learning to fly and then disappearing, as well as her crew mates stunned faces and incredulous screaming, were going to give her the migraine of her very long lifetime.

A/N: After a long time, I've returned. I truly apologize for not updating this story for so long, I lost inspiration for this story and then I had personal issues to deal with that made writing nearly impossible. However, I am back and proud of this chapter.

I truly hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thank you so much for reading, I love you all! :) 3