"Luffy": talk

"Sabo": whisper

"ACE": shout

"Gomu Gomu no": the skill's name

'idiot': thinking

<Joyboy>: voice of all things

-Into the story-

The sound of seagulls was heard, as they were flying through the sails of the Thousand Sunny. Plus, the small sound of violin was also heard from above the crow's nest, combined with the sound of the waves as the ship was sailing on the sea, which had created quite a peaceful day for the Strawhats Pirates.

Luffy was seen sitting on the rail, enjoying the wind blowing through his hair alongside with Usopp and Chopper, while the trio was busy fishing. Zoro was seen sleeping not so far away from them, as usual, while Jinbei was busy controlling the ship. Nami and Robin were sunbathing in the small garden area on the ship, and Franky was busy inside his cabin. Soon, Sanji came out of the kitchen and shouted.

"LUNCH IS READY!"

"WE'RE COMING!" Nami replied.

Once the word 'lunch' left the cook's mouth, Luffy quickly shot up and turned his head toward Sanji's direction. However, the peaceful view from before was no longer there, instead he was met with a dark and empty room, and a silver mirror right in front of him. Instantly, Luffy put his guard up while observing the object up front carefully. After having checked that it was safe, Luffy slowly walked toward the mirror. Inside was his reflection, nothing seemed unusual.

"It was you! Don't you remember?"

Luffy suddenly heard a voice quite similar to him whispered right behind his ears. He quickly checked his surroundings one more time. However, the result was still the same, so he turned back to the mirror.

"Do you still believe that you're a good captain?"

"WHO'S THERE!" Luffy shouted.

The captain then turned behind him. However, he was soon stunned at the horrible sight of his nakamas and his brothers' bodies were lying in their blood pool, even Mihawk, Law and Marco were also there. Luffy suddenly became panicked as his body was shivering while he was holding his head with both hands. It was just like he went back to that time. Had what he had gone through just now been simply a dream? Luffy then noticed the red trails were flowing down from his hands, so he decided to take a look. It was blood! His hands were covered with blood, and so did his body.

"I'm sure you have already figured out whose blood that is."

"Don't tell me...." Luffy said quietly, as a horror look was shown on his face.

"That's right! It was their blood! You're the one that killed them."

"N-No!.... It...... It wasn't me.....IT WASN'T ME!" Luffy said shackingly.

Suddenly, several pairs of hands came out of the mirror and grabbed around his body, then pulled him back. The captain had tried his best to struggle or at least find a way to get out. However, it was no use. Luffy couldn't find any strength to fight back.

"It's not fair when you're the one that is still alive!"

Then came another pair of hands from behind that slowly covered his eyes, making everything become dark once again. Suddenly, the bad memories which he buried were replayed again right in front of his eyes. One by one, the captain had to watch the fall of his own crew like it was some kind of movie, despite how many times he begged for them to stop.

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Her hand was busy playing with the spoon inside the cup, while her face was resting on the other. Vivi still found what happened a few hours ago was unbelievable. Despite Mr.8's attempt to tell her not to trust the crew, the princess still decided to go and meet them at the port and ask for their help. However, she didn't know the captain would accept her request so quickly as that. After checking Vivi was safe, Mr.8, or Iragam, and the others two volunteered to buy some time for them.

Vivi then started to tell them about her true identity and the problem her nation was facing. As soon as the navigator knew Vivi was a princess, she quickly asked for a reward after their mission, which was a billion berries. As for the captain, he didn't seem to care about it, so he just let her be. However, the important thing was that they all agreed to help her, even if she was their enemy not long ago. Right after that, they had an encounter with Mr.0's right hand, Ms.All Sunday. Until now Vivi still thought Ms.All Sunday was a mysterious and dangerous woman. Soon the ship began to set sail with their new guest and headed toward Arabasta.

Suddenly, a plate full of different shapes of cookies was placed down in front of her, making her get out of her trail of thought. Vivi then looked up to see the blond cook, who was smiling sweetly at her. The cook then found a seat for himself, which was opposite of Vivi.

"Vivi-chan, I have noticed there is something bothering you. Care to share?" Sanji asked

"...I'm just wondering why you all want to help me?" Vivi asked.

Sanji felt quite uncertain after hearing Vivi's question. The cook then turned away and let out a trail of smoke.

"Perhaps we want to help you because of the reward..." Sanji said.

Vivi quickly realized how dumb she was. Of course, it would be for a reward, since they were pirates, and pirates never said no to a high reward like that. Sanji then slowly moved his hand to the cookie plate and took out a small one with the shape of a duck, then moved it to his mouth and took a small bite.

"... However, I don't think it was a true reason for us to help you. Even though this is a pirate crew, some of us have a pretty sad past. Therefore, we aren't fond of seeing our friends sad, but we prefer killing off those bad guys for them." Sanji smirked, then finished off the cookie.

Vivi was shocked at what Sanji had said. Somehow she was glad that she could be their friend, despite the fact she used to be their enemy. Even though she was curious, Vivi knew they had no right to talk about others' past when they weren't there. However, Sanji was here. Perhaps she could ask

"Can you tell me a bit about your story?" Vivi asked.

Sanji stood silent as he was shocked to hear that Vivi want to know about his past. It wasn't like he minded or anything, since he had overcome it, thanked to the crew. However, judging by his silence, Vivi had thought that his past was so traumatic that it made him not even want to remember, so she suddenly felt guilty.

"Y-you don't have to or a-anything...... I-I'm just cu-curious" Vivi said panickingly.

Looking at Vivi making a fool of herself, Sanji felt her quite amusing, she would fit just right in their crew, if only Luffy let her officially join them. However, Sanji didn't know if she would be able to handle the gruesomeness of their fighting style, who knew only time could tell. Now back to her question

"It's alright, Vivi-chan. You didn't do any harm. I'm just shocked to know that you're curious about my past," Sanji said.

"T-then...."

Sanji then inhaled and started to tell her

"I was born as a prince, but I have never been treated like one. My siblings are just the king's lab rats, we lost our emotions and exchange for those ridiculous unhuman powers. As for me, I'm what they call a failed experiment. I don't possess special abilities like my siblings. Therefore, I got bullied by my brothers, and the king had to fake my own death. Luckily, I have found a way to escape and have a home to come back to." Sanji said sincerely

Vivi's eyes were wide open as she didn't expect a prince to join a pirate crew. However, Vivi had noticed that Sanji somehow didn't seem sad or anything, despite how badly his family had treated him. Even the princess could never imagine living a life which could literally be described as living hell, having her father to treat her like a lab rat. Vivi quickly shivered at that thought. Being able to overcome that kind of life and still sit here and recall those memories, Vivi must admit that Sanji had a very strong will to live. Perhaps the other members were also the same as him.

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Luffy's eyes were suddenly snapped open, as he quickly sat up while panting heavily. The captain gave off a relief sigh as soon as he noticed he was still inside his room, Lufy was glad that everything was just a bad dream. Out of nowhere, the door was wide open, making the captain flinch.

This time was Zoro's turn to keep an eye on Luffy while he was sleeping. However, as soon as he walked in the room to check on Luffy, he noticed that Luffy was awake and being jumped just by him opening the door. Something was definitely wrong. Luffy wasn't the kind of person to let his guard down that easily. Zoro suddenly noticed Luffy's state, body covered by sweat, a little trembling, and easy to get startled. This only meant one thing to the swordsman. Zoro then walked slowly toward Luffy and sat on the bed, right after he had closed the door.

"Bad dream?!" Zoro tried to ask softly

Luffy didn't want to make his crewmates worried, so he usually had a habit of hiding his feelings from them. However, as Zoro had already known, Luffy didn't have any other way but to admit it by giving him a small nod, as he knew how bad his lying could be.

"Is it about that war?" Zoro asked again.

Luffy then quickly shook his head.

"Then..."

Zoro and Luffy then stood silent like that with the swordsman waiting patiently for the other to open up, while the captain just simply sat there with his head lowered down.

"Luffy..." Zoro called out for his name

Even though Zoro didn't say it, the captain had already known what the swordsman was intending to say. 'Luffy, you don't have to carry it alone'. Of course, he could count on them to carry that pressure for him, but he couldn't find the courage to share his burden.

As soon as Luffy raised his head up, he was shocked to notice that Zoro had opened both his arms, waiting for him. Instantly, Luffy came rushing in without a second thought and willingly let himself be embraced by those big arms. Tears slowly fell down as he finally felt safe.

"Th-There was a m-mirror ....*sob*... th-then I s-saw blood!......... Blood was everywhere! ......*sob*...... E-everyone w-was there, too ....*sob*.... l-lifeless .... th-then I was dr-dragged to the m-mirror ...*sob*.... ba-bad memories re-replayed a-again" Luffy tried to say between his crying

"It was just a bad dream, captain. Everyone is still here for you!...." Zoro tried his best to comfort the captain.

Both of them went on just like that until Luffy had fully calmed down. Thinking that Luffy might need some minutes to collect himself, before the captain came back being cheerful like he always was. Zoro then intended to leave, so Luffy could rest. However, Luffy had held a tip of his shirt, making Zoro look at the captain questioning.

"C-could you stay for a little....?" Luffy said shyly.

Looking at the adorable captain right in front of him, Zoro's face quickly heated up, some smoke could be seen coming out at the top of his head. His body had also become all stiffened, as he didn't know how to respond. Luckily, the sound of a den den mushi had saved him this time.

Luffy then let go of Zoro's shirt, and headed to his small leathal bag, where he hid his private den den mushi. Once he took it out, the captain quickly answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Luffy?! What takes you so long, yoi?!" The other side complained

"Marco?! What's the matter?!" Luffy asked.

"Are you alone right now, yoi? I have something to discuss with you", Marco said seriously

Luffy then turned to Zoro with a sad look. Somehow, the captain had figured that he enjoyed Zoro's company more than the others'. Therefore, he asked Zoro to stay with him. Luckily, Zoro had caught what his captain desired, so he ensured him

"Focus on your discussion. I'll give you some cuddle once it's over", Zoro smiled.

"Thank you, Zoro!" Luffy smiled back.

The swordsman then walked outside and was being greeted by Karoo, Nami and Usopp, who were giggling at how red his face was. Soon Zoro couldn't tolerate them anymore, so the swordsman began to swing his sword around furiously, trying to hit them. Luckily, both Nami and Usopp had dodged them with their Observation Haki, which had secretly improved quite a lot, despite still getting small hits here and there.