Luffy was his name apparently. Some tall man told him this as he sat in a comfortable bed, not recognizing any of his surroundings. Why didn't he remember any of it? Oh well, that didn't matter. He was hungry, and tuning out mostly what Katakuri was his name, was saying.

His eyes were heavy lidded and he looked almost bored. "I don't care," he said in a monotone voice, the first time he'd spoken since he woke up from whatever happened to him. His stomach rumbled, and he realized he was hungry, wondering how long he'd been asleep. He turned the bedside table and saw an alarm clock he couldn't read.

Taking it harshly and looking straight at it, he wanted it to be food. But he didn't remember any food he'd want to make. He set it back down on the bedside table and got up, grabbing his head as it hurt, but not too bad. Just like he bumped it on something. "I'm hungry," he announced, and looked up at his brother with a blank expression.

To be honest, Katakuri liked this Luffy more, even if his tone was disrespectful. He said he didn't care about whatever happened to him, and didn't look shy or reluctant to do anything. He truly was empty. At least that's what it seemed like so far.

"I'll make you some food," Katakuri said, smiling when he turned his back. This would be so much easier if he was indifferent about anything having to do with who he was. Luffy followed him slowly, not curious about anything around him. It was a very big house, but he didn't care much.

He didn't eat messily like he had before, but he also didn't show joy of eating after being hungry. It was like the kid was on autopilot. And Katakuri was relieved with it. He had been good at it, he'll admit, but having to raise someone a caring way would have been a longer process. All he needed to do was teach him to use the devil fruits and work for the family. Being nice to him had been a bonus he thought he needed to do.

After dinner, Luffy went back to his room, closing the door and going looking for some new clothes to change. He still knew how to do normal person things, even if everything else about him had been stolen.

He changed into clothes he deemed comfortable for sleeping and crawled under the covers, feeling blank. And bored. He felt so bored but didn't know what to do to not be bored. Sleep didn't even sound welcoming, he just went to bed because the big man was boring him.

Luffy knew he still had a devil fruit. He didn't remember how he got it, but he knew what it was, not that he knew where he learned it. His head was scrambled, but he didn't care as it gave him a headache and wasn't worth it. He thought about the few fruits he had that he could remember. The first that came to mind was the flower-flower fruit. Not knowing if he'd had any progress on it, and not caring much really, he tried to use it.

He had no real drive to do it, and no emotions to spur him on, yet it was more successful than it had been when he did have any sort of emotion or identity. Hands sprouted out of the walls and floors. Each hand moved how he wanted them, all at the same time. He smiled a sick smile that didn't reach his eyes. This could definitely make him not bored...

By two hours later, Luffy was able to swing from arms hanging down from the ceiling like a monkey would swing on vines. He didn't laugh. He had fun, but didn't show it. There was no real reason to, according to him. He had no idea how old he was, but being so small was a bit of an irritant. He didn't know a lot of his other powers, and he knew he couldn't read. He dropped down from the ceiling and fell onto his bare feet with a bounce.

He knew he'd have to ask for someone to help him know what the other devil fruits were. He knew that, there was no way to get around it. But he didn't feel like being taught by someone else. Since that guy didn't seem to care much about him as a person, maybe he was only there because of his power?

Well, Luffy was too young to live by himself, and he did want a roof over his head, so he'd stay with that guy for awhile. Until he mastered his powers. That could take a very long time, but it was beneficial to him to be here at the moment.

Satisfied with his progress, Luffy finally went to bed and fell asleep. He didn't turn into mochi for once, and stayed in his human form, sleeping peacefully.

"You know what would be cool? A pinwheel out of hands!"

Luffy's eyes snapped open, blinking in the sunlight creeping through the crack in the curtains next to his bed. He sat up, wondering where he was before he remembered waking up at this place the day before. That little snippet of dialogue from a dream disappeared, and he didn't wonder why his own voice would say something like that. It was gone now.

When he left the room, he walked right across the hallway and into the bathroom, knowing he was smelly from all the sweating he'd done while trying to focus on moving each hand separately but all at the same time. It had been easy overall, but still had taken some effort.

He remembered that he wasn't allowed to swim anymore, or he'd drown. And the bathtub was huge. Luffy didn't want help from Katakuri. He didn't want help from anyone, and especially not how to bathe. The boy jumped to reach the door stopper and yanked it off, before pushing the large door shut with all of his might. It was heavy.

Since he couldn't remember if rope making was a fruit's power, he just thought about how he could do this. Bathe but not need help to not drown. He jumped onto the seat of the toilet and thought for a moment. When hours ago he would have been distracted from other wandering thoughts or silly concepts or sad and insecure feelings, now he just strategized. How would he best be able to do this with the powers he knew he had?

After a few minutes of thinking, he came up with the best case scenario. Sprouting hands and arms from the ceiling, and having them grasp around his middle, he turned the showeer head on with arms, since he couldn't reach the nozzle. It did work, he was able to wash himself in the water, easily as he didn't need any soap for soapy bubbles fizzled out of his body. Once he heard a knock on the door, he asked, "What?" in a monotone voice.

Katakuri spoke through the door, asking if Luffy was okay and he heard the shower running. He sounded suspicious, but then again, devil fruit users can't bathe. He was already dressed, so he told the man he could come inside. "I took a shower."

"By yourself?" Katakuri asked, clearly a bit lost of how a four year old could take a shower alone while also being a devil fruit user while also being in a bathtub five simes his height. Luffy nodded curtly. "How?"

"Devil fruit. I can't read, can you teach me to read?" Luffy asked. He wasn't trying to sound disrespectful, but he must have. Katakuri narrowed his eyes at him. Luffy didn't think about it, but he might have given something away. So far, he wasn't impressed with this man.

"Why do you want to read?"

Luffy shrugged. "I want to know what devil fruits I have," he answered truthfully. "Why am I even here?"

"You live here, Luffy. I take care of you and am your brother," Katakuri replied.

"I love my big brothers!" Luffy's voice echoed in his head. He didn't show outwardly that he heard a cheerful voice in his head and ignored it, even though he never remembered saying that. "So you won't teach me to read?" Katakuri frowned at him, clear as day even if he had a scarf on.

"I will teach you to read while also helping you master your abilities." Luffy frowned at him, the first emotion he'd shown to the man since he woke up from the mind-wipe the second time.

"Why?"

Katakuri didn't know what to reply. He was starting to become irritated with this version of the little boy, who had seemed easy to manipulate. Had he made a mistake for having a second mind-wipe? "Because I want to help you learn your powers safely," was what Katakuri finally answered.

"...Hmm," Luffy said, unimpressed. "Then can we start training today? I already did some last night," he added. Katakuri raised his angled eyebrows, not having sensed him doing anything the night before.

"What kind of training did you do? Did you remember some of the devil fruits you had after your head injury?" Katakuri asked. Luffy didn't react to the head injury part, and the man was becoming uneasy about whether it would be safe to have Luffy around when he wasn't easy to emotionally manipulate.

"The flower-flower fruit. That's how I took the shower by myself," Luffy explained, and walked past Katakuri like he owned the place. Luffy either didn't notice or didn't care that katakuri was becoming irritated with his attitude. "Let's go train."

"Let me make this clear, Luffy. I am the adult in this house, I am the older brother, and you will respect me," Katakuri said slowly.

"Okay," Luffy replied easily, like it didn't faze him at all. Katakuri had been trying to be intimidating. "But what is my purpose here?" Katakuri started growing exasperated.

"Because you're a part of the family. And we want you to do well and succeed in life," he explained. Luffy wore the blank look on again.

"Okay." Katakuri took a deep breath to calm himself, before telling Luffy they were having breakfast before doing any training. The kid listened to him on this, and followed the man into the kitchen silently. Katakuri could feel his stare on him. He needed to not get angry. That would blow everything, and he was usually hard to anger, but the blatant disrespect was getting on his nerves. No one had ever treated him like this before.

But, even though it annoyed him, he felt he did deserve it. He ripped Luffy's personality and memories away twice. Not that he'd ever learn of it. Breakfast was awkward and silent. Luffy showed no emotion to the food he was eating again. It was like eating a meal with a disrespectful robot. At least he wasn't staring at Katakuri anymore. Did he really have to house Luffy while he learned? Well, he'd teach him some respect, though he now had no strategies on how to handle Luffy's new personality.

Once training started, Luffy largely ignored Katakuri after he told him about the stick-stick fruit. He was basically just watching Luffy stare at his hands until the goo started flowing. Katakuri eventually went inside and got a book that wasn't the devil fruit encyclopedia.

It was only three hours in and Luffy could manipulate the stick-stick fruit, even though he voiced that he wouldn't be using this one much. It made Katakuri wonder what Luffy thought he was going to be doing.

After a break for Luffy to get some water, he stood in front of the man, three feet tall, and asked, "Who do you work for, Katakuri?" He chugged the rest of the water down. Katakuri decided he wasn't going to lie. If he was truthful with Luffy (at least moderately) then maybe Luffy would listen to him more. As it was now, Luffy seemed like a snotty teenager, despite being four years old and one fifth of Katakuri's size.

He closed his book and said, "I work for our family. I am a pirate, like the rest of the family."

"Grampa says pirates are bad." Luffy's eyes snapped wider, annoyed with the voice that kept popping up. He did his best to ignore it and try to get it to go away by not answering or focusing on it.

"Do I work for our family?" Luffy asked bluntly.

"What would you if I told you you did?" Katakuri asked slowly, his body seemed relaxed but his demeanor and expression did not. He looked angry, and Luffy decided he should backtrack. He didn't mean to be rude, but he just wanted the truth.

"I would want experience with my powers," Luffy replied.

"You'll have to do as our captain and higher ups say. Everything you do will be for the crew to succeed. If you do that, then you will have an abundance of experience with your power. If you can get your hands dirty, that is."

"Okay. I'll cooperate, but I want to do my training my way and you help if I need it." Katakuri seemed to sense that Luffy wasn't trying to be rude. At least not anymore, since it had been unclear earlier if he had been trying to, which wasn't smart.

"Deal," Katakuri said and shook the four year old's hand with two of his fingers. "But, to everyone else, you are doing this to be part of your family. Not for your own benefit, and if you express anything else, you will regret it. There are ways to hurt devil fruit users."

Luffy nodded his head. Katakuri wondered if he had been the reason the Luffy plan will fail. If, for the first time in a long time, he had made wrong judgement and thrown everyone under the bus, including Mama.

-x-

Just as Luffy promised, he listened to Katakuri and didn't show disrespect, as long as Luffy was treated with respect as well. It felt more like a business deal to train him rather than as a plan to make him stronger to be a part of the family he didn't belong to. But, there were some good things about this new Luffy.

Not only did he train vigorously and was at his best, he didn't whine or act like a child his age would. And Katakuri knew how a child that age would act. They would play games, laugh, talk, run around and just act more their age. Not Luffy. Not this one. This Luffy spent most of his time staring at the wall when not working with his fruit or sleeping. The house was just as quiet as it had been before Luffy came.

Luffy didn't want to see any of the others, even though he thought he was part of the family. He said, bluntly, that others would just be a distraction he wasn't interested in. But, when Katakuri told him he was coming to meet Mama, Luffy agreed. Katakuri didn't know why he agreed to this, but was glad there was no back and forth or disrespect. Luffy seemed to realize seeing the captain and "mother" was a big deal, which it was.

This Luffy was smart. He might be boring and empty, but he was smart, and that could be a very good thing or a very bad thing. They would just have to see how it went. Katakuri hadn't told anyone else about the aftereffects of the second mind-wipe. He didn't want anyone to think he'd failed them, which was something he hadn't dealt with in a long time.

But, it would be hypocritical if he had been the one urging the others to not mess up, and here he was the reason things might fall apart. Luffy followed behind him quickly, having to trot to keep up with Katakuri. But he didn't comment on it, so Katakuri acted like it wasn't happening. They passed a few of their siblings, who stared at Luffy in dislike. He seemed to really not care about it, because he had to have noticed when everyone went silent when he showed up.

"Why are we in a giant cake? It's cool, but it makes me hungry..."

"Shut up," Luffy hissed. Katakuri looked down at him, but seemed to think he was hearing things, as there was no one for Luffy to be talking to.

"That's not nice. Ace and Sabo would get mad." Luffy ignored the annoying voice talking about people Luffy didn't know. The voice went quiet for the rest of the day, thankfully.

When the two entered the room, the extremely large one that was full of talking and animated foods. It didn't take long for Luffy to notice Big Mom, and his eyes widened slightly before drooping once again. The woman was huge. Even bigger than Katakuri, who he had already thought was quite large.

There were cakes and pieces of candy bigger than Luffy was. "Luffy! I'm so happy you're finally awake! We have missed you dearly," Big Mom said. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel okay. I can't remember a lot of things," Luffy answered honestly. He didn't miss Big Mom's less than transparent grin at that. But, Luffy wouldn't get angry about someone happy he had a head injury and lost his memory. As long as he got to learn his powers, he'd play nice. It would probably take a long time, though. Years, so he had to be cool.

Big Mom seemed to notice something was off with Luffy by the time the introduction was over and not once did Luffy cower at her or the sight of her eating animate objects that were screaming. He seemed almost indifferent. The captain asked Katakuri to stay after, and instructed Luffy to go play with some of his siblings in the other room. He didn't want to, but angering her wouldn't do well for him probably.

Once he was out of the room, Big Mom turned to Katakuri and asked for an update and what kind of person she thought Luffy was, as he didn't seem like a blank slate. And how his progress was.

"Luffy is a prodigy in the making. He has already figured out how to take a shower on his own with one of his fruits. I think he will become very strong. But, there seems to have been some less than desired side-effects of the mind-wipe."

"Oh?"

"He seems almost flat. When he wasn't being a bit rude, he just seems empty. But, luckily he isn't interested in what happened in his past, or the accident that caused his memory loss. He just wants to become strong," Katakuri explained. And it was the truth, but he didn't go into detail with why he was uneasy about it and the deal the two had made.

"Well, as long as he cooperates and works for us, he is welcome. Don't mess it up, Katakuri," Big Mom threatened. She seemed perfectly polite before, but Katakuri knew better. He nodded and swore he'd do this right. And big Mom trusted him, and didn't doubt that Katakuri could make this kid a willing powerhouse of their family. He could make her the Pirate King and she could dispose of him whenever she wanted.

Luffy didn't get along with the children who were both older and bigger, but less mature it seemed. He didn't respond to their taunts or teasing, just gave them a blank stare, waiting to be able to leave so he didn't need to be around annoying people. At least Katakuri wasn't annoying. That was a good thing. One of the kids tried hitting Luffy for ignoring her, so arm sprouted out of the ground and grabbed her foot, making her trip and fall on her face. Luffy smiled slightly before relaxing his face again. That actually felt pretty good.

Before she could get up and get pissed at him, Katakuri came out and Luffy trotted behind him. Luffy had just felt a new emotion. It was different than the satisfaction he'd felt once he took the shower himself. It was pleasure. He didn't know that this would be a good thing in the long run to the Charlottes. After all, what kind of pirate never kills or tortures enemies?

-x-

The message had gotten out clearly that Luffy wasn't interested in bonding with any of his fake siblings, and none of them were bothered either. He wasn't welcome. He stayed home and trained vigorously. And though it seemed that he was invincible, he was still human and caught a bug two weeks after starting, and to say it was interesting was an understatement.

Every sneeze had some sort of reaction, but the most common one was that little white balls would pop into the air and levitate around a bit. Neither pirate had an idea for what power it was. It was only when they grew faces and started chanting "la, la, la" and lazily flying everywhere that they knew they were little ghosts.

Both of them could touch the ghosts, but when they did, each were overcome with sadness. Luffy burst into tears and Katakuri just moped intensely. Neither were happy with these and looked forward to either not sneezing ever again or being able to control them. Before that, they'd been focusing on the bubble-bubble fruit. Because that fruit was the equivalent of wetting the bed for Luffy.

It had happened twice now, and Luffy was furious about it, not to mention humiliated. Katakuri noticed he was showing more emotion the more he worked on his powers, but they weren't typical "good" ones. He often showed boredom, anger and contempt at things like when he had a slow day.

By the time Luffy was feeling better, Katakuri had said he wanted to be a water flea and Luffy had just cried like a child his age should. Neither spoke of it again, as an unspoken agreement. While Luffy acted mature for his age in an unpleasant way, he was still four, and did things four years olds did. He sucked his thumb while he slept or napped often, and Katakuri was fairly sure he had an imaginary friend.

He remembered some of his younger siblings had adopted that during their stressful and neglectful childhoods, so he said nothing about it. But, whatever kind of imaginary friend Luffy had made, they were not friends. He constantly told it to shut up. Katakuri said nothing of it, because he didn't want to piss the kid off and risk another mess, accidental or not.

Luffy was like a firecracker sometimes and just blank others. And if Katakuri had been raised in a normal family without the unhealthiness that came from such a mother, he would have seen some troubling signs from the boy. But, Katakuri was biased and used to mental illnesses so he didn't really see anything amiss or overly concerning once he got used to the boy's behavior.

To say taking care of Luffy was interesting was not a lie. There was the progression of his powers, his strange and sudden ability to take care of himself on his own, and his mood swings kept Katakuri on his toes. Something he hadn't been on at home in a long time.

-x-

"Who are Ace and Sabo?" Luffy asked quietly.

"Ace and Sabo are Ace and Sabo."

"That doesn't answer my question."

"I don't know."

Luffy had finally given up on ignoring or trying to shut up the voice in his head. It was annoying, because it was vague and often said something, only to reply that it didn't know about whatever it had just said.

"Please just shut up. I'm trying to sleep," Luffy muttered, burying his face in the pillow. The voice did as he asked, and stopped talking. It kept him company constantly, and after Katakuri started going on trips, Luffy had to admit that he got lonely staying at whoever's house just to not talk or do anything.

Katakuri was on another mission. After Luffy had mastered the basics of enough of his powers to keep him alive without too much help, Mama started sending Katakuri away on assignments that didn't include Luffy yet.

Luffy and Katakuri had a love-hate relationship, and often had Luffy mad or Katakuri frustrated. But, Katakuri still took care of him despite what a brat he could be. No one any longer cooked for Luffy once he could start creating his own food on demand, turning anything into any type of food he'd tasted before.

He also didn't need to be bathed or go through the hassle of making the arm-system to allow him to shower. The bubble-bubble cleansing made his perfectly clean. If he got hurt, he had the heal-heal fruit instead of getting any medical help. He was only six, yet was treated like an adult. He didn't like being coddled, but he also missed Katakuri when he was away. None of the other family were fond of him and vice versa.

So, he was all alone with the voice in his head the only company. Whatever talked to him acted like a young child. It complained about a lot of things, often spouting babble of things that it was unable to clarify. It could be quite annoying.

When Katakuri was gone, one of the siblings with a harder ability would help him learn. Examples of this were Brulee and her mirror mirror power that he still had trouble with. He was able to use the Mirror World, but what was strange was that Luffy's powers and Brulee's did not work the same, despite being identical fruits. Katakuri said that they were different because he and Brulee learned in different ways. But that was just a theory.

While others could use Brulee's mirror dimension, no one could enter Luffy's. Even if he attempted to bring someone else in there with him, they were unable to enter. Upon further inspection, Luffy's Mirror World was much, much larger than Brulees. While the older had all her mirrors accessible in Totto Land and closely to their islands, but not too far, Luffy's branched out to multiple territories. However, this was the one time he listened to katakuri about the man refusing him to explore one of the powers.

Having Luffy get lost in his mirror dimension made him completely alone and unable to find his way back. Plus, someone might mistake him for a missing child and take him away, as he didn't have a parent and even showing any sort of devil fruit as a child made you a target. It was something that irritated everyone. Mainly: him, Katakuri and Mama.

The powers Brulee tried to help him learn was turning animals into human form. Luffy's always ended up looking grotesque. Katakuri said that it was because Luffy had no imagination. This was also backed by the fact the art-art fruit was unusable for him. Luffy lacked imagination. He didn't know that he used to love drawing what he felt and perceived of the world, but since his second memory-wipe, that was gone.

Luffy enjoyed proving himself to Katakuri, so whenever the man came back home, Luffy wanted to show off something he'd learned, but his fast learning was fading with the more difficult fruits. No one had taught Luffy to read, still. Thinking he'd just disappear once he knew how to read the book and teach himself about the fruits. And that was true. For a year ago.

But, despite being disliked and generally not liking the others, Katakuri was still Luffy's caregiver, even if he never saw him as a brother and a father figure since his supposed mother rarely talked to him unless it was a yearly check up on his progress. The boy didn't want to know what would happen if Big Mom didn't approve of his progress.

It wasn't that Luffy was afraid that Big Mom would hurt of kill him, but she could command Katakuri to do anything for her. What if one day she decided to just rip Katakuri from Luffy? Left him all alone, only with the voice in his head.

-x-

"We're going on your first mission," Katakuri sprang the news on the almost six year old one morning while Luffy ate his own breakfast. Luffy blinked once. "Out of Totto Land. Mama thinks you have enough control over enough of your powers that it's time for you to prove yourself."

"We get to explore?"

"What's the mission?" Luffy asked, ignoring the child in his head.

"Assassination," Katakuri replied shortly. Luffy looked down, wondering who he'd have to kill. He knew his family killed opponents all of the time, but Luffy had never killed a human. Sure, he'd killed a couple squirrels, but that was a long time ago.

Katakuri spoke before Luffy replied. "It's mostly on you, Luffy. You'll have to pull off a covert assasination. Using your powers as stealth. Think of this as a test for all you have learned."

Luffy brought his empty bowl to the sink and created a ladder of arms to lift it up and into the basin. "So, using the calm-calm and clear-clear?" he clarified. Katakuri nodded. Luffy still wasn't perfect at those abilities. Both of them had a time limit. He could stay invisible for only an hour and silent for only fifteen minutes at a time.

"Mainly, along with others that you can use in some way to fulfil the mission."

"Okay," Luffy replied, adopting the monotone voice he got whenever he had to do something he didn't want to. He didn't feel like killing anyone lately. The urges had gone away, surprisingly, after Katakuri told him that he was important to him. Even if Luffy was "a little shit".

"It's in five weeks. If you get caught, Mama gives you permission to destroy the entire island." Luffy nodded, but wondered why he would need to be sneaky if it was fine to just trash the entire place. But, it was a test, so maybe that's why. Luffy knew he couldn't die in a conventional way unless it was with sea stone, but it was still making him a bit nervous. He didn't want to be seen as weak or useless.

"Okay. When do I get to start learning lethals?" Luffy asked. He had still wanted to learn the more dangerous ones, but no one seemed to want him to until they felt he was ready. Luffy felt perfectly ready to start learning the ones that could do significant damage.

Katakuri sighed. "I don't know. If you get mad you could kill us all."

Luffy was offended. "I've never hurt someone when I got mad! I'm in control of most of my powers!"

"What about the time you tried to wrap your arm around Flampe's neck?" Katakuri argued.

"That was a long time ago and she was asking for it! Everyone lets Anana run around and chase people with knives but I'm not allowed to choke someone a little?! Aren't we pirates? Isn't this family one big group of murderers?" Luffy countered angrily.

"It's not the same. Anana hasn't actually hurt anyone." It was a weak argument.

"Yeah, because Anana and Flampe are actual family members, right? They're the ones that matter, not Luffy, the future powerhouse that everyone is excited to see potential," Luffy taunted, though inside he was very angry.

"What?"

"I'm not an idiot," Luffy said, suddenly his voice ice cold. "I hear the whispers. I hear the others who are closer to my age talk about 'Luffy, the one that doesn't belong'. I don't give a shit most of the time but I work my butt off and now you think I can't control my powers? That's what learning is, isn't it? Learning control? Isn't that your job? To teach me to be valuable?" Then he stormed off.

"Luffy, wait!" Katakuri called after Luffy slammed the bathroom door in his face, now much stronger than someone his age should be. Katakuri opened the door anyways, to see Luffy had left through the mirror. He must be really upset if he disobeyed the main rule and didn't venture off.

Katakuri never knew the six year old knew all of that, or that he was bothered by any of it. Arguments had been on the decline lately, so this was a big deal. Katakuri knew he couldn't go after some of his biological siblings over an outsider like Luffy. He wasn't an outsider to Katakuri, but to everyone else, Luffy would never be accepted. Not even if he was the strongest person in Totto Land. Blood mattered most.