Way of freedom

“Ohhh…huh. There’s another one of us here? ‘Cause I only just got here a few hours ago.” What was going on here? Somehow this felt like it was about to get much more complicated than his straight-track brain could understand. But man, this sure was a lot of him in one place.

He blinked at the other Luffy, opening his mouth to say something and actually finding the words catch in his throat for a second. Instead, he shifted his attention to the part about the meat.

“Oh, really? Awesome! Where’s that?” Because he himself hadn’t seen anything for miles – just bad luck, probably. But he fell silent for a moment.

“Where’s the ‘home’ you’re looking for?”

Another one? Luffy blinked a bit confused about that information because till a second ago he had been so damn sure that this was the Luffy from this world. Seemed like he wasn’t. So that meant there was still another Luffy around? Somehow this thought was confusing but interesting at the same time, even though Lu still wasn’t that sure if the third one didn’t end up in his place in his home world? 

“There must.”  he answered none the less. “Because here are a lot people who think they know me, but I don’t know anything about them.” 

Tilting his head to the left side Lu turned around, vaguely pointing in the direction he just had came from. “Somewhere there I guess?” 

He didn’t really paid attention so he didn’t exactly knew the way back there. 

The last words made him go silent for a moment though. 

“Counter-wha?” His brows furrowed in thought. Why was it that he had no idea what the other him was talking about all of a sudden?

“What are you doing out here? Are you exploring, too?”

Frankly…he had a lot of questions, but was almost – scared – to ask them – so for now, he pushed those to the back of his mind, and instead decided on the spot that this Luffy was now his new friend. That was more important right now.

“I’m pretty hungry. Is there any meat around here?”

“Counterpart. Ah the me from this world?” he tried to explain, but explaining never had been his good trait so he wasn’t so sure if the other one even understood what he meant. On the other side the other one was him as well so probably...? 

“I’m looking for a way home.” he replied in the end. While at the beginning this adventure really had made fun he now really wanted back. Sure his brother wouldn’t come back but he somehow still hoped that the rest of the crew would be around. 

“And I didn’t see any meat around here but I think there was a town and I’m sure there were some restaurants.” 

@cxptn || (x)

Could it be–?

With one big motion, he leaped down from the tall rock he’d been perched on, landing loudly on his feet right in front of the other boy and shoving his own face into his.

“WHOAH! You’re me!”

All these years of wandering and wandering. He couldn’t decide if he was surprised or not. After all…

“Is your name Luffy, too?”

He didn’t realize that there was someone close to him. Probably because he was busy with trying to break his head about the question how to get home. But that probably wasn’t that true. It was more that not so long ago he had learned about the fact that his this worlds counterpart had lost his brother as well. And while it had been one of Lu’s fears that he would run in this worlds Ace would lead to more wounds than his brothers dead had left on his soul, at the same time it made him sad. 

So he wasn’t that alerted when it came to his surroundings. 

At least until someone landed right in front of him and for a moment Luffy thought he was looking into a mirror. 

Was this really...? 

“Yeah it is. You’re me? Are you my this worlds counterpart?” 

@surgeon-of-death-law // meme 

“They’re not dangers.” he replied quietly, tilting his head to the side while he let his eyes wander over the water in front of him. He didn’t take any action to turn around to the other one just yet. Again… he might new the other one from before, but Lu was very well aware of the fact, that this wasn’t the Law he knew, as much as he wasn’t the Luffy the other one expected to meet. 

      It didn’t make any sense, but she can’t find any reason why Luffy would deceive her. At least, not the captain she knew. She had looked at the rubber man, observing him for a long time. Nami however, seems to still be in utter shock with what she’d recently learned. He seems to be the same person. The recklessness and carefree demeanor, he also had the same scar beneath his left eye. Despite that, ⏤ she also had to admit there’s a true disconnect between them. He wasn’t the person who saved her from Arlong. However, if she were to live for today,  ⏤ she would still need his help. 

      A lever was harshly cranked up before she left the wheel of the ship. ❛ Well then.. Luffy-san,❜ She starts. If there were indeed explosives beneath the ship, talking will have to be placed and scheduled for later. ❛We gotta get out of here first. This ship is too big to be seen. We have to find a smaller vessel. I’m sure the Marines would have some spare boats tucked somewhere.❜ 

      The female paced swiftly out of the helm. If her guess would be right, some lifeboats would be at the ship’s rear. She held her breath at this point. She can’t know exactly just how much time they have. But whether it’s to be blasted on the ocean or be caught by authorities, their time was limited. ❛ Let’s go!❜

There was some kind of change once he finished his sentences, even though it became clearly visible when her way of addressing him changed. So she actually did believe him? Lu kinda wondered what experiences she had made with his other self, that his words sounded somewhat believable to her. 

“Good. Let’s keep going.” he agreed. After all...staying here wouldn’t help them any further. What ever discussion was coming towards him...it would have to wait till later. 

This ship wasn’t a place for him to die. He first needed to get back. People were waiting for him. Hopefully. 

So he followed her to the rear, looking out for that lifeboat and a huge smile appeared on his face once he spotted one. 

“Seems we’re lucky for once.” he decided before jumping down on the little boat. He wasn’t that eager to meat the marines again. The events that lead to his brothers death and him ending up here were still too close for his liking. But he would prefer it when the other possibility was to die either due to the explosion or because he would simply drown in the ocean. 

“He Nami. You’re part of the other me’s crew right? Were’s the rest?” 

Right. Law made a little skeptical sound. As if he could trust someone who believes that meat is the best medication with his injuries. Why couldn’t Mugiwara stay out of trouble at least for a little bit? “It’s not? Let me take a look then, Mugiwara-ya.”

The raven haired teen slightly bit down on his lower lip. He wasn’t so sure if he wanted to show the other one his injury, because he was rather sure that Law wouldn’t be on his side with that one. But still Lu would say it wasn’t so worse as it looked. After all he had survived worse already, so it should be fine. At least he tried to convince himself, that it was fine. 

In the end he started to pout a bit, but he started to pull his shirt aside to give the other one a better look on that still slightly bleeding wound on his side. 

        UNDERSTANDABLE.

In what world, after all, would a sign reading ‘CAUTION! TRAP FOREST BEGINS HERE.’ deter ANYONE from entering an uncharted zone on an island that’d so far brought them nothing but trouble as is. WHO could have known that those select poor souls that for whatever reason decided to step into the woods nonetheless may get caught up in … traps? “…” Other than a look of stubbornly composed disbelief in the face of equally stubborn adventurous conviction, he had little to offer to the other man in response.

… that, and he most likely was in no place to point fingers in the first place, given that just like his captain he was currently ensnared in a vicious net trap and they were BOTH jollily dangling down the big mammoth trees that towered above the undergrowth.

                                         … at least the view was nice.

           “JEEZ, WHATEVER ━. Hold still for a moment. I’ll cut us down.”

To his defense in his head this whole idea really had sounded somewhat good. At least it didn't sound as bad as getting trapped sounded. Like... of course Luffy had somehow been aware of the fact, that there were traps around... hence the warning outside the forest he decided to ignore - but he read it so point for him on that part probably - but still... just because there were traps didn't automatically mean that he would get caught in them.

Well reality proved him otherwise it seemed...

But Zoro was hanging here with him so it wasn't that bad and there was a wide grin on the captains face after a short while, as he was looking around from his current, rather accidentally position. If he was up here he at least could use the chance to take a look around, right?

"Oi I can see the Sunny from here!" It was a short statement, that made him laugh again, but soon again he stopped as the other one was telling him to hold still. And while Lu normally wasn't exactly the type to do what others were telling him - most of the time he tried. He really did, but luck didn't work out for him like that - he tried his best to be still at least for a few seconds so the other one could get his work done.

Send ( ✨ ) if we haven’t interacted yet, but you want to.