One Piece | Shanks | 3.0k | Masterlist

Once, when you thought you had a good understanding of how he worked, you were certain Shanks was best enjoyed in pieces.

Drinks shared and nights spent with his hand at your hip and his mouth against your neck before dawn. But always in fleeting moments. Never for more than that. It was easier that way. If you stayed longer than a night, it became more difficult.

And Shanks had never been the type for anything more than easy.

You had assumed, at least.

The first time he made the offer was in a room already hot with the lingering aftermath of the evening. Rough sheets twisted around your legs, sticking to sweat-slick skin while the open window did little to chase away the summer air. Bruises were already beginning to bloom along your throat from the lazy path of his mouth before he slipped between your legs and pressed a kiss to the inside of your knee, softer than anything he'd given you before.

“Come with me tomorrow,” he said, offering another further up your thigh. “Sail with us.”

Chapter 6: Fuel for your dream is like Wind in your sails.

Word Count:

Contents: Luffy X Traumatised!DevilFruitUser!Reader. Long&SlowBurn. Fluff. Angst. Eventual Romance&Smut. Strawhat Crew X Reader. SPOILER WARNINGS. Character Building&Growth. Long Read, Several Chapters.

Content Warning: Mention of Abuse. Brutal+Violent scenes targeted towards and against reader. Traumatic Events. Death of close ones. (Let me know if I’ve missed any!)

Summary: From being Ace’s right hand girl, to meeting Monkey ‘D Luffy for the first time in Alabasta, Then watching everything that was once important to you vanish mercilessly infront of you. You find yourself on a strange journey you never expected standing alongside none other than Ace’s brother.

Chapters:

Chpt1 | Chpt2 | Chpt3 | Chpt4 | Chpt5 | Chpt6 | Chpt7 (coming soon)

Chapter Summary: Rayleigh is forced to accept a new kind of training, one that was never meant for you or Luffy. A dream emerges with no sight of fuel, anxiety growing as you spend the final day on the island.

RAYLEIGHS POV

The days seemed to blend together. Wake up, Train, Fail, Sleep. Or at least attempt to. The routine repeated itself so many times that the stargazer stopped counting the days entirely. Rayleigh would arrive each morning just as the stars disappeared.

"Morning."

"Morning."

Then the same lesson would begin.

"Hit me." The answer never changed.

Miss. Miss. Miss.

"Again." The word had become more familiar than her own name.

At first she had treated the training like a challenge, Something to overcome, Something to solve. Every night she sat by the fire creating new plans, New attacks, New combinations, New ways to catch the old pirate off guard. Every morning Rayleigh dismantled them effortlessly.

By the second month she stopped creating plans.

By the third she stopped believing there was a solution.

The island itself had begun to feel different now, Colder, Larger, Emptier. The silence that once felt peaceful now felt suffocating, Even the stars seemed quieter.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the island, Luffy wasn't doing much better. The boy still trained, Still ate, a decreasing amount. Still fought, with weakening haki. But the energy that normally surrounded him had dulled. Stories ended halfway through. Conversations were held with nobody. Several times Rayleigh caught him talking before remembering he was alone.

One afternoon Rayleigh watched Luffy launch himself at a target, a simple exercise, One the boy had mastered months ago. Luffy missed, entirely, his fist flew right past the target as it barely dodged with a single step. The beast itself was thrown back by the way the boy had missed. Although enemies a few of the abnormally sized beasts had become to enjoy the fights that were used as training.

The old pirate frowned, Luffy frowned harder. "Again."

By the fourth month both had started going backwards, Not physically, Mentally, Emotionally. The confidence they'd built over two years seemed thinner somehow, as though something fundamental had been removed.

Neither complained. Neither understood what was happening. Neither realised the other was experiencing the exact same thing. Rayleigh did. And every day he became more concerned.

The fifth month was when Rayleigh stopped believing the problem would fix itself.

The old pirate sat alone overlooking the ocean. Watching the waves crash against the rocks. Thinking. What was he doing wrong?

He had trained pirates before, Many pirates, Strong pirates, Weak pirates, Idiots, Geniuses, People who listened, People who didn't.

Never once had he watched a student move backwards.

The stargazer should have improved, Instead she had become hesitant, Distracted, Exhausted.

Luffy should have improved, Instead he had become reckless, Impatient, Unfocused.

The separation was supposed to force independence. Instead it was breaking something.

Rayleigh found himself replaying every lesson he had taught, Every decision he had thought, Every conversation he had spoken, Searching for the mistake. Where was it, where was the mistake, what is causing this situation.. this mistake.

One evening he watched the stargazer swing, Miss. Again, Miss, Again, Miss. The frustration on her face looked familiar. Not because she'd shown it before, but because Roger had, years ago. Whenever he couldn't understand something. The thought made Rayleigh pause.

Roger, the old pirate, closed his eyes. Remembering, Remembering stories, Remembering laughter.

Remembering a drunken captain staring up at the stars and speaking about bonds nobody could explain. "The strongest bonds aren't made by blood, Rayleigh."

The words echoed through his memory, Shared dreams, Shared pain, Shared freedom.

Rayleigh opened his eyes. A long sigh escaped him. "No." The answer felt ridiculous, impossible. Yet every piece of evidence pointed towards it.

Maybe, just maybe the problem wasn't the training. The problem wasn't them. The problem… Might be him. For months he had tried teaching them how to stand alone. How to fight alone. How to live alone.

What if that was the wrong lesson? The thought lingered, refusing to disappear. The next morning Rayleigh made a decision.

One final test. If Roger was wrong, everything would continue as normal. If Roger was right… The old pirate wasn't entirely sure what he would do.

"Stargazer."

The girl looked up from the fire, eyes empty. The stars that used to fill her eyes hidden away.

“Meet me at the old training ground by noon.” Was all he said as he already started to walk back in the same direction he did almost every second night.

"Luffy."

The boy stopped mid bite, as he chewed his breakfast.

"Meet me at the old training ground after you finish your meal."

The old training ground hadn't changed, The same dirt, The same trees, The same broken rocks from countless fights. Only the people standing within it felt different.

Luffy arrived first. He had stopped before the meat stock finished, extremely unlike him as if he was anticipating something. Immediately sitting on the ground. Immediately complaining, immediately asking where his lunch was hiding. Rayleigh found the behaviour strangely reassuring.

Several minutes later another presence entered the clearing. The stargazer. The moment she stepped into the clearing, Luffy's head snapped towards her. The same happened in reverse. Neither seemed surprised to see the other. Neither said much.

"Hey."

"Hey."

That was it. Yet something shifted. Immediately. The old pirate noticed it before either of them. The tension that had become normal over the past months vanished. The exhaustion seemed lighter. The atmosphere itself felt different. More alive.

The realization made Rayleigh uncomfortable. "Right." The old pirate stood. Crossing his arms. "Hit me."

Both groaned. Simultaneously. Rayleigh ignored it. Luffy moved first, A punch. Rayleigh stepped aside. The stargazer followed, A kick. Rayleigh leaned backwards.

Miss. Miss. Just like always. Good. The old pirate relaxed slightly. Perhaps he had been overthinking things. Luffy attacked again. The stargazer moved at the same time. Something felt different. Not stronger. Not faster. Different. The air around him tightened. Not enough to hurt. Not enough to restrict him. just enough to notice. A strange pressure wrapped around his chest. His next breath caught unexpectedly. For the first time in years, Rayleigh found himself aware of his own breathing.

Rayleigh stepped left to avoid Luffy. Only to realise the stargazer had already adjusted. He shifted backwards. Luffy changed direction. His eyes narrowed. The movements weren't faster. They weren't stronger. Yet somehow every adjustment he made was already being answered. Not individually. Together. For a brief moment, the old pirate found himself reacting. Not predicting. Reacting. A fist brushed his shoulder. Rayleigh froze. Silence.

The strange pressure vanished. Just as suddenly as it had appeared. His lungs expanded fully once again. The sensation gone before he could properly understand it.

Luffy blinked. The stargazer blinked. Rayleigh slowly lowered his gaze. The fabric of his shirt had shifted. A faint mark sat on his shoulder. The two younger pirates looked at each other. Then back at him.

"...Did we get him?" The old pirate said nothing. "Rayleigh?" Concern began to creep onto both of their faces. Why wasn't he saying anything?

Because for the first time in months, he wasn't thinking about the attack. He was thinking about everything that came before it. The sleepless nights. The frustration. The failed lessons. The regression. The silence.

How the stars that sparkled in your eyes had slowly disappeared with each month.

How Luffy’s goal of becoming the king of the pirates was said out loud less and less. The way Rayleigh felt as both of their sparks slowly disintegrated in front of him and had caused him to rethink everything. And how quickly it had reappeared the moment they saw each other. The moment they stood beside one another. The moment the island felt alive again. His mind replayed the exchange. Again. And again. And again. Searching for the answer. The attacks hadn't changed. The speed hadn't changed. The strength hadn't changed. So what did?

The pressure against his lungs returned to his thoughts. That impossible feeling. Like standing before a creature far larger than himself. Like something unseen had briefly wrapped itself around the clearing. Watching. Waiting. Rayleigh frowned, no, that wasn't possible. The air couldn't do that. The atmosphere itself couldn't change. There was no Haki technique he knew capable of creating such a sensation. No Devil Fruit ability either. Yet he had felt it.

The old pirate stared at the two confused faces standing before him. A childish idiot. And a stargazer who still looked half asleep. Neither seemed aware that anything unusual had happened. Which somehow made it even more unsettling.

For months Rayleigh had searched for an answer. A flaw in their technique, a weakness in their Haki, a mistake in their training. There wasn't one. The answer had been standing in front of him the entire time. The lesson had never belonged to them. It belonged to him.

By the time Rayleigh had snapped out of his thoughts Luffy was already celebrating. Running around the clearing shouting about finally hitting the old man. He moved his gaze to you. The stargazer looked confused. As if she couldn't understand why Rayleigh had gone silent, concern still written all over her face. Neither understood. Rayleigh smiled, A genuine smile, The first in months.

"You two are impossible." The statement only confused them more. But made the concern distant itself. Not worried.. still confused.

Roger's voice echoed through his memory. "The strongest bonds aren't made by blood, Rayleigh." Shared dreams, Shared pain, Shared freedom. For years Rayleigh had assumed Roger was speaking philosophically. Like he often did after too much sake. Now he wondered if the old fool had understood something long before him. The old pirate looked between the two of them.

One swinging around trees, yelling in celebration, with a massive grin over his face. The other with a small closed smile pretending to not be watching him. Months apart, Both became weaker, One hour together, Everything returned. No. Roger wasn't entirely right. The strongest bonds weren't forged by blood. But they also weren't forged by freedom, Or dreams, Or pain, Those things only lit the fire. Trust was what kept it burning.

A laugh escaped Rayleigh. Small and Quiet, Almost disbelieving. For months he had tried teaching them how to stand alone. Only to discover their greatest strength came from standing together. "You stubborn old fool." The words escaped before he could stop them.

Luffy looked around. "Who?"

Rayleigh laughed. "An old friend."

END OF RAYLEIGHS POV

The separation ended that day. Neither you nor Luffy fully understood why. Rayleigh never explained. The old pirate simply stopped sending either of you away. And strangely… That was enough. The following weeks felt different. Lighter. Sleep returned, Not immediately, Not perfectly, But it returned. The nights that had once stretched endlessly now disappeared in the blink of an eye. You found yourself waking up rested again. Luffy stopped waking during the night. Stopped wandering around camp. Stopped staring into the forest as if he'd forgotten something important. The campfire returned too. Not the fire itself. The conversations. The endless stories. The pointless arguments. The races through the forest. The complaints. The laughter. The sparkle in your eyes grew with each night, the stars eventually shining as bright as before, glistening. Luffy’s dream he stopped hiding, saying it after every victory, saying it at least once throughout the campfire stories. His spirits had lifted. The island felt alive again. Training improved almost immediately. Not because either of you suddenly became stronger. Because you could focus again.

One afternoon Rayleigh watched as the two of you sparred. Luffy launched himself forward. You stepped aside. Grabbed his arm. Used his momentum against him. THUD! Luffy crashed into the dirt. The silence lasted exactly one second.

"You cheated."

You stared at him. "No."

"Yeah."

"No."

"Yeah."

Rayleigh sighed. The argument continued for another twenty minutes. The old pirate smiled into his tea. For the first time in months. Everything felt normal. The weeks passed. Then months. Time slipped through their fingers once again. The seasons changed. Storms came and went. The monsters became easier. The training became harder. The island slowly stopped feeling like a place they had been sent. And started feeling like home again.

One morning Rayleigh found himself watching the two of them from a distance. Neither noticed him. Both too busy arguing over breakfast. The old pirate smiled. Roger would've liked this.

The announcement came without warning. Which was exactly how Rayleigh liked doing things. The three of you sat around the campfire. The same campfire. The same clearing. The same island. The only difference was the people sitting around it.

"You've finished." The words were so casual that neither of you reacted.

Luffy continued eating. You continued staring into the fire. A moment passed. Then another.

Luffy blinked. "Huh?"

Rayleigh laughed. "Your training." The old pirate gestured between the two of you. ”It's finished."

The silence that followed felt strange. For years everything had revolved around training. Getting stronger, Learning, Surviving. Now there was nothing left. No next lesson, No next monster, No next goal. The realization settled heavily around the campfire.

"You mean..." Luffy sat up. "We're going back?"

Rayleigh smiled. “You're going home."

You couldn't help but grin at Luffy's reaction, even though your stomach was twisting itself into knots. "You're going home." The words replayed in your mind. Home. The conversation continued around the campfire. Luffy was already celebrating. Rayleigh was smiling into his tea. The atmosphere was warm, happy. You should have been happy too, instead, anxiety began to crawl beneath your skin. You forced yourself to smile, forced yourself to laugh, forced yourself to stay present. But eventually it became too much. Quietly, you excused yourself, Neither of them stopped you. You weren't sure if they hadn't noticed… Or if they had.

Your feet carried you towards the beach without thinking. The same beach where you had first arrived two years ago. The same beach where your training had begun. You lowered yourself onto the sand. Pulling your knees against your chest. Wrapping your arms tightly around trying to ground yourself. The waves rolled in and out, steady and calm. Unlike your thoughts.

Where was your home? Why weren't you happy? You had just completed two years of training. You had survived, You had grown stronger, You should have felt proud, Instead, your chest felt tight, Your breathing felt shallow. Tears burned behind your eyes, You blinked them away, Not here, Not now. That would be stupid.

But what were you supposed to do now? Luffy had somewhere to go. A crew was waiting for him. Friends, No, Family. He had a ship, A dream, A destination, A future.

A tear slipped free despite your efforts. Your voice came out as little more than a whisper. Unable to keep them inside.

"What am I supposed to do?" The words disappeared into the wind. "Where do I even go?" You stared down at the sand. "Even if I wanted to go back to the Whitebeard Pirates..." Your throat tightened. "It wouldn't be the same." The thing that had fueled you was gone. Gone for over two years. Would the crew even still be together? Would there even be a crew left? You laughed bitterly. "I don't have a ship." Another tear. "I don't have a family." Another. "I don't even have a dream." Your hands clenched. "Why don't I have a dream?"

A familiar presence settled next to you. You jumped, quickly wiping your face. Rayleigh sat down beside you as though he'd been invited. His arm rested gently across your shoulders. You leaned into it without thinking. The realization made you huff out a small laugh. Two years ago you would've punched him. "You heard everything, didn't you?" Your voice was quiet.

"Even the things you didn't say." Rayleigh chuckled. The sound was soft, Comforting. For a moment neither of you spoke. The waves filled the silence.

Then Rayleigh spoke again. "You said you don't have a dream." Your smile disappeared instantly. "So tell me." His voice remained calm. "What did?" You frowned. "What fueled it?"

The question hit harder than expected. You opened your mouth, closed it, opened it again. "I..." Nothing came out. Rayleigh waited patiently. "Ace." The answer slipped free before you could stop it. "Ace did." Your gaze dropped. "He was my dream."

"No." The response was immediate, firm and certain. You blinked. "He wasn't."

You stared at him. "He was the reason I kept moving."

"That's different." Rayleigh squeezed your shoulder gently. "A dream is where you're trying to go." His gaze drifted towards the ocean. "Fuel is what helps you get there." The words settled heavily. "Ace wasn't your destination." A small smile appeared. "He was the wind in your sails, so tell me, where were you sailing too?”

You swallowed hard. "I..." Rayleigh remained silent. Waiting for you to answer his previous question.

"When I was younger..." Your voice was quiet. Small. “I used to look up to the stars whenever things got bad, because no matter what happened,” You lifted your eyes to the darkening sky. “No matter where I was, they were always there, they always came back.” A shaky breath escaped you. “I used to spend hours looking for one, a special star, a star that would follow me no matter where I went.” Your gaze moved back down to your lap. “A star that I could always see, a star that could guide me, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find one that stayed, they all eventually got replaced and covered with darkness.”

Another sigh escaped you as you let your words free. “There wasn’t one. So.. I wanted to become one. I wanted people to look up and feel something, a star that could guide you no matter where you were.”

You looked back up to Rayleigh leaving a moment of silence as you thought your next words carefully.

“But I think that's changed.” The old pirate raised an eyebrow but remained silent.”I don’t want to just guide people anymore, I don’t want them to look up and only feel.” You felt yourself gulp breaking the sentence. “Something. I want them to feel what I feel right now.” You scanned Rayleigh's face, his eyebrow still raised.

“I want someone who’s scared to look up and feel safe, I want someone who’s lost to feel a path, I want someone who’s alone to feel like they're not.” You laughed softly,

“I want to create and become a star that gives people that same kind of comfort you do.”

For the first time all evening, Rayleigh looked genuinely caught off guard.

You continued before he could interrupt. “Not because it tells people where to go, or what to do, but.. Because it reminds them that wherever they’re going, whoever and whatever they’re up against.. that they’ll be okay, I want to leave behind my own constellation, that tells people they’ll never be alone as long as it shines, and it always will.”

The old pirate was quiet for a long moment. Then a smile slowly appeared beneath his beard. "That's a far better dream than the one you started with, Stargazer."

The squeeze on your shoulder intensified pulling you in closer. Rayleigh sighed.“ You really are one of a kind.” He continued before you could gather up a response.

“Ace fueled your dream, now the fuel has run out.” He paused for a moment as he felt you tense back up. “Fuel can run out, but a dream? A dream can’t.” He paused as he felt your gaze back on him, your eyebrows had furrowed at his words. “A real dream doesn’t change. But fuel?”

Silence followed as you waited in anticipation for him to fill his unfinished sentence. He didn’t, only making your eyebrows furrow more, a small crease lined between them. He watched your expression as your mind was filled with relentless thoughts and questions you didn’t have answers to yet.

His palm raised to his forehead as he sighed. “When was the last time you felt the fuel burn?” He paused as he looked directly at you. A soft and comforting tone returned. “When was the last time you hesitated?”

You could feel your heartbeat start to increase as the intensity in his questions grew. The silence he left between each one not helping your wandering mind. He shifted his gaze out to where the dark sky cut off the sea. His questions make you more and more restless. They were so simple. Why did you have to think so hard? What was he trying to say? Even more questions spiralled through the wind.

“When was the last time you felt yourself hiding your feelings.”

Before you could comprehend any of the other questions you felt yourself pick up on one instantly, having a response. “Tonight” You knew what he meant, you still couldn’t stop the childish response leaving you.

Rayleigh picked up on your surprised expression as he realised you couldn’t hold back the banter. “You call that hiding your feelings?.. I followed you for a reason” a small amused gruff escaped him.

He finally seemed to take a deep breath in, clearly preparing himself for the final question.You felt your whole body tense as he took another breath in, his demeanor instantly shifted, still comforting, still reassuring but serious.

“If you left tonight, what would you miss? What would you look for first?”

You didn’t respond to his question. He didn’t force it either, he simply held you for a while til you managed to completely calm your anxiety. It was still there but you didn’t feel like collapsing in a pool of your own tears anymore.

“If worse comes to worse, I won’t leave til you find your fuel.” His words soothed your thoughts even more.

Eventually returning to the campsite. When you returned you felt a sudden surge of panic. Rayleigh must have felt it rolling off you as he quickly broke the silence. “Oh, I sent Luffy off for some very specific flowers.” Your gaze lifted to Rayleighs.”He won’t be back for a while.”

You couldn’t help but laugh as you realised what Rayleigh meant. Poor Luffy. You rested down on your rock, unnaturally grateful that Luffy wasn’t there. It allowed you to think, without any distractions. You let the questions from earlier replay. One question after another. Many memories resurfaced. The questions finally had an answer, so why were you still confused, why did nothing connect.

“Hey, what's wrong?” Luffy's voice cut through your thoughts, you lifted your site to watch him running quickly over to you. Placing a hand on your curled up knee.

You didn’t realise you had your tears freely flow, You blinked whilst staring at Luffy with almost begging eyes. Please don’t push me, Please don’t push me. I'll collapse again.

"Hungry?" You shook your head. But glad he got the hint.

"Cold?"

A smile appeared on your face. "A little."

The tension instantly left his shoulders. Without hesitation he dropped beside you. Throwing an arm around your shoulders. Pulling you closer. This was new. You had expected him to use your shoulder as a pillow, Not this. His warmth wrapped around you instantly, Comfortable, Safe, Familiar. Within minutes his breathing slowed, Then came the soft snoring. You laughed quietly. The stars above were beautiful. As beautiful as they'd always been. Sleep found you quickly that night. One thing replaying throughout your dreams. ‘If worse comes to worse, I won’t leave til you find your fuel.’

The following morning arrived quicker than expected. You took a deep inhale trying to capture the last air of the island before you stepped onto the smallish boat. The boat cut smoothly through the ocean. The island growing smaller with every passing minute. Luffy stood at the front. Excited as ever. Blabbering about how much his crew must have changed, and how excited he was to show them how strong he had become. You sat closer to the middle. Watching the horizon. Watching the past slowly disappear and the unknown future coming closer and closer.

Rayleigh remained silent. Content simply watching. Then finally. After almost a week. The islands appeared. Sabaody.

The old pirate smiled. "Well." He stood. Brushing off his coat. "This is where I leave you."

Neither of you spoke immediately. The islands grew larger. Closer. More real. The training was over. The waiting was over. The next chapter of your lives sat directly ahead. And for the first time in two years. The future no longer felt distant. It felt close enough to touch.

Let me know how you liked the POVs, the Poll was so close so I have decided I’ll mix in both POVs and dialogue!

forever, okay?

— pairings: luffy x fem!reader

— a/n: hii and thank you so much for the request and compliment !! it really does mean a lot, and i hope that i did your request the way you wanted it 🩵 i hope you enjoy .

Luffy can’t exactly remember when his feelings for you changed. 

Similar to nearly everyone else on the Sunny, he quite literally told you to join his crew when he first met you on your island. 

Usually, you would have said no at such a request, but something about the bright, wide grin on Luffy’s face made you reconsider.

part one here!

you knew your nebulous position as the other woman was never going to last. when you’re the affair partner of both people in the same relationship, it’s inevitable that the truth will eventually come out. you just decide to have it happen on your own terms.

you escalate your own behaviour; with suguru, who you mostly have sex with and share the occasional drink, you up your antics. you leave behind lip gloss, you kiss bruises in places he won’t immediately notice, keep your nails sharper to scrape lines down his skin. you moan in his ear as he fucks you and ask, “what would your husband think, if he walked in here right now? watching me take you like i’m the one you’re married to?” just to relish in the way his voice strangles on a heavy groan as he comes.

with satoru, who’s far more interested in the emotional side of things, you devote yourself fully to the role of secret girlfriend. with suguru, you might be a nice, illicit fuck for when his husband’s busy. with satoru? you’re the partner he wishes his husband was. he takes you on elaborate dates, he buys you flowers, he flourishes with every sweet kiss and whispered affirmation. when he calls you late at night, paralysed with fear because he just knows his husband is cheating, you leave suguru in bed to console him from the safety of your bathroom. he can barely look at you when he fucks you, refuses to turn the lights on, then shudders in your arms as you nurture him in the aftermath.

it’s manipulative. you’re halfway in love with them from the thrill alone. you let it build and build, watch as their marriage slowly falls apart from their own actions, and, when it’s all coming to a climax, you arrange a threesome.

in the end, it’s easy. you invite them. suguru tells you happily that his husband’s out of the prefecture that weekend, and he misses you so much, sweetheart. can’t stop thinking about you. satoru tells you his husband is definitely with that homewrecker, so why can’t he spend a weekend with you? they don’t even care about the third, so long as you make sure they’re hot.

then they both show up, and it’s glorious.

after all, aren’t you blameless? it’s suguru that told you he wants something casual, satoru who said he doesn’t mind if you see someone else at the same time, since he’s doing the same. it’s not your fault they’re cheating. it’s not your fault they’ve accidentally fallen for the same woman outside of their marriage. it’s definitely not your fault that you accidentally arranged a threesome with both of them. how could you know? it’s not like suguru’s ever seen you snooping through his apartment. it’s not as if satoru has given you any details about his wayward husband, either.

there’s a moment of silence. of shock. they stare at each other in obvious disbelief while you smile cluelessly. you tell them you “just know they’re going to get along!” and they “have so much in common.” they don’t correct you. no, suguru does something better:

“it’s nice to meet you,” he says, perfectly neutral. “i’m geto suguru. i’ve heard a lot about you.”

satoru looks heartbroken. he looks angry. “gojo satoru,” he replies. “can’t say i’ve heard much about you.”

“looking forward to learning more, i hope.”

“something like that.”

you’re giddy with excitement. how couldn’t you be? they don’t even know. they’re playing some secret, private game between just the two of them, unaware that you know. that you’re a witness to it—better yet, that you’re an orchestrator.

they fight over who kisses you first, and when you goad them into kissing each other, satoru bites suguru so hard his lip splits. suguru growls, pulls him by the hair, and tells him that if he can’t mind his teeth like a good boy, suguru will tie him up so he won’t be able to use his hands, either.

somehow, that’s exactly what happens.

satoru bites and scratches as you all undress, a ball of tightly wound feeling he can’t quite get ahold of. when suguru kisses your neck, satoru tugs at his long hair so hard his neck cracks. after that, well, suguru doesn’t let it slide. he sits you in satoru’s lap and watches satoru bite his way across your tits before pulling his arms behind his back and tying him to the headboard. satoru’s legs follow, winding his calves to his thighs. it says something that satoru doesn’t argue.

“you act like you two know each other,” you say breathily, chest sore from where satoru bit your breasts on the wrong side of too hard, skin pinkening and indented with the shallow divots of his teeth.

satoru groans, watching as suguru pulls you away, situating you in his lap with your back to his chest and your legs spread over his thighs, presented to his husband. “never met the guy,” he says lowly, “and if i have, i don’t recognise him.”

“don’t worry,” suguru croons. “we are going to get very familiar.” his hand caresses down your side as he says it, thumbs rubbing strong circles into your skin.

satoru’s eyes stay fixed on your face.

suguru takes you apart with careful efficiency, teasing you until your pussy flutters with each brush of his fingers against your thighs, your navel, just short of the apex of your thighs. when he finally touches you where you want him, his fingers are long and slow and languid as he spreads you open, fingering you with lazy contentment as he sucks wet kisses down your neck and back. he leaves you straining and whining, makes satoru watch until he’s groaning as if he can feel the phantom touch of suguru’s every caress.

suguru bends you forward until you’re on your hands and knees, head just barely brushing against satoru’s knees. satoru parts his legs further, staring down at you with something close to awe. a little scared, a little sad, and very aroused. suguru crowds your back, bending over your figure and biting the shell of your ear as he slowly, slowly sinks into you.

“my good little wife,” suguru says, loud enough for satoru to hear. satoru chokes on his next breath, bordering on a sob. “should’ve married you, sweetheart. i could keep you like this forever.”

“suguru—“ satoru pants.

his skin is red and raw from his shuffling, his dick rock hard and straining against his black boxers. from the way his chest heaves, his eyes burn red-rimmed with tears, you’d think he’s the one being fucked. when he catches you looking, he lurches forward with a low groan, cut off as the rope tightens around his muscular thighs. he murmurs your name on a strangled groan.

a hand moves, grabbing you by the cheeks and pulling you to look over your shoulder, neck craning at an awkward angle. “ignore him, sweetheart.” suguru whispers in your ear. “eyes on me. he’s not the one fucking you so good, is he?”

“i could be,” satoru growls. “i have. fucked her hard and fast, like a whore. she must be, if she’s willing to fuck you.”

it’s mean, unnecessarily targeted at you when the ire is really directed at his husband. suguru’s eyes crinkle on a smile.

“that’s not a very nice thing to say, is it? she’s always so sweet, so good. maybe you just don’t fuck her right.”

“i’ll show you—“

you stop listening. suguru thrusts so hard and sure, just slow enough to have you craving more, just fast enough to satisfy you. stamina has always been his strong suit, and he fucks you into over sensitivity. his thumb moves, sitting heavy and mean over your clit, rubbing firmly against you with every thrust forward. you fall apart warbling his name, hands reaching backwards to scratch at his thighs. then he fucks you to tears, keeping eye contact with satoru, muttering filth in your ear all the while.

“should knock you up, so you have no choice but to marry me.” he says, watching as satoru’s mouth drops on a whine. “keep you happy and full in my bed, so you never have to leave. you’d be the perfect wife, wouldn’t you, sweetheart?”

satoru comes untouched with a breathy whine of your name. your name, as if his husband isn’t right there. as if he hadn’t just watched his husband fuck the girl he’d been playing around with. suguru follows soon after, spilling into you unprotected.

they both stay the night. you share a quiet, almost awkward breakfast, where you play the fool and chatter with your usual enthusiasm. when they leave, it’s at the same time.

This fic is just about Sabo always answering when you call him

If there was one thing everyone in the Revolutionary army knew about their Cheif of staff it was the fact that it was really hard to get him to answer his snail and really hard to keep him on the line, Sabo never stayed on a call longer then he wanted to, at least that's what I heard from people, I never understood when Koala complained about calling him silently thinking to myself 'he always answers when I call him'

Chapter 5: The Change

Word Count: 4k

Contents: Luffy X Traumatised!DevilFruitUser!Reader. Long&SlowBurn. Fluff. Angst. Eventual Romance&Smut. Strawhat Crew X Reader. SPOILER WARNINGS. Character Building&Growth. Long Read, Several Chapters.

Content Warning: Mention of Abuse. Brutal+Violent scenes targeted towards and against reader. Traumatic Events. Death of close ones. (Let me know if I’ve missed any!)

Summary: From being Ace’s right hand girl, to meeting Monkey ‘D Luffy for the first time in Alabasta, Then watching everything that was once important to you vanish mercilessly infront of you. You find yourself on a strange journey you never expected standing alongside none other than Ace’s brother.

Chapters: Chpt1 | Chpt2 | Chpt3 | Chpt4 | Chpt5 | Chpt 6 (Coming Soon) |

Chapter Summary: Something changes in Rayleigh's eyes, something that cannot be called a coincidence anymore. It's coming up to the end of their training together. Rayleigh decides to test his theory.

The old campfire crackled softly. You, Luffy, and Rayleigh sat in the same places you had a year ago. A whole year. The thought still felt strange. Somewhere along the way you had stopped counting the days. Time had slipped by so naturally that it was difficult to believe an entire year had passed. A year without Ace. A year with Rayleigh. A year with Luffy. The silence around the fire wasn't uncomfortable. It was thoughtful. Peaceful.

Rayleigh's voice eventually broke it."For the first month on this island, you wouldn't sit within ten metres of either of us." His gaze settled on you. Your shoulders immediately tensed. "You disappeared every chance you got." The fire crackled softly between his words. "You refused to talk about Ace." Your eyes lowered slightly. "You refused to use your Devil Fruit." A long breath escaped the old pirate. His expression softened. "And you never smiled." Silence settled over the camp.

"You didn't." Luffy's voice was quiet. You looked up. He was staring at you. Not teasing, not joking, simply remembering. "You never smiled." The words seemed to leave his mouth before he realised he'd spoken.

Your chest tightened. If Luffy remembered... Then it must have mattered. Luffy forgot most things.  

Rayleigh's attention shifted. "And you."

Luffy immediately pointed at himself. "Me?"

"You couldn't sit still for more than thirty seconds."

A laugh escaped you before you could stop it. "He still can't."

"True." Rayleigh nodded immediately.

"I so can!" Luffy crossed his arms defensively.

The action only made both of you laugh harder. For a moment the atmosphere became light again. Comfortable. Then the laughter faded. Rayleigh leaned back against the log behind him. "You were angry." His gaze settled on you. Then shifted."You both were." The firelight danced across his face. "Now look at yourselves." Neither of you spoke. "You argue like siblings."

"No we don't."

"Yeah we don't."

The replies came instantly. Simultaneously.

Rayleigh burst into laughter. You looked toward Luffy. Luffy looked toward you. Both are equally confused.

"You did it again."

"What?"

"What?"

Again.

The exact same tone, the exact same expression, Rayleigh laughed even harder. "You see?" Neither of you did.

Which only seemed to make it funnier. Eventually the old pirate shook his head and wiped a tear from his eye. "A year ago, neither of you could bear the thought of the future." His voice became quieter. Thoughtful. "You spent every day looking behind you." The fire crackled softly. "Now..." A small smile appeared. "Now you've stopped counting the days."

Silence followed. Neither you nor Luffy had a response. Because he was right. Somewhere between the monsters, the training, the campfires, the arguments. the laughter. The island had stopped feeling like a prison. And somehow... It had become home.

For a while, none of you spoke. Eventually Rayleigh shifted against his log and let out a tired groan. "We're sleeping here tonight." His words sounded half-asleep already. Before either of you could respond, the old pirate rolled onto his side and promptly fell asleep.

You stared at him for a moment. Then stood, instinctively, your feet carried you toward the same rock you had chosen on your very first night. The same rock Rayleigh had just reminded you about. At least ten metres from the fire, ten metres from Luffy, ten metres from everyone. The cold breeze bit at your bare arms. You sat down and pulled your knees closer to your chest. The campfire felt much smaller from here. Much weaker. Another gust of wind swept across the clearing. You shivered. Your eyes wandered toward the fire. Rayleigh was already asleep. Luffy lay on the opposite side, stretched out comfortably beside the flames, warm, comfortable. You looked away. Then another icy breeze hit. Your resolve immediately weakened.

"You comin' over here or are ya gonna freeze to death?"

You blinked. Luffy had lifted his head slightly. One eye open. Looking directly at you. His hand lazily gestured toward the empty space beside him. You didn't even hesitate. The moment the invitation was offered, you accepted it. Crossing the distance, you lay down beside him, making sure he remained closest to the fire.

You didn't want him regretting the offer later, besides... Between the fire and the ridiculous amount of heat Luffy somehow generated, you'd be fine. You closed your eyes, then froze, A familiar warmth settled against your chest, your heartbeat immediately sped up. This was different. usually Luffy moved closer. usually Luffy stole your shoulder. Usually Luffy ended up using you as a pillow. You had never been the one to move first. Before you could think too much about it, Luffy suddenly shifted. An arm wrapped around your waist, you barely had time to react before he rolled, the world tilted. Then stopped. You found yourself closer to the fire. Lying on your side. Luffy pressed comfortably against your back. His arm remained loosely around your waist. Not trapping you, just holding you there.

"Your body's freezing." His voice was soft, sleepy. You felt his breath brush against the back of your neck. Goosebumps instantly spread across your skin. A few seconds later, Snoring, right on schedule.

A small smile tugged at your lips, of course. Not long after, your eyes closed. Thousands of stars filled the sky above, waiting, calling. Yet for the first time in a long while, they didn't feel like the thing filling the empty space inside your chest. Luffy's warmth had taken their place. And with that comforting thought, sleep finally found you.

You woke up later than normal, Luffy was still wrapped around you, as you gaze around the campsite you noticed something. Rayleigh was gone, a small surge of panic immediately built in your chest. Rayleigh never disappeared, not without saying something. Carefully, you lifted Luffy's arm from around your waist and slipped out from underneath him. Following the faint footprints left in the damp earth, you made your way through the forest.

You found him sitting alone on the beach, watching the ocean, the waves rolled in and out peacefully. Rayleigh didn't look at you, he had already sensed your arrival. "No training today."

Your eyebrows lifted slightly. "No training?"

"No training." You stared at him suspiciously. A day without training felt almost impossible, almost wrong. Rayleigh simply smiled. For once, neither of you argued. A break felt like a holiday.

When you returned to camp, Luffy was already awake. He was sitting beside the fire, looking far less relaxed than normal, his arms wrapped aorund his legs that were pulled upwards to his chin, it reminded you of a scared child. The moment he spotted the two of you, relief visibly washed across his face.

You couldn't help but smile. "No training today."

Luffy blinked, then blinked again. "Really?" You nodded. A grin immediately split across his face.

The rest of the day felt strange. Not because anything happened but because nothing did. Rayleigh followed along quietly as you and Luffy wandered through the island, Fishing, Exploring, arguing over absolutely nothing. The old pirate spent most of the day watching, observing. You assumed he was enjoying the break as much as the two of you were.

A sudden tug pulled at Luffy's fishing rod. The idiot wasn't paying attention, he'd become distracted by some strange animal wandering through the trees. Without thinking, you grabbed the rod before it could disappear into the water, slowly reeling it in. By the time Luffy finally looked back, a fish was dangling from the line.

"Huh." He stared at the fish. Then at you. "How'd that happen?"

A smirk tugged at your lips, you shrugged. Luffy accepted that answer immediately.

As the sun began to set, you packed up your things, two fishing rods, a bucket full of fish, another bucket full of bait. Far too much to carry comfortably, you could barely see your own feet beneath everything which became a problem, fast. Your foot slipped, everything flew upwards, the world tilted. You closed your eyes, waiting for the impact. It never came, a familiar arm wrapped around your waist. Luffy had caught you before you hit the ground. The buckets, the rods, the fish, everything was still falling. Without thinking, you flicked your fingers upward. A soft constellation burst into existence above you. The falling objects landed harmlessly against the glowing stars, floating for a moment before gently settling onto the ground. Luffy stared. You stared. Then both of you looked at the fish.

"That would've sucked."

"Yeah." A very intelligent conversation. Luffy stood up and immediately grabbed both buckets. You collected the remaining gear, you continued the walk back to camp. Neither of you thought anything of it. 

Rayleigh did, from where he stood further back, his gaze lingered on the two of you. Thoughtful, curious, almost concerned. As you continued walking you noticed Rayleighs presence getting smaller with each step. You looked back for a moment to see him idle, not moving, almost frozen. "You okay?"

The old pirate blinked,  then smiled. "Just thinking." And with that, he continued walking.

For the next week, every morning started the same. With Rayleigh saying, "No training Today." The week passed surprisingly fast.

At first, neither you nor Luffy had known what to do with yourselves. Years of training had turned waking up sore and exhausted into a normal part of life. Having nowhere to be and nothing trying to kill you felt strangely unnatural. Not that either of you complained. The days became filled with fishing, exploring, racing each other through the forest, and arguing over things neither of you could remember an hour later.

Rayleigh rarely joined in, instead, he watched. Sometimes from the campfire, sometimes from a nearby tree, sometimes from so far away you only knew he was there because Observation Haki picked up his presence. The old pirate seemed content simply observing. The longer the week went on, the stranger that became. Still, you didn't think much of it. The week ended the same way it began. Peacefully.

You woke to the familiar sound of crackling fire, the sky was still dark, the stars barely visible above the trees. Rayleigh was already awake, sitting beside the fire, waiting. Luffy was still asleep. For once, you sat down beside the old pirate. The warmth of the fire immediately chased away the morning chill. For a while, nobody spoke.

Then Rayleigh finally broke the silence. "Break's over."

You sighed. Luffy groaned without even opening his eyes. 

The old pirate chuckled. "Training starts again today." That part wasn't surprising, what came next was.

"Luffy, stay here." 

One eye opened. "Huh?"

Rayleigh stood. His gaze shifted toward you. "Stargazer." The nickname pulled your attention away from the stars overhead. "With me." You frowned, that was unusual. Normally training involved all three of you. Neither you nor Luffy ever questioned him. Rayleigh had always had strange methods, this was probably another one. At least that's what you told yourself.

The further you walked, the quieter the island became. The familiar sounds of camp slowly disappeared behind you, no crackling fire, no complaints about breakfast, no loud voice shouting about becoming King of the Pirates, Just silence. Hours passed, the sun climbed overhead. Then slowly began to descend. By the time Rayleigh finally stopped, the sky was already beginning to darken. You stared at the small clearing in front of you, a pile of logs, a water source nearby, enough space for shelter, a campsite.

"Build."

You looked at Rayleigh. "Build?"

"A camp." The old pirate folded his arms. "You know how."

You did. That wasn't the problem. The problem was you couldn't figure out why. By the time night arrived, a fire crackled in the centre of the clearing. A shelter stood nearby. Crude, but functional. You sat beside the flames, proud of your work despite your confusion. 

Rayleigh nodded approvingly. Then turned away. "You'll be staying here for a while."

Your stomach dropped. "What?" The question escaped before you could stop it.

Rayleigh paused. Only briefly. "I'll return tomorrow morning." The old pirate looked toward the dark forest ahead, then back at you. "Get some sleep." And with that, he left. Leaving you alone with the fire. Alone with the silence. Alone with thoughts you suddenly wished weren't so loud.

Night fell, the campsite felt wrong. You sat beside the fire you had built yourself, staring into the flames. The fire crackled, the trees swayed, the stars filled the sky. everything looked normal. Yet something felt off. You couldn't put your finger on it. The silence felt heavier somehow. The forest felt bigger, colder. You frowned and shifted closer to the fire, still cold.

You eventually lay down. Closing your eyes, waiting, nothing. You opened one eye, then the other. The stars were still there. The fire was still burning. You sighed. Maybe you just weren't tired. Hours passed, still awake.

You sat up, annoyed. The stars usually helped. Looking at them normally settled your mind. Tonight they didn't, not even a little. You glared upwards. The stars glared back, unhelpful, pitiful. By the time the sky began to lighten, you had managed maybe an hour of sleep, maybe, you weren't entirely sure.

Day one. Rayleigh was already waiting. "Morning." You looked horrible. You knew it. Rayleigh knew it. The old pirate was simply polite enough not to say it.

"Morning."

"Sleep well?"

You narrowed your eyes. "No."

The training began immediately. "Hit me." You groaned. Rayleigh smiled. The entire day followed the same pattern.

Punch. Miss. Kick. Miss. Devil Fruit. Miss. Everything missed. "Again." The same word repeated after every failed attempt. Hours later Rayleigh finally left. You remained in the clearing. Staring at the spot where he'd been standing. Annoyed. Exhausted. Frustrated.

Night came. Even though you were completed drained from the day of relentless training. Sleep didn't.

Day two. The second day was worse.

Day three. The third day somehow managed to be even worse. You found yourself doing strange things. Walking back to the edge of the forest. Listening, waiting, for what? You weren't sure. You kept expecting to hear something, a laugh, a complaint, some ridiculous argument about food, nothing came.

Day four. By the fourth day, you had started talking aloud. Mostly to yourself. Sometimes to the stars. Once to a tree. The tree wasn't very conversational.

Day five. The fifth day was when Rayleigh finally decided to say something. "You look terrible."

You stared at him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

You swung. He dodged.

"Again."

You swung harder. He dodged again.

"Again."

A vein twitched in your forehead. "You're enjoying this."

"A little."

You hated him.

Day seven. Day seven arrived. You were waiting in the clearing before Rayleigh got there. The old pirate stopped. Looking you over. Dark circles, messy hair, half-asleep expression. The appearance of somebody being slowly tortured.

"You're not sleeping." It wasn't a question.

You shrugged. "Been busy." A complete lie. You stopped trying to come up with new strategies three nights ago.

"Stargazer." Rayleigh sighed under his breath. The nickname sounded strangely disappointed.

The training continued. You felt slower, more predictable, everything felt off, like your body wasn't working properly.

Day ten. Failed.

Day fourteen. Failed.

Day twenty-one. Failed.

The frustration continued growing. The exhaustion continued growing. And the worst part? You still hadn't figured out why.

Far away on the opposite side of the island… Luffy wasn’t having it any easier.

Rayleigh’s POV - 

Rayleigh found himself waking early and wandering toward the beach.

The old pirate settled himself on the sand, listening to the steady rhythm of the waves. A week-long break had been on his mind for some time now. Both of them had made it past the one-year mark. A reward seemed appropriate.

He sensed your presence before your footsteps reached him.The conversation was short. Simple. No training. For once neither of you argued.

The first day of the break was uneventful. At least it should have been. Rayleigh spent most of it observing from afar. Watching. Listening. The same way he always did. The two of you fell back into your usual routine almost immediately. Arguments. Competitions. Laughter. The kind of nonsense that only made sense to the people involved. Several times he found himself smiling despite himself. The island felt lighter when the two of you were together.

Fishing had been his suggestion. After a year of surviving almost entirely on meat and whatever fruit happened to be growing nearby, a change seemed necessary. Neither of you had ever fished before. Which made the results surprisingly impressive. Eight fish by sunset. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Rayleigh watched from the shade of a nearby tree. A tug pulled at one of the fishing lines. Luffy didn't notice. The boy had become distracted by some strange creature climbing through the forest canopy. Before the rod could disappear into the ocean, you leaned over and caught it. Slowly reeling the fish in. 

Luffy only looked back once the fish was already dangling in the air. "Huh." The old pirate chuckled quietly. She just saved his dinner.

The rest of the trip continued normally. Or what had become normal. That was the problem. As the sun began to set, both of you packed up your equipment. Two rods. Two buckets. Far too much for one person to comfortably carry. Rayleigh watched you gather everything anyway. The old pirate sighed. "That won't end well."

Your foot slipped. The buckets flew into the sky The rods followed. For a split second everything seemed suspended in the air. Rayleigh's gaze shifted toward where you would land. Only You never did. Luffy had already caught you. As if he'd expected it. As if he'd known.

The old pirate frowned. Then your Devil Fruit activated. A soft constellation bloomed overhead. The falling equipment landed harmlessly amongst the stars. Floating. Settling. Safe.

Neither of you reacted. Not really. Luffy simply picked up the buckets. You picked up the rods. Then continued walking. As if nothing unusual had happened. As if the entire sequence was perfectly ordinary.

Rayleigh remained where he stood. Watching. Thinking. The fish. The fall. The constellation. The catch. One incident meant nothing. Two could be coincidence. Three...  He thought back to the day he forced you both to collect sticks adding countless more coincidences. The thought made him uncomfortable.

His gaze lingered on the two figures walking ahead. Luffy carrying both buckets. You carrying the rods. Neither speaking. Neither looking at the other. Yet somehow moving as if they already knew what the other would do. Comfortable. Relaxed. Natural. Far too natural. 

"It can't be coincidence." The words escaped under his breath. Not anymore. He'd seen too many examples. Most troubling of all, neither of you seemed aware of it. The synchronization only appeared when your guards were down. When you stopped thinking. When you were simply... Yourselves. For the first time in months, Rayleigh found himself wondering if he should test his theory. And for the first time in months... He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

Rayleigh had expected resistance, questions, arguments, at the very least a complaint. Instead, the stargazer had simply nodded and begun building, that should have reassured him. It didn't.

The old pirate returned to the original campsite shortly before midnight. Luffy was awake. Not unusual. The boy often stayed awake talking long after he had fallen asleep. What was unusual was the silence, no stories, no complaints, no impossible dreams being shouted into the night sky. Just silence. Luffy sat beside the fire poking it with a stick, the flames jumped, the boy sighed, poked it again. Sighed again.

Rayleigh sat down opposite him. "Can't sleep?"

Luffy shrugged. "Not tired." A lie. A terrible lie. The boy looked exhausted.

Interesting. 

Day One. The following day confirmed nothing, it all appeared normal. Apart from slightly concerning atmosphere that appeared to surrounded both of them during training. 

Day Two. The second day confirmed very little.

Day Three. The third day made Rayleigh uncomfortable. The stargazer was slower. Not physically, mentally, her attacks had become predictable, hesitant. The confidence she had spent that last year rebuilding seemed thinner somehow, not gone. Just... Distant. Worse still, she wasn't sleeping. Rayleigh could see it in her eyes, the dark circles, the delayed reactions, the frustration growing beneath the surface.

"You're distracted."

Her fist stopped mid-swing. "No I'm not."

"You're proving my point." The glare he received was almost worth the risk. Almost.

Meanwhile, Luffy wasn't doing much better. The boy still trained, still fought, still ate enough food to feed a small village. But something was off. He was quieter, not silent. Nothing short of death would accomplish that, but quieter. He stopped talking halfway through stories, lost focus during meals. Sometimes found himself staring into the forest for no apparent reason. Waiting, for what? Rayleigh wasn't entirely sure. Though he suspected he knew.

By the end of the first week, the old pirate stopped pretending the changes weren't there. The evidence had become impossible to ignore. Separate them, both deteriorated, not dramatically, not enough for either of them to notice, but enough for him to see.

The second week was worse. The stargazer stopped sleeping altogether. Luffy started waking during the night. Both became increasingly irritated, increasingly distracted, increasingly predictable.

The connection wasn't making them stronger, at least not directly. It was stabilising them, grounding them. without either one realising it.

One evening, after leaving the stargazer's camp, Rayleigh climbed one of the island's cliffs. From there he could see both campsites. Tiny fires burning in the darkness. Miles apart. Yet somehow they felt connected. The old pirate folded his arms, thinking, remembering. 

Roger. There had been a night years ago. Long before the Pirate King. Long before Laugh Tale. Just another evening aboard the Oro Jackson. The crew had been celebrating some ridiculous victory Roger had insisted was worth three days of drinking. Everyone had eventually passed out. Everyone except Roger. And Rayleigh. The two had sat beneath the stars sharing a bottle of sake. Roger had been unusually quiet. Thoughtful, the kind of thoughtful that usually meant he was about to say something absurd. 

"Rayleigh."  "Hm?" "You ever wonder if some people are meant to meet?"  Rayleigh remembered laughing."That's not very pirate-like."  Roger laughed too. Then shook his head. "Not fate." His gaze remained fixed on the stars. "Something else."

Roger spoke for hours that night. Stories he claimed he'd heard during their travels. Ancient stories. Stories older than the World Government. Older than the Great Age of Pirates.

Stories about people whose wills became so intertwined that separating them was like tearing apart two halves of the same thing. People who could cross oceans and still feel when something was wrong. People who fought better together than they ever could apart. People who understood each other without words.

Rayleigh remembered dismissing most of it as drunken nonsense. Roger was many things. Sensible wasn't always one of them. Yet one sentence had always remained with him. Even after all these years.

"The strongest bonds aren't made by blood, Rayleigh." "They're forged by shared dreams." "Shared pain." "Shared freedom."

At the time, Rayleigh hadn't understood. Maybe Roger hadn't either. Now he wasn't so sure. Now he was watching two people slowly unravel simply because they weren't near each other. Neither understood why. Neither even realised it was happening. Yet every day the evidence became harder to ignore.

Another memory surfaced. A smaller one. One he hadn't thought about in years. Later that same night, after far too much sake, Roger had started rambling about some ancient legend he'd found amusing. Something about the Sun and the Stars. Two powers said to mirror one another. One bringing freedom. The other guiding those lost in darkness. Ancient texts claimed they were never meant to exist at the same time. That whenever one appeared, the other belonged to a different era. A different generation. A different age entirely. Rayleigh remembered laughing. Even Roger had struggled to keep a straight face.

"Sounds dramatic." "Right?" Roger had laughed. "Imagine being unlucky enough for that to happen." 

The memory made a small smile tug at Rayleigh's lips. Ancient stories. Nothing more. The world was full of impossible legends. Most of them were nonsense. His gaze drifted toward the distant campfires. One flickered softly. The other answered moments later. The smile faded.

No. The old pirate shook his head. There was no point dwelling on stories like that. The stargazer possessed a Devil Fruit connected to stars. That was all. And Luffy... Luffy was simply Luffy. A childish, strong-minded rubber boy.

The thought was dismissed almost immediately. Filed away beside every other ridiculous tale Roger had ever told him. Yet as Rayleigh continued staring at the two distant campfires, he found himself wondering if his captain had been right about one thing. Not the Sun. Not the Stars. But the bond. And for the first time since Roger's death... He wasn’t sure what to think.

just luffy and law:))) i do commissions, feel free to message me

@kkaejixx on tiktok

DID YA MISS ME, BABY ?!

PLOT. on route to egghead, the straw hats make a quick stop at a lively island, only for luffy to wander off and unexpectedly reunite with you, his wife, a detail he never mentioned to his crew. spending the day together, you both finally act upon months of pent-up tension, while his worried crew stumbles upon a moment they were never meant to see.

WARNINGS. 18+, mdni, fluff, porn with some plot, post wano, no egghead spoilers, aged-up characters (luffy and reader are 21), established relationship (they're married), semi-public sex, getting caught, cunnilingus, fingering, p in v, unprotected sex, kinda ooc luffy (idk you be the judge of it), use of [name] for the reader, fem reader, kinda proofread haha.

CHARACTERS. MONKEY D. LUFFY

WC. 5.5k

masterlist

art creds: suaayen on ig (one of the best op artists)

Fresh out of Wano and low on supplies, the Straw Hats decided to make a quick pit stop when the opportunity arose.

The island didn’t have a name on any map Nami owned.

From afar, it looked anything but quiet. The crowded docks overflowing with ships, voices carrying loudly over the water, and buildings stacked tightly together.

Bright banners hung between rooftops, market stalls spilled into the streets, and narrow alleys twisted through the city like a maze built on noise.

Jealous Boy

Summary: Luffy has always had your attention so why should Usopp have it now?

Song: Domino - Jessie J

Author’s note: Please like, reblog and share this! 🫶

Sabo art for the birthday boy! Wouldn’t be a birthday if someone doesn’t tease you a bit lmao 😭😭😭 [sorry Sabo lol]

| WARDING AWAY EVIL | MONKEY D. LUFFY

summary: when your adopted brother, black leg sanji, decided to leave baratie for the straw hat pirates, you followed because he made you. the only downside is, the strawhats only need one cook - so when you're not fighting, sanji thinks its funny to leave you in charge of fridge duty. pairing: strawhat! reader / luffy wc: 1.2k tags: f! reader, fluff, luffy is frickin fat, luffy sleepwalks to the fridge, luffy wants the food, sanji genuinely puts you to work

When Sanji decided to leave Baratie for the Going Merry, and then the Thousand Sunny later, you warned him that you shouldn't go with him. The Strawhats already had plenty of competent fighters - Sanji and Zoro at the time, but even Nami, now equipped with the Clima Takt, Usopp, Robin, Franky, Chopper, Brook - a whole crew of strong people. They didn't need a second kicker on the team.

Sanji couldn't give less of a damn. As his younger sister since he was taken in by Zeff, you were going where he went, whether you liked it or not. You would never admit to him that you were relieved he'd dragged you with him, but home was on the Thousand Sunny now.

Except you did have one qualm. The only thing you did on the team was fight - this was not the issue. The issue was that Sanji claimed you weren't doing enough, despite Nami and Robin's objections that you did plenty.

His solution was to put you on fridge duty. You wanted to read a book with Robin? Well, you can read it while you sit by the fridge. You wanted to draw the sea? You can draw it, by the fridge. You wanted to watch Zoro train? No, you're going to be by the fridge.

The reason for this was that you had a particularly greedy captain who would inhale food the moment he saw it. You would never forget the moment you visited Luffy in the infirmary after Alabasta and watched him inhale an entire cart of fruit in one bite and claim he was still hungry. You understood your brothers' qualms, and you wanted to appear useful, so you reluctantly agreed.

Not that you were really good at being in charge of the fridge. The issue - one that Sanji was entirely aware of - was that you had a huge, huge soft spot for Luffy. He'd wander into the kitchen, whining about being hungry right before Sanji was going to serve a meal, and promptly be kicked out by Sanji.

Despite that, you'd always sneak away from the fridge with a snack, and promptly bring it to Luffy, making sure to tide him over (for literally five minutes) until the meal was served. He'd grin in the same way he always did, laugh and ruffle your hair, and stuff his face right in front of you.

"Thank you, thank you! Wow, you're always so nice to me, mini-Sanji! Wow, this is so good. Your brother's a really good cook. Gee, thanks for bringing me this!" He'd always laugh at you, smile as bright as the sun, before complaining just seconds later that he was still hungry. You'd sneak off to bring him more food, but then he'd stop you. "No, wait, it's fine! I'll do my best to wait until Sanji calls us. Just sit by us, let's watch the ocean!"

You spent more time next to Luffy than anyone around, and that's why Sanji should've known better than to put you in charge of watching the fridge. Even though he knew you were absolutely not cut out for it, he kept telling you to do it for one sole reason.

He swore to god that the two of you were daft idiots in love with each other. Maybe he was crazy, but when Nami and Robin made the same observation, he knew there had to be some weight behind the thought.

There were many incidents where Sanji would wake up early to prepare breakfast, only to find the two of you tightly interlinked in front of the fridge. Both of you were always snoring soundly, not a care in the world, as Luffy sprawled his body over you and drooled on your shoulder. Your hand would rest on his back as if he was your blanket, holding him until your brother finally poked you awake and forced you to get up and haul Luffy back to his quarters. Sanji would check the fridge for ingredients - but of course, it was empty, and he could only blame himself.

Your captain would wake up a few hours later, and immediately go to stare at you in front of the fridge. "Hey. Why'd you move me?!" He'd ask, pointing at you.

You shook your head, pointing at your brother by the counter. "Blame him! He woke me up and made me lug you back."

"Sanji, food! I'm hungry!" Luffy would complain, and you'd sigh. He'd entirely forgotten what he was complaining about to begin with.

At a certain point, even Zoro of all people started noticing how close you were to the captain. He'd only sit next to you during mealtimes, and if Nami was already by you he'd wiggle in between your two bodies like that was something entirely normal to do, and steal off your plate.

Sanji knew everything was over the night that you were all eating dinner and you said you were still hungry. Instead of getting up and getting you another plate like usual, Luffy slid you a quarter of his plate.

The table fell silent, staring at the two of you.

"Hey, are you serious?" Zoro broke the silence, pointing at your plate. "His food. He gave you his food. Our captain gave you HIS food."

Nami dropped her fork, staring at the two of you, stammering out incomprehensible words.

"What?" Luffy shrugged, shoveling food into his mouth. "I can always steal from Zoro's plate."

"You can not!" The swordsman shouted, shoving his food in his mouth. "Get seconds from the love cook!"

"Well, yeah, I can do that too." Luffy smiled, slinging an arm over you. "She's my girlfriend! So it's normal for me to give her some food."

"Huh???" Sanji yelled, whipping around from the counter. "What the actual hell are you talking about?"

"Ace said that people become boyfriend girlfriend when they drool on each other." Luffy blinked. "I've been drooling on your sister since you started putting her on fridge duty."

"Luffy, literally none of what you just said is true." You butted in, eating the food he put on your plate. "That's not how people start dating. And you drool on me because you sleep like a pig, not because you like me!"

"Yes, I do." He refuted, swiping Usopp's food and ignoring his complaints. "I sleep on top of you and I drool on you because it's romantic."

"What kind of romanticism is that?!" Nami yelled, breaking her plate over Luffy's head.

"So you don't want to go out with me?" Luffy frowned at you, nursing the bump on his head.

Your ears flushed pink, and you averted his gaze. "Well, I didn't say that, I'm just saying the drooling thing isn't how it works."

Luffy stole Sanji's plate of food, ignoring the foot coming flying at his head, and stacked it on top of yours. "Here. More food. Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

You gaped at him, baffled, but accepting the plate anyways and picking your fork back up. "...Yes. I would."

"This is a very in-character way to ask for our captain." Robin nodded, politely dabbing at her mouth with a napkin.

"You guys are disgusting." Zoro frowned, Sanji nodding in the back. "You're both just going to steal our food now."

"That's your issue with this?" Usopp sighed. "I can't believe I'm still single when that's how Luffy asks people to go out with him."