#determination!

On the sea many legends pertained to the many phenomena that sailors across the waves

It’s to be expected

Tall tales spoken by drunkards

Old songs passed on by crews of old

Rookies half dead talking of experiences on the grand line

There were many stories told amongst the waves and between sailors of all sorts

But one in particular had struck many on the sea with a special sort of curiosity

A story from an old song

One sung and told across the blues

Traveling far and wide, yet sung a little different each time

“The story of the child who swallowed a star”

The story is self evident enough

A tale of a lonely child from an island long ago

One who found a fallen star from the sky one night and ate it

Blessing them with a immortality that had them come back from death

Reforming once more as stars do when they burn out but then reform into yet another star in the sky

They sail alone on the seas finding endless adventure wherever they go

The tale itself is well known across the various blues and the grand line

“I don’t know it” the boy who rescued both you and Koby from Alvida says as you all sit in a small dingy boat.

“Really?” You question as even Koby looks equally aghast

“How can you have never heard of it Luffy?!” The once errand boy of Alvida exclaimed “it’s one of the most told tales by pirates! Even marines tell it!”

“Yeah, well I’ve never heard of it before. Shanks never told me that one” he says with a huff as Koby looked both tired and agast

You can’t help but giggle a bit at the boy who kept proudly proclaiming he’d be king of the pirates not 20 minutes earlier not knowing the tale. Especially if shanks of all people didn’t tell him about you. “Do you want me yo tell you it?” You offer making him tune to you.

“Sure! I love stories” he sits criss cross and bangs his feet together like drums in anticipation. Koby gives him a dry stare.

“How did you save us-“

Told by sailors at bars

Sung in song form from an old crew who claimed to have met the child on the sea

Pondered aloud by traveller’s who claimed to see their ship in the distance

Wanted by the marine as a empty wanted poster hangs on every board with “alive” as the only condition for the large sum

But with this story comes a fact many ponder about

“What’s the true version of the tale?” You say mysteriously as you strum the cords of your ukulele. The boy in a familiar straw hat tilts his head while Koby nearby just sighs. “We’ll probably never know, but I can’t tell you the story we do…or at least the version I remember”. There’s a small twinkle in your eye as you say this, something neither catch.

behind every fable

Behind every legend hidden in the waves is a beginning

A beginning that gets forgotten (perhaps even by the one it’s about) but a beginning none the less

And it started with something simple

It started with a dream of the sea

And it started with a promise as well

This is the true start that you don’t remember

For as long as you could remember you always found yourself staring out at the sea or up at the stars

Both had just found ways of captivating you

Even before your older brother filled your head with things like pirate duels and Davy back fights you found yourself drawn towards the waves and stars

Sometimes you sat on the old wooden docks of the pier, kicking your feet back and forth looking out towards the horizon as day turned to night

Laying down on the old wood when light was gone to admire the stars until being dragged home

Other times it was simply walking along the shoreline after begging your brother to stay out a little longer for the sun to fall

From how he and others described it, you’d done it for as long as they could remember

Being fascinated by both even from before you could properly remember

Your brother said you had your head in the sky and feet in the sand

A loving jab he routinely used against you when you begged to stay out late or go to the beach that particular day

It’s not like he was any better in the first place

He too had ambitions towards the sea

Though perhaps a different dream from yours he had promised you’d both own day leave this island

Your both set out on a ship together and get a crew

Attaining everything you both set your mind out to

He promised you this one night when you both sat on the pier

Feet being nipped at by the cold waves

The moon as both your witness

His grin is blinding when he holds out his pinkie to you, face slightly obscured by moonlight

You smile in equal measure when you link yours with him

He promises you’ll be his first mate and whatever else you want to be

And you promise you’ll both accomplish your dreams together

The sea calls to both of you

But the stars look down sorrowfully at the tragedy in the making

Your both unaware of what’s to come

Your younger than your brother by a few years, but he acts like he’s a decade older than he should be

He’s still playful

Still rambunctious

Still flips off the neighbours when they complain about him being too crass

But besides all that, he acts more mature than what he should be

More calculated than most give him credit for

He always strategizes how to save up for certain things

Makes decisions so long as they have promise to them

He says he’ll handle everything when it comes to being a pirate captain

All you have to do is focus on keeping him from cracking a few too many skulls and your own aspirations

You laugh at him

He rustles your hair at this

But you see how he places allot on himself

So you told yourself you’d handle something for him for once

You’d make the ship

You set your mind on it

So when he’s busy you set out to the beach

Perhaps not anything unusual for you

But during the day you build

Taking sticks and logs and tying them together with ropes you’d “borrowed” from the neighbours

What they didn’t know didn’t hurt them…at least that’s what your brother said when he stole their strawberries for you in the summer

And blueberries

And raspberries

And well…ok he stole a lot from the neighbours

And perhaps your no better than him

As you build the ship you hum day in and out

Singing the shanties he’d taught you

He said it was best to learn pirate stuff early

That way you’d both be the best when you both set to sea

You couldn’t see any fault in that logic

Same for-

“Oh hi! Do you like my ship?” You ask a small crow that perched itself on the little boat. It tilted its head at you, curious and inquisitive. “Here have this! You’ll be like my…my prototype pelican or parrot or something!” You hand the crow a berry that it eagerly takes.

This would be practice for when you had to give stuff to pelicans to exchange letters

Plus you always had a soft spot for scavengers

They were the underdogs of the world just like pirates were

Maybe that’s why you liked them so much

“Do you wanna stay while I build?” You ask the crow. It doesn’t respond besides hopping a small bit closer to you as you tied together another log to form the ship.

The crow stays that day until you leave

It return the next day midway through your building

You give it another berry

It gets a bit closer this time

The cycle continues

And you give the crow a name

“You remind me a bit of my brother for some reason. I think I’ll name you X! Does that sound good? It’s like X marks the spot cause he wants to be a pirate!” The crow this time perches on your shoulder. You take it as response. “Good X! You’re my friend now!”

X stays with you

There aren’t many others your age on the island

Besides your brother your mostly alone in the way of true friends

Because while you love your island, its people, the rest your extended family, there’s a small pit of loneliness in your heart

One that feels a bit less cold than before as the feathered creature perches itself on your shoulder

So you keep working

Tying borrowed rope

Doing your best at hammering down nails and nearly hitting you finger a few times

X bringing you sticks after you feed him

And finally you get to the sail

You make it from old quilts that granny a few houses over says she doesn’t need anymore

She pats your head when you tell her your making a ship and gives X a few nuts for “keeping them out of trouble”

Whatever that meant

You never got into trouble….er that much trouble

At least compared to your brother

But besides that you stitch together the sails

The quilts are mismatched

Some have holes you cover with patches and such

One based on X

Another with a mini version of the island

And so on

The patches aren’t…the most well made in the world but you put work into them

Enough work that they now covered up the rips and tears and now-

“We’re done! I finished the ship!!!” You jump in joy as X perched on the boat once more. “Cmon! Let’s go get my brother and do a test sail!”

X squawks and flies beside you as you run

Your sandals beat down on the sand as you run

Then on dirt and ten stone as you run to town

Avoiding bumping into anyone

You find your brother looking over a map he seemingly bought from a market

Grabbing him and dragging him along

X perching on his shoulder

“What in the?! Hey what the hell!-“ he yells as you hurriedly tug him along towards the beach. “Where are you bringing me all of a sudden?! And what’s with the bird?!”

“It’s a surprise! Also his name is X! Like X marks the spot!” You proudly declare not seeing his deadpan expression at the name you chose.

Now getting back to the beach you can’t help but deadpan a bit at your own creation

It’s….you can barely call it a ship

It’s being held together by hopes and dreams and half hazardly tied rope

“Oh….its uh…not as good as I thought it’d be” you mumble looking at your ‘ship’. You can barely even call it that-

“Let’s test it out”

“Huh?”

“Well” your brother starts as he pushes your ship towards the water “even if it’s not the best it’s still a ship. You put effort into this, let’s see her float”

You nod and help him push it towards the water

It floats barely

But it floats

She flows with the waves

And travels off into the distance

Far beyond where your eye can see

Fragile but still floating

Maybe it sunk, it probably did but

“That’s what I’m talking about! She sailed didn’t she!” He claps you on the back

“It…probably sank though”

“So what?”

“Huh?”

“You tried and It got that far didn’t it?” He points off to the distance “besides we don’t know if it sank or not. Just dream it kept sailing”

“Just dream it kept sailing?” You parrot back.

“Yeah. So long as we don’t know the answer, you can keep dreaming that it sailed far away into the horizon” he says sitting down on the shore and pointing off to the distance “believe that ship will carry our dreams together. So long as we believe it kept sailing it will.”

You nod at that. It’s a cryptic answer but you believe it, you believe in him and that the ship sailed away into the end of the horizon, far past where sky met the sea.

“…..can we keep X?” You turn to your brother with the biggest puppy eyes you can muster.

He sighs, “fine. Just don’t expect me to look after the thing.”

X makes a nest by your open window looking out towards the sea

Your brother complains half heartedly about the bird

At least until X also steals from the neighbours

Safe to say X becomes your brothers friend as well

You were right to say X reminded you of your brother

Both have sticky fingers

And now on the daily X perched on his shoulder and your brother doesn’t complain at all

He only complains when you tease him about how he looks after X

So much for you being the one to take care of him all the time

You and your brother were alike in many ways that some could never see

The people of your home saw you as the “good” child

While your brother was the troublemaker

That’s not to say they didn’t like him

They loved him as they did you

But it’s clear that they perceived him as dragging you into his schemes when it couldn’t be farther from the truth

In all honesty you and your brother were one in the same

Two souls who sought out the sea for various means

You both dreamed of the waves and of hosting a flag high above a ship

And you both hungered to see more of what the world had to offer

Some think it’s him who convinces you to dress as a pirate alongside him

But in actuality it’s you who begins to do the same

He only helps tie your sash and lace up your boots

And while he taught you sea shanties it’s you who sings them at any chance you get

Not because your convinced to

Similarly to your brother you have a rebellious streak

Though that was mostly sometimes against him

Case and point now

You slip past out and through your window, careful of X’s nest as the bird remained fast asleep

Your pirate attire still on because you knew you’d sneak out tonight as you did on the regular

Though sneak out is a relative term since your brother knows what time you slink out the window and where you go

He always warned of the predators in the woods as he dragged you back home

And each time you told him you’d never even seen any even when going deep into the forest or attempting to climb the steep inclines of the valley

But he was a worry wart towards you all the same despite his tough demeanour

Even when the place you’d went was the safest he could as for when it came to you

The place is nothing special

Not any prestigious observatory, the island nor you could ever afford that

But ever since most of the family chipped in to get you a nice telescope you’d been obsessed with using it as much as possible

Dragging it out to the small cleaning atop the tallest hill that didn’t require scaling mountain-esk cliffs

Was it a small field or a clearing?

You weren’t entirely sure nor cared for the terminology

It was just flat enough to set up your equipment and lay down in a small patch of grass with forget me nots

(Something perhaps iconic much later on when you forget all this)

You watched each night

Looked through the filtered lenses at celestial bodies

Noting down constellations in your mind

Remembering all the stories behind them all from myth and folklore told about by elders and such

But it’s on one such night that something peculiar happened that would change your life

A meteor shower happened

Shooting stars steaming across the sky and burning out in the darkened sky

You couldn’t help but watch in awe at it all

Seeing them burn out

Seeing them burst it beautiful light before fading off into the night

Into the sky they fell out of

Into the abyss

But in the telescope as your eye watched sparks and revived dreams burn up in the atmosphere

You see something else

You see something not fizzling away

Something still intact

Something falling from the sky shining

4 pointed and spinning in the air

Falling and falling down from the heavens

Your feet move before you even realize it

Boots digging against the dirt as you abandoned your telescope and ran down the hill

Narrowly avoiding tripping and tumbling down the long fall

Your eyes stay tracked on the falling object

Narrowing a bit to keep focus as you run as fast as your legs could

You were only a kid and could run so fast

But like any kid you had the stubbornness to keep going even if your muscles burned

Even if you nearly faceplanted a few times into the dirt

Even if your palms were scratched by bark of trees and knees ended up a bit scraped from tumbling and picking yourself back up

You continue

Watching and speeding up as fast as you could as you watch the thing fall

And fall

And finally disappear

Your boots are surely worn in from the amount of running you did

As are you lungs from how they burn at each breath

But it’s worth it

It’s worth it all as you find the 4 pointed object that fell from the sky in a small crater hidden by trees

Dirt covered hands pick up the fruits of your effort

And it’s a-

“A devil fruit?” You mumble aloud looking at the large enough fruit in your hands. You drag a finger over its many swirls, a bit mesmerized and confused as to how it fell from the sky. You look up, seeing a large dense cloud pass through the darkened sky covering the stars like a blot of ink. “That’s Weird…I think? But I guess devil fruits are weird sooo” You say aloud before looking back down.

Your brother talked a bit about the fruits

Showed you a special book that listed some of them in it and their abilities

He said you had to be careful with which one you ate cause you’d end up with it the rest of your life

He planned out which ones he was looking for when you’d both head out to sea

But you’d never been much interested in them

At least till now

You’d never seen this one in the book he showed off

You surely would’ve remembered if it were anything this pretty

It’s golden colour and swirls ingraining itself in your mind

Even in the dark you see its detail

Feel it’s presence as if it were a living being

In a trance you bring it up to your mouth

Compelled by its appearance

Compelled by a sudden wave of hunger that fell over you

Though you’d always had a large stomach, apparently it was a family thing

Your teeth sink into its flesh

And a wave of bittersweet juice and foul flesh hits your tastebuds

It’s bad

It’s so bad

It’s like biting into a lemon and at the same time washing it down with pure sugar

It’s like the crumbling despair of watching a dream die after the sickly pure moment of blowing out birthday candles to make it

The texture is vile

It’s mushy but grainy, like eating a lump of sand that clings to the inside of your mouth and between your teeth

You choke it down more out of accidental disgust than actual want to even eat it anymore for whatever it gave you

What little remains that you didn’t force down is coughed out in small chunks on the grass

You pity the ants that’ll eat it

small bits of its texture remain in your mouth despite spitting it out

Makeing you try desperately to get rid of it

You spit out onto the ground to try and erase the taste from your mouth. “Blehhhh! i knew they tasted gross but I didn’t think it was that bad!” you grimace looking down at the half eaten fruit still in your hands, you glare at it a bit even if it was pretty. You’d rather eat your neighbours attempt at meat loaf again. “I hope I at least got something cool from that” it’s murmured as you get up from the small crater, about to head back towards home to tell-

A twig snaps

You pause

Body going still out of surprise and then relaxing

He must’ve found the trail you left on the way here

By this time he’d usually drag you back home anyways

“Before you get mad at me for going out again! You won’t believe what I found!“ you start, holding up the bitten into fruit you smile and close your eyes “I found a devil fruit! It wasn’t in the book you had and it fell from the sky so it must be a special one or something!-“

Your brother doesn’t respond, there’s none of his usual banter with you

He doesn’t scold you for going out yet again

Doesn’t tiredly groan about dragging you back to bed

Hell, you don’t even feel his hand ruffle your hair

Instead there’s just silence

A ominous silence that’s unlike him

“R-“

Your eyes connect with something else

The eyes of a hungry feline

The words die out when it goes for your throat

It dragged you out to the beach to die

You at least feel some sense of gratefulness for that instead of being left in the woods

It’s a small mercy, but in something like this the mind tries to find any sense of comfort to ease you

The beach was basically your second home

At least you got to die in someplace familiar

Someplace that at least gave a small comfort as you feel its maw wrap around your arm and bite down again

The pain is burning hot

Your tears are cold to match the air and congrats against your warm blood

Your screams silenced with the jagged cut across your throat

It’s an odd feeling knowing your going to die

You go through many emotions at first

Fear of what’s on the other side to greet you

Anger as you try to weakly fight back against the jaw ripping into your flesh before giving up when is paw crushes your head into the sand

Bargaining as you plead for someone, anyone to help silently

Sadness as you realize no one can help, tears swelling up and acting as a salty garnish to your butcher

And then acceptance as you lay there and concede to let it happen cause there was no use

This was cruel reality

Helplessly being torn into by a predator

Claws pushing you into the sand, keeping you in place as it tore more tender meat away from bone

It’s agonizing in a way you never thought humanly possible

Blood streaming down from the chunks of you missing

Your tears mixing with the blood that stains the golden sand red

Some of its saliva from a slobbering mouth adding to it as well

You hear your own flesh being torn from your body, the squelch of blood and the distant squawking of a bird

You try to cry out but it comes out as gargles

You try to desperately do something

Anything

Trying to call upon whatever power you got from the fruit

Hoping for anything

For something

But like a shooting star in the sky those dreams fizzle away

Burning up in the atmosphere

Instead you turn your glassy gaze towards the tide line

Distantly you think of that little boat you made for your brother

Even if it was nothing but driftwood and a few bed sheets half hazardly strewn together you can’t help but call it your ship

Maybe it would be waiting for you on the side

Maybe it would take you down the river of death like a ferry

You considered that boat apart of yourself

A manifestation of your dreams of adventure so long as you believe it didn’t sink and continued to sail

So you prayed it awaited you like a loyal stead

You hadn’t had much to pray for besides that

Not when this process of deboning and flayed alive had been a long one

But soon you’d see your boat

It was your only relief

Your only respite-

“No…no NO NO! GET THE FUCK OFF THEM!” Your brothers voice rings out familiar rousing the cat from its meal on your leg, it gives you enough space to crawl out from under it. You can’t focus’s on him, not when your goal remains to get to the boat, to see to your dream of the sea.

You had to accomplish your dream

Sand coats your open wounds

Looking as if stardust bled from your form

The waves despite the sting of salt eases your body in a comforting numbness set by chilling waves

Cold compared to the burning pain

The stars up ahead shinning as if to mourn you

You hear sounds of battle

Of something crying shrilly

You don’t have the strength to turn your head as your body gives out under you at the shoreline

You just lay bleeding looking above at the sky

Lay letting the waves gently lap over your form that lays curled and bloodied

You didn’t want to die

It’s the instinctual thing that all living beings want

Nothing wants to die

Death is a fear ingrained in everything

It’s why animals, plants and people claw their way to survive

The big cat is no different in that sense even if you hold bitterness towards the creature

You think of all the times you’d eat meat and wonder if the cow you’d eaten felt the same way you did right now

Though at least it had the mercy of a quick death

You wanted to live

See the sunset again and sail on that boat of yours

You had a life ahead of you

That was a fact you had to grasp and let go of as that cold numbness seeped through your flesh and into your bones

It spread

There was no more pain just a numbing pulse

Just cold relief

You had promised your brother you’d sail the sea with him

It’s a dream and promise you have to apologize for as you lay in the sand you’d once traversed with him

Even if you cannot see out the promise with him at least you’d spent your last moments at the starting line of his journey

Because you knew his dream would not burn away

It would only burn brighter now

But You too had your dream

With blurred eyes you see that little ship you’d made fade in and out of the waves

Bobbing in the distance as the stars twinkled above

Tears trickle down your face and mix with the sea foam

Disappearing into the mass of water as you hear sand crunch by you

You prepare for the pain to be back

For claws and a jaw to lock onto you once more

But instead your pulled up from the bloody sand

Human arms and Their warmth cradling you

“Please no…stay with me!” Your brothers voice is hoarse and his tears wash away the blood clinging to your face. “Stay fucking with me damn it! Please!” His screams are broken and you stare up at him not able to comfort him. Lifting a finger is a challenge, let alone trying to speak from a cut throat. Just smalls sobs and gargles come out with spurts of blood which make him breakdown further.

You want to tell him this was your fault

That you should’ve listened to all his warnings

To have never snuck out as you always did

But you can’t do anything

Not even lift a hand to try and wipe away his tears

You’d never saw him cry till now, he’d always hid it from you and tried to be strong

The sight of him finally letting go feels odd

He’s always been your rock

Holding your hand when you cried but never breaking into tears himself

Patching up your scrapes and cuts

Letting you curl up beside him when you had nightmares because he was the only person you could turn to

Yet now he breaks

He sobs

He begs

He cries

It kills you more than the choking on your own blood does

“Why?….i…I was supposed to protect you….i promised myself I would…” you never knew he promised such a thing. Though in hindsight it makes sense after all these years of him acting more like a parent in place of both yours being gone. It’s not fair though, he’s barely 15 and already shackled with so much, and this is yet another weight on his shoulders. “I’m sorry…I’m so fucking sorry”

You didn’t want to die

Didn’t want to leave him here like this

Holding your bloodied corpse in the sands

You didn’t want to die without accomplishing your dream with him

dots of darkness dance around the edges of your vision and begin to close in

You feel him tug you closer

Desperately clinging to you in vain hope that you both hold that maybe death won’t take you if he held you closer

His voice, though you see his screaming with all his heart and soul as soulful as he could becomes dim

A small whisper in the deafening quiet that begins to fill your world

Through your own blood you try to choke out your last words though your unsure if it came through

“Go…to…sea…Dream” everything faded away

You never thought you’d die like this or let alone so soon

You wanted to be angry

To be sad you couldn’t accomplish your dreams

But instead there’s an odd sense of peace as you drift in complete darkness

It’s a nice darkness

Utter Nothingness surrounding you like a void

Like drifting aimless in pitch black waters

Complete apathy and void surrounding your mind and body for a good few moments as your eyes peer into the void

The nothingness is almost beautiful in a weird way

You can’t describe it

And then suddenly you see something

It’s small at first

A small blip in the dark that stood out to everything

In the void you drift closer, swimming through the nothingness

The blip became more apparent

Brighter

It flickered like a flame on a candle

It grew from that to a small bonfire

Golden light shimmering and creating small sparkles like embers

A spark that when getting close looked as if it was rippling through water

You get closer

Hand reaching out to touch it, you feel the sensation of your hand breaching water and then your head follows suit

You sputter, wading in water?

Dark abyss like water that looked like the depths of the night sky

You can barely comprehend it

Just as you barely comprehend the fact that the light you were reaching towards is some kind of star

Its carried away by the waves

Drifting away in the dark tides dark tides that lead to-

“My ship” it leaves like a cough, scarping the back of your throat that’s overwhelmed with emotion

That tiny ship built of driftwood that somehow stayed afloat

The ship that was your dream

You swim

Swim like you have nothing else to live for Towards the ship

Following the drifting star that left a trail of golden dust in the inky waves

You nearly loose the trail a few times

Nearly get swallowed up by the water

But you keep moving

You want to set out on your dream

You want to see your brother

you want to live

The wood is hard and uncomfortable when you drag yourself onto the small vessel and yet it nearly makes you sob from joy

Curling up on the ship as the waves of this odd place seemed to calm ever so slightly

Gently rocking the boat as you laid there for a few moments

Breathing

Alive

Peaceful

Not in pain

The tiny star wading in the water bobs against your ship

Instinctively you smile despite the overwhelming emotions that flood you

Reaching out to touch the thing that drew you from letting yourself give up in the depths of this darkness

When you touch it the light escapes between your fingers and is instead replaced by sand

You wake up on a beach alone and unsure of what happened

Distant bird call rings out and the waves lap at your feet as you sit up

Your boat bobs by the shore of this unfamiliar island

This was the beginning of a story, not an ending

And it’s a story with no ending in sight

A story that would become embellished by storytellers and by time

Embellished also by yourself

The story becomes fantastical compared to that of what it originally was

Maybe it was told by that brother of yours all those years ago

The one who’s face and name remain a blur to your mind after years of tragedies, greetings and goodbyes

Or maybe you embellished it yourself to help forget the cruelty of what actually happened

Cause if you forgot what really happened it means the pain you experienced is gone now

You didn’t have to relive the moment of being torn apart or cradled in a sobbing brothers arms

Though now it leaves a more aching pain in your heart knowing you’d forgotten people dear to you

You forgotten you’d even had a brother at some point

You just remembered there was someone out there important to you whom you were torn away from

You’d known you’d forgotten something or someone important but your not sure what

But to be fair Your not actually sure anymore what started the shift in the story’s portrayal

All you do know is the tale is told to sailors via an old song made by one of your earliest friends

The ones who perhaps besides a few others knew the most of your past

But got swallowed by plague and the waves in a tragic manner

That’s at least what you could remember of how they died

Sailors sing of the legend of a child who swallowed a star

One that crashed down from the heavens and remains a faint spark in their eyes

A child who still roams the seas of the blues, grand line and new world on a little boat

Repeating a cycle of life and death

Burning out and ignition once more

An eternal purgatory that is their blessed and accursed existence

A tale that never ends

And a story that no one knows the true details to even now

Perhaps even that child doesn’t remember the details either

The boy in a straw hat tilts his head quizzically as you regal the story. Koby beside him seeming to recognize the well known tale

His obsidian eyes glimmer as he pouts

Clearly upset about the tragedy of the tale

The unknown tragedy of you

Koby seems in awe of the detail of which you told the time old tale

Luffy though-

“But that’s sad though. Not knowing the real story” he says with a bit of a childish huff as Koby seemed to silently agree beside him. You smile, it’s a sad sort of smile that hides years of tragedies.

You shrug your shoulders, “That’s just want happens sometimes with stories. They change over time, lose details and shift in meaning. The same could be said for memory in general, you lose details over time”

He stills seems upset at that answer. His mouth twisting and churning as he seemed to think to himself. But then he seems to get an idea. “Hey! You’re a good storyteller! You should join my crew! That way we can make a better ending!”

“Better ending?”

“Well yeah! The person in the story can’t remember stuff from their past right? Then why don’t we write down everything and have adventures so cool that when we meet them they’ll never forget it! They’ll be happy that way! Shishishsi” He says it with such enthusiasm, as if it’s the most simple solution out there….and yet your heart pauses for a moment at his grin. Roger had that grin, someone else important to you had a similar one as well. It’s the type of grin you knew always meant their promise.

For Roger is was his promise to you that on his ship you’d always be safe

From that lost figure lost to your mind it was something about protecting you as well

But he offers you happiness

He offers you a momentary happy ending

“Luffy stop saying that as if they already joined you-“ Koby tries to step in, seemingly already used to Luffy assuming people would seemingly accept his request (though it was hardly a request and more like a order) to join his crew.

“I’ll do it”

“Huh?!?” “Yay!! Really?!!”

Luffy’s arms fling out towards you, pulling you across the small dingy ship with a grin that could rival the sun. “But I’m not an official remember yet”

“Huh?”

“You need to recruit another person first.” you think back to poor Rayleigh and Roger. For as much as you love Roger the amount of times Rayleigh got dragged into his schemes was something not even you could deal with. Plus there was an odd feeling in your gut about being someone’s first mate, it feels like you promised someone else that role “i don’t want to be first mate”

Luffy turns slowly to Koby with a blind grin “oh ok! so Koby-“

“No! I want to be a marine! Remember?!” The glasses wearing boy cries out.

“Boring” Luffy mutters

“Huh?!?”

You have a good feeling for the future of the boy in the straw hat. The wind jostles Rogers coat on your shoulders, you like to think it was Roger laughing in spirit form that you finally joined a crew after all these years.

Listened to sinking town, ripples in past reveries and we are the people while writing this