1 Piece AU Luffy Charlotte
By: FunahoMisaki
(AN: I own nothing and read last chapter)
"Do you believe in the All-Blue?" Sanji asked looking at the rather curious and mysterious pirate captain who was sitting on the railing of the ship swinging his legs slightly as if he were a child.
"The All-Blue?" Luffy asked tilting his head slightly as he looked at his chef curiously. He didn't care if the blond was refusing to join him at the moment, Luffy would wear him down and get him to join eventually! And that woman that Luffy sensed nearby listening in on them. She had the feeling of someone who was screaming and lonely and needed nakama and friends and people who were there for her but she never found them. Someone who had an aura of someone just merely existing for a reason and that as soon as that reason was found or resolved then she would cease to exist.
She felt like Ace-nii did before he found a family with Whitebear. She felt like someone who had the whole world after her for something she couldn't help. She felt like she didn't know if she should have ever been born.
Luffy was just as determined to get her on his crew as well. To give her family and safety and nakama and hope and a purpose if she needed one. He wanted to give her people who would do anything for her, who were glad she was born and would tell her so. He wanted to do for her what he and Whitebeard had done for Ace-nii.
She needed a home and family and someone who cared about her and whether she lived or died. She needed-
"Yeah. It's a spot out there in the ocean where all the waters of the Blues meet and mix. You can find fish from all of the oceans there." Sanji said breaking through Luffy's thoughts on the strange lonely woman and he positively lit up as he talked about it and how he wanted to find it. Apparently finding the All Blue was something of a dream of his, it is his dream. Just like how Ussopp wanted to become a Brave Warrior of the Seas, like how Zoro would become the Worlds Greatest Swordsman…like how Luffy would become the Pirate King.
Sanji would find the All Blue.
"Most people think it's just a myth but-"
"It's real." Luffy said with such surety that Sanji's eyes widened involuntarily as he turned to look at the young captain.
"The ocean is a big place. I've spent most of my life growing up in the roughest part of the world, the New World. I've seen a lot of things that most people here in the Blues would think were merely myths. A man I call my Uncle can become a huge dragon. A best friend of mine who will join my crew when we get back to Wano can become a Kitsune. My twin sister has three eyes. My grandmother has 85 children and a talking cloud, sun and hat that accompany her everywhere." Luffy said listing all of these off as casually as one would comment on the weather.
"Another man who is sort of like an uncle and sort of like a grandfather to me-" If he could ever get rid of the fact that he always equated the word grandpa with pain and fear and loneliness and no grandpa please stop it hurts. I don't want to fight the monkeys anymore. Luffy snapped himself out of a downward spiral that he hadn't had in a while and glanced down at his hand. His nails had dug into his palm until it bled.
"Is able to literally crack the air. There are all sorts of strange and wonderful places and people out there on the open ocean. So I have no doubts that this All-Blue place really does exist somewhere. It's just a matter of finding it." Luffy said with the utmost conviction, as if he were simply stating a fact like the sky was blue and water was wet.
Sanji stared at Luffy awed and jaw dropped as if no one had ever said that it was possible before and it probably was the first time that someone had told him his dream was achievable.
"Really?" Sanji asked as if he couldn't believe his ears and Luffy grinned on him.
"I grew up on an island made out of cake and stayed at other food named and based islands constantly as I was growing up, especially Nuts and Flour and Candy Islands where some of my other parents were in charge. I even got to visit Wano, a country of samurai and Ninja, sometimes and met a man who can turn into a dragon and is damn near impossible to kill and Yamato who can become a kitsune and is pretty hard to injure as well. Papa Shanks and Papa Ben would tell me stories about their travels sometimes. They've seen lots of amazing things including Sky Islands. Seriously how would an area where waters and fish from the oceans meet and mix be harder to accept or believe than any of that?" Luffy asked grinning slightly at Sanji who grinned back at him.
"You're one of the only ones who's told me that the All-Blue could exist. That it might actually be out there somewhere." Sanji said looking at Luffy as if he had hung the stars and moon in the sky.
"Of course it is! Anything is possible in the open ocean! Especially in the Grand Line! All you have to do is go out there and find it!" Luffy said and Sanji lit up again but then he deflated just as quickly.
"Ah it sounds nice. Let me know if you ever find it yeah?" Sanji asked as he lit a cigarette and stared up at the stars.
"Why would I? It's your dream. Shouldn't you look for it yourself?" Luffy asked tilting his head slightly at the other boy who sighed and exhaled a plume of smoke.
"I can't leave this place. I owe the old man my life. He gave up his foot so that I would live. I can't-" Sanji said sighing heavily and Luffy just snorted.
"Well you're kind of stupid aren't you?" Luffy asked without hesitation and Sanji's head snapped over to him in disbelief.
"My papa Shanks gave up his entire arm to save me before I even met most of my other mamas and papas. He saved my life when I was barely six years old. That doesn't mean I followed him onto his ship and spent the rest of my life working for him. He saved my life because he wanted me to live my life. He made a bet on the next generation. I plan to make sure he knows that it was worth it. That giving up his arm for my life before I even knew how to throw a punch was worth it. That I was, am, and will be worth the arm that a Yonko gave up. How would I do that if I just hung around him and didn't live my life?" Luffy demanded staring at Sanji hard now.
"Shanks didn't save my life for me to waste it by working for him and giving up my dreams. He wants me to chase my dreams. He gave up his arm so that I could chase my dreams. You telling me that the old man in there gave up one of his feet so that you'd spend the rest of your life just wasting in the restaurant not chasing your dreams? Do you think that old man wanted you to live so that you could just exist like a zombie who follows him around? He gave up his foot to save you because he wanted you to live. He wanted you to chase your dreams. Not spend the rest of your life day dreaming and doing nothing to reach that All-Blue you talk so happily about." Luffy said sternly to the other boy who's eye was wide as he stared at Luffy as if he had never thought of it that way before. As if he had never considered that he was wasting what Zeff had done for him by just working at the restaurant and never trying to actually find the All-Blue.
"If you think that's what he wants then go talk to the old man yourself and ask him. I bet you he'd tell you that you were free to leave and chase your dreams whenever you wanted to. No one is born in this world to just idly do nothing. Everyone is born with a purpose or a dream and if you can't find one then make one. If you still can't think of one, then find you family and friends. Find nakama and travel with them. Make their dreams yours and find a dream of your own. Find a reason to live. Because everyone deserves to live instead of being a walking talking corpse." Luffy said and his words were meant for Sanji just as much as they were meant for the now stunned and crying, he wasn't sure how exactly he knew she was crying he just knew, woman listening in on them.
"Luffy…" Sanji trailed off softly in shock and wide eyed awe and wonder.
"I'm going to become the King of Pirates. I'm going to travel the world, I'm going to get a strong and loyal crew. A crew of Nakama, a family, and I'm going to take this world by storm. I'm going to travel all across the world searching far and wide. I'm going to be going everywhere! I'll be fighting anyone who tries to stop me and take my dream from me! I'll fight anyone who tries to take my nakama from me! I don't care if the world itself wants me to die!" Luffy said standing up and he was nearly yelling the words now and he saw how Nami, Usopp, Zoro, and the two bounty hunters Zoro was friends with came out onto the Merry and were staring at him.
"I WILL BECOME THE KING OF THE PIRATES!" Luffy roared to the heavens themselves as the chefs stared out awed and wide eyed and there was a heavy pressure on everyone but it didn't knock them out. It was heavy and large and powerful but it was also soothing and warm and reassuring.
It was the aura of the king.
Luffy huffed heavily for a moment before he turned to stare down at the still sitting Sanji who's mouth was dropped low enough that his cigarette fell out.
"So what do you say? Want to join my crew? Want to become our fighting cook and find that All-Blue you're dreaming about?" Luffy asked holding his hand out to Sanji who had tears in his eyes.
"Do you want to join my crew, become my brother? Do you want to finally live?" Luffy asked and then he was patiently silent for once as he waited with an outstretched hand. Sanji had broken down in tears by now but was nodding as he sobbed.
"Yes…Yes…" Sanji agreed, one hand weakly reaching out and grabby Luffy's own.
"I want to live."
Sanji had taken Luffy's hand but he wasn't the one to say those words. Both of the males looked over and saw the woman who had been listening in on their conversation step out of the shadows with tears in her eyes as she stared at Luffy.
"I want to live. Even though the world thinks I should have never been born. Even though the world itself is my enemy and wishes me dead. I want to live." The woman said softly as she stared at Luffy who grinned at her with a smile brighter than the sun and held his other hand out towards her.
"I'm Charlotte D. Luffy. I'm the son of a man feared by the world. The son of many people who the world wish were never born. The grandson of someone who the world thinks should die and shouldn't have been born, and the younger brother of someone told almost his entire life that he should have never been born. I am an enemy of the world. Who are you?" Luffy asked staring at the pretty lady in front of him who's sea blue eyes reminded him of his grandmothers when he was little and just met her, reminded him of his Ace-nii, reminded him of his Papa Kata before he could finally remove the scarf.
"My name…My name is Nico Robin. A woman hunted by the world for twenty years now. A woman who the world fears and wishes never was born. A woman who has no place in this world and has only one reason to live." The woman said softly now and Luffy smiled at her bright as the sun and just as wide. His words causing her to sob as she grabbed his hand and held it like a lifeline.
"Nice to meet you Robin! I'm glad you were born!"