Chapter Text
When Vivi meets Luffy, she knows who he is.
It scares her for a moment. The power that others cannot see radiates from him, nearly blinding. She fears his anger but cannot stop standing against him, having chosen her path.
But then he smiles and greets her by name, as though they were not enemies. He knows her far more than she knows him but that smile makes her hesitate. He’s warm like the old prophecies her father used to tell her by the fire. She finds herself trusting him before she even realizes it.
He promises to help her country, even though a warlord is against him. She knows the prophecies say he’ll need Them. She knows that without Them he’s only a man. But the power shines in her eyes and she believes in his strength.
She meets his brother as well. She meets Ace, who smirks and holds the same power in his eyes. Under the desert night sky, the starlight in his hair seems impossible but she knows it’s because she sees too much.
He greeted her by name as well. He even called her a Child of Theia. Parts of her thirst for the knowledge but another sees the age in his eyes and wonders what the price could be.
She settles for reassuring him about his brother instead. He holds worry in his eyes in a way only an older brother can. No matter who they are, she can reassure a friend’s loved one.
He allows it with a smile and thanks her for it anyways. The kindness and amusement seem almost normal. But, he looks with too old eyes and she can see his light.
She sees them both and she knows. She knows why her ancestors have been waiting for them. There’s light in their eyes, strength in their soul. They’ll bring a new age, whether the world wants it or not.
Edward Newgate knew something was off about his new son.
After months of attacks, Ace had finally given into joining the family. Edward’s jolly roger across the brat’s back makes pride glow in his chest. He jokes and laughs with the crew like he belongs.
After all of the attacks, Ace had finally settled. It had seemed that, before, the brat had simply bitten off more than he could chew. His attacks were, admittedly, strong but nothing Edward couldn’t handle. Ace’s power was great but normal for a supernova rookie.
That was until he gave that look.
Newgate’s daughters were trying to talk him into treatment for his illnesses. He didn’t want to worry them but he didn’t wish to undergo the treatment. He didn’t want for anything to change.
Eventually, his daughters gave up and stormed out of his office. He had sighed then only to be startled by the boy in his office.
Ace hadn’t worn that look since he finally agreed to become his son. He had a face that was trying to pick through Edward’s defenses. A blank face that was so strange for the expressive pirate he had come to know. Something was off. Edward was on guard but Ace didn’t seem to want to fight.
“Do you not trust them?” The younger asked and Edward’s hackles raised.
“You doubt my care for my children,” he answered sternly. “I would trust them with my life.”
“Do you?” The other didn’t seem even phased by his anger. He simply tilted his head, face still blank. “But you refuse the treatment? You trust them with your life but not your treatment?”
“That’s different.” Edward didn’t know how to navigate this. “I love all of my children.”
“But you hurt them. You won’t even try what they ask.” Silver eyes had turned far too wise when they looked at Edward. “You fear change more than you love them.”
Edward was hit by the statement, never seeing it like that.
Ace nodded. “You fear acknowledging the change, the age, so you refuse their help. If you take that treatment, you’re accepting the times and you would rather worry your family with helplessness than to accept their help, than to try to live despite it.”
Edward was silent in Ace’s wake, unable to string one sentence. Ace turned to leave but looked over his shoulder for one more piece of advice.
“Change is hard but it’s more painful to watch a person you love die while you're helpless to do anything.”
Edward had seen something then. Something was there inside of Ace.
Seeing it then made him see it later, at moments when talking to the crew or the other commanders. It always came when he had just started to question if what he saw was real.
He gave up denying it when he saw Ace outside of the infirmary, Thatch’s blood coating his hands. Marco wasn’t there to see, working with Edward’s daughters to save Thatch with the precious time Ace bought them. Anger burned alongside it then and Edward knew that Thatch’s survival would not spare Teach from his treason.
“Teach will pay,” Ace spat, the name said like a curse. “I’m going after him.”
Edward knew no matter what he said, Ace would leave. He knew that Ace wouldn’t even humor him. So, he gives in.
That look didn’t fade even as Ace’s ship disappeared over the horizon.
Edward’s old captain used to claim to be a god. He would cackle when he said it, as though it was an old joke. The crew had long since dismissed it as ego.
Edward remembers God Valley, though, and questioned it. He remembers when Roger and Garp appeared. He remembers their forms changing impossibly.
He had reasoned it as lights or imagination. Looking at Ace, he saw something he only saw in Xebec. Looking at Ace, he saw something that made him accept what he saw then.
Maybe… there’s something a little more to being a D than he realized.
Sabo moved too quietly.
It was something that should have meant nothing but Koala noticed. He glided across the room with barely a sound despite the buckles and heavy boots he wears. He could make those with the strongest observation haki jump. It was as though you couldn’t notice him unless he wanted it.
It helped a lot on missions. No matter how out of place he looked in his outfit, the guards always seemed to overlook him.
Still, she knew something ran under his skin that helped. That something seemed to twist and turn when he was angry. She could almost see it pull at him as he growled.
Something was hidden inside of him and she was the only one who noticed.
Well, besides Hack.
Hack said it was his voice though. It was too smooth, too loud, too wise. It was a flute, melodic and piercing. Not quite right for a human.
He just wasn’t normal. Koala saw it. Hack heard it. They kept quiet.
Then, one day, she saw a man in green looming behind Sabo. Sabo knew but wasn’t on guard and she wondered who was hiding under the cloak.
They were whispering over a newspaper, then. She must have been too loud because the man looked up and she knew. Dragon, the leader of the army, was talking with her partner.
They had never met before but she had heard whispers of the two knowing each other. Now, she knew they were the same.
Dragon’s eyes were the most piercing, seeing her every secret and weakness. He straightened and said a goodbye. If Sabo was melodic, then Dragon was powerful, like a crack of thunder. He moved away as silently, as smoothly, as Sabo does, something unnatural left in his wake.
Sabo turned with a smile that pulled the thing in his skin strangely but was sincere. He hurried to her with a new mission and pulled her along to their friends.
Something strange lives in Sabo’s skin. The same kind of thing lives in Dragon’s,
Whatever it is, Koala decides to let it go. She trusts her leader and her partner.
Sabo likely doesn’t remember it anyway.
Shanks knew the Little Anchor was a little off.
Maybe the biggest tell was the smile. It was too far, too wide. It simply didn’t make sense.
It stretched as large as the Captain’s did once.
Shanks felt a sense of nostalgia at that smile.
Luffy is a pretty normal kid, a pile of energy and determination that hasn’t been crushed by the world yet. The kid even gave himself that scar to prove a point.
Shanks is going to have gray hair by thirty at this point. Anchor cannot be good for his heart.
Something was still off in other ways.
Luffy’s hair rustled and tossed in a breeze that didn't exist. Ben had seen it first but Shanks couldn’t not notice when Luffy was inside but his hair moved like it was at sea.
Luffy’s eyes glowed. They caught the light unnaturally. Shanks wanted to blame it on lighting but the bar was closed and Luffy had woken him in the dead of night.
The gaze was too old. It saw through Shanks and Shanks felt seen again. He felt a kid, secrets laid bare.
It was like he was with the Captain again.
Maybe that's why he took to the kid so quickly. Maybe he was clinging to a man years dead.
No, Shanks saw Anchor with the others. People who had never met the Captain were wrapped around his finger too. The light the boy gave off drew them in like moths to flame.
The strangeness couldn’t be forgotten, though.
One night, as the bar winded down, Shanks became distinctly aware of that.
The crew were passed out over tables and each other. Ben was shaking his head and talking with Makino. Luffy had finally agreed to go to bed.
Shanks sat at the bar, whiskey in hand, watching the boy go with a smile.
But the Anchor turned around and looked back. His eyes were too bright again, too seeing. He smiled his too wide smile and whispered words that carried despite the distance.
“You’ve almost found your freedom. You’re just too scared to reach for it.”
Shanks was glad his hand was resting against the bar because his grip weakened in his surprise. His smile dropped and Shanks felt like eyes were watching him from the corners of the room.
Before he can pull himself together enough to ask, the boy is up the stairs and gone.
Luffy is strange. Strange in the way that reminds him of too loud laughter and fiery love. It brings back memories of dark hair under a straw hat and blond hair held back by a flower.
He remembers tales of gods and keepers of temples sailing the sea whispered in the night before the candle was blown out.
Shanks wonders if those tales were a little more true than he had thought.
Law knew that Luffy was his kin.
Ridiculousness and recklessness colored every bit of the other pirate but his presence announced him the second he stepped foot on Sabaody. The power in his soul burned against Law’s and he would know it dead.
He supposes it was accurate to call the other a supernova.
Law knew he would have simply brushed the boy off as reckless if he couldn’t feel it. But, how can it be reckless when it’s one of them? How can it be reckless when Luffy has the power behind it?
Still, punching a Celestial Dragon was pure stupidity. Enies Lobby was one thing but laying a hand on a Dragon was simply not done.
Law, though, saw the look in Luffy’s eye. This wasn’t just a punch.
It was a declaration of war.
Not war for the strawhats, but for them and their kin. Luffy was making a stand and he was calling the rest of them.
Law gave a sigh and resigned himself to answer when it came.
Because it would come. Just as Law can feel Luffy, Luffy can feel Law. He knows his darkness shines in his eyes like Luffy’s light shines in his own.
Seeing that light when it glanced at him, however, made him pause. His soul felt cool and strong in a way he hadn’t felt since Lami’s death. He had almost forgotten what his own power felt like.
Looking at Luffy’s light, he felt like he was discovering himself again.
Yeah… he’ll answer the call.