Luffy opened his eyes to find Reiju standing over him, already in a fresh change of clothes. He felt a little weird, as if he hadn't slept at all and it was suddenly the next day, but he dismissed the thought as his gaze landed on the large sack of food she carried. He immediately dug into the meal, and as he ate, he sensed that Reiju seemed less tense than before.
"So?" Luffy said, his focus mostly on his food.
"So what?"
"Do you believe now that I'm not a spy?"
"Ah, so that's what you mean," Reiju replied, seeming to understand. "I'm about 80% sure you're not a spy... After reviewing our conversation yesterday, I've concluded you're not a spy, but rather..." She paused, looking at Luffy, who had finished eating and was swallowing nervously, tense for her answer. "...you're just a lucky idiot."
"Hey, that's so mean, you know!" Luffy whined with a slight pout.
"And a child for pouting like that every damn time!"
Luffy sucked in his lips to stop the pout, which only made the situation funnier and caused Reiju to let out a giggle. Seeing her laugh, Luffy wanted to tease her back. With a shit-eating grin, he opened his mouth again. "Well, if I'm a child, then what does that make you, who asked the child to lick her fe—"
Reiju smacked him hard on the head before he could finish. "You bring that up one more time, and I'll actually kill you."
"Shishishishi, okay, okay!" Luffy chuckled, rubbing his head. "So, what now?"
"I still haven't received anything from you for saving your life."
"What do you want? I don't have anything right now. You can write it down as a debt. I'll give you whatever you want after I become the Pirate King."
"Didn't you scam that poor barmaid in your stories with the same promise?" Reiju teased.
"Hey! I will really pay my debt to Makino!" Luffy protested.
"Sure you will."
"You're so... You could use me as a guinea pig for testing poison," Luffy suggested.
Reiju looked surprised. "Really?"
"As long as I get to leave this place and you drop me off on some island, I'll do anything..." he said resolutely, then added, "...anything non-sexual."
"Don't push it," Reiju warned, but then considered his offer. "You don't understand. I have tons of poisons I want to test which can make a person feel all sorts of things like burning, freezing, give seizures, and a whole lot of pain."
"I don't mind. It will help train my endurance."
"Wow… you really are crazy."
"How do you usually test your poisons?"
"Oh, we have lots of enemies, so I run into tons of people all the time who are out to kill me or my family. There's no shortage of guinea pigs."
"Oh…"
"Well, that's back at the kingdom. I currently don't have anyone to test poisons on..."
"Great then! I'll be your guinea pig!"
A faint, crazy glint appeared in Reiju's eyes. She had been eager to test various poisons but lacked subjects. "Alright, we'll start after the Reverie is over."
"What day of the Reverie is it?"
"Today is the 5th… two more days to go."
"Two days, huh..." Luffy murmured. "So what am I supposed to do for these two days? Are you going to keep me knocked out with your anesthetic while the Reverie goes on?"
"No, I won't drug you. I've confirmed you're not a spy. I don't think there's a need to..." She glanced back at him. "Is there?"
"No, no!" Luffy hastily and happily answered. "I finally get time to think! Thanks!"
She rolled her eyes. "Don't touch my chemicals."
"Sure."
Reiju then locked the lab and returned to her room. She activated a visual Transponder Snail connected to another snail hidden inside the lab, cleverly concealed within a bookshelf where Luffy, chained up, would never find it. The snail had a perfect view of the spot where he was restrained. This was her final test—to observe what he would do when left alone. She lay down on her bed, watching the projection from the snail, monitoring Luffy's every action throughout the entire night.
Finally alone, the first thing Luffy did was... reach out and touch the chemicals on the lab table. After a few minutes of poking at vials, he grew bored, not knowing what to do with them, and put them back. With nothing else to occupy his hands, he laid his head on the table and began to gather his thoughts, his mind drifting back to the Soul Plane.
He recalled what happened when he came back to life. After losing consciousness there, he found himself in a blank space again, but this time it felt more familiar, more solid—like he was back in his own body. He didn't have time to ponder further because he spotted a whitish, spiral cloud moving away from him. An instinctual panic flared; he felt it shouldn't be separated from him. He instinctively reached out and grabbed it just before it could drift further. The white cloud seemed to jump in surprise.
It then coiled around his arm like a snake, one tail end coming up to his face as if studying him carefully. He didn't know what was happening, but the whitish cloud felt familiar… like a friend he'd had his whole life. The cloud, studying his face, seemed to sway happily before coiling around his chest. The next moment, he opened his eyes and saw the death pit.
He had put off thinking about it, but now, with time, it was the first thing he processed. He tried to feel for the white cloud again. He already had a theory. The familiar feeling was the same one he'd felt when he first ate his Devil Fruit. It had been with him ever since. Yes, it was probably his Devil Fruit essence. It was unbinding itself from his soul as he died and was leaving him. But when he came back to life, he had yanked it back just in time, and the essence had bound itself to him again. 'Phew! Almost lost my Devil Fruit, huh?'
Then his thoughts wandered to the fruit itself. It wasn't just a Paramecia-type Gum-Gum Fruit but also a Mythical Zoan?! And the Sun God Nika, at that?! 'What the hell?!' It felt like everything he knew about his fruit was false. Its power was described as the 'Most Ridiculous Power in the World' and could do anything the user imagined. He started grinning, remembering the literally comical way his body had worked in his awakened form during the battle against Kaido and the Five Elders. He couldn't wait to unlock it himself.
If anything he imagined could become reality, the possibilities were endless. He stopped himself; that was still far in the future. He had to awaken his fruit first. But still, it wasn't just a simple fruit, huh? Was it a Paramecia whose awakened form was a Mythical Zoan? Or was it always a Mythical Zoan, with the true power unlocking only upon awakening? He was sure there was more to it, but he'd have to find out on his own here, which he was more than happy to do.
Taking a step back, he thought about his Gears. He'd had a vague idea about inflating his bones and muscles to become a giant even in childhood, but his body felt like it would pop, so he never achieved it. He'd thought it might work once his body got stronger, and it looked like it actually did. Gear 2 and 3 were amazing, to say the least, and Gear 4 with all its variations, combined with Haki, was super powerful.
His mind then turned to Haki and its three forms. 'To think there was something that strong just waiting to be unlocked…' He was in awe and couldn't wait to unlock everything. He'd already used Conqueror's while saving Koby, and he realized Ace had unlocked his during their childhood fight against the Bluejam Pirates. He also finally understood why Garp's "Fist of Love" hurt so much. 'Stupid Gramps was using Armament Haki to hit me!'
Next came the techniques used by the CP9 agents, which had made his story counterpart acknowledge that a human body could be trained to such a degree. The Rokushiki techniques were amazing. He realized Garp used Soru all the time when chasing them through the forest. Ace, Sabo, and he had even discussed how he seemed to teleport. Their conclusion, of course, was 'Because Gramps is a monster.' He'd also seen Garp use Geppo when he was tied to balloons and swept far away by the wind. Gramps would just appear in the sky, which had shocked Luffy the first time he saw it. Again, he'd chalked it up to his grandpa being a monster. He cursed Garp for not teaching him and his brothers all this; it would have made them so much stronger.
Luffy stopped himself from going down the rabbit hole of battle techniques and forced himself to think about the core problem: Ace.
He had to get stronger to save Ace at Marineford. He needed to be stronger than his story counterpart. To do that, he needed to learn all three types of Haki, develop his Devil Fruit powers faster—especially his Gears—and learn Rokushiki and Seimei Kikan. The latter, which allowed precise control over one's body, even down to one's hair, gave him an idea for a new technique.
He also wondered if he could stop Ace from hunting Blackbeard. From Kevin's memories, he would meet Ace in Alabasta. It probably wouldn't work—once Ace set his mind on something, he saw it through to the end. But if he told Ace that his capture by Blackbeard would lead to the deaths of his friends who came to save him, maybe he would reconsider...
Now, his thoughts turned to his own adventure. Did he want to follow the same path as in the story? Could he choose a completely different route on the Grand Line and have an entirely new adventure? The answer was an instant and resounding no. He couldn't, in good conscience, leave anyone he knew from the story in trouble. If he did, it would eat him up from the inside, and he would eventually break down.
He imagined a single scenario: not going to Whiskey Peak and, consequently, not to Alabasta. Vivi would certainly die at Whiskey Peak at the hands of Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine. The headline would read, "Hero Crocodile Saves Alabasta from its Corrupt King." If he chose a different path and read that in the papers, he would die of guilt and shame.
'So, I'm gonna be having the same adventure as my story counterpart…' he thought with a sigh, but quickly shelved the topic for now. He would decide what to do once he was actually on the journey.
For now, he needed to figure out how to get back to Dawn Island and what to do before setting sail. He was too late in the timeline to prevent many tragedies. Kuina was dead. Bellemere was dead, and Cocoyashi Village was under Arlong's rule. Banchina was dead… and so on. In the present, his future crew and friends were physically safe, but some were in a lot of pain.
His mind drifted to his crew and their backstories: Nami, Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, Vivi, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook, Jinbe... Hah, and it seemed he needed to figure out how to convince Vivi to sail with them this time, unlike his counterpart. After seeing Kevin's memories of Vivi's fate after Cobra was killed by Imu for learning the secret of the "D," he felt he had to warn Cobra not to attend the next Reverie in person, as it would endanger his life.
He thought of all the friends he would make on his journey and their backstories: Aisha, Shirahoshi, Rebecca, Viola, Kyros, Momo, Bonney, Kuma... His emotions became unstable as he cycled through their stories. At first, he was happy and laughed, but eventually, tears started pouring from his eyes as his heart clenched.
Perhaps the merged memories of Arden and Kevin were making him emotionally volatile. A sharp, splitting pain erupted in his head. He started banging his head repeatedly against the floor, hoping to dull the mental agony, but it didn't help at all. He began to question his own identity. Was he Arden? Was he Kevin? Was he Luffy? Was he a president? Was he a singer? The questions swirled, confusing him about who he truly was, making his head hurt even more. He hit his head against the floor harder.
As the pain peaked, something inside him suddenly ignited with clarity. He was not Arden. He was not Kevin. He was not a president. He was not a singer. He was Monkey D. Luffy, the man who would be King of the Pirates! Like a soundless scream, an invisible wave exploded out from his body. The objects around him vibrated slightly, and the Den Den Mushi Reiju had hidden lost its signal and fainted.
After that, he began to calm down. He looked around and saw the floor around him was covered in blood. At least the headache was gone.
"Damn…" He touched his forehead; it was bleeding profusely. He wiped the blood on the bandages on his arm and thought he should clean the floor. He looked for a cloth and spotted one on the sofa, but he couldn't reach it due to the chains.
He sighed and used his bandaged legs to wipe the floor. It wasn't clean, and his bandages got dirtier, but he could always explain it as his wounds reopening if Reiju asked.
He sighed again after he was done and sat down, leaning against the desk, trying to keep his mind clear. He started humming one of Uta's songs to relax and, after a while, drifted off to sleep.
'Is he sane?' was Reiju's first thought the next morning when she arrived with food, which he happily devoured. She had witnessed his entire breakdown the previous night and wondered what the hell had happened.
It had been weird from the start. He had leaned against the desk, crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and seemed to be reminiscing. He grumbled, giggled, grumbled again, rubbed his forehead while mumbling 'Stupid Gramps,' then vibrated with excitement before deflating. 'What the hell is he thinking about?!' had run through her mind.
Then the breakdown began. At first, he was happy and laughing, but then he started sobbing, clutching his head in pain, and banging it on the ground. He kept mumbling 'Stop! Make it stop!' while hitting his head, sometimes mixing in giggles and huffs amidst the tears and incomprehensible muttering. When the Den Den Mushi feed cut out, she grew anxious and almost went to the lab to check on him, but she restrained herself and waited. Eventually, the feed returned, showing Luffy had fallen asleep.
Seeing him asleep, she calmed down and collected her thoughts. She found it strange how much she cared about what happened to him. This wasn't like her. Normally, she would have watched indifferently. But seeing him hurt himself and spiral out of control made her want to go and comfort him. Had she unconsciously started to care for Luffy? No, that was impossible. She had only known him for two days.
"You good?" Luffy asked, finishing his food and noticing the worried look on her face.
"Yeah, yeah." 'I'm not the one who lost it last night, idiot.'
Luffy noticed it was morning and thanked her again for thinking of his breakfast.
"Anyway, I gotta get going," she said with a sigh, getting up.
Interpreting this as her being in a bad mood about having to mingle with the disgusting nobles again, Luffy spoke up. "You know, there's this blue-haired princess called Vivi at the meeting too. She's kind, just like you. Maybe talk to her?"
"Why should I talk to her?" Reiju asked, thinking to herself, 'What are you trying to pull?'
"She was gonna be my second choice if you didn't save me, and I got a chance to see her," Luffy explained with a smile. "She's a very interesting person. She might interest you enough to become friends."
"Is that all?"
"Yeah."
...
At the Reverie, Reiju looked for the princess named Vivi. After finding her, she observed her from a distance to see if she was the mastermind who had sent Luffy. Even though Luffy claimed not to be a spy, it could all be a lie. She just had to confirm if Princess Vivi was behind it all.
After observing her for hours, she concluded this girl could not be the mastermind of some elaborate plan. She was just a young girl with her guards, whom she called Igaram and Pell. She wore her emotions on her sleeve.
Satisfied, Reiju decided to approach her, curious about the "interesting person" Luffy mentioned, and frankly, tired of talking to all the other bastards.
As Reiju approached, Vivi noticed her and signaled her guards, preparing to politely escape, assuming Reiju was there to set her up with one of her brothers. Seeing the guards' movement, Reiju understood. "Listen," she said directly. "I just wanted someone who is not an asshole to talk to. I'm tired of all these assholes trying to woo me for the past five days. You seemed nice, so I approached you. I have no intention of setting you up with anyone, let alone my brothers. You're too cute for them."
At first, Vivi was skeptical, but as they talked, she realized Reiju genuinely just wanted conversation. Once she understood, Vivi began talking to Reiju with enthusiasm.
During their conversation, Reiju realized one thing: Vivi loved her country deeply. She spoke passionately about local specialties like food, clothes, and desert animals exclusive to Alabasta. Another thing Reiju learned was that Vivi was extremely teaseable. She would blush at the slightest compliments and turn beet red at even mildly suggestive jokes.
Reiju had a lot of fun that day teasing the blue-haired princess. By the end, she concluded that this innocent young princess was just that—an innocent young princess. She remembered seeing Vivi talking to the slaves in the death pit once, so maybe Luffy had seen that too and decided she was kind. There was no bigger conspiracy here.
...
While Reiju was at the Reverie, Luffy tried to train but couldn't due to the chains. He could only plan his future training regimen in his head.
"If I remember correctly, I think I used Conqueror's Haki last night," Luffy realized, starting to think. "What did it feel like when I used it?"
He tried to recall the sensation from last night when he used Conqueror's Haki. Finally, he grasped the feeling, and an invisible wave of power burst from his body, causing the air to vibrate.
"Woho... I finally did it!" Luffy said excitedly. "I can use Haki! Now I just need to train it."
Luffy then pondered how to train his Conqueror's Haki. As he was thinking, he heard the sound of footsteps approaching the lab.