Second Wind

1

Straw Hat Luffy was awakened by a subtle swaying that seemed to grow more violent by the second as he opened his eyes, blinked, and yawned tiredly. What was he doing before he dozed off? Memories presented themselves as his mind snapped back into alertness. Oh, yeah. He was still drifting. What was that noise? He took a look around him as his eyes focused, and laughed out loud.

"Damn, how do I always forget these things?" he asked with obvious mirth in the face of the whirlpool that threatened to devour his inadequacy of a boat. In the long run, something like this was trivial, laughable really, but Luffy couldn't help but find it troubling that it could have potentially ended his journey before it had even begun.

He glanced at the barrel next to him as it rocked back and forth with the waves. Should he try it...? It should work...based on past experience. He quickly dismissed the thought, though, chastising himself for his careless nature. If it didn't work, he wasn't coming out of the water unless a miracle happened. In his experience, miracles happened often, although they could only help you so much.

Regardless, he didn't want to risk it. It would not do for the future Pirate King to die at the hands of a tiny ass whirlpool like this. It wasn't his own fate he was worried about as much as the fate of the lives he would come to affect. In the beginning of his journey, he had easily resigned himself to the risks of his foolish dream, but as thoughts of those that he had to protect gradually piled up on his conscience, that mindset became increasingly difficult to maintain. In the eyes of many, he would always be a careless idiot, and in some respects this would always hold true. But what some didn't realize was that there were some things he had an ingrained intelligence for from the beginning, and other things he had forcefully willed himself to learn along the way...with some help.

He made a quick decision. He had already resolved to play an active role this time around, and that meant not leaving himself at the mercy of a barrel if he could help it. So he took a quick leap off the boat, propelling himself over the waters with a force that almost sank it. Any sane person would have wondered if he was losing it with this recent action, but sane people didn't last very long where he was going. After reaching the highest point of his jump, he took another step, and the air below him responded in turn, propelling him higher and further. He took more steps until he was cruising through the air at a comfortable speed.

Now, to get down to business. It should be closeby. He reached out with his Observation Haki, and more than a few dozen weak auras flickered to life within range of his senses. He also sensed slightly stronger auras approaching them. He predicted that they were all on a collision course, but then again he already knew that. It was an ambush after all.

He accelerated quickly and made his way over to the slightly stronger auras in the distance. One in particular dwarfed them all in power, but in other aspects that were far more important at this stage, it paled in comparison to another that Luffy instantly recognized. The shockingly humble presence brought a nostalgic smile to Luffy's face.

"Wait for me, old buddy."

He reached the pirate ship with the Jolly Roger that confirmed Luffy's already solid guess and touched down after quickly decelerating. The two pirates that were guarding the deck looked at him in shock, but shock quickly turned to malice. If they gave any more thought to the fact that they hadn't even noticed his approach until he had landed right in front of them, they may have been a bit more cautious. As it was, they were inclined to ask who the hell he was and charge at him with swords at the ready before waiting for an answer.

Luffy was in deep thought, but spared them a glance as he punched both their lights out.

Leaving the unconscious fodder on the deck, he made his way through a door and caught sight of the person who he had come to find. At first glance of the bright pink hair and pudgy appearance, he had to resist the urge to laugh out loud. He compared this timid boy to the quiet, confident Marine he would one day grow up to be. There were some similarities other than appearance (most notably in his aura), but it was nonetheless difficult.