Sea Calendar: 1539 — Arlong Park Arc
In the East Blue, a battle was reaching its end.
Luffy was currently fighting Arlong.
The two were battling inside the towering structure of Arlong Park, near the top floor—in the room where Nami had been forced to draw maps for years.
Luffy glared at Arlong with pure rage.
"GUM-GUM—!"
Before Luffy could finish his attack, Arlong lunged forward.
His jaws snapped down onto Luffy's shoulder.
"AGH!"
Luffy gritted his teeth through the pain.
He wasn't stopping.
Not here.
Not after everything Arlong had done to Nami.
His leg stretched upward.
Farther.
Farther.
Until it disappeared through the ceiling above them.
Then Luffy roared the final words.
"BATTLE AXE!!!"
His leg came crashing down.
BOOM!!!
The attack slammed directly into Arlong with overwhelming force.
The floor shattered beneath him.
Then the next.
And the next.
Arlong was driven downward through Arlong Park as entire sections of the building collapsed around them.
Wood snapped.
Stone broke apart.
Walls exploded outward.
The tower began falling.
"LUFFY!!!"
Nami screamed his name through her tears.
But unfortunately...
Luffy wouldn't get to see her.
The instant Arlong hit the bottom floor, Luffy expected to see rubble.
Dust.
His friends.
Anything.
Instead—
Darkness.
Complete darkness surrounded him.
There was no broken building.
No Arlong.
No Nami.
No village.
No sky.
Nothing.
Yet somehow...
Luffy was still conscious.
He floated inside an endless void.
"Huh?"
Luffy looked around wildly.
"Where am I?!"
No answer.
"NAMI!"
His voice disappeared into the darkness.
"USOPP!"
Nothing.
"ZORO!"
Still nothing.
"SANJI!"
Luffy's breathing became heavier.
His crew was gone.
He couldn't see them.
Couldn't hear them.
Couldn't even tell if there was ground underneath his feet.
Then another voice finally answered him.
"You aren't seeing your friends again."
Luffy froze.
Slowly, he turned toward the voice.
There was a man standing—or possibly floating—not far away from him.
Luffy stared at him.
"Why not?"
The man sighed.
Then he looked at Luffy with indifferent eyes.
For about two seconds.
His expression suddenly changed.
His eyes widened.
Shock crossed his face.
Then, just as quickly, he forced himself to calm down.
The man's name was Roma.
Roma came from a blue planet known as Earth.
And Roma was dead.
His death wasn't glorious.
It wasn't heroic.
It wasn't even particularly meaningful.
He died in an "accident."
Well...
Calling it an accident was probably being generous.
Roma had given the middle finger to some random person.
Normally, that would've resulted in an argument.
Maybe some yelling.
Maybe another middle finger.
Unfortunately for Roma, the person was apparently already at their breaking point.
Roma's middle finger was the final push.
They got into their vehicle.
And hit him.
On purpose.
Apparently, they later killed themselves as well.
Roma had thought about that particular sequence of events more times than he wanted to admit.
Roma's Mind: BUT WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO IT ON ME?!
After his death, Roma had appeared here.
Wherever here was.
He didn't know how long he'd been trapped in the darkness.
Days?
Weeks?
Months?
Hell, maybe even years.
There was no sun.
No clock.
No hunger telling him that another day had passed.
Nothing changed.
Nothing moved.
Nothing happened.
Until now.
Because somehow...
Someone else had appeared.
And it wasn't just some random person.
Roma stared at the boy standing in front of him.
Black hair.
Straw hat.
Red vest.
Scar underneath his left eye.
No way.
Absolutely no way.
That was—
Monkey D. Luffy.
The captain of the Straw Hat Pirates.
The man who would eventually become one of the Four Emperors.
The guy who would eventually have a bounty of three billion berries.
The absolute idiot trying to become King of the Pirates.
Roma's brain nearly stopped working.
But something was wrong.
Luffy looked...
Young.
Well, younger.
His build was different.
His clothes were different too.
Roma knew Luffy changed outfits constantly throughout his journey, and this definitely wasn't post-timeskip Luffy.
Not even close.
Roma's Mind: Wait.
He looked Luffy up and down again.
Roma's Mind: He's not even in the Grand Line yet, is he?
That changed things.
A lot.
Roma finally calmed himself enough to ask the obvious question.
"Are you Monkey D. Luffy?"
Luffy blinked.
Then his face immediately lit up.
"Yeah!"
He pointed at himself proudly.
"And I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!"
Roma stared at him.
...
Yep.
Confirmed.
Nobody else in their right mind would introduce themselves like that.
This was definitely Luffy.
Then Luffy seemed to remember something.
His excitement disappeared almost immediately.
"Wait!"
He looked around again.
"Why can't I see my crew?!"
There was actual panic creeping into his voice now.
"Where are they?"
Roma sighed.
"It's impossible to get out of here."
Luffy looked back at him.
Roma continued.
"This is a void."
Luffy stared.
"...Eh?"
Roma stared back.
Luffy's expression looked like Roma had just asked him to calculate the exact mass of the planet.
Roma sighed again.
Apparently, he needed to explain what a void was.
"In legal terms, 'void' describes a contract, law, or legal decision that is null, without legal force, or without effect from its inception. A void agreement is one considered never to have been legally valid, typically because it lacks one or more essential elements required for a valid contract or because it violates public policy or law."
Luffy stared at him.
Roma stared back.
Silence.
Complete.
Absolute.
Silence.
Roma blinked.
Something in the back of his mind finally reminded him of one extremely important detail.
Monkey D. Luffy's greatest weakness wasn't seawater.
It was education.
Roma cleared his throat.
"Okay."
He tried again.
"Short version."
Luffy leaned forward.
Roma pointed around them.
"A void is basically a place where nothing exists."
"Oh."
"And normally, it's impossible to reach."
"Ohhh."
"And if you're trapped inside one..."
Roma paused.
Luffy waited.
Roma finished.
"...it's probably impossible to get out."
Luffy's eyes widened.
"EEEEHHHHHHHHHH?!?!"
His scream echoed through absolutely nothing.
Roma covered one ear.
There wasn't even supposed to be an echo in here.
Somehow Luffy had managed it anyway.
Roma stared at him.
Roma's Mind:
I'm trapped in an endless void with Monkey D. Luffy.
...
This is going to be a problem.
Author's Note:
If you want to continue reading this fanfiction, go right ahead!
If you don't like it, that's fine too. There are plenty of other stories to read.
The next chapter will explain more about what's happening, why Roma and Luffy are here, and—most importantly—where they're going.
Also, if there's a world you'd like the two of them to visit, leave a comment suggesting it.
I might use it depending on the world.
Anyway...
Enjoy, I guess.