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Luffy's eyes widened. "That would be bad."
Shanks nodded. "It'll be even worse for you. In a mature adult, Haki exhaustion doesn't usually last long, weeks at most, and those are the most severe cases. For you, it will be longer. Much longer," Shanks explained.
"What the hell! Why?" the annoyed boy shouted. The grown-ups always had it better. Not only did they become pirates, but now they did this too!
"Your body isn't even close to being fully mature, and because of that, its adaptability isn't as good as it will be in the future," Shanks began. "If you push your weaponry too hard before you've matured by at least nineteen or twenty years..." He gave the boy an apologetic look. "Nobody knows how long the exhaustion will last. Pushing your physical limits, even just a little, could mean days. And much longer."
Luffy groaned and fell backward. Sometimes he hated being a kid. The straw hat boy lay still for a moment before leaping to his feet, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Whatever! I'm still going to get really strong!" He decided he'd have to deal with it when the time came. He was never good at thinking things through. He'd take care of this Haki Exhaustion business when it happened.
Well, it seemed the time had come. But at least that last attack had killed the wolf... Right? The straw hat boy looked around, gaping, and immediately sat up with a grunt of protest. The wolf was gone! It had obviously been there—Luffy could tell from the impact mark—but it was gone! What on earth was wrong with that thing? If it wasn't there, he figured it must be back at the entrance to its cave.
The boy slowly climbed out of the crater, his broken bones crunching as he did so, and scanned the clearing for the wolf. Even as his eyes swept around the cave, he couldn't see it anywhere. Had he won? He shook his head. He wouldn't let his guard down until he had the treasure in his hands. Speaking of treasure... He scanned again for the elusive orange-haired girl. There was no way he was going to let her get it. Luffy headed for the cave entrance as fast as his injured body would allow, and when he saw neither the orange-haired girl nor the wolf, he began to get excited. It was treasure time!
He wasn't far from the entrance when he felt as if he'd stepped through a wall of fog. When he turned around and tried to move his hand around the area, however, there was nothing there. Strange. Luffy returned to his goal and finished walking to the cave entrance, taking a deep breath. He was in pain. A lot.
The boy in the straw hat, less cautiously, stumbled into the cave, almost expecting the Woodman to jump out, but nothing happened. He continued slowly, his solitary footsteps echoing off the walls of the wide open space as he ventured deeper into the absolute darkness.
Luffy had only been walking for a couple of minutes when he stepped on something and his foot sank into the ground. He lifted his leg and looked up when a creaking sound began to come from the ceiling, or at least from what he thought was the ceiling. After all, the cave was completely dark.
Suddenly, a silver sliver began to peek out from a crack in the rock above him, slowly growing larger as the cover slid to one side. The creaking continued until a perfect circle of moonlight shone upon an altar. On the altar was something Luffy hadn't seen since he was seven years old.
A devil's fruit.
The boy's eyes widened in surprise. He knew how strange they were. Shanks had told him. He walked slowly toward the altar, his eyes wide, and soft whispers filled the air as he approached.
'Eat me.'
'Eat me.'
'Eat me.'
Luffy couldn't help but smile to himself as he approached the fruit that rested reverently on the altar. It was like the first time he'd ever seen a Devil Fruit. He reached out and braced himself for the screams he knew were coming.
'EAT ME.'
'EAT ME.'
'EAT ME.'
The boy in the straw hat smiled wider as he remembered the day he received his first amulet. Returning to the present, he finally lowered his hand completely and grasped the fruit. It was lucky the treasure had turned out to be what it was. He didn't know how he would have moved a pile of gold if it had been. Ignoring the fruit's pleas to eat it, Luffy held it by the stem and did what Limejuice had told him to do if he ever wanted to add another amulet: attach the crescent-shaped fruit to its brown leather cord.
The fruit immediately began to shrink in his hand, until he no longer had to hold it, and continued to shrink until almost no trace of its existence remained. All that remained of the Lord of the Forest's treasure was a midnight-black, crescent-shaped gem, studded with countless tiny white spots that glittered like diamonds.
Luffy smiled to himself as he looked at his new amulet, next to the one that had been there since the necklace's inception. He'd never been sure if he'd ever add another, but this one seemed fitting. That power was truly useful. He'd have Shanks and Limejuice to thank when he saw them again. With his treasure in hand, Luffy happily started walking back to the cave entrance, leaving behind an empty altar that shimmered in the moonlight.
The boy took a deep breath as he left the cave and stepped back into the clearing. It was time to find Zoro and the voyeur.
Just as he took the first step to search for his partner and the girl who had tried to steal his treasure, Luffy's body collapsed to the ground. He lay unconscious, his last bit of strength leaving him after finally obtaining his treasure, a huge, satisfied grin plastered across his face.