One Piece: Reborn as Enel

Chapter 209: Straw Hat’s Gratitude, Reunion and Shock

_________ POV Narration_________

As Luffy noticed Enel's presence, his eyes widened as a smile spread on his face.

Robin also sighed, closed her book and slowly got up from the Emperor's lap. Instead walking around and standing by his side with her arms crossed.

Almost as if on cue, Luffy immediately jumped towards Enel.

"Long ears! It's been so long! I bet you got even stronger, right?!" The Young Pirate laughed and danced around the Sky King's chair.

Enel just sighed. 'He really feels a lot like a child... Hasn't changed one bit... At least he knows how to take things seriously when needed...'

"I did train quite a bit in this brief 2 year period... I am glad to see you're holding up well..." Enel just nodded to the childish future Emperor and also slowly sat up from his chair.

Standing at his full height, the Emperor towered over everyone in the crew besides Brook.

"Of course I am! Thanks for saving me and Ace back then! That was soo awsome!"

Enel's gaze turned blank as he half-listened to Luffy's honest gratitude. The young pirate went on to describe the events of Marineford as a child would.

Things like 'And you went 'El Thor' and that red guy went 'Shwoosh' and -'

It was strangely endearing to hear his view of the events that day. The outcome of the war was a very positive one, so Luffy was thankfully not left traumatized by Ace's death.

In truth, it originally hadn't even done all that much to help build Luffy's character in Enel's opinion.

The only difference now, when Ace survived, was that Luffy no longer had a cool scar. He was otherwise the very same person.

'Well, I guess he doesn't have to also carry Ace's will now... But they trained together, so I doubt he changed his fighting style too much compared to the original...'

Although, Ace's death also technically meant the end of Roger's bloodline, which was arguably more critical narratively than Luffy's character developing and becoming more mature(which essentially never happened anyway).

Enel's mind wandered off, checking out in a sense as Luffy continued his speech.

His crew around him had also listened to the entire exchange. Some were surprised to hear how things had gone at Marineford.

Most of them had just seen/heard of the outcome of things, missing a bit of the context that Luffy provided in his childish interpretation of events.

The only ones with a good idea of what had happened were Brook, Zoro, Sanji and Robin. They were the ones with the most access to outside information during that time.

Franky was stuck on a more desolate island and too busy learning more from Vegapunk's old notes.

Nami was also busy studying in Weatheria, she only managed to catch a newspaper which informed her of things and also contained her captain's message to the crew.

Chopper was also busy honing his skills as a doctor, after which he was somewhat stuck helping the revolutionaries on whatever island he was on, not having much time to look into Marineford too closely.

And Ussop was stuck on a wild inhabited island. He was lucky enough to get the message and arrive back at Sabaody in time. Although Heracles, his teacher and saviour, did keep him somewhat up to date on recent news, the strange warrior seemed to have his sources...

They didn't really know what to think about their captain actually trying to go ahead and fight Admirals by himself... But it was still within their expectations.

Luffy was always the hotheaded type. Stubborn, and he wasn't ever going to let Ace die if he could do anything about it. Thankfully they were both safe.

'At least Enel managed to save him...' Nami sighed and shook her head. The situation could've been much worse for both Luffy and Ace from her captain's story.

The only reason they were alive was that the Sky King decided to turn on the Marines and help the Whitebeard Pirates at that time... Though casualties were rather low on both sides thanks to his efforts...

Enel blinked a few times as he started regretting showing up on Luffy's ship, forgetting how chatty the young pirate actually was.

'No, I need to make sure he's on our side... Nika is important to have. If three gods failed, then just me with the army I've gathered might still not be enough... I need to have at least Nika...'

The Sky King sighed as he cracked his neck and looked back at the Rubber Human, his eyes completely serious.

Luffy also eventually finished gushing about the events of the war. His mouth opened to finally ask the important questions on his mind...

"Anyway, what are you doing here? Did you finally decide to join my crew?!?" His eyes shined as his words interrupted the Emperor's musings with a direct question.

"No... I'm just here to see Robin off and speak to you as well... We have some rather important matters to talk about." Enel shook his head, clarifying his intentions rather bluntly, his tone not wavering at all.

His swift rejection seemed to not affect Luffy all that much either, the young pirate seemed to be in too good of a mood for that. It was also possible that he had expected Enel to reject him.

"Seeing Robin off and talking to me? How come? I mean, still glad I get to see you regardless, just wanna know..." Luffy picked his nose with a confused expression.

"Well..."

"I think I can explain the first part, Enel..." Robin interrupted the Emperor with a light cough as she took a step forward.

The Emperor to the side just shrugged and let the Archeologist speak freely.

"First off, a rather important part. Enel has been building an army with the sole purpose of taking down the World Government.

His plan is to share the world's history with the world itself, to do that he needs them gone..."

Luffy nodded when hearing that, bobbing his head up and down.

The rest of the crew was a bit less comfortable with accepting that information. It was difficult for them to believe that a single man could muster up the forces to stand against the World government, even if that man was an Emperor...

But still, they knew Robin wasn't going to be bullshitting them. Hence why it was better for her to be the one speaking.

"He already has gathered plenty of people, all allied with him... Including the entirety of the Revolutionary Army, Whitebeard, the entire former Marine force, or at least a good chunk of it, and Shanks..."

Robin got straight to the point, the hardest-to-believe part was the people that made up Enel's army. It was entirely possible that the Straw Hats would find it difficult to believe her.

"What?! The revolutionaries? The Marines, Shanks as well? And old man Whitebeard?!" Luffy's face immediately twisted almost unrecognizably as he heard the most absurd combination of allies.

The others were also just forced to stare at Enel with wide eyes.

'He literally unified just about every faction under the sky?!'

They all had the same thought.

It was simply difficult to believe, even if Robin was vouching for him.

"I get that it may be difficult to take at face value, but she isn't lying... We managed to run into the Golden Lion Shiki as well, and our Sky Islands turned into a Sky Archipelago..." Enel also piped in after seeing their reactions.

He casually mentioned a legend from Roger's era, further surprising the few people that still remembered who Shiki even was.

Luffy only heard about him because he had heard his name mentioned in Impel Down, as the only pirate to have ever escaped.

'... So this is actually... Wait a minute!' Luffy's eyes widened just as he stopped to ponder the size of Enel's army and its strength.

"Is Granpa Garp also part of your crew?!?" Luffy's expression couldn't have looked more shocked as that thought crossed his mind.

"..." Enel just pursed his lips and tried to think of a way to break it to Luffy that Garp, the Marine Hero, was now technically a pirate under him.

Robin seemed to have found a way faster...

"Yes... Garp is Enel's left hand, or wing, I guess..." Turns out, just being blunt was more than enough to break the news out...

But that didn't mean it helped cushion the blow of that realization to Luffy...

The future emperor believed in Enel and Robin, especially Robin. He believed all of his crewmates after all. So there was no doubt in his mind that she was telling the truth...

But the truth was still enough to give him a psychological impact that only he, and those that knew his past, could understand...

The young pirate's eyes seemed to glaze over as his mind filled with the countless beatings he had received from Garp when claiming he was going to be a pirate king...

All of the fists of love he had received. All of the times Garp tied him to a tree and left him to repent for a few hours. All the times Garp shouted in his ears about becoming a marine...

'Just so he could become a pirate?!?'

Luffy was a bit angry, he couldn't really help it. But he still loved his grandfather regardless, he just found it unfair...

Not that he'd ever have the guts to say that to Garp's face.

"The Marine Hero... A pirate?!?" Zoro, Nami and the others seemed to need even more time to take things in.

Robin just sighed, knowing that it was going to take a while for all of them to process that information...

"Pirate is a strong word. We're essentially all revolutionaries now, however, the Government will call us whatever they want..." Enel at least helped them by clarifying that they weren't actually pirates.

Still, the damage was already done to Luffy's mind, even if Enel now tried to cushion the blow.

The fact that Garp could even 'technically' be called a pirate was enough to floor the rubber pirate...

"..." Enel could only sigh when looking at the steam that was leaving Luffy's ears.

Robin answered a few more questions from the rest of her crewmates as she waited for her captain to recover.

They were relatively simple questions, asking a bit more about the people under Enel's employ, as well as how Robin tied into the situation.

"Well, I was rescued from a predicament by the Revolutionaries, and Enel got into contact with them at around the same time... That's how we met, and after that, he trained me a bit.

It wasn't long after that our training that the Baltigo incident happened, and we all ended up back on the sky islands... Where I also got trained by Garp alongside Enel..."

"Hoho? You were trained by the Marine Hero? I bet you got really strong..." Franky smiled a bit as he remembered the stories he had heard of the legendary marine.

"Well... His training methods were not quite personal... Enel was also helpful." Robin just shook her head and smiled.

"You sure got lucky..." Nami pouted a bit as she felt a bit jealous of Robin's opportunity.

Training not only with Luffy's Grandfather but also an Emperor of the Seas... It was not something that many people could claim to have done.

"... So Grandpa Garp trained my friend, huh..." Luffy scratched the back of his head as he tried to remember Garp's style of training.

"Is your head ok?" That was his next question. Quite logical too given his knowledge of Garp's methods.

"Well, yes. We did spar a few times as well, but it wasn't like he was going all out against me..." Robin's smile strained for a bit as she remembered all of the fights she had during the two-year separation.

"What?! That's not fair..." Luffy grumbled a bit as he remembered Garp being a hard ass constantly during the training he had received in his youth.

"Well... Regardless of that... I came here with a mission, so I'd like to ask you a proper question now that you're brought to speed on our state of affairs..." Enel clapped his hands together with a metallic clang as he captured Luffy's attention.

The young pirate nodded, giving the Emperor the only response he needed to continue.

"... When the time comes, I want you and your crew to join our fight. Well, I will call upon you when the time is right... Would you be willing to assist us?"

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Hope you enjoyed today's chapter!

I was finally able to write. Yesterday was a lazy af Sunday tho

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