Anxiety, Laugh Tale and One Piece

_________ POV Narration _________

It was said within the story of One Piece, the great Pirate King's treasure, that upon finding Raftel, Roger laughed.

He laughed so heartily that it remained ingrained into the memory of the crewmembers who were still alive to tell that tale. 

But what exactly was so amusing about the treasure he found?

Well, Robin could never quite put her finger on it. Neither could Luffy.

The Rubber Human had heard the story from Rayleigh and Ace during their training, but Reyligh never did tell anyone what the One Piece actually was. 

Rayleigh and all of the crew that had seen the grand treasure had kept silent about it for the longest time. It was truly odd how secretive they were about it. 

But soon, everything would come to light, the missing piece of the puzzle. The beginning of Luffy's great end goal. 

The very thing that started the Great Pirate Age, the thing that lit the fire underneath Luffy and made him set out on his Journey.

It was finally within his grasp.

'With this, I'll become the pirate king... I'll finally be able to spread freedom to the world!' The young Luffy felt elated as his dream came closer to its realization. 

Luffy always said that he wanted to be the Pirate King, but that wasn't because of his fixation on piracy and his reverence for Shanks. That was because he revered something that Shanks always stood for... Freedom.

And freedom was what Luffy sailed out to find. But as he travelled, his vision expanded, and his goals did as well.

He subconsciously pursued the ultimate freedom, the title of Pirate King, but at some point, during his travels. As he saw the struggle of many in their unfair world, he decided that he would spread his freedom to the world too.

He no longer wanted to just become the Pirate King, he wanted to spread as much freedom as possible to the world.

It was his ideals that allowed him to awaken as Nika, the Sun God... Or rather, the God of Liberation.

Of course, Luffy's mind couldn't quite articulate those thoughts, but deep down, he knew what he wanted, and he knew how to achieve it. 

In the end, his dreams seemed to align with Enel's goals. The war was going to be the vehicle that brought freedom to the world. 

And Luffy knew that he was a key to winning that war. He understood that much. 

But, despite that, he also felt strange.

Right now, with a foot through the door, he felt as if his heart was tightening in his chest.

It wasn't due to a sense of accomplishment, but rather a feeling of melancholy. All the hardships he had been through, all leading them to that moment... 

But there was one question on his mind... 'What if the One Piece isn't going to be able to help me in the war?' 

Subconsciously, the young pirate had been somewhat banking on the fact that the One Piece would be something of substance, something that would help him get stronger faster.

He was well and truly running out of time. And it wasn't just time for the war... He was running out of time in general.

Throughout his adventure, he constantly risked his health for others and for his own dreams. He had developed techniques that greatly strengthened him, techniques that relied on his rubbery constitution.

But those techniques had a price tag on them. And each adventure seemed to take some life out of him in some way or another.

'I don't know how long I have left... But I hope I'll at least get to see it with my own eyes... A free world.'

Luffy's childish mind had greatly developed throughout his journey, and now, that he was reaching the twilight of his life, the climax of it all... He felt strangely lucid.

That lucidity and his worries prevented him from reacting much when he finally stepped foot on Raftel's shores. 

All of the stress was finally getting to him, but in that moment where he felt anxious... He heard a voice behind him. 

"We've finally done it!" It was the voice of their sniper, Ussop... The long-nosed man shouted at the top of his lungs, smiling as everyone around him seemed to join in the excitement. 

Whilst looking at them, Luffy's expression morphed greatly, he felt his stress seeping away, he grasped the straw hat on his head tightly and smiled widely.

"Shishishi~ I told you I'd become the King of Pirates!" Luffy patted himself on the chest, immediately gaining new energy and strengthening his will.

'It doesn't matter if the One Piece can help me... I can't fail at this stage, I won't allow myself to.'

"Hoh, I never doubted you once, Luffy!" Nami, the orange-haired navigator immediately smiled and walked over to him.

"Hah, as if! I still remember when you first stole our ship!" Zoro also walked forward, sipping on a gourd of sake as he stepped to his captain's side.

"Zoro! That was literally ages ago!" Nami seemed to be rather offended by his comment, but the green-haired swordsman didn't really care.

"And I ain't ever gonna let you live it down." Zoro just gave her a playful smile as she punched his shoulder heavily. 

"Don't be disrespectful to her you simple-minded mosshead!" Sanji, the woman defender was always going to do his 'job' and take Nami's side. 

"Well, at least the ship can't be stolen anymore since it's SUPER~" Franky was already scoping out the island with his cyborg eyes, just as excited as the rest.

"S-should I prepare anything? Do you guys think we'll run into any trouble?" Chopper seemed to be more fidgety than the rest.

"I doubt it... Finding this place was damn near impossible..." Jinbei shook his head and put the deer doctor on his shoulder before jumping down to the shores as well.

Finding Raftel was never meant to be an easy task. It was not as easy as just following directions on a map. 

Without the Poneglyphs leading them using strange formation of clouds as 'landmarks' it would've been genuinely impossible to find. 

There was little chance of danger being on the island. And even if there was danger, there was no reason to worry. After all, Luffy was with them.

The Vegapunks and Sentomaru remained at the ship, mostly to guard it, but also because they didn't feel as if it was their journey to complete alongside the straw hats. 

The island itself seemed to be large, but it was just a forest, with a big trail that led to a gigantic golden temple.

The promise of treasure made Nami's eyes sparkle, but Robin was more interested in the historical value that could be found in such a structure.

'If Enel's assumptions are correct... Then this place should hold something that was meant for Nika... Or for Luffy.' 

The archaeologists had been mostly silent when they stepped on the shore, and as they were walking on the forest trail with smiles on their faces, she couldn't help but remember Enel's findings.

The Lightning Emperor seemed to have realized that Roger's crew had been preparing Luffy for the One Piece ever since he ate the 'Gum Gum Fruit'. 

At the very least that was what Enel confirmed. 

Shanks inspired him to search for freedom. Crocus tested him alongside his journey and found out more about his character. And Rayleigh was the one to shield and train him. 

Of course, the fruit was initially meant for Ace to eat, that was why Shanks had brought it to Foosha Village that fateful day. 

But fate itself had a habit of playing jokes. And it seemed that no one from Roger's bloodline was ever fated to be Nika. To bridge the gap into that period of freedom that the world so badly needed.

At the very least Ace still survived, at Whitebeard's side alongside the family he chose for himself. 

Roger's will was inherited by Luffy, and now it was time for the young pirate to walk the very steps that the former King had taken. 

Luffy felt almost as if he could see their footprints in the dirt, almost as if they had never faded away...

"Wait... Why are there footprints here?" Luffy tilted his head and looked around, and the rest of his crew seemed to notice those steps too. 

Immediately, they all gulped and took to running.

They panicked. Had someone gotten there before them? That couldn't be it, right?

Luffy immediately entered second gear, steam rolling off of him as he turned into a blur and sprinted forward through the paths, his sandals leaving deep imprints in the dirt. 

 He reached the temple in mere moments, and surprisingly... The entrance was not opened.

He stopped in his tracks, he sweated a bit as he closed his eyes and did his best to 'look' for anyone within the temple.

But there was no one.

He could feel traces as if someone had been there just moments before. But the place was seemingly untouched.

He turned around to see the rest of his crew trailing behind him. Ussop and Nami were riding on Chopper, and Franky had turned his legs into wheels. 

Zoro was the first to make it to his side, blades already drawn and ready for a fight. 

"Where are they?!?" The swordsman was seemingly itching for a battle. He couldn't allow it, he couldn't allow his captain's dream to be snatched up from right in front of them.

Even if he wasn't the strongest, he was going to put his life on the line for it. He was more than willing to do so. 

"There's no one here..." Luffy said as the steam rolling off his body dissipated and his skin lost its redness. 

"We might've been too late..." The young pirate seemed... conflicted. 

It felt so strange, that no one even knew how to comfort him.

But he still stepped forward, his hands opening the gigantic doors of the temple in stride. 

The temple was golden, filled with shimmering lights that turned on as soon as the doors flung open.

It was filled with treasures of all kinds, from gold to jewellery to paintings. Everything that one could consider valuable was there, in those grand halls. 

Truly, it felt as if everything that the world had to offer was there. 

"That's odd..." Sanji muttered as he also stepped inside, none of the treasures in front of them seemed to have been touched by the ones that had come before them. 

It just felt bizarre.

"This isn't the treasure we're looking for..." Luffy muttered, and everyone looked at him curiously.

No one knew what the One Piece was... So how could their captain be so sure?

Roger had said that he had left all of his treasure there. All the wealth he had gathered throughout his adventure. 

No one truly knew how much there was.

But Luffy looked at that treasure and felt as if he was looking at an empty room. Instead, he walked further into the temple, past the piles of gold and treasure, not even sparing them a glance.

The crew decided to trail behind him, Nami had to be dragged off by Ussop and Franky, not willing to split up from the treasures in front of her. 

Eventually, through the twists and turns of those golden corridors, Luffy's heart finally found the treasure he had been looking for. 

A long hallway, a red carpet with golden linings, a room somehow even grander than the rest.

And at the end of that red carpet was a pedestal. Within it was not a grand weapon, nor was there a chest full of more treasure...

No, it was something a lot more simple... Something that made Luffy's heart beat in a funny way...

 It was a small golden pot, with just regular earth within it. And within that earth was grown a very small tree. 

The tree had only two branches and only a few leaves. But the thing that stood out was the large swirling apple that was grown on it.

"W-what is that?" Jinbei asked as he felt a strange but powerful aura coming out of that small tree and fruit. 

It felt overwhelming, and everyone else seemed to feel it as well.

"There's no one else here... All the treasure is untouched..." Luffy smiled widely, unaffected by the pressure as he stepped forward.

"B-but what about the tracks?" Ussop asked as he suddenly felt a bit of fear welling up inside him. He didn't like the idea of ghosts after all... 

"Meh! Who cares?" Luffy just shrugged it off as he walked in front of the tree.

On the platform that the tree pot was sitting on, was a lot of writing that felt very familiar to Luffy. 

"Robin! Can you translate this?!" Luffy turned his head around and shouted, the same wide smile present on his lips.

The archaeologist of the group nodded and immediately followed her captain's steps on the red carpet, ignoring the pressure emitted by that small tree.

She put her reading glasses on as she looked at the last Poneglyph of their journey.

Seconds turned into minutes as she read that giant bit of Ancient Script, and Luffy patiently waited with the same smile on his face. 

"This is..." Robin's expression morphed as she read the ancient scripts in front of her. 

The text went as such.

"Amidst the verdant embrace of primordial forests, there stood a tree, its roots delving deep into the essence of creation.

As branches reached skyward, so did the aspirations of mortals, entwined forever with the essence of this grand life form...

A symbol of manifested desire, a symbol of freedom, granting others the capability to defy fate. A symbol that was burned down by those that wished to usher in a different era."

Robin felt a bit conflicted as she read those words out loud, Luffy and the Straw Hats behind her listened intently as they all looked at that small tree.

It somehow didn't feel as grand as the description... But the next paragraphs that Robin translated cleared some things up. 

"And with its death, humanity's desire shifted, and freedom became stunted. 

All that remains is a small echo. A branch that grew out of a branch. A new desire has formed. 

A desire for freedom. One that grew and festered over time, to spawn a fruit that shall grant humanity the possibility to break a new dawn. 

The Fruit of Immortality. To be immortal is to break the shackles that fate has placed upon humanity, to achieve true liberation. 

And he who was liberated must work to free the others as well." 

A picture, once blurry was now becoming clear in Robin's mind, and Luffy smiled as he turned his gaze to the fruit growing on that tree. 

"May these words guide the next Joyboy, the chosen bearer, on his quest to free the world from shackles and limitations and usher forth the dawn of a new era."

It felt grand, regal. Greater than anything she had read before.

Hell, the golden plaque that it was written on exuded elegance and power. 

It felt as if a god had inscribed those words with his very own hands. 

Robin smiled as she read that last part, realizing the significance of the message and slowly turning around to her crewmembers. 

But just as she did so, she noticed something written on the side of a pillar, and she immediately walked towards it.

Poneglyphs carved out by the tip of a blade left on a golden pillar.

'I may not have been fated for this treasure, but I pray that the one who reads this is... Thank you for following my steps. 

Signed, Gol D. Roger.' 

Robin couldn't help but smile when reading that. She also pointed it out to Luffy, who seemed to gain a conflicted expression upon hearing the message conveyed. 

But he quickly shook his head and turned his head towards the fruit. 

'It's time to take the final steps in fulfilling my dream!' 

__________________________________________________________________

Heyy, hope you liked the chapter!

Honestly was pretty anxious writing about the One Piece at first, since it's something that's greatly anticipated by many. But in the end, I figured that it's best to not stress myself too much about it :))

This fanfic has been stretched out far from the canon for a VERY long time. 

Discord: 

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 15 chapters in advance (or 10/5 depending on tier)