2. Training

It had been three days since Luffy had been pulled out of Impel Down. He was excited and raring to go back in time to see his friends again. The old man, however, told Luffy to stay to regain his strength, which had dwindled during his time in prison. He was to be sent back tomorrow, giving him 24 more hours to rest and recuperate.

"Just you wait guys." Luffy said as he was staring out into the sky. "I'll come back. And this time, no one will stop us from achieving our dreams." After a shower and some fresh clothes, Luffy seemed unable to contain himself. All the years of hopelessness he had were forgotten as he felt the dying embers of hope burn into a roaring flame inside his soul. Not even the old man's denial to send him back early could get Luffy down. He decided to ask the old man again just for the heck of it. "Hey old man," Luffy said as he walked through the door. His smile dropped to a confused blank stare as he saw the old man looking through a small hole he made. His curiosity got the better of him as he walked over to see what the old man saw. "What are you staring at?

"Hmm?" the old man replied before looking at Luffy. "Oh. Just watching your crew's old adventures. Sky Island, Fishman Island, Punk Hazard. You had quite a lot of adventures." he said with a smile.

"Yeah. Can I see?" Luffy asked, ecstatic to see it all again.

"Sure. One moment." said the old man. He then grab the edges of the hole and pulled it wider for them to get a better look. "See?"

Luffy couldn't contain himself as he looked around in joy. He could see his ship, Thousand Sunny, and his crew all around and started to cry. "I can't wait to do it all again."

"Just remember. You're going back to make sure what happened last time won't be repeated." said the old man with a stern voice. Luffy rubbed his eyes with his arm. "Right. Hey, can you see all my friends?"

"Of course," he said as he waved his hand over the portal. He showed various people from Luffy's past. Dorry and Broggy. Bon Clay. Shirahoshi. "I especially like this one," he said before he waved his hand again. "And this one." he said when it showed Boa Hancock."

"Oh. Hancock and Shirahoshi. Why?" Luffy asked.

"What do you mean why?" the old man asked. "Because they're beautiful," he said as he looked back at the picture, blushing with a bit of a goofy look.

"You okay old man? Your face is turning red. Are you sick?" Luffy asked. The old man just stared at Luffy. He had seen that Luffy was dense through the portal, but he didn't think he was this thick-headed. He put his hand to his chin in thought before he waved it over the portal to show a close up of Nami.

"What about her?" he asked.

"That's Nami. She's my navigator and friend."

"And her?" he asked when he waved again and showed a picture of Robin.

"She's my friend too. She loves archaeology."

"You must be kidding me. You mean to tell me you don't see them as beautiful?" he asked. He seemed to get his answer as Luffy just stared at the picture with a happy grin. "This is insane!" he shouted. "How can you not notice? Look at them. They have figures that men would kill to hold close!"

"Dirty old man," Luffy said, causing the old man to fall over. He quickly got up and just stared at Luffy, who was just staring at a portal, trying to get it to change to see more adventures.

'How can he not go crazy at the sight of those women? That Hancock woman was fawning all over him, yet he didn't care. What is he, blind? I've played out all his adventures and he definitely reacted to that Nami chick. What could it be? He's definitely old enough to...' he was stuck in mid-thought as he looked at Luffy and the portal before his eyes widened. 'Maybe...yes. That might work.' he thought before smiling.

"Luffy," he said, walking towards Luffy. "Do you mind if I try something?"

"What?" Luffy asked as the old man held up his hand.

"Look at the picture. Hard," he said. Luffy looked at the picture of Robin. He looked at the picture from top to bottom, his face staying a complete blank.

"What do you mean? It's Robin."

"Close your eyes for a moment."

Luffy raised an eyebrow before saying "Okay." and shut them. The old man then seemed to concentrate as the tips of his fingers started to glow in his clenched fist. Luffy's eyelids started to glow the same as his fingers.

"OPEN!" the old man shouted as he opened his hand as Luffy opened his eyes, causing the glow on his fingers and Luffy's eyes to brighten for a split second before disappearing. Luffy blinked a bit before looking back at the old man.

"Did you want to open my eyes? I can do that myself." Luffy said as he smiled. "You're a weird old man."

"Just wanting to test my theory," he said before he changed the picture to Zoro. "Now then, watch the portal and don't take your eyes off it."

Luffy stared at the portal, smiling at seeing his old crewmates as they were shown. Zoro, Franky, Brook, Nami.

DOKI.

Luffy suddenly felt his heart race at the sight of Nami. His cheeks went red as he stared at her. The old man noticed and changed the picture, to which Luffy's face and heart rate returned to normal. He then changed it to Sanji, Ussop, Robin, Jimbei, and Chopper. The old man noticed him blush again when Robin's picture was shown. He smiled as he shut the portal.

"What was that?" Luffy asked. "Why is my heart racing?"

"When did it start racing?" asked the old man. Luffy stared at him for a moment.

"When I saw Nami and Robin. Only them," he answered, feeling his chest as his heart was slowing down to normal again. "It's a mysterious feeling," he said, causing the old man to fall over again.

"It's simple," he said as he got back on his feet. "I opened your eyes to women."

"Huh?" Luffy said, clearly confused.

"I noticed that you were focused on adventures and pirating. You must've had those on your mind for so long, you just never seemed to have thought of women. So I used my power to open your eyes to them."

"Really?" Luffy asked, thinking back to the feeling when he saw them. "I like this feeling. I feel warm inside."

"Great." said the old man. "Now then. Let's discuss at what point I'll be sending you back. As I said before, when I send you back, it'll be as if your current body blends into your younger one, giving it your memories, strengths, and so on."

"Right," Luffy said.

"Now the time I'll be sending you back will be a short time after Ace has left on his journey, so around when you're 14."

Luffy just nodded with a blank look on his face.

"After you're back, you'll have three years to train under Garp, while keeping him clueless about all this. Do you understand?"

Luffy smiled at the old man, whose face went deadpanned as he asked "You have no idea what I just said, do you?"

"Nope," Luffy said with a laugh. The old man just sighed. "Oh, brother."

The next day came and Luffy couldn't stop bouncing off the walls. He was gonna see everyone again. He was gonna be stronger than ever and use that strength to protect his friends.

"Come on old man. I can't wait any longer," he said, running in place and smiling like a kid at Christmas.

"Don't rush me Luffy. It takes a lot out of me to open portals in time," he said as took a few deep breaths. "And stop calling me old man. I told you many times, my name is Phil."

"Right Old Man Phil," Luffy said, still waiting to go back. Phil just sighed as he took a deep breath before shouting "OPEN!" and plunging his hands into the air and opening up a portal to the past, showing a 14-year-old Luffy, sleeping on a tree branch with his Straw Hat over his face.

"My hat!" Luffy yelled in excitement. He hadn't seen that hat in years. He almost forgot what it was like to wear it. He watched as Phil slowly opened the portal wide enough for him to walk through.

"Okay," Phil said as he struggled to keep it open. "Remember. Use your time before you set off on your journey to train."

"Right. And Phil...thanks." Luffy said as he and Phil shared a smile before he jumped through.

"WHOO HOOO!" was the last thing Phil heard before he let go and the portal shut. He smiled again as his home around him, as well as himself, began to fade out.

"Good luck kid." echoed Phil's words before he vanished.

Luffy woke with a start before falling out of the tree, hitting his head on the ground. "Oww." he groaned as he rubbed his head. He looked around a bit, then opened his eyes wide as he remembered. "I...I'm here...I'm back! I'M BACK!" he shouted as he began to around, laughing and cheering like never before. "This is great. It actually worked," he said before he stopped and opened his vest to look at his chest. He saw that his scar from Akainu was there and he glared at it. "You...you took them from me last time. You took Ace. Then my friends! NOT THIS TIME YOU MAGMA BASTARD!"

"LUFFY!" came a shout behind him. He spun around to see Garp behind him with a bottle of sake in his hand. "What are you shouting about? You better not be trying to weasel out of training again!"

Luffy stared at Garp as he lowered his head so his hat shadowed his eyes. "Grandpa," he said in a low calm voice.

"Hmm?"

"I had a dream...I had a lot of friends...and I lost them all," he said as a tear rolled down his cheek. He then looked up at Garp with a determined look in his eyes. "Grandpa, I'm going to become King of the Pirates!"

Garp just narrowed his eyes at Luffy. "How many times must I tell you-"

"So I want you to teach me everything!" Luffy shouted, stopping Garp in the middle of his sentence. "Those techniques that you know. Where you moved so fast you disappeared. Where you jumped in the air like you were flying to get me down from those balloons you tied me to." he said as he was trembling before he shouted "TEACH ME EVERYTHING!" as a wave of Haki spread throughout the forest.

Garp just stared wide-eyed at Luffy. To think that his Grandson had this much power at such a young age astounded him. His shock soon passed as he began laughing.

"So, you want me to teach you everything eh? Including those techniques which are called 'The Six Powers' as well?"

"Yes. I need to get stronger. If I don't...then that nightmare will become reality." he said as he got into a fighting stance. Garp smiled as he placed his bottle down and got ready as well.

"Alright brat. You asked for it. But you're still gonna become a marine and that's final!" he said. He and Luffy stared at each other for what felt like hours before they lunged at each other screaming.