It had been a long time coming, but Luffy was close to ready.
He'd trained himself up, was beyond the strength that he'd been at this point three times over. He was ready to take the World by storm. Most importantly, he was ready to get his crew back together. The only thing stopping him was the fact he had one more thing he had to do before leaving. It was important to him. The symbolism would be really funny, but the real reason why he wanted to do it was just because the thought of Torao's face when he saw it... It sent Luffy into devious snickers. So he walked into the tattoo parlour with a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.
He left with a bandage wrapped around his arm, happy with the result.
Luffy couldn't wait for Torao to see it for the first time. The Captain could only hope that it happened when he was in the same room so he could see the expression.
Now he was ready to leave. He even had his little dingy ready to go. Other than the transponder snail that he was bringing with him, Luffy was setting out with humble beginnings. As Luffy got into the boat, familiar faces showed up. Dadan and the whole family where there, along with Makino and Woop Slap. Makino was crying, and Dadan looked on the verge of the same. Luffy couldn't resist the urge to grin at them and wave as he stepped into the boat.
"THANKS FOR COMING TO SEE ME OFF EVERYONE!"
There was something a little bit different this time.
Because unlike last time, someone else came into the boat too. The Captain tilted his head and stared, he got a blank stare back. The other's tongue was sticking out as it always had. His white hair matted with the dust from the house he spent all his time. Behind the tongue, he hide teeth that were sharp. Developed from having to hunt for himself like all the other bandits. Other than the ruffled, unclean appearance, they gave nothing away. So why they were there? The situation had Luffy confused, and that was an understatement. Still, Luffy nodded down at the being.
"DADAN! POCHI'S COMING WITH ME!" He shouted back once more, before rowing off, not waiting for a reply.
BARK
...
...
...
Luffy had been drifting for a while, having already eaten half the stores of food. The bandage that was on his arm had unwound and became forgotten. The tattoo revealed itself in it's brilliance to the world. It's black ink heating Luffy's rubber skin, attracting the suns rays.
So far, the dog was trying to steal extra meat all the time, which earned it at least one Haki fueled glare. It wasn't the first time Pochi had gotten one of those, so he was used to it. That didn't mean Luffy wasn't starting to regret bringing him. Stupid dog, thinking it could eat the meat. It was the Captain's meat, not the dogs.
Pra Pra Pra Pra Pra
Blinking to attention Luffy reached over for the receiver of the Den Den Mushi. A bone from his latest meal still hanging from his mouth. He managed to mumble out from around it, "Monkey D. Luffy, future Pirate King!"
The Den Den Mushi smirked, leaving no other than one option for who was on the other side. How the snail managed to get the expression so apparent was amazing. How the Den Den Mushi worked, Luffy had no idea. It's filled in the section of his brain called Mystery and left at that.
"Mugiwara-ya, finally set out for your journey?"
"Yep! Even got my first crew member." Luffy stated, grinning down to Pochi.
Annoyed as Luffy was for the way Pochi was eyeballing the meat, he still did like having the company. Plus, he couldn't help but wonder how Zoro, Nami, and the others would react to seeing him. It was going to be so much fun.
"Thought I'd call and remind you my bounty is 250,000,000 already."
With that said, the signal went dead, not letting the Rubber Captain get a word in.
Back in the Grandline, Law smirked up a storm and kicked his feet back on his desk. They were on the way to Reverse mountain now. Planning on meeting up with the Strawhat pirates for an introduction in Loguetown. A meeting that was a long time in coming.
Self-satisfied with himself, Law knew that for once, he'd gotten one up over Luffy-ya. That ally of his liked to run wild and do whatever he wanted. Right now, as far as the world concerned itself, between them Law was the more dangerous, stronger, and likely to win the seat of Pirate King. Not that Law even wanted the position. It was all about perception though. The Doctor saw nothing wrong about teasing his ally, he wouldn't be able to for long after all. Luffy-ya even made it easy, as he liked bounties. Law remembered him getting excited about the increases he'd gotten. It did happen at least twice. Though his fellow Captain couldn't hear it anymore, Law still whispered, "Have fun catching up, Murgiwara-ya."
Luffy glared down at the snail, who started to sweat. Torao was being mean. They'd see how long that lasted.
Thoughts of revenge paused when Luffy sensed what he'd been searching for. He knew without his Haki, it'd be impossible to end up at certain places without his Navigator. So it was a good thing he'd polished the skill enough so that he could sense Coby within that ugly ship. It resembled the Big Mom's ship.
Big. Ugly. Pink.
Regardless, Luffy started to row over there. His aggravation at Torao faded into the back of his mind.
Not that Luffy had any particular plans going through his head when he stepped onto Alvida's ship, but the moment he did, he realized how lost he was. How exactly did he get what he wanted here? Once again the Captain missed the smarter members of his crew. Still, he placed his hands above his head and climbed onto the powering his way up the side. Once he pushed himself over the edge and onto the deck of the ship, he blinked in shock.
Pochi was already standing there as if he was waiting for Luffy.
"Shishishishishi! Pochi is a mystery dog!" Luffy proclaimed. Laughter spilt forth as he ignored everyone on the ship was glaring daggers at him.
"Show proper respect!"
"LADY ALVIDA IS GOING TO KILL YOU, BRAT!"
"His life is over."
Scratching the back of his neck, Luffy looked at all the people jeering toward him. Rude, what did he do exactly? Jeering stopped and faded into silence. Wood creaked and groaned under the patter of someone walking forward, out of the cabins and onto the deck of the ship. Wearing an ugly pink plaid shirt and uglier pompous jacket, the fat woman stepped forward. Fat jiggling with every step. Was Luffy imagining it, or did the boat shake with her every movement. Her eyes were sunken into her face as the blubber had filled out everywhere else. Still, the woman glared at the teenaged body in front of her, before barking, "Just who the fuck do you think you are!"
"Monkey D. Luffy, future King of the Pirates." The words were spoken as if talking about the weather.
Silence filled the air.
CHOMP
The woman turned bright red, and Luffy wondered for a moment if she could breathe. She opened her mouth, looking like she was about to tell Luffy off, but all that escaped was a scream, "OUUWWWWCHHH"
Face screwing up in confusion, Luffy wondered why she yelled that. The answer revealed itself to be Pochi. The dog walked out from behind her, coughing as if he'd tasted something horrible.
"No! Bad Pochi!" Luffy scolded, realizing what happened, "Dogs aren't meant to eat ham!"
If possible, the giant piece of jello turned a deeper red.
'Ham? Just who does this brat think he is. I'm anything but ham, I'm a slim beauty of the sea!' She seethed. Then again, why should she bother to convince the brat of that, when she was going to kill him moments later. With that decision in mind, she thundered over toward her, holding her mace aloft.
At first, Luffy didn't realize what was happening, was that a stampede of animals?! Thunder cracking?! What was that loud banging? He turned away from scolding Pochi and realized a second too late, the mace hit his head. Luffy would have been annoyed at the fact he hadn't sensed her coming, but the reality was, it was hard to sense people as weak as her. The strongest person on this boat was Coby at least other than Luffy himself. Coby was the only reason he could find the ship in the first place. That's how weak the others here were. Still, Luffy stayed completely still, letting a bored cross his face, hoping they didn't see the mischievous sparkle in his eyes. When she pulled the mace away, everyone expected to see pummeled flesh. After all, that was the only reasonable result. When there was only a bored-looking child, shock was the only fair reaction. If they didn't know any better, they would have assumed that the child hadn't even felt the attack at all!
The whole crew fell over in shock.
What kind of monster was this guy?!
Luffy watched all this and immediately started to bend over, laughing hysterically, "SHISHISHISHISHISHISHI!"
Alvida felt a bead of sweat drop down her face. The kid brushed off her most powerful attack as though it was nothing. Then he laughed at it, the madness of this monster displayed itself. Whether he was one of those damned fruit users or not, she was out of her league here. She stumbled back a few steps, gulped lightly, and spoke in a quivering tone, "What do you want..."
'Ehh? They're going to help me now? That isn't fun.'
Luffy pouted for a second before giving his response, "I want that Pink Haired kid to navigate me to the nearest Marine base. Oh! And I want you to fill my ship with meat!"
"After that, you'll get off my ship?" She tried to sound demanding but sounded more like the frightened whale she was.
The rubber man shrugged, "Sure."
"You! Get all the meat you can and put it on his boat! As for you Coby... Good luck." Alvida walked away after that. She wasn't hiding, she wasn't. She just didn't feel like being in the presence of that monster.
Coby watched everything happen with confused feelings. Alvida was put into her place! For a moment, Coby even debated escape under the shock Alvida's crew went through. That seemed like a pipe dream now. He was being handed off from one monster to an even bigger monster. Only this time, he didn't even understand why. Was this the end? His knees knocked together, so hard that the other occupants on the ship could hear them. He was even getting pitying looks from members of Alvida's crew. Members that had done nothing but bully him the whole time he'd been here! Never mind going with this monster named Luffy. Coby didn't even think he could get his legs to move without collapsing in on himself!
"Oi! Coby! I'm ready to get to the base now!" The monster called out.
Whether it was courageousness or pure want to live by not pissing him off, Coby entered the ship and started to row them away. Tears were dripping from his eyes.
"Those were some funny guys, huh? Shishishishi."
Coby stiffened as he was spoken too, did he dare to eve say anything back?
The Captain frowned at the lack of response. Coby was a coward before but, "Oi, are you feeling okay?"
A shudder went through the pinkette's frame, "Uh..uhm... Y-YES I'm f-feeling f-fine..."
"Hmmm..." Shrugging, Luffy went to get another piece of meat. It'd almost be sad to have Sanji back, then Luffy would have to wait for the meat. It'd be worth it though, the rubber man was salivating from the thought of his chiefs cooking. It'd been far too long, "Whatever, take me to the nearest marine base. I want to start working toward getting my crew together."
This time, Coby was sure that it was bravery that had him speaking, "C-C-Crew?"
"Mhm, my pirate crew. Right now it's only me and Pochi, but at the marine base I'm going to pick up Zoro." Luffy named confidently.
'Pirate Hunter Zoro'? Coby thought to himself with a gulp. What kind of crew was this man gathering, not only was he a monster, but he wanted others like that to join him! Dare Coby even ask what this made has planned for him, "W-What about me?"
"Eh, what do you mean?"
"W-What are you g-going to d-do with me when we get to the M-Marine base?" Coby studdered out.
"Nothing, you can do whatever you want."' Luffy declared, confused about why he was asking. Coby hadn't been this weird the first time around. Sure, he couldn't speak a sentence and he was a coward, but he wasn't this bad. Maybe Luffy was misremembering it. It had been a long time and even Luffy had to admit, he didn't have the best memory out there.
Hesitant, even more than Luffy remembered it, Coby managed to ask, "Do... Do you... C-Could I, W-Would you let me... J-Join the marines there?!"
Coby rushed it out at the end, yelling more than asking, ducking his head downward. He waited for the painful reply that he was sure was to come. Still, Coby needed to ask. It had been his dream for so long, he'd never live with himself if he hadn't said something. If worse came to worse, he could act like he was joking! That was believable, no one would think he meant it! After the show of strength from Luffy, no one would dare to ask after marines! Not to the man who proclaimed himself to be the future Pirate King! -
"I don't care what you do. Shishishishi~."
EHHHHH?!
No way was it that easy! Yet, search as he might, Coby couldn't find any sign Luffy was lying. Maybe Coby was just that low on his priorities, that weak, that he didn't care. Regardless, if the opportunity was there, Coby would take it, who cares who it came about! HE MIGHT BE FREE!
...
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...
They had been sailing for a while. At some point, Coby had stopped being hesitant to talk to the other passenger. Luffy seemed like a much more likeable person then Coby had thought! In fact, Luffy talked to him almost as if they were friends. In fact, Luffy was easy going for a Pirate! If it wasn't for the way he'd intimidated one of the strongest people in the East Blue, Coby would have warned him off of his search for the One Piece. It was a perilous journey after all, and everyone knew that.
When they did reach the base, Luffy did exactly as he promised. He started to walk away.
Coby was free to make his own decisions for the first time in years.
Looking toward Luffy, Coby bowed deeply, "Thank you Luffy-san! I'll never forget this!"
Finally, he could follow his dream. There was no second guessing involved. Immediately, Coby made his way to the base. Nothing was stopping him! A determination was set on the pinkettes shoulders like steel. As he walked away, he couldn't have seen it, but Luffy gave a crooked grin after him.
Seems like Coby's going to be okay, Luffy thought to himself. Then the rubber man did an abrupt about-face. Turning back toward the direction of the courtyard that he could feel his swordsman's at. Zoro was a shining light of strength and willpower, compared to all the rest of these weaklings. God did it feel good to be within reach of one of his crew. Luffy wondered if this was how Torao had felt. Then tossed the thought aside. Of course this was how Torao felt! Luffy couldn't resist anymore and broke out toward his swordsman at a full sprint. Within moments the Captain was at the marines walls. With a small leap, Luffy was stood crouched on the side of the gate, looking at his First Mate. What a blast from the past it was. That didn't make Luffy any less pissed off when he saw the condition his future crewman was in. Tied up, starved, and on a cross in the middle of a marine base. Unfitting for a crewman of the future Pirate King to have his freedom taken away like this. That was regardless of the situation. Although helping the little girl was a good reason to allow it.
Unthinking, Luffy let his feet bring him toward Zoro.
He stood in front of him, heavy eyes meeting the hazy ones. Immediately Zoro's eyes sharped to attention, that spark of will coming back into them.
Good.
"My name is Monkey D. Luffy, future King of the Pirates. You're joining my crew."
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...
Miles away, Law walked from his office toward the navigator centre. Upon entering, he took in the sight of all his higher 'ranking' crewman, Shachi, Penguin, Bepo, and Ikkaku. Once Law entered the room as always, they stood at attention. Of course, it wasn't because they felt the need to do it, but because they knew it annoyed him. Law felt his eyebrow twitch, but he was in too good a mood right now. Having not yet come off his high from teasing Mugiwara-ya.
"I assume we're on track for our destination?" Law asked.
Ikkaku looked almost offended at the inquiry. Leaning back from her straightened position. She caressed the navigation console, feeling the cool metal against her hand. If she was shivering from the sensation, the rest of the crew ignored her normal antics. Simply waiting for her likely snappy response, "Captain~ I'm insulted on my loves behalf. You know she can perform anything I have her do."
Sachi actually rolled his eyes. Ikkaku was the only one who could sexualize words toward a machine so heavily.
"Honestly Captain I just don't understand why we have to go over Reverse Moutain, why don't we wait for them at the first island?" Penguin asked, the question having weighted on his mind for a while now.
"Shut up, moron! The Captain knows what he's doing, working my love down to the bone and finding out what she can really do! Traversing reverse mountain is the perfect test for the hydraulic weight redistribution ascension factor! Do you have any idea how much fun I had calculating that! Submarines aren't meant to go up mountains after all. Only my baby could do something like that, the beautiful thing that she is~!" Ikkaku hissed, but by the time she finished speaking, her eyes had hearts in them.
Law couldn't resist the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Shachi and Penguin shared a look of exasperation. Years now they had been dealing with this metal obsessed gear head, and she still acted the same. Shachi had even walked in on her in the boiler room. the woman was doing something that he wouldn't dare to repeat when Bepo was still around! One time he'd brought it up when in her presence, all she did was raise an eyebrow, the woman was utterly shameless! Of course, whenever Shachi and Penguin complained about her, they realized why they were so upset.
Both of them fell over in a depressive cloud, 'Why did the one woman on the ship have to love MACHINERY!'
About to reply, Law was interrupted with something tingling at the edge of his sensor range.
At first, he froze, surely that wasn't what he thought it was -
Then a smirk spread wide across his lips and all four of his crew members who were in the room groaned. That expression only could mean one thing.
Their Captain was going to do something dangerous again.
"Bepo, surface. There's an interesting person going the same way as us."
With that said, Law walked out of the room. The door settled behind him, leaving the members looking at one another with a familiar expression. It was tense in the room for a moment, before all four of them put a hand toward one another. Or, in Bepo's case, a paw. They met in the middle with a resolute grimace before they shook them in a familiar fashion. Performing the only true way to come to a consensus on any important decision.
Rock
Paper
Scissors
"I'm sorry," Bepo said head bowed down as he lost once again. The three others sharing a conniving expression. Each of them may or may not have been taking advantage of the fact Bepo could only use rock. It was a running tradition, whenever their Captain made that expression. One of them needed to go with him, to make sure he didn't do anything too insane. But after that time with Fleet Admiral... none of them wanted that impossible responsibility. So yeah, they pushed it off onto Bepo.
Resigned, Bepo started to surface the ship. Leaving Ikkaku to finish the job, as he went out to meet with his Captain.
The second the door closed for a second time. Bepo's dejected expression faded, his Captain waiting there, sword laid against his shoulder.
"They still haven't figured out you don't care?"
Bepo raised a paw to rub the back of his head, his teeth spreading into a terrifying grin. But as he had when first seeing it, Law only felt the warmth of his First Mate and Navigator being happy enough to smile. Not, of course, that Law would admit to such sentiment. Then again, it wasn't as if it mattered, his crew always knew anyway.
"Captain?" Bepo voice as a moment passed.
It had been a long time since the Mink had first joined. Bepo had long since gained the vocabulary and education that he wanted. Still, Bepo used the simplest of ways when it came to asking his Captain something. Nothing more complicated required between them.
Law couldn't contain his grin when thinking of the opportunity that was now before them.
"This is a once in a lifetime sort of coincidence. I should have expected something like this would happen. It's in regards to Luffy-ya, after all. The gods of luck seem to bow before him." Law stated, shaking his head as if he couldn't believe it was happening again.
The Mink couldn't help but tease his Captain, "Luffy-ya."
Normally, the Doctor was never so familiar with someone. Especially if that someone wasn't on his own crew. There seemed to be very specific exceptions to this rule. One, Strawhat Luffy. Two, anyone that he didn't like and wanted to pretend that he did.
The Captain pressed his lips together. Yes, he had said that, hadn't he. Inwardly he'd referred to his ally as such before, but never out loud. Luffy-ya made him too reckless. Shaking his head of such thoughts he waited on the next fated meeting. Another meeting that could change the course of the past, or was it the future now.
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...
"EH?!" Zoro exclaimed. Shock of such a demand coming from someone he didn't know filling him with new energy.
Luffy snickered at the expression that Zoro made, eyes budging out in surprise. That never got boring. It was such a great expression to have people make. Of course, once Zoro's shock faded into a glare, so faded the snickers.
"You can't demand that of someone you don't even know."
Zoro turned to the side, eyes closed, intending to ignore the strange teen from there on in. Clearly, he didn't know Luffy very well yet. If he did, then he'd know what was about to happen. Luffy didn't even say another word. Walked behind the swordsman, and leaned against the other side of the pillars the man was currently tied to. If his First Mate didn't want to talk, Luffy was fine with that. He knew Zoro well enough that he could tell that was the swordsman's current intention. That didn't mean Luffy wouldn't be just as stubborn. He had no intention of moving from this spot until Zoro agreed to be his first mate.
So they sat in silence.
"What do we have here, the pig found himself a friend." A voice sounded across the courtyard. The pompous sounding man walked into the yard, looking every bit the weakling, guards at his side. Really, all Luffy would need to do was glare at the man and he'd probably drop dead.
"Ehh, First, are these your friends?" Luffy asked.
Of course, Luffy knew the answer, but -
"Hell no!" Zoro barked out. Then, upon realizing that he'd responded to that scowled. The swordsman couldn't see Luffy, but hoped he could somehow feel the weight of it, "You devil."
"As if I'd ever have been friends with dirt such as him," The blonde spoke up. Then walking closer until he was only a few feet away from Zoro and his future Captain. "Now, I don't know who you are, but since you seem intent on sharing punishment with this green monstrosity of breeding, that's exactly what you'll get."
The man smirked wickedly, as though struck with a fit of brilliance, before turning to walk off. Ordering his men behind him with a wave of the hand, "Tie him up next to his new friend. Give them the bonding time they do seem to want."
It was possible for Luffy to overpower the two weaklings as they came up to him. Where had that rope even come from anyway? Luffy could have sworn he wasn't holding it before... Still, no matter how possible it was for him to do it, the Captain refrained. It would still be easy for him to escape whether tied or not. If anything, this gave him the perfect excuse to make sure he didn't leave Zoro's side. So they knotted him up beside Zoro and left. Neither Luffy nor Zoro said anything for another few moments.
Grrrrr
"How are you already hungry it's only been a few minutes." Zoro snapped.
"I'm not hungry, you're hungry!"
"I just heard your stomach growl!"
"Nope."
"HOW ARE YOU GOING TO DENY IT I HEARD IT WITH MY OWN EARS"
"I SAID NO SO IT WASN'T ME!" Luffy argued back.
Luffy adjusted himself within the confines of the rope. They really weren't joking around when tying the knots. If it weren't for the fact that Luffy was rubber, he might have actually been stuck. Of course, he was rubber, and he could slip himself out of the firm hold. It was nice, being away from the Grandline and being so safe when in prison. These morons didn't even use Sea-Stone!
GrrrrrGrrrrGRRRRRR
"Agree to be on my First Mate and I'll get us out of here and get you food really quickly." Luffy proposed blackmail had worked last time on Zoro.
It might have even worked if not for the fact -
"IT'S YOUR STOMACH YOU IDIOT!" Zoro took a deep breath, "Why the hell are you here?"
"I told you, Zoro is going to join my crew."
"YOU CAN'T DECIDE THAT, besides, that's not what I meant. I have a goal in front of me right now, so why are YOU here."
Zoro sounded serious, Luffy realized. This wasn't the type of thing he could answer haphazardly when it came to his future first mate. Not that he would have disappointed anyway. A small smile rose to his lips as Luffy answered to the first of tests from his First Mate, "I have my goal in front of me too. It's always there. I'll definitely reach it."
The swordsman felt something bubble within him, "What's that?"
"Pirate King."
But it meant so much more than that now. It meant crew, family, freedom, happiness. Even back when Luffy was younger he'd known what it meant. Still, something about being back at the start again made it more clear.
"That's a good goal." Zoro grinned out, unable to help himself.
Both Captain and First Mate stood in the middle of that field, captured. Yet, the Captain and First Mate were grinning up a storm as energy filled them, energy approaching the feeling of excitement. Zoro wasn't able to help himself but get caught in the pace of the man that was behind him. A man with such an impossible goal, looking to recruit someone else with an impossible goal... The devil on his shoulder, so tempting, "I have an impossible goal of my own."
"Oh?"
"I'm WILL to be the Worlds Strongest Swordsman." Zoro declared. The swordsman had gotten used to people looking at his dream and thinking it was impossible. It wouldn't be the first time that someone laughed at it. Their mocking always drove him farther. But he was surprised when this man laughed at it. He even jerked in surprise, maybe even a bit of disappointment when he heard it.
That feeling didn't last long.
"Shishishishi! Zoro is so funny, of course he's going to be the best! Zoro's going to be on the Pirate King's crew after all."
And so the two continued to grin at the air, thoughts of their goals, dreams, in mind. From the look of the two, you'd never have thought that they were captured. That was a sight that enraged a blonde watching from a window, high inside the safety of the Navy Base. Helmeppo was starting to get sick of this little game. That Swordsman was meant to break and beg for his life after the third day at most! Yet here he was, still smiling nearly two weeks in. Tomorrow would be the end of this facade, it just wasn't fun anymore.
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...
Author Note: Luffy is MUCH more introspective than he is in canon. Keep in mind during this chapter that though Luffy is LUFFY, he's still much older now. He's technically around 28, give or take a few years. (I forget how old Luffy is when he meets Ace, so when I mathed I supposed that he was 8. Solve with x as his real age at that time to get the actual answer) 17 - X + 19 = Age Luffy currently is
What I'm trying to say is, yeah, he's more thoughtful but not by too much.
THAT ASIDE!
Fuck this chapter put me through a ringer. I wasn't sure how I wanted to do it. I'm currently taking pride in the fact that I'm not copying dialogue straight from the story. It's VERY important to me that I don't do so. I've read a lot of Time Travel fics, and god it's the worst thing you can do for your story in my opinion. Trying to find a balance behind Luffy being Luffy, and Luffy being aged up is HARD. I want him to still be in character, but it's hard to imagine it in some ways. It's LUFFY after all. Anyway, what do you guys think so far? Any predictions, wishes? I'm very open to thoughts etc.
Oh, BTW, no beta anymore. I'm big dicking this bitch. I like to think my writing is semi-passable and I'm re-reading for mistakes. I'll undoubtedly miss some but, and maybe I'm an ass for this, I don't like bothering with a beta. It's just an extra step of work that, even though I enjoy Fanfiction, I don't want to go through for my hobby.