Chapter 1

All around him, the world spun. He was dizzy and the only thing he could make out were the dark greens and browns of what he suspected were trees. Problem was, he didn't get much time to think on what was occurring or why he was so lightheaded because after only a few moments of frantically trying and failing to both run in a straight line and get a grip on reality, the world took a nose dive and faded around him. The next thing he knew, all had once again turned to darkness.

"Oi," a voice called out. It sounded like a kid, but Luffy couldn't respond. After all, he could only just barely hear the voice even a little and all his other functions felt like they had been run through a trash compactor.

"Oi!" the voice repeated, a little louder this time. Now Luffy could feel someone beginning to shake him, but he still couldn't obtain the power to really move, much less properly react to the child. Finally, Luffy blinked a few times. It was a start.

"OI!" the kid shouted, shaking Luffy violently. His vision finally cleared and his body seemed to be functioning, at least in the most basic sense, again. He slowly sat up, rubbing his head to help ease the raging headache that had sprung up in the last few seconds.

"Oh, you woke up. That's good," Luffy turned slightly to find the source of the voice, and was greeted by the sight of a little kid, sitting cross-legged and staring intently at him, mostly with wonder but also a hint of annoyance. With messy black hair and big black eyes, the kid looked a bit similar to himself, if he were about twenty years younger. Luffy's half lidded eyes slowly opened and he swirled his head around unsteadily to take in his surroundings. He was in a forest and it seemed slightly familiar, but he couldn't quite place it exactly.

"Hey kid, do you know where we are?" Luffy questioned, his voice cracking at the words. It felt like he hadn't spoken for weeks and his voice was dry as sandpaper.

"You don't know where you are?" The kid asked incredulously, "But you're sitting here. That means you must've come here. Or are you just an idiot or something?"

"No I am not an idiot," Luffy huffed, slightly ticked off at the comment. Plenty of people had said the same thing, but at least most of them had some sort of brains. This, on the other hand, was a six year old. "I was just on my ship, then bam, I pass out and next thing I know I'm here, being called an idiot by you."

The kid blinked, then smiled, "Shishishishi, you're weird, old man."

"Oi, who are you calling an old man? I'm twenty-three!" Luffy sighed, "And you still haven't answered my question."

"Oh yeah, you're right outside Foosha Village, in the forest."

Luffy's eyes widened and he rushed over to the kid as fast as his aching limbs would take him. He grabbed the boy's shoulders and shook him as he spoke, or more accurately flipped out and the gibberish noises he made just happened to vaguely sound like words, "Wait what? No. Not possible. The one in East Blue? By Goa? Are you sure? No. It's impossible. No. Can't be. That's dumb. But, what? No. Are you completely positive?"

Now the kid, after getting over the initial shock of the shaking and the yelling, angrily shouted back, "Yeah, I'm sure! I'm not some idiot like you who doesn't remember where they are! I've lived here my whole life, I think I'd know if I was wrong." The kid crossed his arms and huffed.

Luffy let go of the kid and noticed his knuckles had turned white. Taking a deep breath, He looked into the boy's eyes. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry for not believing you. It's just that the last thing I remember, I was over on the other side of the ocean and I was confused, that's all. It's a long distance to travel without knowing you traveled it. So sorry again." The boy nodded slowly, his features softening. Luffy tried for a smile. "So kid, what's your name? And if you live over in Foosha, why are you out here in the forest? There's some dangerous animals out here for a squirt like you."

"Oh, my Gramps throws me out here whenever he's around, so I know I'm strong enough to handle myself. He said it was training so I'd become a strong marine like him, but I don't wanna' be a dumb ol' marine." The kid crossed his arms and puffed his cheeks "I'm gonna' be a pirate!"

Luffy quirked an eyebrow. "You know, I had a grandpa who used to do stuff like that to me too." Luffy chuckled to himself in remembrance, "He'd tie me to balloons and let them slowly pop while I was up in the air, and throw me in pits of crocodiles whenever he came over to see me, and he gave me these terrifying punches…" Luffy trailed off, for a moment, thinking about all the pain Garp had put him through in these woods for the sake of training. He glanced over and snapped back into reality upon seeing the little kid staring at him. "Good times. And kid, you still haven't told me your name."

"Right. Well, I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" The kid made a huge grin, pointing his thumb at himself proudly.

That caught Luffy off guard. Claiming to be the Pirate King was, well, really dumb. If the marines even heard a whig of someone even pretending to be himself, they could be looking at lifetime imprisonment.

Still, the kid was young and dumb, so Luffy decided to be calm about it. He looked intently at the kid, but he didn't really look like he was putting on an act. But maybe there were two people with Usopp's lying ability in this world. But what would the kid do if he found out that he was talking to the real Monkey D. Luffy? The thought made Luffy laugh inwardly.

Luffy shook his head. "No, really. What's your name? I'd like to know. I like you, kid, but I don't really like most liars."

This seemed to piss he kid off again. "I'm not lying, you idiot! Why would I lie about my own name?"

Trying to bust the lie, Luffy said, "Ok fine, your name is Monkey D. Luffy. So then who's your gramps? How's he doing?"

The kid seemed a bit confused as to what his grandpa had to do with anything, but complied in answering. "My gramps' name is Garp, but I don't really know how he is. He doesn't come by too much, and when he does, all he does is yell at me about how I'm gonna' be a great marine. It's stupid." The kid sighed and sat down, "And then he punches me all the time with his 'Fist of Love' for wanting to be a pirate, He's so mean..." The kid trailed off, looking slightly put out, but then brightened up a moment later. "But that's alright. I've got Makino! She's really nice and gives me food all the time! Shishsishishi!" The kid smiled brightly.

Luffy looked at the kid in shock. Whatever answer he expected, it was definitely not that. Luffy ended up just sitting there, floundering a bit. How? He kept repeating in his head.

The Pirate King pulled himself out of his thoughts and faced the smiling boy. "Hey, uh Luffy, how old are you?"

"Oh I'm six!" The kid lifted up four fingers as he said five. Luffy just smiled and ignored the opposing numbers.

"Great! That is- that is just great! What a fantastic age!" Luffy nodded as he spoke, more than strictly necessary. "Well Luffy, if that's true, I have, uh, I am, well, I have a theory. And it's very important that I tell you this theory, but you'll have to keep it a secret to everyone, even Makino. Do you understand?"

The boy tilted his head to the side, "What's a theery?"

"It's- it's a, um, it's like I guess that I thought of that I think is true."

"Oh, okay. I'll keep your theery a secret."

Luffy nodded. "Okay, that's good, thank you. So I'm not sure how to say this, but I'm pretty sure I travelled back to seventeen years in the past. My name is Monkey D. Luffy and I believe you are a past version of me as a child. I know that's a lot to think about, but whether or not you choose to believe me, you cannot tell a soul about this. Do you understand?" Luffy paused, "Actually, I guess I was sure how to say that. Cool."

The boy sat there for a second with his face scrunched, pondering what Luffy had just claimed. After a moment, a wide grin crept onto the boy's face, "That's so awesome! I look so cool in the future! Are you, er, am I strong? Do I get to have awesome adventures? What do I do? Wait, don't answer that I want to find out for myself. But still, What are…"

As the younger Luffy rattled off question after question, the elder slowly stopped listening, caught up in his own thoughts of how what had happened was even possible. Not that he'd know, he was never very smart with 'science' and 'technology' and 'most other things.' Luffy then realized his counterpart was still rambling.

"-I stronger than Gramps? Am I-"

"Oi, Please stop asking questions. The only thing even mildly important now is that as of right now, I am twenty-three years old. Later, when we're all settled down, we can talk about some future stuff, all right?" The younger Luffy nodded, still showing off his huge grin, "Okay, good. Now, let's go back to the village and see Makino. I feel completely disgusting and need a bath, and you look like you could probably use one yourself. Does that sound alright with you?"

The younger Luffy nodded again. "This is so cool! I can't wait for you to meet Makino! She's so nice and cool, and she gives me all sorts of meat! She's gonna love you!"

The Pirate King just nodded along, not commenting on the fact that he already knew Makino.

"Well what are we waiting around here for? Let's go! Come on!" The younger shouted excitedly whilst tugging his older self's shirt.

"Sounds good to me. Let's ge-" Luffy was cut off as a sounding growl came barreling through the forest with the source steadily getting closer.

At the growl, the younger stiffened and panicked, "We've gotta' get outta here! The bear's coming! It's one of the strongest things in this forest! It can even fight with the tiger! It's definitely gonna kill us if we don't run! We got-"

"Stop." Luffy put a hand over the six year old's mouth and put a finger to his own mouth, grinning. "I am strong, Luffy. We are strong. You just have to trust me. Besides, you'd never outrun that thing. Nod if you understand, cause I want to remove my hand, but I don't want to hear your scaredy voice anymore." The younger Luffy nodded slowly, fear still evident in his big, black eyes. "Good." The older removed his hand from the boy's face and turned towards the giant black bear bear which was just coming into view from behind the thicket of trees.

The beast towered over the two Luffys in equal measures, though the pair's reactions differed greatly. The younger had fallen to the ground upon seeing the bear and had begun slowly crawling backwards in hopes of getting away unnoticed, while the older stood to face it, completely relaxed, though a slight frown tugged at the captain's lips.

"Oi, you stupid bear! What do you think you're doing, scaring Luffy like that?" the elder snapped, gesturing to the still cowering Luffy, "I have half a mind to beat the snot out of you right now just for that, but I'm tired so I'll let you off easy just this time. So? What are you waiting for, big guy? Come at me!"

The bear looked down at Luffy and snarled. It raised its paw, readying for an attack.

"Tut tut. Way too slow." The older Luffy shrugged, then glared at the bear and released a relatively weak blast of conqueror's haki, forcing the bear's eyes to roll back behind it's head as it limply fell to the side, unconscious. The elder didn't pay the bear much mind as he turned to his younger self, holding out a hand, "Come on, Luffy. Let's get out of here."

The younger simply stared dumbly, glancing at the bear and then at the man claiming to be his future self. Slowly, slouched face turned over to a huge smile as the boy jumped up onto his feet, his eyes having turned to stars from the sheer awesome that he had just witnessed. "That was amazing! How did you, I, do that?"

"Haki. It's pretty cool to know." The older smiled and pulled his younger self onto his back in a piggyback position. "So which way is Foosha?"

"There!" The boy said, pointing a little to the right. Diligently, Luffy turned that way and began walking straight.

For the next few minutes, the pair walked in silence, the older thinking about the insanity that had gone on that day and when the next meal was. Finally, he broke the silence, "Hey Luffy, you know, we should find a new name for me to go by. It would be pretty confusing to have people calling both of us Luffy."

"Yah I guess that makes sense. But what should we call you? Hmm…" the young Luffy thought about it for a moment, resting his hand against his chin. As he thought, his face slowly contorted to that of a constipated man. Oh, the pain of thinking.

"Don't hurt yourself, Luffy." The elder chuckled. "It's just a name. I'm sure you can think of a good one. Don't stress it."

"You say that, but I don't want myself to have a stupid idiot name. I want it to be really cool and stuff, but it's so hard to think of cool names cause Luffy's already taken."

The elder thought about that for a moment. He did have a point there. Luffy was a pretty cool name, and he couldn't just have people call him something dumb like Usopp. That would be a shame.

Out in Syrup Village, a young boy with a long nose sneezed. "Is someone making fun of my name? I, the great Captain Usopp, and my 8,000 followers love my cool name! Who would even think of making fun of it?"

The older Luffy smiled, "Hey Luffy, how does Delta sound to you? Is that a good enough name for your future self?"

Luffy looked down at his new idol in awe. "Wow, can I do everything in the future? Cause so far, I can take down bears without even touching them and I can think of the best names in the world!" Young Luffy looked up into the sky. "I don't even know how you could be cooler. In the future, I'm pretty amazing."

"Well that's that problem settled. Luffy, I am no longer Luffy; I am Delta. That is me. I am as of now, your new older brother, Monkey D. Delta." Luffy affirmed, still walking.

"Alright, Delta!" Luffy grinned and jumped off Delta's back and began running ahead, "Last one to Makino's gets less meat than the other! Shishishishi!

"What? No! Get back here! I'm older so I need the meat! Do you even know where you're going? Hey!" Delta chased after Luffy, who was already slowing down from exhaustion. Let it be known that five year olds cannot run very far without getting tired.

'Party's Bar.' Delta thought to himself. Night was now falling as the pair began their descent down the grassy hill towards the cozy wooden building. It looked closed for the night and all the lights were out, save one at the front door, though the silence was short lived as an excited Luffy ran into the bar yelling about meat and such.

Delta sauntered in after him, waiting near the door to be introduced to Makino.

Luffy had all but run into the green haired woman, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. "Hey Makino!" Luffy greeted happily.

Makino smiled, "Well hello Luffy. You seem pretty excited today. What's the occasion?"

"Oh right!" Luffy grabbed Makino's hand and walked her towards the front door. "Makino, meet Delta! He's my brother!"

Makino looked up from Luffy to see a fairly handsome smiling man walking towards her. He wore black pants and a red cardigan which had been left unbuttoned to expose his toned abs and large X shaped scar covering his chest. Over the cardigan he wore a black coat, reaching just above the floor with dark red trimmed edges. Underneath his left eye was a large scar, and atop the man's head was a worn straw hat with a red ribbon around it, covering most of his messy black hair. The hat actually looked strangely familiar, but she chose to ignore it for the time being.

Delta took her hand in his and shook it, "Hello Miss Makino. My name is Delta and as Luffy already mentioned, I am Luffy's older brother."

"What?" Makino's eyes widened slightly, and looked at him with a mix of surprise and skepticism. "I never heard about Luffy having a brother."

"Well that may be because I've been out at sea for the past seven years. Luffy had not even been born the last time I could have been able to be contacted. Plus, Garp has never met or heard of me. I was unknown to all besides our father, who I'm sure you know is a very secretive man." Delta smiled knowingly.

"Yah and Delta's really cool, Makino!" Luffy exclaimed, looking up at her, excitement evident in his eyes. "He took down this giant bear in the forest without even touching it! It was amazing!"

"That is impressive, Luffy. Your brother seems very strong and I'm glad you like him." She smiled, picking up Luffy, "But right now you need a bath." She looked back at Delta, who noticed that behind her wonderful smile lay a small layer of doubt and a bit of distrust. It hurt Delta that she didn't trust him, but it made sense. Some random unknown claiming to be the secret brother of Luffy did seem a bit odd. 'Maybe I should've thought of a better story. Well, what's done is done.'

"But Makino," Luffy whined, still in her arms, "I want fooood!"

"You'll have dinner after your bath. Oh and Delta, you can use the baths too if you wish. Feel free to stay the night as well." Makino turned towards the stairs, Luffy moaning the whole time about how he needed his meat to be super strong.

Delta walked up the stairs shortly after them with a small sigh. He really didn't want to have to wait eleven whole years to see his nakama again. And even then, they won't be the same as he knew them. Even though he loved Foosha and Dadan and Makino and Ace- Ace. He had forgotten. Ace was on the island. Breathing. Alive. That cheered Delta up quite a bit. And if he couldn't find a way to go back to the future (which was probable, because he didn't have the faintest clue of where to start), then he was going to make this life different. He was already stronger and older and farther back in time than when he first became a pirate and already had an okay idea of what the future held. Yes, he wasn't just going to let life play out exactly that same way. 'Cause who wants to repeat what they've already done? That would just be super lame.