Hey guys, not sure if you are here because you saw this on the On Piece page, or if you read my other story. Anyways, I am a huge piece of One Piece, have been ever since I was a child. It was essentially what got me into anime and the Japanese culture in all, well One Piece and Pokemon, but what do you expect from a 90's kid. But yeah, I have watched and re-watched all the dubbed episodes, but only recently began watching the sub and reading the manga, in order to catch up to the current story. I always questioned why they never recruited more than a few people per saga when there were plenty of candidates. There are a lot of candidates with the recent arcs. I hope for Carrot, Wanda, and Jinbe to join. I know Jinbe will, but the other two are a definite maybe. Honestly I don't know why there aren't more stories with Wanda and Carrot.

This is my first One Piece Fanfiction. I obviously don't own One Piece. This chapter is rather short, hopefully as the story progresses the chapters will get longer.

"How could this have happened?" Luffy thought. He and his entire crew were in the Aquarium lounge, having just escaped from the Marines after an exhausting battle, not to mention the past week they've been sailing. They were all silent, mourning the loss of the Strawhat Grand Fleet, who had arrived when the Strawhats were about to fall, having taken out around 1400 of 3000 battleships that had come to fight. Bartolomeo had used his barriers to protect the entire crew from Akainu's magma fist, while telling them to escape, as Usopp, Sanji, Carrot, Jinbe, and Luffy were all unconscious.

"It's hard to believe… isn't it?" Nami asked no one in particular, staring at the Newspaper in front of her. STRAW HAT GRAND FLEET ANNIHILATED was written on the front page, causing the entire crew, even the most recent additions Law, Rebecca, Carrot, Marco, and Jinbe, to feel depressed.

"They were good people, Luffy, and we should be proud to have fought with them." Jinbe stated, trying to calm his captain. While the straw-hatted boy seemed calm, the entire crew knew he was heavily affected by the loss of his friends, allies, and family, due to the same bastard that killed his brother.

He wasn't even happy about his devil fruit awakening during his battle with Akainu. Yes, that's right, Luffy had awakened his devil fruit allowing him to stretch non-living things. There was even a time during the battle where one of Akainu's attacks seemed to slowdown, and it wasn't his high speed or observation Haki that caused it. He asked Robin about the event and she theorized that he had been able to stretch the amount of time it took the attack to reach him. He didn't quite understand anything past stretch and time, due to the use of several big words he didn't know the meaning of.

"He'll die for this." Luffy said, in a state both of anger and grief.

"I agree captain, it is only logical that we retaliate due to this severe loss of allies." Law said, not at all happy that his former crew (lead by Bepo) was also destroyed.

"I think what the moron means is that instead of attacking the marines, we go solely after that magma bastard." Sanji said, getting a confirmation nod from Luffy.

"That's crazy! We just lost to the marines, and with the state we're currently in, we might not even be able to get to the next island! Usopp panicked.

"DON'T EXAGGERATE USSOPP!" Nami yelled at the sniper.

"We should possibly see about getting more crewmates. It would certainly help having more capable fighters on hand instead of waiting for allies that could possibly not arrive for days. Now that the fleet is gone; we truly are a lone pirate crew. Not to mention the smallest." Robin pointed out.

"And it's not like we have the time to go back to Paradise, let alone the Blues, to recruit. Then there's the fact that we just loss several crews to the marine, prompting anyone on the next few islands to either turn us in, or avoid our crew entirely." Zoro added.

"And Zou isn't locatable by log pose, Dressrosa has been taken over by marines, and we can't travel to Fishman Island without marines noticing." Rebecca said.

"This isn't super, we don't have many options." Franky said somberly.

"There must be time! Maybe the news hasn't reached the next few islands! It is the New World!" Carrot, the bubbly rabbit mink optimistically said.

"That's just it Carrot." Marco sighed. "This is the New World, so while we are in such a state, it's entirely possible for our crew to be overpowered. It was the same when Pops was alive, except we had hundreds, if not thousands, of members on our main ship, all of which could face at least a marine Captain, and the division commanders capable of fighting an admiral. That was the reason we were able to handle marines and other pirates, despite Pops' poor health."

"Aren't you still in contact with some of your old crew?" Nami asked.

"The divisions easily separated after the War. Only the Division Commanders stayed together for a while, but about half of them retired and the other half are probably hiding right now. We are still being hunted by Akainu." The phoenix replied. "Not to mention Teach is still out there. With him still chasing us, we are essentially fighting a two front war. Both Teach and Akainu are rather tricky in their own right, and we don't necessarily have the experience to face both at once. The only upside is that they aren't allied with one another, but that could change since you took out Kaido and Big Mom, both serious threats to them both."

Luffy suddenly remembered something. "Hey Robin, didn't you say I could stretch time?" he asked. The rest of his crew, minus Robin and chopper looked confused.

"Is this related to your devil fruit awakening?" Chopper asked, this time the rest of the crew was surprised. All of them thinking the same thing, "Why didn't Luffy say he awakened his fruit?"

"Luffy came to me shortly after he woke up, asking me about an incident during the battle, he already understands the concept of manipulating non-living things he touches as if they were rubber themselves, but it also seems he can stretch ideologies, such as time, slowing it down like during the event he described, but he might also be able to compress a length of time for it to pass by even faster." She explained, once again causing most of the crew's eyes to widen, except Brook of course. "Why do you ask Luffy?"

"Robin-chan is so intelligent!" Sanji yelled, his eyes like hearts. Unfortunately he was ignored.

"Would it be possible for me to stretch into the past, and take us there?" The rubber captain asked. Surprisingly Law was the one to answer.

"Theoretically it would be like you grappling to a ledge, though I'm not quite sure if it would be easier to pull us into the past, or to compress time and then open a 'door' of some sort." He explained.

Robin was able to follow. "Of course there is no guarantee that either of these things is possible, but if it is possible for us to travel back in time with this method, it may very well alter the present. We would have to tread carefully in our actions or we could end up in a worse situation than the one we are currently in."

"There were some blueprints for time machines at Vegapunk's lab… though all of them required one of the currently missing devil fruits. But all of the research I found alongside those designs stated that it would be impossible for two of the exact same being, genetically, to exist at the same time, unless one is a mere copy of the other." Franky explained.

"There is also the matter of what point in time we would travel back to." Robin said.

"That, I think should be entirely up to Luffy." Zoro firmly said, looking toward the rubber boy. The rest followed his gaze.

Luffy seemed to think deeply for a few moments before he finally spoke his answer. "I'm thinking the best point would be ten years before I left my home island. I want to get some training from Gramps before I leave, not to mention there are a few things that should be done during that time as well."

"If I may ask, why that point in time?" Brook questioned politely.

For once, Luffy's answer was rather thought out. "Because, at that point in time, all of you will exist somewhere in the world, and I know that for a few of you it will mean going through times you may want to forget. Usopp, Zoro, Nami, each of you lost someone important to you, and I want you to see them at least one more time, perhaps there is a chance you can save them. Robin, Franky, Brook, you each have a tragedy happen before this time, but it would be impossible for the rest of us to go back to that time with you, and we aren't even sure if I can take us to different points in time. Uhhhh… my head hurts."

Everyone accepted this as one of the few times Luffy could be smart, then Law spoke up. "Maybe before we even attempt traveling back in time, we should experiment with Luffy's Devil fruit awakening as well as have a plan, we know the time we're trying to go to, but what about the rest of us, should we try to meet up at one point?"

"That would be near impossible, as I had lost my shadow at that point. I could try to retrieve it myself, but without any sense of direction, I would still be lost." Brook explained.

"And I had recently become a warlord. The government will be keeping an eye on me; I cannot just go to the East Blue without a reason." The whale shark Fishman added.

Nami had an idea. "Would it be possible for you to contact Shanks? Maybe get him to help Brook reach the East Blue?" she wondered.

"Excellent idea Nami-chan!" Sanji exclaimed.

"It would be possible, he would have to pass through Fishman Island, and I could easily defeat Moria's zombies. I may just do that, though I can't think of any excuse for myself to travel out of the Grand line. I'll see what I can come up with." The sea knight pondered.

"What about those of us who don't live in the East Blue, or even paradise?" Carrot asked.

"Bepo was able to leave Zou on a mink ship headed for the Sabaody archipelago, and from there he was able to get passage on a trade ship all the way to the North Blue. Not to mention minks, as New World inhabitants are much stronger than most people in the Blues. You could definitely help the crew early on their journey." Law stated, bringing hope to the bunny minks eyes. Despite the devastation Zou experienced during the invasion by Jack and the Beast Pirates, she knew that she would be back in time to help defend her home.

"I think I will use the time I'm back on Drum to learn more about medicine from Doctorine." Chopper stated.

"And I'll use my time back on Water 7 to build a more SUPER version of the Sunny, and to keep an eye on Iceberg, keep him out of trouble and also make sure the government doesn't get the plans to Pluton. I may even burn them as soon as I talk to Iceberg." Franky added.

"I take it Robin, Law, and I will have little to do to actually aid the crew until the first half of the Grand line at least." Rebecca said.

"Speak for yourselves, I am going to experiment with and train my devil fruits ability. I also need to make sure Bepo and the others actually get started on their journey. Don't fear though, I'll make sure they know I have to meet with you all, besides, Chopper shall be adequate enough to heal you until Sabaody." Law stated, causing Rebecca to glare at him annoyed.

"I could actually use some help getting eternal poses, specifically for Alabasta, Drum, Jaya, Punk Hazard, Dressrosa, Water 7 and any other islands you think we'll need to go to." Nami said.

"Why not, it sure beats just sitting around waiting." Robin smiled.

"Well, now that we have a plan, how about we get to training." Zoro said.

Two weeks past, and Luffy had gotten use to his power awakening, though Sanji got annoyed with him stretching the doors of the fridge open. It was getting close to the time for them to be sent back. As it turns out, Law was right about needing to open a 'door'. Luffy was able to stretch just about anything at this point, with the elements, except ice and earth, being the only things he cannot stretch. Luffy was able to learn how to stretch open a portal that would 'link' them to their past selves, giving their past selves all the memories and experience of their present day forms. Finally it was time to go back in time. Luffy stretched open a portal in front of the ship, prompting Franky to steer the ship towards it. Once the last of the Sunny had past the threshold everything went black.

That's the end of Chapter 1. Please tell me what you think. Note, I will accept only constructive comments, no "This sucks" and other similar comments. Feel free to make suggestions for crewmate, though I already have a decent idea of who I want to join. I may also look for a beta-reader later.

Anyways, I know Marco, Carrot, and Rebecca are not part of the crew, but I think each of them fit rather well with the Strawhats. There are several theories going around involving Monet not being dead, and Carrot eating the Snow Snow fruit. For this story, Monet has died on Punk Hazard, and Carrot will not eat the Snow Snow fruit even if she does in canon. I am not sure if I want a pairing, but I will make a poll on my profile for you guys to decide.

As for Luffy awakening his fruit, he can stretch non-living things. The only things he cannot stretch are things he cannot physically grasp as a solid. While you can argue that Time is not a thing he can physically grasp, I will argue that Time is technically not a 'thing' at all.

Last thing, I promise, my updates will not be regularly scheduled. I use to have a system where I write 4 to 5 chapters at once and update 1 on the weekends, then write when I have time. With my job I cannot do that as my schedule isn't necessarily set. I also have some other story ideas that I was to work on so… yeah. I may work on my other story some, but I posted it so long ago and have avoided writing since then, not to mention I lost all the documents on my computer. You may have noticed I do not like non-dialogue exposition; I am working on this, but may ask for a co-writer to help in the future. So, once again, updates will not be constant.