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the-bar-sinister · 8 days

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Deicide: A Test of Wills (4633 words) by thesavagesabretooth Chapters: 1/1 Additional Tags: Screw Destiny, Smart Monkey D. Luffy, Action/Adventure, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Reveal, Revelations, Akuma no Mi | Devil Fruit, Background Relationships

Summary: After leaving Wano the Straw Hats find themselves pursued by a ship their captain recognizes. The Red Force. Finally, now that Luffy has become an emperor, it's time for Shanks to acknowledge him as a great pirate.

Unfortunately 'congratulations' isn't all Red Haired Shanks has to say. And Luffy discovers a truth about his idol he never wanted to know.

They were a couple of days out from Wano and Luffy was dozing happily on top of Zoro's chest when he was nudged awake. Drooling and murmuring he opened his eyes, blinking to find Usopp kneeling down next to him.

"You didn't have to wake me up if you wanted to snuggle," Luffy murmured sleepily. He reached up to tug him down in the pile.

Usopp grimaced though, and shook his head, his dark curls bouncing as he pulled away from his grip. "Sorry, Captain. There's something you should have a look at."

"Mmm?" Luffy rubbed the sleep from his eyes and yawned so wide he felt his jaw stretch. He tried to wake himself up faster– Usopp only called him captain when there was something really important happening. "What is it?"

Usopp offered him a hand up and he took it, snapping to his feet like a rubber band. He let Zoro sleep– for now, anyway.

"There's a ship following us. A big one."

Luffy blinked as Usuopp led him over to the rail, and pressed his spyglass into his hand.

"A big one?" Luffy asked, extending the glass. "Is it Kaidou's? Or maybe Jaggy's?"

Usopp shook his head. "I couldn't see the markings at this distance, but it's definitely not a silhouette I recognize."

Usopp hadn't recognize it at the distance, but Luffy recognized it almost the moment he had the glass to his eye, searching the horizon. He would never forget the silhouette of that ship. Not in a million years.

"It's Shanks!"

Nami was greeted by the familiar clattering sound of Luffy's sandals as he raced toward her to where she was working on her charts at the forecastle.

Her chart of Wano, even now that they were so far ahead of it, had been going well. Meticulously crafted as all her maps were, and detailed in both the land masses and the sea-charts and currents.

She was tracing the path of one, towards their current location with her tongue poking half out of her mouth when she finally noticed Luffy's presence, looking up with a smirk. "Coming to make sure I eat, or something more fun?"

That brought him up short and he practically skidded to a halt in front of her, cocking his head and staring at her with his big, dark eyes. "Have you eaten?"

"Probably," Nami said with a grin as she brushed shavings from her seachart with her feather. Honestly, yeah, she had— at least a few bites of one of the many snacks Sanji was ready to bring at a moment's notice. "So what's up, Captain?"

Luffy's grin was suddenly blinding. It almost took up his whole face.

"Shanks' ship is following us!"

There were two important things Nami knew about Shanks.

One, Luffy had known him as a child and he'd been one of his inspirations in becoming a pirate. The infamous straw hat had belonged to him.

And two, he was one of the four emperors. In fact, the only one of the original four emperors standing from the beginning of their journey after Whitebeard, Big Mom, and Kaidou had all fallen.

Nami knew Luffy was over the fucking moon about that, it was obvious in his face. He was a big figure to him, right? His personal hero.

However, Nami on the other hand, felt herself starting to shake a little bit at the idea of the last of the original Emperors rolling up on their ship in the wake of their recent—to put it delicately— absolute massacre of his rival's power structures.

"Does he look pissed?" she asked, trying to laugh it off.

Usopp peeked out from behind Luffy's shoulder where he had been slumping. "Couldn't see at this distance."

Luffy just laughed. "Why would he be? I came over to tell you we should wait for him to catch up!"

Nami laughed with a shake of her head. "Geeze, Luffy. He's an emperor of the sea, and we just beat up his two biggest rivals in like, one fell swoop. He could be riding in to say 'hey what the fuck'?"

"Yeah!" Luffy's grin hitched wider in a way that was only possible with a rubber face. He posed, flexing his bicep. "He might want to fight me, even! I said the next time we met I'd be a great pirate, and this means he's finally acknowledging me!"

Usopp looked a lot more dubious.

With a sigh and the pinching of the bridge of her nose, Nami shook her head in bemusement. "Does nothing ever worry you, Luffy? I mean. You can beat him, obviously, but can we at least make sure he doesn't trash the ship?"

"Well, yeah! I'd rather he didn't open fire on the Sunny…." Luffy chewed on his lip. "Run up the friendly flag so he knows we want to talk first, sound good?"

Usopped rubbed the back of his neck. "Are you sure we shouldn't just outrun them and pick meet up for a fight another time, Luffy? I mean you only recovered from fighting Kaidou a couple of days ago, and if anything Shanks could be even more powerful…"

Nami rubbed her neck before she glanced at Luffy.

"Luffy wants to say hi to the guy. I'm probably gonna try and avoid him, myself. But I'll run up the friendly flag and stop the ship to let him catch up. I mean…" She grinned at Luffy, "he's your friend, right? He'll play nice."

Luffy beamed. "I know he will! I told you the story about the lack of a bar brawl, right?"

Nami had heard the story several times at least. To hear it told, Shanks really didn't sound like the type of pirate who'd fire on a vessel flying a friendly flag.

"You've told me a few times, yeah." Nami leaned near her map. "About how they dunked beer on him and mocked him and he only fought back when …what? When they messed with you, right?"

"Yeah! He saved my life! And right after I'd stolen his fruit too." Luffy smiled remembering it. "Shanks will want to talk— even if he wants to fight, too."

"I hope you're right about that, Luffy," Usopp murmured. Nami watched his hand go to his ammo bag reflexively.

Nami's eyes trailed the movement, her own hand resting near her climate baton "If he's not, we'll deal with it, just like we dealt with all that crap on Wano."

She flashed a smile to Luffy. "But I think it'll go just fine."

Everyone had kept their distance when Red Haired Shanks rowed over in a longboat and climbed up onto the Sunny.

Everyone except Luffy of course, who had run over and stood proudly in front of him, beaming. None of them heard the conversation, but they did hear when Luffy shouted that the two of them were going down below the deck to share a drink and talk.

Zoro had followed them.

He had stayed to guard the door outside while Luffy and Shanks had their drink. He knew it was probably pointless, after all, Luffy had been eager to see Shanks since they'd started their journey together.

Still. He was technically an enemy. A rival emperor. Who knew what the hell he might do?

If only as a formality. Zoro stayed, swords at the ready.

He was glad he did.

The room had gotten quiet. And then suddenly he heard raised voices.

Just as he was moving to enter the room, the door flung open almost in his face and Luffy rushed out of it, pursued by Shanks.

"Shut up!" Luffy yelled behind him as he ran toward the stairs to the deck. "Don't tell me that, I don't want to hear it!"

Shanks followed, and Zoro followed after in silent pursuit, assessing the situation.

As they got up to the deck, in the bright sunshine, everyone stared at the scene between Luffy and Shanks who stood opposite one another, as if any split second they were going to burst into an all out brawl.

There wasn't going to be a fight, though. Zoro understood that as soon as the first wave of opposed haki between the two emperors nearly doubled him over on his knees. He grit his teeth, and stayed on his feet– barely.

Shanks took another step forward, unsheathing his sword with what Zoro could tell was his off-hand. His only hand.

He was trying to bait Luffy into a fight— but Luffy wasn't responding. It looked in fact like Luffy was doing everything in his power to hold himself back from responding. He was shaking, almost vibrating.

What the hell had Red Haired Shanks said to his captain?

"It's your destiny, Luffy."

"I don't want it!"

Luffy stayed rooted to the spot, dark eyes blazing with fury as he stared down the man that he'd always spoken of so highly. Treated like a mentor.

No, not a fight. Instead, what happened on deck was a clash of pure haki; the Red Emperor's will, awash in righteous inevitability, against Luffy's will— Zoro's captain's haki— shot through with stubborn, incredulous, incandescent rage.

The air felt tense and electric like the moment before a lightning strike.

Vivi felt the world lurch around her. The crash of haki was nearly too much, even for her and her own increasingly honed conqueror's haki. She staggered but stayed standing as she watched in confusion. Why in the world was Shanks, the person Luffy constantly talked up as his mentor, yelling about destiny?

"That's too bad! It's been your destiny since the minute you ate that fruit." Shanks' fingers were tight around his sword, and the sunlight shone off it.

Since the moment Luffy ate his devil fruit? Vivi's altered devil fruit body shuddered under the waves of energy, dissipating briefly into a curtain of stars and darkness before she wrangled it back into her usual shape.

Devil fruits could change you, warp you more than just physically. Was Shanks somehow saying that they could warp your destiny, too?

"I don't care! Someone else can do it!" Luffy snarled. He didn't seem to be paying attention to Shanks' aggressive stance, like he didn't care if he attacked or not.

She tried to move, to take a step forward to help him only to feel the world lurch again under the wave of haki. Her fingers curled and she shuddered out a soft breath. Luffy wasn't going to fight, was he? Was Shanks, his hero, ready to strike him down? The thought made Vivi sicker than the waves of power washing over her did.

"You ate the fruit, Luffy! It's already decided." Shanks' expression was intense, and the air crackled around him.

Shanks was an idiot if he thought that'd change anything. Even as her body dissipated again and quickly recombined with a start, she knew Luffy would never accept something that had been 'decided' for him. Luffy never accepted anything he didn't want.

He'd taught her how to be selfish, for her own good. Not even his hero could change that strength of his.

Luffy stomped his foot petulantly, and another wave of haki clashed against the Emperor's."No it isn't! I decide who I'm going to be, and I'm going to be the King of Pirates!"

So that was what the fight was about. Usopp felt like he was playing catch up. One minute Luffy and Shanks had gone down below deck to share drinks, and what seemed like the next minute they'd both come racing up the stairs, screaming at one another as Zoro followed behind them.

The initial burst of haki was so powerful it had knocked Usopp prone on the deck, staring up at his captain's boots as the two kept yelling.

"You're the sun god! The one who will free us all! Isn't that better?"

A god. So Luffy really was supposed to be a god. For all that it had become a joke on the ship and in the papers to call Usopp 'god', it really was Luffy's destiny.

Just like between the two of them, Luffy was the one who became captain.

But unlike that, Luffy didn't want it.

"It's not me! I'm not a hero. I don't share my meat! I'm not the god of anything and I'm not here to save anyone!" Luffy scowled and took a step backward as Shanks advanced. He raised his chin toward him defiantly.

Usopp couldn't blame him. Being a god was a miserable deal, and he thought anybody would probably want to avoid it.

This couldn't be happening. When she'd decided to slow the ship down and run up the flag for parlay with the fucking Red Haired Emperor Shanks, Nami didn't expect him and Luffy to get into a screaming match as something as utterly insane as a destiny— or about Luffy being a god.

Luffy wasn't a god. Luffy was their slightly insane, off-kilter, determined and heartfelt captain. The man who placed his hat on her head when he walked off into the sunlight to beat Arlong to save her from a life she hated— couldn't possibly be a god. Because a god is untouchable, but Luffy was someone who held her in his arms.

"Ace would have done it. Ace would want you to do it." Shanks kept advancing on him, and Luffy kept taking steps backward. Still, the haki around them boiled and bubbled like the roiling sea itself, tense and grasping.

She wobbled again, falling back and only limply catching herself on the bannister under the new wave of haki, her teeth gritting together as she tried to force herself back up. How could Shanks do this when Luffy trusted him so much? How could he stand here and tell him that he was supposed to fight for everyone's freedom but his own? Bastard, the absolute BASTARD. Her mind hissed, even as her body betrayed her.

"Don't talk about Ace! Ace isn't here! He gave his life for me, and he'd want me to follow my dream!" Luffy clutched his head, grimacing, his eyes alight with anger.

Ace. Nami felt her eyes stinging with tears. Just like she'd lost Bellemere, Luffy had lost Ace during a time when none of them could help, and Shanks brought him up just to hurt her captain?

"Just listen—"

Nami was fighting, desperately fighting to shake off the effect of the haki so she could kill him herself.

Yamato was no stranger to the clash of will and power that was happening here. Time and time again, he'd stood against his father to the clash of red lightning and waves of haki washing over and incapacitating the Beast Pirates on Onigashima.

But this was on a level even he struggled to act in. The weight of Shanks and Luffy's combined power hadn't staggered Yamato, but it certainly made it hard for him to move more than a little even if he had felt good about interrupting a duel between men. He'd never liked it when others interfered with his own.

Still…something about this clawed at him with a tense familiarity. A god– the god of the sun, Nika. A name Yamato had heard whispered here and there among the prisoners of Onigashima.

Was Shanks saying that was Luffy?

Luffy whipped his head up and staggered forward, his will almost tangible as it aggressed on Shanks'.

"No! I'm not gonna listen! I heard that thing in the fruit whispering to me while I was fighting Kaidou, and I didn't listen then!"

It was like a shot went through Yamato, his head snapping up even under the weight of the increasing pressure of their wills to look at Luffy with a teeth-baring grimace.

It whispered about my father?

"What did it say to you?" That seemed to give the emperor pause for just a moment.

What did it say about my father? Yamato's whole body was shaking now, his attention rapt.

"It wanted me to kill Kaidou!" Luffy yelled. His expression, though stubborn as ever, was pained. Conflicted. "Even though he and King are just like me and Zoro!"

The god of the sun that the people of Wano whispered about had wanted to kill Kaidou? It'd been trying to push Luffy to kill Kaidou. Yamato's father. The complicated, twisted knot of a situation between them writhed in his chest as his jaw tensed.

Kill him. A god wanted his old man dead, and Luffy saw himself in his father and King.

Yamato hated his old man— but Yamato didn't want him to die. All of a sudden he was starting to feel sick. His own conflict mirrored Luffy's as he leaned on his club with a low and canine whine.

"That's ridiculous, you're nothing like–"

Clearly Shanks hadn't gotten to know Luffy at all if this was his play. Robin's distaste for the way the man talked about Luffy sat heavy in her heart as she stood her ground against the onslaught of haki as best she could.

Telling Luffy the exact thing he'd feared, and expecting him to just roll over and accept it with a smile was naive at best, malevolently stupid at worst. Luffy was a lot more like Kaidou than Shanks knew— a lot more like Crocodile, too.

He had a habit of facing off and taking down men who stood in the dark mirror to him. Challenges …challenges…

The barrage of haki disrupted her concentration, shredding her internal musings to pieces as she attempted to bloom limbs that instantly dissipated into petals.

"I am! I am though! I'm not a good person! I'm not even a nice person! I know everyone calls me a hero behind my back, and I'm not! That's why I left Wano even though they were throwing a party!"

Exactly that. Luffy faced challenges against men that he could have easily become with just a few differences. Men who could, with a bit of effort, find the spark to live life to the fullest like Luffy did .

Luffy was a capricious, often violent and sometimes cruel young man. Labeled with the cry of 'hero', he was at best a charming rogue who happened to find himself embroiled in conflicts he cared little about save for the few connections he'd made there.

He was a pirate. It was one of the things that Robin loved about him. She once more tried to bloom limbs only for them to shudder and wither away, shattering her concentration again.

Luffy took a step forward, the conflict melting away from his face, leaving only fury and resolve once more in its place.

He balled up his fists as he took another step towards Shanks.

Robin felt her heart beating in her chest, exhaustion weighing on her with every ill fated attempt to raise her power to help her captain. Her eyes narrowed, trained on him as if to convey her feelings without words.

Show him what kind of man you are, Luffy. Prove him wrong.

"People act like I saved Alabasta. Like I saved Dressrosa, but I didn't! That had nothing to do with me! All I did was beat up some people that my friends didn't like! If I met Crocodile first, I probably would have beat up Vivi's dad!"

Miss All Sunday knew in her heart it was true. She smiled thinly at him as the words hung in the air. If Crocodile had met him first, if one of Doflamingo's men had befriended him before Law or Rebecca— Luffy would have laid waste to their enemies for hurting them.

Luffy was a pirate, Luffy was a good friend…but he wasn't a hero.

And from a villain, a demon like her, that was exactly the reason she'd follow him to the ends of the earth and to the depths of hell itself.

As Sanji grimaced and fought against the waves of power trying to take him out, supporting the swooning Carrot as she barely retained consciousness, he couldn't help but remember his and Luffy's conversation.

Luffy was afraid of losing himself to 'Gear 5', which turned out to be some kind of 'god of the sun' or whatever, just like Sanji was afraid of losing himself to the Vinsmoke treatments that had awakened inside him.

His captain was pissed, understandably so. Sanji was pissed for him. Here was the guy he talked about in the same kind of breath that Sanji talked about Zeff, basically telling him that he never mattered and all that he was supposedly came from a fucking devil fruit and a god.

That surrendering to that power was the righteous thing to do.

"Luffy, you can't be serious."

Shanks stepped backward again, and his back touched the rail of the ship.

"I am serious!" Luffy howled. "Get off my ship if you think I'm a hero, or a god! I'm Luffy, the man who will be king of the pirates!"

Sanji grinned sharply at his captain, arms tightening around Carrot as she weakly reached for her sword.

This was going to be over soon. She didn't need to draw the sword at this point. It was going to end exactly as it should, with his captain knocking out anything and everything that told him he had to be something he wasn't…or that he had to stop following his dreams. That was just the kind of resolve Luffy had.

You tell 'im, Captain.

"But–"

Shanks' haki flickered, and crumbled and collapsed entirely.

"Get! Off! My! Ship!!"

With a sudden rubber snapping sound, Luffy grabbed Shanks without warning as the Red Emperor's haki collapsed completely in on itself.

With a swing of his elastic hands, the captain catapulted Shanks off of the Sunny and back toward his own Red Force just like he was skipping a stone across the water.

He turned to face them all, breathing raggedly, his dark eyes full of anger— almost malice.

"None of you think I'm a god, right?"

Before any of them could even respond, he crumpled. He slid down to his knees on the deck, crossing his arms over them, and laying his face against them as he dissolved into hiccuping sobs.

There was only a moment's pause, a stunned silence as the weight of haki finally left the ship's deck. Just long enough for Robin to rush forward and bloom a pair of arms from the deck of the ship to wrap around Luffy in a hug before she dropped down to her knees before him.

Nami, Sanji— the whole crew hurried to their captain in concern, but Robin held him tight as she murmured.

"Nobody thinks you're a god, Luffy." she whispered. "Just like we talked about when you heard that voice. You're still, and always will be, you."

Luffy took great, shuddering breaths against her, his scarred chest heaving, and he clutched at her shirt, pressing his head against her chest.

The rest of the crew voiced their agreement together.

"I can't believe this whole time—" Luffy's voice was choked and rough. "He never believed in me. It wasn't me he bothered to save. It was a god. He was always telling me I wasn't cut out to be a pirate right up until— until that day."

Zoro bent down beside her and Luffy and put a hand on his side, just under Robin's hand. "Doesn't matter what he thinks, Captain, does it?" He looked up at her.

Robin nodded, her arms tightening around him as she met Zoro's eyes for a moment only to turn her stare back down to Luffy.

"He's a fool if all he cared about was some god in a fruit, Luffy." she murmured. "The man in front of me is worth saving more than any god is. If he can't see that, it's his loss."

Sanji stood over them, before bending down and placing a hand on Luffy's head. "Besides, haven't ya proven him wrong? I mean. You've gone from 'not cut out to be a pirate' to one of the damn emperors, Luffy."

"I have," Luffy agreed raggedly. He took another sharp breath and looked up from where his head was hung in Robin's chest. His intense eyes were red, and full of tears. "I have, and it wasn't because of him. He was wrong about me. I think— I think he might be wrong about everything."

Jinbei, who was lingering nearby sighed. "It's hard, sometimes, to come to grips with someone you've considered an idol as a person instead, flaws and all. But it's better that way, just the same."

Usopp squinted and rubbed the back of his neck. He'd only just managed to stagger back to his feet. He took a breath, and Robin thought he was going to speak, but he stayed quiet instead.

Carrot hurried over with Chopper, the rabbit mink looking dazed and dizzy as she tried to find the words to help, only ending up rubbing her arm with a murmur of, "you're just Luffy to me, Captain."

Chopper bent down, near Robin, and asked him quietly if he needed something to give him a shot of energy.

Robin mostly tuned it out as she stroked Luffy's back soothingly.

"I know he said a lot of frightful things," she said quietly "but not a single person here on your crew believes them. Your only destiny is the path you choose for yourself."

He wiped his face with the back of his arm, and nodded. Luffy smiled at them all, but it was a wan, crooked smile, a pale shadow of his usual bright one.

"Thanks everybody," he murmured. "I'm really glad."

From the back, Franky muttered. "Good. And I'm really glad we heard about all this ahead of time. Can you imagine if this was the first we heard about it? Super fucking awkward."

"Yeah." Usopp nodded, sharing a glance with him. "But we're with you one hundred and ten percent, Luffy."

Vivi bent down, smiling nervously but genuinely down at him as she flowed like liquid starlight to settle near him. "That's what a crew's for, right?"

Yamato's foot tapped against the deck, his eyes turned out towards where Shanks splashed into the ocean. "I know I'm still new…" he said "but I'm with you too, all the way, Captain. Want me to chase the guy down?"

Robin chuckled quietly, tugging at the locks of Luffy's springy hair. "We promised not to let whatever it was inside you devour you, after all. Even if it's a god, it won't take our captain from us."

Luffy took another breath, and he squeezed her, and then Zoro, and then Sanji before he started to stand up in the center of the pile.

"That's what crew's for," he agreed. Luffy closed his eyes, just standing there for a moment. "I don't want to chase him down. Let's just… let's just get the hell out of here and go back to our adventure!"

Nami spoke up, her voice cracking a little with a sharp hiccup of barely choked back tears before she ran over and scooped him into a hug. "I'll get us back on our heading, Luffy."

Chopper nodded, his hat bouncing on top of his velvety head. "Aye aye, captain! But you ARE gonna drink something to replenish your energy after that, doctor's orders!"

Yamato punched his hand. "Hell yeah! Jinbei! Lemme help get the rigging. Let's get outta this place as fast as—"

A hand placed on his shoulder from where it bloomed out of his back. "Have Franky prep the coup de burst," Robin said with a thin smile, "so we can leave this sordid little mess behind faster than the wind can take us."

Luffy nodded. "Do it, Franky. Let's put this behind us."