Fanfic / For Better or For Worse (One Piece)

For Better or For Worse is a One Piece Peggy Sue Fan Fic by Syluk^note Pronounced "see-look", who also authored Boy With a Scar.

Official Summary: The Pirate King Monkey D. Luffy didn't come back to save the world. His only wish is to save his friends and assure their absolute happiness this time around. Even if he has to turn said world upside down while trying to achieve that. For better or for worse. (Hopefully not usual Time Travel AU, OP!Luffy, and general chaos and craziness that he brings into the world) SLOW UPDATES

The general premise is that a massive war broke out between pirates and the Marines after Luffy became the Pirate King. One by one, each of his closest friends died and were subsequently buried on Raftel. After his last friend, Trafalgar Law, passed, Luffy returned to bury him, and there, met the ghost of Gol D. Roger, who asks him one question: "If you had to choose, what would you save: the world or your friends?" Luffy's answer: "That's a silly question. There is no world for me without them." Roger, pleased with his answer, sent Luffy back in time, with these parting words:

"If your will is strong, you'll be able to save them. For better or for worse."

For Better or For Worse can be read on FanFiction.net and Archive of Our Own.

Tropes:

• A Boy and His X: A boy and his Sea King, to the shock and horror of those who meet Kinto-un for the first time.
• Abomination Accusation Attack: After stealing the Flame-Flame Devil Fruit from a noble, Ace, Sabo and Luffy find themselves chased by him and his guards. Sabo orders Luffy (the youngest of them) to start crying hysterically and then screams for the whole world to that the noble is a pervert that tried to force himself on his little brother. The noble is promptly arrested by the marines that Sabo had charmed earlier.
• Abusive Parents: Sabo states that his parents did not care one bit for him and were emotionally abusive. When they kidnap him back, they go so far as to put explosive bracelets in his wrists.
• Accidental Truth: In Chapter One, Law accidentally guesses that Luffy is somehow repeating his life (causing Luffy to praise how smart he is). He, understandably, thinks it's a joke and doesn't realize how close to the truth he actually is. As of the later chapters, he starts giving that theory more credit before finally confirming it with Luffy in Chapter 12.
• Appeal to Audacity: In Chapter 1, because Luffy is a terrible liar even for a six-year-old boy, when he spins Garp a tale of coming back in time by twenty-six years with intense details and several of the Navy's best-guarded secrets, Garp has no choice but to believe him.
• Badass Adorable: All the kids.
• Beware the Nice Ones: As in canon, Luffy is a kind, likable, somewhat simple person, with a smile as bright as the sun. He is also the second Pirate King, as he often says, and has the power to back it up. We see the apex of the power he retained returning to the past only once, at the beginning of Chapter 7: after Bluejam shoots Ace, Luffy goes berserk, and lets out a wave of Haki. Shanks and his three best men are the only ones who remain conscious...on the entire island.
• Big Damn Heroes: When Arlong is about to kill Bellemere in Chapter 14, Luffy is almost too late; it's only thanks to Law's powers that he reaches the island just in time to save her.
• Big Eater: This exchange from Chapter 3:
  Shanks: Benn, I thought we had filled the storage with food from those Marines we met after the raid on that shady merchant's ship.
  Benn: We did.
  Shanks: So where is all that food? It can't be that the crew ate all of it!
  Benn: Well, we do have Lucky Roo, but yeah, the crew only ate half of it, the rest was eaten by Luffy.
• Bilingual Bonus:
  • When Luffy tames the Lord of the Coast, he names him Kinto-un. Translation? Flying Nimbus.
  • For Want Of A Nail leads to Garp becoming an Admiral in this story. Near the end of Chapter 13, we learn that his Admiral name is Kurokaba, which the author states in the notes of Chapter 14 means "Black Hippo."
  Syluk: Don't say it's not fitting, because it's perfect! A large, lazy creature, but piss it off and you're gonna be crushed!
• Cassandra Truth:
  • Luffy outright states to his True Companions and numerous other people numerous times that he is the Pirate King. Besides Shanks in Chapter 3, they never believe him, either because he's still a kid, their worldviews are much more narrow, or some combination thereof; either way, the thought of Time Travel never crosses their minds.
  • Luffy apparently warned Dadan and her bandits about the Terminal Fire before they left the island to get away from Outlook III. This was the general result, though a few people did listen.
• Cliffhanger:
  • Chapter 2 ends with Luffy spying the Red-Haired Pirates in the distance, clearly planning to head their way.
  • Chapter 3 ends with Luffy and company arriving back at Dawn Island, and Garp coming to greet them...and instantly recognizing Rocinante.
  • Chapter 6 ends with Luffy going berserk after Bluejam shoots Ace in the chest.
  • Chapter 9 ends with Outlook III, Sabo's birth father, paying off a group of mercenaries to bring Sabo back home at any cost.
  • Chapter 10 ends with Luffy, Law, Ace, and Zoro arriving back at Dadan's house to find it on fire. Luffy suffocates the flames with his Haki, but Sabo is gone and Sanji isn't breathing.
  • Chapter 13 ends with Luffy announcing to his brothers that it's time to go hunt a shark; that is to say, Arlong has arrived in the East Blue.
• Consummate Liar: Canon Luffy couldn't lie convincingly to save his life until after the time skip, and even then it was a long shot. This Luffy learned a lot of things from his crew during his years on the run, and the fact that Robin was the last member still alive meant he learned a lot from her. He simply chooses not to lie unless he has to.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • In Chapter 8, a group of thugs that Zoro defeated come back for revenge, and take Luffy as a hostage so that Zoro won't fight back. Bepo one-shots four of them, the last one wisely surrenders, and Luffy crushes the knife the leader was using to threaten them before giving them a Haki-filled "Scram."
  • In Chapter 14, the five brothers and Kinto-un take on the Arlong Pirates and Mohmoo. Luffy deliberately draws out the fight to hurt Arlong more while his brothers curb-stomp the rest of the crew, before Luffy is satisfied with Nami safe and knocks them all out with his Haki.
• Cuteness Proximity: Bepo. Pretty much all of the Red-Haired Pirates, Foosha Villagers, and Dadan's family find him adorable.
• Death by Adaptation: Nobody of importance that didn't die anyway in canon, but...
  • When Vergo attacking Corazon makes Law cry, Luffy paralyzes Vergo with Haki and then Kinto-Un devours him.
  • It's not completely clear what happened to Higuma and his bandits after Luffy and Law went after them for hurting Makino. But if they're still alive, they probably wish that they weren't.
  • At the end of Chapter 6, Luffy reaches Ace just in time to see Bluejam shoot him in the chest. He goes completely berserk, and when Shanks finds him, all that remains of Bluejam is four dismembered, scattered limbs and some unrecognizable mush in the middle of a bloody circle.
• Decoy Getaway: Luffy steals Law's hat to pose as him and get Doflamingo's attention, buying Corazon enough time to get away with him. Of course, Luffy telling Corazon as much first defeats the purpose; the man gets Law to the coast first, but he would never let a child, especially one with Haki, take on Doflamingo alone.
• Entertainingly Wrong: When Luffy goes to collect Zoro, he takes Bepo with him. Sabo, watching them leave from a distance decides that the person that Luffy is visiting is either a girl or someone that likes cute, fluffy things. It turns out that Bepo just ran into Luffy just as he was leaving and wanted to come along. Law flatly informs Sabo that he gave Luffy too much credit for subtlety.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Kinto-un, Luffy's pet Sea King.
• For Want Of A Nail: Luffy is determined to make things better for his True Companions this time around, but events still turn in the background where he can't see or control them. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.
  • Because he's there to save Law and Corazon, Vergo neither receives nor destroys Corazon's information designed to prevent Doflamingo's coup on Dressrosa. Corazon instead keeps it on hand until Luffy brings them back to Dawn Island, then he hands it off to Garp on the latter's way back to Marine headquarters. The end result? Garp finally accepts the position of Admiral and, as revealed in Chapter 12, makes Dressrosa his preferred vacation spot. Doflamingo still becomes a Warlord, but he sets up a base in Paradise instead of the New World.
  • Because he doesn't want to wait until Bluejam's men start poking around to befriend Ace, Luffy decides to befriend Sabo first. Sabo is more receptive, and Ace gets dragged in, but the result is that he feels lonelier and more left out, too conditioned to the belief that nobody would like him for who he is. This ultimately leads to him taking his anger out on Sabo before storming off. He regrets it immediately...and then runs into Bluejam and his men, who have just arrived on the island. Ace barely survives the encounter, though it does ultimately provide the cracks in his shell for him to become the brother Luffy knows and loves.
  • Because of the aforementioned encounter with Bluejam, Luffy lets out a powerful burst of Haki. The Government takes notice of this, and so they send the nearest Cipher Pol unit, CP7, to investigate. Shanks warns Luffy, and while Shanks decides to take the blame to divert suspicion, Luffy takes his family to hide out for a couple of weeks in Syrup Village, with the Red-Haired Pirates planning to follow. The result? Luffy befriends Usopp sooner and gets him training for the future, and Law diagnoses Banchina and begins healing her, with the Red-Haired Pirates' doctor finishing the job.
  • Luffy planned on speaking with his father when he came to the island. But when Luffy hears that Outlook III saw Sabo in Goa, he changes his plans and takes his family and Zoro out to sea to ensure that Outlook won't find them, not returning until some time after the Terminal Fire. On the bright side, this results in them becoming famous bounty hunters, finding and saving Sanji and Zeff from starvation, and finding the Flame-Flame Fruit in the hands of a Loguetown noble, allowing Ace to gain his powers far sooner than in canon.
• Guile Hero: Sabo relies on his wits and charms a lot. To the point where he is known as the 'charming devil.'
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Luffy and Future!Law, who went on the run together for five years after the death of the last member of Luffy's crew, Robin, until Law also died. The prologue even begins with Luffy traveling back after setting up Law's memorial at Raftel.
• Hypocritical Humor: After Luffy, Ace, Sabo, Law, and Bepo exchange sake cups, Corazon shows up and chastises them for the unhealthy behavior of drinking alcohol...immediately before taking a swig from the bottle to calm his nerves.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Corazon is raising three Ds along with Sabo and Bepo. Understandably, he needs a long gulp of sake to cope with the insanity once in a while.
• In Spite of a Nail: Luffy laments that he would love to rescue Robin from her current circumstances, but he doesn’t actually know where she is at this point in time.
• In the Blood: In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it passage from Chapter 7, Law reflects on the moment that Rocinante showed that he truly was Doflamingo's blood brother with the dark chuckling, smug expression, and aura of self-satisfaction that surrounded him. And the cause of this? He finally persuaded Luffy to start eating vegetables.
• I Warned You: When Luffy and his family return to Dawn Island, one of the mercenaries that Outlook III sent after Sabo sees them immediately. Luffy also sees him immediately, and with intensely Dissonant Serenity, warns him that going up the mountain could get him killed. The other mercenaries spy on the brothers, witness how strong they are...and still decide to go through with the plan, kidnapping Sabo and trying to burn down the base, then fleeing the island with all of Zeff's treasure. Less than a day later, Luffy and Kinto-un track them down.
  Luffy: I told you not to go up the mountain, that you might die. You didn't listen.
  (Luffy moves instantly to the mercenary he warned and kills him with a punch to the gut)
  Luffy: Kinto-un. Leave no survivors.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Corazon fears Luffy might do this after learning that he killed the mercenaries who kidnapped Sabo, robbed them, and tried to murder them. Luffy assures him he won't.
• Mental Time Travel: How Luffy went back. Since Haki is mostly a mental discipline, it came back with him.
• Mistaken for Pedophile: In Chapter 10, the brothers break into a noble's house because he has the Flame-Flame Fruit. Ace eats it, then the noble walks in and tries to kill him for it. Sabo invokes this trope when he chases them into public.
• Mugging the Monster: Those who act against Luffy and his family quickly find that they've done this.
• Noodle Incident:
  • This exchange from Chapter 4:
  Shanks: You're a Devil Fruit user, Corazon?
  Corazon: I am.
  Luffy: His fruit powers are really cool!
  Law: No, it's not. It's lame and useless.
  Luffy: It's not useless! Remember that time that we were at that bar and an old lady offered us that strange dish?
  Law: (winces and his ears turn red)
  Luffy: And you—
  Law: (shoves the Gum-Gum Fruit into Luffy's mouth) Just eat your damn fruit!
  • In Chapter 8, Luffy—still half-asleep and coming out of a nightmare—asks the young Zoro why he's tiny, and wonders if he made Bonney^note whose Devil Fruit allows her to age or de-age anyone she wants angry again, and says he should have learned based on what Sanji did last time.
• Oh, Crap!: Sabo has one when he learns that Outlook III had the mercs who captured him burn the house he'd been living in with Luffy, believing he killed everyone in it. Because he remembers what Luffy did when the Bluejam pirates shot Ace.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Even after he abandons Doflamingo's crew, Donquixote Rocinante is known almost universally by the codename his brother gave him, Corazon (or Cora for short); the only ones who call him by his real name are Garp and Sengoku, and while Law and possibly Luffy know his real name, they never use it.
• Only Sane Man: Poor Corazon and Makino.
• Papa Wolf: Corazon. Well aware that his boys can take care of themselves but always ready to leap in the instant that anything falls out of their favor.
• Parental Substitute: Corazon was already this to Law, and soon becomes this as well to Luffy and Bepo, and eventually, Sabo and Ace. Both Shanks and Makino even tease him for it, and the kids themselves welcome it after Corazon catches them at the end of their brotherhood ceremony.
  • Promoted to Parent: When Luffy, Ace, Sabo, Law, and Bepo exchange sake cups, they unanimously appoint Corazon as their father but don't tell him about it. He doesn't find out that his boys feel that way about him until Bellemere confirms it with Luffy in Chapter 14.
• Playing with Fire: Ace, as per canon, gets the Flame-Flame Fruit.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: It's outright in the title. Luffy doesn't care about the world, only about his friends' happiness.
• Punctuated Pounding: Corazon in Chapter 2, after he and Luffy rescue Law (and Bepo) from an implied slaver:
  Corazon: YOU BASTARD! (punches the captain to the ground) Don't you– (kick) dare— (kick) to hurt— (kick) MY BOYS! (kick)
• Puppy-Dog Eyes:
  • Bepo and Luffy use this to devastating effect a lot.
  • Nami and Nojiko use it to coerce a discount on food in the Cocoyashi marketplace.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Law muses on this in Chapter 9 as he considers the roster of his True Companions: "The Pirate King, the son of Gol D. Roger, the runaway noble, the strayed mink, the survivor of Flevance, hunted by one of the most powerful pirate[s] in the world, the said pirate's younger brother who also was a deserter from the Navy, and a bunch of kids that their little Pirate King deemed nakama and recruited to his crew…"
• Secret-Keeper: It's not so much that Luffy tries, at all, to keep it a secret that he traveled back in time; it's just that most people assume, reasonably so, that he has a very active imagination. The only people that he outright tells are Garp, immediately after he returns to the past, and Shanks, who already knows the secret of Raftel. Shanks also informs his top brass offscreen (Lucky Roo, Benn Beckman, and Yasopp). And in Chapter 12, Luffy finally tells his brothers...because they finally ask.
• Ship Sinking: The author outright states in the second chapter that there will be no romance between any of the main characters. The only couples shown thus far are Shanks and Makino (which was teased in canon) and Yasopp and Banchina (which is canon).
• Shock and Awe: As is the case for all minks, Bepo is capable of generating electricity and using it to fight.
• Shout-Out:
  • Kinto-un is a direct reference to Dragon Ball.
  • In Chapter 7, Law diagnoses Banchina's illness as Arctic disease, which the author cites as coming from Tales of Demons and Gods.
• Sneeze Cut: In Chapter 2, Luffy is thinking about how fun it'll be to have others along with him for the intense training he'll go through to get his body into proper shape again. One Blue over, Ace suddenly gets the feeling that a storm is coming that wants to kick his ass. Later in the same chapter, Luffy has the same thought after he trips in a snowdrift, and Sabo gets the feeling of imminent doom coming their way.
• Spared By Adaptation:
  • Donquixote Rocinante (a.k.a. Corazon). Luffy arrives at Minion Island to save Law and, through tactical use of his Conqueror's Haki and a little help from Kinto-Un, he manages to save Corazon as well.
  • Banchina, Usopp's mother, thanks to Luffy's family and the Red-Haired Pirates visiting Syrup Village in Chapter 8, allowing them to diagnose and save her.
  • Kuina doesn't die when fated to, and the story all but states she'll live to become the World's Greatest Swordswoman who stands alongside Zoro as the World's Greatest Swordsman as members of Luffy's crew.
• Stations of the Canon: Subverted, and how. Luffy travels back to when he is six, before he even met Shanks, and one of his main goals is to minimize the suffering of all his True Companions as much as possible. That means screwing up the timeline to such an extent that it is near unrecognizable. Among his changes are saving Corazon and killing Vergo, bringing the former (along with Law and eventually Bepo) with him to East Blue. He even causes Garp to become an admiral so that way he can watch over Akainu.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Koshiro, Kuina's father, tells her to her face that a girl can never become the world's greatest swordsman, a source of much anger and despair for her. When Luffy rekindles her dream after she loses to Zoro, Koshiro doesn't change his mind...but he does look forward to her managing to change it for him.
• Technically a Smile: Luffy teaches Kinto-un how to bare his terrifying teeth in the parody of a smile. Naturally, it scares the daylights out of people. Heck, near the end of Chapter 9, Luffy's polite request for a boat seems to be misinterpreted as a threat, as the ones who hear it give him one free of charge. Luffy thinks it's because Kinto-un was nice and smiled. His brothers and Corazon know better.
• Tranquil Fury:
  • In Chapter 11, after Outlook III's mercenaries kidnap Sabo and try to burn down Dadan's house—nearly killing Sanji in the process—Luffy's mood locks into this, unnerving everyone. He holds Outlook III in a chokehold of Conqueror's Haki as he speaks to him.
  Luffy: You. I'll let you live. No child should see their parent getting killed in front of them, even if you're not worth being called a parent. But if you ever come after Sabo again, if you send people after him, if you so much as look at the direction he's at, or anyone else of mine, I will come back. And I will dye this mansion in crimson.
  • Happens again in Chapter 14, when Luffy confronts Arlong. We see Law's perspective on matters:
  Narration: Eyes hard as steel, an underlying danger lurking in their depths, features set into a focused frown, Luffy was a titanium wall between these two hostile groups. Despite his sharp appearance and hostility rolling off his shoulders, he felt oddly calm.
  
  Law had seen his little brother in such a state before; the first time had been when he leashed his deadly fury on the day Sanji almost died and Sabo got kidnapped. Luffy tended to slip into it rarely, only when things got personal. When someone threatened his loved ones. His nakama.
• Tsundere:
  • Ace, Played for Drama, he lashes out at the people he loves and tries not to get attached to anyone because of his emotional issues. Thankfully, in Chapter 7, Corazon, Luffy, and Sabo manage to get through to him and help him heal.
  • Dadan. Played for Laughs, of course...though as of Chapter 12, she seems to be getting a little bit of Sanity Slippage from everything Luffy puts her through.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: In Chapter 3, the story swaps between past and present as Shanks tries to remember the identities of his guests, and his crew chooses not to fill in the blanks for him.
• Would Hurt a Child:
  • Bluejam, as in canon. It costs him his life.
  • The unnamed noble in Loguetown who somehow acquired the Flame-Flame Fruit. Finding that Ace, Sabo, and Luffy had broken in and already eaten the fruit, he immediately orders all of them killed.
  • Outlook III never saw Sabo as a son, only a tool to advance his status, so he had no issue with beating him or strapping him with explosive bracelets so he wouldn't run away again. The only reason Luffy doesn't murder him is that however unworthy of a parent he is, Sabo shouldn't have to watch him die.
  • The mercenaries that Outlook III hires have no compulsion about throwing a firebomb in the house where several children live (one of them sickly and bedridden) in an attempt to kidnap Sabo.
• You Didn't Ask: In Chapter 12, Bepo realizes that this is literally the only reason why Luffy didn't straight-out tell his brothers that he's from the future.