A One Piece Peggy Sue fic, D Sways the Waves of Time by rose7anne101
, who is also the co-author of Luffy's Mother is WHO?.
When Whitebeard dies at Marineford, he meets Roger in the afterlife. Following some cryptic questions and comments by the Pirate King, Roger forcefully sends Whitebeard back in time to fix things, arriving just at a meeting between him and pre-Yonkou Shanks. Refusing to let so many of his family die again, Whitebeard gets right down to work on changing the future, and reminding the World Government just why he is so feared.
Because Canon Marches On, the author chose to do a massive re-write, and re-published their chapters on July 28, 2020, with all sorts of additional new content, such as Oden's history with the Whitebeard and Roger Pirates.
D Sways the Waves of Time contains examples of:
- Appropriated Appelation: Thatch sarcastically mentions that with all the structured learning the Whitebeards are doing, they should change their name from the Whitebeard Pirates to the Whitebeard School. Everyone else loves the idea so much that class schedules soon have the header “Whitebeard School of Piracy and Marine Bashing”.
- Afraid of Their Own Strength: Not so much 'afraid,' but during his meeting with Shanks when he returns through time, it is mentioned how Whitebeard has trained his self-control so that even when absolutely livid, he will not break anything near him. This is extremely important to him, because otherwise he might break his bottles of alcohol!
- The Alliance: Shanks offers Whitebeard one after deciding the latter is indeed being honest about time travel. His reasoning being that Whitebeard is going to turn the world upside down as he goes to war, so this way Shanks has a chance to mitigate, or at least re-direct, what is to come. Rayleigh, a Power in his own right, later joins as well. At the end of chapter 7, Whitebeard is contacting the other 'most dangerous man in the world' as well…
- Arc Words: Roger's mysterious question that he has asked certain people throughout his lifetime, including Whitebeard before sending him back in time: "If you had the choice to do your journey again, would you take it?"
- Berserk Button: As Shanks and Rayleigh perfectly note just mentioning or referring Blackbeard is enough to make Whitebeard extremely furious (and that's putting it mildly).
- He has managed to hide this from his crew however, as no one has figured out how he considers Teach
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Teach of course. Here his role with the Whitebeard Pirates is expanded, as we see how well liked and respected the man was, being considered basically as friendly as he was reliable. We even see Thatch, a man he murdered in canon, baking a special cherry pie just for him.
- Bullying a Dragon: Basically how Shanks and Rayleigh view the whole idea of the World Government picking a fight with Whitebeard. Especially when he had been trying to be a
True Neutral. - Chekhov's Gun:
- Unlike canon, Whitebeard, Rayleigh, and Shanks are all under the false assumption that Oden is alive, and for some reason has not contacted them.
- The Chosen One: While this story is focused on Whitebeard, he, Roger, Shanks, and Rayleigh all believe Luffy is destined to find the One Piece, and become the next Pirate King.
- The Dreaded: Whitebeard of course. Shanks' reputation got an early boost as well, due to his brief but high-stakes fight with the Strongest Man in the World. While the World Government is unaware of the precise outcome, they know Shanks was able to match him for a brief time, and did not lose, which is terrifying in itself.
- Enemies List: Whitebeard has a mental one to go through. Not just of his enemies at Marineford, but also Kaidou for daring to try and interfere with Whitebeard's mission to Marineford to save Ace. Obviously Teach is particularly high on this list.
- Family of Choice: This is a One Piece fic, so of course there is this. Starting with the Whitebeard Pirates through and through, which only makes Teach's betrayal all the worse. Rayleigh and Shanks' reminiscing about the Roger Pirates also gives a sense of this.
- Fantastic Racism: Chapter 5 is written from Arlong's point of view, and the radical hatred that he has for the human race is put into perspective perfectly.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: This is the usual reaction that the characters who are informed about Whitebeard's time travel after his death and all of what happens in the future have, otherwise they feel that they can't keep up with it.
- Insistent Terminology: It is not the 'Yonko' (four emperors) right now, but the 'Sanko' (three emperors). Also serves as Spotting the Thread, as it is Whitebeard's habitual use of 'Yonko' which helps convinces Shanks of the time travel.
- Klingon Promotion: According to Sengoku, when their tally of Seven Warlords is full, but if there is someone else they really want as a member, they just send the new guy to kill one of the current Warlords to free up the spot.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Oden's old friends and adoptive family all assume he is alive and well, but either unable or unwilling to get in touch with them. Especially since they all assume that if he were dead, Roger would have told Whitebeard while they were together in the afterlife.
- MacGuffin: The One Piece of course. Whitebeard still has no interest in it, yet expects Luffy to find it. Shanks and Rayleigh discuss it in oblique ways, and how it will likely set off a global war when discovered. However Rayleigh also admits that after all these years, he is now questioning his initial assumptions about it.
- Mentor Archetype: Whitebeard wants Rayleigh to go to the East Blue to be this for Ace and Luffy so he can provide them with the training and emotional support they so very badly need.
- Neutral No Longer: Whitebeard, full-stop. He was quite content to merely concern himself with his family and territory, but now that he knows the World Government is plotting to kill him and his family, and just how far they are willing to go, he is preparing for a war against them in turn. In fact, as far as he is concerned, they have already declared war on him; that it happened years in the future is none of his concern.
- Oh, Crap!: This is a story about Whitebeard essentially caught between a state of Tranquil Fury and Roaring Rampage of Revenge, so you can expect quite a few of these…
- Shanks proves he is future Emperor material with a few of his own
- The Marines have one when they learn Shanks fought Whitebeard and was strong enough that when their blows clashed they split the sky, proving they were far closer to equals than anybody expected.
- Most of the Red Haired Pirates jump right off their ship when they feel the absolute fury from Shanks when he realizes he had needlessly given up on alcohol.
- Shanks proves he is future Emperor material with a few of his own
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Dr. Vegapunk. Not only is he a genius in multiple fields, he is able to pick up that there were some major cover-ups going on for Ohara and Flevance.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Shanks losing his carefree attitude when it appears that Whitebeard has been spying on him, and knows far too much about Luffy for his comfort of mind.
- After seeing how badly the future will be, Whitebeard is putting aside his pride, and gathering together formidable allies to crush his enemies.
- In chapter 7, Sengoku is uncomfortable with the unusual movements of Whitebeard's ship, renovations, and the actions of his Division Commanders. Given the immense power Whitebeard commands, he has reason to worry about anything out of the ordinary.
- In chapter 9 we see how he has good reason to be nervous, as the extent of the upgrades are laid out, as well as how they are doing war game exercises.
- To help afford a White Den-Den Mushi to communicate with Whitebeard, and especially to get agreement to tell his first mate what is going on, Shanks not only slashes the 'let's get shitfaced drunk budget,' which nearly causes a mutiny, but also stops drinking himself as part of this sacrifice. Obviously his crew are highly concerned.
- Pet the Dog: After seeing so many of his sons killed at Marineford, Whitebeard makes a point of indulging in all their wishes for fun new stuff. He also spends time talking one-to-one with them, and helps Squard get over his past trauma.
- The Plan: Mere minutes after he is back in the past, Whitebeard is already beginning to formulate plans on how he will change the future.
- Properly Paranoid: Whitebeard knows full well the World Government will not allow him to remain a True Neutral, so he is out to prepare for the inevitable war as best as possible, with chapter 9 detailing a long list of changes he has made.
- Real Men Wear Pink: The Whitebeard Pirates, the most feared and powerful crew of criminals in the world . . . take up yoga. It is extremely popular, with even their Pops joining in, and express orders a pair of yoga pants in his size.
- Spit Take: Shanks and Rayleigh have this reaction when Whitebeard deliberately reveals shocking information to both of them when they're drinking, all just to take out his anger at Roger on them.
- Sustained Misunderstanding: Thatch can never remember the proper names for many of the yoga poses, so he makes up his own. Some of the more hilarious are “Dangling a Marine Upside Down Pose”, “Banging a Pan on Someone's Head Pose”, and “Strangling Sea King Pose”.
- Taking a Level in Badass: Scarily enough, the Whitebeard Pirates. Everyone, including their allies, get more formalized, structured training, including in haki, along with renovated and even upgraded ships. They also do war game exercises to practice coordinated sailing, concentrated fire (and nearly had some nasty accidents in their first attempts), and sorted out a chain of command if they ever go to war.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: How Whitebeard remembers his time with the Rocks Pirates. However he admits that he cannot dismiss how their time as crewmates has still left a connection between him, Big Mom, and Kaidou. Enough of a connection, that he has to consider the threat of those two rival Emperors working together in the future, if only to counter his own alliance with Shanks.
- Token Minority: Part of Sengoku's rationale for proposing Jinbe becoming the first Fishman Warlord.
- Tranquil Fury: After losing so many of his family in the Marineford War, Whitebeard is basically in a constant state of this after coming back to the past.
- Vetinari Job Security: When Shanks cuts the 'let's get shitfaced drunk budget,' while giving only vague excuses, Benn nearly led a mutiny against his captain. His main reason not to was because otherwise he would be the new captain, which is too horrifying to consider.
- World's Strongest Man: Guess who? And he is going to be reminding everyone of this...
