schrodingersghost

....Please don't. [It wasn't the worst nickname, but... Yeah. No. ]

Okay, okay! I'll head over now.

[And Danny pauses. Because something about the way Luffy was talking seemed a little off. ]

Uh, Luffy. Are you... okay?

Then, what should your nickname be?

Ghost boy?
Flyer?
Glow in the dark?
Tree?

Luffy is clearly THE BEST at nicknames. Amazing.

Yeah, I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be?

Despite the cheer in his voice, there's still a slight, false edge to it. He is not doing well, at all.

You could just call me Danny?

[He frowns with concern.]

Are you sure? Its just, the way you're talking is a little different from usual.

That's no fun!
Nicknames are better.
I'll figure something out.

And, it's a sign of closeness for him. Or pettiness, if he's battling someone. He has a habit of giving his enemies the cutest sounding names.

I don't know what you're talking about!

That came out... a little quick. And is followed by some very awkward sounding whistling, that sounds like he's trying to play it casual but failing miserably.

Congrats, Danny! You just learned something new about your friend. He's terrible about lying, apparently.

[Danny was already suspecting this was an argument he was going to lose.]

Do I at least get veto rights?

[Another frown. Maybe Danny wouldn't have picked up on this so easily if he wasn't concerned about all his other friends who were struggling with things this month. But he had, and now he was getting very worried.]

Luffy.... do you want to go somewhere and talk?

What's a veto?

Once that's explained, he responds easily enough.

Oh. Yeah! That. Sure, but only on some. If it really suits you, I might call you that, anyway!

So there's... at least some respect for boundaries? He's working on that. Which is followed by a small, confused pause.

Isn't that what we're already doing? Going to the beach and sparring and talking and stuff?

Sparring requires giving each other feedback, right? That's talking. He's on a completely different page ~~and also in denial.~~

We could talk at the beach if you want. Or somewhere else. I don't know, I think sometimes it helps as a distraction to go somewhere you wouldn't usually go.

Let's go to the beach. I haven't been here, yet.

For many reasons but mostly because seeing the ocean will likely make him impossibly sad. He's who knows how far away from his world, his home and his friends. His world is filled with a ton of adventures, all linked with the ocean. Not being able to really sail here (since he can't sail on his own, without a crew), will just be hammering home how alone he is in this new place.

Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes.

Luffy gets there first. He's been avoiding the ocean but when Danny gets there, he'll find that it suits him. Seeing his friend, standing on the beach, staring at the waves, he looks more at home here than he usually does on land.

He also looks sadder somehow. There's something in his expression that, without words, says he doesn't belong on land. He belongs out there, in the ocean, sailing on crazy adventures.

It doesn't take him long to notice Danny and then he's all smiles again. If a bit jittery, nervous almost.

Hey, there you are! Are you ready to train?

Okay, something was definitely wrong. But Danny wasn't really sure how to help, besides just being here. But a distraction from whatever was bothering him would help, right.

"Sure am! So what's first?"

Well, how much do you know about fighting and sparring, to start with?

Best to get a base line of what Danny does and doesn't know. Luffy is experienced at this, very much so, so it's better to go at Danny's pace.

It's fine if you don't know what you know! That happens sometimes, too.

Besides the fight with the demon thingies in hell-ish or whatever last month, have you ever really fought before?

"Not a thing!" he says brightly. "All I know is what I picked up from the fights with the demons, and the other fights I've gotten into these last few months. There was the thing with the dinosaurs and the creepy ghost that tried to drown me and a few other things. Before that I'd never thrown a punch."

Okay, then let's start with the basics! As fun as it is, learning how to fight in the middle of a dangerous situation, it isn't a good idea to keep going like that.

He's quick to show Danny different moves but he keeps it simple for now. Nothing too hard to copy.

Now, I think you're got the basics! Why don't you try attacking me? As long as you don't use your ghosty abilities like the green fire stuff, it shouldn't hurt me.

Most punches won't faze him.

Go ahead and hit me as hard as you can! Don't hold back! I'll let you get a few hits in, then I'll start dodging, so you can get used to fighting someone who's moving. A lot of fighting is trying to predict your opponent's movements.

[That would be one of the reasons Danny was so interested in learning how to fight. In the library he'd learned that his past self had been entirely self taught through being constantly attacked and thrown into battles he was in no way prepared for. Maybe it had been effective for who he'd been then, but it definitely wasn't a learning curve he wanted to repeat in this life.

With that motivation, he pays very close attention to what Luffy shows him. ]

Right.

[It took a lot of concentration to lock down his ghost powers, but the chance of accidentally hurting his friend was also excellent motivation. Danny carefully tries out some of the moves he'd just been shown.

What Danny didn't know is that he'd recently gained some increases to his strength and speed, boosting him above normal human. This completely throws him off, and he goes tumbling when he tries to abort the move halfway through.]

Luffy lets him tumble a bit, then catches him, wrapping him up in stretchy arms to break his fall. He let's his body snap back, bringing him closer, but let's go before he rockets into Danny. He grins at him, not the least bit bothered by the fact that his friend is in a heap.

Looks like you're going to need a lot of practice! Shi shi shi shi!

Don't worry, don't worry! It took me a while to get a hang of my powers when I first got them, too!

The rest of their training is fairly straight forward, and fun, with Luffy mostly being good natured and laughing throughout. Not at Danny but just clearly having fun in general.

At the end of it, he flops on the beach, relaxing in the sand. And, finally, he opens up a bit to his new friend.

This is fun. I like it hear. But, I really need to get back to my own world. Soon.

Edited 2022-11-18 07:53 (UTC)

Danny had thankfully collapsed on the beach and shifted back to his human side after the training was complete, worn out from putting his powers to use. He glances over at his friend with concern.

"Your world? Is everything okay there?"

Danny was somewhat familiar with the dilemma. This was the reason he'd helped Varian with the portal.... although that hadn't gone well at all.

It will be, once I get back to my world!

Despite his usual smile, his voice is off again.

My brother's in trouble. He kind of needs help, a lot of it.

There's a slightly break in his voice, a small hitch of breath. His brother needs him and he's here, worlds away, with no idea how to get back.

But, even if I can't get back, he'll be okay! He has to. He's the strongest person I know, besides Shanks, and he promised me! No matter what happens, he'll never die.

Welp. That's not ominous at all.

Instant worry.

"What kind of trouble? Is there anyone there who could help him?"

Because as far as Danny knew, once the people from other worlds arrived here that wasn't a way yet to send them back. He'd tried to help with a way to do that once.... and well, that's how the dinosaur incident happened.

I'm sure he has some people. He has the pirate crew he joined, which is led by some pirate bigshot. But even then, it's kind of hard to just.

Sit back and do nothing when your brother's about to be executed. I was fine with him being in danger if it was fixable but this is bigger than that.

"No, I get that. It sucks that you can't go there and help him yourself." And execution? That was awful and worrying and that was going to be keeping him up at night for a while.

"But if there's nothing we can do from here for now, at least there are some people who could help him, right?"

Yeah, that's true. I still want to help him, though. I-- He's--

He makes a small exasperated sound.

He's the only brother I have left. It would suck to lose him too. I don't have a lot of family, even if I have a ton of friends.

[And... there was no way back to people's home worlds from here. At least not right now. Danny had helped when Varian had tried to find a way, and they all knew how that had turned out. But Danny knew that pointing that out wouldn't be of any help here.]

If you ever find a way there to help him, I'll volunteer to do whatever I can.

[So many of Danny's friends were trapped here, kept away from their worlds. And he hated that there wasn't anything he could do to help them. ]h

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gonna skip ahead, hope that's ok!

No problem! Sorry this took so long to reply to

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