Undying Flame: A One Piece What If Story

Part 5: 3D2Y

"Rayleigh!" Luffy called, grinning. "What are you doing so far from Sabaody?" Rayleigh? As in, the Dark King Rayleigh, second in command of my f- The Pirate Kings Crew?

"I just went for a swim is all." Rayleigh said, his bare chest soaked. "But, I saw what happened at Marineford." He looked at me, his eyes nearly piercing me. "Son of Roger, huh?"

"You were on my f- that man's ship." I said. Rayleigh nodded as Luffy's jaw dropped.

"Oh yeah!" Luffy said, looking at Rayleigh. "I never got a chance to ask, what did you use at the auction house? And how did you just touch Ace? How do I do that?"

"You mean Haki?" Rayleigh asked. "It's a...it's complicated."

"I don't care, teach me!" Luffy screamed, his eyes lit with passion. "I need to get stronger."

"Hey, hey, hey." I called, putting my non bloodied hand on Luffys shoulder. "We're both gonna get stronger."

"Well, if you're gonna go into the New World, I guess you do need to know Haki." Rayleigh said, rubbing his beard. "I guess I could teach ya both."

"I didn't ask for..." I started, but Rayleigh interrupted.

"You wanna know how to hit that bastard Akainu?" he asked. "The bastard that nearly killed you, the bastard that led to your Pop's Whitebeard's death? I know I'd wanna sock him right in the face." Suddenly, my mixed emotions on Rayleigh melted away. "The Roger and Whitebeard Pirates would clash, but always end up just chatting. And to think both of those captains are gone..." He looked me in the eyes, then proceeded to continue. "You're Flames can't hurt Akainu, but if you use Haki, you can touch him, just like I touched you."

"You act like I haven't gotten the Haki breakdown." I said, scoffing. "I was on Whitebeards ship, most Division Commanders knew Haki."

"And yet, you didn't." the Dark King said. "You'll need it if you want to keep pirating. And the fact you experienced it so much means you should have a subconscious knowledge." I gritted my teeth and clenched my fist, trying to remember what Marco and Pops had told me before, You have to imagine it as a second layer of skin. After trying for a while, I sighed, unclenching my fist. "Well, you'll need training."

"And how long will that take?" Luffy asked. "I have to find my crew, and I can't let them think I abandoned them."

"We can get a message to 'em." I said, grinning. "We do have a visual Den Den."

"We do?" Luffy asked, staring at me. I closed my eyes and pointed at Rayleighs shorts pocket.

"Rayleigh has one on him." I said, fully confident. Opening my eyes, Rayleigh pulled out a visual Den Den.

"You can use Observation already?" he asked, smiling.

"Nah, just had a feeling." I said, walking towards the edge of the island. Standing right at the edge, I took a deep breath. "Now, what single message will organize your crew, but not lead to an ambush?" I asked, looking at Luffy.

"I have an idea." he said, grinning.

"And you're absolutely sure they'll know what it means?" I asked as I placed the white paint brush on the ground. Morning was coming, Law had woken up and, with Bepo's escort, got back onto the ship without saying a thing.

"Yep!" Luffy said as he used his rubber arms to hang the banner up. On the plain black background was Luffys Jolly Roger with 3D2Y written in front of it in red paint. Rayleigh sat behind the visual Den Den, ready to turn it on.

"Once the Den Den takes a snap shot, I'll get this to Big News Morgan." Rayleigh said, adjusting the Den Den slightly. Luffy dropped to the ground behind the Den Den, joining me as the Den Den's eyes lit up with light, then clicked it's tongue. Rayleigh picked it up then tossed it upwards, a bird snagging it out of the air. "And that's that. Morgan can't resist putting out an exclusive headline." He looked over at me and continued. "He's the guy who dubbed Roger 'The Pirate King'. He was just an apprentice then, though. You bet your message will be smack dab in the center of the front page of World Economy Paper."