One Piece Prior to Youth

Whitebeard Pirates

Ages 17-22

Casey doesn't remember his first few days with the Whitebeards. He vaguely remembers being immediately rushed into their pitiful medical wing (pitiful compared to what it would become in the years to come). During one of the periods when he was awake and partially aware, he was introduced to their comparatively small crew. Casey tried his best to memorize each pirate's face, it would make his stay easier and give him a better idea when it came to timelines. The only faces he really remembered where Whitebeard himself and Marco, who was one of Casey's favorite characters when he watched the anime. He vaguely recognized two other members, Jozu and Vista he's pretty sure, but everyone else was unfamiliar to him. Casey is sure he mixed up all of their names at least once, but everyone found it so funny that they refused to correct him. He just had to figure it out via trial and error. Such bullies.

He was in a haze for quite a while, not really paying attention to the world around him. It made sense, in Casey's mind, that he'd be upset- he nearly escaped this ridiculous world only for his favorite pirate crew to take him under their wing. Casey wanted to be mad, or even just a little irate, but he couldn't bring himself to genuinely feel all that bad. Being negative towards someone as jolly as Whitebeard was a difficult thing to do, and Casey didn't have the energy to try. The Whitebeards took care of Casey as though he were their sickly younger cousin, even though Casey refused to so much as speak- it'd be dangerous if he accidentally influenced one of the soon-to-be renowned pirates and got himself thrown overboard or something after all. Eventually, after nearly a month of recuperation since Casey's bones were frail like real life bones instead of the ridiculous, anime-logic fueled ones that everyone else had, Casey was even allowed to help out around the ship.

For the most part, Casey tried to stay on the sidelines. He didn't want to alter the course of history or anything by making a stupid mistake- like the butterfly effect. That being said, it is much harder to live as the 'dark and mysterious'-type when you're constantly surrounded by rambunctious pirates. It didn't take too long for the crew's friendliness to break down some of Casey's barriers- only a few though, and only a little bit. Still, progress was progress to them. The more personal, day-to-day life Casey had with the Whitebeards is a story for later. For now, let's just say that it was difficult to remain stoic around them. In fact, by the end of his first six months Casey not only revealed he could indeed talk, but he also somewhat revealed his abilities. He only explained the basics of his Devil Fruit, and he refused to use it on anyone as an example. The only times his power was seen in the act was during fights. Casey would yell out simple things like "You're fighting the wrong people!" or "You should be more scared!" and it would cause their enemies to fall into shambles in mere moments. An army with no morale cannot stand firm, after all.

It was just after one of these little skirmishes, a little over 8 months since he was fished up during that storm, that Casey had his first Bad Week. And oh boy was it bad. Also, it was more like a month than a week. He's exaggerating- but that's definitely what it felt like! Not to mention that everyone seemed convinced he'd been on death's door for like a year or something. Casey had fallen ill once again; all of the symptoms were the same- just turned up like a dozen times. Using his abilities in conflict after so long of not using them period seemed to cause unexpected strain. Add onto that the fact that he used Yong in the battle for practice? That's how you get really bad exhaustion. The burning of his throat got so bad that he ended up literally coughing up blood. It sucked. At least it was kinda funny to see everybody else's reactions when he was stuck on bedrest. He felt bad and all, but the shock that overtook all of their faces when Casey told them that his Bad Weeks were normal? Priceless. Marco literally burst into flames due to his surprise. Captain stopped smiling for once and the paleness of his face made him somewhat fit his moniker- just without the 'beard' part. Casey did have to promise to warn everybody when he sensed a Bad Week coming- but Casey found he didn't really care to complain.