Rain tapped softly against the treehouse roof, a gentle rhythm that muffled the world below. The skies were gray, the kind that painted everything in cool blues and silvers. Inside, Luffy and Gwen sat cross-legged, surrounded by half-eaten snacks, sketchbooks, and Ava, who hovered in quiet standby mode.
"I was ready to do fifty flips today," Gwen groaned, watching the downpour. "Instead, I get treehouse arrest."
"Every good hero needs a day off," Luffy said, chewing a rice cracker. "And besides, I had something I wanted to show you."
Gwen tilted her head. "Like what?"
He looked at Ava. "Projector mode. Playback: personal archive—Kai Nakamura library. Filter: anime."
Ava's light pulsed once, and a translucent screen flickered to life in front of them. "Loaded. Ready to display."
Gwen blinked. "Wait. This is… from your old world?"
"Yeah." Luffy's voice softened. "I used to watch this stuff every week. It was my escape, my inspiration."
The first clips began to play. A boy with spiky blonde hair shouted about being Hokage. Then another student raced down a corridor of floating notebooks yelling "Plus Ultra!" Gwen leaned forward, eyes sparkling.
"This is wild," she whispered. "They're like comic books—but moving."
"Anime," Luffy grinned. "Short for animation. These stories were a huge part of my life."
Ava skipped forward. A familiar tune began to play. A boy with a straw hat stood on a ship, wind in his hair, smiling like the world belonged to him.
Gwen turned. "This is it, huh? The one you based yourself on?"
He nodded slowly. "One Piece. My first love in storytelling."
They watched in silence as Luffy (the one on screen) stretched across buildings, fought pirates, laughed with his crew. Gwen absorbed every detail—color, voice, timing.
"It's funny," she said softly. "I don't even know these people. But I feel it."
Luffy glanced at her, serious. "That's the power of story."
Ava queued up highlights from the Romance Dawn arc: Luffy's origin with Shanks, the bandits, the moment Shanks lost his arm, and that famous scene of the straw hat being passed on.
Gwen's eyes widened. "He gave him the hat? Just like that?"
Luffy nodded. "It was more than a hat. It was a promise."
They moved on to Zoro's intro. Gwen cringed. "He's terrifying."
"He's also loyal," Luffy said. "Once he joins, he never looks back."
Ava sped through the early episodes, stopping again at Orange Town.
Gwen giggled. "This clown guy is ridiculous."
"Buggy," Luffy said. "You'll see him again… a lot."
They reached Syrup Village. Gwen watched Usopp's farewell and the going merry's launch. "He's kind of a coward, huh?"
"He lies to protect people. That makes him brave in a different way."
They paused again at Baratie. Gwen was surprised by Sanji's backstory and the heartbreak in Zeff's sacrifice.
"That was unexpected," she murmured. "This show doesn't pull punches."
Luffy nodded. "It hits you when you least expect it. That's what makes it real."
By the time they hit the Arlong arc, Gwen had stopped asking questions. She just watched.
Then Nami cried, stabbed the ground, and screamed.
"Luffy…" she whispered.
"Keep watching."
The anime Luffy stepped forward, gently placed his hat on her head, and declared war on the enemy.
Gwen's eyes shimmered. "That… that scene…"
Luffy smiled. "Yeah. That's the one. That's when I knew. I didn't just want to watch stories—I wanted to make them."
They sat in silence for a long minute.
Then Gwen turned to him. "So let's make one."
He blinked. "What?"
"One Piece," she said. "But our version. Tighter. Cleaner. Same heart, same dream—but better."
"You'd want to do that with me?"
"With Ava," she added. "All of us. A crew."
Luffy's eyes lit up with something old and new all at once. "Ava?"
"I can segment and reference all episodes," she replied. "We'll have full access to plot pacing, emotional beats, and character arcs."
He opened his sketchbook. "Then we start with Episode 1. Romance Dawn."
As Gwen pulled up notes on a tablet Ava supplied, Luffy began sketching—the ship, the sea, a lone barrel floating under the clouds. Inside it, a young pirate with a grin that defied the sky.
They debated details.
"Zoro's intro should be tighter," Gwen said. "Make his conflict hit faster."
"And Nami's pain should show earlier," Luffy added. "So we feel her choice when she steals."
"And Sanji's moment with Zeff? I want that to break hearts harder," Gwen said. "More silence, more weight."
Ava organized everything on a shared workspace—highlighting what to keep, what to compress.
They rewatched scenes, pausing often. Gwen would shout, "That line! That's the one we keep." Luffy nodded, sketching the moment from a new angle. "Yeah, but let's reframe it. More impact."
They started storyboarding the opening. Gwen handled facial expression frames, Luffy drafted action poses, Ava stitched them into a flowing timeline.
They even began humming possible opening theme songs—Gwen trying dramatic piano, Luffy mimicking old-school horns.
"We'll remake 'We Are!' too," Luffy said. "But slower at first. Build up to that burst."
Hours passed like seconds.
By the time the storm eased, they had over 30 pages of notes and thumbnails. Gwen looked around, dazed.
"Did we just—"
"Start the journey?" Luffy smiled.
He turned to a clean page and drew the first official Redux panel: Luffy, from below, rising out of the barrel into the sunlight.
Ava labeled the file: Frame 006: First Frame.
Gwen looked at it and whispered, "It already feels like something new."
"It is," Luffy said. "It's ours."