Luffy didn't make a fuss about birthdays.
No parties. No loud games. No clumsy clowns or over-sweet cupcakes. He never asked for presents, never reminded anyone of the date. If you noticed, you noticed. If not, it wasn't a big deal.
He preferred quiet.
A good day for Luffy was a finished invention, a new idea, a problem solved. And maybe a shared snack with Gwen while the wind brushed through the treehouse windows.
But ten… ten was different.
Double digits. A number that felt like the beginning of something real.
Like a checkpoint.
Like a quiet drumroll for the future.
The Hat
Gwen showed up before the sun did, the sky still stained with dawn's sleepy colors. She wore two different socks and carried a battered box under one arm. It was wrapped in an old Spider-Man comic, held together with mismatched bits of electrical tape and scribbled blueprints.
"I tried to find a bow," she said, panting slightly from the climb. "But then I remembered you'd probably just recycle it into a grappling hook."
Luffy blinked slowly. "Correct."
He peeled open the box, careful not to tear the comic pages. Inside was a hand-modified straw hat—clearly scavenged and stitched together from something smaller. The rim was reinforced with a wire band, slightly crooked, and the sash around its base wasn't red but a faded strip of navy-blue hoodie cloth. Someone had embroidered three small letters into the edge in neat, uneven red thread: MDL.
Luffy stared at it for a long moment.
Gwen scratched her neck. "It's not perfect. I had to use a glue gun on the inside. And I kinda burned my finger trying to make the edge bend—"
"I love it," Luffy said, quiet but sure.
Gwen's eyebrows shot up. "You do?"
He nodded. "It feels right. Like… I was supposed to have it."
She relaxed a little, plopping down beside him. "I was gonna get you a circuit board kit, but then I thought—nope. He has five. What doesn't he have?"
"A hat with meaning," Luffy murmured, placing it gently on his head.
"Happy birthday, Monkey D. Luffy."
He didn't smile wide. Just one of those small, peaceful ones that sat in his eyes more than his face.
And that said everything.
The Day
The rest of the day blurred together in a pleasant rhythm.
They worked on a rooftop solar charger Gwen had half-designed in her notebook, then turned an old RC car into a juice box delivery rover—Luffy called it the "Drink-Bot 3000," which Gwen said was "incredibly lame but accurate."
They didn't talk much about his birthday again. Gwen didn't push, and Luffy didn't need to be reminded. The gesture was enough.
That evening, Gwen dozed off on the couch, curled like a cat under a blanket, sketchpad open in her lap.
Luffy sat nearby, watching the flickering light of their power-saving lamp until his own eyes began to close.
And then…
The sky changed.
The Dream
Luffy stood on a sea of air.
Clouds drifted beneath his feet like floating islands, and the stars above blinked slowly, pulsing in time with the beat of his heart. It wasn't cold. It wasn't warm. It just… was.
Peaceful. Big.
And then came the footsteps.
Soft, deliberate.
God appeared like he always did—in sandals, with a beard, sipping something from a steaming mug. His hoodie said LET THERE BE CHILL, and he looked like he'd just rolled out of a celestial hammock.
"You're ten," God said, smiling like an old friend. "Big day."
Luffy folded his arms. "You again."
God grinned. "I get that a lot."
"Are you always watching?"
"Just the important bits. You slept with your mouth open, by the way."
Luffy rolled his eyes. "Why are you here?"
"Check-in. You hit your sync point."
"My what?"
"The point where your body, soul, and inherited potential align. You've crossed that line. The powers? They'll begin to wake up now."
Luffy frowned slightly. "I felt something this morning. A stretch. Just a flicker."
"That's the start," God said, sipping again. "You've got the Gomu Gomu no Mi in you, not just as a power—as a legacy. And you'll grow into it. Slowly. Organically. The rubber is only part of it."
"What's the rest?"
"Elasticity of the mind," God said. "Adaptation. Resilience. Creativity in the face of chaos. The world you're in now—Marvel or not—it doesn't follow straight lines. Neither will you."
Luffy was quiet for a long moment. Then, finally:
"Why me?"
God's eyes softened.
"Because you didn't die wishing you were strong. You died believing in people who already were. Because you cared more about hope than victory. More about the moment than the glory."
Luffy swallowed. "I wasn't a hero."
"Not yet."
The stars above shimmered, and one began to descend slowly.
A tiny point of golden light, shaped like a stylized straw hat.
God pointed upward. "Keep that close. It's more than fabric."
Luffy looked at the glowing hat, floating just out of reach.
He understood.
He didn't have to be Luffy from the anime.
He just had to carry the same fire in a different world.
God grinned. "Oh, and—Gwen? She's about to have her own awakening. Different path, same war."
Luffy looked down, clouds swirling under his feet. "So we're not just kids anymore, are we?"
"You are," God said, shrugging. "But the world doesn't care."
The Morning After
Luffy sat up slowly, sunlight warming the living room.
Gwen was still asleep, tangled in her blanket, her foot twitching slightly like she was dreaming of parkour.
He stretched one arm—and froze.
His fingers extended farther than they should have. Smoothly. Easily. They stretched.
He stared for a second.
Then tried again.
Stretch.
Snap.
It didn't hurt.
Didn't even feel wrong.
He stood and walked to the kitchen. Reached out for his water bottle on the far counter.
His hand stretched across the gap. Gripped it.
He pulled it back and stared at it.
The power was real.
It was here.
And it had only just begun.
The Next Step
Gwen stirred, rubbing her eyes.
"What time is it?" she mumbled.
"Time for Oscorp," Luffy said.
Her face lit up. "Right. The Young Inventors Tour."
"Still excited to break and enter legally?"
"Always."
Luffy smirked and turned away, hiding the way his hand was still slightly too long for a moment before it shrank back into normal.
Neither of them noticed the faint golden shimmer left in the wake of his footsteps.
Neither of them knew how different Gwen's day was about to become.