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The First Step beyond The End [COMPLETE]

Character(s): Monkey D. Luffy
Content: Luffy's start into Paixao
Setting: Niflheim Gates (and slightly beyond)
Time: Morning
Warnings: None! Open to anyone!

"Maybe...I wanted to come here..."

The world, blurred and lost in a indistinguishable sense of haze and blinding white to a curious new traveler, suddenly came into focus as Luffy took his very first infantile step forward into a grand new world. In that very first step, he found himself not standing on the rolling bow of his ship, staring out across the lapping waves of the sea, but instead, in the all-engulfing shadow of the looming and monstrous city gate towering before him. He hadn't the faintest idea how a simple step forward had carried him across entire worlds; he didn't really want to know, either. He had simply felt something pulling him forward, urging him to step into something unseen, something urging him into a world of light.

"Maybe...I need to do something here...?"

"Wow...wow! Wow, look at this place!" he shouted. Gazing up with a sense of awe visible in his features, Luffy began to frantically take in his new surroundings excitedly, and staring forward sharply, he immediately began to run around in place while waving his arms about in the air. It was an odd display, but Luffy's exuberance simply could not be contained. Thinking solely of the inspiring sight stretched out in front of him, any shred of thought towards his arrival instantly vanished. It really didn't matter how he had come here. No, this was simply a new place to explore! A new place for adventure! Isn't that all that counts? Laughing, he held tightly to his treasured hat and dashed straight for the gates ahead, his eyes glued towards the top of the walls, and the city beyond them. He was practically bursting with anticipation, disregarding all sense of everything around him, save for his absolutely rampant imagination.

WHAM.

"Whoa, hold up there, young man!" Luffy had run straight into one of the city gatekeepers, crashed, and fell straight back onto his rear end. The gatekeeper seemed strangely unphased, and extended a hand to help the young man in the straw hat back up to his feet. "Maybe you ought to watch where you're going around here? Don't want you causing too much trouble."

Luffy, dusting himself off with quick brushes of his hands, smiled awkwardly, and gave a quick and apologetic bow. "Sorry!" he gasped. "I just got here, so I really wanted to see what was inside, so I had to come running, and I ran into you, and I'm sorry!"

"It's alright, it's alright..." the guard stammered, caught off guard by the boy's strange nature. He held out his hands calmingly, gesturing for the new arrival to calm himself. "Since you're new here, you'll need this." Extending out a strange little device, the gatekeeper offered Luffy a small, smooth box-like thing, with a polished surface in the front so polished, Luffy could see himself in its window-shaped sheen. "This'll be your new journal. I'm sure you can figure it out...you kids these days are so good with this kind of stuff," the gatekeeper added, chuckling.

Luffy was never one to turn down a gift, although he wasn't so sure exactly what he had just been handed. Curiously, he stared at it with a rather blank look in his eyes, then held it up just beside his ear and shook it sharply, as if listening for something inside. "Uh-huh. Gotcha. Journal." he finally replied, still looking a bit confused, but happy just the same. "Naa, thanks!"

The gatekeeper smiled. "You're very welcome. Enjoy your stay here in Paixao."

"Maybe it's a good thing that I'm here. I think maybe...this is just the right place for me to be right now."

Luffy was never the type to think things through very far. He much preferred to act on instinct, and it was instinct, pure and simple, that led him to take his next steps forward into the city.

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Aimless, with no real sense of direction to claim, Luffy began to wander about wherever seemed the best direction to follow at the moment. To the sails of his soul, going by feeling alone was the wind that carried him forward. Still, he seemed perfectly happy, smiling a big, eager smile and marveling aloud at all the new sights to be seen.

"Oooh-hooo-hoo, look at that!" While carving his way through the crowds of people, several bystanders stopped and looked at the young man in the straw hat as he gasped and cheered, sounding as if he had just discovered something absolutely amazing while pointing up at the skyline. They all seemed a little disappointed once they realized the odd and exciteable fellow was simply gazing up at some of the taller buildings lining the streets.

Luffy peeked his head around corners, staring curiously down alleys and shortcuts, each one making him wonder just where they might lead. He made his way up and down the sidewalks, sometimes strolling along one way for a moment or two, only to come strolling back on the opposite side of the street minutes later. He glanced giddily in windows and open doors, absolutely enthralled by all the strange faces, resonant sounds, and enticing scents coming in and out of homes, buildings, and restaraunts. Had he a single cent to spend, or the time to spare away from exploring, he would have stopped in to enjoy them all more thoroughly.

Yet for all his traveling, Luffy began to grow frustrated. His eyes narrowed sternly once he began to realize just how big this 'Paixao' city actually was. Surrounded by buildings on all sides, he could barely see five feet in front of him in any direction, giving him no idea which way to turn next.

"I'm never going to see this whole place like this. It's taking too long." he muttered, staring down at the ground thoughtfully. He'd have to find a faster way, or he'd never been satisfied. After a minute or two, like a lightbulb had flashed above his head, an idea poppped into his head.

"Gomu gomu no... Suddenly reaching both of his arms back behind him, Luffy thrust both limbs out sharply over his head, reaching towards the impossible height of the building directly in front of him. Though twenty feet over his head, Luffy's arms amazingly began to stretch and grow until his hands were high enough to take a hard grip of the stone roof surface. His long and lanky arms, quivering and taut, suddenly recoiled, pulling him straight up into the air like a rubber band snapping back after being pulled tight. "ROCKET!"

Luffy shot straight up, overshooting the edge of the rooftop by a massive margin. Instead, he sailed up and up, embracing the open air with a raucous cheer as he took in a much more spacious view of the city's landscape. Paixao lay out before him, with all the twists and turns of its streets and corners outlined like a maze. The higher he soared, the more he could take in, until he could finally understand just what a daunting task exploring every inch of the city would be; for all he had walked, he could see that he had barely even gotten away from a single corner of it all. It was an amazing sight from so high up, so much so that it nearly made allowed him to miss the moment that gravity took effect and started to drag him back down to earth again.

A look of surprise came across him as he started to fall. "Waaaaaaah, crap!" he screamed in a shrill tone. He immediately began to flail his arms about wildly, as if trying to flap his non-existant wings and keep himself airborn, but down he went nonetheless. The city he had gazed upon so amazedly suddenly started to grow closer and closer to him, the speed of his descent increasing quickly. Just in front of him, a tall, rising building approached, with a tall, thin metal pole jutting out from the very pinnacle. As quickly as he could, Luffy lashed out his rubbery arms and managed to grab hold of it before he could fall any further, and snapped sharply to where his grip held firm.

Sighing in relief, he held tightly to the pole and planted his feet against the rooftop. "I thought...I was gonna die..." he gasped, feeling his heart pound in his chest, his eyes drawn open wide in panic. Glancing around then, Luffy noticed just how high up he was, with no easy access to get back down to the streets.

"I think...climbing down is going to be hard..." he remarked smartly, nodding lightly. He was stuck for the moment, but at least he still had a good view of the city.

Well, so much for that Balthier guy. He'd been in an awful hurry to find his friends. Which Rikku could totally understand, since she was looking for her friends, too, but he wasn't even interested in making new ones in the meantime. What a party pooper.

So she'd stuck with Stitch instead (retrieving her journal out of the tree first, of course - still no reply from Yuna or Paine, though). It wasn't long at all, though, before she heard somebody yelling from overhead, and when she looked up, there was this guy in a funny hat soaring over the streets right above them.

"Whoa, check it out!" she shouted to Stitch, following the boy with her pointer finger until he grabbed a pole and landed on the roof of the next building. At this distance, and with nothing to scale him against, she'd jumped to the conclusion that he would be a fairy like herself, and that idea was really exciting for a girl whose world had been destroyed years ago. In fact, she momentarily forgot that Stitch probably couldn't fly. "C'mon, let's go see who that is!" she exclaimed, and darted upwards past the windows.

But when she reached the top, she was a little bit disappointed; Flying Funny Hat Guy was just as big as everybody else around here. Oh well, so it went.

It was about then that she remembered Stitch, though. "Whoops!" she exclaimed, and looked down to see if he was following. She was always forgetting little things like that.

Stitch followed the small fairy, Rikku, was what she called herself, as she flew towards the building and then up the side of it. He started to climb the side of the building, still following the small fairy.

Reaching the top, he flopped over the side and sat on the roof. Looking up, he saw the fairy, and a man.

"Hi!" He said, waving a paw.

"Ahhh...ahh...whew..."

Panting heavily, Luffy had just scaled his way back up the side of the towering structure from a very dubious position, using only his bare, dirt-caked hands to latch hold of brick after brick. Distracted earlier by the 'journal' the gatekeeper had given him upon entry to the city, Luffy had been amazed to hear a voice actually reply to him, after he had tried to use the odd little box to call for help after getting stuck at the dizzying height he had propelled himself up to. A moment of distraction went a long way; a long way down. Luffy had tumbled off the edge, caught hold of something, then lost his grip and fell again!

He was safe again, at least for the moment, but back at the top again, he looked perfectly panicked, his eyes drawn wide with shock. Once he regained his breath, he was greeted by a very inquisitive little smile, followed by another, this one a bit more...'toothy'.

Despite their appearances and apparent abilities, Luffy didn't seem one bit surprised. Instead, he smiled warmly at them both, his eyes softly shut as he grinned from ear to ear. "Naa, hello there. Are you guys stuck up here, too?"

It was an understandably strange question, but Luffy didn't seem to think much of it.

Rikku giggled. "Of course not, silly!" How he could think she was stuck when she was still floating several feet above the roof was beyond her, and same went for Stitch, since apparently he was a really good climber. Actually, she couldn't think why he thought he was stuck, either. She had seen him fly up here, after all.

Unless, it occurred to her, maybe he'd been thrown, in which case yeah, he might have a teensy problem. "Why, are you stuck?" she asked, curiously floating over to and around him to get a closer look. Since he wasn't flying right this second, she was starting to reevaluate her first snap judgment of his abilities.

Luffy watched, his curiosity visibly spiking, as the grinning little blonde circled airily around him, unhindered by a need for solid ground beneath her feet. Luffy was more used to soaring across the waves than soaring in the sky, so the way she was able effortlessly glide about was clearly very exciting to the young man in the straw hat.

"Ehhh, you can fly! That's how you got up here." he exclaimed, laughing heartily. "Man, that's really cool."

Sheepishly, Luffy leaned out closer to the edge of the steep roof and peered over the side, his eyes bright and studying, as if he were trying to gauge the distance to the ground far below.

"Yeah, I'm stuck. I didn't mean to go so high, I just wanted a better look of this place." he replied, nodding his head lightly. "Maybe I could just shoot myself back down again...?"

"It's not that hard to get down." Stitch said, looking up at the guy. "We can help you!" He then exclaimed, smiling. "Can't we Rikku?"

Stitch was just wondering how the man got up to the top of the building anyway. He knew he could climb, but the man didn't look like he was an alien like he was and didn't seem to have claws like he used to climb the building himself.

Rikku thought for a second about that, putting a hand to her chin and everything. "Weeeeell, I dunno," she admitted. If he couldn't fly, that made it difficult. She certainly wasn't going to be able to carry him. Of course, it didn't cross her mind to look for a fire escape or anything.

"Let's see... What if you jumped?" she suggested, and the worst part was, she was serious. People just didn't go splat as often where she was from.

Sadly, there were no easy answers in this situation. This was a perfectly isolated rooftop, like a lone island among the tides, with no other buildings to move to within reasonable reach. There were no ropes leading to this pinnacle, no ladders or fire escapes, not even any real extended surfaces to grip for climbing. Since this odd fellow in the straw hat couldn't fly, and seemed a little dim besides, it might have been a miracle for him to have reached such heights in the first place.

Luffy didn't seem to mind, though. He was still smiling, looking perfectly content as he took every opportunity, every little break in the conversation, to look out over his lordly view of the city and gain an amazed shimmer in his eyes every time without fail.

He laughed immediately at Rikku's suggestion; not that he felt she was joking, but her perfectly frank comment was odd enough to strike his humor. "I don't wanna jump off from way up here. Who knows what might happen?"

No, it seemed he had a different idea in mind. Taking hold of the broad pole in the center of the rooftop, Luffy wrapped both hands around its solid, steady body, lacing his fingers together like an iron vice, then began to back away from it, inching towards the open edge behind him. Step by step, he kept looking back over his shoulder to see how far he had to go.

Amazingly, even after the length of his arms seemed to run out, he kept right on going, actually stepping over the edge, but at the same time, never lost his grip on the pole. His arms were actually stretching out, giving Luffy the range to pull himself further and further away from his own grip! Though it looked as if his limbs were getting tight, he kept right on pulling, until he was leaning completely off of the roof, with his heels braced on the very precipice. His arms had been drawn out nearly five whole feet! Keeping his legs straight, firmly locking them against the edge was the only thing keeping him from snapping violently forward, like a rubber band barely being held tight.

"This will definitely work!" he exclaimed assuringly. "...I think?"

Letting his legs go limp, Luffy shot forward, the tension in his long, lanky arms recoiling. The result? The young man in the straw hat literally exploded into a monumental burst of kinetic energy, one that sent him soaring across the height of the city skyline and into the far distance. Rikku and Stitch would be left there wondering just what in the world had just happened.

Stitch watched as the man jumped off the building and continued watching as he became a dot in the distance. This was the second person who had run away from them in the same day.

"Are we scary?" He asked his fairy friend, looking up at her with his ears flattened to his head. He didn't know what to think of this place with people running from him all the time. He shrugged then moved to the edge of the building to climb down.

He turned to his new partner in crime. "Wanna come?"

Rikku was so impressed by the guy being able to stretch his arms out like that and turn himself into a slingshot - that explained how he got up here, too! - that it took her a few seconds to realize she and her blue friend had been taken off on once again.

"Golly, I hope we're not scary," she answered, thinking. "I mean, I didn't think we were all that scary. Sheesh, at least that other guy told us his name before he took off." Guess that was what you got, sometimes, for being friendly. Oh well. She flitted back over to Stitch and nodded. "Sure, let's go!"

There had to be somebody who'd stick around long enough for them to pester properly.

Stitch looked up to his new friend then looked down. Deciding that the easiest way down would be to jump, he decided to leap off the edge of the building.

"Cannonball!" He shouted, mimicking Lilo's friends that he had seen do this in Hawaii, then landing, on his feet, on the ground, creating a neat little crater on the ground.

"Coming?" He shouted back upward, waiting for Rikku.

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