I’m not sold on either of those ideas! 😆
I much prefer the idea that Rumple met PP almost by accident. He went to NL to get squid ink for part of his plan for the Curse and was found by the Lost Ones and PP. PP recognized that Rumple’s “Dark One” shadow could do the same job as Henry’s without all the pesky waiting. Somehow Rumple escaped (in my head, Bae frees him without Rumple knowing it was Bae) and Rumple flees NL with his squid ink and now knowing that NL is a bad place for him. When they get to NL in S3 PP will still be after Henry but can still also use the Dark One’s Shadow. Rumple will sacrifice his magic, his Dark One’s self, to save Henry and thus be rid of his magic without dying and both Henry and PP are his undoing.