I've had the idea for this story in my nead for a long time and have finally got the first chapter written down and typed. Read and Review please and tell me what you think. I appreciate constructive criticism but no flaming. And I apologize for any spelling or grammer errors that may be in here. Chapters will vary between being very short to very long and I will update whenever I get the chance. Anyways enjoy.
Disclamer: I do not own One Piece or its characters. The first word should have alerted you of that.
Under the Silver Moon
Zoro never thought that he could feel so relieved to see an island. He could tell that the others felt the same by the expressions on their faces. Why? Because they had been stuck on the ship for over a month now and cabin fever strikes quickly. They all had it, some of them worse than others but it didn't bother them to much. Reason being: because something else was driving them all insane. What could that be? Well it was none other than the bouncy, hyper, high-strung, rubber moron that they called captain.
The past few weeks had been awful with Luffy running around driving them all crazy, even though he didn't mean to upset them. He just had all this energy with nowhere to put it. He ended up getting into a lot of trouble with his crew. First off he had accidentally destroyed the new map Nami had been working on for months. Then he caused Sanji to burn dinner, for the first time ever, while trying to steal meat from the store room. They had all been pretty pissed that night with Sanji's 'waste food and die' rule forcing them to eat every charred bit. It didn't stop here however. Somehow he had managed to damage the ship at least once every day, he ruined Robin's favorite book, he broke Usopp's weapon Kabuto and Brook's violin, caused at least half of Chopper's medical supplies to fall into the ocean and kept Zoro from sleeping and training during the entire time they had been stuck on the ship. The rest of the crew had decided that Zoro should take care of Luffy while he was acting like this. That way they could avoid killing Luffy themselves. Needless to say Zoro, sleep deprived and bursting with energy from lack of exercise, was pretty pissed as well.
Still Luffy had tried to apologies to all of them, yet in their anger, they had said some nasty thing to the young captain that they later regretted. They felt bad for saying them but this was Luffy. He would understand that none of them meant anything by it. At least that was what they were hoping for. Well it didn't matter anymore anyway. They were at a new island, they could restock and soon the whole mess could be put behind them.
Luffy was, as everyone could tell, super excited about finally arriving at a new island and could hardly wait to get on shore. Nami had told him they would be docking in about an hour so he was busy getting ready (by getting ready I mean he was packing as much meat that he could fit in his pockets) for a new adventure. He wondered what kind of adventure he would be having this time. To bad he had to be by himself but his crew needed a break. He recalled what Nami had said to him a few days earlier.
"Listen, Luffy when we get to the next island we all need a break ok?" Nami asked the captain the rest of the crew letting her be the spokesperson for them.
"Alright" Luffy had replied.
"Luffy are you sure you understand what I'm talking about here?" She asked.
"Perfectly." He said grinning.
They needed a break from him. At least that's the message that Luffy had received during that conversation. What Nami actually meant was that they needed a break from sleeping on the ship and they wanted to stay in an inn. But he thought that his nakama were just sick of being with him because of the trouble he had caused them. So he would leave them alone while he went off by himself, he had decided. That way he could keep his nakama happy.
"So Nami do you know anything about this island?" Luffy asked his pockets now stuffed with meat he had gone outside to find his navigator relaxing on deck.
"A little bit. It's called Mangetsu Island. I've heard that every night there is a full moon no matter what. No one really knows why either, its one of the worlds great mysteries. The locals are pretty friendly to travelers for that exact reason. They use it as a tourist attraction." She explained. (AN: Mangetsu is Japanese for Full moon.)
"Cool!"
"I've also heard that the marines have a research lab here, but we should be fine as long as we stay away from them and keep a low profile. That worries me though. Luffy we really need to restock and stay here for a little bit without any problems like getting hunted by the marines. So I want you to promise me you'll try and keep your head down." She said concerned. She stared at him with pleading eyes.
"Ok Nami I promise."
"Good."
Suddenly the boat lurched as the hull scraped against sand. Luffy cheered and then he was gone already racing away from the boat. By the time his crew had dropped anchor and were ready to leave themselves, Luffy was already out of sight.
"Damn shitty kid leaving us all and going off on his own. He's going to get us all in trouble." Sanji growled bitterly.
"No, he promised me that he would lay low during out stay." Nami said.
"It's Luffy. He'll get himself in some sort of trouble trying to or not." Sanji replied glaring in the direction Luffy had disappeared in.
"Whatever." Nami said stifling a yawn.
"The suns setting so let's go find an inn before it gets too late. We'll look for him on the way."
The rest of the crew agreed and they began to walk in the direction that Luffy had run off in.
By following the shoreline they managed to find a small port with a small inn. They rented a large room, one they could all sleep in together because the rest of the rooms where full. By now it was dark and getting quite late.
"Nami should we go find Luffy?" Chopper asked worried.
"Yeah. It's weird that we haven't seen him or heard him yet. Usually he causes so much commotion. He could be in trouble." Nami replied.
"Didn't you say that there was a marine base here or something?" Zoro asked also worried.
"Yeah but is a research lab not a base. You don't think he got caught do you?"
"Not a chance… At least not yet." Usopp said defending his friend.
"Still we need to find him before something like that can happen."
"Nami-swan is right, as always. Besides if he had gotten caught the whole island would have heard of it by now." Sanji said defending Nami.
"Guys! Let's just focus on finding Luffy and start looking already." Nami snapped.
"Yeah." Chopper agreed eager to start searching.
Leaving there room they entered the lobby to find the inn keeper locking the door tightly.
"Um… sir? We need to go out. Why are you locking the door?" Nami began uncertainly
"Oh I'm sorry were you planning on going out?" the old man said pausing with his work of locking the door.
"Yes and your in the way." Zoro growled hostilely. He didn't like it that the man was locking them in.
"Ah well you see we have a very strict curfew in this town. No one is aloud out after the sun sets. This applies to everyone on the island. I'm afraid you can't go anywhere tonight." The innkeeper said then proceeded to put heavy locks on the door.
"Why?" Nami asked.
"It's for the safety of the locals here and for any travelers."
"Wait, what are you taking about?"
"The Beast might get you."
"Beast?"
"Comes out every night and kills anyone outside. Don't worry though anyone indoors will safe. That's why we have such a strict curfew and why we lock all the doors with such heavy chains. We don't want to take any chances."
"Oh-no…" Nami said.
"What's wrong?" The innkeeper asked noticing all there fearful faces.
"Luffy… is still outside somewhere!" Nami said fearfully.
"Old man you have to let us out so we can go find our friend!" Zoro practically shouted.
"No!" The old man said firmly. "You can't leave. It's the rule of out town. Or do I need to alert the authorities?"
Zoro stared spitefully at the man but made no move to leave. Normally that threat wouldn't have worked on any of them but this time was different. They desperately needed to restock on food and supplies and having the old man alert the marines that they were here would only cause trouble. Plus it would put Luffy in more danger because he would be unprepared for an enemy attack.
"Well… it is Luffy. He should be fine…" Nami said uncertainly.
"Yeah then we can go find him in the morning." Usopp agreed. Zoro grunted. He didn't like the idea of leaving the boy out there alone but at the moment there was nothing they could do. So they went back to their shared room to wait for morning. An involuntary shiver ran through all of them when the howling started.
Luffy despite being alone was having a pretty fun time by himself, stuffing himself with all the meat he had packed and camping out under the stars. Just outside of the small town had been a forest that he had eagerly decided that he wanted to explore. He had to admit that he felt a little lonely without his crew but they had said they needed a break for him. Who was he to deny them that? Another howl rang out causing Luffy to grumble many choice words in his annoyance. Whatever animal was making that annoying noise was ruining his night. It had already woken him up once, when the noise began. Plus the noise seemed to be to be getting louder, closer. How the hell was he supposed to sleep with all this noise? It wasn't as if he was Zoro or anything.
Getting up he went to find a stream so he could get a cool drink. Again he could hear another howl, this time really loud, as if whatever was making that noise was right behind him. That was all the warning he got when suddenly he was jumped on by some huge beast. Luffy yelped in pain as huge jaws bit down on his shoulder. Instinct took over and he rapped his rubber arms around the beast's neck and threw the creature off him, smashing it into the ground in front of him. There was a sickening crack as the creatures spine slammed into ground. Luffy could tell it was dead without even having to look at it.
He did anyway wanting to know what the hell kind of creature had attacked him. The creature was nothing like anything he had ever seen before. It looked like some sort of warped canine with thick black fur covering its body. Yet at the same time it looked almost human. It had five fingers with long jagged claws at each end. Its teeth were long and pointed stained yellow and red but the gums looked like they had been ripped apart by… stretching? It also had golden yellow eyes that reflected the moonlight even though it was dead.
Luffy had no idea what to make of this thing and honestly just wanted nothing more to do with it. Getting up he began to head back to his ship. He had to have Chopper take a look at this wound, it hurt like hell. Seriously this damn thing burned. His stride broke into a stumble then he fell. His last memory before falling unconscious was lying on the ground… something happening to him that he couldn't explain.
Remeber R and R! It will make the next chapter come sooner!
