This one has CP9!Luffy. Because I'm totally in love with Lucci.

Note: Luffy is admittedly OOC in this fic, but I don't know how I would've written this otherwise. Someone else might've done a better job than me.

IMPORTANT! In order to understand this fic, please note that each break line means a switch from present to past and vice versa. You'll probably understand just by reading, but I won't be indicating which one is which. Because they're both very much part of the story.

Black Scab

Chapter 1

It had been seven years since Luffy was first introduced to the world he lived in now.

And with seven years under his belt, Luffy was now thoroughly sick and tired of his job.

He never had much freedom under his grandfather's hand, but with the constant desk-work he was doing now, it made his grandfather's training feel like a great game of kickball. Here, Luffy rarely left his office, too busy writing his reports and notes. He read so much fine print that his eyes had gone bad, and he could no longer read without a pair of glasses on his nose. Even now he held his fountain pen against a piece of parchment paper, mindlessly writing down words.

He was tired of being unfeeling.

"Chapapa—!"

Luffy, alerted by the familiar call and the sound of the opening door, looked up and paused in his writing. Stepping into the room with a light skip in his step was Fukurou, his zipper-mouth unzipped and wide-open with a hint of a smile to it.

"Fukurou. You've returned."

"The mission was a great success as always, chapapa—!" the CP9 member sang as he walked over to Luffy's desk and stopped a few feet away from the younger man. Setting his feet firmly into the ground, Fukurou touched his fingertips together and closed his eyes while relaxing his shoulders, and he waited.

Luffy stretched his arms out above his head and stood up, groaning lightly as his legs and arms were not used to straightening out. "Is that so?" he asked, stepping around his desk and kicking off his loose slippers, leaving him barefooted.

"Jyabura has the report, but he's too busy stalking that kitchen girl."

"Gatherine?" Luffy asked, pausing beside his desk thoughtfully. After a moment of silent consideration, a light smile broke out across his young face and Luffy laughed, "Shishishi. She's too good for him."

Then, without a word of warning or otherwise, Luffy dashed forward, blurring as he crossed the distance between himself and Fukurou. Within the short span of a second, Luffy cocked his arm back, hands clenched into a tight fist, and in that same second, let loose a punch that made a snapping noise against the wind, speeding like a bullet from a gun right into the other's face.

Fukurou gave a strangled grunt as he was sent back flying a few feet before he landed on his back with a heavy sound.

"Hmm..." the loud-mouthed man said to himself as he flipped upright onto his feet nimbly. Meanwhile, Luffy dusted himself off and turned back to his desk, sitting down in his chair and picking up his discarded pen before he resumed writing.

"Rokushiki Ryuugi: Te-aswase!" Fukurou called out then looked amazed as realization dawned upon him. "It's incredible," he breathed, his open eyes setting on Luffy's slender form. "For a person who sits behind a desk all day you're disturbingly strong! You've conquered Lucci's douriki from five years ago! 2800 douriki!"

Luffy laughed, pleased with the number. He had been afraid that doing nothing but just sitting and writing reports might have rotted his muscles into nothing. "How rude, saying that's it's 'disturbing'."

Fukurou didn't say anything about Luffy's offhand comment as he sat down on the couch before Luffy's desk and leaned back into the leather. "It's strange," he started with a curious frown, "that you aren't a member of the Cipher Pol 9 yourself even though you're stronger than us all."

"Oh, but I am," Luffy responded with a secretive smile, elegantly crossing his legs under his desk and resting his chin on top of his intertwined fingers.

"I am your Chief Director after all."

Anyone who knew Luffy as a child would know him as an energetic, impatient little boy with a wide smile and warm heart, willing to befriend anyone he came across and tell them of his great dream:

To become Pirate King.

That had been Luffy from ten years ago in Fuchsia Island, before he was taken away by Garp, who was angry at the scum of the sea, Shanks, who dared to corrupt his grandson's mind with nonsense. Luffy trained under his grandfather's unrelenting and strict guidance. Garp had gone to all lengths to kill the "pirate" inside of Luffy.

With three years worth of books and simple surviving, Luffy slowly felt something inside him fade away. The people he met and talked to would smile at him, but their teeth-bared grins were cold and leering. And then, Luffy realized he smiled the same as they did, insincere and forced, so he stopped smiling all together.

Luffy often found himself wandering the deck of his grandfather's ship, poised and regal, with a graceful step in his walk, being feared and respected by the guarding soldiers he passed by without so much as a glance.

He may have been ten, but his aura was so much more.

Garp had attempted to convince Luffy to join the Marines officially, but Luffy refused to budge on this matter. He may no longer care about becoming Pirate King, but he still couldn't accept the Marines. He refused to.

And so, Garp took the matter up with an old friend.

Sengoku hated seeing Garp more than he had to, and he hated doing favors for him even more. But then the man brought his grandson to him (a small, wide-eyed thing with a young face) with a stern frown and a firm grip on the young boy's narrow shoulder.

"Give this idiot something to do. He's wasting good talent and energy by just lazing around at my place."

Sengoku sighed and rubbed at his temple. He tried to ignore the silent boy's steady stare, but it was beginning to unnerve him. "So you're dumping your problems onto me. How typical of you, Garp."

The aged Marine Vice-Admiral grinned roguishly and laid a hand upon Luffy's head, musing his dark hair. "Don't be like that, Sengoku," he said lightly. "Despite his looks, Luffy's plenty smart and he's strong too. Tell him how strong you are, Luffy."

The boy rolled his eyes, an act that looked off on his childish face. "My punch," he sighed, "is as powerful as a pistol."

Garp slapped his knee, bending over with an arm wrapped around his stomach as he laughed himself to tears. Sengoku and Luffy watched this display with similar expressions of distaste. They waited silently for the Vice-Admiral to regain himself, still chuckling while muttering "Pistol... pistol, he says," under his breath.

Sengoku let out a heavy breath and fell into his seat, gently petting the top of his goat's head. "Garp, if this is your idea of a joke, I am not amused."

"It's not," Garp said, still smiling. He dug around in his coat pocket for a bit before pulling out a thick manila folder and handing it to the Fleet Admiral who took it with a curious frown.

The papers inside were test scores and written essays as well as reports from famous scholars and instructors from all over the world. Each one of these papers had the same name written on top in bold, messy letters: "Monkey D. Luffy".

"... Garp. What is this?"

The other man's grin grew at the corners, looking almost menacing now. The dark-haired boy at his side was looking at the ground with a bored expression, obviously wanting to be anywhere but here at the moment. "What does it look like, Sengoku?"

It was exactly as it looked. Every full mark, every essay, and every positive review showed Sengoku just what kind of boy Luffy truly was underneath his dull eyes and pouting mouth. They were good things to be sure, but it made Sengoku wary.

"What do you want?"

Garp grinned, glad to know the other man was finally getting on with the program. They were both old enough as it was, Garp didn't want to wait for longer than he had to. "I already told you what I want. Give my idiot grandson something to do. He's not normally very bright, but he'll get things quick if he puts his mind to it."

It smelled like a trap to Sengoku. Perhaps he spent too much time around pirates, but currently the boy next to Garp smelled just like sea scum. It made Sengoku cringe. "Are you willing to let your grandson abandon all ties on humanity and serve justice the way we see it?"

Luffy's face grew dark but Garp's expression became thoughtful. "Only if you can make him."

And Sengoku eyed Luffy. The boy looked up and met his gaze head-on with his equally determined look. Garp said that the boy was strong, but Sengoku didn't see it. Luffy had a small stature, skinny arms and legs with a thin neck and slender shoulders. He was still ten and growing, but even now Sengoku could see that Luffy would never grow to be like his grandfather in physical appearance.

"I might know of a job that might interest your grandson. Take it or leave it. What will you do, Luffy-kun?"

And Luffy did not turn his eyes away, a small spark of determination brightening his dark gaze.

"... take it."

"Chief Monkey D. Luffy. Your mission deadline of obtaining Pluton's blueprints is coming close. What are your reports?"

Luffy cursed. The damn government officials had been hovering over him for the past two years like vultures with a near-dead beast, ready to strike. "My men have been tracking Water 7's mayor Iceburg for five years now. We've infiltrated the city from the center. It should be done in no time—"

"Chief," the government official on the other line said in a flat tone, obviously unimpressed, "That is what you've said to me the last time I called in. I want results."

Luffy pulled his hands into a fist, his nails digging into his palm painfully in order to wave off the anger that was beginning to cloud his good judgment. "Of course..." He hated this sense of helplessness.

"This year, Chief. We can't afford to dilly-dally along anymore. The name of justice requires this."

"Yes. I shall inform my men immediately."

An approving grunt sounded on the other line and the other man gruffed out, "See that you do." And he hung up, leaving Luffy with a dial-tone that made his blood boil.

"Damn bags," he growled, slamming the receiver down and seething by himself. "Always interfering... it pisses me off."

Luffy grabbed his coat, ready to leave, but he jumped in surprise as the den-den mushi on his desk rang again. The dark-haired chief grimaced, hoping it wasn't those old fuddy-duddies. He picked up the receiver and held it close to his face. "Hello?" he called into it.

The snail's eyes opened halfway and its body relaxed into a pile of den-den mushi goo. "Good afternoon, Garp's grandson."

Luffy frowned at the sound of the familiar voice and recognized it at once. "Aokiji. Why are you—?"

"Maa, maa. Let me talk," the man drawled out in his dark voice, talking as slow as he usually did. "Nico Robin is heading for Water 7. It seems she recently escaped from Alabasta and found refuge on a low profile cruise ship. I found her by chance when that ship crashed on a deserted island I happened upon while on a stroll. It was really quite a miracle."

Luffy rolled his eyes. For a miracle, Aokiji didn't sound all that psyched.

"And since I was on a stroll, I didn't really care to capture her or anything. I figured you'd get to it for me, y'know?"

The CP9 Chief stayed silent, waiting for the Marine Admiral to get to his point.

"You know what this means, don't you, Chief?"

But as much as he hated to admit it, Aokiji made himself clear. "Yes. I understand." Luffy could almost picture Aokiji's self-satisfied smirk and he hated it.

"Since you're the grandson of a good friend, I'll let you borrow my golden den-den mushi—"

"I don't need it—"

"—I insist."

Luffy glared hatefully at the wall across from him and the hand around the receiver tightened, making the metal creak and bend under the pressure. "I hate you," Luffy spat out in acrid disgust. "I hate this system."

There was silence on the other side for a moment and Luffy inwardly hoped to himself that he had hurt Aokiji's feelings with his vehement declaration, but a moment later there came a heavy sigh and a tired smacking of lips. "You can't leave. You know this better than the rest of us."

And Luffy automatically thought back to his members, each of them baring their cold smiles at him as they grabbed his hair and pulled his jacket and called for him "Chief... Chief..." Luffy shuddered, wrapping an arm around himself protectively, and he bowed his head, resigned.

Aokiji seemed to sense Luffy's defeat as he spoke, "I'll leave this in your capable hands. Use my power wisely."

Luffy easily got the job Sengoku offered to him. With a bit of persuasion from both Garp and Sengoku as well as Luffy's own innate leadership qualities, the boy received permission from all the top officials of the government and even went through a trial phase where he was put against another commander (some loud-mouthed man in charge of Cipher Pol 5) in a battle of wits and commanding abilities. Luffy's great show of potential honestly scared the high officials, but they did not deny him the liberty he rightly deserved.

So on July 18th, an unimportant date, Luffy was given charge over the CP9, the secret service working directly under the world government.

"They are the Cipher Pol that should not exist," Sengoku explained to him.

"Why not?" Luffy voiced his thoughts aloud. "Why are they so special that they have to hide themselves?"

Sengoku tsked and handed another useless report over to his goat who lazily took it from its master's hand and ate it with a bleat. "It's not that they are special, really. It's because, in the name of justice, they have the special permission from the government to... execute any civilian that refuses to cooperate with them."

Luffy narrowed his eyes and his body instinctively curled in upon itself. "... so they can kill civilians and call it justified murder?"

"That's that kind of attitude that will get you nowhere with this job. I told you already didn't I? 'You must abandon all ties on humanity and serve justice the way we, the government, see it.'"

The young boy made a face and turned away, obviously displeased. "I don't like that."

"You must not change it," Sengoku warned, looking up from his papers to the boy. "This is one thing we are all powerless against, yet it is very necessary. Without the CP9, the world's justice will go nowhere. Life is not that sweet to people."

"It's selfish," Luffy whispered heatedly, still arguing his beliefs. Sengoku sighed, he expected this. Luffy was still young and had a positive outlook on life no matter how hardened he became with Garp's training. But in order to fully accept the job as CP9's chief, he had to accept the way justice was as defined by the rest of the world.

"Let me ask you something, Luffy-kun," Sengoku started, pouring himself and the boy a cup of tea that Garp had brought in earlier, "despite the existence of the CP9, what sort of jobs do you think they are given?"

Luffy thought about it for a moment but came to only one conclusion. "The dirtiest ones they have."

Sengoku snorted, smirking wryly at Luffy's blunt answer. "At least you're quick to catch on," he said, almost as if complimenting the boy. "The CP9 is a necessary organization. You might say that their method of killing civilians for justice is selfish, but isn't it those who are unwilling to help out for the better of the world who are truly selfish? If losing a handful of people's lives can save a hundred more, then anyone with a righteous sense of justice should be able to make that choice. Can you, Luffy-kun?"

And this was the real question. Luffy already had the job in the bag, but whether or not he was able to keep up with the number of deaths that the job would surely bring him was the bigger issue.

So Luffy thought. He assessed himself and his own feelings on this controversy. One life for a hundred more. But even that single life was precious in Luffy's eyes; how could he judge whether one person was worth a hundred?

'Isn't that the selfishness that this Seagull-guy was talking about?'

Unable to come to a decision and floundering about this way and that with each leg on both side of the fence. How can indecisiveness save lives?

And Luffy already decided to take the job so, in order to throw away that hypocritical side of his, must he also throw away that part of himself that was unwilling to kill a single, precious life?

"That's dumb," Luffy decided. "It's unfair."

Sengoku sipped his tea nonchalantly, breathing out heavily when he heard Luffy's answer and he let his eyes close. He didn't want to see Luffy at that moment. "Life is unfair. You will learn in time."

"Looks like they're back..." Luffy pressed his nose against the window, fogging it with his breaths. He just received a report from one of the agents on the train along with the CP9 members. Other than the occasional fits one of the prisoners threw, it seemed that the mission went smoothly and without hitch. "It's been five years since all eight of the CP9 members have met together like this."

Luffy looked up at the three men who were situated on his couch, each of them wearing rather guilty expression on their faces as their chief approached them with a old newspaper in hand. "And yet, I'm not all that happy," Luffy confessed, flipping through a daily newspaper nonchalantly, not really reading the words on the gray pages. "If I'm not mistaken, the plan was to kill the rebellion leader. There were only supposed to be three casualties. Yet..."

The fast fist hitting the surface of the wooden desk made a loud, resounding noise in the large and virtually empty room. Luffy clenched his teeth and frowned at the three men that were sitting down before him with their hands in their laps and downcast eyes. "Yet a total of 23 people were eliminated. Why?"

At once, the largest man at the far right side of the couch fell to the ground with his forehead touching the stone title floor. Kumadori prostrated himself before Luffy as he begged forgiveness in a thunderous voice, "Yoyoi! Iiiit's all my faaaault—! I shall take full responsibility, yoyoi!"

"Enough, Kumadori!" Jyabura exclaimed in fit, spitting as he spoke at the man on the ground. "A man shouldn't lower his head so easily! I'll explain what happened, just sit quietly!"

"Yoiyoiyoi!"

Luffy stared at Fukurou who refused to meet his eyes. His mouth was zipped up tightly and he sat on the far right side of the couch with his legs crossed. Sweat was running down his round face profusely. Something was up with this one...

"Yoyoi! I shall commit seppuku in order to regain my honor!" Kumadori proclaimed, completely ignoring Jyabura's order of silence as he pulled a knife on himself.

Luffy barely gave Kumadori a glance as Jyabura picked himself up to his feet and started to fully explain the situation to his chief, trying to make sure his pay wasn't cut, and trying to insure that his young boss wouldn't kill the three of them at that moment. "We were ordered to go in quietly, but..." the dark-skinned man stammered helplessly for a bit, seeing that the dark glint in Luffy's eyes wasn't dissipating. "We couldn't have known that the plan was leaked!"

Crossing his arms across his chest and sighing tiredly, Luffy was about to answer Jyabura's frantic explanations with a few calming words when a distinctive sound of something unzipping itself was heard from his side. Luffy turned to face Fukuro who opened his large mouth and said, "I had announced it to the town, chapapa."

"WHAT?" Jyabura roared, looking about ready to pull out his hair. "You again, Fukurou? Why do you have a zipper on your mouth if you never use it?"

But, with a single raised hand from Luffy, the zoan fell silent and watched in fascinated horror as the young chief grabbed Fukurou by his lips and drew the larger member in close. Fukurou's eyes grew wide and his face turned ghostly as Luffy bared his teeth at him in a grin. "Maybe seven years together just isn't enough, Fukurou. Don't you understand me yet? When I say only three people were meant to die, I only want to see three people's names on the casualties report. That means the mission was a success, right?"

Fukurou nodded his head the best he could with Luffy's fingers wrapped around his mouth like a stapler. Jyabura and Kumadori paused in whatever they were doing and watched the pair with slack jaws and round eyes. They had seen and experienced Luffy's anger first-hand many times, but it was still amazing every time they witnessed it. It was mind-boggling that such a small body could produce enough strength to over-power a rokushiki-user's brawn.

"So the reason that there are twenty other names on my list is due to your incompetence and stupidity, right?"

Fukurou hesitated for only a second before nodding his head again. Luffy smiled in response to the answer and his fingers dug harder into Fukuro's mouth, meshing the zippers into flesh painfully. "So next time I say something, I want it to happen. I don't care what comes out of your big mouth, but don't let it jeopardize the mission. Understood?"

The other muffled an affirmative the best he could and Luffy released him with a frown. Fukurou fell back against the couch, breathing heavily and wiping the sweat from his brows. He knew for himself just how powerful Luffy really was, and he should've known better than to mess with the mission like he had. But honestly, if Fukurou had known that so many people would have died if he spilled the beans about the plan, then he would have just kept his big mouth shut. Not because Fukurou particularly cared for those people, but because his Chief was sensitive about that sort of stuff and if the chief wasn't happy, no one was happy.

Luffy shook his head and returned to his seat, lazily stirring his cup of tea with a silver spoon as he waited for Fukurou to regain himself. "I'm sorry I had to use violence like that, Fukurou, but you can imagine how unhappy I was with this mission, can't you?"

The other man nodded wordlessly, still a bit flabbergasted and breathless from the pressure of Luffy's killing-intent a moment ago. It was... amazing.

Jyabura and Kumadori, although not on the receiving end this time around, felt the overwhelming aura coming from their chief like a thick miasma that rolled off his lanky body. Jyabura had to reel himself in before he gave way to the haki.

"Chief!" A doorguard from outside the room called out, "Lucci and company are here!"

Luffy straightened, eyebrows rising to his hairline. They were earlier than expected. "Very well. Show them in."

When putting a ten-year old boy who hasn't even gone through puberty yet in charge of older boys and girls who were already in their twenties or close to it, there were bound to be some who would be displeased with it.

"This is your new Chief."

"Pleasure to meet you," Luffy said in his still-unchanged voice. His posture was relaxed yet straight with his hands gathered behind his back and his lips pulled into an emotionless line. "My name is Monkey D. Luffy."

The other taller and rather imposing figures before him looked down at their new chief, and while the others took him in with a condensing sneer and snort, one member stepped out from the line and pointed a finger right between Luffy's eyes, shouting, "Why the hell do I have to be bossed around by some snot-nosed brat that probably doesn't even have his pubes grown in yet?"

Luffy's brows furrowed, irked by that last line.

"Jyabura, calm down," another CP9 member with wavy dark hair and a small black stubble said in a smooth voice. "You're making a fool out of yourself, as usual."

"But this little shit—"

"Is our new chief," another one, with a strange way of talking and a stranger nose, piped up with a slight grin. "It is nice to meet you. My name is Kaku. I'm 16."

Luffy looked at Kaku''s outstretched hand with suspicious eyes, but after a brief moment of examination, he reached forward and shook the teen's hand with a firm grip. "You're young," Luffy said to him and Kaku chuckled lightly in response, "I don't really want to hear that from a 10 year old."

Seeing Kaku's pleasant introduction of himself, the only female in the ranks stepped forward, but did not attempt to reach out or touch her young boss in any way. "I am Kalifa," she said, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose primly. Luffy recognized her coldness but said and did nothing, only giving her a curt nod in response.

The other members didn't seem all too thrilled about their new chief, and even the two that did introduce themselves looked dubiously at the boy.

It couldn't be helped of course, even Luffy understood that. Although these people were trained to listen to orders and follow them out professionally, there was no way they could be forced to respect someone they did not hold any sort of high regard towards, even their chief.

'I'm going to make them care. I'm going to make them see me as someone who can hold a candle to their flame.'

"We'll be working together for a while," Luffy said pleasantly, regarding each of the members and returning their distasteful stare with an even gaze. "Let's do our best."

-tobecontinued-