Broken But Loved Prequel

by kittyface27

One-shot about Luffy's days in the basement. Won't make sense unless you have read the first two stories.

Hey, I know I said the Broken But Loved series was over, but I decided to make a short one shot about Luffy's days in the basement. Enjoy~

Luffy wandered around his run down house, wearing his worn pajamas. He was heading to the kitchen to try and find something to eat without being caught. His parents had been acting strange lately. Usually Luffy had the house to himself all day while his mom and dad were at work. He could eat when he wanted without being scolded, and he had no one there to ridicule him for messing up small tasks or breaking things. He was very clumsy, something his parents hated about him.

He had woken up only a few minutes ago when he found both his mom and dad sitting at the wooden kitchen table they never ate at as a family. Luffy had always been a somewhat messy eater, which was another thing his parents didn't like. So he ate in his small room on the single mattress he had to sleep on. But he didn't mind since this was just how parents treated their children. There was nothing unusual about it, though he'd like to have some hugs every once in a while.

When Luffy entered the kitchen and saw them, he froze in confusion. But he knew not to ask why they were there. He quietly walked past the two barefoot and to the fridge. But there was nothing there really but a plethora of cans of beer. He turned around, wishing to ask where the food was when he saw all of the fridges contents on the table, with many empty wrappers.

Luffy faced the cupboards and rummaged through them quietly. He found some soup, but with his parents in the room, he didn't want to potentially make a mess, since being around the two made him even more clumsy.

He attempted to reach the upper cabinets, but being so unusually small for an eight year old, he couldn't reach. Looking back at the people at the table, he silently headed to the closet to get the step stool. Luffy wondered why his parents were ignoring him. It was unusual. By now they would have shouted at him already. Weird.

He finally found some plain crackers and left the kitchen quickly to go to his room and eat without any prying eyes, noticing the mess he left.

Later, around dinner time, Luffy was very hungry. He hadnt left his bedroom since he went to get the crackers. Something about today didn't seem good. He wondered again why his parents were home. He also wondered what he would eat for dinner with them there. The soup was his best option since all the sandwich bread was gone. He took a deep breath and ventured out of his room and down the stairs.

What hit him first when he entered the living room next to the wooden stairs was the rancid smell of alcohol. He peeked around the corner of the wooden TV stand to see both his mom and dad asleep on the couch. He sighed in small relief. He could eat in peace. He just had to be quiet about it.

After Luffy finished his simple chicken soup, he washed the bowl and utensils and put them back in their places in the creaky and dusty kitchen cupboards, he went upstairs, glad that the two drunk adults were still passed out.

He slept quietly, like always, with his door closed and the curtain opens so the moonlight through the dirty window could be his nightlight, since he didn't have one and hated the dark.

Day 1

Luffy woke up in the early morning like always. He had never really needed much sleep to function all day. He hoped his parents were at work as he headed downstairs, holding his worn paperback book in the hand that wasn't holding the railing. It was the only book he had, since all of his other ones had been brought to the bookstore for an exchange of cash. He had kept one book, and it was really all he had to keep himself entertained besides drawing on the floor with his broken pencils, light enough for the marks to not be seen if his mom and dad ever felt the need to check up on him while he was alone upstairs.

To his disappointment, there were the two adults sitting at the couch, newspapers all around them. He looked at them as they read the papers, holding pens, looking grumpy. He didn't approach them and tried to keep his existence unknown.

Again, there was nothing to eat, even in the snack cupboards. Why were they eating all of the food? Luffy needed to eat, too! He frowned deeply. He was very hungry. He took a deep breath and hid his book in his pants, and walked into the living room.

Luffy stood in the middle of the living room, looking at his feet submissively.

"Mom, dad, is there anything for me to eat?" he asked timidly. They both looked up, having not noticed he had come down from his bedroom. "Th- there's nothing in the cupboards or fridge," Luffy elaborated. He finally looked up at them, surprised at their expressions. The looked at him with their lips curled up, like he was disgusting. Usually they just looked somewhat annoyed with him when he spoke. That was how it always was, but he knew deep down they must love him.

His dad threw a small bag of Cheetos at him. Luffy took it and said nothing as he hurriedly walked back upstairs. He didn't want to see them look at him like that anymore, and he would just have to make it till the next meal time with this little bag of chips.

Hours passed and Luffy grew hungry again, but he ignored the pangs as he read the last Chronicles of Narnia book. Finally, he closed the pages and went back to the first floor of the creaky and old house.

Beer bottles covered the couch, which was vacant at the moment. They were both at the table, newspapers here now as well. He worried with the desperate looks on their faces. They looked very upset. He wondered why, but he wouldn't ask. They probably wouldn't want to talk about it, especially with their only son.

"Are you okay?" Luffy asked quietly.

"We're fine. Go away," his dad said, obviously dismissing him from the room.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Luffy asked. "You seem stressed," he stated, sounding concerned.

"I'm fine Luffy!" he snapped angrily, slamming his fist on the table.

"Are you sure?" Luffy asked, now deeply concerned.

Suddenly he was grabbed by the arm, and lifted in the air. He was tiny for his age, and just being lifted by his arm by the tall man raised his feet off the floor.

"It's your fault I'm this stressed you devil child!" his dad shouted at him and shoved Luffy down into the basement. "You should have never been born you bothersome brat!" he shouted as Luffy tripped on the last step and fell on his face. His lip split against his teeth when he hit the ground.

"You stay down here!" and the basement door was slammed shut, leaving Luffy alone in the pitch black darkness. He started to breathe quickly. The dark was suffocating him. There was no light source down there. It was as if he went blind. He walked around, with his hands out in front of him, trying to find the staircase and up to the door to apologize for whatever he'd done. What did he do, though? Luffy didn't remember breaking anything recently, and had kept out of their ways for a while.

He waited down there for the door to open, sitting on the first step since, once he found the stairs, the door was locked. There was only a tiny bit of light coming through the space between the door and the floor.

He waited there for quite a while, silently crying. He was scared. Scared of the dark and the face his parents made at him. Scared of his dad's anger and how hungry was. Not to mention the scuttling sounds down there in the dark, like there were monsters in there with him. Maybe if he stayed on the staircase, they couldn't get to him.

Finally, Luffy desperately needed to pee. He quietly knocked on the thick basement door.

"Dad! I need to go to the bathroom!" he called. He didn't mention how hungry and thirsty he was. And how he wanted out of the dark. Maybe if he apologized, they'd let him back out. But there was no response to his cries. Maybe they didn't hear him? So he shouted louder. He didn't want to wet himself down here.

He let out a sigh of relief when the door creaked open. But he wasn't let out past his father's big body, a black silhouette from the bright light of the kitchen streaming past him into the dark. The sudden light hurt Luffy's eyes, which had grown used to the dark, though he still hadn't been able to see anything down there.

Luffy was thrown a bucket. It slammed on the concrete floor of the basement behind him.

"I'm sorry!" he apologized for what, he did not know. "Please let me out!" Luffy cried. But the door was slammed on him. He sobbed quietly as he went feeling around the room for the bucket he had to use now.

The day went past and turned into night. Luffy didn't know that though. There was no concept of time in the dark basement. He was bored out of his mind, the feeling taking over the fear of the dark and the monsters down there with him, still making noises. He was sitting in the middle of the room, curled up in a ball. He wanted out so bad. And he was so hungry and thirsty. He had cried for many hours before his tears stopped and he just stared at nothing in the dark, waiting nervously for whatever was going to happen next.

The door opened finally and his dad walked in. the light from the open door illuminated the room and he saw a bottle of water thrown to him and a small loaf of bread. Luffy said nothing as he desperately went to the food and drink. Once he reached them, the door was shut and he was once again bathed in the darkness. But at least he had food and water. He automatically ate the whole piece of bread at once and drank much of the water.

He spent the night on the cold concrete, crying himself to sleep.

Day 2

Luffy woke up, still in the dark, and fell apart at the fact that yesterday had been reality, not a terrible nightmare.

Like the day before, he grew hungry and had to use the bucket. His dad didn't come to feed him or give him any explanation as to why this was happening. What he had done wrong to deserve this treatment? He had saved some of the water, and drank small sips throughout the day. No one visited him down there. All day, it was silent in that room. He felt separate from the world. Again, time had no meaning. He wanted to sleep so badly, but he couldn't because of the scurrying and squeaks in the room. He had figured out that the noises werent monsters, but rats. They kept him awake and nervous.

Day 6

Luffy sat slumped against the hard wall, throwing a ball he found at the wall across from him. It was the only thing that kept him sane from the boredom. He could tell just by feel that he had lost weight from the lack of food. He rarely got up to walk around or go to the staircase. He found no point. He had still gotten no explanation as to why he was down there, and how he could go back out. Were all children treated like this by their parents? He didn't know anymore.

He had been given a small amount of food every other day. It kept him alive, but weak. He had found a faucet and drank from that. He had never been down in the basement before, so he surveyed the room by blind touch.

This day was the start of true hell. A hell that would last years.

After breakfast time, the door was opened and his dad stepped down. The light was turned on. It had been to high for him to reach since it was hanging from the ceiling. The brightness hurt his eyes and head momentarily.

His dad stalked down the stairs with a rope. Luffy was terrified of that rope. Especially when he was shoved to the ground, unable to get away due to his weakness. His face was pushed against the floor, giving him a bruise later. The rope was tied painfully around his arms, restricting him from moving, and was tied to the base of the wall behind him.

"What are you doing?" Luffy cried out. "I didn't do anything! Please, let me out! I wont do anything I did wrong ever again! I promise!" then he was smacked across the face, hard. That silenced him. He stared at his dad in shock. He had never been hit before. Ever. No matter how frustrated his parents had become, never had either of them struck him in any way.

Luffy was shoved against the wall, hurting the skin of his spine. He began to struggle at the bonds as he cried and begged for forgiveness.

"If you continue to cry like a baby, I'll hit you again!" his dad shouted in his face, holding his head up by a fist ful of Luffy's black hair, which was now oily from the lack of it being washed for so long. He smelled awful, and so did the room.

This shut Luffy up immediately. He said nothing more and stopped struggling against the rope binding his arms painfully. He was then left back in the darkness. The light made purple tinted shapes in his vision as his eyes adjusted to the dark. He quietly cried down there, his wrists crying in pain against the rope. His hands soon went numb.

Day 8

Luffy was sleeping against the wall, able to now ignore the sounds around him, and forget the fact he was starving and smelled awful from not being able to reach the bucket. His legs were in pain from staying still like this, and his butt and tailbone protested sitting like this on the hard concrete below him. He was unable to reach his water either, so he was desperately parched.

If one good thing had come from these 8 days, it was that the dark no longer bothered him, and he liked knowing he wasn't completely alone down there from the sounds of the rats running around. He often wondered how they left this place to get food, since there was obviously none there.

Luffy didn't even wake up when the basement door slammed open. He did wake up from the kick in the stomach. He coughed in pain, confused at the light, before he froze in fear seeing the man above him. Luffy had never thought he'd be so utterly petrified in the presence of the man who raised him. Though he didn't do it well.

Luffy saw his dad was smoking a cigarette. The smell made Luffy cough again.

"You know," Luffy's abuser began. "I am quite stressed, like you told me. So I had an idea. What if I took out all that stress… on you. You are a massive bother after all. Everything is your fault, so why don't you take some responsibility?" Luffy grew pale. What was going to happen to him? Without another word, the lit end of the smoke was rubbed against his shoulder, burning Luffy's skin. Luffy couldn't help but struggle against it, screaming in pain. What did he do to deserve this?

Luffy's dad didn't like the noise he was emitting, so he kneed the poor kid in the face, causing blood to spill out of Luffy's nose. The disgusting blood dripped into Luffy's open mouth as he sobbed. But it didn't make Luffy quiet. So the man gripped Luffy's hair painfully and slammed it against the concrete wall behind him.

Luffy gasped, dazed with his prison spinning around him.

"You will make no noise," Luffy's father snarled. But the poor boy couldnt be quiet! He was being hit and burned by his dad? How could he not cry and scream in pain? It made no sense. None of this made sense!

"Let me out!" Luffy continued to sob. "Let me go!" he cried. But he was kicked in the gut again. As long as he continued to cry, Luffy's father wouldn't stop the beating.

Day 12

Luffy sobbed almost every moment since the hour he had been beaten. He was bruised everywhere, and he had a terrible headache from the blunt force trauma to the back of his head. But he made sure to cry quietly. He didn't know how much his parents could hear through the door. Luffy's mom had made no appearance.

The abuser hadn't come back to beat him since then, which Luffy was thankful for. But he hated the anticipation, wondering when he'd be beaten again. This was hell. The rats had begun to crawl across his legs, startling him every time their little claws scraped against his skin.

Luffy hadn't eaten in four days. After his first beating, bread was shoved into his mouth and water was poured down his throat after. He didn't know how long he could last without food and water. He wanted out so badly. To run away and never come back. Run to anywhere. Call the police and escape, putting these terrible parents in jail. But he had stopped trying to escape the rope. It just made his wrists raw.

Luffy instantly grew silent when the door slammed open. "Let me out!" he screamed unwisely. The moment the words ripped through his mouth, he shut it, his eyes wide. He didn't mean to yell, but he just wanted to be out so badly! His dad didn't like the fact that he spoke. He walked down the staircase and to the smelly and dirty Luffy. He was glad he had his shirt on because the wall behind him wouldn't feel good against his bare skin. But his dad had other ideas.

"Shut up you piece of shit," the man growled as he tore Luffy's shirt off and pulled out a belt. It was thinner than his usual belts, so it must have been Luffy's mom's. Where was she? She was never very involved with him, but was she supporting this treatment?

Luffy's lower lip trembled as he tried to stay calm in the face of the belt. But he couldn't stop the cries while he was whipped on the chest and shoulder. The man threatened that he wouldn't stop as long as Luffy cried, but the poor boy couldnt stop the tears. He was so scared and it hurt.

Like the last time, after about half an hour of the whipping, he was fed and given a glass of water, which was painful down his extremely dry throat. Then he was left in the darkness again to form bruises he couldn't see but knew they were there. He finally stopped crying awhile after his abuser left and just stared into the darkness. He felt blank at that moment, and it was nicer than the despair he'd been feeling for the last 12 days.

Day 23

Luffy couldn't sleep anymore. Many times, when he fell asleep, he was woken up with the slamming of the basement door as it was harshly opened. Or if he slept through that, he was awoken by the punch or cut. His dad had finally gotten tired of the kicking, punching and whipping. He moved on to using a knife. Luffy was soon covered in dry blood and scabbed and new cuts. They were never deep cuts, but they did bleed. He also threw up on himself the first time he was cut. So now he had dry vomit on his bare chest. His shirt had been ripped off for the knife wounds. He had never thought he could be more miserable.

He was awake every moment in that dark basement, the boredom was practically painful. There was nothing to do, and he wouldn't make any sounds down there for fear he'd get in trouble. He still couldn't help the screams of pain, which he earned many kicks and extra wounds for being annoying.

He hadnt known how long he was down there, since time didn't exist in the dark.

Day 29

Luffy's legs hurt while at the same time being numb. Sitting for so long without moving them was obviously not a good thing. His back was also in pain. He had a raw wound on one of his vertebrae from being against the concrete wall. It hurt to lean back against it, but he was so weak and now malnourished that he couldn't hold himself up at all. He was going to die down here.

The boy was being given food and water regularly. He didn't know why. He didn't know that it was to keep him alive longer so his dad could continue to take out his stress on Luffy. That was his new name besides "bother". He had many family members - okay, most- call him that. They were all so mean to him. So now he was called "bother" or "stress relief". His mom still hadnt made an appearance.

Luffy was scolded and punished over and over for his screams of pain, which was why his was going to be drugged.

The door to the basement creaked open loudly, and the light was actually turned on. It hurt Luffy's eyes, having gotten very used to the darkness. He didn't know why the light was on, but he didn't like it. Something bad was going to happen.

"What's that for?" Luffy asked as he saw a small syringe in his father's hand.

"To keep you from screaming your damn head off you little shit," his dad said angrily as he tapped a syringe with clear liquid in it.

"No please don't, dad!" Luffy cried. "I'm sorry! Please let me out!" he pleaded. What was going to happen to him now?

Luffy's father smacked him across the face and injected whatever was in the syringe into his arm roughly. Luffy suddenly relaxed his whole body and his head lolled to the side.

"Whazzhapenning..?" he slurred. His body was numb as he watched his dad kick him and get the belt he had used for a while, along with the knife that had Luffy's crusty blood on it.

He assaulted numbed Luffy until he seemed to get bored and left with a smirk, turning the light off and slamming the door shut.

Luffy was paralyzed for a few hours before suddenly all the pain he hadn't felt came rushing all at once. He screamed his lungs raw and eventually passed out. He only woke up when a rat scurried across his legs. His body was a bit tingly, but the overwhelming pain was gone. For now. His throat hurt so bad from the shrieking he'd made only a few hours ago.

Day 37

Luffy's dad continued to give his son the drug that numbed him temporarily. There was also the nightmare that was he was now chained to the wall. Both of his hands rested on the ground with shackles and chains attached to the surface behind him. They were heavy and hurt his wrists.

Luffy was soaked in dry blood, and it was itchy sometimes. Not to mention more vomit, since nausea often came with the numbing drug. He reeked now, but he had gotten used to it.

Luffy stared at the door as it opened again. His dad was now coming in almost every day. His eyes were dead, and he had purple bags under them from the lack of sleep. He saw the can his dad was carrying, and grew terrified. It didn't look like a water jug. It was metal and big. He watched fearfully as the man got closer. He finally spoke, sounding excited and smug.

"Was using this in the car today. It's battery acid. It says not to get it on the skin, but I'm curious," was all he said before he poured the liquid onto Luffy's shoulder blade. Luffy had never felt pain so extreme throughout the torture. He felt like his skin was burning off, which it was. He howled and screamed and shrieked in agony, and then started to cry. It stung like no tomorrow and he could feel it dripping down his back. Even after he was hit and kicked, he continued to scream. The pain wasn't going away.

"Well, guess I'll be careful with it when I handle it," the man said simply, like Luffy was no longer screaming. What was going to happen to him with this wound? He couldn't see it, even if the lights were on. Then his dad left.

Luffy developed a fever from the wound, which became infected. He felt severely sick from this. He was hot all of the time and hallucinated sometimes. It was good hallucinations, which was worse than bad ones. He saw police come in and rescue him. He was free and saw sunlight again! Then he came back to reality, and cried that it had been a hallucination, and that there was no one to save him.

His dad actually came in and treated it as best as he could. His reasoning was that he didn't want his stress relief to die. There would be a gruesome scar left over on that splatter of deadly chemical. Forever. All of these scars would last forever. As long as he lived, if he lived past this and was free, he'd be branded from this torture.

The wound took a long time to heal. It hurt every time the bandage was changed, because it wasn't done gently. Along with this awful wound, he was still beaten, no longer using the drugs. He didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

Day 357

Luffy no longer screamed from the torture. He had long since accepted that this was his life, though he still cried sometimes. Through all these months, his mom made no appearance even once. He no longer remembered her face, like he no longer remembered his own. That life had been a good dream. This life was what had always been. He knew that this was unusual. Other parents don't do this to their kids. He was sure of it. Luffy was a poor unfortunate child.

Luffy wished his dad left a window open long ago when Luffy still screamed. Maybe then people would have heard him and called the police to save him.

Luffy's father walked in. Luffy made no reaction to his appearance. It was time for his daily beating. He had the syringe. Luffy hadnt been drugged in a long time. He wondered what the point was anymore since he couldn't control his screaming. Maybe it was because his father knew it was worse when all of the pain came back at once.

Luffy stared at the floor as he was injected, not flinching at the sting of it being shoved into his arm. He wasn't happy to see the shiny metal on the toes of his dad's shoes. He knew he was going to get kicked. And he did. Very hard.

Luffy felt a rib crack. He coughed up blood, getting it on the pants of the man in front of him. Well, he did not like this. His father kicked him in the gut again, making Luffy whimper. How would his broken rib get fixed?

"I sold everything 'belonging' to you. I left it there for a while since I didn't want to see anything having to do with a bother like you. You know what this means don't you?" Luffy glared at him. He knew what this meant. Luffy was never going to leave this basement. "Don't you glare at me," his dad snarled. But Luffy continued to look at him in hatred, tears now streaming down his face. He still didn't know what he had done to deserve this. Part of him didn't want to know.

The abuser kicked Luffy's arm, breaking the bone in his forearm. He heard it crack but didn't feel it since he still had the drug working.

"Little shit," the man whispered dangerously. "If you ever manage to get out, if you ever tell anyone what goes down in here, I will hunt you down, no matter where you are, and kill you. Painfully." Then he smirked as Luffy shook in fear. Then he left the room after a few more kicks to Luffy's stomach.

Day 421

Luffy had long since abandoned emotion. He was just blank now. He didn't eat much of the food he was given anymore. He let it rot next to him, knowing his rat friends got to eat it. He did still drink water he was given twice a day. He no longer felt and motivation to live. He was going to die down here, and it was taking too long for him to get there in his opinion.

He had forgotten why he'd ever screamed or spoken in the first place. It wasted energy, and regardless, he'd be beaten brutally. He had a broken arm, rib, fractured nose, and sprained ankle. Not to mention his inability to move his wrists or legs anymore. He couldn't tell how long he'd been down there. He only knew it was a long time because his hair had grown long and the bangs now blocked some of his vision. Not that there was anything to look at down there in the dark.

Day 507

Luffy realized he no longer felt pain after the constant use of the drugs. Now it was just an inconvenience to be beaten. He wondered when he was going to be killed, finally, since he was no longer ideal stress relief when he made no reaction.

His ribs poked out far, and his wrists had grown so thin that they were able to slightly move in the shackles. But there was no point in trying to get them out of the cuffs and escape. He belonged down there. It was the only reason he existed. If he went anywhere else, he'd be a bother to others, like he always had been. He'd always be useless. He now took every cruel word from his father to heart and believed them.

That day, Luffy was surprised to see a new form of torture. He made no reaction as a rope was tied around his neck, and yanked on to become tighter and tighter till he couldn't breathe. But he didn't try to get out of the harsh grip. He made a few quiet coughs, but that was it. There was no feeling, and he never knew about the rope burns that were now around his neck. His head had been slammed into the wall again, and the dots in front of his eyes spun in rapid motion, causing Luffy to become to dizzy he threw up. But all he threw up with saliva and mucus, now on the already crusty bare and beaten chest.

Day 800

Luffy was no longer a person. He was empty space down there in the dark. He could no longer remember anything about his appearance or voice. He wanted to die. But his father still enjoyed seeing what he had done to his son and kept Luffy alive.

Day 900

Luffy prayed for death, every single moment.

Day 1000

Nothing anymore. No pain, no desire for freedom or death, no hunger or thirst, no hate or sorrow. Just nothing.

Day 1099

Luffy's dad walked down into the torture chamber and decided he was bored with the current state Luffy was in. Luffy just stared at him as he walked closer. He only became slightly more than blank when he was the pistol in his dad's hand.

The part of Luffy that had wanted to die so badly left the moment the gun came into view. Suddenly, Luffy didn't want to die. He didn't want that gun near him either. But he had no say in the matter, especially since he never spoke anymore. He never even cried. He even never coughed. Speaking was no longer a part of him. His speech had left with the pain.

"I'm quite sick of you being so boring down here. Have to keep feeding you and giving you water. And it smells rotten down here from you shitting your pants and vomiting all the time," the man said as he lifted the gun to point at Luffy. But still, Luffy didn't protest.

"I wonder if you'll feel the pain of a bullet. He's test that out," the torturer said twistedly. And he pulled the trigger, shooting Luffy in the stomach right above his belly button. Luffy then did something neither of them thought he would. He screamed bloody murder, the sound ripping through his dry throat. It would have been painful, but he didn't feel that, nor the bullet now lodged inside his body.

He screamed at the horror of being shot and dying down there. Luffy them began to sob, but spoke nothing.

"Shut up!" his dad shouted at him, stuffing a greasy rag into his mouth to shut him up. But the damage was done. Luffy's dad rarely kept the window closed anymore since Luffy hadn't spoken in over a year. Luffy was kicked in the face and blacked out, the last thing hearing his father shout in panic about the window being open

Luffy woke up to the sounds of thundering footsteps, and a bright light in front of him. He was in the arms of a police officer. He was so thin and small that he could easily be carried by a short female officer. Luffy mode no move to show he was awake, and was placed down on a wooden chair in front the house. He watched blankly as his parents were wrestled into a police cruiser, both handcuffed.

No one noticed that Luffy was bleeding because he was covered in dry and crusty blood. An officer crouched in front of him.

"What is your name?" she asked kindly. Luffy didn't answer or make any sign that he even heard her. Instead he looked at the sky. It was overcast, but the natural light was beautiful. He didn't even notice he had tears down his face.

When he was out there, he was able to look down at his body. He was very skinny. He looked starved. He couldn't move his legs, and he had so many scars and burns all over his half-naked body. His wrists were raw.

"How long were you down there, sweety?" the officer questioned. Luffy flinched away from her comforting touch, stopping her hand in midair. But then blood dribbled over Luffy's bottom lip. Then a chorus of shouting happened and Luffy was sat on a stretcher, laying down like they told him to. He didn't want to be a bother.

As he wheeled away from his prison, he blacked out. When he woke up, it wasn't at his home, and he was scared. At least he was on a comfortable bed, covered in bandages and fluid bags. He almost threw up the food he was forced to eat.

He was finally free. In a sense.

Eighteen year old Luffy woke suddenly on his and Zoro's bed, disoriented. He was draped on Zoro's chest while he slept.

"Hey, you okay?" his love asked in concern. Luffy gave a content sigh.

"Yeah. Just had a bad dream," he said softly.

"Do you wanna go back to sleep?" Zoro questioned, running his hand through Luffy's dark hair.

"No, I'm hungry. Can we go get breakfast?" The two then walked down the stairs and to the kitchen, holding hands, Luffy looking at everything in his current life in what could be called adoration. What a good life he had.