Nami looked up at the sky in confusion, it had been dark for far too long. She looked up at the sky once again but there was no sign of it getting brighter. Robin was trying to help her to find out why it had been dark for so long, she felt like she had a small thought but she couldn't quite remember it and it was bothering her slightly. Zoro woke up and stretched. He looked up at the sky and shrugged "Guess I'll just go back to sleep." he said and sat back down against the mast and fell asleep.
Luffy came out of the men's dormitory yawning. He looked up at the sky confused "Huh, guess I'll get a midnight snack then." he said, forgetting there was a lock on the fridge. Sanji followed him not long after, "Odd, seems it should be day time." he said looking up at the pitch black sky. Nami looked down at him "It's true, it really should be." Nami said confused. "Don't worry Nami-Swan! Your prince will protect you in these dark times!" he said with hearts in his eyes. "Keep it down pervert-cook!" Zoro shouted, angry his sleep had been disturbed. "What was that marimo?!" Sanji shouted back.
The rest of the boys came out of their dormitory looking up at the sky in the same confusion that had been riddling the rest of the crew. "Huh, that's odd." Usopp said. "The sky's still SUPER dark." Franky said looking up at the stars that looked like they'd stay for hours still. "Strange, I feel wide awake and well rested." Brook said. Chopper nodded "Yeah, you'd think it would be day time by now." he said. Nami looked at them "It's been like this for hours. It has been dark for more than a normal night." she said.
Luffy came out of the kitchen "Sanji~! Food~!" he whined. Sanji sighed "Alright captain, I'll make breakfast...Or is it dinner?" he pondered as he walked into the kitchen. Zoro shrugged as he sat back down against the mast and decided to take a nap if nothing else. Brook looked up at the sky "Perhaps we're near the elusive night island?" he wondered. "Night island?" Nami asked. "Yes, it's similar to Enies Lobby but it has no day instead." he said, but they could tell he was uncomfortable or something. "How is it elusive? With the constant dark you could easily know your in it." Chopper asked. "No one has ever come back from it. It is said that monsters who thrive on the lack of sun live on the island, and fed off any who witlessly come onto the island." Brook said scaring them half to death.
Robin thought about it "Now I remember, I've heard of it as well." she said. Everyone looked at her "Where did you hear it?" Nami asked curious. "I heard a rumor about it while working under another pirate crew." Robin answered with a smile. "Well, what did you hear?" Franky asked. "NO, DON'T SAY IT! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANYMORE!" Usopp shouted, he could already tell it was only going to scare him more. "I had heard that an armada of around fifty warships went in search of the island. Out of them only one man managed to be found on one of the ships. The ship was covered in blood and had slash marks in it from what I had heard. However there were no bodies on the ship anywhere. The man however didn't live a long life after that. The government wanted to know what had happened and where the island was, but no amount of torcher or bribery made him talk. He was executed under treason." Robin said.
Nami, Usopp and Chopper came together and looked over at Luffy who was looking over at the kitchen. "Whew, thank goodness. It seems he's still completely focused on food and didn't hear about the island." Usopp said. "If he had heard any of that he would have had us all go there for the fun of it." Chopper said whipping his forehead. "Thank goodness." Nami said with a sigh of relief. "Yosh. I want to go to the Night Island!" Luffy yelled suddenly. The three looked at him with wide eyes. "HE WAS LISTENING!" Usopp shouted. They looked at each other in fear before they sighed and slumped, they no longer had any escape and they knew it.
Usopp looked around trying to find an island. He started in the North "Kay, nothing there." he said to himself under his breath. He looked East "Nothing there either." he said a bit louder. South "Nothing here either~." he said happily as he felt hope that he wouldn't even see the island and that it was all just a myth. He looked to the West "Yosh, noth-" he stopped short as he saw a small speck at the horizon. "So it's over there!" Luffy asked with a grin. Usopp jumped and tried to lie saying it wasn't, but Luffy didn't listen as Sanji called everyone to eat.
Everyone came quickly, after all Luffy would eat it all if they didn't come and defend their food. Usopp looked at his food sadly "Will we really be alright?" Usopp asked "Just deal with it," Zoro said. Usopp looked up at him, tears forming in his eyes "An entire fleet of fifty warships and there was only one survivor! Can we really survive such a place!?" he shouted. "Usopp, your foods vanishing." Zoro said. Looking down Usopp found that he hardly had a fourth of his food left "Luffy you took my food again!" he shouted as he protected his remaining food.
With their meal over they came back onto the deck. "Come on, just a little?" Usopp asked "No way, it's your own fault for not guarding your food properly." Sanji said simply. They all looked over to realize just how close to the island they had come while they had been eating. They could make out details now. There was no grass due to the lack of sun light but tress were around, though they appeared to be dead. From where they were it seemed there was no water there either. The entire place to them looked rather dead and deserted. It reminded them of Thriller Bark two years ago. Looking at the island it felt to have happened so recently.
"Where's Luffy?" Nami asked when she noticed he wasn't with everyone else on the deck. "Gomu Gomu no-!" looking up they saw him on top of the main mast, his arms stretching as he pulled himself downward. "ROCKET!" he shouted as he slingshot himself to the island. "That idiot!" Nami shouted as she face palmed, she should have seen that coming. "What do we do now?" Brook asked. "We're too close for Coup de Burst, we just have to wait till we get to the island and find him then." Franky said.
As it turned out Luffy had misjudged the distance and landed in waist deep water. He had to drag himself out onto the beach. He flopped out on the beach when he felt he was far enough that the water couldn't reach him. He was going to lay there till his strength returned. He heard something and looked up to see a man looking at him, standing a few feet away. "I see, your new to the island. What is your name?" the stranger asked. Luffy looked up at him blankly "Monkey D. Luffy. I'm the man who will be pirate king! What's your name?" Luffy asked with a wide grin. The man smiled at him and came forward. "My name is Enomoto Juba, nice to meet you." he said sitting down next to Luffy.
The man smiled down at him with Luffy grinning up at him "Nice to meet cha!" Luffy said happily. Juba smiled wider at the young man. "Hey do mind if I have a drink? It's been a while since I had it warm." Juba asked. Luffy looked up at him confused "Okay, sure." he said with a shrug as he tried to think of what drink could possibly taste better warm rather than cold. Juba's smile grew more as he looked down at the boy he was sitting beside. "Thank you."
The crew was had just docked and was about to set out in search of their captain. They were about to go when Usopp stopped them "Can't at least one of you stay to help guard the ship?!" he asked, tears streaming down his cheeks. He was wearing the same outfit he had worn on Thriller Bark. The group that had planed to leave turned to look at him. The group consisted of all but Usopp, Nami, Brook, and Chopper. Everyone else planed to go look for Luffy. "You'll be fine." Zoro said dismissively. "You don't need that many to look for Luffy! At least one of you should stay and protect us!" Nami shouted. Sanji was instantly by her side "Don't worry Nami-San. I'll guard you from any monster~!" he said kneeling before her.
Zoro rolled his eye as he turned back around. He used his thumb to push his sword out slightly as he stared at a clocked figure that was standing in front of the ship. His action getting everyone else's attention. "Leave now if you don't wish to die." the man said calmly. The four who had planed to stay on the ship clutched onto each other in fear. Zoro gripped his sword warningly "We aren't leaving till we get our captain." he said simply. The man nodded acknowledgment "I will look for him then, however in all likelihood he is already dead." the man said turning around.
He stopped quickly as he saw someone stumbling toward the ship. Zoro saw him reach into his cloak for something, likely a weapon and looked at what he was facing. "LUFFY!" he shouted as he recognized his captain. "He's really pale!" Chopper shouted with wide eyes. He collapsed and fell unconscious. Zoro jumped down and began to run toward him. The cloaked figure spread his arms wide as if to stop him. "It's too late! He's already dead like I had said." the man said. Zoro didn't listen to him, he could see Luffy still breathing. He pulled out his swords and swung one at him, only for the man to quickly jump out of the way. "I won't stop you but if you take him now, you will only lose more." the man warned. Zoro ignored him as he grabbed his captain and went back to the ship.
The man sighed as he began to walk away "See you soon." he said over his shoulder. Zoro looked at him confused before he joined the others outside the infirmary where Luffy was taken. "He's lost a lot of blood." Chopper said as he began transfusing some into him. He began looking him over for any injuries, but the only thing he found was two puncture marks in his neck. He scratched his head, it sounded so familiar to something but he couldn't remember what. He couldn't put his finger on it, and he had done everything he could do for Luffy, so he joined the others and waited to see if he would pull though.
Zoro looked into the room after a while and saw Luffy begin to stir. He entered the room and smiled as Luffy opened his eyes. He sat up and rubbed them as he woke up. He looked at the tube that was slowly putting blood into his body in confusion. He looked over at Zoro "Do you remember what happened?" Zoro asked him. Luffy shook his head "I don't remember anything after I 'Gomu Gomu no Rocketed' myself to the island." he said scratching his head in confusion.
Usopp came in, still in his outfit, when he noticed Luffy talking to Zoro. Luffy smiled at him and made a move like he was going to wave at him like usual but he suddenly froze and his smile vanished. Zoro looked at him confused as he observed him, Luffy's eyes were slightly wide and sweat was starting to form on his body as he looked at Usopp. Luffy pushed himself away slightly as he continued to stare at Usopp. However Usopp didn't notice how he was acting, but did notice something else. "Man your still very pale. You sure you shouldn't be resting still?" he asked. Zoro looked and it was true, if anything Luffy looked paler than when they had brought him back on the ship.
Usopp came closer and Luffy pushed himself off the bed and continued to back away till he was sitting in the corner. "Luffy? Do you not remember me?" Usopp asked. Luffy, all and all, looked horrified as he looked at him. Looking more closely Zoro began to wonder if it was Usopp or something he was wearing. Usopp went to take another step toward him "STAY AWAY! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" Luffy shouted as he pushed himself further into the corner. Usopp backed up hurt. He began to walk away when Zoro grabbed his shoulder, stopping him. He could tell Luffy felt bad for saying that from his expression. "Usopp, give me one of your crosses." Zoro said. Usopp gave him a confused look but handed over a cross without argue.
Zoro took the cross and turned around to face Luffy, who was now staring at him with the same look he had been giving Usopp before. He took a few steps toward Luffy and watched as he tried to push himself away. "Please stop." he asked, practically begged. Zoro looked down at Luffy before he turned back around and walked away. "Come on Usopp, lets put these away." he said. Usopp nodded, he didn't understand what was going on with Luffy all he knew was he was acting weird. "Yeah, I don't really need this stuff now anyway. We left the island a while ago." Usopp agreed and they both left for the dormitory.
Usopp looked at Zoro confused. "Why do you want me to do that?" he asked. "Just do it already!" he shouted at him. Usopp jumped and put all but one cross away and hid it in his clothes so that it couldn't be seen. With that they both went back to the infirmary to see Chopper and Luffy talking. Luffy was smiling and acting like usual. They both enter the room and stopped, Luffy smiled widely and waved at them. They both walked toward him at the same pace, as Zoro had planed. At around the same distance Usopp had gotten last time Luffy's eyes widened and he stared at the place Usopp had hidden the cross, his shoe.
He began to get the same look as the last time and after a few steps they found him in the same corner as last time as he stared at Usopp's shoe. Usopp's eyes widened as he took the cross out, he noted that Luffy's eyes were glued to it in fear. He moved it back and forth and Luffy followed it's every move. He dropped it and Luffy watched it as it fell to the ground. "Oi what are you guys doing to him!?" Chopper asked trying to figure out why Luffy was so frightened. Zoro kicked the cross closer to Luffy to make absolutely sure. Luffy's eyes widened even further and began screaming as his skin began disintegrating before he managed to make a run for it.
Those left in the room were at a loss for words as they stood there stunned. Finally Chopper snapped out of it and snapped at them "What did you do to him!?" he yelled angrily. "I thought it might have been some sort of weird mental fear he had, I didn't think he would actually get hurt just from being around the thing." Zoro said, more to himself as he tried to figure out what had just happened. "I think I have heard of this before." Usopp said rubbing his chin.
Luffy had run into the kitchen where Sanji was currently cooking, chopping up vegetables into small pieces that he was likely going to add to the main course. Luffy scrunched up his nose at the smell. Sanji didn't notice as he grinned at him. He looked at Luffy confused as he ran out of the kitchen. It was odd, normally he had to kick him out. Quite literally. He was just about to offer him something special to help him recover too.
Luffy sat on top of the crows nest trying to understand what was going on. He looked at his skin in confusion, he knew he had somehow gotten burned yet he couldn't find one burn on him. He also felt oddly thirsty but he shook it off for now.
Nami looked up at the sky and smiled, she could see the start of dawn in the distance. Usopp came over to her with Zoro, and Chopper, and had brought along Sanji as well. "What do you mean he's acting weird?" she asked confused. Usopp began listing off the various things "Pale as a ghost, two puncture marks in the neck, frightened of crosses, and left the kitchen in a hurry." Usopp said as he tried to think of where he had heard of something similar.
Luffy looked at the rising sun, somehow he felt that something bad was about to happen. The others on the deck below jumped as Luffy hit the deck, his body vanishing as the sun hit him like it had when he had his shadow stolen. Doing the only thing he could Zoro moved in the path of the sun, his shadow covering Luffy. His body recovered rapidly "Thank you, Zoro." he grunted as he began to crawl to the men's dormitory, Zoro moving to keep him in the shadow.
The entire crew watched with wide eyes as he went in, closed the door and every curtain to the room. "Yeah, I think he might of had a reaction to garlic or something." Usopp said to Sanji. "Now that you mention it, I was cutting some up when he came in." Sanji said. "Do you know what is wrong?" Zoro asked. Nami, Chopper and Usopp all nodded shakily. "It seems he has all the symptoms of vampirism." Robin said calmly. They all turned to look back at the dormitory window as they heard a hissing sound and saw two faint red glowing circles coming from the other side of the curtain.