Thank you to the already 13 followers! I never thought this would even gain something in the first place XD Anyway, here is the second chapter, enjoy:)
"Eeeeeh?! What do you mean, 'gone'?!"
Rouge smiles at her youngest and answers, scrubbing a pair of pants, that belong to either Sabo or Ace, with hot water, "My dear, your brothers went out into the forest just a couple of hours ago. I thought you knew." Luffy's face of betrayal gives away everything his mother needs to know and she sighs, closing her eyes for a couple of seconds. Luffy was gone for the entire day so she automatically assumed that he either broke the rules again (thank god that is not the case) or his brothers told him, causing him to spend the rest of the day running around with his friends.
While that last bit might be true, she hadn't counted on Luffy exploding when she told him that his brothers aren't home yet. He is standing in the middle of their wooden home, staring at his mother calmly doing their laundry. His eyes have widened and his mouth has fallen open, looking every bit of frustrated.
"They didn't tell me they were going out! That's so unfair! I wanted to go out too! Couldn't they have waited for me or something?!" Luffy exclaims, making a fuss. Rouge gets up from her sitting position and walks up to the strawhat that belongs to Luffy. His father owned it until his youngest showed a lot of interest in the strawhat after spotting Shanks wearing one too. Since Shanks is his role model in about everything, it came only natural that he wanted one too. Roger took it upon himself to gift Luffy his own. The boy has grown attached to it and wears it every single day. For today, Rouge wanted to get all the dirt off so she pushed her son out the door without his precious hat.
"Honey, you're too young to go out, you know that."
Luffy doesn't seem to hear it and continues to rant, his claws unconsciously growing out, "I went out my way to ask Torao as well." Rouge's eyes widen for a short moment before she exclaims, "You wanted Law to take you outside?! Luffy! How many times do I need to tell you that you can't break the rules?! Honey, I know that you want to go out, I really do. But if someone doesn't want to or can't at the moment, you can't force them to take you. I hope to God that you didn't go out by yourself."
Luffy pouts and crosses his arms, "It's all Ace's and Sabo's fault. If they stayed here, I could have gone with them. So mean." Rouge lets out a relieved sigh and ruffles Luffy's hair, saying, "I know, Luffy, I know. But if there is no one else that wants to take you out, no one who is old enough, than I'm afraid you'll have to stay here."
"Can't you take me, mom? You're old enough! Maybe a little too old, but I can work with that!" Luffy exclaims, looking up at his mother with bright eyes. Rouge feels her eyes twitch and lightly hits Luffy on the top of his head, snapping, "Do not call your mother old. And no, I'm too busy to go out with you. Maybe you can join the hunters later tonight."
Luffy pushes her hand away and answers, looking very unhappy, "But that's too late! I'm hungry now!"
"So this all about food again, is it? Listen, there is nothing I can do about that. I can either make something of the plants that we always have or you'll have to wait." Rouge tells her youngest son and she can see the frustration on his face. Luffy groans loudly and says, "Plants aren't food, mom."
"Then I'm afraid you'll just have to wait. Or try waking up your dad for an early hunting." Rouge simply answers and turns around to continue with her laundry. Their home has one big room in the middle, that serves as both the living area and a small spot as the kitchen (which is nothing more than an old, rusty cauldron with coal underneath it). Surrounding that room are two other spaces. One of Rouge's and Roger's shared bedroom and the other one is where the brothers sleep. It isn't much, but in comparison to some other homes, it's more than enough. They are a family of five werewolves, who are born and raised in the wild. They work with what they have.
Roger is sleeping in his room, laying on the big mattress filled with hay. The man may be the alpha, he sure does love sleeping. He is a great leader but just like Ace, he falls asleep pretty quickly. Though Ace has a much worse case than his father. But even though he may seem lax, Roger is up and going whenever the pack needs him to be a leader.
Luffy, however, needs him up now. Hunting isn't due in another hour, but his hunger is too much to bear. So, he takes up his mother's advice and steps into his parents' room, glaring at his father. He opens his mouth and releases a very loud growl, starling his mother. Rouge shots a look at him and exclaims, "I didn't mean it like that, Luffy!"
"But dad is too hard to wake up." Luffy reasons and Rouge hates that she can't deny it.
Roger's eyes flutter open and with a hazy look in his eyes, he moves his head up and finds Luffy standing in front of him, looking rather angry. He blinks really fast a couple of times before asking, "My boy, what are you doing here? Weren't you out playing with Chopper?"
"I was, but now I'm not. Get up, I'm hungry."
Roger sighs and rubs his face, "My pup is hungry, that's not a great sign. Is it already time to hunt?" Luffy grumbles a little before answering, "It's not, but that doesn't matter, right? You can start a little earlier today. Those traitors are out already anyway."
Roger can't help but chuckle a little, not fully understanding what the youngster is getting at. He rubs behind his head, feeling that his ears have popped up while he was asleep, and stares at the boy in front of him. Luffy has his arms crossed as he huffs and Roger finally asks, his voice rough from being awoken so rudely, "What are you talking about?"
"Ace and Sabo! They ditched me! Nobody else wants to take me out, so here I am. Get up, I want to go now."
"Hang on a second, little one. It's not time for the hunt yet, we're not going anywhere. Besides, you just interrupted my sleep, let me at least get good rest before going out to hunt your dinner." Roger is quick to say, not willing to use his energy on getting up. Luffy looks upset again and snaps, "You're also being unfair!"
"Luffy, please. Not now. You're sixteen, you must have plenty other things on your mind than food."
The second that leaves his mouth, Roger already remembers that can't be true. His youngest only thinks about two things: causing trouble and food. Causing trouble is what he is best at, but food is his number one priority. Roger is happy that all three of his brats have such a good appetite but it can make them very whiny at times.
"But-"
"Come back in hour and then we'll talk. I'll show you all the great places to catch deers and rabbits, alright?" Roger falls back and with the snap of a finger, the man starts snoring again, leaving Luffy in the dark.
Luffy stares at his father in disbelief before groaning frustrated again. He turns his head around to find his mother still doing the laundry and reasons that this isn't going anywhere. He turns back and puts a finger against his forehead, starting to think really hard.
"I'm going to get a headache from all of this thinking." Luffy says to himself while his head turns bright red. All of a sudden, a light pops up above his head and Luffy's eyes grow wide, slamming a fist into the palm of his other hand.
"Ah, that's right! I can just sneak out and go find them myself!" Luffy says, soft enough so that his mother won't hear it. It's a great idea, according to Luffy's logic. No one needs to know he is gone and besides, he is strong. He can face all those giant tigers on his own, he doesn't need his brothers or anyone else to protect or help him.
Luffy snickers to himself and walks out of his father's room. Not forgetting the fact that wolves can't make their ears disappear, he is quick with grabbing his precious strawhat in the process.
His mother is too engrossed in her laundry that she doesn't bother looking up when Luffy gets back into the living space. Luffy sneaks a glance at her for a short second and is about to slowly walk out when his mother speaks up, "Ah, Luffy! Now that you're here anyway, why not help me out with-"
Luffy doesn't hesitate any longer and runs out of the wooden home, leaving his mother behind speechless. He grins as he runs across the shabby bridge and dashes down the stone stairs to end up on ground level. He throws the strawhat over his head, making sure the ears are tucked underneath them. In the corner of his eye he can see Law and one of Ace's friends, Eustass Kid, arguing about god knows what and while Luffy is very tempted to check it out, he only has one mission on his mind and that is finding his brothers.
Without sparing them as much as a glance, Luffy tries to speed walk across the small plaza until he ends up at the stairs that lead up to the long passageway. He throws a couple of looks over his shoulder and after confirming that no one is looking into his direction, he dashes up the stairs and jumps into the dark, where he is sure that no wolf can see him.
He feels rather proud of himself and sprints into the darkness, his feet splashing the dirty water that covers the ground. Droplets of cold water fall down on him from the wet ceiling but Luffy has grown used to it over the years so at this point he doesn't even notice them anymore. He shakes it off like it's nothing and keeps on going until he reaches the big stone that covers the entrance. He pushes against the rock that triggers the whole mechanism and within a minute, the door is open for Luffy to go out.
He peeks around the edges just to make sure no one is actually there and stretches his arms widely before he changes into his full wolf form. His black hair gently falls in front of his face, his claws digging into the cold stone. He stretches his long, brown tail and shakes his fur to get rid of the water that is still stuck in there. The strawhat, that is held in place with a white rope, is on top of his head, making it look a little ridiculous. Luffy doesn't mind at all. All werewolves go out with hats covering their ears, meaning that once they change, the hat stays. It always looks a little awkward, but it is a normal sight for them.
For humans, however, Luffy is sure that's not what they'd think about when thinking of werewolves. Luffy has never met a single human in his life, not even when Ace got captured when the boy was ten. His father had made sure that both he and Sabo stayed behind with their mother while he and the other male wolves went on their mission to rescue Ace.
Despite the awful history, Luffy is still a little fascinated by them. Maybe it's his built-in curiosity about everything, but he often finds himself wondering what the humans are like What they are up to, what they do to entertain themselves. He has heard all the creepy tales about humans using wolf skin and wolf fur to keep themselves warm during the winter.
The worst one he heard from Kid, a rare red-furred wolf like Shanks. He is a friend of Ace's who likes to pester Luffy about everything. When they were little, Kid told him a story about a wolf who got caught by a bunch of humans who then first used him as a slave and later on, when they got tired of him, cut him up into pieces and ate him. Luffy didn't quite give him the reaction he was hoping for (even though both Ace and Sabo got mad at him for filling their little brother's head with more creepy shit) but it still gave him the chills.
Luffy knows that humans are dangerous, otherwise he and the pack wouldn't have to live in such a remote place, far away from the village and unknown to its citizens. But still, despite all the warnings and stories, his curiosity hasn't changed. He is scared of them, doesn't necessarily needs to meet them eye to eye like Shanks does (though the humans obviously have no idea what Shanks really is) but watching them from a distance is something that is still on his to-do list.
He grins and looks up at the night sky, "Once I'll find you two, I'll make sure that you won't ever dump me again!"
Ace laughs loudly as both he and Sabo walk down the stairs, just gotten back from their own hunting trip. A big tiger bounces off the steps, trailing behind Ace's figure and Sabo has got his hands filled with dead birds. The hats are thrown off now that they're inside and the ears, covered in twigs and mud, are all out. Ace has a big, proud grin on his face while Sabo is just simply smiling though the smugness can't be missed.
"Got to hand it to you, Ace. You actually managed to get that tiger." Sabo says once they've set foot on solid grounds. Ace rolls his eyes and pulls the tail as he says back to his brother, "Cut the act, Sabo. I didn't do it alone, don't be modest. Seriously, don't. It's making me feel uncomfortable."
Sabo chuckles out loud and sticks out his tongue at Ace in a childish manner, moving the birds in his arms in a better position while leading the way to the wooden hut. It's impossible to move the tiger all the way up, but there is no way that they're going to leave it anywhere far away from their house.
Nobody bats a eye at them when they drag the tiger across the plaza to get it to their home. Everyone in the pack has gotten very used to the brothers' rather extravagant way of hunting. It helps that their father is exactly the same but sometimes alpha males from packs that happen to pass their territory gaze at the brothers is such confusion that it makes even Roger's pack wonder whether or not their alpha's family is normal for werewolf standards.
After leaving the tiger under the hut, the two brothers race up the stairs and unto the bridge. Ace is the first one to break into the home and he exclaims, "Oi, Luffy! We brought food home! Eh?"
He only now notices how it's only his parents in the room, looking up at him the second he opens his mouth. He frowns and his mother speaks up, turning her body fully to face him, "Are you looking for Luffy? He left just half an hour ago. I don't know where he disappeared off to, but you'll have to look for him down there if you want to talk to him."
Roger scratches behind his head and adds, also casting his eyes to Sabo who has joined Ace's side, "He was quite upset when he got home. Something about you guys being traitors. Did you run off without him?" He chuckles a little at their faces, shaking his head. Ace clears his throat and says, in a louder voice, "We can't always pay attention to the things he's doing, can we? It's nice to have him around but since he is still too young to be on his own, it's kind of a pain in the ass to always watch over him."
Rouge raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms, "Then at least tell him. He was throwing a fit over here because you guys ditched him. He said he was hungry, so-"
"Couldn't you have stopped him then?! We went out of our way to hunt for food for all three of us! We're not that heartless!" Ace exclaims, throwing one of Sabo's birds on the ground. Sabo hits him and bends down to grab it again, saying as he looks up, "We knew we'd be faster if it was just the two of us, considering how Luffy always runs off. We're sorry, we should have told him. Do you have any idea where he might have gone off to?"
Rouge shakes her head and turns back to pull the hood on her husband's head a little tighter, "He might be with Law or Chopper, but I don't know. I hope to god that he didn't go out his way to look for you yourself."
"He wouldn't. He knows I will take away his meat if I catch him doing that. It worked last time, so I'm sure it has gotten to him." Roger says in a proud voice, smiling at his wife. Rouge doesn't look impressed and lightly scolds, "You got him to cry, that's what you did." Roger chuckles and lightly nuzzles his nose against Rouge's cheek.
Ace and Sabo, however, have frozen right on the spot and one shared look is enough to understand that they are thinking the same thing. Ace can feel himself get angry while Sabo inwardly groans, resisting the urge to run his hand over his face.
He turns back to the boys and says, finally ready to go, "Boys, I'm going to hunt for tonight but I take it I only need to save food for your mother and I? Can't you guys ever wait for the hunters to catch our food?"
Ace rolls his eyes and mutters, "That'll take too long." His posture is still frozen but Sabo's hand on his shoulder, that is urging him to get a move on, wakes him up from his thinking of ways to beat some sense into his little brother. Sabo also clears his throat, carefully placing the dead birds in the wooden ground, "Well then, father. Have a great hunt."
"Thank you, my boy. Take care of your mother while I'm gone, alright?" He gives his wife another kiss, ruffles Ace's and Sabo's hair and walks out of their hut. All the hunters are already grouping together on ground level.
Their pack is small in comparison to the average packs so it's not difficult to know all the hunters.
Shanks, a red-furred wolf who is allowed to go into the human village for supplies that they can't get from the forest or the big dumpster on the other side of the mountains.
Benn, a wise wolf who joins Shanks to the village to keep him in check.
Buggy, a hot-tempered wolf who is overconfident but clumsy.
Crocodile, the wolf that scared them all when they were actual pups.
Doflamingo, a creep who is good at hunting but who also doesn't hold back. His brother Rosinante, who is the complete opposite of that.
Rayleigh, the old wolf who is too wise for his own good and who is also Roger's right hand. He is like an uncle to the three brothers. Or at least the most important uncle, since the whole pack sees each other as family.
There is also Garp, the old geezer that they call grandfather. He is not related to them in any way, but before Ace and Sabo were born, Garp got bitten by a foreign wolf and Roger let him into the pack for safety reasons. He stayed and was there when all three were born. He took it upon himself to act like their grandfather and while they let him in the beginning, Ace regrets it. The old wolf is bat shit crazy and it has often made him wonder what the old man was like as a human.
Of course Luffy had asked about it when he was little, but Garp has not once let out a word about his past. Frankly, it makes Ace a little suspicious of him but he doesn't have much time to suspect his grandfather when all the man does is chase and hurt them, 'out of love'.
Sabo waits for their father to be completely out of sight before he turns to his mother to give her a big gummy smile as he says, tugging his hat, "If you don't mind, mother, we'd like to search around for our little brother. Let him know the food is here."
Rouge smiles back and nods, "Sure, you guys go do that. Make sure to be back by the time the hunters return."
"Will do so! Let's go, Ace."
Sabo grabs Ace's arm and drags him onto the bridge. He pushes him in front him and looks down on the hunters, watching how their father gives the regular instructions before they all start howling to finally go on their way.
Ace scoffs a little before he says, feeling very tense, "I swear, that idiot is going to get himself killed one day if this keeps going." Sabo tenses as well, not taking it as a light joke. Human hunters have very specific times when they go into the woods, but there are plenty of times where a stray hunter has found his way near the pack during hours where they aren't expected. Being careful is just one of the many important rules to learn when being a wolf.
But let that be the one thing that Luffy isn't.
"Ace, we promised never to think that way. I'm sure Luffy is fine. He didn't leave that long ago, he can't be that far off." Sabo reasons, swallowing away the light worry that is starting to build up. Ace clearly shares the same feeling and tightly grabs the rope that serves as a railing, hissing as his teeth grow longer and his fingers morph into claws, "When we find him, I swear. His share of meat will be halved."
Sabo sighs and makes himself smile, pushing Ace forward while saying, "Then we better hurry. The hunters are gone so we're safe to go."
Luffy smells every single rock, every single flower and every single tree, just trying to find the familiar smell that belongs to his brothers. He's been at it longer than he meant to, but that's mainly because Luffy jumps at every rabbit or snake that passes him by. He failed all of them, frustrating his hunger problem even more.
"If they only cared a little more, they'd have stayed behind. Stupid brothers. Next time I'll be the one to leave them behind." Luffy grumbles to himself, looking up at the dark trees when he hears the flapping of a flock of birds above him. The moonlight is blocked by the leaves and little stripes of light fall down on the wet grass here and there. Luffy avoids stepping into the light and stays close to the darkness of the trees, sniffing his way as he goes.
He is about to turn back and go into the other direction when his nose suddenly catches a very, very nice smell. Luffy's mouth starts to water at the smell of fresh meat and he immediately moves his head up, his ears happily flopping up and down. His tail shots up and his tongue finds his way out of his mouth. His paws start moving on its own and before Luffy knows it, he sees a whole bunch of lights, together with the sound of voices.
Unfamiliar voices, that Luffy can't understand because it's all mixed up.
He halts his walking and stares at the lights, squinting his eyes a little to get a better view of it. He gulps and looks around him, suddenly aware of the fact that this is not part of the forest surrounding their cave. Luffy has seen all the corners and hidden places of the forest, most likely this part as well. But the pure fact that not even his father or brothers have taken him here, can only mean one thing.
"Don't go where the lights are. They belong to the humans. Lights are dangerous."
His father's voice rings through the back of his head and Luffy's eyes grow wide. Has he wandered off that far away from the cave? That's impossible! He would have noticed, right? Luffy shakes his head and looks up again. The lights are still there and without even wanting it, his heart start to beat faster. He gulps and sets a couple of steps backwards, wanting to turn around and run back. It may take some time to find the familiar domain again, but he'll find it.
However, the smell of meat meets his nose again and Luffy groans out of pure frustration. He meant to find his brothers and make them find food with him, but he has been looking around for what feels like hours and his hunger has only grown worse by the second.
The smell of meat is not helping him in any way. In fact, it makes his stomach growl and his heart rate go even faster. With spit dripping down on the wet leaves, Luffy dares to set foot closer to the cheerful looking village again. He rushes up to a bush and changes back into his human form.
Luffy looks around him before sticking his head up to get a better view of the place. His eyes dart over the area and notices that there are almost no people. He slightly tilts his head to the side, not even hiding the curious look in his eyes, when he sees a tall man carrying a barrel in his arms.
Luffy's mouth forms an 'oh' and with widened eyes he follows the tall looking man until he is out of sight. He looks around him once again before pushing himself up a little to get an even better view of the place. He swallows away the slight fear and makes up his mind.
The meat wins it in his head and he makes a little fist with his hand. "Yosh, as long as the humans don't see my ears, they won't know I'm a werewolf. They'll think I'm one of them. Just like Shanks always does." He snickers a little at the thought of Shanks and puts the strawhat back on his black hair, successfully covering the big ears that always stick out.
Like the brave wolf he is, Luffy sets foot into the village and lets the smell of meat guide him through the houses. Luffy sneaks glances at all the homes around him and pouts a little at the size of them. His home is not even close to that, not at all. Why do the humans get to have all the nice stuff?
The world is unfair, is what Sabo would say.
They can suck it, is what Ace would say.
Luffy feels a little worried at the thought of his brothers, who must still be roaming around the forest right now. They'll be fine, is what Luffy makes himself think. Of course they're fine, they are two of their strongest wolves and have very clearly stated that they don't need any help in cases of danger.
Roger begs to differs, especially after the traumatizing events with Ace.
Luffy shakes all the nasty thoughts of his head and soon finds himself standing in front of a very bright looking place. He looks up and tilts his head to read the big name right above the entrance.
"Party's bar? Is this where the party is at?" Luffy wonders out loud and snaps his head back down when he hears a voice shout something, sounding like he is on the verge of crying. It is followed by laughter and Luffy's curiosity takes the better of him.
Without sparing as much as a glance around him, Luffy walks up the entrance and pushes the door open. He is met by a bright light and lots of people inside. And by lots, he means a lot. The whole place is packed, leave alone a lonely stool at the bar. The people are all merrily talking to one another, laughing and bickering their way through the night.
Luffy feels sweat break out at the sight of the humans. He has never met a single one in his life and right now, there are too many to count. He sees a couple of them look up at him and he needs to take a deep breath before he feels brave enough to walk further into the busy bar. He shakes his head to get rid of the annoying thoughts in his mind and ignores all the curious glances that are thrown his way.
The people at the bar all do the exact same thing once he arrives and Luffy turns to look at them with his best smile. He considers saying something to them but the smell of meat is undeniably strong in here and Luffy wastes no time with slamming his hands on the counter to exclaim, "I would like some meat, please! A lot!"