Dogtooth30: thank you! Hope you stick with it after this chapter.
Mirioria: Thanks for the comment!
FavidDreemurr: Luffy is very out of character once the trauma sets in during and very much after this chapter.
Ok, so I'm going to say you can read this as a romance if you wish, but there is no pay off. They seem like they could definitely be a couple, but that never happens. And I just want to say the chapters in this fic will be longer, as the whole thing is over 50,000 words.
Be prepared for some darkness in this chapter. The violence and swearing sets in during this chapter. As well as the start of the trauma. But hopefully still enjoy~
Zoro froze on the spot. He had given up on her trying to find it years ago. It was thinner than a thread and blended in with his green fur on purpose. Usually, the wire would be gray or black to blend in with a normal wolf's color fur, but Zoro's color was unusual, so they made it special for him.
Luffy put her finger under it and pulled it up, making Zoro accidently make a whimpering sound since it hurt. Luffy frowned at his reaction. "Hang on," she said, and walked into her bathroom. She came out with a small pair of scissors and walked back to him. Zoro was breathing heavily now. Was it really going to come off? Eleven years later?
Luffy took no notice to this and got one blade of the scissors under the wire, Zoro keeping quiet about it, and snipped it. It took over ten minutes of sawing to get it off and she pulled it away, inspecting it. Zoro let out a huge sigh, his breath ruffling Luffy's hair, while she looked at it.
"What is it?" she asked, looking to her best friend. Zoro just shook his head, like he didn't know. He walked further from it as she held it up. Noticing Zoro's discomfort, she took it and hid it in the loose floorboard under her carpet under the bed. No one but she and Zoro knew about the space.
Zoro suddenly walked to the open window, wanting to see if he could escape or not. Since that collar was off, the boundary shouldn't matter to him anymore. But he'd come right back to Luffy. He wasn't going to abandon her.
He surprised Luffy by leaping out of the window and down onto the massive lawn, sprinting towards the edge of the property.
"Zoro!" Luffy called as she climbed down the side of the house, running after him, barefoot. "Where are you going?!" She ran faster when he didn't slow or acknowledge her. Was he leaving her?! Now, after all this time together? She was already feeling insecure and she couldn't believe Zoro would do this when he knew how she'd been feeling.
Zoro ran faster. If he got to the boundary faster, he could get back to Luffy faster. He almost stopped when he heard her calling his name in panic. She thought he was going to leave her. But he was going back, which she'd know in a minute.
Finally he reached the boundary, and bracing himself for possible pain, he leapt over the hedge and into the woods, unhurt and ecstatic. He could escape whenever he wanted to! He immediately turned back around and jumped back over onto the property and ran to Luffy, who was sitting on the grass, sobbing. He felt like crap already. He knew she had depression right now, and he left her anyways, but he just had to know, and now that he did, he could go whenever he wanted and felt free already.
He got to her and laid down right in front of her and nuzzled her leg, trying to comfort her in anyway he could.
"You're so mean," Luffy said softly and ran away from him back to the castle and climbed up the rope nimbly and slammed the window behind her so he couldn't get back inside. He had been close after her, but he was locked out now. With his enhanced hearing, he could hear her crying inside and felt like a piece of shit. He had just been so excited to get the thing off! But he just left her, after she was the reason he could be free now.
He didn't know what he was supposed to do, so he howled outside her window.
Luffy sat in a little ball in her closet with the door closed and stared at the wall. She couldn't believe Zoro had done that to her. She had just talked to him about feeling alone, and it felt like he threw the words at her face when he suddenly bolted. He had abandoned her, though apparently not for long, when she least expected it. She stayed in the closet until it got dark out, and it was time for her to go to bed. She didn't go down for dinner, but she opened the window for him to come back in. She didn't want him sleeping out there.
By the time the window finally opened, it was dark and the stars were out. He jumped up to the window, which was on the second story, and saw Luffy was hidden under her blankets on the bed, obviously not wanting to talk to Zoro. He wondered how bad he had just messed up.
He pawed her from under the blanket, but she made no move, so he got up on the bed, making the large mattress completely sink on one side, and rested his huge head on her back. She ignored him, keeping extremely still, trying to make it seem she was asleep. But of course Zoro knew that wasn't the case just by her uneven breathing. She finally stirred when she heard Zoro's stomach rumble. It wasn't fair to deprive Zoro of food.
Luffy got up and walked past him, not looking at him, and said quietly, "I'll be right back," and slipped out of the room. He wanted to follow her to make sure she was safe, but the door was now closed. But this was the perfect time to see if he could finally change back after a whole decade of not being in human form. He walked back to the middle of the room and thought about how he would be shaped if he could turn back. It was painful to change after so long. It felt like his bones were snapping, not just reforming. He did his best not to cry out in pain and kept his eyes closed. But suddenly he was cold. His fur was gone and he was smaller.
He tried to run to the bathroom, but it was hard being on two legs after all this time. When he stumbled in, he saw himself in the mirror for the first time in what felt like forever. He was tall now, and muscular, with cropped green hair and green eyes. He looked at his hands, amazed at the feeling of opposable thumbs and picked up the things on Luffy's counter, just loving the feeling of handing objects. He didn't know how much he had missed this while he was a wolf. It was amazing! But then he heard the bedroom door quietly open and forced himself back into a wolf. It was painful to change back as well.
He could smell the food and walked out of the bathroom and into the carpeted bedroom. Luffy hadn't noticed him exit the bathroom, which would seem strange to her, because she didn't look up from the food. It looked very unappetizing to her. Food hadn't exactly been her favorite thing lately, and Zoro had actually once dragged her with his teeth by her shirt to the kitchen to eat. Alone, because neither her father nor stepmother bothered to eat with her anymore. So Zoro broke the rule and sat behind her as she slowly ate. She shoved all of the food to Zoro, who was laying across from her on his stomach.
Luffy thought for a moment about how horrible she felt. Why was no one noticing her pain except her dog? The castle was not a home anymore. It was her prison and she was the only person present.
"I'm sorry I locked you out…" she mumbled. She couldn't stay angry at Zoro because he was all she had and the most important thing in her life. Zoro whimpered, trying to make her sense it was an apology. She smiled at him, understanding it, and walked to her bed. Zoro didn't eat all the food. He brought a loaf of bread to her in his mouth and basically shoved it in her face. She needed to eat, too.
"I'm not hungry right now," she said, but was betrayed by her stomach when it rumbled. Zoro seemed to lift his eyebrows at her, causing her to sigh and take the bread. She honestly didn't care it was in Zoro's mouth, so she ate it slowly. Zoro ate everything else, knowing Luffy wouldn't even nibble on any other food than that loaf of bread.
She sat on her bed and watched Zoro scarf down his food, remembering how she used to do that. "I'm sorry I haven't been myself for so long," she said to the wolf, who had finished the pile of food. "Maybe that's why you thought about leaving. Because I'm boring and no fun anymore. I don't blame you," she muttered.
In that moment, Zoro contemplated turning back into a human so he could comfort her with words instead of motions. He was pissed at himself. He got too excited and broke a little piece of Luffy.
"Maybe that's why no one wants to be around me anymore. The servants always look at me strangely now, like they hate me. I don't know what's wrong with me," she said, sounding pathetic. Zoro walked over to her and licked her face, something he rarely did, and made her give a small smile. Luffy wrapped her arms around his middle and cried. She didn't even know how she felt, that she was depressed. She just felt lost.
Zoro pushed her back onto the bed with his muzzle and laid down next to her on his side so she could cuddle with him like a giant, living stuffed animal. She fell asleep like that, curled up against Zoro's stomach with his front and back legs on either end of her. It was their last night in Luffy's room.
-x-
Zoro woke up to the sounds of shouting and animals growling. He rolled off Luffy's bed, her still deep asleep, and walked to the open window. The room had a view of the back lawn, not the front of the house. Then he heard shouting from inside the house and the door handle jiggling, but not opening because they always had the door locked at night.
"She's in here!" and "We can finally set him free!" were heard by Zoro. He knew what was happening instantly, and had been right to expect this. He ran around the room, picking up Luffy's shoes and putting them by the window, finally waking her up from the loud thuds of his massive paws hitting the floor.
"What's wrong?" she asked sleepily, but then heard people from outside her door. Zoro growled at her when she walked towards the door. She stopped and saw as Zoro picked up her shoes and crouched down for her to get on his back. If Zoro was willingly inviting Luffy onto his back, something was definitely wrong.
She could now hear things like "Kill the little bitch" and "Shoot her in the head" and slipped her shoes on, climbing onto Zoro's back and holding onto his fur tightly as he leapt out the bedroom window and landed with a loud thud onto the ground. It was hard for Luffy to hold onto Zoro as he sprinted in the direction he'd run off to just the previous day.
He could hear more voices now behind him, but a ways off. He was able to leap over the hedge surrounding the castle before anyone of the people who tried to get in Luffy's room even touched the ground.
Luffy was uncharacteristically quiet on Zoro's back. Now she was positive there was something wrong with her. Since she didn't know anything about the world outside of the castle grounds, she found no reason for this to be happening other than everyone hated her. Zoro could assume that's what she was thinking and was right, but he couldn't stop to comfort her at the moment because they weren't far enough away from the angry humans and werewolves for his liking.
He didnt tire for over an hour as he ran, pushing himself to last longer, and throughout that time, Luffy was either silent, or crying her eyes out. Zoro wanted to shush her somehow because she was being very loud, but she had every right to fall apart at the moment. Plus, he couldn't exactly say anything to her as he was.
Zoro was extremely grateful that just the day before, Luffy took the collar off and that allowed their escape. If she hadn't, they would have been sitting ducks and Luffy would have been murdered. Zoro probably, based on the words being said outside of Luffy's room, would be "set free" from being Luffy's "slave". He'd rather stay a "slave" with Luffy as a wolf forever than leave her to die as he walks away as a human.
When Zoro slowed, even a bit, he almost panicked because he could hear, from a distance, heavy and fast approaching foot falls. Meaning there were wolves searching for them. Zoro hadn't run in a long time, except around the lawn, so he was out of shape compared to the others. He contemplated sticking Luffy high up in a tree and just guarding the tree, but that would leave the two trapped. For once, Zoro cursed himself for having unusual colored fur. It was inconvenient.
Luffy eventually fell asleep on his back, so Zoro had to run more gentle than before so Luffy wouldn't slide off. It had begun to rain a few hours after the two had fled, and Luffy was only was shorts and a tank top, like usual. She was shivering on his back, awake again and with her teeth chattering. Her clothes and hair were soon soaked and sticking to her as the downpour continued. She felt absolutely miserable.
Since she hadn't eaten much last night, except for that loaf of bread, she was hungry. She was emotionally upset and freezing cold and the jolting from being on Zoro's back was making her ache in her legs and lower back. Luffy desperately wanted to take a break and rest. She'd probably fall right to sleep if they found shelter. Then maybe she'd wake up in her room, in her bed with Zoro next to her while everything was peaceful. Maybe this was all a nightmare. A very vivid and real feeling nightmare.
Zoro was starting to tire quickly after over two hours of running, an hour of that pushing himself to the limit. He had known the forest was massive, but it just seemed endless. There were no landmarks that let them know their distance. Hell, they could be going around in circles for all he could tell.
But finally, he needed to stop and catch his breath, and Luffy needed to warm up. Zoro wandered around a bit, looking for some kind of shelter. After about fifteen minutes of feeling like endless searching, he found a creek and a cove that wasn't flooded by the water and was blocked by trees. He walked through the chilly stream and into the little alcove, too small for him to fit in as a wolf, but he knew this wasn't the time to break the news to Luffy she'd been living with a person for eleven years, not a giant dog.
He crouched down for her to get off and shoved his body into the shelter for her to come sit against him as warmth, though Zoro was wet as well. As Luffy continued to shiver, she came to the conclusion her clothes needed to dry, so she took all her clothes off and laid them next to her and Zoro under the rocks above them. She snuggled herself into Zoro's stomach, which was still somewhat dry.
Zoro knew now wasn't the time to be feeling awkward, but he was. He'd seen Luffy naked countless times, and even was forced to bathe with her once when she spilled a bunch of gravy on him when they were younger. Right now she was completely naked, laying right up against him. He cursed the human feelings that were coming back after the collar was taken off. So he didn't look at her, giving her privacy she didn't consider needing.
The two rested there for a little over an hour before Zoro heard sounds. It sounded like people, and was thankful there were no wolves with them. He still wasn't sure what was happening between the werewolves and the humans. They seemed to be working together, which confused Zoro. Sure, he'd been out of the loop about what had been going on, but it just seemed strange for some reason. It felt off.
He flicked his tail on Luffy, who woke up looking at his large face. She knew this was real, since she was still freezing and was laying on hard rock. It hadnt been a dream, but was still a nightmare. She heard the people outside and shrunk against Zoro, trying to melt into him and be unseen. He adjusted her by quietly and slowly crouching up and letting her shimmy under him and then behind him, her back painfully up against the wall of the cave where she couldn't be seen. She held her breath or else she'd be hyperventilating and give them away.
Zoro pretended to sleep, but the clothes laid out next to him were a give away someone else was with him. He heard shoes sloshing in the stream and, "Well, it's lucky it rained cause it should be easy to find them with these massive foot prints."
"Until the entered the stream, now the motherfuckers could be anywhere," another man said with a spiteful laugh. Zoro wanted to growl, but it'd definitely give them away. He wanted to kill them for making Luffy shake so terribly in fear behind his massive body. Luffy wasn't scared easily, but this situation would make anyone in her position terrified.
Finally one of the men reached where they were. Before he could say anything and see them, since they were pretty low against the stream where it dipped, Zoro lunged out and ripped the man's throat open, not even stopping for a second after that to kill the other before he could shout for help if anyone was nearby. Luffy started crying again when she saw the blood now running down the stream. She knew Zoro was protecting her and himself, but it was still gag worthy to see such things.
Zoro picked up and flung the men away from the cave so Luffy wouldn't have to see their mangled and blood soaked remains. He dipped his muzzle into the water and splashed it back and forth to get the blood off. He had thoughtfully yanked off the cloak one of the men was wearing and dragged it to Luffy under the cave. Zoro looked away from her as a guard as she dressed in the slightly damp garments she was wearing. She was given the cloak after she came out of the cave. Zoro crouched for her to get on again and she clambered onto his furry back.
Zoro didn't know where they were going, but was going to take advice from one of the men and travel up the stream. His feet would get cold, but it would leave no footprints. Thankfully it stopped raining soon after the two were on their way again.
"Zoro… I'm scared. I wanna go home," she whispered sadly. She had never been more scared in her life than right now. Was this what the outside world was like? Violent people having fun hunting others?
Zoro's brow furrowed at the weakness present in her voice. Usually, until just recently, she was bold and daring and strong and unafraid of most things. She'd been depressed, but not like this. But now she was reduced to a crying little girl, lost and sad and terrified of everything around her. He didn't know what he could do to get the old Luffy to resurface. She was silent for a long time after that, petting Zoro softly to try and calm herself, something she'd done many times before that had been successful.
It was late afternoon by the time Zoro was too tired to go on any further without a long rest. Luffy could tell he was exhausted and told him they needed to stop. She got off of him and the two walked slowly for somewhere to hide, side by side. Luffy didn't let go of Zoro's somewhat dirty fur, holding it like you would hold a hand. It, thankfully, hadn't started raining again.
Luffy stopped Zoro once they found an area with a lot of foliage and tried to be useful by piling bushes up on Zoro to try and hide him, and she'd climb a tree. Zoro, if he could, would have laughed at the tactic, but Luffy was trying to be useful and was most likely embarrassed with her recent weakness. So Zoro was covered and looked like a big bush. Luffy then climbed quickly up the tree he was resting against. She climbed higher and higher until Zoro couldn't see her if he looked up. As long as she didn't fall out of the tree, then he should be fine to rest for a while.
When Luffy was no longer able to see Zoro anymore, she felt empty. She was humiliated about how sheltered she'd been and knew nothing about the real world. She just continued to climb higher and higher up the fairly tall tree until she breached the canopy and looked at the sky. The clouds were all gone, like the downpour had never occured. She didn't know how long she sat in that position, watching the sky darken very slowly. Zoro deserved to rest.
Though she tried not to be, part of her was afraid of Zoro. He'd killed those men with no hesitation. She didn't know he could even hurt anyone. Sure, that first day they spent together, he freaked and pinned her down aggressively, but it only lasted a few moments before he backed down in shame. How did he even know how to kill someone so efficiently? She wondered what his life was before he became her best friend/servant/pet dog.
When sundown came, a long while after she let Zoro rest, she climbed back down to see the massive green canine was sleeping soundly under the leaves. She was proud of her plan, though it was simple, and that it had worked. Zoro was finally getting real rest without having to worry about weak little Luffy getting herself killed or lost.
It was as she climbed back up the tree that she heard a woman's laughter from the distance. Zoro hadn't woken up from it, and she wondered if she should tell him or not that someone else was around. But it sounded like a young woman. Surely she couldn't do them any harm. But all the servants had seemed nice and then they attempted to break into her room and kill her.
Luffy snapped off a small branch from up in the tree and let it fall down and land on Zoro, effectively waking him up. He didn't move except open his eyes, listening to see what Luffy had woken him up for. He cursed himself for even falling asleep in the first place, and by the darkness surrounding him, he could tell it was night time and he'd slept for many hours. How had no one found them yet?
He heard the woman's voice, now accompanied by a man's voice as well. He hadnt been speaking before, so Luffy had assumed the woman was the only one, but she would have been a fool to be out in the forest at night alone. Luffy began to climb down the tree quickly but quietly. Zoro slently shook off the leaves that had been camouflaging his massive form, and stood up, waiting for Luffy to drop onto him. Though he had rested, he was thirsty and starving, as was Luffy.
When Luffy dropped down onto Zoro, who barely felt her small body land on his back, her stomach growled. Zoro knew what she was going to ask.
"Zoro, maybe they have food. We haven't eaten at all today. We can't keep going if we have no food or water," Luffy reasoned quietly. Zoro would agree with her, if he knew what the humans would think of him being present. Last time he was around humans outside of the castle, they were hateful and did their best to put down and enslave his kind. Yet he had seen them working together when the citizens stormed the castle grounds. But Luffy was exhausted and they were both starving and cold.
Zoro gave a sigh and nodded his head to her, agreeing with her idea. He hoped the people were as ignorant as Luffy and thought he was just a big dog. But he felt only Luffy would be that, well, stupid. She jumped down from him and knew what Zoro meant when he nudged his head towards the voices and slapped his somewhat muddy tail in her face, spreading the wet earth all over her cheeks and forehead. Hopefully her clothes and dirty appearance would speak anything but "princess".
She walked towards the voices. It was time to act again, like she'd been doing all her life. She took a deep breath and stumbled out from behind a tree and "tripped" and landed in the mud. She spat it out and looked up, as if she hadn't know these people were here.
One was a young woman with short orange hair and the other was a taller young man with blond hair and a curled eyebrow.
"Oh, are you okay?" the orange haired woman asked as she hurried over to her. "Why are you wearing such clothes out here?"
"I got lost with my dog," Luffy said, sounding miserable.
Zoro in the distance heard what they were saying and gave a small snort that Luffy still classified Zoro as a dog. When would she catch on? If she was ever going to, on her own, then she would have. It was gonna be a big awakening that Zoro was not a dog, but a werewolf. He was sure she'd never even heard of the word.
He'd been with her in her classes, and never once did her teachers mention the oppressed race. Zoro would growl and snort at the history lessons she got. They were biased to an extreme and leaving out endless details, trying to effectively brainwash Luffy.
"Where's your dog?" Sanji asked. He'd be suspicious if Luffy were a man, instead of a small teenage girl.
"He caught a squirrel… I didn't want to see him eat it…" she said, sounding disturbed. "I told him I'd come back because I heard your voices and thought maybe you could help us," Luffy told him desperately. Zoro snorted again.
"Well, we live in a village close by. We were just going on a walk and were heading home when we ran into you. There are some crazy things going on right now, you know. I hear they assassinated the King today!" the woman said, like she couldn't believe it.
Luffy froze in place and couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Dad had been killed? And she didn't even know? What about Alvida! She must have been next. And then Luffy... She was the last one that they were going to kill. She fell on her butt, soaking her bottom in clumpy, somewhat dry mud.
When Zoro heard what the woman said, he turned around and ran to Luffy, hearing something fall onto the ground. He ran out from behind a tree into view and straight to Luffy. He touched his nose to Luffy's forehead, something she liked because it felt like someone giving her a kiss. Her lower lip trembled and she hugged Zoro's thick neck and tried her best not to fall apart. She was already not in character anymore. She didn't want to make it worse. That's when the man did it for them.
"Get the hell away from her you monster!" the blond haired man shouted. Zoro turned around and snarled at him, but the other didn't flinch. The woman was trying her best to get around Zoro to get to the poor girl who was being held captive by a monster! But Zoro glared at her and she froze in fear.
"What's going on? Don't talk to Zoro like that! What did he ever do to you?!" Luffy yelled angrily, standing up so she could see the angry guy across from her and Zoro.
"She doesn't even know does she?" asked the man. Zoro snarled. He didn't want Luffy finding out like this. "She doesn't know what the hell you really are!" When Zoro didn't answer, the blond haired and angry man turned his attention to Luffy, who was too small to be seen behind Zoro's girth.
"What are you talking about?!" she screamed. Before the human could open his mouth, Zoro took Luffy's shirt in his teeth and ran away from the scene with her, being held like how a mother cat carried her kittens.
"Zoro! What are you doing? Put me down!" she said, but Zoro continued to run away from the two that almost exposed him in a terrible way.
That's it for the Sanji and Nami presence in the story. It is almost exclusively Zoro and Luffy. There are short cameos with the other Strawhats in various places in the story, but only cameos.
Told you the cute fluff was over! Review, but please no hate as I mentioned before the story started that it would end up this way. And only get worse. MWAHAHA!