Chapter 4: The Runaway

Not that he'd ever tell Ace or Sabo, but Luffy kinda-sorta-almost died right after getting outta the cave. He might have maybe been running way too fast and almost kept running right over the edge of the cave and into the water.

But seriously! Who put oceans at the end of caves? That was just dumb. And Luffy knew dumb. Sabo told him he was the resident expert. He grumbled about it all the way up the rocky path from the caves; the path that was also stupidly close to the ocean. It was like those bandit guys wanted him to drown or something.

Stupid bandit guys.

And everything was so bright! The harsh sun hurt his eyes after the icky gross hungry time in the caves, and he was still kinda squinting.

Hanging on for dear life, Luffy clung to the rocky wall, shivering in the ocean mist. It was taking forever to get up the cliff. He might be able to see the top. Maybe. Or he was making things up again. At least it was a path, so he didn't have to go and climb and probably fall, but it was still way too close to the water.

Worst adventure ever. Well, maybe not quite, but still kinda close? Adventures were supposed to be fun and exciting, the thrill of chasing a boar from one side of Corvo to the other and then back again, then the crackling of the campfire pulling him to sleep after a feast of meat, and the warmth of Ace and Sabo next to him.

He continued shuffling, warmed by the thought. Once he was up the cliff, they'd go home, and make the warmest, biggest campfire ever. Ever. Just a little bit more.

He made it to the top and immediately flopped to the ground, rolling in the grass with almost quiet laughter. Finally! Grass! So so so so so good. He was never gonna love grass as much as he loved it now. Rolling in it was the best feeling ever. It was scratchy and warm and tickled his nose and so awesome.

Then the sight of a run-down house stopped him mid-roll, and Luffy flattened himself to the ground. Frowning, he stared at the shack. It had to be their hideout, what else could it be? Now what?

He could run. Ace and Sabo had told him to go home. Makino had taken him to this island once, he recognized that funny looking tower with the whale on it in the distance. It only took an hour for the ferry boat to get back to Windmill Village. He could get Dadan, get some of the guys they knew in Grey Terminal, get some kinda help, and then come back for Ace and Sabo. No problem.

Except he couldn't.

What if they were gone when they got back? What if he never saw them again? What if they got sold to those noble guys? Dadan and the bandits wouldn't come help. They'd probably just keep Luffy from coming back so that Garp had at least one of them to beat up. Ace and Sabo knew that, they were just being dumb on purpose. Who would help him save them? Makino and the Mayor?

It wasn't really a question.

Mind made up, Luffy pulled himself away from the nice green grass that wasn't trying to kill him, and walked purposefully towards the hideout.

Ace and Sabo had saved him from a shack like this, once. So this time he was gonna save them! The keys had to be inside. He'd get them, and bust out his brothers no problem. Then they'd go home and have a tiger for dinner. Maybe bear. And if Dadan was in a really good mood she'd let them have some dessert too!

Maybe as thanks for saving them, this time Ace and Sabo would let him have the comfy blanket. Oooh, or better yet, they'd never make him take baths ever again. Baths were stupid; all they were good for was getting you wet, and he got wet enough whenever he fell into the river thankyouverymuch.

Luffy circled around once, looking for a way in that wasn't the front door because even he wasn't that dumb. Hah! So take that Sabo! Almost hidden by a stack of barrels, he found a half open window instead. Hanging off the ledge, Luffy slowly pulled himself up for a look. The big guy who brought food was sleeping on a couch. There were two other guys playing cards, and a funny old lady was sharpening some knives in the corner.

Huh. Didn't he know that old lady from somewhere?

"Meow?" Luffy whirled around, expecting some weirdo bandit behind him and instead finding a purring kitty. Not quite as scary.

"Shhhhhhh!" He told the cat. "I'm trying to break in!" In response, the cat began to lick itself. And really, it wasn't bothering anyone, but Luffy was a little bit worried and more than a little on edge.

"Hey, hey! Stop that! You're too loud! I can't find the keys if you give me away." He said, making shoeing motions with his free hand.

"Meow…"

"I said shhhhhhh!" The dumb cat just kinda stared at him for a moment before going back to cleaning itself. Luffy was about to shush it again when it suddenly it hissed and bolted, disappearing before he could even bring a finger to his lips. Weird.

"Stupid cat." The boy grumbled. Cat scared off, Luffy turned back around to get another look at the room. Maybe figure out where they kept the keys.

Huh. That was funny. He didn't remember the whole room being yellow before. And it hadn't had little red flowers. And it definitely hadn't had buttons.

The whole room coughed.

It was around that time that Luffy realized that, oh, the room hadn't been mysteriously painted over. It was just a bandit guy standing in the window, blocking out the view of the room. Luffy looked up, looked up some more, until he finally met the eyes of the bandit. Huh.

Calmly, the boy dropped down from the window. Calmly, he began to walk away, whistling a mindless tune of innocence.

"Get him!" Roared the bandit.

Not so calmly, Luffy screamed and took off sprinting towards the treeline.

He could hear the thundering of feet behind him, an awful lot of feet. Way more than just the guys who'd been in the shack. Finally making it to the forest, he tore through the trees, stumbling and tripping and oh crap oh crap he should have thrown the cat at them when he'd had the chance.

Some guy suddenly popped up from the underbrush, roaring and swinging what might have been a hammer. Luffy screamed again, flailing his arms and trying to land a punch. It kinda worked. Almost. The boy's fist struck somewhere around the bandit's nose, but not before the hammer slammed into his back.

Anybody else would've been knocked out, but Luffy was made of rubber anyway, so it didn't matter. The blow slammed him into the ground but he bounced right back up and took the speed boost and kept running, running. He just had to get away for now. Later he'd punch all their lights out with his gum gum pistol. He would!

But for now he kept running, not really sure what he was trying to do. Make it to the town? Oh! Maybe he should climb a tree and hide! Or find a bird's nest and hide there? No no wait it'd be really cool if he-

Actually, Luffy didn't get to figure out what would've been really cool, because it was at that moment when he almost ran straight into a river. Tumbling right over the edge, he flailed frantically, grabbing the bank just before he slipped into the water below.

"Too close." He gulped, digging his toes into the cliff. Trying to put as much distance as he could between him and the water, Luffy scrambled back onto dry land. But as he peeked over the ledge, he saw he wasn't alone. Surrounded was probably a better word.

"Cm'ere you little brat, and no one gets hurt." Said the guy on the left. Might've been more convincing if he hadn't been readying his bat for a strike.

"Liar! You just wanna take me back!" Screamed the boy.

"Now now -" Luffy didn't give them a chance to finish talking, he just vaulted over the bank and charged forward. If these guys were just gonna talk then he was gonna fight! He'd taken guys down, kinda, sorta, once before. Just because there were a lot more of them didn't mean anything. He'd do it! He'd fight and win and he'd save Sabo and Ace and they'd go home.

"Gum gum pistol!" His strike hit the ground too early and completely missed the guy he'd been aiming for, but there were other bandits nearby so at least he hit someone. A bat slammed into his gut and Luffy doubled over from the force. Ace would've killed him for being so stupid and not watching what was going on.

Before Luffy could catch his breath, somebody else had grabbed him by the hair and he couldn't help the screech he made because that hurt! Clawing at the guy's arm, the boy tried to break free, and when that didn't work he kicked his leg out into somebody's side, kicked again, and kept kicking until it kinda hit the guy who was holding him up. Or at least he thought he did, because suddenly he was falling.

Luffy whipped out a leg as he landed (oh hey! Gum gum whip! He could use that for a name) just like he'd seen Ace do so many times. Didn't actually work that well though, cuz kicking their legs was like kicking iron. But he still managed to dodge the hammer guy as he came in to try another smash. Hah! Take that! Luffy was kinda sorta getting better!

Seeing a hole in the ring of guys, he tried to make a break for it. Too many bandits, there must've been six or seven or arghhhh he didn't wanna run like a wuss but he couldn't fight so many even if he was getting better and – and – and then it didn't matter because somebody's fist flew into his face and kinda stopped that train of thought.

The blow threw Luffy into the air and sailing into the river below.

This time he couldn't grab the ledge to stop his fall, and just like that he was underwater. Everything felt like lead, he kicked and struggled and tried so hard to grab onto land, but the current pushed him under and he sank. Blearily, Luffy watched the surface fade further and further away.

Everything was so…so heavy.

But…was that…that dark blob?

Ace? Sabo? Had they come to save him? He reached out a hand to the blob and could've cried because his brothers were so awesome.

Except...no.

No, he realized too late. His brothers weren't that big. It was just another bandit. He kicked and struggled again, but they grabbed him anyway and brought him to the surface. The big bandit guy, Dulcet, threw him to the ground as soon as they were out. Luffy tried to get up, to start running again, but the moment he moved, he started retching water.

He could feel ropes, they were tying him up, but he was too busy trying to get rid of the extra water to do anything about it. He grunted as the final knot was tied, but didn't have the strength for much else. He tried to bite at the ground, tried to hold on, thrashed in their grip when anybody even thought about touching him, but for all that work, somebody just threw him over their shoulders like a sack of potatoes.

Luffy could've cried. He'd been so close!

The world faded in and out as they carried him, and Luffy fought to stay awake. He had to get free. Just a little bit longer until the water wore off.

"He might've gone for help already." He heard somebody say. Twisting around to get a look, Luffy's stomach sank when he saw that they were back at the shack. All that running, and he hadn't made it far enough. Who was gonna save Ace and Sabo now?

"There's a few ways to find out." Somebody else, big bandit guy maybe, said. Luffy was tossed from one bandit to another until he was face to face with Dulcet.

"Kid, you tell anyone? About this? I'd rather not move this batch too soon. Too much effort."

"Blehhhh, why the hell would I tell you?" Luffy replied, sticking his tongue out for good measure. He wasn't gonna let these guys know anything! And he kinda wasn't sure what the best answer would've been.

"Fine then." Dulcet shrugged, and plucked Luffy's strawhat off his head with a flick of his wrist.

"Hey, gimme back Hat!" Luffy screeched. The bandit leader waved it teasingly in front of him, showing no signs of giving it back.

"I'd rather it doesn't get in the way. Or worse, what if it gets dirty? How 'bout I hold onto it for a while?" With that, Dulcet stuck Hat on his own head. Luffy wanted to punch that grin right off his face. Punch and kick his stupid face until it was all bruises and Hat was back where it belonged and Ace and Sabo were out and they were all gone.

"Shanks gave that to me! It's not yours!" He screamed, struggling in Dulcet's grip.

"So I guess we'll do this the hard way." The bandit continued, unconcerned about the boy flailing to get free. "Kinda wanted to do it like this anyway. You know Bluejam, don't ya?" He pulled open a door on the floor, and began descending into the basement. It must have been a storehouse, Luffy's nose picked up on the scent of food immediately and he couldn't help but drool at all the meat as it came into view. Great chunks hung off of hooks from the ceiling.

"We have a buddy on Bluejam's crew. He's the one who tipped us off about you snot-noses and that devil fruit of yours actually. And he told us a funny story about how this kid got bashed around with hammers without a scratch." Said Dulcet as he walked through the storeroom.

Luffy squirmed a bit more, trying either for freedom or for meat. Both would've been good. But Dulcet ignored the struggling and instead stuck the boy on one of the free hooks so that he was hanging by the ropes around his arms. Slowly, Luffy realized he'd been here before, kinda. Not here in this room, but he'd been hanging like this before.

"Now, besides this guy, I used to have another friend on Bluejam's crew. Great drinking buddy. Did the best Jim Jackal impressions. And, well, don't let it be said that Porchemy never did anything for me. He helped me set this gig up y'know? Told me which marines to pay off. I'm gonna miss that guy." Dulcet smiled again as he pulled out his weapon of choice. At first it looked like just an ordinary bat, but in the darkness of the basement, Luffy could just make out the nails hammered into one end. He gulped, because pointy bits were never good news.

"Lemme go!" Luffy squirmed against the ropes. Yeah, he'd definitely been here before. Been in this same situation. Didn't make it any easier.

"Now, I'm gonna ask you that question again. And again. And you're gonna answer it correctly this time. Or the time after that. I'm patient. When you answer it instead of being cute, I'll stop. Maybe. Don't wanna rough you up too much before we start the selling season. And that's true, just a little. But I'm an honest man, and so I'll tell you straight. This is also a bit personal, kid. Consider this for Porchemy."

Grabbing Luffy's head in one giant hand, Dulcet paused a moment to widen his grin, then pushed the boy back. He raised his bat, and the nails somehow shone even in the dim light.

In Luffy's opinion, the downswing was the worst part.

Happy birthday Ace! For your present, I beat up your brother! Haha...yeah. Best life decision ever. Oh Luffy. I love you, I really do. But it's so hard to write your voice convincingly. What goes on in that head of yours?

Well, uh, this took a while? My apologies. School is hard. Diff eqns was nasty, and don't get me started on thermo. I'm still traumatized. But hey, due to this awesome thing called iap, all I have during January is one class and some research work. Tons of writing time.

Thanks a ton to everyone who put this on their favorites/story alert'd this. And especially thanks to Shiary, Allyanime, Minstrano, Setari, Ysaye, MetaLatias, Hi Genie, Rhirhirhi, Vi-Violence, Mikila94, and Pirate Queen ofthe 21st centry! Your reviews really made me happy. Like, do a little dance in my seat happy.

Next time: an interlude, aka, how it happened. As always, let me know if anything needs improving/to be fixed! Pointers are golden. Happy new year!