Warnings: AU.
Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda-san. I make no profit.
In the angelverse. After Burning Ring Of Fire.
Theme 9 Determination
After the fire, Luffy figured out that the angel only came when he was in danger, so he put himself into dangerous situations. Over and over again, he tried to get the angel to come to him, purposely burning his hand on the oven just so he could hear the whoosh. But whatever he didn't wasn't dangerous enough, because his angel never came.
One night, when he was thirteen, he snuck out of his bedroom window and climbed onto the roof. It was a little windy up there, but since he was barefoot, it didn't affect him much. He just went to one of the edges and looked down at the ground. It was a few feet off the ground; the house had at least three floors and also an attic, so it was pretty high up.
He wasn't even scared, because he knew his angel would save him. Before he would even touch the ground, he would feel that loss of gravity again – would hear the whoosh of those wings.
Luffy closed his eyes and tipped himself back over the edge and his heart jumped into his throat when he started to fall. The wind rushed up to meet him, light against his back, flapping the edges of his t-shirt. It was almost like that night in his old house, when the flames were raging around him and the angel had saved him.
His body never met the ground that night. Instead, he fell into the arms of an angel and looked up into the one blue eye he remembered from that night.
"I knew you would come, angel." Luffy grinned at him, lifting up to wrap his arms around the angel's neck. He still smelled like smoke and cheap cologne, but Luffy found that he couldn't get enough of it. He nuzzled into the blonde's neck and basked in the warmth he radiated, even though the wind stung his hair.
The angel set him down in bed suddenly, but Luffy didn't wonder how they had gotten back without going through any doors. He just pulled the angel into his bed, forced the man to lean against the headboard with his wings spread wide across the length of his room. He put his head in the angel's lap and sighed contentedly when long fingers combed through his hair.
"I'll always come, Luffy." The angel whispered, his voice soothing like the sound of waves breaking on the shore. The fingers in his hair dropped down onto his forehead and Luffy gasped as something cold flashed through his body, like the feeling of ice water being dumped on his head.
The angel tucked him back into bed with a soft murmur, like he was trying to calm a wild animal. Luffy whimpered and reached out for him, but the blonde backed away back into the darkness, his wings curled up against his back.
"Forget you ever saw me, Luffy. You can't know I exist."
It felt like a dream, the way the shadows swallowed the man up like he was never there to begin with. Luffy rolled onto his side and closed his eyes, falling into a dreamless, deep sleep.