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Prompt: Luffy's fears

There were many, many ways you could describe one Monkey D. Luffy. Idiot. Glutton. Stubborn. Protective. Foolish. Insane. Reckless. Destructive. The list goes on for miles.

"He's as fearless as he is stubborn. Always rushing into things without a care in the world. But once he decides your his, there's nothing that can stop him," Nami told Robin once with a fond look towards her captain.

But that wasn't quite the truth. Luffy wasn't fearless. It was just that his fears had never been brought up before. In his entire nineteen years of life, Luffy was only ever truly afraid of three things.

Thunderstorms was the first. A fear born from being three years old and completely alone during the worst storm the island had seen in decades. It was just so loud and scary that the child couldn't take it. He tried not to be brave but it never worked. He would flinch every time the flash of lightning illuminated the room, knowing the loud BOOM of thunder would be quick to follow.

The only times Luffy had ever experienced a storm, he was by himself. There was nobody around to calm his fears and tell him that everything would be okay. The first and last time he ever tried seeking comfort from his grandpa ended up with Garp dropping him in the forest by himself during the next storm. That experience only escalated his trauma, and Luffy learned to spend storms hiding somewhere small and dark. Hands clamped over his ears in an attempt to keep the sound out.

It was Sabo that made this fear go away.

The blonde had woken up that night due to an elbow digging into his cheek. Sadly it was an extremely common way to wake up. After determining the offending limb belonged to Ace and freeing himself from his older brother, Sabo noticed something wasn't right. That was too easy. Normally he'd have to fight his way through two bodies in order to regain enough personal space that he could sleep. It took Sabo's sleep addled brain a minute to figure out what, or more specifically who was missing. Luffy wasn't there. Instead, the youngest was tucked into the corner of the treehouse. He was shaking like a leaf, with his hands clamped over his ears and eyes squeezed shut. A few seconds later Sabo found out why. A loud boom echoed around their treehouse, causing Luffy to flinch violently. A storm.

Sabo didn't hesitate to go over and pull Luffy into his lap, wrapping a blanket around the two of them.

"Didn't you know Lu? Storms are just dragons having a party," Sabo had said, running his hand through Luffy's hair.

"No they're not. Parties are fun. Storms are scary," Luffy said, flinching at the latest clap of thunder. Sabo's heart broke at seeing the energetic boy like this.

"Yeah they are, I swear! It all started when the first dragon found an island in the clouds," Sabo said. He went on to tell this story about the first ever dragon party and how each part of the storm related to it. The rain was because the dragons were swimming and splashing and the harder the rain, the more water was being splashed. Thunder and lighting were the dragons showing off to each other with increasingly fancy dances. Luffy was soon hanging off Sabo's every word and didn't even register the storm anymore. He fell asleep with his head on Sabo's shoulder, dreaming about dragons and parties. Everytime it stormed, Sabo would tell Luffy a story until the child fell asleep. In the end, Luffy grew to enjoy storms.

His second fear was fire, after being trapped in the Grey Terminal as it was burned to the ground. It took months before he could look at a campfire and not immediately think of that day. It took even longer for the nightmares to go away. Nightmares of being burned alive or watching his brothers being burned and unable to help them. He woke up screaming most nights. Ace would hold him close and tell him that it was just a dream until Luffy calmed down and fell asleep again. But it wasn't just a dream, because Sabo wasn't there anymore. His ship got blown up while Ace and Luffy were stuck in bed after the fire. What they survived, Sabo didn't.

Then they found a devil fruit that turned Ace into fire, and suddenly Luffy wasn't afraid anymore. Because Ace promised he would never let anything hurt him. Ace's fire meant warmth and safety. Luffy only needed to remember that feeling to feel comforted instead of afraid. Ace was fire and nothing would EVER make Luffy afraid of his big brother.

His third fear was one he wasn't sure he'd ever get over. It was a fear born when he learned Sabo died. The months that followed were some of the worst because Luffy would say or do something as if Sabo was there, but then he wasn't and it hurt. It hurt that a huge part of his life was suddenly missing and would never come back.

After Luffy made Ace promise not to die, he thought he was over the fear. Then Kuma appeared and Luffy was powerless. He had to watch as Kuma sent his crew away from him one by one. Completely and utterly helpless to stop him. And shortly afterwards, Marineford happened. Ace broke his promise and Luffy had to watch as Akainu shoved a magma coated fist through his brother's stomach. Because Luffy wasn't strong enough.

Luffy spent two years away from his Nakama and grieving for Ace. He trained and trained every single day so he could grow stronger and not repeat the same mistakes again. He wouldn't let his Nakama be taken from him anymore. Luffy wouldn't be able to handle that pain again.

He once told his brothers something. Just as they had started a tentative friendship and long before they actually became brothers. He said that being alone was worse than being hurt. Luffy still believes in those words. Because being alone is Luffy's biggest fear of them all.

The first chapter of my One Piece oneshot collection. I don't have any others finished for this fic, so I don't know when I might get the next chapter posted on this one. I'm working on the other fics at the moment so it might be awhile before I have any new content for this particular story.

Regardless, I hope everyone liked the chapter! Please Review/Follow/Favorite! Requests are ALWAYS open and welcomed!