when she comes back up the mountain one day, no one is home, not even ace whose friend would not be out of high town at this hour. so she checks on luffy because the fire is cold and theres no noise coming from the crib.
it unnerves her, the babe is never quiet as if he always has something to say. makino would attest to that.
so she creeps down the hall, axe clutched and ready to strike, when she hears the unmistaken cooing of her youngest. dadan sighs in relief, a happy baby is one that is not in danger. at least she hopes, the monkey family have always been an odd bunch.
theres a snake. in her baby's crib. curled around luffy, and luffy coos at it, clumsy hands bumping its scales. and the thing barely moves, makes no sounds as it curls further into the babe.
the beast raises its head when dadan grows near, its fangs bared to kill the intruder. and just as she raises her axe, its rests it head back onto luffy's chest, no longer interested in her.
dadan nearly flips over from stopping her axe mid swing. shes not sure what happened. one minute she thinks she is going to fight a beast of the jungle and the next its gone back to cuddling its prisoner.
ace crashes through the door later that day, wrapped in bandages and blood dripping from his fingers. he doesnt say anything, dadan never gives him a chance.
'where we-'
before she can finish a sentence, magra is hearding the boy into the back room, fretting over the soiled wraps. she cradles the babe in her arms, choosing to ignore the cold scales that rub against her skin as it coils stronger around its charge, its tongue flicking out to taste the blood that pollutes the air.
luffy rouses from his sleep, lips smacking at the drool dripping down his chin. he blindly reaches his tiny hand out, and he grasps at the first contact he makes. the red beads that hang from dadan's neck tighten as he pulls.
she scolds the boy, gently releasing his grip from the beads and leading his hand to the snake, smirking when the beast sends her a cold glare. she was not past being petty with a beast of the jungle, especially one that had slithered through her house and into the bassinet of her treasure.