Author's Note: Yay, new chapter! Now that I'm on break from school for a couple weeks, expect some fast updates from me for a while ;)
To FawnTheFox: Aw you're gonna make me blush! Thank you so much for you compliments, I really appreciate it!
To bpv229: Haha glad you liked it! Gotta show off the pureblood's power somehow, right? Sabo and Lu bonding is definitely coming up soon!
To SarahPrincess: Thank you so much! *dramatic music* XD
To fluffypuppies: Hello again! The Straw Hats always bond so quickly with little Lu...it's great. Zoro likes to cause problems though (bless him). Sabo's getting suspicious! *gasps in horror* But I do love me some ASL...so, we'll see what happens ;) I'm not sure why your comments took so long to show up (I'm noticing that's happening a lot...not just with you. I think it's a FanFiction problem...but I dunno, they usually show up eventually *shrugs*), but hey, two reviews is much appreciated!
To hinakudo: Thank you so much, and here's a new chapter for ya!
WARNING:
- Vampire/human relations
Also, please check out my new story Blackout if you haven't already! I'm really excited about it!
About an hour after the "incident", as Usopp called it, Zoro was returned to their cell. He was unconscious and being dragged by two vampires. Despite still feeling a bit shaken up from his encounter with the pureblood, Luffy rushed forward, ready to retrieve his new friend.
With Usopp and Nami's assistance, they took Zoro from the vampires and laid him gently onto the carpeted floor. Luffy bit his lip at the sight of a massive bandage on his friend's neck, just above the slim collar.
"Luffy." One of the vampires put in, breaking the silence and making him jump slightly, "Would you come here for a second?" It was the one with the funny hat who said he'd 'check up on him' later. He didn't particularly want to go to the vampire, but he did seem kinder than the others…
"Everything's fine, I just want to make sure you're okay…from earlier."
Leaving Zoro in his cell mate's hands, Luffy shakily stood up and shuffled past the other vampires still in their pen to where Mr. Funny Hat was standing towards the door. The vampire slowly sat on the carpet and patted the rug in front of him.
Luffy lowered himself down in front of the vampire, hands still a bit clammy. Mr. Funny Hat introduced himself as Shachi and began to check his pulse and temperature.
"Have you had any more panic attacks or episodes since the last one?" Shachi asked, whispering, "Cap told me about your claustrophobia."
"No…I'm okay." Luffy replied, looking up from where he'd been tracking the vampire's hands. 'Cap' must be Torao. "D-Do we ever get to go outside? Of our cells, I mean."
"Maybe." Shachi informed him smoothly while writing some notes in Luffy's chart, "I'll talk to Cap about it. What about your legs?"
The vampire continued to question him for a few minutes, nodding and writing down stuff occasionally. Thankfully, his legs were feeling better and didn't need as many bandages. He was grateful for that since they were really restricting. His hand didn't need a wrapping anymore, which was also a blessing.
"Glad to see you recovering." Shachi said with a smile, standing up, "Though Lord Second needs to be a little more delicate with our humans…your blood pressure spiked a lot." The last statement was more to himself and he continued to mutter notes even as they all left the cell and locked it tightly behind them.
Sighing, Luffy moved back over to where his new friends were, Zoro now lying on his makeshift bed in the corner.
"Is he gonna be okay?"
"Yeah…his body just needs to rest." Nami replied, pulling the blanket up to Zoro's chin, "What an idiot, making us all worry like that." Luffy chuckled softly and made himself comfortable against the wall so he could watch over his new friend while he slept.
Looking around the room, he began to think how he could use the ropes hanging from the ceiling for something…fun.
Would Zoro object to a swing?
As it turned out, running a citadel took a lot of work. There were a ton of areas that needed to be addressed and maintained daily, paperwork to be done, and even general cleaning! Sabo was grateful Lord Phoenix was there to help him through it all.
"Don't worry, you're doing fine." The older vampire soothed as they walked to yet another meeting, this one concerning the humans. Sabo felt bad that he hadn't yet had a chance to truly assert himself in the department, but with Kidd gone, he was stretched thin.
"Thank you, that means a lot." Sabo replied, straitening out his kimono. Marco chuckled and led the way into a meeting room where Trafalgar sat along with some of his keepers. Smiling dutifully, Sabo took his seat in the circle (on the floor, which was taking some getting used to) with Lord Phoenix at his side.
"Now that we're all here…let's begin." Law said while rifling through some of the human charts. Apparently, they did these meetings fairly regularly to talk about any issues, illnesses, or injuries among the humans. "First of all, one of our females is nearing the end of her pregnancy and may give birth at any time. Everyone should be on standby just in case. Second, some of our new acquisitions have been getting aggressive with each other and may need to be separated. Jean Bart, I'll leave that up to your discretion."
Sabo glanced to his left at the very large vampire Trafalgar had addressed. He was certainly large enough to handle a few wild humans.
"According to my notes," Law continued, "We have had no major incidents in the last week and are on schedule with harvesting. Does anyone have anything to add or report?" Jean Bart raised his hand.
"As usual, Marimo resisted us at mealtime today, but was easily subjugated. That collar is definitely making it easier on us." Law nodded, seemingly pleased with the result.
"Good, hopefully it will stop him from biting anyone in the future. Yes, Shachi-ya, what is it?" Sabo turned to look at the young keeper who'd raised his hand as well.
"…we did sort of have an incident earlier today…"
Sabo immediately spoke up.
"I apologize, it was my fault." Law raised an eyebrow and motioned for him to continue, "I caught the young human 'Luffy' in a trance to check for something and…well…" Shachi smiled.
"Don't worry, Lord Second, I just evaluated him and he's fine, just a little scared, I think. But in the future, I recommend holding back, especially on one so young." Sabo chuckled sheepishly in reply, while subtly watching Trafalgar's physical response to their discussion.
The older vampire's eyes had narrowed at the mention of the human, but otherwise, he was the picture of calm and collected.
"I see, I'm glad it was resolved quickly. What exactly were you 'checking for', Lord Second?" Trafalgar asked, leaning on his hand, nonchalant.
"Oh, nothing serious, I just wanted to see if you'd taken blood from his neck considering your note." Sabo replied, fake smile plastered onto his face, "May I ask how your research is coming regarding his blood disorder? You've had him for a few days in solitary, yes?" At that, everyone turned to stare at Law, surprised and confused looks on their faces.
"What's this about a blood disorder, yoi?" Marco put in, a concerned furrow between his brows. Law raised a hand to quiet everyone's whispers.
"I apologize for not informing all of you, but yes, I have had a little human in my care ever since the last raid. His blood is dense and very pure, meaning it holds some toxins." Trafalgar explained, eyeing Sabo, "I had some difficulty with him due to claustrophobia and his susceptibility for panic attacks, but I deemed him ready to transfer to the stables last night."
Sabo flinched at the mention of panic attacks, suddenly even more guilty about scaring the poor kid. Thinking back, the boy had been breathing hard and pale…
"What is your plan moving forward?" Lord Phoenix asked, crossing his arms.
"I don't believe this is a permanent condition." Law said with a bow of his head, "Given time, and the right medications, he should be eligible for harvest."
Marco seemed satisfied with Trafalgar's answer and went silent, as did most of the other vampires. Still, Sabo was curious and spoke up again.
"If I may, if his condition does prove to be permanent, what will you do? Dispose of him?" Sabo knew the citadel was quite progressive, but even they had to admit not all humans were useful. Lord Phoenix answered his question.
"We are not in the business of killing children, human or otherwise." He stated, expression neutral, "Even if this boy cannot give blood, I see no reason to not keep him around, yoi."
"Like a pet?"
"I suppose."
"Why not sell him?" Sabo continued to probe, wanting to understand their point of view. There were plenty of human farms out there who would be wiling to take the kid off their hands.
"Quite heartless aren't you, Sabo-ya?"
"Merely…realistic." He shot back, "I don't see the point of keeping a human around who simply takes up space and resources." Lord Phoenix exhaled slowly and put a hand on his shoulder.
"To be frank, none of us like the idea of throwing a child to the wolves so to speak. We'd rather keep him here, even it means as a pet, yoi." The other vampires seemed to agree, voicing how human young were so cute and squishy so it wouldn't be much of a chore to take care of an extra one.
Sabo was amazed. The Whitebeards were simply so…kind, willing to keep a human just to stop him from being shipped off somewhere else or killed, usefulness be damned. Though they still saw them as creatures of lower standing, they made sure to treat them well and with at least some semblance of respect (unless a heavier hand was necessary, as he'd witnessed). Since it seemed to be a citadel wide phenomenon, Whitebeard himself must've instilled these values into his subordinates early on.
'I really need to make a trip to the library.' He mused, thinking it would be helpful to read some of the ancient pureblood's own writings, if he could find any.
Shachi interrupted everyone by clearing his throat.
"Speaking of the kid, he asked if it would be possible to get out of his pen once and a while. Since he has a history of claustrophobia, I figured I'd ask."
"I'll allow it," Trafalgar replied, "given one of you takes him out and uses a tether of some sort to keep him from wandering off." Sabo immediately raised his hand.
"May I do it?" Law raised an eyebrow.
"After everything you just said…are you sure?" He nodded.
"To be honest, I greatly respect all of you and your values." Sabo continued, smiling a genuine grin, "It's…refreshing. Perhaps spending some time with a human will help me better understand where you're all coming from. Besides, I feel bad for scaring him."
Law smirked and nodded, effectively ending the meeting.
He was quickly learning that the Whitebeards were unlike any vampire clan he knew and required careful study to truly understand. That being said, Sabo found that he enjoyed it! The dynamic was nothing like the stuffy and privileged purebloods he was used to who would kill a human without a second thought. And, without a doubt, their approach was working! The Moby Dick was thriving, the humans were healthy, and no one wanted for blood.
Maybe this way of life was…better.
Marco was no fool.
He'd quickly noticed Sabo's probing and Law's response to it. Even so, whatever was going on regarding the new human child, he trusted Trafalgar's judgment. They'd known each other for a long time after all.
Still, he couldn't help but be curious about this 'Luffy'. A blood disorder could mean nothing, or it could be an indication of something even more dangerous. If it was what Marco suspected, Law would likely keep quiet for a while, content to examine the boy more. He was okay with that, as long as the kid's nature was kept hidden from their new pureblood Lords.
The last thing they needed was the council leaping down their throats or worse, someone decided to raid them for it. War would be comprehensible considering the harboring of such beings was now a capital crime (one his sire had no issue violating).
It was hard enough keeping Law and Ace hidden (especially since the fledgling's memories kept flaring back up), adding another could be problematic…especially one that was still human.
'Damnit, Pops.' Marco sighed, 'I seem to be following your example and collecting D's…'
Ace sneezed, shivering in the cold night air.
Their group decided to make camp in the city and would spread out to search it tomorrow. Kidd, their new Lord, wanted them to make a detailed map of the place including all of the human colonies they could find. They weren't to engage them yet, just observe, before moving on to the far reaches of their territory.
To be honest, Ace wasn't sure where Kidd intended to put all of the humans he wanted to eventually capture. It would take a while to build new stables and they were already pushing it…Plus, monopolizing all the humans in the area would probably earn the ire of their neighboring citadels who hunted the area regularly as well.
All in all, Ace was cold, hungry, and missed his little human terribly. This whole mission sucked.
"Jeez, what crawled up here and died?" Thatch teased, jumping up to join him on the ruined balcony overlooking their camp, "You look like you'd rather be anywhere else but here."
Ace groaned and leaned back on his hands to look at the stars.
"This is all a pain in the ass…"
"Yeah, I know, but-"
Suddenly, Ace saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Motioning for Thatch to stop, he pointed silently just beyond their camp. It was dark, but he could tell it was probably a human of some kind.
"What do you want to do?" Thatch asked, glancing back at him, "Inform our new leader?"
"No, I'll handle it." Ace whispered, silently slipping away and skirting around the edge of camp. Leaping down to the sandy ground, he crept up on the figure, surprised to find it was incredibly small…
It was a child, a little girl to be precise.
She peeked around pieces of broken metal at the camp, hunger clear in her eyes. Ace knew what would happen if she was caught, so he steeled himself, ready to intervene. Swiftly so as to avoid detection by their guards (grateful that Thatch chose that moment to "fall", drawing everyone's attention), he plucked the tiny human off her feet and leapt away from the camp.
He immediately covered her mouth to keep her from screaming. Ace felt bad, remembering how scared Lu had been of him…and still was, but this was for her own good.
Once he determined they were far enough away, Ace put the girl down and was met by terrified eyes. This one was much younger than Lu, practically still a babe.
"Hey there, that was dangerous you know." He whispered, balancing on the balls of his feet, "Why don't you run along now…before you're caught." The girl's lip trembled as she backed away, shaking terribly.
Huffing, Ace hissed at her (complete with red eyes and everything), which scared her enough to send her fleeing into the distance. Satisfied with himself, he turned around to head back only to stop when he felt a pair of eyes on him.
Swiveling around, he saw the little girl staring at him from where she was hiding behind a pile of rubble.
"Oi, oi, what part of 'get lost' don't you understand?" He called, somewhat exacerbated. He wanted to let het escape if only for Lu, to prove to him (and himself) that he could be caring towards the human race. But this was more difficult than he thought…
Surprising Ace, the little girl trotted back up to him. She stopped a good ten feet away, out of reach, to bow and whisper a quiet 'thank you'. The tiny thing almost fell over during her bow but managed to right herself and take off in the opposite direction, hopefully back to wherever home was.
'Humans are strange…' He thought as he made his way back to camp, trying and failing to hold in a grin, '…but I think they're growing on me…'
The next morning, Zoro finally woke up, still drowsy and weak from having his blood taken. Nami immediately fussed over him, combing out his bed head and chiding him for scaring them.
"Shishishi, I'm glad you're okay." Luffy put in softly, smiling at his new friend. Zoro snorted and leaned up against the wall, face pale.
"Yeah, thanks Luffy."
Breakfast was brought to them like usual, and Zoro didn't even try to fight them (which was probably a good thing). The vampires did think to include some special food for him that was supposed to help "rebuild his blood count" or something like that, Luffy didn't really understand. Once their guards were gone, Zoro spoke up, voice quiet and barely a whisper.
"I think…we should escape."
"W-What?" Usopp stuttered, also whispering and looking around nervously, "Are you serious!?" Zoro nodded.
"Luffy already told us that a bunch of the vampires are going to be out for a while, so this is our chance." Nami frowned and crossed her arms.
"You know that pureblood is still here, right? And, in your condition…"
"I'll be fine in a few days." Zoro shot back, "I just can't stand being treated like livestock…I want to be free again." Luffy knew how he felt but thought there was something even more obvious in their way.
"Won't our tags let them track us?"
"Yeah, we'll need to think of something to deal with that." Zoro replied, shifting so he was leaning over his legs, "…are you three with me, or not?" Their cell was silent. Luffy looked nervously between Nami and Usopp, curious to know what they thought about it. He wanted his freedom back more than anything, but escaping a citadel tagged would be nigh impossible. The vampires would just track them down and drag them back.
"Don't even think about it, youngsters." A gravely voice interrupted, muffled through the wall. It was one of their neighbors who Luffy'd only seen a few times. "If you try to escape and fail, we'll all pay the price."
"You don't think we can do it?" Zoro hissed, hitting his head against the palisade between them.
"I know you can't, brat." The old man replied, "I've been here long enough to see young folk like yourselves try and fail miserably. Trust me, it ain't worth the pain." Usopp shivered at the mention of punishment.
"W-What would they do to us?"
"Depends. Sometimes it's lashes or solitary confinement…I saw one poor sod get beaten and shocked with one 'o them electric rods. Pretty sure it varies depending on who's doling out the punishment, but they won't stop there. The rest of us will be punished as well through a loss of outdoor privileges, less food, and the like."
Luffy bit his lip at the thought of other innocent people suffering because of him, especially knowing that Makino and Woop Slap were here somewhere.
"Even so, I want to try." Zoro continued, fists clenched. Just before Nami could say something, the old man tapped two times on the wall and went silent, making all of them clamp up as well. The sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway.
Luffy's eyes widened as a familiar form stopped in front of their cell, a menacing looking rope in his hands. It was the pureblood.
Almost immediately, Zoro growled and pulled Luffy behind him protectively (having heard about the incident from Nami). The vampire simply tutted softly.
"Now, now, there's no need to be so nervous. Luffy, would you come here please?" He asked with a smile, "You know I can make you, but I really don't want to if I don't have to." Shuddering slightly, Luffy pushed himself up, freeing himself from his friend's protective clutches.
"It's okay…I'll be o-okay." He whispered, shaking a little. To be honest, he was scared (terrified the creature knew about it), but he tried to put on a brave face so his friends wouldn't be as worried…and not get hurt.
The pureblood opened the cell door, allowing Luffy to step out before swiftly locking it behind him.
"Your wrist please."
Luffy complied, all the while feeling his friends' wide eyes on his back. What did this vampire want with him? The pureblood tied one end of the rope around his left wrist, leaving the short tail in his tight grip.
"That should do it…" The vampire muttered, testing the strength of his knot, "Ready to go on a walk?" Luffy blinked in confusion.
"A…a what?"
"Mr. Shachi said you wanted to get out, so…here I am!" His captor explained with a grin, making Luffy's lip tremble slightly. So now he was a dog? The vampire leaned in with a concerned look on his face. "Is the knot too tight? Or…are you still scared of me?"
Luffy wasn't sure how to respond to that and simply looked down, sweaty hands grabbing at each other. Surprising him, the vampire gently patted his head and knelt down, so they were eye to eye.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you."
At that, the vampire tugged on the rope and led Luffy away, giving him just a few seconds to gaze back at his friends, who wore angry and nervous looks. With no choice but to follow, Luffy padded after the pureblood, praying this wouldn't end poorly.