Author's Note: Long chapter for this update! Enjoy XD
To Vongola10: You're welcome and thank you so much! You're too kind :)
To fluffypuppies: Haha so much has happened! They finally escaped, but will it really all be okay? Poor Doma indeed...definitely look forward to more fluff and bonding between ASL and Law *winks*, there's more to come! No worries about the drawing, I totally get college taking up all of your free time, being in a graduate program myself. It's tough! I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
To SarahPrincess: Thank you so much!
To Hinakudo: Thank you, you're so sweet! I'm a big fan of possessive Sabo, Ace, Law...pretty much anybody being possessive over Lu haha.
To bpv229: Have no fear! The brotherly fluff shall return XD
WARNINGS:
- Violence
- Blood
- Mentions of surgery
- Threatening a child
Luffy jolted awake as the van hit a particularly large bump, almost sending him to the floor and bringing a harsh curse out of Zoro. They'd been traveling for a while now, driving through the night to put as much distance between them and the citadel as possible.
Sitting up to look out the window, all he could see was sand, a stark reminder that he was back in the wastes.
With a huff, he settled himself back onto the seat, pulling the foil tighter around his arm. By now, the vampires likely knew they were gone and would be coming after them.
"Keep sharp!" Bellamy called back from the front seat, "We need to find somewhere to ditch the van."
"W-We're going on foot?" Usopp questioned, eyes wide.
"We can't risk them tracking us through the vehicle." Bellamy explained with a roll of his eyes, "Plus, we're just about out of gas." From his experience, Luffy knew that gas was hard to come by, so this was probably the right decision.
About thirty minutes later, their vampire escort Doma parked the van under a nearby rocky outcrop. It wasn't much but did provide some occlusion from the main road. When the back doors were opened, Luffy was immediately met with a familiar mouthful of sand, which he promptly spit out.
"Home sweet home." Zoro whispered, stepping out onto the sand and wincing a bit. They'd fashioned crude shoes from the seat covers in the vehicle, but they didn't provide much protection from the arid heat of the ground.
Luffy took it slow, inching his way down onto the sand. Unfortunately, none of them were dressed properly for this kind of extreme heat and they needed a change of clothes desperately, otherwise they'd burn and die from heat exhaustion.
"All right, listen up!" Bellamy bellowed, drawing their attention, "The foil will keep doing its job for a while, but it also will store heat. In other words, we need to get these tags out ASAP." Luffy glanced to his friends, confused who'd made the blonde leader. Zoro put a hand on his shoulder and stepped forward.
"I certainly hope you've thought this far ahead."
"Oh, ye of little faith…" Bellamy chided, clicking his tongue, "Of course I have. All our years exploring the wastes weren't for nothing." He turned around and pointed in a seemingly random direction.
"There's a strange hermit who lives in that direction…oh, about a day's walk or so. He should have the ability to remove our tags."
'Yeah, if we survive the trek…' Luffy thought, looking down at his feeble garb. They were underestimating the harshness of the wastes. Two of Bellamy's goons grabbed Doma and pushed him ahead.
"Let's go."
"He's going with us?" Nami asked while pushing hair off her already sweating forehead.
"Yeah, we're not done with him yet."
After using what they could from the van to create make-shift cloaks, they headed out across the unending desert. To Luffy, it was familiar, but certainly not comfortable. He found himself missing the cool atmosphere of the citadel, despite only being exposed to it for a little while.
What was a bit concerning was the fact that Bellamy and his crew were now armed, having looted the van of its hidden weaponry (that they'd neglected to inform them about) …weapons that were definitely powerful enough to affect even a vampire. Luffy could tell they were high quality due to the slight blue hue that came off of them. When Zoro had asked for one, he'd been denied, saying there "weren't enough".
Yeah, right.
Doma was now handcuffed and being pulled along behind them by a rope. The vampire's cuffs were strong, so he wasn't going anywhere, not weakened like he was.
As he'd expected, the trek was hot and difficult. Not long after midday, Luffy stepped in to carry Nami when she almost collapsed from the heat. Out of all of them, she seemed least able to adapt quickly to the change in environment.
When the sun finally went down, they opted to take a break in a rocky cave spotted by Sarquiss, one of Bellamy's comrades. They couldn't stop for long, or risk getting caught.
The night belonged to the vampires after all.
Luffy gently placed Nami on the cooling stone and shivered slightly as the night's chill began to set in. Soon everyone was inside the cave and breathing heavily, taking in as much cool air as possible. He considered taking a short nap before Bellamy stood back up, a dark smirk on his face.
"Now that we're away from the main road…" The older male swung his weapon around his back, stalked forward, and kicked Doma in the face, sending him sprawling to the floor, "…we've got to get rid of our little friend here."
Luffy's eyes widened as the group of humans surrounded the vampire and began to beat him mercilessly. Didn't they know what would happen if they killed him!? Pushing past Zoro, he threw himself into the fray and on top of the vampire.
"Stop it, you're killing him!" Luffy exclaimed hoarsely, taking a few hits himself. Bellamy snarled down at him before whistling sharply. He kicked and struggled as two goons dragged him off the vampire.
Before Zoro and the others could get involved, Bellamy swung his gun back around and pointed it straight at Luffy's head. Usopp gasped and Nami's hands came up to her mouth.
"You trying to interrupt our fun, runt?" Bellamy hissed, moving closer to where Luffy was still held in place. The boy growled and tried to free his arms, to no avail. He was tired, hungry, and not in the best shape.
"Don't be an idiot." Luffy exclaimed, "You know that the Whitebeards are coming after us! What do you think they'll do if you kill one of their own!?"
"Those bastards aren't going to be a problem anymore, come tomorrow." The blonde fired back, hitting Luffy across the face with the back of his gun and making him cry out in pain. He groaned as he was dropped unceremoniously to the floor so the only thing he could make out with his splotchy vision was Bellamy's feet.
The jerk pulled him up by his hair and shook him harshly, further blurring his vision.
"Don't get in my way."
The last thing Luffy saw before blacking out was Bellamy firing bullet after bullet into Doma's chest, leaving him in a nauseating pool of blood.
When Luffy came to, his head was on Nami's lap and it felt like it had been split open.
"Shhhh…" She soothed, "You took a heavy hit…don't try to get up yet." Inclined to agree with her, he turned slightly to look around the cave, noting Zoro was outside arguing with Bellamy. Looking the other way, he saw a pool of blood, but no vampire.
"D-Doma…is he-" Nami closed her eyes and shook her head.
"They dragged him into the cave, he's probably dead by now."
Luffy inhaled slowly, eyes fluttering closed. With that, they were all dead. Even though he was liked by a lot of the vampires, there was no way they'd let them go after finding Doma's body.
"On the bright side, they did release his 'little friend'." Nami informed him, brushing hair sticky with blood out of his face, "Would you believe it was a monkey? One of Bellamy's mates had it in a bag the whole time…why would he give up his life for an animal?"
He could believe it, having met and befriended Stefan the dog. In this world, sometimes animals made better friends than people.
It took a great deal of effort to push himself up, especially since every little movement he made caused his head to spin. In seconds, Usopp was at his side, helping him out.
"Thanks." Luffy whispered, wincing in pain.
"Look who's up." Bellamy interrupted, walking back into the cave with Zoro hot on his heels. They had a brief glaring competition before the older male broke out into a cynical smirk. "Better pull yourself together, we've got a long way to go."
While everyone else worked to pack up their little camp, Luffy slowly made his way deeper into the cave. It was painful, agonizing really, but he needed to see the body…needed to see Doma. It didn't take long to find the vampire lying in an awkward position and covered in blood.
What was really heartbreaking was the little lump that whimpered on the man's chest, crying out in sorrow. Luffy stopped when the monkey hissed at him, eyes wet and full of grief. He put his hands up placatingly.
"I…I may be able to help him." Luffy whispered, glancing back to make sure no one had followed him, "Please…let me help."
The animal looked him up and down, gaze intelligent and searching. Luffy didn't move until the monkey slumped down and lowered its guard, allowing him to approach. Kneeling next to Doma, Luffy instinctively took his pulse, before he recalled that vampires didn't have pulses.
It was a strange phenomenon…they all had blood of their own but didn't really need it. Hell, they didn't even need to breathe, but most did anyway for whatever reason.
Not wasting anymore time, Luffy grabbed a somewhat sharp rock off the rocky ground and made a large cut across his left palm. Leaning over Doma, he let his blood drip into the vampire's mouth.
He knew from past experiences that though his blood was very pure and tasted pretty awful (or so he had been told), it actually wasn't poisonous like Torao thought. It was a creation of his mixed bloodline, one of his greatest secrets and defense mechanisms.
Most vampires couldn't get past the horrid taste.
'Please work, please work-' He repeated in his head, watching for any sign of movement in the vampire's limp body. Just as he was about to give up, Doma coughed, spitting out a good portion of Luffy's blood.
"No…you gotta drink it, please." Luffy whispered, putting his hand against the vampire's mouth forcefully, "I know it sucks, but it'll heal you." Thankfully, Doma was so weak he couldn't fight back. He stayed in that position for a while, until the vampire started looking better, eyes flashing a healthy scarlet as he fed.
The monkey chittered happily, rubbing its face against Doma's.
Finally, Luffy pulled back, swiftly tearing off part of his shirt to wrap around his hand. The vampire, still severely injured, looked up at him in confusion.
"…why…?"
"To protect my friends." Luffy replied, taking a moment to pet the monkey before standing up shakily, "Just…wait a bit to leave…" Doma nodded and sat up, drawing his little friend into his lap.
"I will vouch for you."
Luffy stopped at that, knowing what he was talking about. Their pursuers.
"Thanks…but hopefully you won't have to."
"You will be caught." Doma stated, eyes softening slightly, "It's inevitable. It would be in your best interest to wait here with me until they arrive." Luffy shook his head slowly as to not make himself dizzy.
"I'll take my chances."
Law clicked his tongue in annoyance as more sand made it through his cloak and clung to his skin. The wastes were especially dry and windy today…
His capture (or in this case, 're-capture') team was spread out in front of their three vehicles, searching the sands for any sign of their escaped humans. Unfortunately, since the humans were somehow scrambling the signal of their tags, they had to track them the old fashioned way, which was a bit more time consuming then Law would've preferred.
"I've got something!" Penguin exclaimed, calling the group over. Law jogged over to a rocky outcrop where his subordinate was standing.
"What have you found?" He asked, pushing his hood back a bit so he could see. Thankfully the rocks offered a bit of protection from the wind. Roughly camouflaged behind the formation was the stolen van, stripped down completely of its seats, weapons, and occupants. "Check the trip history and cameras, we need to figure out where they went from here."
While his subordinates worked, Law returned back to the main road, where Marco was waiting for him. The esteemed vampire was wearing attire quite unlike him: combat boots, thick pants, long-sleeve navy shirt, and a rough jacket with the hood currently flipped up over his blonde hair.
It had been a fight to keep Sabo at the citadel. The pureblood desperately wanted to accompany them to find Luffy, but it wouldn't be proper to have their new Second stomping around in the wastes. So, Marco had (very surprisingly) volunteered to go in his stead.
Refusing to leave Marco unescorted, Blenheim and Jozu accompanied them, both heavily armed and very intimidating. Law wasn't sure it would end very well though…not with Marco meeting Luffy for the first time and likely recognizing him as the boy Ace had shown them all those days ago.
He knew that the ancient vampire was already suspicious of Luffy and wouldn't be pleased to discover the boy's connection to Ace, Marco's greatest investment.
"Any luck, yoi?"
"Yeah, we found their vehicle." Law explained, "If we can compile the appropriate data from it, we may be able to determine where they went from here."
Marco nodded, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it skillfully. Watching him smoke, Law couldn't help but feel…intimidated. Though he wasn't large and bulky like his guards, Marco had an air of nobility about him. Every movement was purposeful. You wouldn't know it now, but the vampire had seen many battles and was hardly ever defeated.
"Something wrong?" The blonde asked, taking a drag. Law smirked.
"Just thinking how long it's been since you've been out in the field." Marco huffed, putting his hands in his pockets.
"Afraid I'll be rusty, yoi? You know me better than that."
Law chuckled in amusement and settled himself next to his old friend. They'd been through a lot together and he greatly respected the older vampire. Hopefully this whole business with Ace and Luffy wouldn't come between them.
He rather enjoyed Marco's steady companionship.
"Captain!" Shachi called, jogging up to them and saluting, "The cameras were pretty busted, but we got a few frames." Law nodded, expecting that. Their little escapees weren't stupid enough to not destroy their cameras.
What they didn't know was that they always had a backup hidden away, just in case the van was stolen. Granted, the backup only took stills, but it was all they had.
Marco and the others gathered around Shachi as the younger vampire pulled up the feed. True to his testament, the images were grainy and blurry. Law took control and clicked through what parts were legible until he came upon something interesting.
"There." He pointed out, tapping his claw against the screen. The picture showed the humans' backs outside the van and Hyena was pointing at something. "Penguin, get me a calculation of what direction he's pointing."
His subordinate hummed and began writing out a formula until Marco interrupted.
"West. Look at his shadow, yoi."
On closer inspection, Marco was correct.
"Good eye, we'll start there." Law said, "Let's go! We're heading west!"
At that, they all climbed back into their vehicles and started driving to where they hoped the humans were heading. They needed to find them quickly or risk an awkward confrontation with Eustass Kidd. Though Sabo did relent and stay behind, he requested they return before the red-haired pureblood came back from his expedition.
Unfortunately, that didn't leave them much time.
Hours later, the first van driven by Penguin suddenly stopped, forcing Jozu to slam on the brakes as well. Law immediately got out when he saw that his subordinates were scrambling out of their own van. They'd definitely seen something.
"What is it-" He stopped short when a very familiar vampire limped up to them, covered in bruises and blood, "Doma!" After interviewing their gate guards, they'd learned the humans had taken the brunette vampire with them.
Honestly, they'd feared the worst, especially with Hyena among them. Before he could even move, Marco was there throwing Doma's arm over his shoulder.
"M-My Lord…" The vampire whispered, wincing as they lowered him down onto a cot in the back of their second van, "Forgive me…I have troubled you." Marco shook his head.
"Don't, yoi. I know how much this little one means to you." Marco gestured to the monkey and it crawled up to his shoulder to wrap his tail around his neck. "The humans will be punished for what they've done."
As Law got to work giving the vampire first aid, Doma grabbed his arm firmly, drawing everyone's attention.
"I…I was dead."
"What?" Law exclaimed, hastily tearing the vampire's shirt open to get a better look at his wounds. True to his word, the wounds appeared fatal…but somehow, they'd healed up. Many were nearly gone. "How did…?"
"The little human…L-Luffy…" Doma continued, taking a moment to catch his breath, "He force-fed me his blood."
Law took a moment to process those words. He was under the impression that Luffy's blood was toxic to their kind, but it apparently had immense healing properties!? The boy's cellular properties he'd studied didn't suggest that at all.
"Why would he do that, yoi?" Marco asked, transferring the monkey back to Doma.
"…to protect his friends, apparently." The vampire said with a shrug, "That's what he said anyway. Blood tasted like crap though."
"Do you know where they went?" Blenheim put in, shouldering his large weapon. Doma huffed.
"They spoke about a hermit who could remove their tags. I imagine if you keep heading west, you'll run into them eventually."
"Thank you." Marco said, putting a hand on the other's shoulder, "Get some rest, we'll handle it from here, yoi." As Doma swiftly fell asleep, Law joined the blonde back in their own van, silence permeating as they headed out again.
"So…" Jozu stated, easily maneuvering their vehicle through the sand, "What's our plan going in? They almost killed Doma, surely you'll grant us permission to get a little…rough with them." Law glanced at Marco who had the most authority in their group. Ultimately, it was his decision how they handled this capture mission.
"Harming Doma was a mistake on their part." Marco replied, re-lighting his cigarette, "If possible, don't kill them, but they will definitely be punished…severely, yoi."
"…and Luffy-ya…?" Law put in, making Marco's eyes turn to him. He gulped as he felt the vampire's deep, scarlet gaze boring into him. The vampire was angry.
"I am willing to be merciful since he saved Doma's life, but he will still need to answer for his rebellion. I imagine we'll have much to discuss with him once we've returned to the citadel, yoi."
Luffy shuddered slightly against Zoro's back, body feeling a bit cold. That in and of itself was a bad sign considering the sun was high in the sky, beating down on them relentlessly. He nuzzled deeper into his friend's sweltering back, head pounding. Between the hard hit he'd taken and the amount of blood he'd given to Doma, Luffy knew he was in bad shape.
"Oi, you with me?" Zoro asked, readjusting him slightly.
"Y-Yeah…I'm with you…" He whispered, whining in pain and exhaustion. Luffy felt terrible that he'd become a burden to his friends, but he didn't regret saving Doma (not that he'd revealed that particular fact to anyone in their company).
"Good."
They traveled for another hour or so before Bellamy finally stopped, prompting Zoro to put Luffy down gently, still holding him firmly to keep him from falling over.
"We're here."
Their destination was skillfully camouflaged in the sand, but Luffy recognized it as a home immediately, having traveled the wastes for years himself. At first glance, it was just another large dune, but a steel door could be seen jutting out, exposed by the wind. As Bellamy's group worked to open (or break down) the door, Zoro gestured for their group to come closer.
"Listen, there's a good chance they'll try to betray us here…be on your guard." He warned, eyes steely, "If given the chance, grab a weapon." Usopp and Nami nodded, both determined. They were so close to freedom…Luffy huffed and leaned against Zoro, dizzy again. Hopefully his current weakness wouldn't inhibit them from reaching their ultimate goal.
After a few minutes of trying, to no avail, Bellamy brandished his weapon to blast it open. Luckily, someone popped out, an annoyed (and slightly fearful) look on his face.
"OI, OI! Stop with the banging would you-" The guy didn't get a chance to finish as Bellamy forced his way into the dwelling, followed closely by everyone else.
The inside of the home was relatively small, but cool and full of medicinal tools.
"Hiluluk…right?" Bellamy sneered pushing the strange old man onto his own couch, "We've got a bunch of tags for you to remove." Hiluluk growled.
"Tags? All of you!? Are you nuts! You'll lead the vampires straight here!"
At that, Luffy glanced down to his own arm, frowning. The guy was right. The second they removed the foil to do the procedure, their pursuers would know and head right for them. Bellamy just laughed.
"Then you'd better work fast, old man. Unless you want to get hurt…"
Hiluluk glared angerly up at Bellamy, teeth grinding together.
"Go ahead! I'm not risking our safety for the likes of you."
"Oh…" Bellamy drawled, an evil glint in his eye, "Our, you say." With a motion of his head, the larger male's goons began to search the home, tearing it apart. Luffy watched in horror as a young boy was dragged out from a hole in the wall, kicking and screaming.
"CHOPPER!" Hiluluk exclaimed, reaching out for the child who was now dangling in Bellamy's grip.
"I'll tell you what, we'll leave the kid alone…all you have to do is remove our tags."
"Put him down!" Luffy called hoarsely, pulling against Zoro. Bellamy smirked and squeezed the kid's neck.
"Stay out of this runt, or else."
Luffy hated having to back down, but with his hands around the boy's neck…there was nothing they could do. The old hermit huffed and stood up.
"Fine…I'll do it. Just don't hurt my son!"
Bellamy smirked and motioned for the man to go get his tools ready before turning towards them, throwing the boy to one of his companions. Zoro immediately growled and pushed everyone behind him.
"Aw, what's wrong? After all we've been through…don't you trust me?"
"Not at all." Zoro hissed, eyeing the blonde's other friends who had quickly surrounded them. Bellamy laughed loudly.
"Don't worry, we ain't gonna hurt you." He broke out into a cruel sneer, "So long as you do exactly what we say."
Zoro growled and threw his body into one of Bellamy's men, wrenching the gun away and pointing it menacingly at the smirking blonde.
"Easy there, tiger." Bellamy continued, motioning around them. Their smaller group was completely surrounded. "Like I said, all we want you four to do is sit quietly in the corner till we're done…"
Luffy bit his lip and backed up slowly as the barrels of very large weapons were pointed directly at his and Nami's heads. Zoro was breathing heavily, pupils blown and arms sweating. This was far from the ideal situation.
"Z-Zoro…" Usopp put in, shaking in fear, "I think we s-should do what they say." With a deep throated growl, Zoro lowered his gun, making Bellamy and his friends jeer at them. Luffy knew this was hard on him as Zoro saw himself as their group's protector, but they were outnumbered and unfortunately outmatched.
'If only I was at full strength…' Luffy lamented, 'Then maybe Zoro and I could do something!'
With weapons trained on them, they could do nothing as they were all tied up and forced into the corner of the small dwelling. His vision blurred slightly as Bellamy pat his cheek none too lightly.
"Now, why don't you four just relax over here while we get our tags removed. Once we're done, the old man can move on to you guys…or kill you, I don't really care." He chuckled darkly, "No hard feelings, we're all trying to survive out here."
With that, Bellamy moved over to Hiluluk who carefully removed the foil from his arm, ready to begin the procedure.
"Oi, Law!" Blenheim exclaimed, drawing his attention behind him, "Hyena's signal just came back online!"
"Let me see!"
Law took the pad from him and looked it over carefully. Just as he said, Hyena's tag was coming through bright and clear. He frowned, tracking the human's location. They'd overshot them by quite a lot.
"Contact the other drivers, we're turning around!"
As they adjusted course, Law's eyes stayed glued to the screen. If he was right, they'd only remove their protective gear if they were about to take their tags out. They needed to hurry or risk losing them to the wastes.
Removing tags turned out to be a complicated and long process. Just taking out Bellamy's took a good forty-five minutes. Now they were finally on his last comrade, the mean blonde girl. Next to him, Zoro growled under his breath, obviously frustrated with their continuous lack of success.
"Done." Hiluluk said as he finished sowing up the woman's arm, "Now get out."
"Aye, aye." Bellamy jeered, leading his comrades out the door, but not before stopping in front of them, "Thanks for your help Roronoa, we couldn't have done it without you."
"Go to hell." Zoro spit, struggling against the rope. The blonde chuckled, waved, and was gone, leaving them behind with the old hermit and his son.
"Chopper," Hiluluk said quickly, "Go pack your things, we're leaving."
"Oi, oi what about us!?" Usopp put in, straining to get free, "You can't just leave us here!"
"You're being pursued right? Based on how many of you there are, the vampires will be here soon enough. I can't risk Chopper's safety for a bunch of strangers!" Surprising them all, Zoro bowed low to the ground, touching his forehead to the dirty floor.
"Please…at least do my friends. I'm begging you."
Luffy frowned, immediately hating the idea. Weren't they going to escape together? Hiluluk looked down on them sadly.
"I'm sorry boy, but I simply can't-"
"Dad." The little one, Chopper interrupted, reaching up to hold the hermit's hand, "You…aren't going to leave them…right? You're a doctor, you save people." Hiluluk stuttered, eyes watering slightly.
"I-I…I mean-"
"Dad." Chopper insisted, eyes big and cheeks puffed out.
"All right fine…for you." Hiluluk relented, jogging over with a knife to saw at their binds, "No guarantees I'll make it in time though."
"We are in your debt." Zoro replied, throwing the now snapped rope away. Usopp and Nami helped Luffy up and over to the couch where they waited restlessly for the old hermit to start. Bellamy had taken up a lot of their time and their pursuers could show up any minute.
Initially, deciding who would go first was a challenge. Zoro immediately volunteered to go last, much to everyone's annoyance (they all knew how much freedom meant to him). Eventually, they decided to go in order of who would be least likely to be killed if the vampires did catch up to them: Zoro, Usopp, Luffy, and then Nami.
While Zoro was having his tag removed, Luffy and Nami worked to help Chopper pack up the little family's things. Usopp sat at the old man's computer, watching the ground sensors Hiluluk had set up.
It was a convenient system, warning them a few hours before vehicles would arrive at their location. The only weakness of the sensors was that it wouldn't pick up humans or vampires on foot, just larger and heavier machines.
An hour and a half later, it was finally Luffy's turn. He eagerly padded up to the hermit's chair, leaning on Zoro's bandaged arm for support.
"Let's see…" Hiluluk muttered, gently taking Luffy's arm and placing it under some sort of x-ray machine. He messed with a few dials and palpated the slightly raised skin for a few minutes before inhaling sharply.
"W-What is it?" Luffy asked, suddenly nervous. Hiluluk frowned and gave him his arm back.
"We've run into a bit of a problem, lad…"
"Spit it out." Zoro demanded, coming up beside Luffy.
"Before I say anything…young lady, could you come here please?" Hiluluk requested, swiftly taking a look at her arm as well. Once he was done, he sighed and removed his glasses. "You two, did a skilled doctor insert your tags?"
Nami and Luffy glanced at each other.
"Yeah…Trafalgar did mine…you too, right Luffy?" He nodded. Luffy's memory of being tagged was flimsy, but it had definitely been Torao.
"Unfortunately, both of your tags have been inserted in such a way that a more invasive procedure is required." The hermit explained seriously, "I can remove them, but it'll take almost two hours to do each surgery."
"T-Two hours!?" Nami exclaimed, "What makes ours so different?"
"The placement." Hiluluk continued, "One wrong cut and I'll sever an artery."
Luffy looked down at his hands as his friends began to argue with the strange doctor. Depending how far away their pursuers were, maybe they could still make it-
"O-Oi!" Usopp interrupted, pointing at the computer screen, "We've got a new problem!" Everyone scurried over to look at the curly-haired teen was pointing at and froze.
There on the screen were five blinking dots, all moving fast…and straight towards them. Three were coming from the northeast while the other two were coming from their opposite side. Their escape window was quickly closing.
"How much time do we have?" Zoro asked, turning to Hiluluk who had also rushed over.
"Based on their current speed…two and a half hours."
Everyone went silent, knowing what that meant. There was only time for the hermit to do one surgery. Luffy found himself trembling slightly. This wasn't how their escape was supposed to go…Bellamy had forced them into this situation.
But there was no time to think about it. He knew what to do.
"I'll stay."
"What!? Don't be ridiculous!" Zoro exclaimed, grabbing him by the shoulders, "We'll all escape, like we promised!" Luffy pushed the other's hands off him.
"You know as well as I do that we don't have time for this!" He turned to Hiluluk, "Get ready to take out Nami's tag, please." The doctor hesitated at first, but nodded and jogged into the other room after a determined look from Luffy. Beside him, Nami was in tears.
"N-No…Luffy, you should-"
"Nami." He interrupted, bringing her into a slow hug (still mindful of his injuries), "I want to stay. It's okay." She sobbed into his chest, shaking like a leaf, until it was time for her surgery to commence just a few minutes later.
Luffy sat with Zoro and Usopp in silence as they waited for what felt like days for Hiluluk to finish. No one said a word.
Finally, Nami re-entered the room, holding her bandaged arm tightly.
"It's done."
Everyone moved around the small dwelling, gathering their things in a deep melancholy that Luffy couldn't stand. Chuckling lightly, he pulled his legs up onto the couch where he'd decided to wait for his pursuers to catch up.
"Shishishi, don't worry! I'll be fine."
At that, his friends broke down and lunged to hug him, holding him close. Luffy smiled and returned their embrace, so happy he'd had a chance to make such great friends. Chopper trotted up and hugged him too, giving him a little reindeer toy 'for good luck'.
Naturally, Luffy gratefully accepted.
Once everyone had stepped outside, he was left alone with Zoro. The older teen knelt down and pulled Luffy close, making him giggle weakly. The ever serious and tough Zoro…finally giving him a hug.
"…you mad at me?"
"No. I respect your decision." Zoro whispered, not letting go, "Listen, Luffy. We will come for you. I promise."
"What if they kill me?" Luffy whispered back, melting into his friend's warm arms, knowing he would miss the feeling.
"They won't, not after you saved that vampire's life."
"Shishishi…" He chuckled, opening his eyes, "You caught me." Of all his friends, Zoro was the most observant. Luffy figured he'd noticed him slipping away.
"Idiot." Zoro admonished, letting him go to flick him lightly on the forehead, "You should've told us."
"Didn't wanna."
His friend huffed and ruffled his hair, leaning in to meet Luffy's gaze.
"We will rescue you, Luffy, so please don't die before then."
"Aye, aye."
With that, Zoro left, leaving him alone in the underground home. Now that everyone was gone, Luffy curled up on the couch, hugging himself tightly in an attempt to stop his trembling. The foil was gone, leaving his tag signal free and unobscured.
They would come for him soon enough.
Luffy couldn't help but be a bit frightened as to what would happen to him. As he was the only one left, there was a good chance everyone's punishment would fall upon him. But, for his friends, there wasn't anything he wouldn't do.
Taking another shaky breath, Luffy glanced to the computer screen, noting the vehicles as they approached. They would be there within the hour.
The minutes crawled by, prompting him to mess around a bit with the toy Chopper had left him. It was a bit ratty and kind of falling apart but had an awesome pink hat that Luffy thought was pretty cool. Would the vampires let him keep it?
After what felt like ages, the ground above him shook showering sand down on his head. Luffy flinched when he heard (and felt) car doors closing, the vibrations reverberating through his small body. They were here.
It didn't take long for the metal door above him to come crashing down, making him curl up even more on the couch. Though he was scared, he wanted to face them with some semblance of dignity, so he sat up, still holding the reindeer in his arms.
However, when the vampires themselves dropped in, Luffy immediately realized something was different.
'W-Who're these guys?' He thought, glancing down to their uniforms.
That was NOT the mark of Whitebeard.