Author's Note: All right guys, fair warning, this chapter is DARK. Like, really dark. Lots of warnings. 0_0 But, for those of you holding out for more fluff, have no fear, it shall return soon! Enjoy!
To kittyface27: Who could it be ;)
To SarahPrincess: Ah cliffhangers...they suck don't they? (Unfortunately, we'll be having those for a while) XD Thank you so much for your compliments!
To Guest: Things are getting heated indeed! Who is gonna show up!?
To hinakudo: Thank you! Haha, don't worry, Luffy meeting and interacting with Ace, Sabo, Law, and Marco is coming soon.
To fluffypuppies: Cliffhangers just add to the suspense ya know! Gotta read to find out who shows up ;) Lu's so selfless and pure...I love it. You're totally right, he can be very selfish, but not when it matters. Poor Sabo, he's dying of worry XD Enjoy the update!
To Smiley-Nami: Thank you and here's the update!
WARNINGS:
- Violence/Gore
- Corpses
- Blood
- Nakedness
- Vampire/human relations (slavery)
- Scandalous clothing
- Some unwanted leering
Luffy tensed as the vampires, a total of three, approached him. He'd been fully prepared to face Torao or even Sabo's wrath, but these were complete strangers! Which citadel were they from?
The emblem on their uniform was that of a large tree…a mark Luffy wasn't familiar with; but based on their current location, it was most likely a citadel that bordered the city.
"Hmph…just one straggler, huh?" A vampire with sunglasses growled, looking him over with a critical eye, "The Master won't be pleased."
"And whose fault is that?" Another one with a mustache exclaimed while kicking over a table, making Luffy jump, "We HAD a good group, until you killed most of them."
"They were not good enough to represent the Master." Glasses-guy replied firmly, never taking his eyes off Luffy, "Search the area, we won't stay long." At that, the vampire stepped forward and grabbed him by the throat, dragging him up off the couch.
He instinctively dropped the reindeer and clawed at the powerful arm holding him up. As Luffy fought to breathe, the glasses-guy hummed and used his other hand to literally rip his shirt off.
"Tch…male." The vampire grumbled, "Damn, with that stature, I thought for sure you'd be female." Luffy gasped, trying to keep from passing out. But even in his mental fog and intense pain, he glared at the creature holding him.
Just because he was short and skinny did NOT mean he was a woman. What a jerk!
"Nobody else is here." The third vampire stated while coming up next to Luffy's captor, "What should we do? If we don't find adequate offerings…"
"I know. Unfortunately, this one will have to do." The vampire with glasses dropped him on the ground just before his vision went completely black, "He's no female, but is pretty enough. Put him with the others."
Luffy's intense coughing fit was interrupted by a strong grip hauling him to his feet, almost sending him back to the floor when his vision blurred with dizziness. A vampire caught him in a crushing grip, not gentle at all despite his obvious injuries.
The one holding him was the man with the mustache who swiftly drew his arms behind his back in a very painful hold. What really scared Luffy was that his necklace was out for all to see. Yet, for whatever reason, these guys didn't seem to care.
Before he could be dragged out of the dwelling, his captor stopped and ran and a claw over the raised skin of his tag.
"Oi, Ohm, this one's tagged."
The glasses-guy, Ohm apparently, walked over to see for himself and frowned. Luffy yelped as the vampire grabbed his face roughly, forcing him to look up and see his own reflection in the glasses.
"Who do you belong to?"
Luffy gulped, feeling the vampire's claws digging into his cheeks. While he had no desire to say he was owned, by anyone, if that would keep him out of whatever these guys had planned…
"W-Whitebeard…" Luffy managed, wincing as the grip on his face tightened, "I belong to Whitebeard!" Ohm clicked his tongue and released him, mouth curling up into a scowl.
"Phoenix, huh. What a pain."
"From what I hear, the Moby Dick's under new management." The one holding Luffy put in, "It's about time they booted that dirty un-pure out."
"They are still inferior to the Master, new pureblood Lord or not." Ohm continued, turning towards the door, "We're moving out."
"…and the human?"
"Take him. We'll deal with the tag later." The vampire said, making Luffy's eyes widen. He wasn't terribly knowledgeable about vampire law, but every human knew that to be tagged was to be marked as property. They were essentially stealing from another citadel!
Did these vampires not fear retribution against their so-called 'Master'?
"Er…but-"
"Do not question me, Shura." Ohm interrupted, "You know as well as I do that this is an important meeting for the Master. It will be a yet another step to elevate his status. However, if we do not do our part and provide high quality humans…"
And that was where the argument ended.
Luffy was unceremoniously carried out of the dwelling, thrown over the vampire Shura's shoulder. Out in the wastes again, this time without a shirt, was immediately painful…his exposed skin receiving the intense rays of the sun directly.
"Say, Ohm." Shura said, readjusting Luffy's wriggling body effortlessly, "You don't think this human's scars will be problem…do you? I mean, he's far from perfection."
"It adds to his uniqueness." The other vampire replied quickly, "Don't worry about it…we can always cover them up if need be."
Luffy wasn't liking where this was heading. Whatever citadel these vampires were from was obviously a lot less progressive than the Whitebeards, and apparently indulged in dolling up their humans like pets…or worse. They'd mentioned 'offerings' of some kind, which didn't sound pleasant at all.
When the vehicles came into view, Luffy was dumped onto the sand uncaringly while the vampires worked to unlock a cage nestled in the bed of the closer truck. It wasn't terribly large, probably only fitting about five people at a time. He thought to run but stopped short when he got a good look at the other occupants of the cage.
There were two women, one who looked very familiar. Luffy gulped as he recognized the mean, blonde lady who'd been traveling with Bellamy. If she was here, where was the rest of the group? He'd assumed they'd be long gone by now.
In contrast to her usual smirk, she looked terrified. There was blood all over her arms and what meager clothing she had was now completely gone. After a quick glance, the other woman was naked as well. What the hell happened to them?
"Yama, dump the trash here."
The larger vampire nodded and opened the back of the other truck. Luffy's nose immediately scrunched up as a horrid stench wafted towards him. What did they have-
Luffy's face paled at what was revealed under the tarp.
Bodies. Corpses of humans.
Every single one decapitated.
Luffy gagged and brought a hand up to his face in horror. The bodies were bloody and mutilated beyond recognition. Above him, the vampire Shura chuckled.
"OI, don't forget to get rid of the heads too! We won't have time to take them back to the citadel."
One by one, the bodies were dragged away and dumped outside of Hiluluk and Chopper's home. Once all of them (a total of five) were out of the truck, Yama grabbed a bag full of…oh Lord…
Luffy swallowed the bile in his throat as they were all rolled out in front of them. One in particular landed face up, revealing the frozen, empty gaze of Bellamy.
'W-Were they ambushed?' He thought, lip shaking as he stared down at the head, 'Why would they kill all of them!?'
"Confused…?" Shura sneered, grabbing Luffy by the hair and hauling him to his feet, "These guys were in your group, right? Too bad for them, they weren't good enough to keep alive, so Ohm freed them."
Luffy was starting to understand what happened. These vampires had attacked Bellamy's group while out on a hunt but had only left the blonde lady alive. For whatever reason, they only wanted 'high quality' humans for some sort of…ritual? Offering? They must've mentioned Luffy and his friends, which led them straight to him.
Still, he didn't think any vampire would pass up five young and healthy humans…blood slaves were generally very valuable, regardless of their disposition.
"Our Master isn't interested in humans who aren't beautiful…or at least unique in some way." Ohm stated, closing the bed of the truck, "Anything less than that would be an insult to his perfection."
Luffy wasn't given a chance to retort as Shura pulled him over to the cage and roughly stripped him of what clothing he had left. Now completely naked, he was shoved in with the other two women, hitting his head on the bars in the process.
He immediately sat up and held his pendant close, the only thing left of his dignity at this point. Shura smirked at him, locked the cage, and pulled some sort of tarp over them, leaving them in simulated darkness.
Luffy bit his lip and curled into a corner to get comfortable as the truck started up, glancing to his two new cell mates. The blonde woman was shaking and staring down at her legs with wide, terror filled eyes. When he tried to talk to her, she didn't respond…just kept muttering to herself.
The other lady had dark hair pulled up in a ponytail and met his gaze silently, refusing to say a word.
Since the other humans wouldn't speak to him, Luffy focused on how he could escape. Unfortunately, the situation was bleak. Though he wasn't cuffed or anything, being without any clothing was a huge issue. Even if he was to miraculously escape, he would be dead in a few days.
In the wastes, the elements were just as dangerous as the vampires. Plus, since he was still tagged, no other humans would help him. Luffy was on his own.
That brought him to the only other option: waiting for the Whitebeards to catch up. From what he remembered on Hiluluk's screen, the group of three vehicles had to be Torao and whoever else was with him.
At this point, anyone was better than these vampires…even if he would still be punished for running away.
That is, if he survived whatever was in store for them.
Law held his pad tightly, lip curling up in frustration with every dot that disappeared. At the rate they were going, all the humans would be without tags and out of their hands. How annoying!
No one in the van spoke as the last four dots began to disappear.
Marimo…gone…Pachinko…gone.
Then, there was a bit of a wait, and Mikan disappeared. Law suspected they had trouble extracting her tag due to its placement. He purposefully inserted them in a way that was difficult to remove (except by him of course) for situations like this.
Law was starting to regret only doing that for the females…and Luffy of course.
He waited for the small human's signal to vanish…but, surprisingly, it remained. Not long after Mikan's was removed, the boy's signal came through even stronger, indicating he'd removed whatever was interfering with the tag.
"What's he up to…" Law muttered, drawing Marco's attention.
"How many are left, yoi?"
"One." He replied, turning the pad around, "Luffy-ya. It appears he's given up." At first, Law suspected the little human was getting his procedure done, but with no change (or even a blip in the tag's wavelength) and their fast pursuit, perhaps he'd seen reason and decided to stop running.
"Then, let's go get him."
They continued in silence once more, Law ever watchful of Luffy's signal. Thankfully, now that the interference was gone, he could monitor the boy's vital signs. From what he could tell, the kid was okay-
Suddenly, Luffy's heart rate spiked along with his oxygen levels, so much so that the pad beeped in warning.
"What is it, yoi?" Marco asked, immediately standing and moving so he could see. Law frowned in concern.
"Something's wrong. Based on this physiological response…he's afraid. Very afraid." He tapped on Luffy's profile and brought up the rest of his information, revealing adrenaline and vasoconstriction. "I think he's being attacked; we need to hurry!"
Jozu stepped on the gas, but when they were about thirty minutes out, Luffy's tag began to move, much quicker than he should be able to on foot.
"He's in a vehicle!" Law hissed, "Did someone beat us to him!?"
After what felt like ages, they finally arrived at their destination. They knew Luffy was no longer there, but the sight of multiple bodies outside of the dwelling was enough to ensure a delay. Law knelt down beside what used to be Hyena and looked over the body with sharp eyes.
A few feet away, Marco did the same, analyzing the kills.
"Brutal…" Blenheim whispered, "Who would waste perfectly good food like this?"
Law hummed, unsure. Though they tended to be difficult, those five were perfectly healthy human specimens, excellent candidates for any vampire's collection. Another thing he noted was that the fair-haired female (whose name he couldn't recall at the moment) was also missing.
Someone had taken her and Luffy but killed the others.
"The dwelling's empty." Penguin reported, "We did find some tracks leading in the opposite direction. After scanning them, we identified them as belonging to Marimo, Pachinko, and Mikan…looks like the three of them escaped the massacre."
'It's as I thought…' Law mused, standing up, 'Something happened that made them leave Luffy-ya behind.'
"Good work. Take Shachi-ya and bury the bodies, we're going after Luffy-ya." As everyone ran around following his orders, Law approached Marco, who appeared deep in thought. "What do you make of this?"
The older vampire frowned and scanned the bodies once again.
"My first thought was a feral, yoi." Marco said, voice low, "But they don't generally take prisoners."
"A rogue perhaps?"
"Maybe, but I think it's more likely to be a hunting party with…particular tastes." The blonde vampire turned to point at nearby tire tracks, "They came prepared. There's also this…" Marco led Law over past the bodies to where a pile of clothing lay innocently on the sand.
He quickly snatched up the tattered cloth and read the identification number on the inside of what used to be shorts.
"These are Luffy-ya's! Did they…strip him?" Marco nodded and lit a cigarette.
"There's only one citadel I know of that takes their humans naked and tends to focus on women, yoi."
"Upper Yard." Law hissed, clutching the cloth tightly in his fist. Those particular vampires rubbed him the wrong way, always quick to kill their humans when they outlived their usefulness or weren't pretty enough to display. "But he's still tagged! Surely they know what will happen if they steal from us!"
Marco blew out smoke and turned back towards their vans.
"They will know, yoi. Let's go…we need to catch up to him before they inflict damage on that child that can't be reversed."
The ride to wherever they were being taken to was surprisingly short, which was odd. Luffy was pretty sure there were no citadels this close to the Whitebeard's territory. Though the tarp obscured their vision, he wiggled his hand out of the bars to lift it up a little, trying to take a peek of where they were.
Unfortunately, the truck bed kept him from seeing anything but sand outside of their prison.
'Those vampires did mention not going back to their citadel…' Luffy thought, plopping back down in between the two ladies, 'So, maybe we're at an outpost or something?'
A few minutes later, he began to hear voices outside of the truck. They had stopped briefly, but now they were moving again, albeit at a much slower pace. The atmosphere hadn't changed, so they definitely weren't in a citadel.
Suddenly, the tarp was ripped off, making Luffy and the two women hide their faces. It was so bright! The vampires didn't wait till their eyes adjusted to drag them out of the cage and back onto the sand.
Luffy blinked continuously, trying to make out the blurry shapes around him while his hands were tied in front of him with coarse rope. When his eyes had finally adjusted to the sun's light, he looked around, swallowing nervously.
It was definitely some sort of outpost with a large stone building in the center. Encompassing the whole area were large, spiked walls and a metal gate that the vehicles could come through. There were a lot of vampires around, all with the same tree emblem somewhere on their clothing.
"Walk." Ohm ordered, pulling the three humans along towards the main building. Luffy stumbled a bit but managed to catch himself before he fell.
The inside of the compound was cool and provided great relief to his burning skin. They were immediately dragged off to the right, past room after room and earning some sultry glances from passing vampires.
Luffy could only hope they'd give them some sort of clothing…he didn't fancy being naked in a place like this.
Finally, Ohm entered a room at the end of a hallway. The inside was full of pretty fabrics and even had a bubbling tub on the opposite wall. What made Luffy's stomach drop were the other humans already there, getting scrubbed viciously and dressed in minuscule clothing that barely hung onto their bodies.
He'd heard horror stories about citadels like this…but never imagined he'd have to witness it firsthand.
"Ohm, you've returned! Ho, ho hooooo!" A very strange, round vampire exclaimed, skipping over to them, "A little late though, the Charlotte Family's representative has already been here for an hour. The Master's entertaining him until you bring out the offerings."
"We had some trouble finding suitable humans." Ohm replied, pushing Luffy and the others forward, "Get them ready as fast as possible, Satori."
"Ho, ho hooooo, of course!"
"Oh, also," Ohm continued, grabbing Luffy by his arm, "This one's tagged, and I need it gone before we present him."
Satori hummed and sidled up to get a closer look at his arm, making Luffy turn away in disgust. The vampire smelled like he'd slathered his entire body in perfume! It was enough to bring back his earlier dizziness.
"Hmmmm…this placement…one of Whitebeard's?" Satori asked, adjusting his glasses, "Well, I'll do my best, no promises though." Ohm growled and grabbed the round vampire by his shirt.
"Get it done. We can't present a stolen human…not to that family. They'll rebuke the Master!"
"I know, but the Whitebeards have many skilled doctors." Satori replied calmly, "We may not be able to remove it here."
Luffy glanced up nervously at Ohm, noting how his eyes were turning scarlet behind his glasses. The vampire shook Satori and brought him to his face, only inches away from his teeth.
"I don't care what you have to do, but there can be no evidence of him being from another citadel…understand?"
"O-Of course."
"Good." Ohm said, suddenly back to normal, "In the meantime, I'll take the women as soon as they're ready. It wouldn't do to keep the Master waiting any longer."
Luffy gulped as the two ladies were led away and Satori clamped a large hand around his upper arm with a dark chuckle.
"Ho, ho hooooo, always so serious. Now, let's see what we can do about that tag of yours…"
Katakuri was annoyed.
It was just like Mama to send him out to the boonies to listen to some no-name pureblood's petition to join their family which, unfortunately, was a pretty common occurrence. The Charlotte Family was of noble blood and offered many benefits for those who would swear fealty to Mama and her ideals.
But, out of all the citadel Lords he'd interviewed, this one was by far the worst.
"-and that's how I came to be worshipped. Quite an entertaining story, is it not?" Enel laughed, reclining on a cushion like some sort of lush. Katakuri watched in distaste as the man lowered grapes into his mouth and chewed loudly.
"Indeed…" Honestly, how much longer was he going to have to stay here? Enel had promised an offering for Mama, which he couldn't just leave behind, but he was beginning to think facing Mama's wrath was better than sitting through another one of this idiot's tales.
To add insult to injury, Enel had refused to meet him at his own citadel, instead requesting (demanding) Katakuri make the longer trek out to his 'human processing' outpost. He suspected the vampire wanted to present fresh humans or something to that effect.
Not anything he hadn't heard before.
Besides, he's already decided Enel was NOT a good fit for the Charlotte Family. His ego was too large, and he would without doubt try to claw his way up the ladder. Katakuri feared he would one day try to challenge Mama for her throne, something that was completely unacceptable.
But he didn't want to have come all this way for nothing. Hopefully the humans presented would be enough to quell Mama's thirst for a little while.
Just as he finished that thought, there was a knock at the door and two humans were forced inside. Katakuri immediately raised an eyebrow at their scandalous attire.
"Ah, thank you, Ohm!" Enel crooned, grabbing the chains attached to the females' collars, "Though…I believe I requested three, did I not?"
"You did, Master." The vampire replied, kneeling before him, "The third is being prepared as we speak and should join us shortly."
"Excellent." Enel exclaimed, grabbing the blonde woman's hair to pull her up closer to him, "What do you think, my Lord? Quite beautiful specimens, yes? I imagine they will serve your family well."
Katakuri wasn't sure what to say. Though humans were without doubt an inferior species, he didn't particularly agree with how Enel dealt with them. It didn't feel right to strip them so completely of their dignity.
He replied with a sound of affirmation, if only to stop the conversation from going any further.
They spent the next forty five minutes or so in awkward silence while Enel messed around with the humans, forcing them to feed him and other such degrading acts. Back home, some of his siblings treated their humans poorly, but well enough that they would generally live out their lives.
Katakuri couldn't help but wonder if this was why Enel had to send out so many hunting parties. It was terribly inefficient and a disastrous waste of food.
As the sun went down, he decided it was time for him to leave. He'd had just about enough of this pompous fool and his annoying habits. But as he went to stand, Enel stopped him with a wave of his hand.
"Leaving already? We haven't seen your third offering yet!"
Ah, yes…there were three.
"Bring them out then, it is time I rejoined my family."
Enel went to reply but stopped short when one of his servants rushed into the room looking quite flustered.
"You DARE interrupt me!?"
"F-Forgive me, Master," The servant stuttered, bowing low, "but it's an emergency!"
Enel sighed.
"Very well, what is it?"
"A group of Whitebeards are at the gate, demanding to see you!" At that, Enel's eyes narrowed and Katakuri sat up a little straighter. What were Whitebeards doing here? They generally kept to themselves.
"What do they want? I'm busy!"
"W-Well…" The servant took a deep breath, "They claim you've stolen from them, Sir."
As Enel spluttered and tried to maintain his cool head, Katakuri cracked a smile under his scarf. Finally, this ridiculous interview was getting interesting.
Law stood at the gate of the compound with his nodachi resting against his shoulder menacingly. He'd brought it just in case and was now glad he did. Beside him, Marco was unarmed, but equally intimidating with a smoking cigarette in between his teeth.
He supposed, in retrospect, they did make a pretty scary bunch, but that was kind of the point.
"Oi, they're coming back out." Blenheim whispered, making Jozu straighten up as well. A sniveling servant exited and bowed deeply.
"Pray, forgive the wait. My Master bids you welcome to his humble-"
"Enough of the pleasantries, yoi." Marco interrupted, fixing the shaking vampire with a harsh stare, "Take us to Enel."
They followed the servant inside and got some strange looks from the warriors gathered there, but that was to be expected. Law hefted his sword up and stole a glance down at his pad. Luffy's heart rate and blood pressure was severely elevated, as it had been since they'd discovered the boy had been kidnapped.
If he'd been injured…there'd be hell to pay.
After a bit of walking, they entered a large room, where Enel was reclining. What surprised him was the other pureblood in the room, a big name amongst the nobility.
"Katakuri, yoi." Marco greeted, bowing slightly, "This is a surprise."
"Yes…" Katakuri replied, inclining his head, "How fortunate that our paths should cross once more. I am curious as to what you have to say."
In Law's mind, having a Charlotte there was in their favor. Especially since it appeared that whatever he was discussing with Enel wasn't going particularly well. His eyes darted to the pureblood's feet and narrowed in recognition. The bastard had definitely stolen two of their humans, though they couldn't claim the woman anymore, not without a tag.
"Phoenix…what brings you to see me?" Enel sneered, forcing a smile (probably trying to be somewhat cordial to make a good impression on Katakuri).
"We are here to retrieve a human you've stolen, yoi." Marco stated, motioning for Law to hand him the pad, which he did, "As you can see, he is obviously here." Both Katakuri and Enel leaned in for a closer look, the former frowning and turning to the smaller pureblood.
"Explain yourself."
"You must be mistaken!" Enel scoffed, plopping back onto his cushion, "I know the law-"
"-and have a history of ignoring it, yoi." Marco interrupted, "That boy is our property and I suggest you return him immediately."
Luffy cried out in pain as yet another incision was made on his right arm. The round vampire and a few of his subordinates had taken him to a separate room and were trying their hardest to remove his tag.
He was strapped to a table with his right arm extended and, currently, in large amounts of pain. At this point, they'd tried to go in from the palmar side, only to run into arteries. Now, they were trying to get it from the other side.
"Damn!" Satori exclaimed, throwing his bloody scalpel onto the ground, "This isn't working!"
"W-What should we do, Sir?" A vampire asked, "This human was supposed to be presented to the Charlotte Family representative quite a while ago!"
Luffy blinked as his consciousness began to fade. His arm was starting to go numb…and if he glanced over, it was completely red with blood. That wasn't good. The vampires were saying something, and machines started to whir around him, but all Luffy wanted to do was pass out.
The only comfort he had was the coolness of his pendant on his naked chest.
"-are you sure!?"
"Yes, yes, just do it! I don't see any other way to get rid of the evidence!"
Luffy's head rolled to the right to see what they were doing, and his eyes went wide with shock. No…they wouldn't…
He had just enough time to open his mouth in protest before the instrument came down with a sickening sound.
Luffy screamed.
Law scowled at Enel as the pureblood continued to argue with them. He was stubborn in his refusal to let them search for Luffy.
"-you don't have the right to-"
"-oh, we'll go, with or without permission-"
Marco was giving it back to Enel in a way that was very entertaining to watch, but they didn't have time for this. Just as Law was about to intervene, the pad beeped in warning once again. He held it up to check, just as a spine chilling scream tore through the air.
Everyone froze, even Enel.
Law immediately took off in the direction of the voice, recognizing it as Luffy's. Something had happened! It wasn't terribly difficult to locate the room, and he burst in, breathing hard.
"Luffy-ya-" Law's voice caught in his throat. He tuned out the other vampires telling him to get out and focused solely on the boy strapped to the table.
First, he was naked and covered in bruises.
Second, he had a terrible black eye.
Third, and likely the cause of his scream…his arm had been completely severed.
"Oh crap." Blenheim whispered, coming up behind him as Law rushed forward.
"Luffy-ya, stay with me!" He exclaimed, removing his jacket to try and stem the bleeding coming from the stump. The incision wasn't very clean, and blood flowed all over the floor (and Law). They'd cut it off just above the elbow.
"What the hell?" Jozu added as Marco appeared in the doorway.
"THESE BASTARDS CUT OFF HIS ARM!" Law yelled, trying to desperately make the bleeding stop, "Marco-ya, I need help!" The older vampire immediately rushed over and took Luffy's pulse.
But then he stopped, eyes widening quickly.
"Law, yoi. We have another problem"
At first, he was unsure what the older vampire meant, until he focused on Luffy's face. The boy was still awake, crying, and breathing heavily, but that wasn't what drew their attention.
He had his pendant in his mouth.
For anyone else, that wouldn't be anything to get concerned about, but Luffy was a D, and he currently held the key to jumpstarting his abilities between his teeth.