Warning for minor character death (nobody you liked) and child violence, gun violence, referenced kidnapping, death threats, pain, angst, and stuff like that.

XXX

It was never much of a chase. The guards blocked Luffy's path and the captain caught up easily. He grabbed his upper arm once again hauling him along. All of Luffy's struggling amounted to little more than squirming as he roughly pulled him back to the center of the room.

He was furious. Luffy knew that much. But the man had bigger issues at the moment.

"I want a blockade set up in the hallway." The captain was barking orders left and right, his hand never loosening on Luffy's arm. "I want everyone left armed and ready to defend this spot. We will kill these pirates or we will die trying to understand."

Luffy didn't like the sound of that. He clawed at the hand holding him only for the furious gaze to turn onto him.

"Let Go!" he told the angry man.

The captain's gaze turned murderous. "I should have killed that pirate when I had the chance."

"NO!" Luffy protested as he tried to twist away.

"YES!" The man spat his eyes ablaze with fury and something darker. "After all what good is my word if you don't keep your promises. Your nothing but a liar. I thought after all this time I would have taught you better. If your pirate or any one of those miserable beings tries coming through those door's we will kill every last one of them."

NO!" Luffy yelled again feeling anger mix against his own fear and frustration. He didn't really understand how things- or anything really- worked. But he didn't think the pirates were bad people. At least not Thatch or Marco. Maybe the captain was right, maybe they were going to kill him. But that couldn't be because Thatch and Marco had promised him that they wouldn't. They told him their captain would be disappointed in them if anyone hurt him and Luffy learned from this crew that people tended to listen to the captain.

"Why does anyone have to die?" He said. "Thatch is nice. I bet if you talk to him you guys can stop fighting." Maybe they were all just really hungry. Luffy sure was. And everyone was being stupid cause they missed breakfast. So if they could just stop- then maybe the fighting would stop. Maybe Luffy didn't have to be alone anymore- maybe he wouldn't have to die.

But however logical his solution seemed to him it infuriated the captain. The man turned his now full attention to Luffy, crouching down to grip both of his shoulders tightly, forcing Luffy to look into his furious face.

"You Stupid Boy! How can I make you understand? In this world, the strong reside over the weak. That's natural- The strong eat the weak. And we are the strong. We are greater than the slaves and we are more than those worthless criminal invaders. I saved you from that, but you are just like the rest of them aren't you. Too narrow-minded to see the whole picture-, OW!" He yelled in pain as Luffy twisted around to bite his arm. He latched on with his teeth holding on for dear life as the man tried to dislodge him.

He closed his eyes as he felt the man begin to attack him. A good shake caused him to gasp, his teeth pulling free of the bleeding flesh of the forearm. He felt himself be thrown to the ground and his head smacked against the cool stone. He lay there dazed for a moment as the captain towered over him.

"You'll regret that." The captain promised. "You'll regret disobedience."

"Captain," One of the men called him. "The pirates are here. "They're trying to break down the barricade.

"Hold." The man commanded. "Get into defensive positions. That barricade comes down on your life."

"Yes sir!"

The man turned back to Luffy who pulled himself up from the ground. He had seen him angry before, but never this angry. At least from what he could remember.

Luffy thought the captain would attack him. He was prone to violence. But instead, he shook his head as if Luffy had disappointed him. "I gave you everything. I saved your life. You were living in filth before me."

Luffy had no idea what any of that meant.

"You were lonely and hungry and neglected. I took care of all of that for you and I asked in return was your obedience. Why can't you listen to a simple request? Would you rather death!"

"YES!" Luffy decided. He wasn't happy here. So whatever the alternative was- he would take his chances.

There was a banging from the other side of the barricade that caught everyone's attention. It could mean only one thing.

-The pirates were here.

And they were pissed.

The noise was nearly ear-shattering. With every bang, the entire room- no the entire ship seemed to tremble under the force of the pirates on the other side. The only thing keeping it up was a handful of guards pushing back against the piled crates and rubble with all of their might.

Luffy wanted to run again but the captain wouldn't let him go. He was holding his wrist so tightly that it was already bruising.

"Luffy!"

Luffy turned his attention back to the door.

"Luffy!"

There it was again. Someone was calling for him on the other side of the barricade. It was faint but he could hear it. The problem was so could the captain. Luffy felt his steel grip tighten.

"Hang on Luffy! We're going to come get you."

"Thatch!" Luffy yelled at the top of his lungs. "HELP ME-OW!" His scream was interrupted as the captain backhanded him viciously.

"Shut up!" The man snarled. "I'm your guardian not him. Not anyone else. I know what's best for you got it! And I would rather let you die than suffer at their hands."

Luffy was still squirming when the captain reached over to grab his throat. Not enough to cut off his airway but enough to scare Luffy.

"DON'T!" Luffy moved his grip to claw at the intruding hands. He had never been all that good at holding his tongue. That was what got him into so much trouble in the first place. But right now all of that fell away and he had nothing in his head but the truth.

"I'm tired of listening to you. You're mean and stupid and you always lock me up and hurt me. He wrapped his tiny hands around the captain's much larger one meeting the blood-thirsty eyes. "I want to go with them…I don't care if I die. Just as long as it's not with you."

They stared at each other for a long and tense moment. The expression the captain was wearing before was nothing to the one he had on now. Luffy had a hard time recognizing it but he thought that maybe- the man's eyes… they looked like he was already dead.

Luffy shivered as the hands tightened around his neck. Aside from the constant banging on the other side of the barricade, the room had gone silent. Even the guards looked uncomfortable as they subtly edged away. Those who had heard him looked terrified and the others picked up on the tense atmosphere that had enveloped everything.

Finally, the captain spoke, and unlike before his voice was quiet, practically a whisper. "I thought I could make you understand." He told him. "I thought those boys you were with had put bad ideas in your head. If you could just forget them and everything idiotic-minded people had taught you, then you could understand. I thought you might see it my way. But you never did."

"Understand what?" Luffy asked. "Who put what in my head?"

"That's still them talking!" He barked out a laugh, an eerie sound that echoed throughout the room. "I took you away from them to save you. I met blondie once. He came to kill me. He was dirty and beaten and starving and covered in dirt and completely overpowered but he gave me this look while they were dragging him away…. It's the same one you would give me, the one you're wearing right now. His look on your face. What is it? Pity. Disgust. You are looking down on me? You have nothing- and yet you pity me!"

Luffy had no clue what he was talking about. But then again, he never did.

"Listen to me." The captain told him. "If those boys aren't dead by now they soon will me. The pirates are probably ripping them apart as we speak. I wish I could have seen your face but I guess it's useless now. You wouldn't recognize them but somehow you're still looking at me like they did."

"Let me go," Luffy told him. He was tired of this ramble.

The captain shook his head. "I will." He promised. "Just one more time first- your too disobedient even after everything. Just once more and you can be done."

Luffy yelled as he felt the man's hands move to his forehead. He felt one hand stroke his hair in silent reassurance but the next second both of the man's palms closed around Luffy's temples and Luffy was screaming again.

It hurt. His head was on fire. It felt like lightning was running between the captains' hands through his head. Everything else was temporarily forgotten. Even the sound of the now splintering barricade was nothing but background noise to Luffy's screams.

It only lasted a second, but it felt like so much longer and his head went blank.

Blank like a cloud.

He had felt this before.

It really hurt.

There was something in his head, driving away all of his thoughts, digging around in everything between his ears and eviscerating it until nothing was left, just an empty head

Full of clouds

Something was different about it this time. Luffy had seriously pissed him off. He wouldn't stop with an empty head right now. No, he was after everything.

The captain was in his head. And in that second his intentions were clear.

The man was furious, and rejected, and lonely, and betrayed by Luffy. He was going to fry his head until Luffy couldn't think, or speak or do anything.

At least that's what the man intended. Then there was a loud bang and all of the captain's intentions turned to a singular feeling- pain. And then the lightning was gone and Luffy was left standing, his legs barely able to hold him up as he swayed. His head was fuzzy, processing everything at speeds slower than an inch an hour. He looked down at the captain laying on the ground beside Luffy. The man was cursing and spitting in anger as he sat up, clutching one of his hands to his chest. Bright red was flowing freely from his hand onto his clothes.

Luffy blinked at it, tilting his head in confusion. He knew what that was- it was bad. They were in danger…. Blood.

The man's hand was bleeding and he was screaming cusses in anger but the noise was lost on Luffy- as if he was listening to everything from underwater.

The captain moved his hand and Luffy could see there was something wrong with it. There was a space where a finger should be, but there was only red- blood. Red like the dead guards in the hallway.

Luffy groaned at the memory and the captain turned to look at him. Their eyes met for a second and then the man's attention was quickly drawn by the encroaching threat. "YOU!" He snarled as his unbloodied hand reached into his jacket for the gun Luffy knew was concealed there. But he had hardly begun drawing it when a dark shape shot past Luffy so fast his eyes couldn't track it.

In seconds the captain was knocked flat on his back, the speedy blur on top of him. Luffy blinked stupidly. It wasn't a blur it was a creature. Like a monster. Covered in soot and dirt and strips of cloth. It was snarling and Luffy could see its teeth.

He drew in a sharp breath as the two of them tumbled back onto the ground. The captain's hand still clutching the gun, but the creature had pinned it to the floor.

"SHOOT HIM!" The Captain screamed at the guards. "KILL HIM!"

But the guards were busy holding up the remanent of the barricade which came down to several wooden barrels. The rest had been shattered or discarded from the force of the blows on the other side of the wall.

Several of them began to move to come to the aid of their captain, even at the cost of maintaining the barrier. But before they got the chance there was a loud reverberating sound of a second gunshot and the room froze.

The captain was among the frozen as the second bullet lodged itself into the wooden floor, a mere inch away from his head.

"Uh-uh." A voice from behind Luffy warned. It was cold, mercilessly so. "If any of you so much as move I'll put a bullet through his brain! Do You Understand?"

No one moved.

"Tell your men to stand down unless you want these to be your last moments."

Luffy's movements were still slow but he forced his body to listen to his head as he clumsily looked over his shoulder at the person with a gun. His vision was blurry, but he could make out the newcomer. It wasn't one of the guards. No one Luffy had ever seen before. He looked a lot younger than the rest of them. Luffy knew this because he was so short and thin compared to everyone else. He was dirty too and a little shaky on his feet. But his hands clutched the gun without so much as a tremor.

When he noticed Luffy's gaze his eyes softened when he saw him and his lips moved. It took Luffy a second to realize that, while his hearing was off right now, the boy's lips were moving to form words without making a sound.

Hang on

Luffy looked at the captain, still laying on the floor. The creature crouched on all fours over it. Its bandage-wrapped hand still holding the gun to the ground.

"Tell your men not to move!" The boy with the gun snapped again. "Or the next shot is your head."

From behind them, there came a tremendous smash against the barricade and the sound of snapping wood.

"Captain their breaking through!" The man screamed. "Any minute now!"

The captain never broke eye contact with the newcomer. "I should have killed you months ago," He said.

The blond didn't so much as blink. "Last warning!"

"Stand down men," The captain growled. "Maintain the barricade, everyone. Those pirates will be the death of all of us."

The crew members shuffled to do just that, clearly unnerved by the situation.

"Let go of the gun!" The boy continued.

Reluctantly the man's grip loosened on the gun, his free hand instead of going to clutch the bloody one. Luffy watched the black-haired monster take it from him, tucking it into what Luffy had thought was its pelt but was actually just ragged shorts.

Luffy's own vision was pretty blurry and getting worse. He turned his gaze down at the wooden floor below him. He watched as a bead of red dripped down, spattering against the wood. It was quickly followed by another and another. The third staining his shirt as it fell. He was bleeding. Had the scary kid shot him too?

He reached up to his shaking hand to his nose. He was bleeding. Not just from his nose but his ears as well. That made sense since he was pretty sure the dumb captain had popped his brain like a balloon.

"Lu?" The boy was saying. He sounded worried. "What the hell did you do to him!"

The monster was looking at him now, staring.

Luffy took one look into the grey eyes and felt his legs finally give under him.

"Luffy!"

"Ace! Let him go."

"But!"

"Now!"

Luffy lay on the floor, his vision swimming in and out of focus as he watched as the monster reluctantly got off of the captain.

"Don't move an inch or I really will shoot you." The kid warned the man.

Luffy whined as the monster came to kneel beside him. He expected it to attack him as it had the captain, but it just raised its hand, an oddly human-like one, the Luffy's cheek.

"It's okay Lu." It told him. "Just breath. We've got you."

He whined again as he felt hands work underneath him, lifting him up against the dirt-covered monster.

The captain was laughing again. "Look at him. He's terrified of you two."

"Undo it!" The blond snapped, pointing the gun for emphasis."

"Undo what?"

"Whatever you did to him!"

The captain was laughing again, and the last barrel splintered as it was caught between the crew holding it in place and the thudding of the locked door. Like a heartbeat it hammered against the men. Abandoning the last of the barricade they threw themselves against the door. Even as it groaned at the force of the combined weight of the pirates on the other side.

"They will be in here any second," the captain said. "We're all dead now anyway."

"I Don't Care!" The boy screamed to be heard above the noise. "Undo it!"

The captain was laughing again. The same chillingly hollow sound. "You won't shoot me." He told the boy. "Because you think I can fix him. Well, I've got news for you two. There's no undoing it, there's no making it better. You're too late. He stopped crying for you months ago."

Luffy felt the monster's arms tighten around him as the room came into clearer focus as he slowly began to come back from the edge of shock.

"Sabo," The monster spoke again its voice low and sad. "Kill him."

The kid shook his head. "Please," he whispered. "Change him back."

"I can't." The captain said. "Even if I wanted to."

"Why?" The boy asked his voice still a whisper. "Why did you take him."

"I was saving him." The captain told them. "From your fate. You should be thanking me. I fed him, I kept him safe. I cared for him. He was happy with me."

The boy shook his head. "Luffy wasn't happy."

"How would you know?"

"I just know."

"Sabo shoot him!" The monster growled.

And then multiple things happened at once.

There was a loud bang as the gun went off.

-And a thunderous splintering sound as at last the entrance to the room caved away finally granting the pirates access.

Through the fresh rubble stepped the familiar pirate- the one who had taken a look at Luffy- Marco. The rest of his crew behind him as he surveyed the collection of surviving guards. His scanning eyes eventually landed on the captain's crumpled form lying piteously on the ground.

The blond kid's gun was still smoking from a shot that seemed to have disappeared entirely.

"So you're the one responsible for taking Rose away from us and killing all those innocent people."

To Sabo he said. "I understand. But I can't let him get off that easily can we?"

"HALT!" One of the crew members cried drawing their weapons. "You have no business here."

"No business," One of the pirates on the man's right said stepping forwards. "That's amusing. We're pirates, we go where we choose. And you took our friend from us. So we're going to take your lives. Every last one of you."

"Kill them!" The captain snarled from the ground, sounding less authoritative and more like a whiney child. "Show no mercy."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," the pirate said as Thatch stepped up besides him to survey the damage. His searching eyes found Luffy's and relief washed over his tense face.

"Hold on." He said just as the crew opened fire.

The room was suddenly set in motion. Fire seemed to crawl out of the walls as gunfire and swords were drawn.

When a stray bullet ricocheted into the floor inches from the monster's bare feet it swore. It ducked down, covering both of them from the spare bullets. And that was when Luffy decided his first plan was his best.

The haze slowly clearing from his mind he squirmed and struggled and bit at his captor.

"Hey- Lu stop?"

Luffy felt himself be dropped the last foot onto the wooden floor.

"Shit sorry." The monster tried to grab him back but Luffy was quicker. He pushed himself from all fours onto his feet as he ran a few shaky steps.

"Wait Don't!" The monster reached after him, but adrenaline-fueled Luffy on, forcing him to push past his dizzy and cloudy mind to make it those last few feet into the cluster of crates piled near the back corner.

He was wiggling his way between them when the monster caught up. It grabbed his ankle attempting to pull him back. He squeaked in surprise digging his fingernails into the wood below, trying to hold on with all his might.

Enough was enough already. "THATCH!" Luffy screamed.

With a harsh yank, the monster pulled him free of his hiding place and dragged him back into its clutches. Just in time for the angry pirate to reach them.

Fighting was taking place all around them but Luffy could only focus on one thing at a time, so he chose his friend's face. Right about now he would be okay with the hand holding offer, even if it was for babies.

"You okay kid?"

The monster was holding him against its chest. Its grip only tightened at Thatch's words.

"My head hurts," Luffy told him. His tongue sluggishly tripping over the vowels.

"You and me both," Thatch said his tone light but his face serious as he regarded them. "Hang tight okay." To the monster, he said, "So you are the other one Marco told me about."

The creature growled.

"Look kid, I don't want to fight and you're not looking so good yourself. Just let go of the little guy okay. I don't know if you want revenge against his father or what but he's just a little boy."

"He's not his god damn father," The monster snarled and Luffy yelped as its arms tightened on his bruised ribs. Both it and Thatch noticed and to Luffy's surprise the grip loosened almost apologetically.

"Okay- we can talk about it. Just let him go and come with us. We don't want to hurt any of you."

"I'd rather take my chances jumping into the ocean," it snarled.

All around them the fighting seemed to be winding down. It hadn't been a very challenging struggle by any means. The residents of the ship were poorly outmatched by the pirates.

One of Thatch's friends came over to try and help but Thatch waived them back. "He has a knife," he said under his breath. The pirate hung back, looking unsure about the whole situation.

"What's your name kid?"

"Shut up." The monster told him.

"Well then, you don't really want anyone to get hurt, do you. I know you're angry. You have every right to be. But we can talk this out. We mean you no harm."

"Then let us go."

"We can't do that." Thatch said. "We're burning this whole ship to the ground."

"I'll take my chances." It said again and Thatch sighed. "We can talk just hand over Lu- Oh Shit!"

Thatch and the other pirate were forced to duck as a bullet fired upon both of them drawing everyone's attention to the shooter.

The blond boy from before had redirected his aim away from the captain towards Thatch.

"Leave them alone!" He yelled firing again.

"Uh, Marco!" Thatch said as they were forced back further by the attack.

It was a short-lived assault as Marco was beside the blond boy in an instant knocking the gun away from him while simultaneously pushing him to the ground.

The monster screamed in panic as he started towards them, temporarily dropping Luffy. Luffy fell onto his feet, willing his knees to hold his weight as he stumbled forwards once more towards Thatch.

"Luffy NO!" The monster reached after him but all he managed was to catch a fist full of air as Luffy ducked his hand running straight for Thatch and the safety he had promised.

The man bent down to catch Luffy hugging him tightly.

Luffy felt the arms close around him and turned around to see if it was following them. To his surprise, the monster wasn't much of a monster. Now that his head was a bit clearer, and his eyes weren't so blurry the big scary creature just looked like a human. A young and skinny human who was dirty and injured. Unlike before it hadn't chased him. Instead, it was standing in the same spot an odd expression on its face. It- he looked stunned and unfathomably sad.

"Why?" It asked Luffy and he didn't have an answer.

The boy looked back at the blond behind him, now being held back from them and something seemed to snap inside him.

"Oh, God!" Thatch said as he charged the man. He quickly pushed Luffy to the side to catch the other as he slammed into him.

"It's okay," Thatch promised fighting to restrain him to give the second pirate an opening. They moved quickly and the other lashed out with a powerful but not debilitating attack on the near frantic boy. The blow hit the back of his neck and all the fight faded out of him. He crumpled into Thatch's waiting arms.

"It's okay," Thatch said as he shifted the boy's unconscious weight. Luffy had no idea if he was talking to the kid or him or the blond boy across the room who was now screaming bloody murder in Marco's arms.

"NO! ACE! ACCEE! LET ME GO!"

"Calm down," Marco commanded. "He's alright. Just unconscious."

Luffy watched the whole scene unfold around him. The guards had mostly surrendered by now. Some had managed to escape but he didn't think they would make it very far. These guys seemed really motivated.

He looked back at the monster boy in Thatch's arms. Was he… was he?

Luffy's knees gave out at last, and he crumpled back to the floor. Thatch looked at him sharply. "Luffy! Here." He tried to hand off the boy to the other pirate who reluctantly took him.

"The last time I held him it didn't go too well."

"It's fine he's sleeping." Thatch said as he went to go check on Luffy. He put his hand on his forehead and then the top of his head. "You hanging in their bud?"

"Is it dead?" Luffy's voice was thin as he stared at the monster boy.

"Huh?" Thatch followed his look. "He's just sleeping," he repeated.

Luffy's gaze shifted from the black-haired boy to the other one. He watched helplessly from Marco's securing arms as his friend was carried away. He seemed to be calming down, the same sad expression on his face as he watched them go past.

The captain was laughing now. Sitting on the ground behind them, clutching his bleeding finger and laughing at them. At their desperation.

The blond boy's fist tightened in the folds of the other's shirt as if seeking comfort. No not comfort. The boy caught Luffy's eye as his hand tightened around the handle of Marco's gun.

They stared at each other for a second. A single second before Marco realized what his true goal was. But it was already too late.

Luffy watched with a delayed reaction as he found the man's gun, drawing it quicker than the blink of an eye. He tore his gaze away from Luffy to whirl around to the captain.

Marco reached for the gun, but he wasn't fast enough.

There was a loud bang, and the captain was knocked onto his back.

-The laughing was gone, replaced by dead silence.

Marco grabbed the gun away, swearing as he did so.

"Oh shit." Thatch said again as he tried to shield Luffy from the grizzly sight of the man laying on the floor.

Luffy felt darkness overtake his vision as his eyes rolled up to the ceiling and he fell into nothingness.

XXX

Thanks for reading guys. I've been looking forwards to this chapter and the next one for a while.

I know I promised you, Defenders, next. And You will get it in a day or two. It's 90% done I just got busy with moving countries. But I have a month with nothing to do but write and I plan to update Everything!

Please tell me what you thought.

(And sorry about how dark the chapter is. The next one will be much better for everyone.)

XXX

Guest #1: Aw thank you!

SvalbardGirl: I am really glad to hear you like it! Poor Luffy indeed. Poor everyone. Don't worry things get better for him from here on out.

Yaoidiccus: Thank you! I shall.

Aquarica: Yeah Luffy had the worst chapter. But everything is going to get much better for him from here on out. Everyone is going to take care of him! And the ASL and Whitebeards was a bit chaotic haha.

Juno: Aw thank you.

Juno: Well thanks again. That's so nice to say. What a wonderful compliment to hear.

MR97: Aw that's so nice. I am glad you like that one too. I promise to update Defenders any day now.

Greetings from the States

Guest: You got the plot down perfectly. I love hearing you like it. I will keep it up!

Shandar1: Yeah haha, it's less of a big deal to me right now. There was just a violent incident in my neighborhood that really shook me and made violence and death a lot more real to me. But I think all I managed to do was confuse people. I struggled getting through a chapter containing gun violence I had written while sympathizing with the victims of real-life gun violence. So adding the disclaimer felt like the right move at the time. I totally agree though, writing about violence and things that aren't sunshine and rainbows isn't bad. In this case it was just a little specific to how I was feeling at the time. Anyway, you have great points. Thank you for the support.

: Why thank you! Both for liking my story and the support for my rambling cliff notes. And of course thank you for the really nice compliments. High praise Indeed : )

: And run he did! Multiple times. Haha this made me laugh the first time.

Wishfull-star: Thank you! Sorry about the wait. Same to you! Take care of yourself.