-PLEASE READ!-
Yo! This fic was probably one of the most enjoyable I've ever written. It follows the one piece plot, but I changed a lot of things, as I have my own plot inside, too! And unlike a lot of fics that supposedly follow the time line, I promise I will finish this one! It will end after Wano arc is over. Since I follow it chapter by chapter, by the time this story gets to the Wano arc, that shit'll be long over lol. I butchered a ton of the arcs, so please don't assume things will be the same. I did everything I wanted here. Killed off people I hated and let people live that I like!
I have to warn for inappropriate jokes and moments, as well as a lot of slightly worse than cannon violence. LOTS of blood, obviously lol. I did my best to keep everyone in character, but I did make the main cast more complex. Luffy has a much wider range of emotion, but is still the protective, lovable and curious dumbass.
Anyways, enjoy! And I hope you stick around the whole way!
Luffy wore sunglasses as he bought his first pair of brown colored contacts in Goa for his journey away from the island. He looked at them in awe, red eyes wide and excited. He could be normal to people with these. Nobody would ask any questions. He would wear a shirt, and hide his weird hair. With those and his eyes covered up, he looked normal!
He just had to act it! He ran back to the bandit hut and put the contacts on in the bathroom. His vibrant red eyes were not a muddied, dark brown. It was amazing! The seventeen year old went into the main room to his "caretakers" and showed them off, taking down the sunglasses. "Ta da!" Dadan was in the corner smoking. "I'm gonna be going now," he said.
"Get outta here! Just go!" Luffy knew this behavior from when Ace left.
"When I find out what I am, I'll send you a letter, promise! And I'll be in the papers, too! Thanks for taking care of me and accepting me," Luffy said, and Dadan started crying. "I know, Ace told me first. Only find people I trust."
She bawled and nodded, and Luffy said goodbye to everyone before he went to Sabo's grave. He bowed to the empty grave of his fallen brother. "I'll figure it out and become Pirate Kingon the way!" He plopped his hat on firmly on the black and white hair, and ran down to Foosha. The rowboat was already waiting with the bag of "necessities'' that Makino nabbed for him.
One of the only outsiders who knew of Luffy's condition gladly enabled it for him, which he needed and appreciated. The ice chest of blood bags was sitting behind the barrel of apples and the smaller barrel of water. Everything he needed to set off. He was nervous to do so. He was used to being around people who knew. Now he was going out into a big, huge world where nobody knew. Nobody but Ace and Garp.
He hoped to never see "grandpa" out there. To ruin his day, no doubt. But he would definitely see Ace. He'd meet him and show him how strong he was. Luffy had hope he was happy out there. Ace wouldn't surround himself with people he disliked or wasn't comfortable around. He was out there waiting somewhere for Luffy to make his name.
"Are you sure you want just that?" Davers asked, gesturing to the rowboat. "You can barely fit!" he added. But Luffy was fine with this. He wanted to start out simple. He heard and smelled the bandits watching, even though he couldn't see them. He gave an extra loud goodbye so they could hear, waving widely. Dadan cried out a good luck. "I'll be fine!" he assured everybody.
He got away from the island easily, the Lord of the Coast like all other animals, afraid of the non-human kid. Luffy rowed out to sea, and drank a blood bag. He had 16 left. He could make it without one for at least three days and at most six. He did like to drink it more than he needed, but was careful with rationing anyways. He'd need to do that now. Until he found a ship that could store blood.
And he also needed to save money to buy them from hospitals. He wasn't a good thief yet, and he didn't want to get caught stealing with something he needed to live. Nobody knew why, but Luffy was weird. He had to eat and drink water, but also needed to ingest blood. There wasn't anybody in his family like him. At least, Garp didn't tell him that. Luffy knew nobody in the world like him, and a big dream along with his ambition to become the Pirate Kingwas to find out what he is, and that he wasn't alone.
Garp would be furious about Luffy leaving. He could be found out easily by anybody. He always told Luffy he could get caught and taken somewhere for his condition. Told him to never leave the house, forbade him from making friends besides Makino. But once Luffy met Shanks and then spent the rest of his childhood with Ace and Sabo, well, he wanted to be free. He didn't care what stupid grandpa thought, he would be a pirate. The Pirate King!
Screw Garp. Luffy would be free, just like Ace was. And he'd find people he could be honest with. He wasn't too good a liar, even though he had never been caught, so it might be tricky. But he'd find somebody. He checked the compass and map he had no idea to really use and made his way to wherever he ended up. He didn't really have a plan, but would just latch on to the nearest scent of an island he came up with.
Too bad he got swallowed into a whirlpool and was only able to stuff himself into the barrel to live. All of his blood went down with the little tub, and he was left to float around and hope something happened. Being a devil fruit user didn't really make swimming in the ocean any safer after all.
When he heard a ship coming over, he was nervous and excited. He would be around other people! And thank goodness he had his hat and contacts with him. But this ship was raided and his barrel was moved around more. He ended up falling asleep and woke up on a pirate ship next to an annoying boy.
It wasn't somebody he'd been around forever, and he didn't salivate like a monster his grandpa thought he could be. He ended up saving Coby and punting his tyrant captain off her ship and into the ocean to who knows where? Then they sailed towards the first place Luffy wanted to go to. Meeting a "demon". He was the demon there. Maybe there was another like him! He could be friends with somebody that wasn't forced to be around him.
Luffy ended up drinking from Coby on the island they went to. He'd panicked, to be honest. He'd just bopped Coby upside the head, cut his arm a little bit and just had a mouthful. When he saw Zoro and wanted to keep him, and then fought with him and he agreed, Luffy knew he'd be stuck on a small ship with him and wanted to be able to last as long as he could.
Coby didn't remember and wasn't harmed from it. Luffy was sure he'd not been seen, too.
On the boat, saying goodbye to the island, Luffy felt bad. Keeping it from Coby was right, he'd freak out over it if he knew. He'd be scared. He was already a scaredy cry baby. He would have thought Luffy was a monster. Though he did technically assault him. It was a mistake. But he didn't want to lie to his first crew member. He didn't want to trick him.
Luffy wanted Zoro to stay even if he knew Luffy was severely abnormal. And what would be a better test of loyalty, to be comfortable stuck with a blood drinking monster out to sea with limited resources? He looked at Zoro closely, but he seemed like he'd be happier with the truth than being lied to.
"Zoro? Can I tell you something? You might want to leave after it, but I gotta tell you," Luffy said hesitantly, sitting across from Zoro on the tiny boat. Maybe he should have said it before he got trapped on it with him.
Zoro was leaning back with his arms behind his head. "Is it about drinking Coby's blood? Yeah, I saw it. You a vampire or some shit?" he asked casually. Luffy furrowed his brows, baffled. He asked if it didn't bother him. "Depends. Why did you do it? For fun?" Luffy loudly said he didn't do it for fun. "Then why?"
Luffy looked at his hands, fisting them in his shorts, deliberating. He was glad Zoro wasn't freaked about the blood drinking, or so it seemed, but what about the rest? Who would want to be around somebody like Luffy anyways? Besides his brothers, Makino and Shanks.
Garp would much rather just try to ignore it and bring Luffy tons of blood bags every time he visited and insist he never leave the island. But it didn't taste as fresh or good like living people did. It was yummy and a rare treat, but he had control over it. He could do fine on cold blood, but warm blood was the best.
Stop it! He hated doing that, getting lost in the moment. Compared to what it felt like to other people, it kind of felt really… nice.
"I need it to stay alive," he said. "I can eat regular food and all. And I need that too or I'll starve, but I also need blood, too." Zoro asked why. "I… I - I'm kinda not all human," he said the last part quickly. He looked up, and Zoro looked unbothered, and just asked what he was. If he wasn't fully human, then what was his non-human part? He leaned forward, finally seeming really interested.
Luffy took out his colored contact on his left eye and showed the red iris. The pupil was round like a human's, not slitted like a cat or snake. Then he lifted his shirt to show the black markings that looked like tattoos on his chest. "I'm half 'demon'. Sometimes I call it a 'monster', too. It's just easy to sum it up like that when I don't know the rest."
Zoro raised his brows. "Demon?" Luffy nodded. "Were you born like that?" The younger nodded again. "That's kinda cool. I'm not scared or anything. I just hope you didn't bring me along to be your blood bank. I'm kidding," he said quickly when Luffy looked very upset. "So, you can drink from blood bags?"
Luffy nodded. "But drinking from people feels better and lasts longer," he said honestly. "I drank from Coby and he didn't remember," he confessed in shame. Zoro pointed out he was alive and fine when they met. "Still… he was my friend, and I messed with him. It was wrong-"
"But necessary, right?" Luffy half shrugged. "And he wasn't hurt or traumatized or anything?" He shook his head. "Then what's the big deal? I don't see that big of a problem with it if it doesn't hurt anybody. Unless their enemies, then that is fine with me. Just don't drink from me without me knowing."
Luffy promised he wouldn't. "Wait. Without you knowing? What's that mean?" Did he mean Luffy could drink from him with permission? Zoro confirmed that. If he ran out of blood, then that was the only option, right? "Well, yeah, I guess."
"How long do you have to go before you start getting sick?" Luffy replied that he had to have some every three days to a week, depending on what he'd been doing. If he lost a lot of blood or was overly exhausted, he needed blood sooner. "Well, I'm open if you need it. And hasn't it been three days since we started sailing aimlessly. We don't even have a compass."
That was true. They were just hoping for the best and using Luffy's senses. That they'd find an island, depending on luck. Luffy nodded, saying it had been awhile. And they'd been rationing their food. "So, are you, y'know, thirsty?" He sounded completely curious. He was so weird, but Luffy was glad he didn't think he was a monster!
"Well, maybe a little."
"I wanna see," Zoro said with a grin. "C'mon, just don't kill me or knock me out." Luffy looked uncertain. "I'm giving you permission, aren't I? Besides, I get stabbed and bleed out all the time. Blood loss doesn't affect me. Though I don't exactly want you to suck me dry." This was weird. Was Zoro just toying with him?
But he looked and sounded truly curious. "Okay. But tell me if you want me to stop. I won't take that much." Zoro nodded, and Luffy's heart was beating fast in nervousness. Zoro wanted him to, but he was concerned that it would scare him off. Luffy stood up and walked over, sitting next to him. "Uh, where do you want it?"
"You can try my arm, I guess," Zoro replied fearlessly. "C'mon, a bite is gonna barely hurt compared to everything else I've dealt with. I'm not weak." Luffy nodded, and bit down on his arm, sucking slightly. "Uh… is it supposed to feel nice?"
"What?" Luffy asked. Zoro looked irritated that he stopped. "Feel good? But I hurt you!" Zoro grinned. He was just tough. He told him to keep going. Luffy nodded, and sucked more, holding Zoro's arm to his mouth. He tasted so good. Luffy turned red when the swordsman let out a breathy moan.
He'd never drank from somebody who liked it. Never with somebody willingly, either. Zoro grabbed his head and pushed it down more on his arm to drink harder. He swallowed greedily until Zoro pulled his head away. Both were panting, but in different ways. "Damn, that was weird," Zoro said, completely unashamed by his reaction. "Now I really don't mind if you do it whenever."
Luffy's face was red and then he laughed. "You're weird!" he said in amusement. Zoro hit his head, saying he wasn't weird. "But you liked it! That is weird, nobody ever likes it."
"Well, aren't they all unconscious when it happens?" Zoro asked, wiping the blood off on his pants. Luffy asked if he got attracted from it bluntly. Zoro then finally turned red, and then challenged him. "Is that a problem?" he asked. Luffy was so confused by his weird reactions to things.
Luffy smiled and said, "Well I guess not, if it doesn't bother you." He beamed and Zoro asked him about what his childhood was like, as a half demon. Luffy told him all about his brothers being understanding, his friends donating bagged blood. They were understanding, and he'd never fed off of them before. They had never asked, like a certain weirdo.
Zoro kicked him, and Luffy laughed. "Then there was Shanks, who gave me this hat! Wanna know why?" he asked mischievously. Zoro nodded, and Luffy lifted the hat to show white patches on his head. Like there were little areas of hair that were white. "I knew people would make fun of it when I finally did make friends and he gave it to me partly to hide them. And it was also really important to him. So, when I'm the Pirate King, I'll return it to him."
Luffy said he didn't like his spots and didn't really want to call attention to them. "I think they look pretty interesting. Though you won't be able to keep your hat on at all times, you know? It'll fall off some time and show them."
He nodded, and replied that they would be seen, but he wasn't going to flaunt them. "At least there are no horns or ears," Luffy commented, and plopped his hat back on his head with a smile. "I'm glad you came with me. You're really cool." Zoro grinned and said Luffy was cool in a different way. "More like unique or abnormal."
"Who said those are bad things to be?" Zoro asked. Then he yawned, and was going to nap. He assured Luffy it wasn't from blood loss, he just liked to nap a lot. Luffy nodded, and Zoro closed his eyes and went to sleep. Luffy crossed his legs, and smiled. His first crew mate was really cool. And nice. And interesting. Zoro was awesome!
-x-
"I'm hungry," Luffy complained, looking at the sky. "And not for blood. I want meat." They'd been sailing for another three days, Luffy picking up nothing. Like they were in the most unlucky area in the East Blue ever. Zoro said he wanted alcohol. He liked to drink a lot. And he never got drunk. "Then what's the point of drinking?" He said it tasted good. "Smells bad."
"Well, I can see that. Hey, don't fall in," Zoro said when Luffy leaned over the side, looking for fish to catch. Luffy had a rubber devil fruit, so swimming was obviously a no-no. He'd already fallen in once and Zoro pulled him out and scolded him. Luffy just laughed about it, earning a hit to the head in irritation.
They had run out of apples and water completely. Luffy's stomach grumbled loudly. Over and over. "Are you sure blood won't shut that up?" Luffy said it would, but he wanted meat. He looked up and asked if Zoro was just wanting Luffy to do it. "Yeah. It feels hella satisfying." He was so open and honest. And blunt.
Luffy moved to him, glad he was the one asking and not Luffy. It wasn't like he could say no to a request to drink. He was glad to do so, and so was Zoro. Luffy crawled onto his lap, and Zoro wondered why before Luffy said it was easiest this way. Luffy didn't bite on his arm, instead on the junction of his shoulder and neck.
He sucked harshly, and Zoro moaned openly, not even hiding it. Luffy jumped when Zoro's hands grabbed onto his butt. But he kept drinking as Zoro moved his hands up Luffy's back, on the skin, scratching as he moved his head to the side for more access. Zoro leaned forward and licked Luffy's ear, biting the lobe, making Luffy instinctively drink faster.
The pulse was speeding up, and Luffy stopped sucking, instead he licked up his neck, lapping up the blood from the bite mark. It wasn't deep, so it healed quickly. Zoro healed quickly. Luffy assumed Zoro had gotten carried away with how good the feeding felt, and that the groping meant nothing really. He started to pull away, but Zoro gripped his head and pressed his lips to Luffy's. The smaller pirate was shocked, but didn't pull away, he closed his eyes and let Zoro push his tongue into his mouth, no doubt tasting his own blood.
Zoro's hands moved to Luffy's chest and then down, and he wiggled his fingers into Luffy's waistband to rub circles on his hip bones. He pulled away, and he looked composed with a grin while Luffy's lips were pink and his face was flushed, along with his chest. "Um, why?"
"I like you. Obviously. Not only because of the drinking. I liked you from the start, this just added some more spice to it," Zoro said. "Did I make you uncomfortable?" Luffy smiled and asked if he had reacted like someone who didn't like it would. "I guess not. You're still the captain, though." Luffy grinned, and asked if he wanted him to make some captain's orders. Zoro grinned a challenging look.
"Kiss me again. Captain's orders," Luffy said, feeling much more confident than before. Zoro liked him, even though he was a monster. He thought he was cool, not a freak, not an evil demon or something. Zoro kissed him roughly, hands fisted in Luffy's hair. It didn't bother him, but his hat had fallen off. His fingers were fisted, but not pulling hard or anything.
Luffy pulled away. "We can't do the feeding thing in front of other crew members. I don't think anyone but you would be cool with it from the start," Luffy pointed out. Zoro agreed with this. They would keep it a secret, at least for the beginning. Zoro really was odd for his reaction to the whole thing.
Liking it to be done to him, wanting to see his red eyes, not the brown. But Luffy kept them in most of the time, fucked over if he lost one. Zoro was easy to be around. Like Ace and Sabo were. He didn't feel he had to hide himself with him. Obviously, Zoro wanted him to be himself, be the demon he was. Part demon. He made Luffy not feel ashamed.
The whole story is NOT about the romance, I promise. But it's very prominent in much of the plot. There are some other relationships here, too, but Zolu is the only main one. So I guess you could call this chapter a sort of warning to those who aren't into this ship. I won't just have the story 50,000 words in and be "oh and there's a gay couple by the way!" lol. So, hope you stick around as the mystery of what Luffy is runs very thickly in the plot. Hope to see you next chapter! Since this one is more a prologue, I'll post the second chapter immediately.
