Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.
A/N: Thank you to my first reviewer Kitty Kat6666 for your kind review :) And thanks to those who have favourited/followed my story!
Hope you enjoy this next chapter!
Chapter 3: Lone Wolf
...
Luffy couldn't tell precisely when it happened but the landscape around him had grown darker, the trees crowded together like a mob, their gnarled branches forbidding any hopeful sunlight from breaking through. It was hard enough managing to walk without tripping over roots concealed by shadows, let alone find a little blue flower in this bleak and sunless place. It didn't seem possible that something as pure and innocent as a flower could even grow here.
Luffy couldn't hear any bird song anymore, only the sound of his footsteps and – what he hoped was the wind – rustling bushes around him.
It felt like the valley was closing in on Luffy as he walked further down it. Dark shadows corrupted the undergrowth, making a large rock look like a blood thirsty bear and a hanging vine look like a vicious snake. Surprisingly, Luffy was unfazed by the threat of these creatures as he recalled all the times that his Grandpa had thrown him into scary jungles before. The only things that bothered Luffy was the lack of light in the area which meant that it was harder to see any flowers around, and his growing hunger or whatever it was that was making him feel weak.
...
Luffy kept walking through the jungle. It was hard to tell how long Luffy had been walking as he couldn't see the sun to observe its position in the sky. It seemed like it had been a while though. Luffy was feeling tired and his head was aching and every now and then his tummy would make a gurgling sound, reminding him of how hungry he was. But just as Luffy was thinking about his growing hunger, he heard a growl which did not come from his stomach but instead from somewhere ahead of him.
Luffy stopped to listen, hoping that he had just imagined the growl. By now it was fair to say that he was feeling fazed by the presence of this potential threat, despite how fearless he was feeling just moments ago.
A loud rustle resounded from a dark shrub several metres ahead of him, but Luffy didn't feel the gust of any wind that could have caused the sound.
Luffy gulped.
'That must mean…'
Luffy's suspicions were confirmed when all of a sudden a creature emerged from the shrub. It had dark grey fur, a colour which blended frightfully well into the shadows cast from the edge of the valley.
Luffy saw a slither of light reflected on a pair of hungry eyes, bared teeth and a long string of saliva that dangled from the creature's mouth. Luffy realised two things in that moment:
Firstly, this creature was a wolf – perhaps one of the same pack which had chased him several weeks prior –
and secondly, the creature intended to make Luffy his next meal.
...
As the wolf stalked closer and Luffy took in its intimidating size he knew that this was not a fight that he could win.
Luffy backed away slowly at first, keeping his gaze locked on the wolf's beady eyes which stared with a savage intensity.
The young rubber boy knew that it was only a matter of time before the wolf would give chase so he decided to get as much of a head start as he could while the beast was slowly prowling. He turned and ran at full speed down through the jungle, ducking under low hanging branches and leaping over brooks and streams. Luffy felt like his heart was going to burst with all this running, and he was wheezing heavily too - a concerning reminder that the ill feeling he was experiencing earlier had not disappeared and was in fact getting worse.
Luffy's chances for escape were looking quite slim, especially when he saw a large row of thorn bushes in the distance that blocked the path. To make matters worse Luffy heard the terrifying sound of pounding paws against the ground which got steadily louder behind him.
The sound of the predator's pursuit was so close now that Luffy felt that in any second he could be bitten from behind, so he did the only thing he could think of which was to stretch out his arm and hope that he could shoot himself further away from the wolf and through a small gap between two thorn bushes which had emerged the closer he got.
Luffy thrust his right hand forward with as much force as he could muster, and by some miracle he managed to grip onto an exposed root and fling himself a considerable distance away from the wolf, through the thorn bushes and into the grove beyond.
He yelped as he felt the sharp thorns graze his arms but was pleased to land on a patch of soft grass which cushioned his fall. Luffy wished that Ace could have seen what he had managed to do but unfortunately the wolf was the only audience for his first display of the as of yet unnamed Gum Gum Rocket.
Taking stock of his surroundings and looking behind him through the gap in the thorn bushes, Luffy saw the wolf in the dark distance toss his shaggy head in an irritated manner before bounding off into the shadows to find a new thing to hunt.
Luffy let out a relieved breath which didn't realise he had been holding and grinned to himself.
He was still alive!
The grove he had catapaulted himself into was illuminated by a gentle light filtering through the trees, and he even heard the chirp of birds once again. It was such a welcome contrast to the dark, foreboding shadows and silence of where he had just been.
Unfortunately Luffy could no longer admire the pleasant nature around him as the adrenaline coursing through his veins ran out at that moment.
The full weight of Luffy's exhaustion caught up with him and sent him collapsing to his knees. His grin became a grimace as he felt a sharp pain in his chest as well as a tickle in his throat – both vying for his attention.
Luffy didn't want to cough as it would hurt his chest but he couldn't ignore the tickle any longer. He resolved to gently cough once, a restrained attempt to clear his throat and cause minimal pain in his chest. But unfortunately his cough immediately triggered more and soon his small body shook with the strain of containing rapidly recurring violent coughs and his throat felt swollen and sore to the point where it hurt to even breathe.
A full deep inhale of breath was what Luffy desperately needed, but all he could manage was small and quick gasps, like sipping the air instead of taking a hearty gulp.
"S-some…body help me… A-ace"
…
'A-ace...'
...
Ace's consciousness stirred to the sound of a voice in his head. He vaguely recognised this voice but something about it sounded different to how it normally did.
Ace had been in a deep feverish state of unconsciousness for over ten hours now, his mind floating in darkness but his body feeling the heat of a thousand suns.
The presence of this weak, young voice in his head was something that felt real and grounded unlike the dream-like, abstract space he drifted in.
But Ace still could not place where he knew this voice from. It was a kind voice that had a desperation that he had never felt so strongly before.
Something about the voice irritated him though and this made him think of the new kid who had begun staying at Dadan's place.
'That's who it is… it's that Luffy kid'
Ace wondered why and how he could hear that nuisance's voice in his head.
He was asking for help from him? Ace thought he had made it clear to Luffy that he wanted nothing to do with him. What more did he need to do?
He had already spat on him, pushed him off a bridge and dropped a tree on him.
Surely that was enough.
Why did Luffy even want to be friends with him? He was the son of the Pirate King, and the very idea of his existence was abhorrent to society. At least that's what all the people he asked had said.
Portgas D. Ace felt like he was convicted of a crime the very moment he was conceived in his mother's womb. His life was just a matter of living out the conviction sentence, receiving punishment for the blood in his veins and for a father he had never met.
A father he hated.
Sabo was the only friend he had and he was out in Gray Terminal, presumably wondering where he was.
He didn't know that Ace was sick and getting worse.
What if Ace died? Sabo wouldn't even know. He wouldn't be with Ace as he took his final breath.
Ace felt alone, suspended in a strange dimension between waking and sleeping; confronted by his darkest thoughts.
He sensed no one around him and this scared Ace.
If there was one thing Ace was afraid of it was dying alone.
'I don't want to die yet...
...
... not before I find my reason to live!'
...
This was the last thought Ace had before he sank back into the feverish oblivion of unconsciousness.
...
A/N: I'd love to hear what you thought!
Stay tuned for the next chapter coming soon...
HH :)