This chapter is going to be a little bit shorter than the others as not as much is going to happen in it. But rest assured that Luffy will reunite with Marco and Co next chapter and his bromance will continue to develop with Zoro. Also things will start to heat up after this chapter as the three sides grow increasingly desperate and angry. (Also did you know there such things as real vampires? There are people who crave blood in the world and who go into depression when they don't eat it.)
Nala120: Yes! Ace is a werewolf, Sabo is a vampire, and Luffy is a human. I know I have mixed feelings about Garp as well. Dragon is going to come in this chapter, but only for a bit, and he's defiantly Luffy's dad but he's kind of a jerk. I know evil Law makes me cry, but I didn't know who else who was both evil and super sexy. (hahaha flaming chicken) Thank you so much!
SilverMoonMage: Oh okay, whoops sorry about that.
Iany-Chan: Thank you so much! I promise it shall be revealed soon enough, but there is a good reason why their all living together.
Poemado: Nope, Marco and friends are important characters in the story. Thank you! I love Ace in general but protective Ace is the best!
SEllen3: Yay thank you so much!
Phonenix: I will I promise, I love odd AU's too!
Marco frowned to himself as he continued to type away on his computer. It had been about two weeks since they had returned to the village. Things finally seemed to be settling down again even though the town was still in an uproar. Per Sabo's request they made sure not to mention anything about the three boys to the villagers. It was the least they could do after they had saved them.
Still the unanswered questions were weighing heavily on Marco's mind. Who was Law? Why did the boys live in the middle of the forrest? Why did Ace and Sabo seem strange to him? Why didn't Luffy like going into town ect. Marco always hated being left out of the loop so he was doing everything he could to find out answers.
A knock on his window interrupted his thoughts startling him. He cautiously got up to go investigate surprised to see Zoro crouched besides his window sill.
Reluctantly enough Marco unlatched the window letting Zoro crawl through the opening.
"Why can't you just use the door like a normal person, this is the second story."
Zoro shrugged as he sat down on Marco's bed staring around the room. It had been a while since he came here last. "In case you hadn't noticed your dads the principal of the school, I would rather take my chances with the window."
Marco sighed as he sunk back down on his desk chair turning to look at his friend, "What's up?"
Instead of answering Zoro just stared at the monitor behind Marco's head with growing amusement. "Vampires huh?"
"It's not funny," Marco snapped shutting his laptop to avoid further ridicule.
"Why are you researching that?" Zoro asked refusing to let the topic drop.
Marco sighed resigned to telling his friend the truth, no matter how stupid it sounded, "I think that man in the woods might be a vampire. I checked all over the website and it's the only thing that makes sense."
To his surprise Zoro didn't laugh or make fun of him, in fact he didn't look surprised at all.
"I know."
"Wait what?" Marco asked surprised turning once again to look at Zoro. "If it took me a week to figure it out how could you possibly know?"
Zoro raised an eyebrow in amusement, "Well for one thing it was super obvious." He ticked down his fingers as if counting down all the ways he was smarter then Marco. "Secondly I already knew there were vampires in the woods."
"How could you possibly know that," Marco argued.
"My dad's a hunter," he answered back simply, "You knew that."
Marco had known that, Zoro had told him a long time ago. But just like with the sword lessons he had long since forgotten. "But you live alone," He argued, "You haven't seen you dad in many years." Zoro had also told him that his dad was always away on business, at this point he doubted if he was still alive.
He worried Zoro would take offense to that but it hardly seemed to faze him, "Yea but he never exactly kept it a secret from me, besides the dojo I have been training at all these years is part of the hunter network."
"Fine even with all of that you have never seen an actual vampire before so how can you be sure?"
"I just asked Luffy."
"And he told you?"
Zoro shrugged, "You make it sound like it was big secret, I don't really think anyone was trying to hide it from us."
Marco thought of Sabo and Ace and the looks they shared between each other when they thought no one was looking. It was clear they had a lot of things to keep from them, but besides from Sabo's vagueness and refusal to answer their questions he had never lied to them. He had noticed Luffy and Zoro got along really well. At the time he brushed it aside but on reflection it did seem like something worth bringing up.
"What else did he tell you?"
His friend threw him a curious look but answered anyway, "I asked why the wolves' vampires and humans all seemed to hate each other, but he told me he didn't know. He said it was a race feud that had started long before he was born. But the humans hate the wolves for killing their fellow humans and the wolves hate the humans for killing their fellow wolves. It's a never ending cycle."
Marco nodded thoughtfully, "Did you ask him anything else?"
"Why do you care? If you were so curious why didn't you just ask him yourself?"
"Well I didn't know he would answer, besides I'm honestly a little scared of Ace."
Zoro snorted at that, "Well if you want to know that badly I also asked him if all Vampires were like that, and he said some were cruel and some were kind just like humans. It all depends on their personality."
"Is that all?" Marco asked disappointed.
"It's not like I interrogated him," Zoro defended, "I was just curious like he was curious about us."
"Why was he curious about us?"
Zoro raised his arms in surrender, clearly irritated by the onslaught of questions. "I don't know maybe because he hasn't talked to normal humans since he was little," Zoro said sarcastically. "The reason I stopped by was Thatch was worried about you. He said you have been obsessing over something in your room, now go get some fresh air or something for a while."
"Aren't you curious?"
"About what?"
"There are vampires, Wolves and a cabin with three boys in those woods and the village knows nothing about any of it. The only one who seems willing to tell us anything is Luffy."
Zoro sighed as he rubbed his eyes tiredly, "I guess I can see where you're coming from but its not like knowing is going to change anything."
Marco shook his head stubbornly, "That's not the point, there's something going on in those woods, something bad! And I'm worried that if we can't figure it out people are going to die."
"You're not going to give this up are you?"
"Nope!"
"Fine," Zoro sighed, "If you're so set on doing this then I guess I will help you. I need to go, I was on my way to the dojo when I stopped by but for the love of god call Thatch.
Marco smiled triumphantly as he watched his friend leave the room. He hesitated for a moment before going over to his cell phone. Zoro was bossy today.
Zoro made it to the dojo with two minutes to spare as he hurridly changed out of his clothes and into his uniform. He secured the three swords to his hip before entering the door, bowing first, and joining his teacher.
"Where's everybody else?" He asked his Koshiro sensei curiously.
"Class was canceled today Zoro."
He frowned and looked around them in surprise, he had made it just under the wire for nothing.
"Why?"
"Well you see, we got a surprise visit from some powerful people, they said they wanted to talk to you."
"Me?" He asked in surprise feeling a small sense of heaviness in his stomach, "They already questioned me about what happened in the forest."
"It's not about that," He assured him quickly, sensing his distress. "Why don't you go talk to them?"
Zoro nodded growing increasingly confused as he followed Koshiro to the next room where a small group of men sat. He recognized two instantly as Edward Newgate, Marco's dad and the principal of their school as well as Monkey D. Garp the Mayor of the town. The others he didn't recognize.
"Roronoa Zoro have a seat," Gap said kindly as Zoro sunk down beside them glancing around curiously.
Zoro glanced curiously to Marco's dad wondering why he was here.
"You have been studying here for a while?"
"Since I was a child sir."
"You said onece that you intended to become a hunter is this still true?" Garp spoke again as none of the other shady strangers seemed inclined.
"Yes sir, my dad's a hunter. I hope to follow in his footsteps and go find him one day."
"Well, if that's true we are here to make you an offer. According to your teacher you are by far the most talented and promising student. As I am sure you know the hunters are a secretive organization that are vital to the survival of this town. We are the only things standing between the humans and whatever is lurking in the forest."
Zoro nodded, he had heard this before. The dojo he trained at was used as a way for hunters to find promising young pupils to train.
A man with a heavily tattooed face finally spoke up, "I am Dragon, the current head of the hunters. But I am not as young as I used to be and thus I need someone to begin training to replace me. Originally Kuina was training to become the new head but…" He trailed off as Zoro looked up sharply.
Of course he had known that. Kuina had told him the day she was selected. At the time she was the strongest student at the academy and the natural choice. That was until her death. Zoro still didn't like to think about it. He sneaked a glance at his teacher and instantly regretted it as he turned back to the group. After her passing he honestly hadn't given any thought as to who would fill the role instead. He never imagined it would be him.
"But Kuina wasn't your first choice right?" Zoro asked curiously, "She told me that she was selected as a replacement." He stared in amazement as the mood in the room darkened considerably.
"Yes, well you see..." Garp coughed uncertainty.
"We have made many mistakes," Mr. Newgate told Zoro seriously, "We were desperate and our anticipation cost us someone's life."
Zoro nodded seriously, he thought it would be best if he let it drop at that. He honestly had no intention of becoming the head hunter. But an opportunity like this was worth considering.
"I want to become a hunter," He said seriously, "I don't know about the rest though."
Garp nodded kindly, "well just consider our offer. If you are serious about becoming a hunter then your training will begin soon."
Zoro nodded as the men stood up, bowing the Koahiro as they exited the dojou. He stared after them in dazed wonderment. Becoming a hunter was one thing but the leader of the hunter society was something else entirely. The job was dangerous, scary and downright suicidal at best. His thoughts flickered to Luffy as he watched him fearlessly fight off those wolves with nothing but a bat and a crossbow. If anyone should become the hunter leader it was him.
Meanwhile miles away deep within the forest Luffy was having his own problems. The unrest was only growing as the vampires got hungrier. In turn they were lashing out at the wolves quickly dissolving whatever form of civility that the moonlight meeting had brought about. As such it was times like these that being the only human in a forest full of monsters was not very fun.
"What are you up to today little Luffy?"
Luffy looked up sharply expecting Law but relaxing as he recognized the familiar red hair. Ever since Law had started the trend he was permanently labeled as 'little Luffy'. On one hand it was understandable as both Vampires and Wolves tended to be larger than humans, particularly Luffy. But on the other hand it was annoying. Kid didn't even like Law, so why were they exchanging nicknames? For the most parts the Vampires and Wolves didn't really interact unless it was at the midnight gatherings where representatives came to yell at each other. Each race had their own system but for the most part they kept to themselves. Vampires society's aside, Covens rarely interacted with other Covens and the same could be said about Wolf packs. The general rule was you kept your head down and out of another packs business. However there were always exceptions to that and Kid was defiantly one of them. He excelled in sticking his nose in everyone's business. At the very least he wasn't a raging psycho like Law was.
"I'm gathering wood," Luffy said raising his bundle for the Wolf to see. "What are you doing so far out of your territory?" Luffy asked reaching down to gather another stick. Kid usually sent his underlings to do his errands instead of coming himself.
"Well considering you broke my messenger Wolves jaw I didn't have much choice."
"I'm sorry," Luffy said honestly, "He attacked my friends, he was trying to eat them."
"You think everyone is your friend," Kid said irritably, "of course he was trying to eat them, he has been craving human meat for months."
Not all wolves were capable of a human form. In fact it is only a small percentage of them that have human somewhere in their family tree. It is a recessive trait that can pop up anytime down the lineage. These wolves were much better at controlling their hunger, whereas the purer the wolf genes the more they craved human. The wolves Luffy had fought most likely couldn't shift to a human form. Disturbingly enough Wolves were notorious cannibals whether that meant a Wolf shifter eating a human or a Wolf eating another Wolf. The thought had always disgusting Luffy to no end. Growing up in the forest he had seen it all.
"You're not siding with the humans are you?" Kid asked sharply.
"I'm not siding with anyone," Luffy repeated for what felt like the hundredth time that day. "I think your all being stupid. I am going to go along with whatever Ace and Sabo decide to do."
Kid nodded, satisfied by his reply he stepped closer to Luffy sniffing his hair curiously, as if checking to make sure he was telling the truth. Sure to his words Kid didn't smell the human village on Luffy. "You smell good tonight, what do you say about letting me nibble on your leg a bit? It will barley hurt I promise." He raise his eyebrow suggestively.
"No way," Luffy said sidestepping him as he gathered his sticks and began to head home. He had left his bat at home but he hardly needed it. The only true trouble came when it got dark and the Wolves and Vampires came out to hunt. That's when the need for bloodshed became strongest and they lost whatever humanity they had. Only the oddballs like Law and Kidd hunted during the day anyways.
With the sticks clutched tightly in his arms Luffy continued walking through the silent forest, keeping a careful eye on the setting sun. Things had defiantly gotten a lot rougher for him that was sure. Just yesterday he had been jumped by a desperate vampire with a blood craving, the day before that it had been a small group. He defiantly wished they resolved their problem soon as this was getting increasingly annoying.
"I'm back," He called out as he slammed the door behind him.
"Welcome Back," Sabo said from the kitchen as the smell of delicious meat wafted into the living room.
Luffy walked over to the fireplace and placed the bundle of wood in its slot, carefully feeding the fire with a few of the smaller pieces.
"Hey Luffy, see if you can't track down Ace so we can eat dinner," Sabo called to him from the kitchen which Luffy eagerly agreed too. Dropping the remainder of the sticks into the fire he hopped up and went back out the door impatient to eat dinner.
"ACE!" Luffy screamed looking for any sign of where his brother disappeared to. "Come home its dinner time." Luffy was so busy looking for the black haired wolf he didn't even notice what was in his way until he tripped over it. Rubbing his sore knee Luffy glanced back at what looked like a bloody animal. As he turned it over he realized with a start that it was no animal instead the bloody head of a human male. It looked to have been mutilated beforehand and the body was nowhere in sight, probably completely eaten up by now. Ironically enough, there was a metal whistle wedged between his blue lips. Ace temporarily forgotten Luffy picked it up gingerly and headed back for the house. With his arms full he banged on the back door with his bruised knee.
Sabo's nose crumpled in disgust as he saw what was in Luffy's hands. "What are you doing with that?"
"Somebody left it near the front of our house, I tripped over it."
Sabo covered his nose, not willing his enhanced senses to smell the decay and death coating the severed head. "It smells human and it's at least a week old, it's probably the security guard those human kids were looking for."
"Why would someone leave it in front of our house?"
"I have no idea," Sabo said gingerly taking the head from Luffy to inspect it with the least amount of contact. "It looks like a wolf did him in, from the looks of it they went a little crazy."
"It looks like a warning," Ace said walking up behind them. "Whoever left it there was trying to tell us something."
As an evening breeze blew through the trees and carried the smell of decay with it both Ace and Sabo gagged in disgust while Luffy laughed at them.
"Well they should have been more specific," Sabo said humorlessly, "We have more enemies then stars in the sky." He grabbed a rag from the kitchen wrapping the putrid thing in it before passing it too Ace. "It would probably be best if you buried it."
"Far away," Sabo yelled at him still covering his sensitive nose.
Luffy frowned as he followed Sabo back inside to help set the table (after the two of them scrubbed their hands clean). Sabo was right when he said that they had a lot of enemies. But why did they want to give them the Guards head? The only message that Luffy got from that was try not to let Wolves decapitate you, but that was something he knew beforehand. Pushing the thoughts out of his mind Luffy instead focused on the bigger problem.
Their blood supply was running low, meaning Luffy would have to go into town soon. Of course Sabo always told him he didn't have too but after everything the two of them had done for him he felt like it was the least he could do. For his part Sabo didn't drink a lot of blood to begin with compared to some other vampire gluttons. But despite how much he tried to ignore that part of him if he didn't drink human blood he would die. Sabo refused to kill any humans or take their blood by force which left it up to Ace and Luffy to make sure the jar never ran empty. Considering humans blood was hard to come by in the middle of the forest it was usually a combination of anything they could scrounge up ranging from animal blood mixed with donor blood from blood bags and even their own when they got desperate. It probably didn't taste the best but Sabo never complained.
Luffy knew he hated his dependence on blood and for that reason tried to ignore it as much as he could. But that was the equivalent of fasting for humans and Luffy could never imagine that, he loved food. He was glad to be able to do something for his brothers, even if it meant he had to go back into town. If they caught Ace or Sabo anywhere near the city limits they would kill them on the spot. The worst thing they would do to Luffy if they caught him is hurt him, but he could survive that easily. He was no stranger to pain.
"I think I figured out why they put the head near our house," Ace said as he walked back into the house.
"Whys that?" Sabo asked.
"Because they wanted his spirit to haunt our kitchen instead of theirs."
Sabo and Luffy stared at him for a second before breaking into laughter. It filled the small little house and drifted out the window into the cool night air.
Unbeknownst to them a Wolf prowled just out of their senses. It had been careful to stay in the shadows and upwind so it would not be smelt. Only when they found the head did it dare to creep closer as the horrible stench would surely mask all else. It had witness the whole thing from the human tripping on the head, to him showing the vampire noble to the wolf child burying it near the lake. Making sure there as nothing more to observe it bounded forwards to go report back to its alpha.
Everlight18: Yes he is! Just like he was a runaway noble in the actual story. Luffy has had some bad experiences with humans and the village so he is a little wary. I promise I will explain more about how Luffy ended up there later. Bad guy law gives me mixed feelings inside T.T Thank you for the spelling help I will defiantly try to fix that.
Lostdog: Yes! Anytime!
Icarus: Thank you! I love possessive Ace as well, there are so little fanfic with it in them.
Guest1: Thank you!
Guest 2:Thank you!
I hope you liked it! Sorry it was a little shorter than usual. At least Dragon and Garp were revealed and Zoro had started down a path to badassness. Hopefully there will be Sanji and hopper next chater as well! For whatever reason I really love the ASl moments in this story in particular. It's so much fun to write and it makes me really happy. Not a lot of cute Luffy and Ace moments here but hopefully there will be a lot next chapter. Also all of my vampire facts come from really sketchy websites, according to my sources if a vampire drinks Slenderman's blood they will become a demon vampire slave ad if they drink a leprechaun's blood they might die (who comes up with this stuff?). Please comment and tell me what you think!
