Sorry this is late, it was supposed to be finished sunday but my attention span had other plans. Anyways I thought I should add in here that this fic was actually inspired by Wolf in Sheep's clothing (the song) and Red Manse by siqwithaQ. It is ridiculously scary but there is one part where Maro and Thatch knock on the door of an abandoned house in the middle of the woods and Ace opens it and then slams it in their face and a few seconds later Sabo opens it and is all polite. It made me laugh so hard. Thus why the story starts off with Thatch and Marco knocking on a creepy abandoned house and having Ace slam it in their faces.
Phonenix: Yay! I hope you will like this chapter as well! Sorry for the wait.
Nala1220: Definitely, poor Luffy things are going to get a little worse for him in this chapter. Thank you!
SEllen23: Yes it did! Sabo's dream cared me too. Hopefully it will all work out in the end. I'm really glad you liked it.
Poemado: Sorry it took so long. Ace is my favorite everything! That was a lot of foreshadowing for poor Sabo.
Arxhaelologist: Thank you! Don't Worry! Luffy's not going to turn into a vampire. That chapter definitely did take a downwards turn for them, but at least Luffy got a game boy.
OctaveTea: Haha that made me laugh. Creepy Law is really fun to write, he will definitely show up later to fulfill Sabo's dream and flirt more.
Luffy opened his eyes with a groan as harsh sunlight accosted his vision. He rolled over onto his stomach snuggling deeper into the warmth. He hoped going back to sleep would make his head hurt less.
"You smell like fear little boy."
Luffy gasped as the words knocked around in his head. He shot up looking around the room in concern. He was back in their shared bedroom. There was no scary man anywhere around here, it had been in his head.
Speaking of which, his head felt very strange. For one thing he had the worst headache ever. His entire head felt like it had been stuffed full of cotton. All his thoughts were muddled and slow. Luffy sat up in bed glancing around, his palm firmly pressed to his temple.
"Luffy?"
Luffy looked over at his brother in surprise. Sabo stood in the doorway watching Luffy carefully.
"Are you okay?"
He nodded still gripping his aching head, "what happened?"
Sabo hesitated for a moment before coming over and sitting on his and Ace's bed. "What do you remember?"
Luffy thought back to the previous night. They had been in the woods setting off traps and then some hunters came and… he was running.
"There was a man in the woods…," he said looking up at Sabo. He raised his hand to his neck feeling the course texture of a bandage.
Sabo watched as he trailed off raising a hand to his forehead to check his temperature. He frowned as he thought Luffy felt unusually warm against his ice cold skin.
"That was a pureblood Luffy."
He let it sink in for a moment as Luffy's eyes grew comically wide.
"AM I GOING TO….?"
"No," Sabo cut him off sharply, "nothing like that, the vampire was just being a jerk. That was two days ago, you really had both of us worried."
The two sat in silence each wrapped up in their own thoughts. "You're sure you're okay?" Sabo asked after a second once again feeling Luffy's forehead.
Luffy laughed and rolled his eyes, something he clearly had picked up from Ace. "I'm sure."
Sabo nodded and stood up, pressing the wrinkles out of his clothes. "Stay put okay, I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Where are you going?"
"The vampire council," Sabo said begrudgingly. May years ago he had sworn he would never go back there, it looks like that was a promise he would soon be breaking. "It appears they were serious about war with the humans, the traps were a last straw for them." As much as he detested that place he didn't have a choice.
"Will you be okay?"
Sabo smirked as he put his gloves on, ruffling Luffy's hair as he passed. "Don't worry about me. You're the one who's sick. Try not to move around too much okay." Even as he said it he knew it was useless. Luffy would never listen. He wasn't the type to sit still for longer than a minute.
"Ace, will be back soon, just hang tight until then."
Sabo watched as he nodded, agreeing to a promise they both knew he would never keep.
'At least he is strong,' Sabo thought to himself as he stepped outside into the cold night air. Luffy could take care of himself, He and Ace had raised him well. And if there was something he couldn't do on his own they would be there to help him, because that's what it meant to be a family.
Sabo frowned as he tipped his top hat on his head, the events of two nights ago ran through his mind. He couldn't seem to concentrate. Maybe because he had to go be civil to that asshole now after he had nearly killed Luffy.
.
He and Ace were running through the forest desperately calling Luffy's name. A new scene had stopped him in his tracks, grabbing Ace's arm.
"What is it?"
Sabo sniffed the air once more, gritting his teeth, "It's a pureblood."
The two took off again, with more intensity then before. Following the smell of the pureblood led them to the small clearing at the bottom of a gulch. Their worst fears were confirmed as they watched Luffy standing there, a blank look on his face while the blond bastard hunched over him. Holding him to his chest like a treasured loved one. The image would have been quite cute if there wasn't a trail of red seeping down his neck and staining his hoodie a darker shade of red.
Before Sabo could so much as react Ace was charging towards them at top speed. He slammed into the man harshly throwing all three of them to the forest floor. He watched with wide eyes as Ace once again charged him only to be flung against a tree. Laughing now the vampire watched with interest.
Sabo pulled himself up and ran to his little brother. Luffy had yet to move as he lay on the ground, his eyes were open but glassy and unfocused. He put his cold hand on Luffys wound trying to stop any more blood from escaping.
"Luffy?" Sabo tried, "Can you hear me?" He glanced up, paying careful attention to Ace's fight with the vampire. Nothing good could come of this, no matter how much he had it coming.
"Ace, stop it!" He yelled to no avail. Either Ace couldn't hear him or he was straight out ignoring him.
Turning his attention back to Luffy. "Luffy?" His tone was more desperate as the kid didn't so much as blink or show any sign he had heard. He gently moved him onto his back before sliding his arms under and picking him up.
"LUFFY!" He called in alarm as he watched Luffy's eyes close, falling unconscious.
"pleasebeokaypleasebeokaypleasebeokay."He whispered under his breath shaking him gently. Luffy didn't so much as move as he was rattled. The steady trail of red continued to seep down his neck and into his clothing.
He watched as Ace yet again was thrown into a tree. As the wolf got up again to attack Sabo appeared in front of him creating a human wall between him and his target. Before he could even open his mouth to protest Sabo held Luffy towards him. Ace unconsciously brought up his hands to catch him as Sabo gently dropped his body into his grip. He knew it would calm Ace down enough to talk some logic into his thick head.
"This is not a fight we want to win," Sabo said keeping his voice low. The fall out was far too great for the three of them to deal with alone. "There's nothing we can do to him without getting half the vampire race on our tail."
"Opps, it appears I struck a nerve," Said the blond bastard.
Sabo whirled to face him. The man's mouth was smeared with red blood. Sabo had to bite his lip from doing the exact thing he had stopped Ace from just minutes ago. He breathed deeply for a second calming down before addressing the Pureblood.
"Sabo," The man greeted with fake politeness in his voice.
"Doflamingo," Sabo said tensely. "Why did you do that?"
"Relax, the two of you look practically murderous." His eyes gleamed like he appreciated the thought. "I didn't hurt him I just wanted to say hello. He will be okay….probably, humans are so fragile. After all it's not every day you meet the only human living in our forest. Maybe more of them will follow his example and move in.
"Not if you do that to them," Ace muttered angrily under his breath as he knelt down trying to stop the bleeding.
He continued on as if he hadn't heard him, "What I didn't expect was for the two of you to come barreling after him like rabid animals. So I take it the two of you have taken him under your wing then? You definitely are a strange pair. A runaway vampire noble, a forgotten wolf child and a hunter child, and of all the children you could have picked you decided to choose that one."
It was one of the more charitable descriptions of them that Sabo had heard but it still felt sarcastic coming out of this man's mouth. Besides it sounded like he thought Sabo and Ace raided an orphanage which was both amusing and insulting.
When neither responded except to glare at him he continued, "You two have trained him well he didn't so much as blink when he saw me." (Ace smirked in triumph at that.) "Which makes me wonder what he was scared of."
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sabo said angrily signaling to Ace it was time to leave. Ace nodded picking up Luffy once more.
"Is it something I said?" He asked mockingly as he watched them turn to leave.
Ace glared at him as they began to walk home, "Touch my things again and I will kill you, no matter the consequences."
Sabo raised a hand to his mouth to stop from laughing. Doflamingo's confused face was utterly priceless. With wolf logic it made perfect sense but as humans and vampires the translation got jumbled. It definitely didn't help that Ace was convinced Luffy belonged to him. Sabo had hoped Luffy would correct him when he got older but he either hadn't noticed yet or he just didn't care.
The two of them walked away in silence, keeping a careful eyes on the blond man. Once he was out of sight they quickly turned their attention to Luffy who had yet to stir or make so much as a sound. They had stopped the bleeding with Ace's shirt. His breathing was normal enough but his heartbeat was faint and fast.
"Tell me what's wrong," Ace said after a few moments of silence.
Sabo opened his mouth to tell him it was nothing but before he could so much as get a word out Ace cut him off. "Yes there is, now are you going to brood or tell me?"
Sabo sighed, not seeing much choice. "I had a bad dream," he began unsurely, "I'm not sure when or how but I know it's going to come true. Luffy… tries to kill you. He literally stabs you in the back.
He waited a few moments before daring to look up at Ace. To his surprise the older boy hardly seemed to be paying anyattention. He just continued walking. Frowning in annoyance Sabo grabbed a pinecone from a low hanging branch and threw it at his head. "Are you even listening, this is serious."
To his surprise Ace was laughing," Yea, I'm listening."
"And that's all you have to say about it, Ace I don't know if you were okay or not."
"You don't think," Ace began, forcing the smile off his face,"that Luffy's been biding his time all these years just waiting for the perfect time to assassinate me do you? If so he may have missed some opportunities."
Sabo rolled his eyes, "So you're not taking this seriously what so ever?"
"I am taking you seriously," Ace said, "What I'm not taking seriously is Luffy as an assassin, did you forget that's the whole reason why he came to live with us in the first place?"
Sabo closed his eyes, trying his best to push Luffy's blank blood spattered face out of his mind. Despite the worry building up in his gut Ace had made him feel better. He couldn't help but laugh at Luffy the assassin. Still there was something wrong with him when he attacked Ace. But he strategically choose not to tell his brother that part.
"If it was me I would have stabbed you in the shower, you always fall asleep in there."
Ace nodded wisely, shifting Luffy's weight in his arms, "That would be a good start, you should pass it along to Luffy."
.
Marco was currently not please, he was not pleased at all. One again he cursed Ussop's name. Before slamming his car door, watching the others follow suit.
Up until an hour ago he had been safely at home in his bed, where he SHOULD be! Until Zoro and Sanji had come knocking on his door demanding if he had any information on Ussop. They told him he was missing, which was usually code for getting eaten by a wolf. But this time it wasn't looking that way. They had called his house to see if he returned and they were greeted by his frantic and sickly mother. She told them his grandmother had fallen ill and needed medicine from the village. Unfortunately she lived alone on the other side of the forest. Because of the curfew help would never arrive in time. They strongly suspected Ussop had taken matters into his own hands.
His dad had left when he was very young and his mother was bedridden from a terrible sickness. Such Ussop had grown up in large part thanks to his grandmother who had taken care of him since he was a child. The thought of losing her must have been too much for him.
If anything Marco really had to hand it to the kid for being way braver then he ever thought possible. Going into the forest alone was one thing, but going in alone at night was an entirely different matter. Unfortunately brave and foolish seemed to go hand in hand.
That's why Marco, Zoro, Sanji (a kid from Zoro's grade), and Thatch were currently standing outside Marco's car staring up at the forest. As annoying as the kid was no way were they going to let him go alone, although they were still going to die. Still Marco had a set of beliefs and he was going to stick by it. If they were lucky they could head Ussop off at the start of the forest and take him back to the car. But here standing before the huge forest he seriously doubted that.
Still better late than never. Marco slung his bag over his shoulder sending a silent apology to his father in case he never made it back.
Sanji for his part made a mental note not to hang out with these people anymore after this. The news of their disappearance had blown up around town. They were just starting to plan the funerals when they reappeared. It was common knowledge that if you went into the forest at night you never came out again alive. But here were five normal teenagers who were completely unharmed even after sending nearly an entire day in the forest. Yet despite the controversy they hadn't offered anything useful to how they survived. All of their answers were vague like they had something to hide.
He wanted it on record that the only reason he had come was to impress Nami, but as it turns out her step dad had caught her sneaking out and grounded her. So here he was with a couple of dudes about to do the dumbest thing he ever had done in his entire life. And the worst part was that there wouldn't even be any women to watch him be heroic. For Sanji that was a big deal breaker.
Sanji grabbed his hunting rifle, resting it on his shoulder as his frozen fingers fumbled with the bullets. While he might not be a hunter he sure as hell knew a lot about them. He spent most of his life working at a bar on the city limits. It was frequently visited by hunters, shady characters and even the occasional Vampire. Nearly half the staff were retired hunters or ex-navy men. As far as costumers went they didn't discriminate but they definitely did know how to defend themselves if the going got rough. So Sanji knew his way around a 12 mm hunting rifle.
Zoro could definitely take care of himself. He was the only one out of all of them who actually had real hunter training. He also had to qualms about Marco. Although he may not look like much this was Edward Negates son, Sanji doubted he was helpless. Thatch he was a little unsure about. The man was definitely amazing at cooking, his skills might even rival sanji's, but hunting was a different matter.
"So what's the plan?" He asked as they began their journey into the dark woods.
Marco shrugged, holding the lantern up over his head to illuminate the road ahead of them that snaked into the trees. "Stay on the path," He said obviously.
That glanced over at Zoro curiously. His swords were attached to his hip but his attention was on his Gameboy, its screen illuminated his face with a green glow. "Are you serious, right now?"
Zoro ignored him as they filed into a single file line, their weapons ready to attack. Marco led them, keeping the lantern above their heads so they could stay in the circle of light.
"Think you can be a little less clumsy?" Sanji growled as he once again crashed into Zoro's back.
"Think you can be a little less stupid?" Zoro responded without missing a beat.
"You first," Sanji insisted his voice rising.
"Bite me."
"You wish."
"Guys shut up," Marco commanded putting a warning hand behind them to try and stop them from crashing into him.
"Do you see something?"
Marco shook his head, pulling a handgun from his belt. "No, that's why this is weird. We are deep enough in the forest that something should have at least noticed us by now, but it's completely silent. There's not even any normal forest animals."
They fell silent as they began to understand what he was saying. He was right, even the crickets had stopped chirping.
"Do you think something is following us? Why won't it just attack them?"
Marco spun around on his heels, looking for anything unusual between the trees. But as far as he could see there was nothing unusual. The inky blackness of the forest seemed to be haunting him. The light from the lantern did little to fight off the approaching darkness.
Before they could do anything a scream followed by a gunshot broke out from just ahead of them. The four of them exchanged a look before racing off towards the sound. A couple of moments later they came upon a grisly scene. Blood stained the path, splattering in all directions. Ussop and a large grey wolf stood way to close for comfort.
For a horrifying second they thought Ussop was done for, but then the wolf staggered more blood falling from the gaping wound in its side.
Marco's jaw dropped as he stared at the younger boy. He looked as scared as ever, only this time he wasn't harmless. In his shaking hands was a sniper rifle. It was pointed at the wolf but he had no intention of using it again.
Marco's jaw snapped shut as he watched grimly as the gun fell from his trembling fingers to the ground. In front of them the wolf shifted its massive weight trying to once again get back on its feet.
He dashed forward grabbing Ussop's shaking shoulder as he raised his own gun, firing off rounds into the creature's leg. Still these creatures weren't feared for nothing, a couple of bullets wouldn't keep the down for very long. Even dripping blood it charged towards them. Marco could see the bloodlust in its yellow eyes, practically glowing in the dark. It was going to kill them.
A loud howl made all of them freeze in place, the wolf included. The brambles shifted from the path in front of them as a sleek black wolf emerged. Its fangs were bared at the grey one growling in clear warning. Marco certainly had not forgotten this wolf, it still haunted his dreams. This was the first wolf he had ever seen.
Despite the smaller size the newcomer clearly intimidated the injured black one. It took a step back, no longer paying the humans any attention. With another warning whine it turned on its bleeding haunches and ran. Unwilling to give up the smaller wolf chased after it relentlessly. They listened carefully as its pained howls drifted across the cold mountain air.
"W-w-what do we do, Ussop whined from under Marco's grip.
"Run," Sanji said and nobody protested as they took off further down the trail.
"We can't run forever," Thatch argued through pained gasps.
"We hopefully won't have to," Zoro replied as he and Marco shared a quick look.
"What does that mean?"
"It means we have a plan B," Marco told him. But before anybody could ask what is was they literally tripped over it. Or rather they tripped over him.
Silverstar456: Thank you! Sorry it was a little late but I usually try to update either Saturday or Sunday.
Ruth: Wow, that's awesome! IT totally is symbolism, I love Asl more than probably is healthy so it makes me really happy!
Moonlit-Night: Haha that's some awesome One Piece word play. Yea! It totally was wow I can't believe you guessed it. There is definitely protective older bro POV in this chapter which makes me really happy. Thank you so much, I'm really glad you like it!
Everlight18: I am just really glad you review it at all! I know, I didn't mean to make him unlikable just really determined but unfortunately he is sort of the plot driver for the teens because their sort of unmotivated, so in turn he is a bit pushy. Hopefully he will get more awesome. Luffy runs into more hunters soon and things get a little hectic. I will go into more of what attacked Luffy in this chapter! Things are definitely heating up.
L1109: yay, thank you so much!
Things are starting to get serious. Next chapter will have Luffy and co meet face to face with hunters! It will be interesting to write. Also next chapter the gang learns that Ace is a Wolf and maybe (if there is room) about Sabo as well. They definitely have a long journey ahead of them to grandmother's house. I am doing my best to add lots of AceLu time and references to the red riding hood story. But lately Sabo and Luffy moments have been asking me equally as happy Thank you so much for all the follows and reviews! Please tell me what you think!
