HI! Super exciting news this fic has over 100 followers! That's so awesome I can't even begin to tell you how happy that makes me! You guys are the best. This is my favorite story to write so I will do my best to make it good. Sorry this chapter is so late. I've been trying to update every 1st and 3rd Sat/Sunday. Usually I'm pretty good at it. But this week I dropped the ball (sorry)
So the number of villain's is definitely pilling up, haha. I'm going to start a list so it's easier to keep count of (don't worry their not all after Luffy, that would get more chaotic then actually dangerous) So first off theirs Doflamingo, a leading force in the vampire community and not to mention a pureblood: Ace, Sabo and Luffy have caught his attention as he thinks its impossible for the species to live together as these three are doing. Next theres Law whose going to play a big part in the plot, but like someone pointed out he's not all bad. He's a neutral character. You never really know where he stands which makes him so dangerous. He appears to have an obsession with Luffy and to a certain point its true but he's highly motivated by something else. It actually has more to do with Ace and Sao then Luffy. Then there's the mysterious stalker (who is not Law). He's just kind of a Luffy stalker. Also the one who threatened them with the head in their yard (sorry for spoiling my own story) but it was crocodile. All he was doing was warning the ASl brothers to back off. I will also say Dragon is definitely a villain in this story. When he finds out Luffy is still alive things are going to get rough. There's also going to be a woodcutter and a big bad wolf later in the story.
"What's his name?" Garp asked as he stared at the little bundle in Makino's arms.
"Luffy," the woman said kindly, shifting his weight around.
Of all the people he had known she was the most cut out to be a mother. In fact, she seemed to be made for it. Her unwavering patience, her stern but gentle reprimands, not to mention her cooking which was amazing! Still, her choice of names left something to be desired. What the heck was a Luffy? He opened his mouth to say something but quickly stopped himself. It was her baby, if she wanted to give it a weird name that was fine by him.
"Do you want to hold him?"
Garp felt his cheeks flush red at the suggestion. He looked down at his grandson and then back at her.
"What if I drop him?"
"You won't." She told him with her ever-patient smile.
He nodded after a second holding out his arms for the child. As she passed him over he felt both his arms and his shoulders get heavily with this new weight. He was a grandpa now! What the heck did that even mean? Despite all his years of military training, he was completely unprepared for this.
"He feels soft to me," Garp told Makino concern evident in his eyes.
She just laughed at him, patting his arm comfortingly, "He's a baby, of course, he's soft."
"Still, he could do with some toughening up, what do you say to some survival training bonding with his gramps?"
Makino laughed, a pleasant tinkling sound as always, "maybe in a few years," she promised.
Their conversation had woken the little bundle up as he squirmed in Garp's arms. Two big brown eyes blinked open staring at him curiously. They perfectly mirrored his mothers, soft, kind, and brimming with childish innocence. Something he prayed would never go away despite how old Luffy got.
"Your right, a few more years." He agreed looking down at those big brown eyes. 'or maybe never.' He thought to himself. What was the harm in staying innocent for a while?
He still couldn't believe this cute happy child belonged to his son. Makino sure? Not even a year old and Luffy already had his mother's smile. But Dragon? That kid had come out frowning, and it had stuck to this day. How in the heck did he manage a kid this cute? Or a better question was how did he get Makino to marry him?
"How is my son doing?" He asked curiously. In all honesty, he hadn't seen the man in quite a while.
Makino's smile faltered a bit and worry clouded her bright eyes. "Ah… he's doing fine." She said finally looking up at Garp. "As you can expect, he's still saddened by Rogers death. I don't think he will ever quite get over it."
Garp nodded understandingly as he handing the squirming bundle back to his mother. "How does Dragon handle little Luffy?"
Makino laughed as Luffy reached up, trying to grab a fistful of her hair to suck on. He cooed as she gave him her finger instead. "He's still adjusting, but I'm sure he's going to be a great dad."
'Oh right,' he thought, 'that's why the two of them are so good together. Makino saw him as the man he could be, and in turn, pushed him to be his better self. He secretly blessed the world his son had found a girl like her.
I'm sure he will," Garp promised.
.
A full day had passed since the teen's disappearance. There had been no word from Marco or any of the others. Their contacts in the town hadn't seen any sign of them either. Leading him to believe the teens were still in the woods. Hopefully, the hunters had been able to locate them by now. The scouts they had sent to the other town were still a day's journey away. With nothing else to preoccupy his time, Whitebeard had set out on getting some answers from Garp, who hadn't answered his phone since the meeting.
He knocked loudly on the door, surprised when it immediately flew open.
"Here's your son's phone, sorry to have taken it for so long," Garp said handing him the cell phone.
Whitebeard blinked in surprise. That was probably the first time Garp The Fist had ever apologized to him. He didn't doubt that it was also the last. He clutched the phone tightly in his hands, turning back to the man.
"It's fine, but it's not why I'm here."
Garp cast him a curious look.
Whitebeard sighed, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder, "tell me what's going on?"
Garp sighed as his shoulder slumped visibly.
"You might as well come inside, it's a long story."
Whitebeard nodded as he followed his friend inside. The Mayor's house had stayed the same all these years despite the changing town around him. Whitebeard seriously doubted his TV had color. Still, it suited Garp just fine.
He settled down on the couch, waiting for his friend to start. But after several moments of silence, he finally spoke.
"You know those kids don't you?"
Garp nodded slowly sinking down into the worn armchair. "He's…my grandson."
Of all the things Whitebeard had been expecting that was not one of them. Garp's grandson? He remembered that kid. He had met him a few times but only in passing. If he was remembering this correctly his name was Luffy. After his mom's death Dragon started training him as the new hunter leader. Garp was never quite the same after his death.
"That's impossible, he's… dead." He told his friend gently.
Garp shook his head, "So I thought, but he's not. That was him in the picture."
Edward bit his lip unsure of what to say to him. The man had clearly lost it. They had searched for weeks for any sign of Luffy. Only to come up empty every time. Just when they were about to give up they had found his clothes, they were covered in blood and torn to shreds. Luffy's body was never recovered but it was clear what happened. Never the less Garp and Dragon had demanded that they do an autopsy. Sure enough, when the results came back it was Luffy's. Even without the body, the doctor told them there was far too much blood for him to have survived.
"How can you be sure?"
Garp frowned, fixing Edward with a serious expression, "you have a son, do you honestly think that you would forget his face. Despite how many years had passed?"
Whitebeard frowned, sensing the conviction in Garp's eyes. He was right, as a parent, he could never forget his son, despite how many years passed. If Garp believed it then so did he.
"Who was the other boy?"
Garp's expression once again turned stony, "his names Ace, he is supposed to be dead as well. We never… we just assumed he…"
Garp sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly. He looked older than even his years. It honestly caught Whitebeard by surprise. He wasn't used to seeing his friend like this.
"I understand," he told Garp patting him on his shoulder. "When Marco gets back I will ask him, what he knows."
As the other man nodded he began to walk towards the door, determined to see himself out.
"Wait!" Garp called from the living room, "Whatever you do, don't tell Dragon."
.
Marco lay in the dirt, Luffy's crossbow snug against his chest. It was surprisingly easy to operate as he fired at the swarm of vampires. He missed more often than not, and fatal attacks were delegated to less important areas. Still, he took down most of the vampires Ace had missed, with Thatch's help of course. Together the two of them watched Ace's back as he ran around mauling them in full wolf form.
When the attack had hit the hunters had immediately gone to fight them. Since then the three of them hadn't seen any sign of them. Although if the screams were anything to go by they were probably dead. Still, they hadn't heard so much as a peep in the last hour, just ungodly silence… and grunts as Ace twisted the bloodsuckers limbs at awkward angles.
Luffy's group should have no trouble reaching the town at this rate. That is to say, if they didn't run across any other obstacles. Still, he had little doubt Luffy couldn't handle it on his own. That kid was a one-man wrecking crew. Besides Zoro and Sanji were there as well, the two of them could do quite a lot of damage if they ever learned to work together.
Still, if he thought Luffy was amazing Ace was better. If the hunters could just swallow their pride and ask a wolf for help then maybe so many people wouldn't die. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if all wolves were this strong or if it was just Ace. Besides, he had only met a few wolves in his life but none of them seemed very keen on calm and collected conversations.
He shook the thoughts out of his mind as another Vampire stumbled across the tree line into the clearing. Thatch called to him warningly as they both raised their weapons. Laying on the small cliff perch they had perfect shots at the creatures in the valley. Thatch would distract them with gunshots while Marco took them out with the crossbow.
"How many are there?" Thatch asked dumbfounded, "did they send the entire population after us?"
Marco shrugged unsurely. He agreed with his friend, this seemed excessive. He put down the crossbow noting it was almost out of ammo. It would be fine for now, it looked like Ace was finishing the last of them off, and it only took a few hours. A part of him felt sick thinking of the fate of the hunters, and a smaller part of him felt they deserved it. That part scared the crap out of him.
"Do you think they're in town by now?"
Marco glanced at the sky above them. The early morning sun had risen fully above their heads without him even noticing. Quite a few hours must have passed by now. The four of them must be pretty close. They would have made it sometime in the night if the hunters hadn't stopped them. He hoped Ussops grandma could hold on that long.
"What was that all about?" Thatch asked as Ace walked up to them, back in his human form.
"They were sent to kill you guys," He said wiping the blood off of his face.
"What, why?"
Ace shrugged looking over his shoulder into the woods, "Who knows, it may have just been the hunters, not you they were after. But with the blood shortage going around they probably just wanted some human. I doubt they care where it came from."
Thatch shivered at the thought, "they were trying to eat us."
Ace nodded, "they're getting pretty desperate as well."
Marco remained silent as he bit his lip. He had heard that the curfew had stopped the slew of deaths. But he hadn't thought how that would affect the creatures of the forest. Usually, they managed to snag enough humans to sustain themselves. He had no idea what they would do if they couldn't get a hold of their food supply anymore. Still, he doubted it was good.
"What are they going to do?"
Ace shrugged scanning the surrounding area, "who knows, Sabo was trying to figure that out before we left."
"Why?" Thatch asked before he could stop himself.
The wolf blinked in confusion, fixing the two of them with a questioning gaze, "Why what?"
Marco sighed quickly taking over for his not-so-subtle friend, "What he means is it's not your problem, the three of you won't be affected by it… so why do you want to help so much?"
He hoped Ace wouldn't take offense to the claim. He hadn't meant it as an insult. From their point of view, it really didn't seem like something Ace or Sabo had to worry about, Luffy maybe. If he didn't want his old town to get wiped out.
To his relief the kid just turned away, shrugging non-committedly. At least he didn't look offended. "Humans aren't exactly my favorite, but it's not like I want the village to burn."
Marco nodded seemingly satisfied with the answer. The three of them began walking back through the forest the way they had come. The other group only had a few hours' heads start on them. They would probably be able to catch up by nightfall. Hopefully, Ussop would be able to make it to his grandma's before then.
He looked up as Thatch sent him a worried look, trying to get him to notice the younger teen's distress. Ace's shoulders were tense as he walked a few paces ahead of them. Marco wasn't sure if it was his question or something else, but something had clearly gotten to him. It probably wasn't a good idea to piss off the only tour guide they had. Also their only shot of getting out of the forest alive.
Still, he couldn't help but feel like it was more than that. The first time they had met, Ace had clearly disliked them. He didn't even try to hide it. He found their distress amusing, refused to talk to them, and snarled at them if they got too close to Luffy. Honestly Ace kind of intimidated Marco. And that was saying something since NOTHING intimidated him before. Although knowing that he was a wolf made things much clearer. Marco could honestly understand Ace's dislike of humans, especially after seeing the hunter's treatment of these so-called 'monsters'.
But Ace seemed more open this time. Less likely to snap and kill somebody. He didn't know if it was because of their acceptance of him even after revealing his wolf form or just because they proved themselves trustworthy enough not to stab him in the back. Either way, it was a welcome change.
"Thank you," Marco said after a few minutes of silence, "you didn't have to help us but you did."
Ace just shrugged again, more casually this time, "You didn't have to help your friend either but here you are."
They fell into a comfortable silence as they made their way along. All of them are a little more relaxed.
"Zombies or Pirates?" Thatch finally asked. Cleary unable to stay silent longer than five minutes. Sometimes Marco swore he was secretly a five-year-old.
"What?" Ace asked confused.
Marco frowned at his friend, silently asking him if this was really the time for this. But he caught the gleam in Thatch's eye and understood. He was trying to get the kid to lighten up a little bit. If anybody could make someone smile it would be Thatch.
"Which one do you think is cooler?" Marco explained to the confused boy.
Ace frowned clearly torn. After a few moments of deliberation, he finally asked, "What's a pirate."
Thatch smirked, putting his arm around his shoulder, "you've come to the right person."
Marco rolled his eyes, but couldn't hide the smile threatening to break out on his face. He liked this kid.
.
Luffy dodged to the left just as the vampire lunged for him, dragging Ussop along with him as the teen was hugging his waist with impressive strength. His movements were restricted quite a bit by the human belt. His bat lay forgotten on the ground. Even without his crossbow, he could still take down these weaklings easily. They were impenetrable, not invincible.
He dug his knee into the creature's face, making its head snap to the side at an awkward angle. As it stumbled back he aimed a powerful roundhouse kick to its legs, making it topple onto its face. Before it could even think of getting up he pinned it down, his whole weight on its back, twisting its arm behind it in a way that was uncomfortable even for a vampire.
Expertly shifting his weight to its shoulders he looked behind him where Zoro and Sanji were battling the other one. The two of these creatures must have separated from the pack in order to come after them. That was a shame considering they had almost made it to town as well. Still, Zoro and Sanji had handled the other one pretty efficiently. Turning his attention back to his living chair he rolled off, still not letting go of its arm.
"Burrrd."
Ussops whispered once again as the Vampire let out a muffled hiss.
Luffy frowned easing up enough so it could peel its face from the forest floor, "What?" He asked confused.
"Blood," it hissed again, more clearly, its eyes glowing red with hunger.
He sighed completely letting go in order to retrieve his bat from the ground. In turn, the creature once again sprang up, its steely gaze fixed on Ussop.
"Bloooood," It whispered stepping closer.
"No!" Luffy said firmly as he smacked it on the head with his bat. Much like one does with a newspaper to a disobedient pet.
Clearly miffed by this it turned its attention back to Luffy, its fangs glinting as it hissed. Apparently, vampires didn't like being told what to do.
Zoro and Sanji temporarily paused what they were doing to look up in bewilderment as Luffy hissed back. It was a pretty pitiful attempt no doubt but it clearly hurt the pride of the creature.
Not willing to be one-upped by a human it hissed again, louder this time as it took a step towards him, raising its hands for his throat.
"Blood."
"No," He said once again hitting it on the head with his bat.
"I will feast on your innards mortal."
Luffy raised the bat to smack it again but apparently thought better.
"What are innards?"
"It's your guts," Zoro called over to him, clearly amused. More so than Sanji at least who had watched the whole interaction with a mix of impression and confusion.
"No!" Luffy said firmly, once again bopping the creature over the head, finally deeming it an inappropriate thing to say.
The creature hissed again, retreating back into the safety of the trees. Zoro and Sanji released their creature in order for it to do the same.
Once back in the trees two sets of glowing red eyes watched them from the shadows.
"I see you!" Luffy shouted raising his bat.
They retreated further into the shadows still hissing. Their red eyes were still plainly visible. Luffy sighed as he gave up, deciding that was close enough.
"Are they going to follow us the whole way to town?" Ussop asked, not able to tare his eyes off the glowing orbs. Apparently, they decided they were outclassed but still refused to give up. Something that would have been endearing on a puppy but not two stone-cold cretins such as those.
Sanji finally turned his surprised expression off of Luffy to answer his question. Not having seen Luffy fight the wolves he was more than a little surprised what a punch the tiny kid packed. Not to mention the hissing battle that had taken place just a minute ago.
"Being near the town makes them uncomfortable. Especially in the sunlight" He explained, "If we get close enough they will just give up. They must have been acting on someone's orders or they wouldn't have been out here during the day at all. Thankfully for us they are slower in the day."
Luffy gave an amused snort at that as he pointed his two fingers at his eyes and back to the red glowing orbs a few yards behind them, signaling he was watching them.
"You should see them during the night, they think they're ninjas or something." He rolled his eyes.
Zoro laughed at that as they once again began to walk. Ussop refused to let go of Luffy's waist. He was once again traumatized. He was whimpering incoherently.
Sanji hung back a ways, reluctant to join them. Surprised how easily the three of them got along.
"Sanji come on!" Luffy pouted, "We have to go to Ussop's grandma's house!"
"Come on dart brow."
His forehead twitched in irritation as he took off after them. Shouting at the moss head.
.
Sorry again the chapter was so late. You guys are seriously the best. Sorry if this chapter was boring. (I was half asleep when I wrote and proof read it). At least Ace/Maro/Thatch have finally started to develop a friendship! Usually I hate OC's with a burning passion but I am going to make an exception for Ussop's stripper grandma. I cannot tell you how excited I am to write that part! Anyway please tell me what you think and if you have any questions! Hope you liked it.
Arxhaelolgist: Lol, that would be so funny. Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. The new stalker does have his sources, but I promise to get into that later. Zoro told Luffy to attack him because he knew the hunters could come in to stop them. Then one of them would have a better shot at grabbing the key for Ace's handcuffs. Thank you!
SEllen23: It wasn't Law, there are now two creepy guys Luffy has to watch out for. Thank you though.
CancerTheCrab: Aw thank you : ) The stalker creeped me out too but hopefully less so when he gets revealed. I like Fluff as well!
Lostdog200: Aww thank you, I'm really glad you like the story! Yea! There are a lot of villains in the story, all of which ASL is going to have to deal with later. I promise Luffy Ace and Sabo's past is going to be hinted at from here on out. But a little more subtly for now. The stalker isn't Law (even though it totally seems like something he would do) I'm not really sure when he started stalking Luffy. It's probably been going on for a little while but not an excessive amount of time. I promise I'll get into Luffy's phobias later as well : ) Hope you like the chapter!
Guest: Thank you! There my favorite to write! Ace is still a teenager/young adult. So he is too young to be full sized.
OctaveTea: Aww thank you! Haha 'the creeps are multiplying exponentially'- lol its so true. Ace and Sabo will protect him! Hope you like this chapter!
The Eternal Empress: Thank you! Your review made me really happy! I have no idea old Sabo is, you might be right about that. Ae on the other hand is actually a little younger then Marco and Thatch. But he currently has suffered a lot at the hands of their parents. I will go into all of their backstories later but for now it's going to be hinted at a bit through dreams and flashbacks. I think Ace and Sabo make living in the forest worthwhile in his mind. This way he has people that care about him, despite the risks. Haha I think it make take a little more to get Luffy to leave them. Maybe if they introduced him to doughnuts? That would probably do it lol. I really like you sleeper agent theory! That's the coolest. I'm really glad you like my story:)
