Happy tenth-ah-versary!
Exciting news! Thanks to Amy we reached 100 reviews! Yay!
Sorry I missed last update (I try to do every other sat/sun). It was prom weekend so naturally I blew it off to go to an anime convention. I saw Fem Luffy and Sabo and I flirted with Naruto which was pretty enjoyable. Those con folk sure know how to party. I'll update next Saturday to make up for it! Anyway this is Luffy's flashback chapter because I need it for chapter 11. Despite this it doesn't really focused on Luffy as much as Ace. But Sabo and Ace will get their own flashback scenes soon I promise Sabo's is either next chapter or the one after that.
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(This takes place a few months after Luffy started living with Ace and Sabo.)
"What do we do?" Ace asked shaking Sabo's arm in panic.
"Try to calm down." Sabo said as he tried to push Ace off. "It's just the flu."
Ace tilted his head curiously. "What's that?"
"It's something humans get sometimes." Sensing Ace's still confused face he continued.
"It's caused by a virus passed on from person to person. It enters the body through physical contact or infected air through the mouth, nose or eyes. Once inside the body immediately puts up its own natural defense which leads to fever, vomiting, coughing…."
Ace held up his hand to stop the spew of information. "And you know this how?"
Sabo frowned frustrated as he held up the giant book in his hands. "Grey's Anatomy by Henry Grey." A small stack of other medical textbooks were pushed to the side.
"So what do we do?"
Sabo shrugged setting the book down. "There's not much we can do. The body will fight it off on its own." He stood up crossing the room to where the seven year old lay. He put his cold hand on his forehead checking his temperature.
"What, are you a doctor now?" Ace asked crossing the room to sit beside Sabo on the bed.
"Hardly but you have to admit we are pretty ill equipped to deal with humans."
"It's not our fault they are so fragile." Ace pointed out. For the hundredth time since he met Luffy he couldn't help but wonder how the human race was still alive. They were weak delicate creatures without the natural advantages that vampires and wolves had. Their natural strength was laughable, as was their speed and sense of smell and hearing. They supposedly made up for their physical shortcomings with mental power but Ace had yet to see proof of this. Yet for whatever reason they still seemed to think they were the dominate race.
He watched as Sabo grappled with Luffy trying to get him to drink something. The sick boy weakly tried to push his hand away.
"Quit being difficult Luffy."
"What is it anyways?"
"Apple juice." Sabo said sighing in defeat.
"So what? Apple juice is the cure?" Ace asked his eyes narrowing in disbelief.
"No but it definitely helps." He handed the glass to Ace. "Go nuts."
"What?" Ace cried in alarm, "What do you want me to do."
"Try and make him drink it, "Sabo supplied unhelpfully as he stood up.
"How?" Ace asked as he looked down at the kid. For someone so sick he sure was good at squirming. If Sabo couldn't make him drink it then there was no way Ace could. Usually Luffy jumped at the prospect of food but from the way he had just thrown up Ace honesty couldn't blame him for being hesitant. His cheeks were flushed which, according to Sabo, was part of his fever. That would explain the glassy look in his eyes.
"Try something."
"Like pinching his nose and waiting for him to run out of air?"
"Try something else!" Sabo insisted firmly as he made his way downstairs to go make soup.
Ace frowned turning back to the task at hand. He knelt over Luffy, putting a knees on either side of him as he forced him to open his mouth. Unceremoniously dumping the juice down his throat. He covered his mouth before Luffy could even think of spitting it back up. Only when he was sure he swallowed it did Ace finally let go, sitting back carefully.
"See that wasn't so hard."
Completely ignoring him Luffy tensed, pushing himself up on trembling elbows. He weakly leaned over the side of the bed. Ace winced as he watched all his hard work splatter across the floor, missing the designated bucket. Oops. He crinkled his nose in disgust. Did humans really have to deal with this?
He turned to see Sabo remerged in the room. "I got him to drink it all but he threw up anyway"
"Small sips!" Sabo said exasperated as he looked at the mess. "You weren't supposed to give it to him all at once."
"Well maybe you should have been more specific. Although yea... this one is probably my bad." Lucky enough for him there was a very small chance of Luffy remembering this anyways, he looked pretty out of it.
"Your bedside manner is terrible." Sabo said dryly. He once again sat down on the bed, using his sleeve to wipe the little kids face dry.
Ace had to admit Sabo did have a bit of a knack for this, at least more so then him. He had the patience of a saint plus a heart full of empathy. But after watching Luffy part with his stomach contents even Ace was beginning to feel sympathetic. And to be honest it was a bit of a new feeling.
Sabo settled back against the head board letting Luffy snuggle into his side soaking up the cool of his skin in contrast to the kids fever.
Ace sighed with defeat as he leaned back, "Admit it! I suck at this. At this rate I'm probably going to kill him by accident." Humans were so fragile. It would be all too easy to grab his wrist and end up breaking it by accident.
Sabo frowned as he put a comforting hand on Luffy's tiny shoulder. "Don't talk like that! You'll get better. Give it time Ace."
"Yea right!" He sighed as he joined the two of them, settling down on Luffy's other side. Concern grew as he felt the tiny kid shivering despite how warm he was.
"Is that normal?"
Sabo shrugged, "probably not but I really don't know."
Ace frowned as he tried to dismiss the fear. Sabo said the flu was normal right? Still this looked pretty serious to be normal. But what could he do about it? If there was one thing Ace hated it was feeling useless. He glanced over at Sabo noting how tired the boy looked. Maybe they all just needed a good long rest.
For the most part his dreams were haunted. He could seek no refuge from his memories or his fears when asleep. They relentlessly plagued him. His darkest thoughts seeked him out in his dreams turning even the most harmless of things into vivid nightmares. It had gotten so bad as of late he had tried to stop sleeping altogether, anything to make it stop. He often wondered if Sabo felt the same way. Luffy definitely not, his fears seemed to leak out a different way. A louder and violent way. Sabo on the other hand was harder to read, more close off. Then again he was practically an insomniac so probably.
But when he wasn't alone he always found it a little easier to breath. Like a weight lifting off his chest. Suddenly the dark didn't seem so empty. Hearing the other two breath besides him was a comfort.
He closed his eyes, letting go of the fear and worry if only temporarily. Focusing only on the warmth besides him and how truly tired he was. Sure enough it seemed to do the trick as he fell into a dreamless sleep.
He was so exhausted he hardly noticed as the weight beside him shifted, then vanished. Sabo apparently didn't noticed either as the two of them continued to sleep.
Ace woke up much later to the realization Luffy was gone. It was quite late into the night already and pitch black outside. He shook Sabo's shoulder trying to stay patient as he waited for the other boy to wake up.
"What is it?' He asked yawning tiredly.
"Luffy's gone."
Sabo sat up immediately, "wait when?"
Ace could only shrug, the two of them must have been tired in deed if they didn't wake up. "You check upstairs I will go look in the living room."
Sure enough the kid was nowhere to be found. The living room looked untouched, not so much as a pillow out of place, as was the kitchen. Talk about a little escape artist. Ace glanced at the door nervously. He hoped Luffy wasn't having another one of his nightmares. It would be disastrous if he was running around the dark woods right now.
"He's not upstairs." Sabo said coming to stand besides Ace.
Ace frowned as he looked around, he sniffed the air trying to catch a scent. The only problem were there were a billion scents, Luffy lived here after all. And with him sick like this it was hard to tell which one was freshest. From the corner of his eyes he caught the table cloth move ever so slightly.
He grabbed Sabo's arm, dragging him over to the table. The two of them lifted the cloth from one side relived to see a tiny ball huddled there.
"Luffy? What are you doing?"
The tiny kid was fast asleep on his side, he was clutching his knees tightly to his chest.
Ace threw a questioning glance at Sabo who just shrugged. He watched as the blond crawled under the table pulling Luffy out from underneath.
He let out a small moan kicking weakly against Sabo as he was pulled out. "Noooo," he whined trying to free himself.
"Another nightmare?"
Sabo gritted his teeth as he felt Luffy's forehead. "Worse, he has a fever." Sabo let him go only for him to crawl back under the table.
"What do we do?" Ace asked as he got down on his hands and knees to be eyelevel with Luffy.
Sabo shrugged. How was he supposed to know? "Read some psychology books?"
Ace rolled his eyes, "You get right on that. In the mean time I'll go get some blankets."
It looked liked the three of them were camping under the table tonight."
He really didn't understand humans at all. Even though something told him this was more of a Luffy thing than anything else.
Maybe Sabo as right? We will get better at this. Or maybe someone would publish a book. A 'How to take care of your human' encyclopedia. Whichever came first, although at the rate things were going between races Ace really wasn't holding his breath. He ruffled the tiny human's hair before getting up to go get their blankets.
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(Present day)
Sabo groaned at the insistent knocking downstairs. He glanced outside to see sunlight streaming through the windows. Who the heck was up at this hour anyways? He pushed himself out of bed and down the stairs to investigate. Someone was knocking insistently on the door and there was only one person he knew who did that.
"What a pleasant surprise." He said dryly as he opened the door to see Law complete with his usual smirk.
"You look terrible." Law supplied unhelpfully. "Bachler life has not been kind to you."
"What do you want? It's the middle of the day."
"What I can't pop by for a visit? How else are you going to stay connected to the vampire world without me?" Law's voice was full of false hurt.
"I'm not! That was sort of the entire point of me leaving." Sabo said as he crossed his arms over his chest leaning against the door frame. "And since when do you just pop by?"
Law simply shrugged, "What? There's a first time or everything. Besides it's not like you have anything else to do. Are you going to invite me inside or not?"
Sabo frowned chewing his lip as he considered. It wasn't like Law hadn't already been invited inside before so there was no harm there. Once upon a time the two of them had been… acquaintances? That was a bit of a strong word. But they had been on friendly terms at one point in time. Of course a lot of things had happened since then. Namely the death of Law's family. Then again he couldn't see anyway that Law could use this visit to somehow hurt them. Sabo was growing increasingly worried about him as of late. Mainly the way he had been harassing his brothers. This behavior was still relatively new and was a surprise to Sabo as he didn't think Law capable of the crazed dictator behavior he had been exhibiting. So for those reasons alone he was very tempted to slam the door in Laws face.
Still on the other hand maybe it was a bad idea to ignore him if he was reaching out. If there was a way to get Law to stop acting so crazy then Sabo should probably take it. Besides neither Ace nor Luffy were home right now so no danger there. And like Law said he was quite bored.
"Don't do anything weird to Luffy's stuff ok?"
"Wouldn't dream of it."
"Then won't you come in?" Sabo said sarcastically swinging the door open wider.
"I thought you would never ask," Law smirked.
Law sat down at the kitchen table as Sabo poured him some tea. Tiredly sinking down in the seat across from him.
"You look worn down."
"So you've said," Sabo said resting his head on his hands tiredly.
There was a few seconds of silence between the two of them before he once again spoke. "Do you really hate being alone so much?"
"Shut up."
Ignoring the weak insult Law just shrugged, "You get used to it you know. Give it time."
"I don't want to get used to it," Sabo said with a yawn.
"Well considering Luffy's future murder attempt on Ace you might want to practice. It's not so bad anymore."
"If this is what you came to talk about I am going back to bed." Sabo threatened, glaring at Law. That was about the last thing he felt like discussing over tea.
Law raised his arms in surrender, "Fine, fine. Want to talk about your bad eating habits? Honestly when was the last time you had a good meal?"
"What are you now? My mother."
He watched with vague interest as Law walked over to the fridge inspecting the inside carefully. He rummaged around until he found the blood jar. "What is this? It smells strange?"
"You tell me." Sabo said once again resting his head on the table tiredly.
Law shrugged taking a cautious sip. "Definitely rabbit blood, a hint of bear, some human, a different human and some more human." He made a face, "This is disgusting. No wonder you look so thin."
"That cannot be what you came over for. And if you hate it so much why do you keep drinking it?"
Law shrugged taking another sip, "Luffy's blood is in here as well isn't it! Hard to pass up the opportunity."
"You said you weren't going to do anything weird!" Sabo accused angrily as he snatched the jar away from Law.
"How was I supposed to know? Just a happy coincidence."
"Sure," Sabo said sitting back down at the table sending a glare at Law. He was considering just kicking him out and saving himself the trouble. This clearly was not going anywhere. His hopes of talking some sense into Law were quickly vanishing.
Law sighed and sat down across from Sabo, suddenly serious. "I want to know what you will do if war breaks out between the humans and the forest?"
Sabo frowned as he traced the pattern on the table, in all honesty he was trying not to think about it.
"Probably just stay out of it." He had learned long ago the futility of fighting fights that weren't yours.
Law laughed at that, "Seeing as you live in the forest I have a hard time imagining that. Besides if you're so neutral then why are Ace and Luffy helping the humans right now?"
"That's Luffy not Ace." Sabo said annoyed by Law's seemingly endless source of knowledge. This guy had eyes everywhere.
"So Luffy's siding with the humans then?"
"He helps everyone," Sabo said gritting his teeth. "It's just who he is." Laws extensive knowledge somehow did not seem to extend to acts of kindness. Thus why he had a hard time understanding Luffy.
"So you really think he is just going to stay out of it as well then?"
No, probably not. Sabo sighed as he looked up at the man. "I don't know what will happen if the races go to war. But if there is anything I can do to prevent it then I will. That's a promise."
Law's eyes glinted dangerously. "Is that a threat?"
"I don't see what else it could be," Sabo said.
"Those are some big words from a neutral party."
He rolled his eyes, "like your one to talk? You're the one who keeps pushing for the species to fight." You know the Wolf and vampire treaty isn't going to hold right? The second the humans are gone you two will be at each other's throats."
"I fail to see how that's my problem," Law argued.
"Well for starters it's the destruction of your race."
"Your's too." Law reminded him.
Sabo made a face. He hated the thought. But yea… they were technically his race. Yet his loyalty towards them left much to be desired. If leaving Law to his plot meant the destruction of the vampire nobles then he would have no problem with it. In fact he might even help. But considering this would affect everyone, his pack included, he couldn't just let it go.
The two of them lapsed into silence, both deep in thought.
"The vampires are after the humans." Law finally said.
"What?"
"Doflamingo ordered the vampires to go after the humans intruders. Thought you would want to know."
Sabo stared at him in surprise. That was unexpected. Since when was Law helpful. Still yea, they probably did need his help on this one. No one knew vampire politics like Sabo did, as much as he hated to admit it.
"Thanks." He said finally.
Law just shrugged, "Don't mention it."
Maybe there was hope for him yet.
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"I told you she would like it!" Luffy said happily.
"Definitely surprised me." Sanji said crossing his arms, clearly miffed at being pushed from the kitchen.
"Who would have guessed?" Marco said as they watched Usopp's Gran use her brand new toaster. Turns out she is a bit of a spider man enthusiast. So much so that she insisted on making dinner. Which of course consisted solely of toast.
"I still don't get it?" Ace said. "Who needs something that burns their food for them? And what's the big deal about a man who is also a spider. Is it supposed to be ironic?"
"It's not irony it's awesome!" Thatch insisted as he tried to hand Ace a piece of toast. "We can't take you anywhere."
Ace pushed the toast away in mild disgust. "If you wanted burnt food you could have had Luffy cook for you."
"Can I!" He asked hopefully, only to be shot down by the room's occupants. Even without knowing the kid for very long it was easy to see he would be a mess in the kitchen.
"He's a superhero." Usopp told Ace as he reached for another piece of toast. "As in he saves people's lives and beats up the bad guys."
"So if he is so awesome what is he doing on toast?"
The teens fell silent at that. As much as they would like to protest he got them there. Apparently spider man didn't have much business being on a piece of toast. The stuff he said about toasters was even starting to make sense.
"You really shouldn't be out of bed yet Gran-Gran." Usopp said as they watched her put yet another plate of toast in front of them.
"Oh hush, have some more toast."
"No more toast please." Zoro whined as he handed it to Luffy. Everyone was a little too afraid to point out that she was going overboard.
"You younglings really leaving tomorrow?" The old woman questioned.
"The village is probably getting worried about us." Marco said. A grin appeared on his face, "But maybe Mr. Toast hater and co will keep you company." Marco's smile broadened as the teen sent him a look.
"As much as we would love to we have to get back to our brother," The wolf teen explained as he rested his chin on Luffy's head.
"Isn't he worried you guys just up and disappeared?" Usopp questioned curiously.
Ace shrugged, looking down at his little brother. "We left him a note."
"We did?" Luffy asked surprised.
Ace nodded, "At least I did. But he will get worried if we are not back soon." He looked apologetically at Usopp's gran. "Sorry."
She nodded, uncharacteristically understanding. "Of course." There was a few moments of peaceful silence before she once again continued. "I'll make some toast for the road. You lot are all too skinny."
Luffy cheered at the concept as the rest of the teens groaned.
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Ok so I want to clarify a little why Sabo let Law into their house. Sabo and Law were once sort of friends-both being vampires and all. But then Law's family died, Sabo ran away, Luffy started living with them and Law started acting weird about Luffy so Sabo and Ace pushed him away. But on some level Sabo still is concerned about Law and feels bad for him and all he's gone through. He also knows why he is obsessed with Luffy (but he keeps it to himself). He also strongly wants to stop Law before things really get out of hand and he does something he can't take back. So in short he feels for Law and wants to help him but he can't stand him threatening his family so he is trying to derail the situation.
Guest#1: Lol I don't think can handle zombie pirates.
pipeDream: Haha lol that would have been great. I hadn't thought of that. I'm still trying to find a way to introduce chopper and I think I finally have it! But that would have been priceless
Lostgod200: Savory or sweet in terms of food? I would definitely have to go with sweet I think I might have a problem, what about you? I'm really glad you like this story! Thank you for reminding me it was Luffy's birthday, I had forgotten.
Amy: No! You totally were the 100th review. Thanks you so much for that. If no body reviewed for the hundredth I was going to do it (which would be a little sad) but I would have been all 'Guys look! It has a hundred reviews!' So thank you I am so happy you like my story! Hopefully you will like this chapter as well.
