Notes on last chapter: vampires don't do physical contact! It can happen between children and their parents or siblings but not in public and nobles do not have any part in it. Wolves do hug/cuddle and partake in general wolf social behavior. Ace has been hugged before by his mom and even Luffy. Chapter 14 was just Ace being weird about it. More on this later!

*** It's not addressed in this chapter but they were only watching Chopper for a day or two and he went back home already

Things are going to heat up quickly so I wanted one more carefree chapter to take a break from the tension. So I am going to try and do a fluff chapter with minimal plot which would be (aside from Never again) a first for me. Please tell me what you think

XXX

Ace loved his brothers, he really did. But right now he had some mixed feelings. He tried in vain the wiggle his shoulders free finally giving up with a sigh as the rope didn't so much as budge. He opted to instead wiggle his freckled nose in attempts to relieve the horrible itch. There was a leaf stuck to the tip of his nose and no matter how hard he shook his head it refused to fall, it was probably held in place by a dot of tree sap. If he had to guess he would say it was a poison oak leaf but he wasn't a tree expert. He could always ask Sabo but seeing as he was most likely the one who put it there that seemed counterproductive. Since he was a wolf he doubted it would do much to him although after ten minutes it was unbelievably itchy. It would of course be no problem normally but since his 'oh so wonderful' brothers had tied him to a tree things were a little harder.

Normal siblings just resolved arguments with shouting and tattling but no, the three of them could never do things the easy way. Although he had admit he did have a hand in this escalating so quickly. Ever since they were little he and Sabo had always been really competitive with each other. As such they refused to be outdone by the other which led to them accidently dragging Luffy into this as well. Ace had no doubt his little brother had taken part in this as well. They were conspiring against him. He stood silently for a good ten minutes thinking of all the horrible ways he was going to get back at them. Unfortunately all the classics had been pulled already meaning he would either have to resolve this and admit defeat or get really really creative.

After another few minutes passed all he could seem to focus on was the itch on the tip of his nose. He would happily give his entire nose away just to be rid of that godawful sensation. People could live without noses right? It would put a serious dent in his freckle population but that was a risk he was willing to take. After trying to mentally will the leaf to fall away he gave up.

"Sabo come here!"

He was met with only silence.

"I know your there!" He insisted angrily. "I can smell you, come here already!

The bushes didn't so much as rustle as his brother appeared before him silent as mouse. Freaking vampires, Ace rolled his eyes. No doubt Sabo was sticking close waiting for him to concede.

"What?" Sabo asked crossing his arms over his chest. "Ready to give up?"

"Never!"

"Then what, planning your revenge already?"

"Not quite. I can't think of anything adequate so I move to end our pranking war."

"So you do surrender?"

"Never!"

"Overruled."

"Hear me out!" Ace insisted. "Neither of us are going to back down. Remember how this ended last time?" Sabo shuttered. "You know how much I hate being the logical one.."

"You just don't want to be tied to a tree all night!" Sabo protested cutting Ace off.

"Yes," he agreed. "But you have to admit we tend to go overboard."

Sabo snorted, "Rich words coming from you, you were the one who started it in the first place."

"What! No I wasn't, it was you!"

"Yes you were! You filled the pantry with a family of deer! So when we went to open it we got trampled.

Ace smiled fondly at the memory. Their faces were priceless and they had gotten dinner out of it so he had seen it as a win-win situation. Sabo who had gotten kicked in the face did not share his view. If he had to guess that prank was probably why his brothers had allied together and tied him to a tree during one of his narcoleptic attacks.

"Don't act so innocent! The night before that you turned off the lanterns and rearranged the furniture so Luffy would trip!" This, he realized, might not be his strongest argument considering he had helped him do it. They had a lot of fun trying to conceal their laughs as the poor human bumped into and tripped over just about everything they owned. Usually Luffy was able to get around their home well enough when the lanterns were off just by memory but this time Sabo barricaded the hallways with the furniture and set up a maze in the living room with the kitchen chairs. Their plan had backfired five minutes in when Luffy had decided it wasn't worth the struggle and had simply fallen asleep on the living room floor.

"I had to!" Sabo insisted. "It was revenge for him super gluing plastic Halloween fangs in my mouth when I was sleeping."

"It's your fault for not noticing until breakfast you dork." His surprised face when he bit into his toast made it all worthwhile.

"It took me two hours to pull them out!" He protested.

"I had nothing to do with that one," Ace said innocently.

"Of course, you were too busy planning my Viking funeral!"

Which had of course been epic. Ace had set him adrift in a wooden raft in the middle of the pond near their house. Per tradition he prepared a wonderful eulogy and when all was said and done he played the bagpipes while Luffy shot a flaming arrow. It was just like the legends foretold except for Luffy's arrows weren't on fire or even sharp they were just practice arrows and Ace had no idea what bagpipes were? So he instead settled for some form of annoying trumpet he found in the cellar. They once again hit a snag as even with all that racket Sabo still didn't wake up.

Vampires don't need much sleep in general. But when they do sleep it's like the dead. It's when their most vulnerable to hunters and wolves so they were usually pretty cautious about how they went about it. This was how Ace and Luffy were able to carry their brother all the way to the pond and set him sailing on the tiny raft. Maybe they should have realized that if he didn't wake up to that then Ace's horrible trumpet skills wouldn't do the trick either. Fortunately for them as Ace and Luffy argued over what to do the crappy raft sprang a leak drowning its inhabitant. Or as Ace liked to think 'taking him to spend eternity with Valhalla." Only apparently Valhalla didn't want Sabo as the cold water did the trick and he woke up sputtering in a freezing lake at five o'clock in the mourning.

"We were just getting back at you for hiding our mattress!"

"It wasn't even hidden! It was on the roof! But you guys didn't even bother looking for it you just went to bed in the empty bedframe. Besides it was payback for Luffy talking all my clothes and stringing them up in the tallest tree he could find!"

"Those were my clothes too!" Ace protested, he was still finding pine needles in his shorts. "I actually had nothing to do with that one." He was off planning a completely different prank.

"It was a pre-emptive strike." Sabo told him seriously.

"Well he only did that to get back at you for dumping a bucket of…catnip was it? On him."

"That was meant for you you jerk!" Sabo insisted.

Knowing Ace's aversion to all things cat he had collected a bucket full of wild catnip and ground it down nearly into powder. He had precariously placed the bucket on an open doorframe so it would fall when the door was fully opened. What he had failed to notice was Luffy had gotten back from wood cutting and had accidently sprung the prank before Ace got the chance to. Which was what had dragged him into the prank war in the first place. Unable to tell which of his siblings had done it he retaliated against both of them.

"Well that was payback against you for the thing with the pliers!"

"Which only happened because of the squirrel incident!"

"Well maybe I wouldn't have but peanut butter in your pockets if you didn't glue my hand to my soup bowl."

The two stared at each other for a minute realizing they had reached the end of their long list of grievances.

"You did start it!" Sabo said accusingly.

"No I didn't!" Ace said feeling his cheeks flush. This was possibly due to how badly he wanted to pull the leaf from his nose.

"Yes you did! I didn't do anything to you before that."

"Yes you did!"

"Do share with the class dear brother."

"You broke my mug!"

Sabo stared at him for a second before breaking out into laughter. Only making Ace's blush grow. "Is that what this is really about?"

"It's a good mug," Ace muttered turning away to hide his embarrassment. He hadn't meant to tell Sabo that, the heat of the moment had compelled him.

"It was by accident."

"I know," Ace said feeling like he was ten years old again having a, who-done-it argument.

It was just a mug after all. Ace hadn't meant to start a war, all he had done was avenge his favorite mug with a light coating of glue on Sabo's bowl. Which in turn prompted Sabo to put a bit of peanut butter in his pockets which had coincidentally attracted all the hungry squirrels in the area and things had spiraled from there.

"Wow," Sabo said thoughtfully "we really are self-destructive." Who would have thought something so simple as an elbow bump would lead to an animal stampede and them retrieving their clothes from the top of a tree.

"I'm still not willing to admit defeat," Sabo said sharply.

Ace nodded, "same but there might be another option."

"Do tell."

"Truce"

"I'm listening?"

"First get this damn leaf off my nose! I am about to lose it. Then go get Luffy, this is going to require all of us."

Sabo nodded reaching out to pick the accursed thing away from Ace. As he turned to leave, apparently not forgiving enough to untie him yet, he paused.

"Oh I forgot. I was meaning to tell you then all this craziness started." He waved his hands vaguely around them. "We fixed it."

"Huh?"

"Your mug of course. Lu helped. It was mostly in one piece so we would have just glued it but the glue mysteriously vanished, so we just welded it back together"

"Really? That worked."

"No," Sabo admitted. That made it worse, it turns out you can't weld ceramic stuff. But we did find an old can of carnation milk in the pantry. Apparently that's what Luffy's grandma used to repair cracked plates and what not. We sealed it back together and let it dry in the sun. It looks a little worse for wear but all round it still works.

Ace stared at him in surprise. He was touched his brothers would go this far for him. "Thank you."

Sabo shrugged taking Ace's knife in order to cut the ropes. "It was only fair. Besides it was your mom's favorite mug right."

The second Ace was free his viciously rubbed his nose with his palm. "You knew?"

He nodded, "It's not like you to get sentimental over things like that…or in general."

"So I guess I really did start it then."

"Eh," He shrugged again. "Its fine. I'm willing to share blame on this one. Just promise me something."

"Yes?"

"If you ever happen upon a memento from my parents…"

"Burn it?" Ace guessed.

"To a crisp." Sabo agreed.

"Deal."

XXX

"Ready?" Ace asked his siblings unsurprised when Sabo was the only one who responded.

"Let's do it!" He said enthusiastically.

Ace handed him the radio. "Make us proud."

Sabo clutched the radio close to his mouth drawing out a feint whispering hiss that quickly became distorted and full of static.

A few beats passed before a static filled voice came over the speaker.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Never mind."

Ace and Sabo smiled wickedly at each other while Luffy stayed still, firmly pressed against Ace's side and less than thrilled about this.

The three of them were currently perched in a huge tree sitting tentatively on one of its extensive branches. They had chosen this branch in particular as it had the best view of the cabin beneath them while still remaining well out of eyesight and concealed in the shadows. With their predatory vision Ace and Sabo had no problem seeing what was happening below them with the foolish humans. Luffy more so but he wasn't paying attention anyways.

After a few moments of radio silence Sabo brought it back to his lips repeating the sound only a little louder this time.

"Did you hear that?"

"You're hearing things Jeff."

Ace shook his head in fake sympathy for Jeff and whatever poor souls had night shift. Things were going to get much worse for them. Then again they were hunters so they deserved whatever they got. In the last few weeks the hunters had gotten so bold as to set up a night watch station at the edge of the forest. Everyone knew that the outskirts were buffer territory and the occasional stomping ground for packs looking to extend their area. They were NOT supposed to be used by hunters to kick start their dream of dominating the forest.

When the three of them got together a few days earlier all Ace had was a plan but no one to execute it on. Which was the easy part as the boys had lists of people they would like to terrorize. The vampires nobles had been a popular choice but with war about to break out they had to be very careful about how they executed this. Instead they opted for more stable ground. They weren't taking on any major players, just messing with some incompetent and undertrained recruits. On top of that it would hopefully get them out of trouble for helping the humans a couple weeks back. At the very least it would get them back to neutral territory in the war.

Ace watched as Sabo made the noise again this time at normal volume.

"Okay I definitely heard something this time."

"Me too!"

"Keep it together you guys, are we professionals or not?"

Ace scoffed at that. Professional idiot's maybe. Sabo handed it over to Ace who growled convincingly.

"What is that!"

"It sounded like it came from over there!"

"Are you deaf? It was from there!"

Not that those idiots could know but it was coming from all over. Earlier that day they had broken in and stolen all the radios hiding them around the base to broadcast whatever exotic sounds they chose to share.

The two of them did it together this time enjoying the high pitched scream they managed to draw from the one called Jeff.

"It's everywhere!"

"What are those things?"

"Were surrounded!"

"Your weapons men get the guns!"

Ace covered his mouth to keep from cracking up as he watched them run around, smashing into each other in their haste to flail around more.

Another loud wail sounded across the radio system.

"The salt? Should we get the salt?"

"Don't be an idiot! What would we use salt for?"

"D-d-doesn't it keep spirits away."

"Del! Shut up!"

"Does the coast look clear?" Sabo asked retrieving the large stones from a lower branch. Ace nodded, "go for it."

Lugging the pillow case behind him Sabo gracefully made his way along the length of the branch to where it hung a few meters over the cabins roof. He dropped the first stone hearing the satisfying thud and the shrieks of fear below.

"Their trying to get in!"

"Who?"

"This is it for us!"

"Hold your ground men!"

Sabo dumped the rest out watching as they drummed on the roof like angry rain.

"Call HQ! We need back up."

Why they hadn't thought of this earlier was anyone's guess. Ace stood by his initial observation that they were in deed idiots. At the thought of more of them showing up here Luffy pressed further against Ace who put his arm around him.

"It's okay." He comforted his little brother. "We cut the phone lines remember." A fact that the hunters discovered for themselves a few minutes later.

"The phones are dead! We're sitting ducks."

"Pull yourself together John for goodness sake your supposed to be our fearless leader!"

"The flair gun, fire the flair!"

There was silence for a few moments before a loud bang sounded, shaking the cabin.

"Not inside you idiot!"

"I'm not going out there! Are you crazy!"

"AHH! Jeff you've doomed us all, you set the curtains on fire!"

"How is that not funny?" Ace asked. Luffy who thought everything was hilarious but didn't think any of this was worth even a smile. Not that he wasn't expecting this. Luffy loved pranks as much as the next person but the moment they mentioned the word hunter he opted out. They were planning to leave him out of this particular one when Sabo suggested it might be good for Luffy. 'Some good old fashion payback.' As he called it. He pointed out that maybe if Luffy confronted his fear, slowly and under different circumstances he might get better at dealing with them.

Sabo made his way back to the trunk, handing Luffy his bow. "You're up."

He made no effort to move, just stared up at them the way he always did when he didn't want to do something.

"Come on Lu, you could take them on blindfolded. Their idiots." Ace told him.

Sabo thought for a moment, "I'll give you my meat at dinner tomorrow."

Apparently that did the trick as Luffy took the bow from him sliding along the branch. Doing it right this time Ace set the arrow on fire handing it to Luffy by its head.

Lying on his stomach he lined up his shot with the crack in the window, pulling the string to his cheek he let the arrow fly. Whizzing so fast they could barely see it as it crashed through the window and landed in the middle of the room much to the hunters shock.

"It's a demons!"

"We must defend the base!"

"Screw that give me the keys John!"

The three men nearly tripped over themselves in their rush to get to the truck outside. What they failed to notice was that the tires were slashed.

"Every man for himself!"

Del cried as he attempted to hop in the seat only to scream!

"It's a severed head! The trucks are compromised help me!"

It was in fact a Halloween decoration which he would have realized if he looked closer.

"Run you idiot RUUUN!"

Shooting their guns at nothing in particular the lumbering men tore through the trees towards town screaming about monsters on their ass.

"You know their right when they say you live for the little things in life." Ace said appreciatively as the three of them scrambled down the tree.

Sabo nodded in agreement as he ruffled Luffy's hair.

"Good job Lu," I think you gave them the final send off. Luffy smiled back at them, the first one they had seen all night.

"Come on," Sabo said kneeling down a little bit. "Climb on, I want to get home fast."

"Same," Ace shivered. "We missed dinner."

"A necessary evil." Sabo told him as they began walking.

"Good job by the way." Sabo said after a few minutes.

"Huh?" Ace asked confused. "With what?"

"Not going all crazy on the hunters."

Ace cast a confused look at his brother. "I don't go 'all crazy' on people."

"Sure."

"I don't!" Ace insisted.

"You do when he's involved."

Ace didn't need to ask who Sabo was referring too. He cast a sharp glance at Luffy to make sure he was asleep. No surprise there, it was nearly five in the morning, they had been at this for nearly twenty four hours. The sun would be rising soon.

Ace lowered his voice regardless, "Did he know any of them?"

Sabo shrugged. Careful not to jostle his shoulders too much. "I don't know I couldn't tell. If he did I don't think it was very well."

Ace nodded mulling it over.

"Are you going to run after them?" Sabo teased.

Ace snorted. "I think they would die of fright it they met an actual wolf. They couldn't even handle radio static and Halloween props. Besides I don't think you're allowed to lecture me about being over protective."

Sabo nodded, "That's fair but I'm just regular protective you're all wolf protective."

"What does that even mean?"

"You know," Sabo gave his brother a sly smile.

Ace groaned regretting for the thousandth time he had told Sabo about that. It was a moment of weakness when didn't know who else to go to. Mostly because there was no one else. Although supportive Sabo enjoyed teasing him about it repeatedly through the years. Although thankfully he had never let it slip.

When they were ten years old he had accidently imprinted on Luffy. Which sounds a lot more sinister then it really was. Not that he had any control over it in the first place. In wolf culture it roughly translated to 'if Luffy dies he's screwed.' Of course it goes a lot deeper than that. But the basic premise was whenever he was in danger, threatened or scared Ace would get all 'wolf protective' as Sabo dubbed it and go on a chomping spree.

Of course that being said whenever one of them was in trouble Sabo would go into full on Vampire noble mode which Ace personally found much more terrifying. But until they invented a word for that Ace was stuck being the odd one. But after all those years of trying to ignore it, being mean to him and picking fights he had finally gotten over it. He was fine with it now as well as whatever his weird wolf brain threw at him. They were family after all no matter how complicated things got ad that's all he cared about.

XXX

A more In Depth description of imprinting:

Platonic or romantic an intense emotional connection for a wolf to another wolf or a human that exceeds typical relationships. No two imprints are the same as each wolf feels something slightly different towards their imprinted. Wolves can have more than one but it's rare and never more the two or three. It's kind of like soul-mates for wolves. A wolf imprinting on a wolf is more common and wolf/human imprinting is generally frowned upon as it puts the wolf in danger. Imprinting of any kind is dangerous for the wolf if: The imprinted doesn't return the feelings, they get separated somehow or something happens to the imprinted. Since human beings are weaker and less accepting of wolves it is common knowledge that loving a human will only lead to heartbreak for the wolf. The effects of this very for each wolf but it's never good. *** Note: Rodger imprinted on Rouge.

For Ace it's not romantic (sorry those who wanted that). Like for all wolves he didn't do it on purpose it just happened. It is buried in his instincts so even though his parents never explained it to him he knew it when he felt it. It happened the first time Luffy hugged Ace. Like I said at the top this was not the scene we saw last chapter, it took place before that.

*** Jeff is my older brother who I don't get along with (cause he is the worst), John is my mortal enemy/ evil twin in grade school and Del is my 12th grade sexist math teacher (All my least Favorite people) I couldn't help but throw that in when I needed names.)

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