So I promised that the story would take off after the fluff chapter. Sorry this chapter is so late. I realize I am apologizing a lot lately for increasingly late chapters so to make up for it I will make this chapter the longest by far.

While writing this chapter my baby bunny Momochi got horribly sick and I had to find a way to get him to a vet without a phone, internet or a car. Thank god my new neighbors took pity on me. Anyway I told him he is too cute to die and he seemed to take that into consideration as he is on the mend but if anyone has any bunny wisdom to impart on me it would be much obliged.

XXX

Luffy clutched tighter to Ace's pelt as the two of them flew through the forest as quickly as Ace could manage, which was quite fast. It was still early in the night, the sun would not be rising for a long time. Luffy gritted his teeth at the though. It was going to be a long night not to mention an incredibly stressful one. He pressed his chest into Ace's back trying to stay flat like Sabo had taught him, something about wind current or what not, so Ace could go faster. He twisted his fingers further into the black fur trying to keep his grip as Ace jumped over a fallen tree trunk.

Ace shuttered beneath him, giving off a deep growl from the back of his throat as he charged forwards.

Confused Luffy looked back behind him at the darkened tree line. As far as he could tell the forest was still.

"Ace?" He questioned.

Ace growled in reply the message clear. 'They were coming.' Ace's excellent ears picked up what Luffy's failed too.

"Can we beat them to it?" Luffy asked only for Ace to yap in response pressing his wearily legs on.

'We can try.'

Despite his older brother's insistence at remaining neutral in the coming war both of them were awfully quick to side with the humans. Or as Sabo explained it they were opposing the vampires, helping the humans was just an unfortunate byproduct.

Luffy frowned but remained silent. He wanted to help his friends and like his brothers he didn't want the stupid vampires to win. The wolves were nearly as bad but Sano said that it looked like they were being manipulated to do the dirty work in this particular scheme. Not that they weren't itching to shed some human blood even without the vampires encouragement. It was most likely that they knew they were being exploited and simply didn't care.

Sabo had said he would try to buy them time but Luffy had no idea what he was going to do. He felt worry coil in his stomach for his brother. But Sabo was the smart one, he was cautious and didn't take the same unnecessary risks Luffy and Ace were so fond of.

Ace's whine alerted Luffy that they were close. He looked up in surprise at the tiny outpost in front of them. Still just a tiny speck on the horizon but it was growing steadily lager as Ace pushed onwards.

It was the military watch station at the edge of town. It served as an early warning system against vampires and wolves should any try to enter town. The outpost had a direct link to the towns warning system which was exactly what Ace and Luffy needed.

The last few weeks had been calm, eerily so. Attacks on humans had dropped to zero and it seemed like both species were on their best behavior. This of course did not bode well with Sabo who recognized this behavior almost instantly. It hadn't been hard to find out what was up, it was hardly a secret. Law, on orders from Doflamingo was eliciting an uprising against humans. The newfound truce between the vampires and the wolves had inflated their already oversized superiority complex over the human village. The plan was to put an end to the worsening famine by storming the village and feasting on the humans until their stomachs were near bursting.

Of course there were many things wrong with this plan. The biggest one being that if they killed all the humans then they would actually starve. Then there was the issue of the furious reaction of both the military, government and hunters of the country if the village were to be overrun. Still they chose to ignore this.

Sure finding out the plan had been easy considering it was an open invitation slaughter but the boys had no clue when it was happening. They had considered giving the humans a heads up but it was unlikely they could get anyone to believe them, at least anyone important. Plus they would have to send Luffy off alone and it would require him eventually talking to the mayor and maybe his father and the mess that would create didn't seem worth it. So instead they kept their ears to the ground intently listening. It had been about one in the morning when Sabo raced in shaking the two of them awake, who up until that point were sleeping peacefully.

A low growl cut Luffy off from his thoughts as Ace slowed from his quick pace cautiously approaching the guard tower. Something was wrong. Luffy looked down at Ace who stared up at him grimly. Not a good sign.

Luffy frowned and slid off the wolf pulling his crossbow off his back as he approached the station.

'Don't,' Ace growled warningly.

Luffy ignored him as he approached the cabin, noticing the door was left open ajar. He nudged it wider with his bow cautiously scanning the room for any sign of movement. By the dim light of the moon he was able to make out what happened. He could see the dark silhouettes of unmoving bodies, barely recognizable. As the dim light reflected the pools of red splatted across the walls Luffy felt sick and looked away. So that's what Ace's warning had been about. He felt Ace's warm snout press into his palm reassuringly.

The vampires had beat them here. They wanted to take out the guard tower so the citizens had no warning. By the looks of it the men had not been given an easy death. Vampires were notoriously cruel when it came to playing with their prey.

'Luffy,' Ace reminded him patiently but urgently.

Luffy shook his head trying to clear his mind as he made his way across the room, trying his best to avoid the puddle. They had already tried to call for help he realized with a sinking heart. The control panel was blood soaked. It was no good, they had come prepared. The radio had been viciously ripped from the wall, the warning button was in a similar state and even the flare guns were missing.

He looked at Ace. What were they going to do now?

Ace gave a soft huff glancing around at the gruesome scene around them. They would have to alert the town the old fashioned way then. That would be challenging on its own but unfortunately for them it wouldn't be enough. The town needed more time than they could give them. Not only did the town's people have to hide but the hunters and military needed to be notified immediately.

Ace cast his sleepy grey eyes over the still bodies of the outpost guards. Dammit, they had sworn for months not to get involved. So what the actual hell were they doing out here? Ace held no fondness in his heart for humans, they were cowardly weaklings who prosecuted anything that didn't fit into their over simplistic world view. The same could be said about the wolves and the vampires. No species was innocent. In fact they all had this war coming from the sheer amount of times they screwed each other over. He and Sabo had been more than willing to stay out it.

But this was going too far. The two alpha species were teaming up to pick on the weakling race while their defenders were away. That was like attacking the den mother and the cubs while the pack was away. It would be one thing to attack the humans on the battle field and another to massacre them while they slept clueless and defenseless.

Ace felt Luffy's hand come to rest on his shoulder, silently asking him what they were going to do.

Ace knew he wasn't a good person. But he also knew he wasn't a monster. He had made that choice a long time ago. He was fairly confident that he was at least better than the hoard of wolves charging towards town right now. He would have to settle for just being decent.

'You go warn the town,' Ace communicated to his little brother as he rested his forehead against Luffy's. 'Try to find the military while you're at it.'

"What will you do?"

'Something stupid,' Ace thought to himself.

'Reinforcements.' He told Luffy. 'Do you remember where Sabo told us to meet?

"The caves?"

Ace nodded pulling back from his brother, he didn't have time to explain his half-baked plan. Not like he would want to.

'Don't be late.'

Luffy nodded seriously.

'Get going twerp.' Ace told him nudging him away with his snout.

Luffy nodded determined as he turned, running off down the hill towards the glow of the village's street lamps.

'Time to go be a decent person,' Ace thought sarcastically as he too turned away and started sprinting down the road. 'Hang on citizens two un-empathetic cretins and one idiotic-do-good-martyr are on their way.' If that didn't instill hope into someone's heart he didn't know what would.

XXX

Luffy ran down the deserted streets. He had no idea how to alert an entire town. Should he start yelling or something? He doubted that would work. They would probably just yell at him to shut up. He wracked his brain trying to remember how it worked when he still lived here. He knew there was an alarm system that reached to the entire town. Every month they would have a practice drill. The only thing was he was pretty sure the system was automatic. He knew the guard posts had signals to activate the alarm but they were all no doubt trashed by the vampires. So who else would have one? The public help office maybe? Luffy glanced around. He had no idea where that was. Argh! He didn't have time for this. The wolves would be here soon, if it wasn't for the overly complicated plan they would no doubt be here already. But they were still shuffling into position. He knew the more time he could give the the better it would be. How was this so hard?

"Hey you there FREEZE!"

Luffy turned around in surprise, nearly blinded by a flashlight shining in his face.

"Who are you?"

"You don't get to ask the questions kid," The deep voice boomed. It sounded angry. "Are you aware that curfew was over three hours ago?"

"Huh," Luffy said confused. That's right the new curfew, no wonder things were so quiet.

The man sighed clearly annoyed. "Son I am a patrol officer and from the looks of it you are in a boatload of trouble."

Luffy grinned at that. "That's great!" He said enthusiastically running towards the man. "I need to tell you something. You have to sound the alarm!"

"What?"

"Vampires are attacking! Well probably wolves but the vampires organized it. Their surrounding the town and their going to get anyone who tries to escape."

The flashlight lowered off of Luffys face to his relief.

"Kid?"

"Yea?"

"Have you been drinking?"

"I'm serious! You have to hurry they will be here soon!"

"There is no such thing as vampires!" The man told him angrily stalking closer. "And if we really were being attacked the guard posts would know about it before some hooligan kid who thinks he is too good to follow the curfew rules." He grabbed Luffy's arm, attempting to pull him along.

"I'm serious! The wolves really are coming."

"Have you been talking to that Usopp kid? Just be a good boy and tell me where you live. Let's go have a little talk with your parents. I'm sure they will have a few choice words for you."

Luffy huffed in annoyance. He had forgotten what being treated like a kid was like. The adults in this town never listened to kids. Apparently they were too busy shoving sticks up their ass to hear anyone else's opinion. At least in the woods you were taken seriously, sure they might try to eat you after but they believed you regardless of your age. But not here.

Nobody in this town had ever believed him. They hadn't listened back then and they didn't listen now. They never changed.

He brought his leg around smashing his foot into the side of the man's head with surprising flexibility. The guard cried out in anger stumbling backwards as he let go of his arm in surprise.

It looked like he was on his own for this one.

"What the hell kid! Are you trying to get into even more trouble?"

He tried to grab Luffy again but the teen easily dodged kicking the man's knee making him stumble, trying to regain his balance.

Knocking the man out would be like a death sentence right now, but at the same time if he just ignored him he would no doubt chase him.

He watched as the man pulled out his baton trying to intimidate Luffy.

"Listen kid I don't want to have to...oomph." He cried out in alarm as Luffy kneed him in the stomach, tackling him to the ground. He tried to use his baton only for Luffy to easily dodge it pinning the man to the ground by his shoulders. The man tried to roll away and Luffy stood up, letting him go. He clambered to his feet more shocked that such a tiny kid had taken him down.

He reached down for his belt, probably going for the Taser gun but his fingers came back empty. His belt was gone. He looked down in disbelief as he fumbled around his waist.

Luffy held up the belt he was looking for. He had taken it when he pinned the man down in an attempt to stop him from calling for back up.

The man stared at him numbly for a second before he took a step back, realizing Luffy wasn't a normal kid.

Luffy turned to leave, content he had scared the man into leaving him alone.

"Who are you?" The guard questioned making Luffy smile. That sounded like a cheesy line from an action movie his dad used to watch where some surprisingly old action star uses his awesome yet inaccurate karate moves to take down an unsuspecting dumb witted police man. And then they always had an awesome line like 'your worst nightmare' or something.

Luffy wracked his brain trying to remember something cool to say.

"Jack, Jack Bond."

"What?"

That didn't really sound right, Luffy had the strong feeling he had messed up the line somewhere but he really didn't have time for this. He once again began running wondering how much time Sabo would be able to buy him and Ace.

Luffy did know where one of the buttons was, although he was sort of hoping it wouldn't come to this. But they were counting on him to do this so it wasn't like he had much choice. He pulled the hood over his head and set off for the center of town. His grandpa had taken him to work a few times. He hoped he could remember the way.

City hall, at the very heart of the town. When he was a kid he had always hated going there because it was boring. Now he hated going there because it was overrun with hunters, military personnel and people who thought he was dead. Luffy really didn't want to go but he knew this wasn't debatable. He had to do his best to try and save the town. He knew despite their grumbling his brothers would come through and make the impossible a reality. Compared to what they had to do pushing a stupid button was really easy. And they would never let him down. He had to hurry up and do this so he would be on time to their meet up spot. Then the three of them could go back to bed.

Speaking of his brothers Luffy felt lightheaded, he had stumbled over his feet more than a few times tonight. Sabo had surprised Luffy by taking so much, he usually only took what he needed to survive. Sabo had given him some juice to drink to get his blood sugar back up along with an unnecessary apology. After all Luffy knew he wouldn't have asked if it wasn't important. But it did make Luffy wonder what his brother was attempting to do?

Luffy slowed his run at the center of town. In front of him stretched an impressive gold domed building with an expansive concrete courtyard. This looked like it to him. He could vaguely make out the tower atop that housed the alarm bell. It was right there! He just needed to activate it. How was he supposed to do this? The front door was locked tight, not to mention the security cameras, Luffy pulled his hood tighter scanning the area for a way in. The windows were locked as well. Luffy groaned in annoyance, he didn't have time for this. He reached into his boot for his knife.

He used the butt to shatter the window as he covered his eyes to the spray of glass. He knew he only had a few minutes before the building was swarmed with security as there was no doubt an alarm system. Not to mention the night guard was probably on his way. But he honestly didn't have time to worry about that. He leapt through the window trying to avoid the mess of glass on the floor as he rolled to his feet and took off running down the hallway. He thought he heard a yell somewhere behind him but he kept running. He had a job to do.

XXX

Sanji slipped outside into the cool night air. The noisy sounds from the restaurant floated up behind him but he ignored it. He could afford to take a cigarette break.

He sat down on the stone steps at the back of the Baratie as he took out a cigarette fishing around for his lighter. If he hadn't practically gown up in this restaurant he would quite. Seriously how annoying could a customer be without him being allowed to kick their asses? Mostly because this late into the night most of his customers were drunk hunters and the occasional mismatched wanderer. This would be due to the Baratie's unique location. It rested on the edge of town just between the city limits and the outlands. Although to most this seemed like a poor business decision Sanji did have to admit it kept things interesting. Plus they received all sorts of guests, from rag tag explorers to upper class business men who were driven out here by its reputation alone.

Sanji flicked his lighter to life attempting to light his cigarette. He heard the bushes rustle behind him. 'Probably the wind' he thought to himself with a resigned sigh. Yea right that was the wind. He sighed again as he put his lighter away taking a deep drag of his cigarette.

"Who's out there?" He asked standing up to investigate. He dropped his cigarette in the grass crushing it beneath his feet.

Sanji was not prepared for the blood chilling sight of two yellow eyes staring out at him from the darkness. That was certainly not the drunken pub patron he had been expecting.

"Shit," He whispered feeling desperately in his pockets for something to protect himself with. Of course he had nothing, these were his work clothes for Christ's sake. He moved to dash back to the restaurants back door but the wolf beat him too it. It lunged at him, leaping over his head.

Sanji cussed and ducked to the side as the wolf landed smoothly between him and the building. He was in one piece but he was also trapped. Damn it! He lowered himself ready to jump out of the way again if needed. Only the wolf never attacked. Instead it sat down in the grass cocking its head questioningly.

Whatever Sanji was about to say died in his throat. Wait a minute he recognized that particular black wolf.

"Ace?" He questioned feeling ridiculous if he was wrong.

Ace gave a low snort as he nodded his head, yellow eyes never leaving Sanji's face.

"Can you understand me?"

Ace threw Sanji a dirty look that needed no further explanation. The cook got the distinct feeling he had just said something very offensive.

"Sorry," he defended. "I don't know how it works."

Ace barked at him, followed by a series of growls and whines that Sanji guessed was his form of communication. Was he supposed to be getting any of this? He glanced around for Luffy or Sabo so they could translate for him, surprisingly enough they were nowhere in sight.

"Can you shift back and tell me?"

Ace gave a huff, showing his massive front canines and making Sanji take a step back.

"Let me guess," Sanji said, not up for a game of twenty questions with a huge wolf. "That was very impolite in your culture?" Whatever Ace's culture was.

Ace gave a small affirming growl.

Sanji raised his hands up in defeat. How was he supposed to know how these things worked? He had never tried to have a conversation with a wolf before. But the next time he had a little chat with a hybrid wolf he would know that shifting forms on command was a touchy subject.

"Well I can't understand you beyond the sense of urgency and that nagging feeling I'm not exactly saying the right things here."

He watched as Ace bent down to sniff the ground, nosing around until he found a pointed stick. Sanji stared in surprise as Ace began to scrawl messily in the dirt. He had to bite his tongue to stop his surprised remark about Ace being able to write. He had a feeling that wouldn't go over well. Not to be species-ist but he had never met an animal who knew the alphabet. Although to be fair he hadn't had a lot of conversations with animals at the risk of looking crazy.

"Vampires?" He questioned.

Ace nodded.

"And wolves?"

"Attacking!" Sanji shot up scanning the surrounding trees. "Where?"

Ace scrawled a messy word 'town' into the dirt making Sanji's heart sink.

"We have to warn them! What are you doing out here if they are attacking town?"

"Help?" Sanji read confused. "You want my help?"

Ace shook his head before pausing for a moment and nodding. For his part Sanji was clueless as to what he could possibly do to stop a vampire invasion. There was no way Ace could have known he worked here so it had to be blind luck. Yet somehow it seemed like he was part of Ace's plan. They were both trying to save the town right?

"What do you need me to do?"

He watched as Ace hurriedly scrawled nearly illegible words into the soil. Sanji was able to make out the word sorry, no time, chase and trust before Ace was scribbling it out to write one word in larger letters.

"Scream?" Sanji asked confused. "You want me to scream?"

Whatever he was about to ask was quickly forgotten as Ace lunged at him going after his right leg with ferocity. Sanji didn't have to pretend, he really did yell. Others may refer to it as a scream but Sanji still preferred yell. Which he continued to do as Ace began to drag him around to the front of the bar. Sanji flailed around on instinct trying to push Ace off of him. He was still to surprise to do anything actually effectual however. Instead he was forced to deal with the embarrassment of the entire bar seeing him, including the Baratie staff who turned ghostly pale at the scene.

He watched flushed red with embarrassment from his vantage point upside down on the ground as the bar filled with hunters gabbed their weapons charging for the door. What the hell? Since when was Ace suicidal? Well actually considering he had only known him for a few days it seemed all Ace did was suicidal stunts. Sabo had even called him out on it when he used himself as live bait for a hoard of pissed vampires. But still if this was another calculated risk Sanji thought Ace better check his math again.

Satisfied he had everyone's attention Ace wasted no further time. He dashed off, Sanji's leg still firmly grasped in his mouth. Although Sanji did note that there was no pain like he expected. No doubt there would be a set of teeth punctures in his leg but it would be nothing a few band aids couldn't fix, it certainly wasn't anything serious. Ace had asked him to trust him, and although the idea of a human trusting a wolf while he absconded with said human was laughable he did owe Ace from last time. He ceased his struggling, allowing Ace to drag him along the bumpy ground as he opened his mouth and tried to give his best convincing screams. Despite how much it hurt his pride.

He could hear the hunters screaming behind them. Ace ducked to the grove, leaving those who could to follow him on foot, trying to chase him out. Meanwhile the more impatient ones got into their cars, determined to head him off at the end of the grove where it connected with the main road. Sanji had little faith Ace would survive getting run down by their supped up trucks. The smartest thing was to wait them out in the trees. Here they could hide from the spray of bullets that usually accompanied a mob of angry hunters. But they needn't have bothered. With Ace moving erratically and Sanji flailing about it would be nearly impossible to get a clean shot without harming Sanji, hunters may not be the nicest people but at the very least they weren't dumb.

A loud bang sounded as the bark of a nearby tree was blown off.

Err, scratch that they actually were shooting at him. Apparently intelligence levels didn't matter as much as being totally smashed did. Sanji screamed at them furious at their dumb life choices. Although his voice was lost among the other furious voices telling them to cease fire. Although those voices were quickly blocked out by another round of bullet spray. Hunters also weren't known for their delicacy and tact when it came to missions. There was a reason there was still a military.

He heard Ace grunt in pain and stagger as a round of the bullets caught him in his hind legs. He watched in concern as the wolf shuddered before managing to catch himself and continue forwards, picking up the speed trying to evade the hunters. No use now, he was leaving a blood trail for them to track.

"Ace," Sanji said trying to be heard over the commotion. "What's the endgame here? You got their attention."

Ace twitched his ears, pretending not to have heard Sanji as he continued forwards, dodging through the trees to try and widen the distance between the angry mob. Normally Ace was far faster than the drunk humans but he was responsible for making sure Sanji still had some skin left on his back when this was over. Still with his mind set Ace was able to lose them in just a few minutes.

Sanji could still vaguely make out their angry screams but they were far enough aside not to see the glow of their flashlights.

He felt Ace shutter once more and he nearly dropped Sanjis leg. Still he managed to keep going. Sanji watched in silence, putting a hand on Ace's snout secretly hoping the action didn't result in him losing a hand.

Ace looked at him in surprise, setting his leg down to the ground. Sanji took it back great fully before sitting up moving his hand to Ace's trembling leg. Ace jerked in surprise pulling back from Sanji with a warning growl.

'How is that fair?' Sanji thought to himself as he swatted Ace's head determined to look at the wound despite another warning growl. 'He asked me to trust him before practically mauling me and he won't even let me look at the gunshots.' He knew it took a lot to keep a wolf down but he didn't know what was considered enough.

Sanji took off his apron, shredding it into thinner strips as he once again attempted to wrap Ace's wounds.

"They're tracking you by your blood trail!" Sanji reminded him when Ace snapped at him. He watched in near amusement as the wolf huffed before sitting down, turning his head away almost as if pouting.

Sanji worked quickly knowing they didn't have a lot of time. He got that Ace was trying to get the hunters to chase him, seeing as he was running towards town which currently happened to be the meeting point for the predators of the forests. He was willing to bet Ace was trying to lead the gang of hunters strait into battle to defend the town. Which actually wasn't a bad plan except for the fact that it was incredibly dangerous for Ace.

"So where are Blonde and Luffy at?"

Ace rose to his feet cocking his head in a familiar gesture that Sanji had often seem dogs do.

"Your just a big puppy huh?"

Ace growled at that, although it lacked its usually intensity as his attention turned to sniffing the air around them. Just as he did Sanji was able to make out an orange glow from the darkened trees. He and Ace shared a look. No way, were they actually trying to smoke them out? Were they trying to kill him as well? Damn these drunken fools.

He yelped as Ace grabbed the collar of his shirt and began running again, away from the growing smoke cloud that threatened them. Sanji could only hold on as he was carried through the forest towards the main road.

"Your plan better be good Ace!" He yelled. Because it looked like the drunk hunters considered him a collateral casualty. No wonder Luffy and Ace hated them so much.

He couldn't help but wonder if all wolves were like Ace? Not like twisted vigilantes or whatever but intelligent creatures with at least some range of emotions other than murderous and psychopathic. They had learned about wolves in school, apparently they were pretty gnarly animals who would eat the weakest wolf of the pack when food got tight.

Although a couple weeks ago when they were treading back to town, soaked and miserable but alive Sabo had made an offhand comment about how wolves were social animals or something like that. They did everything in packs and a lone wolf was considered a dead wolf. He had even witnessed Ace trying to groom Luffy when the kid had gotten nailed by Usopps toast avalanche, which was more of a way to deal with the excess Spiderman bread then anything else. But wolves must be social groomers then. That didn't seem all that evil. There also must be wolf moms who were dedicated to raising their cubs instead of eating them.

Sanji shook his head annoyed with himself. What was he doing? They were in this mess because wolves were attacking the town why the hell was he sympathizing with them. Ace wasn't like the rest of them only because he was a good part human. If he wasn't a mixed breed then he would be as soulless as the rest of them. After all Sanji hadn't seen any evidence that the other wolves had the capacity to be compassionate.

With that thought in mind he watched in surprise as Ace broke the tree line, escaping the increasingly smoky forest onto the main road. Sanji cried out a warning to Ace as his eyes could just about make out the dark shapes lying in wait. Although he needn't have bothered. Ace's eyes were far superior in the dark. He knew exactly how many trucks lay in wait for him on the dusty dirt road, yet he blazed forwards anyways.

Sanji heard a gunshot sound and that's when everything fell into chaos. He closed his eyes as the trucks simultaneously turned their high beams on, blinding the two of them. He could hear yelling and more gunshots but before he could react the pressure on his shirt was released and he fell to the ground shielding his eyes to the harsh glare and cussing. Ace had dropped him. Probably in an attempt to save him from being riddling with bullets and dragging down the road. He felt himself being swarmed by his co-workers and the more reasonable and sober hunters.

Everyone was asking if he was okay and telling him to lie still. He ignored them as he tried to sit up and look for Ace only to be pushed back down by the concerned crowed. That idiot really did have a death wish.

Sanji settled back down with a resigned sigh as he heard Zeff's worried voice, pushing the others away so Sanji could breathe.

"You okay son?"

"I'm fine." Sanji said reaching into his pocket for a cigarette. But the wolf probably wouldn't be. He wondered how many bullets Ace could handle before he went down. He opened the box rolling the tiny death machine around in his fingers without lighting it. He wondered what would happen when Ace's legs finally did give out. The hunters would catch up that was certain. He doubted they would believe Ace was actually trying to help.

Sanji cursed as he crushed the cigarette in his fingers pushing his friends aside as he stood up.

'Damn it!' He thought annoyed as his reached into his pocket for his phone. All he had wanted was a smoke.

XXX

Flashback (That didn't fit into chapter 14)

"Isn't he precious?" His mother cooed, her voice sickly sweet as she pinched his cheek affectionately. "He's everything mommy hoped for."

"And he's blond," The other woman cooed. "You must be so proud."

'Proud of what?' Sabo wondered. His favorable alleles conforming to his parents will or his father for not polluting his mother's blond pigment.

His mother nodded as she stared down at her white silk gloves. Sabo felt a thrill of fear run through him as he realized the fingers were smudged with dirt from his cheek.

That will teach her to touch me with white gloves he thought sarcastically as he fidgeted on the spot.

"He is going to be a good heir." Her voice was slightly harder this time as she directed these words towards him.

The woman laughed, unaware of the tension in the air. "I'm sure he will be perfect."

"He WILL be perfect." His mother agreed with a look that sent a shiver down his spine.

Vampires liked the word perfect. Vampire nobles liked it even more. They were obsessed with being perfect. The wolves had their raw strength and instincts, humans had…what did they even do besides being tasty? And Vampires apparently had perfection. Perfect people didn't sweat, they didn't cry, they didn't touch or smile. And above all perfect people did what they were told. To Sabo being perfect sounded a lot like being dead. Except if he were dead he wouldn't have to put up with all his parents crap.

At the sound of the bell the two women perked up. It was almost time for dinner. But not just any dinner it was the blood moon festival, a vampire holiday. The nobles celebrated with a feast in which they would pat each other on the back for being born both a noble and the superior race. They would make boring speeches and do even more boring toasts with blood wine. In simpler terms it was superiority complex appreciation night. This was Sabo's first year attending and he was not looking forwards to it.

This was also the first time Sabo would be introduced to the vampire king and many of the court nobles, apparently it was a big deal. But for whatever reason Sabo couldn't bring himself to care. If you've met one uptight self-righteous asshole you've met them all. And one day if Sabo was really lucky he would get the honor of becoming one of those self- righteous assholes. Maye even the king asshole but that was a secret.

His mom had obsessed over him for hours insisting that he needed to look perfect. She made sure to stress how very imperfect he was from the wildness of his curly hair to his button nose, which she insisted made him look like a peasant instead of a noble. She watched like a shrew as the maids tried their best to untangle Sabo's hair and part it to one side only for his mom to scream at them that he looked hideous and his hair simply must be parted on the other side instead to counter balance the asymmetrical lines of his face. Then the second they finished parting his hair on the other side she nearly had a panic attack screaming that he looked like a thug and they needed to try the other side again.

Sabo hadn't known there was such a thing as a five year old thug. He had never seen a thug but he doubted this is what they looked like. He was wearing so many layers and decorations he probably resembled a pincushion.

Sabo watched dully as the vampires began to trickle into the dining room. He moved to follow them only to be tugged aside by his mother who bent down to look him in the eyes.

"Don't you dare mess this up." She hissed. "You will behave perfectly or you will be locked in your room until you are of marrying age. Do you understand?"

Sabo nodded, knowing if anything went wrong here there would be hell to pay. He followed her inside numbly wishing he really was dead. Anything would be better than this, his parents living puppet.

The dining room was an unfortunately elaborate affair with high arching ceilings that left enough room for someone to build a two story home inside of it. Nothing but over the top for nobles. A huge dark wood table ran the length of the room. It was filled with elaborate dishes and expensive wines. Still the fellow vampires did not look impressed. They simply stared passively at the display as they filled the room.

Sabo took a seat besides his parents looking down at his lap. This was going to suck, he knew that much. However he was not prepared for just how cruel this was truly going to be.

"Sabo look, our main course." Sabo looked up confused from the table. He thought the food was the main course. He didn't know how wrong he really was.

Humans, at least of dozen of them were being pulled kicking and screaming by servants into the room. He shook his head, they couldn't possibly do what he thought they were going to do. He gripped the table so hard his fingers turned white. He watched as the humans were marched to the empty seats besides the vampires still crying out in fear.

Sabo vaguely registered the king's arrival. He stood up with the rest and pretended to listen to the speech without catching a single word of it. Instead his heart was pumping incredibly fast and he felt sick.

"Now then," The king said with a cruel smile. "Dig in."

Sabo's eyes widened in horror as he watched the humans squirm, calling out for a savoir that everyone knew wasn't coming. The one closest to him was being the loudest. It looked so pitiful and so scared. And the vampires were drinking it up. They laughed at the entertainment, loving the way they cried so pitifully.

Sabo closed his eyes unwilling to see them kill it. He didn't dare cover his ears though. He knew that if he did the nobles would pick up on it and his parent's wrath would be swift and absolute. He felt himself tremble when the screams intensified to a nearly inhuman frequency. He never knew something could sound so awful. Oh god he felt like he was going to be sick.

Up until now Sabo had just blindly taken the offered blood without questioning where it came from. Sure he knew it was human but nobody seemed too concerned with something as trivial as a human life so why should he worry about it? Hell he hadn't even thought that humans were developed enough to have this kind of emotional distress. His palms began to sweat as he clutched at his shorts. He felt his mom address him and he forced himself to open his eyes to look at her. He didn't dare turn his head to the side though least he loose his lunch.

"Sabo what are you waiting for?"

"I'm not hungry right now." He said his voice shaky as he looked down at his lap fighting off tears.

He heard his father inhale sharply from besides his mother.

"Sabo," His voice was still polite but it promised pain and suffering should he disobey. "It would be rude to refuse our good host's food wouldn't it?" He leaned closer so Sabo could feel his cold breath on his cheek. "Don't embarrass us boy. It will be the last thing you do."

"I…" Sabo began looking up to meet his father's gaze and instantly regretting it. Beyond the scope of Outlook's ugly mug the humans were getting torn apart. Blood stained the once white table cloth. The scent of the blood alone made Sabo nearly drool. If his stomach wasn't already twisted into knots he would probably give into his instincts. His gaze turned back to the struggling human nearest him. He could see the man's terrified eyes as he continued to scream the best he could even as his throat was being torn out. It turned his head slightly, tears streaming down his face and for the briefest moment their eyes met.

"Help me," It moaned at Sabo reaching it's, now only one, arm towards him still desperate to live or at the very least die faster.

"Please…"

Sabo felt the tears well up in his own eyes once again threatening to spill onto his cheeks. He mustn't let his parents see.

'I'm so sorry.' He mouthed to the dying man.

"Nhmm,"

Sabo forced himself to break the eye contact instead facing his father. He forced himself to relax his features. He could do this.

"I've got some blood on my clothes. I need to go wash it off, excuse me I wouldn't want to be messy in the presence of nobles."

His father nodded dismissively, turning back to the feast. Sabo bowed his head at the guests standing up slowly as he turned away from the scene. He finally felt the tears stream down his cheeks but he couldn't bring himself to care. Refusing to look back he continued towards the door flinching as the screams were suddenly cut off.

'I'm so sorry.' He whispered although he knew it was pointless.

The second the dining room door closed he broke into a run sprinting at full speed down the hallway. Servants called after him but he didn't stop until he reached the nearest bathroom. He locked the door with trembling fingers as he collapsed next to the toilet promptly emptying his stomach contents.

"I'm so sorry," He cried to no one in particular between heaves.

Parasites, his entire race were just parasites feeding on human cattle. And he was one of the blood sucking parasites. After all what did he think he was feeding off of all this time? Just because he hadn't seen the blood sacs that supplied the blood before it didn't mean it wasn't happening. He was just as guilty as the rest of his race. He was just a pathetic, whimpering, sadistic, sac of shit.

When he was sure there was nothing left in his stomach to throw up he stuck his finger down his throat willing his body to keep going. As if this would somehow expel all the blood had had drunk over the years.

'I didn't know.' He reasoned to himself feeling fresh tears overtake the old ones. But he knew deep down that wasn't an excuse. Of course he had known, he knew exactly what he was doing. It was just easier not to think about it up until now. Even now after he had seen the horror with his own eyes he still did nothing. How was laying on the floor upchucking blood from the already dead helping anyone? No he knew it was too late for him. He was just as guilty as those stone cold bloodsuckers, he had been since he was born he just hadn't realized it until now.

He was a monster just like the rest.

He wiped his mouth on his soiled clothes and leaned his cheek on the cold tile floor. He wished desperately the wolves would just come and slaughter them all like they had been threatening to do for years. Vampires needed to be wiped off the face of the earth, Sabo included.

But that didn't seem like it was going to happen so what did he do until then? It was too late to atone he knew that already. He didn't even want to think about how many humans had to die so he could feed. He was sure they had been as scared as that man was, crying out for empathy that vampires simply did not possess.

"I can't atone," He told the cold floor, "But I can be better." And hopefully along the way something would put him out of his misery.

XXX

Modern times

Sabo watched from his branch at the furious horde of vampires and wolves beneath him. The plan was for the wolves to drive the villagers out while the vampires lined the edges of town, staying out of the public's eye at the same time managing to grab the stragglers. That way the wolves take all the blame and all the risk while the vampires get the real reward.

Sabo had told his brothers he would buy them time. But looking down at the mass below him he had no idea how that was possible. Why the hell did he even care? This wasn't his fight he reminded himself for the hundredth time that night. He knew Ace had similar feelings. But if Sabo really did feel that way then why had he kept watch every night this week? Why had he booked it back to his house roused his brothers and then sent them into harms ways. He cared about them far more then he cared about anything else in this world.

He heard his little brothers voice clearly in his head, repeating the words he had told Sabo and Ace hundreds of times. 'Because you guys are good!' Their little idiot would proudly pronounce as Ace and Sabo shared exasperated looks. Sabo and Ace would always try to tell him they weren't but he never listened. Luffy was stubborn like that.

He closed his eyes feeling the powerful strength rush through his blood. He hadn't felt like this in a long time. This was how most vampires felt all the time instead of constantly hungry like Sabo always was. But there was no helping that, he had made his choice long ago and he was going to stick with it.

Sabo scanned the crowed, still unaware he was spying on them from above.

'Oh right,' he reminded himself as he crouched to his knees preparing to drop from his tree and into the crowed.

'To be a decent person.'

XXX

There you have it, a 8,500 word chapter to make up for how flakey I have been lately (sorry). I was going to put Sabo's flashback in with Luffy's and Ace's but theirs were cute and fluffy and this one was really dark as Ace and Luffy lives started off considerably better and went downhill whereas Sabo's always kind of sucked. Unfortunately things in both their current life and their history are about to get much worse for them.

Thanks for staying with me guys! Please comment and tell me what you think. I promised that the story was going to get intense when the action started up again. Next chapter will be even worse for the three of them. I can promise at least one of them is going to miss the meet up. I know these are my famous last words but next chapter will be up much quicker.

Yana5: Thank you

SEllen23: It's always best to get passive aggressive revenge! Anyways glad you liked it thank you

Lostdog200: I'm really glad you liked it. I'm not the only one who thought it as funny!

Poemado: Yes! More on the Ace/Luffy imprinting thing later. Unfortunately it's going to be not such a good thing in the future. I'm glad you liked the fluff chapter

Guest1: Thank you for laughing! I thought it was funny but I'm really glad other people enjoyed it as well. This chapter was kind of intense by comparison.

Guest2: OMG that's so nice! Thank you for saying nice things! Writing always makes me feel better when I am down. I'm glad you like my stories. I loved writing LOLC and it made me sad when it finished.