So, how's everybody's quarantine? Mine's finally over and everything's slowly opening up again. Steadily. Gradually. Which (to anybody who knows the story) means I can hopefully soon get surgery #2! Yay! That's probably what I'm the most excited about anyway :P
How about you, though? I'm honestly curious what the state of your countries (cause, oh yeah, this thing gets distributed all over the world O-O) are right now.
Anyway, another chapter means another step closer to the reunion, am I right? OwO. Look out peeps, cause this about to get just a liiiitttllle crazy :)
Warning, I repeat, WARNING, this story contains some pretty gruesome explanations regarding injuries and is very heavy on death, even of some beloved characters. A bit of swearing too, but not more than what can be expected for a normal One piece fanfic :)
Chapter 13: Medicine: Check! Now run for your life!
Luffy awoke to a sweet alluring fragrance and something wet and rough rubbing against his cheek. As he blinked his eyes open, he found that something to be a slightly oversized deer licking his face.
Only this one had a multitude of vibrant colorful flowers sprouted on its antlers. That probably explained the aroma.
Luffy stared curiously at the peculiar creature as it shuddered away a little, thanks to Luffy's sudden movements. Well, this was certainly new… even if he'd grown up amongst house-sized animals…
The fascinated and distracted teen - for a moment forgetting his quite pitiful condition - thoughtlessly moved to sit just like normal, only to immediately be overwhelmed by a sudden surge of nausea and a piercing ache mostly prominent in his head and abdomen.
Ugh… well, at least that hadn't changed. And he had just plummeted from atop that cliff… even if his rubber body had saved his life, his pre-existing injuries weren't taking the impact too kindly…
Suddenly, as Luffy was contemplating whether to rest for a little longer or just pull his ass off the dirt and get moving, the mystery deer - no longer interested in the child - graciously turned around and leaped behind the cover of the jungle's trees and vibrant plants.
"Ah-! Wait!" Luffy called out, only to (despite his blatant disappointment) immediately shake his head, realizing it was pointless.
Right… he had more important things to do rather than admire some deer…
The straw-hatted boy gritted his teeth, knowing damn well whining about his injures would get him nowhere. With the help of a nearby tree and it's convenient branches, Luffy managed to slowly pull his way up from the ground. He winced in pain from the tight grip. His hands sure as hell didn't like the straining motions. Then again, neither did any part of his body for that matter...
His entire being was screaming at him, his lungs feeling like they were about to burst, but after quite a bit of struggling, Luffy managed to miraculously stand on his own two quivering legs nonetheless. At least for a few seconds.
'Whoop-!' His knees nearly buckled under the weight of his body. But Luffy persisted, standing tall as he drew in hoarse breaths. He was exhausted from his effort to get up but determined nonetheless.
Alright… that was the first obstacle conquered, now as for the second biggest hindrance…
The teen confusedly glanced around at his current surroundings. Trees and greenery to his left. Trees and greenery to his right. An impossibly steep stone wall that he for sure wasn't getting back up behind him. Yup, this terrain for sure would lead to him to be lost in no time.
Again…
A sudden icy-cold droplet of water dripping onto his nose snapped Luffy out of his reflecting. He turned his attention upwards to the treetops that blocked the darkened sky. The clouds were black as... well, something really dark. It almost made it feel like it was already night.
In no time whatsoever, it began pouring. Although the wide tops of the trees did well to keep out most of the rain. At least that was a bonus of being lost in a dense jungle on a mystery island.
"Ah well… guess there's nothing to do but go and hope I find… something? Right?" Luffy cluelessly asked himself, not quite sure of what that "something" might even be.
Well, true to his own suggestion, the teen slowly began marching onward, as the rain hammered against branches and leaves. The only other sounds were shrieks, quacks, and a multitude of growls originating from the various species of creatures.
Actually, as Luffy gradually and wobbly began traversing through the jungle, he spotted more and more of those.
Beavers with golden teeth seeking shelter in a hollow tree trunk, birds (the species unidentifiable of course) with feathers that glittered like… well glitter in the trees - oh, and even some oversized fox that was a fiery red and silver instead of the usual orange and white…
Basically like animals from a fairy tale except they were real.
Huh, strange… he must've missed the bizarre exciting wildlife of this island completely earlier when he'd been rushing through the jungle, running for life...
Luffy decided not to pester the creatures. 1, he didn't have the energy too, and 2, they were merely trying to find quiet from the storm. Since nobody was going through the trouble of hunting them, Luffy wasn't gonna be a jackass and actually do that.
"I wonder if those guys from before followed me down here…" Luffy hoarse mumbled to himself, carefully glancing back to where he knew to top of the cliff was. It was too damn high for him to actually see anything that was going on up there (heck, the jumbo-sized trees were blocking his view enough as it was), but the child innerly prayed they'd simply written him off as dead. Yeah, maybe by some miracle they actually had done that? And then those other suit-bastards would stop coming after him too!
As happy thoughts began flooding Luffy's mind, the teen spotted something in the corner of his blurred vision, causing him to come to a slow halt.
Hold on… was that…?
….
It was!
Smoke! Grey and thick - unmistakenly from a chimney!
Which meant there had to be a village just up ahead, right?!
A tired smile (but immensely wide nonetheless) crept onto the weakened boy's blood and dirt-smeared face. Now pumped with determination once more, Luffy began walking again - this time a little faster - towards the grey ray of hope in the distance.
This was beyond great! With his money he could buy some more food!- oh and medicine too. He was starting to feel all weird, so he'd definitely need some of that.
'Yosh..! Just you wait Ace, I'll find you before you know it! Just wait… Wait and watch me!'
O-o-O-o-O
"ACHI!" Ace suddenly sneezed intensely and flung forward as he abruptly awoke from another one of his narcolepsy strikes. Actually, that had been happening a lot lately. Like someone was constantly talking behind his back in secret...
"You okay? Maybe you're starting to catch something..." The question was asked by Izo whom Ace casually had been casually chatting away with before his attack.
The 16th division commander glared pitifully at his younger brother who was now sitting flat on his bum. (Well, it could've been worse he supposed… Ace had been sitting on the railing when it happened after all and, fortunately for Izo, had slammed backward instead of plummeting into the, albeit mirror-clear and glistening, ocean…)
"Nah, I don't think so. Haven't ever been sick before as a kid. Somebody out there probably just can't keep their mouth shut and keep going on and on about how awesome of a pirate I- hey Izo, what's with that look of yours? Don't you get I'm talking serious here?" Ace pouted as he send Izo a puzzled glance. His expression looked like he was about to explode of laughter.
"Pff, ha- s-sorry Ace, i-it's just…" Izo didn't even need to finish his sentence for Ace to understand.
Flick.
Oh no, they did not! Not again!
Ace sprung up from his sleeping spot on the wooden floor over to the railing once more, staring at his reflection in the ocean below. It was a beautiful day, after all, so he was perfectly capable of seeing his… transformed face… so to say...
Somebody had had their share of fun with a marker while he'd been unconscious and helpless… a pair of very non-fashionable glasses had been drawn over his highlighted eyes, his freckles were now properly connected because of what Ace could only assume was a game of connect-the-freckles.
That wasn't the worst of it though…
No, not even the hearts on his forehead or bowtie drawn on his neck… but right there, across his upper lip, a beautifully stylish - long and luscious - mustache…
Damn it! That - admittedly not totally lame- mustache made him look just like him!
Ace stood quietly as a dark shadow covered his blazing eyes, his rager innerly and slowly boiling. Behind him, two lone individuals dared show their faces from behind a wall they were hiding behind.
"My Haruta, don't you think Ace is looking quite - pfft!- quite extraordinary this lovely ha-! this lovelymorning?"
"Yes, yes indeed. He pfffffttt- he looks manlier than ever, Thatch!"
The two pranksters were on the verge of exploding with laughter. Ace was on the brink of exploding too… though he was feeling something quite different…
"THATCH...! HARUTA...! I SWEAR TO ODA WHEN I CATCH THE TWO OF YOU, YOU'LL BE DEADER THAN MARCO AFTER A FULL WEEKENDS WORTH OF PAPERWORK!" He roared, instantly spinning around on his feet and charging after his elder siblings.
Thatch and Haruta - understandably valuing their lives - immediately began running as well, tears of joy and bubbling laughter erupting from them. The crewmembers out on deck - being fully aware of the commotion - stepped aside in order to watch the chase unfold. Most also broke into a stomach cramp-inducing laughter at Ace's sincere attempts at catching the two, even knowing they'd do the exact same were they in Ace's shoes.
Izo too laughed, albeit not as loudly to avoid gaining Ace's attention. The little spitfire was for sure gonna kill him if he found out he'd also played a part of the joke by doing little as an attempt to stop the crew's mischief-makers from even drawing on his face in the first place.
It, admittedly, was great seeing Ace act more like his usual self again, though. After Marco calmly had explained Ace's and Thatch's little… discovery on Stellar island, they all had, of course, agreed to go scouring the island for any sign of this "mystery boy" knacking their youngest thoughts...
Unfortunately, they'd turned up empty-handed. Ace seemed the most down about it for sure, staying awfully quiet during dinner and even turning in early.
But as his time on the Moby had proved, Izo was not to underestimate the power of a good night's sleep and Thatch's home-cooked breakfast. Here he was, a day later, springing about more unrestrainedly than Izo had seen him for the past month.
Fabulous and hilarious as the current hunt for revenge so absolutely was, though, something different soon caught the 16th division commander's attention and snapped him out of his thoughts. A tiny black dot steadily growing bigger and approaching their ship from above. Considering the time of day, Izo knew exactly what that something was.
He raised a hand and waved a little dramatically to the news-coo bird, successfully flagging its attention. The seagull glided swiftly through the air and gracefully landed right within reach for the commander. The cross-dresser reached for the small leather sack of coins in his pocket, about to empty it completely and buy a dozen newspapers before quickly reminding himself that probably wasn't a good idea.
Ah… right. They'd wasted a dangerous amount of money on just restocking supplies as it was. Better save whatever scraps of coins were still left on board.
Begrudgingly, the man decided it to be smart to buy just one paper. Even if it meant everybody would have to share. After handing the bird a single golden coin, the seagull, satisfied with its profit gained, soon rose back into the cloudless sky to continue on with its day.
Izo didn't even share the creature a glance as it flew off and instead immediately flipped through the newly acquired paper.
"Let's see what kind of juicy disasters have transpired this time…" The man cravingly mumbled to himself. It had been too damn long since he'd last experienced amusement from these sort of appalling news. Even if he knew to take everything written with a generous grain of salt.
"A travesty! Tree fully-loaded cargo ships transporting profitable Sake looted by Paradise pirates!"
'Well, Oyaji sure won't like that… it even happened not far away from here. Nearby Islands could possibly have no liquor when we arrive…' Izo smirked nervously, already imagining the dissatisfaction the monster he also called his father was sure to express at that.
"Clothes - cotton, fabric, and silk now more expensive than ever. Tenryuubito demand more expenses for allowing importation of exotic merchandise!"
That admittedly caused Izo to pout in strong distaste as he tightly grasped the crunching paper and hastily scanned the rest of the upsetting article.
"What the hell! These prices are ridiculous!" The clothes-snob grumpily snorted. Great, they were dirt poor and now this happened! Displeased and not in the mood for more financial crap, Izo turned the page in hopes of reading something a little more exhilarant and hopefully useful information.
The papers did not disappoint.
A deep genuine frown spread across Izo's face as the headline was read and he began thoroughly inspecting the content of the next sheets of paper.
"What the hell…?" He asked in abashment, now sucking up every word of context, and yet still unable to make sense of it.
This couldn't be a lie either... there was an actual picture to prove it.
'Oyaji needs to see this…' he ultimately concluded. The 16th commander folded up the papers and headed straight for and then through the mass of pirates still in on the fun of spectating Ace's rage unfold.
The youngest had finally caught his prey. Haruta and Thatch were now pitifully sprawled out on the floor, bulges and wounds littering their skin. Ace hovered over the pathetic commanders, cracking his knuckles and yet still looking unsatisfied if the fury in his eyes expressed anything.
"Had enough yet? Or do I need to make myself clearer that you do not - and I repeat NOT draw a mustache on my face when I'm asleep!?" Ace furiously declared with burning resentment. (For some strange reason…)
"W-weh're schowy…" came a poor apology from the poor victims.
Izo mostly ignored the fuss and crossed straight through the open space the spectators oh so conveniently had formed to reach Whitebeard's massive "throne" (as the enormous chair would technically classify as), not failing to gain everybody's attention with his sudden gloomy attitude as he did.
Whitebeard himself had been staring on in bemusement at his son's antics but his attention benevolently shifted to Izo as the man brought himself in focus.
"What appears to be the matter, my son?" The big-hearted father kindly inquired, putting aside the tumult. (For now at least). The crowd instantly muted. Even Ace was immediately convinced to put off his punishment for a second to listen to his elder brother.
'Izo?' Ace mentally implied in slight worry. He'd been chatting away carefreely with him mere minutes ago... had something happened..?
"News." Came an extraordinary brief summary from the man. That was literally the only explanation required. Eyes widened in realization.
Oh. Of freaking course.
Without a word being exchanged between the two, Izo handed the giant man the papers in his hands, waiting for his reaction. The atmosphere tensed considerably as Whitebeard scanned the cursed newspaper. Nothing pleasant was to be expected that's for sure.
And true to the crew's horror, Whitebeard's expression soon strained into a very unhappy frown.
"Blasted brats! That was the sake meant to be delivered to the islands coming up!" The 69-year-old (believe it or not) man asserted, obviously immensely displeased.
The rest of the crew, however, seemed less than intimidated.
"Hold on, Sake? You telling us all this fuss was about Sake?" Jozu questioned, seemingly unsure how to take the… *ahem* "news…"
"NO! OF COURSE NOT!" Izo yelled, defending his pride, and once again astonished at his family's ability to jump to conclusions. "Just read the next part, Oyaji."
Switch! Just as that, things returned to being taken as seriously as these news deemed it appropriate.
With a nod, Whitebeard did as he was instructed. And a frown matching the one on Izo's face promptly spread across his infamous mustache-marked face as he read not only the headline but quickly also every pivotal detail the article implied.
"Well, I'll be damned… what's that cheeky Red-hair brat up to now?" He openly expressed.
Good thing Marco was currently in the infirmary or he would've undoubtedly winced at the name.
"What?" Ace was the first to speak his confusion. "Shanks? Nothing bad has happened to him, right?"
Considering he was a yonko close to being on par with Whitebeard, that was highly improbable, no. Still, Ace couldn't help but worry. He'd met the nice man, after all, gotten drunk and had one of the best parties ever with the red-haired crew. Plus the minor detail he once saved Luffy's life. For that, he still owed the man.
But the bunch were chill pirates, right? What could possibly lead to them popping up in the news…-
"Gurararara, nah, don't worry, Ace. It's nothing like that." The man's intrigued tone of voice at least somewhat alleviated Ace. Somewhat. Taking a last hungry glance across the sheet, Whitebeard cleared his throat, reading aloud for all to hear:
"Red-hair pirates devastate another 4 Marine-bases!
On the 28th of October from periods spanning from 1 am - 12 pm, the Red hair-pirates once again continued in their barbarous acts of assault against Official Naval Stations. Since the preceding report, no less than 4 have been effectively annihilated! That adds up to a total of 9 just within the last week! Casualties are high and still being accounted for. The bases left in ruins will undoubtedly take months to be rebuilt. But what are the Red-haired pirates after? What could possibly have invoked their rage to such a sadistic degree? Who or what could possibly stop them? Plans to intervene with their upheaval is still being discussed. Until then, all we can do to prevent taking further damage is to raise marine activity in bases deemed at risk of an attack. We merely pray their animosity will not be directed towards innocent civilians, and that the havoc promptly will be resolved. Additional confirmation regarding this urgent matter will be issued as quickly as it can."
Emotions were painstakingly mixed after Whitebeard finished his little rendition. Some were stunned. Others too confused to know how to react. And the remaining bunch plainly kept silent, pondering the information innerly and trying to come up with possible solutions for this mystery.
What… just… what had they just laid ears upon? Sure… Shanks might be a pirate (one of the 4 most powerful and influential to boot) but this just so - like really really so - was not like him. Were the marines feeding BS to cover up some other incident? Lying about the red-hairs to gain spite against them from civilians?
"Oyaji, are you positive this isn't all just some big pile a' crap? Cause it sure sounds like it to me," Haruta admitted from his position on the floor. A few nods and quiet whispers seemed to agree with that assessment.
While the two crews only under extraordinarily rare conditions would consider each other "friends" the Whitebeard pirates weren't gullible enough to buy that Shanks would actually do something like this.
…
...
Right..?
Much to the crews, displeasure, however, their eldest snickered at their disapproval.
"Well think that if you want. It's got nothing to do with us after all, but there is a picture." The man defended, only now turning the newspaper so everybody could stare dumbfounded at it.
True to his words, there was. A grey tinted picture with a burning Marine post in the background… and somehow… somehow, in the foreground, Shanks along with all those infamous recognizable trusted crewmates of his were waltzing through a hell zone of injured, rubble, broken weapons, and fire.
The picture must have been taken moments before the unfortunate photographer was ended too, considering Shanks stared indignantly and directly into the camera with eyes that could kill.
Izo said absolutely nothing. Thatch believed he was getting old and his eyes were starting to fail him. Jozu's expression strained as clear annoyance over his ignorance was allowed shown. Haruta forgot to blink as his eyes widened to a size where they probably should have popped out of his head.
And Ace… Ace for some damned reason was hit like a punch to gut as that incomprehensible feeling of guilt and oversight from yesterday returned tenfold.
O-o-O-o-O
"HelloOooooO? Is anybody home?" Luffy's shouts were drowned out by the rumbling rain hammering against the ground and roofs of the wooden huts, which, miraculously still remained intact. His question, however, was a valid one. The sad little village was practically a ghost town. Abandoned from the looks and sounds of it.
The teen peered inside the window of the little shack ahead of him. It was pitch dark. Soulless, lifeless, and without a single sign of recent human activity.
"W-well this is weird…" he whispered to himself, teeth chattering from the cold. He was lucky his straw hat kept the water out of his eyes. That meant he at least was able to keep his eyes open, but the rest of his body was still getting drenched by the icy water. At least all the fresh and dried blood was finally getting washed off. But standing out in the open during a tropical downpour really wasn't optimal, that's for sure.
'Well, if this place is empty, that means no one can tell me not to enter, r-right?' Luffy mentally reasoned, nodding profoundly, and immediately agreeing with his own logic. The specific cute little building Luffy sought to enter had one of those red crosses - the ones from the first-aid kits he, Ace, and Sabo always used to bandage their wounds with - hanging above the door.
After all that struggling just to get this far, some medicine would do wonders. Hopefully.
It smelled strongly of herbs inside. And it was still chilly. While there in the corner stood a fireplace with dusty books and papers stacked on top, it, most unfortunately, wasn't lit. But the ash and logs loaded inside suggested it had been not so long ago…
The shack was messy at best. Bookshelves balanced against every single wall, a desk overflowing with crumpled papers and multiple pens (for some reason) was fit in between some, and a mattress with an undone bed laid sloppily in the middle of the floor. A single real bed - probably designed for patients only - was the only thing in the room that didn't look like Luffy and Ace had just sparred on top of it.
Quickly scanning over the interior, something of actual value quickly caught Luffy's eyes, causing the boy to smile. He chipperly stumbled across the floor, soon examining the many many bottles of medicine packed onto the shelf.
Alright! Doctors always prescribed this stuff to people when they weren't feeling well, didn't they?
Luffy happily looked over and closely inspected some of the colorful jars. Unfortunately, his heart dropped as he quickly came to the problematic realization the labels were pure utter gibberish.
Man…! Doctors were supposed to be smart, weren't they? Why didn't they just write what was actually in those stupid bottles then?
The straw-hatted teen pouted in disappointment.
Now what? He had a feeling it wasn't safe to just inject himself with mystery-substances…
Luffy pondered the thought when he suddenly noticed a generously sized leather messengerbag sitting unused in the corner. He hesitated only a little as he went over to pick it up off the floor, an idea slowly developing.
He didn't really have time to wait for the inhabitants to return… those jerks could possibly catch up to him if he didn't soon find a way off the island… plus, it's not like it would be his first time taking something without permission… although he did have the means to pay this time...
'Maybe I can just... write a letter and... leave behind the money?' Luffy mentally debated, already looking around for paper and a pen for his scribbling. He spotted the required things at the huts' desk.
Yosh.
The teen staggered his way thereto. Lucky for him, Sabo and Makino had forced him to learn to write and read a time long ago. He'd been incredibly dubious of the boring lectures at the time, but both had argued that he couldn't become pirate king without even knowing how to do that much. So he'd sucked up his boredom and begrudgingly put up with sitting still and listening. At least for longer than he would under other circumstances.
"Alright," Luffy muttered, proudly grinning.
'Deer doctor guy or lady. Took som stuff. But theres money for yu.
-Luffy'
His little note read. He left his 30.000 Beli on the side. That was all his money gone, but oh well. He could always dine n' dash for food as soon as felt better, right?
With that little inconvenience solved, Luffy circled around, snatched the messenger bag off the floor, and then back to the bookshelf where he began sweeping the shelves.
Even if he had absolutely no clue what was in those things, at least some of them were bound to be what he actually needed, right? If he just... took enough of the stuff and then eventually met someone who actually would know what they were doing, then that'd mean extra free medicine for him, right?
Ah - but he was leaving money behind right now so he wouldn't be stealing…. did that mean it wasn't free…? Hmmmm….
...
Well, whatever.
"Ah-! Right, better get some bandages too." Luffy responsibly realized. Yeah, he was pretty damn tired of running around in his current filthy, dirty, bloody - and admittedly, on the verge of very itchy and uncomfortable - ones. At least if anything, he did know how to apply those himself after his many years spent training on Mt. Corvo.
After a little fiddling around and countless drawers opened, he managed to locate some laying on top of even more books. Go figure. He couldn't help but smile, though, as he stuffed them into his overflowing bag, and, with just a little fiddling, zipped it shut.
Hey! This was great. Maybe with the exception of needing some food, things finally weren't so bad any longer…!-
*CRAAAAAASSSSHHSHSSSSSS*
...And with that thought, a deafening boom followed by a radiating glow suddenly struck right outside the small safe perimeter of the hut. Luffy instinctively tossed both arms across his head and ears to block out the resonating crash of the lightning, having grown alarmingly jumpy to such loud crashes.
"G-geez… that was really loud-" Luffy stopped himself as his upheaved senses picked up on something just outside - even through the rain.
Hold on, were those… voices?
"GWAH! TOO DAMN CLOSE!" A startled man cried.
Oh crap!
Panic immediately surged through the teen as he grasped a tight hold around his freshly packed bag of necessities and leaped to the frontal wall, making sure he ducked under its window to hide his presence.
And then… he just eeeeeever so carefully peeked his head up to examine the newcomers.
'Gah! Not them again!'
Immediately, the teen's face churned in great displeasure as he, unfortunately, recognized the pursuers. And yet strangely, the guys who wanted to capture him before were suspiciously absent...
"ARE YOU REALLY SURE IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO BE MOVING IN THIS THUNDERSTORM, ROB LUCCI-SAMA!?" The subordinate had to yell to outshout the rowdy storm. Luckily for Luffy, that meant he could effortlessly listen in on their conversation.
"THIS VILLAGE LOOKS DESERTED..." Another doubtingly pointed out as if that wasn't obvious.
"DON'T BE FOOLED! SECURE AND CHECK THE PERIMETER THIS INSTANT! IN HIS CURRENT CONDITION, THIS IS ABOUT AS FAR AS HE'D GET!" Lucci himself sternly declared, impatience and desperation impeding in his voice.
"YESSIR!"
Crap….! CrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapCRAP!
Luffy panicked as he heard doors getting kicked in and footsteps rushing through the mud outside. He gave his own hiding space a quick lookover, but there was nothing to hide behind or under. Just a single door between two shelves.
Well, that certainly seemed safer than using the front door.
He shot up - heart racing as he lurched to the wooden door and tore it open, only to reveal a minuscule bathroom containing a toilet, shower, sink, and a single round and narrow window hanging just barely within Luffy's reach.
Alright! With his rubber body, he might just be able to squeeze through that!
Not wasting another single precious second, Luffy firstly removed his heavy bag of meds to try and squish it through the hole. At first, it seemed to be far too stuffed, but with some resilience and few headbutts, it soon safely dropped to the outside with some "clinks!".
Now just for himself…!
His body was all shaky and weak from the suspense. Focus, though, focus. Hands first, Luffy leaped off the ground to the high-hanging exit, managing to get head, shoulders, and just barely his chest through before the squeeze became too tight.
After a few dreadful seconds of wiggling, it quickly became horrifyingly apparent he wasn't going anywhere. With his straw hat pushed to his neck, the rain pounded against his head.
"Come on…!.. COME ON!" Luffy whisper-yelled struggling harder. His heart skipped a beat as the sound of another door violently getting forced open sounded behind him.
"COME ON! THIS IS ONE OF THE LAST HOUSES-!"
They were coming.
NO! Nononononononononononononono! He couldn't get himself caught here like this!
Fueled by his sheer desperation, adrenaline rushed through Luffy's entire being. He resolutely clenched his teeth, held in his breath - now pushing for full force with his supposed well-trained arms - black dots soon materializing before his eyes from the hard effort until eventually-
Plop.
...
He was free.
There was not a single spare second to be wasted on celebrating, however, as immediately, Luffy snatched his bag and tumbled across the marshy soil - under the cover of a nearby bush for safety, and in order to catch his breath.
He just barely got to pull the messenger bag to his chest before a distressed-looking suited man carrying a signature riffle appeared in the window, peering through it for any sign of Luffy.
"Tch…! NO GOOD! THIS ONE'S EMPTY TOO!" He bitterly reported. Ocean's of relief poured over Luffy's entire being at that, allowing the teen to relax just ever so slightly. All air had left his lungs, but thanks to the storm, he wasn't worried anybody would hear his hoarse breaths.
Although the rain drowned out his footsteps, Luffy watched the jerkass ignorantly walk away, probably to regroup with the others. Leaving Luffy to his lonesome (or maybe not so much...) self under the bush to actually process what had just happened.
The rain wasn't as fierce under the protectiveness of leaves and branches. And the thunder Luffy could block out simply by covering his ears. He maybe should be thankful, though. If not for the storm, Pigeon-bastard and his fellow jackasses might have actually snuck up on him. He drew in comforting breaths, for just this short moment savoring how he had the time to calm down and think straight.
He had to get outta there.
Now.
If there was one thing - one thing - he and those bastards had in common, it was their tenacity. Since they had even the slightest hint that he was actually here, they would probably tear down this entire forest as long as they were convinced he hadn't left the island.
Taking in one last stomach-deep breath of conviction, Luffy soon rolled onto his stomach - biting his lips from the aching irritation of his wounds but ignoring that nonetheless - to carefully listen for enemies. There were shouts in the distance, but no footsteps. Good.
Luffy determinedly clenched both his swollen, bloodied and battered fists, and then stealthily hurried across the ground on his stomach, dragging his bag along as he reached the safety of the hut's walls. After pushing a little to sit up, Luffy leaned against the wet surface of the planks, shifting over ever so carefully to peek his head around the corner and get an idea of Lucci and the others' location.
"Have all the houses been rummaged through!? And you claim there's still no sign of him?!" Lucci's voice rang, almost in a scolding manner.
"W-well we did manage to find this! Money! And a letter from Monkey D. Luffy as an apology for taking medicine to treat his injuries!"
Luffy grimaced in great displeasure, wanting to stick out his tongue at the stupid suit-guy who had found his stupid letter.
'It's not meant for you guys! Put it back!' He mentally demanded, pretending they could hear and would actually adhere to that demand.
...Well... whatever…! Just all the more reason to hurry his ass up and get away quickly. Since the entire squad so conveniently had gathered in the center of the village, Luffy could just peacefully retreat to the depths of the jungle, be extra EXTRA careful to just go in any direction that didn't lead back here too, and then…-
…
Well… then what? Did this island even have a harbor with ships he could stow away on? He for sure didn't know how to build a raft, much less navigate safely…-
*CRRRAAASSSHHHHHHHH*
The sound of another bolt of lightning crashing down caused Luffy to jump from timidity. A hurtful memory of a canon briefly came to mind from the loud noise.
The 14-year old tugged at his straw hat, letting it cover his ears before looking up and studying the blackish sky.
He frowned deeper, suddenly getting a very bad impression of the stormy clouds.
The dark clouds rumbled and crackled strangely… Luffy's stomach suddenly churned severely, causing Luffy to (for a moment) stop breathing completely. Suddenly, another light flashed and another thunderbolt crashed.
Only this time, Luffy and the hut were unfortunate enough to be caught in its path.
It was in this exact instance Luffy decided that lightning or anything and anybody related to it was probably meant to be his natural enemy.
The puny little wooden shack, of course, took excessive damage. Luffy was flung forward in a painful thrust onto his stomach as the boards either disintegrated or exploded outward, sending flaming wood or destroyed furniture and probably irreplaceable medical records everywhere.
Luffy coughed loudly as dirt and ash were kicked up into the surrounding air and got in his mouth and eyes. The rain helped that settle almost immediately, though, but the feeble house was vulgarized to a mere pile of black burnt rubble nevertheless. Lightning might have done nothing to harm Luffy - a rubber human, - but the destruction of his hiding place left him very exposed.
The probability of this happening was so damn ridiculous it was worth laughing over. If not for the reality of this occurrence, of course.
The agents all stared with blank stupefied expressions straight at their target, who they by some miracle had managed to miss completely up until the weather's interference. The anxious straw-hatted boy barely had time glance in their direction as instinctively, Lucci's entire body toughened, and he immediately disappeared in a blur of speed, frenzied eyes locked on Luffy's small helpless being.
"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY THIS TIME, MONKEY D. LUFFY!"
Luffy stiffened in agitation as Lucci roared his name, but the defenseless 14-year old could barely even cross his scrawny arms for protection in time as Lucci reappeared before him, delivering a vigorous kick (that for sure would have left a none-rubber human unconscious) straight to Luffy's face (arms?), and send him soaring backward with Lucci right on his tail.
"So fast!"
"And the ground's slippery too!"
Luffy's body crashed into a tree from the surrounding forest, forcing him to let out a pained cry thanks to his pre-existing injuries, although before he could even drop to the ground, a forearm was forcibly pressed against Luffy's neck, effectively pinning him to the trunk of the tree.
Luffy groaned as his air-supply was almost cut off, his arms immediately reaching to pull away Lucci's arm. That almost immediately proved futile. The blazing eyes of the two iron-willed souls met, staring fiercely into each other for a few short daunting seconds.
Luffy broke their staring contest shortly after, however, by delivered his captor a few pitiful kicks to the side as another apparent attempt at breaking free.
"Give it up," Lucci ordered resolutely, this time hell-bent on not letting the brat escape.
His threat earned the Cp-agent nothing but an intensified glare from the child.
"...Go to hell!" He rasped, and true to that statement Luffy was. Suddenly, Luffy directed another kick straight at Lucci's unguarded lowest private part- indeed a dirty move coming from a boy - but it proved significantly efficient as Lucci (of freaking course) winced in great pain and lost his grip around Luffy's neck, allowing the teen to drop to the ground.
He wasted not another second for Lucci to recover from that before he set off in a sprint, clinging to the messengerbag to prevent the glass-bottles (that still miraculously were intact) from shattering.
"He's getting away!"
"Stop him, NOW!"
Some of the spectating agents set off in a frantic sprint after the teen, whilst others imprudently began firing bullets at the escapee, seemingly forgetting about Luffy's immunity to them.
Luffy's heart was about to burst out of his chest. With all the running he'd been doing lately - even whilst injured - you'd believe his body would learn to suck up the pain and not just increase it every time his damn life depended on it. Ignoring the bullets that hit and were deflected off him, he turned his head to look at the adult men steadily gaining speed on him. They weren't far behind. As expected. Fortunately, their increasing pace only further pumped Luffy with determination and adrenaline as he stumbled on forward, faster.
'Hurry…!' *huff* 'HURRY!' Luffy thought in between the painful panting and aching steps.
Lucci watched in incredulity as his men rushed past him, but Luffy still slowly slipped away into the forest. No doubt, hiding in the dense jungle-like terrain was his best shot at eluding them.
But damn. For one so injured and small, he could really deliver a kick when the stakes were important enough.
The pain, sudden as it had been, however, was quickly diminishing and Lucci's crouched position eased considerably.
Silent rage was boiling inside the man.
"Rob Lucci-sama! Are you alright!?" a distressed agent asked, clearly affected by the chaos.
"Yes…" the leopard-Zoan user replied almost immediately, annoyance painstakingly obvious in his voice. He glared in the direction he knew Luffy had fled, menacingly and slowly rising to his feet as a vein popped on his drenched forehead.
"I thought I told you… YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!"
With that heated exclamation, Lucci suddenly leaped into the air, did a very impressive mid-air kick, and without warning, sent a slash of compressed air in Luffy's - and his own subordinate's - direction.
Everything standing in the attack's path was effortlessly slashed in clean half. Trees, tall bushes, and all the greenery were shaved into pieces. And as were the vulnerable agents who had merely been trying to hardest to do their job. Deep cuts - just barely above lethal - were etched onto their backs, and with a single gut-wrenching shriek of anguish, all collapsed to the ground in defeat.
Luffy was the only one with enough to distance to actually duck under the slash. The fortunately small boy threw himself to the ground, just escaping unscathed by a litteral hair. He continued to roll uncontrollably, though, and within the next second, the ground suddenly slanted downwards in an extraordinarily steep and very muddy and slippery slope, merely increasing his speed.
Luffy couldn't stop. Simply look ahead in outright horror at the big streaming river ahead. As if he wasn't already drenched to the bone.
The rubber-fruit user weakly tugged his muddy luggage to his equally muddy chest, closed his eyes, and send a silent small prayer to the God above that he'd somehow survive this.
Next thing he knew, his head and soon entire body was swallowed up by the icy waters.
O-o-O-o-O
Lucci clenched his sharpened teeth as he stared into the perilous river.
Dammit! For freak's sake, that damned monkey had slipped away again! Quite literally this time! What kind of devilish luck did that boy have to continuously evade the supposed greatest agency of the world-dominating World Government!? Him! A single child!
Damn it was frustrating. If not for his devil-fruit power, Lucci wouldn't even have hesitated to jump in after the little punk.
"Rob Lucci-sama!"
The unscathed agents rushed up behind their commander, paying the fact he'd just mercilessly injured probably half of their troops absolutely no mind.
"Go! After him! If he's dead, then retrieve his corpse at all cost!" Lucci ordered, eyes still ablaze from the irritation steadily increasing. The underdogs clearly felt and sympathized with their leader's annoyance, though.
"Come on! No time to be wasted!" an agent hysterically yelled, and instantly, the squad dispersed - some following the path of the river and the rest heading back to report straight to HQ. An unfortunate mandatory process whenever something like this happened.
Lucci was, of course, not so lazy as to not join in on the chase himself. Heck, he was far more capable than any of these morons for that matter. But for just a moment, he stared and growled.
'This isn't over! Just you wait, Monkey D. Luffy!'
O-o-O-o-O
Luffy coughed vividly as he desperately clung to the sand of the shore for dear life.
His muscles were close to paralyzed from his trashing in the icy river and his breath once again unsteady, hoarse, and painful for his exhausted lungs. Although maybe that wasn't a bad thing. His heart had been racing too fast for him to lose consciousness while underwater, which in turn allowed him to crawl free from the river as soon as it had turned shallow enough that he could move.
For now, he just laid flat on his tummy in defeat, not even caring that the sand stuck to his clothes, remaining bandages, face, or hair. All his pain was replaced by a nearly numbing sensation, due to the cold. He was probably lucky this island had a very lukewarm temperature, or he'd die from hyperthermia before any of his other injuries could do him in.
The world was still spinning. Rough as it was, though, that river must have carried him at least a mile or two. Honestly, there was probably no better way to get away from the Pigeon-bastard.
Served them right.
While his vision hadn't completely returned, Luffy's head felt at least clear enough to think a little bit.
He laid in a strangely unpleasant silence as the rain - now much less violent than earlier, Luffy noticed - peacefully dripped against his back and ran down his motionless body.
Why did it always have to be like this?
"That pigeon-bastard… he's strong…" Luffy quietly groaned under his own breath.
He couldn't help but think back to their first encounter just a mere month or so back. He had been able to easily catch and stop even his Gomu-Gomu no Pistol - his strongest move which he had been significantly improving for the past 7 years…
Breathing steadying, the teen calmly slipped one of his swollen fists under his tummy, immediately feeling the blood - fresh and old - that originated from that cut on his abdomen. A scar - Kay had said that would leave. A scar he had been allowed to ingrain on his flesh.
Even just now - when Lucci easily had sliced all those trees and stuff in half - their gap in power had been made painstakingly crystal clear. He was superior. Far superior, indeed. And all Luffy could do was tuck in his tail and run. If that didn't work, well then his only option was to run even faster.
"…"
"...I need... to get stronger…" Luffy softly told himself.
Sure, that had always been a goal of his. After Sabo died, Luffy had set it as his life-long goal to become strong enough to protect everyone he cared about. That he'd already failed at. Pretty horribly even.
He just plainly could not remain this way. He was still too weak. Too weak to even protect himself. Too weak to defeat a single dastardly Pigeon-bastard who probably more than anybody deserved to get his ass handed to him. And there were still people stronger than him out there, Luffy was sure. People he would have to defeat to one day to become the pirate king
...
*BANG!*
Jolt!
...
"Hu...Huh?"
The sound of a gun suddenly going off in the distance followed by some bizarre squawks that for sure only could stem from an animal - that snapped Luffy out of his thoughts.
The teen blinked in confusion as he cautiously pushed himself onto his elbows to stare off into the direction of the strange noise. As he listened closer, there actually was some distant squabbling. This time, definitely from humans.
His brows furrowed in puzzlement.
"What's going on?" He asked himself.
Steadily, he began to stomach his way across the sand to some nearby bushes where he poke his head through.
But he wasn't at all amused by what he discovered, that's for sure.
Firstly, seems he had wounded up on the outskirts of the forest again since the ocean and shore were now in plain view just up ahead. Though most peculiarly was the fact that… there at the edge of the island was… docked... a fine... sizeable... actually sailable ship!
"But who are those guys? And what're they doing?" Luffy questioned, closely inspecting the humans standing in front of it - the ones who most probably owned the vessel. They weren't the only ones…
"..."
Cages. They were littered all over. And inside them, the sparkly mysterious animals he so briefly had encountered earlier were trapped. Captured. To be used for whatever and however those bastards desired.
Poachers, Luffy promptly concluded, naturally feeling disgusted towards the despicable illegal traders.
"No, no, no, NO! I told you, the peacocks with rainbow feathers go in last. They, along with the lunar wolves, lucid frogs, and half-squirrel half-cheetahs are gonna be sold just over on the next island! We gotta stack em' so we don't waste too much time unpacking, or the navy might pick up on what we're doing!" A half-fat man with a stubby beard, cigarette, and barely any hair spat in the face of another.
"Well, it's not my fault! You should've been a little damn clearer, you shithead!" a boney pale man with a scar running across his face argued back.
The porches bickered childishly. Exactly as can be expected from full-grown men taking on such an atrocious task as smuggling helpless animals.
Sabo had once told Luffy about these supposed poachers, as long ago, some such people had come to Dawn Island looking for animals that could assist them in warfare. Probably something like… smuggle them to some innocent villages and then let them slaughter everyone to show off your strength kinda deal. Of course, he, Ace, and Sabo had beaten those bastards sorry, and until their faces were swollen, blue and fittingly unrecognizable (the beasts of Mt. Corva belonged to them after all). But Luffy would never forget his abhorrence from when he'd learned the meaning of that word.
But still… they had a ship! They had a destination… and they knew how to get there. A whole three conveniences Luffy was majorly lacking.
The teen gritted his teeth. Well, not that sneaking onboard was gonna be a problem. That he was basically a pro at after all his stealthy scurrying about… but still, it would be to allow them to take all these innocent animals away from their home… probably to be sold or killed so they could be displayed for some rich fancy-pants noble.
…
…
…
...Still, though... did he even have a choice in his current crisis? You had to stay alive before you could focus on getting stronger at all… or reconcile with an older brother whose whereabouts Luffy still had no clue about...
O-o-O-o-O
"Don't screw with me, Sengoku! How the hell is it that the supposed elite Cipher Pohl agency continues to allow the son of even the world's most wanted criminal to roam free!? They should have finished off that damned little devil for good weeks ago!" A gruff, aggressive, and terribly impatient voice madly shouted.
"I understand that you're growing restless, but I must insist that you watch your tone, admiral Sakazuki. We just now received confirmation regarding his second escape. They're still looking and an update is to be expected any minute now," the fleet admiral reassured, though it was painstakingly eminent in his voice and strained grimace he too was tired of this incessant goose chase.
The admiral grunted, visibly displeased with that answer.
"This entire damn mess is starting to parallel that Ohara incident 17 years ago a little too closely for my liking…" he pointed out, a vein of aggravation popping on his forehead.
To that, Sengoku said nothing. But he had to silently agree with heated admiral.
Indeed, there was no point in trying to deny the similarities to the whole quandary with Nico Robin. And that boy meant serious trouble as well... As much as he felt terribly sorry for Garp that they chased his grandson while he was still just a child, the man he would eventually grow to become was a whole nother story. This time would be different. As the fleet admiral - head of the marines, an organization stretching further and containing more power than any other - he was at worst just partly responsible to make sure of that.
Suddenly, Akainu, without a warning, began silently making his way for the door. No need to question where he was planning on going.
"Wait Sakazuki!-" Sengoku abruptly jumped from his chair, but ended up saying no more.
No... maybe he was the one who needed to wait and properly think this over. There was surely no harm in allowing an admiral to address a matter as dire as this one. And this was Sakazuki after all. No doubt, he wouldn't feel appeased before he got to see the boy's corpse with his own two eyes.
Akainu momentarily stopped and shed his superior a sly impatient glance.
The elderly man grimaced, sighing deeply before rubbing his face - as if to prevent an incoming headache.
"...At least bring along one of the fleets that already were present during the Buster Call. Enough innocent marines have already been involved in this..." the fleet admiral begrudgingly requested.
"Will do," Akainu answered stoically. Not that he'd need their help beyond steering a battleship anyway.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Bogard calmly proceeded to step back from the wall he for the past few minutes had been leaning against, slowly walking away to some more... private quarters. The usual scowl was plastered on his face, hands deep in his pockets, and exterior unquestionably natural.
Ah well, as natural as can be when you were helplessly sleep-deprived and constantly stressed out, worrying about the future of your closest friend - and of the world too, just for the hell of it.
He soon reached the safe haven of his own office, but only after securely shutting the door and making himself comfortable in his office chair dared he pull out his pocket-sized den-den mushi.
"...So...did you get all of that, Shanks-san?"
The assistant was lucky it was lunch rush-hours, or his little innocent eavesdropping for sure would have been a little more difficult.
"Yes." A tired voice soon answered from the other end. Kinda hard not to with all the shouting those two had been doing. "Thanks for the trouble, Bogard."
After their last chat, the two men had come to a mutual agreement to secretly stay in touch, dangerous as it was. Of course, due to Garp's imprisonment, Bogard - as his closest associate - was currently restricted as well. He was under orders to not leave HQ under any circumstances and was not (at least supposed to) be making any phone calls whatsoever.
Bogard wasn't so naive as to think it would come without repercussions - even of the worst kind - if he was discovered delivering information to a Yonko... And yet still he'd somehow agreed to this crazy idea...
"It was fine, though," his unyielding loyalty to Garp told him. "It's what Garp-san would do in your shoes anyway," his guilt and pity for the man spoke. And it wasn't like he was sharing massive secrets that Shanks would use blackmail the government or some crazy traitorous crap like that. All he was doing was conveying information about a child - a child he told himself - one the big-hearted man cared deeply enough for to even ally himself with the very enemy that was hunting him.
And he feared his guilt would consume him if he let the government kill Garp's grandson while the vice-admiral was powerless. But he wouldn't do any more for the child he'd never even met, should worst come to worst.
"You're at Sabaody now if I'm not mistaken?" Bogard clarified. Yeah, of freaking course. Cause otherwise, no way was a baby den-den getting through.
"Yes. Seems luck is on our side. We'll make sure that damn Sakazuki doesn't get anywhere close to Luffy, mark my words on that."
"Gacha."
O-o-O-o-O
Luffy let out a breath of relief when the last poacher finally slammed the wooden door, and with a faint "click!" locked it shut.
It wasn't at all difficult to sneak on board. While those two lame-brains from before had still been arguing, Luffy had innocently snuck his way around them with the aid of some of the bigger cages, the animals trapped inside making them a little less see-through.
Since they were still loading on kidnapped animals, the entrance had conveniently stood wide open. The rest of the minuscule crew, of course, was also busy dealing with their inconvenient cargo, Luffy discovered after briefly watching 2 other sweaty guys carry small-ish cages from island to ship.
It wasn't hard finding a hiding place either. The ship was a total mess, but with only four different doors and a single staircase, even Luffy hadn't taken that long to settle on remaining underdeck in the biggest of the rooms where the poachers' preys were kept.
The hardest part was keeping the stuffed messangerbag full of glass-bottles from clinking constantly. And then, of course, to wait it out until all humans left his hiding zone.
It really wasn't difficult to estimate why no guards were assigned to watch over the creatures from the inside, though. The smell was… well, like a whole lot of mystery creatures not being able to hold it in anymore.
Ah well, Luffy had experienced worse. Like the inside of a crocodile's stomach for instance.
He'd temporarily settled for hiding between the cages of some crocodiles with shiny fish scales and a couple of oversized raccoons with horns. But that wouldn't do in case somebody came in and did a round to feed the creatures.
It was pretty dark inside of there. Only a few lanterns lit up the windowless jail, but Luffy suspected it was more for the convenience of the humans entering and leaving more so than for the animals.
With a pained groan and through gritted teeth, the teen soon began rising slowly to his feet with the support of the animal cage's steel bars. His head spun a little again from the sudden position shift, but it was easily ignored. Luffy began slowly wobbling his way forward through the labyrinth of enclosures, eyes scouring for any potential resting spots.
He felt sick. Maybe it was just his injuries' doing, but he did really feel like vomiting, helplessly watching the confined families of exotic mystical creatures cluster together in discomfort in their unnatural cages.
Their glossy pleading eyes looked so sentient… so sad… like they knew what fate was in store for them. And they were all turned straight at him as if that wasn't enough of a stab of culpability straight to the heart.
Luffy came to a brief stop, grabbing onto the cool metal bars and staring with guilt-filled eyes down at a pack of cuddling white and silver monkeys. The smallest of the three - a baby basically - was warmly embraced by the two bigger ones, almost as if they were trying to protect the cub.
"...I'm sorry you guys… I... promise… I'll free you all later, ok?" Luffy dryly guaranteed with a lump clustering his throat. He'd certainly do his best to stand by that vow.
"..."
"..."
"...Hey!" A hoarse unidentifiable voice suddenly very unexpectedly whisper-yelled.
Luffy bounced from fear, having not expected to hear that, and instantly bolted away from the monkeys' cage as to get farther away from the mystery voice.
Crapcrapcrap! Had he accidentally allowed somebody to sneak up on him!?
"Hey! Hey! It's ok! Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, promise!" It quickly reassured. Luffy frantically looked around for the owner, only a few seconds later noticing the shadowy silhouette of…- wait- not just one, but a close a dozen - humans, just a few 10s of feet away.
Only… they too… were sitting behind bars. Locked up. Like the animals.
Confusion overtook the teen. He almost immediately calmed down and then hesitantly began slowly approaching the strangers.
Most of them appeared to be moderately injured, but peacefully asleep nonetheless. Luffy spotted a few children resting on their mothers' laps, some couples holding hands, and others just snuggling together for comfort. The 1 man still awake immediately locked his disbelieving eyes on the boy, looking just as discombobulated as Luffy felt.
"What's going on?... Who are you people?" Luffy timidly asked.
"I'd like to ask you that, little guy. What's a child as injured as you doing on this ship?" The gentlemen worriedly inquired, giving Luffy an appalled look-over now that he stood closer.
"You didn't answer my question. Who are you guys? Why are you locked up?" The 14-year old insisted.
"Not even gonna tell your own name before asking that? Well fine. I'm the mayor of Fauna's only and nameless village. The rest of the guys you see here are the remaining inhabitants. We were all captured a little while ago when we tried defending the priceless, wild, and exotic animals of our home island from those dastardly poachers..."
And that's that. Any questions or doubts towards it I'll happily clarify next time (as long as they aren't spoilery)
Continue to stay safe, please! Oh-! And cookies to all you guys who favorite, review, and follow and all that heavily appreciated stuff. Just breached 200 favorites, so yay! OwO
Reviews:
Eliphas-Chaos: Welp, here you go! UwU But no worries, I can guarantee Ace and Luffy will eventually learn about Garp.
AysaWolf: XD. Waahhhhh! So close, I know! Ahhhhh! It'll probably (depending on if I suddenly get punched by an idea that simply must not be let out) be a chapter or 2 before we see the Whitebeard's again, though. But yeah, Lucci pissed off as hell right now, good lord Luffy got away from there XD. I can promise you Luffy will receive help from someone we're quite aquatinted with soon, though, so... there's that at least! OwO
BlueHeartNina: Yup, damn straight. And here's the chap.
Haruki Hitomi: Well thank you! And you're so absolutely welcome! :D
Jennifer: Ahahahahaha... *nervous laughter.* Well, we're just a few chapters away from that happening, so sit tight!
Demon-night24: Aww, thanks. Damn... there's really a lot of stuff to consider, though, huh? XD I hope I can at least keep it enticing for just a little while longer until we reach the reunion!
Madeline Leicht: *sweats* ahahaha... (I swear, I have no clue how it's happened either! O-O)
Sophia-Mendes Coruja: Hi Sophia! You're as chipper and so absolutely lovable as ever! Thank you SO much for the lengthy review, you really helped me push through on this one! :D *tight rubbery huggo to you!* But to your compliment, I say yeah, I've found I amazingly prefer to write action scenes over lengthy, thoughtful, emotionally triggering, or explanations of the sort. Is that weird? Am I weird cause I like that...? XD - ah, but anyway, now Luffy's equipped with medicine, and since there was a house for the doctor in the village, that means that, of course, there's gonna be one among the imprisoned villagers... so things'll hopefully get better! :D Also THE REUNION ISN'T THAT FAR AWAY ANY LONGER! XD SO damn excited to get to write that I tell you! - But also about something that's gonna happen just before that... hehe... :) COOKIES AND SUNSHINE TO AN AWESOME HUMAN BEING! (Oh btw, I sent you a PM, and it would greatly alleviate my anxiety if you took a quick look at it and possibly sent a reply...? Thanks! :D)
Greer123: Well, you're very welcome! But Luffy's trust of other people will be a fun little thing to focus on once he's safe... just really all the trauma he's suffered through he's sure to be helped overcome in the end!
kuranxkisaragi: Ah, yes, Lucci... I guess if nothing, he at least serves as a reason for Luffy to want to grow stronger while he's still alive, right..? XD (His fate shall remain secret for now, though...) And YES, FOR SURE! ACE C'MON! ;) Anyhow, thanks for the review and well wishes! UwU
GeekyWolf101: Thank you! Greatly appreciated! OwO
Lusamine: Well thanks. It, admittedly, takes a little brain-squeezing sometimes to make sense of it all. XD. About Robin; yes, I would definitely like to incorporate her into this story at some point. Hers and Luffy's situations are so similar I even bring it up a lot in the story, after all. The timeline kinda makes it a little hard right now, though...XD This is 3 years before canon, meaning Luffy's 14 and Robin thereby would be 25. She joined Baroque Works at age 24... soooo. I imagine Luffy's currently somewhere close to Jaya, already past Alabasta :/ (any bright ideas XD?) It could of course just happen later on after Luffy's safe and he then hears a rumor about her. Or maybe the Whitebeards travel to Alabasta or something...? Or the other way around, that Robin hears about Luffy and then at one point when they're close to Alabasta, she seeks him out or the like? (Since she was shown to travel on her own at times too) I have vague ideas, but any suggestions would definitely be appreciated! :D
Sofia Du Ciar: Well I can definitely promise you that much! :D
silverrayn123: Hi Silver! Missed you too! Yeah, that was reeeeaaaaally close, huh? So close Ace now is in on the fact somethings wrong! He's definitely sure to feel guilty about all this...XD Well, hopefully, things will work out in the end for them!
Poseidon1000: Thanks my dude/gal.
Caraline Fisher: Thank you! I'm doing... not too badly at least, so that's good, right XD? Well, bright wishes right back at' ya! :D
Things are definitely heating up. Hang on just a little longer, cause stuff's about to go down soon enough! (hehe)
Updates are, of course, to be expected as there will be no abandoning this story.
-Cookie.