Authors' Note
Hey guys, here's the next chapter! We were overwhelmed by the response to the previous chapter and are looking forward to future feedback!
Review Responses
Jui-Imouto-Chan: Thanks so much for the continued support and all of the reviews! Ace...probably would have been killed if he had forgotten to contact Shanks and he's lucky he even remembered to call Sabo with everything that has been going on...don't worry, his anger is currently building, it has to push past all of the angst. Luffy's reaction is definitely due to his current vulnerability, not to mention how crazy his systems are going with such a major change and some previous trauma that will be explained as we go (some of this is mentioned in this chapter actually). The crew will not be involved in gang activity in this story, though we will still see them throughout.
Jordansdevil: We purposefully left Garp off the call list because, as you said, that would not go well, at all. No one wants to face Garp's wrath, especially not Ace. He will come into play more in the future, don't worry. :)
Guest 1: We're really mean to Ace in this story...but don't worry, we love him too much to make him suffer for too long.
Guest 2: Katakuri is great and really soft on the inside...we certainly hope no one makes the mistake of underestimating him just because he likes cats...they would end up very very dead...;)
Warnings
- graphic descriptions
- mention of phobias (claustrophobia)
- mention of sexual assault
CROCODILE'S POV
How it got to this point, he wasn't sure, but he was currently attempting to hold a family hostage while the others raided the fridge...well, the younger two did, and the bird sat on the island supervising and offering...helpful tips.
"Maybe if you-"
"Shut up." Law interrupted, "You're really not helping. Go help the lizard."
"Stupid fridge. Stupid lack of opposable thumbs." Kidd muttered. Doffy laughed, something they all wished he would stop doing since his signature chuckle was...wrong coming from a flamingo.
"Stop arguing and get the food!" Crocodile snapped, terrifying the family since all they heard was a drawn-out hiss.
A few minutes later, they finally managed to get the fridge open, only to find that they had chosen the wrong house. The fridge was full of nothing but vegetables, bottles of meal replacement shakes, baby food, and two loaves of bread.
"Where's the meat?!" Kidd growled, "No one can live on this alone!"
"We've wasted too much time here." Crocodile called from the living room, "grab something and let's go!"
Thirty minutes later, in the relative safety of the alley, they'd claimed as their own, they looked over the food they'd managed to plunder from the unlucky family they'd targeted.
"WHY DID YOU GRAB BOTH LOAVES OF BREAD?!" Law asked furiously, "You could have grabbed more vegetables!"
"I don't like vegetables," Kidd explained, shrugging his massive shoulders.
"Law, we can't afford to be picky." Doffy said seriously, "Sometimes you have to eat whatever you can find to survive. We're lucky this isn't garbage."
"That's a bit out of character for the old bird…" Crocodile thought, studying his feathery rival.
"Well let's just eat what we've got." Kidd said, "It's not like-" he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as he slumped forward, eyes rolling back in his head, tongue falling out of his mouth.
The rest of them didn't really have a chance to react as nets descended on the other creatures, teams of people tackling and muzzling Law, Crocodile, and the unconscious Kidd.
As Crocodile struggled, ominous footsteps approached,
"You thought you could escape me?! Me, Breed, the best animal control officer this side of the red line?!" an unpleasant voice shrieked, "I have been tracking your strange group since you appeared on the streets! There was never any hope for you!"
As the animals continued to struggle, they were dragged away to the waiting trucks, locked in cages, and taken away.
LUCCI'S POV
Upon receiving word that a flamingo, a crocodile, a snow leopard, and a bear had been taken into custody by Water Seven Animal Control, Lucci knew he had to visit them. The group had reportedly worked together to hold an entire family hostage as they raided the fridge and retreated with their finds, sharing the food equally between all of them, even though, by all rights, they should have been fighting tooth and claw for a majority share or, more likely, a piece of meat from one of the others' hides.
Odd animals combined with the mass disappearances? That was enough to make anyone suspicious...anyone with a brain that is...
Unnoticed by any of the staff in the shelter, Lucci made his way to the cages holding the four creatures and stood observing them until he had the attention of each one.
"Can you understand me?" he asked calmly, watching as the four exchanged looks and nodded in response. "Great, then I'm going to do you a favor, and release you."
That gained him wary looks from all of the animals, none more hostile than the flamingo's obsidian glare.
"That's all, I swear." Lucci assured the animals, "I want nothing in me."
He unlocked the cages without waiting for their response, pulling the doors wide open and walking away. It only took a moment for the menagerie to run past him and out the door into the clear night air.
He didn't mention the fact that all four of the animals had been chipped while they were...otherwise distracted. They would be recaptured within the hour but, hopefully, they would be sent somewhere where they could hide more efficiently.
Lucci didn't know why he stuck around after the animals disappeared into the night, but he was glad he did if only so he could see the heavily armed men that burst into the facility soon after, proving his theory correct.
"Gentlemen," he greeted them, "I have been waiting."
"IT'S A COP!" one man shouted, "SHOOT HIM!"
"...I'm not a cop…" Lucci thought though he was more than happy to give them a fight if they wanted one.
For some reason, his assailants were abnormally slow to reach for weapons loaded with anything other than tranquilizers, not that Lucci cared since that allowed him to take several of them down as they struggled. Most of the team panicked in the face of the sudden attack, overwhelmed by the bloodlust pouring off of the man. Within the next two and a half minutes, almost every member of the team was very obviously dead, the calm expression never leaving the face of the unarmed man they'd thought would be an easy target.
Lucci turned and reached for his phone to report in, certain that his would-be attackers were staying down. He should have checked one more time. A dart hit him in the back as one man used the last of his energy to fire the loaded weapon one of his comrades had dropped during the massacre.
Seconds later, Lucci looked down in fascination at his new paws, having barely even noticed the pain of transforming.
"Well that was unexpected." he mused, turning his head to see the long tail waving around behind him, "Now I know what happened to the others...but not who did it…"
LUFFY'S POV
Luffy had never thought that a single room could take so long to explore. Normally, it probably wouldn't have even been that big, but as he was now, the room was like a castle with many nooks and crannies to investigate.
After the man, now identified as Charlotte Katakuri, one of the main leaders of the underground in the city that Ace had repeatedly warned him about, had moved his basket to the floor Luffy had spent every possible moment trying to get his bearings...and maybe find a way out to go find Ace, who would definitely know how to fix this.
Speaking of, the man hadn't let Luffy out of his sight since he'd first regained consciousness, sitting around and just...watching...studying the kitten's movements with an unreadable expression on his face that sometimes became a small smile if Luffy did something that was amusing. He had an odd mouth with large, sharp teeth and stitches up the sides of his face, something Luffy thought was really cool even if it made the man even scarier than he already was.
As Luffy limped around the room, looking for something to get into, he noticed the large mirror sitting on top of the dresser and stared up at it.
"I want to see." he said decisively, trying to ignore the mewl that came out instead of words, "I need to see what I look like!"
"What is it, Cat?" Katakuri's voice rumbled from far above him as he came to stand beside Luffy's tiny body.
Luffy flinched and shrank away from the man. He had treated him kindly in the week since he'd woken up, feeding him and taking care of his wounds, but Luffy didn't fully trust the man, not while he was so vulnerable and weak. Unfortunately, Katakuri didn't seem to care about that as he bent down and scooped the kitten up, ignoring his shrill protests.
"Here." the man said, carefully placing Luffy in front of the mirror.
Staring back at him was the tiniest, fluffiest black kitten he had ever seen...himself. His own eyes stared out of the little face with too big ears twitching on top of his head. His scars, the one under his eye from the time he'd attempted to show Shanks how brave he was, and the large one on his chest from the fire he'd survived when he was a child, were now white splotches of fur. His paws seemed a bit too big as well, giving him an excuse for how clumsy he was...other than the fact that he was used to two legs, not four. His attention was drawn briefly to the little tail he now possessed, before Katakuri's hand appeared to hover over him momentarily, beginning to gently stroke the fur along Luffy's spine. This was yet another thing that he wasn't sure of, enjoying getting petted. If someone had tried this on him when he was..himself...that wasn't one of his friends, his brothers, or Shanks, Luffy would have broken their arm...yet here he was, flopped onto his side, purring as this massive mob boss scratched under his chin.
This was all a lot to take in.
KATAKURI'S POV
Katakuri's new pet was...strange. While the kitten was the most adorable thing he had ever seen, it often seemed confused with everything.
"I'll have to have come check on him again." he decided, watching as the kitten suddenly stopped and stared up at his mirror for a moment before beginning to meow at it.
"...he's...he's meowing at the mirror...do cats like mirrors? I'll have to write that in the journal asked me to keep." Katakuri stood and looked down at his pet,
"What is it, Cat?" he asked, noting the way the tiny creature backed away from him in alarm.
"Am I really that scary?" he wondered, then realized that, oh yeah, he was…"still...I hope he gets used to me in time...it's depressing when even a kitten is scared of me."
"Here," he said, leaning down to scoop the tiny creature up and place him on the dresser. He watched the kitten freeze as he seemed to study himself seriously in the mirror, a decidedly un-cat like behavior.
"I've never seen a cat with these markings." he mused, "It's...unique, I like it."
He allowed himself a small smile as he reached to gently pet the cat...whose response was to flop onto his side.
"...is...is that normal? I have no idea what I'm doing...or what's normal for that matter...I guess I'll just write it down along with everything else."
Katakuri enjoyed a moment of calmness, listening to the tiny purr of the kitten, before his door opened, revealing an annoyed Brulee,
"Did you forget that you called a meeting, Brother?" she asked, "We've been waiting for more than ten minutes now."
"Right," Katakuri turned and grabbed his scarf, making sure it was in place before scooping up the kitten and carrying him out of the room with him, hopefully, the small creature would help to keep him calm during what promised to be a stressful meeting.
ACE'S POV
Ace rolled out of bed, doing his best to ignore the throbbing in his face where Sabo's fist had connected in a well-deserved punch. He groaned, the night had been restless and the day didn't seem like it would be much better than any of the others in the past week. The police at a standstill, no new evidence, no leads. Nothing but a week under their belt and a trail that was probably going cold.
He trudged out of his room to find Sabo sitting on the couch with a mug of coffee and a newspaper in hand.
"Good morning, how's your face?" was the greeting he got,
"...morning...it's...fine." Ace grumbled, heading to fetch his own cup of coffee, "Marco and Thatch?"
"Thatch is asleep. Marco left earlier." Sabo informed him, "No new calls from the police. In my own investigation into local trafficking rings, there's no trace of Luffy anywhere...whoever's behind this is being extraordinarily careful."
Ace's hand shook violently as he attempted to pour his coffee, sloshing the hot liquid over the sides until he had to put the pot down.
"Ace?"
"What if…" Ace began, "what if we're too late?" his voice a horrified whisper, "what if it was too late even by the time we got to the police?!"
"It's not too late, Ace." Sabo said, tone reassuring, though he might have also been attempting to reassure himself, "It can't be too late. We'll find him."
Ace went to respond but, before he could, someone knocked on the door of their suite.
"Are we expecting anyone?" Thatch said from the doorway to his room, yawning. Sabo shrugged and stood, making his way over to the door and looking through the peephole.
"It's...not a cop," he warned the other two before opening the door cautiously. "Hello?"
"Greetings, I am Dracule Mihawk, private investigator, I have information on your brother." the man said. He was lucky that it was Sabo who had answered the door because all he did was open it wider and beckon for the man to enter. Ace would have grabbed him and pulled him in.
"Please, come in." Sabo said, "Ace, you should probably call Shanks to save us the trouble. Thatch, Marco will want to be here."
"Alright," Ace did as he was told, ignoring the detective's curious gaze as it studied the impressive bruise on his face.
A few minutes later, after calling Marco back, the group sat down around the coffee table, listening as Shanks greeted the detective enthusiastically.
"HAWKY! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN YEARS!" Shanks exclaimed, "IT'S GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU!"
"...is this really necessary?" Mihawk asked, and everyone else nodded,
"He's Luffy's godfather," Ace informed him, "...and he'd kill us if we didn't include him."
"...of course he is." Mihawk sighed, "anyway, about the case."
"YES?" Shanks put in, excited
"I have looked over all of the evidence and visited the crime scene myself." Mihawk continued, as though Shanks had never spoken, "I believe that the police were, as usual, a bit too hasty in making assumptions due to the lack of evidence."
"What?"
"Yes. Let me tell you my version of how I think that evening's events transpired. The police were correct in their calculation of the time of the event, not even they could mess that up with such a short period of time. There were indeed people waiting inside the apartment for your brother to return home, two of them in fact. Markings on the drainpipe outside suggested that they climbed up and went through the window into your brother's bedroom. Fingerprints taken off of that window were identified as belonging to a man known as Axe Morgan and the deceased Don Krieg." Ace cursed,
"They were in his bedroom?!"
"Ace, let him talk." Sabo interrupted him, "Why didn't the police think to dust the windows for fingerprints in the first place?"
"...considering their other problems at the moment, the processing of this crime scene was rather rushed. It is likely that, without any sign of forced entry through one of the windows, the police did not think to do so." Mihawk replied,
"...I told him, again and again, to shut and lock his window!" Ace growled, "Luffy can't stand enclosed spaces, not after the fire in Grey Terminal."
"He's a bit claustrophobic," Sabo explained and Mihawk nodded,
"That would explain it." he agreed, "Continuing on, they waited until he arrived home and settled in a bit before they attacked. He was taken by surprise given that he was only able to take a single bite out of the donut on the counter. He fought back, based on the blood spatter on his shirt and the state of the apartment,"
"Yeah but...how did his clothes...why would they-"
"There is absolutely no evidence that your brother was sexually assaulted." Mihawk said with finality, "the only evidence they have is circumstantial based on the clothes on the floor but, you might notice that the buttons on those clothes were still fastened. Had his clothes been forcibly removed, there would have been damage to the articles, and had he been forced to strip, those buttons would not have been fastened." the relief in the room as the man finished speaking was palpable until Sabo spoke up,
"Do you have an explanation then?"
"...we're working on that. Honestly, the scene makes little to no sense. Your brother was not sexually assaulted but...he was likely unclothed when he was taken from the apartment. Unfortunately, the scene outside is even stranger and more difficult to interpret. From the sporadic placement of the blood spatter, it is likely that he was pushed down the stairs, coming to a stop on the sidewalk below. There is nowhere near enough blood for him to have died of those injuries though he was likely incapacitated at the moment."
"Can we get to the mutilated body now?" Shanks asked and Mihawk sighed,
"Based on the somewhat confusing evidence, someone attacked and killed one of the would-be abductors. The police would say that Morgan and Krieg likely had a falling out and attacked one another, placing your brother in Morgan's hands. BUT, I believe that there is a third party at work here. Obviously, Krieg did not survive the encounter, but the presence of a large amount of Morgan's blood at the scene suggests that he was gravely wounded and subsequently dragged away from the scene to the trunk of the vehicle that made the skid marks nearby."
"How do we know that Morgan didn't kill Krieg though?"
"That would be because of Morgan's criminal record. The man's preferred weapon, as his name suggests, is an axe. Krieg's corpse, however, does not bear the wounds one would expect to see on a victim of an axe murderer. His main wounds, those that likely were the cause of death, were inflicted by an even stranger choice of weaponry, a trident. Of course, the other wounds on the body were no less brutal. It appears as though something, likely a finger, punctured Krieg's left eye socket and served as leverage for the lifting of the entire body and crushing of multiple other bones in his face."
"...so...you're saying that Luffy is in the hands of a psychopath?" Sabo asked,
"...we cannot be sure, but whoever it was decided not to kill your brother, though he was clearly capable of doing so on the spot. For whatever reason, he chose to take, not only your brother but Morgan who, I believe and in spite of the amount of blood he lost, was alive when he left the scene, simply due to the fact that Krieg's corpse was left behind." Mihawk said calmly
"Okay...now what?" Marco asked,
"I'm currently compiling the psychological profile of the killer and we are working on tracking down the weapon used since tridents are quite unusual."
"Do you...do you think Luffy is still alive?" Ace forced the question out, though he was terrified of the answer, he knew he had to ask.
"I haven't yet completed the psychological profile but, obviously, your brother is in the hands of an extremely dangerous individual. All I know for sure is that, when he was taken from his apartment, he was alive." Mihawk replied, "perhaps the killer took pity on him, considering his injuries and nakedness...we simply do not know enough about him to tell."
"A crazy guy with a trident has my brother. Great." Ace muttered, somehow feeling almost more frustrated than before,
"Guys, hold on." Shanks cut in, voice oddly serious, "we're talking about a man with hands large enough, and strong enough, to crush a skull. A man that wields a trident and doesn't mind killing someone and leaving the body out in the open...I think I have a lead."
"You know who did this?!" Ace nearly shouted in surprise,
"...I think that description fits one Charlotte Katakuri, also known as Dogtooth. Phoenix, the name should sound familiar."
"Dogtooth?!" Marco gasped, "Big Mom's second son?!"
"The same." Shanks confirmed, "That would also explain Hawky's theory of whoever it was taking pity on Luffy. Dogtooth, with all of his younger siblings, has a bit of a soft spot for young, helpless children."
"He's nineteen!" Sabo protested,
"...It's Luffy." Shanks pointed out, "people still confuse him with twelve-year-olds."
"You have a point,"
"Well then, let's go get him!" Ace cheered, standing
"...it's not so simple, Ace." Marco interrupted, pulling the younger man back down onto the couch beside him, "If Dogtooth really is the one who took Luffy...we need to call Pops."