Much, much shorted chapter than usual. The next chapter gets really serious and dramatic, so I think people will like it! Enjoy~

For the next week, Luffy was guarded by Ace wherever he went, and when Ace had to sleep, Marco would take over. Luffy had become empty. He didn't flinch, or look scared, or anything. He just looked blank. Even as Dark Luffy got stronger from Luffy's lack of fighting back, Luffy said nothing. He didn't talk to Ace, or even look him in the eye.

The only thing he said during that week was halfway in between, when Luffy told Ace in a tone voice that he needed to guard Thatch every minute of the day. Ace frowned, but swore he'd keep Thatch safe in the infirmary.

There was two days left on the ship before Luffy could leave, with or without Ace's cooperation. He knew Ace wanted to help him, but the longer Luffy was on this ship, the more likely Dark Luffy was to kill someone, or multiple someones.

"We're leaving soon," Luffy said by himself. "You should be happy about that." Dark Luffy didn't answer, though Luffy knew he was awake and stronger than before. It was Luffy's fault the evil in his head grew stronger. He was nearing the breaking point. He could go insane any moment he was so horribly stressed.

Luffy didn't eat much during dinner. Though the food would usually smell delicious, now it just made him nauseous. But he ate because he didn't feel like getting reamed near the end of the day. But he could always starve himself to death. He'd just go somewhere it was impossible to escape.

Ace noticed how down he was for the last week, but it wasn't surprising. Luffy had very clearly wanted to die, and they ruined it. Ace wondered if he did the right thing. For anyone else, he'd know that wasn't the case. But for Luffy, who suffers so much on a daily basis… it was different. But he didn't let his thoughts show to the boy.

Before Luffy was walked to bed by Ace, he reminded the man about the lookout at the room where Thatch was. Ace nodded and wished Luffy goodnight, also saying goodnight to a man from the crew guarding Luffy's bedroom door from the outside. He was very large and leaned against the closed door.

As Luffy slept, he dreamt of dark swirly shapes all around him. It was pretty if it wasn't also creepy. It felt like he was being washed away in dark water, but was able to float on the surface. There was no plot to his dream, just him in swirling and dark water. Then the dream ended and he went back to a plain sleep with no more dreams.

Luffy's eyes opened, and his hands twitched as a smirk spread across his face. He did his best to not let his haki show, until he was in the infirmary, in front of Luffy's friend's good friend. Then he'd release everything and they'd all come in to see him murder Thatch. Even if Luffy warned others to keep a look at the door, Dark Luffy would easily over power them if it wasn't Ace, Marco or Whitebeard. He'd done his investigating when Luffy thought he was asleep, gauging the haki strength in each member of the crew, which was very hard since there was a ridiculous amount of people on this ship.

He quietly slipped out of bed and knew someone was on the other side of the wooden door, but that wasn't a problem. He easily kicked the door so hard it launched the big man in front of it into the wall across from him, knocking him out. It had been loud, so Dark Luffy did his best to hurry down the long halls to the room he knew Thatch was in.

Taking out this guard was easy, and soon he was on the ground, blood coming from his mouth after Dark Luffy kicked him in the stomach, not waiting to see if he was dead, which he wasn't. Finally, Dark Luffy stood next to the bed Thatch was healing on, he released everything. The man didn't notice a thing. Didn't notice a very creepy child standing right next to his head, releasing terrible waves of haki.

Ace got in the room first, seeing a very obviously possessed Luffy, standing next to Thatch's head with his fingers sharpened, like they'd been when he tried to slit Ace's neck. He had a demented grin on, and when others arrived, they all stopped immediately. They wouldn't be careless with their movements with Dark Luffy poised to murder Thatch.

"Don't do it," Ace said seriously, furious with this thing. No wonder Luffy had been saying to guard Thatch's room. Because of this happening. There should have been a stronger look-out outside the door. Ace or Marco would have been best.

The others were all quiet, sweating and very angry.

"Luffy doesn't get friends. He doesnt get to control this body and kill himself. If I kill Ace's friend, then you won't be Luffy's friend anymore, and no one would want him here. All I have to do is kill this man and everything will crash down," Dark Luffy bragged. His fingers got closer to Thatch's neck.

Ace's body turned into flames, but he stopped when Dark Luffy said, "Don't want to hurt little Luffy's body, do you?" But he didn't even have time to think or move his fingers any closer to Thatch's neck before Izo pulled out a gun and shot Luffy in the shoulder. Immediately, Luffy crumpled and fell to the ground.

"We care more about Thatch's life than Luffy's body," Izo said coldly as two of the crew mates pinned Luffy down while he was unconscious. "Lock him up," Izo said angrily, glaring at Ace, as if it was his fault. "You still want him on this ship?" he snarled as Luffy was carried out.

Ace looked at the ground. He should have done something more to prevent this. And even though it was Luffy's body who almost killed Thatch, he didn't hate him. But he was becoming a real problem. Ace didn't want to, but they would have to get him off the ship. At the next island, they'd give him some money and send him on his way, wherever that would be.