After all the fluff, we are getting back into the dark parts. Second to last chapter, so hang on one more chapter! Enjoy~ (I know I'm cruel)
"Luffy, come down from there," Thatch called, now unable to find the six year old as he hid in the masts. "It's almost dinner and I want that cake mix now, or else," he said sternly.
"I already ate a lot of it!" Luffy called down. He now didn't want to come back down and face Thatch, who was going to make a special cake for Luffy's birthday for everyone to share. But he hadn't even finished baking it before Luffy stealthily snatched the bowl of chocolate batter. "Don't be mad, it's my birthday!"
"You aren't getting a baked cake if you have eaten all the batter!" Thatch called back. "Just bring me the rest, and I'll try and salvage it. But only because it's your birthday." Luffy smiled and dropped back down in front of him, and handed him the bowl with the small remainder of batter. Luffy's face was covered with it. He smiled at Thatch innocently.
Thatch sighed. "I'll try and make this into some cupcakes."
"Yay! You're not mad, right?" Luffy asked nervously. He didn't want Thatch to be mad at him. The food just looked so yummy that he couldn't resist.
"No, I'm not mad. I can't stay mad at you even if I tried, you beastie. There should be a limit to the puppy dog face!" Thatch told him loudly. "Why does it only not work on Marco!?" Luffy just giggled.
"Can I help?" the birthday boy questioned. So far, even though it was early, Luffy was having a much better birthday than his last.
"You can help by not eating the rest and cleaning the galley for the party. Even if it's your birthday, you have to help," Thatch said, though not unkindly. Luffy smiled and followed the cook.
Luffy, Ace, and Sabo had been on the ship for almost a year. Like papa had told him, the pain of the murder of his family had faded, though he couldn't help but be depressed this day. But as long as he stayed busy with someone or something, he didn't fall into the thick depression that followed him on the one year anniversary.
He had to think about this anniversary was the day he found Sabo and Ace. Well, they found him. His brothers helped him through the worst time of his short life, and he could never leave them. Ever. Even if they left the Whitebeard Pirate ship, the three boys would stay together.
Ace and Sabo were both 11 by now, and had gone on trips with the commanders multiple times, while Luffy had stayed behind. Both boys had looked older after the year Luffy had known them. The only difference you could see in Luffy's aging was that his wings were a little bigger. They still looked lumpy, but the bones had healed, though not in the right places as before.
Those days that his brothers were gone had made him lonely, but you could never be lonely too long on this ship. Someone was always there for him, like a tight net that wouldn't let him fall into despair. But when the brothers came back, sometimes gone at the same time, they always brought something for Luffy. He had a pile of toys some of his siblings had gotten him.
Luffy was never allowed to leave the ship unless he was with papa or one of the commanders, since it was long since known that there was a young angel on the Whitebeard Pirate crew. Luffy had been targeted multiple times, but each time, he was rescued before anything really happened. Papa had destroyed ships who had attempted to take Luffy, so Luffy was never worried about getting caught. They'd save him before anything happened, anyway. His trust in his family was as unbreakable as Jozu's diamond body.
A pirate ship attacked the Moby Dick, but that wasn't so unusual. Luffy just stayed inside the ship while everyone fought the attackers off. He stayed in the galley, making sure the cupcakes didn't get burned while Thatch helped out with the fight. Luffy wasn't worried. Well, the only thing he was worried about was whether he'd get in trouble for eating some of the frosting while it waited to be decorated.
Suddenly, everything got so quiet. He stilled, waiting for the noise to come back. Why was everything so quiet? But then, there was a massive CRACK sound, and screams coming from the deck. He could hear papa's booming voice, and it was full of worry. Luffy was scared now. Papa sounded scared, and papa was never scared of anything.
Luffy broke out in a run down the hall towards the entrance, but then stopped in his tracks. The hallway was thick with smoke, and the cracking sounds wasn't cracking, it was crackling. The ship was on fire from the outside, and Luffy was inside. Was the only one inside. He began to panic, running in the opposite way. But the sound of the fire was following him. He began to cry out for someone to help him. But no one was there. He was the only one who hadnt been partaking in the battle. No one else wanted to miss out on the fun.
The interior filled with smoke quickly, and Luffy was finally as far from the front entrance as possible. He was pressed up against the wall, his wings squished between his back and the wooden wall at the end of the long hallways.
It he had a sword, he could cut through the wall and get out that way, but he had no sword. And he wasn't super strong. He was trapped. Was he going to die? On his birthday?! Again, his birthday?!
Luffy sobbed as the air filled with more smoke around him. As he saw the fire creep down his hallway, he ran into the nearest bathroom and began smashing the window with his fists. Could he fit out?
He began to stuff his body through the small window. But it was useless. He couldn't get out. His wings were too big. And he wasn't brave enough to try and cut them off, and didn't have the supplies. He'd also rather die than have his wings taken, by himself or not. It was all he had left of his parents and brother.
But, as he choked on smoke, suddenly the air was clear and the wind was strong. He opened his eyes slowly to see a big hole in the wall. He could fit through it!
"Well, it wasn't too hard finding you," a man said as he looked at Luffy's shocked and sooty face. He punched Luffy in the head hard enough to knock him out cold. The room Luffy had been trying to get out the window was close to the water's surface, so it was easy for his captor to pull his small body out and ride away to his main ship.
"Got him!" he shouted, signaling for the pirates to give up and pretend to retreat, leaving the burning ship behind. Luffy's captor was hooked to the side of the ship that none of the Whitebeard Pirates could see him and the crew's baby brother. Luffy stayed asleep as the ship sailed away.
"Luffy?!" Marco called as he flew down the burning interiors in his pheonyx form, the smoke not harming him. "Luffy where are you?!" He'd been in every room and found no Luffy. Everything was burned so badly. It looked like the interior got the most damage, not the deck or sails. This fire was purposely lit to trap Luffy inside.
Marco found no remains. Nothing. He didn't pay attention to the hole in the bathroom wall because some of the other windows had blown out as well. "Luffy!" he cried. If he couldn't find him, and there were no other exits or entrances that hadn't been on fire. Luffy was dead.
Marco had to tell his family their baby brother and son had burned to death.
"What the hell?! What's wrong with his wings, these won't sell!" a man shouted angrily. Luffy woke up, his head hurting, one ankle chained to the cold hard floor of a dark room. Luffy's vision was a little blurry.
"Hey… wait! I recognize this kid! I almost caught him last year. Got his family, but he ran away. Guess I did this to his wings. Oops," a familiar sounding man laughed. Luffy held his breath and looked up in horror. He recognized these men. The men who haunted his dreams for months. The men who ripped away his family along with their wings.
Luffy was terrified, but almost immediately, he grew furious. He would not let these bad men take his wings!
"You!" Luffy roared furiously. "WHERE ARE THEIR WINGS!?" Luffy shrieked. He knew the wings would be long gone, but he couldn't help but ask the question he'd wished he could have had answered when his family's wings were still attainable. He'd never been so angry.
"Your family? The ones who didn't put up a fight? Those are long gone. Sold for a pretty price, they did."
No one expected Luffy to whip around and swipe his unchained foot under the man. He fell to the ground with an irritated "oof!" and the Luffy was on him, bashing his fists onto his face, chest, neck and crotch. Anywhere he could reach, he beat.
It didn't last long, and soon his mouth was bleeding after being kicked in the cheek. "Little shit! don't touch us, you dirty, winged freak!"
The man Luffy had attacked spit on Luffy. "I don't care if they won't sell, saw his damn wings off now!" he screamed.
"No! No! NO! Don't touch them! Stop! NOOO! STOP IT!"
Luffy laid on the dirty floor, his back bleeding from two vertical wounds. He couldn't feel his wings get cut off, but with every saw, he felt part of him fade away. His wings were gone forever. What was he now? A orphaned, former angel that was nobody now. He had no family, no friends, no wings, no hope.
As he was thrown overboard into the tumultuous waves, he just hoped his current family could avenge him and his old one. But at least now, he could see the people he'd been missing for so long. But, as he sunk, numb, he suddenly didn't want to die. He made his way back to the surface, treading the water, looking for anywhere to go to save himself.
But he was in the middle of the ocean, no ship in sight. How long had he been unconscious? How far away was the Moby Dick? Was it still functional? Would any of the Whitebeards look for him?
No, they wouldn't. They would think he'd burned to death in the fire. He could now only count on himself. He had to find land. What a birthday. Was he cursed? If he lived that long, he wasn't looking forward to his next birthday.
He swam in one direction for hours, his whole body hurting and unbearably thirsty. Eventually, he couldn't move anymore, and just floated on the surface. He knew there were probably sea kings somewhere near. Maybe they wouldn't kill him. But he was bleeding, though not heavily, so that would attract other dangerous creatures as well. Well, whatever happened, would happen regardless of what he could do.
He felt the water move below him, and he grew terrified. He closed his eyes as he heard a massive something surface loudly. After swimming for hours, he was going to be eaten and killed in one bite.
Ace, Sabo, papa, everyone… I'm sorry.
He waited for the inevitable attack, but instead he heard no sound until a moment later, the monster that had come went back underwater and swam away. He opened his eyes to see an old man with white hair and a unique looking beard smile at him.
"You're lucky I went on a swim, boy," and the Luffy fell unconscious.
I know this chapter was sad/horrible but just wait until the next one. Only one more to go and I won't put anyone in any pain again! Review.