Chapter 3: Realization

Luffy's POV

I groaned as I finally woke up again. I tried opening my eyes, but noticed that it was to no avail, because no lights came to my eyes. My head hurts and I feel extremely dizzy..

I tried standing up from the surface I was lying on, but only bounced back.. That's when I realized that I couldn't move my arms nor my legs..

"Hello? Where am I?!" I asked angrily as I heard footsteps coming closer to me, but for some reason, no words left my mouth. "Zehehehe.." I heard someone laugh and than my heart froze as I listened to what followed next. It were screams of pain and I immediately recognized the owner's voice. It was Traffy, screaming at the top of his lungs in pain.

"It seems your friend finally woke up~!" I rough voice said and the cloth that had been covering my eyes was removed.

As the bright light of the room hit my eyes, I automatically clenched them shut. The light causing a raging headache, though I'm not sure why. I slowly began to open my eyes, letting them accumulate to it slowly.

The first thing that I saw upon opening my eyes was a bulky guy, with a hairy exposed chest and dark hair. He was wearing a huge, creepy smile as he stood in front of me with a whip in hand.

Before I could say anything he stepped aside, revealing Traffy, kneeling on the ground while his legs were chained to the ground and his hands and the rest of his body were being held up by the chains on his hands. The second thing I noticed, which I should've probably noticed first, was that he wasn't wearing his shirt anymore. Why isn't he wearing a shirt?

"Traffy!" I managed to choke out, but for some reason my throat hurt and sounded extremely sore. "Luffy-ya.." he said, his voice sounding weak as he looked at me with tear-filled eyes. Seeing Traffy like this made me sad and angry at the same time. I felt like ripping limb for limb off of the body of the person that made him feel this way and then hug him and tell him that everything was going to be alright..

"Zehehe, Tell me, Are you a demi-god?" he asked me as he stood behind Traffy, but before I could answer Traffy interrupted. "I told you that I'm the demi-god!" he yelled at him. "I wasn't asking you." The guy said calmly and than hit Traffy with the whip 3 times. With every slash I could see blood spatter.

With every slash, Law screamed out of pain, though letting no tears escape his eyes.. That's when I began to cry and struggle.. I couldn't get free, I couldn't speak, the only thing I could do was cry at his pain.

Like a mantra I kept repeating the same words in my mind. 'I'm going to kill him.' There have been several times that I got mad and wanted to beat someone up and I froze at my own thoughts.. I've never wanted to kill anyone before, so why now?

As the question settled down in my mind my eyes met Traffy's and that's when I understood why. He hurt Traffy. I won't allow anyone laying a finger on him.

"Hehe, what's with that angry expression of yours?" he asked me and my anger only grew. "Don't.. touch.. him." I choked out and a smirk formed on the guys face. "Or what?" he asked me, the smirk on his face growing wider by the second when an idea struck me, he doesn't know which one of us is a demi-god yet.

"I wish that.. we weren't bound.. by these chains.. so that we can.. kill you." I said, my voice sounding sorer by the second. And then the chains disappeared, both of us falling to the ground.

The first thing I did out of reflex was kicking him, sending him flying against the wall and than I quickly ran crawled over to Traffy, because I couldn't stand properly..

"Traffy..?" I asked as I saw him try to get up, but failing and falling back onto the ground.. "Traffy…" tears once again streamed down my cheeks as I helped him sit up.

His hands moved up to my face at the same time as mine moved up to his. He started wiping away my tears with his thumb, looking at me with the most gentle expression I had ever seen.

That's when I noticed the darkness that began surrounding us and I couldn't help the anger boiling up in me as I heard the whip hit the ground several times.

"Zehehe, it seems like I found the demi-god." He smiled at me, and there was no sign of my previous attack having done any kind of damage.

I stood up, my heart aching as Traffy's hands left my cheeks.. and I walked over to him. "No one. Touches. My. Traffy." I spat out the words at him, before charging at him, avoiding the arms that had formed out of the darkness.

As I was only several centimeters away from him, he slashed the whip at me and I managed to stop it with my right hand, drawing blood immediately, before punching him with my left hand, sending him through the wall, pulling him back towards me by the whip that we were both still holding onto, punching and kicking him as often as I could, while the darkness did the same to me.

No POV

As Luffy charged at the unknown man shrouded in darkness Law had unconsciously closed his eyes, thinking about what Luffy had just said when the blood loss overtook his senses and everything turned black for him and he fainted.

Luffy was in the meantime unaware of his friends critical condition and continued fighting the bulky man. Punching and kicking him, while at the same time avoiding the darkness that tried to grab him every time again. And then suddenly he vanished. Causing Luffy to stumble and crash head-first into the wall. "Huh? Where'd he go?" Luffy asked himself out loud, but found nothing but a little dust cloud that was slowly disappearing as well in the place his enemy stood before.

Luffy wanted to find out where the said man went when he fell to his feet, clutching at his heart out of souring pain. His breathing was unstable and tears were welling up at the corners of his eyes out of pain, the only thing that crossed his mind was one name: Traffy.

Before he even tried to understand this pain he scrambled back up to his feet and stumbled towards Law who was still passed out on the ground. "Traffy!" he crooked out, his throat still hurting with every word he spoke, but ignored it anyways.

As Luffy finally reached his friend he let himself fall onto his knees once more and tears started streaming down his face as the pain in his heart worsened and he felt like dying on the spot. "I wish Traffy didn't have any wounds." He said, but nothing happened. "I wish Traffy would wake up." Still nothing happened and the tears worsened. 'Did I lose my powers?' he asked himself and his shaking hands tried to get Law to sit up, while avoiding to touch his back.

After several attempts he finally managed to get Law into a sitting position while holding him upright by his shoulders. He looked in pain.

"Traffy.. I'm sorry!" Luffy cried out and pressed Law's head against his chest, hugging it tightly. "I wish we were with Makino-san again." He cried out and they suddenly appeared on the floor in the same bar where she had given them the book.

"Luffy? What happened to you?" she asked, facing Luffy's back. As she walked closer to them she saw Law's back and clasped her hand in front of her mouth so that she wouldn't cry out. "Lu-Luffy! What happened?!" she asked, trying to hold her tears back.

"We got attacked.. Makino-san! Why doesn't anything I say work on Traffy?!" he asked with a tear filled voice. Turning his head to face Makino. "It hurts. Why does it hurt so much? I can't breath.. and my heart feels like it's being crushed.. Why?" he asked, more and more tears streaming down his face as he pressed Law closer to him, hugging him more tightly.

Makino didn't answer his question and just started drawing circles into the air before speaking out, in a language Luffy couldn't understand.

Within a second an old woman with long white-ish hair and glasses on appeared in front of Luffy and Law, leaving a little cloud of dust in her place, before it disappeared again.

"Get the kid out of here or I won't treat him." Were the first words she spoke and Makino took Luffy away from Law and teleported them somewhere else.

"Traffy! Makino-san! What are you doing! I want to stay with him!" he cried out, before taking in his new surroundings. He was standing in front of his school and it was almost time for the bell to ring, signaling the start of the school day. "Luffy, calm down. Law-san will be alright, okay? You two have been gone for 3 days and everyone's worried. I told them that you were with me, but if you don't go to school today then there will be great consequences." She explained, but his expression only turned to anger. "I want to stay with him!" he said, but Makino ignored his plea and wiped away all the tears with her handkerchief, before Luffy's schoolbag with all his books appeared in her other hand.

"I'm sorry Luffy, but you don't have any other choice. If you want Law-san to be healed than you'll have to stay away from the bar until I tell you it's okay to come. Doctor Kureha is very strict when it comes to treating someone and if she doesn't want you there than there is nothing I can do about it. She won't treat him if you're around, so please bear with it." She said and then put some bandage over Luffy's right hand, which he forgot was wounded.

"Now then, you better get going before the bell rings, and don't tell anyone about what happened, okay?" she asked and Luffy nodded, turning around without saying a single word and walking into the building with his bag over his shoulder, one hand clutching at his heart as he tried to keep the tears in.

"Luffy! Where have you been!" Usopp cried out as he entered the classroom, but he didn't answer and just took a seat in his usual seat and stared at the wall, not listening to any of his surroundings, concentrating only on Law.

For the first 3 classes he remained staring at the wall, thinking about everything that had happened.

'Why'd I call Traffy mine back than? And why does my heart hurt so much? I know I'm not the best thinker, but seriously brain, you could at least help me out here.. Well, there is one thing that I know I want to do. I want to kill everyone that tries to hurt him and beat everyone up that keeps me from seeing him. I wonder why I feel like this?' As Luffy thought that he turned to his left, looking at Nami who had been staring at him for hours now.

"Nami, you read a lot of those fiction stories, right?" he asked, his voice still sounding sour, but she ignored it and only nodded. "Have you ever read anything about a mate?" he asked and she only looked at him confused, before answering. "of course I have. There are a lot of vampire stories that mention mates." She answered and Luffy's eyes lid up. "How do they know when they find their mate?" he asked and Nami looked at him for a while before answering.

"Well, they mostly know when they see him, but they mostly know by how they act towards that person. They always want to protect them and kill anyone that dares to hurt them and if their not around that person than they're the only one that they can think about. Oh, and they always want to stay by that person's side, not wanting to leave them." She finished and the first smile of the day appeared on Luffy's face. "Why do you want to know that?" she asked as Luffy's grin only widened. "No reason."

'Shishi, thank god Nami explained it! Otherwise I would've never figured it out myself!' he thought as he brightened up. Even the pain in his heart kept on ceasing, little by little, meaning that Law's treatment was going very good.

Meanwhile at the Bar

"I'm glad you could come here so quickly, Aceso. Luffy looked like he was about to die, though not as bad as Law-san here of course.." she said as she sat onto a stool next to the woman that was healing Law's back right now.

"Spare me the thanks, Yue. I only came, because I had my dept to repay to you." She replied coldly as she was finishing up the last wounds on Law's back. "Otherwise, this would cost you a fortune." She said with a smirk on her face. "Sometimes you're more like a demon than a goddess." Makino replied coldly. "Says the one that's playing a game with these two. Aren't you more of a demon than me?" he replied with a playful smirk.

"Let me have at least some fun, okay? I've been bored out of my mind for years. And it's not like it'll hurt Luffy to use his mind a bit sometimes." She replied, a smile playing on her lips.

The talking of the two woman ceased as Law let out a grunt and tried sitting up. "Stay down, brat." Kureha replied, pressing the body back to the ground. "I'm almost done." She said as she healed the last wound and not a single scar could be seen on Law's back.

"There, done. Now you can get outta here." She said and nodded towards Makino as she then disappeared in another cloud of dust.

"Where is Luffy-ya?" was Law's first question, causing Makino to chuckle. "He's at school. Classes should be almost over so I'll take you there, but first you should probably put on a shirt." She said, tossing Law a shirt that she had bought after dropping Luffy off at school.

Law looked at the shirt for a while before putting it on. "Okay, Let's go then!" she said and snapped her fingers and they were standing in front of the school building. "Well, then, try not to make him cry, again, okay?" she asked as she winked at law and disappeared again.

"Make him cry? What's she talking about?" he asked himself out loud, before walking into the direction of the school building.

The pain in Luffy's chest had completely disappeared now and a fluttering feeling was starting to whelm up inside of him. With every step that Law got closer to the building the fluttering increased and he could barely sit still in his chair.

As the bell rang, Luffy jumped out of his seat and took off, trying to find Law. The second he sighted said man, walking through the hallways, he increased his speed and jumped into the mans arms, causing them to fall to the ground, because Law couldn't hold his balance.

"You're alright!" Luffy cheered, a few tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

So yeah, Sunny had left me with a cliffhanger…. I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter and I'm sorry for the lack of fighting in it, but I'm seriously bad at writing fighting scenes… Well then.. Until the next chapter! :3