Story Title: Portgas D. Luffy
Author: The Dark Crimson Blood
Genres: Family/Hurt comfort/Angst
Main Character(s): Luffy/Ace/Trafalgar
Summary: Portgas D. Luffy and Portgas D. Ace are siblings; he hated her because her birth was what caused the death of their mother. Let's watch as she makes new relations with unexpected people.
Words: 3,002
oOo
"Luffy, brothers don't keep secrets right? You have to tell us why you disappear in the morning and then come home ready to pass out."
Luffy had somehow managed to keep her training and the Kuro guy a secret for five months, but now; standing next to her brothers as they entered the mountain base muddily, she couldn't manage to find an acceptable reply.
"Uh," she attempted; only to be completely cut off when Dandan spotted them and called them filthy before throwing them into the bathtub together. Honestly, it was the third time this month. Luffy didn't like baths; she couldn't swim, and her brothers had found that out the hard way two months ago when they pushed her into the water and waited for her to resurface as a joke to laugh at.
However, when she didn't come back up; they had begun to worry and dove in after her… She later told them she couldn't swim, and that she was a hammer due to her devil fruit. They must have forgotten about that time with… Bluejam.
Frowning, she shook her head at the memory; until this very day she wondered why she had been so weak that day- and it wasn't just that day; it was after every time she passed out at training, and there would always be searing pain on her back…
She must really be disappointing her trainer, who was only trying to help her; right? It was because of him she had halfway mastered Haki in the first place, so why was she suspecting him? Frowning at the thought, she began to scrub away at some of the mud residing on her skin despite feeling weakened due to the water.
No wonder it wasn't coming off very easily.
Though she felt even weaker in the water this time; somehow, it was something she never felt possible.
Sighing as all the dirt and mud was gone and she was clean; she got into the bath with her brothers.
"So, back to the earlier question"
"Where have you been disappearing to, Luffy?"
Luffy went silent; the whole room went silent, she couldn't figure out what to say. "I can't tell you" So she told them the truth, because she couldn't tell them; she was supposed to follow her 'teacher's' rules if she wanted to continue getting stronger.
"Luffy, for the last time; we're brothers. Brothers don't keep secrets from each other; were even moving back into the tree house tomorrow."
"I'll tell you tomorrow then, okay?" Well she'd tell him what she was allowed to; nothing more.
"Fine," her brothers said, defeated. She grinned tiredly; really this water was weakening her to a point she just wanted to sleep.
"I'm getting out," Luffy said with a yawn, her brothers watched her warily until she left the room.
OoO
Once again, on her way back from training Luffy was absolutely exhausted; she had trained in the rain so she was absolutely soaked and freezing, she could barely feel her toes, fingertips, and face as she dragged her feet forward until she finally reached the tree house. She had passed out again at training, and she guessed the man had left her there; she deserved it, since she was so weak… She wanted to be stronger than what she was now… Why wasn't she getting anywhere?
Letting her tears be wiped away with the rain, she raised a hand to grab the rope ladder. One step from the top, her fingers slipped and she fell; she closed her eyes and waited for the impact that she never felt. "Luffy" came a voice she knew was so familiar; she opened her eyes and replied.
"Ace"
She was slowly pulled up and helped to the point she was finally standing, with a lot of help from Ace she was directed into the tree house.
It took her less than ten minutes to peel off her wet clothing, dry off, and put something warm on before sitting down with her brothers. "Ready to answer some questions?" Ace asked and Luffy nodded in reply as Sabo dried her hair, it was getting rather long and was at the point that it reached her lower back… She didn't like it very much.
"Where do you disappear to everyday?" Ace asked first, "And why do you always come back injured or half conscious?"
"I'm training! The old man said to keep it a secret so I could surprise you!" Luffy replied, leaning back into Sabo's lap now that her hair was dry. She watched Sabo throw the unwanted towel into a pile they would probably have to take out and wash some time… Or steal from some unsuspecting Nobel…
"Well it doesn't seem to be very effective, now does it? You're still a crybaby weakling." Ace said a little too harshly for either Sabo or Luffy's likings.
"Ace… It's her birthday; don't be so rough." Sabo muttered, barely heard due to the overpowering tension in the room.
Luffy shot up and hit Sabo's chin accidentally as she did so, she pointed at Ace angrily; her arms were crossed and she seemed unaware of what she just did.
"Damn it Luffy that hurt!" Sabo yelled uncharacteristically as he massaged the forming bruise on his chin.
"Why haven't we ever seen the guy; how do we know whether or not he can be trusted, Luffy?"
"If your brothers find out about me I'll have to kill them; and you wouldn't want that, would you?"
"Because…" She began, "Because….Why does it matter to you guys so much anyway?!"
"You're our little brother, we'll worry about a girly looking weakling like you!"
"Girly looking weakling?" She asked, her fists clenching and digging her nails into her flesh. "Sabo?" She questioned as the blonde moved over with Ace.
"Sorry Luffy, I have to take Ace's side here; you're hiding too many things and keeping too many secrets. You've never even told us your full name, you can never hunt alone- or do anything else alone, and you look more like a girl than a boy. Are you lying to us about your gender too…? I'm sorry if I'm being harsh but it's the truth." Sabo said apologetically, avoiding all eye contact.
Luffy picked up her straw hat and place it around her neck, crossing her arms she opened her mouth and shouted; "I'm trying! I train every day so I can at least try to get stronger! Don't you think I want to? Yet you keep teasing me and calling me weak, I know I am! I'm a weakling who can only cry when things don't go my way, right? I can always cut my hair if it bothers you; it annoys me to but Makino likes it! And… And… and My full name is Portgas D. Luffy!"
Luffy gulped in a bunch of deep breaths before finishing in silence; Sabo turned to look at Ace in fear as the more violent of the two ran towards Luffy and pinned her roughly against the wall, ignoring the flush in her cheeks and pale skin that meant she had a cold.
She swallowed heavily, obviously confused; and to make things worse, her headache was coming back. What the hell was Ace doing?
She was answered literally seconds later.
"I'm Portgas D. Ace, and you're the one who murdered my mother."
Luffy freezes.
OoO
Well, there goes two years of brotherhood; Luffy thought as shock overcame her, this was her blood brother? The brother she had deprived of a mother by being born? She felt his hand being forced away from her neck by Sabo and she fell to her knees; holding her head in pain as it throbbed even stronger with every coming second…
Why did it have to be him?
It was her fault, it was all her fault; everything was her fault!
She didn't even feel the tears run out of her eyes as she opened her mouth and stuttered apologies, "My god, Ace; I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry!" She repeated over and over again but Ace only seemed to get angrier by the second.
"Sorry won't cut it, sorry won't bring my mother back; murderer!"
"Why the hell are you laughing?! You just killed your own mother!"
"You're disgusting, monster"
"Murderer…"
"Monster…"
"Demon child…"
Luffy began pulling at her hair, trying to get the memories to go away; to leave her alone but they wouldn't, they just kept repeating themselves in her mind; never leaving her alone and making her situation even worse than it already was.
"Get out and never come back; I can't believe we accepted you as our brother. No wonder you were hiding so much from us; I don't want you killing anyone else close to me, get out; monster.
"You're disgusting, monster"
"Monster…"
"Monster…"
"MURDERER!"
I'm sorry, I'll leave." Luffy said, weakly picking up her hat and turning to crawl down the rope that lead to the tree house; before she even had a chance she was pushed and Ace and Sabo were standing above her; sneers on their faces with disapproving frowns.
"Sorry, but never come back; please" Sabo was… Sabo was supposed to be the nice one, but she could understand why he was so cruel right now; especially to her, a person who ruined Ace's life by killing his mother… She hit the ground with a resounding thud and a crack was heard; which was a normal impossibility considering she was made out of rubber; but she literally felt her arm break underneath her.
She wailed in pain and gasped in the mud before standing up and limping off; having sprained her ankle in the fall somehow as well. She was rubber; so why did it hurt so much? Why was she bleeding and why was her arm broken and her ankle twisted; why did her chest hurt so much?
She had a feeling she'd never get an answer.
Luffy was slammed into the ground for the twentieth time that sparring session; and the man, clad in a black suit pushed his glasses up once again; starring down at Luffy with distasteful eyes.
"I thought you were getting stronger as of yesterday, did something happen; child?"
"My brothers, they wanted to know why I was disappearing so much-"
"Did you tell them about me?" Luffy had never seen such a terrifying expression before in her life, she nearly stepped back.
"No, I just let them know I was being trained, but that's it. They asked me a ton of questions and when I told them my name, they kicked me out; since one of them was my blood brother and I… I killed his mother at birth; so it's kind of my fault. I'm sorry for spacing out so much." Luffy apologized, bowing and averting her eyes from him, she felt an unbearable weight of guilt on her shoulders.
The man smirked at this as a rather brilliant idea came to him; he would take advantage of this situation; he could make her mind think getting stronger would return their relationship, that by getting stronger she would be able to be brothers with those other children again.
"Perhaps if you were to become stronger, your brothers would accept you again." He paused, sneering at the look of disbelief on her face "Have I ever been wrong, Luffy-kun?"
Luffy smiled widely and hope seemed to appear in her eyes, her fists clenched with newfound determination, "Nope. Thanks! I'll do better, from now on."
Too easy. Kuro grins.
oOo
Two months later; Luffy found herself lying in a tree next to the port, overlooking the ocean in high town. A tired frown on her face as seemingly dead eyes scanned the ocean. For the past two months, Luffy had not only been subjected to harsh training that could have cost her the life she hated so much; but also the multitude of attacks delivered to her by none other than Ace and Sabo; who had gone back to trying to kill her….
They always said hurtful things, whenever she saw them too…
The moment she had been kicked out she had been surviving on her own after finding a cave that had luckily been abandoned, it wasn't very big and could hold three people comfortably; it was cold though, but whenever she had a fire set up inside it was okay. Collecting food had gotten easier after the first month too, when she finally realized that no one would be there to save or help her if she got attacked or messed up.
If she ever caught a cold she would never have time to rest or relax because if she did her food rations would suffer considerably. She was blank when she realized she was completely alone, that she had to live alone for the rest of her life or until she finally got stronger… And then she'd finally be accepted again! Besides, she had gone through worse living conditions; though she did miss her brothers.
She yawned silently, ignoring the metallic taste of blood that came from her cut lip. She was tired, and she had been planning on taking a nap; but after beating up a few people in low town earlier for saying that the daughter or Gol D. Roger should die in such torturous ways; she decided it would probably be safer to return back to the place she was currently living in. Home, to her; would always be with her brothers that hated her so much… She wondered if they found the birthday presents Luffy had left before being kicked out…
She shook her head; it was painful to think of them. Her half lidded eyes watched as an extremely large ship came into view; and now that she was fully awake and no longer lying down; she saw it pointing a cannon towards a small boat that almost seemed insignificant. Observation Haki was used and she learned that the owner of that boat was none other than her older bro—Sabo.
That would kill Sabo!
She grabbed the tree and stretched her arms back so far that they reached the point to where they wouldn't stretch anymore; and she sling shot herself through the air and right towards Sabo's boat, landing on it in such a rough way that hurt her legs, and almost sank the boat in the process. The reply to her sudden entrance was a horrible glare and a few angry words but she could care less at the time; Sabo's life was in danger, and she wouldn't let him die.
She pushed him over the edge of the boat just as the cannon ball hit her back; Sabo was safe, and that was all that mattered.
Blood trickled out of her mouth.
Skin ripped,
Bones broke,
Her eyes closed.
oOo
Ace's vision of Luffy changed the second Sabo returned with Luffy on his back; soaked and babbling excuses. First, Ace was happy; smiling and patting Sabo on the shoulder heavily as if reassuring himself that Sabo was indeed alive. The second emotion was anger; he was angry that Sabo had brought back a murderer to their house; and the third was regret.
He felt absolute regret when he learned Luffy had saved his brother from death; if Sabo had died, then he would have been alone… and… and he wasn't sure what would have happened if that occurred. It was a possibility he didn't even want to think of.
Having been visiting at the time; Makino had told them a lot they didn't know about Luffy. Like how she was always trying to train to get stronger; or how she regretted being born every day since it meant she had killed her mother to live and that she had been the reason why Ace was alone.
Ace had never felt so horrible when he realized- remembered that his mother had chosen to die giving birth; to keep Luffy alive, and he knew the woman would have done the same for him. Hell, she had even told him that she would've done the same for him. Ace hated himself for thinking like that, his mother had left it to him to protect and to love his little brother and yet he blew it; hating and trying to hurt him instead…
To make things worse, Makino had told both him and Sabo that Luffy was indeed a girl, something they had been sure she wasn't due to her references of becoming pirate kingand not queen. Or how she called herself a rubberman and not a rubber woman;her boyish actions didn't exactly support her gender either.
Though Ace still wanted her to be their brother, it was never too late to change things, right? He had hoped not, and yet the very next day; Luffy had disappeared from her bed and messily written words were written on a piece of paper;
'IOU: I'm leaving. Thank you for being my brothers up until now.'
Ace and Sabo exchange glances.
oOo
A/N: Rewritten Cleaned. Chapters combined.
Thanks for reading, leave a review. :)
~Crimsy