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: 3,129
oOo
Law's head snaps towards a small child who held a pillow to her chest as she stared at him with big and innocent eyes that sparkled even in the darkness of the room. When Law sees this he can't say no, so he only frowns slightly but he lifts the blankets up to allow entry anyway. Before he knows it he's being snuggled by a small girl who he thinks is a boy. This has been going on for two years now, and of course he was used to it already, it doesn't bother him… It never really did anyway.
By now, Luffy is ten years old and he himself is twelve.
His frown disappears and a small smile replaces it when the body pressed up against his stops shaking; but that doesn't stop his curiosity. Again, this had been going on for two years now and he's still not sure why she's been having so many nightmares and it bothers him. Though he knows bringing such a subject up right now could and would probably make the situation even worse than it was, besides, she needs as much sleep as she can get because she's taken away for 'training' at weird and unusual hours.
Though a mystery to him, ever since she got the knives from the kitchen somehow, they've become friends. And now, two years later, they're best friends. Though the idea of carving through the ship had to be dropped, because the pirates on this ship bothered them almost every time they started… They hadn't been caught yet, but Law hadn't wanted to press their luck… He didn't want to see Luffy get hurt.
oOo
For some reason, after spending two years with the child, he's become so much more protective of her, and so he's come to hate the times she's taken away from him because whenever she comes back she's either tired or half conscious and ready to pass out. Sometimes she'd even come back, completely dull and unfeeling with a dead look in her eyes and it bothered him. Sure, he's taken out of the room constantly for various medical lessons but he's never come back nearly as tired and worn out as Luffy. Surly, working to such a point of exhaustion was unhealthy.
In a way, it's also annoying. It's annoying because he's become so used to her presence and removing that and threatening it, makes him worry and unable to concentrate at times. Perhaps he's become too used to her presence, and though he's completely unaware of it, he's become completely attached.
It's on Law's thirteenth birthday that he finds out something he would have never expected. Luffy is a girl, and at first this surprises him, but that's only because he has been in denial of that very fact from the very second he met her. Then again, perhaps he should have known this considering the previously long hair she had two years ago when they first met was, well, long. It should have been a dead giveaway too. Not to mention her long eyelashes and her female like build… Maybe if he had paid attention when they bathed together he would have realized that she didn't exactly have the correct male parts.
oOo
Law spends an entire week avoiding, ignoring, and rejecting the poor girl until he finally comes back to her senses and accepts her again because he realizes that just because she's a girl doesn't mean their relationship should change. He's wary when he apologizes to her, but of course, his apology is accepted easily and his mistakes are brushed off with a smile he feels he does not deserve.
oOo
It takes Luffy another three months to find it. She finds it while being roughly forced to follow Kuro on the island Luffy forgets the name of. Though that doesn't matter, what matters is that she finds a devil fruit and hides it in her ratty clothing. She ends up giving it to Law when his fourteenth birthday comes the next year. When she gives it to the man, he's surprised and happy and confused all at the same time. He's feeling this because he remembers talking to Luffy about devil fruit's, and at one point in the conversation he remembers telling her that if she found this fruit in particular, he'd be the happiest person alive.
Sure, he had been sarcastic at the time but that was only because he never expected her to find it, let alone bring it to him. He takes it nonetheless, and when he bites into it he grievances at the taste; yet he finishes the whole thing because fresh fruit is rare on this ship. He thanks Luffy with a smile and her reply is one of the tightest hugs he's ever received. He decides he's even happier to see her so energetic, if only for a couple of minutes because literally five minutes later she collapses from exhaustion again. And, for another year he just silently comforts her and doesn't ask questions.
Law learns to hate people he's never met before when Luffy tells him about her brothers. She tells him that she had two older brothers, and that they used to live in a tree house together. She mentioned that when this boy named 'Ace' learned about her last name, she was immediately hated by both of them because she is believed to be responsible for the death of her and Ace's mother. This pisses Law off. They should've cared for her and treated her like the little sister she was, the innocent, small, and lonely little girl she was.
It was because of them she had to go through so much pain, and it was because of them that she was even in this hell hole with him… Though he won't admit it, he is glad he had gotten to meet her.
He sighs and makes a decision, to protect Luffy from her bastard brothers and keep them far, far away from her.
Or, he could just kill them both.
A sadistic grin spreads on his face at the very thought
oOo
It's on another random day that it happens, well, to be exact it happens directly on her birthday but she never celebrates. She's taken away from Law for five entire days and when she comes back she literally collapses in his arms and won't wake up for an entire two days. It bothers him. Right now, from her spot in his lap, she's awake; but she can't move. She just looks up at him with innocent eyes that are filled with pain and misery, the same pain and the same misery Law would love to rid her of. Her cheeks are splashed with deep shades of red and there's a cold sweat dripping down her forehead. She's breathing heavily and Law can only hold her head up and be there to support her as she tries to get past this.
For the first time since they met each other, she finally provides him with information on her condition; though, it's not much. "It hurts…" She mutters, and there's a pained expression on her face. He doesn't say anything and waits for her to continue instead of simply telling her everything will be okay. "My back hurts… Awhile ago… They did something…" He frowns because he's curious; he wants to know why her back would be hurting her in the first place… What could they have possibly done to make her so weak and in pain?
He promptly tells her to turn around, and the very second he grasps at the hem of her ratty shirt to examine the skin, the ship jolts and water leaks through the door. He drops the shirt and already knows what's happening because of the pirates yelling and panicking. Vaguely he hears "Boat" and "Sinking" yelled in messy sentences. It doesn't take long for him to snap into action. He grabs a blanket from the nearest bed and easily wraps it around Luffy before he carefully picks her up.
He swallows dryly and turns to the door, he's not sure whether he's surprised or not when he opens it and the pirates running past him don't give him a second glance. It takes him fifteen minutes to finally find a lifeboat that's not taken. It's small, but it works because there's nothing else, it's better to have something than nothing; because if they had nothing they'd drown. Neither of them could swim because of the devil fruits they consumed.
He sighs in relief when he steps into the boat and the boat manages to hold their weight without any problems. It casts off correctly as well, which means luck is currently on their side. Well, they had luck on their side until a rather large piece of the ship slams onto them and their small boat; which unfortunately causes the boat to break. Before he can control what's happening, they've broken through surface and are sinking to their deaths. After relentlessly attempting to get to the surface again, Luffy's unconscious and his lungs are screaming for oxygen as his consciousness slowly fades.
oOo
When Trafalgar Law wakes up, calmly opens his eyes and looks around the dark room silently. His clothing is still wet, symbolizing that they haven't been changed and perhaps it hadn't been long since they'd been brought to this room. He blinks, silently moving his body in tiny movements before focusing on the door now that his eyes had adjusted. He tries to feel any injuries or restraints on his hands but he's surprised to find none. Heh, what harm could children possibly do?
He slowly, ever so slowly sits up. Then he turns his gaze towards the hospital bed next to him, and there Luffy lies, in the same soaked attire as him. Her eyes are open as well and she's biting her lip, her left arm is shaking and she seems to be holding back her tears. She's leaning towards him on her side and trying to keep most of her weight off of her back.
What had she been telling him before about something being wrong?
Oh yeah, there was something wrong with her back.
He silently swings his legs over the bed and stands up, feeling the slight dis-figuration from being in such an unknown place. He carefully walks over to her and he sees her eyes widen at his actions.
"Can you move?" He whispers into her ear and she hesitantly shakes her head after visibly trying.
"Lie on your stomach." He offers, and she obliges easily while accepting his help. Once on her stomach he carefully pulls the shirt off of her frail body and pays large amount of attention to the horrible injuries on her back.
The openings of the wounds are white, meaning they're waterlogged and are more prone to infection. He swallows thickly because these are some of the worst injuries he has ever seen. He's read about what to do in situations such as this; he's studied what would need to be applied to situations like this, but he's never seen anything like it with own two eyes.
He quickly covers her up with the thin sheet on the bed the moment the door opens and the light is turned on. "I see you're awake," A man with short curly blond hair says. He doesn't look any younger than eighteen and he wears a formal dress top, a top hat, and black suit pants. There's a sly smile on his face and he speaks without emotion. He approaches them silently, but stops when Law inches back with Luffy covered and held tightly in his arms as he moves further and further back with each step the man takes towards them.
Raising his hands in defense, the man puts down the fabric Law assumes to be clothing on the floor before backing up towards the door. "Get changed, I'll wait outside the door." The door closes behind the man and Law makes sure it is locked before quickly yet gently helping Luffy get changed before changing himself. Both people wore a simple black shirt with blue shorts. The material felt soft, so it felt more like pajamas than anything.
Hiding Luffy behind his back once again, Law silently opens the door and lets her take extremely slow and small steps behind him. The blond haired man watches them with soft eyes before motioning for them to follow him.
"Slow down." Law says, though it sounds more like an order than a request.
The man frowns impatiently at the children, "Walk faster" He replies blankly and continues walking. Law glares and stops for a moment, bringing Luffy onto his back and caching up with the man.
Sooner or later, they arrive at the room they were being lead to. The moment they step in, Law freezes in his steps and his grip tightens on Luffy. Luffy, however, manages to wiggle out of his grip despite and grab his shoulder to hold herself up. "Ne, old man, you're huge!" She says with a smile, using her only available arm to exclaim her thoughts.
The man sits on what appears to be something like a throne in the back of the room, and he's the tallest man either of them has seen. Luffy doesn't even come up to his knee, and that's not just because of the malnourishment. The man chuckles loudly, and both of them can feel the room shake because of it.
"Show some respect" A man sneers from Whitebeard's side; he has shoulder length black raven hair and freckles all over his face; piercing black eyes that glare down at the small child as if she were the most disgusting and repulsive person on the earth. Luffy shutters underneath his glare; which snaps Law out of his trance and allows him to carefully pull Luffy protectively behind his back once again.
Whitebeard only sends a fond smile towards the man next to him before he turns back to face the two people in front of him. "Your names?" He booms.
"Luko." Luffy states blankly, lying- which is exactly what Law told her to do in such a situation.
"Loke." Law responds.
"Are you siblings?"
They both nod.
"It's very nice to meet you, Luko, Loke. I'm Edward Newgate or Whitebeard but you can call me old man or father. We found you drowning, so you were quite fortunate that we found you…"
"Thank you very much, sir." Luffy says, bowing emotionlessly as she reverts from a carefree person to the order-following person she was raised to be. Law merely frowns.
"Seeing as we're far from land, feel free to stay until we arrive. Our first division captain and co-captain will see you to your room." Whitebeard booms with a gentle smile, and at this both the two men lead Luffy and Law to their bedroom.
When Law closes the door behind him, he can't help but notice how long the blond haired man and the raven haired man stare towards them before they shut the door and for some reason it bothers Law. It makes him even more wary of this place than before, yet nonetheless he turns to Luffy with a small yet reassuring smile and he pats her on the head.
"Good job, Luffy"
She smiles up at him and quickly wraps her arms around him, releasing in a matter of minutes which is another thing Law deems odd. He shakes his head and decides not to ask about it; instead his expression turns serious as he looks Luffy dead in the eye.
"How long have you had that… problem with your back?" He asks warily and she looks at him with a solemn expression.
"It's been hurting, ever since I was… uh, eight? Or maybe it was seven- somewhere between that." Luffy whispers.
"Well there's good news and there's bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" Law asks, checking to make sure the door is locked behind them before helping Luffy towards one of two beds in the room.
"The bad news," Luffy replies, allowing Law to help her up onto the bed despite her glares of protest.
Law sighs heavily, his very breath shuddering as he prepares to tell Luffy the bad new
"I… I don't think I can do anything about it without a proper operating room…" Law draws out. "Yet the longer it's left in, the more threatening it is…" He pauses. "Even if I can get an operating room, it's… it would still be a life threatening operation…"
Luffy hesitates to reply, but there's a blank expression on her face and it's almost as if she doesn't care.
"And the good news?" She asks.
"Right now, we're safe. I know more about your condition as well, and we'll probably be able to handle it the best after we leave the ship. I don't trust these people enough to do anything here."
"Tell me, Law, what exactly is wrong with me?"
"Sea stone shards are wedged into your back, and it's defiantly not clean cuts. They're shaped into small rock like pieces and then roughly pushed into your skin- I'm guessing it's after a cut was administered so it would go in easily; judging from the wounds. I'm not even sure how you're sitting there, breathing and living. It's a feat by itself yet it's gotten so bad that if I don't do anything then you'll…"
Law swallows.
"I'll?" Luffy asks.
"You'll die."
oOo
A/N: Rewritten, cleaned. Chapters have been consolidated.
Thanks for reading, leave a review!
~Crimsy