Disclaimer: Not mine.

"I am sure your mom is alright. She can handle herself. She probably just... Had a hard time with her case and... She lost her phone and wallet! The police said she went undercover, maybe she had to do an infiltration to get the mission done..." Vivi said to her friend as she tried finding a few hypothesis to her mother's disappearance. Nami smiled and looked back at her blue haired friend.

"Thanks... But... I just want to get it off my mind right now." Nami hugged her friend and returned to the game.

"Yes, Nami, you shouldn't worry too much. Your mother is strong." Sanji said. Zoro nodded, but Luffy didn't speak on the subject since he already partly knew the truth and didn't particularly want to lie nor tell the truth.

"They are going to find out one day... Sooner than you would think." Sabo said as he looked apologetically at the ground. Luffy glanced to his side for a second and bit his lips.

"I think sooner would be better. The two sisters are dying in worry. At least they would know." Kuina said with a stern expression. She wasn't the kind of girl who would mourn and cry for long after someone died or a tragic event happened. It may look as being heartless, but the spirit had always preferred to move on quickly and forget the pain rather than live it for too long.

"Well, not too soon and not from Luffy, he would have a lot to explain and I don't think they are ready emotionally for the news," Sabo said as he looked at Nami. Kuina nodded and Ace, who was bringing snacks at the moment, nodded too as he had to agree with the blond. He could barely hear a few words Kuina had said, but if he concentrated a little, he could keep up with their conversation to a minimum.

When it started getting late, they heard a knock at the door. As the older brother opened the door, he was met with the sight of a teenage girl a few years younger than him, maybe two or three. She had light blue hair and was smiling at him, asking for permission to enter. The thing that made Ace uneasy was the weird feeling he had that the girl wasn't alone. His gaze fell on Luffy as he invited the young woman in and the other presence he could barely register. He didn't like that feeling since he preferred knowing who was inside his house. Luffy and Sabo had already told him about Kuina, but this was a new person, he had obviously guessed it was a ghost, and it gave him a feeling that was so different than when he was around Sabo.

Sabo was clearly there, for once. His aura radiated to him like fire and, since he knew him well, the spirit was easy for him to detect since the latest incident. Other spirits were a different story. He knew they were there but his ability to sense them wasn't very precise. The only exception was poltergeists and angry spirits, those were easy to detect, not that he had the misfortune of running into one yet since he acquired the new ability. Still, he wasn't used to it yet and felt uneasy around stranger-spirits.

The spirit who followed Nojiko inside looked pretty frantic as she looked up at Luffy.

"I need to talk to you, Luffy." Luffy stopped and shot a glance at Ace as Sabo tried to explain Ace why. It was clear what it meant. I need time, stall them.

"I am going to my room for a minute, wait up." Bellemere understood and made her way to the room, following Luffy.

"Wait, we are leaving!" Nami said as she looked at Nojiko, who had come to pick her up.

"You should drink some water first and have a snack, you live a bit far and you are both on foot, you should replenish your energy." It somehow convinced the two girls to stay a little while longer, but Luffy still had to hurry.

"What is it?" Luffy was sitting on his bed with a serious expression. He knew that something bad was happening and that Nami and Nojiko were getting hurt, but he didn't know how to help the two sisters... Until now, at least.

"I need you to find my... corpse." Luffy stilled and turned white as a sheet. He had seen ghosts, but corpses were inanimate. They couldn't talk or move, they were just a shell devoid of their soul. It terrified him. Death terrified Luffy, even if he was talking with the dead every day. Seeing ghosts and an actual corpse was two completely different things. The fact that ghosts almost seemed alive, since they could walk and talk made everything less... real. It made it simpler. The soul was everything a person was, a corpse was an empty body who had his soul ripped out of it by death. Death was terrifying.

"Why?" Luffy asked with a raspy voice. The spirit looked at Luffy's eyes who were still full of fear and took a deep breath. It wasn't going change her resolve.

"I couldn't remember how I died until a little while ago. Memories around that time were foggy, but I know now that if you find my body, it will save my girls and maybe give them closure." Luffy nodded.

"Will it give you closure too?" Bellemere thought about it for a few seconds and nodded slowly. She knew already what he meant. When this was over, she would be able to leave in peace.

"How will it save Nami and Nojiko?" Bellemere bit his lips. She wasn't happy about her girls being stuck with a monster.

"The police will be able to identify who killed me and put him behind bars. It was Arlong. I had been called for duty on a drug dealer case. I came as fast as I could where they thought the dealers were selling, under the bridge near the Cocoyashi district, undercover. Arlong hadn't been home that day and I discovered him at the scene, which, of course, blew my cover. He was secretly stealing drugs from the evidence room at the station to sell it and make more money on the side. It startled me and he smashed my head. I am not sure what happened after that, but I was barely conscious when I started feeling like I was drowning." Luffy nodded. He was obviously fazed by the information but chose to keep a calm face. He had already known the strict policeman was bad news. He was just fishy.

"Luffy!" It was Ace's voice. Apparently, The two sisters had to leave and he needed to say goodbye. Before leaving the room, he turned around to face the disfigured woman's face and smiled softly.

"Leave it to me."

Sabo and Ace looked at the youngest's fierce and determined eyes as his last friend exited the house. They had all enjoyed hanging out together, but Luffy seemed almost angry.

"What is it?" They both said at the same time. Luffy wasn't listening. He seemed deep in his own thoughts.

"Luffy, what are you doing? What did the spirit tell you?" Ace asked, not sure of what to say.

"She told me about Nami a bit more, that's all. To keep an eye on her so she wouldn't be unhappy." Ace and Sabo narrowed their eyes.

"That's it?" Luffy sighed.

"Yes, that is it. She is their mother, of course, she is worried! Now leave me be." He didn't like lying to Ace nor Sabo, but they would become really annoying or angry when he did something dangerous. Retrieving a corpse for the police was something that could be considered dangerous by the two borderline overprotective dorks he lived with, but he wanted to help his new friends at any cost. Get Nami out off Arlong's house, make Zoro maybe, at least, open more to his friends about his situation at home, find a way to make Sanji's situation better too, help Vivi, she probably also had her own problems. Just like what he did with Usopp, he helped him move on, just like he helped Kaya move on.

Luffy went to his room and laid down on his bed. Tomorrow, he was going to help his new friend.

"I am going out!" Luffy rushed out of the house as fast as he could. He didn't want Sabo following him or Ace questioning him on where he was going. He had a backpack with a few snacks to eat on the bus since the bridge of the Cocoyashi district was pretty far. It would probably take over an hour, maybe even more.

The whole ride, the medium had a pit in his stomach. He felt a sense of dread that he had sensed only once in his life. It was an overwhelming feeling of fear that he had felt last when he was younger, around 3 or four. There was something in his closet. That thing in his closet was the first time he remembered seeing a dangerous type of ghost. It had... appeared one day, he didn't quite remember, but he remembered well the feeling.

The feeling was the one he had every night as he went to bed. There had been a Poltergeist in his room, waiting for him to be alone to be able to inflict on someone all the pain he had lived in his life. It had been horrible for him, poltergeists were scary. Some tried to kill you, some just wanted to make you feel their pain. Scratch marks on his skin he had to find a way to explain, often passing it as a cat's doing, and other tormenting things such as graphic images shown to him as he was only four.

Today, he had a very similar feeling. He didn't like corpses. They were really hard to look at without wanting to barf himself. They were also dead, and death was scary. You would think mediums, because they knew what would happen when you die, wouldn't be scared of dying, but Luffy was very scared when facing death like anyone. Even more so than some other people since he knew exactly what death meant. It was permanent. No matter how much you held on, like Sabo or Kuina, it would never go back to how it was before. Dying meant that you were gone forever, and that was something people had a hard time accepting. Those who didn't accept it and stayed too long well... He didn't like it at all.

He got off the bus at the edge of the Cocoyashi district and started crossing the bridge. On the other side, there was a small town and a gigantic forest stretching out for a few miles. The bus didn't go into the little town since it was rather small and it didn't take a lot more than five minutes to cross the bridge on foot. The sky was a bit cloudy, but it wasn't too bad for the beginning of October. When he finished crossing the bridge, Luffy ran around to the side of the river. He gulped and approached slowly. The raven haired boy had a fear of water. Even if he couldn't remember well, he had almost drowned when he was only 2 years old and, even if the memory attached to it had left long ago, the fear and dread around water haunted him to this day. He wasn't a very good swimmer, even if he knew how to do it, he would just often panic if he couldn't touch the bottom. Here, if he fell in, the flow was too strong for him to actually try to swim. He took a deep breath and followed along the current.

Bellemere had died of drowning. Since he wanted to get rid of the body fast, Arlong could've just thrown her in the river and the current would've washed away her body. Apparently, she had already been undercover for two days when she was murdered and couldn't keep contact with the police in that time, so they don't really have any idea of where she could've been. She wasn't supposed to be undercover for more than a week. Every passing day after that had made the police station heavier and heavier in dread of what could've happened. They all knew the risks, but they didn't like it at all.

The young medium continued walking for a few miles until he got to the edge of the town. It was more likely that Arlong had thrown her in the water from that point or someone would've seen it. He continued walking in the forest around forty-five minutes at a very slow pace, analyzing the stream with patience.

Stuck in a branch, there was a piece fabric. Luffy got closer to it. He remembered Bellemere wearing pants with the similar fabric that were torn a bit near her knees.

His breathing hitched and he took the fabric with a shaky hand. This meant he was probably close. He looked a little farther down the stream just to see a blurry figure just beneath the surface. The boy dropped the fabric and went to his bag to get his phone. He had never had a harder time in his life to call such simple number. 911. It was three numbers, but his hand was trembling and his legs felt weak under him.

"Nami's mother died..." The news suddenly hit him like a brick wall. The young raven haired boy laid his back against a tree and let himself slide down to a sitting position. His whole body felt heavy and his heart sank in his chest. Before, seeing spirits didn't really bother him, but at this moment, Luffy felt himself wanting to shout, puke or cry. All these people, Kuina, Sabo, Bellemere, Mrs. Sora, Kaya... they were all dear to him now, even if he had never talked or never met any of them in their living life. But they were dead.

"Nami is going to be devastated..." But he still had to do it for things to go better for his new friends. Nami didn't know, but everything was going to be alright after this. His fingers stopped shaking and he dialed the number.

"911, what is your emergency?" Luffy's voice was raspy as he spoke.

"There is a woman sleeping in the river... She is... She is de- She is..." He didn't want to say it. Of course, He sounded childish that way, but even if he knew what had happened, it was hard to stay calm.

"Stay calm boy. Tell us where you are." Luffy nodded.

"I am at the Conomi river, across from the bridge near the Cocoyashi district. A few miles down the stream out of the town..." The person on the line had a stern, but a reassuring voice.

"Okay. Just stay where you are, a police officer is on his way to get you. Don't look at it boy, it will be better. The ambulance will arrive a bit later to retrieve the body when you will be home and safe, away from the scene okay? It won't take long." Luffy answered and hung up. He reached his bag and started eating his snacks, but he was surprisingly not really hungry. He took a sweater he had packed in his bag in case it suddenly got cold and put it on.

Having nothing better to do, Luffy took his locket in his hand. He looked at the little picture with a smile. His smile was so innocent back then. It was a simple and honest ear to ear smile. He wasn't even two years old yet and he could already be amazed by everything around him. Ace had a smile on too, but it was still a little sad. He was probably still not over his parents' death at that point, but he tried not showing it the best he could. He closed it back, deciding to not analyze his mother and father in this picture.

His fingers subconsciously brushed over his scar under his left eye. Things would never be normal for him. Nevertheless, it wasn't always bad.

"We have a kid near Cocoyashi who seems to have found something. I need someone to go get the kid before we go investigate. We can't have the kid there while we do." Arlong sat up as his eyes had flicked in panic for less than a second.

"I will go, I know that place really well and I can handle the child well, I have two step-daughters." They all nodded, accepting Arlong's offer of help, most police officers weren't the best at handling kids. It was, in their minds, for the best if Arlong went.

Luffy woke up from a short nap to go take something in his bag.

"Hi, It's Luffy... right?" Luffy froze and slowly turned around. In front of him was a man far scarier than any everyday ghosts he saw. Even scarier than those who had half of their brain blown off, scarier than someone who would've died because his skin was peeled off. Almost as scary as a poltergeist. He was a murderer, and he had a gun pointing at him. His voice got caught in his throat.

"So this is what is going to happen, boy, okay? The bad drug dealers are going to shoot you and you will die. I will try to shoot them, but they will run away. Nobody will know what you found." His voice was dark and low, although he seemed almost distressed.

"No..." Luffy looked at the gun in fear. He didn't want to die. Ace would be sad, probably mad too. He had made friends for once. He didn't want to lose any of the small pieces of freedom he had found in his life by dying today.

Suddenly, as Arlong pulled the trigger, time seemed to slow down. Luffy clenched his eyes closed and his arms were covering his tear stranded face.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" Threw his arms away with a thrilling shout filled with all his anger and fear. Arlong was propelled backward and the bullet deviated from its trajectory, even if it wasn't far, only grazing the boy's ear.

Luffy breathed heavily before he took his bag and started running in the woods. He had seen Arlong was starting to stand up again and he didn't want to be near when he would completely come to his senses.

"COME BACK HERE YOU TRASH!" The officer was furious. He couldn't let any witnesses live, or he would live the rest of his life in prison. Maybe even get executed for killing someone. He had lost his composure and was panicking. The kid had to die.

Luffy, on the other hand, ran as fast as he could deeper and deeper into the forest. He tried calling with his phone, but his connexion was lost as soon as he had entered the forest. His only shot at surviving was to get near the stream since it was closer to the city where he would probably get his connexion back or the town. He wouldn't get murdered if there were witnesses around since Arlong just wanted to kill the witnesses. He took a glance behind him and saw Arlong from far away. The man couldn't have a clear shot from where he was, but Luffy had shorter legs.

"Go away please..." He felt himself being overwhelmed by fear. There was someone chasing him in a forest with a gun and he was getting closer and closer. Adrenaline was keeping his legs going for now, but he knew he couldn't run for too long. Also, he didn't know the forest as well as Arlong did. He had lived all his younger life on the other side of the city.

"Just go away..." His heart was pounding as he felt the psychopath coming closer. His eyes were wide and alert for anything that would help him.

BANG!

There was a gunshot that hit the tree half a meter away from his head. Luffy sped up. Even if his legs were killing him, Arlong would be the one killing him if he stopped now. The loud noise of the pistol wasn't really reassuring and Luffy knew he had to run for at least 10 to 20 extra minutes if he wanted to make it to the town. He just had to survive, but the odds were against him. Arlong was getting closer...

"Go away..." Luffy pulled his covers in front of his face as the man from the closet approached him. A rope was still loosely hanging around his neck, you could clearly see the marks where it had choked him. The scary thing was, it wasn't attached to the ceiling anymore, so the man could move as he wanted.

"Please... Go away... I want to sleep..." The ghost glared at the boy in anger.

"YOU DON'T KNOW MY PAIN!" The man was scaring him.

"YOU ARE JUST AN IGNORANT CHILD!" He came closer and started to hit him and scratch his skin until it bled.

Luffy started crying and screaming, trying to get away, but he couldn't. Suddenly his door opened and the ghost had left.

"Luffy what's wrong?" Luffy shook his head and covered the scratches.

"I was having a nightmare..." Ace gave the boy a side smile.

"Sorry Luffy, it will pass. Try to sleep okay?" He nodded and Ace went back to his room next door. The ghost didn't appear again that night.

"Ace..." His tears were running down slowly on his cheek as he ran.

Bang!

The second one was a bit closer to his head. Now, he could feel anything in his legs right now. He just knew they were moving and that was enough for him. He didn't even want to shoot a glance behind him in fear of the other catching up faster.

'There are only two ways I can escape this.' Luffy thought as he avoided trees, branches, and rocks on his way, 'Either I go faster or he slows down.'

Going faster was impossible. If it wasn't for the fact that his life depended on it, he would've collapsed by now. Slowing down Arlong was something he could hardly manipulate, unless...

The young psychic looked at an old tree that was leaning dangerously to his left about 30 meters away from him and turned sharply toward it.

Bang!

The bullet hit his shoulder, he clutched it in pain but continued running. He lifted his uninjured arm in the air and concentrated on the old tree. When he passed under it, he brought his arm down sharply with a loud shout.

"FALL!"

The old tree fell a few steps in front of Arlong. He stopped and jumped back. Despite his surprise, he resumed his race by climbing over the wide trunk. Nevertheless, he had given Luffy a lot of time to widened the gap between them.

Although he was a lot farther now, the young medium couldn't take this for much longer. His legs would probably give up anytime soon and his shoulder was bleeding a lot.

It hurts.

It hurts.

It hurts.

"You are so lucky to still be alive. Always remember that." The blond spirit's words rang in his ears.

'I can't die now. Not today.' Luffy thought as he tried running faster than he could.

He ran.

And ran.

And ran.

Until he couldn't run anymore. His legs gave out under him and he fell to the floor helplessly. Tears started to fall from his eyes as he waited for the last shot of the pistol...

But it never came. He looked up, only to see the small town a few meters away. He looked behind, but Arlong had stopped chasing him when they got too close. He was probably trying to escape now. The pain in his shoulder and his legs suddenly hit him all at once and he let escape a scream.

Luffy woke up in an ambulance as a medic was putting pressure on his wound and another was speaking on a talkie-walkie about a hospital and his injury his vision was blurry. He could barely register the sound of the ambulance's siren as it sped to the nearest hospital. there was a clinic in the little town, but they needed to get to the city fast if they wanted the young boy to not loose too much blood. He was already pale enough as it was.

The next time he woke up, he was in a white room with wires and bandages on him. There was someone holding his hand on his right and someone pacing back and forth nervously on his left.

"Luffy, are you alright?" The figure on his left said as he sat up. He could recognize the voice as Ace's, but it took a few more seconds for his eyes to adjust to the light.

"I... I think." The pain in his legs and his shoulder was still there. He also had a new found pain in his ankle, but despite all of it, he was still alive and that was what mattered.

"Then what were you thinking, you idiot?!" The second person in the room yelled harshly. It was Sabo. He was still pretty shaken and seemed almost angry.

"You could've died!" Ace followed, but his voice was more sad than mad.

"Well, I didn't. I didn't put myself in danger for fun, it was to help my friend so I don't regret it." This shut the two eldest up. Luffy had always been very generous. He would put his brother or anyone he cared about before his life systematically, and there was nothing they could say that would be able to change that.

Ace sighed. "We were just worried. Don't do crazy stuff like that on your own." He threw at Sabo an accusing glare before returning to Luffy.

"There will be some officers who will come by soon, they will ask you about what happened. The nurse said that you got shot, extenuated your legs and hurt your ankle when you fell. She doesn't think it's sprained, though. She wants you to sleep a lot and get better. Sabo will stay with you at all time, but I can't. Your friend with orange hair, Nami, learned about it and said she would come with the rest of your friends later today. The police said they found and identified the body you found in the river too."

Sabo was looking pretty nervous still as he looked through the window. He still looked uncomfortable with what Luffy had done.

"Good..." Luffy thought of his misadventure. He had never feared death more than when he was running in the forest. He felt his head was so heavy from his 'attacks' against Arlong. However, he couldn't be happier than he was now. He had saved his friend.

Hope you enjoyed chapter 7!

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Thanks for reading the story!

See you next time!