Ch. 7- Clues Are Found

One Piece © Oda

Blizzard, Malcolm, and Mordecai © Me

Luffy stared at Nami, confused. He let go of her ankle and started to back away.

"Remember, Luffy?" Nami asked as she stood up. "I love you! And you love me, remember? I always supported you and gave you belly rubs whenever you ate too many sweets or swallowed something you shouldn't have, and you always give your hat to me, and I'm the one who stitches up for you when it gets nicked! Remember?"

Luffy clutched his head in his hands, gritting his teeth, grunting in confusion and anger.

Deep inside himself, the Straw Hat captain was now fighting with his vampire self, trying hard to overcome it.

I want her blood!

You can't have it!

I'm a vampire! I feast on the blood of mortals!

Well, you're not gonna have my navigator's blood! I won't let you!

Luffy looked up at Nami, who looked back at him with her lips parted, slightly.

"N…Nami?" Luffy asked, his voice sounding less demonic and more like its usual scratchiness and his eyes losing their red glow.

"Yes, Luffy!" Nami said. "It's me! Your sweet tangerine!"

Luffy groaned as he kept clutching his skull, and dropped to his knees.

Nami watched, anticipating her captain returning to normal, but then, Luffy lifted his head, his eyes glowing redder than ever and letting out a loud hiss.

"Give me your BLOOD!"

Nami gasped in shock and horror, and she ended up falling backwards on her rump.

Luffy, returning to his monstrous state, prepared to lunge at her and sink his fangs into her neck, but then…

SPLASH! Some water was splashed in Luffy's face, sending him in agony as he backed away, clutching his face in his hands.

"HOLY WATER~!" he screamed. "IT BURNS! IT BURNS! RAAAAARGGH!"

Nami looked over and saw Chopper with an empty vial of holy water in his hooves.

"C'mon, Nami, get up!" the little reindeer exclaimed. "That won't hold him off for long! Hurry!"

Nami looked at Luffy as he continued to writhe in pain before she stood up, grabbed Chopper, and made a run for it.

Luffy, still holding his face, didn't try to go after them. Instead, he just skulked off to another part of the mansion.

Nami and Chopper, however, kept running.

"Is he chasing us?" Nami asked.

"I don't know!" Chopper answered. "I'm way too scared to look!"

At the end of the hall, Nami spotted a door, up ahead.

"I think we can hide in there!" she said.

As they reached the end of the hall, Nami opened the door, went inside the room behind it, and quickly slammed it shut behind her. She then slid to the floor in a sitting position with Chopper in her arms.

"That was a close one," said Nami.

"Yeah," Chopper agreed. "He was this close to biting your neck!"

"Thanks, Chopper," Nami said.

"Shut up!" Chopper barked, wiggling happily in the navigator's arms. "Saying 'thanks' doesn't make me happy, you know!"

However, he soon dropped his happy face when he felt Nami tighten her hold on him.

"Is something wrong, Nami?" Chopper asked. "You're not sick, are you?"

"In a way, yeah," Nami said. "I thought…I thought maybe…I could snap Luffy out of it. It almost worked, but I guess Malcolm got a hold of him at the last second."

Chopper looked at Nami with the utmost sympathy. She knew how much Luffy meant to her, and knowing that he was now a vampire out for her blood…it just made her heart break.

Poor Nami, Chopper thought. I wish there was something I could do.

The little reindeer then turned himself around in Nami's arms and raised his hooves up to her face, wearing a smile.

"It's okay," he said. "At least you know that Luffy's trying his hardest to fight it, right? He just needs help, is all."

Nami smiled before she pulled Chopper into a hug.

"Thanks, again, Chopper," she said.

"Whatever," Chopper said, still smiling, but he dropped it when he got a look at his surroundings. "Uh, hey…where are we?"

Nami then stood up, still holding Chopper and getting a good look at her surroundings, as well.

It was revealed that they had hid themselves in a dusty old bedroom. The bed was in one side of the room, a wardrobe on the other side. In front of them was a cracked mirror with a huge shard of glass missing from it. On the floor were various toys. Not just that…but they also saw specks of…dried blood.

"What is this room?" asked Chopper.

"It looks like it was made for a child," Nami said. "You know, I'll bet 100,000 Berries that this is Malcolm's room."

Chopper looked up above the mirror and gasped.

"Nami," he said. "Look up there!"

Nami looked to where Chopper was pointing, and then gasped.

Above the mirror, written into the wall, was the word "WHY" in huge letters.

"'Why'?" Nami repeated.

"'Why' what?" Chopper questioned. "You think Malcolm wrote that?"

"Maybe he did," Nami replied.

Suddenly, Chopper crinkled his nose, and then he quickly covered it, grunting in disgust.

"Ugh!" he cried. "That smell!"

"What smell?" Nami asked him.

"It's coming from the wardrobe. Whatever it is, it really smells! It feels like my nose is about to fall off!"

Nami turned to the wardrobe and slowly approached it. Her heart started racing as she cautiously put her hand on one of the knobs…and ever so slowly opened the door.

What she saw made her and Chopper scream.

Inside the wardrobe…was a skeleton. The skeleton of a small child, no less, and lying next to it was the missing shard of glass from the mirror…covered in dried blood.

"I think we just found Malcolm's remains," Nami said.

"I feel sick, now," Chopper said.

"What do you two think you're doing in my room?"

Nami and Chopper whipped around and saw Malcolm, floating behind them. Needless to say, he was definitely not a happy-looking ghost.

"M-Malcolm…!" Nami stammered.

Chopper whimpered as he felt his heart thudding against his ribcage at least a million times a second.

"You're not supposed to be in here!" Malcolm exclaimed. "Get outta here! Right NOW!"

Malcolm raised his hands, and behind him, his bed began to shake until the posts into two pairs of long, wooden arms.

"Nami, I think we should go…!" Chopper whispered.

Nami didn't need to be told, again. With that, she quickly headed for the door and ran out as fast as possible before the arms could grab her.

"Run and hide all you want!" Malcolm called. "You'll never escape…alive!"

XXX

Meanwhile, Robin and Franky were doing an investigation of their own in the master bedroom.

"Find anything, yet, Franky?" asked Robin.

"Nope," Franky answered. "Nothing so far."

"I'm sure the others might've found something," Robin said as she dug through one of the drawers of the dresser. As she did, she suddenly felt something prick her finger, making her recoil her hand as she made a slight yelp before putting her finger into her mouth. However, she then put on a look of intrigue before she reached back into the drawer and pulled something out.

It was a wilted, old rose…with a note attached to it.

"Odd," Robin muttered as he took off the note.

It read, "We're sorry, Malcolm. R.I.P."

Robin gently twirled the wilted rose in her fingers. Did Mordecai happen to leave this rose for Malcolm after he died?

"Franky," Robin called.

"Hmm?"

"Come look what I found."

Before Franky could go over to the historian, however, they soon heard the sound of footsteps, followed by familiar screaming, as well as hissing.

Just then, busting into the room came Usopp and Brook, panting and eyes bugged (in Usopp's case, anyway).

"What's the matter with you two?" asked Franky.

"We gotta get outta here, right now!" Usopp cried.

"Why?" Robin asked. "What's wrong?"

"It's Mister Zoro and Mister Sanji!" Brook said. "They…they've been turned into vampires!"

Robin and Franky gasped.

Behind Usopp and Brook, they could see the familiar forms of Zoro and Sanji, both with glowing red eyes and large fangs protruding from their upper lips.

Both had set their sights on the four Straw Hats in the room and had these words to say…

"Give us your blood~!"

Sorry it's short.

Review, please!