Hey guys, Shibo here.
Right so a little update on this rewrite...it is taking me a LOT longer than I first expected. BUT I am basically rewriting everything, making everything flow better, make more sense, and Leo's character and personality are a lot more stable now. And I am adding a lot to the story, this chapter was originally like 3900 words...this chapter sits at 7250 words...that's a lot of words OTL
I will not be abandoning this story, not at all I have so many plans for it, but when I read the first story, I cringed because I knew I could write better, and I knew that this story could be even better...so this is my attempt at that, making it better.
For those of you who are hoping for new chapters...well they won't be coming until I've finished rewriting which is my main focus.
I hope you all enjoy the story, and I hope you'll like all the improvements I've made. Even if a lot of the backstory, such as Leo's mama remain a secret.
(if anyone can actually guess who her mum is then I will dedicate an entire chapter to you)
As always, Enjoy and happy reading!
Leo edged closer to the treeline, not entirely sure if she was willing to trade the wilderness she knew for of the forest, not sure if she was willing to trade one wilderness for another. While she didn't exactly like the jungle, it was at least familiar. She knew exactly what she was dealing with and how to react, poisonous plants? no problems! Man eating crocodiles? Easy! But this...this vast terminal of trash, this was something completely unknown to Leo, and it set her on edge. Who knew what dangers lay among the rot, what kind of people lurked beneath the grey. No one good, she knew that much.
She inched closer to Luffy, grabbing his elbow and holding on tightly, there was no way in hell she was letting herself be separated from her brother in this strange terrifying place.
"Luffy I don't think..." he turned and offered her a wide grin, before taking off in the direction of the interesting new playground, giving Leo two choices; be dragged along into the scary dump yard or let go of Luffy's arm and possibly be left behind in his excitement. She went with option three, she let go of his elbow and instead took hold of his hand, letting herself be dragged along. To be completely honest, the area itself wasn't that bad, sure the smell made her nose hairs burn and her eyes water, and the ground beneath her was unstable. Years of rubble, broken wood, metal and concrete building up to make mountains...but she found it was easy enough to move around in...it was actually a it like trying to walk across crumbly sand stone. Her heart suddenly yearned for the cliffs and the ocean, maybe after they found Ace they could go looking for the ocean next.
Leo wasn't entirely sure what they were doing in the stinking, steaming terminal, there was no way this is where Ace came every day...it just seemed too stupid for something the older boy would do. The young girl caught glimpses of people beneath the rubble and trash, this isn't the sort of place that bred a decent kind of person, surely Ace had the brains to avoid this area, sticking to the jungle where the only thing you had to worry about was the animals. And the plants. And the rocks...ok maybe not as safe as she first thought.
"Ace!" Luffy's sudden shout startled Leo, her heart nearly bursting from her chest, "Oi Ace!"
"Niichan!" she hissed, "Stop it, it's not a good idea to be..." she never got to finish her scolding as a bit of concrete beneath Luffy's feet crumbled away, letting go of each others hands saved Leo from tumbling down the slope with him. Being made of rubber the fall barely fazed him, if he had taken his sister down with him she would have been far less lucky. "shouting so loudly in a place like this" she finished in a grumble to herself
"Oh what's that?" Luffy wondered aloud as he shook off the shirt from his hat, "Come on Leo! we need to check it out!"
"Hold yer horses" Leo grumbled as she carefully scaled down the rubbish slope, easily moving from between bits of pipe and crumbly concrete and brick without disturbing it too much,
"Wow Leo! How do you manage to do that without falling or breaking anything?!" Luffy was quick to take her hand again once the two were reunited,
"It's called 'watching where I step' and 'being careful" Leo teased poking him in the shoulder.
With a pout Luffy took off again, being careful to to go too fast, least he tug Leo's shoulder out of the joint, again. The continued their exploration of the bleak smelly place, looking under wooden and metal beams and checking in holes for any clue that Ace had been this way. There was none. Luffy went as far as to get himself stuck in a narrow gap between some concrete,
"He ain't here" Luffy concluded as he tried, and failed, to pull himself from the wall.
Leo let him struggle for a few moments, before squeezing around the back of the wall, pushing his head from the other side. It took some effort, her pushing and him pulling but his head eventually popped free
"I don't think he's anywhere in this trash heap...he's probably still in the forest," Leo reasoned, "We probably just took a wrong turn or something.
This was not a good enough answer for Ace, and not ready to give up yet he continued his efforts in locating the older boy,
"OI!" Luffy continued to call out "Where did you go?!ACE!"
As they wondered further and further into the grey terminal, the worse Leo began to feel, every nerve in her body was screaming at her to run, to return to the safety of the trees. The further in they went the more populated it became, foul looking men glancing at them with nasty grins and glints in their eyes. If Luffy noticed her grip on his hand and wrist were getting tighter he made no mention of it, he blissfully continued his search completely unaware of the potential danger they were in.
He was so focused in his search for Ace he didn't even notice the men running towards them, luckily Leo did. Throwing herself to the side, she yanked Luffy's arm, dragging him out of the way with her, just in time as well. The man was still forced to stop, and while they were probably saved from being accidentally stabbed by the mans dagger, now they seemed to be at risk from being stabbed on purpose.
"Get out of my way kid!" the dirty man snarled "If you don't get out of my way I'll..." he raised his dagger, but froze when the voices of the men chasing him shot over them,
"He ran this way!" the men shouted
Deciding dealing with the brats was not worth his life, the man darted off in another direction, swearing as he did so.
Leo's knees shook as she felt her chest tightening, that's it she couldn't do this any more, it was too much.
"Niichan I REALLY don't like this place" she whimpered as she tried to control her breathing, "I want to leave now"
She almost started crying when Luffy pulled his hands from hers, it was only the fact they moved to hold her face that kept her from breaking into sobs. Pressing his forehead against hers he offered a bright smile,
"It's gonna be ok" He promised, "No matter what happens I won't let anything happen to you"
"You swear?" she sniffed,
"I swear on Shanks hat!" He declared
Nodding her head she closed her eyes, letting a few rogue tears fall, before wiping her running nose,
"Well what are we waiting for" she opened her eyes offering him a weak smile, "We've got to find Ace before nightfall don't we?"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
They spent most of the morning searching for Ace, looking anywhere and everywhere they could think of. In make-shift huts, under rock piles, they even got close to the massive walls at the end of the terminal, the guards at the gate stopped them from exploring further. It was nearly lunch time, if the rumblings of Luffy's stomach were accurate (and they always were), when they decided it was probably about time to give up for the day. Then out the corner of her eye she spotted the freckled bastard, running into the forest. She was going to kill him. and Luffy for making her spend the morning the the land of filth when all they had to do was wait in the forest, like she had said.
Unfortunately Luffy's excitement was contagious,
"Come on Leo!" He cheered as he grabbed her hand once more, dragging her towards the forest.
With a huff she followed, fighting the grin that was trying to spread across her face, she couldn't help it, after these many long months they'd finally caught up
Of course the moment they crossed back into the tree line both children realized that they should have been paying a bit more attention to where he was heading, they were back to square 's when Leo did something rather unusual, she took the lead. Shushing her brother, who blinked in surprise but listened anyway, he wasn't used to Leo being the one giving the orders...or making the decisions, she left that stuff to him. He grinned as she started to walk in slow circles, stepping carefully as her eyes scanned the area slowly, it was unusual but certainly not unwelcome.
There it was, what she was looking for, the barely noticeable broken branch indicating something had been through,
"This way" she declared as she continued to look for more of the boys trail, once she found the start of it, it was fairly easy to follow,
"How do ya know?" Luffy bounced next to her, careful not to disturb her work.
"Broken twigs, moved rocks...you can't move through a forest without leaving some sort of trail" she offered Luffy a grin,
"Woah" His eyes were practically sparkling, "How'd you learn to know that!"
"uhhhh...hm" Leo blinked a moment, looking stumped before shrugging, "We've been following him for months...just kinda noticed things and picked it up from there"
"Ahhh so it's a mystery" Luffy nodded in complete understanding,
"Exactly" Leo nodded along.
Once Leo was on the boys trail he was easy enough to find, he really didn't seem too concerned about covering his tracks...you'd think after having the two of them chasing after him for so long he'd be more careful. He let his arrogance get in the way, believing there was just no way the two would ever be able to actually get this far. Leo couldn't wait to see that smug look he probably had be wiped off his face...he couldn't have that cold blank expression ALL of the time. Soon enough they heard voices...Leo slowed down, causing Luffy to slow beside her, glancing her her curiously. Voices? One was Ace...from the few sentences she'd heard the boy speak when he thought no one was listening it was absolutely Ace...the other voice, another boys, was unknown to her.
The siblings entered a small grassy clearing, looking around for the source of the voices, they should be right here! Luffy went to say something when they heard the boys again, from above? Leo glanced up at a thick tall tree, squinting she tried to make out the taller branches, lately she'd been noticing far away things were getting a bit difficult to focus on, but she shrugged it off when her eyes finally focused in on the two boys. There was Ace, and a blond boy wearing a blue top hat...they were sitting on the branch doing...well something she couldn't see.
"I wonder how much we need to buy a pirate ship?" She heard the blond ask Ace, they were buying a pirate ship? Did they want to be pirates as well?
"Who knows...hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions..." Ace replied "Whatever it is, we still got a long way to go"
"A pirate ship?!" Once again Luffy's brain to mouth filter failed him as he shouted up at the boys "Are you guys gonna be pirates?!" he called up to them,announcing their presence with his usual enthusiasm "So are we!"
Leo pinched her nose as her let out a low breath, personally she would have gone a more subtle approach,one less likely to startle the moody arse who showed already he had no problems kicking people off bridges, and his strange friend who would also probably kick them off a bridge. But Luffy was grinning and giggling...her stomach sank, this was not going to end well. Turning on her heel she walked away from the tree, planning on finding a better angle to watch the two dangerous boys. A mistake on her part. She completely missed them scrambling down the tree at a truly incredible speed. She turned quickly when she heard the unmistakeable sound of flesh hitting rubbery flesh as they both hit Luffy in the head dazing him,
"Shut up!" the boys shouted.
Before she even had to chance to shout at them, or raise a fist in defense they rounded on her hitting her in the temple. Unlike her brother she didn't have the advantage of being made of rubber. As he vision faded into blackness she could have sworn she head the blond shouting at Ace,
"You idiot you hit her too hard!" but she was sure it was probably just the forming concussion.
0o0o0oo0o0o0oo0o
Regaining consciousness was not a fun experience, it never was after being knocked out. Her head was fuzzy and aching, her eyes watered from the brightness of the sun and for some reason she couldn't move her arms. Wiggling didn't help, it just made the hard bark digging into her back scrape along her skin. She frowned down at the ropes binding her to the tree...well that'd explain why she couldn't move...where on earth did they get the rope? she had to wonder.
"So this is where you've been going every day Ace?" Leo's chest loosened, allowing her to draw in the breath she didn't even realize she was holding, if Luffy was still able to make cheerful conversation, then he must be alright.
"Shut up" Ace snapped, ok maybe only one side of the conversation was cheerful.
Although he did make a good point, provoking the boys, or annoying them probably wasn't the greatest of ideas. While completely harmless if Luffy irritated the boys too much who knows what they'd do, they were essentially sitting ducks! caged ducks really
"So this is the Luffy guy and his weird sister you've been talking about" the blond kid wondered aloud.
The young girl couldn't help but puff up in offense,weird?! that's how the bastard described her? As Luffy's weird little sister? He had better hope she doesn't get out of these ropes, because when she did she was gonna kick his ass!
"You've been telling him about me?!" Luffy brightened instantly.
Leo felt something cold drop into her belly,her own offense forgotten, she didn't care what they said about her, at the end of the day it wouldn't matter...but she would not sit back and let them be so cruel to her brother! because, intentionally or not, the were getting Luffy's hopes up, which they'd been burst and stamp all over. And worst of all they wouldn't care, they wouldn't care if they hurt her sweet stupid brother, he was just some annoying bratty little kid that wouldn't leave them alone. She tried to force the words out of her mouth, tried to spit and shout and scream,but her tongue frozen and her throat seized. The squeezing anxiety in her chest just wouldn't loosen it's hold
"Yeah I've been complaining about how clingy you are!" Ace snapped at Luffy
"And how you never think about what you're doing!" Sabo added on, "and your sister follows you no matter how crazy or stupid it is!
The insults bounced right off Luffy, Leo blinked a little surprised...usually her brother would get all steamed up when being insulted, then he'd rant going on about needing to defend his honor as a man or some such bullshit...the young girl let her fingers brush against the sash wrapped around her waist, as well as she could with her arms trapped by her side, Luffy had changed so much in the previous months...and she hadn't even noticed...
"Doesn't he realize that we're insulting him?" Sabo frowned at Ace, was this kid really that dense
"Of course he does." Oh so now her voice would work she wanted to mutter, "He just doesn't care"
"Oh you're awake" the blond boy glanced at the smaller girl in surprise, he didn't expect her to be awake after the harsh blow so quickly. He wasn't really surprised by the heated glare shot his way, and he wasn't all that intimated...she was actually looked kind of cute glaring at him like that...
"They finally made it all the way here" Ace muttered, speaking mostly to the blond boy, but still loud enough for them to hear"And I made sure to avoid the paths that ordinary people can travel.."
"Knew it" Leo muttered to herself annoyed.
Her brother of course wasn't paying attention to what Ace was saying, nor did he seem too worried about finding a way to undo the ropes. Luffy had more important goals in mind,
"Hey you!" Luffy called out to the blond, trying to catch his attention "Are you Ace's friend?Be my friend too!"
Leo just groaned, leaning her sore head back against the tree, wonderful they had another idiot to chase after, she could understand why Luffy would want to make another friend, but did it really have to be these two, surely there had to be other children, ones who didn't kick people off bridges or punch people smaller than themselves"
"Shut your trap!" The blond snapped, "And stop calling me 'you'" he added on
"Then what are we supposed to call you?" Leo rolled her eyes, feeling more brave than she probably was
"yeah! so what's your name?!" Luffy nodded to his sisters statement
"Sa-I Won't tell you!" the boy cut himself off half way into his sentance,
"We should just call you 'Sa'" then Leo muttered to herself,
"Then how do you expect us to stop calling you 'you'" Leo pointed out.
But the blond opened his mouth to argue, before letting out a noise of frustration, turning his back to them he turned back to Ace with a frustrated frown,
"This is why I said you should just live here!, taking that round trip and training in the mountains each day just caused us a lot of trouble!" Leo suspected that by 'trouble' the older boys meant them.
"What are we going to do?" he bit his thumb, letting some of the worry he was feeling peak through the cracks
"Now that they know our secret" Ace started darkly, "I'm sure they'll just tell everyone if we let them go"
Leo's flushed red again, how dare they! they didn't even know them! they just assumed they'd run off and tell everyone that the boys were hiding something in the tree and were planning on becoming pirates! Like they were no better than tattle tale and snitches! She wiggled more furiously trying to get an arm free so she could smack them when they got close enough.
"Let's kill them" Leo froze at Ace's words, taking a moment for her brain to fully process their words,
"Right let's do it" Sabo nodded
Looking back she often wondered how the boys didn't expect the reaction that came from the two younger children. Both Luffy and Leo began thrashing at the ropes, trying to tug themselves free as they shouted and screamed
"Please don't kill me!" Luffy cried out, with tears streaming his face "Someone save me! I don't want to die"
"Don't you fucking dare touch us!" Leo howled, "I'll bite your noses off! HELP! These psychos are gonna kill us!"
The older boys jumped back at the sudden increase in volume and pitch of the noise, panic set in as they glanced towards the Grey terminal. They were way too close to the edge of the forest, fuck way too close! There was no way the two wouldn't be heard! Soon enough the noise was going to attract curious eyes, and that was something they seriously could not afford.
The blond boy tried his best to quieten the two down, with no much luck
"You moron! Be quiet!" he snapped at Luffy, he considered placing a hand over Leo's mouth, but a glance at her teeth had him wisely decided otherwise,
"Sabo Hurry up and do it!" Ace ordered,
"Why do I have to do it?! You do it!" the boy, Sabo shot back in panic, "I've never killed anyone before!"
That much was obvious, as much as she disliked the two in that moment, deep down she knew the weren't murderers...they lacked something (or rather had something) that made murderers what they were...it was one thing to push someone off a bridge, it was another thing entirely to kill someone with your own two hands. Despite that knowledge she couldn't stop the nerve freezing panic and fueled her shouting.
"Please don't drop me in the river!" Luffy wailed. Oh gods, why did he blurt that?!
"Right! The River!" Ace sounded almost relieved
"Why'd he tell us?", his friend couldn't help but question
"Cause he's an idiot" was the obvious answer
If the boys noticed Leo getting significantly quieter no one commented on it, they probably did if their sigh of relief at the fact they only had to deal with Luffy's shouting now. Luffy was too far lost in his own panic to notice the warning signs
"Please someone save us!" he screamed
"Shut up!" Both boys shouted at once
And by some miracle Luffy did. The silence stretched on, before they heard it, the quiet noises of gasping hair and barely there sobs.
"Leo!" Luffy tried twisting around, "You gotta breath!"
It wasn't an easy task, the stress and fear had caused her chest to seize up. Tears streamed down Leo's face as she tried to gasp in air, but no matter how much air she tried to pull into her lungs it just wasn't enough, her lungs burned for oxygen,
"What's wrong with her?" It was Sabo who asked, slightly worried as they girl tried to sob and breathe at the same time.
"Leo remember what Makino always says!" Luffy forced his arm to the side, scraping along the bark of the tree, the rope rubbing against his rubbery skin. It hurt, but right now that didn't matter, with all his strength he continued to shove his arm around until it brushed against his sisters elbow. "Breathe in for 7, hold for 3 and out for five"
It was easier to hear her brothers voice through the fuzziness after feeling his warm hand brush against her elbow. She followed his voice, breathing in for seven seconds, holding it for three then breathing out for five. Ace and Sabo watched, Ace in disdain, Sabo more curiously, they had finally quietened down. Luffy turned all his attention and energy towards his sister, talking her quietly and calmly through the panic...it was fascinating to watch.
Unfortunately the damage had been done.
"I heard a voice from the forest" all four children froze as a man shouted into the trees, "A childs voice!"
It was almost enough to send Leo back into a paralyzing panic, she would have as well if the survival instinct didn't kick in, forcing her to shove down the panic.
"Oh No! Someone's coming" the blond, Sabo sounded extremely worried, which was doing nothing for her nerves.
"For now let's untie them" Ace quickly decided as he rushed forward to nimbly undo his impressive knots "If we don't get away from here, they'll find our treasure!" Treasure? that's why they were getting so worked about about the two of them being there, they were worried about bloody treasure?!
Once untied the older boys dragged Luffy and his sister towards some dense bushes, shoving them to the ground before diving down next to them. Leo took the opportunity to kick her leg out, catching Sabo in the side of the knee. The boy winced but made no noise. Good, he could suffer in silence. Shuffling closer to Luffy, his fingers instinctively entwined with hers, giving them a quick squeeze, don't worry everything will be ok. She believed him as well. The four of them lay there, face's hidden by the thick leaves as they watched and waited.
"Those brats are pretty famous around these parts...Ace abd Sabo." Leo glanced at the boys with a frown, what kind of reputation did these boys have exactly? "You're absolutely certain it was Ace who stole your money right?" ...Ah, that kind of reputation.
"Yeah...We're really ashamed. We let our guard down" So far they counted three different men speaking
"I can't believe that kid!" the first man was speaking again,he was probably the leader of the group from the way he growled at the other men "Stealing money from our pirate crew!If Captain Bluejam hears about this, we're all dead"
The name passed over Leo and Luffy's heads, having never heard of this 'Bluejam', it meant nothing to them...but it seemed to pull a reaction from the other two. The name obviously meant something to them
"Damn it! Those hoodlums were Bluejams underlings?" Ace cursed quietly,
"Hoodlums? You mean you got that money from those guys?" Sabo hissed back, glancing between the pirates and his friend, before cursing himself, "We've got some dangerous money on our hands"
Now that was something Leo could understand,
"Why the hell would you steal from people like that?" She hissed at the boys,
"I didn't know who they were!" Ace hissed back.
Sabo was too busy internally panicking as the men came into closer view,
"Shit" he cursed, "That guy carrying the sword is Bluejam's underling Porchemy!" When Leo and Luffy stared at him blankly he pressed on, "He's absolutely insane!"
There was no way this situation could possibly get worse
"He tears the skin off the face off the people he defeats, while they're still alive!" Sabo bit the tip of his thumb as he continued. Turns out they could. "We can't let ourselves be seen!"
Sabo's words had gotten Leo so worked up, she didn't notice her brother squeezing her fingers before slipping away from her. Even as she curled her arm under her body, her mind didn't really process that her brothers warm body was no longer pressed against her side. Until Sabo glanced over at her, frowning in concern,
"Huh where did he go?" The blond boy's question stole the breath from Leo's lungs, frantically she looked to the side, it was finally sinking her her brother wasn't there. Ace shoved her down as she went to stand, ready to start shouting her brothers name when she spotted him. Her heart truly did stop that time. He was in the middle of clearing, held high in the air in Porchemy's fist.
"Let go of me!" Luffy shouted as he struggled against the large mans iron grip,
"How'd he get caught?!" Ace growled, what Sabo wanted to know was why the hell had he wandered out there?
Sabo glanced at the boys sister just in time, a moment later and she would have burst from the bushes, giving them all away. Leaping forward he grabbed her shoulders, shoving her back to the ground, laying across the small of her back to keep her down. Ace moved quickly, jumping to press his hand over her mouth, his other arm wrapping around her head keeping it still,
"Are you insane?!" Sabo hissed in her ear "You'll give us away!"
She struggled against their grip, but they were far bigger than stronger than her. With a growl she bit down on Ace's hand, the boy pulling his hand back hissing through his teeth. Before she could open her mouth to shout he shoved her head into the ground, her jaw locked shut between the ground and his weight.
She didn't give up, she continued to struggle against the boys, desperation kicking in. She couldn't move, she couldn't make a sound, all she could do was watch helplessly.
Luffy continued to struggle against her own captors, his sister cheering him on in her head, begging him to punch or kick the men, anything to escape,
"Let go of me! You jerk!" he shouted tugging away from his fist
"Who is this kid?" the massive man questioned, completely unaffected by Luffy's struggles,
'Please don't say anything stupid Nii-chan, please just this once don't do anything stupid!
"Help me! Ace!" Luffy shouted in panic
….like that...
The boys gasped in horror, pushing themselves lower to the ground, pressing Leo painfully further into the dirt. She let out a quiet muffled whimper as her lungs were squished into her ribs,
"Please save me Ace!" Luffy begged as he tried his hardest to escape, it broke Leo's heart, he truely believed the devil holding her down would come to her rescue. She couldn't stop the tears that started to pour from her eyes, 'Shut up niichan, please just shut up!'
"That idiot" Ace growled quietly, "He shouted my name!" Gods she wished he still had his hand over her mouth,
"Did you just say Ace?" The sword wielding Porchemy paused for a moment,
"Yeah so?" Luffy shot back, no no please don't say it
"Do you know Ace?" please niichan, just lie, for once in your life just lie!
"He's my friend!" Luffy declared loudly, "Oh...but he was going to kill me just now..." Luffy stopped himself short of adding 'And my sister' these assholes didn't need to know about her.
Leo winced as Ace's grip on her hair tightened, pulling a fair few of the hairs free from her scalp, he paid no attention to the harm he was causing her,
"He never shuts up!" As much as she agreed, he had no right to say it!
"I should ask..." Porchemy spoke almost...pleasantly "Ace stole our money and ran way earlier today...you wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"
He was going to lie. Dammit he was going to lie, and he was going to get caught because he sucked at lying! He couldn't even keep a straight face while lying! For the first time Leo was actually kinda of glad Ace was trying to dig a hole in the ground with her face, because she really did not need to see the scene unfold. She knew exactly how it was going to play out, and it wasn't pretty.
"Oh crap!" Sabo cursed, "They're going to take all our treasure!"
Again rage filled her, her brothers life was in danger and all they cared about was their stupid treasure!
"That fool had better not tell them anything!" Ace snarled,
They didn't even know Luffy! If they actually knew anything about him they knew he would go to his death before he betrayed the trust of the people he considered friends.
"Oi answer me!" Porchemy growled as he gave Luffy a firm shake,
She didn't have to see it, she didn't even have to hear Luffy's aloof answer of 'No idea...' The sounds of disbelief coming from the pirates was all she needed to know that her her brother had no magically learned how to lie in the last five minutes. If they got out of this she swore she was going to teach him how to lie convincingly.
Panic shot through her when, instead of an angry outburst the pirates started laughing, why were they laughing? Laughing wasn't the normal reaction.
"Alright then, If you don't know then that's that" he chuckled darkly, "I'll help you remember, so don't worry" That did not sound good.
Ace and Sabo waited until their footsteps were to quiet to hear, before peaking out from behind the bush, confirming their heavy suspisions. The pirates were marching back towards the Grey terminal...dragging Luffy behind them. They almost couldn't hear Luffy's cries of protest
"What the hell! Let me go! Where are you taking me?!"
Once the men were safely out of sight and well out of hearing range, Ace and Sabo lept to their feet in panic, promptly forgetting about the younger girl they left laying in the dirt. They had more pressing concerns to worry about.
"What are we gonna do?" Sabo paced, chewing on his abused thumb
"What are we gonna do?...well..." Ace ran a hand through his hair, gods what were they going to do? what could they do...both boys glanced up to the branch where their treasure were hidden,
"We need to move it" Ace declared,"and fast"
"Is that really all you care about?!" Leo shouted once she pushed herself up from the dirt, pain radiating down her jaw as she tried to loosen the now tightened muscles, "We have to go save Luffy!"
"Like hell we do!" Sabo shouted down as he nimbly scaled up the tree, they had no time to waste arguing,
She just stared at them, watching as the made it to the branch, throwing open the secret hatch and began to pile treasure into the cloth sacks they had stored up there. She blinked to make sure she wasn't seeing things
"You're...you're..." her entire body shook, she couldn't even form the words. They were more worried about their bloody treasure, than the boy who was keeping it's location secret for them! They didn't seem to care about what she was doing either, their attention completely focused on their treasure and where they would possibly hide it. Ace mentioned a cave deeper in the mountain.
Fine, they may not give two shits about Luffy, but Leo was not about to abandon her brother to his fate. With anger fueled determination she spun on her heel, running in the direction she had seen the men go. Sabo absently noted that the clearing was more empty than it had been a few minutes earlier, but brushed the thought aside. It wasn't important right now.
It didn't take her long to find where they were keeping her brother, she could hear his screams and cries from a distance. The closer she got the clearer the cries became. Her feet failed her when she finally came across the hut, every fibre of her body screamed at her to run away, to hide. If she ran in there she was going to get hurt, maybe even killed! and what good would both of them getting captured do them? What could she even do?! She was only six! just a kid and these were full grown men, pirates to boot! That's when she heard it, the quiet but distinct sound of something wet splattering against a hard surface. Her nose provided her the answer. Blood. Luffy's blood. Who else could it be? unless they had another hostage which she highly doubted, maybe she had the wrong hut? Yeah that must be it. she can't barge in when she didn't even know Luffy was inside
"I won't tell!" Luffy's hoarse cry banished all doubt.
Something shifted inside Leo then, her limbs unfroze, her joints unlocked and a strange calm settled over her. Glancing to the side she wrapped her small hands around a wooden shaft sticking out from the rubble, heaving it out with a grunt. Ok not a wooden stick, a sledge hammer, almost as tall as she was. Even better. Taking in one last deep breath she charged forward, slamming her shoulder into the huts door, the door bouncing off the wall was a loud crash.
This was her only chance.
Using the momentum of running down the trash hill she swung the sledgehammer as hard and as high as she could, aiming for the violet haired pirates head. All she had to do was land the shot, land the shot then free Luffy and heavy weapon flew towards Porchemy's head. Only to be caught in the pirates fist. Fuck. She tried pulling the hammer back, but the large pirate was far stronger than the young girl.
"What now?!" He growled in frustration, fuck she'd just pissed him off more.
Whimpering she refused to let the end of the hammer go, she got the feeling she may have made things worse
"Another one?!" Porchemy lifted the hammer, Leo dangling on the end, as if it were no effort at all.
"Y-You let my Niichan go!" she shouted, with no weight at all behind her words, tightening her grip on the hammer
"You're niichan eh?" he suddenly smiled widely at her, sending chills down her throat. Before anyone could react he spun the sledge hammer, swinging it to the side sending Leo crashing into a support beam. Crying out in pain the young girl let go of the wooden shaft, curling into a small ball as pain shot through her bruising back.
Leaning down he grabbed her hair, yanking her up so the men in the room, and Luffy could see what he was doing. Leo yelped in hair, crying out as she tried to relieve the tearing pain, tears poured down her cheeks as she kicked out uselessly.
"Maybe if he won't talk, his imouto will" Porchemy's toothy grin spread as he raised a spike glove, ready to start his abuse of her.
Leo did the only thing she could, pulling her lower body up she kicked her legs out, managing to catch his nose, a sickening crunch filled the room.
"GO fuck yourself!" she swore, it probably wasn't the smartest move, but if she was going to die she was going to die fighting!
She then squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the spiked fist as it landed it's blow. But she felt it, fuck she felt it as the spikes dug into her cheek, breaking the skin apart, blood instantly pouring from the cuts. He hit her so hard, the force of the blow sent her flying back into a wall, she whimpered when she hit the ground, curling into a little ball.
"You little bitch!" he growled with blood pouring down his nose, "You'll pay for that!"
As long as it gave Luffy some time to recover, offered him a small break from the onslaught of pain...mentally she braced herself, before shooting a glare up through her arms at the pirate. Then she would not break
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The torture dragged on for hours, through the one eye that hadn't swollen shut Leo could see the sun's light dimming, bathing the world in red and orange. Then again that could also be the blood that covered the ground and walls, soaking into the dirt. To be honest she wasn't entirely sure how much time had passed, she didn't bother wasting precious energy worrying about time. In the moments Porchemy abandoned hitting her, moving on to her brother, she would try and remember just how to breathe, judging by how painful that was she probably had some cracked or broken ribs.
"Just tell me already!" Porchemy screamed at them, breathing heavily as he tried to catch his own breath. He didn't stop his assault, didn't let up for a moment. He swung both fists one after the other, hitting Luffy in the face, in chest and in the stomach. Each hit landing with a sickening crack. His rubbery body absorbed a lot of the hit, but did very little to protect him from the sharp spikes. Although the constant striking against flesh had blunted them considerably.
" Porchemy-san!" the skinnier of Porchemy's two men finally broke, unable to watch the horror unfold any more "It's no use!"
"He doesn't have enough energy to even scream!" his brother added, his face a sickly shade of pale green. "And she can't even lift her head any more! They're done!" They just wanted this to be over with, there was no point in dragging it out any longer.
Luffy hung there silently, tears streaming down his torn and bloody face., tears rolling down his torn and bloody face. He didn't have the energy to lift his head either, the only time he was able to get a glance at the bloodies heap that was his sister was when he spun after a particularly hard hit.
"They probably won't tell us anything and, to be honest, this is so brutal I can barely watch! Just let them go!" the older brother tried to reason.
His poor attempts at mercy only earned him a kick to the side of the head, sending him crashing down besides Leo,
"If you have time to protect these kids, then go look for Ace and Sabo!" Porchemy shouted "Our lives are in danger here! Don't you get it?! The scheduled time that we were supposed to give Captain Bluejam our money is long past!"
Turning his back on his underling,he returned his attention to Luffy,giving Leo a firm kick as he walked past, sending her flying back crashing into the wall. She didn't even have the energy to cry out in pain, slumping down bonelessly.
"Just tell me!" he screamed at Luffy
"I won't!" Luffy rasped out
"You damned brat! Quit trying so hard to keep their secret safe!" Porchemy shook him violently, before punching him once more, channeling his frustration into the blow.
And then he stopped.
"Fine. I don't care anymore!" Tearing his gloves off he tossed them aside, leaning down to pick up his sword. So this was how she was going to die...she whimpered, as broken sobs rattled her aching ribs. Unable to turn her head, or cover her ears she squeezed her eyes shut as Porchemy walked towards her brother. She didn't want to watch, couldn't watch.
"Die" The pirate growled as he raised his sword, swinging it down towards Luffy's limp hanging body.
The sickening sound of metal slicing through flesh and bone never came. Mid swing, the sound of wood splintering and breaking had Porchemy flinching, instinctively moving his body towards the noise. Through the wall two boys had burst through, metal pipes in their hands and they shouted their war cry,
"Stop it!" Ace and Sabo screamed, swinging their weapons towards the pirates.
Only then did Leo let her strength fail her, and for the second time that day she slipped into the darkness of unconsciousness to the sound of Sabo's voice.