Warnings: Mentions of violence, blood, vampires, fluff, possible OoC Characters

Disclaimer: Eiichiro Oda owns One Piece, not me!

Life: The Affects of Living Together - Try to Hide Your Dark Side

Sabo inhaled a deep breath as satisfaction coursed through his veins. The blood of his victim drenched his front as it fell to the ground, unconscious. He stared down with emotionless eyes, not at all caring for the human. He had found his victim harassing others with glee. It disgusted Sabo to no end to see him do so. It was why he chose him as his meal – he could make it hurt where it hurt most.

Sabo blinked when he heard footsteps behind him. There stood Marco, wiping some blood from his own mouth. He looked nowhere near as messy or satisfied as Sabo, but there was a pleased look in his eyes and the scent of iron was thick in his breath.

"How'd your hunt go?" Sabo asked, slightly sarcastic, knowing that the night's catch wasn't the best. Marco chuckled.

"Okay. Not the best, but it was good. How about you, yoi?"

Sabo shrugged. "Same as always."

Marco nodded and the two began to walk down the alleyway, Sabo following behind him, when he heard a distant, surprised yelp. Marco turned, staring down the alleyway, when he heard Ace shout something. He sighed and disappeared in the blink of an eye, Sabo groaning lightly before following after him.

It wasn't a long run through the maze of buildings, but they managed to find Ace quick enough. When they found him, he was grumbling under his breath, holding Luffy up by the collar of his shirt. The boy was a whimpering, sobbing mess with cuts on his knees, elbows and hands. There was the distant sound of barking and yelping in the distance, getting further and further away with each second. Marco sighed while Sabo raised an eyebrow.

"What happened here?"

Ace took a heavy breath, his fingers holding the bridge of his nose. "I was hunting and for some reason Luffy wasn't on the ship. Luffy saw some dogs, wanted to pet them, and of course they weren't exactly tame beasts, the little shits."

"Language, Ace," Marco said, cuffing him lightly over the side of his head. Ace grumbled once more, annoyed, before hefting the boy up to his side. Marco inwardly scolded himself when he realized both him and Sabo stood before the boy, drenched in blood and probably looking like the menacing monsters they were before and after a hunt. He hoped that the didn't scare the boy even more.

Ace wiped away some of the boy's tears and began to make a soothing humming sound. The boy hiccupped and sniffled and Ace sighed once more before giving a soft smile and moving him closer to his chest. The boy leaned against him with a contented noise, eyes drooping with exhaustion from his slowly dying cries. Next to him, Marco and Sabo chuckled. Ace looked up at them with a half hearted glare.

"What are you laughing about?"

"You're acting so caring and cuddly Ace. We've never really seen you acting like this before," Sabo said with a teasing smile, punching Ace playfully on the shoulder. Ace flushed with embarrassment, causing Sabo to laugh. Marco smiled fondly at the two younger vampires and the small toddler in Ace's arms, who was now staring at the three men with large, innocent, curious eyes.

Marco watched, slightly stunned, as the boy reached out for the red liquid that stained Sabo's shirt. They all stopped as he touched it without much expression before looking up at them all and, for some incomprehensible reason, smiled widely at them.

Marco was the first to react, sighing quietly and smiling softly at the young boy before he lifted him out of the hungry vampire's arms.

"You haven't fed yet, right, Ace? Go hunt, yoi. We'll take him back to the ship." Marco shifted the boy so he sat off of his hip while he waved off the other vampire. Ace nodded dumbly after a few moments of stunned silence and then walked off to the crowd of humans, mingling with no clue as to what was happening within the valley of buildings.

"He's changing."

Nothing would make Marco disagree with Sabo's statement, especially since it might be for the better. Maybe Ace was finally learning to love humans again.

Maybe they were all learning to love humans again.

Marco frowned when he heard the young human sneeze. The toddler in his arms had red eyes, a running nose and a pale complexion. It was disconcerting since he was so young and they hadn't had anyone sick in a long time. When they got sick, it was from being in the sun for too long. Their doctor had to read through some books to remember how to treat kids for being sick.

Right now, most people were out on the island. It had been a month since Ace returned with Luffy so they had set sail again and were now at an inhabited island that they hoped had a doctor who wouldn't mind having to be among vampires.

Marco looked down when he felt a tug on his shirt and he heard Luffy whisper "Wawa." Marco gave a soft sigh as he moved to the kitchen to find some water for the child. He sat down after finding a cup and carefully poured the liquid down the three year olds throat before wrapping him tighter in the blanket he was in. He looked up at Marco and gave him a big grin despite his wheezing, causing Marco to blink in slight shock before smiling back and running a hand through the toddler's hair. He began to walk back to Luffy's room, thinking the whole while.

They had been searching for answers about Luffy's blood for a while but were unable to find anything. There were no records of blue blood and no other supernatural creatures like themselves knew anything about such a phenomenon. Every witch they had confided in had never heard of such a thing and said it should be impossible. They had no idea who wrote the books Sabo had read – and those books had somehow, mysteriously, disappeared – and they couldn't find any ancient vampires like Whitebeard nearby for help.

Marco quietly opened the door to Luffy's small bedroom. It was simple with a bed, some baskets filled with some clothes and a few handmade toys from the crew spread out on the floor. He stepped over the brightly colored objects and made it to the small bed, lowering the toddler to it gently. He picked up a stuffed bunny from the floor and handed it to him, giving a small smile when the human beamed at him. He made to leave but stopped when he felt a tug on his shirt sleeve. He knelt back down and looked at the boy curiously. He was surprised when the human gave him a peck on the forehead. The boy laughed and he ruffled the kid's hair. Ace had said that he sometimes did that; maybe as his way of saying thank you without speaking. Marco, for a reason he didn't quite understand himself, then stayed with him until he was asleep, telling him a story the whole while in a soft voice to lull him to sleep.

Ace puffed out a breath of smoke as his cigarette dangled precariously between two of his fingers. He was staring out over the night sky of the ocean, the moon shining brightly above as the sun set in the distance. Unlike what many people thought, they wouldn't burn within seconds in the sun. They could travel for about three hours without getting sunburnt. After three hours though, if they didn't find protection, they began to die a slow and painful death from sun poisoning, hence why they became practically nocturnal. And it didn't help that the only hours the sun wasn't too hot were in early morning or dusk. If you were out at noon, three hours became one, and death would come five times as fast.

Only when the moon was in the sky at the same time as the sun could Ace be under the sun for more than three hours, but those moments were rare. He had to wonder if, because of their weakness, Luffy would grow up as a nocturnal human. He didn't want that for the boy, but they had no other way to watch over him for long periods of time during the day without dying. It was impossible for them to stay in the sun from eight in the morning to four in the afternoon.

"What's wrong, Ace?" Ace looked behind him and saw his father move to sit in his chair, a huge mug of rum in his hands. Ace sighed.

"Can we really raise him? Or was it a mistake to have picked him up? Times are different from when we took in Sabo."

Whitebeard was silent as he took in Ace's worries. Very true, the times were very different. Back when they took in Sabo been during the Dark Age – the sun and moon were blocked in the sky for fifty years and none knew why. Only the clouds were visible, allowing the creatures of the night to roam freely. Mass starvation, corruption, myth, death and illness ran rampant for humans and it was the last time any vampire was able to walk under the sky during the mid hours of the day.

"I believe this is better than him having died though. Don't you think so, Ace?"

Ace merely looked back at the ocean, thinking deeply and silently agreeing without words.

AN: Kind of short. A little more seriousness in this chapter as well. More Vampire-isms will be showing up in later chapters. Still, hope you guys liked it :)

youshouldn'tneedtoknow: Thanks! :)

spoons-are-evil: That sounds like a fun essay to write! I hope I get essay's like that this year. Formally informal are some of the best essays out there. I love reading them and picking up on the sarcasm. And you don't rant a lot at all! You don't want to hear me rant though - I can go for a long time. Hahaha, when I wrote that scene, I imagined his eyebrow twitching. And I had to put in one bird joke. Marco without bird jokes just is not Marco. Hmmmm. I can't answer any of your theories, but you will definitely see what it all means in the future! Your 100% right with the hibiscus though! Rouge is dead and Luffy can communicate with the dead. But if I say any more, I will spoil it for you and I don't wanna do that, so you'll just have to wait and see! And I try and do that too. The theories in my head for the stories I'm reading can go off and make their own story sometimes... I felt it important to put in some backstory since the crew will be playing a big part in this story. You'll see some more later too! Thank you! :)

luffylova: hahaha thank you! :D You'll see what he is in the future.

Callie982: I'm glad you liked it! :)

MysticMaiden 18: Thank you so much! I'm glad you like them! Here's the update. :)

I hope you guys like the chapter! Thanks for reading! Please leave a review! :)