Warnings: fluff, minor violence

Disclaimer: Eiichiro Oda owns One Piece but I own my words, plot, and Rose (an OC)!

Interrupted

Luffy was sitting on the deck of the ship, working hard at something he had been attempting to make for years. But getting the blood work was hard. He had only heard about it from Roger, who said he had made it before, but Luffy had no Roger to ask. He only knew the effects it would have, not how to make it.

"Yo, Luffy. What's up?"

Luffy immediately sat on what he was working on, looking up and trying his hardest not to look guilty.

"Nothing."

Zoro stared at the ten year old, eyebrow raised and his nose was twitching and –

"Hey! Don't try to sniff what I'm making! That's cheating!"

Then Zoro smiled that wolfish smile of his and dammit! Luffy realized he had just told Zoro that he was, in fact, up to something. Zoro crouched down and Luffy looked away, trying not to look Zoro in the eye, but he was sweating too now. Why was he such a bad liar? He didn't get it!

"What are you making, Luffy?" Zoro asked, not making a move towards the hild. Luffy puffed his cheeks out and looked up at Zoro, frowning.

"'M not tellin' you." Luffy said, sticking his tongue out at the green haired man. Zoro frowned, looking annoyed, and then grabbed Luffy's cheek, pulling on it, and Luffy did not like it.

"Hmmm, keeping secrets, are we, cheeky brat?"

Luffy whined and pushed Zoro's hand away, glaring up at him.

"I'm not a cheeky brat!"

Zoro chuckled a little bit. "Yeah, yeah," The man said as he stood up, walking to the nearby railing an sitting down, leaning against it. Within seconds, said man was snoring. Luffy stared at him hard for a few minutes, trying to figure out if he was asleep, but it was pretty impossible to tell. Wanting to make sure that he was sleeping, Luffy reached under himself and grabbed some small objects. He quickly stuffed them into his pocket and zipped it closed (he was really glad Izou gave him a zipped pocket, because this way it was harder to lose cool stuff he found on islands) and stood. He tip toed as quietly as it was possible for him to tip toe over next to Zoro and stood at his side. Luffy leaned in close to Zoro, scrutinizing his face, and it definitely seemed like he was asleep.

"Boo."

"AH!" Luffy screamed and fell backwards. Zoro grabbed his arm before he could hit the ground and he looked up at the man, pouting, before looking away. Zoro laughed and hefted the boy up so he was standing next to the sitting man once more. Luffy looked away, thinking he would be made fun of, but to his surprise, Zoro patted him on the head. The child looked up, blinking confusedly at the man.

"You're so tiny."

Luffy sucked ina lot of air at that, annoyed, and screamed "I'm not tiny!" in the werewolf's face. Zoro grinned widely. Zoro was about to reply when Sabo approached.

"Yo, Zoro. Teasing Luffy about his size, are ya?" The blond asked, winking playfully at the man. "He's right Luffy. You are pretty tiny for your age."

Luffy glared up at the teen, crossing his arms in irritation. "You're all just big."

Neither understood how that was an insult, both both chuckled anyway. Luffy didn't understand why they were laughing and he was about to yell, but his mouth stopped before any coherent sounds could be made.

Luffy wiped his head to the side. Sabo and Zoro stopped laughing, concerned over Luffy's sudden silence. The child then moved over to the railing and began to climb up onto it. Sabo walked over and grabbed the child, pulling him back down.

"What's wrong, Luffy?" the blond asked, staring at him with questioning eyes. Luffy pointed his hand out at the sea, bright blue specks in his eyes shining brighter with each second.

"Something's coming, Sabo."

"What do you mean, Luffy?" The blond asked, looking down with raised eyebrows and a concerned light to his eyes. Luffy opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the sound of a door being slammed oepen. The trio looked up, eyes moving to the doors of the ship.

"Rose, get back here!"

The redhead was stalking towards Luffy, and Luffy could tell she knew somethignw as coming too. Izou was storming after her, yelling, and Zoro and Sabo were both trying to calm her down. Luffy couldn't remember ever seeing her that angry before, so whatever it was that was coming was truly bad.

Rose yanked Luffy back, and everything that happened next was almost too quick for his eyes to see. He knew Rose bit into her arm harshly, he could feel the blood splash onto it's face as she ripped her own arm away, but then she made a shield of it.

The explosion that followed was deafening.

Luffy was tackled to the ground by a larger body as the force of the explosion pushed him back, almost knocking him overboard. The whole ship was rocking and Luffy could feel his body vibrating from the power of whatever had fired at them.

"Rose!" Luffy heard Sabo shout from where he was standing. "Be careful! You're hurt!"

"I'll be fine! Get Luffy out of here!" She screamed back. The explosion abruptly ended though, and she tesned. Luffy and the man above him slowly began to stand, managing to get into a sitting position before Rose yelled, "Don't move!"

"Oi, what's going on!" Nami shouted as she ran outside, looking concerned. She yelped then, and Luffy only understood why when the ship was rocked again. It wasn't by a blast, but rather something that hit them from below. Luffy gripped tightly onto whoever was holding him as he wobbled on the wooden ground.

Something from behind suddenly made a huge crash in the water. The ship began to move along the ensuing waves, spinning.

"Thatch!" Luffy heard Nami scream, and he wondered how long Thatch had been up there, but then he was at the wheel, helped by Ace, as the two tried to stop the ship from moving in such dizzying motions.

"Luffy, get inside!" He heard Rose yell, and he was about to protest when a huge shadow suddenly cast itself over the ship. Luffy looked up and his eyes widened in awe and fear. "Luffy!" Rose shouted again, but the boy found that he couldn't move. There was something about the eyes of the thing. It was staring right down at him and he felt compelled to just move forward…

He suddenly found himself in water. Shocked at the sudden submersion, Luffy gasped. It was a mistake, seeing how water immediately began to flood his lungs. Panic immediately settled in his gut as he began struggling against the water. But he wasn't a good swimmer, and the current was incredibly strong. He was being swept away like a feather in the wind. It was stinging cold too. He never thought water could be so cold. It was as if he was surrounded by ice, and it felt like the ice was compressing his lungs. He needed air, but everything was getting dark and he was becoming so, so tired-

He suddenly felt wind against his wet face and it made him shiver. But air meant breathing, he thought, as his lungs forced him to cough painfully, getting rid of all the water that had run into his mouth while submergedin the salty depths. He could tell he was being held by someone, that he could tell easily since his face was pressed against skin just as wet as his own.

"Are you alright, Luffy?" Whoever it was asked, and he had never heard something so loud in his life. He whined softly and tightened hs hands around the neck of his savior. "It' arlright, I'm gonna get'cha outta here, alright?" Luffy could only nod in reply, still trying to catch his breath as the man – he was pretty sure it was Thatch by now, because he was the only one with brown hair – began to tread back to the ship.

It was only after they were swimming for ten minutes that Luffy realized that something was wrong.

"Thatch, where's the ship?" The boy asked, looking around with confusion. Thatch chuckled, but it was off. He was unable to hide the anxious look hin his eyes.

"Far away, Luffy. Over there, you see?" Luffy turned around and his eyes widened. It was a speck on the horizon! How had he gotten this far away and, more importantly, how had Thatch caught up to him.

But he also realized it would take hours to reach the ship again.

"Thatch, let me swimg for a while!"

"No, Luffy, not now."

"But Thatch, you'll get tired!"

"You can't swim fast Luffy, and it's dangerous out here. We need to hurry."

Luffy glared stubbornly and then managed to wiggle out of Thatch's grip. He really couldn't swim well but he managed to make a few strokes before Thatch grabbed him again.

"Let me swim!" Luffy demanded. Thatch sighed.

"Luffy, stop struggling. I won't let you swim, but you can rest on my back, alright?"

Luffy stopped and stared. "Let me swim once in a while then."

Thatch hesitated, but then looked from the ship to Luffy and the ship again before sighing. "Fine, but only because I know you won't agree if you don't get to swim."

Thatch went under the water and Luffy was confused until he felt a body come up under his own. He yelped as he reached his hands forward, wrapping them around th ebody before him so he wouldn't lose balance.

The dusk sky eventually turned into a dark veil above their heads. They had lost sight of the ship as well except for a small light that they could see, floating in the sky. Thatch assumed that it was the crows nest.

Luffy swam a few times, but he could only swim for a minute before he began to sink. He felt bad, knowing that Thatch was getting tired from swimming and having to carry him as well. It was worse since he knew he could do nothing to help the vampire. But at the same time, it was hard to move his own limbs. He wanted to curl up and sleep, but it was not possible. He couldn't wait to get back to the ship – maybe then he could sleep with Thatch and the two could fend of the cold and water together.

What Luffy assumed was hours later, when he was shivering to the bone with cold, was that realized Thatch probably couldn't take much more, not when he hadn't had blood in two days.

"Thatch, let me carry you!"

"Not possible…too heavy for you…"

"But Thatch! You can't do this forever!"

"I'll be fine Luffy."

"Thatch!"

But the man held both of his hands in one of his own, making sure he couldn't move from his back as he continued to swim towards the light that was still in the distance. Luffy would've struggled but realized that would only make Thatch tired too quickly. He wanted the man to save his energy. He didn't want him to apss out in the ocean. That wouldn't be good for either of them.

"I swear I'll learn how to swim Thatch. I promise," Luffy mumbled. Even though he wasn't swimming, he was unbelievably tired. He didn't know why. He was also really numb. He thought it was from the cold, but he wasn't sure. All he was sure of was that Thatch was mumbling something to him about staying awake, shouting at him whenever he almost fell into the "seductive hands of sleep", in the words of Ace talking of his narcolepsy.

"Yeah, I'll teach ya how, buddy. But listen, if you wanna learn, you need to stay awake for me, alright?" Thatch asked between ragged pants. Luffy thought he was moving faster than before, but he wasn't sure why. Everything was muffled in a way.

"'M sleepy," Luffy whispered as his eyelids fluttered closed.

"Don't sleep, Luffy!" Thatch yelled, startling the boy to open his eyes again, albeit tiredly. He barely looked awake. "We're almost there. Don't you dare fall asleep on me, Luffy! Ace is probably waiting for you, right? You gotta say hi to him!" Thatch's voice sounded frantic. Luffy couldn't understand why. What was wrong? Luffy suddenly felt his body wracked by coughs and he trembled violently for a few seconds.

"Thatch…"

"We're almost there, buddy! Hang on for me, alright!"

"Thatch!" A voice shouted in the distance.

"Is that…Ace?"

"Yes! It's Ace! You gotta stay awake for him! Can you do that, Luffy?" Thatch asked, and they were definitely moving faster now. He could hear yells in the distance as well, joyous and worried all at once. But he couldn't bring himself to care right then. He just wanted to sleep. Maybe then he'd warm up.

When he woke up, he was wrapped up in blankets in Thatch's arms. It didn't seem like it was too long after they got out of the wter, as his clothes and hair were still wet, but both of them were safe now, it seemed. Luffy made a soft sound of content and snuggled himself deeper into the man' arms.

"Luffy, are you awake?"

The boy nodded almost imperceptibly and he heard a chorus of sighs of relief around him. He yawned then, but he was still shivering, and he coughed painfully. He was pretty sure Thatch was shaking a little too, but it didn't seem anywhere near as badly as Luffy was. Maybe it was because he was a vampire? No matter how cold it got, they never seemed to shake.

Luffy was suddenly handed over to a very, very warm body as he heard the others begin to fuss over the brown haired man.

"Yo Luffy, you alright?" Ace softly asked him. Luffy nodded again and then turned his large eyes up to the freckled vampire.

"Is Thatch okay?" He asked softly. Ace smiled at him and shifted him to a more comfortable position, something Luffy was thankful for.

"Yeah, Thatch'll be alright. Just needs a lot of blood."

"'s really strong," Luffy mumbled, his eyes beginning to flutter closed as Ace began walking.

"Yeah, he is," The vampire holding him replied. He then began humming deep in his chest, the familiar song that Ace had sung to him since he was a toddler. It always made him relax. Right then, he allowed it to lull him to sleep.

AN: Hey! It's been a while. Sorry if it's short and crappy and possibly confusing. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

Also, if you read the One Piece manga and almost blew your top like I did last chapter (the 3rd, I think?), I found an interesting theory about it. It obviously has spoilers if you haven't read it. Take out any spaces in there.

threads/ theory-sugars-ability-factoring-in-usopps-regression. 3260/

shadowmarialove: Haha, thanks, I hope you like todays as well! :) Sorry that you never found your thing :(

Thank you so much for reading! Also, for my lovely readers, I posted two new stories a little while ago! If any of you read A Brother's Secret, one of them is the sequel if you're interested in it.

Once again, thanks of reading! I love you guys so much! :D Please leave a review!