Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is fanfiction.
Summary: Sabo wonders why Luffy frequents the dreaded forest daily and even more so, the certain glow about her whenever she comes and goes to the magic-laden place.
Warning: Fem! Luffy, implied LawLu, RPG fantasy AU, might be OOC, errs
SOMETHING ABOUT LUFFY
Sabo stopped wiping off the recently washed plates midway as he observed his sister's disappearing figure. He can't put his finger to it but he knew there's something different about Luffy since she started trekking towards the haunted forest.
At first, he simply dismissed it as another one of her side adventures. Luffy would always find a way to entertain herself when there are no major quests to take on. She could be grinding her skills against some loot-rewarding creatures or farming items to stock up her inventory (not that she keeps a lot of things).
It makes her older brothers occasionally worried, but they also knew Luffy is strong enough to fend for herself.
However, more worrisome than the usual perils present in their lands is her disposition whenever she comes and goes from her current escapade. Sabo could be wrong, maybe he's just reading into it too much. How he wished Ace was there so he could sort with him his budding suspicions.
Then again, Ace was off questing with some members of the Whitebeard guild. Sabo briefly hopes Ace would bring back another map like the last time, hopefully not too charred. He shook his head and went back to his previous musings. Yes, their little sister.
It wasn't too hard to notice – the way Luffy's eyes lights up when she talks about her day in the forest; the way Luffy smiles when she helps Sabo pack her adventure lunch box (and she'd always ask him for extra rice balls, no pickled plum she'd add); the way Luffy peers at the direction of the forest before she sleeps – there's definitely something about Luffy these days.
A curious case indeed.
Sabo continued to dry the plates and eventually returned them to the wooden cupboard. He could follow Luffy the next time she goes there. He could venture at the forest alone and try to find the reason why she frequents the place himself.
I'm not thinking too much into it, am I?
"If you want to know, why don't you ask her?" Koala suggests, a knowing smile etched on her face. He sighs and buries his head on his hands. "I'm not even sure what to ask Luffy. I think I'm just being paranoid here. It's Ace who's usually like this."
'It's not only Ace, believe me.' Koala side-eyes her party mate before asking, "Did she tell you something about whoever it was she's meeting in the forest?"
"What? She's meeting someone?" Sabo's eyes shot open, his pupils constricting as he drives his face at Koala's direction. "And she told you about it – not me?!" She remains unfazed, used to the blond man's oddities.
"Look, save yourself the trouble and ask her. I'm sure Luffy will tell you herself anyway." Koala pinches her now sulking friend and pulls at his cheek. "Just don't go all dragon and do something drastic."
"Hey now…"
"I swear, you and Ace… "Koala sighs. "Whatever you decide on doing, just promise me…"
"Anything! Well except for…" Sparing you news about my siblings' conquests. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it, right? Sabo suddenly felt daggers sinking into his skin. Not literally, of course. Though it's not as if he didn't knew where they're coming from. Koala sweetly smiled at him from across the table. "Sabo..."
"…Yes…" It almost sounded like a squeak.
"I don't want to hear about a wildfire in the haunted forest. I like getting my petrified somethings in there."
"Like I'll do something like that!"
Koala stared at him accusingly and used that tone. "Sabo…"
"Okay… okay, talk to Luffy and not cause any trouble. I think I can manage that."
"WHAT?!" The blonde man accidentally crushes the mug on his hands. Luffy looked at him curiously – it wasn't like Sabo to destroy his favourite mug this month (the previous one met its end with Ace). "Huh? What's wrong Sabo?"
Sabo starts to clean up in haste. "Uhh… nothing Lu! I should look for better mugs next time. What were you saying again?" The piece of information her sister had just divulged startled him, to put it mildly. Not about any new creature nor any mystery item – but about who she has been meeting in the damned forest for days.
"You're funny! Anyway, I was saying Traffy did this," She squinted her eyes and moved her hands before her in circles. "and swoosh, the whole ship floated. Also there's all those clicking sounds and I think the mirrors on his house are alive but –"
"About this… Traffy." He almost hissed the name. "He's must be a wizard, right?"
"That was my second guess after I asked him if he's my fairy godmother but he kept insisting he was a mogu, magooh... mingo? I forgot what he said though." Her bottom lip jutting out as she attempted to remember.
Thinking about it, Luffy must simply be scouting the said man to join her team. Sabo remembers Ace telling him how he'd been quite terrible (an understatement, really) to Zoro when he had recently joined Luffy's then two-person troop. So maybe, as the most sensible of the three, he shouldn't be so hostile. Still he asked Luffy for confirmation, "Do you wish to invite him to join your party? With you visiting him all the time?"
Luffy's answer didn't lessen his suspicions as she looked at him wide-eyed. "I already invited him the first time we met!" Then she paused and furrowed her brows thoughtfully. "Though he wouldn't want to leave, I think."
The blond raised an eyebrow at his surprisingly somewhat deep in thought sister. However, it merely lasted a minute before he noticed the alarming change in her expression while she spoke. "But that's good enough for me. At least, I'd know where he'll always be." Sabo's breathing hitched for a moment.
Before him was his younger sister, looking like the usual with her untidy adventurer's garb, tatters nipping at its edges. Yet her eyes shone in contrast, soft under the trance of the torchlight. She gazed at her fidgeting fingers which rested on her lap, and she smiled - a slight hint of crimson dusting her cheeks like painted rouge.
And even if Sabo were as thickheaded as their other sibling, he would still know and with glaring clarity, that his sister undoubtedly held some fond feelings for the man he has yet to meet. And it wasn't the same with her comrades nor was it with them. This was what he'd been fearful all along.
"Huh? Is there something on my face?" Luffy inquired, having noticed her brother staring with unbroken concentration.
"Ah, nothing Lu! Why don't you wash up and I'll clear things here? I'll read you another story tonight, if you want."
"A story? Of course, I want to! Brother is really the best!" Luffy went all starry-eyed as she beamed a smile to her brother before she dashed to get a towel. Sabo smiled to himself. It could be just a minuscule semblance of a crush. No need to go Ace over it just yet. Just when he was already humming in comfort, Luffy popped back in.
"On a second thought... could you teach me how to make those rice balls instead?"
"Y-you want to make them yourself?"
"I thought I'd try... well... because... is it not okay?"
"Sure Lu, why wouldn't I?"
"Thanks a lot, niichan!"
"H-heh heh heh" Sabo darkly chuckled, pupils constricted. It was one thing to offer the mystery dolt some food but to make him food herself? No way that it's some passing phase.
He should have known - should have asked. And the man being a magical fellow doesn't help one bit. Who knows what he'd been doing to seduce their innocent little sister - what evil he has conjured to secure his heathen claws on Luffy.
That's it. Soon as Ace arrives this week, they'll pay that Traffy of hers a little visit.
Meanwhile, in an upside down tower both somewhere and nowhere, a light shiver chills the spine of a dark mage who was simply enjoying his peaceful time grinding some weeblebug eyes. He pauses for a moment and shakes off the odd feeling as he resumes his task at hand. Law promised to show that troublesome visitor of his what a dancing firework is, didn't he?
-End-
A/N: Supposed to be an attempt on mysteryreader6626's request but it kinda not turned that way since my mind flew. Will try to attempt on the 2nd one T^T
(re: guest reviews) Feel free to request anything for any of the AUs. I'll try to make an attempt on it, if ever ^ ^ And yes, Ace is on that fire truck which passed by when Law and Luffy were having a moment at the last chapter. Glad you caught that!