Proof Read Version -Thx to SpiderMonkeyCatchwan-
Hello Guys~! Sorry, I was kind of stuck with the chapt and yesterday I was busy like hell, so I can't retouch and upload the series, though it was done - yesterday .
I kind of like this chapt, while I tried to describe all the things inside, I hope I didn't ruin the mood *crossing finger*
Then, without further ado, Enjoy~
Eiichiro Oda-senseistill own One Piece, Hail Oda...~~ \(^o^\)
CURSED or BLESSED [7] : It is a Nightmare, isn't it?
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Luffy gritted his teeth. Sanji snapped towards the green head, eyes widened with fear mixed with anxiety. He didn't even notice he was clenching his fists so hard that they had turned white.
"Hurry! Something's not right." Roronoa moved in a swift motion. He ran following his sharp sense of smell, followed by both Luffy and Sanji.
As they ran along the way, Sanji felt a dreaded feeling inside. It felt like something was squeezing his heart. Worry wasn't the word to describe his condition right now; it was something beyond that. Biting his lower lip, he kept running, finally coming to a stop at the source of the smell. The smell was now stronger, seeping into his nostrils. The smell was fuckin' familiar to him. This sweet, enticing smell, the smell that always stirred his unsatisfied hunger, unquenchable thirst. This tempting smell of blood.
He needed just few seconds to notice that this smell was human blood, and it wasn't coming from only one, but more than three humans. This was bad! Something was wrong. His heart began to beat even faster and quicker, because he knew these buildings, he knew this surrounding, he knew the place itself! It was what he feared. It was Rain Base.
Appearance-wise, nothing changed. It was past nine so it was usual that the restaurant's lights were off, and so did the sign. But this was no human, he could tell. The smell was coming from the inside and it was dangerously tantalizing. It was hard to control his sudden urge to drink human blood, because it was sweet, tempting, delicious, fresh and… wait, fresh? His mind was hazy with the excessive sweetness. He felt tipsy, but he forced himself to hold on. He couldn't lose, not this time. Not after what he had done these past years.
"Sanji?" called Luffy.
"Y–yeah…?
"You okay?"
"Yeah… don't worry." He forced a smile.
"I'm going in. Stay on your guard," Roronoa stated simply while stepping closer to the glass door. Behind the glass door was a beige-colored wall, the dining room was behind the wall, and the only way to go in was to go through the glassy door and to their right. Inside it was dark.
"I'm going in. This is my place."
"More reason to stay, baka. If they are coming after you, then–"
"I can handle it. Shut up and go."
"Fine…" the green head sighed. "Stay hidden, Lu–"
"He's in already."
"FUCK!" Roronoa cursed and ran after him. Once the door was opened, the smell was overwhelming. Even Luffy who was a mere human could smell this raw unpleasant rusty iron smell once he was inside. He blocked his nose on reflex with one of his hands.
"Luffy! Why do you barge in so– FUCK!" Zoro cursed. With his pupils immediately dilating in the darkness, he could see the horrid scene clearly.
"Zoro? What happened?"
"This is… insane…" he stuttered. Even as a Farligenete, a beast, he still felt horrible by the scene.
"This is… too much…" He had to stop the blond! He needed to! But it was too late, the blond was already inside.
"… No…! No! NOOO!" Sanji wailed in horror. His voiced cracked, whole body trembling, his eyes stung, and he felt like his heart had just sank into a bottomless pit. He couldn't hold on any longer. His mind started to lose focus and the overly sweet smell of blood was playing with his self-control, his thirst for blood getting stronger, and the only thing he feared the most happened. Everything was dark – his instinct was taking over.
Luffy's eyes started to adapt in the dark; he could now see what happened inside. His night beads widened both in horror and shock. Limbs scattered like trash, bodies torn apart, the puddle pooling on the floor was most likely the blood from those dead bodies, the black stains on the wall were like an insane art – painting diabolical madness which the youngster was sure if he turned the light on, it was painted with blood. Luffy swore it was the most horrible scene he had ever seen, even compared to what he sometimes saw on TV.
"Shit! Luffy, watch out!" Zoro shouted from behind, suddenly lunged onto the noirette, toppling them together. Suddenly a shadow flew passed them in a blink of an eye.
"Wh–what happened?"
"He is a vampire. No wonder he doesn't flinch knowing I'm a werewolf."
"Who?"
"The chef, moron."
"But how–"
"See for yourself." Zoro tilted his head towards the restaurant. Luffy squinted his eyes to see more clearly. Even though his eyes could see in the darkness, all he could see was a shadow, a pair of blood red glow floating in front of them.
"I can't see clearly," He groaned but stayed on guard.
"I'll look for the switch. Stay near me," commanded the werewolf who was still in his human form.
They moved as silently as they could, but the vampire was able to notice them. He eyed them, following their movements calmly. Zoro knew perfectly he was ready to attack. And he did. The vampire flew towards them, ready to rip their necks and feast on their blood but there was no way in hell the green head would let that happen. He quickly shifted in front of Luffy and blocked the incoming attack. Claws against claws, clinking against each other. The werewolf smirked; he never thought he would fight against a vampire. But the vampire's features didn't change, beautifully cold with no emotion whatsoever, his eyes shining with ruby glow, lusting for blood.
"Well, let's see what you got there, kuso-cook." Smirk still plastered on his handsome face. He pushed the blond away, making a distance.
"Luffy! Find the light switch! I'll handle this guy!"
"Okay! I'll join you later!"
"Well... I prefer a fair fight."
"You can't kill him!"
"But–"
"No buts! He is our friend!"
"Keeeh! Fine..." huffed the green head. Luffy then darted away searching for the light switch.
Zoro tensed up. He focused all of his attention to the vampire who was floating in the air, eyeing Luffy's movements. When the vampire turned to fly towards the noirette, Zoro changed back to his Farligenete form. A pair of dark brown ears with green streaks perked up, his lower half changed into wolf legs with the same color as his ears, and a tail grew out wagging on its way. His muscles became bulkier, claws and teeth grew longer, sharper and visibly more dangerous.
He growled, trying to catch the vampire's attention. And it worked, more than he intended to. Not only did he get the vampire's attention, the blond was now focusing fully on him. He growled again, and the blond was tensing up, squinting his eyes and suddenly the blond charged towards him. Zoro hissed and their claws clashed again and again, creating fiery sparks in the dark. They exchanged more than several blows. Sanji was aiming at Zoro's neck and heart, and Zoro was defending himself, trying not to kill the vampire, Luffy's order.
"Blood... Kill... Revenge..." Sanji managed to voice his thoughts, despite the fact that he wasn't in his right mind. Both were face to face, pushing each other, trying to break each other's defences.
"What the hell... I'm not the one who killed your friends." But the blond wouldn't budge.
He opened his mouth, ready to bite the werewolf. But Zoro managed to parry the attack with his claws. He even successfully kicked the blond in his stomach and pushed them apart. The attack didn't do much damage as Sanji launched himself again towards the green head, fiercer than ever before.
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Luffy managed to find his way around, stepping carefully over those scattered bodies. He did feel bad about it, but it couldn't be helped; he needed to. He sneaked into the kitchen and found the light switch there. Before he could reach the switch, his hand was suddenly pulled roughly.
"What the hell?"
"Who are you and what the fuck are you doing here?" asked the feminine but dangerous voice.
"Ah! Who are you?!"
"I asked first!"
"I'm Luffy. I need to switch on the lights."
"The hell! Don't you know those monsters are fighting outside?"
"But I have to help them!"
"Damn! You are also one of them?" she spat venomously. "Then you'll die here! Lightning essence: thunderbolt tempo!"
Suddenly there was crackling sound of lightning. Without any chance to dodge or run, Luffy was engulfed into the thundering sparks.
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After exchanging several blows, both were panting hard. Their face, arms, even legs were covered with wounds and deep cuts. Both were equally strong. Sanji shrieked, voice laced with pure terror, but deep inside the horrid sound, Zoro noticed that there were also sadness and anger.
Sanji eyed him intensely, through that glowing bloody ruby eyes. If a gaze could pierce someone, Zoro surely would have been pierced many times. But Zoro wasn't one to coward down. Instead he was getting ready for the second wave. Sure enough, he came again, and Zoro was more than ready. When he tensed his hands, his claws disappeared and on his forearms grew a pair of blades; one was silver with a tint of blueish glow, while the other one was pure black with a tint of reddish glow.
He blocked one of the incoming attacks with one arm, while his other arm was close in a mere inch near his pale neck. The vampire froze. He could feel the danger but had no time to block it. The werewolf was faster and more dangerous. Before the blond could make his next move, Zoro quickly strangled his neck, abruptly pushing the vampire onto the floor, choking him hard but still holding back. The blond was thrashing around to free himself, but to no avail. He flailed his right arm vigorously while his left hand was trying hard to loosen the powerful grip on his neck. Then the werewolf made a mistake. He let his guard down for a second, and that was when everything went wrong. He didn't notice a red light glowing softly on Sanji's claw. And the glow was getting brighter and brighter and suddenly the light was switched on. Both creatures blocked their eyes with their hands, trying to shield their vision from the sudden blinding light. Sanji didn't waste his time. He nimbly launched the bloody red scythe-like claw towards the werewolf. Zoro, who still slightly blinded, could only peek through his fingers with his left eye. Then it happened. The bloody flying scythe flew directly towards him and he could only watch helplessly.
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"What the hell was that?!"
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?! How come you're not struck?!"
"You are mean, you know that? I did nothing wrong to you!"
"Consider it my self-defense." She spat and then she was on her stance again. "Tell me who are you! Why aren't you harmed at all?"
"I am Luffy. And I don't know. What about you?"
"How come you can use that lightning to strike me? Teach me!" he continued, beaming. The girl's eyes widened in disbelief.
[This boy sure couldn't sense any danger, could he?]
"I am Nami, a weather elementalist."
"Well, Nami. Will you teach me your move just now?"
"Of course not! I don't know who you are and what you want."
"AAHH! I have to switch on the lights!" the boy shouted, his hand roaming on the wall, searching for the switch.
"I won't let you do that! Not when those beasts are outside! Fire essence: firebolt tempo!"
Five fireballs were summoned around the girl, floating around her. Then with her command, they launched themselves towards Luffy. And yet, the noirette managed to switch the light on easily as if nothing happened. He saw the elementalist. A red-haired girl, wearing only a yellow bikini top with maroon stars, a blue crop cape and a pair of long blue pants. Her hand was holding a long skyblue cane. She was on guard facing Luffy.
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"ARGH!" roared the green head in pain.
The flying scythe slashed his left eye, a direct hit. He had jerked his head to the right to avoid cutting his head. Blood quickly spurted out from the ghastly wound, rushing down his face. He quickly covered his left eye, wincing in pain. He growled while eyeing the blond. He was fucked up! He cursed himself for being careless. He had already promised to protect Luffy and those in the Baratie, and this wasn't an excuse to lose. He couldn't lose to anyone, not after the painful past he had to bear.
He tried to open his eye despite the burning sting. It was throbbing painfully and he could only see red. A stream of red flooded his eye, and he quickly closed it again. He gritted his teeth, trying hard to endure the pain. He took a deep breath and let out a heavy huff. He pulled the dark green camouflage bandana on his left arm and tied it over his left eye, trying to stop the oozing blood. He still had to fight the blond vampire who was smirking like he had already won the fight.
[Oh no you don't. I'll show you how it's done!] thought the green head, smirking dangerously.
His tail tensed up, his fur stood up, he could feel his blood boil. The werewolf was burning with excitement of a new incoming rival to his life. Without warning, he charged forward to the laughing vampire. Skillfully he swung the blades on his forearm towards the blond, aiming at the non-fatal points. Although the vampire could dodge most of his attacks, he still managed to cut him.
Then suddenly his nose smelled new fresh blood. Both were distracted from the smell but wasting no time, Zoro punched the blond hard on his stomach, causing the vampire to choke out of breath, and with a harsh motion, he slammed the vampire onto the floor, pinning him down so he couldn't escape from his firm grip.
"Khaakk!" Sanji groaned from the sudden impact, his vision blurred before it was completely dark. The beast heard the sound of opening and closing of the door. He quickly averted his gaze, with a hand still choking the blond.
"LUFFY!"
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"Oh c'mon…Zoro is waiting for me. If you don't want to help me, at least don't be a nuisance!" groaned Luffy, a little annoyed.
She was trying hard to attack the noirette with her magic attacks – thunderbolt wasn't effective, nor the firebolt, and not even the lightning strike nor the wind cutter. And she was in panic. None of her skills seemed work on him and she didn't understand why. She had a hunch that the boy wasn't a normal human; he could be one of the monsters, or… Suddenly a thought crossed her mind.
"Are you a razlet*1?" she asked in her malicious voice.
"Huh? What is that?" Luffy asked. He turned away, making a duck face and humming stupidly.
"Bingo!" she smirked conceitedly.
"U-uh… but you are also a razlet, aren't you?!"
"Too bad I am not. I am just a special race with magic powers. I see you have this power to repel my magic. Am I right?" she asked, grinning.
Then she swung her cane before it disappeared completely. She stepped closer to the young noirette, getting a frown from him. Then suddenly she slashed him with a knife.
"OWH! What are you doing?! That hurts!" He quickly jumped back and held onto the fresh cut on its arm. It was bleeding. Not that it was really hurting him, but it still stung.
"So, you can't repel a knife, eh? It's good to know you're not immortal." She smirked, moving closer again, keeping their distance as close as she could.
"Of course I am not! But… I still can do this!" Luffy suddenly lunged towards her, head-butting her and ran towards the door, back to where his friends were.
"Ow ow ow ow! I was careless!" she chided.
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"LUFFY!" Zoro shouted.
"ZORO! You know… Inside there is this girl and she– aahh! Your eye! …Sanji!"
"Change player, you handle him first! Nullify his smell and heart, or throat or whatever! I don't care! He is such a pain in the ass!" groaned Zoro. He was tired and his eye stung like a bitch. Without wasting any time, he ran towards the door and banged it open. He found none, nothing except those butchered bodies.
"Shit! Here too…" he cursed. Suddenly, his sense of smell alerted him to something. Something that's not blood, not him, not even Luffy. A new scent.
[The girl!] he thought.
He sniffed around, once, then twice. And then suddenly, with a swift move, he quickly grabbed his prey by her neck.
"H–How…?!"
"You messed with the wrong guy, bitch!" growled the green head.
"Khh..! Damn it!"
"Who are you? Are you the one who hurt the boy?"
"What? You monsters care about each other?! Don't make me laugh!"
"Hey! I'm asking you!" Zoro scowled, his grip tightened. The red head hitched, breath escaping from her lungs and it was becoming harder and harder to breathe.
"Zoro! Let her go! Maybe she misunderstood!" Luffy butted in, piggybacking the unconscious vampire.
"But she wounded you."
"It's only a small cut. Hurry up, the people are gathering," Luffy warned.
Zoro turned towards the red head. "Consider yourself lucky, bitch!"
"Ceh… Jerks! You massacred everyone in the whole place and then you're leaving just like that?!"
"For your info, we didn't do this."
"Fuckin' liar! This looks like the Farligenetes' doing. You are one of them!"
"You seem to know a lot, but still not enough. For your info, we, monsters also have a lot of type special race too, just like you, witch!"
"H–how–"
"I smell a lot of elements inside you," the werewolf spat. "If you still have time, check it out yourself. If I'm not wrong, it was a pack of wild dogs or those in the same category that did this," he continued.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Now you know who, you'd better cover for us. Consider it as a payment, or else…"
"Or else what?"
"I'll find you again, and then I'll kill you."
"ZORO!" the noirette called again.
"I don't believe you," she spat.
"Believe what you want. Kind reminder, you'd better hide your existence, you can't reason with mennesente*2."
"Fuck you!" she cursed, but she did what he told her to. "Rain essence: mirage tempo!" And then she was gone.
"Fucking witch!" Zoro chided before he ran out to follow Luffy, away from the mess.
[Found it…]
* HnO HnO HnO HnO HnO – To be Continued –HnO HnOHnO HnO HnO *
*1 An extraordinary human who got powers. They considered dangerous in human society itself.
*2 Human (non-human called human)
Ahh~ I'm sorry, there was still no sign for our fave cool, overly handsome noirette to show up but be at east, because you won't have to wait any longer. I promise.
And so how was it? Good bad? Haha~ please do review so, I could do others better.
Jyaa~ 'till next time ~o^/
HnO