A/n

Do you guys even realize how awesome you all are? Just, wow, I wasn't expecting this much support and reassurance. And so many Law's fans too! Haha. I definitely felt so much better after reading all your reviews/comments, and the last chapter was surprisingly well accepted. Thank you!

Proofread by The Patient One

Chapter 24. The Stranger on the Dawn Island (Part II)

-around 2 years ago, the Dawn Island-

Like a silent bird of prey, Luffy perched on the branch high up in the tree and looked down at the two men traversing the forest. They were chatting and laughing about how this test was already in their pockets, how they were going to join the main crew, and also loudly wondering what kind of rewards they would get once they found the guy.

The teen's lips pulled back into a feral snarl, dark irises flashing with bloodlust.

Those people, those gods, loved their damn manhunting feasts. It was their favorite sport event, the most popular form of entertainment: hunting down helpless prey in the form of other humans. Sometimes shackled ones, sometimes almost starved to death, sometimes shot or slashed so that they would bleed and leave tracks for them to follow.

Occasionally, the same humans were used as hunting dogs instead of real hounds to pursue those who were prey in the macabre and cruel game. More exciting, they said, more thrilling.

The boy took a deep breath, calming himself, pushing the demons of the past back into the darkness from where they had slithered out. He had survived each and every of those hunts he had been forced into due to his Devil Fruit, his mystery power, pure luck, or sheer stubbornness; that was the most important thing.

This was not the time to lose his mind, and there was no need to confront all of these scums either. Luffy could feel all of them scattered around, and there were many. To fight all of them was not an option, especially when he could sense that at least two were so far above his level that he knew he had no chance of victory, and there were a bunch more who would pose a real threat.

The teen turned, intended to move towards the next group for observation. These men were moving away from the cave now and thus were of no interest to him.

"–not bad! That guy knew about the swords, I give him that."

Luffy paused, the words catching his attention. He looked at them again, frowning, then stretched his arm to grab the next tree and pulled himself into it, landing soundlessly on the branch right above two oblivious pirates.

"Hahahh-haha!" the blond one cackled crazily, looking at his blue-haired friend. "Where did you even get that?"

That apparently was a large sword, sheathed in a black scabbard decorated with white crosses and a small piece of red rope.

"Boss Diamante said that they didn't need it and that I can have it," the guy with a sword replied giddily, before he grinned and pulled out a white fur hat with a black dot pattern along the rim all around it. "Together with this!"

Luffy tilted his head to the side, thinking. Those dots reminded him of the ones on Law's jeans. Could it be his? He chuckled quietly, imagining his new friend with that hat. Yeah, it would actually suit him.

He observed his targets for a bit longer, feeling his anger rising when they both tried the hat, cackling mockingly like crazy.

These two were pissing him off. They needed to disappear.

Luffy jumped into another tree and then down, landing gracefully on the ground in a crouch at the moderate distance behind the pirates. He waited for the right moment, and, once the blond was facing forward, his arm suddenly shot towards the blue-haired man. Steely fingers wrapped around the latter's neck and yanked him back, eliciting a terrified scream.

"Sarkies!" the blond yelled out in surprise after his companion had been dragged into the bushes.

Luffy winded his other arm and smashed the struggling man into the dirt, unconsciously inserting much more strength into his punch than was required. Needless to say, the guy wouldn't be waking up anytime soon after that, if at all.

The boy heard an enraged roar, at the same time his mystery power warned him about incoming attack, and he twisted his body to the side, letting the blond fly past him harmlessly.

The man landed on the side of the tree and seemed to sink in before he sprung from it with a surprising force and speed that left an indent in the trunk.

Luffy ducked the charge to the side again, catching the sight of his opponent's legs turned into springs.

Devil Fruit user.

He tuned out all the screams and threats, concentrating on the man's movements, his body language, and the guidance of the mystery power. It was too dangerous to drag this out; fights with fruit users always turned out tricky and others might take notice of their confrontation. While the teen had confidence that he could run away—he knew this forest like the back of his hand, after all—he didn't want to expose himself unnecessarily or risk getting caught.

Luffy closed his eyes, focusing on his inner mystery power. Unbidden, the memories of the manhunts crawled out to the forefront of his mind again. The snarl returned with a vengeance, and he poured all of that vibrant energy into his right hand till the last drop.

The blond sprung towards him again with a furious, "DIE!"

"Gomu Gomu no…" the boy muttered under his breath, sending his arm back and then whipped forward. His fist, covered by a barely perceptible blackish sheen, met the man's mug in the middle with a sickening crack, using the latter's own momentum for a bigger impact. "…Pistol!"

Leaving only clouds of debris in its path, the blond's body flung backward crashing through trees and bouncing off the ground, and was out of Luffy's sight in an instant.

Luffy exhaled, putting his hands on his knees to catch his breath. That took more out of him than he had expected. His break was short-lived; approaching voices echoed in the distance. He rushed to quickly collect the fur hat, grabbing the sword too just in case, and then took to the trees, disappearing into the foliage without a trace.

The Donquixote Pirates did not have a good time on the Dawn Island while searching for their runaway prisoner.

One group stumbled upon the nest of giant, poisonous snakes, when they came to investigate some kind of suspicious sound. Another somehow ended up falling from the cliff into the resting spot of man-eating alligators. Some were chased by the enormous and unreasonably infuriated predators, and when they rallied into the bigger group for safety, a baby gorilla that appeared in their midst out of nowhere and started wailing brought upon the wrath of its troop.

"What the hell is wrong with this forest?! It's rare enough to find this kind of viciousness in the Grand Line, and we're in the fricking East Blue!"

"Shut up and ruuuuuu– Argh!"

Sitting high up in the tree, hidden from any prying eyes, Luffy sniggered as the men below got themselves pummeled into the ground by the riled up gorillas. This particular species was extremely hard to deal with, even he and Ace as a team struggled against the whole troop, so these poor sods had no chance whatsoever.

However, Luffy had no sympathy to spare for these bastards. They dared to bring manhunt onto his home island, dared to go after an injured and shackled person, a person that he decided to protect—no, they deserved all that and more.

He wondered what he should do to force these people into leaving his island. It wasn't like they knew for sure that Law was here, the only guy who had seen him ended up in the Lord's belly.

Suddenly, Luffy's head snapped up when a familiar presence entered the range of his ever-active mystery power. After a moment, a wicked grin stretched across his face. He quickly stood up and started to move towards one of the two strongest enemies.

The boy landed on the branch above the group. The man in a black long coat, sporting a white mask that covered the lower half of his face, goggles, and a top hat was tapping his feet impatiently with his arms crossed in front of his chest, a pistol in one of them. Another man was lying on the ground—Luffy could smell blood—while a few others just stood around, fidgeting helplessly and with a fair amount of fear etched on their features.

Luffy grimaced at the scene. The stranger's hat was especially agitating. An image of the curly blond boy with a warm grin under the similar top hat popped in his head, but he didn't let himself linger on the memory.

With a mischievous smirk dancing on his lips, the teen dropped down from the tree, allowing enemies to take a glimpse of him, and then immediately bolted.

"Catch him!" the guy in goggles boomed from behind. "Don't let him escape! He might know something!"

Luffy was quick and agile. Twigs snapped under his feet as he ducked beneath the intertwined roots of the ancient Mt. Colubo trees and dust flew up into the air as he jumped over fallen heavy trunks with barely an effort, blazing through the forest like a gust of wind.

His pursuers lacked his grace. They huffed and cursed, tumbling after him and trying to match his speed to no avail. The boy kept a constant distance between them, luring the pirates towards the familiar presence.

An explosion behind shook the ground under Luffy's feet, and he stumbled not expecting that. He instantly recovered though, shooting a glance over his shoulder and catching a sight of the broken tree trunk being blown high into the air.

The man in goggles was suddenly right behind him, reaching to grab him, and Luffy's eyes widened. He burst out from the forest and into the path, that extended all the way from the Foosha Village to the top of Mt. Colubo, a cry already leaving his mouth, "Grandpa, help!"

Garp's already scowling face twisted into something unsightly, something fierce, and his whole presence darkened, turning oppressive and violent, screaming dangerous loud and clear.

Flee.

That was Luffy's first impulse as this gigantic looming aura bore down on him. Acting purely on self-preservation instinct without any other thought, he dug his heels into the dirt in an impromptu stop, skidding through it due to his momentum, his body already in a process of whirling around to run away from what his senses clearly identified as a deadly threat.

Garp vanished from his spot, scattering dust into the air.

A light breeze ruffled Luffy's black hair.

Screams and shaking ground followed soon after.

When Luffy finally came to a full stop and turned around, everything was already over. His pursuers were strewed all over the place, some thrown into the surrounding trees, some buried into the earth.

Garp himself stood in the middle of that carnage, his hand clamped hard on the guy's with goggles throat, a murderous expression sitting on his face, teeth bared aggressively. "What the hell do you think you're doing to my grandson?" he ground out in a low growly voice.

Luffy stared wide-eyed, an overwhelming feeling of wonder and admiration stirring in his chest. He had never seen his grandpa like that: furious, brutal, domineering—frighteningly protective.

The pirate clawed at the grip of steel choking him, then suddenly his both forearms started to swell. Garp growled as he lifted his other hand, now completely covered in black, and punched the bastard into the ground. He didn't move again.

The old Marine's eyes instantly flickered on his young grandson, scanning his body, checking for any kind of injury. "Are you okay, Luffy? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"I'm fine," the teen assured with a small smile. "They couldn't even catch me."

"Bwahahahaha! That's my grandson!" Garp commended, reaching to pat the boy's head.

Luffy couldn't quite stop that little flinch the moment his grandfather's big palm touched his hair, the strength of the Fists of Love and accompanying pain ingrained into his brain forever.

Garp's expression grew somber with a tinge of something that caused Luffy to tilt his head in confusion. After a single gentle pat, the old man's hand dropped back to his side, and he turned to the beaten pirates, scowling. "Luffy, can you hide somewhere for a few days?" he asked, glancing over the tree line in front of him. "Your grandpa has some trash to clean up."

"Okay," the boy complied without argument. "They aren't good people."

"No, they aren't," Garp agreed. His eyes flicked down at the bodies around. "Guess I'll have to send my guys to pick these up," he muttered before looking at his grandson again. "Stay safe, Luffy."

Luffy flashed him a thumbs-up. "Kick their asses, grandpa!"

Garp grinned at his encouragement. "Of course!" And with that, he turned and soon disappeared into the forest.

The teen didn't move yet, instead stared at the pirate with goggles and spiky, light blue hair – the top hat he had previously worn nowhere in sight – then carefully sidled to him and nudged him with his foot. When there was no sign of him waking up, Luffy crouched down and started to go through his pockets. After a moment, a hundred-watt grin spread on his face and he straightened up with a joyful, "Aha! Lucky~!"

Squeezing the newly found item tightly in his fist, Luffy pivoted on his heel and raced into the forest – first towards the spot where he stashed the hat and the sword, and then back to the cave.

Law lashed out the moment someone tapped his shoulder, even before fully awake. Just a feathery touch, but it was enough for him to imagine the worst, sending a wave of panic and fear through his frazzled mind and tightened nerves.

The person ducked under his clumsy swing with a quiet, almost cheerful, "Whoops."

Law blinked, trying to shake off the sleepiness and exhaustion, instinctively reaching for Kikoku and immediately remembering that it wasn't there–

His fingers wrapped around the intimately familiar sheath, the rope pressing into the inside of his palm, and the feeling of reassuring strength in the weight of his blade, of relief, of safety that came with it, left him in a stunned, befuddled daze.

"So, it's yours, then?"

The question snapped Law out of his astonished stupor, and his eyes flicked from his nodachi up to Luffy's face.

"You grabbed it right from my hands," the boy said when Law failed to utter anything. "Oh. Sorry for waking you up, by the way."

"Where–" the man paused before clearing his dry throat, unconsciously bringing Kikoku to rest on his shoulder, the comfortable weight calming him down. "Where did you find it?"

Luffy smirked, a perfect blend of smugness and gleeful pride. "Some assholes had it, so I beat them up. Also found this." He pulled out the fur hat. "Is it yours too?"

"Yes," Law replied, slowly taking it from the younger raven, only to realize that the latter's straw hat was missing from his own hand, and then the fact that he had actually attacked the kid. Amber eyes quickly scanned Luffy's body up and down. Thankfully, there were no visible injuries – from him or from Doflamingo lackeys.

Luffy put his straw hat on, which he most likely picked up after Law dropped it while attacking, and held it down, tilting his head forward to hide his eyes, a dazzling grin stretching under it. "I also brought this!" he all but exploded in excitement, whipping his arm in front of Law's face.

The surgeon leaned back to focus on the thing in his grip. Instantly, disbelief sprouted in his heart because it couldn't be. It should have been with Diamante or at least Gladius, and even if Luffy was able to win against random goons, there was no way that he was strong enough to go against officers of Donquixote Pirates.

But it was right there. In front of his eyes.

A key.

There was no way, right?

Luffy hummed in satisfaction. "Let's check if it fits," he said, pushing it into the keyhole of Law's cuffs, carefully avoiding touching it directly. After a twist, cuff opened up with a soft click, the sound almost too loud in the deadly silence of the cave.

Law stared at his freed hand, feeling the energy and strength rushing through his veins now that they were not sapped by that accursed sea prism stone, his mind stuck in the incredulity of this situation. Effortlessly, a room swirled in his palm upon his mental command. Like usual. Just another sign that he truly was free.

Just… how?

Law looked at the boy again, clenching his hand into a fist, willing his fruit powers away. "…How?" a question came out as a whisper, but he didn't really care at this moment. Somehow, he managed to cram all of his rising immense gratitude into that one word.

Luffy let out a short carefree laugh. "Those jerks were really unlucky to land here on the day when my grandpa came for a visit," he explained. "He knocked out the guy with goggles, mask, and the hair like thaaaaat." He made a motion with his arms from his head to the sides, emphasizing his words. Gladius, Law realized. "And I checked him just in case, cause he's strong, so I thought maybe he's one of the bosses and might have it. Bosses always have this kind of things," the teen babbled happily, grinning. "And I was right!"

"Your grandfather knocked him out?"

"Yep. With a single hit! That was so cool!" Luffy cheered. "Grandpa is very strong and he's gonna take care of the rest. They don't even know that you're here, we just need to stay hidden for a few days," he continued as his expression softened and his toothy grin smoothed out into something warm and understanding. "So, you don't need to worry."

You're safe. No one is going to hurt you.

Law's lips twitched up into a small smile while his now free hand covered his eyes. "Unbelievable," he muttered.

What chances were for him to wash up on this particular island and be found by another D? For the latter to come upon the person who had his stuff? For his grandfather – whoever he was – to choose today to come here? For him to knock out the person who had that particular key?

All of these events were small miracles by themselves, but all of them happening consecutively was absolutely preposterous.

He never had been this lucky.

It was a sheer surprise that he had survived at all, not mentioning being freed from the sea stone and successfully eluding the notice of Donquixote Pirates. Apart from him ending up stranded in the East Blue, everything else turned out alright.

A thought of Doflamingo developing an aneurysm from letting him slip right from under his nose made Law chuckle in dark amusement.

A hiss of disgust and a splash of water startled the older raven. He looked up, catching sight of Luffy glaring at the pond, circles of tiny waves marring its previously perfect glassy surface. One glance down revealed cuffs gone from his side.

Luffy turned back to him, a beaming grin plastered firmly on his face. "Ne, Traffy, what kind of Devil Fruit do you have?"

"It's Law."

"Right. …So, what kind of Devil Fruit?"

The surgeon stared at the kid blankly before sighing in defeat. "You're just gonna keep calling me that, aren't you?"

"Shishishishi."

-a week later-

Law smirked as he watched another thug skedaddle out of sight at the first notice of Luffy. This was pretty hilarious. It seemed that the kid had his dominance established not only in the vast forest of Mt. Colubo, but this trash dump too.

Speaking of the kid… He got unusually quiet the closer they came to the Goa Kingdom's main city. Law shot a sideways glance at him and couldn't help but frown.

Luffy's whole body language screamed anxiety and agitation. He wasn't scared of his surroundings though, those hardened onyx eyes didn't flicker around, searching for a threat, but stared straight ahead at the colossal wall that circled the city.

The Goa Kingdom was also their current destination. With the danger of Donquixote Pirates gone and his injuries healing nicely, Law wanted to contact his crew. The submarine wouldn't be finished just yet—building such a thing was much harder than a common ship and required more precise work, not to mention parts that they had to ship from other places—but even if it were, his crew would stay around the shipyard. They didn't know what exactly happened to him so they wouldn't be moving from the spot where he could find them.

Trying to call the shipwright company seemed like the only way to get hold of his men. And for that, Law needed a Den Den Mushi powerful enough to reach the North Blue. Considering that the Goa Kingdom was a rich seaport city, it definitely had considerable local and international traffic of people and cargo, and thus Law hoped to find such snail in a bar or an inn at the port.

Luffy offered to guide him, but looking at the latter's tense small (too small for an almost fifteen years old teenager) frame, Law wondered if he should have refused and went alone.

"Luffy-ya, I'm positive that I can find my way around in the city, you don't have to go," he said, narrowing his eyes at the tiny flinch when he spoke all of a sudden.

"It's been years from the last time I was in there, but I still remember the way to the port," the teen replied quietly, keeping his voice carefully even. "It's fine. I can do it."

Well, it wasn't his place to dictate what the kid should do and what he shouldn't, so the surgeon said nothing more. Besides, sometimes demons of the past needed to be confronted so that they wouldn't drag you even deeper. Of course, Law was in no position to preach on that particular topic; he was running from his own demons and ghosts as long as he could remember.

They stopped right next to the wall, hidden in its enormous shade and behind mountains of trash from any unwanted attention. Law raised his head up to peer at the top. This was one big ass wall. He pondered what these people were so afraid of to voluntarily imprison themselves behind such monstrosity.

"You ready?" Luffy asked. His eyebrows were knitted in concentration as he stared in front of him without really seeing anything. "There are no people on the other side at the moment."

Law removed his eyes from the top of the wall. "Yeah," he replied as he lifted his hand, summoning a room into existence with a single thought. They had worked out the plan before coming here, choosing the easiest way to get inside by using their both unique abilities. One twist of his tattooed fingers and they stood on the other side of the wall, leaving only two trash bins in their previous spot.

"So cool," Luffy cheered with a ghost of a grin present on his face.

Law breathed out, flexing his injured arm, and then smirked, satisfied. Using his Devil Fruit didn't put a strain on it anymore. Good. He looked around an empty alley. There really wasn't anyone here.

Luffy's mystery power, as the boy dubbed it, truly was mysterious. It seemed much stronger than what Haki could do. Or at least what little Law knew about Haki from the bits and pieces of information he'd heard during his time with Donquixote Pirates.

"The quickest way to the port would be going through the main street."

Law glanced at the younger raven and said, "Lead the way, then."

Luffy seemingly hesitated for a split second before starting to walk. Law followed after, keeping an eye on him, taking note of all the anxiety signs. It really was a jarring change in image from the self-confident, overly exuberant wild boy from the forest to this frightened child.

Luffy literally jumped when a person slammed the door of the nearby building.

The surgeon sighed. "Luffy-ya," he called out.

The teen shot him an apologetic glance. "Sorry."

"Tell me about Ace."

Luffy stopped short. This time his gaze was full of surprise and stayed glued to the man's face. "What?"

"Tell me about your brother," Law requested again, his tone light and nonchalant. He wasn't even looking at the kid at the moment, his amber eyes scanning the surroundings, Kikoku resting on his shoulder in a relaxed manner.

With his face blank, the boy stared right at him, his eyes searching. Then, slowly, his lips stretched into a small but genuine grin. "I was right, you're a good person," he stated as a matter-of-fact.

Law turned back to him with a scowl.

"You two are similar in the way that…" Luffy trailed off with a soft hum. Without clarification what he meant, he started to walk again. "I met Ace when I was seven and he was ten. At first, he didn't like me one bit! Tried to kill me so many times, shishishishi."

Law raised an eyebrow at his cheery attitude speaking about such a thing. And besides, what kind of relationship started with one trying to kill anoth—

A memory of a dagger sinking into Corazon's back flashed through his mind and his mouth curled into a wry smile. Right. Sometimes that was how the strongest bond began.

Luffy kept babbling about Ace and, even if his eyes occasionally flickered around in anticipation of danger and he appeared still on edge, he calmed down significantly.

At least until they stepped onto the main street.

Luffy's speech died abruptly in mid-word and he just froze, his face draining of all color.

"Luffy-ya?" Law called. When he got no answer, he stepped in front of the boy and leaned down to look straight into his eyes. "Luffy," he said a bit sharper. That earned him a slight flinch, but those wide and fearful onyx orbs kept staring somewhere through him.

The surgeon furrowed his brow, concern fluttering over his features. This seemed like a PTSD flashback. Quite a strong one too. Good thing that the kid could still hear him. Law racked his brain for the best approach to the victim of the flashback. It was one thing to deal with it when he had them himself after Cora-san's death, but the completely different thing to help someone else.

"Luffy, you're safe. Whatever you're seeing is in the past. This is now, and you're safe," he said in a firm, calm tone.

The boy tried to take a shaky half-breath, but it instantly hitched in his throat again.

"Luffy, can I touch you?"

"D-don't…"

No surprise there. "Alright, I'm not going to touch you, Luffy," the pirate reassured. "But I'll stay here with you. Or would you feel better if I wasn't this close? I can step aw–"

"No!" Luffy's hand shot up and caught the older man's wrist in a death grip, causing Law to wince. "P-please, don't leave," he pleaded in a whisper. "They– They– Don't let them t-take me again."

Law's scowl deepened. Kidnapping, huh. And most likely a torture too if all those scars that he had accidentally seen were any indication.

"It's okay, Luffy," he continued, ignoring the boy's painful grasp on his hand. Fortunately, it wasn't his injured one. "You're safe. No one is going to hurt you." And wasn't it ironic to return those words to the person who told them to him first? "Just focus on my voice, Luffy. Don't let those memories control you. They are not real, we're here in the present and everything's okay."

Luffy took another deep breath. This time it went smoothly through his pipe to his lungs and he closed his eyes, eyebrows drawn together in his effort to ground himself while his other hand went up to clutch at the rim of his straw hat.

"Oh my, do you need help?"

Law looked up at the owner of an unfamiliar voice. A couple of senior citizens was looking at them, something akin to worried curiosity written on both their faces. "We're fine," he said curtly, glancing at his young companion to make sure these people didn't make it worse.

The old lady frowned in disbelief. "But there seems to be something wrong with the boy," she argued.

Law saw her reaching for Luffy's shoulder, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Don't touch him," he demanded, stopping her hand with the sheath of his sword, and she recoiled back. "I'm a doctor. He'll be fine."

The woman brought a palm over her mouth, shooting a petulant glare at them. "Distasteful," she mumbled under her breath.

Law clicked his tongue in a great ire when Luffy cringed from her obvious display of disgust.

The old man eyed him suspiciously. "What kind of doctor is carrying a sword?" he asked.

"The kind that's gonna chop your heads off if you don't go away right now," the surgeon snapped, finally losing his patience. He kept his voice deliberately low as a threat and also to not scare Luffy even more.

He had to admit that he was acting a tad bit protective, feelings long lost after Lami's death stirring against his better judgment, but he owed the kid so much that helping him go through something this traumatic didn't even start paying it off.

Trafalgar Law always paid his debts.

The pirate glowered after the retreating forms of the old couple, when Luffy's grip on his wrist suddenly eased up.

Despite the boy's ashy complexion, he was definitely back to reality. "Thanks, Law," he said quietly.

Law observed him for a few seconds, feeling weird hearing Luffy calling him by his preferred name, then let out a small sigh. "We can take the longer route, there's no rush," he suggested, absentmindedly shaking the numbness out of the hand that Luffy held onto.

The boy observed his action wordlessly. "But your nakama—" he started before the older D cut him off.

"Waited this long and can wait a bit longer."

Luffy hesitated.

Feeling slightly exasperated, the surgeon rolled his eyes. Goodness knew this brat could use being just a bit selfish once in a while.

Someone shouted down the main street.

Luffy conceded immediately, swiveling around and hurrying back into the side alley they had walked out previously.

Law followed suit, a small satisfied smirk toying with a corner of his mouth.

-presently, somewhere in the East Blue, the Going Merry-

Luffy put the last bite into his mouth and pushed the plate away, indicating that he was done.

Sanji, who at that exact moment placed down another bowl of roasted meat on the table, scowled at his action. "Eat," he ordered, glowering down at the seated straw-hatted teen.

Luffy cast a single fleeting glance at him. "Nah, I'm good," he declared before turning to face Usopp, sitting in front of him on the other side of the table. "Ne, Usopp, let's go fishing!"

The cook shot a warning glare at the sniper. The latter gulped as he got the hint and instead of agreement, what left his mouth was, "You should really eat more, Luffy."

The captain frowned, a spectrum of emotions flickering across his expression until it settled on conscientiously crafted neutral. He said nothing, though.

Sanji exhaled a cloud of smoke, tapping the butt of his cigarette at the corner of the ashtray. "I've seen how much you can eat. This plate doesn't amount even a quarter of that, does it?" Sanji chided. He pushed a bowl towards the younger teen. "So, eat."

Nami pursed her lips disapprovingly at the blond's pushy behavior, but didn't move to stop him.

The only one who was missing from the galley was Zoro. They were unable to wake the swordsman up and left him napping against the mast.

Luffy stared up at his cook. He knew how much he could eat better than anyone else, but they were in the middle of the sea with limited supplies and no nearby islands. What if they ran out of food? He didn't want his nakama to starve. He was used to that, they weren't.

The boy realized that Sanji had only good intentions, but he couldn't help a sudden feeling of being threatened, and the blond towering over his seated form only strengthened it. Without saying anything, he stood up, intended to leave.

Sanji tsked. "You shitty rubber, do I need to chain you up and force feed you?"

Luffy froze mid-move, his whole body going rigid.

Just chain it up and force feed it!

He was not on the Going Merry anymore, not even in the East Blue. He was back in that room, forced to kneel before that person, sea stone cuffs biting into his skin, draining his strength, leaving him weak and hopeless and at the mercy of those people.

"Saint Kenjord, he's refusing to eat. Probably noticed that his food had been drugged lately."

"I don't care! Just chain it up and force feed it! I need this pet ready for today's match!"

Luffy heard a distant echo of his name before he felt a touch on his shoulder. He lashed out, momentarily forgetting where or with whom he was.

He knew what he was experiencing right now wasn't real; Law explained this to him. It was just a flashback, becoming a wounded piece of himself that had been sliced off during his time in that place and hung there, suspended in that horrifying past.

It wasn't real. Not real, not real, not real…

He knew that, yet still could clearly feel rough and sweaty hands manhandling him, grabbing, dragging, shackling him down, prying his mouth open, stuffing their food down his throat. He didn't like it. It always made him sick, like his body and blood was on fire, leaving his mind in shambles, causing him to be restless and angry. So, so angry, angry enough to tear anyone in sight apart.

Luffy couldn't recall how he ended up outside, leaning over the railing, acidic taste of bile clinging to his tongue. His body was hot and uncomfortable, the disgusting, sickening feeling of those hands crawling like larvae just under his skin, out of reach. He wanted it gone, to rip his skin off to make it disappear.

The sea. The seawater was supposed to be cold and refreshing.

He vaulted over the railing and into the deep abyss below.

"Luffy!" Nami and Usopp screamed in horror. Before they could even move, a blur of white and green shot past them. Zoro, who had been sleeping soundly till now, dove overboard without a moment's hesitation.

"Rope! We need a rope! Or ladder!" Usopp panicked, scrambling inside in search of the rope.

Sanji walked to the railing and stopped next to the navigator. He looked down, absentmindedly rubbing his cheek that was still red and stinging after Luffy had punched him. "The hell is this about?" he mumbled under his breath, his eyes quickly scanning the surface of the sea, searching for a familiar green-head and their idiot captain.

Silently, Nami pressed Luffy's straw hat to her chest as she also observed the sea, waiting.

After an excruciatingly long several seconds, Zoro finally emerged from below the sea and began swimming one-armed towards the ship. At the same time, Usopp showed up with a simple rope ladder and tossed it down.

The swordsman made it to the ladder and latched onto it, adjusting the rubbery teen to hang over his shoulders, but Luffy reached for the ladder to climb himself. Zoro let him without any objection, just silently supporting his weakened body so that he wouldn't end up in the ocean again.

Slowly, they both climbed back onto Merry.

"Thanks, Zoro," Luffy said quietly as his feet landed on the deck.

"Sure," the man replied nonchalantly, however his sharp silver eyes fixed on his captain's back was anything but nonchalant.

"Luffy…" Nami trailed off, biting her lip, unsure of what to say. This episode was as bad as that night terror, maybe even worse.

Luffy's gaze flicked to her, then down at his straw hat. "Thanks, Nami," he spoke in the same flat tone, taking his treasured hat from her, but didn't put it back on. He turned to leave. "Going to change."

Sanji gritted his teeth in frustration. "Hey, wait!" he ordered, unconsciously lifting his arm to stop the teen from walking away. "Expl—"

Luffy smacked his approaching hand away. Lips pulled into a snarl, he faced the blond and hissed, "Do not touch me." He maintained his glare for a bit before continuing towards the hatch of the boys' room, leaving a wet trail behind.

Once he was inside and out of earshot, Zoro turned to the other three pirates and scowled, a mute demand to explain. When no one spoke, he barked out, "What happened?"

"W-We don't know!" Usopp stammered out in defense.

"One moment we were eating and then…" Nami knitted her brow, contemplating. "I… I think he might have been triggered by your words, Sanji-kun."

"What did he say?" Zoro asked. His scowl deepened when Nami reverted her eyes while Usopp simply seemed confused. He rounded on the cook. "What did you say?"

"That I'm gonna chain him up and force feed—"

Zoro fisted his hand into the lapel of the cook's suit and slammed him into the mast. Usopp squeaked startled. Nami recoiled in fright from the swordsman's sudden aggression.

Sanji, however, held his fellow crewmate's glare evenly, but didn't fight against being manhandled. He had already figured out that for some reason his words worked as a trigger for Luffy. He felt guilty, yeah, but he would have lied if he said that he wasn't aggravated by Luffy's attitude.

"Freedom for Luffy is everything," Zoro growled. "Idiot," he spat, shoving the blond. Then he collected his sword and boots and sauntered off, some of his anger and irritation leaking to show in his stride.

Sanji pulled out a new cigarette and lighted it up. "Dammit," a silent curse slipped past his lips. "I'm gonna go talk with Luffy."

"You think that's a good idea?" Usopp asked uncertainly.

"Like I have a choice," the cook replied under his breath. He walked to the hatch and ripped it open. Not bothering with a ladder, he simply jumped inside, landing smoothly on the wooden floor.

"Now listen, Luf—" Sanji didn't finish, his voice getting strangled somewhere along his throat.

The hatch above fell close, plunging the room into the half-darkness, but not before Sanji laid his eyes on Luffy's back, the latter caught off guard and not fast enough to pull his new dry shirt over it.

The lit cigarette hit the floor, throwing glowing specks of cinder in a small circle around it.

"That's…" Sanji spoke breathlessly. "That's a slave brand."

Next Chapter: Dead or Alive

This story has its own TV Tropes page: (you can find a link on my profile)