Luffy x Neko!Reader Warm

Chapter 55: Bloody Father

It was two days before Luffy woke up. Two days of you wondering, waiting, barely daring to think of the worst outcome and yet hardly able to consider anything else. Even with Law's reassurance, your heart ached, a wound uneased by your kits, now numbered two. But then finally- finally!- Law came to you and said, "He's woken up." But you could hear it in his voice, something was wrong.

Tail raising slightly, you sat up and your kits set to mewling a complaint. "But what, Law? Just say it, please."

He still hesitated, half in the tent they'd thrown together for your use. "But he doesn't know where he is. He's out of his mind, (Y/N). He took off into the woods screaming, I think-" The barest skip of his voice betrayed his emotion. "I think he's looking for Ace."

"Oh. Oh, no." It hadn't even occurred to you to worry about how Luffy would react when he woke up in a world without Ace in it.

"(Y/N), if he reopens that wound on his chest, I don't think I'll be able to save him."

Your ears and tail shot straight up, alarm making your fur raise, and your kits, smelling your fear, shushed to quiet whimpers. You wrapped your tail around them both. "Which way did he go."

"No. No way. You're staying here."

"I'm the only one who can stop him. You know that, Law."

You stared at each other, neither willing to concede for the longest moment, but then he finally looked away. "Fine. Just head into the woods. It's not that hard to find his trail, he's destroying everything."

You paused to give both your kits a lick around the ears before hopping free of your bed, changing midair to land on four paws. Law patted you once on the head as you passed him and you knew he'd stay and guard your kits. Ace and Daniel would be safe with him. You could focus on the task at hand without worrying.

Law had been right about Luffy's trail being clear. The moment you stepped out into the painfully bright sunlight, the smell of tree sap and dust hit your nose. Broken trees and shattered stone made a gnarled path through the island and you gave yourself a shake before stepping into the cover of the trees.

It had been a long time since you walked in a place like this. The rich smell of the earth, of leaflitter and fern, crossed by warm prey-scent. The way the breeze wove between the trunks to lift your fur, making the leaves whisper above your head. It felt so familiar. It had been so, so long since you'd last walked in a place that so resembled the home of your ancestors, but you remembered. You remembered with every hair on your pelt and your claws itched with the desire to climb the trees and hunt. But stronger than the call of the forest was your worry, your grief, your fear. Would you lose the last of your tattered family? You'd all lived without Sabo for so long, your fourth, but would you lose two in one blow now, your decade-old oath reduced to one?

No. No, you wouldn't allow that. You'd stop him if it killed you.

You could hear him now, screaming with a pain so raw that it warped his voice into something you could only just recognise. Turning to follow, you paused as a ripple of fear made your fur rise and you dropped flat to the ground just as a boulder, larger than your entire body, crashed through the trees, passing over your head and slamming to the ground with enough force that it cracked cleanly down the middle. Your whole body shook, your legs felt weak, but you forced yourself up and through the newly-cleared section of forest, haring through the trees (and shattered stumps) with your tail streaming out behind you.

It wasn't hard to follow his voice, he screamed so loudly, entirely without reservation, and as you skidded around a tree, fur brushing bark you turned so close, you found yourself nearly against Luffy's back. He staggered and you reached for him on instinct, but the moment your large paw touched his side, he jerked away and turned, arm pulled back to fight. For a moment he didn't recognise you. You could see it in the blankness in his eyes, in the way his sweet face was twisted into an expression of pain and hate so absolute you almost couldn't recognise him either. The wound on his chest was raw and wet, not reopened yet, but certainly bothered enough to hurt. You lowered your ears and your head, bowing to your captain.