Savior -Luffy-

-38-

"He can't be." Nami shuddered beside me as I stood there in shock. Luffy? Dead? There's no way. He's survived so much worse than this. There's no way he died. My head whipped around to face Marco.

"I need to get up there," I immediately said. The phoenix was exhausted, but he nodded nonetheless. "Thank you." His body shifted, the form taking too much stamina to last long, so I hurriedly hopped on his offered back. "Nami, watch over Tama!" Nami was still stunned, but she nodded and wrapped a shaking hand around the little girl. Marco took off quickly and I knew Kaido was watching, but all I did was stare at him with a deathly look. The dragon stopped and a large growl came from him as his eyes darted from mine and scanned the room.

"Anyone else want to try and step up to the battle?" He bellowed with a hearty laugh. "I'm fired up now!" The roof blocked the rest of the view as Marco fumbled and landed with a crash into the dirt above. I regained my ground with shaking legs. I quickly moved Marco to a rocky area to rest, thanking him before frantically looking around.

"Luffy!" I call out, hoping I could hear a response of some sort. "Luffy, answer me!" My voice cracked as my throat grew tighter. "Luffy!" At this point, I was screaming, tears blurring my vision quickly. My legs shook and I couldn't see a single sight of him as I kept looking. Where could he have been? I began to move, my body trembling as I looked around every structure of rocks or mountain I could find. I panted heavily, trying to catch my breath with my panicked heart thudding. Then, it fell to my stomach. My breathing hitched as I saw a familiar straw hat on the ground beside a beaten body.

"Luffy!" I screamed. My voice cracked, my throat burned, and I rushed forward without thinking any further. My body slid across the dirt as I fell to my knees by his lifeless, paling body. "Luffy... Please wake up." My hands encased him, feeling nothing move as I grabbed tightly to him. "Luffy, Honey, please..." My shaking hand touches his cheek, but I get no reaction. His eyes were wide, his mouth ajar and his face was covered in blood. "Baby, wake up. Please! Please wake up." My head fell forward when after minutes of pleading, nothing changed. I couldn't hear his heartbeat. I couldn't feel him breathing.

He was dead.

I wanted to deny it. I wanted to pick him up and smack him because he was just kidding. I wanted to hold him after because I'm glad it wasn't true. My hand slowly reached into my belt, the mini den den mushi resting in my palm as I held it up slowly. I clicked it, calling Nami.

"May!" She shouts. "How is he?" My mouth opened, but no words escaped me. Tears covered my entire eyesight, not able to process anything right now. "Maylene?" Finally, I am able to gather my words enough to speak

"Nami, he's-" Thud. I pause. What was that?

"He's what?" Thud. "May? Is he okay?" Thud Thud. Was that a heartbeat? I slowly looked down at Luffy as his body rested on my lap, still lifeless. "Is Luffy-"

"Do you hear that?" I quickly cut off.

"It's him." I jumped at the voice that suddenly echoed in my head. "It's really him."

Thud Thud.

"Umi?" The snail went quiet as I turned it off. "It's who?"

Thud Thud.

"You can hear it, right?" She whispers, barely audible.

"Hear what?" As soon as I asked, the heartbeat I was hearing turned into a low rumble of drums. "Umi, what's happening?" Her laugh rang out and it was the first time I had ever heard her laugh so excitedly. It was honestly terrifying.

"It's really him! Mother was right!" She yells. I felt something on my lap and looked down to see Luffy's chest bump into the air as if it were being hit from the inside. I gasped and placed my hands across his scar. The large hit happened again, shocking me enough to make me instinctively pull away. The drums I heard were beginning to build slowly until it was all I could hear. It sounded loud and dangerous, but something about it felt so familiar that I couldn't place my finger on it.