Broken- Lawlu {editing/ hiatus}

Chapter IX

Luffy had opened his eyes. It was midnight. 00:00.

Luffy sat up in his bed, shocked and happy. He could see his surroundings, it was dark so he didn't know the colours of the things, but it looked like any hospital he'd seen before he was kidnapped. He'd been to hospitals a lot, he was quite clumsy and hurt himself a lot. He remembers scaring Ace a lot. Shanks and Dadan too.

Luffy's eyes teared up at his memories, hating to remember his past. Though now, he was the same as that time. He was weak, unable to do anything.

"What has even changed about me...?" Luffy whispered as he gripped the bandages over his chest. It ached. Everything started to hurt inside his body. The memories came flooding back from his childhood and he started crying.

"What's wrong with me?" Luffy suddenly said and started to wipe his tears, tried to keep them in even though they broke out again and again. "Ace hates crybabies..."

Luffy waited a couple of minutes and his tears finally stopped. He was shaking from sorrow and pain. Luffy hated his past, but he didn't regret anything. He just hated himself. For being weak.

"I'm not weak anymore. I won't be weak anymore." Luffy said and threw off his blanket and sat on the side of the bed. He was going to try and stand up. He knew it wouldn't really be easy, but he could try. He set one foot on the floor, feeling the cooling, polished concrete under it. It felt nice. Luffy gripped the metal frame of his bed as help to stand up and hoisted himself up, stepping down with the other foot. He was unsteady and about to fall down on his bed, but he kept standing. He waited some moments before trying to take a step forward. He had his hand on the wall for support as he took unsteady steps on the cold floor. He had some trouble seeing since it was really dark in the room, but he didn't want to be blinded by the light so he kept the lights off. He saw the mirror beside him and was shocked by his appearance. Who was this? This thin, pale, bandaged creature with long hair and scared expression. Zoro was right, he looked like a mess. Damn.

"Is this really me?" Luffy whispered as he touched his own face in disbelief. "I look completely different..." He continued and then decided to look away. He wanted to explore, he had this tingling in his stomach, the excited feeling of exploring this new place. Luffy continued to slowly make his way to the door and then silently turned the knob. It was dark everywhere. No one was awake. Good. Luffy slowly but safely made his way out of the infirmary and closed the door behind him. He leaned on the door so he could look around the corridor he was in. There were many paintings and a huge desk in front of him. His room was the last in the corridor so he knew which room was his. He put his hand on the wall beside the door and slowly stepped through the silent corridor. His heart picked up and he was terrified someone would find him. It gave him adrenaline and made him more excited to continue roaming around. He suddenly heard a loud snore when he was at the end of the surprisingly short corridor. It came from the white couch in the living room Luffy had walked into. It was Shachi and Penguin. Luffy didn't know what they looked like, but he guessed it was them because of the Penguin cap. Luffy decided to be even more quiet than before, he didn't want to wake them up. Luffy continued into the open doorway next to him, it was the kitchen. Luffy looked around quietly and his eyes stopped at the fridge. He supported his way over there and opened it slowly. The light was broken in it, lucky.

Luffy found some fruits and other foods and ate them immediately, making a huge mess in the fridge. He slowly closed the door to the fridge and walked off. There was an upstairs staircase, but he didn't want to risk that. It looked creaky and it would probably wake up someone in the house. Were there some other rooms nearby?

He saw bathrooms and some other room. Luffy silently stepped towards it and opened it. He saw two people lying in it. It seemed to be Law's parents. Luffy immediately closed it. Law and his sister probably slept upstairs. And Luffy guessed their guest room for Corazon was there as well. Luffy felt around the walls to walk to the next door he saw. When he opened it, it was a staircase down. Probably the basement. The stairs were concrete so they shouldn't creak, but Luffy didn't want to go in there. Not in the dark.

When Luffy had closed the door and turned around from it he saw something that caught his attention.

The front door.

He could run away. Run home. His face brightened up at the thought of coming home to Ace and Shanks. Both were probably worried sick for him.

"Ace..." He whispered, mostly to himself as he remembered his brother's smile and the hugs he'd always give him.

Luffy took small steps forward, slowly making his way to the front door. He reached out to the lock and unlocked the door. Took hold of the doorknob, smiling. Turning it, he opened the door. The warm summer breeze felt nice on his skin. He raised his foot, and took his first step out.

03:50am.