To Raise a Vampire

Nightly Life of Raising a Vampire

This has tons of fluffyness in it with some dashes of angst with Ace and Sabo. It's 86,000 words, so I'll be posting it for awhile. Disclaimer about Luffy: His speech may be too advanced for a four year old, but I didn't feel like making the speech mistakes too much in this fic. Some OCs on the Spades crew, and some unrequited Marco/Ace love on the side. Enjoy~

Luffy sucked his thumb while he was relaxed in Ace's arms, the tiredness of his sleep drifting away as what was left of the light of the sky darkened and disappeared completely. The moment the sun was completely gone, Luffy yawned and said, "Ace, down! Let's play!" Ace set him down as he asked and smiled at his brother.

"What do you want to play?" the eighteen year old asked with a grin. The grin was returned, though with Luffy's slightly sharper canines making his smile more... unique. Luffy put his finger to his chin in thought, his dark red eyes looking up, trying to come up with something to play.

"Tag!" Luffy cried and zoomed away, Ace chasing after him. Luffy erupted into giggles that were as nice sounding as wind chimes. Luffy wasn't good at focusing it yet, but he was in a sort, hypnotizing. His smile made you warm inside, his laughter was like music, and he even smelled nice. Everything a vampire had to lure in humans, Luffy possessed.

Ace caught him and tossed him high into the air, as the child was very light to Ace's strength. Luffy squealed and giggled, before he latched onto Ace's neck and grinned. His stomach growled, and he giggled again. "My tummy is hungry. It yelled at me," Luffy said.

"Want some breakfast now?" Ace questioned, already walking to the kitchen of their ship. The crew were not pirates. Not yet and not for awhile. As long as Luffy was still a vulnerable child, they were merely sailors. They flew no black flag or jolly roger. Luffy's safety came first. Always came first.

"Yeah! I want cereal," the toddler vampire said. Luffy, not being full vampire, could eat human food most of the time. He only needed blood once a week, and a small amount at that.

"Cereal, huh? What kind?" Ace asked as he walked with the boy, who wanted down to hold onto Ace's short's leg. He had a bounce in his step, but both were quiet now as much of the ship was asleep. Only a few people took night watch and slept during the day. This role as well took turns between the sailors.

"The flaky ones," Luffy replied as they entered the galley and kitchen. Ace sat Luffy on his seat. The older teen prepared the flaky cereal and milk, bringing over a glass of orange juice as well to the table and setting it in front of the little boy. Luffy gladly scarfed all of the food down, asking for seconds and then thirds.

Sine he had two meals a night, at sundown and sunset, he ate quite a lot during those times. He did sometimes wake up in the middle of the day, hungry and tired, but then he went back to sleep after eating.

Even though Luffy was part vampire, and no one else on the ship was, it was surprisingly easy to take care of the boy, despite how much trouble he liked to get himself into whenever possible. Feeding him was like feeding the rest of the crew, and he didn't have bloodlust like full vampires did. He was just a little boy, growing and maturing slowly, who only had to drink blood not often and had a different sleep schedule.

Even though he was part vampire, he was able to go into the sunlight for a very short amount of time, but it gave him bad sunburns, so he never went outside. He was three when he went outside the last time, and it had been painful for him. So, Ace and Sabo made a handicap for him and alternated their schedules for spending time and taking care of Lu.

Once Luffy was done with his food, belly stuffed full for most of the rest of the night, Luffy and Ace played more games before relaxing and Ace reading the boy his fairy tales. Sabo wrote new ones for Luffy often, many including vampires like himself as the good guys. The two did their best to keep Luffy away from being exposed to the human publics feelings of his kind.