Secrets of Blood

Blood Loss

Luffy casually walked down the street, trying his best to resist the smell of food that vendors were selling on the sides of the brick walkway, connecting one side of the small town to the other. Though he was relaxed, he stayed aware of his surroundings; there had been many scuffles involving violent pirates and bandits and it was night time. He hated bandits, especially mountain bandits.

As he passed one of the many dark alleys, he saw a woman being harrassed by multiple men, who were obviously not good guys. He slowly walked towards the alley. Before getting half way down to the group, he used his gomu gomu pistol and knocked them out. Little did he know he was being watched, since he had not awakened his haki yet.

The watchers were on the roof of the buildings that created the walls in the alley. The woman thanked him, and ran from the alley, giving him a smile. He began walking back the way he had came when a teenage girl suddenly fell out of the sky. "A mystery person!" Luffy thought, excited that he saw someone fall from the sky.

"Hey, you're pretty strong aren't you? Why don't you join me?"

"No, I have no reason to join you," Luffy said. "I have to get back to my crew." He dismissed the Mystery girl and started to walk away. This conversation felt oddly similar to a conversation he had long ago with Nami, only this time he was tackled to the ground, landing on his stomach. Usually this girl wouldn't have been a problem at all, he would have shaken her off, but she was oddly strong, and Luffy couldn't do anything.

"Oh really? How would your crew feel when they saw what I'm going to do to you? Since you don't want to join, I'll make you want to." She then laughed cruelly, pushing Luffy down on the concrete harder, squishing his torso. He started to feel fear bubble up his gut. Fear he felt was irrational.

"Wh - what do you mean?" he asked, wanting to know but was surprisingly afraid of the answer. The girl twisted his head to the side and stabbed him with two pointy things, not being able to turn his head and see, Luffy wasn't able to realize they were the girl's teeth. Luffy couldn't figure out what was happening, only that he was getting dizzy and light headed, and feeling extremely weak. He was so out of it, he didn't realize he was being rolled onto his back and his mouth forced open. Something nasty slid down his throat. He then blacked out and wasn't able to hear someone run down the alley, the pressure of the Mystery girl suddenly jumping off before Zoro could even see her.

"Oi, Luffy! What the hell are you doing here? We're supposed to be back at the Sun- whoa! Luffy, what's wrong?" Zoro didn't notice the two small holes on Luffy's neck closing until they couldn't be seen anymore, like the whole thing never happened.

When Luffy didn't respond, Zoro picked him up and hurried as fast as he could to the Sunny, to Chopper.

Zoro didn't get lost, his instincts and concern overriding his terrible sense of direction. He called for Robin, who was watching the Sunny at the moment, asking her once she bloomed an eye and ear near Zoro on the surface of the wood.

"Something is wrong with Luffy," was all he needed to say before a ladder of arms appeared, gently bringing Luffy over the side of the ship and on to the deck as Zoro hurried up the ladder, Robin's arms disappearing.

Zoro ran to the infirmary, hoping Chopper was still there like he was before the rest of the crew, besides Robin and Franky, had left onto the island. Luckily Chopper was sitting at his desk, creating some Rumble Balls. Once he heard the door slam and saw the expression on Zoro's face, he knew something was wrong, and before Zoro could explain Chopper had grabbed his blue backpack with the emergency supplies for quick treatment and ran out the door, Zoro following, and saw Luffy laying in Robin's arms, white as a sheet. He began to examine Luffy.

"He has extreme blood loss... Zoro, when and how did you find him?" Chopper asked quickly, using his stethoscope to hear Luffy's sluggish heart beat at the same time.

"I found him knocked out in an alley around 20 minutes ago. I ran here. But, there was no blood, so how does he have blood loss?" Zoro questioned the small reindeer.

"Good question... We'll just have to ask him when he wakes up. He should be fine, luckily we have some of his rare blood type. I hope we have enough. We're almost out... But with what we have, I can do a transfusion since he has anemia." He turned into Heavy Point and gently rushed Luffy to the infirmary, going into doctor mode as he gave Luffy a blood transfusion. Zoro followed after with Robin right behind him. He ran his hands through his spiky green hair, trying his best to figure out this strange situation.

Luffy woke around an hour later, noticing Zoro sleeping in the corner. His mind was a little foggy and he felt dizzy. "Zoro."

Zoro immediately woke up. "Hey, how you feeling?" he questioned nervously.

"Mmm... tired. What happened?" Luffy asked, his voice slurring a bit.

"We should be asking you that, Captain-san," Robin said, walking into the infirmary before Zoro could answer. He let it go this time. Usually he would have said something about Robin cutting him off.

"I don't remember. This girl was talking to me and then I forget the rest... I remember hurting... somewhere," Luffy trailed off. "I'm hungry," he then predictably stated.

"The rest of the crew have arrived, so I will go ask Cook-san to bring some food for you," said Robin as she left the room.

Not long after, Sanji walked in with some meat. For once, Luffy's mouth didn't water. Sanji handed the plate to him and left. After the door shut, Luffy was alone to eat, since Zoro had told him he was going to go lift some weights in the crow's nest. He bit into the steak and immediately spat it out.

"This tastes disgusting!"