Secrets of Blood

The First Nightmare

I hoped everyone liked the last chapter as much as I did. Love that angst. I sort of made Usopp an asshole in this, but it seems in character. Well, I hope it does. Enjoy~

As his crew planned how they were going to go back since they never backtracked the log pose, Luffy eventually fell asleep. Everyone watched him for a while.

"He looks like he's dead..." Chopper said sadly. The others agreed. Nobody was comfortable seeing Luffy like this. They all wanted to go shake him awake so he looked alive, but after what just happened, they let him sleep as long as he wanted.

Usopp was sitting in the corner across from the sleeping vampire, still terrified. He tried not to look at him...

Zoro noticed Usopp's expression of fear and disgust. He walked over and glared harshly at him, still pissed about how terrible he'd made Luffy feel.

"Get used to it and stop being an ass. Your captain and friend is a vampire, but he's still Luffy. If I'm not afraid of him when he drinks my blood, then you have no right to be either." Zoro turned around and walked away after repeating, "Get used to it."

Everyone pretended to not hear their short, one-sided conversation, but they did. They agreed with Zoro, but could see where Usopp was coming from. But the others in the Coward Trio had mostly gotten over it. Yes, Usopp was the most afraid about everything but having just lost his crew before at Water 7, it made no sense for him to push Luffy away, no matter what he was. The sniper would have to work hard on this. The rest of the crew hoped he would. It was hard enough for Luffy to be a vampire and all, but to lose a friend again because of something he couldn't control, after just getting back together, would hurt immensely.

Luffy was still asleep when the sun went down, so Zoro carried him to the men's room and put him on his bed, then got on his own and fell asleep. The rest of the crew followed, each staring at Luffy's body for a moment. It unnerved them how much he looked like a corpse. Usopp looked the longest and went to his new bed, Zoro's' previous one, which was the furthest from Luffy's. He felt awful about the relief he felt because of this.

Luffy was sitting at the dining table, eating with his friends, feeling fine and happy to like the food again. Or at least he did like it. Now it tasted repulsive, and all he could think about was the delicious smell wafting from each of his friends. He could hear their blood pumping through their veins. The first to notice him staring blankly at everyone was Zoro of course.

"Luffy, you okay?" he asked. Luffy nodded. Robin was drinking wine she had gotten from Sanji, but the red liquid looked thicker and much more appealing than the grape juice. Suddenly Robin dropped the glass and it shattered, cutting Nami's finger, who sat right next to her.

"Navigator-chan I'm so sorry!" Robin said as Chopper handed her his little medicine bag. Luffy didn't want the blood to be covered up by a bandage. He wanted to lick it, to tear through her neck to get more of the delicious liquid. Zoro once again noticed something was wrong with his captain. His eyes were red, which had never happened. Zoro told everyone to run. Just run as fast as you can, but Luffy was too quick. He leapt on the nearest person: Sanji. The cook tried to kick him with his strong leg, but Luffy was too fast and snapped the bone in half. Sanji screamed as Luffy ripped his throat out, his scream being cut off instantly. The rest of the crew screamed as they ran for the doors.

Luffy decided to block the door that went to the outside. He didn't want to lose them in the sunlight. He used his now sharpened fingernails and slashed Nami across the chest, blood spraying everywhere, coating Robin. The usually calm Robin screamed and tried to restrain him with her devil fruit, but Luffy just ripped at her arms, causing Robin to scream in pain, her arms disappearing, as she was brought down by Luffy like the others. Nami was still writhing in pain until Luffy threw Robin down next to her and ripped both of their throats open. He wanted to drink greedily but he had to wait. There were still other humans in the room.