To Raise a Vampire

Talks of Mother

Shorter chapter this time and some emotions in this chapter. Enjoy~

Marco sat at the table with his father and captain, both drinking some bloodwine. Usually, they would have drunk it earlier, but it seemed that Ace and Sabo had refrained from teaching Luffy that the thing he lived on was blood, and not some sort of juice. They could see why, though didn't know if it was the best thing to do. Luffy was part, or even mostly, human, so maybe knowing he drank blood from humans would have upset him.

On the other hand, if he had been told it was blood from the start, it may have never bothered him. They would never know whether that was true. So, asking for bloodwine instead of "juice" would have given it away. Maybe. Luffy seemed like a clueless child. He definitely acted his age. And Ace and Sabo had taken remarkable care of him considering they would have been middle aged teenagers when the boy was born. More specifically, miscarried.

No one could imagine how horrible that situation must have been. What the boys would have had to do to deliver the baby from a turning mother. Whatever had happened then, it could be the reason Ace was so terrified of the vampires, even if he did an okay job of hiding it. But the two oldest vampires could tell his true feelings. He must have mastered hiding his emotions from Luffy.

"Their ship is very quaint," Marco said. He had just finished delivering all of their belongings to the bedroom, making sure to be silent while the humans slept. "Luffy's room seems to be the one most lived in. Toys and drawing papers scattered all over the floor, a big and comfortable bed for all three to fit on, bookshelves full of books and pictures. It was a very loving room.

"I honestly could never live on a ship that small, even if we had a small crew. I don't know how Luffy can deal with being in a dark room most of his life, and then never allowed off of the ship," Marco sighed, feeling bad for the boy.

Whitebeard took a bug gulp of his massive mug and said, "They are doing it for his protection. Luffy is one of a kind, who wouldn't want to get their hands on him? Probably would sell for a good price honestly. It's sickening, but true. You know that." Marco nodded sadly in agreement. "Plus, he has no choice but to be in his bedroom most of the time. He's fully nocturnal and needs a lot of sleep. Human children require a lot of sleep as well. Luffy is just lucky he has such a loving family to stay up with him.

"They had the right idea about not sailing with a black flag. Not only would they be targeted by Marines, but other pirates asking for a challenge, or looking down at their small vessel that is clearly not suited for the Grand Line," the older vampire said.

They were quiet for a moment, both wondering what the Spade's plans were after getting their ship fixed. They couldn't continue to the New World, and didn't know how to get back to the Blues. "What did you feel when you touched Luffy? Alby saw his dead daughter," Marco said with interest. Whitebeard smiled.

"I saw all of my sons happy and healthy," he replied. "It was a nice sight to see after Julian passed. We still have to fill his seat." The second division commander had grown sick from poisoned blood on an island and had died when he passed out and left in the sun to burn to death. They found his body, since younger vampires could die but not disintegrate once in the sun too long. "What did you see?"

Marco gave a small smile. "Saw my old family alive and happy." It had been hundreds of years since Marco was turned and his family murdered, but he still missed his little siblings. That's why he enjoyed having a big family of younger siblings, even if they were all adults.

Though honestly, having a child sibling again would be nice. But, the "guests" were only with them out of necessity for safety, food, and water. Plus, Luffy needed blood. The vampires could tell that Luffy had never fed off of any of the sailors who came with him. Not even his brothers. You could always smell when another vampire had fed off of a human. There was an underlying scent of the vampire who did it.