Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The Fetch; a role typically filled by a male member of the coven, who is responsible for summoning the other coven members to gather for meeting and ritual.

September rain tapped the window above the mattress, drops falling through the cracks and onto your face. A chirpy alarm tone screamed at you from across the room. You groaned, loathe to have thrown your phone after the first couple of times the alarm went off.

Just another thing to regret.

Sighing, you crawled off the mattress and across the sticky floor. You couldn't remember if it was beer or bong water or vomit gluing skin to linoleum. It'd get cleaned, eventually- as soon as the landlord felt like fixing the water. 'This week, I swear and don't you let me forget!' Miss M. C. told you on Monday. Now, it's Saturday morning and if you don't leave soon then you're going to be late for work.

The alarm shut off beneath your thumb and the pattering of rainfall filled the room again. You sat there with your back against the wall for a bit, not wanting to start the day or any other day after it. This is what you deserved and it was all wrong. 

At least there was bud. And you perked up a bit, enough to get off the floor and clean yourself with baby wipes, change clothes, and hit the bowl. There was enough dry shampoo in your hair by this point that it was too heavy and unwieldy to tie back. So you brushed it out with your fingers and stuffed a beanie on.

Hopefully a bit of makeup and a tight shirt over a short black sundress and docs will hide the clear lack of a shower. If not then one too many sprays of perfume should scare people off so they don't stick around long enough to ask too many questions.

God. You really are stupid. Why would anyone care enough to ask some grubby girl behind the smoke shop counter about her life anyways?

-

Squinting at the sign hanging between black iron bars in the shop window; you resolutely decided the only thing that matters is doing your crummy little job on the bad side of town, and pulled down the metal ball-string. The light on the sign clicked, switching from "CLOSED- COME BACK LATER."

To "OPEN!"

Around this time last year, you were trying to remember how to parallel park in the only spot you could find on campus. You took your time since class was going to start in 10 minutes anyway, and if you didn't figure it out and get to the bathroom, then you were going to piss your pants.

The door bell immediately dinged as a line of regulars filed in for their kratom, chargers, cigarettes, and "incense burners" or whatever the code for crack pipe is supposed to be. You marched up to the counter, making small talk while ringing them up one by one when your boss shouted from behind a beaded curtain separating the shop from his office;

"Y/N! Show the new guy how to work the register!" Buggy yelled.

"Oh yeah, don't bother yourself with giving me a heads up or anything-" you mumbled, turning to look over your shoulder and suddenly going slack jaw and eyes widening.

For a moment you thought the young man standing behind you with tattooed skin and a crown of jet black hair beneath a big hat was Ace. But that was impossible. Ace is dead. And it's all your fault.

He didn’t seem fazed by your gawking, and exhaled through his nose, eyelids drooped and brow lowered. A smirk cracked his face as he slowly eyed you up and down. It was only fair, but you frowned anyway and rolled your eyes before turning away from him.

"Come on then," you stepped aside and waved your new coworker to the register. "This is your first time logging in so the system's gonna ask for your name."

His fingers are as tan and lithe as the rest of him, splayed out over the keyboard and easily covering it from end to end. You watched him type in the name 'Law,' and hit the enter key. You read the word 'DEATH' across his fingers, your icy frown melting into a grimace. 

"Look like you've seen a ghost," he says between scanning barcodes and taking cash.

"It's nothin," you reply, happy to keep zoning out as Law takes to tendering money like a fish to water. Just thankful that most of the idiots who end up working here had bad luck instead of bad brains. Although you're pretty sure you’re here because you had both.

A buzz whirred from beneath the counter and checked your phone screen to read:

LUFFY: 🏠 

LUFFY: BYOM

ZORO: BYOB...

He somehow found a group chat you hadn't left yet. Maybe he forgot. So, you unlock your phone and remove your user from the chat, hoping the notification gets lost in the confirmation messages now flooding in.

"What have I told you about using your phone on my time?!" In a whirl of beads rattling against each other, Buggy shoves out of the office, stomping up to you.

"I was turning it on silent!" You reply.

"Y/N was showing me a video on MushiTube. I'm a visual learner," Law says over you, which wasn't hard considering his height and the how smoky baritone of his voice filled the room like sage incense.

"Oh, is that so?" Buggy reaches over to snatch your phone from your hand before you turn away swiftly, pressing the phone to your chest screen-down. He grumbles and takes a step back, his eyes glued to your narrowed brow.

"Did mister boss forget how to use his own register? Don't you have something more important to do right now?" You tuck your phone back under the counter, hearing it continue to buzz.

Luckily, Buggy didn't hear it- he liked the sound of his own voice better- as he whined, "right! Yes, I do little Missy! And don't interrupt me again unless it's important!" He blabs while bumbling back into the office, beads chattering behind him.

You turn back around, the queue of customers waiting for papers, cigarettes, and detox kits still standing in a line long enough to go out the door. At least with Law's help you didn't have to deal with the sleazier customers. Most of them were fine really, just buying what they needed to go about their days like everyone else. And then there was Full Body. Entitled, short tempered, and always asking you what your plans were later at night. 

"My dad's a cop you know. So no one will bother us and I got the hook up on the good stuff. I'm having a party later, you should come by!" He winked at you, despite the disinterested frown stapling your mouth shut tight. You'd rather face Luffy's gang than do whatever it is Full Body wanted to do with you.

"That sounds fun. Can I come too?" Law pipes up with a snarky smile.

Full Body stares at Law for a moment, before remembering he was the most important person in the room.

"Sure! More the merrier! Make sure to bring your own smoke!" Full Body replies. You cringe, and Buggy pokes his head out of the office again.

"Full Body, we've talked about this... don't brag about throwing ragers so loudly in my store!" Buggy hisses. 

"Yeah, yeah. And whose going to do anything about it? The cops?" Full Body waves him off and, handing you his phone number before he heads for the exit. "Don’t lose it this time. Seeya then, Miss Y/N."

You shudder, crossing your arms and glaring at Law. Unphased, he takes the phone number from you and slips it in the pocket of his jeans without saying a word about it, and getting no argument from you either.

The rest of your shift passed by sluggishly. Even before everything fell apart, you never wanted to bare the weight of the day when they all felt the same- busy and bland. But every moment spent working in this smoke shop was a punishment. Reminded constantly through daydreams of what you could have done differently. You'd still be in college. The thought of running into old friends wouldn’t scare you. Ace's voice wouldn't be fading away in memory.

A glass bong slipped from your hand and a loud bang and crack reverberated off the counter top. An ugly, white scar now emblazoned on the bottom side of it.

"What was that?!?" Buggy scampered over to you, but Law cut him off in his path.

Your breath seized. Your paycheck didn't even cover your bills sometimes, and now this would come out of it. You glanced at the price sticker and winced, then startled as a hand flattened against your lower back. The warmth felt like it had been stolen from your insides as a chill creeped up your back and scattered in a hot breath.

"Hey, look at that. False alarm!" Law said cheerily in that same surly tone just over your head. He pulled his hand away from your back and you looked down to see the bong was clean and in perfect condition.

You must have been so scared that you were just seeing things, and sigh in relief.

-

The perfume had vanished and you could smell yourself by the end of your double shift. Leaving out of the back door, the last rays of sunlight were highlighting your car in the tiny back alley lot. No messages came from your landlord about the water being fixed, and you groaned at your phone screen.

"Hey," a voice muttered behind you.

You kept walking, swiftly moving to the car's side door, pressing the unlock button and trying the handle. It wouldn’t give. Frantically, you kept pressing the buttons and pulling to no avail.

"Hey!" A guy in dark, loose clothes and his hands in his pockets rushes up to you.

"Get the fuck away from me!" you spit out, looking at the door handle and realizing this isn't your car.

"Ok, bitch, I'll leave after you hand over your shit," one hand appears from beneath his hoodie brandishing a small knife.

"Fuck you! Go away!" You scream and run behind the car, hearing the rush of footsteps right on your tail. Darkness crept in around your vision and you didn't know where your car even was anymore.

"Ain't gonna hurt ya if I don't have to," he grabs your arm and pulls you into his body.

"Alright, that's enough," a familiar sounding man shouts.

You look up to see Law reaching out to your attacker. He yells and spins around, shoving the knife into Law's side. Without breaking his stare, Law grunts and clutches the attacker's shoulder. A dribble of blood leaks from the corner of Law's mouth as he grimaces, then smirks.

A fiery glimmer sparks in the black of Law's eye. A deep, dark pathway opening up between you two that pulls you off your feet as it sucks you in. The light of the moon shines so bright suddenly that it blinds you. Hot, coppery liquid splashes your face and chest.

Your vision clears and all that's left of the stranger's head is a red, pulpy mess. And Law is soaked in his blood, wiping it from his eyes. You look down at your own soaked clothes with a chilly realization before everything turns black.

Chapter Text

Wishing for the end, your dead is just the start

-

Every inch of skin was burning and wet. A guttural scream ripped from your chest.

"It's ok, I've got you, you're going to be fine."

Phantom pain seared the back of your head and rolled down your body. Only able to find the parts of yourself that weren't stuck beneath sheets of metal and plastic by flailing around. Your whole body could move freely this time, so that was a good sign.

"ACE!!! I'm so sorry, Ace! Please save him!" You scream as your fingers dig into someone's flesh. "You have to save him, please, please..." The crackling roar above your head drowned out the ringing in your ears, the light was too bright. This wasn't night. That night. This wasn't a nightmare.

"I don't know who Ace is- and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be asking me to save the guy you were running away from earlier."

You pressed your hands against cold ceramic and slowly blinked your eyes open. You weren't in a car. And a broken sob stole your breath as the warm water showering down on you washed away the blood from your skin. And Law's.

He was sitting in the shower with you, soaked to the bone, his shirt and jeans clinging to him. Your own wet clothes the only thing weighing you down, not wreckage, not car parts. It wasn’t a seat belt wrapped around your torso, but the embrace of Law’s arms.

"There, there," Law pulled you into his soaked, clothed chest. "Sorry I scared you like that- I had to think fast." 

Remembering the knife, you grabbed at Law's side, finding broken flesh give under your fingers before he pulled your hand away with a pained groan. Letting your breathing even out while studying how the wet fabric clung to Law's muscles, if only to look at something that wasn't bloody. He wasn’t lean, he was strong, built with purpose.

"Why did you do that?" You ask, trembling, throat scratchy. "H-how... why did that happen? I don't understand. It's like everything was dark and I wasn't standing in the parking lot anymore and suddenly that guys head was exploded- oh god," you turned away and wretched. The air stolen from your lungs as you dry heaved.

"It's ok, we're safe, so that's all that matters right now," Law strokes your back a few times before climbing out of the shower once you stopped shaking. "I'm gonna leave you a set of spare clothes and you can just put all that in the sink so I can wash it, yeah?"

You look up at him- knowing how pathetic and small you must appear, and nod silently. The door clicks open and closed and you stay seated in the tub holding your head in your hands. When were the memories going to stop haunting you? Are you going to black out every time you see blood from now on? 

It's so nice to have a shower, actually. You looked around the grey and black tiled bathroom, dark blue towels were folded on a nearby shelf, and all of the black hardware gleaming like obsidian. You peeled your clothes off and tossed them in the sink, and reached for a bottle of soap branded unscented and organic. Once you were washed thrice over, you turned off the water and stood there letting the water chill on your body. When you opened the shower door you stayed still and let the cold prickle goosebumps across your skin. 

You're still here, even if you didn't deserve it. Even if you didn't want to be.

-

When you eventually made it out of Law's bedroom, you walked down a carpeted hall and approached the top of a staircase leading into the common area. It revealed itself to be a very large living room in a loft with a view of downtown- and you were not alone. Who must have been Law's 3 roommates looked up at you from a puffy, white couch. One young man with red hair stuffed under a beanie and oddly sharp teeth greeted you, followed by another guy of the same age with short brown hair wearing a baseball cap waved you over, and a white bear.

"So, you're alive!" The brown haired boy said, and something about the way he said it made your jaw screw shut.

"Come on down, we don't bite!" The red headed one added. And you didn't like the way he talked either.

"But it's ok if you don't want to, we can leave you alone too," the bear joined in, and he’s the only one you welcomed any attention from so far.

You clutched the over sized black band shirt draped over your body and some long cotton shorts with spots that looked like they were deliberately bleached onto them- and wished you had underwear on. The thought made your cheeks burn a little. You could hear the rumble of a washing machine behind the gathered boys where Law had thrown your soiled clothes. This was the cleanest you'd felt in a week and it had to be in your new coworker's apartment on his first day. Great. You started down the stairs toward the gaggle of bros.

This was all so intimate and familiar. Like the time you joined Ace on one of his fishing trips and fell in the creek, so he lent you his clothes while yours dried. The memory filed itself away as quickly as it came, and you felt green, your eye twitched. As soon as you remembered you were mid-step down, your foot fell out from under you, missing the step entirely and slipped. Strong arms braced you around the waist and kept you from twisting an ankle.

"Easy there, I've got ya," Law says from behind you and presses his face close to your ear, his breath tickling your neck as he whispers. "Don't mention what happened tonight to them, they don't know about my magic yet, ok?"

"M-magic? Did you say-" before you can finish, Law cuts you off.

"It's like magic, yeah! Sometimes I'm in the right place at the right time. You must still feel woozy from your fall earlier," Law takes your hand and walks you the rest of the way down the stairs. 

"Oh uh... a fall? Yeah I guess so," you catch the bluff, happy to escape whatever the hell actually happened in the parking lot. He leads you to a love seat next to the boys, and you lie back in it, tucking your legs up, and Law taking a seat in the chair opposite you.

"I'm Penguin," the guy in the baseball cap leans over with his hand out. Without meeting his eyes, you take it and shake his hand weakly, barely moving your elbow up and down.

"Hiya, I'm Y/N," you pull your hand away, but then quickly met with the red haired man taking it and shaking it vigorously. You look up at him, your arm feeling like a cooked noodle in his grip.

"My name's Shachi! Nice to meet ya!" He had actually stood up from the couch to stand in front of you to shake your hand. 

The bear man steps forward and offers his paw, "my name is Bepo."

"Hi Bepo. I've never met a bear mink before," you place your palm in his oversized paw, stretching your fingers to the edge of the soft surface, and he folds it over your hand and shakes it gently.

"Sorry," he mumbles.

"Don't be! It's nice to meet all of you. How has your night been?" You ask as Bepo and Shachi sit back down. If only to get the conversation topic as far away from your aburpt presence in their home.

"So far so good for us," Penguin replies.

"Very good in the company of a lady," Shachi winks at you, which you shyly look away from and down at the floor.

"How are you feeling?" Bepo asks, "Law says you hit your head pretty bad, it looks uninjured now."

"Hit my head...?" You look at Law and he's staring back at you from under the brim of his hat, waiting. "Sorry, I'm still trying to remember what happened." You crossed your arms over your chest and sank deeper into the love seat.

"That's ok. Pretty normal for head injuries. If it doesn't come back to you then you can visit us as the hospital!" Shachi says.

"Is that where you work?" You ask.

"All of us work there, yeah!" Shachi rattled off, his smile dropping when he glances over at Law nervously. The outline of Law’s jaw seemed sharper then.

"That's where I worked before the smoke shop," Law sighs, adding, "Y/N-ya is my new coworker now. Don't let them gross you out with medical stories, I'm sure it'll make your headache worse."

You rubbed your temple, wishing you could shrink into the love seat and disappear. You wanted to think about anything but blood or injuries. So, your mind lands on the mirrored tattoos decorating Law's hands and his muscular arms, the bandage peaking out from beneath his shirt and the way he was sitting funny to avoid adding pressure to the wound.

After a while, the boys went back to playing a video game, half ignoring you and you trying not to appear as uncomfortable as you were. It wasn’t clear whether you were better off 24 hours ago, unwashed and miserable, or now, washed and confused. The loss of control, the guilt, the feeling that no matter what you do, someone gets hurt around you.

The washing machine beeped and Law got up to move the load, and you followed, looking over your shoulder and closing the door behind the two of you- which was met with a raised brow from Law. The linen closet was only big enough to hold the stacked washer and dryer, Law finding his back against the wall to make enough room for two people. Leaning into him, you stood up on your tiptoes and whispered to the side of his face;

"Maybe we should go to the hospital for that stab wound."

"We could do that. Or you can help me heal it right now," Law replies in a low whisper that crawled down your spine.

"What? I don't know anything about medical stuff," you whisper back harshly, trying to cover up the nerves quickly catching up to you in the tight space.

"Listen, it's hard to explain but I've been experimenting with a special kind of magic and I think I can heal myself if you help me," Law says, lowering himself and tucking his lips below your ear. His breath made your teeth itch and tongue heavy in your mouth.

"Don't be ridiculous, you need medical attention, Law!" You hiss, bracing your hands on his shoulders.

"You know, I like your spark," you can see Law's smirk from the corner of your eye as he puts his hands on your shoulders too.

"What spark? We met this morning, you hardly know me. Now come on, let me at least see the damage."

Law complies with a snort, removing one hand to lift up the edge of his shirt far more than he needed to. Across a set of chiseled abs and in between the lines of a large tribal tattoo was the stab wound, angry and bleeding through the bandage wrapped around Law's waist. 

"Holy fuck, Law!" You hiss low, your stomach queasy at the sight. He plucks one of your hands from his shoulder and pulls away to look you in the eye.

"Do you trust me?" He asks.

"Wha- I don't know!" A bright blush burns across your cheeks.

"Touch it," Law laces his fingers on top of yours and puts your hand on the wound, making you gasp at the hot, mushy sensation beneath your fingers.

"You're being weird!" The protest falls from your lips before a deep, comforting warmth blooms between your hand and Law's abdomen. Tendrils of light seeped out from between your knuckles and sealed your palm to the torn flesh. You couldn't pull your hand away if you wanted to. A vast, dark forest opened up in your mind. An endless expanse of wilderness that beckoned to come on all fours and run free. Law lets out a wavered breath of relief. The bandages become brittle and fall away, beneath them was nothing but his body. Your mouth goes slack staring at the place where the wound should still be. 

"Look at what you can do, Y/N... Pain pays for pain. That guy stabbed me, so I crushed his head. And pleasure, well..." Law says, running a thumb up and down your palm.

"Pleasure...?" Your blush gets even brighter and you rip your hand away from Law's. As your head started spinning, you rushed back into the living room to sit down. Moments later, the sound of the dryer rolling came from behind Law as he re-emerged from the linen closet, standing up straighter.

The boys tried to hide the amused glint in their eyes, and you were wishing you hadn't noticed them at all as you pat your cheeks. You'd been signed up for a game you had no chance of winning now. Law sat back down and your stare bored into him begging for answers to a hundred questions shooting off in your mind. But you stayed quiet, content to watch the boys play their video game and chat over you.
-

When you'd changed back into your previous outfit and came back out to the living room, Shachi and Penguin didn't bother hiding their stare this time. You crossed your arms at them, tilting your head in judgment.

"Haha sorry, Y/N. Kind of a man cave here," Bepo offers and your shoulders relax.

"It's fine," you wave them off and grab your bag. Law steps out in a new shirt and jeans and walks you out to a parking garage. He approaches an older model of a Jeep Cherokee, painted a warm yellow that reminded you of sunflowers.

When you hop into the passenger side, you notice some blood stained towels in the seats, a deep furrow carved itself in your brow. But you didn’t want to talk about this anymore, you just wanted to go home. Law silently watches you bundle up the towels and push them on the floor before deciding to take the bundle and run them back into his apartment. 

It’d probably be better to throw away the evidence. But who were you to judge?

Leaning back in the seat, you glanced around. There didn’t seem to be anything out of sorts with the car. Nothing that screamed “magic” or even off putting or spooky. If anything, Law seemed like a temporarily embarrassed med student. Helping you out was some kind of charity that must have come easy to him.

He came back out to the parking garage, in another change of clothes. Alarmed, you glanced down at your hands- no blood. No more blood.

Law climbed in and started the car, and drove too carefully, too slowly- as if you were precious cargo. And it only set your nerves on fire to be treated with so much attention.

"Thanks for everything," you say, desperate to make some kind of fuss in return.

Law only hums in response, focused on the road and letting the silence hang in the air. It was like you’d known each other for ages, not a day. You reach to run your fingers through your hair and stop yourself, instead burying your hands between your legs.

"Maybe it was meant to be," you chuckle nervously, "water's broke at my place and I haven't had a shower in a week." You wonder, and almost hope, that this grosses Law out enough to forget about touching you or doing any more 'pleasure magic' around you. That all of this can be forgotten and you don't fuck up his life like the way yours is fucked.

Law perks up at that, eyes wide with interest and your gut tightens.

"I've used magic since I was a kid, I bet I could fix that," he offers.

"My landlord is the one who should fix it, since it's her place," you respond, looking out the window. Old brick buildings pass by until the one the smoke shop is in gets closer.

"And how has that worked out?" Law replies and pulls up next to your car. No one has found the body yet, it's still the midnight hour, but there's no way the parking lot won't be crawling with cops in the morning. And your only thought is where you're supposed to park for tomorrow's shift.

"Do you have magic to take care of that?" you point at the stinking island in a pool of blood.

"Unfortunately, it's one of the first spells I learned," Law pulls a white china marker from his glove box and marks a pentagram around the body. He unclips one of his earrings, and tosses it along with one bill worth of berry onto the corpse and whistles. With a flash of white light, the pentagram catches fire on the pavement and is gone with the body and blood in an instant.

What kind of past did Law have exactly?

-

"Magic users, or those who are killed with magic, go to a special place when they die. There's an entity there who watches over it who likes to be paid for her service. What that is, I have no idea. I've heard she torments the souls of those who don't pay up when they eventually die," Law explains as he follows you up the stairs to your apartment.

The metal whines, and you feel out of place around the rust and weeds and wasp's nests now that you've bathed. You unlock the door, jiggling the key a special way to open the lock, and walk inside. Before you can put your bag down, Law has pulled that china marker out of his pocket and drew a rune on your kitchen sink. The greasy white marks pushing grime away at it's edges. You think to offer buying Law a new one so he doesn't have to take the stench of this place with him when he leaves.

"So, believe it or not, killing is easier than fixing this plumbing problem. Magic likes organic, living things more than plastic or metal pipes," Law says as he steps out of your bathroom and stands over you. "I'll need your help again, but you have to want it. A small act of passion should do the trick," his fingers ghost over yours.

The phrase sits on your chest for a beat. ‘An act of passion.’ Like how he mentioned pain for pain, and pleasure for… the pleasure of healing, you guess. Breaking flesh and mending it having some measured level of power to do the same onto a target. Was magic really that simple? The air shifted around you, like you were standing in a field of electricity, your willpower the conduit, with yours and Law’s flesh as the channel.

Hesitantly, you take his hand and lift it to your lips, letting your breath fall around his knuckles. You looked up, forcing yourself into the intimacy of eye contact, noting your visage reflecting in melted amber pools of his gaze. Then, gingerly placed a kiss on his finger stamped with an 'A'. Your lips feel cold, then dry, then your whole face lights up and a sheen of sweet drops from your temples. This wasn't a blush, but a cold fire burning from the back of your throat and clattering against your teeth. When you gasp, it's like exhaling a breath held so long and so deep from within your bones that it was breathed first by your ancestors. A deep knowing, that desire to run free and roll around on the forest floor burned from a sacred fire in your chest.

The sounds of water rumbling and pipes squealing knocked you back into reality. All you did was kiss one of Law's fingers- the ring finger, and you were flooded with a sense of ancient power. You shot a surprised look at Law, who wore a mask of awe staring back down at you.

You bit your lip and dropped his hand, brushing past him and trying the sink. When you turned the handle, water poured from the spout and you squeaked with glee.

"Oh my god it works!" You cheer, turning back to see the front door open and your roommate walking through.

"Hey!!! The water's workin' again! Finally!" He runs into his room and comes back out holding his bong. Not bothering to wait for you to move out of the way before he rushes over and dumps the brown, stinking water into the sink and fills it with fresh water.

"Oh, Law, this is Bartolameo, by the way. And he's about to thank you," you say and elbow Barto in his side.

"Did he fix it?"

"Yeah, but I only called someone for help. You're welcome to smoke me out for the favor though," Law reaches his hand out and shakes Barto's hand.

"Gladly, Mister Law!!!" Barto shouts, then sniffs the air and looks down at himself, grumbling, "after I shower first."

Chapter Text

Come walk with me
Safe from the sun
All wrapped in black
Come share my shroud

-

A week passed by so swiftly that on the Thursday night before your day off, you feel giddy. You'll finally be able to sleep in, wrapped in fresh sheets. With your water working, you had a crazy energy buzz to clean the whole apartment. This was the best you'd felt at home since moving in.

Your mood couldn't stop swinging. Sometimes you couldn't stand to be near Law, put off every time the air electrified between you. Other times, you found every excuse to be in his space or sneak glances at him. He was easy to look at with his fox like features and beautiful tan skin. His eyes brightened when they met yours across the walls of glass pipes and rolling papers, a knowing smirk quirking at the corner of his mouth. When you felt your cheeks turn pink, you'd turn away like a bashful teenager.

On your way out, right as your bag was thrown over your shoulder, Law tucked his hand into your elbow.

"Hey, I wanted to give you something," he said, your gaze traveling down to his other hand holding out a composition notebook with the symbol of Venus carved into the paper cover, "took me a while to figure out how to manifest it. This is a spellbook. Like, a real magical one."

You'd imagined spellbooks from movies- leather-bound with aged pages tinted yellow from use. When you took the notebook and flipped through the blank, lined pages, you sighed and tried not to look ungrateful.

"Thank you, Law," you said over your shoulder as he follows you out the back door. The parking lot was dingy and spotted black and grey, all except one body-sized spot that looked like the cement had been poured a week ago. You'd made a habit of parking as far away from that spot as possible.

"Spellbooks are special. They will manifest what you've cast intuitively," Law helps you flip to a middle page with a title printed on the top stating HELPING HAND and a list of requirements for the healing spell you performed on Law's injury, as well as the broken water pipes. "They'll also show you spells for your deepest desires. So it never looks the same. It will change with you," Law runs a finger along the cover. "This was what I had lying around from med school. It'll transform in time, don't worry." 

That was a relief. If you ever performed another spell again that is, which didn't seem likely (you hope). With that thought, you turn to fully face Law to ask;

"Why give me this? Why involve me at all, Law? I appreciate it but I'm just a stranger to you."

"'Just any stranger' would not have taken the sudden discovery of magic’s existence with so much grace. And talent might I add," he winks, sliding his hand from the notebook cover to your wrist and squeezed it lightly. He felt cold, or perhaps it was your nerves making you hot.

"You couldn't have known that before hand," you squint your eyes at him, "or did you? Is there some kind of magic future sight in here?"

He laughs, "I wish it did," and he lets go of you and moves to return inside. "Goodbye for now, Y/N."

He said it like he savored the taste of your name on his tongue. You bit your lip and rushed to the car, tossing the notebook to the passenger seat, and then on your couch's side table when you got home. Your phone buzzes and Luffy's name blocks out everything else there is to read. So you toss your phone aside too and go straight your bedroom to sleep.

-

An insistent banging against your bedroom window called through your dreams. Grumbling, you exhaled a sleepy breath, stretching out, with a desire to stay on your back for the rest of eternity. When you opened your eyes, a wild grin beneath a wilder mop of black hair greeted you from behind the cracked glass. 

"Luffy!" You screeched, fighting the blankets tangled around your legs to get up and open the window, mindful of the crack in it. The orange light of the setting sun framed his body crouched on the fire escape.

"Heyyyy! I missed you!" As soon as he can fit through, he gloms onto you through the open window.

"Hey, Luffy. There's a front door for a reason..." you mumble into his shoulder, wrestling out of his hold and stepping away to watch Luffy scramble through the window. Once through, he stepped into your space to stand just over you by a head. He hugged you again, the warmth of him warding off the regret you usually feel each time you wake up. It was like the abundant kindness in his heart seeped through him and glowed off his sun kissed skin.

"You didn't come to my party," Luffy said glumly.

"And you should still go through the front- oh," you tried to look up at him, but he hugged you tighter, slotting your face in his neck, resting his chin on the crown of your head.

"Sanji saw you left the group chat too, but no one's heard from ya," Luffy's voice rumbled in his throat, if you pressed a little closer you could feel it on your lips.

Biting back tears, you muttered, "I'm sorry. I don't know how I'm supposed to show my face to everyone."

His hands grabbed your shoulders and forced you to look up at his eyes, moving fast and dark like espresso.

"I didn't lose you that night. If you're sorry then don't push me away. Come over tonight and let us see that you're alive still," he says with a low gravel in his tone.

That phrase again. You're alive, still.

The floor gave you reprieve from Luffy's stormy stare. He shook you and broke the tension with a laugh, leading you out of your bedroom with an arm around your shoulders. For a moment you stared at the back of his head and marveled at the causal glamour of his mood swings. He took you into the living room where Barto was lying/half comatose on the couch.

His eyes locked on Luffy and he gasped:

"M-Mister Monkey D. Luffy!" He shot up and waved.

"Oh hey, Rooster-head," Luffy raised a hand back in a half wave. You felt yourself deflate on behalf of Bartolomeo, but it didn't seem to land a drop of rain on his spirits. 

"Wanna smoke? Lemme clean this out, it'll only take a sec," Barto scrambled off the couch to swipe the bong from the little side table and ran, literally, into the kitchen. 

A water ring appeared on the cover of the spellbook.

"God dammit, Barto," you cursed low and took the book and threw it up on the kitchen counter top. 

"Maybe one for the road. We're about to head out," Luffy said.

"We?" You stutter.

"Yeah! I'm having a party tonight too! Lets go after this bowl!" He gives you a classic Luffy smile that shines so bright it hogs all the light in the room.

You let it roll around in your mind for about half a second before the part of you that wants to pretend everything can go back to the way things were pushes you over the edge. So you shrug and nod, stepping back into your bedroom.

"That's fine. I'm gonna freshen up," if you were going to show your face at Luffy’s party, which was already decided by him was yes, you were- then you're going to at least try to look like you wanted to be there.

-

On third thought, with your hand hovering over the passenger side car door, you think this is a terrible idea. Stress panged in your chest like a knife pushed into your sternum- deep enough that it went in all the way to the hilt. Your palms were dewy with cold sweat. You didn't feel put together, your body as scattered as your mind. 

The outfit you changed into was a flouncy black shirt, tight at your waist and flowy at the bell sleeve, and a short black jean mini skirt and heeled boots. God, when was the last time you'd worn them? Your makeup matched the audacity of the heeled boot, you'd drawn your eyeliner out half way out to your temple and with brown eyeshadow darkening the crease of your eyelid. And a berry toned lipstick to match.

It's battle paint, you think upon the exhale of the biggest breath you could manage. Luffy seemed to like it at least. His eyes popped out of his head when he saw you step out of your bedroom, mostly just to admire the huge pockets taking up the length of the mini skirt, and with long strips of fabric hanging from the pockets that he fidgeted with the whole drive over. His knuckles accidentally bumped your bare thigh as he ran the straps between his fingers in one hand, the other on the steering wheel. He stole glances at you, grinning sheepishly and poking his tongue out at you every time you caught him.

And you pretended not to think much of it, even though his touch was the only thing capable of disrupting the thought spiral in your head. You liked it. And you had no right to like it. Luffy's brother is dead because of you. And now he's dragging you in front of all of his friends so they can stare at the idiot who ruined their friend's life.

Cold and nervous, you fished a flask from your bag and took a long swig. Dark whiskey lit your insides on fire, and left smoke on your breath. With a shiver, you pushed the car door open and hopped out. Your feet landed in a crunch on the gravel driveway of the former ASL home. Though you’d heard humble little house was hardly occupied now. Sabo and Luffy keeping themselves busy, and Luffy filling it with his friends when he is there. Some of those friends were standing outside now waiting- Usopp busy chatting off Zoro’s ear, who was paying more attention to the beer in his hand than Usopp’s tale.

Luffy had borrowed Usopp's truck and he was visibly relieved to see it was still in one piece when you arrived at the Straw Hat’s small abode. Too happy, and not noticing you at first, then doing a double take and scanned you up and down, and grinned from ear to ear.

"I can't believe it! You're alive!" Usopp cheers, and you swear you're going to burst into actual flame if you keep hearing that phrase all night.

"We thought Luffy was going to find your body when he checked your place," Zoro snorted. The pit of your stomach fell and you almost didn't turn to look at him. 

"Ok... so one of you is happy to see me and the other, well, I don't know," You reply, bravely holding your head up thanks to the liquid courage.

"Don't flatter yourself," Zoro retorts and walks inside the house, filled with the kind of noise you were sure he wanted to avoid by hanging out of the patio in the first place. And he'd rather that then interact with you.

You crossed your arms over your chest and leaned against the patio railing. Sanji came running out of the front door with a beer in hand, cussing out Zoro all the while.

"Stupid chud! I'll kill you if sweet Y/N cries because of your rude behavior!" Sanji spits over his shoulder, then turns to you and the flush in his face turns from angry to glowing. "I'm so glad you came, love!" He hands you the beer and clinks his cocktail glass against it.

"Cheers, Sanji," you could count on him to remember your favorite beer, and you wish that was enough to soothe the wound Zoro's tongue slashed open. 

"Cheers, beautiful dove! You look radiant, like a phoenix risen from the ashes." Sanji replies, sipping his cocktail and dashing back inside at the sound of his name called by another woman for a refilled drink. 

You bit down hard on the inside of your mouth. This was going to be impossible.

-

The rest of the party was utterly draining. By the time you'd made it inside the house, you wanted to run away from the endless "you're alive!" and "hey stranger!" 's. Not to mention the feeling of Zoro's eye on the back of your skull. Shit, it felt like the bad eye was staring curses and daggers at you too.

Luffy laid his head in your lap for a while, and trapped you there for another couple of beers and sips from your flask. You ran your fingers through his hair and scratched his scalp affectionately.

Not an ounce of magic touched you here, at least. Or maybe it was the slow creep of the fade from getting drunk and high.
At some point Barto showed up, sucking the air out the room long enough to give you room to breath.

Eventually, Luffy got up to use the bathroom and you’d had enough, so you slipped outside and called an uber home without saying goodbye to anyone. The driver eyed your bare legs and the tears pricked in the corner of your eyes, and asked way too personal questions. Did you have a boyfriend? Was he waiting for you back at home? Was he awake right now? Maybe you'd like to have some more drinks at a little dive bar down the road.

The whole interaction made your skin crawl. When you reached for the car door, the child lock was still on.

"Come on, sweetheart, I know somewhere you can have some real fun. Why waste a Friday night, huh?" The guy gets out of the driver’s seat and opens your door for you, blocking the way out.

The tears you'd been holding all night poured down your cheeks now as helplessness crept up your back. You'd been doing everything in your power to stay brave and not hide. And now some gross fucker saw your brave face as an invitation. Your jaw screwed shut, and you imagined doing to him what Law did to that guy in the parking lot.

The feeling of wood splintering against your skin rushed your mind. Rope burning and squeezing your body. A lick of hungry flame. An acrid stench of gasoline poured at your feet and the sulfuric fume of a struck match. You don't deserve this. You've been good. You just wanted to be free.

Without thinking, you put your hands out to block the driver from grabbing at you and a torch of white light exploded from your palms. A blinding red fire burst from your skin and stuck to the driver as he screamed. 

He dropped to the pavement in a pile of flame, the car seat catching fire and you pulled yourself out the other side of the car as the flames devoured the man and his vehicle.

"Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh fuck!" You pushed yourself off the seat and ripped open the opposite door, falling out and running from the car, and slammed into a hard body. Arms flailed, heels skidding to a stop, and you were caught before you fell.

"Don't scream," a taut, silvery voice sounded above your head.

You looked up at the man and swallowed a yelp, almost unable to recognize him by the healed burn scar across his left side.

"You didn't see that, did you, Sabo?!" You cry, clinging to his coat and buried your head in his chest. The last time you had seen him was when he pulled you from the wreckage of the burning car just like what was in front of you now. You were begging him to take Ace instead. Even when you both knew it was too late.

Chapter Text

One side of Sabo’s face was kissed by daylight, and the other by a furious torchlight. That was the side you couldn’t bare to look at while sitting across from on the couch. There was a chance you were simply having a bad dream, and you hadn’t woken up at all. Fire did not, in fact, shoot out of your palm like you’re some kind of wizard from a comic book, and that man happened to be very unlucky when he spontaneously combusted. The fire spread to the car, because that’s what fire does, it consumes and it transforms people and their loved one’s dreams into a bitter mess of ash.

Sabo was known for his impeccable timing, after all. Always exactly where he wanted to be in the last place you wanted to see him.

His deep, umber brown eyes stayed fixed on your face until you were able to stop hyperventilating. He’d offered a hand, but, coward that you are, you refused it and curled up on your side of the couch. Dabbing smeared makeup with a scratchy paper towel, clothes smelling of smoke, and shaking like a scared little girl- it was getting old. Why were you always doing this? Every time you managed to be strong and build up your walls a little, you did something stupid and those walls came crashing down with one disaster after the next.

“W-why,” you hiccuped, “are you even here tonight?”

“It’s been too long since the last time I’ve seen you.” He beamed with that unshakable confidence that you wanted to chew on and spit it back in his face so he knew what it felt like to be small and pathetic like you.

It was pointless to ask him how he knew where you lived now. He was a proper sleuth, and would have been a spy working for the government if his angelic appearance wasn’t tinged with that defiant nature that flashed in the black of his eye every time someone tried to tell him what to do. Instead, he worked at the fire department with Zoro, who knew Sabo would care to know that Luffy had seen you tonight. You wondered what kind of reckoning you were in for now that the three of them knew you were doing just fine. This whole time you’d been coasting and didn’t want to see them after the car accident and Ace’s funeral because you appeared to have moved on.

“I missed you,” he scooted closer, having noticed your breathing evening out.

“Why,” you replied with too much venom.

“Because you up and ran away. Please don’t blame yourself. Please don’t let me lose two people I love from that night,” he said with his face strained now.

For a second, you almost had no words. If it had been someone else, you’d have been mad at you for Ace’s death. You looked away petulantly like a child, lip wobbling again.

“You have no idea how long it took to stop crying every hour I was awake. How bad my body hurt from sobbing from the instant I woke up to the moment I fell asleep. And then my dreams were all about that night, about Ace. I couldn’t get away from it. So I left. Please, Sabo, it’s not you or Luffy or anyone else. I’m just so tired of the pain,” you take Sabo’s hand, still looking away, and squeezed the cotton fabric of his gloves.

“Oh,” he pulls your hand into his lap as he moves to sit right beside you. “I’m sorry, I hope I’m not hurting you now showing up suddenly like I did.”

It felt like a splinter had been pulled out from beneath your skin. A rot draining out, the pain of cleansing. After a few beats in silence, you leaned into him. He turned your shoulders so he could wrap his arms around you. And then you felt like the most selfish person in the world.

“Don’t. Don’t be sorry. You’ve been right where I need you and I keep being an ungrateful, well, you know,” you croak, sniffling.

His hold feels like a warm blanket was draped over your head and shoulders. You knew your eyes were open, but everything was dark and muffled. Worried that this was just a dream, you reached up for Sabo’s face and felt the smile creasing his face. Something snapped in your bedroom and the darkness and warmth was quickly replaced by a chill crawling over your skin.

“Let me check on that,” Sabo lets you go and leaves you on the couch, saying over his shoulder, “if you do that fire fist thing again, it might burn down the apartment.”

So he did see that.

“You’re oddly casual about it,” you say, moving behind him.

“Revolutionaries are into magic. Never got into it myself. Didn’t, uh, show talent for it.” Sabo steps into the yawning dark of your bedroom and glances around before turning on the light.

He looks around carefully, and doesn’t stop you from peering over his shoulder to see into the empty room. You slip past him and look around for yourself. Nothing was broken. But the window didn’t have a crack in it anymore.

“Shit, well, at least I don’t have to explain how the window’s fixed now.” You said pointing above your bed where Sabo saw, well, nothing.

“I mean, you don’t have to explain anything to me but-”

A loud crash-bang clattered from you bathroom. You groaned and stomped across the floor to flip on the bathroom light, finding what you had been looking for in the first place. A pile of grimy, white ceramic was piled up on the floor. You hadn’t even rubbed off the rune Law had drawn on the faucet. Now it sat there mocking you, the handles hanging lopsided and the entire bowl a shattered mess.

“Dammit. Fuck. Shit.” You grumble pinching your nose. “Sabo, I… I think our hug did that. Or I did that, I don’t know.”

You walk past Sabo, and he follows, to find a plastic bag and a broom, walking back in and cleaning the mess when he asks;

“Is this a spellbook?”

Between the teetering and clinking sounds the broken pieces of the sink made as you swept it up, you could hear the flipping of pages. You dump the pieces into the bag carefully, trying not to cut yourself, and deposited the bag in the corner until you figured out Law’s repairing spell. You wanted it repaired, so maybe the spell would appear. So, you exit the bedroom to come up behind Sabo and don’t see the spellbook, just a pile of dried flower petals all over your kitchen countertop and a devastated look dragging down his face.

Your phone dings. And as the realization sets in, you’d like to look at anything else right now, and Law’s neglected texts were the perfect distraction.

Law (3pm): I forgot to tell you this

Law (3pm): Don’t let anyone else touch the book

Law (3:10pm): There’s a lock on it

Law (5pm): omg I’m sorry so many messages but fr I forgot you have a roommate. Don’t let him touch it or the book will fall apart

You exhale loudly, making Sabo shudder.

Law (1am, now): I’m coming over

“I’m sorry! I saw a spell for bringing back the dead and I thought of Ace and I picked up the book and it just… turned into this!” Sabo cried. He looked like a little boy now, a side of him you hadn’t seen even when he was just a kid.

“It’s fine, Sabo. How were you supposed to know? I didn’t know until just now,” you stepped towards him with open arms, then thought better of it and stayed back. Hurt flashed in Sabo’s eyes at that.

“I’m gonna clean this up, and figure out how to get this all fixed. Maybe you should go make sure Luffy gets home safe, and I’ll update you. Sound good?”

The light returns to Sabo’s face as if nothing was wrong again. Must be that noble breeding. He made happiness look effortless. Instead of a hug goodbye, he bows, and you both laugh at that.

As soon as you closed the door behind Sabo, there was a single knock. You sighed, and opened it back up. Standing with the kind of confidence that comes with seeming to know more than everyone in any given room, or at least assuming as much, Law waited there for you, his hands in his pockets. He wore a hoodie and sweatpants like he had just rolled out of bed.

“You couldn’t have driven here that fast,” you say.

“I didn’t drive,” Law looks over your shoulder, “is your roommate home?”

“Nah. He followed us out after Luffy took me to his party,” you reply, stepping back and letting Law through the threshold. He didn’t ask any follow up questions, quietly scanning your apartment before settling his gaze on the flower petals, making a b-line for them.

Law sighs low, pinching some of the petals between his fingers.

“Wish you had read my messages.”

“Sorry! I fell asleep as soon as I got home. And if you’ve ever met Luffy, you kind of forget about everything else when he’s around. Woke up when he came barging in,” you bluffed a little. You had let Luffy in after all.

“Hm,” Law stares. You knew when someone was taking mental notes and decided to move on.

“I’m so sorry about the spellbook! It was such a nice gift…” You crossed your arms over your chest.

“Don’t worry, I’m not mad. If I was, the book would be putting itself back together right now. That’s how my spellbook works, you know.” He responds, and you shuffle your feet. The only thing you’d managed to do once you got inside was slip your heels off- before it was one thing after another. “My spellbook was made with hate. If somebody that’s not me or the person who gave it to me touches it, then it would turn back into iron nails.”

You looked closer at the dried rose petals, and rubbed the back of your neck. Law exhaled and let the petals in his hand fall back down on the counter, his eyes locking onto you, continuing;

“Spells like this one… it’s how we hide. If the wrong person or people got a hold of our spellbooks, they can hurt and even control us. But this isn’t destruction magic. It was made, and can be remade.”

The breath catches in your throat. Law turns to face you, eyes scanning over your make up and clothes and body language, and waits a bit before saying;

“Bad night? Another one? Not my fault is it?” He cocks his head.

“No,” you reply and drop your hands to your sides, “it’s my fault.”

“Well, hopefully this makes you feel better,” he rubs the back of his head now and you meet his stare with your own. “You can fix the spellbook. I can too, of course. But neither of us can do it alone, and it was made with affection so….”

You swallow the realization, feeling your ears turn red. “I-I don’t…”

Law tsks.

“I’ll leave you be.”

Sabo found a spell that brings back the dead. In your spellbook. Ace’s faded laughter echoed from the back of your skull.

You closed the distance between the front door and the kitchen counter. 

Chapter Text

O, Wizard, the spells you've cast are broken

I can hear its cry

The creature has awoken

Within you the shards all shift and angle

I can hear inside

Your mortal soul, entangled

Your wisdom flowing

Silvered and vast

Crystalled and glowing

Future and past

“Bad night? Another one? Not my fault is it?” He cocks his head.

“No,” you reply and drop your hands to your sides, “it’s my fault.”

“Well, hopefully this makes you feel better,” he rubs the back of his head now and you meet his stare with your own. “You can fix the spellbook. I can too, of course. But neither of us can do it alone, and it was made with affection so….”

You swallow the realization, feeling your ears turn red. “I-I don’t…”

Law tsks.

“I’ll leave you be.”

Sabo found a spell that brings back the dead. In your spellbook. Ace’s faded laughter echoed from the back of your skull.

You closed the distance between the front door and the kitchen counter. You can fix this. Everything can go back to the way it was, if you wanted it bad enough. So, you grabbed Law by the collar, fingers curling in the soft fabric of his hoodie, and pulled his head down.

“If that’s-” is all he can say before you slam his lips down onto yours and held him there, locked into the deal.

A rain drop sparkled on a rose bud in your mind’s eye. And you kissed him harder, exhaling through your nose with it smashed against his cheekbone. Relief settled in your nerves when he wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled himself closer to you.

And you took that as permission to release his hoodie and let your hands travel up to stroke his face. Prickly facial hair scraped your fingertips, a little whine in your ear emboldened you further- shooting your hands to the back of his head. Your fingers dug into his thick, black hair, his fluffy white spotted hat dropped onto the counter. He responds by grabbing your ass and pulling your body flush against his. You gasp, breaking for air.

“Damn,” you breath, flushed with heat.

“S’gonna take a lot,” Law sighs, his lips shining with your spit, and you glance over to check the rose petals. They look like someone waved their arm too close, and quickly enough for the mini gust of wind to blow them further across the kitchen surface.

You turn to look at him directly, brushing your hair behind your shoulders. The decision has been made. So you shuffle around to the other side of the counter, quickly grabbing a chipped dish from the kitchen and swept your arm over the rose petals, haphazardly piling them onto the plate. You grab Law’s hand and lead him through the doorway to your bedroom, and without anywhere to place it, you set the plate down on the floor while Law closes the door. The room falls into semi darkness, only illuminated by the bathroom light.

Before doubt could swarm and smother the smoldering ember of willpower sitting in your gut, you shoved Law against the door, continuing the assault on his lips. An animistic urge taking over, every hair felt like it was standing on end. You were going to take, and take, and take his affection and transmute it to your desire.

Your hands caressed his throat. His skin was hot, too hot. And Law shivered, grabbing your wrists and ripping them away, his hands felt like cuffs of fire and you yanked them back. Law laughed,with that self satisfied look on his face that you were starting to get used to. With your walls down, it grated against a part of you that had nothing left but fury.

“What?” You bite.

“We’re off balance- gotta,” Law grunts, the smirk disappearing behind the discomfort plain on his face.

Slick as a black cat, Law slips out of his hoodie, wearing a skin tight, bright yellow tank top underneath. His gray sweatpants look like they were painted with black spots much like the rest of his clothes. He’s built like a cardio master, his muscles defined by the taught, inked skin pulled over them. You can’t help but laugh internally. Fate handed you a fine meal of a man, and he gets to roll around in your one sheet and a dirty mattress on the floor.

For a moment you just look at him, watching him watch you, expecting that smug look on his face to return. Instead, it’s one that burned with hunger. The fire in your own belly matched that look, but when you reached for him, he batted your hands away, again. You breath through your nose and step back, the animal inside wanting to rip into you for not taking him already.

“Our magic,” the way he said that made your pride swell, “...is fighting to dominate the other.” The word ‘dominate’ made you feel some type of way too.

“What’s stopping you?” It was only a lack of experience preventing you, but what was making him hold back? What exactly did being dominated magically mean? A ripple between your legs liked the idea, but your blood pulsed loud in your head with opposition. A harsh snarling beneath the thrum of desire.

Darkness clouded his stare, his mouth tightened, and you almost threw him down on the bed right then and there, if not for a lightning bolt of cold fire shooting down your spine. There was your answer. Or, as much of one as the two of you can tolerate. The room was too bright now.

The linoleum hissed beneath your feet as you dragged them over to the bathroom to turn off the light. And Law hums with approval at that. Letting your passion bathe only in the moonlight that poured in from the window. When you walk over to reach for Law, he doesn’t back away. His skin is warm, not scalding hot, and your touch didn’t make him flinch. The power in his veins makes itself known, and you wish you knew what the magic in your body was saying in response to him.

“I’m way over dressed for this,” you tease, breaking away to sit down on the mattress, watching the feral grin grow on Law’s face as he moves to kneel in front of you, running his hands up your bare thighs. The air already felt heavier, like you were floating to the surface of a current of magic.

“I’ll dress you down a bit,” he practically purrs into your ear, reaching for the clasp of your skirt, slipping one hooked thumb between the button and your panties, and pushed the zipper down. It takes a few tugs to get the tiny jean skirt over your hips, and you lay down on your back to help, until it comes free and you kick it off into a corner.

Law rubs his hands up and down your legs and kneels between them to lean over you. Feeling the heady rush of desire, you pull him down for a kiss. This time you can taste his flavor- bitter, full bodied, and dry in your mouth the way it is after a couple cups of black coffee. You must taste sweet in comparison to him, he licks your lips and pushes his tongue between them. His tongue swirls methodically around yours, pushing when you pull, sucking your teeth when you break away just enough to breathe.

Opening your eyes and catching the way moonlight glows on top of his irises like a shadow lake. Power swirling beneath great depths in his glassy eyes. The smell of fallen leaves clouding your nose. A cold breeze off the river prickling goosebumps on your flesh as Law pulls your thighs up. He wraps them around his hips as he positions himself to grind down against your center. All the while circling his tongue around yours, his jaw moving in lock step with the motions of your body. He feels heavy and earnest between your legs.

Of course his cock is fat, you think to yourself and you’re too high on endorphins to hold back from actually laughing this time.

“What?” He exhales against your temple, and runs the tip of his tongue behind your ear, letting his breath cool the streak of saliva. That sends the most delicious chill straight down between your legs, where you’ve soaked your panties and the front of his sweatpants. His cock is driving you to the edge with the weight of his slow strokes alone. He sits up, his hands on either side of you, pushing his hips flush with yours to keep grinding against you, to keep driving you mad with the pressure building up in your gut.

“This is a dream, right?” You say around a moan as he puts you all the way on your back, lifting your legs up to his shoulders, and trailing kisses along the inside of your calf. “You’re so gorgeous, Law. I feel like I need someone to pinch me before I decide to never wake up.”

You admire the way his tattoos highlight his beauty, and peak out from his clothes. They almost appear to sparkle and glow beneath the silvery light. Meanwhile, he doesn’t move, measuring a careful look at you, soaking in the vision of you panting and moaning beneath him to push out whatever it was trying to cloud his mind.

He closes his eyes and lets out a long breath, kissing your ankle and then rubbing his forehead against the sole of your foot. You’re a little perplexed, but distracted by his cock driving up against your barely clothed clit, and the sound of leaves scraping against each other the way they would in a windy breeze.

The pride, or magic, or animal- whatever it or she was- purred deep in your bones at being worshiped by the warlock.

A sign of submission.

That feeling of something ancient taking over, your instincts told you to show approval, and an involuntary purr vibrated from deep in your chest. And the low whine on his end told you the message was received.

“So I’m your dream man, huh?” He says it so smugly you’d have kicked him in the face if the way he runs his slick tongue along the sole of your foot didn’t, oddly, feel so good. He pushes his fingers between your toes, stretching your legs out straight and leaning in to rut against your pussy more feverishly.

You didn’t answer him on account of forgetting the question entirely. Instead opting to dig your fingers into the mattress, whimpering at the waves of pleasure crashing against your core with each rough stroke of Law’s hips. He gave the same treatment to your other foot, dropping the first one to let your leg relax. By the time he was done, you were a trembling mess and built up for release. The rose petals floated in the air behind him, twirling around each other in two twister columns.

“Are you close, Y/N?”

“Y-yes!” You cry out. “Don’t stop, it’s working! I think it’s working!” Even if it wasn’t, you wanted to chase this all the way to the luscious end.

“Show me,” Law leans back over you again to capture your lips in a soft, but passionate kiss as he gave the most of his focus on the final drive of his hips.

You slipped your hands under his shirt and up the tight skin of his back, feeling muscles ripple, streams of power thrumming beneath. The rose petals whirled in a cyclone above your heads. You were going to succeed. Your true need lie on the other side of this desire, and you willed the spellbook to remake itself. The sickening crash of pleasure in your core made you dig your nails into Law’s back and cling to him, arching your body and throwing your head back with a rattling moan.

An explosion of rosy perfume took over every sense. You almost didn’t hear Law’s low moan buried in your neck as he came, the weight of his cock no longer pinning you down.

A whoosh of magic and air collected the rose petals in the shape of a book above your face. And the petals turned into a composition notebook once again. The air felt empty then, your energy spent, and emotionally drained.

The notebook fell from the air and landed on the pillow by your head. The symbol of Venus now emblazoned on the cover like a silver stamp. Law collapsed at your side, breathing heavy. You couldn’t sense any power from him either, but you could smell the sweat and sex beading from his skin.

You sit up and find a shirt in the crumpled pile of ‘not dirty but not clean’ clothes at the corner of the mattress. You flip through the pages of the spellbook, finding out that there are pages filled now. And you find a spread labeled “FROM DEATH BACK TO LIFE” sighing with relief, slamming it shut without bothering to read the spell. You could look at it later, and settled to wrap it up and hide it in your closet. There’s a shifting of clothes, and a crackle behind you.

“Don’t know how to thank you for this, Law, but I’ll think of-” when you turn to look at him, Law’s put his hoodie back on, a circle of light at his feet. “-something.”

He licks his lips and smirks at you. “I know.”

With that, the circle of light disappears, taking Law with it.

Chapter Text

FROM DEATH BACK TO LIFE

On a full moon

Light a great sacred fire one body high and lined with stones inscribed with the name of the dead.

Draw the circle.

Wielding an amulet of life, the maiden of the night makes her sacrifice, paid equally by all members of the coven.

Charge her magic, chanting the name of the dead, and plea with the guardian of death, will them to pass the gates into the realm of the living.

"Well that's fuckin' cryptic," you grumble, puffing on a joint, leaning forward on the couch with the spellbook sitting opened flat on the cushion.

Me (now): whats a coven

Law (now): *seen*

You busy yourself flipping through the mostly-empty pages. What do you want? You want Ace back. You want to be powerful enough to bring Ace back to life. You want to be powerful. You want to be free. You want to be loved.

As if hearing your thoughts, the pages flutter beneath your touch and reveal a new layout called ‘THE SACRED BOND.’

Your phone buzzes.

Law (now): a bad idea

Law (now): trust me

"Hmph,” you flopped on your back, reading the new spell regardless, scanning over the words “soul bond” and feeling your ears get hot.

-

It made no sense how dusty the smoke shop always was. Having to clean the 20 or so glass cabinets on a daily basis might have tipped off Buggy that there was a better way to display items in the shop. That's if Buggy ever did anything himself.

You could hear him snoring from the office. Rolling your eyes, you scanned the empty shop before bending over the case to wipe it down. Nevermind the feeling of eyes on you, still.

Law had been avoiding the topic of covens altogether. "Not here. Buggy was walking around the parking lot the other day. Don't want him to suspect something." It was strange that Buggy didn't have cameras in or around the shop. But you chalked it up to him being cheap and lazy.

When you tried to talk about more normal, non-magic related subjects, Law gave you a sarcastic answer or would stare at you. So, now you're ignoring him. He's not the first guy to drop the mask after a hook up.

The doorbell rang over the squeek of the towel on glass. You could hear his sandals flip-flopping and knew who it was already.

"Y/N!!!" Luffy's shout bounced off the cases and straight into yours and Law's ears.

"Hey Luffy, what can I get for you?"

He cuts you off on your way from the front of the cases to the register and pulled you into a hug. He was sweaty, from a workout or sport or whatever nonsense he liked to get up to. And you didn't seem to mind it, pressing your nose into his damp shirt for a moment. The smell of grass and hay laced unto his musk. You caught yourself reaching for the hem of his shirt when you shook your head, feigning disgust.

"Eugh! Did you roll around with some goats?" You shove off Luffy, and he only laughed with boisterous energy that brightened the room.

"Came for you," Luffy eventually said once he stopped laughing, skipping right over your question. "Sabo said some crazy stuff about you the other night! Is it true?"

Law made a b-line for the register and started rooting around beneath the counter. Hardly trying to hide his interest behind his glare. You took Luffy's sweaty arm and led him out back.

"What- what did he say, exactly?"

"Some mumbo jumbo about setting a guy on fire. Which sounds cool and all!" Luffy waved his arms reassuringly, and you stifled the urge to smack a hand over your forehead. "He said you have a way to bring Ace back!"

Of course he did. Sabo knew exactly what he was doing by telling Luffy. And you hadn't the mind to text Sabo about the spellbook like you had promised that night. You almost immediately fell asleep after Law left, and had a wonderful dream about holding hands with satyrs and wolves while dancing around a crystalline lake. It slipped your mind the next morning.

"Maybe?" The insides of your stomach wanted to come up. This is worse than if Luffy and Sabo had simply been angry with you. The expectation, this castle of newfound hope built on sand.

"Then what are we waiting for?! You can get off work early, right?" Luffy grabs your shoulders excitedly, not noticing how much greener his shakes are making you.

"Luffy I-"

"Bringing back the dead is impossible," a darkness flowed from between Law's teeth as he chimed in, but you seem to be the only one who caught it.

"Nuh Uh! Y/n has a spell for it!" Luffy pointed a finger into your chest while looking at Law.

Law stared you down for a beat. Burning sage filled your nostrils.

"Someone should be watching the front-" you say, peering over the boy's shoulders.

"Is that what the book showed you?" Law asked, but it felt more like an accusation.

"Yeah, that's why I asked you about that- thing- earlier," you dropped your voice and moved to go back inside before Buggy or a customer noticed there was no one inside. "Luffy, can I meet up with you later? I'll hit you up after work," you ran up to the counter to text Sabo:

Me (now): the book is back. Talk 2nite.

Me (now): cant talk at work

Sabo (now):   :)

"Texting on my time again?" Buggy sneers, you had missed the clattering sound of the beads that would have given you a heads up.

"Relax, it's dead. I'll make it up to you on the next sale. Promise." Your mouth feels fuzzy around the imagined debt.

"Fine. Make it happen," Buggy crosses his arms.

You gasp as a crackling pop shoots off in your mouth. The image of an exposed rib cage in your mind's eye. Meat tearing, payment in flesh. Buggy doing a double take at you holding your throat when the door bell starts ringing.

"Hey there! How can I help you today?"

The stranger, dressed like he's on break from a corporate job on the nice side of town, looks around before meeting your eye. He walks up to the counter display of chargers.

"Yeah, 6 boxes," he points to the most expensive option on the end.

Your eyes bug out of your head for a second before you cover it with a smile.

"Yeah, of course," you turn to wink at Buggy, the boxes jingling in your arms.

As you fiddled with the berry in your hands, you catch Law storming back into the shop. The register dinged with what sounded like a distant howl. As soon as the customer left, Buggy shrugging and hiding in his office once again, you siddled up to Law, whispering;

"I need your help later."

"Clearly. The fuck you think you're doing casting spells here?" He retorts, looking busy by dusting off a shelf lined with vapes.

Is that what that was? Your lips felt wet, a coppery twang on your tongue. You reached up to touch your lips, but found no blood.

You couldn't help the glare you shot towards Law. It's not like you knew what you were doing.

Without glancing back at you, he sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Did you see where my friend went?" You asked.

"That weirdo? He said he had to run and literally ran down the street," Law huffs.

-

On a quiet street in an old, mostly empty strip mall was Miss-Stique Stones & More. A new age shop specializing in crystals, herbs and curiosities. A charming little bell announced your entrance, and you waved smiling at the Petite blonde girl behind the counter.

"Hiya Kaya!" You said cheerily.

She put her book down and waved back, saying your name back in a pleasant tone. "What brings you into my humble little shop today?"

You eyed the 4ft half of an amethyst cluster next you, which capstoned an aisle filled with crystals of all shapes, sizes, and colors. All of the pretty little things sparkling in the evening sunlight. And raised a brow at Kaya, making her chuckle.

"Is one of these-" you touched the back of your neck nervously. Images weren't popping up in your head and nothing was setting off your senses as you slowly walked around. "S-sorry if this is dumb..."

"Nonsense! Please let me help you!" Kaya steps out from behind the counter to approach.

You blinked at her for a moment. Feeling perceived and small and stupid. That wasn't her fault.

"Are one of these crystals considered an 'amulet of life'?" You manage to say.

Kaya nods her head to the side for a bit. And then for a minute as she hums.

"Gosh, I can't say I've heard of that. Sounds like something a real magician would use, huh?" She teases, "maybe Usopp would know. He's in the back, come on."

Kaya led you through a set of saloon doors into a dark room with a work bench pushed in the back corner, one lamp with a yellow light buzzed over Usopp's head. His shirt was off and his overalls unbuckled and rolled down, his back muscles rolling over one another as he worked. His curly hair barely contained beneath a silk bandanna. When he turned around, you bit your lip. Usopp had been working out since you last saw him. A lot.

“Y/N! Heya!” He cheers, still holding a long wooden stick he was tying a string around, each rotation mirrored in his arm and neck muscles. A hint of sweat highlighting the veins flexing in his dexterous hands.

“Usopp, you wouldn’t happen to know what an amulet of life is, would you?” Kaya asks in her soft, pleasing tone.

Usopp pauses for a moment, then a wide grin squares his jaw and lights up his face. “Of course I do! I’ve gotten tons of them in the past.”

You perk up at that, feeling a small hopeful smile grow on your face.

“That’s great! Do you have one that I can buy off you?”

“Oh, you don’t have to buy it off of me. Didn’t cost me anything,” Usopp grunts as he ties off the knot around the stick, a bundle of straw now firmly attached to one end of it. He grabs a brush off his work bench and starts teasing out the straw to give it more shape.

“I couldn’t just take one from you for nothing,” you offer.

“I mean, don’t you have your own?” He replies, not bothering to look up at you while he worked so casually.

“I-” you could only stutter.

“Haha, it’s ok. I didn’t know you played Snail Den! Send me your username, we can play when I get home!”

Your heart dropped at that. Now that you thought about it, an amulet of life does sound like a silly trinket in a video game. You swallowed, your mouth feeling dry.

“Oh, I uh. I don’t play Snail Den,” might as well get it over with, you figure.

“Huh, then why did you come here to ask?” Usopp stares at you, then looks down at his project, and then at Kaya. “Oh! Oh THAT amulet of life!” He tries to laugh over the bluff but you realize you’d already made a fool of yourself and feel two feet shorter.

“We don’t really get people in here asking about, you know, real magic-sounding stuff. It’s usually spiritualists and baby witches,” Kaya says, and it doesn’t make you feel any better.

“Well, thanks anyway. It’s just something I saw online. I must have confused it for something in the game.”

“No, no! Amulets of life are real! I’ve seen one before. I can’t remember where though…” Usopp bluffs, for what reason, you have no idea. Perhaps to spare you from feeling stupid, and you want to believe him.

“It’s ok, really! You’re clearly busy, so I’ll stop taking up your time,” you move to leave and Usopp reaches out to grab you, his warm hand wrapping all the way around your arm, but not not locking you in place. Only asking you to stay, not forcing.

“I’m not gonna let me friend leave the shop empty handed. Here,” he hands you the stick he’d been working on. “It’s a broomstick. Sweep it around your place and think happy thoughts, it wards off curses and attracts good luck.”

“Allegedly,” Kaya notes.

“You’re very skeptical for owning a magic crystal shop,” you say, not moving to take the broomstick, and Usopp pushes it into your hands with a grunt.

“I just think it’s nice to believe in something,” Kaya shrugs. “That’s on the house.”

“Ah no! I’ll pay! I insist!”

“Fine then, you owe me a favor later,” Kaya responds. A crackle and a pop resounds off your tongue again, and Kaya gasps, putting a hand over her mouth. “Goodness me, I need a drink of water, sorry!” She rushes out of the room and you hear foot steps thumping overhead a moment later. A gamy taste of dried skin was on the back of your throat, and you held back a burp.

“I think I have to go too. Thank you, Usopp. Please thank Kaya for me later?” You put a hand over your mouth as you said it.

Usopp grins, all teeth and gums, he’s eagerness to please is so cute. “You bet! It was good seeing you again. Don’t be a stranger!”

With that, you brushed your hair behind your ear and hummed a soft smile at him before heading back to your apartment, new broomstick in hand.

-

Your good fortune hadn’t stopped there. After sweeping your apartment the way Usopp had suggested, you opened your wallet to find berry stuffing it full. You felt a high surging in your veins, and finally texted Law.

Me (now): Can you come over?

It only took a few minutes for a knock to bang on your front door. When you opened the door, Law was wearing shorts and an unbuttoned short sleeve shirt with a heart pattern, his chest tattoo on full display. You only groaned at him, hiding the desire your base instincts couldn’t help bubble up.

He took keen interest in the broomstick as soon as he stepped in the apartment, glancing over at you, letting you nod an affirmative before grabbing and examining it. His face gave away nothing as he turned it in his hand, then gently set it back to resting against the wall.

“Been busy,” he comments.

“Y-yeah,” you shrug on a flannel over your own clothes, earning a raised brow from Law. “About that night you came over,” your breath seized, and Law’s face froze in steely patience, shoving his hands in his pockets and leaning back on his heels. The stare down his nose made you squirm, and you absently picked at the skin beneath your fingernails.

“I was hoping something broke again so I can help you fix it.”

“I killed someone.”

The two of you shook, a hungry stare meeting a desperate one. The hint of amusement in Law’s eyes darkened with resolve. You could almost hear him grinding his teeth from your vantage point.

“I-I didn’t know him! It was an accident. He scared me and I just, kind of, reacted by setting him and his car on fire. It was outside the apartment complex.”

“You’ve had some bad luck with strangers.”

“Maybe not all of them,” you move to grab a piece of chalk from a new box on the counter top, and pull the fresh wad of berry from your wallet. Might as well use your ill gotten gains to break even with the underworld.

The darkness leaves Law’s eyes, leaving a cool, even look like he was made of stone. “So you owe a debt.”

A lot of them, if the scratchiness in the back of your throat meant anything. You were going to have to stop making promises with this magic mouth of yours.

“Can you show me the pentagram you drew in the parking lot?” You opened a blank page on the spell book and held it open to Law. He smirked, and touched a fingertip to the page. A spread of several different pentagram designs emerged in red ink, with different descriptions and purposes written below each one.

“Should wait for night fall, then go to exact spot you killed him. Draw the circle, make your payment, and say goodnight to his immortal soul,” Law says as he pulls his hand away.

“Goodnight?”

“Well, it’s not goodbye. You’re putting his spirit to rest, so, say goodnight. The realms of magic were sewn together a long time ago. The manners are strange, old school.”

You nod at that and close the spellbook, setting it aside. You rubbed your arms, looking down at the ground.

“I still don’t understand how all of this is possible. Why this is happening to me,” before you could ramble further, Law tucks a finger under your chin and lifts it up to make you meet his gaze.

“If you weren’t worthy, I wouldn’t be here,” he says matter of factly. Though it was hardly reassuring. When you didn’t respond, he dropped your chin and sighed. “You’re going to have to work on not being so down on yourself if you want those spells to work properly.”

It only made you cross your arms over your chest and look away from him again. Light flashed in the corner of your eye and Law was gone again.

Once the sun set, you crept out of the apartment and across the complex. The car and the body had been taken away, leaving a nasty black stain on the curb that stank of burned metal. You could barely see beneath the moonlight and the streetlights, but didn’t dare turning on your flashlight app in case someone saw as you sketched out the pentagram on the ground. It left an awful twist in your gut to throw the money into the center.

“At least I’m the last girl you’ll try to hurt. Goodnight, you fucking asshole.”

The pentagram glowed white, the money set on fire, and burned in an instant. The only thing left was a wonky circle in the middle of the black stain.

As you made your way back to your apartment, your phone rang, Sabo’s name bright green on your screen.

“Hello?”

“Y/N? It’s Sabo.”

“Hey sorry I promise-” you paused and coughed, “I didn’t forget about calling you. Just been a little busy.”

“That’s fine, but also not why I called. I’m on my way to the hospital. Luffy got in an accident.”

The pit of your stomach dropped.

“Y/N?”

Why did people have to keep getting hurt around you?

“Y/N! Let me come pick you up.”

“I’ll make this right, Sabo,” your voice a high pitched whimper on the edge of tears, “I promise.” Once again, the taste of acid and bile flooded your mouth, and you actually heaved after hanging up the phone.

Chapter Text

I'm gonna chase the sky forever

With the woman and the stallion and the wind

The sun is gonna burn into a cinder

Before we pass this way again

Mechanical beeps and clunking equipment accompanied the silence between you and Sabo in the hallway of the ICU. Your nerves had calmed on the ride over. Sabo, however, was physically shaking against the steering wheel in his truck. His eyes were glossy, upper lip barely able to stay stiff while you asked the front desk clerk for Luffy’s room number.

After all, this was familiar. The smell of antiseptic and nitrile gloves, the freezing cold air blasting from a roaring A/C. If you weren’t keenly aware of it, you wouldn’t be able to hear Sabo’s wavered breathing over the noise of the place. It was something you learned to pick up on. Not that long ago. The hospital was safe, steady, and always occupied, somewhere that demanded presence, but it was so easy to disappear as well. After a while, you were just another piece of a moving machine. And your senses fell back into lock step with that movement as if you hadn’t been braving the outside world for half a year.

The wreck really wasn’t that long ago, now that you thought about it. Standing outside Luffy’s room, you were right back at the beginning again. With so much new information to process, that pushing it all aside was preferable for the luxury of calm.

Pushing through the door, you looked over your shoulder to Sabo, who was staring at the ground, having not noticed your exit. You reached out and brushed your hand atop his arm, the long sleeve pull over shirt stretching with your touch. You smiled at him, even though he didn’t look up to see it when you took his gloved hand and walked inside the dimly lit hospital room.

For getting run over by a car, Luffy looked casual as ever, even if he was an ugly mess of scraped skin and sheared clothing. He was snoring over the tube his nose, blowing snot bubbles and drooling as he slept. Your smile hardened with adoration. Per usual, Luffy would treat death like a strange inconvenience to step over on his way to whatever chaos he chased.

You grabbed a tissue and started wiping his face, coming away with a bit of dirt and dried blood mixed in with the spit and snot. More dirt collected under your fingernails as you ran your hand through his hair, brushing your fingers along his scalp in the same way you did at his party. He didn’t respond, only snoring a bit louder when you pulled away and washed your hands.

The cold water. The scratchy paper towels and the awful sound the lever made as you pumped the black plastic holder for more of them. The mess and the lack there of when you wiped the water from the counter. You were here, and Sabo was still standing stiff at the entrance.

“Thank you for bringing me along,” you say as you close the door behind Sabo. The air a bit more stifled, but cut off from the rest of the world.

Sabo didn’t respond. He took off his baseball hat and set it on his lap as he sat back in a cushioned chair. His eyes sunken in, gray bags dragging the skin down beneath their sockets, his mouth screwed shut, lips spread tight over grinding teeth.

You could be brave. It was your turn to be the brave one. So, you threw your bag up on the counter by the door and pulled the spellbook out. The spread for Helping Hand flipped open, and you looked around for a writing utensil. Law hadn’t used runes when you healed his stab wound, but this wasn’t the same situation. At all. You adore Luffy, his injury is much worse, but at least this should be easier than learning to walk again.

Sabo didn’t pay you any mind as you looked around the room, and settled on the dry erase marker hanging by the board with Luffy’s medical details written on it. When you drew the runes on each wall of the room and on the bed, you stepped back satisfied with your work.

Then the runes dissipated gradually in a sparkling glow. When you drew them again, they continued to disappear. Something in the room was rejecting your magic runes, making you grumble in frustration.

“What are you doing?” Sabo whispered it like an accusation.

“Helping. Or trying to- fuck!” You slammed the dry erase marker back on the board. None of your runes stuck. But that confirmed the presence of magic in the air. You could almost feel it flowing opposite your body, like a sheet of rain passing over you. Examining you.

Sabo straightened in his chair, peering across the hospital bed and past you, looking at the spellbook.

“You fixed it,” he muttered.

“Yeah- don’t uh. Don’t touch it. Fussy thing,” the spellbook seemed to flap it’s pages at you in response.

“I’ll be honest, I kind of thought magic was bullshit until that night.”

“You don’t even want to know how I found out about magic,” you sighed in exasperation. “I still think I’m in a dream sometimes.”

“Do you wish you were?”

You stared Sabo down from across the room, pinning him to the chair. The magic was almost within reach, if you concentrated on it.

“I don’t know. But… if I can fix this,” you waved a hand at Luffy. Maybe you could fix everything.

The forest appeared in your mind, the smell of mud and wet dogs as they were gliding through the underbrush, beckoning you into it’s depths. You could feel your vision darkening, heat blooming on your face, and you took a deep breath. Letting the dogs run past without you, for now.

“I healed someone once, there’s no reason I can’t do it again,” you pressed your hand flat on Luffy’s chest. His heart beat hammered against your palm, his skin clammy beneath your touch. You couldn’t detect anything, the magic around your body wasn’t extending to Luffy. Without taking your eyes off the scar on his chest, you held your hand out to Sabo. “Can you help me? Hold my hand please?”

The shifting of the chair and clothes was behind you before a large, soft hand clasped yours. Your eyes widened. Sabo took his gloves off.

His trust in you sparked something warm in your hands, a white flame glimmered at your fingertips for a second. Then faded just as fast. You squeezed Sabo’s hand, the glow came back, staying just beneath your nails, refusing to grow outward even as you tried to concentrate on the feeling. On the affection you feel for Luffy and for Sabo. How much they mean to you.

The lights flicker, then turn themselves off. Moonlight offering the only source of light through the window opposite the hospital bed. Sabo was outlined in silvery blue, his eyes glimmering when they met yours.

Luffy’s chest felt a bit warmer, the glow heating up and sweat glued your hand to his skin.

“I need more,” you rasped, “can you-?” There was no need to finish your sentence, Sabo stepped into your space and wrapped one arm tight around your body, trapping your held hands between your chests. You tucked your head into his collar, feeling the ripple of muscle beneath his shirt. He smelled like aromatic flowers grown on a window sill in the city, lavender and mint and iris, with the warmth of a hearth, like an invitation for tea.

The glow pulses under your hand on Luffy’s chest, you can feel his blood vessels acknowledging you, but unwilling to move. You let go of Sabo’s hand and pull him in tight against your body, wrapped up in each other. You can feel Sabo’s breath along your cheek, like fresh mint.

“Is this how it works?” Sabo asks, his fingers spreading out across your back as he held you tight.

“Y-yeah,” you say into his shirt collar.

He loosens his grip, letting one hand travel up to the side of your face, tentatively brushing a finger along your cheek. When you hum and bump your cheek into his hand, he scoops his hand under your chin and lifts your face up to look at him. The black of his eyes stole the color in the room. They were shining with hidden knowledge, a deep longing allowing itself to come forward. You could feel it in his veins, and in your own.

“What happens if I do this?” He leans down and pecks his lips down onto yours. When he tries to pull away, you chase him, getting up on your tip toes to kiss him back.

Power surged up your spine and out of your hand, a burst of light pouring out of your palm and stamping itself onto Luffy’s chest. He groaned and shuffled a bit, the exposed bruises on his body turning from a bloody purple to green.

You wrapped your arms around Sabo’s neck and leaned into him, locking lips with him in soft kisses. He held your face in his hands, gentle as if handling pressed flowers, humming with delight. He pulls away for air and rests his forehead against yours.

“I wanted to do that. I really, really wanted it,” he says, and you smirk.

“The spell wouldn’t be working if you didn’t, love.” You reached up to run your hands through his blonde curls.

Whatever he’d been holding back was brushed aside by your reassurance, and Sabo gripped you around the waist hard, turning around, and pushing your back against the wall, pressing into you with his core. His lips crashed down onto yours with a fury, nibbling at your lip before shoving his tongue past them and exploring every inch of your mouth.

He tasted like earth, the roots, dirt, stem, and leaves. A mix of saffron and rhubarb. A fine aged amaro swiped from the top shelf, pouring himself into your glass. Your tongue swirled around his in return. Letting the taste of him absorb into your blood.

You opened your eyes momentarily, stealing a glance at the light on Luffy’s chest. It had grown tendrils that flowed up onto his face and into his mouth, nose, and ears.

Sabo took your chin in his hand again and pointed your face back towards his mouth. He was demanding all of your attention, the spell half forgotten as he dove back into kissing you. The rush of desire woke up every nerve in your body, magic crackling in the distance.

Fingers like vines crawled up your shirt, dipped under your bra, and squeezed your breasts. It earned a soft moan from you. Pleased with himself, and your reaction, he squeezed harder and placed hard, needy kisses down the side of your neck, his breath burning hot after each kiss.

Your hands traveled to the hem of his shirt, pressing your them around his bare waist before exploring the soft curve of each abdominal muscle. He was built like a wrestler- strong, fast, and flexible like his brothers, and it showed in the way his body rumbled under your touch. His skin soft and sticky with sweat like running your fingers along a tiger’s pelt.

He sank his teeth into the base of your neck and you keened, arching your back and gripping him around his rib cage, his shirt half pulled up. One hand eased up on squeezing your breast and settled on circling his thumb over the nub of your nipple, while the other swept down your front to the band of your sweatpants. He didn’t waste time shoving his hand into your panties and rubbing his fingers between your legs, finding out how wet you are for him, and he groaned.

“Fuck,” he braced one hand on the wall by your head and bent down to find a better angle for his hand in your pants, you held yourself up and spread your legs out wider for his touch.

You cried out as he circled his middle finger around your entrance a few times, soaking them in your slick, then pushed in. He was confident, and greedily pressed more inside of you, feeling as much of your insides with that one finger as he could before pushing a second one in to join. His palm crushed up against your clit, brushing it up and down as he pumped and curled his fingers inside of you. Soon it had you seeing stars from the breath taking bliss.

The button of his cargo pants gave easily as you pulled on it and ripped the zipper down. You ran your hand over the bulge of his boxers before dipping your hand inside and grabbing his cock. He sighed hoarsely, his own hand stuttering. He was heavy in your palm, long and with an upward curve that fit easily around your fingers.

“I fucking love you,” he growled into your neck, pumping his fingers into you hard and picking up at an insane pace.

“Ha- Sabo, I- what? Oh-”

“Always have,” his breath is hot, branding himself your skin, his hand winding you up tighter and you were ready to break on his fingers.

The edge of a stone tower scrapped your curled toes, and you were lifted off the ground, watching it and the forest surrounding it shrink and disappear behind dark blue clouds. You were floating through foggy moonlight and sailing among the stars. An eagle screamed, claws gripped and wrapped around yours, and you were falling fast to the ground.

The orgasm shot ecstasy up your body and made your head fall forward, your face in Sabo’s shoulders, mewling as you shook on his hand, your pussy clenching around his fingers and soaking his palm. He pressed himself into you, the hand in your pants slowing down but not stopping, and his hand that was on the wall found yours on his cock. He wrapped his hand around yours and helped you squeeze and pump him hard and fast, you ran your thumb up and down the head, rubbing the slit in little circles.

A shiver wrecked his whole body, consumed by your touch. Little whines in your ear, and hollow gasps. He couldn’t believe this either, could he? Letting yourself give in, squeezing his cock just so, his hand letting up and guiding yours.

“Ha holy shit-fuck!” He cursed as he burst in your hand, a hot, sticky spurt of cum coating your hand.

You both took deep, desperate breaths. Carried away by the after glow of your actions, Sabo’s confession hanging in the air just above. You took his face in your other hand and kissed him, and he hummed affectionately. He pulled his hand from between your legs and held a wet grip on your waist as he refocused on kissing you.

It smelled like rain in the hospital room, the air humid after a storm swept in by the two of you hooking up. The moonlight was dimmed, and the glowing stamp on Luffy looked like it had been sucked up into his body.

Then Luffy sat up and turned to look at you two tangled up in each other, his eyes wide and face falling.

“Oi! You’re awake!” Sabo straightened up, doing his best to block the view as he pulled his and your shirt down, and fixed his pants.

“How do you feel, Luffy?” You ask, skirting out from beneath Sabo and rushing to wipe your hands clean at the sink.

Luffy only grimaced, sizing Sabo up and not paying you any mind for a moment.

“Sabo, you’re stealing my girl!” Luffy threw himself off the hospital bed, healthy as a horse, the IV’s ripping out of his arms. In a cacophony of furniture scraping and falling over, Luffy tackled Sabo and tried to trap him in a head lock.

What he said registered in your mind as you watch the boys roll around on the ground. Sabo, uninjured, and beaming with residue magic, pinned Luffy on his belly with a knee on his back.

“That’s a lousy way to say thanks, little brother,” Sabo says over a grunt, careful of Luffy’s squirming and attempts to rip his foot out from under him. “I was helping her heal you, idiot!”

You shoved the spellbook back in your bag and slung it over your shoulder with half a mind to run away from the room and let them fight it out. His girl? Luffy thought you were his girl? Sabo said he loves you less than ten minutes ago and now Luffy has feelings for you too? Did they forget that it’s you they’re talking about?

“Y/N! Why didn’t you just kiss me instead?!” Luffy begged, the breath pushed from his ribcage under Sabo’s knee.

You slapped a hand over your face, then pinched the bridge of your nose. This was not happening.

“Luffy, you were unconscious,” you couldn’t believe you were explaining the magic in this way, right now. Magic that you barely understood as it stands. Maybe you could have kissed him like a creepy prince charming and he would have woken up in perfect condition. You were going with your gut instinct. Sabo was there, and you couldn’t deny the feelings you’d always kept hidden for the both of them for years.

“You like Sabo more than me, don’t you?!” Luffy plead.

Sabo looked at you keen with interest along with Luffy.

“I-” you groaned. “Please don’t make me choose between you two right now.”

Before they could respond, you turned and ripped open the door and speed walked down the hallway. No one was around to see the tears pricking your eyes. You found a water station and grabbed a little paper cup, filled it, and took a long sip of the ice cold water. Letting it cool your throat, and your nerves.

The scream of metal howled from above, followed by the fire alarms wailing. Your heart lept in your throat as the wall next you cracked and crashed at your feet.

Chapter Text

One Year Ago…

You always hated school, and wondered why you even bothered applying to college in the first place as you woke up from a nap at the 11^th hour, tons of homework due in the morning. Apathetic, you checked your phone to see some classmates posting stories from a party downtown and decided to join.

And under the dim red lights of a dive, a guy saying ‘he liked your vibe’ handed you a baggie of what looked like dried up little worms and told you to swallow them, don’t chew, don’t let it melt on your tongue.

“Y/N! Hey girlie, long time no see!”

The voice came from over your shoulder, with a smoky timbre, like the sound of whiskey poured from the cask.

It was who Ace grabbed you from behind and you gasped. He had joined a mission when he was 16, and over the years you had only heard from him occasionally through post cards and short phone calls from a village in the rain forest.

“Ace, oh my god!” You tackled him in a huge bear hug, crushing the baggie in your palm. “What are you doing here?!”

“Just living. You know I go wherever the wind takes me,” he replies cheerily, kissing you on the top of your head. “You’ve grown up.”

He was one to talk. You stepped away and gave him a once over that could have lasted a lifetime. Ace filled out wonderfully over the years, his muscles etched into him like stone.

In the dim lights of the club, he spotted the baggie in your hand and made a face. Your insides tightened and loosened at once. And then he started laughing loudly.

“Gonna share?” He asked.

You were taken aback, and then smiled and laughed with him, nodding yes. It’d been a long time.

The night faded to a blurry dream, your head was heavy and every shape moved to and fro, heading swimming like you were standing on water in the middle of a black ocean. You felt great, and laughed all night over drinks with Ace. The sun was due to come up soon.

“Shit, I need to get to class.” You said absent minded.

“I’ll take ya,” Ace offered.

“No, no- you’re fucked up.”

“No YOU’RE fucked up!” He laughs, grabbing your shoulder and shaking you.

“But what about your… your thing?” His narcolepsy, which you did not have the words for at the moment.

“I never fall asleep when I’m driving. Never.”

-

Pain. The most pain you’d ever felt right behind your eyes was what woke you up. Then you started crying out from the pain everywhere else in your body. But you couldn’t move, your legs were pinned under crushed metal and plastic. The seat belt ripped into your neck, and it was too hot. Everything was too hot and it hurt.

You willed your head to move, and it hurt too much and so bad your vision blacked out and then went white before filling in the details, but you slowly turned to see Ace.

The sight wasn’t worth turning your head. That goes down as the second worst decision you’d made, second only to agreeing to this drive in the first place.

You were going to wear these scars for the rest of your life.

Present Day-

The fire spread quicker than you remember. One second you could see Luffy’s door from down the hall, and the next you were choking on black smoke and sweating, and the fire was blocking your way back. The hospital was familiar. It wasn’t safe. It was on fire and collapsing, about to pin you down and there wasn’t enough air to think straight, let alone get out.

Doing your best not to trip over the rubble as walls fell in, the path forward moved you further away from Luffy and Sabo. You were only on the third floor, and followed the sounds of screaming and feet pounding to the stairwell. It was crowded with patients and staff scrambling down, and you got shoved into the fray, the decision to descend taken from you in an instant as the steps flew under your feet.

You wished for water, to dive down deep in a lake and let her cool waters pull you down. The sprinkler system burst, hosing down the crowd and replacing the dry, volcanic air with pore splitting humidity that left you sputtering for a full breath in your lungs.

People were slipping on the first floor landing and getting trampled over. Screams burst in your ear while trying to catch yourself, clinging to the handrail on the second floor landing, letting other people shove past.

You looked up. Sabo pulled you from the burning wreckage of the car. Luffy chased you. The past was forgiven, and they both begged you not to run away from them anymore.

“Are you stupid? Get out of the way!” A man shouted as you caught his elbow in the side shoving past him going up the stairs.

“No way!” A woman grabbed for your arm and you slipped under her, pushing out of the stairwell.

When you stepped back in the hallway it was deadly quiet, pitch black, and steamy. Stumbling over a cart and hitting your ankle hard, you fell flat on the floor. Beneath the black smoke, you could see a sliver of the empty hall from the floor. And you crawled, scampering as quickly as you could. Soon, your arms and thighs were screaming as you found your way over the rubble.

“Sabo! Luffy!” You cried out, tumbling down the other side of the rubble pile, just hoping you landed where you wanted to be.

“Oh fuck, Y/N?” You could hear it somewhere in the distance.

“I’m over here!” Shouting made you inhale smoke and cough.

“You’ve got to get out of here, don’t worry about me!”

“Where’s Luffy?” You crawl towards the sound of Sabo’s voice, a beam of moonlight calling from the room.

“He ran off looking for you!”

“There you are. Should have known you idiots would still be here,” A new, gruff voice shouted from inside the room, followed by the sound of crunching glass beneath heavy footfall. A beam of harsh light waved around the doorway and shone directly in your eyes.

A thick gloved hand grabbed you by the back of the shirt and yanked you upright. Pain shot up your shin and you groaned at putting weight on that foot. Reaching out to find a thick uniform coat, leaning into the hard body beneath it.

“Come on,” Zoro scoffed and pulled your arms around his neck. “Sabo- don’t need me to hold your hand too, do you?”

“Is that an offer?” You could feel Zoro dodging Sabo’s reach, and the movement jostled you around. Zoro cursed low under his mask and made for the broken window in the hospital room.

“What about Luffy?” You ask.

“He’ll be fine, no thanks to you,” Zoro responds, and Sabo slaps the back of his head.

“Give her to me, asshole.”

You unhook your hands from around Zoro’s neck, screaming when he throws you over his shoulder and climbs out the window, onto a ladder attached to a fire truck below. Feet dangling in the air with a view of the city from over his back.

“I’ve got her, focus on yourself, rookie.” Zoro grips your waist tight as he climbs down, it takes everything in you not to pee your pants.

“Oh yeah, and where were you when Luffy got in that accident earlier?” Sabo climbed out in the rear.

Zoro grunted, you could feel irritation vibrating in his chest through the firefighter coat.

“Can we pick up this conversation when we’re on the ground, please?!” You cling onto Zoro’s neck again, wrapping your legs around his back as the truck gets closer and the 3^rd floor window shrank.

“Like you cared. Some brother you are. Didn’t pay attention to him until Y/N showed back up.”

You tried to kick Zoro, and it only ended up hurting your ankle more. He jostled you in return, and you had to close your eyes, your stomach getting light and queasy.

“And you showed up to play the hero this time,” Sabo shouted down the ladder.

Did they really fight about this after the wreck?

“Tsk. If I’d been there…” Zoro growled. “Wouldn’t have dropped the ball.”

“Cut the bullshit. That’s not fair and you know it.”

None of this was fair, was it?

You didn’t open your eyes, and tried drowning out their bickering over the climb down. An eagle screamed in the distance of your mind’s eye, flame and water circling and dancing around one another beneath the moonlight.

Zoro let you down, and you stumbled over and sat in the grass on the sidewalk’s curb across from the hospital. Plumes of black smoke covered half the building, the sound of radio sirens and firefighters shouting orders around the truck. Everyone seemed to ignore you for a moment.

Sabo sat down beside you, catching the way you clutched your ankle and pulled you into his embrace.

“I think I did this,” you sniffled, closing your eyes again, face feeling hot.

Sabo pecked a kiss on your temple and rested his forehead against your skull. A spark of magic glimmered at your fingertips, and you groaned, directing it to your ankle. Slowly, warmth bloomed from your bones and crowded out the pain.

“That makes me responsible too,” Sabo says into your hair, the both of you stinking of fire.

A loud crash and water punches a hole in one of the side walls of the building, dulling the sound of screams. Your heart raced, and you felt sick.

“Could just be a coincidence.” He adds.

You crumbled, folding your head in your hands.

“Guysssss!!!” Luffy’s high pitched yell bellowed over the sound of the falling building. He emerged from the first floor, covered in soot, a young woman clinging to his neck. “Magic can do all that?? It’s so cool!”

You sighed and stood up.

“Yeah, it was just a coincidence. Guess Luffy didn’t get hurt too bad after all,” you faked a laugh looking down at Sabo. “He must be made of rubber the way he always bounces back.”

Scrambling up, Sabo ran over to Luffy, helping him with the girl he saved from the building. Zoro having gone as well to take care of the fire. Your legs moved on their own, down the sidewalk away from the hospital.

The shouting and rush of water dimmed to the regular sounds of the city. Cars rushing by, their music passing by in a flash. The buzz of lampposts.

A flash of purple lightning struck a few yards in front of you, and Law appeared standing in a hoodie and jeans. The look on his face like he was the one who got dragged out of a burning building, not you.

You smiled and fished through your bag, one of the straps broken and holes poked in it. The spellbook felt like it weighed 20 lbs as you pulled it out.

“What the fuck did you do?!” Law said between gritted teeth, his hands clenched. “You need to get control over your power, it’s all over the place!”

You shoved the spellbook into his chest and he grabbed it as you let go and kept walking forward, not bothering to look at him for longer than half a second.

“Don’t worry. It’s over. I’m not doing any more spells.” Your chest felt tight and your jaw hurt.

When you turned around to stop Law from following you, he was already gone. And so was the spellbook.

“Y/N!” Luffy comes running up, and you stood there waiting for his approach. He charged up and grabbed your face in both hands and smacked his soot-covered, burned metal smelling lips onto yours.

Slumped into his hold, and you let him drag out the kiss for as long as he wanted. When he pulled away, he grabbed your shoulders and smiled from ear to ear.

“I saw you! In my dreams! You brought me back!!”

You blinked at him, and pulled him in for another kiss.

Chapter Text

Barto’s septum ring jostled when his nose scrunched, then he bent down and sniffed right in your ear. You batted a hand at him, bopping him in the cheek, forcing a frown.

“I did the best I could to get the smell out of my hair!” You whined, watching a bowl of ramen spin in the microwave. The stench of fire followed you like a shadow now. But you were confident it would stop being a problem soon.

“Should shave yer head and start over,” Barto waved a hand under his nose, smirking at you and backing off.

“No way, I don’t want to look like even more of a burn out,” you replied, opening the microwave and grabbing the bowl to set it on the counter.

Barto’s eyes widened, gawking at your hands on the bowl.

“What?” You looked down and gasped, a melted ring formed under the still-hot bowl of ramen and quickly moved it away. “Fuck!”

“Are ya hands okay?!” Barto grabbed your wrists, turning your palms up, finding them unscathed.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” You watched steam rise from the ramen, and examined your palms again. Then you frantically turned around, looking for anything that might have broken in the apartment.

Nothing.

“Err, that fire gotcha messed up bad.”

You trembled in place, your appetite forgotten. As you finished scanning the living room and kitchen, your eyes settled on the broomstick. Swiping your keys off the counter first, you stomped over to the broomstick and yoinked it from it’s resting place by the front door, and made a b-line for your car in the parking lot and tossed it in the back. At least you had an excuse to visit Usopp again. And Kaya.

-

Law must be the loudest nose blower you’d met. He made a point to stand right next to you when he did it too, earning an eye roll from you at first. Then you started walking away from him. Then telling him to shut up. Now you were looking around for something non-breakable to throw at him.

“You made your point, stop being a dick!” You whisper-shouted the moment the shop was empty.

“What point is that?” He sniffled, not bothering to look at you as he swiped his hand over the glass cabinet, using magic to make the towel and spray bottles clean for him.

You just gaped at him. You weren’t going to say it out loud. So, you huffed, blowing hair from your face and scrolled your phone. Luffy was sending you pictures from his dog walking gig this morning. You smiled at his selfie with a chihuahua that was trying to chew his ear off for smooshing the little dog into his cheek.

Those were lucky dogs, and you wish it was your mouth on his ear. The thought made you blush and giggle, and you put your phone away before those thoughts got carried away. When you turned and stepped back, Law bumped right into you.

“You need to find something better to do than get in my way,” Law grumbled, sliding past you at restocking the cigarettes above your head.

“I wouldn’t be in your way if you picked anything else in the shop to do right now,” you said back and ducked under his arms.

“It’s the only thing left to do, would be done already if you weren’t busy flirting or whatever it is you’re doing over here,” he replied.

“I was going to get to it! You sound jealous!”

Law scoffed. “So you are flirting. Were you not getting enough attention from me?”

“The fuck is that supposed to mean?” You said, before slapping a hand over your mouth, feeling your face get hot. “You know what, never mind. I don’t want to know.” You threw your hands up.

“I offered to practice spells with you.”

“Is that what you’re mad about?! Not getting your nut?” You didn’t even want to be having this conversation right now.

“Just saying, wouldn’t have blown up a hospital if you’d performed a spell with me instead.” Law closed the cigarette holder and started breaking down the cartons.

“None of this would have happened if you never worked here!” You hissed between gritted teeth.

Law whipped his head around at you, a flicker of shock on his face before he schooled it back to his calm, self-assured resting pose.

“I was helping you!” He waved a hand at you from across the store. “I’ve done nothing but help.”

Now it was your turn to scoff.

“That doesn’t mean I owe you sexual favors,” you crossed your arms, leaning into the counter.

“And I don’t expect any! I don’t want you like that,” he replied harshly.

Your vision clouded, stomach tightened, and your mouth screwed itself shut.

“Wait I don’t mean it that way,” Law stepped from behind the counter and rushed over to you.

The door dinged.

“Welcome in!” You choke out a cheery tone over the bile in the back of your throat.

A marine with a bad haircut and too small uniform walked in, eyed you up and down, looked around the shop slowly, then focused on Law.

“Your boss here?” He asks, his back to you.

You tap your nails on the glass counter, staring daggers at the marine.

“Huh?” Law looks up from fiddling with a cabinet loudly.

The marine walks closer to Law and repeats himself, “is your boss here?”

Law shrugs, letting the cabinet doors squeal as he pulled them open slowly. The marine grumbles and turns around looking at you.

“Is your boss here, girl?” He growls. You were too old to be called ‘girl’ and you let it show on your face before responding.

“He’s at lunch. He’ll be back soon if you want to wait.”

“Do I look like I have time to waste?” The marine spits back. You look around the shop, and roll your eyes. “Fuckin’ waste of air, the lot of ya,” he marches out, the door bell dinging behind him.

“I’ll tell Buggy you stopped by~!” You waved pleasantly, then flipped him off when his back was turned.

The cabinet doors slammed closed and the lock, barely audible, clicked and settled. Law looked up at you, his nose peeking just above the cabinet. You ignored him, and started manually wiping down the shelves he’d cleaned with magic earlier.

“I wasn’t trying to insult you earlier, Y/N.” He said, trying to breaking your silent treatment, but you weren’t having it.

“Too late,” You said too proudly, too stiff.

Something smelled louder than the smoke in your hair rolled in from the back, followed by hoarse coughing, stumbling foot steps from shoes that sounded stupid and heeled. Buggy waltzed into the store and looked around, hands on his hips, standing a little sideways. Then he glanced at his phone and cried out.

“Ack!”

You and Law dropped what you were doing, eyes glued to Buggy.

“I’m late! Did a marine come by yet?!” Buggy asks, panicky.

“Yeah, a marine came in looking for you. Told him you were on the way, he didn’t want to wait,” you replied.

“You should have made him stay!” Buggy threw his hands up and disappeared behind the beaded curtain.

You sighed, flipping your hair over your shoulder. You were almost sick of men. Then your phone dinged, a message from Sabo came in.

Sabo (now): gonna call tonite

Sabo (now): like Italian

Sabo (now): do u like wine?

You were only half-sick of men.

-

The bell rang in Kaya’s shop, and you wondered if they actually liked that sound. When you heard it at the smoke shop, it meant mentally braced yourself. Were crystal mommies and rock hounds easier to deal with than people in need of a fix?

“Y/N!” Kaya puts her book down and looks up at you. “Any luck finding an amulet of life?” She looked around and leaned in as you approached. “Don’t worry, I don’t believe any of that stuff Usopp said.” She looks down at the broomstick in your hand.

“No. Thanks though. I’m not looking for one anymore. And I’m bringing this back, it didn’t feel right to keep it.” You offered it to Kaya and she waved her hand at it.

“What do you mean? It’s a gift! I can’t accept it back.”

You were willing to pay Kaya to take the broomstick back.

“It’s a nice broomstick though, I’m sure you’ll have an easy time selling it.”

Kaya met your earnest gaze and held it for a moment, then she smiled softly and accepted the broomstick. She grasped it gently and pulled it to her chest with both hands.

“Can’t promise how Usopp will respond when he sees this. He might try to make one twice as big and figure out how to make it fly,” Kaya says as she places the broomstick down behind the counter.

“Is he not in?” You hoped the interest came off as platonic as you tried to make it sound.

Kaya giggled, “no. Should I tell him that you asked for him?”

You blushed and nodded sheepishly. “Don’t lay it on too thick.”

“I’ll have to if you want Usopp to take a hint!”

Both of you laughed, sharing a bit more gossip before you returned home. For a moment, everything felt the way they were always supposed to be. Easy, like you were in control.

-

Half a bowl deep, you were sitting on the couch, gluing the strap on a broken pair of heels you’d fished out of a bag in the back of your closet. You had one foot on Barto’s chest and the other in his hand as he painted your toenails. He ran his nail under yours, collecting the lavender colored lacquer off your cuticle to make a clean layer of paint.

This was repayment for showing him all the dog pics Luffy had sent you this morning. Barto coo’d over Luffy while you oo’d and awed over the puppies. A phone call popped up over a picture of Luffy on the ground with a boxer standing on his back, a frisbee in Luffy’s mouth. You’d made a mental note to keep gum in your purse in the near future.

“Hello?” You held the phone between your ear and your shoulder.

“Hey there,” the velveteen voice that could only belong to Sabo filled your ear, and you bit your lip.

“Hiya Sabo,” you said waggling your brows at Barto and smiled.

“Did you get my messages?”

“Yes! Yes, I do like wine very much. Anything that makes the blood hot, you know.”

Barto smacked the top of your foot and you kicked at him, giggling.

“Sound like you’re having fun,” the sound of a busy fire station buzzing around in the background of his call.

“I’m not, actually! Barto’s the worst.”

He stuck his tongue out at you and threatened to smudge his finger on your wet polish and you gasped, ripping your feet away from him.

“Sorry, Sabo, I’ve been gardening, don’t mind me being a little silly.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he replied too easily.

You bit your lip, feeling brave, “what would you dream of?” Barto raises his brow at you. “I-I’m not alone right now, so keep it PG!”

“Oh,” Sabo pouted, making a sad sound, “well, how about making my dreams about dinner a reality? Can I pick you up tonight?”

“Tonight?” You checked your clock, it was already 6pm. “Oh, of course you can. I’ve got to let you go and start getting ready now though,” you fanned a hand over your toes.

“So that’s a yes?”

“Yes, it’s a yes! Well, wait a minute,” you paused, chewing on your lip. “There’s something I should tell you first before you wanna wine ‘n dine me.”

“Sure thing.”

“Luffy kissed me last night, after you walked away.”

He didn’t miss a beat. “Well, that doesn’t change anything between us, does it?”

“I don’t know, does it?”

You both held the pause. You’d completely forgotten about Barto as he sat gawking from his side of the couch. Sabo’s laugh vibrates in the phone.

“It doesn’t change what I said last night, and that’s all that matters to me.” Sabo says, and your shoulders relax. Barto scoots in close, pointing his head by your shoulder to eavesdrop. Impulsively, you run your fingers through his thick green hair, letting it ground you from Sabo’s confession before it sent your ego to Mars.

“Ah, well then. I was hoping you’d be a little jealous,” and that was the weed talking.

Sabo laughed, “I can be. But I’m not. I’ll text you when I’m almost there, yeah?”

“Seeya soon,” you squeak and hang up the phone. A girlish squeal escapes your throat as you jump off the couch and rush into your bedroom to get dressed.

-

The strappy heels laid on the coffee table as you walked back out. Your hair was brushed out and tied in a tight bun. It took twice as much makeup to look like you were wearing half as much regularly. You’d thrown on the only ‘nice’ dress you owned, a long black cotton number that you tried to steam the wrinkles out of while running the shower. For going a date with short notice, it would have to do.

Barto whistled and waved his finger in a circle, and you twirled on your tip toes, the dress catching a little air and billowing out.

“Man eater,” he says, still laid up on the couch in his sweats.

“Hardly,” you reply. The events of the last night seemed like an inevitability in hind sight, magical accidents or not. You and the ASL brothers had been dancing on the edge of something more since you were teens, a push in the right direction at the right time just never showing up.

There was a knock at the door as you fussed with the buckle on the heels. You tested it, the shoe having some give, but the glue seeming to work, and got up to answer the door. Sabo stood in the entryway wearing his iconic top hat, a long black coat, blue vest over a white puffy silk shirt, and matching slacks over black chelsea boots. He takes his hat off, pressing the cap to his chest, and gives you a shallow bow, making you giggle.

“It’s good to see that hat again,” you say.

“Had to dust it off,” he replies, and your mouth tightens at that. The last time you’d seen the hat was at Ace’s funeral, and you suppose that’s the last time it’d been worn. Sabo’s eyes widen as he notices the face you make and he leans in to kiss you on the cheek. “You look stunning,” he says over your brow, his nose in your hair. He smelled of soap, a lot of it, and a modest spray of spicy cologne.

You force a smile at that, and give him a kiss on the cheek in return. “Thank you, love.”

Sabo audibly hums in response. He straightens up and waves to Barto, and you turn to see Barto half wave back.

“I won’t wait up,” Barto jeers, settling deep in the cushions and throwing his legs up in your spot.

“Bye, Barto~” You wiggle your fingers, closing and lock the door.

You follow Sabo down the stairs to his truck, half hazardly parked up between the parking space and the curb. Far be it for you to ask the ASL brothers to drive like normal human beings. You wouldn’t be surprised if Sabo’s driver’s license was outdated and invalid. Sabo opens the door to the passenger’s side, and you climb into the awkward angle of the seat.

His driving sets your nerves on edge enough that you pulled out your phone and scrolled social media for a distraction. Scrolling past videos with mental health tips and college cheat codes and stop on a clip filmed inside of a crystal shop. Inside of Miss-Stique Stones & More.

In a blur, a long stick was whizzing about the shop, knocking displays over and sending crystals and jars of tea flying, glass breaking, over the sound of Kaya’s screams. The person holding the camera jeered in awe, cursing and dodging the object as it shot in their direction. The straw tied to the end of the stick was unmistakable and you recognized the broomstick, and it’s wrecking the shop. Usopp leaps for it, falling to the floor and fighting to keep it in his hold. He rips open a closet door and shoves it inside, the sound of loud thumps pounding against the back of the door.

You groan, sinking in the seat, feeling hair spring free from the bun already. You’d sworn off magic, but magic wasn’t going to swear off you any time soon, was it?

“Sabo,” you say apologetically.

He juts his head over to look at you so fast the truck veers right and you slam into the door, and then corrects it by merging lanes without a blinker and noisy honk from a nearby driver.

“Can we make a pit stop real quick?”

-

The lights are still on in the shop when you approach. When you peer in, Kaya looks like she’s had a long enough day already as she’s sweeping glass and Usopp is picking up crystals from the floor and putting them in boxes. You knock on the door, and wave when they look up. Kaya rushes over to unlock the door and let you in.

“Good to see you, sorry the shop’s a little unorganized right now but I can help you find anything you need,” she says, exhaustion in her tone.

“Goodness, Kaya, I’m sorry!” You reply.

An angry pounding knocks from inside the closet. You look at Sabo, crumple a piece of paper into his hand and pull him down to whisper in his ear;

“Mark these runes on each wall for me, love.”

You sense a shiver crawl up his back and he takes the note casually and without making a sound. He steps away and makes to look around the shop.

“Mind if I lend some help?” Sabo says down to Usopp, who nods happily.

“Certainly! These crystals are very precious and need to be treated with great care.”

You overhear Usopp laying it on thick with Sabo, watching your date nod and smile, slowly moving around the shop. Kaya follows you to the closet and leans close to you.

“I don’t even know how to describe what happened, but-”

“Kaya, I saw the video. It’s on socials,” you grimace at the way her face falls. “Relax, people will assume this was a stunt for marketing.”

She crosses her arms over her body and watches you approach the closet door. The fiery magic was screaming at you, the broomstick cawing like a crow and begging to be let out. The air felt lighter, your stray hairs and dress floating up. Kaya gasps, and you rip open the door and throw yourself on top of the broomstick.

It fights you, trying to lift you up. Kaya drops herself down on your back, her weight hardly any help at all. You suck air through your teeth, it tastes like aluminum and powder, and get a nasty, stinging buzz in your head for about 15 seconds. The broomstick squawks, and you will the magic into your veins. The dizzying rush made you shudder, and the broomstick stopped fighting you, laying limb in your arms.

Harsh breathes wracked your brain full of closet dust, then coughed painfully. Usopp appears when he pulls on yours and Kaya’s elbows to help you stand. The broomstick looked lifeless on the ground. The urge to bolt out the door rolls in the back of your mind, but you keep it under control. You needed a smoke, badly.

“So, Usopp managed to make this thing fly!” You shout.

But you knew in your bones what had happened, sort of.

“What? Yeah! Yeah, I just over did the uh, propellers. Impressive though, isn’t it?” Usopp says, a hand on the back of his neck.

You and Kaya share a look, and he sighs.

“Ok, no I didn’t. What the heck happened? As soon as I walked in the shop, it started freaking out and flying everywhere!”

You hummed in interest, “wish I could tell you. I think I jinxed it? Not that I meant to do it!” You waved your hands, Kaya crossed her arms again, tilting her head to the side.

“What do you mean by jinxed?” She asks.

You sigh, this was the last spell, so might as well go out with a bang. You turn to Usopp and put a hand on his shoulder, lifting yourself up to press a kiss to his cheek.

“Thank you for the gift, Usopp, it really was sweet,” as you say that, the lights in the shop flicker and the shelves put themselves back together, not a shard of glass left on the ground. From the corner of your eye, the runes were drawn in pen, and glittered momentarily.

Kaya and Usopp cried out, Usopp wrapping his arms around you tightly. Sabo turns and gives you a shrewd look, tapping his watch with a finger and coughing. You gave Kaya a sheepish grin, stretching your cheeks out wide.

“Surprise! I learned a new trick. Neat, isn’t it?” You say while stepping out of Usopp’s hold and towards Sabo’s outstretched hand. His gloves scratch your skin when he squeezes your arm tight, the look on his face stilled.

“A trick?!” Kaya cries out, “you’re- you’re,” she sighs, dropping her head in her hands.

“We must be going,” Sabo interjects, and you bat his hand off, feeling a bruise ready to form on your arm.

“Haha! Good one, Y/N!” Usopp cheers, “ya look great! Have a good night!” He jogs over to the door and opens it for you and Sabo.

“Take the broomstick, please!” You hear Kaya say over your shoulder. Sabo turns and accepts it.

“Have a goodnight! Sorry for the trouble!” You immediately regret saying that and charge back to Sabo’s truck. He opens the door for you and helps you climb back in, and tucks the broomstick in the backseat.

Your phone dings with a message from Usopp bright on your screen, and don’t miss the twitch in Sabo’s eye.

Usopp (now): was I seeing things

You (now): ask no questions and Ill tell u no lies

Sabo squeezes your knee, his driving a little more focused as he touches you. The streets pass by too quickly, your thoughts moving slowly as you try to parse through the day. You scanned the inside of the truck and listened closely, everything seemed to running normally, although, you took care to touch anything more than necessary. 

Chapter Text

Tell me secrets of life

For I forsee my grave

Forget the past

Or be swarmed with regret

By the time you arrived to the restaurant, the sun had crested it’s last rays over the horizon. Dusk light bounced off the glass exterior of the high rises surrounding the open seating area set around a high balcony. Sabo checked into the reservation, the hostess making a fuss about you two coming in late. But that was after she eyed you up and down in way that put an ugly bubble in your gut.

She led you through rows of tables draped with white table clothes and surrounded by fine, plush chairs. Arrangements featuring black dahlias and thorny vines decorated the center of each one, the guests dressed in black matching the décor, painted orange in the low light. Faerie lights were strung along a trellis hanging over the balcony, where vines thick with bushels of dark blue and purple morning glory crowded overhead. Every few feet hung a small glass light fixture with sharp edges and angular cuts. Somber piano music played over the speakers.

A table waited for you by the far edge of the balcony with two chairs, Sabo stepped ahead to pull one out for you before taking his own seat. The hostess lit a small candle in a burgundy colored glass, handed off a menu printed on thick card stock, and walked away smiling curtly.

“Sabo,” you leaned over the menu to speak closely, feeling the welcome warmth of the candle on your throat, “this is a lot more than I expected.”

He grins at you, the last of the sunshine remaining on his face. “I hope you were only underestimating me.”

That wasn’t it at all. And the neutral look you gave him said exactly how highly you thought of yourself. The way a man ought to treat someone like you. And he frowns at that, hastily reaching over the table to run his fingers in a feather light touch along the column of your neck. You closed your eyes and leaned in to his hand. Time stopped a year ago, everything you wanted had fallen from the nest before learning to fly. Sabo’s touch scooped your dreams off the ground and held them close to his chest.

A quick cough interrupted your rumination. Sabo slowly pulled his hand away and sat back in his chair, and you mirrored the action before giving the stranger your attention.

He was a tall, handsome man who appeared to be in his mid 30’s. His pale skin laid across a severe look on his face like he’d already measured your worth.

“Good evening,” he said in a velvet soft, dark voice, “my name is Mihawk, I’m the master sommelier of this establishment. Tonight, we’re serving a lovely Howling Moon pinot noir from the North Blue with the menu. It’s very firm bodied and forward flavored on the palette. But I’m happy to recommend something more to your taste?” His golden eyes bounce between you and Sabo before he pours a sip into a large wine glass and hands it to you.

The smell of blood and chocolate floods your nose as the glass hovers below your face. You toss back the sample, and it tasted like chewing on the skin of a sour cherry. Shaking your head ‘no’, you hand the glass back to Mihawk, who seems unphased and pours a full glass before handing it back to you, two fingers on the stem.

“Drink it slower,” he says, pouring into Sabo’s glass.

Sabo takes a sip, watching you sit back and eye the glass suspiciously. He hums in approval, the wine leaving a purple stain on the inside of his lips that you wanted to lick clean. You sipped the glass, it tasted like a walk in an orchard, holding his hand, breathing into his neck, whispering naughty things in his ear and watching his face turn the color of his lip now.

“Hmm, ok. You win, Mihawk, was it?” You look up to him, not missing the haughty shake of his head before he responded.

“Certainly. Your waiter with be with you shortly,” and with that he left the bottle on the table and sailed away.

The label said Howling Moon in a beautiful, twirling script, with a black wolf jumping over a crescent moon pictured beneath it.

Whatever the waiter had to say about the 4-course menu for the evening was lost in a cherry flavored haze. You leaned on your elbow, head in your hand, admiring Sabo’s hair glowing silver in the moonlight. His skin turned translucent in this light, a pearlescent sheen across his freshly shaven jaw and down his neck. The scar on his face fell in the background, hidden behind a few well placed curls.

Fresh bread and a crisp salad were placed before you two, and your appetite quickly moved from between your legs up to your stomach. The bread was warm and buttery in your hand and crumbled apart as you tore a piece and tossed it in your mouth. Odorous gravel filled your palette, and you spit it out in your napkin.

“What’s wrong? Don’t like bread?” Sabo asked teasingly, he’d already eaten 2 rolls.

“Nothing, I guess it didn’t mix nicely with the wine,” you replied, crunching salad with your fork, and sniffing it before raising it to your lips. Vinegar and garlic, but not so much that it would offend the senses. Except when you bit down, the leaves turned slimy and stuck to your teeth. Black pepper crowding your nostrils and you sneeze into your napkin, and try to wash it down with more wine.

Sabo’s plate was clear, and so was the bread basket.

The air stank of burned pork fat. You glanced around and every patron was enjoying their meal. Something was making bile bubble up in your chest.

“How’s the food?” The waiter jogs up to your table, a fresh bottle in hand and pours you another glass. “On the house, please, don’t worry. Can I get you something before the next course comes out?” They say, taking away the offending dishes.

“No, thank you. Where’s the bathroom?” You reply.

“Back inside, through the doors by the kitchen. The smells are amazing!” The waiter replies and scurries off.

“You ok?” Sabo asks.

“Huh? Yes, yeah, no problem. I’ll be right back,” you wave while standing up from the chair.

As you made your way to the bathroom, the pungent smell of sulfur stuck to your nostrils. You walked through the door marked ‘Ladies’ and the stench faded behind the threshold. Back outside, you point your nose to kitchen, and the stink of charcoal and ash returned. As you passed from the bathroom to the kitchen, you caught Mihawk’s eye.

“I’m tellin’ ya, my nose doesn’t lie and it stinks in here!” A raucous voice boomed from behind the kitchen doors.

“You’re full of shit and trying to get out of work. Just fix the stove like you were hired to,” a sniveling, hoarse sounding man replied.

“If my partner says it stinks in here, then it stinks.” A man, whose voice sounded like the roar of a chainsaw, spoke.

“Oh yeah? Do you smell it too, smartass?”

“I do,” you step in, and all 3 men look at you. “It fuckin’ reeks in here.”

The shortest man in the group was of a stout build with pale, grey skin dressed in chef’s apparel. Next to him was a man so buff he looked like he was competing for Mr. Universe, long blonde hair tied back in a pony tail, and his face covered by a gaiter mask and wide rimmed sunglasses. Towering over the two by at least another foot was another broad, well built man with a shock of short red hair and scars on his face much like Sabo, and he was missing an arm.

The last one smirked at you, his eyes drinking in your appearance like beer after a long day at work. There was no telling what the masked man was thinking. And the chef scoffed.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry if there’s an odor offending you. Take it up with the manager and he’ll see about taking care of your delicate sensitivities.” The chef waves you off.

You were lost for words, your mouth falling open at being dismissed so rudely.

“Think ya need yer eyes checked along with your nose, guy.” The red head spoke, his presence dominating the kitchen. “That’s no way to talk to a pretty lady.”

Your ears burn a little, and you push forward into the kitchen, you heels catching on the non-slip mats. The blonde man puts out a gloved hand and you take it, walking over to the stove, and gag at the acrid stench overtaking all of your senses. The air itself was angry. A spirit was cursing this kitchen with it’s dying breath.

“So, I can smell it. They can smell it. But you can’t?” You asked the stubby chef, who looked down your dress and then the floor.

“What’s it to you anyways? Guests don’t belong back here, go back to your table.” He replies, his voice tinged with shreds of his remaining temper.

You ignore him, and look up to the red headed man. An eager look gleaming in his warm, ochre-toned eyes as he gives you a crooked smile.

“Why don’tcha wait for me around back, yeah?” He says.

“Hmph,” you let go of the blonde man’s hand and slide past all of them towards the stove. It was cold, colder than metal and like the bottom of a lake in the middle of winter. As your hand got closer to the back of the stove, the air felt thicker, redder. Cold fire that wanted to drown anyone who came any closer. The stench was so loud it made your eyes water.

You coughed, taking a step back from the stove.

“Smells like death,” the blonde said in a low tone.

“Can someone move that away from the wall?” You ask.

“Absolutely not!” The chef shouts.

The two buff men grab one end of the stove each, with a loud scrape they move the stove a few inches from the wall. Behind it was a scratched up pentagram drawn in black ink, half of it rubbed off and melting down the plaster.

Fire exploded in your mind’s eye. Ash covering the whole block as the building crumbled. Blackened bodies, cooked flesh, and the silence of death.

Smacking your palm on the pentagram, closer inspection revealed it was not drawn with black ink, but blood. There was an angry spirit bound to this hearth, torn between here and a place you couldn’t recognize because of the damage to the pentagram which binds it.

“The fuck?”

“Oh wow.”

“I gotta call Mister Mihawk-” the chef says and you hear him stomp away.

Through your mind, hand on the pentagram, you ask the spirit if it’s a ghost. Not Dead. Alive, and not from here.

Free? Free. Free.

Yes and No. Here on purpose. Here with purpose. Can’t stay. Can’t go. Hurts.

Pinching, dull pain blooms in your face when you bite the inside of your lip hard enough that a piece of flesh slides along your tongue. Blood pools behind your teeth and spills out of your mouth. Dipping your fingers in the fresh blood, you start to fill out the missing parts of the pentagram.

“Damn, girlie-” the red head’s voice is right over your shoulder.

The pain numbs in the thick, chilly air, and it hurts worse. You can feel your lip swelling, the blood dribbling down your chin. The strap of your heel breaks and a low, stinging curse slips out as you scramble to balance on the greasy tile floor.

Stay here. I am here and so are you. Home.

My blood, your anchor.

You smeared made-up details onto the pentagram, letting the magic guide the movements of your wrist. The visceral circle looked ghoulish in the incandescent light of the kitchen. Though, the more you willed the spirit to the pentagram’s binding, it was so simple to think of cooking like alchemist spell craft. A hearth in the form of a high end industrial stove.

The air shifted, and the smell of fresh baked bread, roasted garlic in olive oil, butter simmering filled your head.

Bless this hearth.

Someone owed you a ‘thank you.’ The spirit settled into the pentagram’s binding, filling the kitchen once again with the level of heat expected, and soon you felt short of breath and sweat pooling on the back of your neck. When you took half a step away from the wall, huge fingers clamped around your jaw and held it still.

Alarmed, you jerked away, but to no avail. Someone pressed an ice cube to your swollen lip.

“Bite on it,” the blonde man instructed in a plain manner, and you squinted at him, offering only a dirty look.

He sighed and held the ice cube to your lip with the hand that was holding your face. The other hand brandished a warm, wet towel and he started roughly wiping your face, neck, and chest. You squirmed under his hold, and he cooed;

“If I let you walk out of here looking like a mess, then that pretty boyfriend of yours’ll think we did something to ya.”

You glanced over through a window that gave a full view of the dining area. Sabo was checking his watch, and then his phone, and looking around. Guilt shamed you, and your throat felt dry thinking of how you were going to explain the broken shoe and the mess made of your face and dress. How long you’d probably been gone for. Maybe it’d be easier to lie and say you’d hooked up with one of the bus boys.

“Hold still.”

The red headed man knelt down, which brought him just below your eye level, and grabbed your ankle with the broken heel. The shoe clung to the curve of your foot, strap dangling. As soon as the blonde was done wiping away your blood, he let go, letting you hold onto his arms for balance while his partner began gluing the strap on your shoe back together.

“Thank you, um-” you stuttered, in awe of the delicacy these two human giants were capable of.

“The name’s Eustass Kid, call me Kid,” he said, looking up and giving you a cheeky, toothy grin.

“Thank you, Kid. For the shoe and moving the stove. Didn’t know that was back there, I promise!” You say earnestly.

“It’s more common than you think,” the blonde said.

“Now don’t forget to thank Killer too,” Kid teases while stopping yourself from rolling your eyes.

“Thank you, Killer.”

Your lip felt like a pin was being pushed through it. Kid released your ankle and let you test the heel, slowly bracing your weight on it. Trying to hide how impressed you were, you turned and started to walk out of the kitchen, but the way out was blocked by Mihawk.

“A word,” he curls his hand into his body, and you weigh your chances of a quick getaway. You really regret leaving your purse at the table with Sabo.

Quietly, you follow Mihawk through the indoor part of the restaurant to a dimly lit office. Books and bottles of wine lined the shelves crowded in the room, every flat surface covered in paperwork, glasses, and more wine bottles, books, and candles. It smelled damp, and your mind’s eye wanted to play in this room, so much knowledge in a small space.

“You’ve sorted out my hearth spirit problem,” Mihawk said matter-of-fact. You would have preferred a ‘thank you’ but kept your mouth shut. “Girl,” you didn’t like how he said that and made a face as he continued, “the powers you are dabbling with are deadly and life threatening. Are you being brought into a coven soon?”

“A coven?” You say, wanting to move your lip as little as possible.

“Whoever unlocked your power is greatly under serving you,” Mihawk said with a tight frown. “A coven is a gathering of magic users. Witches, wizards, warlocks. It’s a sacred bond between yourself and the other members.”

You nod, feeling for your phone, and once again frustrated with yourself, and sigh. “Not gonna practice anymore magic, that was it. I’m swearing off it.”

Mihawk’s brow furrows. He turns around and swipes one of the bottles from the shelf, pops it open, and pours out a yellowish wine, then hands the glass to you. When he doesn’t pour himself a glass, you scowl at the glass he’s offered and try to refuse it.

“Drink it. Slowly. I’m not going to poison you, girl.”

You swirl the glass, watching the mini cyclone in the center. Ginseng and earth wafts up into your nose, it hardly smells like alcohol at all, and you take a sip. It tastes like taking refuge in a little tea shop after walking through a busy street. Like a relative’s smile. Pulling a blanket out of the dryer and feeling the fleeting moments of warmth wrapped around your body.

Then your lip stops hurting. You reach up to touch it and find only smooth curves, wet from the drink.

“Witches are very powerful,” Mihawk’s eyes scrape along your upper body, “much stronger than their male counterparts. But witches without covens die young and in unfortunate circumstances. Form your coven, and do it soon.”

“But I’m not doing anymore magic!” You reply, handing back the glass.

“Even if you never perform another spell, do you think I’m the first one to notice your powers so far?”

You swallow a lump in your throat, sweat forming on your brow. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for the potion.”

“Not a potion. Wine is magic, if you can tap into it.” Mihawk responds, accepting the glass and opening the door to his office. He walks you back to the table in the far corner, where Sabo turns his head, happy to see you.

“I was getting worried,” he says.

“Ah sorry, was making out with the vampire Lestat over there,” you tease, earning a loud scoff from Mihawk before he turns to leave.

“Should have invited me,” Sabo replies, and you reach across the table to playfully smack his arm.

“I was just kidding! You must really think I’m a slut or something,” you goad him on, taking the glass of red wine, admiring the moon’s reflection in the blood red pool.

“Such language!” Sabo faux scoffs, taking your hand and squeezing it.

You stared, the joke elevating the hackles that had locked up in your shoulders. There was nothing Sabo’s smile couldn’t fix. His handsome appearance a soft landing for the anxious energy bouncing on your nerves.

“What were you doing in the kitchen?” Sabo asked, and your heart clenched.

The chair was hard on your back, the tablecloth scratchy against the exposed part of your leg. Silverware clanged so loud it was like you were stuck in a bubble of high pitched sound. Your heart hammered against your chest.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” you muttered, head down.

“Now I really want to know what happened in the kitchen,” he replied.

“How did you know I was in there?” You leaned on your elbows, burying your nose in the wine glass.

“I went inside to check on you, and the chef was talking some shit about a witch in his house. Peaked in through the kitchen door and it looked like you were bossing his staff around,” he replied with a cheeky grin. Trying to keep Sabo out of your business was about as useful as a dull knife.

Maybe there was a chance to sweep the magic under the rug still, a chance to live a normal life again, still.

“Wanted to tell them in person that the food sucked,” you say, setting the empty glass down and checking the bottle, also empty.

“The food was so bad it made you cut your lip?”

“God dammit, Sabo,” you curse, slapping a hand over your mouth.

“Who’d you kiss to heal it?” He says, his tone lowering, his pupils shrinking.

“Didn’t kiss anyone. Not in the kitchen, not the wine guy. He’s got potions in his office, gave me one that fixed it right up.”

“And you cut your lip because?” Sabo leaned forward, his voice scraping against scales of a greedy beast.

You sighed loudly. The waiter came over with hot plates of steak covered in butter, and vegetables soaked in oil and herbs. It smelled like a home cooked meal by a loving relative after a cold, bitter day.

Care. Welcome.

A hand brushed your shoulder, and you turned around swiftly. There wasn’t room for anyone to stand behind you in the corner of the balcony. Dimly lit city streets ran in a checkerboard below. Straightening back out in the chair, you caught the fierce look in Sabo’s eyes.

With Pack. Free. Freed. Fly High.

“There’s a spirit blessing the kitchen- it’s like a hearth blessing or something. I’m not sure. The binding was broken and I fixed it with my blood. Just felt like the right thing to do, I don’t know,” you sounded absurd.

And yet Sabo affirmed it like you were, in fact, doing the right thing. “Good, I like it when you use me for your spells, not some random guy.”

Your jaw drops, and then you click your tongue at him. “Jealous.”

Law seemed to have had a similar hang up about the affection needed for spells. All the more reason to swear off magic.

Sabo doesn’t offer a response, instead stuffing himself with the fine meal. You held a morsel before your face cautiously for the umpteenth time this evening. Risking a small bite, you were pleasantly surprised by the taste of salt and fat melting on your tongue. Relief battled the savory flavors of the food as both sensations flooded your brain. The red meat felt good between your teeth. It’d been too long since you’d had a really good dinner.

With bellies full, you and Sabo floated down the tower to his truck. Mihawk comp’d the meal as a way of saying thanks. Sabo had argued about paying just for the principal of the thing, but the waitress refused to produce a bill, and he ended up leaving a huge tip for them. A high whistle echoed from across the parking garage, and you turned to see Kid and Killer sitting in a van with the windows rolled down. You ignored them and climbed into the passenger seat of Sabo’s truck quietly and sluggishly.

Street lights danced over the windshield, your date was more focused on his hand sliding the dress up your knees than the drive.

“I’m off tomorrow,” he suggests, making eyes at you from the crinkled side of his scar.

That made you bite your lip, “I’m not, but I don’t have to open…”

Sabo nodded and drove the path out of downtown into the heavily wooded neighborhood of the ASL home. His black silk gloves made it to the inside of your bare knee, where you could feel heat radiate through the fabric. The familiar crunch of gravel announced arrival, and it felt like time had skipped forward in the blink of an eye. You could feel your heart beating in your throat when Sabo stepped out and opened the passenger side door, holding his hand out. Slinging your bag over your shoulder, you accepted his hand, and the events to unfold tonight.

Scraping your heels across the driveway and onto the covered patio like it’s a new place, not somewhere you’d visited hundreds of times, Sabo wrapped his arm around you as he unlocked the front door. You didn’t wait to fully pass through the threshold before pouncing on him, ripping his head down to meet yours in a ravenous melting of mouths. With arms around your waist, he walks you backwards into pitch black darkness of the living room.

Want loudly pangs between your legs and has your blood flash fire hot. Keeping your face suckered to Sabo’s skin, your purse slides from your arm and gets tossed onto the coffee table with a loud thunk.

A way too heavy thunk. And your rip your attention away staring daggers at your purse, wrestling out of Sabo’s hold to investigate. You yank the bag open and the spellbook slips out. The shiny silver symbol of Venus glimmering in the dim rays of starlight shining through from the far window. Like it was mocking you.

Curses steam from the flame on your breath, hot blood boiling your bones. When you grab the spellbook, it beckons, begs, has open arms to you. But you march over to the fireplace and swipe the matchbox, tearing out a match to strike it and flick it into the hearth. A fire roars to life against the soot covered brick. Red and black like the pain in your chest, the regrets, the constant flashbacks.

Grinding your teeth, you raise the spellbook up over your head, but when you try to throw it into the fire, a vice grip chains you to Sabo’s chest.

“Stop, stop, stop! What are you doing?!” He exclaims.

“Let me go!” you struggle against his hold, but he’s snaked his limbs around yours and pinned your body stiff. A sob breaks from your throat, “I’m sick of it all. Just want to be done with this bullshit.”

“Don’t you dare give up,” he squeezes you hard and you drop the spellbook, hearing it clatter to the wood floor. “After everything we’ve been through, I’m not letting you throw away our chance to make it right.”

Make it right. The split in your lip felt like it was opening back up.

“What’s going on? Sabo? Y/N?!”

Luffy’s silhouette appears in the hallway across from the fireplace, his figure warm against the cold dark behind him. He’s rubbing sleep from his eyes, only wearing red basketball shorts, the scar on his chest shining silver. He shakes off a yawn, and takes in the sight of the scuffle in the living room, and his gaze lands on the spellbook.

“If you touch the spellbook, it disappears!” Sabo says, folding you underneath him as you cry uselessly.

“Let go of Y/N, what are you doing?!” Luffy shouts, rushing right into Sabo’s arm.

“It’s ok Luffy, grab the book for me, I need to hide it! Help me! Please!” You’re chained at the waist, one arm pinned and the other clawing at the air, trying to get a grip on the coffee table.

“Luffy, please! The spell to bring Ace back is in there! Don’t touch it-”

You shoved an elbow into Sabo’s side, his grip loosening enough for you to fall to your knees and scramble over the spellbook, grabbing it and clutching it close to your chest.

“It’s not worth it,” you cry, “someone always gets hurt. This isn’t worth the risk. I’m not doing anymore magic!” With that you toss the spellbook like a frisbee.

But Luffy snatches it, a black glare in the shadow on his face as he stands opposite the fireplace.

“Yeah, people get hurt. So what?” Luffy responds, “you think every bad thing that happens is solely your fault?” He waves the spellbook in your face, and you sit still.

“Luffy, no! It’s going to fall apart!” Sabo yells.

But it didn’t. Luffy tossed the spellbook on the couch and sat on it, his legs crossed as he gets comfortable.

“Open it. Find the spell,” you say, breathing heavy.

“I’m not listening until you stop lying,” Luffy crosses his arms, the spellbook poking out from under his thigh.

Tears threatened to come, you felt sick, your gut airy and knees hurt from the fall. “It hurts,” you say in a high pitched whine, “I want it to stop. That’s not a lie.” You look up at Luffy and Sabo, eyes burning.

Avoiding pain is how you lost Ace. Life was so boring and you hated college, you hated yourself. Smoking and drinking made the pain go away, made you forget. Fear has dictated every move you’ve made your whole life, and the reward is crying on you knees in front of friends. In front of lovers.

They sat together and watched quietly as your dry sobs evened out into semi calm. You lifted your head, sitting back on your side, hair flying out of its bun, dress properly disheveled. Luffy and Sabo, and Ace, love you, they’ve chased after you, embraced, forgave, healed, and rooted for you.

It’s time for you to be the brave one, to be worthy.

“Ok,” you sniffle, “we’ll bring Ace back.”

Orange light radiated off the boy’s faces, and they collapsed on top of you in a dog pile of a hug. The forest opened up in your mind’s eye, the sound of hooves pounding, a cradle of fur that felt like pack, like mates. In a place where man’s light didn’t pollute the sky and every star sparkled on the blanket of night.

“We have to form a coven first,” you say, hands wrapped in black and blonde hair.

Chapter Text

On thy knees now
We fall with what we build
On thy knees now
We fall with what we build

Bone-chilling air filled the living room. Chasing it away as you were bent over the coffee table lighting dozens of tealight candles. You’d picked them up from the 24-hour grocery store a few blocks down from the ASL home, having scrounged some loose definition of magic supplies together. The boys pushed the furniture to the walls, and set the coffee table opposite the fireplace, which still roared with life thanks to the fresh stack of wood brought in from the side of the house.

The spellbook sat open on the coffee table, a decorative placemat beneath it, tea lights illuminating the layout for THE SACRED BOND.

“It takes 3 to form a coven,” you began, lighting sandalwood incense, the scent warm and familiar under your nose. “A high priestess,” you wave a hand indicating yourself. “Her right hand,” you look to Luffy and he grins wide, all his teeth shining in the flames. “And her left hand,” over your shoulder, Sabo sighs and straightens his back, correcting his posture.

For a lack of ceremonial robes, you stood before one another freshly bathed and wrapped in towels. You could feel every little flame licking your fingers and thighs, one hand kept close to your chest to keep the towel tied securely. The wood floor was freezing under your bare feet, every little piece of clutter sticking to your skin and ripping your focus away from what’s going to happen. You’d read the spell 10 times over, the spellbook manifests custom rituals- which made you question the sanity of this decision, question yourself.

The air is charged, static and dry, magic sparkling bright blue off the tips of each flame. When you turn to face the boys, Luffy gasps, immediately stealing your attention. In the black of his eyes, yours are glowing bright pink into purple and blue and red, not one color staying longer than a few seconds. A chill shoots down your gut, making your back stiff. Even if this is just a dream, it’s a beautiful one.

You took a deep breath, and began the ritual.

With a little plastic cereal bowl filled with water in the right hand, and a mound of salt in the left, you raise them up shoulder-high, coughing before you begin; “In this time that is not time, in a place that is not a place, I stand at the threshold between worlds.” What worlds those were, you had no idea. “Before the veil of the living, I ask for blessing as I embark on this ancient, most sacred path.” Holding the bowl high above your head, the towel slipping loose around your torso, you proclaim, “bare witness to this symbol of the great womb of the Goddess, and bring upon me and mine inspiration and many blessings.”

Quickly, you lower the bowl back to shoulder high and tuck your elbow in to try and hold up the towel, a blush blooming across your cheeks. And you continue, raising the salt up over your head, saying, “witness this symbol of the earth, and bring upon me and mine strength and protection.” Lowering your left hand, you pour the salt into the water, stirring it with your pointer finger, elbows tight against the towel. “Let the mixing of water and salt be the mixing of my outer and inner body to become one.”

You sprinkle water from your fingertips onto the altar, in a circle around yourself and the boys. Then you hold out the bowl, motioning for them to do the same. They do it, splashing droplets of salty water at your feet.

Stepping past them, you approach the fire place and let the heat wash over you. The soft landing of acceptance, standing before the forested path of destiny as it unfurled into oppressive darkness. Faith in yourself, an unrelenting willpower guiding you out of blindness and into a world of mystery and magic. You hitch your thumbs into the seam of the towel and pull it loose.

“Hear my words, for they are true and from my heart,” you turned your back to the fire, dropping the towel and letting it pool at your feet. “I dedicate my life to the path of magic, and hereby claim the title Maiden of Night.”

You throw your arms up and out, leaning your head back to stare at the ceiling. “May I be blessed with wisdom, power, and prosperity. And may I be found worthy of being called Witch!”

Your arms drop, lowering your gaze to look ahead at the boys. Men. Statuesque figures of stone and wood, root and flower, wing and horn. Sweat dots their brows, both of them awestruck at the visage of your sky-clad form standing in the shadow of the fireplace. You extend an arm out, beckoning them over.

They follow wordlessly, Sabo drops his towel and Luffy notices, and then does the same. You drink them in. Pale skin reflected moonlight, curves of fine muscle over bone highlighted by sweat and glittering magic in the air.

“For those who would dedicate themselves to my will, show me your submission.”

Sabo kneeled down on the hardwood, and you mentally winced at his discomfort as he bowed down, touching his forehead to your toes. The muscles of his back stretched out like eagle wings, his arms curved around his front, long and beautifully toned.

You eyed Luffy, and he glanced down at Sabo and then back at you. What he interpreted as submission could have been anyone’s guess, it wasn’t a concept associated with Monkey D. Luffy. But laying down flat on his belly with his hands tucked under his face was not what you’d had in mind. Not that it mattered much, this hierarchy was in name only, as far as you’re concerned.

“Rise,” you said shakily, and they obeyed, Sabo rising to sit with legs folded, and Luffy copying the pose. You lay hands on Luffy’s shoulders first, staring into his deep, coffee black eyes, a primal urge waiting beneath the glass of his irises. “Luffy, I name you my right hand, do you accept your duty to protect this coven with strength and truth?”

Luffy nods, “yes!!!” He grabs your hips and pressed his face into your stomach, “my maiden of night. Mine.”

A blush lights up your face, an impatient desire bruising your womb. Gently, you push him off and step in front of Sabo, who is doing his best not to stare between your legs. He swallows a lump in his throat and smiles when you put hands on his shoulders.

“Sabo, I name you my left hand. Do you accept your duty to uphold my will and stand for justice?”

“Yes, Y/N, my maiden of night,” he replies, his fingers ghosting along your arm, scooping your hand up in his to kiss your knuckles.

The room smelled like smoke, incense, and tree sap. Gooseflesh pricked along your skin as magic charged beneath your veins. An inexplicable bond clamped into place between you, Luffy, and Sabo that flooded your mind with want. To become one with them, to clash your bones into theirs and become a dreadful new creature of unmatched power. You needed them, sweat and heat soaked the inside of your thighs, and they could smell it, licking their lips, digging nails into their palms.

Luffy was the first one to soar up on his feet and swoop in on the kiss. He was starving, bullying his tongue past your lips and swirling it around your mouth greedily as his hands traveled the curves of your body. He tasted like fruit freshly picked off the vine, like water from a crisp mountain stream, like your first drink after being thirsty for a century.

Clever hands grabbed your ass just right, and you moaned into his mouth. Wrapping your arms around him and going up on tip toes, bracing your weight against him and feeling his hard cock crushed against your pelvis.

He broke away when Sabo closed in, replacing Luffy where he was standing and putting hands on your neck, thumbs caressing your cheek. Soft, slow, playful kisses teased your lips, and when you bid him closer, looping your arms around his waist and pulling, he followed. Blonde hair fell in your face and he laughed.

“I can feel it. Can you?” He asked.

“Yes! I can feel the bond to you, Sabo.” You said proudly, a flush of pride swelling in your breast.

“Don’t forget about me,” Luffy whined into your neck, his breath blowing down your chest.

“I would never forget you, Luffy, my love,” you said as you turned and kissed his cheek. Luffy hummed happily and looped his arms around you.

They kissed you all over, smothering your face and neck in love bites and licks. A proper mess was made at your center, and you mewled beneath their attention. Magic coursed through your blood, it spoke to your lovers, sweet poems of affection shared between souls. The snake eating its tail. The world stopped turning and the only thing in existence was your flesh melting into theirs.

Lifted off your feet by Sabo, he set you against the arm of the couch, dipping his head down to capture your nipple between his lips. Luffy snaked his head around to take the other nipple in his mouth, and you moaned softly. Hands in their hair as they suckled at your breasts.

Swirling his tongue around, Sabo dressed your nipple in careful adoration. Your hand caressing his golden head. Meanwhile, Luffy devoured the sensitive bud, his teeth kneading keening moans from you. And your fingers tangled in his thick, black hair, pulling in time with the movement of his jaw.

A calloused hand brushed the top of your thigh and squeezed the meat of your hips, another pawed at the curve of your ass. Luffy whined, and slid into the seat below, tucking himself in the corner of the couch. Sabo’s lips chased skin as Luffy pulled you into his lap, your back against his chest, Sabo’s arms caged around your head as he braced his weight on the back of the couch.

You could feel Luffy’s cock against your hips, his head in the crook of your neck, breathing in yours and Sabo’s musk. At the meeting of your thighs, he slides his legs between them and wraps yours up and around his knees, where he slowly opens you up, your weeping center revealed like a precious pearl.

The air meets you there, sending a thrill up your spine. A hollow breath breaks from you, and Luffy hums in approval, burying his hands between your legs, his fingers performing a teasing dance above your slit.

Sabo leans back on his heels, watching Luffy’s hands work you into a needy mess. A low laugh in your ear at your involuntary whines. Licking his lips as he sits back on the second couch along the opposite wall, legs spread and his hands wrapped around his cock.

“So pretty, I’m almost drooling,” Sabo purrs, his eyes glowing amber, the fire flicking in the reflection of his lust-filled, glassy eyes.

“Oh, she is,” Luffy emphasizes his point by swiping a finger up your sopping slit. “Aren’t you, my star?”

That was new. But you’re so blissed out that it only makes your blood hotter.

“Yes, my love! Touch me, please,” you plead, your arms thrown back, grabbing at Luffy’s head.

“Don’t beg, princess. Anything you want, we’ll give it to you.” Sabo says.

Two fingers plunge into you, a thumb rubbing against your needy clit. Luffy swallows your moan in his kiss, your pussy sucking up his fingers and soaking his hand. He strums the cords between your legs, the tune getting tighter, a lewd sound of his knuckles diving inside over and over. Sabo strokes himself at the same rhythm as Luffy’s hand, his hollow moans filling the space between the couches.

“Love you,” Luffy pulled his fingers out right as you were about to peak, grabbing underneath your thighs and lifting you up, lining his cock up with your entrance, and dropping you down. “Ahh- I love you!” He cries, driving into you with an unleashed primal desire he’d held back for too long.

Luffy’s cock was a proportional length to his height, but so, so thick and he fucked a delicious stretch into you that made you squeal and curl your toes. Your juices poured down his pubes and balls, hopelessly soaking the couch beyond an easy cleaning.

He bounced you on his lap, his cock filling you out and winding the coil in your gut. You moaned together, his breath searing your skin, sweat sticking and slipping.

You were flying through the treetops, the starlight poking through the leaves. The taste of rain on your tongue, bark cutting your palms as you swung across vines. Primate’s screams boomed around you, it was a race, you were going to win.

An explosion of ecstasy lit up the room, the moonlight blinding the three of you. Loud gasps followed your guttural moan, the coil untethered and pleasure waterfalling up and back down your body as you shudder on Luffy’s cock.

“Can’t hold it in- ah!” Luffy cries, erupting inside of you, his whole body shaking as he empties himself out.

A wonderful breath of sex-polluted air filled your lungs, dank with magic that sparkled in the corner of your eye. You leaned back against Luffy’s chest, his member softening inside of you.

“I feel it,” Sabo growls, squeezing the base of his cock hard before standing up and crossing over to you and Luffy. “The power…” he reached out, you wanted it. You wanted to take his affection, to consume his essence and make it yours. And then his touch feels like being burned by a hot iron, earning a shriek as you jumped away from him.

“How are you freezing?!” Luffy cries, scrambling out from beneath you.

“Balance,” you breath, slung over the arm of the couch, focusing the storm whirling in your blood. It was selfish and growling, demanding order, howling in your ears for respect. So you closed your eyes.

The couch is wet. Your skin is sticky. It smells pungent and smoky, hot flesh and cold fire. You can taste the sizzling magic on your parched throat. The room is dark, the fire dim. Luffy’s breathing hard, and Sabo’s is hoarse and needy.

You flick your gaze over to the fire, and a breeze blows it out, the smell of the candles simultaneously going out filled your nostrils, and blanketing the room in darkness.

Sabo man handles your backside until you’re on all fours and leaning over the arm of the couch. His touch welcome and evened out, the couch dipping behind you, his fingers walking up your spine. He leans over, his cock rubbing your center. Luffy’s cum dripping down and soaking both of you. Sabo rubbed it along the column of his cock, and stuffed the rest of it back inside of you.

“So soft,” he hums, licking his lips.

He teases the head of his cock between your pussy lips, one hand squeezing your ass, the other holding you still. You whine in return and wiggle your hips, making him laugh. In the darkness, all of your focus centers on Sabo’s cock slithering past your entrance, the tip digging deep, curving into your g-spot. The fabric of the couch scratches your palms, bracing against the momentum of Sabo’s hips.

A rolling snarl echoes in your ear, a warning before he starts riding you with untethered brutality. His cock slams into your walls, already worn in and oversensitive. You’re caught in the eye of a hurricane, so much pleasure whirling around and leaving a wreck inside your brain.

His hand claps the bouncing skin of your ass, a delicious sting radiating out from his palm and stacking onto your pleasure. You cry out as he drives into you, his fingernails digging into flesh as he slams into you like a battering ram.

“So strong. God, I can feel it, the power of love!” Sabo shouts, rivulets of blood breaking under his hold. He leans over you back, burying himself inside you and wrapping his jaw around your throat. A wonderful stream of pain and pleasure at your beginning and end as he marks you inside and out.

When you feel another peak of ecstasy is ready to sending you falling over again, your mind’s eye opens up; a bird’s eye view of a river, soaring over white rapids, talons spread wide and tearing open the flesh of something smaller and muscular. Victory, you will return to the nest and eat your fill.

The pleasure rolls up your body, your pussy walls clenching on Sabo’s cock. He’d tucked his hand down between your legs and circled your clit. It was overwhelming, a flash of heat, cold sweat, and an explosion of joy left you whimpering and squirting in his hand.

“Oh fuck yeah. That’s my girl. Make you cum so hard, yeah?” He wiped his sopping hand under his nose, taking a long, savoring lick of your juices. Suddenly his strokes stutter, he grunts, and shoots his load right up against your cervix. He fucks it deep inside, not letting up until he’s empty and soft.

You fall over flat onto the couch, Sabo braced above you, sliding out and smothering your neck and back in sweet, soft kisses. Potent magic defiled the air, so thick you could wrap your fingers around it. Staying right here with your lovers was the only thing on your mind, the rest of the world could rot for all you care.

Luffy pushes past Sabo, shoving him into the back of the couch as he buries his head between your legs. He starts licking you clean, humming in pleasure, consuming the liquid pleasure drained from the three of you. You squirm, held down by exhaustion, his tongue making you shudder from hypersensitivity, but lay there and accept his cannibalistic affection.

When he’s licked you clean, Sabo having moved out of the way and laid on the opposite end of the couch, Luffy turns around and gives him the same treatment. Taking his soft cock in his mouth and sucking it dry, consuming the concoction of love making off yours and Sabo’s skin. He groans, putting a hand in Luffy’s hair and petting him, appreciating the gesture, the dedication to flesh.

Three cups filled and poured into one another. Two men who have seen every side of you now, and there’s nothing to hide anymore. Tears prick in your eyes. A sense of belonging that you’ve never, ever felt before now flooding your mind. You crawl on top of Luffy, who lays on Sabo, and you turn into a tangle of limbs, stinking of sex.

Chapter Text

With newfound power flowing in your bones, reality was only a suggestion. A malleable surface beneath a fingertip.

A web of sorcery tied you to Sabo and Luffy, a literal set of strings, visible when you focused on the connection. Shiny pink strings wrapped around your wrists and trailed to their sternum, pinned to their hearts. You played with it, flicking your hand in the air while laid between them in Sabo’s bed.

Hot, sticky breath cascades down the side of your face, a burn scar covered in the morning dew of love making. After stumbling out of the living room, managing to clean up, and bathe, they were still all over you like moths to flame. Fingers spreading over skin like ant trails to sugar. The blanket of Sabo’s golden head disheveled from your fingers finding their place in his scalp throughout the night, and into the now early morning.

He caught your hand in the air and threaded his fingers in between yours. The magic shared in that touch made the rest of the world fall away. Your forms turning to fog, hanging heavy in the air, watching closely, and invincible.

“I thought the night was going to end with getting to call you my girlfriend,” Sabo said softly, unobtrusively, though Luffy could sleep through anything when he wanted to, his head collapsed behind yours, drool pooling under his chin. “If everything went well, that is.”

“And how do you think it went instead?” You respond coyly, brushing your fingertips over his palm, loosely tracing his scars.

Instead of replying, he dropped his head onto your chest and trailed kisses down to your nipple. The attention making your toes curl, letting a little high-pitched whine tell him exactly how it felt. Heat immediately pooled between your legs, the pleasure so much more welcome and easy to take in ways you’ve never felt before.

Sex used to feel automatic, part of the moves you made on the way to feeling worthy of love. The kinds of touches that made you feel as pretty as the owner of those hands said you are. But not with Sabo and Luffy, or with Law. Intimacy lit that sacred fire in your bones that filled you with the cold fire of infinite power. You wanted them, and that’s all that mattered. Your willpower forcing open the doors to their affection. They’re allowed to love you, because they took care of you, chased you, saw you. Forgave your stupid mistakes because you’re going to fix them.

Sabo threw your leg over his hip and set himself upon you like sunrise glistening on a freshly woven spider’s web.

-

You insisted on ubering back home, despite protests from the boys. If they took you home, then you were definitely not going to make it to work on time. Or at all. Despite the ache loudly reminding you of the cost of feverish night time tumbling, you’d take them in your bedroom over, and over, and over again.

At least this uber driver was normal. Clocking your clean face and clean-ish hair, and nice dress, and only raising one amused brow before minding his own business. The drive was spent in welcome silence, your wallet and the spellbook heavy in your bag. Though, focusing on the pink threads was harder as more distance was made between you and the ASL home. The seat was too hot and felt gross, the car smell wasn’t unpleasant- it just wasn’t them. It didn’t smell like earth, the breeze blowing grass over fresh hoof prints in a meadow.

The water in your apartment tasted acrid. You wanted their spit, bottled up and in a lip gloss container to stash in your purse.

When hot water sprayed between your legs, you yelped at the stinging pain, backing away into cold tile. Sitting on the toilet seat drying your hair, the broken sink sat there mockingly. You hadn’t tried the helping hand spell to fix it, yet.

The clattering of the front door opening and slamming shut alerted you to Barto’s return home. Were you going to tell him about magic? How would you explain it? You stared at the plastic bag filled with shards of ceramic, sighed, and threw on a printed shirt and skinny jeans before heading into the living room.

Barto was trying to flick the lighter to life, and failing. He grumbled and tossed it on the floor with a curse. The yellow and blue uniform of the car wash he worked at was more disheveled that normal, and he was home before his shift usually ended. The air felt bitter and dry.

“You okay?” The words were shot over your shoulder as you fished a lighter from your purse and handed it to Barto.

He huffed, held up a finger in a ‘one second’ motion, and lit the bowl. White smoke swirled and clouded the glass, the bowl clinked as he pulled it out, and inhaled. That familiar stench of burning flower greeted your nostrils, and it made you smile as he handed you the bong and lighter, which you happily obliged, and took a hit.

The smoke slammed into your senses like a stampede. Your head was in the clouds, static on your fingertips. Barto’s presence felt like shelter from the rain, laughter echoing from under a bridge.

He reached out for the bong and you pulled it back, raising a brow, and he rolls his eyes.

“Those fuckin’ assholes canned me.”

“Oh Barty, I’m so sorry!” You cry, setting the bong down on the little side table and wrap your arms around his neck.

“Whatever. It’s just a job.” He accepts your hug anyway, pulling you in tight and breathing you in before letting go and swiping the bong.

“You gonna be okay with the bills though?”

“Yes! What’re you up my ass for?” He takes a hit and coughs facing away from you.

Instead of prodding, you chewed your lip and found the spellbook, flipping it open to the helping hand spell spread. Since the topic of work is off the table- for now, it feels safe to step forward with your plan. And possibly provide a much needed distraction.

“Barto, can I show you something?”

Better to leap before you look.

“Is it gon’ piss me off?” He replies, jewelry clicking against glass behind your back.

You shrug your shoulders. “Maybe. You’re being so sensitive right now and all.”

The lighter zips through the air. Blood boils, a clicking, red lightning flashing, and you catch it mid-air. A curse is sitting on the tip of Barto’s tongue, but he holds it at the last second. Instead, he gets up and follows into your bedroom, standing at the doorway to the bathroom. A beat passes, and then he jumps.

“What the fuck! When did that happen?!” He rushes past you to investigate the sink. It sat unused since the hugging incident with Sabo. Where were you even going to start?

“Remember when that car exploded in the complex? The that guy died…” You couldn’t bare to see the look on Barto’s face, so you dipped past him and grabbed the plastic bag in the corner.

“Yeah! That was crazy. Still smells like shit when ya walk by it.”

“What would you think if I said was my fault?” You kept staring at the corner, hearing Barto’s breathing stutter irregularly. After a moment, you braved turning around to face him.

His red eyes were wide, bouncing up and down your figure. No injuries, the smell of fire finally died down in favor of stinking like excess soap. The points of his teeth scratching his lips, mouth agape, then closed, then falling back open. He ran a hand through his long hair, unstyled and mussed up from the baseball cap belonging to his work uniform.

“Yer fuckin’ lying.”

And you nodded ‘no’, lips in a firm line. You jump when he bursts into laughter, an ugly, cynical kind of joy that you could always rely on Barto reveling in. He even wrapped his arms around his waist and bent over howling, and you rolled your eyes. The bag rustles, followed by the clattering crash of ceramics hitting the floor, which snaps him back into reality- making him go back to staring at you, and the dusty pile at your feet.

“If you don’t believe me, ask Sabo.”

Barto scoffs and rolls his eyes, putting hands on his hips. “So you were in another crash…” The words clutched your chest with disgust.

“That’s not what happened,” you snapped, fear and anger crawling like bugs beneath your skin. “I took an uber back from Luffy’s party-”

“Figured. You did kinda disappear. Made mister Luffy real sad,” Barto replies, and it makes you frown.

“Yeah, so, the driver was a creep. He tried… I don’t know, he was trying to grab me and I just wanted to get away from him,” crossing your arms, the anger was building, your hands clenching. Barto nodded, licking the points of his teeth. “I was so overwhelmed that when I tried to push him off, fire shot out of my hands. The whole car lit up. He caught fire. It… it was so much, so fast.” You choked. Every time a flashback from that moment flooded your mind, the dam would slam shut. The last thing you needed was another freak out. You’d simply moved on with your life. If that creep didn’t want to burn, maybe he shouldn’t have pissed off a witch.

Sink shrapnel scraped the floor, Barto batting at the pieces with his toe. It was like he was already over the story. He waited, and you didn’t want to make him deal with the brunt of your newfound rage.

It wasn’t fair. You paid that man’s passage into the underworld, even if he should rot for trying to hurt you in the first place. The coven wouldn’t exist if he hadn’t accidentally helped you discover fire powers, if Law didn’t talk you into using healing magic, and then talk his way between your legs.

But none of this would have happened if you’d never met Law either. If you were never working at the smoke shop in the first place. That stupid job was the only place that would hire you after wrecking your future. Literally.

Sulfurous smog ruffled the back of your throat, turning your teeth black and you spit black bile into the tub. Sticky ooze slid down to the drain, Barto making a disgusted sound at your side. This anger needed somewhere to go.

“I’m sorry Barto. A lot has changed recently,” you let the black of your eyes glow, black spit dribbling down your chin and now out of your nose.

“Jeez, doll face, you’re bein’ real scary right now,” he takes a step forward, and you step away, back hitting the wall. He reaches out and takes hold of your wrist. His touch feels like safety after running through the night, threat on your heels.

Tiles crack, the tub whirs, the edges bending, pipes twisting. The anger left you body, and now it’s fucking up the bathroom. The light bulb bursts, darkness amplifying the clangor of metal and tile breaking down into dust. Blazing fire lit up your mind’s eye, animals abandoning the burning forest. A proud hog walking into it, setting out to find you in the torrent of smoke and flame. With squeals and snorts, he beckoned you, sweaty, coarse hair woven between your fingers. Fresh air on the back of a charging warthog.

Barto embraced you in his arms, his form built out of grit and spite. Tucking your head into his chest, calmed by the smell of weed and car freshener. Warm light flickered around you two, a new, cleaner bulb in place of the broken one.

“Woah,” he chants your name in awe.

You pull off him to look around. Blue-green tiles in an intricate design replaced the grimy off white (more like cigarette grease yellow) ones. Fresh, ash-colored linoleum in place of the extremely aged and water-logged flooring that had to have been there since the apartment was built. Black hardware and a much nicer, actually human-sized tub with claw feet stood where your stained shower and tub has previously sat.

“We’re not getting our deposit back,” you say, slapping a hand on your forehead with an exasperated sigh.

“Fuck the deposit! Do this to my bathroom next!” Barto says, grabbing your shoulders and shaking you. The bathroom did look cozier now.

“So, what just happened- that’s uh. It’s magic and I can do that now,” you add, scratching your head.

Barto’s eyes beamed, practically blinding you from how bright he sparkled in awe. “Doll face, you’ve been getting cooler by the day!”

It’s time to count your lucky stars. Every man in your life so far was a fan of these newfound powers.

-

With a little time alone, your thoughts revolved around Ace. Again. All of that gut wrenching pain spent wanting to reverse time bubbled back up to the surface. You braved pulling up pictures of him up on your phone for the first time in months. He was smiling at you, a little crack broke from the corner of your lips. You were going to do it. You’re going to bring him back to life.

“Ugh, can you quit tapping your nails on the glass already?!” Buggy scrambled out of his office to glare, and you tucked your phone away.

“Didn’t know that bothered you, boss. Sorry,” you reply, checking count on a clipboard.

Buggy narrowed his eyes at you, his red nose darkening to a shade closer to the color of wine. It made you do a double take, not really knowing why your ears starting burning, the beating of your heart picking up. When you’d stepped into the shop this morning, it felt more like walking under a circus tent. Something magical protected this place. Obviously, Law had put some kind of spell over the shop when no one was looking.

“I can’t put my finger on it,” Buggy started, and you tried to pay attention to him and not the dryness in your throat. “But you’re off putting today, Y/N.”

You were off putting? Did he not own a mirror? Actually, that was probably what’s wrong with your clown-possessed boss, an obsession with his appearance. That thought must have reflected the look on your face, because he rolled his eyes and waved you off, returning to his office.

“Whatever you did last night, don’t do it again. It’s making you strange,” he quips over the clacking of beads.

But you only shrug it off and pull your phone back out to check the time. Sabo and Luffy’s face greeted the lock screen, their jovial smiles beaming at you behind the bluelight.

The barrier over the shop shifted, The bottom of a moat, chains weighing down your ankles entered your minds eye. A damp dungeon stinking of death. Rejection tinged your tongue, and you quickly checked your reflection on the black mirror of your phone. Nothing unnatural appeared to show on your face. Yet. That much you’re starting to fear.

A lighting bolt of cold fire shot down the side of your head, then the other, wrapping itself in a band just behind your eyes. Your blood growled, the heat in your ears no longer from embarrassment, but a deep anger returning. Tension crawled up your jaw while grinding your teeth.

Law was standing at the back door, throwing one sinister glance your way before rushing past to the front computer and clocking in. A wicked desire to crush him beneath your thumb crossed the band of pain behind your eye. So, you took a deep breath, summoning lightness and clarity.

You thought of Sabo’s gloves scratching your palm. Luffy’s black hairs you were picking off your sticky skin. Coven. Pack. The feeling of home wrapped in warm bodies. It helps the room feel normal-ish again.

Throughout the shift, Law mostly keeps to ‘his side’ of the smoke shop. The vape counter. Which was fine, you hated customers coming in with one of a thousand different brands of vapes, all with different cartridges and chargers, and then having to tell them how much the repair will cost.

Full Body came in to bother you for the umpteenth time. Law didn’t come to your rescue with any snide remarks. He simply stood behind the vape counter and watched with cat like curiosity. Cop-boy looked at Law, then back at you.

“Oh, I get it, doll face,” he smirks.

“Don’t call me that,” you snip back, a snarl rattling from deep in your bones that was never there before. Full Body made you uncomfortable, but he’d never summoned this kind of reaction from you. One that made your claws ache for torn flesh.

“Okay. Bitch. Get me my papers and I’ll be out of here so you can go back to making oogly eyes at-”

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” The words leaped out of your mouth before they could be stopped.

Full Body licked his lips, the word dancing on the edge of his tongue. And you were imagining pressing an iron nail through it. A shocked expression screwed up his face. Shit and piss flooding your nose.

“What is that?! Oh, come on! What the fuck!” Buggy appeared right behind you, chargers in hand and slamming down on the counter, which made you wince.

A slick, sickening trickle of piss gathered at the heel of Full Body’s khaki colored sperry’s. An improvement, you think while biting back a giggle and a snort behind your hand.

“Still need those papers?” You offer.

“Fuck off!”

“No, you fuck off, Full Body! Pissing your pants in my shop like an untrained dog,” Buggy reached for a cartoonishly over sized hammer kept under the register.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’m getting out of here, your building obviously has a nasty leak. Be glad I don’t call the city on you!” He shouts, and the door bell rings, he attempts to slam the door shut but smashes in on his foot. When he turns around, you see the brown smear on his white jeans.

You leaned on an elbow and waggled your fingers at him through the window, a smarmy smile plastered on. Which quickly left when Buggy gagged and said;

“Clean that up!”

“Ugh, no,” you whined, heading to the supply closet. “So fucking gross, god dammit.” You grumble, fill the mop, throw a jacket over your face, and grab a whole roll of paper towels to the cursed puddle. In the cloudy yellow stain, you catch a reflection so unlike your persona. Great black antlers sprouted from the crown of your head, and you gasped, slapping the mop down.

Nothing absorbs into the mop. Well, thankfully.

No puddle of piss remained when you lifted up the mop to inspect it. Then you looked up at Law, the bottles of glass cleaner floating in the air and sparkling an odd light around his fingers. He simply stared from the raised platform behind the counter, waiting for understanding to cross your mind.

And when it did, you tilted your head in the silent question. He nodded ‘no’ and pointed at you.

‘Me?’ You mouth, pointing at your own chest.

‘Yes,’ he nods, that devilish smirk returning to his face. Damn. You’d missed it.

The giggle that escaped couldn’t have been stopped if you tried, and you looked to Law for comradeship, but he went back to frowning. And your heart sank.

For the rest of the afternoon shift, you two went back to the cold war. Ignoring each other, stealing glances and glaring at one another. What you wanted was to touch him again. To focus and find a string that attached to him like your coven. But there was nothing, if anything, a distinct feeling of ‘not mine’ that radiated off his aura.

When you finally clocked out and slunk past the back door, he followed you, chanting your name like a prayer on his tongue. And a selfish part of you wished it was meant that way. You turned to face him, face fallen, a she wolf growling in your ear. Burning sage pungent in the air.

“You have no idea what you’ve started,” he says gravely.

“Psh,” you reply, rolling your eyes.

“The spellbook. It disappeared on me, and now I know where it went,” his amber eyes scanned your figure, and you cross your arms at him.

“I didn’t summon it. It just appeared. Almost set it on fire.”

“It was that, or start a coven?!” He growls between gritted teeth.

“Yeah?”

“Stupid,” he slaps a hand over his face. The upside down ‘DEATH’ pointed at you.

“Shut up,” the graffiti on the brick begs your attention. A blue cross next to some crudely drawn skulls. “Why don’t you join me?” You try your best to make it sound like you were mocking him.

“Absolutely not.”

You expected the rejection, but you hadn’t anticipated it feeling like swallowing a mouth full of pills without something to drink.

“O-okay. Don’t know why I bothered asking anyway,” you grouched before walking away, feeling his eyes bore into you, and trying so, so hard not to turn around for anything. Heavy shadows filled the growing space between you.

Your phone chirps, the she wolf is pleased at the sound, and you take note of it before seeing the text.

Luffy (7:10pm, now): Come over plzzzzzzzzzzz

You (7:13pm, now): sure :)

You (7:13pm, now): stopping by home first

Chapter Text

Outside a solid plane of glass, the sunset bled in streaks of red and pink. The spellbook laid open on the mattress. Nothing about the ‘From Death’ spell made sense still. Forming a coven was one piece of this massive puzzle, and Law was no help.

Not that you had asked him for any help this time. You were getting tired of him and his sickeningly beautiful visage, the sneering, withholding knowledge and dangling it just out of reach to keep you begging for his attention. Well, no more. You’re the maiden of night, and your boys wanted you back. Wrapped in their warmth, breathing in their musk.

The evening must have drained them immensely. You didn’t hear a peep after leaving the ASL home, so you assumed they slept off the sex and ritual magic the way you did the first time practicing with Law.

You hadn’t followed up with Usopp either. The broom was probably still lying dormant in Sabo’s truck. Before the anxiety got the better of you, Usopp’s number was dialed. It rang a few times, and right when you were about to hang up, he answered.

“Y/N! Hey there. Don’t tell me the broom is still acting crazy again and flying all over the place?!” He says panic-stricken.

“No, it’s fine. Whatever happened…” the anxiety was creeping in anyway, right next to overwhelm. “Look, I’m sorry about that. I really am.”

“It’s not your fault though. That thing acted on it’s own.”

Both of you were quiet for a moment, silently agreeing to sweep it under the rug.

“It’s nice to hear your voice, but I hope that’s not the only reason you called,” Usopp carried on, like he was so good at. Just letting things be.

“Now that you mention it, I did want to ask if-” your throat closed up. You didn’t want to look stupid again, and chose not to ask about the life amulet again.

“Yeah?” The sound of his voice was eager.

“Did the videos online… you know, that didn’t affect anything did it?” You ask.

“A few gawkers came in today. We’re hoping it helps business pick up. Kaya made a bunch of online sales overnight, and they’re still coming in!” Usopp replies happily.

“Thank goodness,” you sigh. It was nice that magic was helping someone that wasn’t you, finally. “That’s good to hear. Well, I’ll leave you to it. It’s nice talking to you, Usopp!”

“Don’t be a stranger!” He replies before you hang up, the weight in your chest feeling lighter and warmer.

You let the phone fall next to the spellbook to wait while you fixed up your makeup in the bathroom. Switching on the light and seeing the new set up gave you a start. Change was never something you were good at dealing with, and it was ever present as the days getting shorter.

The sundress and some black hose were screaming your name, but you had buried it in the back of the closet. The stink of death no longer stuck to the fabric, but the smell of sage grass did. So, you settled on a pair of shorts and shirt to pair with the sheer hose, a few holes and tears poking through at the knees, and your docs.

Sliding the spellbook in your bag, along with a change of clothes, and as many extra pairs of underwear as you could spare. The final rays of sunlight lead the path to your car. The moon gleamed, blinking behind sparse clouds. Another puzzle piece unlocked in your mind as you realized what the step ‘charge her magic’ means, with a pang in your center.

-

The dark of night descended on the road to the ASL home by the time you drove up. Sabo’s truck wasn’t in the driveway, but another car was, one you didn’t recognize. If it had been at the party, you hadn’t noticed. You pull up the gravel driveway behind it, painted green flames glinted in the headlight off the black exterior of the little sports car.

Flickering as you approached, the patio light buzzed above the front door. You’d found a dusty old key, one gifted to you by the brothers years ago, and twisted it into the door. Somehow, even still, the click of the key into the lock and opening it fills you with relief, but not without a shadow of guilt just after it. The door creaks open, the living room lights so blindingly ugly compared to how it looked the previous night. Many of the tealight candles still scattered about and burned all the way down. The furniture hadn’t moved either, and Luffy hadn’t bothered to clean the couch, just throwing a towel over it.

A dirty towel would have been the worst thing on the couch, if not for massive pile of scorn and muscle laid back with legs spread in the opposite seat. Zoro snored, not bothered by the door opening at all. You recall whispers of folks referring to Zoro as Luffy’s attack dog, his most loyal friend. But that seemed hardly the case now.

You took the liberty of oogling the scar crawling up his well defined abs and chest, his shirt wide open, and shorts hardly leaving anything to the imagination. Each muscle was hard-earned, and clung to his bones jealously. You’d never met anyone with Zoro’s level of discipline, and his body was a testament to that.

Slowly walking towards the couch, you stand just over him. A thrill shooting to your head, prowling around the corners of your mind. Your hand juts out, hovering above Zoro’s throat.

The smell of prairie grass on the wind alerted you to his presence before it was the pounding footsteps roaring from the hallway, and Luffy sprang on you, crying out your name. When you look over your shoulder, smiling at your lover, heavy fingers cuff your wrist.

“Putting a spell on me while I’m sleeping, huh? Lets see if you like what I’ll do when you’re asleep,” Zoro’s voice rumbles low, making you shiver. Steel grows up your spine and his hand feels basal, soft- and he rips it away with a hiss. A curse right on the tip of his tongue, and you were surprised he was holding it back. Instead, he chuckles darkly, inspecting his limp hand, shaking it back to life.

Luffy steals your attention, grabbing your head in both hands and pulling your face into his, lips crashing together. It’s like he’d been gone for a century, and not at all with the way he kisses you so desperately- sloppy and breathless. Spit rolling down the corner of your mouth, which he greedily laps at before letting you break for air.

“Taste so good,” he mumbles into your hair, taking a deep inhale, and you do the same. He smells like himself, but so much better, as if he chipped a piece off you and carried it inside his heat from now on.

“Haha, so do you,” you hum, thrumming fingers against his bare chest.

Before you could get another word in, he presses your body against his. The curves of him fit you so perfectly, and you groan, pecking a kiss on his jaw.

“Why did you leave? I’ve been so lonely,” he whines.

“Hmm, I’m sorry, love. It wasn’t too long, I’m here now, aren’t I?”

“Yes, it was so too long!” He grabs your ass and lifts you off the ground, grinding his pelvis into your center.

“Wish we were alone now, I could make it up to you.” With that, you shoot an annoyed glare at Luffy, indicating his guest sitting just behind the two of you.

“We are alone!” Luffy responds, putting you back on your feet.

You raise a brow at him.

“With Zoro too!”

You nod in confusion, lips pursed. Suddenly, a great presence stalked across the room, measuring you, licking his lips while he waited silently.

“What is that supposed to mean, Luffy?” You say in a tone festering with heat.

“I want Zoro to join the coven! He’s strong and good at- you know,” Luffy mimes a looped finger with his other hand using the pointer finger.

The ugly living room lights shut off, and in a moment of clarity, you observe that the bulbs didn’t break this time. You’re in control, even if rage is gnawing at your insides, pin pricks stealing the sensation from your throat.

“Hell no,” you say, turning to Zoro, and staring daggers at him through the dark, “I hate him.” You don’t care to hear them and start to walk away, luckily you hadn’t the time to drop your bag before the room went pitch black and you’d have been unable to find it.

“I saved your life, and that’s the thanks I get?” Zoro quips, springs creaking below his voice.

“Fuck off,” your teeth felt itchy, skin getting dry, hair standing on end. Luffy’s breathing was getting heavier.

“Twice,” Zoro adds, “I saved your life twice.”

That stops you in your tracks. Rolling your shoulders, you dare to turn around, hearing him gasp, a yellow spotlight glowing off his face, then Luffy’s, it follows your gaze as it bounces between the two. With only muscle and awe to show in the light, you growled involuntarily, a hunger, a deep knowing that tapped the inside of your skull.

Taking a deep breath, letting the venom of it hang in the air before you ask calmly: “Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? To keep your clumsy ass around, obviously. Someone has to be there when trouble inevitably shows up,” Zoro stands up straight, a head taller than Luffy, and just enough to tower over you.

“You’re a meddler, Zoro. I would have been fine,” or better off dead.

“C’mon, let him join! I told him about how cool your magic is and the sex stuff to make it work!” Luffy pleas, and you put hands on your hips.

“I said no,” you say between gritted teeth, a growl sitting on the back of your tongue. Quickly turning on your heel, you stalk to the front door, grabbing the handle and falling back as the door pushes into your body. Shouting and scrambling, your nails scrape the door as you stumble, barely catching yourself on its edge when Sabo stops ahead.

“I was about to give Luffy a hard time for not locking the door again. It’s you!” Sabo cheers, begging your name and pressing forward to take your face in his spare hand. You let him, his touch settling the revulsion tingling your skin, and he plants a sweet kiss on your cheek, taking a deep breath. The home feels ‘right’ with both of them here.

“Sabo! Tell her to let Zoro join the coven! He’s strong, he’ll be a great member,” Luffy whines, glomming onto you from behind.

One blonde eyebrow creases his forehead in thought. He meets your a glowing gaze, notices the lack of light, glances over to Zoro, then back to Luffy, and back to you. He sighs and sets the broomstick down by the doorway.

“Can we get some light?” He asks, and when you groan, he adds; “please?”

You concentrate on the anger, on Luffy’s warmth, the smell of animal sweat. The lights had been switched off by an electrical current being interrupted, the room steadily growing colder from the heat also cutting off, the only sound in the house coming from outside. Dimension twisted, magic reaching out and flicking the electricity back to life when you exhaled a deep, volcanic breath that made steam rise from your nose and throat.

That terribly pale, unflattering yellow glow exploded back into light, making everyone wince. The glow in your eyes dimmed.

“Thank you,” Sabo kissed your cheek again, and you grumbled a ‘you’re welcome.’ He was in his fire fighters gear, something he usually left at the station. And when he noticed your eyes searching him up and down, he shrugged, “I’m not off, just on break. Couldn’t wait all shift to see you.” A smile brightens his aura, face flushed.

The brothers hug you from all sides. Sabo nuzzling into your neck, and Luffy groping your curves.

“Magic’s not very scary if this is what it looks like,” a familiar, brackish voice bemoans from behind.

Sabo shivers and lets go of you long enough to close the door before taking your wrist and pulling you, along with Luffy wrapped around your waist, to the opposite couch that he’d occupied last night.

“So what’s going on? You want Zoro to join the coven?” Sabo squints at his brother, side-eyeing Zoro, whose returned to his seat. Sabo’s nose crinkles. “You didn’t think to ask me either?”

“Yeah, Luffy, you didn’t think about how Sabo would feel about it,” you said, resting your head on Sabo’s shoulder. Luffy was visibly jealous of that and pawed at you, which you batted away.

“I thought we were trying to bring Ace back, and Zoro wants to help,” the low, animal whine in Luffy’s tone tugged at your literal heart strings. And it felt like he took two fingers and pinched you from the inside.

“Ok, and what exactly do we need Zoro for?” You add.

“Can we see the spell?” Sabo asks, stroking your back, and you side eye Zoro.

You wanted to hold out, to dig your claws in and not move an inch. But with both of them tugging at your chest, their desire singing in your ears, blood getting hot beneath their touch- you were ready to melt. This was worse than last night. Denying the desire of your soul bonded companions felt like betrayal.

“Fine,” you mutter, squirming and trying not to focus on the building desire beneath your skin, “but Zoro can’t touch the spellbook.”

He crossed his arms, pointedly rolling his eye.

When you pull the spellbook out and lay it on the coffee table, which had been moved back between the couches, the pages flap at Luffy and Sabo. You give it a questioning stare, tilting your head. Pack. One of three. One of thee. Free. Free. Free.

“Luffy, go ahead and open the spellbook. You’re looking for a spell called, “From Death Back To Life.’”

“Wait no-” Sabo stutters, and you catch him reaching out to stop Luffy.

“It’s ok,” you say rubbing your thumb atop his wrist, the venus symbol sparkling almost in confirmation.

Luffy didn’t seem to notice, digging his fingers into the spine of the spellbook and opening it, flipping through pages. Back and forth. Taking his time.

You sighed and sat beside him, finding the spread yourself. Sabo shook his head, a small knowing, and adoring smile on his lips. Both you and Luffy stuck your tongues out at him, and you almost lost the train of thought looking at Luffy’s mouth, new ideas filling your greedy brain.

Zoro sat beside Sabo now, tapping his fingers on the large curve of his bicep, eye dead set on you. His muscles flexed with each deep, measured breath. The jagged edge of his jaw see-sawing over buccal fat, his face set upon them like a marble cast on a pedestal.

Shaking off the dirt clouding your mind, you close your eyes for a beat. Opening them ready to re-examine the spell, surrounded by your coven, and whoever Zoro is decided to be after tonight.

Luffy scans the page humming, his eyes bouncing around sporadically. You hand the spellbook to Sabo, Zoro still keeping his gaze trained on you. The couch springs whine as Luffy bounces up and down, his hands finding their way to your legs, pinching your hose, creeping along the hem of your shorts. It earns a high pitched giggle, you play with his hair, running your nails along his skin.

“Still not convinced about this magic thing,” Zoro says.

“Then leave, someone has to finish Sabo’s shift,” you scooch closer to Luffy, letting your breath fan over his neck, enjoying the delighted little shiver it earns you.

“I’m not finishing anything for Sabo,” he quips, and you snort, Luffy doing the same. “Perverts,” you hear him slide deeper into the couch, followed by a loud clomp of his feet on the coffee table.

“Hmm, you’re right. It’s all fake,” you let Luffy pull you into his lap, memories of last night reverberating in your body. “Magic’s not real. Luffy just wants to fuck you,” mischief splits your face, side eyeing Zoro with trouble-making gleaming in your eyes.

“That’s not it,” Sabo adds, his finger following the lines of the spell.

“Don’t listen to him. Sabo’s in on it too,” you tease, hearing Luffy’s laugh bubble against your neck.

“If Luffy wants to fuck me, then why are you here?” Zoro replies.

“Cause you said that you wanted her, Zoro. It’s how the magic works,” Luffy rips his head up innocently in his reply, and you glare at Zoro like he’s been caught.

“She doesn’t know, does she?” a smirk crosses Zoro’s face.

What the fuck was that supposed to mean?

“Guys,” Sabo says.

“What don’t I know?!” You rip your head away from Luffy’s neck.

“Luffy doesn’t need to lure me in his bed with pussy,” Zoro rolls the last word low between his teeth.

“What-why. I don’t. Fuck it, nevermind, I don’t care anymore!” You reply.

“Hey guys,” Sabo says lower.

“Bullshit, you don’t care! Go ahead and ask!” Zoro teases.

“Ask what? Are you fucking Luffy?!” A blush bursts bright on your face. Luffy bursts into laughter, wrapping tighter around you.

“No, we don’t fuck,” Luffy smiles.

“Ugh,” Sabo blushes, his hands in his hair, the spellbook open in his lap.

“What do you think fire fighters do when we’re bored, all alone on the off chance there’s nothing to do?” Zoro spreads his arms, tucking his hands behind his neck. The blush flushes down to your chest, your throat tightening.

“Y/N, do you have an amulet of life?” Sabo says earnestly, leaning in front of you.

“What- I don’t- no, no I don’t have one. Sabo, what the fuck is Zoro talking about?” Your gaze jumps back and forth between the two men opposite you.

“Listen, I know where we can find an amulet of life,” Sabo grabs one of your shoulders, but quickly yanks his hand back and clutches his chest. Your own chest hurts, feeling a fool.

“Holy fuck, Sabo, I don’t care right now! Somebody tell me what Zoro is talking about,” you crawl into Luffy’s chest, his arms caging you, his smiling dropping when he sees your face.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s ok,” Luffy kisses your temple, then the tears on your cheeks, you hadn’t meant to get so worked up but you felt backed into a corner, convinced the magic is making your emotions more powerful. He tucked your head into his shoulder to let you breath. “I asked Zoro to join the coven because he’s my best friend. Also he likes you.” Luffy stroked your back, but you didn’t feel better. “And, him and Sabo have hooked up a few times.”

“God dammit Luffy,” Sabo cursed, you whipped your head out and around, eyes wide pointed directly at him. He squirmed in his seat, covering the blush on his face, as well as the frown.

You crawled out of Luffy’s lap and stood over Sabo, grabbing his wrist and pulling it away from his face. He swallowed a lump in his throat, and when you couldn’t school your face any longer, the cat like grin returned to split your face, teeth showing.

“You’re such a slut,” with a half hearted laugh, you slapped Sabo’s arm and sat between him and Zoro. You turned to face him, “I still said no. You’re a jerk. Sabo might like it but I don’t,” you crossed your arms and leaned into Sabo, the heart strings vibrating in your chest.

“Whatever. I’ll be here when you change your mind,” Zoro closes his eye and falls asleep. You scoffed and turned back to Sabo.

“So what’s this about knowing where we can get an amulet of life?!”

Luffy starts snoring from his spot on the other couch.

“Hm, we can talk about it in my room if you want~” Sabo walks his fingers up your arm and you pull away, despite the needy flame in your chest.

“I’m mad at you for not telling me about you and Zoro. Ugh, just, how?!” You crossed your arms, legs pulled up on the couch. His face falls, then he hides it behind a soft, lordly smile.

“I have to get back to my shift soon then, I guess,” he sighs, closing the spellbook and moving to get up.

“No, wait a minute!” Wrapping your arms around his waist, you held him tight and snuggled him close. “Tell me about the amulet of life.”

He stared at you, feigning disinterest, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes this time, and chewing his lip.

“Please?” That makes his eyes flash with delight. Then he grabbed your face in one hand, pulling you into his chest with the other, holding you tight to force eye contact as he replied in a low whisper;

“Told you not to beg, princess.” If your chest was on fire before, your whole body erupted in an oily blaze, making you swallow a lump in your throat.

“Tell me about the amulet before I make you late for work,” you clawed the thick straps of his overalls, resisting the urge to grind on his leg no matter how badly you needed him. His gloved hand circled your back, playing at the hem line of your shirt as he hummed and hawed, and you shook your face out his hold, scowling and pleading.

“That’s more like it,” he smiles cheekily, leaning on the hand that released your face. “I think we can get an amulet of life from the military.”

You didn’t like the sound of that, and he must have noticed the way your body stiffened at the suggestion as he continued;

“The military has all kinds of healing techniques that are kept from the public,” he added that last part with bitterness in his tone. “Since we’ve established magic definitely, very real- I can’t imagine the military doesn’t already fully know about it and use it for their own ends.”

“And how would we even begin to locate an amulet of life, let alone get one from the military?” You ask, and Sabo smiles as wide as a Cheshire cat.

“The hospital on the base out of town would be a good place to start.”

You could see the machinations for trouble making already running circles in his mind, even as he bounced his knee and thrummed his fingers on your back. There was no stopping Sabo once he had rebellious havoc on the mind. So you sigh, and hug him before getting up from the couch and swiping your bag and the spellbook to leave.

“I’ll leave the planning up to you, Robin Hood.”

He laughed, blond curls falling over the burn scar.

-

Another slow shift at the smoke shop, another day of Law’s attitude finding new depths. He was fully ignoring you at work this morning, which earned some curious glances from your coworkers. But not Buggy, he never picked up on riffs between two people that weren’t him. You were standing in his office asking for time off to go out of town as he swiveled back and forth in his creaky office chair.

“This is awfully short notice, you know I like these requests 60 days in advance!” He says, clicking around his screen trying to look busy.

“Family emergency, can’t really get into it, boss.” You wore something very cute and flashy to work hoping to get on Buggy’s good side. It was working.

“Alright, alright, sweetheart, I understand,” his reply made you fight back a frown, turning it into a strange little smile instead. “You’re going to Loguetown!”

His shout gives you a start, “y-yes, I am.”

“Perfect!” That only makes you raise a brow at him before he goes on, “I need a package delivered to the hospital on base. Discreetly.” He adds the last part with an exaggerated whisper.

Your hip juts out as you cross your arms defensively.

“I’m not cheap!” That was debatable. “I’ll make it worth your while.”

The fake smile returns, softer and a bit more genuine. “Sure thing, boss. I can do that.”

The package was waiting for you the next day, hidden among the gas station supply catalogs and bills for the smoke shop. When you quietly tucked it in your bag and headed out to your car at the end of that shift, you could feel eyes glued to your back. A creeping sensation of being seen from far, far away.

Chapter Text

Whatever curiosity you’d had about the contents of Buggy’s mystery package was killed by the way your blood growled when you’d fiddled with the edge of the brown paper wrapping. Your nails seemed to bend backward, fingertips dry and static jumping off them. You yelped, threw it down to the floor of your car and kicked it under the seat.

You were not going to ask Buggy what was in there.

And there it stayed, somewhat forgotten, as you pulled back into the driveway of the ASL home, the separated garage open, Sabo’s truck parked in front of it, the hood propped open. Crunching gravel announced your approach, your blonde lover bent over the engine of his truck. Oil and dust coated his chest and arms, his white skin-tight tank top beyond saving in the wash. But much of his clothes were like that, the brothers not known for keeping their clothes clean. Not that it bothered you in the slightest, all the fun little ways you could slip those dirty clothes off of Sabo coming in waves with each step closer to him.

Sliding out from under the hood and gently closing it shut before greeting you, Sabo put his hands on his hips. A dashing smile brightened his face, that beautiful mouth silently calling your name. A smile that lit the same flame in your gut the last few nights. Desire stretched her claws across your insides, every sensitive part lighting up like a beacon of lust.

His eyes travel along your figure, enjoying the cute outfit for the day. You’d worn a printed floral wrap dress over a black skin tight sweater, keeping your docs to dress down the look. Sabo chuckles, ripping his thick brown work gloves off and tossing them in the garage before grabbing you by the waist and pulling you in for a heated kiss. You giggle into it, lips moving out of sync with his, and he lightly wraps a hand around your jaw to hold you still.

“It’s good to see you,” he says between firm, determined kisses, his lips coming away with a wet pop.

“Can’t get enough of you, Sabo,” the air in your lungs feeling thin, sweat gathering under your clothes.

He accepts your words with a low growl of approval, and he lifts you up on the hood of his truck, pining you flat beneath him. The brown baseball cap falls off his head, landing beside you as he continues drilling his lips into yours. Cold metal cools the sweat gathering from your flushed bodies pressed into one another. Exploring every groove inside your mouth with his tongue before moving on to the cords of your neck, he earns soft moans from you. His hands travel up your thighs, pushing the dress up.

“I like this better than what you were wearing last night. Was planning to rip the hose off ya,” he says into your collarbone, kissing you there, disregarding the clingy fabric of the sweater.

You squeal in response, his breath tickling your skin, and his hands playing at the shorts under your dress.

“Don’t like these though,” he whines, grabbing fistfuls of the stretchy fabric and tugging them down, pining your thighs together. He grumbles, and returns to kissing you hard on the lips.

Oil and dirt smears under your touch as you run your hands along the hard muscles of his arms. When he comes back to kiss you on the mouth, you hold his face and neck, his scar turning from the color of honey to a smudge of grayish brown. A deep rumble vibrates in his throat, and he throws you over his shoulder.

“Sabo!” you playfully bat his back with closed fists, giggling at his very ungentlemanly man handling.

“I know, princess. I’m taking you captive,” he laughs back, walking into the house and closing the front door with his foot.

“Where are you taking me?!” You feign a high pitched cry, continuing to wiggle in his hold, earning a smack on the ass.

“To the tower!” He rushed down the dark hall and bumped his opposite shoulder into the door to his bedroom, and then another door that connected to a jack and jill style bathroom, where the opposite door had remained closed for a year.

You swallow a lump in your throat and try not to look at that tall, white door.

Sabo pulled your attention away, ripping at the sweater and belt tying your dress together. While you stepped out of it, he turned on the hot water, steam flooding the terracotta red and white bathroom.

“This is the shower,” you say, pulling at the button of Sabo’s jeans.

“Tower, shower. Easy to confuse em,” he smiles cheekily, pulling his tank top off and running his hands through his hair, pulling it away and grimacing at the grease staining his palm. He does a double take and gawks at you, clothes shed, standing in your birthday suit.

He hurriedly pulls the rest of his own clothes off and hops in the shower with you. The haze of lust clouding his features, hot water sparkling off your skin and in the black of his eye. The way he looks at you makes your blood run hot, the temperature of the water relaxing your muscles, rainbows shining in the droplets sticking to your skin.

A bar of soap appears in his hand. He bends over, and presses kisses on your chest, swiping the soap behind the trail of his lips. You grab the shampoo from a rack barely hanging on to the shower head, and run your soapy fingers in his hair. He coos beneath your touch, and a low purr from you answers in return.

Beneath the stream of water, silent sweet nothings are shared between your blood and his. The heart strings wrapped tight around one another, pink glitter sparkles in the steam, reflecting off the gold in Sabo’s round falcon eyes. On his knees lathering up your lower half, he looks up at you with holy revelry. He’s flown to the top of the mountain, where your love waited for him, unbeknownst to either of you. The magic simply showed the way, and you followed.

He takes care to clean every pore, hair, and even in yours and his nail beds- like taking you to bed is the beginning of a ritual, where he crawls between your legs to lay worship at your center. His midnight blue sheets reflect on the ceiling, filling with stars. Both of you take a moment to wonder at the beauty of it, and accept the magic willing what she wants to do with the power manifested by your love making.

Then he dives into your skin, lips making eager laps up and down your face, neck, and chest. He returns his hands between your thighs, no longer barred off by clothing. His touch ignites the ancient fire in your chest, the pads of his fingers brushing the plush places up to your core. Prayer on his mouth, he bows his head and lays hungry lips on your pussy. Tongue slithering inside the garden, his moans are chants of divine pleasure.

Your fingers dig into his hair, mounting his face like it’s your throne. He pushes his nose into your clit, the ecstasy making your eyes cross. Wrapping your thighs tight around his head, his hands claw the meat of your ass as he makes a meal of you, rutting into the mattress chasing a little bit of his own pleasure as well.

Sabo’s so pretty, you think in the bliss. Did your kisses scar his soul the way the fire did his skin? Molten gold met your gaze briefly, keeping his focus on pulling as much pleasure from you as he can.

Grinding against his skull, fucking yourself hard enough to bump the edge of his teeth on sensitive flesh, he drags clawed hands down your thighs. Fluid adoration sticking his face to you, a song of praise light on your tongue. You want to make him keen for you like this, make him shiver with delight, the possessive growl in your blood coincides.

You kick him over on his back, he comes away slobbering, sadness tinging the surprise on his face until you crawl between his legs. On your knees and taking his cock in your mouth, moving slowly with the focus of meditation, he grips the sheets. That pleasure you received was returned tenfold, Sabo’s hollow moans like a mantra.

“Please,” he begs, and you look up at him, his cock slipping past your lips with a pop. “Don’t make me come yet,” a hand is placed on your cheek, and you nuzzle into it.

He crawled up, touching his knees to yours and pulled you into him, mouths locked in a contract signed in one another’s juices. Hands slid along smooth skin. His landing on your waist to guide you down on your back once more, muscles flexing as he handled you with easy gentleness.

Caged in between an ocean of sheets and the iron that made his arms, he leaned over you pressing the most heated kiss to your lips. The one that pulled your attention away as he opened you up, sneaking his cock into the reliquary between your thighs.

You wore him like a veil, mewling sweetly beneath him as he slid all the way inside, choosing a slow, thorough pace to fill you entirely. The curve of his cock squished against a spot that made your vision go hot white and see stars.

Penance for time spent away far too long is paid with each stroke. Making amends at the meeting of your hips.

He pressed his face into your neck, and you turned to kiss him, crying out over and over that you loved him. Picking up his pace, he moaned your name and screamed that he loves you too. The pink glitter in the air feels sharp, the thread thick as sinew, and it pinched. It felt like an ax trying to dig itself out from your sternum, and your screams of pleasure mixed with cries of agony.

“Oh fuck- what is that?” Sabo puts a hand on your heart, something emerged between his palm and your skin.

You reach up and grab his arms, “don’t. Don’t pull it out.”

“But there’s something in your chest!”

“No, your cock- don’t pull out. Stay.” You plead, wrapping a hand around the hard, jutting surface growing out from your chest. A rattling scream rips from your throat as it squeezes itself out, no blood or viscera, only a glimmer of silvery pink barrier between skin and what looks like stone.

Sabo laughs nervously, his cock bumping against your walls, and a little whine from between your gritted teeth, groaning and coaxing the intrusion out. He follows your order, slowing down but still sliding his whole length along your clenching walls. Both of your centers full, one with divine pleasure and the other with hellish pain.

Intense pressure, the stone pulls itself from your sternum like sawing bone. And then a great relief that sends you tumbling down a mountain, your whole body quaking around a howling moan as you come. Sabo chokes on a gasp, fucking you hard and fast through it, your walls squeezing so hard he has no choice but to come too.

He erupts, his arms shuddering, barely able to stay up as he’s drained inside you. Concern and adoration pained his face, exhaling deep, harsh breaths that shook his whole torso, the last of the pleasure fading between your bodies.

The stone sat on your chest like a crown jewel. Cool and smooth to the touch, you lift it to the light examining the cosmic iridescent shine that seems to glow from within it’s royal blue exterior. Squinting your eyes, a web of magic covers it, tiny crystalline spiders crawled across the strings and your fingers. The web looks like it’s made from the heart strings magically tying you and Sabo together.

The slightest hum radiates from it, a comforting kind that your blood responds to with a purr, and for the first time, you can feel Sabo’s blood responding as well. A much deeper, jolting rumble as he watches you examine the stone. Something new clicked into place, and you look at Sabo knowing that you’ll never, ever let him go.

“Made ya somethin’,” you smile softly, watching him take the stone and wrap his fingers around the uneven surface.

“Oh man. I love you, and this magic is making it feel like real power,” he remarks.

It leaves you taken aback, feeling him still inside you, his cum leaking out, your bodies pressed together. And a strange magic stone that manifested itself from your chest in his hand.

He set the stone on his nightstand, a sweet smile on his lips. In the movement, he slipped out of you, and the emptiness made your chest hurt all over again. You wrapped your arms around his waist and pulled him in close, nuzzling your cheek against his heart, letting the rhythm of it wash a calmness over you.

Which was immediately dashed with the loud thudding of the door slamming open. You two turned to see Luffy standing in the doorway, a dark, needy haze fallen over his brow. The heartstrings were bright red and buzzing between the three of you.

Without a word, he strode to the bed and pulled you out from beneath Sabo, who only moved out of the way with an exhausted laugh.

“Time for round two,” Sabo teased, rolling on his back with hands behind his head, his eyes on the crystal are the last thing you see before Luffy spirits away with you into his bedroom.

“Felt it,” Luffy growls, dropping you on his mess of sheets and blankets, “need you too.” The words sound strained like he’s out of breath, standing on a knife’s edge and holding back from tearing into you. His cock is red hot and weeping between his thighs, matching the streaks of fiery blood in his gaze.

Pulled to the edge of the mattress, his hands cuff your ankles and pull your legs straight, up and out. Lined up perfectly to your sopping entrance, he smears his cock in the mix of your slick and Sabo’s cum, licking his lips.

“Oh god, Luffy!” You cry out, so sensitive and shuddering as he starts to fill you back up, your eyes glazing over in too much bliss.

“So good,” obsession blown out in his pupils, he rams himself inside, moaning in unison with you.

He bucks into you, an archway to pleasure made with your legs on his shoulders. Black hair obscuring his face, busy watching his cock take you over and over, chasing euphoria so hard it makes him drool like a mindless fiend.

You want to drag your nails into his skin, and settle for digging into your own thighs, skin breaking softly under pink lines. The bursts of pain ground the oversensitive pangs making your whole body shudder as Luffy fucks you. He doesn’t miss it and folds you into a mating press, his cock burying so, so much deeper.

“Put your hands on me. Touch me,” he begs over his feral panting.

And you bless him with the breaking of skin beneath your nails. A sycophant to pleasure, his moans sing the sweetest song in your ears, lulling you into a trance. The room falls into darkness, and you cling to Luffy. His sheets ruffle like a bed a leaves, sweat waterfalling down his muscles and washing over you in a stream of ecstasy.

“Luffy!!!” You wail, digging in deeper into his back. His strokes have your mind whirling, all you can focus on is the joy and power his body makes with yours. “I love you, I love you so much.”

“I love you too! I love you too, my star,” he snatches your lips between his teeth, kissing you with a flood of passion.

Another orgasm rains down over your bones, and you howl again. His cock crashing against the way your walls spasm and pull and crush him. He locks his hips against yours, and he comes inside you with a primal scream.

Relief flows over you once more, he sits up and lets your legs fall too either side of his hips. Rugged muscle damp with the dew of sex, black hair clinging to his cheeks, framing that wonderful smile you’re so in love with.

Light filters back into your vision, the air feeling light again.

The moment Luffy pulls out, a door slams once again. This time it’s Sabo looming in the hallway wearing a face filled with want. He’s rock hard, a sense that your romp with Luffy charged his senses. The heart string is buzzing.

“Round three?” You try to say casually over a whimper.

Falling to the side, Luffy lets Sabo leap on top of your body with a ravenous hunger.

Chapter Text

It was a miracle that you made it home on two feet. Your legs shook with exhaustion. The boys have been warned to take care of their own needs while you heal after the constant marathon sex. An idea popped in your head, and you pulled the spellbook out.

“Help a lady out, please,” you said, casting a hand on the cover, fingers tracing the silver symbol of Venus. Fire panging between your legs. The drive home was pure torture, every bump against the seat making you pay for the pleasure in ways you didn’t think were possible.

The spellbook flips its pages, the cover lightly bumped against your fingertips, asking you to pull away. When you do, it opens up to a spread, a new spell called FORGET ME.

FORGET ME

Trust thyself

Hide in plain sight

By pinching a stone between thumb and ring finger, focus on the words

Clavus berrus

Malleus berrus

Berrum rufulum

Berrum nobilis

Strike your fingernail across the stone three times and toss it away, forgotten

“Ugh, not what I was asking for, Boo,” you crow, closing the spellbook and going into your bathroom to find a cooling balm. A crick in your neck halts the needed pop you tried to force, and you sighed in frustration.

The bong on the table calls out, and you answer. Loading a bowl and letting the smoke take away the soreness at your center, settling into the couch cushions.

When you had asked Sabo what the plan was for getting an amulet of life from the military hospital, he only smiled, every tooth a letter that spelled out the word ‘trouble’ as he told you to simply trust him. And you do, of course. You can trust him to wreak havoc, all with that damn smile on his face, right next to Luffy.

So, a bag was packed for the weekend. The front door opened and a loud cloud of burning metal singed the inside your nose. Barto stumbled into the apartment, locking the the door behind him three times, then sat upright on the couch staring at the wall, eyes gray and dragged like he hadn’t slept in days.

Stepping into the living room, you’re assaulted by the rank of body odor and wet leather. Upon closer inspection, Barto’s hair was sticking out at weird angles and greasy. Without another thought, you sat beside him, a hand on his shoulder blade.

“Okay, bud?” Staring at the side of his face, he takes a beat to acknowledge you.

“Huh? Yeah. When did you get here?” He replies, eyes darting around you but not landing directly on you.

“Been home, big dog,” you sniffed. “Still good about the job?”

“Yes! Oh my god,” he threw his hands up and shifted away from your touch. “It’s just a job. Stop asking.”

“Listen, if you need help with the bills this month, I just want to know-”

“Stop. Just stop. I don’t need your help!” He yelled as he got up and stormed into his bedroom, leaving you staring, the sound of his grumbling muffled by the closed door.

You sighed, slapped your thighs, and got ready to leave. Crossing your fingers that Barto’s still around when you get back.

-

“Absolutely not,” you’re still sore all over. Honestly, there wasn’t enough weed in the city to wipe the constant throb between your rubbery legs. You were just going to have to soldier it out, and crossed your fingers that there’s a version of Helping Hand that can fix it without riling up the boys.

But there’s no way you’re putting up with another pain in the ass on this trip- one with a hard head and a mean scowl on his scarred face to match.

“Good thing it’s not up to you, princess,” Zoro smirks, throwing a large black and yellow gym bag in the truck bed.

Sabo turned and scowled at Zoro, sizing him up, which made you smile, biting your lip. Then it drops when you looked back at your green haired menace.

“It is up to me. I’m the coven leader and I said no.”

“We thought you’d feel that way, so it was put to a vote,” Luffy replies.

“And where did you get that idea?” You put hands on your hips as Luffy glanced at Sabo, whose now wearing a sheepish look, and you threw your hands up. “Oh, come on! I thought you would at least take my side, Sabo!”

“He wants to help! Who are we to turn that down?” Sabo replies, arms out.

Because when Zoro feels like speaking at all, it’s to be a big brute. Because of all the times Zoro has made faces at you and made ugly comments to you, even before Ace. Because Zoro likes to take your last nerve, bend it over, and fuck it until it bleeds.

“You’re outvoted,” he said smugly, and opened the passenger seat and climbed in the back, immediately getting cozy enough to nap.

Heat radiates from your face, and it flows down to the heart strings, glowing hot and tight with frustration. Luffy pawed at his chest, making a pouty face at you while Sabo came from behind for a hug.

“He’s sincere. He wants to bring Ace back as much as we do,” Sabo says in your ear, running a finger along your cheek.

“He’s a jerk,” you spat back, staying stone still in Sabo’s embrace. Heat spread in your veins, but when you think to try to make it burn, you can’t bring yourself to do it.

Zoro is the one who was there for Sabo and Luffy when you ran away for half a year. Zoro had every right to be frustrated with you, not the other way around. Were you being fair? Did you have to be?

With a heavy sigh, you said, “fine. I’m outvoted,” with a finality that was too familiar, and climbed into the shot gun seat. Not without putting a pillow under your ass for the long drive.

It seemed you were the only one bothering to notice the erratic way Sabo drove. Zoro slept with his head lolled against the back seat and Luffy along with him, head laid on Zoro’s shoulder. You were left with watching the city disappear from the highway within an hour that turned into another hour of country side. Every time your mind managed to wander, Sabo would jerk the car over, racing to pass someone, tires roaring over the lanes.

You reached out, squinting at the bubbly ache in your gut, and put a hand on his thigh.

This calmed him once again. His driving steadied, and he let one hand drop from the wheel to squeeze yours with a happy hum. Every so often, he’d glance your way and smile. You thought of the crystal sitting on his nightstand, wondering if that was going to happen the next time you slept with him. Was your heart a mine for little blue stones now? Why hadn’t that happened with Luffy? Maybe it was a one and done type of thing. Maybe all of this was still just a dream.

But, admittedly, you didn’t think you wanted it to be.

“Can I ask something?” Sabo’s voice is warm, a wonderful distraction from the ache in your chest now joined with your thighs.

“What’s on your mind?”

“Funny you say that- that’s what I wanted to ask,” he replied, squeezing your hand.

You weren’t sure if bringing up the crystal in front of Luffy was a good idea, even if he might be asleep. Taking in a breath, you think of something else.

“I was remembering the last time I went this far out of town. Ace found a new fishing spot and didn’t want to go alone.”

Sabo smiled at that, mulling over the thought.

“Wonder if there’s fishing in the afterlife,” he replied, self assured as if what he said wasn’t awfully grim.

“Gone fishin, for all of eternity,” you muttered, running your hand along Sabo’s thigh.

“I hope there’s tons of meat,” Luffy added. So you had made the right call about the crystal.

“Bet you could eat as much as you wanted without ever getting sick,” Sabo replied, glancing at the backseat.

“Remember when Ace brought back that huge sea bass?” You said.

“No,” Luffy grumbled and puffed out his cheeks.

“Oh haha! Yes, you do, Luffy. Ace fussed so much over grilling it just right, and the second he looked away, he caught you trying to steal it,” Sabo laughed.

“Is that what happened? Luffy was nursing a shiner for a day and a half!” You looked back, seeing Luffy rolling his eyes.

“He could have shared,” the pout makes you and Sabo laugh harder, making Zoro stir from his nap.

“What’s that? Ace sharing food? Ha,” Zoro said over a yawn, stretching his arms, reaching around the whole backseat. His hand landed on the back of your seat, which you scowled at.

“Nah, I learned my lesson the first and only time Ace shared food,” Sabo said. “He thought it’d be funny to fill the Thanksgiving turkey with laxatives and insisted everyone take a bite.” His mouth formed a tight line as he shook his head. “Had me, Luffy, and Gramps fighting over the bathroom. He put us up in the house all by ourselves not long after that. Called us ungrateful and to fend for ourselves.”

You’d known about their abandonment, but something about it chilled your insides for a moment.

“Garp…” you mumbled, sighing and resting your head in the other hand.

“Grandpa Garp! Old geezer taught me how to fish,” Zoro said, making Luffy and Sabo groan.

“He made all of us learn how to fish!” Luffy whined.

“Yeah, made it some kind of lesson about learning to be a man and provide,” Sabo added.

“It’s boring is what it is!” Luffy replied.

“Ace loved it,” you said.

“He likes boring stuff,” Luffy harrumphs.

‘Liked,’ you almost corrected. Ace liked doing nothing. He took you on those fishing trips because he liked to get drunk and high with you, Luffy and Sabo weren’t as keen on it like the way you two were.

A black sky filled with stars came back to your memory. Heads light with the giggles, you were laying back on an old bridge in the middle of nowhere. Ace laying next to you, talking about astronomy he’d been learning from his friends in the Whitebeard crew. He even knew the name of the next full moon, and pointed out constellations that sounded fake to you. Who calls something the ‘the little dipper?’

The ache traveled up your to stomach, and felt light. The truck was too cramped. Sabo’s driving too fast, and it’s too hot in the cab. You rolled the window down and stuck your head out the window, trying to get some fresh air, the wind taking stray tears with it.

“You okay?” Zoro reaches over the seat and touches your back. His touch is steady and careful.

“Huh? Yeah. Don’t touch me.” Shaking his hand off before you sit back down, a weight still sat in the middle of you. But you chose to hold it. To remember.

-

By the time the weight let itself float away from your worries, Sabo pulled off the highway. Sitting like a beacon on the corner between the only two streets to cross in miles of prairie was a rather large motel. Pink and orange light bathed the weathered brick of the check in stand- a window patched up with duct tape and a red VACANCY sign overhead.

An man who looked as old as the building took your money, quietly eyed the four of you, and put one key in your hand.

“Make sure you read the policy about towels,” he says over his shoulder, taking a seat in front of a television and disappearing into blue static dreams.

You couldn’t help but roll over his words. And when it clicked, you scowled.

“We haven’t even seen the room and you’re already making a face,” Zoro grouches.

“Ugh,” despite resting to the best of your ability over the drive, you were still drained, and didn’t want to do this with Zoro. Let alone explain that the old man looked at you like he was wondering which one of the boys was your pimp. And it put that weight in your gut again, and it came back with an ugly temper that boiled bile in the back of your throat.

Sabo gave you a soft look, and it seemed to tug on the weight, helping you hold it. And you took his gloved hand and squeezed it in thanks.

Without wasting a second after the door unlocked to the rented room, Luffy leapt on one of the two queen beds and spread out. His body bounced, he giggled, testing the springs and trying to catch your attention, his tongue poked out. Thinking about rocking in his lap on the bed sent a pang of filthy thoughts to your center, but it pinched. You definitely hadn’t healed, and the drive did nothing to help.

So, you settled for sitting on the bed opposite him. The mattress dipped beside you, and Sabo was stepping out to bring in luggage. You gave Zoro a dirty look and hurried out the door.

“He’s like a dog with a bone,” you grumble upon catching up to Sabo. He laughs;

“What do you mean?”

“Zoro. I’ve met guys who can’t no for an answer but he’s on a different level. I want to crush him under my thumb and he doesn’t care at all.” You continue, grabbing bags from the truck bed and throwing them over your shoulder. One of them is unbelievably heavy and you throw it back on the truck bed. “Jesus fucking christ.”

Then you realize it’s the black and yellow striped gym bag. And, of course, nothing escapes Sabo notice, and he chuckles sincerely this time.

“I wish you’d give him a chance,” Sabo replies, throwing his and Luffy’s bags over his shoulder.

“He’s had plenty of chances!” You retort.

“Haven’t you had lots of chances too?” From behind the truck, Zoro says that over your shoulder as he steps between you and Sabo. One hand reaches out for his gym bag and hefts the strap over his shoulder with ease.

You were getting absolutely sick to death of Zoro always having to be right about everything.

Between gritted teeth, you repled, “I don’t care!”

Zoro chuckles at that, the acid in your stomach started to boil. “Oh yeah, red in the face and yelling is very convincing that you don’t care.” He throws that jab over his shoulder so casually, walking away with his one bag, not bothering to hear your response.

“How the fuck did that get in your pants?” You grumble at Sabo, and he’s still smiling, scratching the back of his head, and it feels like steam is about to come out of your ears.

“Did you see how he handled the bag you just struggled with?”

“Ugh,” you stomp inside the room, fighting the filth flooding your mind. You throw your bags on the bed and turn to the boys. “We need a plan, right?”

Luffy sits up, Zoro now sitting beside him. Sabo sets his luggage down before standing over the group to say, “all we have to do is get on base, and we’ll go from there.”

Given your collective record of hospital visits between the four of you, it didn’t take much to stretch the meaning of Sabo’s “plan” to get into the military hospital.

So, the sun sets and you emerged from the bathroom in a short, skin-tight dress the color of fresh blood, fishnets, and your docs.

“You’re gonna freeze,” Sabo said, dressed in a black satin button up shirt and white slacks, his boots mostly hidden under their wide flare.

“Won’t feel it, don’t worry,” you said, shaking a flask of whiskey in your hand, a wet burn on your lips that made you feel like you’d woken up from under a pecan tree. Sensibility slipped from your mind and over your exposed back and arms like a coat.

Zoro rolled down the sleeves of his black bomber jacket, a tiger printed on it and crawling down his back. He wore it over a gray t-shirt and dark gray jeans tucked into his black boots. He eyes your flask before pulling his own out from inside the jacket. Whatever he’s drinking smelled like rice and plums. Something so beautiful in contrast to the fire the that spews from his mouth.

Luffy, naturally, did not like get the memo about wearing boots as the unofficial group uniform. You were convinced he breathed through the space between his toes considering that he never wore anything but sandals. But next to his cargo shorts and button up Hawaiian shirt, what was new? He always looked like he was working out or on vacation.

The four of you piled into Sabo’s truck, glowing under the stars. It was the only nice thing about this empty place, you thought as the base comes into view. Down a single street containing the local casino, dive bars, tattoo shops, bustled with folks looking for the only entertainment to be found.

Your power made itself loud in your ear, a low growl at the military symbols hanging in every window: eagles, flags, anchors, guns. The spirits of your ancestors did not like this place, and you took another drink of the flask to help your growing unease.

Like it or not, you’re walking out of this place with the key to bringing Ace back to life.

Chapter Text

The single street making up downtown just outside of Base Loguetown exploded with the noise of boots scuffling, hecklers, car horns, and loud country music. Your group blended in just fine, like any other group of bored soldiers headed to the nearest watering hole. A neon sign for DRINK CHEAP caught Zoro’s attention first, and before he disappeared, you grabbed the sleeve of his bomber jacket and followed him into a dive bar that stank of wet paper.

Nestled into a well worn in booth under an oldschool green glass lamp, the boys surrounded you on both sides. Luffy immediately put a hand on your thigh, slipping his fingers between the holes of your fishnets and pulled at them absent-mindedly.

Zoro came up carrying a pitcher of beer and four glasses, with an extra bottle of something floral scented held in his pinky finger. A mild haze had already fogged up your mind before arriving, and you wiggled out of the booth to use the bathroom. It was covered in the worst drawings you’d ever seen, and with crude stickers to match. Something that reminded you too much of college to have any charm. Instead, you chose to focus on the ice cold water numbing your hands in the sink.

Ace would have hated this place too. He’d have thrown an arm around your shoulder while telling a wild tale about catching a massive fish, keeping you warm in ways only the whiskey has been able to anymore.

When you walked back into the dimly lit dive, it was more crowded. Your blood tried to growl, but it was a hum in the far distance. The air felt dry, your hairs standing on end.

Then a man blocks your path back to the booth. His breath stank like he emerged from this very spot in the sticky floor of this dive, his face wet, his aura oily.

“Hey there, I like your uh, your dress,” his low voice lumbers down at you, his eyes glued to your chest.

“Sure,” you reply, trying to step around him and he squeezes you out from the path of escape.

“I gave you a compliment! Can’t say thank you?!” He gets in your face, his stench making you freeze.

You peered over his shoulder to the booth where Sabo and Luffy were distracted talking to a young man with pink hair in a blue and white tracksuit. You tried to wear the growing discomfort on your face, to tug on the heart strings, to manifest a wall of cold steel between you and this guy.

“I’m talking to you!” He steps even closer, the revolting heat of him caught between your bodies just before contact.

But the boys wouldn’t look your way. Why aren’t they looking your way? They had to hear the whine in your throat. Had to see you stepping back and this stranger taking every inch you gave.

“Hey man, I’m just trying to get back to my friends over there,” you put hands up, fingers brushing his shirt. Something about the scratch of fabric made your nails hard as iron, a desire for flesh.

“Then why are you touchin’ me?” He spits, and it sprays on your cheeks.

A wolf snarls from just over the back of your head, and your vision clouds red.

“Don’t make me,” you warn.

He scoffs, “what was that? I’m not making you do anything,” he says stepping forward, and right as you push him off, hand prints singed into his chest, a crown of green hair appears behind the guy. He gawks, smelling burned fabric and hair, and doesn’t pay attention when Zoro grabs his shoulder and throws him into the wall at your side.

His nostrils sniff at the point of his thin nose, one eye measuring you up and down and stopping at your held out hands. You look down, they feel dirty again, and your palms are smeared with gray ash. The ugly stare is interrupted when Zoro dodges a sucker punch, and a predatory grin cracks his face.

Well, this is the first time you’ve seen a genuine smile on Zoro’s face. And it’s splattered with blood in the next second when he bashes his head into the other guy’s nose.

When he licks the blood from his lips, your traitor pussy likes it.

Over the shouts of way too many men, you turn and run back into the bathroom. The running water in the sink does nothing to cover the sound of a body slammed into the wall, various voices cursing and yelling out names.

The bathroom door carefully clicked open, and a head poked through, the pink haired man with his eyes screwed shut.

“I’m not trying to see anything! I’m just looking for miss Y/N!” He says to the wall.

“Tell me who you are,” the wolfish demand came so easily out of your mouth.

“My name’s Koby, ma’am,” you appreciated his manners, and replied;

“You can open your eyes, Koby. There’s nothing to see.”

He does just that, carefully, and his sea green eyes land on your face. Caught off guard for a moment, he coughs, glues his gaze to the ground and holds the door open.

“You’re friends with Luffy and Zoro?” He asks.

It got quiet outside the bathroom.

“Yes?” You squint, and step past Koby.

The bar was littered with half a dozen men slumped over in chairs, some holding cold beer bottles to their injuries, a handful knocked out cold. Luffy’s shirt was torn open, the buttons scattered on the floor, along with the man he was sitting on, that same grin plastered on his face. Zoro was drinking straight from a bottle of sake, not a scratch on him.

“I think that guy needs to go to the hospital,” you say, looking at the man who wouldn’t leave you alone. Blood seeped out of every hole in his head, even his eyes. And you stole a glance at Zoro, impressed.

You sidle up next to the boys, whisper-hissing, “where’s Sabo?”

Luffy shrugs, and Zoro takes another swig of sake, and you sigh.

Koby is helping the creepy stranger up, saying his name in his ear, trying to wake him. With no better ideas, you feign a look of sorrow.

“Gosh, I’m so sorry. They did all this because of me. Let me come with you to the hospital, yeah? I think my friend hurt his wrist,” you turned to Luffy, who managed to hear you and faked holding his hand limp.

“Of course, he should get that looked at right away!” Koby said with urgency that you shrugged off as average marine seriousness.

With an audience of dirty looks, Koby paraded the group out of the bar and to a dinged up mini van. You, Luffy, and Zoro opted to sit in the empty back. Luffy laying it on thick, groaning in pain and holding his wrist out for everyone to see.

“The marines are going to want to know what happened. Ron is an officer.” Koby says, and if that meant anything then you’d understand the worry in his tone.

“Tell them he’s a creep,” you reply with a shiver, the cold catching up to you in that skimpy outfit.

“Tell them he’s a cheap shot!” Zoro barks over you, straightening his back, irritation crossing his flushed face. One look at you and he shrugs his bomber jacket off, handing it over, which you accept without a second thought.

Koby frowns at the rear-view mirror, and keeps driving.

Two marines were waiting for your arrival at the entrance of the military hospital. Behind the van, you swiped some pebbles from the parking lot and stuffed them in your purse. Zoro escorted Luffy, Koby man-handling the officer through the sliding doors of the hospital.

One of the marines has a scar on his left side, his blonde hair styled to hide it slightly. It made you do a double take, and then bite the inside of your cheek when you recognized him. Luffy and Zoro were taken into one room, Koby and the officer to another, and you were left in the seating area with the two marines.

Unlike the civilian hospital back in town, this one is much more open, and so much more calm and quiet. There’s more walls and doors than people. In fact, you don’t see anyone else around once the boys left.

“Ma’am, would you like to wait somewhere more private?” The other marine says.

“No, sir. Thank you but I’ll wait here,” you reply, avoiding eye contact with the other.

“We’d like to ask you a few questions, but if you’d like to do this where everyone else can see…” Sabo says, and as he speaks you let yourself admire the way he looks in uniform. Or maybe it’s just because it’s Sabo wearing them.

“I don’t know how much help I can be, sir,” you emphasized that last word, and watched Sabo bite the inside of his cheek, a bolt of mischief flashing in his eyes as you continued; “But if we must, I’d rather talk privately.”

The other marine nods and leads you to an elevator he has to scan his badge to open, and takes the next few flights up. He walks down a dimly lit hallway full of rooms without windows. There wasn’t any medical equipment or any visible medical staff walking around either. It was too quiet in the hall, and you look to Sabo, who’s eyes are searching the area wildly.

You’re stopped in front of what seems like a randomly selected room, given that the marine knocked before unlocking it from the outside with his badge, and then punched in a pin, to open the solid white door. Taking a step back, you reached for Sabo’s arm, and then righted yourself.

“I think I want to be downstairs when my friend’s wrist is taken care of. Can we go back? I’m so sorry, I’m so indecisive sometimes,” you put a hand on your cheek and wave innocently, for all of what good it did.

The marine simply blinked at you, then nodded to the inside of the room. There was a small metal table, and four metal chairs under a way-too-bright lamp. He didn’t budge, and neither did you.

A wave of heat flashed from the side Sabo was standing on that made you hiccup in surprise. Turning around, he had removed his glove and held out a steaming hand. The smell of burned flesh and singed hair crowded your nose, it made you sick, knowing what happened before looking up and letting your eyes catch up.

Sabo has rushed a fist of fire at the marine, which he mostly dodged with a hand over his face. He was groaning, yelling something you couldn’t hear over the roar of blood in your ears. Before remembering to run, you’re shoved inside the room. Sabo is wrestling out of the hold of two much larger marines in the doorway before it’s slammed shut and you’re stuck. Alone.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Sabo’s always the careful sleuth. Why the fuck did he do that? When he did figure out how to use magic, let alone your magic?

Sitting in one of the chairs before your legs gave out, you tried your best not to summon magic too. The room seemed to dampen it a bit, which was a strange comfort. Until too much time went by. Your phone’s battery was getting too low, and there was no connection in this cell.

Not good.

The walls were solid concrete, and it was getting colder in there. You clutched Zoro’s jacket around your shoulders tight. It smelled like the sharpness of alcohol, but toasted almond was just under it. Like you were standing under a cherry blossom tree, the wind brushing flower petals past you on a clear night. You crawled inside of the jacket then, letting the image take you away from this room in a military hospital in the middle of nowhere, hours away from home.

A loud screeching beep warned of the door about to be open, and you startled, looking back at the doorway. You’d hope Sabo would be on the other side. But it was a head of pink, not a blonde one standing in the way or your escape. You scowled.

“Was this what you meant earlier?” The hiss chattered against your teeth.

“I’m sorry!” Koby put his hands up.

“Fuck your ‘sorry.’ Get me out of here! Where’s Luffy and Zoro?”

“They’re fine, trust me.” Koby replies and it makes your brow furrow deeper. “Look, Luffy told me at the bar you were here to help him.” He waves, and you walk over to him, poking your head out and seeing the empty hallway. But not missing the cameras above the exits.

“Tell me why you’re here and not one of those assholes that locked me in here,” you didn’t know where this side of you was coming from, but Koby seemed to respond to your teeth with obedience, and you needed freedom. Now.

“Luffy’s my friend, and if you’re with him, I want to help too.” It’s such an easy response from Koby that it catches you off guard. But Luffy would be friends with a marine, wouldn’t he?

“Okay, thanks. Lets go,” you march to the elevator, but Koby hooks his hand in the crook of your elbow.

“Not that way. You’re looking for a magic item right?” He says, again, too easily. Too accepting.

You didn’t reply, only squinting at Koby and watching him carefully before he leads you further down the hallway, and through a maze of halls that all looked exactly the same. The building didn’t even look this big from the outside. Eventually, Koby stops in front a very normal looking door, that wasn’t anymore distinguished than the others. And your hackles raised up more than they already were.

He opened the door, only needing to scan his badge. Inside was a selection of medical equipment and computers. Nothing magical looking about it, just another storage room.

“I still don’t know why you’re helping me specifically,” you say, standing still outside the doorway and refusing to walk past it.

Koby sighs, “look, if it wasn’t for Luffy then I would have never got to join the marines.”

That was the least Luffy-like thing you’d heard. He hated the military. Reminded him too much of his grandpa. Of rules and being told what to do. Koby must have seen those thoughts on your face.

“I don’t care if you don’t believe me,” he retorts, and you straighten your back, ready to bark back when a very bright red light shines in your face.

Sitting on a filing cabinet as if it had been carelessly tossed in the storage room was a green-glass amulet glittering with red lights that called to you. Koby didn’t even seem to notice it, not at first. He stared at you for a beat, gasped, and then the amulet.

“I don’t understand,” you said carefully, stepping towards the cabinet, hand hovering over it. The amulet was set in a gold frame with a long gold thread loop hanging from it. “Why isn’t this locked up tight?”

“It was locked in here,” Koby explains, leaning over your shoulder and admiring the amulet of life.

“Yeah, but like, nothing fancy if that makes sense?” You’d expected more fanfare. More effort. Not an object professed to bring back the dead simply lying around like a toy waiting for it’s turn to be used.

Hesitantly, you reached for the amulet. The smooth surface was unnaturally warm to the touch, and it absorbed any sound and vibration from you like a vacuum. Red light glimmered and died as you palmed it. If the amulet was speaking to your magic, then you couldn’t hear it. But that’s what you wanted to believe was happening. That there was a reason for this. It’s not your will power making this happen, the pieces of fate are simply falling into place like they should. Ace is going to come back to life because he was never meant to die in the first place.

You slipped the amulet of life in your purse, trading it for a pebble between your fingers, trying to recall the mumbo jumbo words of the Forget Me spell.

And Koby waited, diligently. You weren’t sure what he found so interesting about helping you, and the pebble ran smoothly beneath the pad of your thumb. Heart hammering in your chest, you mumbled the words from your lips. Koby must have assumed the words spilling from your mouth was confirmation, as he kept his gaze glued to your lips.

Striking the pebble three times across with your nail, you tossed it in the room and stepped out, hoping for the best.

Koby escorted you back down to the empty lobby, and you stopped as he continued to the entrance. Swiftly, he turned around and yanked you by the arm, a stern look on his face.

“Ma’am, if I have to restrain you, I will. Come on,” he said it with an unconvincing sincerity, and you didn’t like the way it made the synapses in your brain fire off in dirty places.

There’s a laugh on your tongue, but you bite it back. There’s no one in the lobby to hold up a ruse for. But you go with it, letting Koby lead you to a much nicer, scarier looking car than what you’d pulled up in. He approached a large, lifted truck with the marine’s symbols emblazoned all over it, and opened the backdoor for you.

“Where are the others? What happened to Sabo?”

“I told you, they’re fine.” Koby says through a brick wall of confidence that you’re not buying.

“Bullshit.”

Sensing the squirreliness in your body language, Koby caged you into the truck, arms spread over the roof. You’re pushed back into the seat, his body hovering above and blocking your escape.

“Listen,” he hisses, “I can take you out of here and it’s just us,” he makes a show of looking over his shoulder before continuing, “or the marines are going to take you to god knows where. Can you please trust me?”

“Fuck no. Where are you taking me?!” Your legs spread to either side of his hips as you try to slip from the seat.

Koby forces a stern face, locked onto yours, and notably avoiding the closing space between you two.

“I’m taking you to the local jail where you’re going to spend the night, and then walk away like nothing happened,” he replies, voice hinting at a wobble.

“I was right not to trust you. Fuck this,” you shove against his thin frame. But it’s about was useful as swimming in concrete. Your blood boils, vision blackening. “Koby, if you don’t let me go I’m going to do something we’ll both regret!” The car is closing in, like falling into the pit of a volcano.

His breath picks up, chest heaving, but he refuses to move until you tear into his collar. He’s not the creepy driver. He’s trying to help. The crackling of fire, your fingertips lighting up. You take a deep breath and hold it. Forget. Hands seal to his pale flesh, and he holds still, teeth grinding.

The warmth blooms from your chest, not your hands. Focusing on Luffy’s face in your mind’s eye. Tumbling around a forest floor in his arms, the dirt and the mud putting out the fire. Your eyes roll from the back of your head, seeing the bright red-orange your fingernails turned like hot glass. An inch away from Koby’s chest, sweat collecting on burning pink skin.

You bite the inside of your cheek, and the heat fades within seconds. No tears on your cheeks. The heartstrings give you the reins, and there’s a way to control this magic, not simply pushing and pulling. Barely.

Koby’s breathing steadied. And he let go of the doorway to lay his hands on top of your forearms, and you let him. Had he been like most men, you’d expect pain, but he simply turned your hands over, finding nothing. The calm only made a nervous shiver creep over your shoulders.

“Just let me go. Take me to my spot outside town,” you rasp.

“If you stay the night in jail, the marines will write this off as nothing but a drunk bar fight,” Koby pressed. “Happens all the time. But if you run off, they’ll pursue until they find out everything.”

Sitting on the thought carefully, you scoot further into the backseat and pulled your legs up. Zoro’s jacket draped over your thighs. You should have brought the spellbook. You should have figured out how Forget Me works. Too late to change the past. But not too late to keep trying, you think, and fish a handful of pebbles from your bag when Koby climbs into the driver’s seat.

Just as you’ve accepted fate, pin pricks dot the back of your right hand. The engine kicks on, and your hand is itchy and dry. Koby takes you away from the military hospital and a furious sting explodes on your skin. Hissing through your teeth, biting into the jacket collar, you watch as an reddish brown pattern burns itself on your hand. Emerging with virulent magic, an ugly twisty vine marks your hand the moment Koby passes the hospital gates.

Chapter Text

The late evening air passed by in a muffled roar outside the truck. Koby took his time driving to the jail. You caught the way his gaze absorbed into the rear view mirror, challenging his green eyed stare with your own. The whites of his eyes sparkled like a restless sea crashing in waves.

You straightened your back, mustering a posture with what you hoped look like pride and indignation, when in reality this was utterly humiliating. Blackened frustration bit the back of your tongue. The fresh magic staining your hand itched and burned. Your chest twisted itself into knots as you tried not to scratch your hand into a bloody pulp.

Regret chased the truck. You should have stayed. You should have pulled on the heart strings until you found Sabo and broke out of there with the power of fire and brimstone.

“Koby,” you rolled his name with your tongue, pushing it between the grooves of your teeth. “You said the others are fine. Tell me what that means.”

“Oh,” he said, gluing his eyes back to the road. “The marines want to recruit Luffy and Zoro, so they’re in an admin office. They’ll run every test imaginable on Luffy’s wrist until he says yes.”

You chuckled, only able to imagine Luffy in a uniform if it’s when you’re in the process of peeling it off of him. Zoro’s tan skin flashes in your mind too- and you dissolve that image away in an instant.

“That’s not gonna happen,” you replied with a smirk, and Koby laughs too.

“I know.”

A long list of every asshole cop and marine you’d encountered in the smoke shop loops like a mini movie reel inside your mind. The way they looked down their noses at “civilians,” always in a hurry to go nowhere, giving deference to any man in the vicinity over you. Luffy and Zoro were more of men than the marines in this entire base. And you begin to wonder why Luffy would call one a friend.

The old you would have given Koby credit for his lack of violence. And the magic in your blood growled low at the thought. He was compliant, fair and gentle as sakura petals, and the magic in your blood liked it immensely.

There’s an ‘old you’ now. Someone before the magic. Someone you wanted to forget.

“Shit.”

“What?” Koby jerks the steering wheel, making you curse again, braced against the driver’s seat in front of you.

“Eyes on the road, fuck!”

Buggy’s package was still in your bag. The boys didn’t even know about it, and you almost forgot to deliver it. And you wanted the infernal, stinking energy of whatever that thing making your skin crawl gone.

“Koby, my boss has some kind of connection to the marines. I was supposed to deliver a package for him.” You say, scratching the mark, but the itch only got wilder, and you hissed as an awful heat splintering across your hand.

“You probably shouldn’t come back to the base,” he added.

“That’s what I’m saying, kind of,” you sighed, “we’re staying in that nasty motel outside of town, can you grab it and deliver it for me?”

The only response you got was hearing Koby swallowing a lump in his throat.

“You said that you wanted to help me right? I really need this.”

He sighed, “ok. I want to make sure Luffy makes it back okay. Tomorrow.”

A familiar warmth bloomed in your chest at Koby’s statement, the heart strings tied to Luffy feeling secure.

Along a back alley of downtown, Koby pulled up to a tall, windowless building on the end of the block with more lights than the entire street combined, so bright it might as well be daylight around the perimeter. The sound of metal clinking in the front seat raiseed your hackles, and you tried the handle in the back seat. Locked, of course.

“They won’t stay on,” Koby held up two round metal cuffs linked by a tiny chain. Despite the rage-induced bile rising in the back of your throat, playful little thoughts tried to break through the cracks of your resolve.

Stupid pervert magic, you cursed mentally. Cutting off the engine and stepping out of the truck, Koby opens the back seat and stood there expectantly.

But not in the way of your path.

You leveled a careful look at him, eyes darting between the darkness surrounding the jail and Koby standing still, handcuffs dangling from his hand. Slowly, with wolfish grace, you stepped out from the truck and stood before him, meeting his gaze. The mossy green of his eyes sat like a quiet barrier over a river between two worlds, your senses dipped past it and to hear a lovely howl.

Split in your resolve, you let the magic guide your hands up, nodding to the handcuffs. He slid them on, and they hung loose around your wrists as he walked you into the jail.

Some whining drunks are already passed out in large cells. You mumbled out one last Forget Me spell, and drop the pebble at Koby’s feet. The guard doesn’t question him when he flashes a marine badge, and asks that you’re held overnight. Eyeing the tear in Koby’s collar, the guard makes a face at you, hesitating before taking off the handcuffs once you’re behind bars.

At least you got to keep Zoro’s jacket on. So, you curled up on the cold plastic bench in the cell, wrapping yourself in the scent of sake and oak, the amulet vibrating against your ribs where you’d slipped it beneath your breast.

-

“No one’s here by that name sir- sir, don’t get in my face-”

For a moment you feel the bathroom floor and wonder what made you pass out, and why had you dreamed of such an awful space at a hospital? Maybe it was trauma flashbacks.

“She’s right there, moron!” Zoro’s voice booms from the guard’s desk.

You sit up on the bench and remembered last night was not a dream at all, and touched the side of your rib cage.

“The name you gave me and the one I have on file don’t match. I can’t just let a criminal go because you say she’s a friend of yours,” the guard responds in a nasally, muffled tone.

You approached the bars and braced yourself against them, the guard notices but Zoro’s honed in on the man’s neck, his fists clenched, jaw screwed shut.

“I don’t understand, sir. I must have been drunk last night, why am I here?” You asked, hearing jeers from the nearby cells and you scowled at them.

“Well uh,” the guard scratched his head as he replied, “you got brought in by a marine and I was told to hold ya. So I am.”

“You didn’t ask why?!” You yelled, remembering very clearly ‘why’ now.

“Quiet, you don’t run things here,” the guard waved you off.

“And neither do you apparently,” Zoro grumbled and reached over the desk, swiping the keys faster than the guard could stop him.

“Sir! Sir, give those back!”

“Not until I find the one that opens this door,” Zoro said, flipping through the key ring casually as he walked over to your cell door, easily brushing off the much smaller man trying to block the path.

“I’ll have you arrested!”

Zoro scoffed, a mean grin stretching his lips and showing teeth.

“Good luck with that.”

He struggled with finding the right key, and with a huff of impatience, you yanked the ring from his hand. The first one you tried opens the lock. It swung open with a loud creak, the other folks in the jail begging to be let out as well. And when you and Zoro walked out, your purse slung over his shoulder, they jeered and cat called at you.

Not that it mattered. Not when morning rays highlighted every even-toned muscle of Zoro’s face, neck, and arms. A chilly wind prickled goosebumps along his flesh.

“Want your jacket back?”

He slowed down, looking at you over his shoulder with that same smirk. A bronze, sinewy arm wrapped around your back and he pulled you into his body.

“Nah,” he replied, walking the rest of the way like that, letting go right as you two approached Sabo’s truck.

Zoro tossed the truck keys in your hands and climbs in the passenger seat. Excitement flared, heating you up in the places left freshly chilled in his absence, and you jumped into the driver’s seat trying to ignore it. The engine roared to life, and downtown disappeared in a cloud of dust within minutes. It didn’t take long for a wheezy snore to start ringing in your ears, and you laughed.

He grumbled, arms crossed, inadvertently flexing his chest and arm muscles, or maybe not. And you kept driving, taking it easy and slow, feeling each pang of vibration from the amulet like it was scanning your insides. And finding a feral desire that it did not mind.

Meanwhile, you couldn’t help but wonder why it was Zoro who came to the jail, and not the others. But that also meant Koby kept his word, the others must be safe. Luffy and Sabo could have pulled the heart strings to find you, but somebody had to tell Zoro where to go. And shown him the way personally, now that you thought about it.

“Koby’s coming by the motel later,” you said to, possibly, no one.

“Hm? Koby, sure. Yeah,” Zoro mumbled, eye still closed.

“Did he tell you where to find me?”

“Like it was hard to guess where you went? Always ending up where trouble makers go, I just followed my nose,” his eye opened, a crimson spark glittered in the corner of your vision.

The thought made your nose crinkle, “you sniffed me out? Blegh.”

“Smells like whiskey,” he replied, leaning in, hot breath drifting over the soft shell of your ear, fruity sake in your nostrils, “and self pity.”

“Shut up,” you took a hand off the steering wheel to push his face away, and he swiped it in his much larger hand.

“I could,” he said with a low gravel that made your treacherous stomach clench, running the tip of his nose just barely above your knuckles, teeth grazing the hairs on your fingers and making them stand on end. “But I need to do something with my mouth.”

Shameless. You ripped that hand away, wiping the taste of him on your dress before placing it back on the wheel.

“Gonna make me get in another wreck.”

You weren’t looking for any more repeat performances this weekend. But you couldn’t help weighing the thickness of Zoro’s thighs, wondering how they would have felt between your legs in place of Koby’s hips. And replacing the image with Zoro, imagining what he would have done instead.

A little drop of interest greeted the inside of your panties, and then you thought about ice. Thought about stealing Zoro’s power, and how you’re going to bring a dead man back to life with it.

By the time the motel comes into view, Zoro had fallen back asleep, and you could feel a nasty hangover threatening to fuck up the rest of your day if something wasn’t done about it quickly.

Standing in the parking lot next to a beat up mini van was your pink haired marine, a living dichotomy to the man you’d been comparing him to with filth and hunger. What you really needed was your coven, not these imposters. Parked next to the van and dashing up to the door, you waved Koby over, not bothering to wait for Zoro before opening the lock and going inside.

Luffy ripped the door away from your hands and threw his arms open, and you leapt into his chest, planting a sloppy kiss on his lips. He returned the affection like a man starved, dragging his hands up and down your dress, fingers pulling at the fabric. You giggled and pulled away from him, nuzzling his neck.

You caught a glimpse of Sabo over his shoulder and jumped down to run into his arms and give him the same greeting.

“They were horrible without you,” Zoro grumbled from the doorway. “Sabo almost set the place on fire.”

When you pulled away from Sabo’s lips, you noticed he was soaked to the bone, and hastily threw on clothes that were damp from his skin. He laughed, stepping away, your dress a little damp now too.

“Zoro made me sit in the tub until you got back,” he showed his hands, the skin pruned and bone white.

“Don’t leave us again,” Luffy tucked his face into your hair, standing behind you, arms wrapped around your waist.

“Horny fucks,” Zoro cursed, laying back on one of the beds, hands behind his head. “Whatever magic shit you’ve got going on was making them freak out.”

“Um, sorry to interrupt,” Koby was standing in the doorway, sun highlighting his angelic stature. “Y/N, I can take that- thing- for you and I’ll go.”

“Oh!” You broke free from the boys, hearing a low whine from one of them. The package was packed under some skimpy clothes, and an over sized black and yellow hoodie. The brown satchel snarled in your hands.

All four men glued their attention to it. Luffy snarled back at it, his hands clenched. Sabo scowled, damp hair falling in his face, chin tucked in. Zoro sat up on his elbows, his sword somehow suddenly by his side.

Koby wiped a bead of sweat under his headband, and held out his hand. The moment you put the package in his reach, a loud growl rippled through your mind. A black lightning strike whipped back, roaring up your spine and bursting white sparks over the package, silencing it. An audible whine emitted from it that everyone heard.

“My boss didn’t tell me who to deliver the package to,” you start, and Koby interrupts.

“No, it’s fine. I know exactly who this is for.”

You were so over it with this mission that no further questions were asked. You didn’t feel like doing a verbal dance around Koby’s vague answers either.

“Thank you.”

Koby gave a long, sentimental goodbye to Luffy. You crawled onto the bed, relishing the give of the mattress, the warmth of the man to your side. The door closed, leaving the room finally free from the rank aura of Buggy’s delivery.

“Gonna be okay?”

Leaning over Zoro, your eyes roll over the soft planes of his face. He followed your gaze with his own. You placed a hand on his chest and lean over him, pecking a little kiss on his cheek.

You pulled the amulet of life from under your breast and brandished it before the boys. The red light shimmering on their faces, highlighting their awe.

“I’m great, thanks to you guys.”

Chapter Text

Lying on a damp towel in jeans and a hoodie wasn’t exactly your favorite idea of a beach date with the boys. But with a view of the sunset splashing red hot over the ocean made up for the chilly breeze. So did the beer in your hand, and the amulet of life thrumming with power against your heart.

Despite the temperature, Luffy ran full pelt into the water, clothes tossed away. Now they were beneath your body to keep warm while Sabo started a fire. He was doing his best to focus on the magic in his veins. Wondering out loud if you needed to be in danger for his magic to work.

You told him of course not, and to keep trying. There was enough trouble in the month that could last the rest of your lifetime for all you cared. Sitting here, surrounded by your coven and your prospect, was all that mattered. Free, safe, powerful.

A sturdy hand runs atop your thigh, warmth seeping through the fabric of your jeans. Zoro’s crawled to your side, laying on his side, hand squeezing your thigh. He sits up, head hovering right next to yours, his breath blowing your hair in your face.

“Say something rude,” you pout, sliding a finger along the flexing muscles of his arm.

“Tsk, don’t tell me what to do,” he retorts, lips hovering near enough to present the choice, should you make it. But you only fidgeted in place, pinching his skin.

The she wolf running through the forest in your mind’s eye liked him. Unfortunately, you were starting to like him too.

“Don’t say something rude…?”

A flurry of sand whooshes under your ass as Zoro lays on his back and pulls you on top of him, hands cuffed around your upper arms, your hands braced on his massive chest. The feeling between your legs bursts every blood vessel in your face, lighting you up bright red as the sky.

“Can’t make up your mind, woman.” He says, rubbing his hands up and down your arms, embracing your shivering form.

You turn to look at Sabo, whose sitting in the growing darkness by a pile of dry wood. An even darker smile pulling lips over his canine teeth. Of course. Turning back to face Zoro, it’s like sitting on the belly of a tiger. How long until he sinks claws and teeth into your heart?

Behind the trepidation that had built the wall between you two, a seed planted in childhood grew in the shadow. Roots of a young tree ripped the ground beneath the bricks made from his fuck ass attitude. The snide remarks, the ugly faces, the dismissal. Your nails stuck him like thorns, and he only chuckled.

“You know, the magic works with pain too.”

The suggestion only earns a raised brow above the scar, lips brandishing a wicked grin. He sat up and swigged from his beer, a cool breath blowing on your chest.

“Wonder where my magic’s at. You’re constantly a pain in my ass,” he said, finishing the beer, crushing the can and tossing it over his shoulder before grabbing your hips.

“Hmph.” When he swoops in for the kiss, you dodge, quite sure he was letting you get away. You wanted to believe it was to give deference to Sabo, to avoid hurting Luffy’s feelings by scaring you off and ruining their shivering beach day.

But the magic disagreed. Feeling it out for you, a deep knowing settled in your mind that Zoro’s going to wait, and wait, and wait. Or, you could hurry things along already.

Waving a hand under your nose, you say, “can’t feel shit when you’re drinking all the time, cock-eyed bastard.”

He lets go of your hips, and you slip from his lap. Had you gone too far with that comment?

You got your answer when he rolled over bellowing with laughter, clutching his sides, eyes squeezed shut. With a huff, you stand up and brush the sand off your jeans and walk a yard over, taking the seat next to Sabo on a piece of driftwood. Luffy’s laughter in the water echoing from further down the beach.

“He’s gonna get sick,” you say, rubbing your own arms from the lack of body heat.

“Go warm him up,” Sabo suggests, looking at you from under the brim of his hat.

Tilting your head, you ask, “do you wanna sit here in the dark with the one-eyed monster over there?”

“We’ll be fine,” Sabo winks and you blink at him. Then stick your tongue out with faux disgust, mostly.

“Ugh. You want him in the coven too? Really?”

He shrugs, “why not?”

You wave your arms, though the effect isn’t much in the low dusklight. “He’s him, that’s why!”

“He loved Ace too, you know,” Sabo replies.

“Everyone loved Ace!”

They did.

Guilt chews on your heart, and you feel a tug against them from Sabo’s direction. His face turned to you now, his amber eyes glimmering with emerging star light. An angry spark flares from his naked hands, but you’re the only one distracted by it as Sabo’s hand lights up with a low, simmering blue flame. That hand reached up, wisps of ocean air cutting through the flame in streams, as he goes for his favorite spot around your chin.

You pull away, leaning back, driftwood creaking, jeans catching. It makes him stop and examine his burning hand with a perplexed look, but not for long. That toothy smile returns looking like axes mashing their sharp edges together.

A shooting star crosses the sky above, and you summon mental images of Ace, heart ache knocking from the inside of your chest. It has the desired affect, the flame shining like an explosion of sapphires, draping the two of you in bawdy blue light. Sabo wrapped heart strings around that hand like a leash, and shot the flame onto the wood pile, a forceful calm taking over your nerves. You can’t picture Ace at all, but you can fully remember the feast of frenzy laying beneath Sabo, his hands and mouth all over your skin.

“Stop that!” You giggle, feeling your nipples twinge as they scraped against your clothes.

“Think I figured out that fire fist trick,” Sabo rolls the words over his tongue and through his grin, flicking his wrist and putting out the flame.

Trying your best to picture Ace, to remember sitting on a dock in the middle of a chilly night like this one as kids, Sabo scoots closer to you. He puts a hand on your thigh, your mind blanking over such a small touch, a little whine rumbling in your throat. His thighs meet yours, the driftwood crackling louder than the bonfire. Your chest feels tight as he leans down, crowding your neck, his lips puckered.

“How are you doing that?” You whisper, playing tug-of-war with the heart strings, trying so hard to feel that tiny does of angst.

“Don’t worry about it, come here,” he presses his mouth against your throat, the smell of sweetness and hay in the shared space. You moan, running fingers through his blonde curls and knocking his baseball hat into the sand.

Your eyes close, the sensation of his kisses winding you tighter at the core than at the web of magic over your chest. Hands spread over your thighs, pulling them open, nails scraping your jeans, but the hands were going the wrong direction, and they were much heavier and more calloused than Sabo’s hands.

Zoro breathed you in, cornering you between himself and Sabo’s body, his lips ghosted over your skin.

“Haaa- I, wait a minute,” you begged as Sabo played with the hem of your jeans, and he huffed before pulling away.

“What’s wrong, princess?” He takes your chin between his forefinger and thumb, staring down at you, blue fire ablaze circling his pupils.

You simply glanced over at Zoro, and without a word he let go of your thighs. A stark chill replacing his touch.

“I don’t understand, you’ll have to use your words and tell me what you want,” Sabo coaxes, his thumb stroking your cheek.

Over a shaky sigh, you say, “I want Zoro to take me on a date.”

He stills, a satisfied grunt coming from behind you.

“I want,” you swallow a lump in your throat, feeling like a little girl shivering with need between these two men, “-I want to make sure there’s chemistry between us before this thing between us escalates.”

Those words felt stale on your tongue. From a long time ago when all of you were still kids. Your first crush, shattered.

You turned to face Zoro, catching the way he licks his lips over a feral grin of his own, leaning back on his hands. You felt more like his next meal, or a difficult sparring opponent. The alcohol flushes his skin with a beautiful shade of pink in the light of the fire. His lips smack, the gears turning in his head.

“Asking me out? Better bring me flowers,” he teases, thrumming his fingers on his leg.

“Well, I was hoping the first time I brought you flowers was for your funeral. But I can settle for that too,” you throw his snark right back at him before standing up, no longer freezing but definitely soaked.

After a bit of whining and promising to come back, Sabo tossed you the truck’s keys so you could catch a breather. The wind tasted like salt and cold sweat on the walk back, hands buried in your hoodie.

“Fuck it’s cold,” you curse low, climbing into the backseat of the truck, happy to get out of the breeze. You stumbled and fell over the seat, tangled up in something large and slick and cold as you screamed.

“Brrrr,” Luffy’s teeth chattered as he said it, laying on your side right on top of him, legs twisted around his. You laughed and closed the truck door.

“Come here, love.”

He’d stayed naked and was using his clothes as a blanket before you’d carelessly knocked them off. It didn’t take any convincing, he wrapped shivering arms and legs around your body, pressing his freezing cheek into your chest, the cold blasting through your hoodie.

“Ah! So cold! We should go to the fire and warm you up, Luffy!”

Instead, he pushes his icicle fingers up your hoodie, making you squeal and whine, trying to get away. He rolls you over effortlessly, pushing your hoodie, shirt, and bra up to your chest, shoving his face between your breasts.

“This is warm enough,” he says into your sternum, kissing the curve of your breasts, squishing them into his face. His attentions break what little was left of the dam between your legs and you can feel the wet chill creeping up your pussy.

You don’t even bother trying to fight the desire twisting knots in the heart strings between you and Luffy, not caring that Sabo probably already knows. That Luffy probably felt the arousal Sabo and Zoro summoned with a tiny bit of teasing. The button of your jeans pops open easily, and Luffy helps you pull them halfway down your thighs.

When you try to do the same with your panties, he pushes you against the car door, thighs stuck together, lifted up by his hands under your thighs. He pulls your panties up with his teeth, and shoves his face into your pussy, pinned by his hold and your clothing.

His tongue is like a muscle carved from ice on your lower lips. The chill melting on your pussy, his spit and your slick dripping down his chin and definitely getting on Sabo’s seat. You can only wriggle and moan, so happy to warm up your lover, and to feel release in his touch.

Luffy’s as greedy with your cunt as he is with his dinner. Sucking your pussy lips in his mouth, moaning, and savoring it like you’re his favorite fruit. He dives into your entrance, jamming his tongue inside, tickling your walls, his nails digging into your thighs as he keeps holding them up over his head.

Your nipples harden, so sensitive and cold, and you accent the worship from his mouth, sliding your hands up and twisting the buds. Tight, pinching pleasure twisting the knots over and over.

Fingers cold as steel daggers forced their way past your searing walls.

“Ahhh! Luffy!” You yelped, unable to move away from the sudden freezing cold. Worse still, as he finger fucked you, they never seemed to warm up.

The clap of cold and hot burning you over and over. Luffy suckled on your clit, and all of it was bringing tears to your eyes- blind with pleasure. He chuckled, teeth grazing your clit teasingly, your toes curling.

In a blink of an eye, the backseat is gone, replaced by a deep violet sky littered with glittering holographic stars. Black trees that you made peace with, letting Luffy summon whatever weird and wild magic his ministrations were destined to make with your body.

He wasn’t going to let up, and the dam burst wide open. White hot pleasure burning no matter the freezing cold digits as long as they kept brushing and curling inside you just right. And he sat at the table between your legs like a feast, your orgasm pouring on his tongue like dessert.

You could only shiver, both from pleasure and the waning body heat. The windows properly fogged up, beaming a sheet of white under the stars. Steam dancing off your lips with each huff.

Black hair crowded the roof of the truck as Luffy climbed on top of you, licking his lips and collapsing into your open arms and legs. He kissed you, the spicy tang melting on your tongue, chins twisting around each other, his slick hands returning to your breasts.

The truck door rips open, gloved fingers clutching the handle. You gasp, breaking away from Luffy, and he growls, turning to glare at Sabo- who only blinks and grabs a rag from the floor of the truck and wipes something from his hand.

“Hey woah-” you push Luffy off and yank your pants back up, fixing the rest of your clothes in a flurry. “Sabo were you out there…?”

Luffy curls himself beneath you, chasing any warmth left, while Sabo climbed in the driver’s seat and ripped the engine to life. He gave you a predatory look over his shoulder, canines glinting silvery blue.

-

Nestled under blankets and naked limbs, you admired the amulet dangling from the chain wrapped around your hand. Luffy was snoring softly, his face buried under your breast, Sabo was running his fingers along your spine. A glimmer of magic charged through it, and right back out again, returning to your body. What you’d pushed into it between the three of you wasn’t enough to open the ethereal gate guarding whatever lies locked inside the gem.

“Wanna know what it feels like?” He asks softly.

“Hm?”

“When you and Luffy are together,” Sabo continues, leaving a peck on your shoulder, “those webs connecting us, it’s like I’m choking and I can’t breath until I see you,” his fingers rub circles at the base of your neck, and you hum, leaning into it. “I have to see that beautiful face you make when you come.”

Despite it all, you still manage to blush at his affections. This moment feels too good, unreal. Perhaps you were in the forest this whole time, and laying in the middle of your lovers was just a dream.

Or, an impending nightmare.

Chapter Text

It was a short drive to get outside of the city proper. Fields filled with corn and cows passed on the road that went from four lanes to three, two, and down to one noisy, bumpy street. You’d dolled yourself up, but not too much- you didn’t want to look like this date had been circling your mind all week, and now the date landed on an evening where both you and Zoro had the day off tomorrow.

He’d asked you to meet him at the town’s autumn festival an hour before sunset. If things didn’t go well, then bygones would finally be bygones and you two could part ways without an awkward ride home.

So, the evening called for a simple smoky eye and brown lipstick. You’d let your hair hang down, draped over the shoulders of a black sweater, a little silver necklace, over gray jeans and your boots. The last thing you wanted was for Zoro to take a look at you and remember that night at Vivi’s slumber party.

This time, you were the one being chased. You’re the one who doesn’t care if this works out or not. But you had a hard time picturing Zoro crying in his pillow over feeling worthless and dejected.

Unfortunately, you were right on time as the car pulled into a dirt parking lot that was filled to the brim with families, groups of teens, and other couples ready to spend a chilly evening snuggling close under the abundance of fairy lights hanging from trees and light posts around the festival grounds. A few long looks around the parking lot didn’t reveal a black sports car with green flames. He wins this round, you should have considered being late too. You could turn it around on him though, and resolved to let him show up seeing you, drink in hand, already having a good time without him.

The festival grounds were decorated in greens, browns, and oranges. The sky turned a gorgeous shade of lavender, the half moon hanging bright opposite the sun. Enormous stacks of pumpkins made for a fence around booths, picnic tables, various activities, and a stage. The first order of business was heading straight to the bar, where a couple giggled while ordering for each other. A chilly breeze blew right through your sweater then, and crossed your arms over your chest approaching the bar tender and ordering a tall whiskey sour.

It was bad, but perhaps getting drunk at a family friendly event was too, if you cared. The only thing you could see was the sun setting over various groups of people. You seemed to be the only one here by yourself, and you walked around the festival trying to look like you were meeting up with someone, like what was supposed to be happening right now.

You passed a haunted house, opting not to go in without someone to cling to like the other nervous and giddy young folk entering the facade of faux spiderwebs and plastic body parts. Further along the path was a hay ride, which looked colder than you were now without a man to wrap his arms around your shoulders, holding you close as the cart jostled you two into one another. Every few yards was an elaborate photo-shoot background themed for the spooky season, staged for people to take cute holiday pics together and post all over social media.

You choked on liquid smoke, the sugary after taste too sweet on the back of your tongue and it made you spit. The drink was already empty, and you were just tossing ice cubes together to have some sound that wasn’t your lonely footsteps crunching leaves.

Where was Zoro?

You tossed the cup and traded it out for the flask burning a hole in your purse. Anger licked the memories taking hold. You couldn’t find the root, couldn’t rip them out when you were lost in the growing whiskey colored haze. The fork in the road separating past and present twisted over itself, and your feet were dragging across a plush pink carpet in one of the many bedrooms of the Nefertari mansion.

It was the dead of night, everyone settled on beds and sofas, even on the floor after celebrating Vivi’s 15th birthday. Your stomach was quaking, and not from a dinner of cake and soda. Zoro’s smiled today. While everyone was singing happy birthday to Vivi, he caught your eye, and a soft, cheerful grin graced his face. It set your chest on fire, and you’d hoped no one saw the way you blushed and hid your face while attention was centered elsewhere.

It was happening more and more this year, the way you stared at his tan skin too long. Admired the way his muscles were taking shape, the way he stood taller and more confident, so much so that he practically glowed. When he talked to you, it made you shy, nervous about saying the right thing, and so insecure when he laughed at something you said that wasn’t meant to be funny. He’d brushed his hand against yours accidentally on the bus and you almost had a heart attack.

Tonight was the night- you’re going to confess to Zoro. He was laying in a pile next to Luffy and pushing Sanji away, the boys snoring in a chorus that thankfully covered the sound of your approach. With a weak, trembling hand, you tapped on Zoro’s shoulder and whispered out to him.

“Psst, Zoro, psssst.”

One eye opened lazily, his gaze hardly acknowledging you behind the sleep weighing him down. “What?”

“Come here,” you waved to the door leading out to the hallway.

“Ugh okay.”

That was the first good sign, he wasn’t arguing or trying to go back to sleep. He actually wanted to talk to you privately, and you could feel the spit in your mouth draining down a tightly closed throat. He followed you outside, and you gently closed the door with a gentle click, the last sound you could hear over the thumping of your heart in your ears.

“What’s going on?” He asks, leaning a shoulder into the pristine white wall.

You gulped, but nothing went down. Now or never.

“I-I-” oh no, you were already messing this up.

Zoro waited, his gaze not leaving your face, but it was making things harder. It used to be so easy talking to him, that’s why you’re so wound up in the first place.

“You smiled. Earlier…”

He cocked his head to the side. “Yeah…?”

“It’s just, you don’t smile much anymore so I thought-”

Zoro scowled and rolled his eyes, “so what?”

This was supposed to be the moment everything came together, but in the space you wanted to step forward and lean in, a canyon was growing. If you step forward, there’s nothing to catch your fall.

“You smiled at me though. I saw it.”

“It doesn’t mean anything!” His face turned red and he crossed his arms.

“I thought you were smiling at me though,” you said it so meekly that you might as well be two feet tall.

The way Zoro gasps, and then guffaws, cuts you in half.

“Right,” his hollow laugh beats against you like a drum, “because everything’s about you, yeah?”

What the fuck was that supposed to mean?

“But I-”

“So I don’t smile a lot, okay? I’m not a dumb girl.”

“Oh,” you stepped back, on the edge of fleeing.

“Is that why you’re always watching me? Do I have to worry about you watching everything I do?” He steps forward.

Your stomach flips, the butterflies ripped to pieces and floating on acid. The darkness of the hallway embraced your fallen shoulders, a red star guiding the path of redemption. The second Zoro opens his mouth again you interrupt him with a hard glare.

“Shut up.”

He scoffs, “what? You wanted to talk to me?”

“Yeah and I regret it now. Thanks,” your eyes were dry, all the feeling in your upper body drained. You turned and walked away, choosing a room at random and slamming the door shut.

The next morning when your friends were asking who woke everyone up with the yelling and loud bangs, neither you or Zoro said a word. The next year was spent ignoring each other on the bus and in the hallways at school, and sobbing into your pillow, fighting for your life to keep the puffiness in your face down before class each day. The relationship you’d built with a bowl of ice water was on par with what you’d hoped for with Zoro.

A bitter cold crept up from below. Your ass was freezing and wet. Did you miss and sit in the bowl instead of dunking your face in it? Sitting up, wobbling a bit, the festival grounds were getting darker, lantern lights were turned on to guide the crowd. Fog clouded your breaths, but the alcohol kept you in a warm embrace. Your stomach started growling, and you wondered how many caramel apples and pie slices it was going to take to sober up enough to go home.

He was making you look like an idiot again. It’s not that you were shocked or disappointed, just pleased to have the final confirmation of his character. Maybe you’d get back home and find a satisfactory curse for the sake of your self respect, and then move along to summoning Ace without Zoro’s help.

The sun started setting as you were clutching a cup of hot chocolate while watching a couple take selfies by an arch made of pumpkins in the shape of a heart. You rolled your eyes and sat with your head in your hand on a picnic bench conveniently close to the bathroom. If it weren’t for having to pee so much, you’d have said ‘fuck it’ and drove off drunk.

An orchestra of high pitched screams and barks came from across the field following a man who was sprinting through the gate, leaping over displays of giant squash, holding a cartoonishly large basket in their arm. Everyone in the area turned to gawk at the guy playing run away red riding hood with children dashing right after him, followed by a pack of country dogs.

“Get- go on get away from me! No more, I said I’m not giving you anymore treats!” He shouted, running past your table in a rush of bright green and black.

“Zoro?!” You stumbled off the bench and chased after the group.

“Y/N?!” He yelled over his shoulder, leaping up and catching himself with one arm on a tree and scrambling up on a hefty branch.

“What the hell- I mean heck- are you doing up there?” You stood beneath him, kids barking and dogs yelping in a circle around you.

“They want the basket!”

“So give it to them? Or just tell them to go away!” You shouted up, hearing the kids gripe.

“Candy!”

“Meat!”

You giggled, a tiny Luffy-incarnation, just as small as you remember him being at that age, was trying and failing to climb up the tree.

“You try telling those mongrels what to do!” Zoro shouted back, securing the picnic basket under his arms.

“Noooo! I’m not going until you give me more candy, mister!” A little girl pitched below you, and pulled on your sweater. “Tell him, miss!”

“Where are your parents?”

“Who cares?”

“I’m sure they do!” You replied, delicately plucking the girl’s hand from your clothes.

“Greedy sons of bitches! Didn’t I give you enough already?” Zoro said.

“Hey, don’t cuss around the kids!” An greying man walked up from behind and shook an old-man-fist at the lot of you.

“Ugh,” you slapped a hand over your mouth and giggled. “Ya big softie.”

“There you are!” A couple of young women came running up now, “don’t run off on us like that ever again!”

“But he was nice and giving us candy!” The little girl pointed at Zoro, and you poked your tongue into your cheek, giving him a smart grin.

One of the mothers sighed, “what did I tell you about stranger danger? You’re lucky that man is one of the good ones. Come on now, leave him alone.”

“Mooooooom!” One of the other kids whined as they were dragged away from the scene, which still left the dogs who were scratching and jumping at the base of the tree.

“Do dogs like candy?” You asked Zoro, hands on your hips.

“I gave them one of the ugly sandwiches. Now they think they can have ‘em all!” He replied, shooing the dogs away.

“Hey, no pets! It’s says so right on the sign, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” A security guard came walking up, and you waved at the dogs.

“Oh no sir, these aren’t my dogs, they chased my… my date... from the parking lot. They must want what’s in his bag.”

The guard raised a brow, then looked at the woven basket with red checkered napkins sticking out of it and waved you off. He shooed the dogs away, and once the coast was clear, Zoro leapt down from the tree, only slightly disheveled.

Then you remembered to cross your arms, and gave him a hard look. “You’re late as fuck.”

“I know, I know! I’m sorry!”

You were taken aback, lowering you hackles and letting your arms drop. “So was that the hold up?”

Zoro blushed, it wasn’t just his ears turning cold from the weather, but a whole red sheen burning bright on his cheeks. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Tsk, too late for that! I’ve been worrying for the last hour,” you stamped a foot, slapping him on the arm playfully. “I thought you were standing me up.” Your words slurred a bit, and when you went to kick him, you stumbled and fell into his arm. He sniffed.

“Kept yourself plenty entertained,” he replied, holding you up until you stepped back and straightened both your sweater and his plaid, wool-lined jacket.

“Like you wouldn’t be drunk by now too. Where’s your sake hiding in this thing?” You patted around his jacket, and despite his playful attempt to wiggle away, your hand slapped down around something hard and heavy.

“I hold it better than you,” he retorted, “c’mon. Got us dinner.” He held up the basket, a soft smile on his face that could have melted ages old ice- as soon as you allowed it.

You took a seat at the picnic table, your hot chocolate having gone cold. Zoro set the picnic basket down, pulling out a softly lit camping lantern before pulling out two foil covered dishes, then a couple more, some beer, and kept reaching into the basket.

“Woah, you know this was only for two people right?” You asked, a hand on Zoro’s arm.

“Oh uh, yeah. Guess I don’t know how much women eat.”

You rolled your eyes, “this is more food than Barto and I eat in a week.”

Zoro shrugged, ultimately filling the table with goodies, and opened them up to reveal what might as well have been a banquet feast: turkey legs, mac, garlic bread, carrots in butter, stuffed mushrooms, yams, even pumpkin soup.

“I let Luffy order whatever he wanted and then called the restaurant and doubled the order,” Zoro said, scratching his head while you dug around the basket for forks and spoons, and not finding any. When you looked up, Zoro laughed, and ran off to a booth and came back with plastic ware in hand.

The food was delicious, and how he managed to be so obnoxiously late and keep the food warm left you in awe. He watched you eat, drinking from the selection of ale and seasonal brews he’d brought, not minding their lukewarm temperature. Sure enough, this helped you sober up enough not to stumble when you two got up, half the food eaten- mostly thanks to Zoro.

He insisted on taking the basket back to his car, and you walked with him so he wouldn’t get lost on the way there.

“That’s probably why you were so late, huh?” You elbowed him lightly.

“So what? I showed up still, didn’t I?” He scoffed.

“Bet they make sure someone else is driving the trucks when there’s a call at the station,” you cajoled him, it’s the least he could do to take a little ribbing for making you worry.

“Shut up!” He tossed the basket in his car, and you pushed him.

Before you could remember to breath, he grabbed your wrist and pulled, slamming your body into his, an arm wrapped low around you waist. A blush accompanying the realization as it was creeping in. Your breath stuttered, looking up at him in the last bits of light belonging to the dusk had cast a severe shadow on the sharp crevices of his face, close enough to see greenish-brown stubble under his jawline. With a haughty laugh, he grinned down at you.

“That’s better,” he said, rubbing your back.

“Oh hush,” you pushed his arms back, and he didn’t resist, letting you step away. “You owe me a hay ride!”

He didn’t argue, and walked with you back into the festival grounds, cast dark under fresh night. The stars were somewhat visible out this way, and if you listened closely, you could hear the song of crickets, and crowing of livestock. He climbed into a flatbed hauler, offering a hand and helping you up and sitting beside you on an itchy hay bale. Straw poked through your jeans as the truck bed jostled on the dirt path that went under apple trees and corn fields. Zoro offered an arm, wrapping it around your waist, and rested your head on his chest, your nose cold and heart warming under his hold.

You wondered what constellations blanketed the sky above, and imagined Zoro snoring as you talked him to sleep, selfishly wanting to be alone with him already. He looked up, eye scanning the stars with you, and then looked down with a bored huff, and nuzzling his chin into your hair.

It was faint, and unlikely given the region, but you could swear there was a wolf howling in the distance.

The hayride made a stop at a short walk through a pumpkin field and more sculptures made of giant squash, and you held Zoro’s arm walking through. He shared little sips of sake, and you sips of whiskey. The flavor made to taste like drinking sweet brew inside a cave, trying to stay dry during a rainstorm.

He took those obnoxious selfies with you, and refused to hear it when you told him he had a wonderful smile.

“Smile for me then,” you drunkenly whispered in his ear while walking to the end of the trail where you two were greeted by the choice of walking, another hay ride, or a pony ride back to the festival grounds. You chose the latter by a mile. Zoro made a face before helping you climb up on a brown and white spotted pony, and he climbed up on a black horse with a red belly.

“Picture of the happy couple?” a man with a flash camera asked, holding it up above his head.

“Won’t the horses get scared?” Zoro asked, reaching for the reigns of your pony.

“Of course not, they’re perfectly calm animals!” He waves and puts the camera to his face, “smile!”

“Yeah right,” Zoro grumbles low and you turn and smile at the camera, not minding him.

The camera flashes, and in the brief moment of blindness you hear an evil hiss below your feet. Your pony bellows and stomps at the ground, Zoro shouting and ripping at the reigns to no avail.

In a second you see a figure across the trail, and then they’re gone, and the pony rears up screaming. You squeal, falling backwards from the saddle and down on your back, black hooves above your head.

“Idiot! What did I tell you?!” Zoro’s horse starts to gallop off and he jumps down, landing funny on his knees and he leaps for you beneath the other pony, hooves about to crash down on his head instead of yours.

Calm. Not Hissing.

One hand pressed flat in the dirt, and the other clutched Zoro’s shoulder, your nails scraping the fleece fabric. An ugly whine came from the pony as she stamped her hooves just by your head, and a wet ooze splattered in your eye.

“God dammit-” one of the farmhands curses, running over to try and wrangle the pony.

Zoro scooped you in his arms and rolled away, dark ooze dripping on his jacket. “Did you get hurt?”

“Doesn’t feel like it,” you stood up, watching the pony calm down, a wet, purplish smudge on her hoof. It felt warm when you swiped your hand at the stuff on your face, and what looked like pieces of a salamander spread between your fingers. Your blood growled, snapping her teeth in your ear, and you wiped it off on your jeans.

Looking around the trail head, there wasn’t anyone who looked unusual. Nothing felt unusual. But you’ve never heard of bluish black salamanders who hiss either. Especially not ones that made your magic rise up.

And you’d enjoyed how normal the whole evening felt, compared to everything else that’s been going on. You sighed, one of the festival workers apologizing profusely.

“It’s fine, they’re just animals. And I had my man here to help save me,” you patted Zoro’s chest, smiling at the worker.

“S’not the first time,” he grumbles, a hand on your head, stroking your hair.

“Sure ain’t. Lets go, hun,” you said in a mock southern accent.

You’d opted to walk the two miles back, letting the night time’s chilly breeze calm your nerves. Zoro seemed hardly phased, content to let you hold onto his arm on the walk downhill. The goo on your face crackled and fell off, eventually you were able to brush it off, leaving your skin feeling a bit dry and exposed.

“That wasn’t you pissing off the horses, was it?” Zoro asked.

“Of course not!” You batted his arm, and he flexed, squeezing your arm between his bicep and torso.

“Weird shit gonna keep happening around you?”

“Hmmm, yeah. But I think you like it, mister firefighter,” you cooed.

“Hmph, trouble makers need problem solvers,” he replied, playing with your fingers until you pressed them in between his, your fingers covering callused knuckles.

“Is that why you train so hard?”

“No. I’m strong because I like being that way,” he replied, his fingers covering half your hand.

“I thought you liked beating people up after you piss them off,” you teased, and he squeezed your hand.

“You’ve got me all wrong. Some people, sure. But you? No way.”

That made you stop and look up at him, confusion plain on your face. “Whaddya mean?”

“I think you know,” he looks down, meeting your gaze, the silver moonlight painting him white, the dark pools of his eyes drawing you in.

“I don’t,” you say before being able to stop yourself, and he smirks at that.

“Then I’ll make sure to show you.”

Chapter Text

“So, I’m guessing it went well, huh?” Sabo said cheerily over a beer, spread out on one of the couches in sweatpants and a stained t-shirt. Luffy was opposite him, housing a bucket of chicken wings, and chugging his own beer.

You stood in the middle of them, fists clenched at your side. Chewing your lip and looking anywhere but directly at them before you muttered;

“...Yes.”

“Told’ya,” Luffy said with three fingers still in his mouth, and tasting the buffalo sauce burning your lips from kissing him earlier.

The amulet, the magic in your blood, your coven- they all wanted Zoro, they all told you to trust him. His performance last night was just icing on the cake. But you still stamped your foot and crossed your arms, bottom lip pouting.

“He’s… formidable.”

Sabo belted out a laugh so hard that it made him burp.

-

By the time you two made it back to the main festival grounds, a couple of fire dancers were spinning hoops of bright, hot flame and juggling flaming swords for a crowd. You snuggled close to Zoro, letting your hands wander under his jacket, feeling his breath falter for half a second at your advance. He draped an arm around your waist, thumb massaging up and down your side as you passed flasks back and forth. Some parents made faces, but one mean glare from Zoro’s good eye and they’d suddenly start minding their own business. You chuckled at having scary dog privilege. For once, his ugly frowns were good for something, you think.

A little tipsy, and very warm from the booze, you took his hand and stumbled out to the parking lot, where you wolfed down leftovers before leaving. He texted you his newest address, and he was the one to follow you through downtown, and out to a small neighborhood tucked in the middle of it.

Over your shoulder he made a comment about being glad his ‘fuckass roommate’ wasn’t home and wouldn’t ruin the mood. The side door unlocked and he passed through the darkness of the house straight to the fridge.

“Do you want me to take my shoes off?” You ask, words slurring a bit and accepting a beer from Zoro.

He closed the fridge and pulled you in close, saying in the low timber you’d missed loving- “I want you to take everything off.”

Excitement shook in your core, and froze you in that spot, hands up on his chest, braced against hard muscle and staring up at him. He closed the space, lips pursed with yours in a soft, open kiss. It pushed for nothing, and lasted long enough to ask without need or demand. If he was anything, it was willing to wait to get what he wanted from you. And what that was, you were still only half way sure, waiting to see where the other half will be after tonight.

His eye was dark with that predatory patience, sparkling dangerously beneath the moonlight beaming through the kitchen window. You shivered beneath him, your blood begging before you could. A calloused thumb stroked hair from your face and twirled it in his finger.

“If you want this, I need you to tell me right now,” he said plainly, his other hand brushing the exposed skin of your neck.

“Wouldn’t be standing here if I didn’t want you, Zoro.” He seemed to like hearing his name from your mouth, an approving hum rumbling in his chest.

“Then say so. It’s that easy,” he brushes that thumb along your bottom lip for a second before pulling away.

Squinting, you eyed him up and down as he stood there waiting for you to beg for him. And that was the last thing you were going to do. You took his head in your hands and grunted to pull him down, but he resisted so easily it made you feel dumb for even trying.

“Ah-ah, do you think you’re the one in charge, baby?” He plucks your hands off his face, cuffing them in his own in a vice grip. “Use your words, and I’ll give you what you want.”

That had a completely different meaning from when Sabo said it. You tried to pull away from him, and Zoro held you firm, your feet scraping the tile flooring.

“C’mon. Say you want me, like you always wanted to- remember?” His voice is carefully measured, like he’s sitting at the edge of the forest and eager to pounce on delicious prey.

“R-remember what?”

He growled and pushed you against the kitchen counter, forcing you to bend backwards as he held your hands high up above your head. Dipping his face in low, his mouth brushing your jaw- your breath stuttered, but you didn’t want him to stop either.

“You think I forgot about your little crush?” He said low, his breath fanning your ear and it made you sweat and shudder. His knee pressed between yours and opened your legs just a bit. “Ya never even gave me a chance. One day I had you wrapped around my finger, and the next you hated me,” he ran his tongue along the edge of your jaw.

“I-haaa,” you stuttered, he brushed his nose up the veins in your throat and took a deep, greedy inhale. “I thought you didn’t like me back, I thought you were making fun of me-heeee.”

Zoro pressed your hands into the cabinets above your head as he crushed you between the kitchen counter and his body.

“Say you want me. I’ll show you how I feel, baby. I’ll make you feel so good,” he breathed, his forehead pressed into yours.

Heart beats pounded against your chest, bouncing in tandem with the rhythm coming from Zoro’s chest. His sincerity broke you.

“I want you, Zoro. I always did,” the confession reveals a long buried relic of affection, and the sudden exposure to air was going to make you burst.

Your arms fall like iron chains when he lets go of your hands, lifting you by the waist, seating you onto the counter. Stepping in the middle of your legs, he caressed the back of your head and neck, crushing his lips with yours. Not holding back this time. Laying down the force of his kiss like he was the sun itself, and shrinking you down into bare bones made of need and lust. His jaw was to be reckoned with on it’s own, a master over the most delicate mastication. He asked for entrance, and you let him guide his tongue past your lips to explore the roots of your flavor, infusing his taste of wheat and apple into your gums.

Time was lost in the grip of his mouth. You sat there kissing him until your lips felt swollen and ripe, his hands stayed in their protective, loving place, not daring to go further. He was soaking up years of lost kisses with you too. A dash of sharp regret panged in your gut, but it was nothing compared to how worked up you were getting between your thighs.

When he parted, he gave you only moments to breath before you gasped- his hand traveled down your back and played at the hem of your sweater. A dash of freezing air hit your skin, and you pulled his body flush with yours, whining.

“Hehe, cold?” He purred, tapping fingertips on your waist.

“Y-yes! Ahh!”

Without warning, he threw you over his shoulder and walked through the kitchen, beers forgotten, up the stairs, and pushed the door into his bedroom where he set you back down.

“Can warm up in here. But only if you show me how bad you want my help,” he brushed his fingers under your jaw and pressed another kiss to your sensitive lips, making you moan and quiver beneath him.

He stepped back, his figure glowing viridian blue in the moonlight. Whether he meant to or not, his chest puffed out, and when he shed the fleece jacket, the magnificence of his figure carved itself against his clothing- a testament to blood and power. Your magic purred, and he seemed to hear it, a whine ringing from his chest in return.

You pulled off the sweater, revealing the amulet of life sitting on your breast, on top of a slip of a cropped white tank top, your nipples hard and peaking through the tissue thin fabric.

“Oh? Are we playing with that thing?” He asked, pulling the skin-tight long sleeve shirt off his own body. It had been at least a decade since you’d really gotten to admire his warrior-toned body, and this was only the second time- it felt better and more decadent than the last time.

“I need you, Zoro,” the amulet was smooth to the touch as you rubbed it under your thumb for reassurance.

“Yeah?” An attempt of a smirk stretched his mouth, but it was lost in a snarl of pure desire. He pulled the little top from your chest, and pushed you down to your knees.

You only stared up at his face, unable to look away even at the sound of a zipper, the feeling of a heavy, soft member brushing your lips.

“Go on, baby,” he pet your head, biting his lip when you opened up and lolled your tongue out, and without a second thought, hesitation dissolved under over due confessions, started sliding it along the thick column of his length.

A wicked shiver soared down to your core as his cock slipped between your lips. Thinking of how much he fills up your mouth, the head of his cock bumping against the back of your throat easily, it makes you wet imagining him between your legs.

Bobbing up and down, Zoro groaned and cursed, his fingers tangling gently in your hair, refusing to lose control- you could feel the power he was holding back, the magic in your blood was well aware of it. She wanted to roll him over and fuck him into the sunrise.

And if your body can keep up, you just might.

Spit dribbled down your chin and he started to stroke his hips, his cock stretching further and further past the walls of your throat. You took in a deep breath, numbing your gag reflex, and let him fuck your mouth. Hearing him lose pieces of that control within a minute, sweat poured down his chest, and he shoved your nose in his dark green pubic hair. His musk reaked of a life spent on the edge of madness, of a selfish resolve to take what life does not give freely. Tonight, he took your self doubt, your fear, and broke it against his will. Transforming that pain into a sleeve of submission and pleasure.

And you’d do anything to prove yourself to him, letting him stretch your jaw until it ached, blood shooting further down to your more sensitive parts. Making him keen with pleasure was bliss, and when his hips stuttered, you started rubbing your thighs together, desperate to share the joy with him.

His cock burst, a stream of cum shooting down your throat. And you swallowed what you could.

“Good fucking girl,” Zoro groaned, slowly pulling from your mouth, both of you breathing heavy.

He got down on the floor with you and wiped the mess he made of your face with a towel. You nuzzled your cheek in his hand, eyes sparkling, mouth and lips sore- silently pleading with him to do that to rest of your body.

His thumb slipped in the corner of your mouth, and you suckled on it, making him hum with amusement.

“I ruined this mouth, huh?” He dragged your bottom lip down, and you let him open your mouth and look inside. “Sweet girl, sucked me like you meant it.” He held your jaw, pressing kisses along the line of bone and thin flesh.

You licked your chapped lips, tongue grazing the grooves of his thumb, “yeah, I do mean it.”

With one finger under your chin, he bid you to stand. He smiled, truly, unabashed, and walked you to the black covers on his bed. He kissed you, tasting this new cocktail of your spit and his essence, while his fingers pulled at your jeans. The mattress dipped when you climbed on it’s edge, letting Zoro discard the rest of your clothes, and then his own.

“Lay down, put your leg up on the headboard for me,” he crawled between your legs, taking every inch given as you scoot back into his mattress. You looked up and saw a little velvet handle draped on each side of the headboard, and gave him a look.

All you got for that was a shrug, the smile turning serious at the corners of his mouth. Laying on your back, you shimmied your foot into the strap, and Zoro helped you adjust.

“Comfortable?” The way he said it made you want to melt, and you could only nod. He laid on one side, the other scooping you in his arm and positioning your dripping center right in his face. “Is your jaw sore, baby?”

“A little, but that’s okay, I liked it.”

“Hm, then I’ll have to do the same to you until my mouth is sore. It’s only fair.”

You knew that wasn’t fair at all, and cried out when he slowly licked long stripes along your outer lips.

“Ah~! Zoro-” your back arched, hips stuttering as he lapped up your slick. He was solid, molding you with pointed malice radiating from his touch and his infernal kiss at your center.

His lips latched onto your clit, and he sucked it, teasingly at first. And when he was satisfied with your helpless cries, he circled his tongue around it, tips of his teeth grazing your most sensitive bud.

The amulet buzzed hot on your chest, and you could feel the power seeking direction, generating right from the source at the meeting place of your center and Zoro’s mouth. He moaned, the vibrato quaking against your clit that made tears flood your eyes.

Two thick fingers plunged inside, no longer teasing, only taking. He got serious then, and your pussy rumbled, cumming on his fingers almost immediately. Which he loved.

“So sweet, you taste so good, baby girl,” his back and arm muscles flexed in the moonlight, veins rolling over his forearm as he pumped his fingers inside you deep and hard.

One finger slipped out and brushed lower, where a pool of slick and spit gathered around your puckered lower entrance. You whined as the knuckle bumped against it, exhaling, grabbing the short tufts of Zoro’s hair and scratching at his scalp while that finger teased the tight wall of your ass.

“I want this one, I want to fuck you here too,” he continued between laps around your pussy, the one finger still inside you. “Gonna prep you,” that finger inched inside, and you already felt another coil tightening in your gut.

Patiently, he pushed his ring finger inside your ass, adding his pointer finger with his middle finger in your pussy, and he scissored his hand deep- all the way to the knuckles where you soaked his hand, his face, and his bed.

It was so much. Almost too much.

The second orgasm rocketed through your body, and you cried out, clenching on his hand and gripping his head tight. But he held firm until he consumed every drop you had to give. A silver shining gaze met yours once again, a devilish smirk pulling one corner of his mouth up all the way to the gums. The look in his eye devoured you as well.

You took in a shaky breath, feeling the cotton bed sheet, sweat and slick gluing them to your ass, the blood starting to leave your raised leg.

“If I’d known your mouth was good for something, I’d have fucked you sooner,” you said, slipping out from the strap on the headboard, settling down into the mattress.

The silver in his eye shifted to a color of which you imagined hell freezing over would look like. This pleasure was not an ascension.

“Don’t know the half of it, baby,” the tinge in his voice made it sound like a threat. He scooped you up and traded places on the bed, settling you down in his lap. Callused fingers brushing little circles on your hips, he licked his lips before continuing, “if you want to talk about being good, why don’t you show me how good of a slut you are?”

Those words cracked against your core, and your chest tightened, need making itself clear in the space between your legs and Zoro’s hard cock. For a moment, you only stared him down while circling your hips, his spongy tip teased at the entrance, soaking in your slick. He groaned, but didn’t push, enjoying his private show.

Both of you moaned when you descended on his cock, taking all of it within a few strokes. Slowly rocking back and forth, savoring just the feeling of him filling you up. Finally joining with him, a flood of old memories pushing aside years of feeling numb and useless. This was were he was meant to be the whole time- at the axis of your body, giving you endless pleasure. A stream of potential.

Power singed your brain, rocking back and forth in Zoro’s lap flooded your body with magic. The amulet shimmered, bouncing between your tits, flashes of red sparkling in your lover’s blown out pupil. With it’s own gravitational pull, magic streamed through your skin onto the surface of the jewel and splashed all over the room, red light speckled across every surface.

Zoro grabbed your hips, growling, and slammed up, forcing a choked scream from you as he fucked more pleasure and power into you. Red lines scored his chest and belly as your nails dug in.

“Look at you, fucking yourself on my cock like a whore.”

Words were beyond the black forest in your mind’s eye, only animal howling as he filled you over and over. And it’s all you’ve ever wanted in this moment- to chase another high, to let him make you cum again and again.

“You can slut around and fuck the others, but you’ll always be my girl. This is my pussy. It’s always been mine,” he said between harsh breath and gritted teeth.

And that was what pushed you over the edge, tumbling down into rapture. Descending, finding a new beginning that ended in white hot fire and the kiss of death.

You came so hard on his cock that he grunted and pulled you down flush against his hips, gently rocking against you and letting your pussy squeeze him in a vice grip. He held you after collapsing into his sweat-soaked chest, the amulet digging into flesh, heart pounding, and shivering in delight.

He reached around your back, stroking up and down, then up around your neck. The necklace chain clicked and pooled between yours and Zoro’s bodies. You snatched it and sat up, the sudden rush on your over sensitive pussy making you whine.

Zoro didn’t give you time to speak- if you could even remember how. Rolled onto your back, he kissed a trail down your neck, hardly doing anything compared to what his mouth did earlier. But when he sheathed himself back inside, pushing one leg up, and suckling on your nipple, the surge of pleasure was going to make you croak.

Red light dissolved into silvery darkness, a thick sheen of sweat glossed over Zoro’s skin.

He fucked you hard, with predatory purpose, bouncing the head of his cock against your cervix. The only thing he let you do was hold his head, sweat and magic gathering at your palms. His moans were closer to a deep roar reverberating from the darkest parts of a cave. No escape, only moving forward, capture so certain that it was only natural to give into the thrill.

His teeth sank into you long ago. And now he’s pinned you, no where to go but down the depths of decadent pleasure. He took the amulet from your other hand and pressed it into the mattress.

“Want to come. Just like this, no magic- just us, baby,” he huffed, picking up his pace, your fingers and toes curling along with the pitch in your moans.

He made good on that promise, cum bursting from inside you. Zoro’s shattered moan in your hair, his face pressed close enough to smell rain and splintered wood after a storm. Taking his face in hand, you turned and kissed him, moaning softly as he pulled out.

Darkness returned to his bedroom, blanketing the two of you in night. He shifted until you were laying on his chest, keeping each other warm, slick with the dew of mating. Right as you were about to drift into sleep, he shuffled and helped you up. Your legs weren’t jelly, but bruised and seared with scratches. He looked no better, you’d marked him, and his stride followed you like a shadow. He sniffled, bending down to run his nose along your neck.

“Gonna fuck ya ‘til your smellin’ like me.”

You giggled, giving him a drowsy smile, but he didn’t return it. Only waited for you to finish up in the bathroom before throwing you back on the bed to start over.

-

You couldn’t believe it. Zoro had existed as a ghost in your mind, something you’d desperately wanted the magic to exorcise out of your blood. Instead, it took a liking to him much like the others did.

Pack. Mate.

Sabo was extra handsy and affectionate that evening. Which wasn’t unusual, since forming the coven, the three of you couldn’t get enough of each other. But he went without his gloves more often, and started taking his hat and coat off indoors. His skin was cold when you’d initially touch him, the cold fire most alive in your union with him.

Sabo buried his nose in your neck and bit down, hard. Which, once Luffy noticed the mark, he made his own on the opposite side- and you had to make them buy you a sweater to cover it up for work in the morning.

-

Zoro tossed you face down onto the mattress, climbing on top of you, trailing his mouth along your neck and shoulder. He palmed your ass with one hand, and coaxed your legs apart with the other. Once you were opened up and presented for him, he reached around and squeezed all over, your breast, your belly, your hips, thighs, and finally more of your ass. He was glued to your back side, and all you could do was brace against the mattress and take it.

“Wait, we can take a break, I’m good-” you whined into the sheet, yelping when you feel a hard smack on your ass.

“No, no, we’re done when I’ve proved myself good enough for the coven, remember?” He said it breathily, nails dragging over the sore spot he just made. “Gonna show you how long I can really go, and I know you can handle it, baby girl.” He pinched the spot and you keened, the pain fizzling into it’s own kind of sharp pleasure.

He found your clit sobbing with want again, and you shook feeling his hard cock again. You leaned into him, ass up as high as you can get it, hearing him chuckle.

“If you’re going to prove yourself, then do i-it- ah!” You choked when vicious circles were swiped around your clit, his cock back inside. It was so sudden and so good that you drooled, losing that thought.

“Not so smart when I’m inside you,” he keens, fucking so much deeper in this position that you could feel him in your throat.

“F-fuck,” you clawed the sheets, his cock ripping you apart at the seams, “meeee, fuck, fuck!”

“That’s what I’m doing, slut. So dumb for my cock, baby girl. I love it”

His hips started slamming into your ass, your thighs quivering, about to come again. The hand not busy teasing the sense out of your clit was sliding along the curve of your ass, a hot finger pressed against your puckered hole. A glob of spit spilled down his finger and in your ass as he pressed it in.

When you cry out, the orgasm ripping through your body and squeezing Zoro’s cock, he shoved his middle finger in your ass and it made the orgasm ripple twice as hard.

This was primal. And your blood screamed with joy at Zoro pushing your body to its limit.

A second finger stretched your ass, and he never let up on his pace. Taking it hard, and a brisk enough pace to keep you on edge but without losing his grip. The sheets beneath you are soaked in drool and cum. He stopped playing with your clit when you collapsed, and he pulled out.

“So fucked already,” Zoro said, kissing down the column of your spine, his hands massaging your ass until he kissed the dip of your sacrum, then spreading your cheeks and greedily carding his tongue along your ass. “Making it so easy for me,” his tongue dove inside, making you moan and squirm, unable to move under his grip. The new sensation driving fresh sparks up your back, making your toes curl.

“Zoro~ ah, I’m not prepped,” you cry, feeling his laugh rumble your ass.

“You’ll be okay, baby. Relax and let me take care of you.”

The teasing and praising gave you mental whiplash, but it felt too good to stop him as he returned his fingers to stretching your ass. Soon, your hips were pulled up, and Zoro positioned himself over you, his body enveloping yours. The head of his cock greeted your ass, and he pressed in slow and steady.

You whined, wriggling beneath him and he shushed you, kissing your temple and neck, taking his time and swiping more of your slick along his cock as needed. He was tearing apart the last bits of your resolve; you didn’t just want him, you couldn’t go on living without him and cried out as he starting rocking his hips back and forth.

“Holy shit!” You screamed, and he pushed all the way inside. Sparks flew, your whole body seized by feeling so full of him. “Don’t stop!”

“Good girl, letting me in, finally, haaa- shit,” he cursed low, his cock ready to erupt again, and the moment he touched your abused clit, you came together in an animal howl. He came deep inside, and you were weeping cum from all of your holes, thoroughly fucked.

When he climbed off of you with a huff and a knowing smirk, you were the one helping him out of bed. You teasingly grabbed at his cock in the shower and he yelped, and you took that as a bit of fun revenge.

The rest of the evening was spent quietly wrapped in each other’s arms. Every time you woke up to green hair and tan muscles, you’d settle in closer.

-

“Well, what are we waiting for?! Invite him over, let’s do the speech thing again,” Luffy says, then pauses scratching his chin. “Wait, what hand is Zoro supposed to be?”

Sabo chuckled, nuzzling close to you. They had pushed their beds together in his room, leaving Luffy sleeping in a bean bag or on the couch when you weren’t visiting their home. They’d asked for explicit detail, and after some booze and begging, you indulged their curiosity, which inevitably led to bed.

Their touch bloomed with life, a cleansing energy that surged through your blood and healed your extremely sore bits. The mark on your hand was littered with kisses, but it didn’t move. And they stopped you after suggesting to burn it off.

You sat up, petting Luffy’s head and replying, “have to wait for the next full moon. Don’t know why, but I can feel our powers tied to her.” Out the window, she glimmered, and the spellbook sitting on the end table, flipped pages in acknowledgment.

“Boo, let’s do it now,” he grumbles.

“It gives us time to plan something special,” Sabo adds, and you kiss the top of his head in thanks.

“It’ll never be as special as ours though,” you promised, drawing fingers through curls of obsidian and gold hair.

Chapter Text

The next morning you were greeted to a sneaky photo of Sabo in the locker room at the fire station with a caption that made your face hot. Looking down at Luffy, his arms and legs thrown out of the bed while he snored, you threw the covers overhead and reread the text, chin tucked into your chest.

Zoro (4am): Cant wait to find out who’s better.

You (9am, now): Better at what? <<

Not knowing how long it’ll take for a response, you stare at the candid of Sabo. He’s comfortable, sitting on a bench wearing only long johns, laughing at a joke made by someone out of view. A bite of jealousy took a chunk out of your resolve and ran off with it.

Zoro (9:04am, now): Better with that mouth

Zoro (9:04am, now): think I already know ;p

Beneath the blanket, you twiddled your fingers, focusing closely on the glittering heart string stretched thin enough to snap. You worried about what would happen after tugging on it, and tried something different.

On your back, still naked- sleeping in clothes had become a nuisance around the coven, your hand traveled down the soft curve of your belly. Knees spread, the string tangled between your fingers that toyed with your clit. Magic immediately responded in your blood, hands and the parts you were touching lit up with a pink glow that felt as glorious as it looked.

Your phone buzzed, and you barely mustered the will to check it, blood rushing between your legs and your breath running short. But you were glad for it. Zoro sent another pic, and one word.

Zoro (9:15am, now): Slut

A frame of flesh colored pixels filled your phone screen. You were invited to a bird’s eye view over the both of them, the picture a bit foggy from shower steam. But the image was clear enough to see Zoro holding his cognac toned cock against Sabo’s sunkissed, paler, member. They were rubbing against each other, Sabo holding a hand over his face, amusement and mischief glimmering in his half covered eye, and the look on Zoro’s face was still and determined.

Luffy squirmed next to you, quickly discovering both you and the masturbation material. He crawled under the blanket and mimicked the movement against your clit. The heart strings between you two were thick and vibrating loudly, his touch just enough to send you over the edge.

How Zoro had all of you hot and bothered- it suddenly clicked that he and Sabo had history. The man had an undeniable aura, with the sheer willpower to back it up.

-

The full moon was a week away, and Luffy intended to hog every second of it until then. He’d woken you up early the next day to go on a dog walking date. The early hours spent picking up a variety of dogs, big, small, loud, and shaky- but all of them excited to see Luffy. And a whole bunch of them shoving their noses in your crotch, which made you laugh when Luffy said it’s cause you smell like him.

He held the hand covered in the mark, running his thumb up and down. In bed, he’d traced them over with his fingers, his mouth, and tried rubbing his cum into it, which was met with a smack in the teeth. To be fair, your whole coven was fascinated by the mark. It simply sat on your skin, unmoving, definitely magical in nature, but not reacting to anything thrown at it.

One of the dogs, a dalmatian girl, sniffed your hand and whined, baring teeth at it before Luffy whistled for her to settle down. She padded away, never coming close by again through out the walk.

It was a marvel watching Luffy wrangle a bakers dozen of dog leashes in one hand. He commented that it was easy, they had being much easier to handle recently, walking in stride or behind him instead of fighting the leash. When you kissed his cheek and a healed a scratch on his foot, the dogs sniffed and licked that spot with interest. But your marked hand- they’d snarl and creep away.

Surely the marines had placed a curse on you, the hospital, or the amulet. A humbling reminder of how little you know. What you’d give for a mentor. For more direction. Ace is going to be brought back to life, but a gnawing fear barked in the hollow of your mind. What happens after that? Does Ace want to come back to life? What if he’s happy in the after life, and you’re meddling?

Luffy could feel the heart strings vibrating, turning an anxious, sickening shade of yellow. You found yourself in his embrace, the dogs silently understanding, and running ahead, leaping the fence to a dog park.

Your protector, the right hand. He smelled like fresh cut pears, picked off the tree, the branches waving, leaves blowing in the wind while you remained stationary, indulging in the moment for as long as you wished. He kissed the top of your head, and after a few more long touches of PDA, you said goodbye and walked the rest of the way to work.

Since returning from the trip, the smoke shop had a coating of something that felt hostile to the magic in your blood. The first time it made Sabo make a ‘routine’ check up from the fire station, causing a proper scene with a whole fire truck and ambulance stationed outside the entrance. Luckily Buggy hadn’t been in, and you were able to reassure Sabo that everything was going to be alright.

It felt like the hospital. As if you’re being monitored, and it made your stomach hurt. Law must be behind this. He denied it, but he’d been cagey and distant.

“If you’re so confident, figure it out yourself,” he said in a clipped tone.

An extra paycheck waited at the register, with a little drawing from Buggy of a dancing clown running away from the marines. At least you’d have enough to do something special for Zoro’s joining. There was an array of seedy hotels near down town that could serve as a ritual space- and wouldn’t have to be cleaned up by you.

“Move,” Law pressed into you, reaching for the register, cigarettes and a pipe in hand.

His touch was ice cold, and you froze in that spot, willing the weight of a stone, and you looked up at him defiantly. He scoffed and walked around, opening up the next register.

“Could have done that in the first place,” you chided, stepping off the platform and walking away, not baring to look at him a second longer.

The sound of thick heels clomping on linoleum approached from behind, and Buggy made a show of curling his finger, waving you into his office. The gesture made the back of your throat itch, and the paycheck burned a hole in your pocket. You followed, but not without rolling your eyes.

“My pretty delivery lady! How’d it go?” Buggy fell back in his flashy desk chair, spinning around in it.

“Um… fine? Dull place. Just had to find the right guy and hand it off. No big deal,” you shrugged, staying near the doorway.

“No big deal? Ha! Not scared of marines, girly?” He replied, leaning back, his eyes darting across the ceiling.

The cold room. Watching the way they man handled Sabo and locked you away from him. You might not have made it out if Koby hadn’t come to the rescue.

“No.” You replied shortly, crossing your arms.

Buggy turned forward, a cheesy grin made even more ridiculous by the makeup on his face, when his eyes popped out of his head- glued to your hand. Your stomach flipped and you froze in place, not with willpower, but that fear chaining your ankles to the ground.

“What is that?” He asked in a low tone.

“Hm?”

He pointed, and you shook your head, tongue too heavy to reply.

“Your hand, (Y/N). Show it to me.” All the extravagance of his manner was gone, and he reached out a gloved hand to yours.

“It’s nothing, it’s uh-” you refused his hand, backing into the beaded curtain, “a new tattoo, haha.” You waved the marked hand swiftly, looking proud of it.

Buggy frowned, a darkness cascaded over his face that made him look like one of those masks hanging in a theater- tragedy.

“It’s...strange,” he replied, and you turned around before smarting off to Buggy the Clown about what ‘strange’ is.

“Right, anyway. Can I go now?”

“Don’t hurt yourself.”

You turned back around, frowning with confusion. But he said no more, facing his computer, the blue glow matting the color from his face. The she wolf whined from the back of your mind. And the rest of the shift was spent watching the clock until you could get the hell out of there.

Law gave the mark a long look, interest tinged with something sad in it, but gone before you could put your finger on it. The mark wasn’t hurting. It was ugly and unwelcome, but nothing was happening with it. Yet.

Regardless, their reactions was making you weak in the knees. Over the week, police and marines came through the shop with more frequency, and you’d begged the spellbook for a cure for stomach aches- or else the grocery store would find themselves out of ginger tea and bismuth medicine.

-

Walking into your apartment, drenched in cold sweat, your phone buzzed. You sighed, leaning on the kitchen counter, head in your hands.

Koby (9pm, now): Y/N, please come back. Don’t use it. Give it back and it’ll be okay. Like nothing happened.

You (9:15pm, now): What?

Koby (9:15pm, now): Seriously

Koby (9:16pm, now): Don’t use it.

You (10pm, now): I don’t know what you’re talking about. Goodnight.

Koby (10pm, now): Please think about it. Goodnight.

Coughing, setting the bong on the side table, you let the worry dissolve into smoke. Your hands finally stopped shaking, your brain felt like it had been dipped in glue. No more thoughts running rampant. Everything was fine. The mark didn’t matter.

Ace is going to be back in your life soon. And the ritual was going to feel magnificent, surrounded by your lovers. Would he join? No, you wouldn’t let him. The last thing you wanted was for Ace to think you’d brought him back because you’re selfish. He deserved to be alive. That accident never should have happened and you’re going to fix it.

“Fuck the marines,” you cough, loading up another bowl.

Cracking open the zip lock baggy, fresh flower wafted into your nose. Until recently, this smell was better than sex. Tearing it up and pressing sticky orange and green buds into the soot covered bowl, Barto hadn’t been cleaning the bong religiously like he normally would.

He’s been busy, and every once in a while you woke up at 3am to unfamiliar voices hooting and hollering in the living room. Sometimes you’d join them, a variety of new friends Barto’s made. Money, foil, lighters, and pipes on the table. The apartment smelled like shit. Barto smelled like shit.

A long bang of the front door made you jump, mouth open, ready to shout at the intruder. A wild streak of unruly green hair, greasy brown roots showing, barged through the doorway.

“Oh, Y/N,” Barto said, closing door quietly.

You were still stunned, arms up in a defensive posture, shock melting into a scowl.

“Christ, Barto!” You cussed, handing him the bong, which he happily accepted. You watched him light up and take half a hit, wet coughs belting from him as he hands you the rest of it. The smoke tasted sour, overcooked, but you accepted it regardless. When his breath evened out and he took a seat on the couch, you asked in a gentler tone, “how ya been?”

“Fine,” he pulled out his phone and scrolled.

“Oh, okay,” you took another hit, half forgetting he was even there.

“Just okay?” He said after a while.

“Yeah, I mean, you don’t want me in your business. Rent’s paid. The magic thing is taking up all of my attention anyway,” you replied, rubbing hands on your pants, feeling every little fiber of worn-out denim. Spread out like a bright blue glade filled with wildlife. You couldn’t hear the magic, couldn’t see the heart strings.

“Whatcha been doing? Having orgies in the woods sacrificing babies to satan?” Barto says, killing the bowl, followed by a harsh cough.

“Hey, that sounds fun. Maybe I’ll do that next weekend,” you smiled.

“Need anything to- help the flow- lemme know. I got you,” he replied.

“Uh, thanks,” you said. Weed had been free since Barto started dealing again, which was a nice perk. If the only one.

He stared at you a while, watched you closely after you’d refused another bowl. “You been gone a lot.”

“So have you!”

His gaze glued to the mark on your hand, and you hid it under crossed arms. Being stared at like a science experiment gone wrong was getting old.

“Don’t,” the warning comes with a drop of desperation.

“Been worrying about me, but I think you outta be concerned with what’s happening to you,” he points, and your lips juts out in a pout.

“I’m fine! Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s going swell, actually. Don’t worry about it!” You barked, and Barto put his hands up defensively.

“Alrighty. Maybe I had that coming,” he says, scooting closer, holding out a hand, chipped nail polish and ash smeared on his fingertips.

You relent, dropping the marked hand in his, watching him examine the mark.

“Had to tell my boss it’s a new tattoo,” you offer.

“Could have lied and told me that too. I like it!” He licks his lips.

“Why do you think I would lie to you, Barto?”

“Everybody’s been lyin’ to me lately,” he grumbles.

Your brows furrow, he traces circles over the spikey design. It’d pair well with his black ink, you think warmly. “Well, I stole somethin’ from the marines when I went on that trip.”

Barto perks up at that, a mischievous grin planted on his face. “Oh yeah?”

You nodded, reflecting the smile back. “I took something for a spell, got this mark during the getaway.”

“Jesus,” he curses, squeezing your hand. “Does it hurt?”

You nodded ‘no’ and his smile fell, so you scooted in, resting your head on his shoulder. “It was worth it. You’ll see.”

“Hmmm, not soon. Going out of town,” he replies, letting go of your hand to pet your head.

You move away with a brow raised.

“Big rave out in the woods! It’s gonna be sick, I’m so glad I can finally afford to go!” Your old Barto returns in the glow of his excitement. The energy he hadn’t shown since losing the crappy car wash job.

“Oh hell yeah!”

“Gonna be easy money,” his tongue pops out, and you frown at that.

“You’re not going alone, are you?”

“Of course not!” He slaps his knee like an uncle, reassuring you that his crazy plan is perfectly fine, safe, and sane. “Going with a group of folk I met at a gig.” That didn’t make you feel better. He meets your stare, and pats your marked hand. “Don’t get hurt, ok?”

Your head shook. Did everyone know something you didn’t?

The rest of the night was spent in a hot sweat. Unfamiliar shadows looming from the corners, hands grabbing at the covers, shaking the bed. You kept waking up every two hours with a shout, heart beating out of your chest. From the corner of your eye, the vines of the mark wriggled along your skin.

Chapter Text

With two boxes of beer from the lonely gas station on the corner under each arm, Zoro descended the rocky hill, away from the circular parking lot surrounded by cabins on the lake. It wasn’t as cold for November, but chilly enough to have an excuse to pile under the boys on a furry rug in front of a fireplace tonight. Luffy was ‘helping’ Sabo at the grill, a bandanna wrapped around his head and keeping his mouth occupied. Punishment for trying to steal off the hot grill.

“I didn’t come out here to run back to the hospital because you burned your mouth, dummy.” Sabo says, poking at some sizzling sausages.

“I like it~” you poked Luffy in the side, and he tried to grab you, tickling your side just so and making you squeal before you wriggle off the bench in escape.

Dashing up to Zoro, you tuck behind his broad back as he puts down the beer, a can already in hand. Luffy gave chase, and Zoro stepped to the side, staying out of the way as he leapt on the picnic table, scrambling over to grab you.

“Oi! Watch the drink!” He shouts when Luffy elbows the cooler.

“Zoro!” You whine, curving Luffy’s hands just barely, “help!!!”

“Hm? Who’s talking? Can’t be my feisty Y/N. She’d never ask for my help,” he says, sitting back and crushing his beer.

“I was only teasing, cut it out, Luffy!” You giggled, running into the cabin and slamming the wooden door with a screech of rusty coils.

What sounded like muffled shouts and stamping of feet on the patio came from the other side of the door as he smacked a palm on it. The promises of revenge just on the other side of dinner and drunken revelry. You sighed hearing him walk away, and looked around the one room cabin.

Much like Sabo’s bedroom, the two available twin beds were shoved together, covers and pillows thrown on the couch in a waiting pile. A bottle of lube had been placed on a nightstand, glowing under a metal lamp.

You changed clothes, throwing on a thin jacket and headed back out. Sabo was piling sausages, burgers, and various vegetables on a tray next to an array of fixings and packaged buns. He smiled at you over his shoulder, you fished two beers from the cooler and kissed him on cheek as you handed him one in a moment of domestic bliss. Luffy was no longer gagged, but tied with hands behind his back and Zoro sitting on top of him.

“No one’s gonna eat if you get to it first,” Zoro says, throwing a can on top of a growing pile of crushed aluminum.

“I’ll feed you, Luffy~” you waggled brows and fingers at him with a cat-like grin. And it worked, the pout on his face dissolved and he watched you load up a plate.

Grease drips down your wrist as you hold out a hot dog to Luffy, which he eats with delicacy at first. Taking small bites, careful of your fingers. But as he discovers how much you trust him, he gets more comfortable settling into his usual habits. Practically inhaling what’s offered, then going so far as to lick the grease from your skin. It tickles, the warmth of his breath fogging up as the sun set.

You’d made the mistake of trying to keep up with Zoro’s drinking, and started to really feel it after beer number 5 and a half. The food was hardly any help settling you down, not after the whiskey and weed was brought out.

Celebration was starting early for Zoro’s joining. And your inhibitions were already lowering as the moon became fuller in the evening sky.

Finding yourself laid out in Sabo’s truck bed on an old blanket, stars glittered in your blurry vision. Sabo handed over a joint, and the dry burn a welcome heat in your body, and so was the euphoria. It felt like the truck was rocking on the ocean, and it was just you two in the middle of nowhere.

“Can I ask you something?” You leaned back against the truck, pulling your knees up to your chest.

“Yeah?” He leaned in, eyes clouded red.

“What happens after Ace comes back?” You asked, the amulet vibrating under your clothes, twisting itself in knots around yours and Sabo’s heart strings.

He shifted on his side, taking a while before responding, and let his gloved hand travel along your hip and thigh. In the distance, you could hear Luffy and Zoro laughing, insisting upon drinking with neighboring cabin mates.

“Dunno,” he replied, putting his head in your lap, “gonna cross that bridge when we get there, I guess.”

“You guess?” Was all you could say in response, your fears got lost in the haze of purple smoke. The doubt unable to reach the dream, to feel Ace’s arms around you, to remember what he smelled like- this time you’d make sure to commit it to memory. You’d never take moments with him for granted ever again.

“I can’t think about stuff like that in advance. I’m too scared that I’ll mess it up, then I freeze,” he admits, and you looked down to see his eyes glazed over in thought, like opening up in this way was only made easy because you two were getting fucked up.

“You? Mess up?” You clicked your teeth. “Hell would freeze over first. It’s like you always know what to do the moment it happens.”

“I didn’t know what to do at the base,” he replied.

“None of us did. We were flying by the seat of our pants.”

“No. I saw them try to take you away, and I was scared.”

Fear, burning like the cold fire that froze your veins while forcing action all at once. You knew that moment well from when fire shot from your hands.

“So, that’s how you did the fire fist spell. That fear-” you pause, biting your lip. Listening to what the magic in your blood was trying to say. “I think that fear was power. It was the universe or the realm or something giving us energy.”

You thought Sabo was going to laugh. He’s been giggling thanks to the weed. But instead he mused on those words, his eyes darting over the black sea filled with stars up above. His head was heavy in your lap, and you stroked his scalp, grounded by the feeling of his soft curls twisted in your fingers.

“Sorry, that’s probably stupid,” you mutter.

“No, that makes sense. I was scared, and that fire just kind of happened,” he stared up insistently until you met his gaze. “Is that what happened to you?” Sorrow furrowed his brow.

There was no reason to lie. You didn’t have the wherewithal to craft one in the first place.

“Yeah. But it’s okay. You showed up and made it better.”

He smiled at that, the scar crinkling.

“So you’re not jealous at all of Zoro joining?” You asked.

“Hope he didn’t give you a reason to think that I should be.” And there was the Sabo you knew.

“Hmmm, I guess you’re gonna find out,” you replied cheekily, tongue sticking out.

Where doubt couldn’t find you in the haze, a sense of guilt did. You’d made a mess of their lives, and now Luffy and Sabo were bound to you by magic powers beyond comprehension. Even without the heart strings, Sabo can sense the ache, and he rolled off your lap to sit up and pull you into his arms.

His embrace was like a blanket pulled from fresh from the dryer, the initial wave of warmth so brief and precious, replaced by stillness, a slow boil between your bellies that kept you clinging to one another. You sniffled, mumbling an apology into his shoulder.

“Hush, everything is working out.” He says, brushing a hand behind your head.

The amulet hums against your breast. Cracks in your skin softening. Healing. The bed feels oddly cold, and you weren’t sure why your boots were still on, but you were too sleepy to get up and take them off. You laid there in Sabo’s arms, letting him rock you to sleep.

-

Your phone won’t stop ringing, and you tumble out of an empty bed, finding the phone tossed on the floor. None of the boys had come to bed with you, they were sleeping in chairs and on the couch. Buggy’s name lights up your phone screen, and you groan.

“Hello?”

“Y/N!” The screeching pitch of his voice pierced your skull with each annunciation, “I need you to come in today! Now!”

“I’m off. I’m like…hours away from town I can’t just come in,” you tried your best not to yell back at him, grinding your teeth and holding your head.

“No excuses! Make it happen.”

And the phone clicks as he hung up before you had the chance to cuss him out.

The floor wouldn’t stop moving out from under your feet, like the cabin had been put out to sea. And when you step outside, the campsite will be buried under water. Then you’d have to swim to work.

Brisk air bit your senses instead. Even without a jacket, it felt great, so you walked out bare foot and bra-less. Fresh air lifted you from the current of pain and regret of overindulgence. The blood beneath your skin flowed, filled with ice that froze the hangover and woke up your nerves. It was delicious, and you stared at the baby blue and lavender sky peaking through the woods.

Fellow campers were waking up and rustling around too, cooking, packing, leaving for an early hike. When they waved ‘hello’ they did a double take, eyeing you up and down, shivering in their puffer jackets and boots. You simply smiled and waved back. The cold fire of magic much more on the cold side this morning. Static tickled your fingers and toes, losing feeling in them, your nipples scratching the thin white shirt- that was not your shirt.

It was too big. And you stretched it with a stiff grip. The faint smell of liquid smoke and honey, beer and weed, blonde hairs falling into the dirt beneath your brightening toes. There were new bruises on your arms, and it wasn’t just a headache coming on, a bump was forming on the back of your head too. Your mouth was dry, but you knew if anything hit your wavering stomach right now, you’d blow it back out.

An enormous thump and crack came from over your head, leaves and bark raining down nearby. You jumped and looked up the tallest tree in the campsite. Sitting on a high branch, staring right at you with a rabbit crushed in it’s golden beak, was a massive eagle.

“The fuck do ya want?” you whisper-hissed, low enough that a passersby would just assume you’re talking to yourself.

As quickly as it came crashing into your awareness, she flew off. How did you know it was a she?

New pain crept up where you’d lost feeling in your feet, your ankles growing weak too. When you cursed and started creepy-crawling back to the cabin, Sabo poked his head out the door, eyes going wide- and he couldn’t sprint down the stairs fast enough to scoop you up and return inside.

“Aren’t you freezing?!” He exclaimed, climbing into the bed with you, refusing to let go, not that you wanted to move anyway. Warmth from him fell over you like cover in a cave during a storm. But his voice boomed against the walls in your skull, trapped in there and shaking you violently.

He frowned at the way your face crossed and flattened a cold glass against your temple. The tepid air in the cabin was sickening, relief in a cold embrace just steps away. If you could get there, you’d curled up instead- and couldn’t get up a second time even if you’d wanted to.

“I got called in,” a wheat flavored burp gurgled over your words, “ugh – called in to work.”

“You can just not go in,” Sabo offered.

Was there a spell for hangovers? Does the healing magic work for that too?

“It’s ok,” you mustered just enough energy to turn over and peck Sabo on the lips, holding him there.

His lips were cold, but soft and welcoming as always. But his breath stank, so did yours, and no magic erupted where it had been willed. You pressed a little harder into him, both of you falling over, sickness hammering down.

Desperately, you scrambled out of Sabo’s grip, dropped the glass, and ran for the bathroom. The bile in your gut leaving an angry burn on the back of your throat on it’s way out. Turning the pain inward, stabbing inward at the sides of your rib cage, you tried to force it out. To make this go away as fast as possible.

The magic was nowhere to be found. Your blood refused the will. The fabric of reality beaming too bright, weighing so heavy now without magic to twist and craft. Sabo and Luffy were outside the bathroom, you knew that much, but you couldn’t feel where they are.

Clinging to ceramic, fingers curved in a way mirroring your hunched back, just fully shrimping it over the toilet and feeling sorry for yourself- swearing off drugs and alcohol. It was a promise you made all the time and never remembered to keep.

Now you were praying to just die. Literal magic was at your beck and call. Then you fucked everything up for the last time, and now there’s no going back. How were you supposed to go on knowing there’s so much more to life?

Sabo came in with a fresh glass of water and scurried out after you’d begged him to leave. Maybe he felt the heart strings snap and unravel. No longer tied to your will, no longer attracted to you. What was to be said to Zoro? Well, disappointing him again wasn’t hard to imagine.

“What’re you doing in there? Moping?”

There he was now, ready to start shit and it’s hang over o’clock.

“Ffffug off,” you gurggled at the crack in the door.

“Hush.” He stepped in with the authority you’d hoped to have striped from him, had your magic not decided to perform a disappearing act.

“I said fuc-”

“Drink this,” he said while swapping the water with a glass of thick yellow liquid with something powdery stirred in it that hadn’t quite dissolved all the way. You balked at it, smelling eggs and then stomach acid mixed with last night’s dinner.

Zoro stayed there, leaning over and holding out the glass, producing a fresh hand towel in the other hand. You took the latter and wiped off chunky spit. Which made you gag again.

“That’s not gonna do anything but taste bad when I throw it back up,” you protested, sitting back a bit, trying to find strength where there was nothing supernatural to cling to.

“It’ll be fine, trust me.”

He smirked at the look you gave him in response.

The quicker you drank this concoction, the sooner you don’t have to smell it anymore. It goes down easier than it looked like it would. Then you sat back on your heels, waiting to puke again. Instead, the fluttery lightweight emptiness in your stomach found itself full and settling down.

“The fuck was that?” You said, shoving the glass back at Zoro.

“Liquid gold.” He said with predictable smugness.

“Whatever,” you said before standing up and checking the mirror. Whoever donated the shirt was going to have to give a wash before putting it back on.

“Lookin’ good, a whole lot better now though,” Zoro waggles his brow, waving the glass over your shoulder in the mirror.

And it dawned on you with the shirt tugged between your fingers. It hadn’t occurred to you to check the rest of the outfit, and quickly realized why you felt so comfortable and smelly. You’d ended up in a full boy’s wardrobe. Sabo’s sweatpants, Luffy’s boxers (he could never keep those on anyway), and Zoro’s shirt. He saw the wheels spinning in your head and continued;

“When you ‘n Sabo came back down to the cabin, you were begging us to come inside. Wouldn’t stop tearing at our clothes. Ya went and got naked and climbed into bed.”

The fullness in your stomach weighed too much. Maybe having power over them would have been a mistake, to bid them to take you even when you’re blacked out. This was probably for the best. Someone as reckless and bored as you didn’t deserve magic.

“I’m sorry,” the words rasped out, burnt dark.

“Oh, enough of that,” Zoro pressed you into his chest. “If you wanna be sorry, gonna have to do something worse than show me your tits.”

That earned a little chuff from you, folded between his pecs, smelling char and old leather. His awful concoction was starting to work, considering that the floor stopped trying to trip you over.

“Your tongue went all the way up my ass, I don’t think there’s anything worse that I can do.”

Sabo was the one to huff this time, and you spotted the mischievous thoughts batting about in his mind.

-

Flattening your cheek against the glass, letting the little bit of cool that could be stolen from it as you agonized over every minute passed at the smoke shop. Zoro’s miracle drink gave you enough energy to survive the drive back into town, but by the afternoon the whole world was a rocking bed, and you just wanted to pass out.

The full moon was tonight. Law had called in last minute, which disrupted Buggy’s plans to go out of town. Why your other coworkers were out of the picture- who knows. They’d been quitting left and right soon after Law had started, not that you’d noticed much at first, so enamored by your new coworker’s mystique.

This was your punishment for having a thing for that tall, dark, and handsome med school drop out. He was so out of your league in every imaginable way, and you wanted to crush him for it. The door between worlds had been opened up, and slammed shut all in the course of a month. And you’ll never forgive Law for it.

Regardless, the day would pass on, and you’ll forget any of this happened. In time, it’ll all just feel like a dream.

Just as you were closing the shop, a bright yellow box of chargers was waiting for your usual after-hours customer. It was the weekend, after all. But she never came. Never called the shop. You moved slowly, wiping down the counters twice over before calling it a night.

“No Ikakku? Don’t tell me she quit,” you scoffed, she probably went out of town this weekend just like everyone else.

Right as you clicked the OPEN sign to CLOSED- Luffy was at the front door, waving behind the iron bars, shaded in night and flickering LED’s. He wandered the shop, watching his reflection in the glass bongs as you closed the tender and locked up.

“Ready?!” He asked, giddy and restless.

You nodded, walking him out to the parking lot and tossing your overnight bags from the passenger seat to the floorboards. Luffy climbed in, and kept pawing at you on the quick drive to the love hotel further downtown.

Despite the disconnect, they swore it was still there, and they wanted to perform the joining ritual tonight. Zoro crudely commenting that he and Sabo were into it even if magic was fake.

Luffy raced up out of the private parking garage, your bags in hand, and left you in his dust. You still had to ‘check in’ at the front. The establishment had a strict headcount policy, and the last thing you wanted was to be caught. So, you made way down the elevator where Luffy had gone up, entering a dark hallway with mirrors on every wall. Something in your gut didn’t trust them, and kept your head down walking past.

Another lonely soul was in the lobby, rolling a tow cart across the trampled red carpet, and despite his attempt at blending in with a head to toe in black street wear, you recognized him.

“Mister Mihawk, that was it right?”

That piercing glare, like the eagle this morning, pointed right into your soul, leaving a mark. Your feet froze, too much heat exploding all over your body.

“So this is what you do when you’re not breaking into people’s kitchens and fixing spells?” He asked, leaning on the arm of the cart, a few half-empty boxes stamped with fancy labels stacked on it.

“What? No!” You couldn’t help but blush, brushing past him to sign in, pressing your ID into a scanner, trying not to think about how incredibly invaded upon you felt. “What are you doing here?”

He looked down at the cart, and back at you. Could he see the sick on your skin? You got your answer when he fished a bottle from one of the boxes and held it out.

“Uh, still not going to poison me?” You grabbed it. The bottle had a gold circle stamped on a purple ribbon, the word EVOL scratched into the stamp.

“Feel free to find out,” Mihawk measures you, the casual clothes, how out of place the both of you looked in the romantically decorated lobby. “Happy full moon, little witch.” He pushed the cart out the front door, a rainbow flickering off his form for a split second. For every color you’d spotted, the mark pinched your skin. And it hurt. The pinching shot straight to the bone and you stumbled into the wall, sweat breaking on your brow.

Magic came flooding back, teeth biting back at the mark. The ear splitting howl in your mind, the cold lightning scouring the mark, making the ant-bite like pinches scatter and disappear.

Glittery red strings tangled themselves over the mark, and the elevator dinged a minute later, Sabo and Luffy falling out and of it and running up. They were beautiful. Their souls felt infinite, stretched over the room and enveloped you.

Taking in a deep breath, you followed them into the elevator. They kissed you, greedy, like they hadn’t seen you in ages. And the headache left, your sense of gravity returning beneath them. 

Chapter Text

Your boys were keen to book a room all the way at the top floor of the love hotel. The high ceilings were covered in long white silk curtains draped down three walls to the floor, where the fourth wall was a window going from floor to ceiling, with doors opened up to a garden patio. Decadent moonlight bathed the entire surface silver, washing into the room that was mostly furnished with pillows and seating pads surrounding the main event. The room was split in two tiers, in the middle of depressed section was a massive bed covered in plush blue and purple bedding and open on all sides.

Matching robes were provided with the room, and you stood in the patio doorway, a coffee table dragged in the center holding ritual items, some new and some familiar. Sitting open in the middle, spread out on a new joining spell which had replaced the sacred bond spell- supposing you were never going to need that one again, the spellbook provided this one instead for expanding the coven.

Next to it was a much nicer set of bowls, provided by the hotel, one with water and the other with salt. Opting out of tea lights this time, you’d brought one huge black candle about 10 inches tall and 4inches wide. The fire lit with a kiss, and you set it down next to the last two items- a carving knife from the ASL brother’s home, and the amulet of life.

Quietly, your three lovers sat on their knees on the opposite side of the table waiting. You took the knife and heated it over the candle flame, and patiently carved 4 names into its side. Your name, Luffy’s, Sabo’s, and then Zoro’s name. Then, you took the bowl of water and salt, announced them, mixed them together, and heated it over the flame a bit before chanting;

“May the Goddess witness me, Maiden of Night, as I consecrate this altar of worship and name my followers. Luffy, my right hand. Sabo, my left hand.”

Water flecked from your fingers as you tossed it at your feet and around the altar before holding it out to Luffy and Sabo, bidding them to do the same. Zoro watched, and you approached him separately, expecting the same, and he did. The display of obedience switching the flip of power in your mind, and you felt a solid warmth inside.

You untied the robe and let it pool at your feet, skin roiling with exposure to the full moon all over. Zoro watched Luffy toss his robe away, and Sabo do the same, and slowly untied the ribbon at his waist. He let the fabric cling to his muscular frame, letting it waterfall down his muscles and steadily wash him in silver light. And he glowed, freshly bathed and oiled, every hard earned curve highlighted like he was a marble statue.

“For thee who would dedicate themselves to my will,” you put the bowl down and stood before Zoro once again, staring down at the stillness in his face, the openness of his stance, and continued; “show me your submission.”

He blinked, and stood up, walking away, and you almost called out to him to wait when he grabbed the bottle of EVOL, twisted off the cap, tossed it in the trash, and walked back over to you holding it out. When you accepted the bottle, he knelt down, closer this time, and held his head up, mouth open, tongue sliding out.

Understanding the ask, you sipped a mouthful of the wine. It tasted like a fresh slice of homemade pie, brought inside after being left out in the moon to cool. Strawberry and caramel wafted up the roof of your palette as you leaned over Zoro and let it pour from your lips and into his mouth. He swallowed, the bright red staining his lips, and drying yours as well.

Luffy and Sabo mirrored Zoro’s posture, eagerly waiting. And you straightened up, putting your free hand on his shoulder.

“Zoro, I name you my guard, will you uphold the duty to protect the sacred fire that burns within us all, and most importantly, within me?”

“Yes, of course,” he reached for the bottle and you handed it him, letting him take a swig. Watching his throat expand and collapse, the bond clapped in place and he gasped, choking on the wine. Silver glittered off him in a rainbow, his eye reflecting the bright glow in yours.

You took the bottle back and held Luffy’s chin, encouraging him to open up wider before you took another drink. This time it tasted jammy, like swimming inside a cave drowning in red wine. He took it much messier, letting the juice dribble down his cheeks and chin since he didn’t hold out his tongue for you, so it got in the way.

Sabo kept perfect posture, and didn’t spill a drop. This drink tasted like the last drops from the bottom of the barrel, potent, the hint of first blood.

“So mote it be,” you said, glancing at the bed, and pointed.

Desire darkened Zoro’s eye, and he zipped to the bed, laying down on his back with thighs spread open- presenting himself. Wind blew at your back, spiriting you across the tiered floor and standing over what has been offered for your consumption. The bottle was still heavy in your hand, and you poured an ounce of wine into the valley of his belly. He sat still, biting his lip. Sabo appeared at the side and took the bottle.

You lowered down, lips meeting his skin, and it felt divine- you were going to kiss every inch of him and mark him in every imaginable way. Sucking the wine from what little fat there was to press against, it was pungently sweet. And you licked the remains off, delighting in his shivering gasp.

Magic scrapped from the inside, screaming that he needed to be joined to you. Now.

You climbed on top of him, straddling his waist, both of you pained with lust. He slipped inside easily, and your toes curled, eyes rolling back at the stretch of him once again. The bond screwed shut, ties to his soul wrapping themselves around your wrist and you pulled them, hearing him cry out and sit up quickly. He eyed the heart strings, the tiny spiders appearing and apparating from long, tiny webs. Comprehension could come later, right now he was in a daze, clamping his hands around your hips and rocking you in his lap, the two of you moaning in each other’s mouths.

You were bounding across the forest floor, branches snapping beneath your pounding paws. Sweat matted your fur, and so did blood from the fresh kill. The scent fired up every synapse in your mammalian brain. You’re the apex predator, and this forest will feed on your corpse like it fed you tonight.

A sharp pain made you hiss, Zoro bit the side of your breast, and suckled on the mark. Sabo pointed the neck of the bottle at your tits, and Zoro helped you press them together. Wine poured down your cleavage and slid into Zoro’s waiting mouth, and Sabo leaned in to help clean the mess on your chest.

Sabo’s hand slid down your belly, finding your clit shoved between locked hips and wedged his fingers on top, stealing your lips and circling that sensitive bundle of nerves.

You whined, wound up by their attentions, and have no choice but to come in a shuddering gasp. An explosion of debris in your minds eye, wind blowing into the room and the curtains lashing as your moan resounds off the walls.

In the throes of delight, you don’t catch the new pair of hands pulling you down to your back. A crown of black hair descended the space between your legs. Luffy greedily mouthed at your cunt, licking the fresh slick clean.

Zoro holds your head still and wine is poured in the crevice of your neck and clavicle, and Sabo takes his drink. Not one drop allowed to escape. And he licked the residue, his lips stained bright red. You pulled him in for another kiss and tasted the tang of spit and wine, all while mewling beneath Luffy’s attention at your center.

Mouth drenched in body fluids, he bid the others to help flip you over on all fours. Luffy snatched the bottle and poured wine in the dip of your hips, letting it rain down all over your backside and drip on the bed at your knees. He lapped at the wine happily, as the others groaned at the mess.

With Zoro’s lap right in your face, it was easy enough to lean in and busy yourself with his cock, licking the taste of yourself off before engulfing him whole. He sighed, a hand in your hair as your head bobbed up and down.

“So pretty, and so dirty, baby girl,” he purred, stroking your cheek, feeling the swell of his member from outside.

You could only hum in response, a deep purr of your own vibrating his cock and making him shudder. Luffy’s mouth traveled down the crevice of your ass, and he found your entrance waiting. One swipe of his tongue made you squeal, and when shoved his tongue and fingers inside you cried, tears welling up from pleasure.

“Like that, huh? Hold still,” Zoro warned as Luffy slid his cock along your slit, lubing himself on your slick before lining up at your ass.

In that moment you imagined what they must have shared with one another. Devious plans bursting from the dark corners of their minds once they learned you’ve been prepped for this. It was inevitable that you would want to take all three of them at once.

Looking over at Sabo, he simply laid back against a mound of pillows stroking his cock. Watching Luffy slid past the tight circle of muscle and pump in and out. It was magnificent, it was tight, and you moaned at how full you felt already.

“Fuck, I love you,” Zoro moaned when his cock stretched the back of your throat.

He matched Luffy’s pace, pulling and pushing in tandem with one another so you were never without one of them inside you. He wipes the tears from your cheeks, never forcing himself hard enough to make you gag.

Luffy’s hands clawed down your back and with one reckless swing he slammed into your ass and bumped you forward. Zoro’s cock buried itself in your throat and you reached out, desperately holding onto his thighs and scratched them, gagging on his length. Zoro cursed and came, his seed burning a trail down your throat.

“Luffy!” You crowed, turning back to give him a glare, spit dribbling down your chin.

But he wasn’t phased, lost in the new sensation and kept fucking your ass, and you collapsed forward, leaning into him. There was no way of staying annoyed with Luffy, especially not with his cock buried so deep inside you.

He reached down and toyed with your clit, and you came, the sensation rumbling against his cock, your whole body lighting up with cold fire. You were pulled up around the chest, Luffy collaring your neck in his hand and he kissed you. His movements stuttered, slow and shallow at this angle, but it allowed Sabo to crawl in front and join you at the middle.

Sabo stuffed himself up into your pussy, making you cry from overstimulating fullness. They could feel each other against your walls, and toyed with the sensation. And then found their own pace, fucking into you, moaning and breathing shared air that stank of sex-magic and wine.

Behind Luffy, Zoro positioned himself to reach around and play with your tits some more. You turned and kissed him, letting his tongue continue to lay claim of your mouth. Luffy lightly squeezed your throat, and the world clouded black. Behind your closed eyes, the moon beamed bright, pulsating with your slowing heartbeat.

When Luffy let go of your throat, your eyes opened to blinding moonlight, and screamed, coming on their cocks. Sabo groaned, setting himself flush in your pussy, feeling your body break. Luffy whined, his cock erupting and spilling hot seed up your ass.

He pulled out, leaving kisses all over your shoulders as Sabo kept going, and then moved out from between you and Zoro. You were soaked, high on ecstasy, and boneless, so you slumped back against Zoro, and he let you, scooping your thighs up and holding you open for Sabo.

Your head rested on Zoro’s chest, staring up at both of them as Sabo leaned in, fucking you deeper, and stuck his tongue out for Zoro to pour wine in his mouth. He took the first drink, and then a second, meeting his mouth with yours and his poured the taste of wet earth and smashed berries into you.

Zoro poured the rest into your mouth, and you were almost as drunk on the wine as you were on cock. The empty bottle was set aside while Sabo picked up his pace.

Breathing heavy, he put his lips to Zoro’s ear, “fuck her ass, come inside her, please.”

That earned a loud, approving growl from him and Zoro pulled you off of Sabo’s cock, making you whine and complain until you were slammed on your back, legs over Zoro’s shoulders as he lined up his hard cock to your ass.

“Want me to cream inside? Stuff her full?” Zoro asked, sliding inside, stretching you more than Luffy had, his cum leaking out all over you two.

Sabo crawled off the bed and stood behind where your head could hang off the side. His cock was weeping, desperate to return home, and Sabo stroked himself slowly.

“Yes. Our princess deserves to be stuffed full, isn’t that right?” He responded, blonde hair hiding the greedy darkness clouding his gaze.

You were fucked beyond words, mouth hanging open in a loud moan. Zoro slipped a thumb in the corner of your mouth and fucked you hard, pushing against your teeth so you couldn’t bite him.

“Sabo asked you a question, baby.”

Rolling your eyes, watching both of your lovers breathing hard, flushed pink and stained red, their heart strings buzzing around your wrists, they could wait. You reach up for Zoro’s head and tried to pull him down, but he grabbed them and held your arms open, gently caging your wrists to the mattress. His cock buried deep inside you now, stars sparkled in your vision as your clit was crushed between your bodies.

“I think I like this better, you look so good fucked brainless, princess,” Sabo’s eyes shone a heavy, reddish bronze, flickering red as he licked his lips.

“Pervert,” Zoro barked between gritted teeth, his cock so deep inside your ass that you could feel it in your stomach.

“Stu-stuff me,” you muttered, out of breath.

“What was that?”

“I want,” you gasped, Zoro grinding against your ass to distract you, “I want you to stuff me! Sabo, please!”

“Don’t need to say please, princess, I told you…” Sabo obliged, bracing himself on the bed, thighs around your head as he lowered his cock to your lips.

“Does my baby girl have a hard time listening?” Zoro grunted, adjusting his posture to make room for Sabo on the bed, releasing your hands and holding your thighs against his body. You cried out at the new angle his cock fucked inside you, and a fresh stream of tears flowed.

On that cry, Sabo slipped inside of your mouth and you braced against his abs, letting him find what was comfortable for both of you. He tasted like the root and stem itself, planting himself within you, their love filling you with power.

“Sweet thing,” Sabo’s cock bumps the back of your throat and he bites his lip, his hands dragging along your torso, “don’t have to listen, just lay there and keep taking it like a good girl.”

Your body shuddered, resisting the gag reflex as Sabo fucked your throat, not minding the occasional graze of your teeth. When one went fast, the other slowed, and you couldn’t stay focused on either man. It was driving you mad, and the very air itself broke when Zoro started playing with your clit.

They reveled in your scream around Sabo’s cock, feeling the orgasm wash over in waves, each circle around your clit making you shatter into smaller pieces. If not for their hands all over you, the world itself would have fallen away as you descended into a euphoric forest of sexual mania.

Zoro’s hands slapped the side of your hips over and over as he plowed deep inside and buried his seed in your ass, a gritted toothy groan shaking from his throat.

He and Sabo pulled out of you, and the air tasted foreign, and you wanted to go back home into their musk and sweat and blood. The instant fall of magic made you feral, and you found a second wind- turning over to pounce on Sabo and wrestle him down further onto the bed.

Blonde hair pooled around his head as he let you crawl over him, ruling over his lips, biting, clawing, sucking his skin. Your dearest companion, your left hand, the eagle flying against the moon, bounding after him on the forest floor.

His kiss is passionate, hands possessively directing your center to where he wants it. The mix of cum from your lovers and your slick dripped down your thighs, and he swiped it up and pushed it back inside your ass, delighting in your little mewl, oversensitive and so used.

“Just a little more for me, my love,” Sabo’s voice is sweet, but tinged with savage need as he lines up his cock right where he wants you. He hisses, your teeth digging into his shoulder as he stretches you a third time. He directs magic to your ass, it’s clumsy and feels too hot and then too cold, making you whine as he starts to pump inside for that final drive home.

“Mnnnn Sabo-!”

“Yes, feel so good, princess!” His eyes roll back, his cock squishing cum and slick, sliding easily and he erupts, adding his final mark to the mess inside your center. With your clit smashed into his hips, you rock into him feverishly to come right after him, arching your back and leaning out, glowing with sweat and magic, howling at the full moon.

Luffy leaps back on the bed to kiss you, Zoro coming over with a warm towel to help you clean up, trying to bat off Luffy whose content to lick the fluids from your skin. You just slumped in Sabo’s arms, head on his chest, marveling at the technicolor strings fading in and out of your vision.

Tiny crystal spiders were spinning their new web in a pattern resembling tiger stripes.

Chapter Text

The room was freezing. And you were loathe to get out from under the pile of hot blooded boys keeping you cozy. If it was just their snoring you had to ignore in order to fall back asleep, you’d be frolicking in sweet dreams right now. But the chirp from your phone across the room was too much, and kicked yourself free from the bed.

And it was all for nothing. Just a bunch of unknown numbers calling early in the morning. Grumbling at the nothing-reason for getting out of bed, you cleared the notifications, and as you’re checking for missed messages, a beefy arm wrapped around your waist.

Hot breath pungent with the stink of wine and flesh breezed down your neck. Someone’s pointed nose buried itself in your hair, a baritone voice rumbling from behind.

“Come back to bed.”

You tossed the phone away and turned to Zoro. He bent down to capture your lips between his fangs, feeling your heartbeat beneath his tongue. His magic stalked along the edge of your veins, settling in the hollow of your chest that had been waiting there for him.

-

“You’re begging to get caught,” Sabo quipped. He’d emerged from the bathroom fully clothed. Which was only fair. With an added member, they riled each other up even more at the slightest hint of skin. It started with Zoro in the early morning, then set off a chain reaction of purrs and moans.

If one of you didn’t get it together, the group would be late for check out in the morning. And as much as you would have loved an extra night, the cost made your stomach flip. The boys would have happily pooled money to make it happen, ‘anything for their princess,’ and all. But you didn’t like the guilt that came with accepting their gifts. You were much happier being the one who was giving.

All they needed to do was love you.

“Nuh uh! Ace is gonna want to come home when we bring him back. So why not just do it there?!” Luffy protested, munching on stale room service snacks.

“Which part isn’t clicking for you? The risk of setting the whole neighborhood on fire, or, if we manage NOT to do that- at least letting everyone know that there’s a massive bonfire in the backyard and give them reason to call the authorities,” Sabo retorted, sounding exasperated already.

“You’re the authorities though,” Luffy pointed at Sabo and then Zoro, whose lips sealed in a hard line.

“That doesn’t matter-” Zoro added.

“I don’t want to summon Ace in the backyard, Luffy,” you piped up, zipping your overnight bags shut after double checking all of your affects had made it back inside. Not that much had been taken out anyway. “We need to get as far out of town, and away from the marines, as we can.”

Luffy blew a raspberry, knowing that meant an enormous amount of travel that no one really wanted to do.

“Might be best to go out into the mountains where it’s wet,” Zoro said.

“And cold,” Sabo shivered.

“Can keep the fire where we want it, at least.”

“And freeze to death fucking around in the snow. Don’t think my dick could work anyway!”

“I’d like to see you try,” you raised a brow at Sabo, he wheeled around, a retort hot on his tongue that died the moment he took one long look at you. Sucker. You winked at him and tried not to lean too far back on the bed, lest you be too tempting.

“It can wait until the spring. Not trying to freeze my balls off either,” Zoro snorted.

You hated the thought of waiting. Every time the amulet pulsed at your breast, you were reminded of why all this was happening in the first place. And how it’s all your fault.

“Hopefully we’ll have better control of our powers by then,” you wagged a brow at the boys, feeling their bodies buzz with desire, the horny thoughts running wild.

There was plenty of time to practice, that was for sure.

-

The apartment was empty when you got home, the bong still stashed in the last place it was before you’d left for the weekend. Barto hadn’t been clear about when he would be back home, but this on top of not hearing from him for days didn’t sit right.

His number went straight to voice mail. Again and again. Your texts from Friday were left on read.

Hollow heartbeats drummed an unpleasant tune in your chest. Like the tinny sound of a symbol ready to crack. Your blood roiled. Where was he?

You knew where your three lovers were at all times, vaguely. All you had to do was focus and pull on the soul bond. Deep down, you wished that the same existed for Barto.

A resounding clang battered once, so deep that it woke up the magic in your blood. You had to find Barto. The air started to steam, your vision getting cloudy when the phone rang. There was only half a sigh of relief at seeing Luffy’s name on the screen.

“Hello?”

“Y/N, what’s wrong?”

“Whad-whaddya mean what’s wrong?” You replied, this was just like getting sick at the smoke shop. It’s like they knew something was up before you did.

“I don’t know. I just know! Just tell me what’s going on! I can feel it!” Luffy exclaimed, half out of breath like he was running.

“Barto wasn’t here when I got home and-” you hiccuped, “and I know I’m not his keeper or anything but-”

“Where did he go? Is he okay?!”

His cries surprised you. It was never like Luffy to even notice Barto’s obsessive attentions half the time he was around, and now it’s like the roles are reversed.

“I-I- I don’t know,” hot tears found their way to your cheeks not even 12 hours after thinking you’d been drained of all spare fluids. “Luffy, I have to find him. I can feel it, something’s wrong.”

Another bang against your blood, a chugging growl that threatened to chase you out of the apartment if you didn’t leave now.

“Meet me at the car wash on Going Merry street?” You said, hearing the affirmative from the other side of the phone.

-

Mid afternoon shadows hung long from the goat-head structure sitting atop the car wash on Going Merry street. Everything on this block was decorated in goat motifs, a dedication made by Kaya’s family to celebrate the loyalty and bravery of working class townsfolk.

Barto had been working there about a year- a long time for him. It had been dusty and dry in late fall, so the staff was more bothered by you taking up their time without being a paying customer than they were about answering questions regarding Barto’s whereabouts.

“Dunno, hear he’s in the pharmaceutical industry now,” a tired young man said over a cold, soapy bucket of water.

“Need his number or something? Just hang out back, he’ll show up,” another man, harassed to hurry up, said in passing.

By the time Luffy showed up, you were exasperated. Water spray froze as it blew passed you, melting in a half second again, but Luffy clocked it- steam similarly billowing off his skin in the same way. The car wash stopped for him, employees and customers alike waving hello and trying to make small talk with Luffy.

He smiled, waved back, turned down an offer to go out for drinks later, and took your hand shamelessly, standing back on the street corner where you’d started.

“Could check his other jobs. Or other street corners. I don’t know. I’m so stupid, how could I just let him up and disappear like this?!” You said, head in your hand. If not for Luffy’s touch, you were sure the whole car wash would be up in flames.

“Stop it,” Luffy squeezes your hand, but you kept going.

“No, no. I should have invited him to the trip. He would have loved to see you, Luffy! Ugh. I should have put an air tag in his pocket… I knew this would happen. I should have done better.”

“Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Whatever. Stop worrying about a problem you didn’t know you had yet,” Luffy replied, standing 10 feet tall and casting a shadow that enveloped you.

It did make you stop and look up at him, shivering, a whimper on the tip of your tongue. You just wanted to know that Barto was safe. And Luffy stayed with you, driving all around the city, checking every dirty corner you two could think to go to, one hand glued to yours the whole time.

The last day of the rave would have been the day before yesterday, after parties most likely would have died down by now as weekend warriors made their way back into town. Maybe Barto was staying with someone and let his phone die- or lost it. But he wasn’t the type to let his belongings get pinched. He’d want to get home and make sure that you’d made it back in one piece.

When life had you at your lowest, Barto was there, picking you up from the hospital and giving you a place to stay. Someone he knew worked at Buggy’s smoke shop and helped you get a job there. Sleepless nights were spent cuddling on the couch in a weed coma, laughing at dumb videos on social media, snacking on junk food, and catching up since public school days.

He’d kept that miserable, steady job at the car wash and you worked at that god awful smoke shop. Struggling with shit pay, but you two did it together. Barto didn’t blink twice about your drinking and smoking, always one to join in, to settle into the late hours of the night right next to you. Maybe it wasn’t your parents idea of “doing well” but it was certainly better than crying in a hospital bed for months, or cutting yourself in the shower at school.

If you didn’t find Barto in this world, you’d find him in the land of the dead right next to Ace. You’d do it all again for him in a heartbeat. The others forgave you and chased you, but Barto understood your ugly, wounded parts, and made room for you in his life anyway.

An obnoxious song chirping from Luffy’s pocket interrupted the thought spiral, and he answered;

“Sabo? Zoro?? What’s up?”

The ‘oh’ that fell from his mouth stopped time. You blinked and the car was parked halfway over the curb and the two of you were stumbling, sprinting into a massive but run down house on the edge of downtown. An ambulance was already parked outside, the front door wide open, and you two rushed inside to find a paramedic resuscitating the gangly, green haired man collapsed beneath them on the stained wood floor.

“Barty!” You choked, held firmly by Luffy when the paramedics shouted for you to stay back. Hot tears streamed down your face, your lip chewed raw by the time Barto was strapped to a gurney and taken to the hospital.

An eagle’s crow shouted in your blood, the loud roar of a wild hog charging through the bush. Darkness clouded your vision, and Luffy drove behind the ambulance. Wordlessly sitting by you and taking you to see Barto on the side of the hospital that was still functional, and painfully overcrowded.

Guilt wasn’t a strong enough word to describe the heavy, bloated thing stabbing your gut and closing around your throat. You were so sick of your loved ones getting hurt. The hospital wasn’t meant to be a familiar sight. Just for the silly drama shows you and Barto would laugh at while watching them together, a bowl deep and a bag of popcorn discarded on the floor. His warmth enveloped around you, his jewelry clinking in your ear.

It was too cold underneath the blasting AC, too loud- Barto’s breathing was hard to hear beneath it. As soon as the hospital staff was satisfied with his state and could leave him alone, you were going to pounce on Luffy and fix this.

The bloating turned sharp and carved from inside your chest. You bent over in the corner as soon as the last nurse left the room, teeth gnashing together, mouth dry. Twisting pain crawled up to the back of your eyes, so much sensation that your mind flickered in and out of awareness.

When you grabbed at your chest, something hard was poking out, clean of any blood, and vibrating in your hand.

“Woah- what is that?!” Luffy said, crouching beside you and reaching for the crystal, pulling it out with a ripple of magic.

“Augh, fuck!” You cringed, shaking as the hole in your chest closed.

A ruby toned jewel with an iridescent emerald sheen sat in Luffy’s hand, hot with magic and crawling with crystalline spiders much like the one you’d created for Sabo. He didn’t seem to recognize it, and you simply sat there clutching your chest, inspecting your shirt for a hole, and sighing at the frayed fabric.

You two hadn’t heard the door click open.

“So, you’re the witch who set my domain on fire-yoi.”

Chapter Text

 “So, you’re the witch who set my domain on fire-yoi.”

Standing in the doorway was a very tall statue of a man in a white coat, his blonde hair cropped underneath the top layer and brushed back, a single strand hanging over his black rimmed glasses.

What sounded like a mix of a growl and a warning snarl emitted from Luffy, his hand clutched tight around the crystal, the other hand protectively wrapped around your back.

The man’s eyes landed on Luffy and widened with recognition.

“When I was told you’d had a miracle recovery, not only pulling yourself, but another person, from the falling building, I wanted to believe your injuries weren’t as bad as they looked initially.”

You winced at that, the pain fading from your bones, but the weight remaining. With blackened magic trickling through your veins, you stood up and demanded the man’s attention. After a beat, he abides, willingly, and coughs.

“I’m Dr. Newgate, but you can call me Marco,” he said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him. That same eagle screech resounded off your mind’s eye, a flash of fire soaring through the air that left ashes sparkling like stars in it’s path. Where Mihawk blended in so well he was hard to pin down magically, and where Law was a walking force of controlled chaos- Marco was more. So much more. He was the center of gravity itself, and your magic cowed beneath his aura as he loomed over you and Luffy. Emerald glittering in his dark blue eyes, his mouth turning up in the slightest smile.

He breezed past you, leaving a trail that smelled of sea spray off the ocean, and opened the window curtains. The stars burned brighter than the full moon, and it left you gobsmacked. Marco traced invisible lines between the stars, and then snapped his fingers. The pain completely faded from your chest, your bones feeling light as air.

“Who- what? Uh, how?” You stuttered, fingers playing with the hole in your shirt.

Marco studied you from over his shoulder, and set his hands behind his back and turned around to look out at the night sky, the full moon returned to her glory, shining in a dance of light beside the stars.

“Magic,” he says plainly. If he could feel your scorn from behind his back, he didn’t acknowledge it.

You chewed on his words. He’d just given you so much, and too little at once. You remembered Law mentioning a different style of magic which had been used to craft his spellbook. Mihawk’s wine with special powers.

Whatever Marco did had shined a light on the vast expanse of understanding between the two of you, and you dug nails into your palms. The taste of blood on your gums, a festering awareness, the creep of danger.

“You can ask,” Marco turned around, a soft smile cooling his features, as if he wasn’t burning with magic just under the surface. “It’s been a while since I sniffed out a new witch,” he titled his head in interest, and it made your skin crawl.

“That was cool! Let me try!” Luffy scampered up to the window and started waving his finger around, carefully trying to trace patterns between white dots in the sky, but manifesting nothing. Perhaps for good reason.

Marco looked at the crystal in Luffy’s hand, then back at you, and checked his watch, and yawned. “If you don’t have any questions for me, then I must get going. I only have so much time for patients, and only half a hospital up and working.”

He moved to step past and you reached out for him, hand hooked on an arm that was solid muscle beneath the white coat.

“No wait! Please!”

Luffy whipped his head around, brow furrowed at Marco, who stopped and stood just over you. Blonde hair freed from behind his ears obscured the intimidating nature his calm warmth was hiding.

“Your magic, it’s not like mine, obviously,” you stammered, blushing like a little girl. “What is it? The way it works?” You didn’t even know what you were asking and wanted to hide.

Barto grumbled in his bed, kicking his feet. But it gave room to breathe as Marco looked over to him, and back at you.

“Not like yours,” he repeated back with a hum of amusement, “no, I would guess not.” You met his response with a frown and let go of his arm.

Was every warlock and wizard you encounter going to be a self aggrandizing weirdo?

He chuckled, and it made you shrink further. “Magic is unique to it’s caster. The more powerful they are, the stranger the magic seems.”

The sound of a thunderstorm rolled over the room, the air felt heavier as Marco seemed to be measuring you closely.

“You did something with the stars.”

He nodded, and checked his watch again. “That’s the jist of it. I’m sorry but I have to get going.”

“Wait! Aren’t you going to do something for my friend?!” You pointed.

“He’ll be fine. You love him very much, that much is very clear.” Marco said with a wave, indicating the crystal. Then he was taking a few long steps, rushing out the door.

“I do! So help him, please!” You ran after Marco down the crowded hallway. He grimaced, and pulled you into a stairwell, his grip on your shoulder a little too hard.

“Your friend is stable.” Marco stopped and sighed, “he doesn’t need help, he’ll carry himself through just fine. After all, so did you.”

After all, so had you.

The words sent a shiver through your skin, and the stairwell was too cold and too lonely. Marco walked out with you, failing to disguise a measure of tension beneath the calm exterior.

Marching back into Barto’s room, you snatched the crystal from Luffy’s hand. You did love Barto. You wouldn’t put it in the same category as the love you feel for Sabo. But there was some kind of overlap in their importance to you. The crystal set on the side table with a satisfying clunk and a body pressed into you.

Luffy’s hands clasps around your waist, his face buried in the curve of your neck.

“Show me that spell. The one you did with Sabo. Do it with me,” he purred.

His hair slipped between your wanting fingers, and you giggled under his kisses. “Barto will be okay. Maybe we should go home~”

Luffy’s hands played at the edge of your sweatshirt, grinding against your ass shamelessly. His groans were so loud that you almost missed the quickening of breath beneath you, a sharp gasp, the clinking of jewelry. When your eyes opened, Barto was staring right back at you, teeth jutting out as his mouth hung open agape.

“Barto!” You cried, falling down on him and hugging his head to your chest, feeling the bright blush on his skin.

“Miss Y/N-”

He only called you that when, well, never.

“And Mister Luffy! Don’t uh, don’t let me get in the way? No that’s weird. I’m not bein’ weird I promise-” he stuttered, and coughed, his voice still hoarse.

“Why would it be weird?” Luffy asked, scratching his head.

“Don’t answer that,” you said, letting go of Barto and brushing green locks from his face. His dirty blonde roots were showing, and his brows and facial hair stubble needed cleaning up. You fished a hair brush from you purse and started untangling the greasy knots in his hair. “Oh, Barty, I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Why?”

You blinked, pinching his ear and finding one of his ears bandaged up from a rejected piercing.

“Whaddya mean ‘why’? Cause I love ya, I was so scared something worse happened! What if we were too late…” You replied, unable to hide the roller coaster of emotions you were still riding from the encounter with Marco.

“Should’ve left me there,” he replied, eyes half lidded, still in some kind of raw daze.

And you slapped his chest.

“Shut up and let me love you, idiot!” You could smell rain, the air in the room swirling, catching your breath and trying to focus could calm it- but you couldn’t do that while staying angry with Barto. So you settled for the former, kissing his sweaty temple and pressing your forehead to his.

He pressed back against you, his gaze landing on Luffy again before he shut his eyes and leaned into you.

“I thought no one would miss me,” he whispered.

Those words could have been stolen out of your mind a year ago. And it was your beloved Barto here who had proved otherwise. So, you said the first thing that came to mind;

“That’s bullshit. And you shouldn’t bullshit a bullshitter like me.”

He laughed, probably because the words had sounded more convincing when he had been the one to say it to you. The crystal caught his attention and he turned over, letting you go back to brushing his hair, wincing when you found a particularly nasty knot behind his head.

“Whass’at thing? Ow!” He tried to pull away and caught on the brush.

“Relax!” You pushed him forward, gently fighting the brush out of the rat’s nest in his head. “I saw it at Kaya’s shop and thought of you, like it?”

You eyed Luffy carefully, who wasn’t paying attention anyway, seeming more frustrated by the broken PDA than anything else.

“Oh, the rich girl? If I had money like that I’d be selling stupid shit too,” Barto huffed, and you pulled the brush hard. “Ow! Ow! Hey!”

“I got you a gift! I thought it would be nice!”

“Yeah, Barto, it came from her heart,” Luffy chimed in, and you laughed nervously.

“Sure did,” the heart strings attached to your lover felt heavy and pulled tight. Jealousy stung your chest, and you saw the black of Luffy’s eyes shrink.

“Alright, alright. Thank you, doll face. It’s real pretty,” Barto shrinks in the bed.

A knock at the door grabs everyone’s attention when a marine barges in through the door. You turned to the side table and found it empty, biting back a sigh of relief as the room fills with men in uniform.

Your hair stands on end, the footsteps of the largest man among them pounding like thunder. Grayish, stinking fog descended on the room, Barto coughed, and Luffy covered his nose. You stood up straight, eyes narrowing at the doorway, ignoring the marines, the she wolf under your skin having measured them as unworthy.

A tower of a man, equally broad shouldered and hardly wearing anything to cover his torso up despite the cold weather- you think, charges through the doorway, two rank cigars smoking at the corner of his mouth.

“Miss Y/N?” He says in a gravely, rasping voice, his snotty yellow eyes fixed on you.

“That’s me. Why?” You eyed him up and down. The ground felt sticky beneath your feet, and you tried to focus on ice, on slipping away from this room as fast as possible. A gust of wind blew through the room, blowing the foul smoke out through the window as the panes burst open.

Luffy took your hand and squeezed, and you wished you could nuzzle into him for reassurance. You wished you could be weak in this moment and let someone else deal with whatever this was supposed to be. But you knew deep down that this was about the amulet.

And you weren’t going to let the marines have it. Not when you’re so close to righting your wrongs.

The man took a long puff from the cigars. “Your trip to Loguetown. Did you enjoy your stay?”

“Sure. The drinks were stiff and the jail was nice and cozy,” you replied, arms crossed.

That earned a gruff snort from him, a devilish smirk crossing his slate-gray features. Tendrils of fog crept up your legs and you gasped. The amulet buzzed excitedly beneath your breast.

“What are you doing?!” Luffy roared, the magnitude of his voice booming against the walls of the hospital room, the smaller marines shook at the noise. He succeeded in dispersing the fog from around your legs, but the amulet virred in the aftershock.

If this man knew the amulet was here, why wasn’t he simply grabbing at it and taking you away?

“Careful, boy. Wouldn’t want to cause another scene. It’s bad enough there’s a suspected witch in the city to begin with.”

“Who are you? What do you want?!” You hissed, teeth grit, burning magic crackling at your gums and fingernails.

“Aye, I’m Marine Captain Smoker. And you two came snooping around my base, so I’m here to find out why.” He blew out smoke at his lower ranking marine, who coughed and screwed his face up.

Resisting the urge to reach for the amulet, to make sure it’s still there, you stilled your hands over Luffy’s.

“We weren’t snooping. My boyfriend got in a fight and needed medical care. Your guys already questioned me once, and I didn’t have anything for them then. I don’t know what you expect from me now.” The lie slipped so easily from your lips.

“What were you doing on my base to begin with?” He replied, chewing on the cigar.

“Visiting a friend. He’s one of your newer recruits. His name is Koby,” you replied.

“Koby, eh?” Captain Smoker smiled like he’d caught you in a trap.

“Yes. Is that all? My friend here needs his rest, and this is all stressful so please-”

“You might be interested in learning that your friend Koby had to be disciplined recently,” he said gravely.

Your eyes widened, and Luffy growled;

“What did you do to him?!”

“Nothing he didn’t deserve,” Smoker replied, lighting up a third cigar.

“Well, what did he do?” You asked, scanning your memory. You hadn’t realized how much risk he’d put himself in by helping. You would have simply escaped on your own if you’d known Koby would have been punished. Though you were a bit confused by your own affection for him, perhaps you shared fondness for him the way every one of Luffy’s friends can somewhat get along with each other.

“Found something on his person that he wasn’t supposed to have. Perhaps something your group had meant to place in the hospital by yourselves, and Koby intervened,” Smoker said.

“If that’s the case, then why punish him?!” You said back irritated, teeth grinding.

“Is that the case? Can’t be certain until I find out why you came to my base, and my recruit had a box full of narcotics the next day.”

Fucking Buggy. You should have known better than to help him out.

You scoffed. “That’s ridiculous. Why would I waste my time giving drugs to a marine recruit?”

“You tell me,” Smoker replied easily, his other marines giving you dirty looks.

“What is he talking about, Y/N?” Luffy whispered, and you shushed him.

“There’s nothing to tell. We visited Koby, got in a fight. I spent the night in jail. Then we left.” You replied.

“If that’s true, then you won’t mind coming with me to the police station to repeat that story?” Smoker said, motioning for one of the marines to grab you.

Your heart raced as he stepped forward. A wave of panic hit you. Don’t burn him. Don’t freeze him. The marine reached and grabbed your arm and you winced. He simply stared at you, and looked at Smoker confused.

“What are you waiting for?! Take them and lets go!” Smoker shouted, but it had no affect on the marine.

The other grabbed for Luffy and froze, his face blank.

“Bunch of idiots, can’t do anything yourselves, can ya?” Smoker stomps up, pushing the other marines out of the way and swipes at your arm.

You wanted to fade into the cloud of smoke, bodiless and free. Free.

Smoker’s grip is light, hardly there. Feeling like if you wanted to, you could brush right through his large form and walk out of the room. You try it, shaking him off easily, catching his face frozen in confusion, then stepped back.

A low groan of frustration vibrated from Smoker’s chest, and you looked at him innocently. A bit of magic crept around him, and you could sense he had nothing to defend himself with, only something nasty and aggressive beating off the marine badge on his coat. Penetrating his blood vessels, and thus his mind, was out- but if you could hold this spell long enough, the three of you could get away.

“If your business is concluded, I must ask that you be off. The marine presence is stressing out my patients and the staff,” Marco appeared at the doorway, his posture easy, hands behind his back.

Staggering against something Smoker lets go of you, pure hate in his glare. Out of the corner of your eye, the stars glitter through the open window. You hadn’t initially caught the smell of ocean spray reentering.

Smoker and his marines followed him out of the room, their leader grumbling as his aura shifts from frustrated back to calm. Marco never took his eyes off the group, stepping out of their way before walking out with them.

You sighed in defeat. You’d hoped it was your magic overpowering them. Marco looked over his shoulder and winked.

“It was smart to hide the love crystal,” he whispered before dashing off.

So that’s what it was called. A bit on the nose, you thought before standing by Barto and Luffy’s side again.

Ages passed until Barto was released from the hospital. At least a day and a night. You refused to leave, nothing on your mind except for Barto’s safety. If the marines came back, you’d be ready this time. You’d protect him. Magic was no good if you couldn’t protect the ones you love.

Sabo and Zoro blew up your phone, sensing your worry and desperate to come and help. Zoro didn’t take kindly to being told to stand down. You’d texted Koby, asking if he was okay, and he left you on read.

After Luffy helped load Barto into your car, you took them both back to the apartment on a silent, tired drive. You wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed with Luffy and sleep.

And that’s what you did. Barto insisted he didn’t need anymore of your ‘mothering’ so you backed off and let him have some space. Luffy trailed you like a shadow, his mouth exploring every inch of you in the shower. As tired as you were, you almost passed out from the bliss.

He carried you to bed and crawled under the covers, your head in the crook of his arm, legs tangled up in one another.

When you’d woke up in the morning there was still some tension of jealousy between Barto and Luffy that you couldn’t quite put your finger on. Your phone goes off, the smokeshop’s number on the phone screen.

“Oh fuck.”

You’d completely forgotten about yesterday’s shift. If you had at least called out last minute there would have been a sliver’s chance of salvaging the situation. Answering the phone shakily, you said;

“Hello?”

All Luffy sees is the blood drain from your face. The phone settles at your side, anger heating up your face, lip wobbling. Your phone went off again and you answered it, putting it on speaker.

“What’s wrong? And don’t tell me not to come over, I just got off work!” Zoro’s voice blared from your hand. The amulet hung heavy like a noose around your neck.

“We need to get out of town, as far away as we need to,” you replied hastily.

“I thought we were going to wait,” you could hear Sabo’s voice coming from over Zoro’s shoulder.

“Can’t. The marines are up my ass, and I need to get this done before I figure out my job situation.”

“Job situation?”

“I just got fired,” the reply felt cold on your tongue. It didn’t surprise you at all, fucking up again.

You didn’t have the energy to cry. It is what it is.

When this summoning spell works, everything will be exactly the way it should be.

Chapter Text

"You know not what you'll plan to do

Son, this is for my own good"

First the head and then the bod'

And half the blood spills down the jaw

First the head and then the bod'

And half the blood spills down the jaw

Just like your father

Just like his before

A gastrolith

A fate restored

After an hour of begging Barto to stay in the city, one of you had to give. He insisted on joining the trip out to the woods for the summoning ritual.

“I’m not gonna lay around here while ya run off. And yer not stopping me either!” Barto yelled. He’d started pitching a fit once you’d agreed to share locations with one another, and you were threatening to turn it off.

Not that you were serious. After the near miss, you never wanted to lose track of Barto again. So, he’s got you backed into a corner.

“It’s not safe. S’already so cold for early winter, you’ll just freeze your nose off with the rest of us,” you replied, travel bags thrown on the counter top. Lately, it was never empty, simply swapped out clothes. More and more important items began to make their way in the bag, just in case you decided to never come back.

“That’s hardly a reason for me to stay here! C’mon, doll face, somebody’s gotta look out for ya when everyone’s all worn out after the spell,” Barto retorts.

You give him a side eye and a raised brow.

“Psh- I see the way ya stumble in here. Barely able to walk,” the way he licks his lips makes you shudder. “Lemme help. I’ll do the boring stuff. Drive, feed ya, tuck ya in all comfy at night.”

“Barty…” you didn’t know what was left to say.

What if the marines showed up here while you weren’t home? They wouldn’t find the amulet. But that doesn’t mean they won’t try to hurt the ones you love to get it back.

You sighed in defeat. “Fine.”

Barto leapt up from the couch and packed his meager belongings, even taking care to clean the bong and wrap it extra carefully for the road. You looked around the room, wondering what Ace was going to think when he saw the ramshackle hovel you’ve been calling home since he left.

Left.

No, that’s not what happened. You weren’t gonna let yourself off the hook- you couldn’t.

In a last ditch attempt to get Law’s attention, you texted him your plans as well. Then regretting it from the pit of your stomach.

You (9:30pm): Don’t know if you heard but I’m not working at Buggys anymore

You (9:39pm): Finally gonna pull it off.

You (9:44pm): Thnx again for everything

The messages were left on read, which was more than you’d expected really. Barto came piling out of his bedroom with two bags, and the two of you drove separately to the ASL home. Where upon arrival, Sabo was just pulling up in Zoro’s car.

Your coven agreed easily to Barto joining the trip. Zoro liked the idea of someone else doing the cooking. Sabo insisted that you ride with him, and Barto’s car would be the second vehicle. Which you weren’t opposed to, Sabo had been the only one to practice slightly better driving habits when you were riding along. Luffy was simply pleased to have Barto around again, the jealousy between them hadn’t been settled. You suspected Luffy was even more energized by it, and wanted to outdo Barto in some way.

The amulet was pleased, none the less. It hummed softly against your chest along the drive, you’d settled in the back of Sabo’s truck with Luffy, head in his lap as he stroked your back, not without having to thump him on the leg to stop kicking his feet in excitement.

“As soon as Ace is back I’m gonna feed him the biggest meal he’s ever had!”

Sabo guffawed from the driver’s seat, muttering under his breath about it being a good thing Luffy wasn’t in charge of the cooking.

“Sabo!!!” Luffy exclaimed.

He sighed, caught in the act. “Yeah?”

“You’re helping me cook for Ace right?!”

Another sigh, this one of relief. “Of course! Someone has to make sure dinner is edible.”

Giggling and swooping out of the way in time for Luffy to lift up and try to swat at Sabo from behind, he was only half able to dodge without swerving the car.

“Dammit, Luffy, stop!” Sabo’s complaint was hardly convincing over his own laughter, the truck a party of whoops and howls.

Barto’s little electric SUV roared past, your phone going off.

“Why are you driving like maniacs?!” Zoro yelled from the phone speaker, making you yank the phone away before it blasted out your ear drum.

“It’s fine!” You yelled back, covering the phone and climbing, clumsily, to the front passenger seat and kicked Sabo’s side, hissing, “both of you quit it!”

“Aw, is daddy getting on your case?”

The blush burned all sense from your mind and you grumbled, hearing Zoro’s dark chuckle from the phone.

“No! But I want to actually make it to where we’re going in one piece!” The words boiled the back of your throat, your vision clouding over and the phantom pain hinting at the back of your eyes. The boys blinked and looked at one another before Sabo reached out for your shoulder, but you batted him away. “Focus on the drive please,” you said, crossing your arms and settling back in the seat, hanging up on Zoro.

Tentative buzzing on the heart strings tickled your chest. The boys weren’t correcting you for saying please. Sabo straightened up and finally stopped driving like, well, the way he does normally.

City buildings faded into dense woodland the further out the caravan got. The mountains came into view, and then disappeared behind the black of night. A faint amber glow from over your shoulder hinted that you weren’t the only one with improved vision under the moon. Sabo’s face glowed like he was the sacred fire itself, determination burning under black stars.

You’d examined the spellbook, and one ingredient wasn’t there. You’d have to make do, to power through. It was now or never. Did Sabo remember that detail? He had to, and must be just as confident in these newfound powers as you. Or the well of his love goes deeper than you’d initially thought possible in one lifetime.

Sure enough, as soon as the truck was comfortable enough to fall asleep, bright red and blue lights flashed in the windows. The small caravan forced to pull over. The officer appeared at Sabo’s side, a flashlight blinding the three of you.

“Awful late to be headed out of the city. Where are you going?” The officer says in a high voice, authority borrowed from the badge on his chest.

“Haha, lost track of time. There’s a group of us, you see-” Sabo replies with a casual grin, even in the night his face could shine like a star without the glow in his eyes. “Took a while to get everybody wrangled. They’re like cats- or toddlers. Do you have kids, officer?”

The policeman didn’t respond, only eyeing the car and watching you awfully closely. You tried not to stare back in annoyance, or to give anything away in your face, focusing on dampening the glow of magic within the truck. From the bottom of your purse were a few loose stones, scratching uncomfortably against your finger nails.

“Do you know why I pulled you over, sir?” The officer said, and Luffy giggled at Sabo being called ‘sir’.

You shushed him, watching from the side of your eye.

“No, officer. I was hoping you’d wanted to make sure we were safe out in these woods. Awful dark out here,” Sabo kept laying it on thick, and the officer didn’t let up. You kept scratching the pebble, mumbling under your breath.

“Ma’am, are you tryin’ to tell me something over there?” The officer said with an even lower voice.

The cracks between your teeth tasted coppery, hair standing on end, a soft light flashing back in the face of the young officer’s face. Dull pain screams at your fingertips when the pebble broke under your split nail. You swallowed a lump in your throat.

“Miss? Can you pull your hand from the bag for me?” The officer said cautiously, a hand reaching for his belt.

Shakily, your hand emerges cold and wet from inside your purse. A drop of blood squeezes itself from the tight grip in your palm, and when you slowly forced your fingers open, you can’t remember why you were clenching it so tightly to begin with.

Then the officer pulled his flashlight away from inside the cab, his face blank. Sabo twisted around between the two of you stunned speechless, but didn’t argue as the officer stepped away.

“Y’all travel safe now. Road’s gonna get slippery real soon.”

Gravel falls from your palm and you took in a heaving breath of icy air.

“Y/N! Your hand!” Sabo took the bloodied hand in his and gently felt for the source. Finding it when you shrieked at him pinching your thumb and forefinger, the nails split half way up and bruised. He pressed it too his lips, not minding the blood that smeared over his mouth and staining his dirty blonde stubble. Warmth shot up the length of your arm, the pain subsided and the wound closed.

If only you could do this spell without the cost of pain. You wished that getting drunk and high could make the magic work and the pain go away. If only.

Sabo’s red smile ripped a purr from your chest. Colors in the night sky became vibrant and distinct on the rest of the drive deep into the snowy woods.

Your coven followed a dirt path up into the mountains. You hadn’t visited the ASL brother’s family out here before, where they lived before Garp moved them into town permanently. After a half hour on rugged dirt road under dense woods, a log cabin came into view.

It was humble from the looks of it on the outside, a hundred yards surrounding it cleared of any trees, a couple storage shacks surrounding the cabin. Cell service was spotty at best, and you tucked your phone away to look around when Sabo parked behind a half dozen other cars on the lot.

A warm orange glow lit up the cabin’s front porch, like a cozier version of the ASL home in the city. Sabo and Luffy bounded up to the door, it opened before they could knock, where a woman as wide as she was tall emerged from inside. From over their shoulders, you caught the mean glare shadowing her features at the late hour, a chewed up cigarette busying the edge of her mouth. It fell when her face exploded with warm light, a boisterous smile uplifting her heavy wrinkles.

“My brats! Com’re!” A deep, smoky voice bellowed from her as she squeezed the boys in a bear hug.

“Good to see you, Dadan!” Sabo choked out into her chest.

“You two are glowing! The city must treating ya better these days,” she replied heartily, releasing the boys with a huff, then bending over to pick the cigarette off the ground to actually smoke it.

Sabo and Luffy both turned to look at you, as if passing on some kind of credit, and the thought made you blush and rub your arm shyly.

“Hiya ma’am,” Barto said, coming up behind you carrying most of the luggage over his shoulders, under his arms, and even tied around his waist. “I’m Bartolameo!” He somehow found enough room to throw a hand out for Dadan to shake.

“Of course. Yall can call me Dadan- and that’s it.” She squinted at Sabo and Luffy over the last part.

The boys piled inside, leaving you standing in the chill, staring at the front facade of the cabin. Ace left this place and never came back. Dadan measured you from under her nose and clicked her tongue.

“What’re ya waiting for? S’cold as hell out here, girl. C’mon,” she curled a finger and beckoned you to come.

The inside of the cabin was so much bigger than it looked from the outside. And it was filled with more old men than you would have thought could fit, but it explained the fleet of vehicles you’d parked behind. Upon stepping inside, you were standing on a raised platform with a stairway down to a two-level living area that split into a large kitchen and comfortably large living room. A handful of old men occupied worn down patterned chairs near the various sources of warmth inside the cabin- the hearth, a large fireplace, and a space heater.

You followed the boys down another level, leading to a hallway which wrapped around the initial two levels of the cabin, surrounded by a mecca of bedrooms.

“We’re not performing the ritual in the backyard are we?” You said in a low voice as Luffy led you into a room cramped with three beds. Two of which were made neatly, and the third looked lived in, but ragged, like it had been left that way for the last year.

You got the urge to crawl into that one, and find out if it still smelled like it’s owner.

“Oh no. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now there’s plenty of room here,” Sabo replied reassuringly.

“That’s putting it mildly,” Zoro said, his arms crossed, looking around and doing the same math in his head that you were. If this worked, there were only three small beds for what will be six grown adults.

Luffy didn’t even wait for instruction before he pulled the covers off the neatly made beds and started pushing them together. The mattresses were old and well worn much like the rest of the cabin appeared to be.

“We’ll go in the basement,” he said over the squeal of the metal bed frames on wood paneling.

“Luffy that’s not going to work, we need a fire. A big one.” You said, and not mentioning the part where everyone needed to be skyclad beneath the moon. You were pretty sure this was the time it would be necessary to perform a ritual outdoors.

“We’ve got that covered,” Sabo replied, pulling his gloves off and throwing covers over the newly pushed together double, triple? bed.

-

You couldn’t believe it. The basement was one level lower, but given the nature of the cabin, the back end of the lower levels had been carved into a cliff face. The basement was surrounded by screens that could be pulled back to allow the moonlight in. Against a cement wall was a massive coal furnace, where Zoro was tossing wood in, feeding a fire that easily reached one body tall.

Sabo, Barto, and you were sitting on dirty wicker patio furniture quietly carving Ace’s name into bricks that had been laying around one of the sheds.

“Barto, I’m afraid you can’t help us once things get started,” you said to him, catching the hint of sadness in his face. He placed a brick down, helping build the circle around the furnace.

-

You stood before a rickety fold-out card table, a heavy plaid blanket draped across your naked shoulders. The cement floors were freezing, your shivers matched by the 3 equally cold and bare coven mates standing in a circle. You all looked like christmas ghosts huddled up under the blankets for a semblance of warmth. Zoro had even slipped you some warmed sake while preparations were completed and Barto took his leave.

On the table lay the black candle, several accompanying tea light candles, burning incense, and the spellbook. It sat open, exposing itself, surrounded by sparse items collected from Ace.

Sabo had brought a compass he’d gifted Ace for his travels. Luffy placed a handful of beads he’d kept hidden after the countless times the brothers would fight and break each other’s necklaces off. Sitting solemnly on the corner of the table was a rude drawing from Zoro, a note that Ace had left in one of Zoro’s school books when you were kids.

The image of his orange hat drifted through your mind. Red like the fire and blood that took him from all of you. Warmth pooled in your gut, and you shakily began drawing the circle of magic using the bowl of water and handful of salt. You wondered what Ace would think of all this once he sees it. The sound of him teasingly saying, ‘maiden of night’ between smiling teeth filled your mind. Was it fair for you to focus on the memory of his dark, caramel brown eyes, the pale planes of his freckled face and how you wanted to count every single one and never forget. Was it fair that you thought about his lips?

Finally, the beating of the amulet’s power didn’t make you nervous or sad or scared. Power buzzed against bone, grounding inside and out, this realm and wherever it is the magic in your blood was summoned from. The freezing air- did you stop feeling things like that in the realm of death?

The splattering of water on the ground helped you relax. When Luffy reached out to take your blanket, you held up a hand to stop him. You stepped in front of the furnace, blinding orange spots dotting against black streaks in your vision. The fire roared, a fuming mouth clapping and crackling commanding words to your blood.

Give unto me my will.

The command pulled on the heart strings anchored in your soul, yanking at them like chains. Your blood growled and you stood your ground. Purpose sealing your spirit to this realm, giving a loud refusal back to whatever spirit spoke through the flames.

You gripped the amulet of life and held it up, ice cold air dancing with the steamy heat on your skin as the blanket slipped off your shoulders, landing in a heap at your feet.

“Goddess and God! Hear me as I beg of thee audience with the Guardian of the Realm of Death. My heart is true, and my will is great.” Orange beamed off the emerald surface of the amulet. “Accept my great power onto this universe and the next.” With that, you turned to face your coven, who shed their blankets and arranged them in a nest protecting everyone from the cement.

“My love,” you held a hand out to Sabo, and he took it, holding still as you stepped into the nest. “Will you be my mirror and reflect my will?”

Sabo pecked a gentle kiss to your hand, something so sweet and innocent while your eyes roamed his beautifully naked form. His cock was only half hard, and you almost didn’t notice how he struggled not to shiver violently in the cold.

“Your will is mine, maiden of night,” he replied, his voice low and soft.

As he helped you lower down into the blankets, hands braced the inside of your legs and pulled them apart. You gasped, finding a nose and a mouth breathing just below your core. He gripped you firmly in place, but not too strong, balanced just enough to make you shudder, the ache in your center radiating with want.

“Z-Zoro, haaa, will you guard my flame? Bring it to life?!” You asked over heavy gasps, and Zoro answered with a long, greedy flick of his tongue. You could feel that devilish smirk creasing against your pussy lips.

“Hmph, anything,” another long lick, faster this time, “for my maiden of night.”

The attention made you whimper and moan, slick and spit wetting his face already. When you looked to Sabo, you found him wearing a dark, hungry look in his eye as he licked his lips and continued to kiss a trail up from your wrist. Luffy appeared on your other side, his soft, jagged lips nipping at the skin of your opposite arm, keeping pace just behind Sabo’s gentle kisses. Meanwhile Zoro gripped you around the thighs and made you sit on his face, and you moaned and keened like his mouth was a throne of pleasure.

Sabo and Luffy took your neck at the same time, and you breathed, “Luffy-!”

“Yes, my star?” He nuzzled into the side of your neck, biting down and sucking hard.

“Will you- oh, oh!” You rocked against Zoro’s face, his nose bumping your clit just right.

“Will I what?” Luffy added, one of his hands ghosting over the curve of your breast, the warmth of him shocking your rock hard nipple.

“I can’t focus~!” You said, climbing up to the edge of your first, and most foreboding event of the night. “Luffy will you~?”

You cried out when he twisted your nipple, his nails digging into hard, sensitive flesh. He and Sabo chuckled, Sabo’s hands drifting down your hips and grabbing your ass. Zoro’s tongue traveling up inside you and finding the places where he can break you apart.

“You’re so pretty, my pretty, shining star-” Luffy sucked the beginning of a collar of bruises around your neck, and his mouth hovered just over your sore nipple. Warm breath melting away the cold and reigniting the pain of his twisting fingers. “I’ll do anything, just tell me what you want.”

“Make me come!” You cried out, “make us all come! Come over and over until we reach the other side~!”

Sabo shoved his fingers between your ass and used your slick to slide a finger inside while Zoro lifted you up to make room for both of their attentions. You fell forward, and Luffy and Sabo held you up as they toyed with your body. Luffy suckled on your nipples while Sabo played with your ass, and Zoro continued to make a meal of you.

Bright white moonlight flashed through the window, the fire burned even hotter. You focused on the image of Ace, on his name, on every person whose lives he touched. How you loved him.

You fell over the edge and came, legs shaking as your slick poured onto Zoro’s waiting tongue, he moaned. His cock twitching and desperately hard and dark red in the cold air. Your slick quickly became cold even as Zoro licked you clean.

“Luffy,” you exhaled, slumped into him when he pulled his face away from your breasts and kissed your cheek and hair. “Don’t let us give up until the ritual is complete.”

Luffy met your eyes, excited and determined. The amulet flickered green in the black of his eyes, then something bright like the cosmos. He snatched you from Zoro’s grasp and flipped you down on your back, his cock just as red as the other’s, and it was cold as he entered you, then searing hot as both of you moaned. Your pussy massaged the column of his cock, gripping him and pulling him in to the hilt.

Sensitivity from the first orgasm made your hips shudder, the stretch feeling good enough to send you tip toeing on the edge again. You reached up for Luffy, grabbing his shoulders and signaling for him to fuck you. And he did, his strokes excited and erratic. Dark hair plastered to his face, if you squinted, you could mistake him for having freckles on his nose and cheeks.

The amulet danced on your chest with each stroke. The magic in your blood responding in kind, and reaching out to grab onto whatever power was inside the gem. And it didn’t recoil or hiss or growl. Your grasp, soaking in power of pleasure, was accepted by the amulet of life. Extra magic swelled in your belly. Zoro laid beside you in the nest with Sabo’s head in his lap.

You reached out and took Zoro’s hand, mewling as Luffy fucked you, and shuddering as Sabo locked eyes with you, his hands on Zoro’s hips the way they were on yours a second ago. His brown eyes blown out with want, but he was silently waiting for you, pulling on the heart strings begging for an answer.

And you nodded, crying out as Luffy’s cock slammed into you while Sabo took Zoro into his mouth. That was the extra magic. Your power folding in on itself and doubling outward. Somehow you were jealous of both of them, wanting them all at once. Wanting their pleasure to clash into yours and ascend your power to the heavens.

Zoro smirked at you and dug his hand in Sabo’s blonde curls, watching you watch him drive his hips into Sabo’s face. The perfectly smooth flexing of his sculpted abs making you drool at the sight, which Zoro swiped with his thumb and wiped your spit on the inside of his lips.

“Like that?” He said between smiling teeth.

“Hnnnn~yeah,” you keened, back arching, tears welling up in your eyes as Luffy started playing with your nipples again, his strokes thorough and sure.

“Want some?” He asks, voice smooth like a tiger’s pelt.

You could only nod, throwing your head back into the blankets, nails digging into Luffy’s arms. He leaned down and took your mouth with his, the taste of butter, sugar, and wheat flooding your mouth. Dripping from his skin right into your nostrils, his sweat smelled like coming home after a long journey. His cock plunging into you with growing urgency, needing to find the magnificent fall right beside you.

“Hurry up, Luffy.” Zoro said, but you could only hear him and Sabo’s muffled, deep moans as you kept making love to your dark haired coven mate.

Luffy growled in response and slowed down, earning a whine from you, your nails digging deeper into his flesh, trying to hurry him along. The heart strings buzzed, red lightning striking in your mind’s eye, and Luffy obliged, and somehow you knew it was only because he wanted to come alongside you.

Drums in your ear, the sound of a harsh wind blowing past, the breaking of branches with a flick of the storm. Luffy’s hips dragging against yours as he came with a low whine. Hot seed warmed your lower half, a spark of joy lighting up your eyes as you come, senses dancing in a whirl of ice and fire.

Luffy smoothed his forehead against yours, his hot breath welcome. Because no matter how much your blood was heating beneath his body, the cold crept on the edge of your circle like a threat.

You laid there for a moment, both of you panting, ignoring Zoro’s huffs and grunts over the sound of Sabo’s lips slurping on flesh. Zoro’s heart strings were stressed, tangled around his chest, causing his breathing to become shallow. Were you taking too much from him?

Sitting up, you stared down at his flushed face, hearing his heart hammer in your ears. You tugged on the strings, raking your fingers through the knots, and laying hands on his chest. He keened, your thumbs brushing his rock hard nipples. A bright blush exploded across his torso and he tapped Sabo’s shoulders, begging for reprieve.

Sabo slipped off Zoro’s cock with a satisfying, snapping pop, panting heavily himself. The blacks of his eyes blew out the familiar warm amber, only a deep song of night and lust ringing in his glare. A deep purr answered from your chest, and you pounced on Sabo, grinding your center against his cold cock, warming it between your bodies.

Surrendering to base instinct, you lowered down, riding him slowly, savoring the taste of honey and cloves.

“Haaa, so good, princess!” He cried into your breast, his hands clamped on your hips like shards of ice stuck in your flesh, making you hiss and howl at the sensation. The numbing touch, and feeling the way his cock curves inside you.

Zoro pulled you up by the shoulders, letting your ass grind against his cock as you rode Sabo. His body heat spread over the two of you, and drum beats of heat washed over the four of you in waves.

With newfound furious energy, your pace bounded across the length of Sabo’s cock, racing to the edge once again. But Zoro wrapped his arms around your waist and slowed your movements, burying his face in your neck and covering you in kisses.

“Take your time, baby. We’ll be here,” his sake breath breezed past your nostrils like sakura petals, his body solid and rooting you between himself and Sabo.

A flash of heat blasted from the furnace as if responding to Zoro’s command, hearing you whine and beg for release. The magic in your blood answered back, and the amulet absorbed it. The name ‘Ace’ carved into the brick flashing in your mind.

“I want to come!” you cried out, and the boys laughed.

“We’ll get you there-” Zoro replied, his lips leaving a reddish trail of marks down your neck, each suck from his lips made your pussy clench on Sabo’s cock, your clit tingling in response.

“You can come, princess. Come with me,” Sabo pleaded, bumping his hips up as he held you in place. His chest flushed red like Zoro’s, the heart strings sang and snapped with the movements of his hips. You felt like you’d been buried alive in a pit of pleasure, unable to move anywhere but the places they wanted you. And it turned you on more. The edge was approaching as quickly as Sabo’s strokes picked up pace, and his heavy breathing, his nails digging deep in the plush of your hips, told you that he was close too.

What will Ace think when he sees you like this?

You plummeted over the edge, white hot pleasure numbing all your senses except for the feeling of ecstasy exploding at your core. Slick poured all over Sabo’s hips and you were sure if this kept up you were going to burst.

Was Ace standing at the precipice, summoned by the call of the amulet?

There was singing in your ear, like a choir filling the vast chamber of an old church, voices booming to the heavens.

“What’s that sound?” Sabo exhaled.

“You hear it too?” Luffy panted, sitting up and laying his head on the shoulder opposite Zoro’s head.

The song transformed to moans, the purring in your blood, drum beats like the sound of flesh on skin. An orchestra made from the cries of your congregation.

And in the distance of your mind’s eye, a low howl calling back.

“Zoro-” you bent over Sabo and presented your rear to Zoro, hearing him hum in appreciation, palming your ass and smacking it lightly.

“Yes, baby?” His response was humiliating, and it sent a shiver down your back as you whined;

“Fuck me,” you bit your tongue on the please, and for all the good it did- you yelped when Zoro smacked your ass and gripped it harder, lining himself up but not sliding in just yet.

Distance between yourself and the howling grew, and you wanted to keen and howl back. So you wiggled your hips and beckoned Zoro’s length to enter. The stretch of him already leaving you a bit sore.

As if sensing that soreness, Sabo leaned forward and pressed kisses to your jaw and neck, mewling into your sweat soaked skin. Power burned from his finger tips and you hissed, sucking magic into your body and directing it down between your legs where sweet bliss returned around Zoro’s cock.

And he sighed in relief too. Whatever leftover magic pulsed down through your pussy and wrapped around his length, and he plunged himself deep inside, almost falling over in pleasure. You bit your lip and smiled, moaning sweetly with each stroke. Swaying with Zoro’s rhythm like a ship on a rocking sea.

The howling came back louder in your ears, drowning out the sounds of Zoro’s moaning and even your own breathing. Your hips hitched up, your knees going from soft blankets to meeting the crisp air against Zoro’s thighs as he held you up, driving in deeper. But also providing enough space for a head to fit between Sabo’s lap and your belly.

Luffy shoved in between the three of you and lolled out his tongue, a fresh wave of bliss crashing against your clit as it caught on his waiting tongue on each of Zoro’s strokes.

Your toes curled and you keened, digging nails into Sabo’s chest, marking a red beaded necklace across his collar as you barely held on to the moment, nevermind sanity. It felt so good tears sprang from your eyes, and you hadn’t noticed that you’d been drooling until Sabo stuck his fingers in your mouth and let your spit soak his hand, muffling your moans, a look of greed and delight burning in his eyes. They sparked black and he said:

“Howl, my maiden. Sing into the night.”

Blood surged from your head and filled your heart with power to push your lungs hard, braced against the bodies of your coven, you bellowed with feral song. You beckoned the night sky to hear you, for the moon to return to her full shape and echo your power across the world. To be heard past the gates of death and for the guardian to answer your call, the call for the one you love most dearly. The one who deserves to be here more than you. And you whipped your head away from Sabo’s fingers, yelling out;

“Ace!!!” Your throat scratched, howling with not just the air in your chest but with your whole body, and the magic within. “Come back to me, Ace!”

Luffy sucked hard on your clit and you cried out around a moan, your body tumbling down in orgasm, all sense of gravity gone.

The fire flicked blue, and then violet-black before roaring red once again. The howling quieted, pointedly.

“She hears you, my love!” Luffy cheered into your clit, making your eyes roll back from over sensitivity.

“Ace!! Bring him back to me! Bring Ace to the gates I have built for him!” You moaned as Zoro fucked the right sense out of your body. The world was all forest pine and sweet ecstasy, lit by a fire of passion burning on your heart, beaming from the amulet.

“Gonna take your ass, baby, gonne give you more- I know you can take it, take the power from me,” Zoro chanted, slipping out from inside your pussy and earning a teeth gnashing snarl from you. Only to be soothed by spit and fluids lubing you up for Zoro before lining up at your ass. He slid in carefully, only pressing the head of his soaked, sensitive cock inside your tight hole, taking his time. Letting your breathing even out, for fresh air to soothe your lungs.

When a loud bang pounded from inside the furnace, and you gasped. Zoro’s cock sucked inside and his hips slammed into your ass. You keened at the pain and moaned, Luffy circling your clit slowly with his tongue, fingers inside your pussy.

He guided Sabo’s cock into your pussy, and welcomed the taste of all three of you in his mouth as Zoro guided the movements. You were so full, the moans pressed out from you now.

“ACE! ACE! ACE!” You stretched out between your coven mates, existing in a whirlwind of desire and heat, fueling the amulet with all the power they could summon with flesh and willpower.

The fire pulsed in response, a cold, biting wind that answered back in secrets. Want swelled you tongue, your breathing caught between a sweet song and furious roar. Nails dug into flesh, hot blood inside and out. Stench of smoke choking your senses.

Silence clapped across the darkness, whatever sound was coming out of your mouth fell deaf by the time it reached your ears. Your gaze strained in sudden darkness.

All of this for nothing

You growled, teeth gnashing at the haughty voice echoing in your mind.

“Ace! Is he there with you?!”

A foul, hateful laugh answered, and something clattered down on the ground. Fire illuminated it, gasps and moans tore at your ear drums as your hearing returned. Just outside the nest of blankets was a disc coated black, surrounded by shards of glass that glittered around it.

Tears streamed and froze on your flushed face.

“ACE! Give him back to me!” You hiccuped over a sob, and a moan, Sabo’s hips grinding into yours. “Please!”

A withering, spiteful breeze brushed past and took the soot that had covered the disc with it. A smiling devil skull on a bone white pendant. Green glass. The remnants of Ace’s hat that the fire could not take.

“You have Ace at the gates,” you turned and bid Zoro let your legs down, and you prayed, face buried in Sabo’s wet, sticky chest.

Over and over you chanted his name on the top of each strained, teary moan. With a soft, weightless break, the chain holding the amulet around your neck broke and fell onto Sabo’s belly, pressed between you two, vibrating with it’s own slow heart beat.

Tisn’t the moon full of her light. Wasted breath.

The one condition you knew about, and pressed on anyway. It had to be tonight. It will be tonight.

A figure licking it’s lips- and it sucked at your power.

“Take this power, O Guard at the Gates to Death! Bare this sacrifice from us, and please bid my Ace passage back into the realm of the living!” You shouted at an endless expanse of thick forest beyond the windows. A dark presence stood in this room, hot and burning with cold fire much like your ancient power, remaining unseen. Something in the back of your spine growled- as you looked around in the thick dark, every sensation on your cunt doubled- you weren’t allowed to see her.

The strings snapped, your connection to the others went numb. But they didn’t seem to notice, moaning loudly and mouthing at your skin, pulling pleasure from you.

“Fuck-!” Zoro’s hips stuttered and he flooded your ass with his seed.

The space between you and the amulet of life expanded in a hollow, airless space. The touch of your coven present, but unbearably numb. The air felt heavy in your lungs, like you were being dragged down below earth.

It should have been you.

“No!” You screamed, trying to lift off Sabo, not knowing where your arms and legs were anymore. Whatever filled you was unknown, blackness touching your clit and forcing your jaw to open wider, a fleshy weight on your tongue and choking you.

You reached up and embraced whoever it was. Your eyes wide open but unable to catch even a glimpse of moonlight. Light pressure stroked your swelled cheeks. Breathing through it, you focused- wet heat returning to your fingertips. Sweat on your palm, the smell of spit and sex. A mouth on your nipple, the delicious stretch of a short, fat cock fucking up into you. A long curved member tickling the back of your throat, and the thrill of choking back a reflexive gag.

Closing your eyes, you focused on Ace one last time. That last time his smile lit up your insides. That feeling of too much time lost, and the peace of simply existing right beside your old friend.

And you welcomed the orgasm around Luffy’s cock, and the gravy thick cum shooting down your throat.

No one should have died that night. And you are the beacon of power strong enough make it right. Your will bent the magic into the shape of a gate. Light flashed white hot and seared blue and red across your vision.

It will please me to see you again, witch.

A chorus of gasps, the furnace flicked off and the fire gone. Only silver sparkled from the window, and tall figure stock still looming over the four of you.

What felt like the heat of the furnace itself shattered across the mark on your hand, and you bellowed in pain. Burning, bludgeoning, stabbing pain shot up your arm and wrapped coils around your head and down your entire body.

You collapsed in a fresh sheen of sickly sweat, doubled over retching from the sudden flip your insides made.

“Y/N!” A familiar syrupy smooth voice echoed through the darkness clouding your conscious, cutting through your desperate screams.

Chapter Text

 “Here, put this on your hand,” Ace said over a cheeky smile, his fingertips hot pink and dripping from the ice cube pinched between his thumb and forefinger. The picnic table creaked under his weight as he leaned forward.

He held it out to you with the instruction to set the ice cube on a sprinkle of salt settled on the top of your hand. Tiny grains were caught between your knuckles, enough to make it tickle, but not so much you shook off the salt.

“This is dumb,” you groaned and pressed the ice cube to your hand.

It wasn’t cold, it was hot- too hot, and then too cold like your hand was stuck in a pile of fire ants. The ice cube suckered to your flesh and you pulled it away with a screeching tear.

Ace snickered and you threw what remained of the ice at his face with a scowl.

“The fuck was that?!” You screeched, rubbing the sore spot on your hand.

“Cool trick, yeah?” He replied, head cocked to the side. Freckles of sunlight dappled his cheek. Despite the shade, you felt too hot with anger.

“Shoulda told me it was gonna hurt!”

“But then you wouldn’ta done it,” Ace whined.

“Yeah, no duh!”

You tried to keep an angry glare, a stroke of worry flickered in Ace’s gaze. And you snorted, the two of you laughing into summer afternoon.

Present Day-

It was marvel there were any fluids left in your body remaining after the ritual. Twin rivers streamed down your cheeks in hot waves as you screamed in pain. Every breath brought on another hit of stabbing that turned to burning, broiling lava crushing your insides.

The mark on your hand lit up, the thorns sharper and the whole design turning from black to bright blood red.

The boys carried you upstairs and set you into bed, your wails waking the whole house. Dadan broke the door off its hinges ready for a fight, then went into mother hen mode and did her best to comfort you.

A cold compress was wrapped around your hand, trying to numb the pain- but only making it worse. The pain killers didn’t do anything. Barto tried shotgunning weed smoke into your mouth, Zoro poured shots of rum into you- and the ruinous cocktail blurred the magic still thrumming in your blood. There was no way to connect to their affections and find relief from the pain, but the mark lost its grip on your conscious as well.

With the pain fading away, your hand felt hot and crawling with bugs. Your eyes twitched, throat cracked dry, sensitive parts swollen. The wet rag felt swampy and you threw it off the bed, turning over and curling into a little ball, tucked in the arms of the man beside you. His body wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t warm like Barto, or welcoming like that of your coven mates. But it was your space. The place in Ace’s arms belonged to you.

One Year Ago…

The smell of antiseptic was the only thing louder than the sound of plastic ripping, and staff shouting over the tear of clothing. One woman had blood smeared up to her elbows, the other wet with sweat, mask cutting off air- but all of them needed to wear protective gear, lest the patient die in a week from infection and all of this effort went to waste.

He could feel his hair glued to his face, blood and fluids slipped under his gloves as he handled each test for vitals. Trying to juggle ten things at once that all wanted to go wrong. Death set wicked eyes on you, and he wasn’t going to let her win today.

The head surgeon watched as he sewed up the last your injuries and laid the bright red tools on a metal dish with a clang. He snapped off his gloves and dashed into the next room, leaving Law to finish the rest. You weren’t the only emergency case, just the one most likely to survive.

He peered over the shoulder of the tech. The distant howl was unmistakable, a spirit of death waited patiently, unseen. But when he let just a hint of power touch you, a taunt at the spirit: that he was going to win again and save another life- the lights flickered. The smell of jasmine wafted up his nose.

“Perfume’s strong,” the nurse coughed, rubbing tears from her eyes.

When Law flexed his fingers, a streak of cold thundered over the word ‘DEATH’ on his knuckles.

Present Day-

Luffy found his phone under a pile of clothes and rang Koby, pacing at the foot of the bed. His heartstrings were strong and secure, but your whimpering and shaking worried hung heavy on the bags under his eyes that turned gray. He was drained, they all were.

“Hiya Luffy-!”

“Koby!! What the hell is wrong with Y/N?!” Luffy yelled and spat on the screen.

“What do you mean?” Koby replied, cold fear shaking his tone.

“She’s crying! Your marine-jewel hurt her!” Luffy cried back and Sabo ripped the phone out of his hand.

“Something’s wrong. When we came back from Loguetown, Y/N had that mark on her hand and now it’s burning her- or cursed- or, or something,” Sabo said, sitting down on the bed rubbing his temple.

“Koby, you need to tell us what that mark is,” Zoro added.

“I-I-I don’t know! It must be some kind of anti-theft spell. I told you guys to bring back the amulet! You should have listened to me!” Koby shouted back.

You shook, the pain came back in waves. Not being able to feel connection to your coven felt like being cut off from breathing, and you refused anymore substances when you’d sobered up, hardly having gotten rest anyways.

The shards of the amulet lay wrapped in someone’s shirt, a dull pile of glass so dark it sucked in the light around it. Ace’s heartbeat thumped against your ear, your head tucked into his chest. He breathed irregularly, deep and then shallow and too fast, and then he’d hold it until he coughed for air.

Your name is still the only thing he’d said since emerging from the gate. His lips remained pursed when the others shouted questions at him. The look in his eyes as dull and dark as the broken amulet- distant, like his soul was loping through the woods. The she-wolf in your blood chased after him, and shepherded his soul back into the physical present. It was another reason why you refused to sleep, too worried that he’d drift off and go too far in his mind for you to find and bring him back.

Seeing you writhing in agony, naked, exposed around the other men- Ace came back to life with fists flying in an angry blaze. Zoro was able to hold him in a headlock, but not without clocking Sabo in the jaw and Luffy square in the nose.

You hadn’t the where-withall to care about lying in bed naked and filthy next to Ace. The realm of death had not provided him clothing on his passage. So, you could feel everything. But were in far too much pain to feel shame for putting him in this situation. He simply held you, and you guarded his spirit to stay in the realm of the living.

“It’s a curse, I think,” Koby’s voice vibrated from the phone.

“If that’s so, then you need to help us break it!” Luffy shouted, holding his own cold compress on his nose.

“I don’t know anything about magic-stuff, I swear!”

“You know it exists,” Sabo replied, nursing a shiner on his mouth with a cold beer. “And that’s enough for you to be complicit if the marines find out what happened with the amulet.”

“So you don’t have much of a choice, marine-boy,” Zoro said smugly. Every once and a while he stroked your back, trying to push his newfound magic into your body. The only thing it accomplished was making your spine feel like jelly and losing feeling. Zoro seemed to be the only one who wasn’t impressed by Ace’s return, and stared at him deep with suspicion- a stare you knew well.

“Augh, fine! I don’t know what help I’m gonna be, but- did you get what you needed from it?” Koby asked.

Zoro’s eye narrowed. Luffy snickered, smiling with all bloody teeth. And Sabo slapped his thigh in excitement before replying;

“Hell yeah we did!”

“Don’t tell him,” Barto whisper-shouted from the opposite side of the bed.

“We’re not gonna,” Zoro said, pointed his stare at Luffy, “right?”

“Uhh- why not?!” Luffy replied, free hand waving.

Sabo sighed and yawned, “where would we even begin to explain?”

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t think I want to know,” Koby said nervously.

“Good idea, don’t want the marines to torture the information out of him,” Sabo said, chuckling at the whine coming from the phone.

You wanted them all to shut up and let the room sit in silence. You wanted to tie a web around Ace’s soul and catch it in a heartstring-web. Sleep threatened to take over eventually. Luffy siddled up next to Zoro and Barto, rubbing a hand along your sweaty temple.

“I’ll watch him,” he whispered, pushing a wave of warmth over your skull, and the pillow felt softer, the blankets more snug.

A dry breath cracked from your chest, a deep, dark blue sky dotted with a rainbow of gems, sparkling color down onto the bed. Luffy nestled his head into the crook of your arm, and Ace rolled into you from behind, an arm wrapped over your waist.

If you could sleep, you would, but where you ran after Ace’s soul, the path of fiery punishment followed. Your whole hand was stiff, head throbbing, eyes dry with exhaustion. Even with the added comfort from Luffy, the pain kept your mind racing.

Sabo hung up the phone and sidled up beside the group. Zoro reached around and hugged him tight, nuzzling into a sweaty mop of blonde hair.

“C’mon dollface, it’s time for some sleep,” Barto brushed his fingers over your temple, rubbing the shell of your ear and rubbing the side of your neck, which Ace frowned at. A vibration that tasted bitter strummed from Sabo’s heart string, and you groaned.

“Don’t- don’t,” you exhaled, squirming and opening your eyes to see all five boys blended under multicolor star light. “Please- don’t leave me.”

Those were your last words to Ace one year ago, faded out and clinging to that last hug. And by the blessing of magic beyond this realm and the next, you were begging once again.

Your heart thumped out of your chest like it was trying to carve itself out from the inside. Bone felt like it was breaking at your sternum, and you screamed, coughing up blood. A collective gasp broke from the others as they scrambled to hold you down as you lashed out.

“Relax, breathe sweetheart, please!” Sabo said, cuffing your wrists trying to still your thrashing.

“I can’t! I can’t! Please make it stop!” Your sobs rang against the walls.

You didn’t know what to do. No one did. The exhaustion would kill you, of that you were certain. And then who would keep Ace’s soul anchored to this realm of life? After you’d worked so hard to get this far. When you suffered so greatly after his loss. Ace may have died once, but you died every day you woke up knowing he was gone.

Black lightning boomed across Luffy’s light, and he grumbled. Your blood bid him to stand down, howling out;

“Call him! Call Law now!” You screamed, teeth gnashing, biting the tip of your tongue and spraying blood across your chest.

A bright lavender circle curled on the ground, and in a blinding flash, your wizard-lover stood tall. His shadow cast over the coven. Burning sage flooded your nostrils.

His gaze swept over the crowded bedroom, dark brows creased into a haggard cross. Luffy’s starlight twinkled over the harsh planes of his face. His lips clasped together, whatever curse on his mind stayed locked behind clenched teeth.

A dry wind blew under your skin and over bone and sinew, spiteful little sparks clapped off your power the closer it got to the mark. The pain resounded off Law’s brush of magic and you yelped, then growled, showing teeth. Tears flooded your vision and streamed down your sensitive cheeks.

Betrayal.

It wasn’t that you took something which didn’t belong to you.

Needs power. Witch’s power.

Like a trapped animal, you wanted to chew off the cursed arm. Where anger was trying to overpower your magic, fear responded. A tree fallen in your path. Cornered and tangled by immovable vines cutting off circulation to your wolven legs. Pouring rain, slick mud, you’re going to drown in agony.

Slowly, but with a dominance the others snarled at, Law stepped forward and brushed your coven aside. Ace gripped you tighter, and you clawed at his arm, desperate for room to breath. Law looked down at you, head cocked to the side, a storm brewing behind his ruddy, amber eyes. Rage so palpable that it glistened off his skin in scarlet and hot pink fumes.

“Help...me,” you rasped, tongue drenched in blood, spit, and tears.

Law snorted, his frown screwing his face tighter and meaner. “Give me your hand,” he held his out, the word DEATH facing you.

And you whimpered, hiding the marked hand under your side, even if it hurt to move. Law growled and you snarled back. Luffy put a hand on Law’s shoulder and shrieked, whipping it back, steam coming off the burn on his palm.

Something primal snapped inside, and you pushed off the bed and bore claws at Law with a roar;

“Don’t hurt them!”

Law caught your wrists and you fought him, it hurt so bad, you were crying so much the tears were blinding you. But you yanked back, and ice poured in your veins against his heat.

“Do you want my help or not?!” Law barked, twisting you around, and you yelped again, back slamming against his chest and he held your throat in one hand and the marked hand by the wrist with the other.

“Let her go, Law,” Sabo snarled, a flicker of flame bouncing orange light off the wall in front of your eyes.

Ace rushed forward off the bed and dug his fingers in between Law’s hand and your throat. Black spots sprinted across your vision, the pain fading as you felt heavy.

“Can’t pass….can’t faint!” You wheezed, pulled between Law and Ace.

Luffy put his hands on Law’s shoulders again and the smell of singed flesh crowded your nose, and looking at Ace in the eye at the same time was too much. You felt sick, wretching, but losing air too fast.

You were on the verge of blacking out. The outline of Ace’s spirit showing, but unlike the others who had solid aura’s around their hearts, Ace’s spirit looked like TV static- bouncing around nervously beneath his skin.

“Let. Me. See...The...Mark!” Law yelled, releasing your throat to wrap that arm around your naked waist and trying to examine the black spirally, thorny mark over your hand that was the source of your madness.

“You don’t have to man handle her!” Zoro snapped.

Calm down or they won’t let me help.

The deep, rumbling voice passed through the two rivers in your mind like a diver. Law found you there in between the pain and the explosive feelings pouring down your body and separated the dusty mass mixing it all together and leaving you lost.

Your eyes rolled to the back of your head, the shouting and growling faded with the parting mist, leaving you and Law standing between the binary flow of glittering energy. You weren’t ‘yourself’ in this place, but embodied a semi translucent spirit shaped like a human- but nothing that reflected your visage. You knew Law by the black and purple shocks of lightning snapping inside the spirit standing before you.

Seeing- or more like feeling him there in your minds eye felt like a cool embrace of calm confidence, a shade of warm yellow that separated the chaotic energy at his core from your energy. You reached for him, and his fingers slid in between yours, and let him guide you away from the pain and to the flow of your primal magic.

It looked like a river reflecting the image of a dark forest. Bright red thorns flickered like flames licking at the vision, and it felt foreign, wrong, evil.

The curse.

A high pitched shriek broke from your spirit as the awareness settled in. You were cursed, that was certain now. A hateful, bitter anger attacked not just your body- it attacked you from the flow of magic in your veins.

You blinked, throat dry again, tongue heavy like stone. Your back was pressed against Ace’s chest, and Luffy and Sabo were piled on top of you, limbs tangled, with your cursed hand laid out on display in Law’s grasp. His amber eyes darted to meet your gaze, the line of his mouth softening, the wrinkle in his brow smoothed out.

This isn’t where either of you thought the world would take this journey of magic snd mayhem. Everything felt like the easy and natural thing to do up until this point. Now you were lost, pain rolling back up from your knuckles and down your arm and clenching your chest so tight it was a struggle to breath. The boys shifted as you started to whine, trying not to let the pain show too much, and failing. A fresh sweat broke out on your skin, and your jaw was sore from grinding your teeth.

“The others, they hold some of your power,” Law started, thumb grazing the mark, sparkles of electricity leaving a path of numb muscle, and you did your best to listen as he continued; “A sacrifice can be made, and it will force the curse to release it’s parasitic grip on your magic.”

You simply stared at him, and then glanced at the others, breath shallow. Your hand and arm was numb, but your heart was still beating fast and the urge to kick your feet and run still on the mind. He didn’t make you wait long, didn’t make you ask, when he added:

“One of your coven members can make a sacrifice of their connection to you. The broken connection will take the curse energy along with it.”

You could feel Luffy’s throat bob up and down on your chest. The bed shifted, and then was one one body short and so much colder.

“I’ll do it.”

“S-Sabo…” you whined, fresh tears stinging your cheeks as you watched him stand like an obsidian tower against the starlight on the ceiling. The future you dared to dream of wrapped in his arms for the rest of time fell from the windows, drying on your cheeks with fresh gasps.

He brushed past Law, who seemed unfazed by a room filled with naked and half naked lovers and friends. Though the room was dark, Law carried a distinctly cold aura that bounced off your boys. How would your magic react if you weren’t so drained and exhausted right now?

Sabo returned, a solemn seriousness branded on his face as he held out a familiar dark blue crystal. Only this time it was covered in red and pink webs piled on top of it, the threads reaching up towards Sabo, and in your direction.

“We can find a-” you coughed, words clinging to what little spit was left in your mouth. Another solution- you wanted to scream.

“Oh, dat’s pretty,” Barto remarked, and your eyes widened.

“Barto-!” You rasped, and he held your cheek, wiping tears with his thumbs as you cried, nodding ‘no, no, no.’

Why couldn’t they understand? When you tried to shoot magic down the heart strings, no one reacted, the vibrations completely numb to the fog of agony.

Recognition stretched Law’s features, and he spared you one last glance before turning and facing Sabo.

“Crush it,” Law said, the smoke of his voice smoldering slowly.

“No,” your voice barely a hoarse whisper.

Ace shoved Barto off, replacing the hold on your face with his own hands, forcing you to face him. His eyes were faded gray, he was slipping, and you had to run after him. You pushed past the pain and slipped your magic over the threads of his soul. Wrapping them around your hands like a leash and pulling them back.

A warm glow reappeared in Ace’s eyes, his touch became more delicate. Just enough so that he couldn’t stop you from whipping your head around at the sound of shattering glass.

The pain faded a bit, but left a hollow cavern yawning open in your heart. Even squinting your eyes hard, the abundance of threads connecting you to Sabo snapped in half.

One lonely string sparkled between you.

The hollowness in your chest reflected in Sabo’s stare as he watched Law pick bloody crystal shards from his shaking palm.

Chapter Text

The orange sheen had completely faded from what remained of Sabo’s crystal. Once you’d run out of energy to thrash around, Barto scooped the tiny blue shards from the floor and examined them in his palm, sitting beside you and Ace in the bed.

Giving up, you closed your eyes and breathed through the paralyzing pain. Awareness did nothing to make the pain lessen, if anything it made you more upset and angry with each hot-knife stabbing the knuckles in your marked hand. It was swollen now, an ugly shade of dull purple, reds, and browns shifting beneath the sickeningly black thorns of the curse.

“Clearing it, clearing it, clearing-”

All the voices around you were a confusing concert, mixed together in one deep buzz. If the curse was in fact going away, someone was going to have to tell you. It all felt the same.

Another moment of foolishness, performing a spell you had no business trying to do. Silly to think you were powerful at all. And you deserved this suffering. You had stolen something that didn’t belong to you, broke it, and now it’s only fair that your connection to Sabo shattered alongisde the amulet of life.

Maybe Law should leave and take Ace with him. Searching in your mind’s eye, it was all bright red thorns and mental screaming. A crimson cage. You reached out and tried to prick your spirit, but there was no blood- no flesh to break. The thorns pushed back around your form, falling away when you tried to take hold of a branch, but not allowing any movement.

“This is a safe place. All magic is welcome here. This is a safe space. All magic is welcome here,” Law chanted, running your fingers through his, massaging his thumb over your hand in rhythmic circles.

“Safe, safe, safe…” You could hear the others repeat.

Someone was still holding your head still. Another body firmly held you down on the bed. The room was shielded in a blood red darkness, you were unable to tell whether or not your eyes were open at all, only swaying like an uneven, angry tide. Nausea, like a gray cloud on the bright, hot pain, showered every sense.

At first someone resisted against your attempt to sit up, but when you horked and heaved, you were free from the boy’s hold.

“I banish your curse and protect the coven from further harm,” Law continued.

At least you’d managed to make it over the bed, you think, before the gurgling rage in your stomach erupted from you. Shame crawled in, there wasn’t food or water to expel- only evidence of selfish debauchery splashed off the bed.

Sharp burning pangs splintered across your bones while holding yourself up and you sobbed, falling back. A towel scrapped across your face and chest, tears and the smell of stomach acid crowding your nose.

“I’m sorry,” you rasp, twilight dappling through blackened vision every once in a while.

“Shhhhh, shhhh,” Zoro whispered in your ear.

“Banish it. Banish it… Banish this curse,” Luffy murmured low along with Law.

You turned the mind’s eye inward again, trying to muster up the energy to examine the red thorns surrounding your spirit. Bright orange light pierced through the gaps. What looked like fingers, they were made of fire- multiple sets of fiery hands ripped away at your thorny prison. Your spirit collapsed to it’s knees and watched them work.

In the short step back into flesh, a tightness in your chest greeted you, but not a thousand knives tearing at your arms. Your heart was pounding, the smell of antiseptic and smoke overpowering everything.

The sound of metal screaming. The crackling of fire as the red thorns were ripped to shreds and a crowd of shadowed figures stood over your spirit.

Machines beeping, electricity whirring, cold water splashing all over the sink. You’d been stuck in a cage of thorns, only to find yourself trapped in a burning car, the seatbelt melted into your clothes.

You shrieked and howled, lifting off the bed and ripping your hand out of Law’s grip, scrambling to the corner, finding the door and tearing it open and running. Your legs were impossibly light, sounds of alarm blowing past your ears as you dashed past.

The front door of the cabin burst open and you leapt into a puddle of moonlight, reaching up, fresh hot tears burning your cheeks. The mark angry and hissing in your mind, a last dying breath.

“Please, please, please, make it stop! Take what you must, just let me go!” You gasped, vision spotting black again.

Like a pinch that started dull and made itself sharper until the pain broke, the mark began to dissolve from your broken flesh. Hazy black rivulets snaked from your hand into the bitter cold moon’s sky.

On your knees, a wave of heat pinched the feeling back through gnarled knuckles. You couldn’t even muster a groan, your throat raw twice over. A heavy door slammed from behind, and you didn’t bother to look back before a thick plaid blanket was thrown over your shoulders.

Gingerly you clutched at the quilt with the good hand, then the marked one. The only thing you could see now was the landscape of scorn marred across your broken hand. You didn’t care anymore, pulling the blanket tight around your shivering frame despite protests from your muscles.

“C’mon girly,” Dadan’s deep, raspy voice rolled down to your fetal form.

A long, silvery yowl sang from the mountains. You could hear Dadan’s boots scrape the gravel and the click of her lips. Your vision confused the moonlight with fussy gray haze, and then blackness.

“Best not to find out what that is,” She said, lifting you up and ragdolling you back into the cabin.

The howls went on, earnest and slow.

Run to me. Be free. Free. Free.

-

Periwinkle ocean waves filled your mind’s eye as you woke up gently for the first time in what had to be ages. You wouldn’t have described it as the best sleep, something like waking up renewed from an extra nasty hangover-induced nap. Gold sparkles dotted the ceiling as you blinked awake.

Your bones felt like they were buried in sand. Even if you wanted to move, your body refused any attempt to do more than feel across the stretch of empty mattress.

Then your eyes shot open. The room was quiet and mostly dark. Luffy’s starry sky surrounding the corner of the ceiling where your head was laid, having waned from filling the whole room.

Nausea returned in a band of discomfort in your chest and a migraine thrumming below the brow. It felt like abandonment, rejection. Where did the others go? Where was Ace?!

The room focused in a blurry storm. All this trouble and the last thing you’d wanted was to be alone with your thoughts.

Your throat was parched and hunger knocked against your gut that made the vertigo in your head whirl faster, more unstable. And you wretched, not even making it all the way over the side of the bed this time.

As you shook off the expulsion, a firm three knocks on the door was the only warning before a flash of violet clouds burst and disappeared in a half second, replaced by Law’s towering form. His neutral RBF didn’t crack as he examined the scene, amber eyes searching.

When he stepped across the room and reached over, you balked back, an involuntary warning snarl rumbling in your chest. He paused, placing a bundle on the ground, and took a seat beside it, sitting back on his heels, palms flat on his thighs. And we waited, eyes pinned to you.

No more pain.

For the first time, you cautiously examined your right hand. Still bruised, almost like it’d been burned a week ago and the skin was still blistered and peeling. But the black thorns were gone. The distinct feeling of eyes glued to the back of your skull was gone. And you relaxed your shoulders, finally seeing Law’s bundle of medical supplies, offering your hand out to him.

“Thieves curse,” he said, gingerly holding your hand and getting a closer look at it. You chose to stay silent, only nodding in acknowledgment. “I don’t know how, but the amulet was bound to the hospital,” he went on, rubbing a jelly that smelled of aloe over the cracked skin. It was uncomfortable, but a welcome cooling sensation. His brows knit together then; “which doesn’t make sense- I don’t know how you were able to take the amulet away without being hurt sooner.”

Your hackles raised at that, and his grip tightened around your hand.

“Making this,” you lowered your chin at the injury, “sound like it was inevitable. Why would it be?”

“I just said it was cursed,” Law replied, beginning to wrap white cotton strips around your hand, limiting mobility with each turn of his wrist.

“Yeah but I wouldn’t have thought it was precious enough to be cursed, you know?”

Law didn’t even look down at his work, his eyes piercing through you as much as your words. “Y/N… you really thought a charmed gem with the power to bring back life wasn’t protected on a military base?” He shook his head just saying those words, making you shrink two sizes.

“I- I don’t know. It was so easy to steal,” you said under your breath, not so much to Law as to yourself.

Law smirked at that, tucking his thumb in and finishing the thick bandage wrap on your hand, which rendered it unusable.

“Anyway, somehow the amulet’s curse was activated upon breaking instead of leaving the boundaries of the hospital.”

You remembered it, hardly a place of healing and more of prison cell. Nothing felt magical about it at all, which made taking the amulet of life easy. You’d told yourself that’s why it was easy to find. That it sought magical kin, that it wanted to be found. It had wanted to serve your purpose.

And now you’re left with two broken gems, still wondering-

“Where’s Ace?!” You gasped, ripping your hand away and stumbling from the bed. Freezing wood met bare feet, making you hiss. Your legs gave out and you fell into Law’s side.

“He’s here,” Law grumbled, holding you firm and pushing you back into bed.

“No, no, no I have to see him!” You croaked over the harsh, bitter burn in the back of your throat.

“Can’t you stop making trouble for once?!”

His statement bit.

“Fuck off,” you said scowling and carefully left the bed. He rolled his eyes, clicking his tongue as he moved to leave. Finding the first set of sweats available, you stared daggers at Law’s back as you struggled to put them on.

After waiting some time, telling yourself that you wanted to give Law time to get as far as possible- but really, your were gathering yourself physically and mentally to leave the bedroom. You looked around, the three old creaky beds put together and shoved against the corner took up less than half the floor of the dark, dusty space. It must have felt enormous to the boys when they were kids. You made out dozens of scars in the wood floor and the uneven surface of the wall where it had to have been patched over previously. Some of the work much poorer looking than other larger holes.

No wonder Sabo was so handy.

Reaching out through the heart strings, they were still weak and hung slack, thin and blowing back with each exhale of breath. You quietly left the room, hearing Zoro’s snore echoing down the hall. It felt selfish not to check in on them, but you felt guilty for denying your coven any rest after the summoning ritual. So you resolved to leave them be, stealing the opportunity to wander the cabin.

Bright orange light washed over as you stepped down the stairs to the open basement. The smell of soot and sex permeated the air still, goosebumps tickled your skin with leftover magic.

Sitting in a wicker chair, back to the windows and his face cast in shadow, Ace was crouched in half, leaning deep on his elbows, hands clasped together. The creaking wood beneath your feet announced your approach, and he remained frozen in place, staring down.

The warmth radiated from his bare back like wings sunlight. He looked healthy, his skin bright, clean like he’d risen from a cauldron of fine neroli oil. The sweet scent of orange blossoms and pear met your nostrils, like it poured out of him on each breath.

“Ace?”

“Where did you go?” He muttered. You had to crane your neck to see what was in his hands. Cracked glass in burned plastic, broken straps dangling between his fingers.

“I-” you sat in the chair beside him, “I never left. I’ve been here.”

“That’s not true, Y/N, you were with me,” he looked up and met your gaze, amber earnestness pleading with you.

“What do you mean I was with you? I’ve been here this whole time,” you reached for his wrist, he was real. Firm, slick flesh, chilly to the touch- the winter chill made the room freezing. How was he always too hot, no matter the weather?

“No, you were here. Then you were gone! We searched everywhere…”

“What do you mean by ‘here’ Ace? I’ve been- I-”

His face fell, jaw clenched, not arguing anymore. A cloud of frustration shaded his glare.

“I didn’t die, Ace…”

His lips thinned and he looked away from you, his stare fixed on the old water heater, the stones with his name etched all over them like an obsessive diary page.

“That’s what the others said,” Ace stood up, and you could see the small collection of his beads pressed into the seat cushion. He clenched his googles tight and walked to the gate. “They said I was brought back to life.”

You perked up a bit, trying to hide the pride in your chest. The ritual worked. Ace was standing before you, breathing the same bitter air as you. But confusion twisted your features. You cocked your head to the side as he continued;

“But I didn’t die, Y/N,” his thumb ran over the burned strap. “You did.”

The pause screamed with the whirr of electricity running through the cabin, sound scratching at the sense of power beginning to return to you. Spreading your arms out, Ace immediately stepped into your space and let you hold him, resting his forehead on your shoulder.

“I’m right here. I’m real. This is real. And I’m not going anywhere,” you said softly, fingers stroking thick locks of feathery black hair. His skin smelled of life, bones strong and blood pumping hot- but his breath smelled sour right under your nose. Like something ripe, harvested far too late. He sniffed harshly.

“You’re different,” the words were muffled behind slobber and wet skin, followed by his distinctly too loud snore.

You fell back as Ace crumbled, plummeting both of you into the wicker chair, and hearing it snap and whine under the combined weight. While he slumbered, you sent trace magic along his veins, you’d begun to learn the basic idea for the landscape of vessels and nerves inside the body. It was like following dense highways from countless cities stacked on top of each other. And every once in a while you were able to find your way inside and back out.

Ace had said you were different. But he was an anomaly. Where every body part was woven together neatly on anyone else- his veins stuttered and stair stepped into tangled messes. It was like he’d been stitched back together, quickly and carelessly.

Footsteps clattered from the staircase, and you looked up to find one of the older uncles staring like a deer caught in the headlights. His eyes glued to Ace’s back. He could have been any young man, but the tattoo emblazoned across his shoulder blades was unmistakable.

Before you could say a word, the uncle scampered back up the stair case, leaving you in the sunrise with a sleepy Ace for a while. His breathing was uneven, his snores closer to wheezing and whining, his hands pawing at your clothes. Normally he slept like a stone during his sudden naps, but now he’s as fidgety and restless as he acts when he’s awake.

Much heavier, slower footfalls come down the staircase this time. Dadan stood in the entrance, tears carving twin red rivers over her cheeks.

She glided through the basement and sat on the bench beside you, taking Ace in her arms. Holding an adult man like a small child against her giant frame. She tucked her head into his hair and inhaled deep, squeezed him tight, fingers digging into freckled skin. Ace honked a loud snore in her ear and she grimaced.

“Wake up, idiot boy! Haven’t you slept enough?!” She yelled, shaking him by the shoulders, his head snapping back and forth, spit flying in her face.

“Hungh- Dadan, just one more hour please…” Ace muttered, eyes still closed and trying to wriggle from her grasp.

“Like hell I’m letting you-” She grumbled, forcing one of his eye lids open and making him snort.

“Alright, alright old bag,” he replied, shifting in a more comfortable position in her lap and wrapping his arms around her.

“Old bag? Hmph,” she returned the hug, fresh tears flowing. “Wait until you get to my age.”

Your head snapped up. But for a moment you were just a fly on the wall. Finally resting in the anxiety of witnessing. Time set back in motion now that your hand was off the wheel.

“You’ll still be an old bag,” he says, face buried deep in her chest.

She snorted, hugging Ace tighter, rocking him back and forth. “I should never let you out of my sight again, ungrateful troublemaker you.”

It was your fault he was gone in the first place. You were the one who should have kept him safe. And then it clicked. You-

Life taker, hands aflame.

Spider queen, puppet master of her web.

Conductor, ordering a man back to this world.

It’s you who will protect him, as soon as he joins the coven.

-

Resolute in your decision to bring Ace into the fold, you kept dutiful watch over him whilst unable to pull a string. It will be easier when you can detect him from afar. Simpler to show him the power woven into your skin and consume him body and soul.

When you weren’t stealing glances at him in the cabin and on the journey home, he appeared in your dreams, rolling around the forest floor, over and under you, his taste like sweet reds and aromatic as ripe fruit.

Ace had gone back to being silent. Eating enough to compete with Luffy, the greed in the black of his eye a familiar flare- if not for his new habit to tear meat to shreds and swallow it without chewing first. He’d let Luffy steal his scraps, preoccupied with the juiciest bites, grease running down his chin and fingers, coating his chest and arms without a care in the world.

This was your rejuvenated Ace. Returned to the realm of the living where you could only guess there must not have been endless meat and drink like Luffy had imagined. He was eating enough to make up for lost time. Not that it appeared he needed it, his body as beautiful as the day you let him go.

He made eye contact with you as his jaw wrapped around a deer shank, his glare going dark. It made you straighten up in the chair, a wave of interest washing over your center. Syrup and grease dripped down your neck as you watched him carelessly.

Without warning, Luffy shoved his mouth in the crevice of your neck and wiped the sweet savory mix from your skin. His nose explored more of you, blatantly declaring his interest and starting to run his hand up the back of your loose sleep shirt.

Cutlery clattered on a plate across from you two, a plate piled high with half eaten morsels in front of Ace. He wiped himself clean with a napkin, not bothering to look your way, and darted from the table.

In the corner of your eye, you caught Law’s auric glower. And you flexed your right hand, popping the knuckles slowly over sweet release from aching stiffness.

Later in on the morning, your motley crew finally decided to leave Dadan’s home- there was only so much time Zoro and Sabo could be away from the fire station. And even death was no longer a guarantee, bills and taxes still needing tending to.

Around midday, as the boys loaded up the truck, trying to figure out logistics of not one but two extra people in tow, you cornered Law at the side of the cabin. He backed into the wooden wall, an amused look winking down at you.

“Coven’s over there, sweetheart,” He teased between sharp teeth.

“But you’re still here, Law. Why?” You asked, not interested in this game. But perhaps the push and pull of power between you two was no longer just play.

“Simple. I want to see what happens next.”

Your face screwed up. “Why did you help me?”

Law cocks his head, never losing that smug look you wanted to smack off. “You asked for me, Y/N.”

“Yeah… and you answered. How-” how did he hear you? How did he know to come? How does he know exactly where to find you every time? Is there any hiding from him, should there be reason to?

“We’re connected,” Law’s voice cuts in.

And you stare back, eventually groaning and with a sigh say, “that’s all?”

“It’s all I can say,” his shoulders hike up, his shadow creeping higher up the cabin wall, and you sighed deeply, hands scraping down your face.

“I just want to understand, Law. You don’t want to join my coven. But you and I both know that you need me. Why keep me in the dark?”

“Well, I can’t join your coven, Y/N. I’m already in one.”

You stepped back dumbstruck, like a proper idiot. Of course he was spoken for. Of course his interests lied elsewhere- for some reason waking up your powers was helping him pass the time. A pit of disgust sprouted in your chest as you counted up all the times you’d wanted his help. There was never a moment of kindness or genuine interest, you were all too happy to stroke his ego- too distracted by your own desire for power to notice how stupid he’s made you look.

Whatever else he wanted- you weren’t going to hang around long enough to find out. You stepped away, head held high, a deep frown set in your features. You pulled on the strings connected to Luffy and he came zipping up to your side in an instant.

“Law rides with your group, and I’ll make it up to you later, my love,” you said, overhearing a guffaw from behind.