One Piece: Never Alone

One Piece © Oda

Blizzard is mine

Summary- Two weeks after the war, Luffy and Blizzard are brought to Amazon Lily by Trafalgar Law. Luffy is heartbroken over the death of his brother, Ace, and, believing that he is too weak to protect the people that he holds dear to him, is thinking about giving up his dream King of the Pirates. Perhaps a certain wolf-dog can help him out of his slump.

A cloudy afternoon on the Calm Belt. The seagulls squawked as they glided along the smooth surface of the sea. There was not even a gust of wind.

On Amazon Lily, the Island of Maidens, Trafalgar Law of the Heart Pirates and his crew had docked at the Eastern Coast.

It had been two weeks since the war at Marine Headquarters, and it was a long, hard battle, indeed. It was even enough to take its toll on one of Law's current patients.

Inside Law's submarine, Monkey D. Luffy lay asleep, his entire body, excluding his face, wrapped up in bandages. Sleeping in the bed with him was his loyal, faithful companion, "White Wolf" Blizzard, his body also wrapped up in bandages.

Blizzard had recovered from his injuries from the war days ago, but he lays here, asleep by his master's side, praying for him to wake up soon…just as Luffy had done for him when they met.

During the war, Luffy and Blizzard had gone into battle together in the attempt to rescue the former's older brother, Portgas D. Ace from execution. In the struggle, Blizzard had taken several arrows in the back for Luffy, as well as suffered a broken tail, and, in spite of his wounds, the loyal wolf-dog pushed himself further to protect Luffy from further danger.

Once Ace was free, he, Luffy, and Blizzard had attempted to escape together, posthaste, but alas…fate had other plans.

One of the 3 Admirals, Akainu, attacked, and Ace, to protect his brother, threw himself in the way, resulting in his death…and Luffy going into a mental collapse.

Now, two weeks later, they were here, resting.

Suddenly, Blizzard felt movement from under his paws, causing him to awaken.

Luffy's eyes opened, slowly, and the very first thing he sees is his beloved dog. A soft, tired smile appeared upon his face.

"Hey, Blizzard," Luffy whispered. His voice sounded hoarse with exhaustion.

Blizzard panted and wagged his bandaged tail happily before he lightly licked Luffy's face, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"I'm happy to see you, too, boy," said Luffy as he gently pet the wolf-dog before he huffed out a sigh. "Man, I had the scariest dream," he said before he looked to Blizzard. "And you were in it, and Jimbei, and Buggy, and that old guy, and Ace-" he stopped when he reached Ace's name, and his eyes widened.

Ace, he thought.

Blizzard suddenly dropped his ears.

Somehow, he had a gut-wrenching feeling that something bad was about to happen.

Uh-oh… he thought to himself. Not good!

XXX

BOOOOM~!

Luffy suddenly came crashing out of the submarine, screaming like a madman.

"AAAAACE~!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "WHERE ARE YOU~?!"

He ran into the forest, destroying every rock and tree in his path. For a moment, he stopped, but when he took a look at his hand, he started to scream and run amok, again, crushing rocks and smashing trees.

Blizzard was hiding behind one of the stumps to avoid his one-man stampede. He couldn't even get close to Luffy without the boy trying to kill him!

Luffy bashed his bandaged skull against a boulder, shattering into small pebbles.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" he screamed as he continued his rampage. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD, RIGHT NOW! LEAVE ME ALONE~! AAAAARRRRRGH!"

Luffy suddenly fell to his hands and knees, panting heavily.

All of a sudden, Jimbei appeared, his chest and stomach wrapped in bandages.

"Stop, Luffy!" he called to the boy. "Listen to me. The war is over! And…your brother-"

"SHUT UP, JIMBEI!" cried Luffy. "Just…don't say it…okay? I know…if this were a nightmare, I would've woken up by now, but I didn't! I pinched my cheek so hard, it actually started to bleed!"

A pause came.

"I'm not dreaming…am I?" Luffy asked.

Just then…Luffy lifted his head, revealing his eyes flooded to the brim with tears and a runny nose.

"Ace…" he sobbed. "He's gone…isn't he?!"

Jimbei and Blizzard's eyes widened.

"Yes," Jimbei answered. "Ace is dead…"

Another pause came, and it appeared longer than the last…before…

"BWWWAAAAAAAAAHH~!" Luffy shrieked, tears cascading from his eyes. "AAAAAACE~!"

Blizzard's eyes began to well up with tears as he watched the brokenhearted Luffy sob. He knew that pain of losing someone that he loved all too well.

Luffy… he thought.

"It's not fair," Luffy hissed, sadly. "First I lost Sabo…now I lose, Ace, too!"

Sabo? Blizzard repeated in thought.

"Who's Sabo?" asked Jimbei.

"My other brother," Luffy answered through his tears. "Well…it's like this…"

And so, Luffy explained his past to Blizzard and Jimbei, from the day his grandfather left him with the bandit, Dadan, to how he met Ace and Sabo, how they became brothers by will and not by blood, about Bluejam and his pirate crew, to Sabo's supposed death at the hands of a Celestial Dragon, to Luffy and Ace training themselves to become stronger, to the day Luffy had begun his first voyage to become King of the Pirates.

However, once the story was told, Luffy continued his lamenting.

"King of the Pirates!" he cried. "Yeah, right! As if that'll ever happen! I can't protect Sabo, I can't protect Ace…I can't protect anybody! I'm…SO WEAK~!"

Blizzard felt his heart stop.

Never before had he seen Luffy ever doubt himself like this.

This was too much to bear. He didn't know how, but Blizzard felt like he had to do something…anything to help Luffy.

But what could he do?

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Blizzard's legs began to move on their own accord, walking toward the self-pitied Luffy.

"Blizzard," Jimbei called to the wolf-dog. "What are you doing?"

Blizzard turned to the Fishman, his eyes looking deep and intent. At that moment, Jimbei seemed to understand what the wolf-dog was going to do.

"I see," he said, nodding in understanding. "Go on, then. Do what you must."

Blizzard nodded back before he continued to slowly approach Luffy, who continued to sob and pound his fist into the dirt, repeating to himself, "I'm weak. I'm weak!"

The wolf-dog stopped in front of the weeping Luffy. At first, he was still like a statue, his gaze down on his master, before he lowered his head to the point where his nose touched Luffy's forehead, and then gently lifted it up so that Luffy was looking at him, face-to-face.

There was a long, eerie silence. The tension in the atmosphere was so thick, you could cut it with a butter knife. Jinbe looked on, wondering what Blizzard was going to do.

Blizzard slowly opened his mouth, and at that point, Jimbei thought he was going to bite Luffy, but then…

SLLLUUUURP! Blizzard gave Luffy a big, wet, slobbery kiss, and then came something else that was completely unexpected.

Luffy…laughed.

He laughed like he was the same goofy kid he always was, as if Ace's death and all the events that took place before…never happened.

"Blizzard!" cried Luffy as he embraced the wolf-dog.

Jimbei seemed surprised at first, but then he made a smile of his own.

Luffy sighed as he gently stroked the fur along Blizzard's back.

"Well," he began, "at least I still have you, right?"

Blizzard nuzzled Luffy in the back of his neck and wagged his tail happily.

Just then, Luffy's eyes widened as realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

"You know what else, Blizzard?" he asked the wolf-dog. "I still have the others, too…!"

Blizzard's smile grew wider.

That's it, he thought. That's all I wanted to hear.

Blizzard suddenly felt Luffy's body began to shake again, and he felt his fur dampen with tears…but he knew that these were not the bitter tears of self-pity. Oh, no.

These tears…were the sweet tears of joy.

"That's right, boy," Luffy sobbed in the wolf-dog's shoulder. "The others are still out there!"

Jimbei crossed his arms as he sat himself down on the ground.

"Finally," he whispered. "Something precious is still waiting for him."

Luffy looked Blizzard in the eye, happy tears running down his cheeks.

"What do you say, Blizzard?" he asked. "How's about we go back and meet up with them, right now?"

ARRROOOOOOO~! Blizzard let out a long howl, showing approval of Luffy's decision.

ARRROOOOOO~! Luffy raised his head and gave a long howl of his own.

Luffy may have lost his brothers, and his crew may be separated, but it was clear that as long as he had Blizzard by his side…then he was never truly alone.

THE END

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