Warnings: AU, Vampire!Ace, Little!Luffy, violence, fluff

Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda. I only own the plot.

The Journey Home: The Day We Met, the Day He Learned to Care

Living for 750 years had made Ace numb to life. He had long gotten over how things changed since to him, it seemed as though nothing changed. He believed it was the same things over and over again. Then again, it might just be him criticizing humans. As a fire wielding vampire, and the son of Gol D. Roger, he would have a hate for the people who wanted him dead for who and what he was for his whole life.

His home with the Whitebeard's and he was the head of the Second Division. The large purple and white tattoo spread across his back was his pride and joy. Edward Newgate was the only man who he would ever call father. Marco, Thatch and Sabo had become his closest brothers within the enormous group of vampires.

All Ace wanted to do right now was return to them. He had just finished a mission, killing off a man who should've died long ago. He watched expressionlessly as the man's corpse burst into flames before sighing. This man had committed awful atrocities in their territories and on their ship and now he would no longer be able to harm their people. He turned on his heel and began to walk out of the destroyed town that once held humans. Ace, however, was numb to the destruction.

The town had not been big. There were maybe twenty houses, but they were all empty or destroyed now. Before Ace had reached the man, the man had gone on a massacre. The smell of blood was thick in the air and he had to hold back from bearing his fangs and sucking the blood out of every body there. He could feel his pupils dilating from the scent and eventually it became too much, even for him, and he had large amounts of control over his blood lust.

He turned around and walked to the closest body, a young woman who had been stabbed several times, sinking his fangs into the skin and drinking the rest of the blood. The blood provided a cooling sensation from the burning hunger clawing at his throat. The fresh blood of the girl who he could tell died only minutes before was something he craved

When he was done he stood and turned around again, wiping his face with his arm, but stopped in his tracks upon seeing a young child staring up at him. The child grinned at him, despite the blood covering Ace's face. Ace merely snorted and sidestepped him, not caring for the small human in front of him. He began to walk away, intent on leaving the village and the child to disappear into nothingness, but didn't get more than fifteen steps before he realized the kid was following him.

Ace discretely glanced behind him but the little kid somehow saw him and stopped in his tracks.

"Stay here, kid."

Ace began to walk forward again and for a few seconds, he didn't hear footsteps. He smiled as he continued on but then, the steps started again. He stopped in his own steps and then heard frantic running. He turned around and saw the kid hiding, rather badly, behind a barely there wall. Ace raised an eyebrow and spoke again.

"I said to stay here, kid. Don't follow me."

He began to walk again, slowly this time, and turned a corner. Sure enough, the footsteps began again and by the time the kid turned the corner, Ace was kneeling down at the child's eye level. The kid bumped into his knee and fell to the ground. Ace watched as he pulled himself up, wiping away some tears from his rough impact with the hard dirt, before he grinned at the older.

Ace assumed the kid was maybe three years old. He was a small kid and he was covered in dirt, mud, bruises and scratches. He didn't smell all that pleasant either, but Ace just chalked it up to the kid being outside for a long time. His feet were bare and all he wore were tattered shorts and a shirt that obviously belonged to an adult as it trailed behind him, the shirt ends covered in dirt and the sleeves covering the kids' hands. Three buttons of the shirt were buttoned but none of them were in the right holes. Ace could see through the large gaps in the space between buttons and saw that the toddler's ribs were poking out and his complexion was far too pale for a young human. He also had a scar, fairly new, under his left eye. Despite his bad condition, he grinned widely up at the elder. Ace sighed.

"I told you to stay, didn't I?" He allowed his eyes to turn red and his fangs to come out once more and growled at the child, hoping to scare him away. He realized it wouldn't work when the kid just giggled and poked his tooth like it was a toy. Ace blinked in shock before sighing and running a hand through his own wavy black hair, shoving his hat onto his back in the process.

Dusk was descending on the town. The sky was a dark red, almost purple, and Ace could tell the toddler could barely see him. Ace could see him perfectly, however, and tried to talk to him. "What's your name?" The child just looked up at Ace curiously before smiling. Ace frowned. "Kid, what's your name?" The toddler just giggled and mimed Ace, opening and closing his mouth and making several indistinct sounds. Ace realized it was gibberish and he sighed. "You don't understand me do you?" The toddler laughed again and Ace's frown deepened.

This kid seemed innocent and pure. Ace didn't know if he had a family or if they had been killed off in the massacre. He had originally planned to leave the kid there but now had his doubts. It was rare for him to feel anything for humans, but something about this kid…he was different.

A small finger poked his nose. Ace looked down at the giggling kid and gave a small smile before poking the young human on the forehead. The child stumbled slightly but Ace quickly caught him before he could fall. He stood, lifting the child into his arms and ruffling the young human's hair. "I don't know why I'm doing this, but I'm going to take you back to my home," Ace mumbled to the younger. Suddenly he heard a strange grumbling sound that he hadn't heard in years and stared at the human as the boy poked his own stomach with wonder. Ace sighed and shifted him to a more comfortable position. "My name is Ace. We'll figure out what to call you later. For now, let's go get some food, alright?" The human laughed and clutched Ace's cloak in his small hands as the elder began to walk.

Ace realized that he needed to teach the younger how to speak. He also needed to give him a name. But Ace had no idea what to call him and resorted to calling him squirt for now until he thought of an appropriate name for the toddler.

After a week, however, the child looked up when he said one word with recognition in his eyes. He had been pointing out random things about their surroundings to try and get the kid to connect words to things. That was how kids learned apparently, at least according to Thatch. Ace repeated every word in the sentence until he realized what word it was.

"Fluffy?" When Ace said that, he had been describing some animals in the woods to Luffy to help him connect words and hopefully learn to speak. The young child grinned and Ace hummed in thought.

"Luf!" The toddler tugged on Ace's shirt as he spoke. Thinking back on it, he made that sound often whenever he babbled. Ace thought for several moments. The boy knew that word and he responded to it, but he didn't want to use the word fluffy to describe the toddler. Still, he needed some way to get his attention.

"Luffy?" He glanced at the young human who smiled up at him, tugging at his shirt happily. Ace gave a small smile back before moving the child closer in his arms. "Alright, Luffy it is."

"Alright, now you're dressed properly…somewhat properly," Ace mumbled the last part as he pulled his hands away from Luffy. The human was dressed in a new pair of shorts Ace had managed to snag from a clothesline in the village they had passed. They were large on him, but with a random piece of cloth, he was able to tie a belt around the boy's waist. He also had to roll up the bottoms of the shorts. He was planning to grab some shoes in the next since he couldn't find any where he had snatched the clothes. He had put one of his shirts on the boys' small frame and rolled up the sleeves so his hands could have some freedom. Ace had ripped the bottom off so he wouldn't trip, but it still went past his knees.

Luffy laughed, causing Ace to smile, before he ran off down the path. Ace stood and followed Luffy as the child ran around. When he heard rustling, he looked behind him with narrowed eyes. Seeing and hearing nothing, he turned back to Luffy, only for his eyes to widen and his mouth to open.

Luffy was gone, and a big bear stood in his place.

While Ace proceeded to kill every large animal that crossed his path looking for Luffy, wondering since when he began to care so much, said toddler was standing behind a tree and staring up at some men. They were dressed in black garb with swords and knives at their sides. They seemed to be arguing about the shiny gold stuff Luffy saw in their wagon. But what caught Luffy's eye was the red beaded necklace that was hanging off of the end of the wagon.

Without trying to be sneaky at all, Luffy ran past the arguing men, who still hadn't noticed his presence despite his tripping and stumbling, and got into the wagon. However, to do this, he had climbed on a block in front of the wheel and when he was over the wagon's edge, he had tipped it over.

Only when the wagon was heading down the hill that the men had stupidly put it on did the five realize that their wagon was missing. Luffy heard the men's shocked screams as he picked up the red beaded necklace and put it on. It was much too big for him, but he liked the color. An idea of what to do popped into his head and he looked around for the man caring for him, only to pout when he wasn't there.

The wagon bounced, causing Luffy to fall on his butt, and that was when he realized the wagon was moving. Luffy grinned and began to laugh as he put his hands in the air, squealing in joy as the wagon went down the hill.

He happened to pass Ace, whose eyes widened even more as he gaped. "Luffy?!" He yelled as he, along with the men, began to run after the wagon. He turned to the men next to him, easily recognized them as bandits, and tripped one, knocking them all over. He laughed to himself as they rolled down the hill, all running into trees, before he sprinted after Luffy and the wagon, which had somehow missed every single tree.

Ace paled a little when he saw the huge rock it was about to go over. He began to run even faster when everything in the wagon began to spill out as it flipped in the air, including Luffy. He jumped off of the rock and into the air, arms raised, and caught the young boy before falling to the ground, rolling a few times before coming to a stop.

Loud childish laughter filled his ears as Ace sat up and he glared at the toddler sitting on his stomach. Luffy giggled, hands over his mouth, before his eyes light up in remembrance. Ace watched as Luffy took his necklace off and slid it over Ace's head. Ace blinked at the red, beaded necklace with slight shock at the fact the child gave it to him before looking at the boy's big smile. Ace smiled back and hugged the boy with a "Thank you." It had been a long time since a human made him feel that happy, and he found he didn't mind the feeling.

AN: I know it hasn't been long, but I'm back! I already kind of know where this story is going, and I hope you guys are going to enjoy it. Not much happens this chapter, but next chapter will have more to it. Also, this chapter is very important, and you'll see why later on.

Anyway, thank you for reviewing! Please leave a review! I'd like to know what you guys think of this so far (even though it's only chapter one). Also, if you see any spelling/grammar errors or anything of the sort, please tell me!