Official Summary: Everyone knows not to go into the forest, especially after the sun sets. That's when the wolves and monsters come out to prowl. So when Marco finds himself Thatch, Zoro, Nami, and Ussop lost in the forest watching the sun set he realizes they're all in serious trouble. Thankfully they stumble across a cabin belonging to three brothers; the ever polite Sabo, the unfriendly Ace and Luffy the youngest brother who always wears a red hood. Together the three of them hunt the creature while keeping a massive secret. Marco starts to wonder if maybe he was safer with the wolves. Hunter, Vampire, Werewolfs. + Extremely Possessive Ace. Based loossley on Red Riding Hood story

(Please bear with the start I promise Luffy/Ace/Sabo come in soon)

Marco was not having a good day! It had started when he woke up late and generally went downhill from there. Now as he sat on the crowded bus besides his best friend Thatch he doubted it was about to get better.

For one thing they were headed straight into the Forrest, as in full of wolves Forrest. The same place that was responsible for over fifty disappearances from the city last year alone. The school had taken every possible precaution of course. Mainly it was midmorning, all the wolves are sleeping, along with whatever else lived there. They would be long gone before the sun even considered setting. There were also six heavily armed guards ready to put holes through anything that so much as moved.

It was a tradition of sorts at their school. No one could graduate without first venturing to the Forrest. Typically this was completed in their first year but both Marco and Thatch had unwittingly missed that day. Thus now in their final year they were crammed onto a bus packed with noisy freshmen headed straight for the most dangerous place in the entire city.

There were nervous shrikes as the Forrest came into view. Marco and Thatch exchanged glances, it looked like a normal Forrest to them, certainly not a place full of murderous creatures.

"I heard the wolves are having a turf war with vampires." Thatch told him.

Marco just rolled his eyes. "That's ridiculous. There are no such things as vampires and they certainly wouldn't be having a territory dispute with a bunch of overgrown wolves, this isn't West Side Story.

"If you say so." Thatch added wistfully as they fell into silence.

Despite the general atmosphere of fear in the bus Marco wasn't worried. The school did this every year and no one had ever died. It was so well controlled they might as well go to a sandbox instead and pretend to dig for fossils.

"I need all of you to remain with your groups at all times, each group will be assigned a guard who will guide you throughout the Forrest. If, heavens forbid, you ever lose sight of your guard you each have whistled that can be heard for up to two miles. I will have no funny business, is that clear?" Their teacher demanded. "Most of all you all must stay on the path! Don't stray."

The terrified freshmen nodded, their eyes wide with fear. Marco snorted, why did everyone even have a whistle if it was practically impossible to wonder off in the first place?

The bus lurched to a stop at the end of the dirt road as they all stumbled out. They weren't very deep into the Forrest at all.

He crossed his arms standing beside Thatch as their group slowly came over to join them. First was Ussop, and he had to physically stop himself from groaning. He was known as the boy who cried wolf at their school. He would get everyone up in arms alerting the town a wolf had wondered into the town limits only to laugh himself silly a few minutes later. But right now he didn't look much in the joking mood, he looked terrified. Apparently he didn't think real wolves were as funny as fake ones.

The next one to join was the red headed Nami, the prettiest girl in the freshmen year. The only problem was she knew it. The outfit she was dressed in didn't look near appropriate to wear to school, let alone the middle of the woods. Marco swore to himself right then and there that he wouldn't be the one to carry her if her high heels broke.

Last, and a huge relief to him was Zoro. Zoro was actually a junior and Marcos friend. Like the two seniors he had slept through the fieldtrip date and was now forced to make it up.

Their guard was a serious looking man from the Marines no doubt. He didn't say anything in lieu of putting bullets in his gun. He simply shrugged when he caught them staring.

"We're to meet back here in no later than three hours." Their teacher yelled at the departing groups.

"I feel like I'm back in Kindergarten." Marco said to Thatch dryly.

Unfortunately the guard overheard and flashed him a dark scowl. "Don't underestimate the Forrest, no matter how harmless in seems in the daylight. I promise you come nightfall it will turn into your worst nightmare."

He turned to address the group, "I've got three rules you need to follow; first, stay in direst sight of me at all times, I will not have anyone wonder off on my watch. Second, don't assume anything in the Forrest, no matter how innocent it seems if you see anything strange I expect you to tell me. Lastly, whatever you do, don't stray off the path. This place is impossible to navigate, if you get lost its doubtful even the search teams won't be able to find you."

None of the group looked that fazed except Ussop who looked like he was going to be sick.

"Can I go sit in the bus?"

"No." The guard told him, "Now let's get moving."

So they began to trudge through the woods following the overgrown hiking path. Despite everything Marco found himself enjoying it. He had never been to a real Forrest before and it was much different then he thought it would be. Ignoring the uptight armed guard it was quite relaxing. Birds and animals chirped happily from above and the sun streamed in lazily from between the trees. They even saw a tiny rabbit hop across their path. He was beginning to understand why the school made it mandatory for them to take this field trip.

Around noon they settled down by the stream to eat lunch, still the guard's attitude was starting to tug at him. What could their possibly be to worry about in broad daylight.

"Have you ever seen a wolf before mister?" Nami asked, her brown eyes full of fake innocence.

He glanced sharply at her before returning his eyes to the trees. "Yes, but I wouldn't recommend it too anyone else. It's the kind of thing you don't forget easily." He stood up, "We best be heading back."

"Is there something going on?" Thatch asked before he could stop himself, clearly he also had picked up on the guard's moods.

The guard stared at him as if deciding if he should tell them or not. "This stays between us," He caved reluctantly. "But the Marines advised the school to cancel this years trip. Against our better judgement they refused. They insisted it was a tradition and if they canceled it for the first time in fifteen years it would send the town into a frenzy."

"Why did the Marines want to cancel it?"

"The scouts have reported strange patterns in the wolves lately, there have been some sightings even in the day time. Although there haven't been any attack in weeks we are still concerned. It's almost as if their planning something."

"That's ridiculous, their animals, they aren't capable of creating plans…right?" Nami asked.

The man frowned as he swung his gun over his shoulder, "I don't know ma'am but if there's one thing I have learned it's don't underestimate this place. If I was to speak freely I would tell you that there are things here hidden in the darkest parts, things that we can't explain."

For the first time this entire day Marco felt a stab of fear. This place had the guard scared witless. Suddenly he wanted to be out of here as soon as possible.

"I have to go to the bathroom." Ussop wheezed clearly scared out of his wits by the confession.

The guard growled, as if the request was totally out of line. "Hold it."

"I don't think that an option sir."

"Fine," he growled, "But make it quick. You four stay put."

They watched him disappear with Ussop into the tree line, he was still close enough to shoot any approaching predators, which was a small comfort."

Marco lifted the whistle from his pocket inspecting it. He was starting to think that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea.

"My My, that man certainly is paranoid isn't he." A new voice broke out.

The four of them whipped around to face the stranger. He was tall and narrow with black hair, tan skin and grey eyes with dark circles under, it looked like he hadn't slept in quite some time. He was dressed in mostly dark colors looking more rebellious than anything else.

"Who are you?" Zoro demanded his eyes narrowing.

"No one." He assured them with a humorless laugh. "Now tell me, what are four children doing this deep in the Forrest, are you lost?" He looked delighted by the idea.

Marco looked desperately behind him for their guard, he really should be back by now. He hadn't gone far at all. This man was starting to scare him.

Without warning a gunshot rang out behind them, quickly accompanied by a yell. The group quickly spun around to where Ussop had just disappeared. They stared transfixed at the point, expected a wolf to tumble out of the bushes. But nothing happened.

Turning back around with a start they realized the man was gone, nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell was that?" Nami panicked running her fingers through her hair. "What just happened?"

'If I was to speak freely I would tell you that there are things here hidden in the darkest parts, things that we can't explain.' The man's words ran through Marcos head as he quickly got up. "We need to go, now."

"What about the others?"

"Their fine, they have a gun, unlike us."

"That did not sound fine to me." Nami said her voice rising to hysteria.

Marco sighed as he considered, in all honesty he had misjudged her. She was not the annoying bratty girl he pegged her to be. Instead she was willing to risk her life to save the others, which was far more then Marco had done.

"Fine," He said through clenched teeth. "But we need to keep it quick." They nodded in agreement as they set off running in the direction the two had disappeared. Making sure to keep the path in sight they continued forwards, no one dared to yell Ussop's name.

"We can't risk going any further." Marco said looking behind him. "We have to go back, they can send a search party ou…"

The bushes rustled stopping them from finishing their thought. They immediately drew together, Thatch clutching his shoulder so hard it felt like it was going to pop off.

Instead of the horrifying monster they were expecting Ussop flew out of the bushes, snot running down his noise. "You guys, we s-s-saw one, through the bushes." No one bothered to ask what 'one' he was referring to.

"Where's the guard?" Marco demanded his eyes narrowing. This was not looking good.

"I d-don't know. He st-st-stayed behind to fight it off. I think it got him."

"Run." Marco said not waiting for a further explanation, "Back to the trail NOW!"

Needing no further encouragement they took off back towards the trail which was just out of sight. But after a few minutes of running Marco heart began to fall. They should have found it by now, instead the terrain was looking more and more unfamiliar. The trees were growing closer together and the canopy above was getting thicker. Even the sounds of the birds seemed to be quieter.

"We're lost." He said finally coming to a stop. "WE'RE LOST." He repeated louder.

"That's impossible." Nami said, "The trail was right there."

"He warned us about this," Zoro said. "He told us it was easy to get lost in the Forrest, that's why he told us to stay on the path while he left, so we could guide him back."

"This can't be happening." Ussop said fearfully staring around at the trees. Without warning he took out his whistle blowing on it loudly.

"STOP IT!"

"Why not? This way they'll know where to find us."

"Not if the wolves find us first." Marco snapped, "And my bet is their much faster."

Before he could respond a howl broke out from somewhere in the Forrest. It was impossible to pick out the exact location but it seemed much too close for comfort.

"Run."

No one needed to be told twice as they blindly dashed through the increasingly dense thicket. They were so preoccupied with moving forwards they hardly noticed when the ground starting sloping sharply upwards. But Ussop did. He was by far the slowest of all of them and thus hung back a few meters, as his short legs refused to carry him any faster. Therefor he was the only one to shout out a warning at the approaching cliff in front of them. Unfortunately it came too late. They hurled over it as lightning speeds.

The last thing Marco saw was Ussop's horrified face, from the cliff edge as he watched them fall over it. And then he knew nothing else.

"Marco you have to get up."

"Marco, please be alright."

"YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP NOW?"

Marcos eyes flew open as he was harshly slapped. Thatches worried face materialized above him, and Marco instantly regretting waking up. Above his friends head he could see the sky that was reluctantly beginning to darken. How long had they been unconscious?

"We're going to die." He hissed as he desperately searched for the sun, but he couldn't find it above the tree tops."

"Don't talk like that." Zoro snapped as he helped Nami up from the ground. "Now let's start walking. I doubt were getting out the same way we came in." He gestured to the cliff face.

Remarkably they were mostly unhurt besides a few sprained fingers and many bruises. Luckily enough, the trees had caught their fall ensuring a soft landing. Despite how hopeless the situation was Marco couldn't find a good enough reason to sit here and wait to die horribly. So he silently agreed as they continued walking again.

The sky continued to darken, taking with it their last hopes of survival. Marco was just about to suggest they find someplace to hide for nighttime when they saw a small Cabin around a bend. It was small and run down but undeniably a human made establishment. Unlike their alien surroundings.

They approached it mindfully, on one hand ecstatic but also extremely cautious. When did anyone ever have time to build a cabin this deep in the Forrest? Marco raised his hand to try the doorknob but stopped when he recognized the brown substance coating it. His blood pounding in his ears as he instead knocked on the unstained part.

"What are you do….?" Zoro trailed off as the door opened.

Their stood a young black haired boy with a wide smile. His eyes were brown and innocent that went well with his carefree face. He was clothed in an oversized red sweatshirt and worn shorts.

"Hello!" He greeted them cheerfully.

Marco's mouth fell open as he stared at him. What the hell was a boy like this doing here without a care in the world in this creepy blood stained cabin in the middle of the Forrest?

"What are you doing here?" Thatch spoke his thoughts perfectly.

The boy tilted his head confused, "I live here."

"You're kidding right?"

Before he could answer a dark shape moved behind him, effectively slamming the door in their faces.

Their group froze unsure how to proceed. What had just happened?

"Ace stop it! Let go of me." The boy's voice floated out from the thin walls. He sounded more annoyed than in mortal danger.

A few minutes later the door flew open again, as the boy reappeared panting slightly. This time there was another figure there as well. He looked older, taller and more muscular. His hair was dark like Luffy's but his eyes were a light grey instead of brown. He was also shirtless, which was a little odd considering how nippy it was in the Forrest.

His grey eyes narrowed at them as he rested his chin on the younger boys black hair.

Marco watched with shock, nearly forgetting to speak. What was going on here? What were these two boys doing living here? Didn't they know the danger they were in?

"Who are you?"

"Luffy!" The boy said happily as behind him the teenager let out a low growl showing he was not pleased. He wrapped his arms around the younger ones waist possessively.

Luffy ignored him for the most part like this was completely normal. He seemed much more interested in them, probably with good reason as well.

"What are you doing here?" The older one spoke, his voice deep and a little intimidating despite the fact that he couldn't be any older then Marco.

"Were got separated from our class, something started chasing us and… our friends still in the woods. We need to find him."

"Your class is long gone." He replied with an amused snort as if he thought this was somehow funny.

With a sinking heart Marco realized he was right. They would have left long ago, despite the missing people. No doubt there was a search team combing the Forrest for them, even they would soon be leaving.

"Where's your friend?" Luffy asked earnestly.

"I don't know, somewhere on the cliff top, the last we saw of him." Even as Marco spoke he knew the situation was hopeless, Ussop was probably dead.

"Okay, let's go find him." Luffy said shrugging out of Ace's grip.

"Are you serious?"

"You want to find him right?" Luffy asked looking confused, "How will we do that without looking?" He reached over to a peg by the door and slung a cross-bow over his shoulder, grabbing a slightly bloodied bat with the other hand.

Was he for real? Their guard had a machine gun, what did this kid think a cross-bow and bat would accomplish?

The older teen crossed his arms and let out a small undistinguishable growl.

"It's fine?" He retorted back to the older. "I'll be back, just tell Sabo where I went."

Seemingly unsatisfied with that he leaned forwards and licked Luffy's cheek.

Luffy simply laughed in response and wiped the wet spot with his sleeve.

"Come on we have to hurry." He told them as he cut through their ragtag group leading the way.

They paused for a moment, the current situation still catching up to them. Nothing since they discovered the cabin seemed to make sense. But that probably wasn't important right now, if this boy claimed he could find Ussop then frankly he was their best bet. At the very least he seemed to live here, that must mean something right?

Marco glanced back as the boy leaned against the doorframe, once again crossing his arms. "It will be dark soon Lu."

"I know." He yelled back giving him a small wave as they headed out.

Nami grabbed Zoro's arm, who seemed to be taking their current situation the best, while Thatch mirrored it, painfully cutting off Marco's circulation.

"Err… Say Luffy?" Thatch began hesitantly.

"Yea?"

"What happens if we come across a wolf?"

"I'll fight it." He explained like it was truly that easy.

"Will you win?" Nami asked before she could stop herself.

"Yep!" He said happily.

And Marco found himself grateful he had been the one to agree instead of the older one. He probably would of gotten them hopelessly lost in the woods and ran away laughing. Then again Marco would have felt a little bit better behind a muscular guy like that then then a kid with a baseball bat.

"Luffy, why do you live in the middle of the Forrest? Why don't you live in the town?" Marco asked before he could stop himself.

A frown flickered over his lips but other than that he gave no sign that he had heard. Continuing onwards, "I think your friend must be somewhere over here." He said guiding them back to the cliff face.

"Ussop!" They cried as loud as they dared.

"Is this what you're looking for little Luffy?" A familiar frightening voice asked.

There behind them stood the same man from the river, who seemed to come out of nowhere and leave the same way. He stood above them, perfectly balanced on a low hanging tree branch. Ussop's collar was clamped in his left hand while his free hand played casually with a glinting knife.

For his part Ussop looked truly terrified, he wasn't even moving. He instead hung suspended by his collar. His eyes wide with fear and never leaving the knife.

"Give him back Law!" Luffy said angrily unslinging the crossbow from his back.

"What will you give me in return?" The older man asked flirtatiously. "It gets oh so lonely at night you know."

Instead of a response Luffy simply raised his free arm and flicked the man off, clearly not amused.

"You better decide quickly Little Luffy, It will be dark soon and as I'm sure you know the woods at night time is no place for children."

A low growl broke the standoff as they turned their attention to a sleek black wolf entering the clearing. Marco had never seen a Wolf in real life before and honestly he was beginning to understand why the Guard didn't want to talk about it. It was clearly at least twice the size of him and far more intimidating. As it snarled he caught sight of its enormous fangs glinting with saliva, ready to sink into flesh. Its ears were flat on its head while its eyes were narrowed into thin slits.

He tensed, feeling his group do the same besides them as they readied themselves to run for their lives before that thing tore them to shreds. But before he could even go a step Luffy held out the bat in front of them signaling them to stay where they were.

"It's okay." He said without looking back at them, his dark eyes were fixed on the two figures in front of them.

Law looked less convinced as his eyes narrowed, "Ah I was wondering when you would show up, you just can't resist can you?"

He threw Ussop down to the floor with a thud that made Marco wince. Still he hardly seemed to notice as he scrambled to his feet, ever aware of the giant wolf, and dashed over to them grabbing Nami's outstretched hand as if it was a lifeline.

"Are you happy now?" He asked sarcastically. "Can't a man flirt in peace?"

The wolf growled clearly stating his response as he took a step closer. But the man was already gone, deeper into the Forrest. His laughs echoing off the tree tops. The creature gave an angry roar as it took off after the man, its speed nearly rivaling his.

"Did that…thing just defend us?" Zoo breathed ignoring Ussops sobs of fear.

"The wolves don't really like Law." Luffy said as he glanced around them, "Nobody really likes Law."

"Who is he?" Nami demanded dragging Ussop off of her legs.

"He's bad." Luffy said without hesitation as he glanced around the clearing heading back to where they had come. "You should stay away from him." He turned his attention back at Ussop staring at him in an odd sort of way. Strangely enough Luffy looked almost confused as he looked at the newcomer. Clearly Ussop did not appreciate the attention.

"W-whose he?" Ussop asked his voice trembling once again. Despite how annoying he was Marco couldn't help but pity him, he had the worse luck of all of them.

"Apparently he's Luffy, he lives here." Thatch sad dryly, like he himself didn't quite believe it. "A better question is what happened?"

"After you guys fell off a cliff I climbed a tree hoping to hide, I thought I was in the clear but then that creepy guy showed up and starting threatening me with a knife, I think he wanted to eat me."

Marco rolled his eyes at the last statement as he ran into Luffy. The boy had stopped without him noticing. This couldn't be good.

"What's the matter?'

"Wolves." Luffy whispered back, "Two or three of them."

His blood ran cold as the words sunk in. They were doomed. Maybe if they split up one of them could survive. "Should we run?"

"No," The boy replied raising his bat, "it would be no good anyways. Just stay here." He raised his bat as he stepped away from the group.

There was a horrible moment as the foliage shifted and two wolves emerged from the woods, nearly blending into the darkened place. They were huge, much larger than the sleek black wolf who ran after Law. Their eyes glowed in the approaching darkness. They towered over the small boy, so much so Marco doubted he would even be an appetizer to them.

He opened his mouth to shout a warning when Luffy sprang into action. As the first wolf lunged at the boy he jumped up smacking its jaw with the bat with a sickening crack, leaving little doubt whether it was broken or not. Still, refusing to back down it lunged again, its jaw hanging obtusely as blood trickled out. Luffy neatly ducked aside kicking the creature in its ribs accompanied by another sickening crack as the ribs moaned in protest.

Not giving him a second to recover the second one sprang with it's claws this time. Its already bloody nails glinting dangerously. Its right paw sunk into the wooden bat harmlessly as its nails shaved off splintered, while he deflected the other one with his free hand, batting it aside as if this was a simple self-defense class. He brought up his elbow and neatly sliced it into the creature's nose drawing blood.

So distracted by the sight before them they barley noticed the third wolf creeping silently in the shadows. Thankfully Luffy sensed it a second before it pounced. He grabbed the crossbow from his back and shots its foot throwing it off balance as it gave a pained roar.

Unfortunately the wolf with the broken nose had the perfect opening for attack. Luffy drew back, but not fast enough as a fatal swipe was delegated to instead catching his calves making him cry out as he sunk to his knees.

He was incredible Marco realized with dull respect. How in the world did this boy singlehandedly take on three wolves with nothing more than a bat and outdated cross bow. He had just done what even the highly trained guard couldn't dream about.

He watched in disbelief as Luffy punched the creature right in its teeth, his hand looking strangely black in the shadows as the side two fangs shattered, falling to the floor uselessly.

Just when he was sure nothing else could surprise him again Zoro dove forwards. Before the third wolf could even rise he unsheathed a sword from his backpack and cut deeply into its uninjured leg, showing the grizzly white bone. As it dove in to get a final bite it instead received a nasty slash across its face.

Zoro was training to be a sword master. He had once briefly mentioned it to Marco but he had forgotten it. Up until now he always thought he was exaggerating, but he highly doubted it now.

With a final fearful glance at the group of teens the three wolves gave a whine as they limped away, dragging their injuries behind them like some sort of hideous defeated flag. They moved as fast as their broken bodies could as if scared they would be pursued, but Luffy simply stood their holding his bloody leg.

"Thanks." He said to Zoro breaking the silence.

Zoro simply nodded in response staring down shocked at the blood smeared on his blade. He clearly was not used to doing things like this.

"A-are you human?" Ussop asked, his stutter had unfortunately returned.

Luffy laughed at that as he rubbed his cheek, accidently smearing blood across it.

"Of course I am, what else would I be?"

Tadah! I really hoped you liked it It took me a billion hours. I'm sorry Ussop was so annoying, he will get better. Luffy also appeared way too overpowered here but I feel like it was pretty fair. By humans standers he is an insane war machine, but compared to Ace and Sabo he still has a long way to go. But he is still pretty impressive doing all of that on his own. Sabo will defiantly make an appearance at the beginning of next chapter. He lives with them, he was just gone at the moment. Also like half of this chapter was just the five of them stumbling around in the woods, sorry that was so boring. It was not intended. I'm not sure if anyone's going to read this (It's pretty out there) but if you do please comment.