Okay! This is my first ever One Piece fanfic, so please forgive me for any characters that are OOC, I tried to make them as accurate as possible. Please inform me of any OOCness and I will try and fix it! (But please make this constructively, not with flames) =D I would like to say that this story will have future Acelu, with some possible side pairings that I will tell when I decide them. It also has some indirect spoilers of the Sabo arc, that even slight are still there (or maybe I'm just imagining things). This is also an AU universe, so I will not follow the normal One Piece storyline. Well! Having said all of this, I hope you enjoy this story!
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any of its characters, Oda-sama does. I do however own the plot of this story
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I remember perfectly how it all happened. Yes, I remember every detail of that fateful day perfectly. I remember every move that I made, every word that was said and every step that was taken. I remember every place that was visited that day, whether this was a normal thing or not, and every person that I saw, that in reality were quite few. I indeed remember every detail of that fateful and horrible day, that has been cursing me for the past centuries, not leaving me at any time, and all because of the terrible consequences that it had and all the unwanted changes that it made on me and on my life, turning it from something perfect and cherished into something quite the opposite, destroying all of my happiness and turning it into revenge and hate, but thankfully sparing some for the immortal being that I am now, cursed to keep on hating what I now am. I remember perfectly how it happened, and I will recall it now once again from where I am sitting in this bar waiting for another mission to be given to me. I will recall it once again even if it breaks my heart in the process, because it is my curse and what drives me forwards. An unbreakable curse that I will never manage to escape from.
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"Luffy! Breakfast is ready!" My adoptive brother Ace shouted late into the morning.
I immediately jumped out of the bed where I had been sleeping peacefully seconds ago now fully awake. I ran down the stairs that led to the small kitchen and living room, nearly falling several times, and then burst into the kitchen with one of my typical huge grins on my face. Ace turned around, looked at me, and chuckled. I soon was sitting on a chair in the kitchen eating the breakfast, while my brother ate his at the same time as me, falling asleep at random intervals as he usually did. We had been living in this house since Ace and I were kids, since Sabo was still alive. I smiled at the thought of those happy days, when we were still very young. Now, 10 years later, I was 17 and my brother 20, and we just lived our life happily in a cottage in a very snowy village during winters surviving each day, unaware of the happenings in the outside world.
As I finished eating my breakfast and being denied more by Ace, who said that we had to be careful because food was quite scarce these days got out of the kitchen and went towards the living room, and lied on top of the sofa, bored. Ace followed me in and sat on the floor right next to where I was lying right now and rested his head on the sofa, near to where mine was, soon closing his eyes although not completely asleep. I looked at my older brother and smiled, feeling heat rise to my face. I shook my head, trying to make the thoughts that had been infesting my mind lately disappear completely. We both remained like this for some more moments, in complete silence, something that was quite rare and was killing my insides, until Ace spoke. "Luffy, I'm going to get some wood and food, do you want to come with me?" Ace asked while still looking at me in that position. I grinned and immediately answered an excited 'yes'. I liked going to hunt and collect food with my brother. I clutched in my hands the medallion that hung around my neck that my brother had once given me during the first birthday that we had spent together, and that he had an equal copy of, liking it's smooth touch.
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We spent most of the morning hunting and gathering wood outside. We had managed to get quite an amount of food by hunting all types of huge wild animals. We would be able to eat a lot of meat in the following days. We were going back to the house, both of us carrying several animals and quite an amount of wood. I felt like I was missing something, but I couldn't remember what exactly that was. It was only when we reached the house that I realised what I was missing, when I want to touch again he medallion that had always hung around my neck.
"It's missing!" I suddenly shouted, nervousness noticeable in my voice.
Ace looked at me, curious and worried at the same time. It was night time already, and some mysterious deaths had been reported lately of several local villagers. "What is missing?" He asked me.
I gulped, and then looked at him. "The medallion is missing! It must have fallen down when we were hunting that bear!" I shouted, before running in the opposite direction that I had been walking through barley minutes ago.
"Luffy! Don't run away!" I could hear my brother Ace shout with evident worry in his voice.
I ignored him, concentrated in finding the medallion. I soon reached the place where Ace and I had hunted that bear, but found that the medallion was not there. "Maybe it fell a bit further away from here" I muttered quietly as I continued walking around the place mindlessly, trying to find the important piece of metal. It was like this that I arrived to a church in ruins, with only one enormous side of the walls that originally composed it still standing, that was surrounded by dead frozen trees. The place had an eerie atmosphere all around it. I continued walking around, ignoring the unnerving feeling that had now appeared deep inside myself and bravely continued walking around, for a moment forgetting the mysterious deaths that had been reported lately, trying to find the medallion.
I shivered. it was getting colder by the minute, and I didn't remember ever seeing this place before. It was as if it had appeared out of nothing. It was then when I heard a voice behind me, right after the snort and a grunt of what seemed to be a horse.
"Have you lost this kid?" I head a man ask.
I turned around, and saw a quite big man with long unruly black hair and a wild but short beard on his face. He was wearing a light coat and a shirt that reminded me of the ones a pirate would wear open in the front, even with the low temperatures in which we were now completely unaffected by them. He was clearly holding something. I looked at it and then recognised it. It was my medallion.
"Yes!" I said, while taking several steps towards the man, with the intention of getting the medallion.
It was circular and of a silvery colour, and it had several roman numerals written on the borders of the circle, outside several drawings in between which a star was clearly recognisable. It was clearly broken down the middle too, but it was visible even without the other half that it was once broken in three pieces. My brother Ace had the other half, and the third part that had once been from a different person had been cut in half and attached to my part of the medallion and the other part that Ace had, that was the same but with different roman numerals and the clear image of a moon drawn on it.
I stretched my arm to get the medallion, but the man took a step back, preventing me from getting the medallion. I was slightly angry by the man's actions. "Give it back, it's very important to me!" I said with a gruff voice.
The man snorted before talking again. "Do you have any idea of what this medallion here means?" He said.
I glared at him, before saying again to the man to give the medallion back. The man laughed again and started muttering something about how stupid I was because of not understanding the meaning of the medallion. I quickly replied. "I don't care about the meaning of it, just give it back!" I shouted again, this time getting into a fighting position.
The man laughed again, this time really hard. "Zehahaha! So you are willing to fight to get this back, aren't you?" He said in a mocking tone of voice "Why don't you come then?" He then added.
I grit my teeth angrily before charging towards him as fast as I could. The man, although clearly strong, was taken by surprise by my attack and was pushed back several metres by the strength of my punch, crushing into a tree. The man now looked angry, and wiped some of the blood that now was dripping down his face from his mouth. He stood up again, and before I could notice the man that was several feet taller than me punched me in the face, making me 'fly' back quite a number of metres, until I, too, crashed into a tree. I coughed up some blood and tried to get up, but before I could the man was lifting me by my winter coat.
"You'll make one fine meal" He said, with a glare full of hate and lust on his face. "You may even could make a good accomplice, but I won't give you that honour" He added. He then pressed me against the dead tree, and with a knife that he had suddenly gotten hold of stated breaking slightly the fabric that was near my neck of the coat.
I struggled, trying to break free from the man's grasp, but was completely unable to do so and I could just stare helplessly at the man as he broke the neck piece of the coat I was wearing and as he prepared himself to do whatever he wanted to do to me. I could only shout my brother's name, wishing for him to save me. I felt what seemed to be two fangs against my neck, not piercing through my skin but touching it. All breath left me and I tried to free myself more strongly, but still with no result.
"Yes, that is right. You are going to be my meal today, and nothing is going to stop me" The man said.
I shouted my brother's name louder this time, wishing for him to save me. It was only seconds later that my wishes became true as the man was suddenly thrown back by a brutal punch that was done by my brother.
"Luffy! Let's get out of here!" He said, as he grabbed my hand and forced me to run off. I felt my head heat up slightly due to the unexpected touch from my brother as we ran away. I heard the man getting up from the snow and muttering something to himself that I couldn't catch, but that probably was curses.
"So you brats are going to run away like the cowards you are?" He then shouted, as he ran towards Ace and me at an incredible speed. He soon was right in front of us. "Are you so scared that you won't even dare to try and take this from me?" The man then said again, with another mocking voice. Ace's look darkened.
"Give it back immediately" He demanded, as he got himself into a fighting position while letting go of my hand.
"Zehahaha! I dare you to take it from me kid!" The man replied.
That was enough to make Ace attack the man. He managed to score some punches on him, but soon it was clear who would win the fight, and that person wasn't Ace. I looked with horror as my brother was beaten by the man, as some of his blood of the wounds that he had received from Ace and his knife dripped onto the ground, before healing completely. Ace's eyes widened as he realised what the man was, right after he opened his mouth again with laughter. He tried to get away, but failed completely and the man soon was pinning him against a tree in the same way that he had done with me. I could only stare as Ace tried helplessly to escape the man.
"That vampire is going to kill us..." I thought, terrified.
I watched as the man tore off Ace's coat and threw it to the ground, leaving my brother with only a shirt. He then opened his mouth, got closer to my still struggling brother's neck and bit into it. I soon heard some sickening gulping noises, that were followed by my brother's voice.
"Luffy... run away" He pleaded.
I closed my eyes, turned around and started running away, terrified by the man, the sickening noise and all of the harsh memories that it brought alongside it. I immediately stopped though when I was quite far away when I saw out of the corner of my eye the man breaking his grasp on Ace. I turned around, and saw the limp body of my body fall to the snowy floor with a 'thud'.
"Ace!" I shouted. desperately.
The man turned towards me and laughed again while he licked the remaining blood of his chin. I blinked, and when I opened my eyes again I saw the man right in front of me, smiling at me cruelly.
"What did you do to Ace!" I shouted.
The man looked at me. "Zehahaha!" He laughed, cruelly. "I obviously killed him" He then finished saying. I took a step towards me and threw me towards a nearby tree. As he pinned me against me, as he had done earlier with me and seconds ago with Ace. He then opened his mouth, showing his fangs again, and got closer to my neck. I gulped and looked to one side, where I could stills see Ace's limp body. It was then when the man spoke again. "But don't worry, I won't do the same thing with you. You will suffer another destiny" He said, with a cruel smirk again.
I looked at the man as he got closer and closer to my neck, and I soon felt the momentary touch of his fangs against my now cold skin before he sunk them deep into my neck, and started drinking my blood.
I soon felt all life and force leaving me, and I stopped struggling to break free. I could hear, no, I felt him drinking my blood, and it sickened me to no end. I closed my eyes when I felt myself have not enough strength to keep my eyes open, and smiled, remembering my brother. Then I felt the man's fangs withdraw and let his grip on my go, making me fall limply to the ground. I opened my eyes as I barely could and looked at the man with the eyes of a person near death. I saw the man get his knife again and cut his wrist, making blood flow from that new wound. He soon pressed his wrist against my mouth, making his blood enter my mouth and go down my throat. I tried to avoid this, but I soon found this impossible to do due to the amount of blood that was going down my mouth.
I was forced to gulp the blood with the little strength that I had left, and I soon felt a fire going through my being, torturing me with a strange pain that I had never felt before. I heard the man laugh again, and soon felt a piece of metal hit me. I looked at it and saw the medallion that I had tried to get back and due to which all of this had happened.
"Your fate is sealed" The man then said with a cruel and mocking voice.
I twisted around in pain while grabbing the medallion with all the strength I had left. I could feel myself changing, and all my humanity leaving me. I couldn't manage to look up to the man.
"Remember this!" The man suddenly shouted, as he grabbed me by what was left of my coat. I glared at him for as long as I could manage to, which wasn't too much. "I am Marshall D. Teach! Blackbeard!" He started saying. "I will be waiting for you to try and kill me!" He shouted. He then threw me back to the snow and turned away, leaving the scene. I soon lost all conscience and fell into a dreamless sleep that was too similar to death, but still fully aware of my surroundings.
Some time afterwards, I don't know how much it was, I heard the footsteps of a man near me. I opened my eyes slightly and managed to see a red haired man near me. I closed them again, and the last thing that I felt was the man picking me up. Picking the only body he saw up.