Dragons and Riders

Luffy sat in the great hall, snacking on a pair of chicken wings as his mind wandered. Daydreaming on the day he could one day defeat his very first dragon, earn the title of Viking just as his brothers had earned years before.

“Luffy,” Zoro pulled him out of his thoughts, “where are you? Sabo has to hold down the fort all by himself, kept going on and on how useless you were.”

Luffy sat up, pushing the plate full of bones away. He pouted, “I’ve been here, I don’t want to just sit and build weapons all night when I can be out there fighting with everyone.”

Zoro sighed, “the rest of us don’t get to fight either. Nami and Robin are still helping with the fires and Franky and Usopp are helping rebuild.”

“Jinbei and Brooke get to fight,” Luffy sulks.

“They are three years older than us,” Zoro laughs.

Luffy wanted to argue, tell him he’s not right. But he couldn’t, Brooke and Jinbei went through their trials already and both made it through. Luffy couldn’t help but feel jealous, especially knowing his brothers refuse to let him even contribute anything. The two of them so worried to lose their little brother after their father disappeared years ago and their mother passing to one of those beasts when Luffy was born.

Zoro got up from the table and took his leave, his armor clanging together as he walked out of the hall, the door echoing as it shut behind him.

Luffy’s head dropped down to the table, a loud sigh escaped between his lips as he’s once again left alone besides a couple elderly men in the corners, drinking and has retired years prior.

Luffy suddenly had a realization, if he killed a dragon. Maybe his brothers would finally respect him and allow him to fight beside them.

He got up and sprinted out the door. Ignoring the yelling of other Vikings telling him to watch out and get out of their way as they had their own battles to protect their children and cattle.

Luffy made his way to the weapons bunker, reaching over the counter, ignoring the yelling of the many people in line for their weapon to be repaired or a new one entirely.

Sabo was fixing up a sword as he heard the commotion from the front of his store. Looking up, he looked panicked but relieved to see Luffy, “thank god you’re here! I’m swamped!”

Luffy, trying to ignore his older brother, was reaching for a battle axe that was missing some of its sharp pegs and has seen better days. But before he could grasp his fingers around it, Sabo pulled him in through the window.

Luffy took a bit of a tumble before getting to his feet and patting the dirt off his clothes. Sabo forced him on fixing the sword that had a very noticeable crack down the middle and bent in the wrong direction. Usually Luffy would just throw it out and make another one, but with the line forming longer and longer by the second, he could tell why Sabo was hell bent on just fixing it now and making a new one later.

“Thank you,” Sabo kissed the top of Luffys head before grabbing his go to weapon, a metal pipe he’s been perfecting for so many years, and heading out to the battle field himself. Leaving Luffy to handle everything on his own.

Luffy huffed, finishing up the repairs on the sword. For another hour, Luffy worked on giving out weapons he and Sabo had made the day before and repairing items that could be fixed within a few minutes that could last one more fight at best.

Zoro came in at one point asking for any extra buckets as two of theirs have gone up in flames. That’s about when Luffy had enough. He threw the buckets at Zoro’s head before grabbing every weapon on the shelves and throwing them on the floor as a first come first serve and then taking his leave with a bow and arrow that was sitting in the back of the shop his father had once owned.

Luffy then grabbed the rest of the arrows in the shop before running out ignoring the yells of the village folk. He even ignored Nami who had spotted him running.

Finally he made it to the quiet hilltop of the island, pulling the bow over his shoulder and grabbing an arrow. He then waited, pulling the bow back and waiting for the perfect time to release the tension.

Then, a black figure passed through the sky, fast. He released closing his eyes hoping he was able to hit it. When he opened his eyes a second later, he saw the shadow like figure fall from the sky as it made a loud screech.

Luffy couldn’t believe it, “I did it.” He said to himself first, “I did it! Did anyone see that?” He asked pointing at the sky where he shot the dragon. Just as he was about to celebrate, he heard a loud thud from behind him as the ground beneath him began to shake.

Slowly he turned around to be face to face with a red and black dragon, a monstrous nightmare to be exact. One of the most terrifying dragons of them all.

The dragon set itself on fire before roaring at Luffy. Luffy let out a “uh oh” before screaming his way back down the hill with his hands in the air. The dragon just barely missing him with his fire breath.

Luffy stumbling down, almost falling multiple times as he tried to get away as fast and as far as he could. Suddenly his foot got caught on a wooden plank that must have fallen from one of the burning buildings as the dragon infront of him nears closer.

Before Luffy could even get to his feet, the dragons face was inches away from him, opening his mouth to release his firey breath. Luffy raised his arms to protect his face as he felt tears fall down his face, knowing this is the end.

After a few moments of nothing happening, Luffy looked up to see Ace ontop on the dragons mouth with a sword going straight down the top of its muzzle and coming out the bottom.

The dragon screamed in pain before throwing Ace off and flying away.

Ace got up and kicked the dirt under his shoe as the dragon flew away. Then he turned to luffy crossing his arms with anger etched into every line on his face.

“what the hell were you thinking?” Ace yelled, “are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“No I just wanted to be like you guys! I got a dragon this time! It fell down just past shimotsuki point! If we send a search party out there, we could track it down! I swear—“

“Stop it!” Ace yelled at him, his face turning a dark shade of red, “The last thing I need is you getting in the way! I can’t deal with you and deal with the village!” The sun was now peaking through the valley, “it’s almost winter and I have an entire village to feed! Can you for once just do what your told?!”

Luffy stayed silent, keeping his head down.

“Take him home,” Ace tells Sabo. “Then call the village for a town meeting after lunch today.”

Sabo nods before grabbing luffy by his shoulder and hoisting him up to his feet. The two of them don’t say a word until they are at the door of their house. “Luffy,” Sabo began trying to find the words.

“It’s whatever,” Luffy sighs, “I’ll never be good enough for him.”

“It’s not that,” Sabo bites his lip, thinking about his words carefully, “he doesn’t want to lose you too. You know that.”

“Yeah,” Luffy’s head stays down as he enters the house, slamming the door behind him. He doesn’t take even a second before he runs out the back door, determined to prove everyone wrong, that he’s not just a troublemaker.

Sabo makes it to the town hall a second later, his face full of concern for his little brother. He spots Ace at one of the tables having his breakfast with a cup of beer. Sabo closes the door behind him and walks over.

“What are we going to do with him?” Ace asks, “he’s not ready, he’s too immature.”

“Put him in dragon training.”

“What?” Ace turned to face Sabo, “did you not hear me? Are you joking?”

“I’m being completely serious,” Sabo sits backwards at the table, laying his back against the table and taking a sip of Aces drink. “It starts next week, and I’m in charge this year, so I can keep a close eye on him. It takes the pressure off of you as well so you can focus on the mission.”

“He’s going to die in there,” Ace pushes.

“No he won’t, you know that. You’re just scared. But if you keep him away from it all, he will only get worse. He will pull a stunt like that again to prove to you he’s worth it, let him take it.”

Ace stayed silent for a minute, staring at his food as he really thought about this.

Luffy pulled out his journal for the tenth time, crossing out another area he hadn’t covered in the direction of the dragon. He angrily scribbled in his notebook, furiously slamming it shut with one hand and shoving it back in his coat pocket alongside his pencil.

“Some people lose their knife in the mud,” Luffy began talking to himself aloud, “but of course I managed to lose an entire dragon!”

Luffy adjusted his straw hat, moving it to where his forehead showed a bit more just for him to give himself a small smack on the head. “God I’m so useless! How am I ever suppose to be the best Viking if I can’t even fucking find a dragon!”

Luffy was about to give up when he spotted something out of the ordinary in his path.

A tree had been bent and broken in a very unnatural way, almost like something big came flying in and took it out. He recognized this area too, this was deer territory. He questioned it, maybe thinking it was just a dumb fight between animals, yet he couldn’t help but be curious. Is this it?

He began to run, following the path the large object made into the ground, carving out a new walkway.

Until he spotted the animal on the ground wrapped in their deer nets that had been set up. Coincidently, the dragon had been wrapped up nicely within the net with the arrow nowhere to be found. Was this the same dragon he hit?

Luffy hid behind a rock at first, worried the dragon may come and attack him. Yet taking a closer look, peaking over the rock just slightly, the dragon was fully wrapped up in the net, unable to make sudden moves.

Luffy slowly pulled out his knife, shaking as he slowly neared the black dragon.

It was a beautiful creature that hadn’t been documented. A night fury was never seen in the history of the East Blue, yet here he was his black scales slowly turning a deep red around his feet and front of his face. Almost like an ombré effect with the black and dark red.

When Luffy was now inches away from the dragon, he looked over to his face to see the yellow eyes looking back at him. Luffy took a deep breath, his hands shaking as he raised the knife up. “I’m going to kill you,” he began, “I’m going to cut out your heart and take it to my brother. Because I’m a Viking.”

Luffy raised his voice, trying to find his strength, “because I’m a Viking!”

The dragon closed its eyes and relaxed, accepting its fate at that moment. Luffy kept trying to find it in himself to kill him, but he just couldn’t. Something in him just wouldn’t let him. His hands dropped to his sides, no longer holding the knife above his head.

He took a second, looking over the dragon who had fear in its eyes a second before. Luffy had felt that same way only a couple hours ago. He listened to the breathing of the dragon before taking a good look at the knife in his hand.

The next moment, Luffy found himself cutting the rope from the deer trap. The blade making a swift scratching sound as it rubbed against the straw, sliding it fast enough to cut a piece apart every few seconds. He was keeping an eye out so that no one would see him releasing the dragon from its original fate.

Finally when the dragon was fully released, the dragon pushed Luffy against the rock. A look of anger flashed on the dragons face, pushing Luffy against the rock with such force. Luffy closed his eyes, knowing he deserves this fate for his actions. For releasing the beast instead of killing it. His life flashed before his eyes, staring into the dragons bright yellow anger filled eyes.

Instead, the dragon yelled at Luffy, a loud roar echoed through the trees before the dragon disappeared into the forest. Leaving Luffy to fully think about his actions and what had just unfolded