"Yeah, that sounds good mochi-man!" Luffy bobbed his head chipperly, either forgetting completely or just ignoring the fact that the ghoul couldn't see him over the phone.

"Good.. I th'ank you again Sh'awhat"

You chirped excitedly at the sound of your kin's broken voice, half due to the fact that you haven't seen him in a while, and the other stemming mostly from some deeply rooted instinct that immediately recognized his person as 'friend'.

Law, who was mostly preoccupied with stitching you up after a bad altercation with a stray group of feral zombies, craned his neck without looking away to yell over his shoulder, "tell him to see to me after your negotiations are over, there are some more tests I want to go through now that the previous data has come in"

Instead of doing what was asked, Luffy, in the middle of Law's request, flipped his phone onto speaker mode and just shoved it into the surgeon's direction with a blank grin, "did you get all that, Katakuri?"

A low murmur of recognition sounded over the phone, and before your leader could flip the phone back into it's normal settings, Katakuri spoke, "Sh'awhat, could you hand (Y/n) and Tra'fa'ga the phone? 'Ere is something I'd like to d'iscuss"

Both you and the doctor paused at that, falling apprehensive to the seemingly random request.

Luffy easily read the room and passed the device over to Law's waiting hand with a blank expression, eyes passing over you for only a moment before becoming glued to the little red icon on the phone's screen.

"What's wrong? You're not experiencing any negative symptoms from the blood-letting are you?" You distinctly shuttered with a gargle at the phantom memory of Law literally pumping out blood from your guts with some sort of medical vacuum device.

Katakuri grunted with a warble, most likely a result from overhearing your own distress, "no.. it's something else.. I... can't ex'lain it"

Law's face darkened with shadow as he hunched over at the news, subconsciously curling into his most comfortable thinking position before encouraging him to continue on.

"It's.. sort of si'ilar to when I f'elt (Y/n) calling me but... in'sead of this 'ulling feeling of e'ergency, it's like this dull ache of awareness, I can feel something there but I can't q'uite 'ocus on it.."

Something akin to dread fastened a knot in your stomach, too many implications in his story throwing you into an emotional, hormonal tizzy- enough so that you ended up flopping over with a discomforted yowl.

'This, what the hell could be happening? I can't feel a thing so is this just a hormonal imbalance issue on his part? Or did he.. turn someone that he wasn't aware of?'

Law's expression steeled, already rushing out of the room with his coat, you were left to allow yourself to be dragged along by Luffy, as the teen scrambled to tag along.

"Have you bitten anybody recently? Anybody at all?"

"No.. I've v'en avoiding that ever since I realized about that.."

"Can you recall any instances where you could have contaminated anybody- corpses even? And it doesn't have to be with saliva, any substance carrying your DNA can do the trick"

By this time, the three of you were flooding into the garage, already making- well, Law and Luffy were making preparations to leave, while you just sat in the truck with the phone set on speaker.

"No, none at all"

The doctor didn't seem to be getting anywhere with the lack  of information, and decided a different route, "Alright, when did you start feeling this.. presence?"

Katakuri was silent for a while, save for a low groan of thought before grumbling frustratedly with himself, "the thing with that.. I can't ve sure.."

You furrowed your brows at the growl in his tone, recognizing the hopeless vexation in it and feeling it rumble through you as if his chest was pressed right against your head.

"What's that mean?" You took a hold of the phone and gave it a light squeeze as a comforting gesture, imagining it to be Katakuri's arm instead.

"When I v'irst woke up, you and your distress was all that I could f'eel, it was so over'elming.. after I saved you it went away, but something still v'elt out of place.. I never really realized it was something else until after you le'vt"

Law spoke up again, more distracted and deep in thought with the new clues laid out before him, "You said it feels similar to how (Y/n) called for help, can you elaborate on that?"

You could hear a long sigh from across the line, "its... hard to f'lace, its not like a call or anything, it's more like.."

Katakuri trailed off, and something ominous made its way into your stomach by the time he picked back up again, whereas his answer was enough to make you feel nauseous.

"A ghost"

There was a distinct shudder down your spine, causing your whole body to spasm and for Luffy to rush over, panicked at the sudden display, "(Y/n)!"

Rushing into the car, the teen settled himself beside you and tucked you into the crook of his arm, "shh, shh, everything's gonna be okay (Y/n), I'll kick this thing's ass!"

With a warbling coo, you rubbed yourself against his cheek, taking comfort in the living warmth and the even warmer, beating heart deep inside.

Somewhere down the line, Law pried the phone from your hands and continued with his questionnaire as you drove to where you could only suspect was Katakuri's, though, all your attention was on Luffy at that point.

"It's gonna be alright (Y/n), Chopper said it's super important that you don't freak out, it makes bad things happen for you and makes you sick! So you gotta be calm okay?"

You chirped lazily into his neck, causing Luffy to giggle out of nowhere from the sensation.

"Hehehe, (Y/n) stop that! You're tickling me!"

Smiling at the light and strong laughter sounded just above your ear, you only chirped against his skin even more insistently, loving the warmth it spread and the safety it gave your piece of mind.

"Luffy.." sighing into the raven's hair, you absentmindedly nibbled on the tips of a few stray hairs as the truck made its way past the gate and down the highway.

It was therapeutic in a way.

Despite his often overenthusiastic nature, Luffy was a very tender person, he always knew when to settle down and comfort the ones around him, especially with you.

At first, the teen was ecstatic at the prospect of making a very unique friend to run about with and wreck mayhem on the world, however, upon the realization of your perilous constitution, he's since become more muted with how he handled you.

Luffy, in spite of all the hardships since joining this motley crew, has never once made you regret joining society like this, sure, maybe things would've never escalated to this point and become complicated if your existence just stayed in the dark of that shabby apartment, but.. it never would have been this fun either.

You've spent as much time laughing and actually living again as much as you've been crying and regretting being stuck to a bunch of idiots, and you'd never give that up for the world.

It wasn't until you were halfway to Katakuri's base did you notice the slight buzz hanging at the back of your head, not unlike an itch of white noise.

e̷̪̫̣̞͔̣̫̠̟̬̿̈́̃̃̈͗͌̒͋͒͜͠ř̴̡̠̰͙̟̻̱̜̯͔̂͂̏̚̚ȇ̴̢̩̯̥̤̣̘̱̑̏̀h̵̤͌̓͗ ̷̨̨̪͕͓͓̅ͅm̵̤̝̟͍̓̀̏̔̄̓̈́͒̈́̓͘'̷̧̢͈̣̮͔̙̙̰̣̣̈̏̐̌ͅÎ̵̢̛͉̗̳̘̫̫̭̟̖

"Stop!" Arms flying out to brace yourself for the sudden halt of the truck, both Law and Luffy instantly palmed their weapons upon your sudden change in mood.

"What?! What's wrong?!"

You growled as you focused a bit more on the strange interference, just to curse to find it slightly out of your grasp, "I feel something weird, keep driving"

Law looked like he wanted to argue, however, turned back to the wheel soon enough and drove on, this time a bit more cautious in how he evaluated his surroundings.

Luffy though, gave you a hard stare and he side-eyed the trees, as if expecting something to leap forth from them, "are you sure it's okay? Do you think its the mystery thing Katakuri felt?"

Humming hesitantly, you could only half pay attention to the boy's concerned expressions as the white noise-like sensation started to become more pronounced.

.̶̡̛͈̟͈͖̦͍͛͌̊.̶̡̀́̿̾̾̈́̃̍͘̕è̵̛̲́̽̔̊̓̚͝r̸̢̢̞̟̱͓̙̍e̷̙̳̹̰͔̐͌̑̃h̶̛͖͉̞͕̮̰̖̟̞̆͋̋̂̾̏ͅ ̸̞̪͍́̈́̇̉͛́̾̎m̵͎̝͍͎̞̒̈́͛͋̎̕ͅ'̶̧̻̯̞̮͇̗̯̈́̎̽̓͝Į̷͔͕͇̿͒͑́̈

Something about the foreign broadcast had you wincing, the more you listened for it, the more it felt like a beacon- sort of like what you felt from Katakuri, except it was stretched, as if whatever was broadcasting it was muffled or simply just wrong.

When Law was about to take a left turn at an intersection, you reached over and gave his shoulder a squeeze, "other way, signal's other way"

Luffy gave you an unsure look from where he sat, "are you sure? Katakuri's base is this way"

"Other way"

The boys exchanged looks of hesitance, but nonetheless, followed your guidance, where indeed, the buzz grew more intense and clear, as if getting closer made the signal or whatever the fuck it was connect to you easier.

.̵͚͖̣̪͙̳̍͑̅̑́͋̈̌.̵̡̘̠̞͓͕̦̓͑͆̽ȩ̴͙͉͕͚͔̋͆͊͆̄͘ͅn̵̺̏͌̓͘͝o̵͇͇͔͔̓̊́͊̊͋̊y̴̠̎́̌̍͛̒ṉ̷̻͕̙̼͚́̏͊̔͝a̸̤̠͎̖͆͑͑ ̷̨̰̠͔͋̿̈,̸̱̤̝͆͋̎̉̑̇̀̇é̵̡͍͉̖͔̭̜̂ͅs̵͈̺͆̏̌͝a̵͍̤͖̠̳̺̲̋̀̌̊͛͠e̶̦͕͐̈́́̅̍͘l̸͕̝̹͇̱͊͆P̴̘̯͉̪̗͂̈́̈́̀͋͘̚͠

The trip was relatively silent excluding your momentary input of directions whenever Law was straying from the course, however, the farther you went on your trip, the more you began to dread finding what was at the end of the trail, there was a feeling of knowing that kept trying to warn you at the back of your mind, yet you paid it no heed.

è̷͕̓̀̓͆r̶͉͕̦̽e̵̯̮̹̺̅̀̈́h̴̘̣̖̳̎͜ ̷̦͉͚͔̃̏̒l̸̻̏l̷͍͈̥̈́̀̽i̷̢̛̲͓͉͚͒̉͂̌t̷̰̩͆s̷̼̘͎͔͓̿͐̉ ̷͓͙̮̂͂̔̑́ͅm̷̨͕̤̫͘'̸̳͂̽̏̓͝ͅḮ̴̳̟ ̵͖̰͌.̷̰̑̽.̶̙̠̱̣̓k̷̡̖̬͚̑͊̐c̵̡̯̗̙̔̅̎̀̇a̵̡̡̦̳̅̐͊̽͘b̴̠̠̝͛͆̃̕ ̷̼̮̆̎̐ë̴̩̹̣́͋̊͛̃m̸̢̩̰̾̿͜ò̶̗̙͈̕c̷̫̣̞͌̄̑̽͒ ̵̲̱̝̘̗͆e̷̫̬̟̒́̿̚͜͜ṡ̶͙̭̮̯͗̏å̴̘̖̎̇̓ě̵͇͇̜̹l̴̜̪̜̂̏P̶̛̭͍̮̬̆̓̏

By the time you were rolling up towards a familiar lane between thick pines, you finally figured out what had you so freaked out about the whole matter.

The buzzing was coming from Kidd's base- the buzzing was coming from Kidd's base-

Your body flew into autopilot, and without even giving Law or Luffy a warning, you forced open the truck's door and hit the ground running, making a beeline for that one place despite the boy's shouts of panic.

!̴̯͘ë̴͙̆̽r̴̞͕͛ͅȩ̴̞̫̅ḧ̵̳̝̣́̈́͠ ̷̟́̈l̷̥̼̗̆͠͝l̴͙̄͝i̵̪̐͘̚t̵̨̝̖̀̌͘s̵̟͋͂ ̵͎͘m̶͕̲͒͜'̷̞̓I̷̭͇͓͠

Please-

In your mindless rushing, you frequently tripped over roots and stumbled over stones, every few meters you fell over on yourself and most likely bruised several spots quite badly, maybe even cracking a bone, but you didn't even pay the damage any mind anymore.

You had to see it, you had to check-

You could barely register the distant shouts of the boys as they promptly parked the vehicle on the side of the road and ran to follow you, head over heels with concern and fear.

Please- please be-

Breaking out of the tree line, you finally found yourself standing before Kidd's marvelous base.

The damage was still as dire as ever, however, all traces of the massacre have since been buried, each casualty - the one casualty, resting just over there-

You practically tripped over yourself to where he was buried, the white noise now a cacophony of mind-numbing static from the proximity to its source.

!̸͇̔̋e̵̼̖͗̐r̴̭̄e̴̗͂́h̷̖̹̿̆ ̷̡̗̈́̌m̷̳͒̂'̶͇͕̄͆I̶̫̱͒ ̴̫̙͂,̸̮̎͘k̷̖͘c̵̡̋a̷͈̩̾b̷̟̓ ̴͍̏͑e̸̛̮͠m̴̭̌̕ö̶͍́͠Ç̴̍̿ ̸̪̝͋!̴̘̱͂̈́ě̴̏͜r̷̳͗̆é̸̻̞̏h̷͙̾̋ͅ ̴͈͈̃̃m̴͇̣̄'̸̳̐́Í̶̭

Everything came to a stop once you stood before his grave, the noise, time, life itself, in this brief moment, the only thing that held existence was you and your own garbled thoughts.

By the time Law and Luffy caught up, it was just in time to see you roar in raw emotion.

And an open grave.