~

Luffy was willing and there was a spark in his eyes, the kind which was snuffed out when he was brought here and had lashed out for the first hundred times in this caged life. He had hope. He had a chance, an opportunity and he was going to take it, ignoring the nagging voice in his head telling him that this would be a mistake and that he was too trusting and naïve but he pushed that voice aside in favour of hope and freedom.

It had happened during Luffy's two-day confinement in his room without food or water when he had attacked another one of his 'clients.' There was a man, quite influential at that, who wanted a taste of the boy who was known to bite and maim the people who wanted to touch him. That man had his 'day off' as he had barked at the guy who told him that Luffy was currently under punishment for disobedience and that he would have to come back later if he wanted to enjoy him. Waving a thick wad of cash in the staff's face earned him the approval he was looking for and he was told to wait while the boy was readied for him.

"Get up, you have a client." The staff member spat, throwing the door to his room open. When Luffy didn't even flinch from the harsh light invading his dark den, the man got impatient and went inside with heavy steps and yanked the boy up with his arm, from the floor. "Get up, I said!"

"It's...not even...two days yet..." The young boy tried arguing weakly, afraid with the slow realization that pain would soon invade his being and destroy whatever calm he had managed to achieve in the past few hours. His whole body was still in pain from the last time he was violated and the fact that he had attacked the disgusting pig, robbed him of the piece of bread he would have gained had he just stayed quiet and compliant for a few more minutes, drained his small body of the energy he had always had.

"Don't talk back and clean yourself up!" The staff guy pulled Luffy on his feet and pushed him out of the door and towards the bathrooms where he handed him a new pair of clothes – quite unnecessary in his opinion since they would be ripped off in a few minutes anyway – and asked the boy to hurry up.

Luffy took advantage of the water falling on his face and let loose his hopelessness, sobbing under the showerhead, cleaning the dried blood and filth that was staining his body. He had promised Ace and Sabo – his brothers – that when he would be ten years old, just like them, he wouldn't cry but here he was, eleven and a sobbing mess. He missed his brothers and regretted his rash actions that led to his current misfortune. He wanted more than anything, to be free and with his brothers again, he even missed his brute of a grandfather and the vulgar woman he had been left in the care of. He had tried escaping numerous times but all his attempts had been nullified and the only reason he was not mutilated was that he was the "boss' favourite."

His thought process and self-berating was interrupted when the man who had been his 'escort,' knocked loudly on the door, startling Luffy out of his daze. The boy hurriedly cleaned his tears and pulled on the flimsy clothes he was handed and exited the bathroom. He was led back to his room with a vise-like grip on his arm, thrown in and the door shut behind him with a loud noise that shook Luffy's small and tired frame.

He was starving, his bones and muscles ached and his mind was numb. Luffy did not think he would be able to retaliate today, he did not have the bare minimum energy to even keep himself on his feet, let alone fight a grown man. He slumped against the side of the bed, adjacent to the door of the room, bringing his knees to his chest and hugging them with his head down and hidden in the space that it formed. He wanted to find his straw-hat and hide his face in it, feel some kind of warmth in this wholly desolate place, but his hat was lying in the far corner of the room and Luffy did not have the energy to go and pick it up. His eyes were starting to leak again but the door opened.

His whole body froze, tears instantly dried before they even had a chance to spill. Luffy did not want to raise his head but listened to the sounds and tried to steel himself for what was about to come. He was adamant to not inch his head up and give off any reaction, play dead as they say in the presence of a predator. When he heard multiple shuffling sounds and the door close, he peaked from the gap in his arms. His breath was caught in his throat, his heart dropped to his stomach and the shivering he had learned to force back, made itself visible.

There were four men in the room.

More than anything Luffy wanted to run, do anything but endure the torture that he knew was only minutes away. The men were talking amongst themselves in hushed whispers and when they moved a little away from the door, Luffy bolted. He didn't know where that sudden energy came from but he was glad for it as his legs carried him through the short distance to the entrance of the room. He jumped a little to grab the handle – he was short for his age, malnutritioned, he can't be blamed for it – to open the door, the handle twisted but the door stayed shut. He tried again and again, hopeful that he could make it out in time, the laughter behind him however, made despair settle.

Slowly, Luffy let go of the door handle and turned around, keeping his back glued to the wood of the door. He faced the men with fear in his eyes that dared spill out in the form of salty droplets. His legs were shaking and his throat felt constricted but he managed out a weak, "please..." before the rush of energy that he felt earlier suddenly left him and he found himself on the ground.

"Oi oi, is the kid even up to it?" One of the men laughed and frankly, Luffy was so distraught that he could not focus where the voice came from.

"It's because you guys look like thugs that he is having a hard time." Another muttered.

"Thugs? Might as well be but our suits give us the advantage regular thugs don't have."

"Maybe the kid needs a few drinks in him before he's usable. He IS the boss' favourite, there must be a reason."

Luffy could neither focus on the faces nor the voices of the men in front of him and when he felt a hand touch his bare arm, his first reflex was to punch the face connected to the torso of that arm – and he acted on it, to even his own surprise.

"Ow ow, definitely knows how to pack a punch." Luffy heard the man laugh but his vision was blurred from the tears that had now started falling in big amounts.

"Just drug the brat, our three hours are going to go by just fighting the idiot." At this, Luffy started struggling against the grip on his arm and chin. He struggled even more when he saw a cup being pressed to his lips, through his teary eyes. One man was holding him in place and the other tilted the cup till the contents were slipping past Luffy's lips. He tried pursing his lips and clenching his teeth but most of the liquid had already trickled down his throat.

"That oughtta do it." With that, Luffy was let go and immediately his senses went blurry. He was awake and conscious but not reflexively responsive to what was going on. He couldn't throw hands or kick and scream – like any of that would matter in the first place. All he could do was silently take what was being forced upon him.

The few hours his body had to endure felt like forever with his dulled senses and once the drug started wearing off, the pain was hellish. Luffy had never felt so disgusted with himself, filth pouring out of his mouth and pooling around his thin thighs when he was so gracelessly thrown aside after the men were done with him. Soft sniffling sounds were drowned out by drunk laughter and meaningless conversations.

"Well, we have enjoyed this place enough, guess we should start with our plan now." Luffy heard one of the men say and his ears perked up at that, sobbing coming to an abrupt end. "You fucking idiots, stop drinking and go look through the window."

"You are the fucking idiot, spilling all of that in front of the kid, what if he tells?" Another man said, the one who had fed Luffy the drug. Luffy closed his eyes at the comment and pretended to be asleep.

"He's out cold, gotta be after such fun time." The man kicked Luffy in his side as if to prove his point and when the boy did not move, they all agreed. Luffy alerted himself despite the pain and tiredness clouding his senses. This seemed like too important a conversation to not eavesdrop on.

All of the men had moved to where the barred window was and were taking turns looking out of it, devising plans.

"The bombs we're using would destroy this whole side as well, the boy will be killed too. The blast radius is gonna be big." One of the four pointed out.

"It will make his boss angry. Two birds with one stone, gotta admit that guy has power but he is a prick. I hate him. It would be fun pissing him off."

Luffy tried keeping his breathing in control. These men were talking about bombing the building opposite to Luffy's side of the whore house and they weren't even remotely guilty about him being caught in the crossfire – well the fact that they would indulge in pleasuring themselves with the bodies of little boys sort of screamed that they were heinous creatures but it still came as a shock to Luffy.

The men stayed and planned in small voices, careful that the sound would not be carried beyond them. Luffy could only make out the occasional 'bomb', 'blast', 'a few days' and something along the lines of 'this will be fun.' After what felt like hours still, he heard the men getting up and leave. Luffy gathered himself up ignoring the dried filth on him to the best of his ability and walked to the window, jumped up and grabbed on the iron bars and tried hoisting himself up enough to look out to the building that would be bombed in 'a few days.'

Luffy scouted the entire area his field of vision could hold – which was just the soon-to-be-bombed boring grey coloured building and piles and piles of snow on the road between the wall he was hanging on and that building. Luffy rubbed his eyes hopping off the wall and limped to get his hat. Not having enough energy, he slid down where his straw-hat was against the wall, and put it on his head, clutching his knees close to his chest and letting the tiredness take over his being.

A kick in the side, again, was the awakening he received and something was thrown on his head. He wasn't paying any attention to it but his eyes flew wide when a hard fist came in contact with is face.

"You damn brat! Get the fuck up and go clean yourself! You will have more clients tomorrow!" Luffy heard the staff member in front of him spit and leave. The boy tiredly got up, hid his straw-hat behind the small space of his even smaller bed, picked the clothes from where they were sprawled on the ground and went to the bathrooms to clean himself up. When he got back and retrieved his hat, he wondered how he had missed the four pieces of bread on the ground where he was sitting before. Maybe that was the something that was thrown at him when he was woken up.

Luffy quietly chewed the dry bread and with every bite, he felt his senses coming back to him, with memories of what he had heard the men talking about.

There was going to be bombing. The building that could be overlooked from Luffy's window would explode, take up Luffy's room with it. It should have scared the young boy but all he did was grin the biggest he had in the two years he was here. This was a chance. This was hope. He could get out of here if he was a bit careful and played his cards right. He was willing to take that chance even if it there were consequences. He was ready for the fact that if he somehow messed up his timing, he could lose his limbs or his life even but that didn't concern him in the face of the blinding hope that he could get out. That he could be free.

Luffy waited, complied with the clients to earn bread, and stayed silent and willing through the pain and torture so he could reserve his energy for when he would need it in a few days. The people responsible for him were a bit shocked to see the boy so compliant but figured it was finally time that he submitted. Luffy paid them no mind and focused on his plan. A few days came and went and it was nearing a week. Luffy waited his opportunity, eager and shaking in anticipation.

But it didn't happen.

~

Vote and Comment! <3