FIC: Die For You (One Piece, 30_wounds #6)
30_wounds : prompt table
Another! This one mostly happened because I didn't want to write the angsty cliche. Knight Crocodile & Squire Luffy AU setting. PGish. Gen. 1000 words.
Note: I've not really worked out all the background for this AU, but it's something like this - 2 hostile neighbouring fantasy kingdoms, one populated with pirate characters and the other marines, regardless of other affiliations (which allows for various infighting), Robin is possibly some kind of ambassador or spy that Sir Crocodile and Luffy are to protect, and it'll probably go from a love triangle into a threesome... if I ever properly write it.
6. Die For You
"I'm... a brave knight," Luffy grunted, determinedly ignoring the hitch in his voice as something caught in his shoulder, and the snort from the man whose life he'd just saved. Stupid brigands, taking them by surprise. They hadn't looked like Captain Smoker's men at all -- just the sort of common robbers that infested the forests.
"You're a very stupid squire," Sir Crocodile corrected, leaning over him and fumbling with hand and hook to get at the wound around the torn tunic and the pinning arrow. Finally he gave in, and with another snort of disgust, used his sand spell, dexterous fingers of sand accomplishing the task that foxed his lack of two whole hands, working carefully around the wet blood.
"Like hell!" Luffy jerked, but was kept from bolting up by the elbow that jammed into his uninjured shoulder. He stilled obediently, because from long familiarity with Sir Crocodile's temperament, he knew he was lucky that he had gone for the uninjured side. "I saved your life! I might have died for you."
"If you had," the older man said, dismissing the charm and returning his arm to flesh, "You would have been doing your job. Which I suppose is remarkable enough to be especially commendable from you. But you did not save my life. I would have simply used my sand, and the arrow would have done no damage. Unlike upon the flesh of certain rubber imbeciles."
"You're... fulla crap," Luffy mumbled, feeling consciousness sliding a little. The green canopy of the tree branches above spun and blurred. "I know you didn't see that coming... You jus' can' admit... I saved your life... Agh!" Pain flared as Crocodile briskly sat him up and bent his body forward, chest over knees. The larger, single hand picked up his and dropped it onto the protruding head of the arrow, where it had just snagged his side beneath his right shoulder, punching through shallowly between two ribs.
"Hold that. Tightly."
Luffy clenched his fingers and winced, squeezing shut his eyes, as Sir Crocodile snapped off the end of the arrow behind him. Then, that large hand closed over his own again, and drew the remaining length of the shaft from the wound. Luffy slid bonelessly sideways and his vision blurred on the knight, crouched over him scowling at the barbed point.
When he drifted back to consciousness, there were two voices talking distantly. One of them, female, made him feel better just hearing its smooth tones. Luffy lifted a hand to his face, hiding his smile behind it, since he knew it would annoy the other voice present, as he blinked to unglue his eyelids.
There was still an awful lot of pain. But there was a constriction on his shoulder that told him the wound had been taken care of, which reassured him that he wasn't going to die -- Sir Crocodile wouldn't have gone to the effort of bandaging if he thought the exercise useless. It was almost night, and he could hear the crackling of a campfire. He was lying on his back in the grass, half his clothes cut off. It seemed the knight had tossed a blanket over him and set up camp around his prone form.
"Is Lady Robin okay?" Luffy asked hoarsely, remembering dimly that she had been absent, earlier.
"Why, I'm just fine, Sir Squire," her mellow voice responded. "Thank you for asking."
"She had to catch the horses," Croc snapped. "Since a damn fool squire put himself out of commission."
"Sorry," Luffy said meekly.
"I didn't mind so very much." He took a sharp intake of breath, then forgot to breathe at all as the Lady knelt beside him, demurely holding her trailing skirts out of the dirt. "Do you want to sit up, Luffy?" She didn't wait for his reply before offering a shoulder. Sitting up hurt, but the offered shoulder made many things better. "Do you need anything?"
"Meat! ...Please, m'lady."
Crocodile snorted. "Don't coddle the boy, or next time he'll just do it to get out of his duties. Unless you enjoy seeing a full Knight cook and groom, m'lady." He paused a moment, a pause heavy with suspicion. Possible, actually, that the accusation might be true, for this lady.
She gave her bright, brittle little laugh. "What a shocking thing to say, Sir Crocodile." She plucked a roasting bird from the fire to pass along to Luffy's hand. Crocodile eyed them without much joy, sword wedged between hook-wrist and knee while he polished the blade. Maybe Crocodile was wishing himself the one injured.
"You should be kinder to the boy," the Lady berated. "He did almost die for you today, thereby doing us both a service, my Knight."
"That's his job, and I was in no danger."
She tipped her head on one side and patted Luffy's arm with an exaggerated sigh. "My poor wounded escort. It seems there is no pity in this man at all."
"I'd rather," Luffy said, squirming to sit more upright and not lean on her quite so much, "almost die for you -- any day, m'lady."
"That's very sweet, Luffy... and delivered with such a direct, innocent charm. If I may ask only -- please, resist the compulsion to go looking for opportunities to do so right away." She smiled at him wryly, awakening little cynical creases around her eyes, but nonetheless a smile of such intensity he grew kind of over-aware that she was smiling at him and he was half-naked under a sheet. He disengaged, lurching to one knee. "Oh...! Be careful, there... careful..." She caught his arm as he almost went over, and though he'd intended to do it without help, she aided him on the arduous journey to his feet.
Luffy felt his face burning as he thanked her, tugged the slipped sheet around himself again, and stumbled to raid his pack for a shirt that wasn't in pieces.
"If you're up," Sir Crocodile grunted. "You can finish getting the tangles from Alabasta's mane, I think she's got half a hawthorn bush taking root in there -- and wave the brush in the vicinity of that nag Merry of yours, if it doesn't bolt all over again from the mere sight."
"Too cruel," Lady Robin was quick to scold.
Sir Crocodile eyed her at dour length.
"I suppose," he said, "that's my charm."
And I need to write some more now, because this is the final one I wrote last week.
Another! This one mostly happened because I didn't want to write the angsty cliche. Knight Crocodile & Squire Luffy AU setting. PGish. Gen. 1000 words.
Note: I've not really worked out all the background for this AU, but it's something like this - 2 hostile neighbouring fantasy kingdoms, one populated with pirate characters and the other marines, regardless of other affiliations (which allows for various infighting), Robin is possibly some kind of ambassador or spy that Sir Crocodile and Luffy are to protect, and it'll probably go from a love triangle into a threesome... if I ever properly write it.
6. Die For You
"I'm... a brave knight," Luffy grunted, determinedly ignoring the hitch in his voice as something caught in his shoulder, and the snort from the man whose life he'd just saved. Stupid brigands, taking them by surprise. They hadn't looked like Captain Smoker's men at all -- just the sort of common robbers that infested the forests.
"You're a very stupid squire," Sir Crocodile corrected, leaning over him and fumbling with hand and hook to get at the wound around the torn tunic and the pinning arrow. Finally he gave in, and with another snort of disgust, used his sand spell, dexterous fingers of sand accomplishing the task that foxed his lack of two whole hands, working carefully around the wet blood.
"Like hell!" Luffy jerked, but was kept from bolting up by the elbow that jammed into his uninjured shoulder. He stilled obediently, because from long familiarity with Sir Crocodile's temperament, he knew he was lucky that he had gone for the uninjured side. "I saved your life! I might have died for you."
"If you had," the older man said, dismissing the charm and returning his arm to flesh, "You would have been doing your job. Which I suppose is remarkable enough to be especially commendable from you. But you did not save my life. I would have simply used my sand, and the arrow would have done no damage. Unlike upon the flesh of certain rubber imbeciles."
"You're... fulla crap," Luffy mumbled, feeling consciousness sliding a little. The green canopy of the tree branches above spun and blurred. "I know you didn't see that coming... You jus' can' admit... I saved your life... Agh!" Pain flared as Crocodile briskly sat him up and bent his body forward, chest over knees. The larger, single hand picked up his and dropped it onto the protruding head of the arrow, where it had just snagged his side beneath his right shoulder, punching through shallowly between two ribs.
"Hold that. Tightly."
Luffy clenched his fingers and winced, squeezing shut his eyes, as Sir Crocodile snapped off the end of the arrow behind him. Then, that large hand closed over his own again, and drew the remaining length of the shaft from the wound. Luffy slid bonelessly sideways and his vision blurred on the knight, crouched over him scowling at the barbed point.
When he drifted back to consciousness, there were two voices talking distantly. One of them, female, made him feel better just hearing its smooth tones. Luffy lifted a hand to his face, hiding his smile behind it, since he knew it would annoy the other voice present, as he blinked to unglue his eyelids.
There was still an awful lot of pain. But there was a constriction on his shoulder that told him the wound had been taken care of, which reassured him that he wasn't going to die -- Sir Crocodile wouldn't have gone to the effort of bandaging if he thought the exercise useless. It was almost night, and he could hear the crackling of a campfire. He was lying on his back in the grass, half his clothes cut off. It seemed the knight had tossed a blanket over him and set up camp around his prone form.
"Is Lady Robin okay?" Luffy asked hoarsely, remembering dimly that she had been absent, earlier.
"Why, I'm just fine, Sir Squire," her mellow voice responded. "Thank you for asking."
"She had to catch the horses," Croc snapped. "Since a damn fool squire put himself out of commission."
"Sorry," Luffy said meekly.
"I didn't mind so very much." He took a sharp intake of breath, then forgot to breathe at all as the Lady knelt beside him, demurely holding her trailing skirts out of the dirt. "Do you want to sit up, Luffy?" She didn't wait for his reply before offering a shoulder. Sitting up hurt, but the offered shoulder made many things better. "Do you need anything?"
"Meat! ...Please, m'lady."
Crocodile snorted. "Don't coddle the boy, or next time he'll just do it to get out of his duties. Unless you enjoy seeing a full Knight cook and groom, m'lady." He paused a moment, a pause heavy with suspicion. Possible, actually, that the accusation might be true, for this lady.
She gave her bright, brittle little laugh. "What a shocking thing to say, Sir Crocodile." She plucked a roasting bird from the fire to pass along to Luffy's hand. Crocodile eyed them without much joy, sword wedged between hook-wrist and knee while he polished the blade. Maybe Crocodile was wishing himself the one injured.
"You should be kinder to the boy," the Lady berated. "He did almost die for you today, thereby doing us both a service, my Knight."
"That's his job, and I was in no danger."
She tipped her head on one side and patted Luffy's arm with an exaggerated sigh. "My poor wounded escort. It seems there is no pity in this man at all."
"I'd rather," Luffy said, squirming to sit more upright and not lean on her quite so much, "almost die for you -- any day, m'lady."
"That's very sweet, Luffy... and delivered with such a direct, innocent charm. If I may ask only -- please, resist the compulsion to go looking for opportunities to do so right away." She smiled at him wryly, awakening little cynical creases around her eyes, but nonetheless a smile of such intensity he grew kind of over-aware that she was smiling at him and he was half-naked under a sheet. He disengaged, lurching to one knee. "Oh...! Be careful, there... careful..." She caught his arm as he almost went over, and though he'd intended to do it without help, she aided him on the arduous journey to his feet.
Luffy felt his face burning as he thanked her, tugged the slipped sheet around himself again, and stumbled to raid his pack for a shirt that wasn't in pieces.
"If you're up," Sir Crocodile grunted. "You can finish getting the tangles from Alabasta's mane, I think she's got half a hawthorn bush taking root in there -- and wave the brush in the vicinity of that nag Merry of yours, if it doesn't bolt all over again from the mere sight."
"Too cruel," Lady Robin was quick to scold.
Sir Crocodile eyed her at dour length.
"I suppose," he said, "that's my charm."
And I need to write some more now, because this is the final one I wrote last week.