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Homecoming Hill	By : TreeStar Category: +M to R > One Piece Views: 2656 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Homecoming Hill

2

What came before

September 16^th 1939

Lightning pierced the sky over the small town set in the hills. It was three in the afternoon, but it was dark as night.

The storm was a bad one. The flooding in the streets had made traveling difficult at best. Several homes had sandbags stacked in front of the doors to keep the water from flowing into their tiny houses. In such a secluded area as Hill Town, the storm was a huge deal and had been a matter of gossip and great bustling activity to prepare for. Not too much happened here, so even the smallest thing out of the ordinary would stir up the strangely paranoid townsfolk.

But on top of Homecoming Hill, crisis had come in another form.

�Where the hell is that cursed doctor?� A man in his late thirties was pacing back and forth impatiently in the hall outside of the set of large double doors that led to his son�s bedroom.

He was a handsome man with deep red hair and a comely goatee. For a wealthy man living off of a great inheritance, he was unusually casual. Instead of the pristine expensive clothes he could be seen in, he preferred the comfortable look. Aaron D. Shanks was a jovial man who loved teasing people and had never found trouble in making friends.

He had an open mind and a patient countenance, and while he found joy in the oddest places, his greatest happiness came in the form of his youngest son. A boy with the utterly bizarre yet fitting name, Luffy.

A born family man, he had been disappointed upon learning shortly after marriage that his beloved wife Makino was barren, but it had not stopped him from loving her. Instead he had found his successors in another way.

Adoption was not a very popular way for a wealthy man to pass on a fortune, but Shanks had never been big on what was popular anyway. His heart was big, and the option seemed perfect for him.

All the same, he had received a great amount of backlash when his heirs had finally been named. He had found Ace and Luffy living off the streets when they were but seven and twelve years old, and had taken a great fondness of them both right away.

When the criticism of his boys had passed its tolerable level according to Shanks, he had packed up his family and headed from the east coast to the west. They had found great fortune in all their homes so far, but Homecoming Hill was going to be special. Everlasting would be the Manor he left specifically to Luffy and Ace when he passed on. They wouldn�t be moving again. This would be the home the settled in for the rest of their lives together. They would reopen the vineyard as a special project, and Shanks would be able to spend the what time was left with his sons, before they ran off to wed.

Ace was already twenty two, just the perfect marital age, and Shanks was sure he would be picking a bride before too long. Makino had started going on about how exciting a wedding would be once the vineyard was in bloom again as soon as they�d moved in two months ago. Ace would have no trouble finding someone. He�d always had a way of dominating the scales of popularity with women wherever he went. And then Luffy would be sure to follow shortly, being seventeen already.

But then, maybe he wouldn�t. Luffy�s mindset was much younger than his brother�s; much more naïve and innocent. He was still a small child at heart.

He was also laying abed sick.

Shanks swore again. His pacing increased speed.

Ace, who was sitting in a chair with his hands clasped tightly in front of him, leaned forward. He was very handsome with black hair curling down his neck and a very well-built body that was typically visible through the tight clothes he had a tendency to wear. Light freckles dotted his nose and cheeks, making his smile all the more youthfully characteristic.

Very perceptive, Ace was an intelligent young man, quick on the uptake and even a college graduate -a rarity for the times, especially in this part of the country. Western Oregon was not big with the schools yet. Ace hoped that would change soon, because he felt it would it be nice for his whimsical, imaginative little brother to become further educated in the real world.

But he adored Luffy. It was hard not to. Luffy just had this vibrantly lovable personality, and he in turn loved everything and everyone around him. The only form of value Luffy cared about was sentimental. For Luffy, who had the affection, curiosity, and attention span of a little hand-fed bird, there was no point in having any other kind.

Ace felt that the world would lose a great wonder if Luffy were to die of Diphtheria, and now he spoke his concern. �Father, the doctor might not be able to make it because of the flooding.�

Shanks didn�t like this answer, but knew Ace was probably right. After all, they�d sent a servant for the man over an hour ago, and the doctor lived maybe five minutes away once you�d made it down the long, brick drive path.

He sat down next to his son, resigned that they might be on their own through the storm. He could not resign himself, however, to what might come of that. But honestly, what could the doctor do now that he couldn�t do three days ago? Luffy had Diphtheria, and Diphtheria had no cure.

After a moment, he spoke. �I should have seen this coming. He�s been talking about seeing things in the shadows� hearing crying and such at night. Screaming. He�s been acting different since the week after we moved in.�

�Don�t blame yourself. I should have noticed, too. I spend so much time with him, I saw how jumpy he was getting. Always shaking�� Ace trailed off.

It was quiet for a minute or so.

Shanks leaned back some. �You know� Makino tells me not to be superstitious. She�s always saying �Shanks, you see signs in places that there just aren�t any�� but I tell you� when Mabel�s son went missing in the woods behind the manor last week� between that and Luffy�s behavior�� He paused here for a moment. His eyes seemed to reflect a scene long gone.

�I never told Luffy that Joshua was gone. And I told everyone else to keep quiet about it. He hadn�t been feeling well at that point, you know. But I had the strangest feeling later that night after he disappeared. The strangest feeling. I should have moved us out then. That same night.�

�Father?� Ace was looking at him, unsure what he was getting at.

Shanks turned to him. �You see, Luffy was saying last night that he�d seen Joshua. Right outside his window, on the other side of the glass. He said his eyes were empty, but that he was trying to tell him something. He kept saying the same thing over and over, like it was so important, but he had no voice.�

Ace was looking at him with that expression. The one that said �don�t you even say it�.

Shanks shook his head, knowing what his son was thinking. �It�s not just the rumors, okay? They�re all just made up anyway. I mean, I�ve heard everything from the Hill covering an ancient Indian burial ground to there being a lost Egyptian pyramid buried underneath it that swallows souls. I know that rumors can�t be trusted. But they also aren�t completely unfounded.�

�Oh nooo�� Ace dropped his head into his hands for a moment before raising it to look at the double doors. Here we go again, he thought.

Shanks pressed on, his voice getting a little louder to drown his son�s groan. �I mean, is it thirty people that have disappeared or suddenly died on these grounds? If I�d have known that before we moved in I might have reconsidered��

�Father, Luffy�s seen all kinds of hallucinations since he got sick three days ago. Day before yesterday he was telling me there was a woman in a black dress that was rocking a crying baby right there in the room with us, in a rocking chair that doesn�t exist. He was hysterical about it, pointing in the corner at nothing. They�re fever dreams. He probably saw a chair in one of the rooms when he was exploring before and his mind made up the rest.�

�But why Joshua? Out of everyone he could have seen, it was Joshua. Some five year old kid he�d barely even seen before, and didn�t know was even missing?�

�Well, Joshua does live here��

�But he sleep�s downstairs in the servant�s quarters and stays with his mother all day inside. Luffy is always outside or in town, he couldn�t have met him more than twice. It doesn�t strike you as odd at all that he�s seeing this boy dead?�

�Joshua is the only thing the other maids have been talking about since it happened. I mean, he is her only child. Luffy probably overheard that he was gone. Besides, it�s not like we know he�s dead...� Ace had to trail off here. He knew how stupid that sounded. A five year old gets lost for a week in wild woods and is still alive? With this forest�s track record? Very unlikely.

�But Ace, that�s the thing! What he said about Joshua� I saw the same thing. At the same time. It�s what made me get up and check on Luffy in the first place.�

Ace was quiet for a moment, and then, �What are you saying?�

Before Shanks could answer, Luffy�s door opened and Makino stepped out. �Shanks, he�s asking for you.�

Shanks squeezed Ace�s hands and the two got up and went into the room.

Their eyes fell on the bed where the pale form of a boy lay. He was rather short for seventeen, thin with messy dark hair and blue eyes that stayed bright despite his illness, and had a long thin scar under his left eye, made conveniently by the same blade that had given Shanks the three red scars over his eye. Luffy�s eyes opened as Shanks ignored the chair and opted to kneel right beside him.

�Hi Shanks.� Luffy never called Shanks �father�. It had been �Shanks� since they�d met, and it wasn�t about to change now. Luffy managed to put more affection into �Shanks� then Ace could into �father�.

Shanks smiled and stroked his hair. �Hey, Anchor. How are you feeling?�

�Like I could outrun a train.� Luffy smiled tiredly and licked his cracked and dry lips.

�Oh aye? You look like you�ve been hit by a train. What are you going to do about that?�

Luffy�s smile faded as he sighed. �Get better. Is the doctor coming?�

Shanks sighed himself. �Aye, mate. He�s coming. The rain might have slowed him down, but he�s coming. We have to be strong.�

Luffy managed a nod.

On the other bedside table, Makino was writing something on a piece of paper. After a moment she held it up out of Luffy�s vision for Shanks to see.

104.8

Luffy�s temperature.

Shanks� heart twisted in his chest as his wife left to check the door for the doctor. He was starting to get this horrible, foreboding feeling that this storm� this house� would take his baby away from him.

His eyes went back to his son�s, which were closed again. He had to do something. Something to give Luffy hope. Hope in case anything happened.

His hand moved to the straw hat on his head. It was a little tattered and worn. Certainly not the type of thing that an ordinary man of great wealth would openly be seen in day after day, in spite of what he was wearing otherwise. But Shanks was not an ordinary rich man.

He�d bought it on the day he�d found Luffy, the same day they�d gotten their uniting scars. The same day he�d taken in the two boys that would later become his own children. It was his lucky hat. And now he took it off his head.

�Luffy, open your eyes.�

Luffy did so, weakly.

Shanks smiled at him and ran a hand through his hair again to help keep him alert. �You�re going to get better. I know it. And just to make sure�� He lifted the hat into Luffy�s vision.

Luffy shifted a little. �Lucky hat?�

Shanks nodded. �Lucky hat. I�m going to let you borrow it. It�s going to help you stay strong. It�ll bring you good luck and make you better. Even when it gets really dark and hard to find a way out of that hopelessness, this hat is going to lead you back to me. Just like it lead me to you. And then you won�t ever have to see evil again.�

Luffy smiled and closed his eyes again. �Okay.�

Makino poked her head around the corner. �Honey? The doctor�s here.�

Shanks nodded and started to rise. He squeezed Ace�s shoulder on his way out to meet the doctor, and Ace knelt to take Shanks� place beside Luffy and took the smaller boy�s hand.

As Shanks rounded the foot of the bed, Luffy suddenly took a deep breath and called louder than he had been able to in days. �I love you, Shanks.�

Shanks stopped and looked at his sons. His real treasures. �And I love you, Luffy. I�ll be right back.�

If he had followed his instinct and gone back to his sons� sides, things might have gone very differently. He left the door open behind him (somehow closing it felt like a bad idea) and walked through the house down to the front door to walk the doctor in and debrief him on the way up, as Makino was terribly shy toward strangers.

He made it just over the outer thresh hold.

--------------

After about a minute, Ace sensed that his brother had fallen asleep and walked across the room to the table to grab the book he�d been studying.

He had noticed an odd inscription in the garden yesterday, one he hadn�t noticed before because he wasn�t the type who enjoyed taking leisurely strolls across dead humans. He had been trying ever since to find a language that matched it.

He�d considered asking some of the townsfolk about it, but all that questions regarding the manor�s history would earn him would be a town full of people too afraid to speak to him. The townsfolk were odd. They got along fine talking with each other, but the D. family made them nervous, and they refused to talk about the Hill. Even if they knew something about the inscriptions, Ace was sure they would never say.

Something about it felt off. He had wanted to tell his father, but frankly if Shanks knew how eerie Ace also felt about the Hill as of late, he might just uproot Luffy -at death�s door or not- and throw the whole family into the Ford tonight and try to get them out of town on no gas and in flooded, unpaved streets.

Shanks was a very paranoid man. He did things on a whim and never took anything on face value. Like, he didn�t trust banks. He developed this bizarre idea that the stock market might crash and the banks would lose all their money and the country would go broke any time now. So he�d hidden almost all of their money around the property. �Buried treasure� Luffy called it. It was highly unlikely that anything so terrible would happen to the economy, even if America did get involved in the war, but Shanks didn�t always think things through before he acted on his imaginings.

It occurred to Ace that it had been a long time since Shanks had left the room. And hadn�t he left the doors open�?

Ace walked over and opened the doors again, then went across the hall to grab a little angel statue from one of the hall tables with which to prop the door open. It was so strange that Ace hadn�t heard the heavy doors close�

As he walked back to his brother�s doors his eyes glanced down the hall of their own accord.

He did a double take, and dropped the statue, which shattered into pieces loudly on the wooden floor.

�Luffy?� he whispered.

It was the last thing he ever did.

--------------

When Makino and the doctor made it upstairs alone, the room and hall were empty.

Luffy�s bed was undisturbed, the straw hat resting on the pillow.

The angels on the hall tables were all accounted for an in perfect condition.

Shanks� billowy cape that he loved so much was still hanging over the back of the chair where he�d left it.

And Makino never saw any of the three again.
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Homecoming Hill