Luffy x Neko!Reader Warm

Chapter 8: Crocodile

You stood at the bottom of the staircase, tail fluffed out to twice its size, lips curled back in a snarl. Crocodile himself stood in front of you, unimpressed by your fury. "What are you?"

You didn't bother to answer his question. "What did you do with Luffy?"

"What, are you one of his crew mates? Sorry, kitten, your captain's dead."

You hissed. "Liar."

Crocodile held out his hook toward you, the gold gleaming dully. "Believe me or not. He is dead. I stabbed him through the chest and left him to drown in the sand."

You stalked forward, stiff-legged with rage. Circling him, you slowly started to change, until you padded forward on all fours, your paws making hardly any sound on the stone flooring. Now that seemed to impress him. "Well then, that was unexpected. Come here then, cat, you're no match for me. No one is."

You hissed, thinking 'You're too arrogant, Crocodile.' You dashed forward, swiping your forepaw towards his face, claws unsheathed. His body dissipated into sand the moment you touched him. Snarling with frustration, you jumped at him, spit flying from your jaws.

Crocodile let out an animalistic roar of pain and confusion when your fangs sunk into his shoulder. Apparently, his Devil Fruit didn't make him as invincible as he thought it did. Letting him go before he could hit you with that hook of his, you jumped back out of his range and started to circle him again.

He spat some rather unkind words at you, and started trying to hit you with his sand. You were fast, and you managed to keep away from his attacks, but you didn't know how long you could keep this up.

Crocodile claimed he killed Luffy. He said your mate was dead. Your heart refused to believe that Luffy was gone, but a part of you couldn't help but wonder.

What if Crocodile was right?

You shook you head and kept running. If you let yourself think like that then you wouldn't be able to keep moving. If you managed to convince yourself that Luffy was gone, then you'd probably just let yourself die.

Crocodile swung at you again and almost nicked your tail. You were slowing down. He grinned. It was obvious that fatigue wasn't the cause of your stutterings. His words must have affected you more than it seemed. "Come on cat, don't you want to avenge your captain? Or was he more than just your captain?"

That did it. Caterwauling with rage, you leapt at him, blinded by fury. He swung his hook at you, slamming the heavy weapon into your head and sending you flying. You slammed into the wall, wheezing as the breath was knocked from your lungs.

You weakly raised your head and snarled at Crocodile as he walked slowly closer. He raised his hook, ready to slam the point into the top of your head. You stared him straight in the eyes. You refused to die a coward.

"Hey! Crocodile!"

Crocodile whipped around, staring in shock at Luffy as he stood at the bottom of the stairs. You purred, getting shakily to your paws and limping toward him before Crocodile snapped out of his shock. Luffy stiffened when you looked up at him. Reaching out a hand, he carefully touched the side of your head. Blood had soaked into the fur where Crocodile's hook had slammed, breaking the skin.

"Did you do this...?" At first Luffy's words were barely above a whisper, but then he looked up, eyes blazing with fury. "DID YOU DO THIS TO HER?!" Without waiting for an answer he shot toward Crocodile, and, covered in his own blood, was able to punch the man in the face.

You laid down next to Luffy, gently licking the sand and blood out of his hair. He'd done it. He'd beaten Crocodile. But not without getting poisoned in the process. He'd been given the antidote, but you were still worried about him. "Hurry up and wake up, you stupid man..."

"I'm not stupid..."

You jumped a little at the sound of his voice. He was looking at you, his dark eyes shining with life. Almost crying, you rested your forehead against his. "No," you said, "you're not. Not stupid at all."

He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you on top of him, kissing you almost desperately. When he finally pulled away for air he said, "I've been wanting to do that all day." You laughed and kissed him again.

"Me too, Luffy. Me too."