Bloody Rose : The Beginning

Queen of the Forest

I took a moment to process what he had said, and I growled "What do you mean?! How can you just assume I-" I paused in my ferocious mews, the statement now echoing in my thoughts, what was I going to do now? Where was I going to go? Who would I join? A pirate? A marine? Or would i stay as a civilian...

I was knocked back into my senses as Ace and Sabo landed in front of Luffy, I decided to only watch the scene from above on my perch. Luffy was oblivious to the boys intentions as they tied him to a tree. Him simply continuing to talk to them freely about the life of a pirate.

My tail flicked amusingly, my eyes narrowing slightly at a strong feeling over came me once he called my name for help. I leaped down and cut the rope loose, just in time as men's voices echoed through the brush.

I was busy in my mind trying to decide what was my plan. Luffy needed to go through this to earn Ace's and Sabo's acceptance, but somewhere inside of me I wanted to save him, before he needed saving.

I was too late as I realized they caught and began to carry him off; I was too late to stop him from leaving the bush, however it wasn't too late to follow them. I leaped and wiggled through the rubble in grey terminal, and managed to squeeze through the crack before the door closed of to the world. 

I did what I could, cat-nabbing the gloves that would cause him extreme harm. I soon realized that it only shortly delayed the inevitable, the knife cut through the rubber easily, and Luffy's blood splattered across the floor..

I could only watch in horror, Luffy's screams echoed in the hut as well as my mind and heart. I couldn't handle it, I had to force myself to stay out of it, but there was a ledge that I was quickly approaching, as soon as I sensed Ace's and Sabo's presence, I leaped. My roar escaped as I landed where the bastard once stood. He held his weapon up a nervous sweat dripping down his head.

A low growl directed at him, bouncing off the walls and embedding into his mind, "O Niku!" my tail flicked at the sound of Luffy calling me. I was his protector, and this had gone on for too long.

"Its you.... The little cat chick we were gonna sell to the nobles." he chuckled, my memory flashed to the bullet that had killed Rei, she was a troubled girl and they killed her. I released a low growl, "Ya know boss wondered if ya survived, now i have good news that ya did." I stood teeth bared practically covering Luffy's body with my own, hiding him from the mans eyes.

The sun that was beginning to lower, cast a dim glow giving my eyes an eerie golden glow. With a lick of fear he still managed to lunged at me, my body waited before I swatted him away, scratching him with a perfectly placed four scratch marks.

The wall broke in behind me and I knew it was the duo. I didn't look at them, instead I pounced biting my prey, he screamed and surprisingly managed to wrestle my strong feline body, throwing me to the side effectively destroying another portion in the wall.

I came back full force and knocked the man off of the raven haired boy, Ace called out in surprise. I didn't kill him, but I bit him hard enough that he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon. I was quick to turn and grab Ace by his shirt and ran, Sabo followed close behind with Luffy on his back.

"What the hell, Rose?! Put me down!" Ace yelled and I complied dropping him lazily to the ground. The moon was now high in the sky, the only light we had. Sabo caught up and placed Luffy down on the ground to begin working on his wounds.

"What the hell Rose! I didn't need your help! I could have handled that Asshole!" I ignored the hot head and stretched lazily, allowing my mouth to stretch open with a small odd howl. "Are you listening to me you stupid cat!" I shook my head with a grin and enjoyed his frustrated yell.

Luffy's cries were loud and screeching, "I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA DIE!!!" I gave him a soft look. "Ugh! You're so annoying! Shut up! Stop crying already! I don't like cowards or people who cry a lot!" in an instant, at Ace's words, Luffy bit his lower lip ceasing all his cries. The two looked at him in confusion, while I gave a low chuckle flicking my tail back and forth.

"Th-thank you." he bowed, the two boys looked at each other in surprise "you..." tears then leaped from his eyes again flowing to the ground. "You helped me!" Ace was ready to pounce with anger, at the new spew of tears, but luckily was stopped by Sabo. I approached Luffy and shrunk to about the size of a large dog, I rubbed my cheek affectionately against his own.

I knew what would happen, and truthfully I wasn't very good in these situations. So really I had no opinions or movements that I could do at the moment, i saved Luffy that's all I needed to do.

I left, no one seemed to notice, nor care as i left; and that was perfectly preferable. My trek into the forest was mostly uneventful. Only about around the bridge area did I come face to face with the group of cats again. The four balls of fluff growled in my direction and I turned as a loud pound against the ground echoed from my feet and up through my body.

It was the forests Master, the predator of predators and today, my prey. 'Today you die pet.' a sinister and deadly smile engulfed my features at the idiot child eating tigers words. I turned to the weaklings for a moment 'no today I will be the ruler over this forest.'