peekaboo - Emily_Elizabeth_Fowl - One Piece (Anime & Manga) [Archive of Our Own] (2024)

Maybe he should have gone with his original plan and left Luffy with Garp. At least his father, as far as Dragon was aware, never lost a child.

How do you lose a child, you might ask? Well, simply put: You forget to cherish them. Perhaps you have some very important reports to go through, and you dare commit the ultimate crime of Not Paying Attention to your beloved toddler, and the next time you look up, he’s just- gone.

Dragon just blinked at first, certain that his eyes were deceiving him. He had’s been reading reports and leaked government secrets the whole morning; Surely Luffy was still sitting in front of him, playing with his blocks, and Dragon had just developed a bit of a blind spot.

But blinking didn’t help, and neither did rubbing at his eyes nor patting the floor around him.

Getting to his feet, Dragon turned around, scanning the room carefully. The doors were still closed, so there was’s no way for Luffy to have left the room. There weren't exactly many spaces to hide in, even for a tiny child. The sofa and his desk were the only realistic ones. Once he checked those, Dragon was at a loss.

After one last sweep of the room and a desperate check underneath the scattered papers, Dragon admitted defeat and went to get reinforcements.

***

Ivankov didn’t seem to be taking Dragon’s concerns seriously.

“He’s gone, Iva!” He reiterated, trying to get Iva’s attention. For some reason, his eyes seemed to be constantly drifting towards a spot above Dragon’s shoulders. “Disappeared without a trace!”

“...Ve’re sure Luffy’s fine,” she said, eyes straying again and looking, for all intents and purposes, like they were trying to hold in laughter. “Vhe’s sure to turn up soon, Dragon-boy, don’t vyou worry about that!”

Dragon had hoped that his commander - and one responsible for the Grand Line, at that - would be more sympathetic to his plight.

“It’s not like vhe could have made it off the island!” Was all Ivankov offered, patting Dragon’s shoulder and walking away while suppressing chuckles.

That was the whole problem, though; Baltigo wasn’t a huge island, sure, but it was still fairly large, and they were in the New World! If Luffy had made it outside of the building, he could have very easily been swept off by a strong wave!

Just thinking about that possibility was giving Dragon cold shivers.

Dragon still wasn’t sure how Luffy could have made it out of his office, but he had clearly left, so he’d just have to comb the entire base himself.

Starting with the kitchen, of course, because if Luffy wasn’t around Dragon, the nearest source of food was the next best bet. If there was any higher power listening to Dragon’s desperate pleas, he’d find his son conning the cooks into giving him early desserts.

They really shouldn’t be indulging him like that, but… Luffy’s puppy eyes were a weapon of mass destruction. Dragon was half-convinced he could just hold Luffy up in front of the Five Elders and the whole war would be over in fifteen seconds flat.

Unfortunately for his sanity and blood pressure, Luffy was not terrorizing the cooks.

Dragon checked the cupboards and pantry anyways, for peace of mind. The lack of sleep must have been getting to him; he could have sworn people were holding out food towards his back, but whenever he turned to look, their hands were always empty.

He’d take a nap the moment he found Luffy, he swore to himself. But not a second before.

Now that the kitchens were cleared, he moved towards the mess. The cooks swore up and down that they hadn't seen Luffy before Dragon came in, but they also kept giggling amongst themselves, so Dragon wasn't very keen to take them on their word alone.

The Revolutionary Army was growing steadily, but they were still in their infancy (quite like Luffy; the two fruits of Dragon’s life) so while the base was built to accommodate a much larger operation, it wasn’t exactly being used in its full capacity.

What Dragon was trying to say: the mess hall was mostly empty. There were just a few people scattered around, and Dragon was loath to ask any of them for help, knowing full well those were the agents whose reports he had just been reading. They’d done good work, stolen a lot of important documents, and they deserved to eat in peace.

Kuma, however, had been on-base for the whole past week. In Dragon’s opinion, he could use some exercise.

Schooling his features, Dragon strode purposefully towards his table, absently slapping the back of someone choking on their drink.

And then he froze, whipping around.

“Luffy?” He called out softly, glancing around the hall. He could have sworn he heard his son’s laughter…

There it was again! Coming from right behind him, but when Dragon turned around, there was no one there.

Or, well, there were still all the same RA members as before, watching him flail about like cheap meal-time entertainment and being entirely unhelpful.

Kuma was no longer at his seat. In the short moment when Dragon turned his back on him, he’d already made his way across the room, coming towards him.

Between his two founding members, he always did like Kuma better than Ivankov.

“Luffy’s missing,” Dragon said without a preamble, though he was certain Kuma had already connected the dots. “We were in my office, and then he was just gone-”

“Dragon,” Kuma interrupted, ever so gently. “I think you need to take the day off.”

Sputtering, Dragon blinked in confusion. What did that have to do with his son’s disappearance?

Kuma placed a hand on his shoulder, pushing Dragon carefully to make him stand sideways, and then he was reaching towards his back-

And Dragon couldn’t really turn his neck around far enough to see, but when Kuma’s hand came back, it was with Luffy carefully cradled within it, fistfulls of Dragon’s cape still trapped in his hold.

“...Oh.”

“He’s living up to his name,” Kuma said, amusem*nt clear in his voice as he attempted to free the fabric from Luffy’s grasp.

“I never caused my father this much trouble,” Dragon grumbled, offering Luffy his fingers in exchange for the cape, a deal which his son seemed reluctant to accept.

“Dragon…” Kuma passed the child to him. “You’re leading the Revolutionary Army. You’re the most wanted man in the whole world. Your father’s in the marines.”

“...” That was true and Dragon couldn’t really argue the point. “...It’s the right thing to do?”

Kuma just shook his head. “Go take that nap. You’re in no state to liberate people if you can’t even liberate your clothes from Luffy.”

But there were so many reports he hadn’t gotten around to reading yet! “Revolution waits for no man-”

“It’ll wait for its father,” Kuma assured, pushing Dragon towards the exit. “And if you can’t even remember you have Observation Haki, I’m not sure I’m confident in your ability to take in intel and come up with plans right now.”

It was easier to just give in, Dragon supposed, nodding tiredly. Kuma wouldn’t stop arguing until Dragon did what he asked him to, so this was the best choice. The fact that he really wanted to cuddle with his son had nothing to do with that decision.

Absolutely nothing at all.