The explosion, the deaths, the screams; Akutagawa couldn't see. This shouldn't have happened. He should have known. Fuck, he should have known

"Akutagawa-san!" More screams. His men were dying. Their blood had spilled over his shoes and the stink of ripped flesh, burned his nostrils. This shouldn't have happened.

He coughed.

"Hayato!" He called out; covering his mouth with the palm of his hand. Another cough. "Hayato! Tell me where you are!" He could barely see two steps ahead of him and-

His men. They were dying.

Finally; shaking fingers clasped his wrist. "Akutagawa-san." A choked breath and terrified eyes. Hayato was older than him, but – It was Ryuunosuke's job to keep him alive. To keep him standing.

"Get behind me," he muttered; struggling to speak each word. "Get as many of them as you can behind me."

Hayato didn't need to be told twice, and with a click of his earpiece, he was shouting orders left and right; blood-soaked fingers still clenching around his gun.

Akutagawa didn't care whether these no names lived or died, but he'd promised the Jinko not to kill, and if he wasn't planning to end his enemies for what they were putting him through right now, couldn't he afford the idiots following him the same courtesy?

He coughed. The whole arrangement was more trouble than it was worth. But – His gut twisted painfully at the thought of just letting these morons perish. He didn't like them, but, he didn't hate them either. And... "People count on the strong," Chuuya-san had once said, when he'd taken a bullet in the gut for a nameless mafia remember. "I try not to disappoint those loyal to me Ryuu-chan."

Fuck.

Men were running past him now. Some of them occasionally even turning around to shoot back into the fray. "Akutgawa-san!" They kept saying as they drew near him. "Akutagawa-san!"

They were counting on him. Like Gin did. Like Jinko had. Like... No one had predicted the ability users, plural... No one had known. 'Faulty information,' Ryuunosuke thought bitterly. 'We were taken of guard.' Still, it didn't matter in the end. He wasn't going to let anyone else take their last breath today. Not on his watch.

"Rashomon!" he cried; Coat flaring up to devour the space in-between. He had never used his ability as far ranging as he was now, but it couldn't be helped. His men where behind him; vulnerable, scared. They couldn't fight these forces alone and reinforcement wouldn't arrive on time, so he covered as much space as he could, and strained to keep the people behind him, safe.

"Get out of here," he called back; teeth gritted against the magnitude of bullets raining down on them. Any other day and this would have been child's play, but he'd expended most of his energy on taking down the three ability users, and now he was almost running on empty.

He could have laughed at how pathetic he must have looked right now. Standing there, facing down lowly gunmen and struggling. Humiliating really. Still-

"Are you sure Akutagawa-kun?"

Daichi. He was young. The only reason Akutagawa even knew his name was that Higuichi had taken him under her wing. She'd been very fond of him. And he didn't seem all that scared of the rabid dog either.

"Get out of her Daichi, that's an order." The kid yelped. Probably surprised that he knew his name, but he was also quick to obey which made Akutagawa's heart briefly flair up with pride. Idiots who didn't listen didn't last very long in the mafia after all.

Retreating stampede of feet rang out behind him at the barked order, and somehow, Ruunosuke found his muscles untensing with the slightest degree. In just a few minutes, he was the only one left; cars screeching out of their parking spots behind him and turning towards the road.

Good

No more distractions. He coughed. Good.

"Rashomon," he muttered, it was time to end this. The cloth attacked; now only having to cover him, it didn't have to hold back anymore. Of course the situation was a bit trickier than usual, with him trying not to kill men he couldn't even see, and them trying not to surround him and instead keeping as far away as possible, but, not long after only few screams and gun shots were ringing out anymore, and Akutagawa was slowly closing in on them.

His sides were burning, his lungs were suffocating and his head was swimming, but he was close-

So close he could taste it. "Just a second more," he muttered to himself; ducking behind a wall when Rashomon momentarily faltered. "You got this." Stepping out from his hiding spot again; smoke having cleared somewhat, he lashed out again. This time taking out three of the remaining five gunmen.

Just two left to go.

Or that's what he'd thought. He hadn't heard the silent footsteps that creeped up behind him, hadn't heard the thin breathing; too occupied in trying to stop himself from coughing out his lungs, so when the bullet dug itself into his left calf. He gasped. "Fuck."

The skin around his left eye had been burned off by the previous ability user, so Akutagawa hadn't seen her coming; vision being blurry from the melted skin surrounding it, but it shouldn't have been that difficult. He should have been more careful, more prepared. "Fuck."

A gun was directed at his head now, and with his failing ability fending off the two other gunmen, Ryuunosuke was sad to say, he couldn't do anything but glare up at her; bloody teeth bared and eyes glowering.

She smirked; tongue darting out to lick at the blood caking her lips. He grimaced.

Disgusting.

"Say goodbye rabid dog," she giggled, and – Akutagawa thought of her... Gin, his sister, the only person who'd always been there, the only person... She would be alone now. Without him – Alone. He gritted his teeth. She was all grown up now, but.. Could she live? Without him? Go on? Maybe, but... Why should she have to? No, fuck no. Gin needed him. Chuuya-san would be there, but... He'd promised, and he would never leave her, ever. But-

Before he would do something, anything – a shot rang out in the dark and in the blink of an eye, the gleeful look on the woman's face slacked and she crumbled lifelessly onto the ground.

Akutagawa gaped.

Two more shots after, and the men behind him also found themselves faces planting on the ground. What the hell was going on?

"Ryuu!"

Huh?

Rapid footsteps where approaching him now. He blinked slowly; body suddenly feeling too heavy and too tired. "Kid are you ok?"

He frowned, tensing up slightly. "Who are you?" Words came out sluggish.

Said person dropped down next to him; face ashen and lips drawn into a worrying line. 'He looks familiar,' Ryuunosuke thought. 'Do I know him?'

"Don't worry, I didn't kill them. I know that's what you were trying to avoid." Nervous fingers where clapping him on the shoulders now, helping him fully sit down and trying to make him lean against the rock he'd been hiding behind. "Not that I would have done it anyways-"

"Who are you," he snapped; interrupting the man.

"Oh," the red head said, ruffling his own hair sheepishly. "I guess we don't know each other pretty well here huh?" He smiled softly then, and Akutagawa blinked. No one had ever smiled at him like that before. That fondness, it felt foreign. "I'm Oda. I think I'm dead in your universe."

Akutagawa promptly passed out.

Ok, so I've had this plot line running crazy in my head for weeks, and I just couldn't help but write it down. Just the thought of beast au Oda ending up in our main timeline and just filling it with his brand of fluffy kindness was too much to avoid. Besides, you can never go wrong with Oda.

At first I wanted to write from the time Oda first woke up here and all the confusion he went through (trust me he will explain later), but then it wouldn't really stay true to his orphan saving ways right? So Oda kinda refused to be helped and instead chose to help. As it should be. I apologize in advance for this wack fanfic. But it had to be written, for my sanity :)