Soliloquy of the Broken Soul

Psychological Damages

Once they were in the hallway, Thatch started walking towards the galley, leaving Ace and Sabo lingering at the door looking up at Aria.

She stuck a finger out and pointed down the hallway. "I don't want to see either of you until after the dinner bell! Go on now. Luffy will be safe and sound."

The two jumped slightly when she closed the door in front of them. They exchanged glances in the dimly lit hallway and then trudged after Thatch to the ship kitchen.

They'd had a good time helping Thatch, learning that Ace was scary good at cooking and Sabo was terrible at it, almost forgetting about all their worries. Almost. They'd never forget about Luffy as long as they both lived. But, the evening was a successful stress reliever on the boys and they were slightly glad they had been forced out of the medical wing.

Well, at least, they were happy until they heard someone wailing from across the ship. The brothers exchanged expressions of horror as they thought the same thing.

Luffy!

They both raced down to the infirmary, leaving Thatch in the dust along with the few crew members they'd been introduced too.

They skidded to a halt in front of the door and opened it to find Luffy sobbing in a ball on the bed with Aria trying to calm him down.

"Luffy! It's alright! I'm back okay? I'm right here, you aren't alone. Luffy!" She coaxed gently and looked up when she saw Ace and Sabo rush over to their brothers side.

"Luffy!" They both yelled as they clambered up the bed beside him.

Luffy recognised their presences and latched onto Ace and Sabo, letting out loud wails of terror and chocked sobs into their chests. His hat was on his head now but they could see the crinkles in the brim from where the seven year old hand been holding onto it for dear life.

Ace and Sabo shushed the younger sibling in a comforting manor. Sabo had lowered his hat so That it was hanging from Luffy's neck and began stroking his inky black hair gently to try and calm him down.

Luffy had begun hyperventilating at some point and was gasping for air, his breath hitching dramatically as he continued crying. Ace glared at Aria who stood by awkwardly, feeling guilty at breaking her promise to the boys.

After twenty minutes of Sabo telling Luffy to take deep breaths and breathe slowly through his nose, Ace rocking Luffy and trying to get him to quiet down, and all of the commanders walking in to see what on earth was the matter; Luffy finally quieted down.

His breathing was fast, but he was no longer hyperventilating, just anxious. He was still clutching onto Ace and Sabo with white knuckled fists as he cried quietly into Ace's shirt.

Ace, not caring about the fifteen other people in the room, looked up at Aria and let anger flood his features.

"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!?" He yelled making everyone in the room flinch, including Luffy. Ace spared a worried glance at the straw hat boy and lowered his voice to a growl.

"You said you'd take care of him! Why was he flipping out like he'd been attacked by a madman!?" He queried angrily.

The glare of the angry ten-year-old was enough to make Aria advert her eyes and chew her bottom lip nervously.

"I went to get him some medicine," she said quietly, "I had asked him if it was okay if I left for a second to go get him some pills for his anxiety cause he seemed on edge. He nodded yes so I went-" she pointed to the open medical closet in the back left corner of the room, "I hadn't even been gone thirty seconds...."