A Black Heart Does Not Always Stay Black

Welcomed

Whitebeard stood, towering over the brothers. Luffy frowned at it, not liking how big this man was. He could smoosh Ace or Sabo. "Well, Luffy, your powers are very interesting. I'm going to be honest. Some are concerned over your abilities, that they're too powerful, but I'd love to help you grow in your skill of the powers. I think you can do so much more with these powers."

All three children looked thoroughly confused. "But..." Sabo mumbled. The captain just contradicted himself, didn't he? But the man laughed.

"I may love my children, but it does not mean I share each and every one's opinions," Whitebeard chuckled. "Though I do veto or pass the final decisions, a lot of thought comes from my commanders. This time, there was one side and the other, and I chose the side to keep you three on for now. Until an event happens or we end up someplace and you'd like to leave on your own." He was grinning at the shocked children.

Sabo suddenly bowed, and Ace followed after. Luffy didn't know what to do, so he bowed as well, following his big brothers' leads. "Thank you, sir!" Sabo shouted, sounding choked up. Whitebeard laughed his unique laugh.

"Stand tall, boys! I do enjoy new things, and your situation is definitely a new thing."

Marco looked to Luffy, who looked painfully confused and unsure. He looked at him in sadness, feeling for him. Marco observed as he lowered his eyes. "But, I'm bad," Luffy said, loud enough to be heard by the other four. "I kill people. People say I'm a monster, evil. Ace and Sabo said it's bad."

Ace put a hand on Luffy's head gently and pulled him to the side to rest against himself.

"Luffy, don't let what others say about you dictate what you think of yourself. You choose if you fit into cookie cutter 'good' or 'evil'. I agree, there are some truly wicked people in this world, but I think it's your actions that are either good or evil. Maybe some of your action have been evil, maybe not. But don't let those words make you feel you are one or the other.

"I do not consider myself or any of my children 'evil' but the marines and world government throw that word around so often it's become null. If you want to be 'good', do good things. If you would like to be 'evil', do wicked deeds. It's as simple as that. This is your chance to start over. Don't waste it, kid," Whitebeard finished with a grin, and walked away from the group. Ace and Sabo were both smiling.

Luffy wore a blank expression for a good minute. "I like banana-mustache man." Marco and the brothers broke out in laughter.

"I heard that, cheeky brat," Whitebeard called, though he sounded amused as well.

For the next two hours, Luffy followed Whitebeard around like a puppy. The man pretended he didn't notice when Luffy spied on him from some obvious hiding place. Everyone else, however did notice. His face was full of adoration that it made them all confused as to what had happened before Marco summed it up for them.

Already, some were doubting their initial thoughts about Luffy based on past behavior. Amy hadn't told anyone else about the "fruit" as it was not her place to do so, so they still all thought he had some creepy zoan fruit. It didn't help that no one knew the form of what Luffy's powers came from. It could have been some liquid, he could have been injected. It could have been all sorts of stuff and it left them without a definitive answer about where the power had come from.

When Haruta heard about Luffy's reaction to the captain's words, he was the first to feel guilt for wishing him gone in such a situation. Amy had seen his fruit in full form and wasn't shaking in fear from it. Yes, she was a strong willed woman, but he clearly hadn't attempted to harm anyone. Kingdew's theory that he hadn't said in front of those wishing Luffy well was that the kid must not be able to control it when he was in demon form was shot out of the water when nothing happened during the testing.