A Black Heart Does Not Always Stay Black

A Little Piece of the Puzzle

Everyone was surprised with Haruta's interaction with Luffy. He had been one of those to vote against keeping him, yet now he was acting like they were old friends. Marco and Izo eyed him suspiciously, thinking he might still be drunk and that was why, but he didn't seem intoxicated. He even sat next to Luffy. The kid was confused, and shuffled away from the smaller commander.

Haruta was the youngest of the commanders, and one of the youngest on the ship. Only 24. The only commander who was younger than thirty. He was also one of the most immature ones on the ship, the only one to rival him, Thatch.

After the commanders all sat at the table, Izo, already done with his food, asked the boys if they were ready to go get their measurements taken. Ace and Sabo had done this before, with a nice lady in their village who made them clothes, since they didn't exactly have a very nice home life. They didn't like to think about her because it made them sad.

They both assumed the marines killed Makino before Luffy got there and wiped out the marines and government officials. As gruesome and terrifying as it was, the boys had been glad to see the marines all dead. It had been scary, being dragged away by Luffy, who had been soaked in blood. Even when they got back to the facility, burlap sacs over their heads, Luffy looked frightening.

Ace and Sabo had been afraid to speak, until Luffy had completely changed and smiled, announcing they all needed baths. He didn't understand why his new friends were afraid of him. It hurt his feelings when they rejected him trying to play with them. But things had changed a lot since then. And none of them liked thinking of that time.

The boys were lead to a room that was full of things they assumed made clothes and mended them when they needed. The wall was a huge shelf, full of different colored and textured fabrics. There were multiple sewing stations, and tons of clothes everywhere. "Come over here," Izo said, gaining their attention again and leading them to a stool with a bunch of mirrors near it.

"Who wants to go first?" the three didn't answer for a moment before Ace volunteered with a sigh. It was easy, he didn't have to take his shirt off. Izo measured around his chest, waist, hips and his torso and legs length wise. It went fairly quickly, and Izo took Luffy's shoe size, even though he told Izo what it was. Next, they were lead to the wall of fabrics.

"What colors would you like?" he asked. "You can choose any color."

Luffy chose the patterned ones, while Ace chose red and Sabo chose blue. It went by quickly, and then Izo brought Luffy to Amy to tell her the new things the pirates had discovered. Of course, his brothers came, too.

"You can regrow limbs?" Amy asked in shock when Luffy told her.

"I don't remember what happened, but I guess so," Luffy replied. Amy said she was glad he didn't remember, and jotted down the information on bold pen about Luffy's being very vulnerable to alcohol.

While they all spoke, Izo left to go back to the galley, where Whitebeard was addressing everyone.

-x-

The moment Whitebeard knew the boys and Izo were far from the galley's double doors, he stood up, pushing the bench out and making many of his sons scramble for balance. The room went quiet, even though the man could have been getting up for any reason. But, it was too much of a coincidence for him to get up right as their guests left.

"Sons, I want to let you all know some information about Luffy. He does not have a zoan devil fruit, and he is not related to any 'demons'. His captors gave him something that supplied him with powers similar to a devil fruits. But, he is not a fruit user. He doesn't react to seastone, which is a good enough indicator that he is not one.