A Black Heart Does Not Always Stay Black

A New Type Of Healing

Marco laid in bed that night, Ace and Luffy asleep, the youngest lethargic after his bath-treatment. He couldn't stop going over the mess that was that day. He was still angry with Whiskey, perturbed at her carelessness with how she spoke, but it seemed to have made Luffy more determined to get better. At least on the outside.

He had to admire him. Luffy had acted more mature than most men on the crew would. He may have shouted and pointed his finger and pouted, but he quickly forgave Whiskey, balancing his anger with understanding. Marco knew that the conversation had been a set back for Ace and Sabo's belief in the crew, which Whiskey was very upset about causing, but Luffy showed true determination and commitment.

Luffy was correct; there was no one like him. By the end of the second talk, Luffy was given a plan to heal. They went through the books together, the child showing incredible attention span for his age. He was determined to be better, and the crew would gladly help him to be. Someone was staying on watch with Luffy's nightmares, and they were planning on treating him as if he had PTSD, which they were strongly leaning towards.

They were going to start regular exercise, since most of the day he was sitting somewhere. His wound made it a bit harder, but he'd be doing periodic walks. No speed was set, just as fast as he could go without hurting himself.

He was also going to meet new people on the crew. They were mostly familiar faces, but isolating himself to the same people and being afraid of new people wasn't helping anyone. He talked to Jinbei, he could talk to the other crew members. But only those Luffy had definitely seen before.

The thing Luffy would have most trouble with would be succumbing to his feelings. Letting it all out and not trying to be strong unless he was all alone with his brothers at night or in the morning. There were many problems from Luffy's childhood from before, along with Ace's and Sabo's as well, but they wanted to take care of the trauma before the lasting damage, though they would definitely take that into account.

By the morning, Marco hadn't slept much, but went into the boys' room to wake Ace and Sabo and ask if they wanted him the bring them breakfast. The sight he met was both older boys curled around Luffy, who was dead to the world, drool down his chin and hands up above his head.

Marco couldn't bring himself to break up the cute scene, so he left to get them breakfast regardless. They would wake up from the smell, not wanting the food to be cold. When he came back, Sabo was up and rubbing his eyes.

"Hey, Sabo. I brought you three breakfast," Marco said, not too loudly, not wanting to risk waking up Luffy. Word of last night had not spread, even to the commanders. It was a medical situation and therefore confidential from anyone but the nurse and captain, if even him. Marco only went for support for the boys.

Seeing Luffy's heartbroken face and Ace and Sabo's rage at Whiskey had been hard to watch. No one had seen those expressions yet. Marco was glad they weren't aimed at him, which was stupid, he knew. Ace woke up from the smell and the two older boys dug in.

When Ace held a piece of bacon under Luffy's nose for a few minutes, the little nose wrinkled before he woke up and started digging in, a bit tiredly but it didn't affect his eating. "How'd you sleep, Luffy?"

"No bad dreams," Luffy replied. Everyone smiled, happy that he hadn't had anymore nightmares. It had only been two nights, but so far it was going well.

"What time do you want to do your walk?" Marco asked, eating his own toast. Luffy shrugged before saying after breakfast. Then, there would be a little gathering with those who weren't commanders who were going to meet with Luffy and try to make friends. No one Teach hung out with, for Luffy's sake. They were sure there were no more traitors aboard their ship.