Everything is quiet for a minute or two before a quiet voice breaks the silence.
"I know that. B-but.... I.......but you ....you might..... be disgusted .....with me......."
Marco narrows his eyes at Luffy, leveling him with a glare as if daring him to say that again.
"I will never be disgusted with you. Do you hear me, Luffy?"
Marco demanded with a haki laced growl.
A desperate whine leaves Luffy's lips as he presses into Marco hard. Clinging to him as if he'll disappear if he lets go.
With a shuddering gasp, a sob is wrenched from his throat, choking him in emotions that were so overwhelming when he was alone that he repressed them.
Sob after sob is ripped from his throat as all his terror, all his pain, and fear of being alone just rushes him all at once.
"Marco! Mah-mar-co! Mahaharcohohoh! Marco! Marco! Marcohohohoho!"
Luffy sobbed hysterically, collapsing on the first mate as he finally lets everything he was bottling out.
"I'm here, Luffy, I'm right here, okay? It's going to be okay. You're safe now. I've got you. Everything is going to be just fine."
Over and over, he told his mate, cradling him gently as he let everything out.
Sure, Luffy was 24, but he was still so young when everything hit the fan....both of his mates were, for that matter. But Luffy was always the optimist, the one trying to keep everyone happy. And when he couldn't keep it up, he would go to them and just let out his pent-up emotions and recharge mentally as they kept him safe and secure in their hold till he was ready to go back to being their bright and cheerful sun.
And he would continue to do so for as long as he lived, because if anything wanted to get to Luffy, they had to go through him first. And he wasn't planning on leaving his mates side for at least a month, if not longer.
Everyone was concerned for the boy. If anyone dared to try and hurt this child again, there would be hell to pay because the commanders were already willing to kill anyone to protect this sweet, broken cinnamon roll.
By the time Luffy had finally calmed, all of the commanders were settled on the floor as they waited patiently with concern shining in their eyes.
About 2 hours have passed now. And slowly, Luffy's sobs come to a halt. Leaving him exhausted and weary but ready to move forward once more.
Moving slowly, Luffy turns in Marco's hold so he can pull Izo and Thatch closer to him, forcing them to lean against his sides and on Marco.
Nobody complains about the new position, simply happy to have the kid moving again after his continued stillness that just made everyone feel like something was wrong and missing.
"You wanted to know about my injuries. Right?"
Luffy asks quietly. Sending a tired glance at the commanders seated on the floor. Before letting out a small sigh.
"It was about a week after I lost Marco and Law. I was drifting aimlessly when I found an island. I went out to search for food. From what I could tell, it was a pretty big island, and it didn't seem to be inhabited. At least I thought it wasn't."
That just got some shifting from his audience, but they remained quiet, waiting to ask questions until after they had more information.
"It's a little hard to remember everything that happened cause I had a fever, but I remember finding some food and a cave I could sleep in for a bit, so I took shelter there."
"I managed to get a fire going just as the sun set. I did it just the way you showed me, Marco. In the middle of the path from the entrance to where you'll sleep. But out of the wind to keep it going longer."
"Wait.... you taught him that?"
Thatch asks, surprised. Looking at Marco, who blushes and looks away embarrassed.
Luffy looks at Thatch confused.
"What are you surprised about? It's just a camping tip."
Thatch just glances at Luffy before staring at Marco once more.
"Yeah... but it's one I taught Marco when we were kids. He always called me a dork for figuring it out from cooking."
Luffy's spins his head to face Marco in surprised happiness.
"Really? You passed that on? In memory of Thatch? Is that why you made us practice until we got it, right?"
Marco's blush deepens as he buries his head in Luffy's hair before nodding his head at his mate and brother.
"Aww, that's so sweet of you, Marco! Did you teach them anything else?"
Marco unburied his head enough to show his glaring eyes to his brother. His blush was still heavy on his cheeks.
"Shut up, Thatch. And if I did, I'm not telling you."
With that, he buried his head in Luffy's hair once more.
Everyone snickered at Marco and Thatch, glad they could still banter like always.
Deciding to cut his pineapple some slack, Luffy continues from where he left off.
"Where was I? Oh! Right. So it was probably a spring island, but it felt like a blistering summer to me with the fever my wounds had caused."
Many commanders looked concerned but stayed quiet.
Marco was saddened by this fact, tightening his hold on Luffy before voicing his thoughts.
"It was all we could do just to stop the bleeding on the fatal wound that mutt gave him. There was nothing else we could do but get him out of there. I really wish we could have done more, Luffy.... I'm so, so sorry...."
"GRRRrrrrrrrrr."
Everyone startles at the sudden growling that fills the air. Many looked to Marco thinking it was him, but even he and Izo looked startled. Both of whom were staring at Luffy with wide eyes and dropped jaws.
Izo, with a bit of trepidation, was the one to speak first, though.
"Luffy? Ototo? Did you....just....growl?"
Suddenly, it was quiet again. But now all eyes were glued to the boy with the straw hat. And they watched as he tried really hard to curl into a tight ball, pulling the three commanders closer in an attempt to hide even more.
"Lu? Hey... what's wrong? Talk to me hun."
Marco tried to get his attention, but all he got was silence and shaking from his little sun.
"Ototo? What's wrong?"
Izo was getting really concerned at the continued silence.
"Kiddo? Everything ok?"
Even Thatch was worried. And that spiked the next second as a sound left the balled form of Monkey D. Luffy.
Only the three holding him and the captain, who they were still sitting in the lap of, could hear it, but a soft, pained whimper came from within the tight ball Luffy was curled into.
Once Luffy was asked about growling, he froze, being thrown straight into a flashback
Luffy could no longer hear those around him, nor could he feel their warmth. The only thing he felt was the cold metal around his wrists, the stone floor under his hands, and Teach choking him because he growled at him.
"Aw, and I thought you were finally starting to learn Lu-Lu. Now we have to start all over again."
Teach practically purred with malicious glee.
Luffy, with wide, terrified eyes, started to struggle as hard as he could, clawing at Teach's hands and kicking out his feet, but nothing worked because he was too weak.
While Luffy was fighting off Teach, he was also fighting off the hands of the commanders holding him.
"Whoa! Easy kiddo!"
Thatch cried out as he was kicked in the ribs.
"ZAHAHAHAHA! Oh, I'm so glad you haven't learned your lesson yet! It means I get to have more fun with you, Lu-Lu. You must have gotten bored if you chose to act out again."
Teach leered at Luffy, letting his eyes roam his body. He especially loved forcing Luffy to use his new devil fruits half form.
But his favorite kind of torture was when he forced Luffy into his fox form, where he would then put him through hell.
SLAP!
"ENOUGH! If you don't stop struggling, I'll put you through the obstacle course."
Immediately, all struggling ceased. Luffy simply hung from his chains, anger and fear fueling his instincts as he stopped fighting.
While the three commanders did their best to stop Luffy from hurting himself, they were terrified when he suddenly went limp.
"Ototo? Can you hear me?"
Izo asked, sharing scared glances with his mates and brother when there was no response.
"Good boy Lu-Lu your being very obedient today. I guess we won't do the obstacle course. But we are still going for your punishment. I've told you many times that there is no growling now, haven't I?"
The only response he got in return was a small whimper that just made him grin.
Newgate was very concerned about his youngest son.
"I wish there was something I could do to put an end to the child's torment. I don't like feeling this useless."
Teach proceeded to unchained the captain and drag him through hall after hall by his hair until they reached the room he wanted. It was a big room with a glass container in the middle and medical equipment next to it. There was also a chair with straps in the corner and a table with a rag, and a blind fold with a ring on the back that forced his head to stay pulled back as he's water boarded.
Teach heads for the former of the two, where 2 of his men wait for him.
Teach has 2 ways he likes to torture him using the tank. Drowning him till he stops moving and leaving him submerged in ocean water for hours before pulling him out and leaving him to the sickness of being in the ocean too long.
This time, it was going to be the latter, it seems, as the oxygen mask was already set up and ready for use.
"No, please, not again!"
Luffy begins begging after seeing the mask. He hates being left in the water for hours.
Luffy's struggles suddenly renewed, startling everyone as it took all three commanders and the emperor to hold him down as he desperately tried to get away.
"Shit! Someone go get the weighted blanket from my room!"
Marco yelled as he pinned Luffy's shoulders, while Izo and Thatch pinned his arms and Newgate his legs.
Haruta was the fastest and bolted for the first division barracks.
"Please! I'm sorry, please. I'll be good, not the tank, please!"
Luffy continued to beg as he tried to fight off the ones holding him down.
"Here's the blanket!"
Haruta wheezed out of breath. While passing the blanket to Vista, who approached quickly and the 4 commanders worked together to wrap the blanket around the boy before he was pulled into Marco's lap and hugged tightly to his chest, before being joined by Izo and Thatch.
Teach throws the struggling captain to his men, and they start chaining the captain into the glass cage before filling it with ocean water, but it wasn't water he felt.
As suddenly as he had started fighting, he just as quickly went limp once more.
The feeling of three safe and tight hugs slowly grounding him as he comes back to his senses one by one.
Touch was the first to come. He could feel something wrapped around him and multiple arms wrapped around him and even someone holding his hand, but....
'They...don't hurt??'
Luffy thought as another sense returned. This one was hearing, and he could hear someone... no 3 someone's talking to him quietly.
"Come on, kiddo, come back to us. It's safe here. We got you. Just squeeze my hand if you can hear me, ok?"
Thatch spoke quietly, repeating the same words over and over.
"They can't hurt you anymore ototo. You're safe here. You're on the Moby dick. You aren't there anymore."
Izo gently whispered as he brushed Lu's bangs from his face, adding another grounding touch to the mix.
The next sense that returned was smell. The thing wrapped around him smelled just like his mate. It had the smell of an ocean breeze with a hint of pineapple and a touch of smokiness. And he could feel a steady purring against his back as words were whispered in his ear.
"It's okay, sunshine. I've got you. It's gonna be okay. You're safe now. I'm right here."
Hearing his mate... feeling him... was like a balm to his mind as finally his sight returned, and he could see all the worried faces looking at him.
"...sorry..."
He croaked while snuggling into the three, holding him and getting more comfortable.
Relieved sighs were heard from every direction.
"You have nothing to apologize for my son. You have been through a lot, and your mind needs time to heal just as much as your body does."
Newgate said with a gentle smile and relief in his eyes.
Vista spoke up next with a question that many were wondering about.
"I don't want to stress you out anymore, but do you think you can tell us what triggered this so we can try and prevent it from happening in the future?"
Only to amend his question when Luffy flinches.
"Sorry, I mean from triggering anymore like this."
Many commanders voice their agreement.
"Mmmm. Teach would punish me anytime I growled at him, but I don't have much control over my new instincts."
Only for Haruta to butt in with a quick.
"What do you mean new instincts?"
The captain spoke in a quiet murmur, explaining.
"Teach forced a second devil fruit on me. He starved me for about a week before offering me something to eat. I was too hungry to care what it was and swallowed it whole. The second I caught the taste, I knew what he did. And it didn't take long for the waves of agony to consume me."
Everyone with a devil fruit winced at the reminder of the taste and shuddered at the thought of having a second one forced on them thinking of all the stories they've heard over the years about those who have tried to eat a second one.
"Remember how I said I thought the island wasn't inhabited? Turns out it was. I don't know everything that happened, but I know that while I slept, my fever spiked. I kept seeing people pass by the cave, but no one came near. Except for a couple of kids."
"Turns out those kids were scouts for the island I was on. They kept an eye on me for days while my fever raged, taking care of me."
"They deemed me not a threat, but because they knew who I was couldn't risk taking me back to their village."
"The island I landed on was one of the few neutrals left in the world. And they didn't want to risk having a high-profile criminal in the village. Should someone stumble across me."
Marco let out a small growl but kept quiet otherwise simply nuzzling his sun.
The others were also disheartened by this news.
"My fever broke that week that they took care of me, but I was still weak."
This is where he stopped for a while, causing everyone to shift. They could tell there was more, and the way he curled into the three holding him told them it wasn't going to be pleasant.
"That's when Teach showed up....he found the cave I was staying in, as well as the 2 boys helping me. His men beat them and said if I didn't do what they told me, he would kill them."
Many of the commanders didn't think Teach could get any lower, but this? This was just horrible.
"I couldn't let anything happen to those kids. They were brothers."
Marco and Izo sucked in a harsh breath at that. Knowing just how far their ray of sun would go for a brother.
"They let the kid go and dragged me to their ship, chaining me to the mast and leaving me to the elements for 2 weeks, barely giving me any for our water. Another week, and the food stopped coming. Now all I got was water. Finally at the end of that week Teach offered me some fruit, all I had to do was agree to behave or he would go to shore and drag a few kids on board and torture them while masking me watch."
Suddenly, Haruta left the room only to be heard retching in the hallway followed by Blemhiems voice as he calmed Haruta down.
"I ate the fruit. And that was when I realized what it was, but by then, it was too late. The pain had already started."
"For hours, I screamed in agony as blood poured from my mouth. I don't know how long I was in pain for but I remember someone coming, and they unchained me once I stopped screaming."
"After that, I was carried to a bedroom and chained to the bed before being left alone. I passed out after that. And when I woke up...... Teach was standing there staring at me with a look in his eyes that I later learned was lust."
A shiver went down everyones spine at the sudden growl, which Marco let out, as well as the hints of haki, that was leaking out of Newgate. Even Izo looked terrifying with the way he was glaring at the door with murder in his eyes. But no one moved from their spot surrounding Luffy.
"I lost count of the number of times he raped me. But I never forgot how it changed and became worse. Once of my half-form showed itself, he became much more disgusting and abusive. He especially loved torturing me whenever I was in my fox form. But his favorite was sending me through a hell obstacle course. I always came out heavily injured and scared."
"But to be honest, the worst one was when he used water.... he liked to let his crew water board me for kicks. The other one with water was when he trapped me in a glass cage, an oxygen mask fixed to my face and chains to keep me at the bottom. Then they would fill it with ocean water and leave me submerged for hours before pulling me out and leaving me in the rape room as the after affects of being in the water take a toll on my body. Those were always the worst days."
By now, everyone was horrified and pale, a few other commanders having followed Haruta's example and emptying their stomachs.
Marco, Izo, Newgate, and Thatch all wanted to tear Teach limb from limb but didn't want to leave the child's side yet.
"Ok Lu, that's enough. You don't have to keep going. I've got you now. You're safe, and Teach won't touch you ever again....ok?"
Tears stream down his sun's cheeks as he curls more into Marco's lap, hiding away in his chest as he nods his head.