It had been two full years since they were captured.
Two full years since they had been branded as slaves to the Celestial Dragons.
Two full years since Luffy had been stolen from them.
Ace and Sabo were thin, too thin. To an unhealthy amount. Neither of them had much energy or strength nowadays with their very limited food supply, and constantly being forced to work. Although, as of late, they haven't been made to do quite as much.
This was probably due to the fact that when they were put to a task, be it cleaning or serving the Celestial Dragon, they made sure to make it go as horribly as possible. Blatantly refusing to do anything up until the very last straw and then making sure to do as poor a job as physically possible.
The number of dishes they'd destroyed was in at least the hundreds.
Of course, they were always crudely beaten half to death afterwards, and wouldn't be used for another week or so.
Used. They were property now.
Ace grimaced to himself. This was the exact opposite of freedom. Of their dreams. Of Luffy's dreams.
"Hey Sabo... " Ace wondered aloud, "What- What if we never get Luffy ba-"
He was cut short by a hard blow to the head. He looked up to see a seething and Sabo looming over him.
"Don't you ever think of something like that again, Ace." Sabo's voice was chilled as ice, and teeming with fury. " Luffy never gave up on us. He gave me a real family and made you feel like you were worth being born. So there is NO WAY we're leaving Luffy alone. We'll find away. Who cares how long it takes as long as we aren't too late and we save our little brother. You get that through your think skull! "
Sabo was huffing from the amount of effort he put into those words. Ace had no choice but to except it. A sly grin made its way to his face.
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry." He replied softly.
He thought to himself for a minute before speaking again.
"It's a good thing they let him keep his hat," Ace commented quietly, "I'd be a lot more worried if he didn't have the reminder of his promise."
Sabo nodded grimly. "Yeah. Luffy'd really go crazy without Shanks to watch over him."
There was another long silence. Not awkward just... Long. There was a lot more empty air between the two without Luffy's bumbling babble; and they missed it. They missed it so. Much.
Ace sighed as he thought quietly of Luffy. Something that was actually quite hard to do considering that just thinking of Luffy invoked a loudness in one's skull that made it ring like crashing symbols.
"You think he's... Different?" Sabo asked suddenly, a hint of fear edging his voice. "You think he's still the same loud kid we used to know?"
Ace's lips quivered into sad frown. No, no he's not going to be the same. He thought solemnly. Not even Luffy could endure that long without touch or human interaction.... Especially not Luffy.
Ace sighed and forced the frown on his face into a sad smile. "I bet he talks to himself everyday. Couldn't keep him quiet even if you wanted to. I bet he drives the guards who feed him crazy."
Sabo simply hummed. Both were now thinking about Luffy's condition. The thought piled up and got worse the more they thought about it, but it seemed impossible to keep the dark worries away.
Was he getting fed? Did they have more than him? Did he even know how long he's been locked away? Where was he? Was he hurt? Was he afraid?
Both boys were suddenly struck into a silent horror as the same thought cross their minds:
Did Luffy hate them for not saving him and breaking their promise?
They both sat there, mortified with themselves, only swayed out of their thoughts when they heard their cell door open. They both looked up blankly to see a guard at the door.
"You've got work, brats," he grunted.
Ace and Sabo both sighed and got up, following the guard to their next grueling job. But before leaving the cell, they flashed each other a glare of determination.
No. We haven't broken out promise yet. Luffy may not be with us, but he's still in this ship.
And we're going to save him, someday.
***
Luffy was sitting in the middle of a small room (more like a closet, really) clutching his hat tightly in his little arms.
His light breathing seemed to echo off the white, sound-proof walls, leaving him feeling even more hollow with every breath. Above him, was a single florescent light that barley lit the room and flickered every few seconds, threatening to send the child into pitch black darkness if he do much as blow on it.
Luffy was chained to the back wall with his seastone anklet, unable to move even three feet away from the wall without the chain interfering.
All in all, he was miserable.
The room itself was a mere hallway. Four and a half feet wide and about fifteen from the thick metal door to the back wall where they'd stuck him. It was claustrophobic to say the least, and Luffy would sometimes have a mental breakdown at his inability to escape or sprawl out without touching a wall.
In fact, Luffy would break down often about things such as this. The overwhelming silence, the absence of time or sunlight, the growing pain from hunger, the fact he hasn't touched a single living thing in who knows how long.
It all built up, and he would temporarily snap. But after what he assumed to be five minutes, he'd always regain himself and try to distract his mind once more with his hat or thoughts.
However, he hardly ever thought in his head now; no, that was a dangerous thing. If you think inside your head you ran the risk of it running rampant with you. Speaking out loud not only filled the empty space, but also kept Luffy's mind from constantly going into a dark place. It didn't matter what you talked about, per se, but just the fact that a voice was able to be heard was comforting, even if it was merely his own.
His endless babble would only be interrupted if his guard brought food, and since he had no sense of time, he kept little track of it. All he knew is that it was the same person every time.
In fact, he was here now. Luffy looked up at the man with his big chocolate eyes full of fearful longing. The guard came in and set the plate holding a single bread roll and glass of water down in front of him, and swiftly took away the last plate he'd left, now empty.
Every time the man drew near, Luffy would lunge at him, trying to even just barely touch his wrist or fingertips. But the man had learned from the first time Luffy had done this and never let it happen again. He would pull away sharply and stay just out of reach, as he watched painstakingly at Luffy struggling to stretch himself and reach him.
Luffy would try to make the man speak to him, too, but it was forbidden for the guard to say a word. So everyday, he had to watch the young six-year-old suffer and struggle to gain human interaction, and he himself fought inwardly every time he had to downright refuse the thing. Honestly, it hurt the guard more each time. He had sympathy for Luffy. The Celestial Dragons were capable of cruel things, but this, he had thought many times, was probably the worst. Especially seeing how much this particular child relied on human interaction, and was constantly crushed at his denial to receive it.
Kid was relentless, though. He had to give him that.
The guard left the holding cell and Luffy was once again all alone for an unknown amount of time. He'd become increasingly anxious and lonely with nothing to do but wait and hope. The four year old held on to the hope that his brothers would save him with every inch of his being.
"If they aren't already dead."
Luffy's eyes widened at the 'thought', and for the first time in years he spoke inside his own head, his mind not allowing anymore horrid things to be alone out loud.
No. No that's no true. It can't be. They'll come, they have to. They wouldn't leave me alone, right? Right.
Panic began to settle in his stomach.
Ace would never- They're still here. Just stuck. They wouldn't escape without you.
After panic, doubt seeped in from the dark corners of his mind.
Even though your useless and made of rubber. And no one likes you and your a product of the devil and your all alone and can't do anything. Yeah right. Who would rescue you?
Luffy had begun hyperventilating as he became stuck in his head, his depressed state of mind deteriorating any since of hope and pride left in him. He couldn't help it. Once he got stuck there was absolutely nothing to pull him out of it. Nothing to focus on, nothing to look at, and even though he would stay up begging for some sort of noise to be heard, nothing ever came.
Eventually, the short and shallow uneven breaths turned to sobs and he yelled to himself out loud that he would refrain from speaking in his head ever again. At least, until he was saved.
Luffy sighed. Sometimes he wondered if this nightmare would ever end. If there was even a reality to go back to; or if this was it, this little box he resided in was all that was left of the world.
He curled into a tight ball and leaned into the corner of the cell to comfort himself, the only support he could get. He pulled his hat from his head and decided to ignore the food and drink that lay in front of him.
He simply sat and wavered his ankle just enough to make the chains that weakened him rattle against one another on the cold steely floor below. This was another habit he'd picked up in his time trapped alone. The chains that once disturbed him being the only source of sound that wasn't his own voice, that was, unless it was something in his head.
And at this point, it very well could be.
Every now and again, when Luffy was particularly disoriented, he would suddenly not be alone in the clearly empty chamber.
The first time, it was a rabbit that made it's way to him, hopping along the floor almost soundlessly; disappearing just before he could reach out to touch it.
The next, he saw a dog. A small golden puppy that had rolled onto its back, barked, and then walked up to Luffy, sitting patiently for him to react.
Luffy, at this point, was confused to say the least. With the rabbit, all he had to do was blink and it would disappear. Luffy had blinked several times now, and yet the creature still sat in front of him, head tilt expectantly.
Luffy was cautious as he reached his hand out slowly to try and pet the dog; to his surprise it came to him instead. Luffy's eyes had widened into chocolate saucers as the dog nuzzled his hand. He felt like he could feel it. It felt to good to be true.
And if course, it was.
Luffy grimaced at the thing as he noticed each time he blinked there was a new feature to the animal. Wether it was a collar, or a color to his fur, or a little hat upon his head, it kept changing. Luffy realised what was happening and the puppy vanished from the thin air it never actually came from.
"So now I'm hallucinating. Wonderful." The dark haired boy insinuated, voice dripping with sarcasm.
Luffy used to be annoyed at the false images. Knowing all to well how fake they were. But time went on and his state of complete and utter loneliness grew to almost unbearable limits, and soon Luffy had accepted the hallucinations with open arms.
Best thing was, the longer he was couped up, the more real and relatable the things he saw became
At first it was a silent rabbit.
Then a barking dog.
Before he knew it, Luffy was having full on conversations with Shanks.
Yes, he knew it wasn't really the red haired pirate, but Luffy was desperate. All he had to do was hold his hat and Shanks would appear before his eyes, smiling and asking how he was.
This tactic worked for the first three quarters of the first year. Luffy had managed to use this and his little contact with the guard to cope with his disparity.
This, however, did not last.
By the end of that year, even though Luffy felt like it had been an endless eternity, his hallucinations became practically impossible to believe in. He had lost hope in his imagination and the images slowly faded until they became a rare occurrence for his most desperate times.
And sure, Luffy did miss Shanks, but he missed the real Shanks. Not the Shanks that skidded through his vision and restless dreams. Luffy had also found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get himself to imagine Ace or Sabo. It was as if their images had been deleted from his memory, forbidden knowledge at the hardest of times. So he quickly gave up on the false creatures that danced before his eyes, often opting to blink them away rather than interact.
Luffy was sick and tired of empty things. He needed something real, something he could hold onto that wouldn't come and go with his mind. He wanted to see the sea, and the sky. The grass and the trees. He wanted to feel sand as it shifted between his toes and the sun's warmth as it shone down on his face. He wanted to talk to someone other than himself. Shanks, the guard, Makino, heck, even Gramps was an option. Of course, what his soul yearned for was Sabo and Ace; but he knew that was as far fetched as his sanity, which was also slipping away.
Luffy muttered all these events to himself as he leaned into the white wall, ankle still shifting the chains around him. He eventually stopped the tears that slid down his sunken and malnourished cheeks. The small boy sighed to himself and spared a glance at the bread in front of him.
"I don't feel much like eating that, but might as well since there's not much else to do," Luffy reasoned with himself as he reached for the food.
He ate slowly and silently, his mind empty as he let himself simply drift in his own subconscious. He hadn't even realised he'd finished eating as he stared longingly at the iron door blocking his escape. He carried on like this, drifting thoughtlessly in his mind, for a good hour or two before his heavy lids closed, seemingly flipping a switch as his mind shut off completely and he drifted into a rare and dreamless sleep.
He knew when he awoke, he'd be back in that empty room, but at least he could take refuge in sleep. Even if the refuge was actually torture in inky black disguise.
***
Both Ace and Sabo had almost instantly passed out into deep sleep the moment they were tossed aside to their cells. They let exhaustion and pain override everything else and simply blacked themselves out.
They slept like this, long and deep, for a whole day. Ace was the first to awake from his slumber and it took him a minute to gather his surroundings. He took note that there was an orange and purple light shinning through the barred slit near the sealing; and seeing as it has been dark when they returned, he figured they'd been out for a long while.
He took notice of a stinging pain in his left cheek, and raised a hand to gentle feel for the damage. He felt a sticky substance against his two fingers and his skin was tinder and from what Ace could tell, incredibly swollen.
He looked down at his now red fingers and frowned. They had succeeded in causing chaos as usual, but it was becoming increasingly hard to do so.
The job they'd been made to do lasted hours and stretched late into the night. They had been ordered to clean the deck all on their own and weigh hand and foot on the Celestial Dragon himself.
This was rarely requested of the two boys, but they took great strides to make it as difficult for the Celestial Scum as possible. This always ended in a beating that left them brutally mauled over due to the fact that disrespecting a Celestial Dragon was out of the picture for all other slaves.
Unfortunately for everyone else, these particular boys didn't care.
Ace sighed and spared a glance at the sleeping frame that was Sabo. He inched closer to the blond and assessed his injuries the best he could with his limited knowledge on.. Well... Anything, really.
Smarts was really more Sabo's thing.
From what Ace could tell, he wasn't in any worse condition than Ace himself was. Plenty of bruises, a few deep scratches that would probably scar, but maybe not, if they were lucky. (When were they ever lucky?) The only thing that did nag a little at his worry was a rather deep gash on Sabo's shoulder.
He could vaguely remember how Sabo acquired this and it had something to do with an incorrect order and a dagger. But no recollection of who and when this occurred with ever surfaced in the freckled child's memory.
Ace decided to keep the wound from getting any worse and tore a bit of his already tattered shirt to wrap around the injury. It wouldn't do much, but at least it was a bit protected now and hopefully wouldn't bleed so much.
After he'd 'patched up' Sabo- which wasn't really what you'd call it, but he couldn't do much better - Ace crossed his legs and landed with a Thump! on the wood floor beside him. He waited for Sabo to wake up and in the meantime distracted his mind with thoughts of Luffy.
He was determined to get Luffy back! And he would give his life trying if he had too, though he knew that would probably upset their younger brother more than anything; not to mention his promise not to die...
Ace heard a groan come from beside him and turned to find Sabo sitting up with a hand to his head.
"Wha.." The blond glanced around, still a bit out of touch with reality.
"Yo. We're back below deck. How you feelin'?" Ace asked while watching Sabo sit up.
Sabo shrugged and then winced slightly, realizing the wound on his upper arm. "Shoulder hurts, but other than that the usual.... So absolutely awful."
Ace half smiled and chuckled. "Yup. That sounds about right. Bad is the new good for us, I suppose. But it could be worse... I guess."
Sabo nodded and laughed. "Ya-huh. Could be-" he paused before finishing, realising and drowning at the thought before lowering his head and mumbling, "-could be Luffy...."
A gloom now drowned the cell as the two brothers kicked themselves for Luffy's capture. It was often this way, they'd get into some sort of state of 'normal' and enjoy themselves; but upon realizing the most important element missing from their trio, they'd sit silent.
If only they had an opening, they would save their brother. Finally be free and become pirates just as they always wished! They'd wait forever for that day of they had too, hoping they could make it before the Dragon decided it was time to sell Luffy.
Little did they know, that somewhere in the New World, their opening was being planned by a crew known by the world over...
*****
TBC...
That's it folks! I'm sorry this chapters a bit late!!! Imma just tell you why since no excuse will cut it:
I got caught up reading One Piece.
Yep. I know. The irony. Ignoring my One Piece fan fiction to read the real thing. But hey! I'm a fan too!!!! Alllllsooooo, I should have mentioned this earlier, but there will be a bit of OOC (out of character) in this book! But only for the beginning! I wanna see how the story would play out if Luffy was really traumatized and actually had to take sometime before recovering. Like normal people. If that bothers you, to bad. Don't read. If that sounds cool then yay! I'm not alone! UWU
Anywho, thank you all for reading! Imma try and get the next chapter up sooner, but that probably won't happen cause I am horrible at scheduling. Although feedback and votes do motivate cause honestly nothing is better than knowing someone likes what you're writing.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!!
Chão!!
Word count: 3569