BlauesMonster3110 You binged three chapters in less than an hour, I am both amazed and grateful. Lol
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Sabo and Ace jumped down from the figurehead and immediately began calling out for Luffy. They ran all over the front of the ship, scouring the place for him.
Ace stopped and looked out over the railing, the worst possible outcome entering his mind.
"Sabo.... You don't think-"
Sabo held out a hand and cut him off, reading Ace's mind. "Nuh-uh. Don't even say it. There's no way Luffy could've fallen in. He was between us remember? And we would've heard it. He probably got spooked and bolted the minute he heard the explosion. He's hiding around here somewhere, we just gotta find him."
Ace gulped and nodded. They backed away from the railing and started to head up to the main deck when a floor board squeaked loudly behind Ace.
Sabo turned and his eyes widened as a figure stood poised just behind the freckled boys figure.
"Ace! Look out!" He screamed just as the sword started to swing a blow at Ace's head.
Ace instantly ducked and saw a few strands of hair fall to the deck below along with backlash wind from the sword. He rolled forward to Sabo and quickly stood up. Both boys took defensive positions with their fists held out but close their chests.
"You're a quick one," sneered the other pirate.
Ace smirked menacingly at the man. "And you're dead," he replied slyly.
The unknown pirate felt a chill run up his spine at the strange calm that spelt death for anyone who looked upon it.
Before he knew it, the black haired kid was gone and the blond just stood there with a smug expression, arms crossed without a care in the world.
"Crap-"
He couldn't even react when Ace suddenly appeared right in front of his face with the grin of a devil, fist raised.
Ace hurled his fist forward and smashed it into the pirates face with all the force his body could muster. The man recoiled from the attack and fell face first on the wood deck, blood splattering from his broken jaw.
They waited a minute and when the man didn't get up, Ace cheered, flicking the other pirate's blood from his knuckles and onto the wood below.
"Haha! Must be some pretty weak pirates if they can't even handle a punch to the face!" Ace cheered with a smile.
Sabo nodded and tapped his foot impatiently. "Look, I know you're happy and all, but we still have to find Luffy. He's, uh, kinda defenseless at the moment."
Ace turned and nodded. They ran to the upper deck but had to stop when they reached the top.
Total chaos had ensude. There were pirates fighting pirates everywhere you looked. Blood spraying, swords clashing, people falling to the ground dead as door nails with a sickening thump.
Ace and Sabo recovered quickly from their shock when they caught sight of a little red blur on the far, far side of the ship.
He was near Whitebeard's chair, in the corner where the railing met the cabin walls.
"Great! How'd he even mange to get over there!? He's in the centre of all this mess!" Sabo shouted, clearly exasperated.
Ace looked around, trying to find a path so they could easily reach Luffy. If they didn't get there soon, someone would surely try and kill him.
"Not sure, but we gotta get there as fast as possible. I can guarantee you he's having a break down right now," Ace said grimly, still searching for an opening.
Sabo sighed and looked right along with Ace.
The battles looked one sided, with the Whitebeard Pirates pretty much dominating anyone they fought, although it seemed there was a group that was giving a couple of the divisions a hard time.
"Maybe if we found Marco we could ask him for help?" Sabo suggested loudly over the sounds of the battle.
Ace shook his head, hand cupped over his brow, using it as a visor to block the sun's rays. "No dice," he answered distractedly, "by the time we actually found the Pineapple and got through this mess we might already be to late. Wether it's the pirates or Luffy. "
Sabo sighed, realising Ace was right. Then, he found what they were looking for. His eyes lit up and he grabbed his brothers wrist, hurrying him along the edge of the boat.
"Sabo!? What're you do-"
"Shh!!! If we stay quite they won't notice us and we can reach Lu by staying in the shadows of the railing!" Sabo explained in a hurried hushed tone.
Ace saw that Sabo was crouching low to the ground as they ran, and mimicked the motion.
They were stopping and running every few minutes, dashing from wall to wall, shadow to shadow.
They managed to sneak their way to Whitebeard's chair, on the opposite side of Luffy. Unfortunately, there was a particularly rowdy fight taking place directly in front of the giant seat, and to get around it would be difficult. Another problem was the fact that they could no longer see Luffy because the chair was in the way. This just made the boys worry all the more about the collective chaos.
They pressed themselves against the cabin wall next to the throne of their Captain and looked around for someone they knew, or a path to reach their little brother.
After a minute Sabo pounded his fist into his palm with a bright-idea look in his eyes.
"I got it!" Her proclaimed suddenly.
Ace stared at the blond expectantly. Sabo pointed up at the chair and grinned at Ace.
"If we can't go around, we'll just go over!" He exclaimed.
Ace's eyes widened with glee and he nodded. "Of course! Man, why didn't we think of that sooner?"
Sabo shrugged and beckoned Ace along. They examined the chair and then found a stable foothold. Ace went first and after that they help each other along. After a few minutes (to many in their opinion) they clambered up the last stretch and onto the arm of the chair, where they were greeted by a very confused Whitebeard.
The old Captain raised an eyebrow at the boys as Sabo let out a loud annoyed groan, smacking a palm over his face.
"We could've just asked him!" Sabo complained wryly, "I'd forgotten that he usually lets the crew fight and doesn't intervene unless absolutely necessary."
Ace snickered at his brother, but was soon clutching his head as Sabo cuffed him for the teasing.
"DON'T LAUGH MORON! You didn't remember either! Ugh!" Sabo screeched.
"Okay! Okay!" Ace yelled frantically, batting away Sabo with his hands.
Whitebeard simply watched in amusement as he waited to be addressed. He was positive they'd explains some point. He was curious as to why Luffy wasn't with the boys though...
"Pops!"
Whitebeard turned away from his thoughts and looked down at the two second youngest members of the crew.
"Yes, son?" He asked casually. He spoke casually, but he could tell that something was very wrong by the look in the boys eyes. He was now slightly worried about a certain straw hats' absence.
"Can you help us?" Requested Sabo, " Luffy ran off when the ship was hit and now he's hiding in the corner. We're worried he's gonna get hurt since he can't defend himself. Well, not right now, anyway."
Whitebeard frowned as he looked to the place Sabo had said Luffy was. Indeed, the boy was there, but he didn't look particularly well at the moment. He was facing the wooden walls with his hat off his head (They could only assume it was in his hands) and he was curled in tightly to himself. He seemed to be shivering too, which could only mean the poor boy was shaking violently if they could tell that from a distance such as this.
Whitebeard faced Sabo once more. "What would you like me to do? I'm told Luffy tends to be afraid of anyone he doesn't know first-hand."
"Just, keep people away from him? Like, uh... " Sabo glanced around the battlefield and then pointed anxiously at a fight that was a little to close to Luffy for comfort. "Like them. If you could tell the commanders to keep the fights away from that part of the ship me and Ace could reach Lu and get him below deck!" Sabo explained expertly.
Whitebeard smiled and nodded, grabbing a baby transponder snail from his side. "Alright then, boys, get ready."
Ace and Sabo smirked, nodding confidently before hopping over Whitebeard onto the arm rest closer to where Luffy was. They waited and watched for an opening while their Captain made the call to his commanders.
"Look alive everyone! Seems our youngest- and most troublesome- crew mate is in a bit of a bind. Steer the battling as far away from the Northwest corner as possible!" Whitebeard commanded into the small communication device.
"Oh, and Marco, try and get over to help them below deck would ya? The other two are gonna try and.... Stabilize him," he added carefully, watching the two boys jump down from his giant chair and dash towards their younger.
"Aye aye, Pops, yoi," came the instant response.
Back to the older brothers, they were now sprinting across the deck to Luffy, who was still in fetal position.
They reached him, finally, but knew that was only half of it. Luffy had been startled, terrified, and his senses were being majorly abused. The old Luffy, the happy Luffy, would've jumped with joy at the chance to fight another pirate crew. The old Luffy would've been excited to be on a pirate ship at all, especially that of the current king of the seas. But this wasn't the old Luffy. This was a shell, a horribly abused, unstable, unpredictable, and messed up child. This was a broken Luffy, and while the brothers hated to admit that to themselves, they knew it was true. They couldn't wave a wand and fix this, they had to be patient with him. Allow him come back to the world at his own pace, helping him to pick up the pieces one by one.
Unfortunately, right they didn't have the pleasure of going slow and waiting on Luffy to be ready. They were in danger without back up and needed to get off the open deck as soon as possible.
The brothers ran up to Luffy, but slowed as they got near. They knew how Luffy would be if that morning had been any indication.
Once they were close enough, they knelt down next to the red vested child. They were near enough to hear him now; he was muttering under his breath and sobbing uncontrollably into his hat. He was trembling in his position on the floor of the deck, hugging his knees and rocking slowly back and forth as an attempt to comfort himself.
Ace and Sabo exchanged glances mixed with worry and wonder. Worry because he wasn't looking to good ( when was he ever?) And wonder on how to approach him without scaring the ever loving daylights out of him.
Ace released a small shaky breath a slowly raised his hand. There was no way to avoid scaring him at this point, might as well make it fast. He rested the hand lightly on Luffy's small shoulder, hoping it would be gradual enough that it wouldn't spook him too much.
The reaction was instantaneous.
Luffy jumped up and let out a startled 'Eep!', whirling around and backing himself as far into the ship as the walls would allow. He stared wide and bleary eyed at the two of them, hair scuffled, shirt crooked, and tears streaking down his face. His breath was light and quick paced as his large brown eyes darted between Ace and Sabo. Then finally landed on the space between them with a look of complete horror.
"Go away!" He yelled breathily, using his hands and straw hat as a shield from whatever was behind the two.
Ace and Sabo raised an eyebrow and turned quickly to see the approaching enemy, assuming it was one of the pirates invading their ship.
Their shoulder slump in dismay as they only saw a concerned and confused Marco coming to a halt behind them at Luffy's cries of protest.
"Is... He okay, yoi?" Marco asked carefully, walking up to the boys side, cautiously this time.
Ace and Sabo sighed and shook their heads. "Move slow, he can't see you right now," Ace said wryly, kneeling down to Luffy's level.
Marco arched an eyebrow and knelt down next to Ace and Sabo. "What do you mean he can't see me? He's staring right at me, yoi."
The brothers exchanged a glance and Sabo started to explain, albeit hesitantly.
"Luffy's been.... Hallucinating. Badly. When he's worked up he gets trapped in his mind and can't see anything except what he's afraid of," Sabo explained gingerly.
Marco stared between Sabo and Luffy, and then his lazy eyes widened. "You mean he's been seeing things all this time and you never told us!? That's a pretty serious symptom boys, yoi!" Marco yelled just a bit too loudly.
Luffy moved away from them even further and a small whimper escaped his lips. He continued to stare at them, worried about what they'd do if he accidentally looked away for even a moment.
"Keep it down! He's already overloaded!" Sabo scolded the commander," And besides, we only found out this morning ourselves. Just, give him a minute. Ace? Could you maybe.... "
Ace nodded. "Yeah. Hey Lu? Its Ace. Can you hear me?" Ace asked softly.
The boy jerked his head in Ace's direction as he inched closer to him. He looked kinda confused now. Luffy could hear Ace, but where was he?
Then it dawned on him, this wasn't real.
Luffy closed his eyes and shoved his hands over his ears. "A-ace?" He called out experimentally.
"Right here, Lu. I'm right here."
Ace shifted forward and sat shoulder to shoulder next to Luffy against the wall while Marco and Sabo spoke in whispers and watched. Ace put his arms around Luffy and held him close to his heart.
"It's too loud here," Luffy whispered.
If Ace hadn't been as close as he was, he never would've heard Luffy over the ruckus on the deck.
"I know," Ace consoled, "we want to get you to your room. You think you can do that?"
Luffy shook his head. "Their still there, I don't understand why they won't leave!" He exclaimed desperately.
Ace clutched Luffy closer to him. "Don't look at them Luffy. Look at me. Sabo and Marco are right behind me-"
He was cut off as another shock wave hit the ship with tremendous force. Ace cursed the idiot pirates who thought they could defeat Whitebeard as Luffy tightened his already knuckle white grip on him. Of all the things, this was the last one Luffy needed.
"Shhhh, it's alright Lu," Ace hushed when Luffy began crying again.
Ace looked up at Sabo with his eyebrows furrowed apprehensively. He wasn't sure they were going to get Luffy off the deck without running into a few major problems.
"How long has he been like... that?" Marco asked Sabo as they guarded Ace and Luffy.
Sabo shrugged. "Dont know for sure but from what he told us I'm assuming it's been like this since before we rescued him," Sabo paused and looked at the ground below, "This just feels so wrong. I mean, before, Luffy would've comes off that ship ready to face the world again. Or at least, the Luffy we knew would. I feel like we're missing something!" Sabo huffed angrily in thought, and looked up to meet blue eyes when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, kid. Luffy's not gone, just lost, yoi. I wanna see what he used to be like, too, ya know. Just wait a little longer, he'll come back. This whole hallucinating thing is concerning though. I'll have to ask Aria about it," Marco put a thumb to his chin in thought.
"He's not crazy," Sabo muttered determinedly.
"Yoi?" Marco glanced at the boy.
"Make sure to tell her that he's not crazy. He knows, Marco. He knows he's not not right. And it kills him," Sabo repeated.
His bright blue eyes were glossy as he stared up at Marco, fierceness and sorrow all mixed together.
Marco smiled sadly, but reassuringly. "Don't worry, yoi. I'll let her know."
The pair looked back at Ace, who still hadn't made much progress, but at the least he'd gotten Luffy to stop crying... Mostly.
Marco swirled around when the shing of a sword addressed his observation haki. He formed a hand into sharp talons and clawed the attacker across the face. He looked down nervously at Ace and Luffy, then Sabo.
"They're starting to notice us over here, yoi, we gotta move you all off deck soon," Marco urged wryly.
Sabo nodded and walked up to his siblings to try and help it along.
"Luffy, it's not safe here anymore, I'm going to pick you up okay?" Sabo said quietly from Luffy's side.
Luffy didn't say anything, instead clutching tighter to Ace's shirt and burying his face into his chest so that all you could see were tufts of jet black hair and his straw hat.
Ace shrugged and slipped his hands under Luffy to support him. "Here we go Lu," he warned, and then hauled himself up to a standing position with Luffy tight in is grasp.
"Marco! We can go!" Both brothers called out to the Blue Bird.
Marco smiled at them. "Great, yoi! Keep close to me and once we reach your room, don't come out till someone gets you," Marco said as he began leading away the young pirates.
They complied quickly with Marco's demands, not making any retorts because it would simply waste time they didn't have. They knew they weren't through with helping Luffy for the evening, but their main goal was to get him off the deck. They could worry about the rest as it came.
Right now it was in their best interest to just shut up and take orders.
The three raced across the deck with Luffy in tow. Marco kept other pirates off of them since the fight was rapidly getting more violent and cannon fire more frequent. Being First Commander, the rookie pirates weren't too difficult to deal with, but he also acknowledged that they were ever so slightly more skilled than the normal pirates who thought they could take down Whitebeard and claim his throne.
He had one job: to protect Sabo, Ace, and most of all, Luffy, and he refused to lose them against a few idiots with a god complex.
He sighed and slashed at another incoming threat, beating him down instantly. He glanced over his shoulder to the boys following him. They both looked determined, that was good at least. The older two appeared to be completely unphased by the whole ordeal. Although, if you considered what the Whitebeard Pirates knew of the kids past, that was to be expected.
"How are you three holding up, yoi?" He called back to them.
Ace was the first to answer, his breath a bit short from running.
"We're fine. Luffy's muttering again though, not really sure that's good...." He paused and added quietly to himself, "not that anything about this is particularly 'good'. "
Marco nodded to himself and replied with reassurance.
"We're almost there. Just three more yards."
Within five minutes they had made the final stretch and were under the safety of the cabin corridor. They dashed down the hall, but Ace stopped when he reached their room, looking between it, and the one across from it.
"What's wrong?" Sabo asked, confused at his brothers confliction.
"I was just thinking," he glanced at the door with the red cross over it, " should we maybe take him to Aria-"
"Better not, yoi," Marco cut him off, "Since we're still in battle it'll be full of wounded. That'll just stress the poor kid out even more."
Ace's face went blank for a split second then brightened as his mouth formed an 'o' in understanding, subconsciously nodding along with the decision.
With that settled the boys turned to their own quarters. Sabo opened the door for Ace, who still had Luffy in his hands with his head burrowed in the crook of Ace's neck.
The room was considerably quieter than the upper deck, much to the group's relief, and even more so once Marco shut the door behind him. Ace walked over to Luffy's bed and placed him on it, or tried to.
Luffy wouldn't let go, and in the artificial hush of the dimly lit room you could hear the low mutterings of the child as he clung to his brother.
The brother that had begged to hang out with him as a young child.
"Lu," Ace whispered softly, shifting his support to one arm and moving the other up to Luffy's head. He slipped his hand under that hat, which gently fell backwards, and smoothed down Luffy's raven hair.
"We're not on deck anymore," Ace persuaded, tugging lightly at the rubber hands wrapped around him, "I bet you're tired"
As if on queue, Luffy's grip weakened slightly at the words, his eyes puffy and red, lids drooping heavily over sleepy brown irises.
It was easy to see the seven-year-old was both physically and emotionally exhausted. With a little effort and help from Sabo, Ace managed to pry Luffy from himself and tuck him under the covers of his bed.
Luffy instinctively curled up, keeping his knees and arms close to his chest, his small hands in fists and his face hidden slightly from the covers. He was quiet now, but not asleep, which unsettled the three in the room a bit.
Even when having an episode Luffy tended to speak his emotions out loud instead of bottling up. So this was another new element.
There was a long silence as they carefully waited for Luffy to either fall asleep or say something. His eyes were half closed and in a distant place, their gleam from earlier utterly vanquished.
For a moment, they all became acclimated to the quiet, so that when Luffy's hushed voice did ring out they nearly jumped out of their skin.
"Something....." Luffy drifted, his eyes fixed on his hands.
Ace got closer and rested his hand upon Luffy's. "Something what, Lu?" Ace asked softly, Sabo and Marco eagerly awaiting an answer behind him.
It took Luffy a few extra seconds but finally got the sentence out.
"Something's... Wrong," he whisper just barely loud enough to hear over the the battle above them, his voice hollow and rasped.
All three exchanged mortified glances.
Wrong??? How could it possibly be more wrong than it already is?
Ace turned to ask Luffy to ask what on earth he meant by the daunting words, but when he looked down, his brother had succumbed to the tiredness that plagued him.
Marco ran his fingers through his hair and left it there, holding it as he thought.
It wasn't so much the words themselves that were absolutely horrifying, but the meaning behind them. Luffy knew something was wrong with him, emotionally, physically, he had told his brothers about 'what was wrong ' many times before. It was obvious that something was wrong. But for Luffy to go quiet, and then say that- it sent shivers down everyone's spine.
"W-what do you think he meant?" Sabo asked, voice dripping with concern.
Ace looked down at his sleeping sibling and frowned, shaking his head.
"Honestly Sabo? I don't know anymore."
The silence hung thick and tense in the room. They were all trying to puzzle out what Luffy had tried his best to convey to them with his limited mindset.
Was it a warning? If so, for who? And why? Was it a statement? Did he know something they didn't?
They all sighed simultaneously, to wary from the twists of the day to figure out the puzzle at this moment.
"I should probably get back on deck, yoi," Marco finally said, although the sounds from above had quelled incredibly.
Sabo and Ace turned and nodded at the Phoenix.
"Good luck, pineapple man. 'Member to get us before dinner," Ace said mildly, smirking up at the Commander.
Marco scoffed, then let a light smile curl his lips. "Will do kiddo, yoi."
And with that, he left the room, shutting the door soundlessly to keep from breaking the atmosphere the boys had created.
Ace stayed by Luffy while Sabo slumped over into his bed, releasing a long, stress-filled sigh.
"What a day," Sabo breathed out.
Ace grunted. "Tell me about it."
Sabo laughed and fingered his book. "I mean, I would, but you were there for most of it," he replied playfully.
Ace couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips.
"Haha, very funny Sabo," he teased back.
After that, they fell into a comfortable silence. Sabo began to read his book and Ace had a narcoleptic attack, landing him curled up next to Luffy snoozing loudly.
They stayed like that for hours, until Thatch called dinner over the ships intercom system. The boys waited respectively for Marco to get them, as ordered, but we're a bit surprised to see him and Thatch enter, both caregivers holding large amounts of food.
Sabo and Ace (who'd woken up about an hour before and had been talking with Sabo) arched an eyebrow at the strange events.
The two commanders struggled to quiet their laughter at the boys matching expressions. Thatch unfolded a portable table with one hand and then set his platter of food on it, Marco following suit.
"So, uh...." Ace prompted while gesturing to the food and table in their room.
"...Care to explain?" Sabo finished the sentence.
Thatch cracked a wide grin and explained excitedly, "We figured you wouldn't wanna leave Luffy all alone, so, since you were probably gonna do it anyway, we brought some food for you."
"Yoi!" Marco nodded in agreement, "we already ate, but if ya don't mind we'd love to stay and chat a bit. We'll be sure to keep it down, of course," he added, eyeing the snoring Luffy.
Ace and Sabo glanced at each other, then at the food, and then shrugged.
"Sure, why not," they answered in unison, stepping up to the table.
The commanders sat down against the ends of the beds and let the brothers eat. Not even ten minutes later, both ten-year-olds had downed all of the food and joined the Commanders on the wooden floor boards.
Sabo looked over to Luffy and sighed, shifting his eyes down to the palms in his lap.
"He hasn't really eaten anything in a week..." He muttered under his breath.
Everyone looked up at the blond and then down at their own palms, realising what Sabo meant.
Marco raised his hand and laid it on Sabo's shoulder. Sabo looked up at him with sad sapphire eyes.
Marco smiled glumly. "Don't worry, we'll get him better soon. There's no shame in taking care of yourself while someone else is down." When Sabo looked unsure whether the words held true or not, Marco added, "I'm sure Luffy wouldn't want you feeling bad over him. Enjoy what ya can kid."
That got Sabo to give a slight smile, a bit of happiness returning to his eyes and replacing the mopey look from before.
Thatch nudged Ace in the ribs, earning a glare from the freckled raven.
"Agh- Hey!?" Ace yelled out, grabbing his side.
"That goes for you too, Ace!" Thatch stated, pointing at said boy.
Ace arched an eyebrow and Thatch sighed dramatically, smiling all the while.
"You gotta live! Your brothers mentally ill, not on his death bed. He'll be fine once he's had a bit of recovery time and encouragement," Thatch inhaled and said a bit louder, "so stop moping!"
Ace's glare soften and he twiddle his thumbs. "Yeah alright, alright," he grumbled, averting his eyes to the oh so interesting floor.
Both boys attention was quickly drawn away from the current conversation when Luffy turned in his sleep, a small whimper escaping his lips.
Sabo stood up and walked over, sitting down on the soft white and red blankets. He didn't want to wake Luffy just yet, so instead he simply pulled the straw hat closer to the restless boy and placed a warm hand on top of Luffy's small pale one.
Luffy twitched slightly at the unexpected touch and grabbed the hat nearer to him. He then nuzzled towards the warmth of Sabo's hand, pulling it closer to him as he unconsciously curled back into peacefulness.
Sabo smiled down at his little brother and slowly slipped his hand out of Luffy's rubber grasp, replacing his hand with the nearby hat.
Luffy tugged the hat close, snuggling it to his chest. Sabo had to hold in a chuckle at his cuteness. When Luffy wasn't awake to cause chaos, he was really rather adorable.
Waiting a minute or two to make sure Luffy really was back to sleeping soundly again, Sabo rose from the spring mattress and rejoined the group on the other end of the room.
A comfortable silence had filled the air while Sabo had taken care of Luffy, so they all just sat a bit before anyone broke the barrier. It was the kind of quiet you get on a snowy night in the middle of the woods, when everything seems perfect and at rest and there's nothing to fear. All noise muffled and quelled by soft flakes from the sky.
They stayed in that serene wood like symphony of silence for about five minutes; Marco became the one who softly broke it.
"You three really care about each other, eh?" He remarked quietly, almost to himself.
Sabo and Ace lifted their heads to their sleeping brother and then back to Marco, eyes lit with love for one another.
"Yeah. It's all we live for," Ace replied, knowing that the words he'd just said meant more to him than anyone who wasn't Sabo or Luffy knew.
"It's something else, that for sure," Thatch chuckled softly, "You three share a bond like nobody else. Even with Lu like that I can still tell he relies on you two greatly, and that you lean on him too."
The boys blushed and looked away, avoiding eye contact. "I- I guess... When you put it that way...."
"You're family, yoi, just like us," Marco finalized.
Ace and Sabo grinned up at that, and the light in Ace's usually dull coal pupils and Sabo's murky waves became bright like shining sea water at dusk.
"Of course!" They rhymed together.
The commanders laughed at the youngsters, their tainted purity even illuminating through this dark passage of life. Getting to talk like this, both Thatch and Marco were eternally grateful that they got the chance to save the trio from that ship and give them back their lives, even if they weren't the same as they were before.
Marco stood and stretched, taking the end of the conversation as a queue to leave and get some much needed rest.... Right after he finished his paper work.
"Alright Thatch, yoi" he said with a yawn, lazy eyes looking to the chef, "I think it's high time these two join their brother in some shut eye."
Thatch nodded and stood, grabbing the folding table and trays from their meal and tucking them under his arm.
"See ya in the morning kiddos!" The cook bid them goodnight and left to tie up some things in the kitchen before turning in himself.
"Don't stay up to late, yoi" Marco said, gaze focused on Sabo.
Sabo looked around in false innocence and then pointed a finger at himself with a cute and confused expression upon his face.
"Me?"
Marco laughed. "Yes you, yoi. Don't think I don't know how long you stay up reading sometimes. We all know, Sabo."
Sabo felt his cheeks grow hot as he huffed something about creepy stalker pirates and began getting ready for bed.
Marco shook his head as Ace laughed at his blond brother, teasing him about being a book worm.
"Alright, alright. You'll wake Luffy, Ace," Marco said while waving his hands in a downward motion, "Goodnight, sleep well, yoi"
"Night!" They called back, climbing in under their bed sheets.
Marco shut the door and left, leaving the two boys the only ones left awake in the dark bedroom.
Neither spoke to each other, they were actually rather tired from the days events, and unlike his brothers, Sabo didn't even get a little cat nap in. But their tiredness made no difference as they both lied awake in the warm beds, thinking about Luffy's earlier words. They echoed in the brothers minds as they warped the meaning behind them in their heads, replaying over and over for some kind of clue.
Eventually, they both fell asleep, but even then, their minds kept working at the words. Dreams of shadows and vicious dragons accompanied them in their minds in subconsciousness. Every brain cell focused on helping their little brother, their family.
Over and over and over in their minds. All night long until dawn's first rays.
"Something's wrong."
*****
Hi guys! I'm back! This was super hard to write! Idek why, it just was! But it's out now so yippee!!! I nearly made it longer, but decided not to end this on a cliffhanger and add "it" to the beggining of the next chapter. Some major plot stuff gonna start happening in the next chapter. I'm so exxccittedddd!!!!!
This took longer than I wanted it too, but I'm actually still on time for my two week goal. I was like "You are getting this chapter out by March 6 or so help me you will not watch the new Steven Universe episodes". And of course how could I say no to Steven Universe?! Anyone here excited for new episodes? I know I am!!!
Thank you all for being so very patient with me. I know how it feels when you have to wait FOREVER for people to update but I'm trying I promise!!! I refuse to give up on this particular story because it's my favourite that I'm writing right now! I have a few BNHA ones out too, but I'm being reeaaaalllyyyy slow about updating them. like, snails pace.
This A/N be getting long so that's all for now!!! Thank you all so much for reading and if you have any questions I love reading comments! So feel free to ask them! See you all again in another week or two! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Until next time!
Chão!!
Word Count: 5845