Alright, welcome to the second Chapter of To Save A Brother's Life. So far I have seven chapters ready for this. I would have more but I'm also working on getting chapters together for a Time Travel OP AceLu fic. It's unique to say that much because I'm using information from Totto Land Arc. I'm on the second chapter for that so far. Death's Gift, as you probably know is on a weekly update as well as this one, and I still only have thirteen total chapters for it but that should last me a while. Also, I noticed you guys didn't realize what the Magu Magu no Mi was which is weird considering it's a fruit that a lot of Ace fans despise with a melting passion. Ahaha anyways I'm still taking in suggestions for both this story and Death's Gift, and if you guys want you can suggest pairings for the Time Travel fic, (I'm calling it This Time I'll Save Everyone) I can't guarantee I'll include it but there's always a chance. Also, before we get onwards with the story did you know Law likes collecting commemorative coins? Yeah, I learned that while reading the SBS's.

Disclaimer: Don't own OP.

To Save a Brother's Life

The days following their departure from Dawn Island was filled with a lot of cuddling between the three boys. They refused to let Luffy out of their sight and would always be holding. Most of it was because of the fact that Luffy himself was too adorable not to cuddle. The other part was because of what had happened back at Dawn Island. The two boys were afraid that if they let him out of their sight that something would happen to their little brother. Of course, Luffy didn't mind this at all. In fact, he was ecstatic about the attention that his two new big brothers were giving him. Because, it proved to him that they loved him and that he wasn't lonely anymore. So, Luffy relished the attention that was thrown on him by Ace and Sabo. He had also found out that if he looked at them right he could get them to do just about anything for him. But, Luffy wouldn't abuse that privilege, because he didn't want to get his brothers mad at him.

Of course, Thatch and Izo both found it hilarious and adorable. Thatch had taken it up to tease Ace about it any second a day.

"You're such a bro-con Ace." Thatch said, causing Ace to blush beet red.

"I'm not a bro-con!" Ace protested loudly.

Sabo however was snickering in the background, that traitor.

"I dunno Ace, you're protective to the point that you're always cuddling him. You'd even do a lot of things for him." Sabo said.

"Yeah but you do it too!" Ace protested again.

"I know I'm a bro-con but I'm pretty sure you'd kill anyone who'd think to harm Luffy." Sabo said calmly.

"You're damn right I would." Ace said without refuting the statement, causing the others to chuckle.

Luffy just comfortingly snuggled into Ace's chest. Ace was always a nice source of warmth, even if nobody knew why.

A few days later as they were approaching the Moby Dick something happened, Luffy started whimpering and they didn't know why.

"Lu, what's wrong?" Ace asked, confused.

Luffy had never acted like this, he was currently curled up in a ball against him, his bandages finally removed and wearing his usual red shirt and blue shorts.

"There's too many voices." Luffy muttered.

"Too many voices? I don't hear anything." Thatch said.

"Too many voices! Happy voices, Tired voices, Sad voices…. Hateful voices." Luffy whimpered.

"Lu… are you saying that you can feel people's emotions?" Sabo asked.

"I-is that the right word? I-it sounds right." Luffy muttered.

Thatch and Izo seemed to look at each other.

"Could it be?" Izo asked.

"But in a kid this young?" Thatch asked.

They had learned two days back that a couple months back Ace had turned eleven, Sabo turning elven about two weeks back, and Luffy was seven, going to turn eight soon. Luffy never would give them his birthday, saying it wasn't exactly important. But anyways, his age was much too young for what they were considering.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ace demanded, wanting to know what was wrong with his little brother.

"Ah, um, there's this thing called Observation Haki. Simply, it lets you predict people's movements. But there's people who can actually see people without looking with their eyes. But… I've heard rumors of Luffy's ability.." Thatch rambled off.

"It's been called the ability to hear the Voice of all things, emotions from anything from humans to animal to plants to even objects. The last person rumored to have this ability was Gol D. Roger. But… even so Observation Haki isn't something that is awakened generally at a young age." Izo said.

As soon as Izo mentioned Ace's father's name he stiffened but eventually relaxed. Even if he had to listen to something about his father he would just for Luffy's sake. It hurt him almost physically to see his little brother in pain.

"So.. so how would we go about finding out if he has it?" Ace asked, gulping in a breath of air, sending a weak smile Sabo's way when he saw his proud look.

"It's actually rather simple. Luffy, how many voices can you 'hear'?" Izo asked.

"A-ah. I think three hundred and twenty-five?" Luffy said, never really having to count that high before but the number just coming to his mind.

Ace and Sabo were shocked, because like Luffy had said, he had never been really good with numbers. To be able to count that high, even if they didn't know that it was actually Luffy's ability that gave him the number, was astounding.

"Well, I guess that confirms it…" Izo said.

Suddenly Thatch brightened up and smiled.

"I have an idea, hey Luffy. Focus on the largest voice you can hear and only that voice." Thatch said.

Luffy started searching for that voice and quickly he found it. Instantly he felt warm and safe, just like when he listened to Ace and Sabo's voices recently. The focused voice seemed to drown out all the other voices where it and only it sounded out.

"Now… what do you feel?" Thatch asked.

"I.. I feel, happiness, love, joy, pride… It's… so nice." Luffy murmured, snuggling further into Ace.

"Whose voice is that?" Sabo asked, wondering who would have a profound effect on their little brother.

"That, would be Pops. Even without Luffy's ability I know that Oyaji's love and joy for all of us is huge. He's always smiling and laughing, just like Luffy." Thatch said, with Izo nodding as well.

For a second, the two big brothers paled at thinking of a captain just like Luffy, the strongest man in the world at that. Izo seemed to catch on and chuckled.

"No, while his emotions are much like little Luffy's here, he's much more level headed than your brother. Pops just really cares for all of us. Just like how Luffy cares for you two." Izo said with a smile.

That prompted the two brothers to fondly smile at their little brother. Suddenly however a flaming bird flew off the big ship that looked like a whale and landed on their ship. It then promptly turned into a blonde-haired man with an open blue shirt that revealed the man's chest. On the man's chest was a purple cross with a crescent facing upwards on it.

"You two are home early, yoi." The man said before noticing the kids.

Luffy saw the man and instantly perked up, still focusing on Whitebeard's voice but it was in the background now.

"Pineapple!" Luffy shouted, pointing at the man.

Instantly the man got an irritated look but the rest of them broke out into laughter at that.

"His head does look like a pineapple." Thatch said.

"Any more comments and I will toss you into the sea Thatch, yoi." The man said.

"Ah calm down Marco, we're just having a laugh." Thatch said with a smile.

Ignoring Marco, he turned to Izo, who he knew to be the less mischievous of the two.

"So, who're the kids, yoi." Marco said, giving them a once over.

"Ah, we picked up the three over on Dawn Island. It'd be a bit easier to just explain it to Oyaji." Izo said.

"Alright, yoi. But if they're staying they're your responsibility, yoi." Marco said.

Luffy looked up at the man with big puppy dog eyes and a sad face.

"D-do you not like us?" Luffy asked, sniffling.

Sabo had to promptly hold back Ace who was currently cursing and threatening the man for making their little brother sad. However, Luffy's puppy dog eyes had their unintended effect and made the man practically crumple in front of them.

"Ah-no, uh. I don't hate you guys, yoi. I just have too much work to do, yoi. I am the First Division Commander after all, yoi." Marco stammered, sending a glare at Izo and Thatch who were laughing in the background.

Instantly the sniffling went away and Luffy smiled brightly at the man.

"Alright, Pineapple, I understand." Luffy said before going back to snuggling with Ace.

"Those eyes are dangerous, yoi." Marco muttered.

"Yes, they are, I've seen the boy use them on his brothers to get some of their food. Which is astounding because that Ace boy, the black-haired one, eats as much as Luffy." Thatch said.

A pause hung in the air as they watched the two brothers whisper loving words to the boy who seemed to brighten up at each word.

"They're really close, yoi. Closer than most of our brothers, yoi." Marco commented.

"It's actually surprising because according to them it's only been like this since five-six days ago," Thatch said.

"What caused the drastic change, yoi?" Marco asked, curious.

"They almost lost him and realized how much it'd affect their lives, but like I said earlier, it's easier to explain it all to Pops." Izo said.

"Mmm, alright, yoi. Pops was the one who sent me to see if it was you guys anyways, yoi." Marco said.

Marco decided to stay on the ship until they reached the Moby Dick, wanting to see the three boys interact. From his perspective, it seemed like that the two older boys were really overprotective of the younger one. The little one seemed like a sweet boy, especially if those puppy dog eyes were anything to go by. Soon enough they reached the Moby Dick and a ladder was rolled down the side to let them up. Of course, Ace refused to let Luffy climb by himself, stating that Luffy himself had said he was still sore. So, Ace once again hoisted Luffy onto his back and started climbing after Thatch. After about two minutes or so, they were all on board. When they were, Ace finally let Luffy down but seeing all the people looking at them curiously he made sure that Luffy was close by his side, with Sabo on the other side of Luffy. Luffy however, was looking everywhere in awe. He had never been on a pirate ship before! Even when he was… tortured… by Porchemy he wasn't on a ship. Bad memories, he quickly mentally waved them away so as to not lose his smile that his brothers seemed to love. Brothers. Oh Blue, how he loved that word. He had two big brothers now and he might have a lot more. But, Ace and Sabo would be his special brothers, a bond only they would share.

Shortly after, they were led to a relatively large chair, about six to seven feet in height Sabo estimated. Sitting in that chair was a large man, again estimating to be about twelve feet tall by Sabo. The man was wearing a black bandana over his head, wasn't wearing a shirt but had a white coat with different tiny little things over his shoulders, and a pale yellowish pair of pants. However, what all three boys noticed, as it was obvious, was that the man was hooked up to several medical apparatuses. Despite that though, they could tell the man was still very strong. In a quick second, Luffy was suddenly climbing up the man's pant leg and onto the man's lap. That caused his two big brothers to panic, thinking that the large man would be mad at Luffy. Although, Sabo in the back of his mind knew that if Luffy had really felt those emotions from this man then he should be safe. Ace however, because he wasn't really the thinker of the group, just outright panicked. Their panic increased when their brother asked a question.

"Woooow! You're so big! Hey, do you poop?" Luffy asked.

Marco, Thatch, Izo, and the two brothers blinked for a second before it was interrupted by Whitebeard's laugh.

"Gurarara! Of course I do little one." The large man said, laughing.

They did not actually expect the man to answer. That answer however, instantly sent waves of relief through the two brothers. If he didn't get mad at that kind of question then he wouldn't get mad at all at Luffy.

"Nee, why are you so happy, joyful, prideful, and filled with love?" Luffy asked, curiously.

He had personally never felt anyone who exuded that much love. Sure he had felt it from Makino once but it wasn't a lot. And the love that he had felt from his brothers was a large amount but it was for one person. This kind of love felt like it was for a lot of people and it was all equal. It just made him feel so warm.

Whitebeard however raised a brow as he had heard this question before. So, to answer if his suspicions were right he turned to Thatch and Izo, his eyes asking a question.

"Ah, he uh has insanely strong Observation Haki. He can hear emotions." Thatch answered.

"Oh? If I remember… Roger had that too. Well, to answer your question little one, it's because I love each and every one of my sons, my crew. They are my family and each one makes me proud as well. Each one makes me happy and filled with joy." Whitebeard said.

Luffy nodded solemnly, as if understanding the answer. While Ace and Sabo didn't exactly believe it as Luffy wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, Luffy actually did. Luffy felt the same way about Sabo and Ace. They made him happy and feel loved.

"So… little one, I'm actually curious. Can you 'hear' anything from this ship?" Whitebeard asked, having wanted to ask Roger this question but never getting the chance to.

Luffy's face scrunched up in concentration as if he needed to focus. He really did though, because he had to sift through each voice he heard. But soon enough he found it and it made him smile.

"It… no she feels happy. She almost has the amount of love you do… but you beat her by a tiny bit. But with her I can… hear words." Luffy said.

"Words?" Whitebeard asked.

"Yeah, she's… she's saying that she wants to tell you something. She says… 'Thank you for loving me all this time, thank you for having me as a part of your family right from the beginning, I will always protect you, my brothers and father.' Huh, she really loves you guys." Luffy said, his voice suddenly taking on a feminine quality when he relayed the message before it turned back to normal after that.

Thatch, Izo, and Marco seemed to have tears coming from their eyes as well as a few stray tears from Whitebeard. The man ruffled Luffy's hair and gave him a smile.

"Thank you little one. So, what are you three doing here?" Whitebeard said, turning to the three boys collectively.

"That actually might better if I explain, first of all the one with the top hat is Sabo, the one who's on your lap is Luffy, and the one with the freckles is Ace." Izo said, stepping forward.

Whitebeard gestured for Izo to continue.

"Well, We were visiting a village on Dawn Island cause Thatch wanted to try the food there and see if he could get some inspiration. However, while he was on the ship and I was on my way back, I heard kids screaming for a doctor. When I found them they had the little one on Ace's back." Izo said.

"What caused that to happen?" Whitebeard asked, curious as to how kids so young would end up covered in blood.

That prompted Ace to be the one who explained.

"Ah, I uh didn't really like Luffy to begin with so I was mean to him a lot." Ace said.

"Mean? You tried to kill him multiple times." Sabo snorted.

"HEY! You didn't do anything to stop me, but no that's not why he was like that. Uh, he had ended up finding where we hid our treasure so we felt like we needed to kill him, but we didn't know how. So, we just tied him up to a tree branch." Ace said.

Sabo was giving a half guilty look. The other half was saying that he felt it was all Ace's idea, when he knew it wasn't. Sabo had agreed that they needed to kill Luffy but, again they really didn't know what it intended.

"Anyways, uh. We had stolen treasure from pirates earlier and one of them was nearing us. So, we, uh, ran away leaving Lu tied up and he ended up getting tortured by the pirate. We then ran down the mountain with him after beating up said pirate, looking for a doctor." Ace said, guilt returning to his face.

Whitebeard just raised an eyebrow. Luffy however climbed down from the big man and tackled Ace and Sabo to the ground, hugging the both of them.

"It's okay, you don't have to feel sad. Ace and Sabo are my brothers now! So I forgive you." Luffy said, hugging them tightly.

Ace and Sabo winced slightly before they smiled and hugged Luffy back. Thatch decided that he'd take over here and let the brothers have their moment.

"So, Izo took them to the ship and started surgery on Luffy here. I took and bathed the other two, as they were covered in their little brother's blood. After that I fed them, in which I found that Ace here is a black hole and later his little brother is too. Slowly over time I got attached to them, as did Izo." Thatch said, Izo continuing from where he left off.

"So, we asked them if they wanted to join the family." Izo said.

At this Luffy perked up, and started vibrating excitedly.

"And we said yes! But uh I can't join your crew, cause I hafta become Pirate King." Luffy said.

"Gurarara! And why's that little one?" Whitebeard asked.

Luffy clutched the straw hat on his head which drew Whitebeard's and Marco's attention to it.

"Cause I promised Shanks I would! This hat's proof of that promise!" Luffy said with a smile.

"I wondered where I recognized that hat from, yoi. It was from that Shanks brat, yoi." Marco said.

"Brat? But Pineapple, you and Shanks look the same age." Luffy said, confused.

After all if they looked the same age they had to be the same age. Of course everyone chuckled again at Luffy calling Marco a pineapple, though Whitebeard held it in.

"Like I told you early, the name's Marco, yoi. And I'm much older than the Shanks brat, yoi." Marco said, his eye twitching.

"It's not going to work, he gives nicknames to people if he can't understand their name. Trust me, he calls me Thatchy. The only one so far that he gets right is Izo's." Thatch said with a soft chuckle.

"Gurarara! I like you kid. You're welcome to join our family. You don't have to join the crew if you want to." Whitebeard said.

Luffy shuffled his legs before looking up, seeming to want to ask another question. Whitebeard nodded, letting Luffy ask.

"I just uh have one request. Can me and my brothers share a room… and maybe a bed?" Luffy asked, saying the last bit quickly.

Ace and Sabo stared at Luffy a second before hugging him. Their brother wanted to stay near them and it made them happy.

"That's no problem at all. If you want Thatch here can show you a room near his." Whitebeard said.

Luffy immediately grabbed his brothers and yelled for 'Thatchy' to show them their room as they headed off, Thatch shaking his head and following, Izo as well. After they left Whitebeard spoke to Marco.

"So, that's the kid that Shanks lost his arm for. The one he's betting on in the New Age. I can understand why now." Whitebeard mused.

"Normally I wouldn't trust the Shanks-brat on anything, yoi. However, it looks like he got this one right, yoi. Though, did you see the Ace kid's eyes, yoi?" Marco asked.

"Yes, I saw it too. There was a darkness in it, a sense of self-loathing. But, from what I can see it's slowly healing thanks to little Luffy." Whitebeard said.

Marco smiled, thinking about the little kid. Despite the fact that the kid kept calling him pineapple, he was getting attached fast. He was so bright and happy, like a little ball of sunshine.

"Yeah, I can see the amount of love that pours into those eyes when he looks at Luffy, yoi. But that Sabo kid seems like the smarter one of the two, his eyes had a sort of intelligence to them, yoi." Marco said.

"Your brothers are going to love them." Whitebeard said.

Marco couldn't help but believe that as well.

Thatch had managed to get ahead of the three and started leading them through the large ship. As he was doing this he was explaining the layout to the boys.

"The first floor, the floor below the deck which is where we're at. On this floor are the first four division's barracks as well as Marco's, Whitey Bay's, Jozu's, and my rooms as we are the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Division Commanders respectively. Also on this floor is the Mess Hall and Kitchen, since it makes it easier for me to access as I'm the head chef." Thatch said.

"Food!" Luffy shouted with a smile.

Thatch chuckled and ruffled Luffy's hair.

"Not right now Luffy, it's a bit early for dinner." Thatch said.

Luffy just pouted adorably at the man, he was really hungry damnit. But then again this was Luffy, he was hungry all the time.

"Anyways, below this floor is the next four division's barracks, whose leaders are named Vista, Blamenco, Rakyuo, and Namur. Just so you don't freak out, Namur's a fishman." Thatch said.

Sabo's eyes seemed to light up at the mention of one of the commanders being a fishman.

"Can I meet him? I've never gotten to talk to a fishman before… All the books I've read about them seem to be biased." Sabo asked eagerly, causing Thatch and Izo to chuckle.

"I'm sure he'd be glad to talk to you, he doesn't get many people like that, wanting to learn." Thatch said.

Sabo was really happy now to be on this ship. He'd get to meet an actual fishman.

"Also on this floor is the infirmary, which is mine and my nurses' domain. When you're in there you listen to us got it? We know what's best for your health." Izo said, giving the three a look, causing the three to nod their heads quickly.

"Yeah, you'll want to listen to him, otherwise he'll tie you to the bed. He's done it to me before." Thatch said, grimacing from remembering that memory.

"I wouldn't have had to if you hadn't kept trying to escape. Despite the fact you were covered in injuries that weren't even healed yet." Izo said, glaring at Thatch.

"Um, I have a question, why are most of the nurses here female?" Ace asked, as he had spotted mostly female nurses.

That caused Izo and Thatch to laugh at that question. Which in turn caused Ace to blush and glare at the ground.

"It's not a bad question, it's just there's a funny story behind it. You see, whenever we try to recruit male nurses most of them fail the most important test." Izo said.

"Important test? What's that?" Ace asked, no longer glaring at the ground.

"Being able to say no to Pops about his sake when he can't have it. With almost every male nurse we've tried to recruit Oyaji has managed to talk them into drinking with him. While almost every female nurse has been able to say no. The select few being someone like Whitey." Thatch said.

"Yeah, Whitey was first recruited as a nurse, despite the fact that she didn't have any medical knowledge. The reason being that she had the talent of being able to pick up anything she wanted to learn. But when it came time to say no to Pops she instead pulled a bottle of rare sake out and poured a glass for them both before he even asked." Izo said, laughing about it.

The three brothers laughed at that too, as they had found it funny too.

"On the third floor is, again, the next four division's barracks, with Blenheim, Curiel, Kingdew, and Haruta as Division Commanders. You'll actually probably like Haruta as he's probably only four years older than Ace and Sabo and he's a lot like Luffy… but more intelligent? I guess that's the right word." Thatch said.

"So… Happy and goofy but smart. Alright." Sabo said, nodding.

Ace however, had something more to ask.

"Why's a fifteen year old a Commander?" Ace asked.

"Oh, well he's been with us since he was seven and he's a really, really good swordfighter. But yeah, he's a nice kid. Loves to join me on my pranking sprees." Thatch said smirking, probably thinking about a prank.

"You touch my makeup, hair products, kimonos, or my hair itself I will castrate you without anesthetics." Izo said, causing Thatch to flinch.

"Uh.. heh, also on that floor is the training rooms." Thatch said.

The three boys seemed to perk up at the mention of the training rooms, however Izo gave Luffy a look.

"You won't be able to train for another week mister." Izo said.

"Aw, but I wanna train with my brothers!" Luffy pouted.

Thankfully it was Luffy's big brothers who took him in hand rather than it having to be Thatch or Izo.

"But Luffy, if you open your wounds again we'd be very sad." Sabo said, with Ace nodding solemnly.

Luffy's pout quickly vanished before he smiled and nodded before jumping on Sabo's back, hugging him.

"Alright, I don't want Ace or Sabo to be sad. But when I'm allowed I want to train!" Luffy said.

"We'll help you train if you want, how does that sound?" Thatch asked.

Luffy perked up even more, if that was even possible.

"That be great!" Luffy said.

Sabo the gestured for Thatch to continue explaining the layout of the ship, not wanting to get lost at all.

"Ah right, on the fourth floor are the last four division's barracks whose leaders are Atmos, Speed Jiru, Fossa, and Izo here respectively. On that floor is the laundry room. Lastly, below that floor is the cargo hold where we store the non-food items and our treasure." Thatch said.

The boys' eyes lit up at the word treasure. Both Izo and Thatch noticed this which brought something to their minds.

"That's right you guys have your own treasure. That means we'll have to make you your own spot. Normally you share a spot with your Division but do get to keep most of your treasure but since you guys aren't tied to a division you get your own spot." Thatch said.

"How much do we have to share with everyone?" Ace asked, not really wanting to give away his treasure.

"Ah, well actually, the part that we take is for food expenses. It's like ten percent I believe? But we won't take any of your current treasure." Izo said.

"Yeah, after all you earned it prior to joining us." Thatch said with a smile.

The three boys could understand that, well mostly Sabo and Ace. Luffy just knew it meant give money to get food. Sabo and Ace understood that since they were going to live on the ship and eating the ship's food, it'd only be fair if they paid their share.

"Although there is an exception to that rule." Izo said.

"What's the exception?" Sabo asked really curious.

"Devil Fruits. If you manage to find one, it's yours to choose what to do with it. If you want to eat it go for it. If you want to sell it, you get to keep all the money. If you want to give it away, do so. Just, ah, don't give it to a Marine." Thatch said.

Both Ace and Sabo seemed to be confused, whereas Luffy wasn't.

"You keep mentioning the word Devil Fruit but aren't they myths?" Sabo asked.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Thatch and Izo who answered but Luffy.

"Nope! Shanks had found one! He showed it to me. It looked really weird and rubbery. He called it the Gomu Gomu No Mi." Luffy said.

"I'm surprised you didn't eat it." Ace said.

"I would have but Shanks said they taste really disgusting as a friend of his had eaten one. He said his friend had said it was like eating liquid ashes." Luffy said, shuddering.

The sound of that flavor made the others shudder as well and make Thatch give an offended look.

"Blue, liquid ash? That's… disgusting." Ace said, grimacing again at the thought of what that would even taste like.

"You know, I kinda feel bad for Marco now." Thatch said.

"Wait, pineapple ate a Devil Fruit?! What is it?! I bet it's really cool!" Luffy said, eager to know, having forgotten earlier.

"He's actually never told us the name but you've seen it. He's a phoenix." Thatch said.

Luffy tilted his head, a bit confused.

"Pineapple's a flaming chicken? But they're two different things!" Luffy yelled, throwing his hands up in the air.

Thatch and Izo broke out into laughter with Thatch muttering the words 'pineapple' and 'Flaming Chicken'. Ace and Sabo however just settled for snickers.

"Ah, kid you're wonderful." Thatch said, wiping a tear away, causing Luffy to brightly smile at him.

Soon enough though they reached the room that they were heading for. It was directly across a room that had a name tag on it that said 'Thatch, Fourth Division Commander'. When Thatch opened the room the three boys were awed by it. The room was of course, not painted at all but it had a bed that was big enough for the three boys, a bookcase that was empty but free to be filled with books, a desk that could be used to write on, and a dresser where they could put their clothes. Immediately Ace ran to the bed and jumped on it, intent on laying in the nice soft bed.

"Blue, is this amazing…. I've never slept in a bed before, well before being on that ship." Ace said.

Thatch had assumed that the kid would have slept in a bed before. He decided to voice that question.

"What did you sleep on then?" He asked.

"Um, well the floor really? Me and Sabo would sleep on the floor of our treehouse. I actually don't know where Lu slept." Ace mused.

"I slept in a hammock I made. It wasn't that comfortable, but I know what a bed feels like!" Luffy said.

"Right… you lived with shitty gramps before Dadan right?" Ace asked.

"Mhm, it wasn't fun at all. He'd wake me up at random times. Once he woke me up at three in the morning." Luffy said, pouting.

The other two boys shuddered, knowing Garp's way of waking people up with the Fist of Love. Sabo went to the bookshelf and frowned a bit.

"Ah, if you're wanting books, usually people buy their own. But I'm sure if you ask around people will have books they don't want anymore. I'm sure I have a few novels I can give you." Thatch said.

"Make sure they're age appropriate novels Thatch." Izo said, narrowing his eyes.

"Hey, I wouldn't give the kid anything like that!" Thatch said, holding his hands up in surrender.

"I'm just happy to have a room with my brothers." Luffy said with a smile, and once again Ace and Sabo had to resist hugging their brother to death.

"Alright, before me and Izo leave to get back to work I gotta explain something. You'll be required to help with chores around the ship, nothing much just helping around where you can. It'd be rather impossible to assign a specific chore to everyone when there's three hundred plus on the ship." Thatch said.

"We won't have any problems with that. We're used to having to do chores." Sabo said, answering for the other two.

With that Thatch and Izo left the boys in their room. Luffy pulled Sabo onto the bed with Ace and him where he curled up with the two boys. Ace and Sabo let him, wanting to be near their brother as well. Ace looked around and listened before speaking up.

"So.. uh Lu.. What would you say to the child of Gol D. Rogers?" Ace said, bracing himself for the inevitable pain.

Luffy repositioned himself so that he was sitting on Ace's stomach and looking him straight in the eyes.

"I think they'd be really awesome for that!" Luffy said, smiling when Ace's eyes widened.

"Wha-" Ace said, confused.

"Ace, this is Lu you're talking about. He practically worships the title of Pirate King." Sabo said.

"B-but don't you think that I shouldn't live?! I'm the child of Gol D. Rogers!" Ace said, holding back the tears.

Luffy snuggled against Ace's chest before speaking.

"Is this why Ace was so sad when I met Ace? Ace shouldn't feel like he shouldn't live. I'm happy that Ace is alive because it means I have a big brother. Ace is Ace and Rogers is Rogers. Blood doesn't matter." Luffy said.

"…" Ace was currently speechless, he really didn't expect the answer that had just come from Luffy.

Sabo however, had just realized something from what Luffy had said. And it started to make something else that was on his mind make sense.

"Lu… you also tried becoming our friends because you wanted to make Ace happy, didn't you?" Sabo asked.

Luffy nodded happily before returning to Ace's chest and speaking.

"Ace was really sad. I hadn't ever felt that kind of sadness before. It was so… dark and lonely. So, I wanted to make Ace smile! Sabo felt sad too but… it wasn't as sad as Ace was. Sabo was swimming where Ace was drowning." Luffy mumbled against Ace's chest.

Suddenly Ace choked out a sob before hugging Luffy tight and burying his face into Luffy's hair. What Luffy said made him both really happy and feel really guilty. Precious little Luffy had only wanted to become friends just to make Ace happy. Luffy made it sound like his loneliness was only an afterthought.

"I really love you Lu." Ace said into Luffy's hair.

Sabo then decided to join the hug too because what Luffy said had affected him as well. So it was about an hour and a half later that Thatch found them all huddled together, asleep, with Ace and Sabo holding Luffy.

Thanks for reading! Please review if you can! I really hope you enjoyed the fluff and yeah if you do see familiarity from Lu's ability I got the idea from half of Lu's and Roger's ability to "Hear the Voice of All Things" and another story where Luffy could sense emotions. This is something that I'm planning to use to get a rather painful thorn in my ass out of the story. Anyways! Have a wonderful day or night or evening or even sleep. I don't know what time you people read these things.