Enjoy~
The rest of the Whitebeard Pirates crew looked at Thatch and Marco strangely as they collected candles and lowered a row boat down into the calm water from their big ship. Thatch didn't look in the eyes of any of his brothers while he gathered what they needed to pay respects to the little boy he'd befriended's passed family.
Even Whitebeard said nothing, didn't ask either Marco or Thatch. He wasn't going to stop or interrupt whatever could fix that broken expression on his son's face. Marco said nothing to anyone as well. Whitebeard would ask them later. Thatch was determined to do whatever he was doing, and his father knew that Thatch would still do it, no matter if the captain protested.
Luffy and his brothers stood at the start of the long deck, waiting to be picked up on the boat the two men were to bring. The harbor was cold and empty other than the two boys and their little angel brother. They each grasped one of Luffy's small hands securely. Luffy was perpetually on the verge of tears, but was trying to calm himself as best as he could.
The Whitebeard Pirates ship was massive. It was quite intimidating to Ace and Sabo. Luffy, though still very upset, thought it was amazing. It was so big that he could play hide-and-go-seek with Uso-... Ace and Sabo. Luffy wanted to go and visit it in person.
"I wanna go see it," Luffy said quietly while the three waited for the small rowboat they could now see came over to them.
"It's a pirate ship. Pirates are dangerous," Sabo said patiently.
"Like death?" Luffy could pronounce this one word, where other words with the "th" sound were not correct.
"Yes, pirates can cause death. It's best to stay away from ships with black flags. See?" Sabo explained while pointing at the tip of the masts. "You, especially, Luffy, should stay away from pirates. They like treasure, and your wings are priceless."
"Like when mommy and daddy and Usopp's wings got took?" the angel asked quietly.
"Exactly."
Once the rowboat was near the start of the dock, Luffy, Ace and Sabo walked to it and got in, Ace lowering Luffy onto it slowly. Sabo directed Thatch and Marco to a nice secluded area of the island, which had a clear view of the sea, no ships or boats visible for as far as you could see. No one said anything to each other as they slowly made their way around the coast. Luffy was looking over the side and into the clear water. He wondered if there were alligators, but all he saw were different types of fish and the pretty colored rocks below.
"Here it is," Sabo said, breaking the silence. The three boys then looked to the adults, waiting for what to do next. The boat swayed a tiny bit when Marco turned to the side and got the little paper lanterns with single candles on the inside. There were three; one for Usopp, mommy, and daddy.
"Luffy, these little candles represent mommy, daddy and Usopp. When you light one, and send it into the water, your sending it to the unknown with a blessing. Your sending at away with love. So, light each one, and let it float away," Thatch explained, lighting a match and letting Luffy light the wicks of the small candles, setting all three in the water gently. They floated in front of him for a few moments before the slow current caught them and the little paper lanterns floated away together. Luffy couldn't help but start sobbing again as he watched those that represented his lost family disappear from his sight. Ace and Sabo comforted him as best as they could.
The five stayed in that one place, even once the distance had swallowed the little candles that were no longer visible. It was quiet besides the light slosh noise as the water lead their little boat to float a bit to the side.
"Thank you," Sabo said to the two men. They both nodded to him in response.
"I wish we could have done more," Thatch said softly. Ace sighed, looking to the side at Sabo.
"So do we…"
Luffy stayed silent, his tears dried, as he looked at the water in front of him. Being out here was nice. The breeze felt good, and the little swaying of the boat and the smell relaxed him. The sound of the water and the seagulls above made him happy.
"I like dis…" he mumbled, mostly to himself.
"Like what, Luffy?" Ace asked quietly. Luffy looked up at the sky.
"I like da smell and da move of da boat and da sounds. Wind, too. Make me sleepy," the little angel clarified. Both pirates had soft smiles on their faces.
"It does feel pretty good," Sabo agreed. "Can we keep this boat? So we can come and do this again?"
Instead of replying to Sabo's question, Thatch asked, "Where do you guys live?"
"In a tree," Ace replied, looking at Luffy's relaxed face with a smile. Maybe going out on this boat could be a kind of therapy for the boy. It wasn't going to just get better overnight. His whole family was dead. Of course it should take time for him to feel better. Ace and Sabo had never lost anyone dear to them, so they could only try to sympathize with Luffy.
"Would you want to live on a boat?" Thatch asked. Marco looked at him oddly. Was Thatch doing what he thought he was doing? Without even asking Pops?
"I no know. I jus' wanna go to sleep," Luffy said, sounding and feeling down. "I want my bee," he added.
Sabo and Ace looked at Thatch curiously, but also suspiciously. "Why do you ask?" Ace questioned.
"Lot's of us on the Whitebeard Pirates crew have lost family and friends, and have all formed a different kind of family. And Pops, Whitebeard, is the father. He calls all of us sons and daughters. Would you like to know if you could join?" Thatch asked, watching Ace and Sabo closely, curious as to what their answer would be.
Luffy looked at his new brothers in curiosity as the two shared a look. Then Ace turned back to the adults, and said, "Ask permission first. Then we'll think about it." Sabo nodded in agreement, and the little rowboat was taken back to the docks and left there for the moment, tied to one of the pegs.
"What do you think?" Sabo asked Ace as they both watched Luffy draw in the fine dirt with his finger near the edge of the ground and wooden platform.
"It would be a safer environment for Luffy to grow up in. Even if it's on a pirate ship, they'd be able to protect him from hunters. Like his family had failed."
"It would also be better for him. Having a bed, a bathroom. Maybe get a doctor to heal his wings… I also wouldn't mind a bed as well," Sabo said. "But we'll lose a lot of freedom." Both boys looked to Luffy again. He looked so sad and eyes empty. Being on a ship with a lot of other people would make good distractions from his grief. Plus, Luffy did just say he liked everything having to do with being on the sea.
"Luffy? Would you rather live on a ship in the ocean, or in the tree in the woods?" Ace asked the little boy, stealing his attention from the squiggles in the dirt. "There are beds and a bathroom on the ship," he added. Luffy's eyes widened.
"Bed and baff!" he exclaimed.
"There will also be a lot of people on the ship. It won't be very quiet like it is in the forest. You won't see animals much either. Only birds and sea life," Ace continued. "It will be very different. Would you like that to happen?" Ace and Sabo were 50/50 on whether they wanted to move. It depended on Luffy's answer.
"I no like the quiet, and lots of people is fun… I miss da animals, dough," Luffy replied.
Sabo whispered to Ace, "At least we wouldn't have to worry about him getting eaten by a beast." Ace chuckled. Then he turned to Luffy and crouched in front of him. "We don't know for sure, so you may not have to leave the animals and tree behind. We will see soon and figure everything out then. What are you drawing?"
"So you want to add three children to our pirate family?" Whitebeard asked Thatch, who had just explained everything that had happened on the island. Thatch liked to prank, but here he was dead serious. The cook nodded. Marco had said nothing while Thatch explained, but he did have the look of support on his otherwise bored face.
The other members of the ship were shocked by Thatch's request, but extremely intrigued with the three children, especially the angel. None of them had ever seen an angel. Then they felt bad for the little boy after hearing what had happened with his parents.
"I think they would brighten the crew once Luffy is feeling better. I also think this would be good for him. Physically and mentally. His wings were almost cut off as well, if Ace and Sabo hadn't been there by chance. He'd be safer on this ship from other humans," Thatch said. "And… there's something strange about him besides being an angel."
"What do you mean?" Whitebeard asked curiously.
"He gives off haki, but it feels different than usual. It's like, a warm feeling. It's hard to explain. You felt it too, right Marco?"
"Yeah. You'll know once you feel it." The others on the ship were painfully curious.
"I'd like to meet them," the strong, giant man said as he grinned on his big chair. He hadnt met an angel in quite a while, and had never met a young one. He wanted to see these children that enchanted Thatch. But that poor little boy.
"He wants to meet you three before deciding. Is it okay that you come aboard?" Thatch questioned the three while he stood in front of them on the dock. Sabo and Ace exchanged nods before walking after the man with Luffy in the middle.
"Is there a doctor on your ship?" Ace asked as the five walked down the long dock and to the massive ship. Luffy was looking at it in wonder, remembering a ship in a decoration bottle at home. He would never go home cause he didn't know where it was. He tried to not think about that.
"Yes, multiple ones. Why do you ask?" Marco questioned, speaking for the first time since leading the brothers to the Moby Dick pirate ship.
"Luffy's wings are broken from the bad men. He can't feel or move them. We haven't had any way to try and fix them, and we didn't trust professionals. We've just been hoping for the best," Ace explained. Marco and Thatch looked at each other in concern. Thach asked how long they'd been like that, frowning deeper when he heard it had been a little over two weeks. A broken bone needed to be fixed as fast as possible. Two weeks is a long time, and it was disconcerting that they were numb and unmoving.
Once they arrived on the dock directly in front of the massive ship, a staircase was lowered down for the five to walk up. It was thin, so Sabo had Luffy on his back with less of a chance of him falling into the water.
When they were finally on the smooth deck, the brothers were surprised on just how many people were on the ship, all looking at the three. Sabo and Ace were uncomfortable while Luffy was just smiling slightly, enjoying the feel of lots of people around him.
"It's safe for you to take off your jacket here, Luffy," Thatch said kindly. Luffy nodded and shrugged the thick leather coat off of his small frame, giving it to Thatch. All of the pirates looked at Luffy's wings in surprise. They werent neat and bright white. Instead, the feathers were ruffled, the color a light gray, and the bases were deformed in a way. The wings slumped haphazardly down his back, one side dragging a bit lower than the other. Some of the crew frowned in concern. There was very clearly something wrong with the little wings.
Once everyone got over the surprise of the wings, some of the pirates felt a warm fuzzy feeling in the back of their minds. There was no sharp sense of another person being in front of them. The feeling made some of those who could use haki feel a bit sleepy.
"Pops wants to see you three, so follow us," Marco said as he and Thatch shooed people out of their way. Ace and Sabo walked on either side of the dirty angel, holding his hands. They knew they probably didn't smell the best to the other humans on the ship. The three followed behind the two familiar pirates, and the closer they got to the front of the ship, the thinner the group of people got.
Then Ace and Sabo stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the giant man sitting on an equally big chair in front of them. He was extremely intimidating, and they stopped Luffy from continuing to walk towards the big captain. Luffy wasn't scared or intimidated.
"Wow… he so big!" Luffy said loudly. Ace shushed him, not wanting any of them to offend the powerful man in front of them. Some of the crew chuckled at Luffy's comment. Even the captain laughed a little. He spoke next.
"My name is Whitebeard. It's nice to meet you." He turned his gaze to Luffy. "I am not so big, it's that you are so small," he said in good nature.
"No, you big. You more big den daddy," Luffy argued automatically, before his face scrunched up in sadness, but he didn't cry, just had a very deep frown, upset that he'd said something about daddy right then. He didn't want to think about them, because he'd miss them. The crew behind them frowned in sympathy. All of them had lost something, so they understood some of his pain. More than one on the massive crew had watched family and friends murdered in front of them.
Whitebeard smiled at him sadly. "What is your name, little one?" he asked kindly.
"I Luffy." Then Whitebeard turned to the other two boys, who looked uncomfortable under his gaze.
"And what about you two?" he asked in his deep voice.
"I-I'm Sabo, and he's Ace," Sabo said, his voice shaking audibly.
"There is no need to be afraid or nervous here. After all, you three are welcome to join this family, if you'd like," Whitebeard said, a grin on his face. Ace and Sabo's eyes widened. They had obviously not expected Whitebeard to agree to let them stay.
"Seriously?" Ace asked, still bewildered. Whitebeard nodded. He asked whether they'd like to stay, and Luffy was the one to decide.
"Yah!" he cheered, his mind thankfully not on his daddy anymore. "We can all play! Is so big here. Is dere bed and baff?" he asked eagerly. He wanted a bath really bad. He didn't like being dirty and smelly. Or his wings being so ruffled. "I smell bad, I know."
"Well, I guess we're staying then," Sabo chuckled. The rew around them broke into cheers, startling the two older boys. Luffy just grinned and bounced on his toes. Everyone was so happy!
Ace noticed someone staring at Luffy with a deep frown. She looked concerned, and like she wanted to approach but didn't know how. He looked closer and could see the woman looking at Luffy's messed up wings.
"Welcome new sons," Whitebeard said. "Time for a feast!" Everyone broke out into louder cheers, shouting out welcomes. Ace nodded to them as he pulled Luffy and Sabo towards the woman. Ace had a feeling that he knew what this lady was. Luffy didn't pay attention to where he was being taken, he only smiled at everyone who was looking at him on his way through the crowd. Sabo followed behind him, wondering why Ace was leading them that way.
The three stopped in front of the woman. "Are you a doctor?" Ace questioned. She nodded her head and introduced herself as Amber. "Can you see Luffy right away?"
"Yes, come with me," she said, walking through everyone who was still welcoming them, and into the interior of the ship. It was a maze of hallways and many doors. Luffy frowned when they passed the bathroom, showing large baths on the inside.
"I wan to take baff, Ace," Luffy whined. He pouted as Ace told him he'd have a bath later. "Why no now?"
"We have to take you to the doctor's room so we can try and fix your broken wings. It's more important than a bath at the moment, right?" he asked kindly. Luffy thought for a moment before he nodded, taking one last yearning look at the place the bathroom had been.
They were introduced to the doctor's room, which was quite large, and had doorways leading to other places inside. It was clean, but didn't smell too bad, like a real hospital would. "Sit him here, please," Amber said as she pulled a rolling chair over to Luffy's bed. He laid down on his back, but was soon back to sitting up. The doctor wanted to see his wings right away. If she could fix them, she'd do it as soon as possible. Food and rest can wait. This was much more important.
"What happened?" she asked as she got her pen ready to write on the clipboard in her hand. So Sabo retold the story, leaving out the part where Ace and Sabo had seen the murder of Luffy's mother and brother. He said that he and Ace had watched as the large men stomped hard on Luffy's little wings until Luffy was sobbing in pain and fear.
While Sabo talked, Ace distracted Luffy by asking him what kind of food he'd want for the feast welcoming the three. It thankfully kept him occupied and not paying attention to Sabo and Amber.
"When was that?"
"Two weeks ago. We didn't trust going to a doctor in the town we had lived near." She frowned. Then the woman turned to Luffy with a smile, trying to keep the boy relaxed in this new environment.
"Hello Luffy. I'm going to ask you some questions about your pretty wings, okay?" Luffy nodded with a smile. "Do they hurt to move?"
"No, I no feel dem anymore. Dey no move when I do try," he said simply.
"Can you feel this?" Amber questioned as she touched and moved his wings around gently. Luffy shook his head each time. "Alright, I'm going to take an X-ray of you. It's a cool machine, since after you stay still, you can see your bones from the inside. They we can see what is wrong with your pretty wings. Okay?" She had worked with kids before, and had mastered how to handle them in a situation like this. Especially the younger ones.
"Cool!" Luffy exclaimed, following her into a doorway that lead to a smaller room.
"Okay, lay down on your tummy with your arms relaxed, okay? You have to stay still for a few minutes. Ready?" she asked, telling him he was a good little boy when he told her he was ready. Ace and Sabo were moved to behind a dark window, where Amber was as well. The brothers watched Luffy in concern, but Luffy stayed completely still.
It turned out that he'd fallen asleep on the soft bed. The three didn't wake him, but rolled his bed out of the small dark room and into the larger one. Luffy stayed asleep, despite the change in light intensity. As Ace and Sabo looked at Luffy, they were glad he was able to sleep on a nice bed. They were both looking forward to sleeping on a bed as well. They wondered where they'd be staying. The two would make sure all three boys were staying in the same place. It'd be nice if they got their own room together.
Amber looked at the images of Luffy's wings, and frowned deeply. The parts of the bone that connected to Luffy's back were splintered. They were each in multiple pieces that had spread far from each other in the time they had been untreated. But broken bones shouldn't erase all feeling of the appendage, which meant there was something wrong deeper.
She hurried to the bookshelf near the desk and pulled out a dusty and old book about other creatures. Animals and also angels. Since they were so rare, they'd been put in the same slots as animals.
She looked at the section for Luffy and frowned at the muscle and nerve diagrams. The spot that the tip of the humerus to the shoulder blade had a myriad of nerve connections. The doctor brought the x-ray images to the table and compared them to the diagrams. She sighed and lowered her head.
The splintered bones had severed the nerve endings in both wings. They were paralyzed. Luffy would never fly or be able to move them again. The best she could do was make some sort of splint so the bones could heal on their own. The breaks looked worse than they were, and the most damaging part of the whole thing were the destroyed nerves. If Luffy kept his wings in the right places, then the bones would heal on their own.
Sabo and Ace watched Amber's expression as she read her book, and became more worried the deeper her frown became and the lower her brows tilted.
"What's wrong?" Sabo asked, voice shaking slightly.
Amber walked over with the book and Luffy's x-rays. "The broken bones have splintered, severing the nerves in his wings. They are permanently paralyzed. He will never be able to move them by himself ever again. The best I can do is to make a splint for them that will make the bones heal on their own. The main problem is the nerves, and there is nothing I can do to fix that," she explained grimly. The brother's faces fell and they sighed like she did.
"At least this way, there's no real use for anyone to take his wings if they are broken like this. He should get them clean before I put a splint on. Why don't you three go take a bath and have your clothes washed?" Amber said kindly, giving the boys a warm smile. Ace and Sabo both nodded and turned back to the sleeping Luffy.
"Luffy? Wake up, it's bath time," Sabo said, tapping Luffy gently on the shoulder. "It's bath time," the blonde repeated. Luffy jumped up and off the bed, hurrying down the halls, trying to find his way to the bathroom.
"Wait, Luffy! We don't know where the bathroom even is. We have to ask directions," Ace said as he easily caught up to the five year old. But then Luffy had a sudden thought.
"Are my wings fixed? I still no feel dem," he said with a confused pout.
"Why don't we talk about this after a bath?" Sabo told him, walking on the left side of him while Ace did the right. Luffy nodded, back to being excited about his bath.
The brothers saw a few people on their way, asking for directions from the first person, who was a man they thought was a woman at first. She- he- wore a pink kimono and had make up on his face. His name was Izo, and was a commander like Thatch and Marco. The two older boys were worried when Luffy told him he was pretty and touched his kimono that Izo would be offended, but he wasn't. He just thanked Luffy with a smile and told them where to go to get to their destination. Luffy waved goodbye to Izo, making him smile as he walked on his way to the galley.
Some of the other new family members looked a little strange when they looked at Luffy as he passed them. They looked a little sleepy and had smiles on. It weirded out Ace and Sabo, and Luffy didn't notice.
When they finally reached the bath house, they were ecstatic to see there was a very large bath tub already full of water waiting for them. All three boys undressed, Luffy needing help to get his shirt off, like always, and hurried into the tub. It was shallow enough that Luffy could stand with his head above the water, but couldn't sit without going under. So the little angel sat on Ace's knees sideways so that Sabo could clean his wings gently with soap as he splashed in the water, happy to take a hot bath again, like he used to.
The other two saw Luffy get sad and stop splashing, and could assume he was thinking about his family. And he was. Thinking about how he and Usopp sometimes took baths together while mommy read to them. Or when mommy cleaned his feathers until they were fluffy and white. He also missed his bath toys. Would he ever get toys again?
The boys spent over an hour in the bath, washing their hair multiple times and using up two whole bars of soap. But what took the longest was cleaning and sprucing up Luffy's broken wings. They straightened the feathers one by one and washed them each individually until they were bright white and soft again. They didn't know how to dry them, though.
"Luffy, how do you dry your wings after washing them?" Sabo asked a sleepy Luffy.
"Suppose to hold dem out but I no do it now," the angel replied. So Ace and Sabo took the ends of his wings and spread them out in the air. They'd have to hold them up for a little bit as they dried.
"It's probably windy outside like it had been earlier, so maybe that can help dry them," Ace offered, the other two agreeing with his idea. When they did go out, it was pretty windy, so Luffy sat down as Ace and Sabo held his wings up and out. The feathers fluttered in the wind, and it made them both sad he'd never be able to raise them himself ever again.
"So what is wrong wif my wings?" he asked. "Dey fixed?" Luffy stared out into the horizon near the steadily lowering sun.
"Well, Luffy, it's not good. Your wings were too injured to fix. I'm sorry, but they'll never move again," Ace said sadly. Luffy didn't cry, though he was very sad. He just lowered his head and looked at his clean hands, with clean fingernails.
"I never fly?"
"No. It's called being paralyzed. It means there is no feeling or control to some part of your body. We're really sorry, Lu," Sabo explained, using Luffy's recent nickname. He ran his fingers through Luffy's soft and clean hair comfortingly. They said nothing else, each lost in their own thoughts.
It took half an hour for the littlest one's wings to dry completely dry. "Why don't you take him back to the doctor and I'll go get all of our things?" Ace asked Sabo. "I'll have to ask someone else since there's probably too much for me to carry back." Then he turned to Luffy. "I'll be back in a little bit. I'm going to get our stuff and your bee, okay?" Luffy nodded and then followed Sabo into the ship to the infirmary to Amber, who was waiting for them.
Ace wandered around until he found Thatch in the kitchen. But Ace knew Thatch wouldn't come with him since he was apparently the cook and was in the middle of cooking a giant meal. Well, Marco was his second choice, but was harder to find on the massive ship. He saw two men talking and went up to them, waiting so not to interrupt their conversation. They didn't see him at first, since they were both very large and very loud. Ace was about to leave and find someone else before he heard Luffy's name pop up in their conversation.
What was haki? And why was one of the men describing Luffy as having some sort of feeling coming off of him. Ace had never felt this warm feeling off of his little brother… Strange.
Finally, he said, "Excuse me? Do you know where I can find Marco?" The two large men looked down at him, wondering how long he'd been there.
"He's probably in his office writing about what happened today. Take two lefts down the hall and it's the first door on the left," the bigger man said. Ace thanked him and hurried away. He followed the directions and came across an open doorway, with Marco sitting at a large desk with a pair of glasses on. Ace knocked on the opened door.
"Oh, hey Ace. Need something?" Marco asked, sounding bored, which Ace had seen him as being mostly since they met.
"I want to go back to our home and get our belongings, but I can't carry all of it. And I've noticed a lot of the crew are very big people, and our rope ladder isn't the strongest. Can you help? Thatch is cooking," Ace explained. Marco nodded, taking his glasses off. Paperwork could wait.
Marco could have flown there if he felt like it, but instead he walked with Ace through the desolate and dingy town and into the woods. Then Ace spoke first.
"What is the feeling that comes off of Luffy? I heard some people talking about it on the ship. I don't feel anything like that from him. So what is it?" the boy questioned. The Tiger Lord approached them, but Marco gave im the most deadly and threatening look, chasing the massive beast off before Ace had even seen it.
"Haki is like a sixth sense. You can know who and where someone is if they are close enough. Everyone is distinct in their own way. Luffy gives off a strange feeling. Not everyone on the ship can use haki, but those who can have all agreed that Luffy gives off a nice feeling. It's like a warm and soft feeling. That's the only way I can describe it. You can't feel it because you can't use haki.
"I assume he gives off that feeling because it has something to do with him being an angel. None of the crew have ever met a angel face to face, so we haven't encountered it before. If Luffy was ever able to master that feeling, he could become pretty powerful.
"His wings are paralyzed, aren't they?" Marco asked, suddenly changing the conversation. Ace nodded grimly. Marco said nothing more, and they walked the short rest of the way in silence.
The man was impressed when the boys' treehouse came into view. It was well built. There was a rope ladder hanging from the entrance doorway at the top of the tree. It was a long climb. Marco would rather just fly.
Ace looked down to see if Marco was following him up, but the man wasn't there. Ace furrowed his brows. Did he ditch?
"Do you want to take everything in here?" Marco said from inside the treehouse.
"How the hell did you get up there?" Ace called from three fourths the way up. "You didn't climb up…"
"I flew with my Devil Fruit. I can turn into a pheonyx. You need all of this stuff?" he asked as Ace came up and into the tree house.
"Show me more later. Yeah, most of this stuff. It's not much though." They duo then picked up all of their belongings, which were mostly homemade knick knacks and Luffy's bee. They didn't really have changes of clothes, and the ones they did were ratty and they would never wear things like that in front of other people.
Ace climbed up the branch connected to the main part of the tree house and untied the little pirates flag with the boys' initials on it. It was from when Ace and Sabo had once wanted to be pirates before they met real pirates. They didn't want to become those types of people after that. But they had kept the flag, which they'd added an L when Luffy came to live with them.
Ace took one last look at his recent home. He'd miss it. But he turned away and didn't look back.
"That was a pretty well-built house. Did you and Sabo make it yourselves?" Marco asked.
"Yeah. We used supplies from the island's dump. Do me, Sabo and Luffy get a room or is there some sort of common room everyone sleeps in?" Ace questioned.
"Some of the crew are setting up and empty room for you three. It already had a spare mattress on the inside, and Izo can make you some sheets. Oh crap, we never bought his fabric. Well, I'll go back later," Marco said nonchalantly. The two walked in silence again, though not uncomfortable.
"I no like dis," Luffy said as his wings were folded down how they were supposed to naturally be, kept in place by a triangular like wooden splint, keeping the pieces of the bones as close as possible.
"But you can't feel it, Luffy. And it's to help," Sabo said as Luffy frowned, looking behind him. Sabo was right, he wasn't uncomfortable. It just seemed inconvenient.
"How I sleep in dis?"
"You have to sleep on your stomach, Luffy," Amber said.
"Don't frown, you've mostly been sleeping on your stomach at our old home, too," Sabo said.
"What about blankies?" Amber answered right away, already having planned for this.
"We'll just modify them so your wings still stay upright. Like your shirt. The cut in the back to go around the wings. It should be easy for Izo. Do you want to go down and have dinner? Thatch made a huge meal for your first night here. And I'm sure there are going to be deserts, too," Amber said with a smile.
"I alegic to peanuts," Luffy informed her. Mommy always made sure he didn't eat peanuts.
"Alright, thank you for telling me," Amber said, writing it down on the clipboard she'd used for all of Luffy's medical information so far. "No peanuts then. That will be easy to cut out. Want to go and eat?"
"Yah!" Luffy cheered. Sabo smiled at him, though sadly wondering when he'd fall apart. "Let's go, Sabo!"
"Alright, I'm coming," Sabo said nicely. He followed Luffy as he ran out of the room and to where he smelled the food.
