"Anyone can give up; it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength."– Unknown
Luffy was sitting on a chair in the room he shared with his brothers as they helped him clean himself up. Ace had gotten a bucket of warm water and a cloth from the nurses and Sabo had just talked with Luffy hoping he would respond to anything at all. Marco had Luffy's hat since he had left it in Thatch's room and Luffy was in no hurry to return there.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Sabo asked him finally he had been avoiding that particular question for a while now since he was not sure how it would affect the boy.
"Nu uh." Luffy said looking at the floor his mind still playing everything back going over what had happened that night.
"Thatch will be alright." Ace said confidently dropping the cloth into the murky water and pushing the bucket away before looking up at Luffy. Luffy wouldn't lift his head he was so far into it he barely heard what Ace said at all. Sighing Ace stood up and carefully lifted Luffy's chin up to look him in the eyes.
"Thatch will live." He said sternly to his brother holding his gaze to reassure him.
"Damn straight he will-yoi." Marco said from the door way holding the straw hat in his hand looking at the kids softly.
Marco wanted to leave, to chase after Teach and give him the punishment he deserved but the old man told him to wait. Marco had been the first division commander for a really long time and he didn't get there by disobeying his captain and father. When pops said for him to wait to let him watch things carefully then he would listen, even if he didn't exactly like it. He knew that right now Luffy would need him most and throwing a tantrum over this situation wasn't helping anyone.
No one had gone back to bed after the incident and really who could blame them? One of their own had been attacked by someone they considered a brother. Something like this had never happened before and they would be making sure it never happened again.
"How do you know…" Luffy finally said still looking at Ace his chocolate eyes were watery and red rimed from crying but there was a seriousness there mixed with worry that made Ace watch him harder.
"Because he's our brother." Sabo said firmly making pride fill Marco's chest at the boys words.
"That's right-yoi." He said kneeling down to Luffy's level and placing the hat back on the kids head hoping that would relax him some.
"Ne, can I have some time with Luffy alone for a bit-yoi?" He asked the two boys who had been guarding the kid for the past few hours. Ace and Sabo exchanged looks before sighing in defeat.
"Sure, we're going to go see if we can help with anything else." Sabo said grabbing his top hat from the dresser in the room.
"I'm going to go help in the kitchen; they'll need whatever help they can there." Ace said and waved as he left. Marco knew that he would be passing the kid back to the boys later but for now he needed to be with the kid himself.
"Thatch is hurt but he shall survive-yoi." Marco said to Luffy softly sitting him down on his bed before sitting beside him pulling him close.
"But what if he's really hurt." Luffy whispered out staring at the wall.
"He is really hurt, but he was able to avoid a lot of other damage. Thatch is smart, he's strong and he's our brother-yoi." Marco said hugging the boy tightly putting his chin on Luffy's head.
"He's also my best friend, so he has to be alright-yoi." Marco barely whispered but Luffy caught it his eyes widening after hearing the shake in Marco's voice.
Marco had always been Luffy's rock, his strength when something was scary, wrong, sad, happy and exciting. For Luffy to hear his Ma sound so unsure and even scared reminded him that he wasn't the only one hurting right now.
"Ma… I-I should have done something!" He said a tear slipping past his defenses and Marco lifted his chin away from the kid's head to look at him.
"You did enough; you saved Thatch's life-yoi." He said to Luffy but the kid shook his head.
"I should have screamed or fought back! I should have d-done something, anything!" He remembered Teach thanking him for not screaming and it had bothered him greatly.
"If you had screamed Teach might have killed you and Thatch would have died-yoi." He said silencing the kid.
"You did more than enough Luffy; you saved your brother's life-yoi." Marco said and let Luffy finally cry everything out. Marco held the kid as he cried for being too young to fight; he cried for only being able to watch Thatch fall and cried for not being strong enough to stop it from happening. Marco held the kid and whispered understandings and encouragements until Luffy had cried himself to sleep in Marco's arms.
"How is he?" A strong voice said from the door way making Marco look away from the kid towards his father.
"He's sad but he will heal as Thatch heals-yoi." Marco placed the sleeping boy into his bed and pulled the covers up over him to keep him warm. Leaving the room he found his siblings talking, eating or heading back to bed themselves.
"How is Thatch-yoi?" Marco asked hesitantly knowing the nurses and doctor had to have been working hard to save Thatch. Pops sat down on his thrown and sighed looking towards the sea.
"He's alive and Myrah plans to keep him that way. Thatch's injuries are bad but not lethal as they should have been. You were right when you said Luffy saved his life, if the kid hadn't have been there you would have lost a brother that night." He said and Marco nodded in understanding.
"I hope this is it-yoi. I hope that nothing else happens now to our brats, they've suffered enough lately." He said looking at the blue waves as well before leaving his father to try and rest a bit.
-Line Break-
When Luffy woke up it was midafternoon and his stomach was telling him that he was about to have missed 10 whole meals. He pushed the blankets off of himself and left his room heading towards the best place in the world-the galley.
When he entered the galley he ran to the kitchen to get his meals knowing Thatch would know he was waking up and have them ready for him.
"Thatchy! I'm so hungry can I-." He stopped himself remembering everything that had happened and why Thatch wasn't in the kitchen and the meals were not ready.
"Luffy!" Ace said he was helping with dinner preparations since they needed the extra hands.
"Ace…I-I'm hungry…" Luffy said looking away from his brother a chef frowned at the boy before pulling a few cookies from a jar and passed them to Luffy.
"I know they're not much but we'll have dinner ready real soon so try and wait until then, okay?" The chef said patting Luffy on the head who just smiled even though it was a bit forced.
"Imma going to go check on Thatch…" he said putting a cookie in his mouth and running out of the room leaving those there feeling sad for the boy.
Luffy tried to enter the infirmary but was shooed out by the nurses saying Thatch was sleeping and needed all the rest he could get. Luffy put up a huge fuss and even stomped his foot at them refusing their refusal to let him see his brother.
"I was there you know! I wanna see him!" he shouted at one of the nurses who is a bit more stubborn than the others.
"Thatch won't heal if you rush him like this Luffy. He needs his rest and so do you." She said crossing her arms.
"But I want to make sure Thatchy is really okay!" He said giving the nurse his big watery eyes knowing that even pops let him get away with anything because of them.
"Monkey D. Luffy I've been looking after you since you were a baby don't you dare use those eyes on me." She said now putting her hands on her hips and staring down at the kid.
"I'm not like the men on this ship; I won't fold to those eyes brat." She said giving Luffy a smile as he huffed in annoyance.
"Luffy…" Doctor Myrah said coming out of the infirmary.
"Doctor! I wanna see Thatch!" He said but more demanded to her.
"The nurse is right little one, Thatch needs his full rest." She said kneeling down to the boy. She was normally a bit stricter with him since everyone else doted on him. She wanted him to grow stronger but not expect the world to bow to him, that wasn't how things worked in life.
"But I'm worried…" He said knowing that if the doctor said no it was a major no.
"I promise you that when he wakes up you will be the first to hear. If I can't tell you first I shall get Marco to tell you okay?" She asked him and he sighed still not liking not seeing him.
"Promise?" He asked her looking into her eyes and pulling his pinky out to her.
"I swear it little brother." She said linking her pinky with his sealing their promise.
"Okay I'm counting on you!" He said before turning on his heels and leaving. Luffy knew that pops was probably resting and Marco would be talking with the other commanders on their next actions. He wandered the ship and felt sadder and sadder with each step. He was so used to hearing Thatch's laugh from everywhere that it felt empty without it.
Going to his special spot on the figure head Luffy sat down and really tried to relax. He listened to the waves and the gulls that passed by. He closed his eyes and just felt the breeze from the ocean and the smell of salt in the air. He felt the tear slip down his cheek as the thought that Thatch could have died entered his mind. That the laughter he didn't hear right this moment could be gone forever hurt his heart and made more tears fall.
"Luffy…" Ace had climbed over the railing and sat down beside the kid who hadn't heard him coming. Sabo followed right behind him and sat on Luffy's other side.
"Ace….Sabo…." He whispered out and looked at his two brothers.
"Hey." Sabo said smiling softly at the kid and Ace just stared at the water leaning back on his hands a serious look over his freckled face.
Seeing them and thinking of Thatch made him think scary things like what if Teach wanted to kill them to? Why didn't he try and Kill him that night?
"Ace, Sabo…." He said looking at the water but catching their attention.
"I want to become stronger." He said tears falling once again as he saw in his mind Thatch fall to the ground.
"I want to become stronger and stronger, stronger and stronger, stronger and stronger and even more stronger then that! That way I can protect everything and never loose anyone…" The boys didn't say anything as they just listened and watched the sea letting Luffy talk.
"Please Ace…Sabo…" He started pulling his hat tighter on his head.
"Promise me you both won't die." He said and a tick appeared on their heads as they stood up and smacked the kid on his head. Looking up at his now annoyed brothers Ace pointed his finger at Luffy.
"You idiot, worry about yourself! We're both much stronger then you!" Ace said to the kid and Sabo just sighed since his annoyance was now gone as Ace used most of it up in that sentence.
"Listen Luffy and remember this! I will never die!" He shouted at the kid who just cried after that. Sabo nodded his head in agreement with Ace though; they'd make sure each other lived forever if they could.
"I promise we won't die." Sabo started gently but Ace stepped in looking out towards the sea.
"There's no way I'd just die and leave behind my weakling of a little brother like you." Sabo gave Ace a look for being a jerk but it seemed to be cheering Luffy up some.
"Luffy, we have to live life without any regrets! I like it here but you plan on going out to sea on your own someday." He said looking at the kid now.
"We'll need to get stronger together." Sabo sighed, Ace grinned and Luffy finally, even just a little bit, laughed.
"Mn, we need to get much stronger." He said hugging his knees the brothers sat beside each other a new vow made between them that would last forever.
Hello there everyone! I have a Saturday Chapter for you! So I have almost finished the Thatch mess :D I will, starting next week, be speeding up their aging-not by a lot! I love them as kids but it's time to move on a bit childhood gets boring and I do love an older Luffy even if it's only by a bit :P. Thatch will live! Yay! I put in the stronger and stronger bit from the anime but added Sabo since he's there :) I felt it was a nice touch and kinda needed :) I have a really bad tooth ache right now so my head is hurting really badly T^T Sorry it's so short! I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed on my chapters as well as those who are now following and favouriteing! Welcome to all of you! I will have another chapter for you tomorrow evening guys :) Tomorrow's chapter will finish off the Thatch arc I guess to call it? Well Keep well everyone and I shall see you tomorrow! DR