Angel Zabuza: Thank you!

myzmsandraa99: I hope Teach dies a painful and embarrassing death in the anime. Hate him sooo much.

I've been drawing so much lately that writing has become second place in fun things to do. I have all my stories finished, so don't worry about that. If anyone wants to check out my art (the more recent stuff) I have a deviantart account under the same name. Anyways, a bunch of stuff happens in this chapter. Enjoy the long chapter~

Luffy was still in the dark, over a week after taken. It had gotten old, and not scary anymore since there was nothing or no one around. That was, until a bright light came, and he glimpsed the outside world. Immediately, he called, ACE! HEADING SOUTH! before the light shut out.

He saw who had entered, as he brightened up the space a bit. Teach. His kidnapper. But, Luffy had a plan on how to act. He would take things slow, as he had one chance of getting out. If he failed at running away, he'd never be let out of this black prison.

"Hey, Luffy," Teach sneered. He smelled bad again. Luffy, acting like a scared, helpless, baby dragon, whimpered and backed away theatrically. "Not so tough without your big brother here, huh?" Luffy's lips wobbled, his eyes watery.

Teach kept walking towards him, and stood right in front of him. Luffy didn't try and attack him now, since he might not have any way to get out if he killed Teach while inside. "I always knew you were just a dumb animal."

Luffy did his best not to snarl. He wouldn't take the bait. He was a scared, helpless animal after all. And, without Ace there to translate, and show that Luffy was intelligent, he really was just an animal. No proof to show otherwise. "Now, you better behave for us, or we'll find Ace and kill him. My devil fruit is stronger than his. Understand?" Teach growled.

The dragon almost scoffed. Like this loser could kill Ace. Even if this was some sort of fancy devil fruit, Ace was practically invincible. Teach, having only just gained his power, would be no match for a very angry, part-dragon, fire wielder. But, he had to pretend, no matter how irritating or how humiliating his act was.

Luffy frantically shook his head as he cowered. "You're going to do what I say, when I say it. I might even let you out into a cage when I acquire one. And look what I got?" he said as he dangled the harness that the shipwrights had helped make better in front of his face.

NO. Teach would not fly on Luffy. First of all, the guy was too fat for Luffy to carry, and second of all, Luffy wasn't just a means of transportation for anyone. He only let Ace fly because he was his brother, and it was the only way they could make it anywhere. No, Luffy would not let Teach ride him.

Well, if he did, Luffy could always just drag him under the water, as Luffy could swim and hold his breath. Plus, Teach was a fruit user. He'd drown. Luffy nodded. That he would behave. Teach grinned and then opened up the black space again, leaving it open for a few seconds as he was now convinced he had Luffy in a hold by threatening Ace.

-Uffy?! Where are you?! he heard Ace's panicked voice, though there was also relief. Are you okay?!

I'm o- but the portal closed after a large fish was thrown in at Luffy's feet. At least he finally got some food after however long it had been since he woke up in there. At least he got to contact Ace, and he sounded fine. He wasn't hurt. Luffy hadn't been able to give him much information, but the general direction of where the ship was heading. For now, that is.

Luffy tried contacting Ace again, but was once again trapped all alone in silence. He'd wait for the next time the portal would open.

-x-

Ace sat on the deck, staring out at the sea before suddenly, he heard the echoes of who he wanted to talk to most. ACE! HEADING SOUTH!

Ace leapt up, but when he replied, there was no answer back. He began to breathe heavily. Heading south? That was the opposite direction they were heading! He continued to try and make contact as he ran to Whitebeard on his throne.

He surprised him by grabbing onto the captain's pants. "South! Teach is heading south!" he shouted desperately. Immediately, Whitebeard stood and ordered the ship be turned around and go south. Ace stood still, and closed his eyes trying to focus.

Luffy?! Where are you?! Are you okay?!

There was no answer as he repeated the questions.

I'm o- but he was cut off, and no more replies came. "I'm o-"? He hoped the death it was going to be "I'm okay". Luffy was alive! And he was coherent, so the drugs hadn't hurt him too badly. Not like Ace was at first, unable to even think straight.

Marco and Izo ran to Ace. "Did you get to talk to Luffy?" Izo asked. Ace's back was turned to them, but he didn't want them to see the tears in his eyes, so he nodded, pulled his hat down to shadow his eyes, and walked away. Izo frowned, about to go after him, but Marco stopped him by grabbing his arm. They both watched Ace head back into the ship, shoulders hunched.

"He was crying, wasn't he?" Izo asked.

"Probably. But, we now have a direction to go, even if it's extremely vague. What islands are south of here?" Marco questioned Hauta, who had walked up after seeing Ace's demeanor.

"I'll go look," the youngest commander said, and hurried to the map room. He ran through the halls, and found the captain in the map room, already looking for the information. He turned after feeling and hearing Haruta come in.

"There are multiple islands in that direction. And I'm concerned a bit. We don't know how long they will be heading south, but you know what is south of here, don't you?" Whitebeard asked in a dark voice.

Haruta's eyes widened. "Teach isn't stupid enough to go there. He knows better to go there."

"What about if Luffy escapes? He doesn't exactly have a compass, and he's very far from us. He might not be able to smell the ship after being so far from it. We haven't even been over there since the brothers arrived. I did warn him about it, but he's a kid. Kids like candy, especially one who can smell it from miles away."

Haruta looked unsettled. "We'll have Ace tell him to not follow the smell next time he's able to make contact."

Whitebeard nodded. Then he grinned. "But Luffy isn't dead, and that's good enough for now." Haruta nodded along, and the two went to gather the commanders and Ace for a meeting. Whitebeard had been the one to find Ace, who was in his room with the door locked. Everyone of the commanders could assume what Ace was doing, holed up alone in his and Luffy's room. After all, he had finally made contact with his beloved brother.

Only to have him disappear again in the middle of a word. It could be both relief and sadness that he was crying alone. Whitebeard knocked on the door lightly. "Ace, we're having a meeting about the search for Teach and Luffy. We'd like you to be a part of it," the man explained through the locked door.

It was a few seconds before Ace opened the door, looking completely composed. "Alright," was his answer as he silently followed the captain to the meeting room. Ace had been sitting at the empty chair for second division commander, which had been an empty position for quite awhile.

It was laughable that Teach had been asked if he wanted the position. They all wondered how they could have not seen he was rotten long before he showed it himself.

"Ace, can you tell us what Luffy said?" Marco started. Ace felt uncomfortable really, being under the eyes of each commander all at once. And he felt out of place in this room. He wasn't part of the crew yet he was welcome in the meetings? Well, the meetings concerning Teach.

"I was just sitting outside when he suddenly screamed that they were heading south. He didn't reply for a little bit until he replied to me asking if he was okay and where he was. He didnt even get to finish saying 'I'm okay' before he was gone again," Ace explained. "That's all there was to it. I couldn't hear anything going on around him. Just a sentence and that's it. Haven't heard from him since."

Haruta rolled out a map onto the long table. "We're here," he said and put a little ship figurine on one spot of the large map. "South of here are multiple islands. Teach could stop at any of them, except these ones. Teach may be an evil idiot who betrayed the Yonko's crew, but he isn't a dumbass. He won't go to Totto Land. But, if and when Luffy escapes, he won't know which way to go. He might end up flying into territory he really doesn't want to."

Ace's eyes widened. "The place that Big Mom lives at?" he asked, remembering everything Whitebeard had told the brothers about her and her crew.

"Yeah. You've got to warn Luffy the next time you can communicate to not follow the smell of candy or sugar. And that he'll know when he passes into the territory once he smells strong scents of food. It's also dangerous to go that way due to the sea. I don't know how Luffy reacts to scalding water, but the sea before reaching Totto Land boils, with poison fish and no sea kings. If he eats a fish, well, we don't know how he'll react to poison, if he could even touch the boiling water in the first place, so he would be best off completely avoiding all of Totto Land's islands," Marco explained emphatically. "It's very important that he knows this."

Whitebeard said, "Even before you ask him any questions the next time you make contact, tell him to avoid the smells of sugar and sweets."

Ace nodded. "I'll tell him when I can."

-x-

Luffy had bad luck. Each time food or water was given to him, it was when he was asleep, and therefore unable to contact Ace, though there was no new information to tell. Teach seemed to be the only person on the ship they were on, so he heard no conversations and Teach had no reason to speak if no one else was there.

There was no helpful blurbs of speech like the one before. It was deathly quiet, and Luffy hated not knowing what was happening around him. We're there bad guys around? What would happen if Teach died and Luffy was still stuck in black limbo? Would he be trapped there forever.

So, he decided he wouldn't sleep. But, of course that was impossible. And really, sleeping was all he could do while in the world of extreme boredom. While awake and nothing happening, Luffy began to wonder if being dead was like this. Was he actually dead, and there was just nothing in the after life but empty blackness?

After all, there was no sound, and he never got hungry, so maybe the feeding was just part of his imagination in a world where nothing happens.

It was four days of missing his chances that Teach decided to interact with him. And by interact, he meant being a complete asshole. Luffy was asleep when Teach entered, lighting up the void with his presence, even though he had no light source on him. He kicked Luffy awake. Luffy groaned, still sleepy, and put his hands over his eyes. He was kicked again.

The dragon had to control himself, for a knee jerk reaction to being touched without permission would be to freeze their feet in place or trip them, showing that he wouldn't tolerate being abused and not do anything to retaliate. But, he had to cooperate for his hopeful plan to work.

He put on the afraid face with Teach standing in front of him. He purposely stayed down low, since if he stood, his head would reach Teach's neck. Still smaller, but in no way intimidated by the couple more inches. Luffy really wanted to freeze him and get some more sleep in the stressful situation.

"You know, I thought you were an interesting thing for awhile, but now I can see you're just a coward, hiding in the shadow of your stupid big brother. And I was almost worried you had good instincts. But, if you did, you wouldn't be here, at my mercy, would you?" Teach sneered. "Well, anyways, I'm here to see how you feel. You WILL be honest with me.

"I only just got the fruit I've been looking for. What is it like being stuck in here?" Luffy couldn't exactly speak, so he had no way to reply. He was kicked in the jaw. It didn't hurt, as it wasn't a strong kick and the ice automatically blocked it, but he wanted to rip Teach's leg off for that.

"Do you get hungry?" Luffy nodded. He didn't, but he liked food and would want to keep getting some. "Do you get thirsty?" The dragon nodded again. "Are you cold in here?" Luffy shook his head. It wasn't cold or hot. "Is there any sound?" Luffy shook his head, which was half true. It was usually silent. Not his blurbs of speech Luffy could barely make sense of.

"So, you're perfectly fine and safe in here?"

Luffy didn't know how to answer this. If he said yes, then there would be no reason he'd be set free at all. He shook his head. "No? Then what's wrong in here, dragon?" Luffy had no way to communicate, which irritated him. "Zehahaha, is it frustrating not being able to speak without Ace? Just shows how you're completely useless without him. Without your brother, you're just another dumb animal. Should be at a mythical zoo or something."

Luffy glared at him, the corners of his mouth twitching. Teach just summarized Luffy's main insecurity. It pissed him off to hear an enemy say that to him. It was one thing when Ace said it, for he was reassuring his baby brother that he wasn't useless alone. Here, this jackass was rubbing it in Luffy's face.

He wanted to snap back that he at least didnt need to rely on a stupid friut to be powerful. That Luffy could swim perfectly fine and not drown. Luffy's glare earned him another kick to the jaw. "Weakling," Teach said, and left. The moment the portal opened, Luffy called, Ace!

Whatever you do, don't follow the smell of candy! And then the sound was cut off. Smell of candy? Did Ace think he could get away? His brother had such faith in him? However, Luffy wasn't much without Ace. Damn that Teach, getting inside his head so easily!

Well, at least now he had something helpful to know. Don't follow the smell of candy. He wouldn't, not when it was important enough for it to be the first and only thing Ace relayed to him. Luffy was back in the darkness, another fish in front of him. He wondered if Teach had any clue that Luffy was still able to reach Ace when not trapped in the dark.

-x-

Ace was eating lunch when he heard Ace! Immediately, surprising himself, he responded with the warning. He was proud that he'd responded so quickly, and hadn't asked if Luffy was alright. Then, he was gone. At the table, he told the commanders he was able to warn Luffy about not following the scent of candy.

Some of them sighed in relief. Hopefully, Luffy would heed the warning. Whitebeard smiled. Ace didn't, but was clearly relieved. He ate faster, so he could leave sooner. Probably wanted some alone time again. No one thought he was weak when they assumed he left to be emotional without witnesses.

After all, some of them hid in their own rooms, lamenting Thatch's condition. He was still on life support, two weeks after the ordeal. Two weeks of sailing and chasing someone they might never catch up to.

Two weeks of stress for everyone. Now, they were just headed south. Towards any islands near, though there was the chance that they would go to the wrong island. With this situation, everyone missed the Paradise log pose. It was easier to use, and follow the islands in one order and one way to go.

Now, they had to guess and hope they were lucky.

That night, Ace had a strange dream. He was in the dark, until a light appeared a few yards away. Teach appeared and stood in front of Ace. He was seeing as if he was there. He was kicked in the jaw, his head barely moving to the side no matter how hard the kick had been.

"Zehahaha, is it frustrating not being able to speak without Ace? Just shows how you're completely useless without him. Without your brother, you're just another dumb animal. Should be at a mythical zoo or something," the traitor taunted Ace. He felt extremely angry, but then suddenly calm. Then, Ace woke up.

Ace was convinced it hadn't been a dream, but a memory. Of Teach being cruel to his baby brother. He wanted to kill him even more than before, which seemed like it'd be impossible. He stormed out of the bedroom, so hot that he knew anything he touched right now might char or melt or catch on fire. He had to cool down.

He headed to the bathhouse, and locked the door behind him. It was 3 AM, and not even the cooks were up yet. He stripped and then filled the smaller tub with cold water. The large one was always warm, and Ace needed cold at the moment.

The second he stepped in, steam erupted into the air. It billowed more once all of him was in the cold water, which rapidly grew warmer. It evaporated quite a bit due to the copious amount of steam. He tried to think of good things, but then a memory came that just made him sad.

Two year old Luffy rolled around in a puddle of mud. Bath now? Bath?! he cheered, having made himself dirty on purpose. Sabo and Ace chuckled.

"You don't need to get purposely dirty if you want a bath," Ace said. Luffy's eyes were wide, surprised at this. Then he smiled and jumped up and down.

Bath! he exclaimed happily, running around his brothers' legs. Ace picked him up and held him out.

"Yes, it's bath time," he said and carried the baby to the stream, which he sat down in his underwear, heating the water around him, with Luffy plopped down in his lap. He didn't enjoy the cleaning part, just the feeling of being rubbed in the hot water. Ace rubbed his hands on Luffy to get the mud and dirt off of his thick black skin.

Luffy began to purr, his eyes closed and smiling contently. He kneaded Ace's calf happily. Sabo watched with a fond smile.

Ace opened his eyes from the memory, wearing a smile, but having tears in his eyes. He really hoped Sabo wasn't in heaven and angry with him. "Sabo, I swear I'll get him back safe and sound," he vowed in the silence. The water was no longer steaming, and he was back to his usual temperature.

He drained what was left of the water in the tub and dried himself before getting dressed and heading to the library instead of his and Luffy's room. It was too quiet without Luffy's deep breathing. And it was too quiet in his own head. He missed Luffy's presence in his. He pulled out a random book from one of the shelves and sat on one of the couches to read. He couldn't go back to sleep and didn't want to after that "dream" or memory, he wasn't sure.

Everyone noticed at breakfast that Ace looked tired. And the rest of the day as well. He stayed at the railing, reading random books that he seemed to not make any progress in. Marco finally went over to see if he was alright after ten minutes of him staring at the same page. He wouldn't exactly be interrupting him reading, anyways.

The first mate sat down next to Ace, though not too close. "Are you okay? You look exhausted," Marco said quietly. He was surprised when Ace answered truthfully.

"Bad dream," he replied simply.

"Want to talk about it?" Ace sighed.

He looked up at the little clouds floating around in the sky, wishing Luffy would suddenly appear. "I don't think it was a dream. I think I saw one of Luffy's memories. It seemed real. He was in the dark before Teach appeared and kicked him in the face, and taunted him about some insecurities. When I woke up, I went to try and take a cold bath to cool down and not burn everything around me. It worked well enough," Ace replied, not even lying about him taking a bath despite supposed to be being a devil fruit user.

When Marco didn't comment on that, Ace stared at him seriously. "I have a question," he said, surprising Marco and speaking before he could reply to Ace's memory dream.

"What is it?" Marco asked.

"You all know I don't have a devil fruit, don't you?" He had a flat voice, like he already knew the answer. Marco looked up.

"Yeah, we do. Only the commanders. Someone saw you swimming once," Marco answered truthfully. Ace didn't react in the way he thought he would.

"Well I'm glad no one has pestered me about it for awhile," he said, and put his hat on, which had been hanging off of his neck. Marco switched the subject back to Ace's memory dream.

"Did you see anything useful for finding him in the memory?" he asked. Ace shook his head. It had been a useless dream that had only made him angry. He just hoped he'd have more and get some clues. Heading south was just much too vague.

They would be reaching an island the day after the next. Had Teach stopped there? It was a big town. He might switch boats, though he didn't have much money since he hadn't stolen any. They had checked the treasure room and only a small handful of gold coins were taken. It was stupid on his part, but stolen money might have been suspicoious. After all, Teach was supposed to have gotten away without a trace with Ace being seen as guilty for the attack.

-x-

Luffy glowered in the darkness, angry with Teach and that he had to play this weak role. He wanted to do nothing more than make him pay for his words and kicks. He listened as best as he could for anything. Anything helpful or informational.

It was very hard to tell time in the void, so he just slept when tired. Teach hadn't brought him any food in what felt like days, maybe weeks. He missed Thatch's food and fresh fruits and vegetables he'd never gotten before living on the Whitebeard's ship.

Luffy had no idea about Thatch being attacked, or Ace being drugged. He just thought he'd been kidnapped somehow, out of Ace's control. He didn't have the time to ask for the whole story as he only had seconds to exchange one sentence with Ace. Luffy knew he was looking for him, with or without the pirates' help.

Suddenly, Luffy heard the voice of someone else. Another man, with another strange laugh. Teach had left the crew, so was he trying to form his own now? What was his objective?

"Weehahahaha! A dragon… say…? Le… see," the other voice said. Then, the darkness opened up and Teach walked in with a large fish, and threw it at Luffy's feet. Considering Teach thought Luffy still needed food, he clearly didn't care enough about his health to feed him regularly.

Another man was with Teach, one a little bigger than the kidnapper, and much more muscular compared to the fat traitor. He walked right up to Luffy, unafraid. Probably because Teach had told him Luffy was weak, and Luffy had just been asleep or something.

"This is the dragon? Thought he'd be more intimidating, weehahahaha!" the man said. "You look like a fun one to mess with." Luffy narrowed his eyes at him as he scarfed down the large fish. A bowl of water was also given to him, which he gulped down quickly.

The new guy, Burgess as Teach called him, walked up close to Luffy and grabbed his face. Oh, how easy it would be to bite this guy's head off. Teach that traitor a lesson, but not yet. He would, but not yet.

Luffy pulled his head out of Burgess's large hand. He was poked in the eye, though the ice covered it right in time. "Oh? That's interesting," Burgess said, and punched down on Luffy's head. Luffy couldn't control the ice that protected him from the blows.

The ice continued to shield Luffy's body as the attacks continued. He wasn't hurt at all by the end. And Burgess just laughed about it. Neither man knew that Luffy was conversing with Ace this whole time.

-x-

Ace! We stopped at an island, and a new guy is here, Burgess! Luffy called while Ace was reading.

Luffy! Are you okay? Are you being hurt? Ace frantically asked. He could feel the anger in Luffy's words as he said, The new guy keeps trying to hit me. They're both really mean.

Ae grabbed a pen off the desk and flipped to the last page of the book and jotted down notes. What does he look like?

Both brothers were staying remarkably calm even though they finally got to speak after days of not. Bigger and more muscular than Teach. Cleft chin, wears a mask and has long purple hair, Luffy replied. I'm doing my best to act weak, but I just want to rip both of their heads off!

Ace sighed, completely understanding why Luffy would want to. You have a plan?

Yeah. I don't know where we are. I think we're back to the sea. But, now that there's more than one person, Teach will be talking more. I could probably get more information… I miss you. And I miss Thatch's food. I don't like the dark, Ace. It's too quiet, and boring.

Ace flinched when Luffy mentioned Thatch. That was right, Luffy didn't know. Well, Ace wouldn't tell him and make him even more stressed. I miss you so much, too. I'm so sorry that this is happening to you. Ace had to stop his sniffles, not wanting to cry anymore. At least not when he was talking to Luffy, who might figure out he was tearing up.

How long have I been gone? It's impossible to tell time in here.

A little over three weeks, Ace replied.

Feels so much longer. They're leavin- and he was cut off. Ace covered his face with his shaking hands. Luffy was being hit. Of course, it wouldn't hurt him, but still, it made Ace's blood boil and he had to leave the room so the books were singed by the heat he was giving off.

He stormed down the halls and back to the bathroom, his heat burning everyone he passed. He walked past Rayuko, who asked him what was wrong. All Ace replied was a growl of, "Later," and he kept walking. Rayuko watched him enter the bathroom and heard the door lock.

It wasn't later that steam started coming out from under the door. He was surprised Ace didn't even try to hide the fact he was taking a bath while supposedly having a devil fruit, which would probably make him drown in the big bathtub.

Ace submerged himself under the water, laying down on the bottom and looking at the ceiling through the rippling water above him. Like last time, the tub soon was filled with hot water instead of cool. No one bothered him for awhile, which he was thankful for. He honestly wasn't even trying to pretend he was a devil fruit user anymore. The commanders already knew he wasn't, and the others would all be too afraid to ask Ace anything about it.

After his long bath, he went and found Whitebeard out on deck. Ace was perfectly dry, no trace of ever taking a bath on him. The captain saw his serious, more than usual, expression and donned one himself.

"Teach has a new friend. Name is Burgess, and he's bigger than Teach is. I wrote down some of the stuff he was telling me, but had to leave it in the library so the pages didn't catch on fire."

"Is Luffy okay?" Whitebeard asked, gaining points for Ace for asking first about the safety of his baby brother. Ace scowled.

"They're trying to hit him, and he's stuck in the dark most of the time. He has a plan; he's going to act like the weak animal Teach says he is so he has the element of surprise. Luffy hadn't shown Teach all of his powers, thankfully.

"He said that they had stopped at an island but were back on the sea relatively quickly. He doesn't know what direction or where they're going. He also didn't say anything about the dickhead getting a new ship. Luffy says he'll try and listen for any more information," Ace finished. Whitebeard nodded his head.

"Well, any new information is good, even if its not substantial. Next time he gets in touch with you, tell him we're doing our best to find him," the captain said. Ace gave a small smile and nodded his head.

-x-

When the crew reached the next island, after a long two days, everyone immediately and quickly got what was needed and were back on the ship not five hours later. Ace and Marco had gone around the docks, asking about a ship with blue sails with two big men on it. They had very little luck with what direction they had headed, as the one guy who talked to them hadn't been interested enough to watch where they went.

The only real information they got was that the same ship that docked also left with the same man on it. The Moby Dick set off to the nearest island, blindly sailing on, hoping they'd reach one of the needles that would get them closer to Luffy or at least closer to answers and helpful information.