RIAEVANS: I only put Luffy through more shit to come. Mwahaha.

phoenix: He needs a big hug from his brothers.

Much shorter chapter this time. No surprise but I've posted new stories after the last chapter. Check them out, one is super different from anything I've ever written before. It's a modern-au dystopia. Enjoy~

Every commander and the captain woke to three things: a spike in their haki, a child's bloodcurdling scream, and the sounds of splintering wood and pounding on the walls. They all flew out of bed and out into the hall, all in various states of sleep, Thatch's hair down his back and Izo's in a tangled mess. Many of them were shirtless. It had to be very late at night since they were all asleep.

They all saw what the problem was immediately. There were black blades sticking out of the section on wall that was the second division commander's room. Where the three boys were. The screaming had stopped, but there was no other sound. Marco walked forward and put a finger in front of his mouth to quiet his muttering brothers.

Marco gripped the door handle, which fell off the moment he touched it. He dug his hand into one of the cracks in the door, and pulled it away, breaking it easily out of its hinges. What he was met with was a a wall of spikes. Marco motioned for his brothers to get out of the line of fire if the spikes extended and made it into the hallway.

The phoenix got closer, and could see the bed, which was broken into pieces, Luffy's limp body melted into the ripped apart mattress. He was thrashing around, whimpering and tears coming out of his eyes. It looked like the spikes were all coming from his body, coming out of every part but the middle of his stomach and his head.

All of the black spikes were very skinny, like needles. There had to be millions of them. Marco grew very worried about Ace and Sabo, who would be in no way able to survive being stabbed millions of times. The light from the hall streamed into the room, and Marco saw movement coming from between the spikes at the bathroom door.

He let out a heavy sigh, relieved that Ace and Sabo were alive, but trapped in the bathroom. "Ace, Sabo? Are you alright?" Marco asked, loud enough to be heard but not loud enough to cause a panic attack.

"We're okay! Luffy had a nightmare," Sabo supplied just loud enough to reach Marco's ears. And what a nightmare it had been. Marco touched the wall of spikes, making sure Luffy hadn't activated any haki in his terror, but his hand slid right through. He changed into full phoenix mode and slowly made his way through the spikes. He stepped over ripped up stuffed animals and broken toys that the three had brought to the ship with them.

Walking to the absolutely ruined bed, Marco was able to touch Luffy's face with his hand. He was still covered in flames but was no longer in his zoan form. His clothes were ruined, torn to bits after changing back into human form. "Luffy," Marco said gently. Luffy jerked away, and spikes came from his cheek and right through Marco's hand. Thankfully, it didn't hurt.

"Luffy, wake up. Luffy, you're safe. Your brothers are safe. You have to wake up," Marco said. He knew the brothers weren't safe. At least Sabo wasn't. If Luffy's power activated again, it could stab into the bathroom and through his brothers.

Luffy's eyes snapped open and he looked around in terror, eyes pouring tears and his whole body shaking. Marco was right next to the collapsed bed. The poor boy was so delirious, and clearly didn't know what had happened with his powers. All of the spikes receded when Luffy relaxed from Marco's reassuring smile.

Ace and Sabo ran forward, kneeling into the mess of stuffing and wood. "Wha?" Luffy asked, seeing the state of the bedroom. It was destroyed, but thankfully didn't pierce through the hull of the ship and into the water.

"You had a nightmare, Luffy," Ace explained. He and Sabo looked very shaken but not afraid of their baby brother. Luffy started to openly sob, and his hand flew to his stomach, and Marco could guess what he'd dreamt. Damn that Teach, haunting Luffy's mind even in death. A few commanders entered the room slowly, looking at the mess that had once been a nice and clean bedroom. There were wood chips everywhere.

Ace and Sabo gathered Luffy into a big hug. This was a big problem. Luffy's powers had gone off in his sleep, and not in a harmless way. It could have killed Ace or Sabo. Luffy could have killed them on accident, in his sleep.

Luffy sobbed out apologies for ruining the room and causing danger to his brothers. He could see this was a major problem as well. The commanders he wasn't closer with left the room, while Marco, Haruta, Thatch and Pops all stayed. No one seemed angry about the state of the bedroom. They couldn't blame him for awakening his powers during a horrific nightmare.

"I can't go back to sleep," Luffy said. Ace and Sabo frowned, but everyone in the room agreed that Luffy should stay awake. No one wanted him slipping into another nightmare. "Did I hurt anyone?" Luffy asked his brothers quietly.

Sabo wiped a tear from Luffy's cheek. "Nobody got hurt. Me and Ace are okay. The room and bed aren't in a good shape, but no one blames you. You wouldn't do this on purpose."

"What if it happens again?" the boy choked out, looking deeply ashamed.

"Don't worry, Luffy. We'll come up with something. We're not kicking you off the ship for something like this," Thatch said in a soothing voice. "Why don't I go start breakfast, and you three can help out?"

Luffy's clothes were ruined, he was practically naked and only covered in bits of fabric. There were some of their clothes in the fabrics room waiting to be washed. Izo hurried off to go get him a new outfit and underwear. Before the boys left, Izo had ran back with a new outfit for Luffy.

The boys wanted a distraction, and the three agreed to go with Thatch. Whitebeard stayed behind with Marco, and whistled at the state of the room. There wasn't an inch of wall that hadn't been stabbed. Some holes were very large but others were tiny. "We need to get on this immediately," the captain said seriously. "We'll have to get them another new bedroom. I wonder what kind of dream the poor child had."

"He was touching his stomach where the wound is. He was probably dreaming about being stabbed again," Marco said in a sad voice. "Pops, what will we do about this?"

"We'll talk to Whiskey about it. She's his primary care physician. For now, lets try and clean up the room. We don't want anyone getting splinters. We'll find what's left of their few belongings." Marco nodded and he and the other commanders helped clean up all of the bits of wood and put them in a trashbag. They swept up every little piece, and by the end, the room hardly looked any better than before the wood chips were cleaned up.

"I don't want to hear a word, Kingdew," Pops said in an assertive voice. The commander had started to talk, and everyone knew it was going to be some sort of "I told you so". But they wouldn't be giving up on Luffy for this. He didn't do it on purpose. They'd find a solution. Marco had no doubt about that.

"We have to make sure he knows no one is mad about this," Marco commented. "He's gonna feel very guilty, but no one was hurt. Ace and Sabo are lucky. As is Luffy, he'd never recover if he killed his brothers on accident."

Haruta sighed, leaning against the pole of the broom. "This room is a goner. Even the floor is ruined," he said, poking the toe of his shoe into one of the new grooves. "I don't see how any of the shipwrights could fix this."

Fossa was the shipwright and lead that division. "We'll figure it out. We'd have to replace the flooring and walls completely, but it seems the foundation of the room is still fine, and the spikes did not pierce the hull or we'd be in a lot more trouble," the double chinned man explained. He'd never really interacted with the boys, and took no special interest in them like many of the commanders had now.

"How long will that take, son?"

"We don't have enough wood to do so, so it won't be happening without a lot more wood. We'll need nails and sealant. I have no doubt my division will fix it, but we may need to do some brainstorming first," Fossa explained. "Luffy's spikes can pierce through anything, so it wouldn't help to put anything special against the walls." He then looked up at the ceiling. "It seems the wall and floor has taken the most damage. The ceiling has to be replaced as well, but nothing collapsed. Just the surface has been damaged. I would worry more about Luffy and our safety than a bedroom."

"Well said, son," Whitebeard replied. "I have confidence in you and your division to repair the wall, if not anytime soon."

"Thanks, Pops," Fossa said.

"We'll figure out something. We always do," Haruta sighed. He looked around the room again. "I hope this doesn't set him back."

Izo put his hair in a low pony tail, not liking wearing it down. "Well, even if it does, we're here to help. Shouldn't we just tell them already? That we're expecting them to stay? Maybe it would make them feel more stable?" the crossdresser asked. A few nodded in agreement. Whitebeard thought for a moment.

"I'm starting to think that is the best course of action. We'll see what happens today."

"Aye, Pops," some in the room said. Many knew they couldn't sleep again, but a few of the commanders went to try and fall back to sleep. Marco headed towards the infirmary, Whitebeard following. Based on the rising sun outside the porthole, the nurse on duty would have switched with Wendy, who would wake Whiskey once she heard the seriousness about what had happened.

-x-

"I have an idea," Whiskey said to the captain at the breakfast table. It had only been an hour since she was told what had transpired in Luffy's sleep. Marco left his food to get up and follow her when she beckoned him to. Whitebeard as well. The boys were all feeling down, it was clear on their face. Luffy's eyes were still red and he was jumpy.

When they entered the infirmary, Whiskey started talking instantly. "Luffy reacts strongly to baths, correct? Makes him sleepy and unresponsive?" Marco nodded. "Depending on how long he is affected by the water, he may be able to go to sleep and still have his body unresponsive all through the period of REM sleep. He may still dream, but his devil fruit will be weakened so it can't act out while he's dreaming.

"This is the short term remedy. We can only make sure this doesn't happen again is by counseling. I'm still not comfortable with giving him medication, even after knowing his powers come from a devil fruit and not some injected experiment. And I don't want to prescribe medication to a young child.

"The main goal right now is to make it so his powers don't go out of control while asleep. So far, this is the best idea I've come up with. And the only one, to be honest." Marco frowned. It sounded like it would work, but Luffy had been attacked while weakened by previously being in water. Keeping away dangerous nightmares while setting him in the same state that the real incident had occurred.

"It's not ideal, Marco, but it's all we have. I'm sure Luffy would rather be scared, than waking up to find he'd impaled his brothers on accident," Whitebeard said emphatically. Marco knew he was right. "We don't know whether his abilities are weakened with being submerged, and we don't know how long it lasts. We also can't recreate today's situation without rightfully being accused of child abuse."

"Well, why don't we talk to the three directly? Or do you think we should wait until later?" Whiskey asked.

"Later. Luffy still has to be pretty upset, he needs to spend time one on one with his brothers. Taking him into the infirmary and suggesting we submerge him in water while he is already on edge and upset would not be wise," the captain said. "We will give him time to calm down." Whiskey and Marco both nodded. Poor Luffy.