RIAEVANS: Don't worry, he has his brothers to help him through all the hard times.

I'm so sorry that all of my fics are off schedule this week. I'm trying to get them back to normal but there's so many and I was really messy posting last week (somehow?). Anyways, enjoy~

Luffy was distracted all morning. He didn't want to go back to the room he'd destroyed. He'd killed all of his toys, too. His stuffed animals were torn to bits, and his other toys were in pieces as well. He'd never lost control like that. Sure, he'd been unintentionally using his abilities at night ever since the attack, but never had he almost harmed -killed- his beloved brothers.

While the boys were helping Thatch make breakfast, it didn't help that Luffy kept breaking eggs or dropping things with his shaking hands. He was trying to be distracted but he just came away as clumsy and inept. It made him feel like even more a nuisance before Ace and Sabo decided to stop and take him outside to talk with.

"Luffy, what was your dream?" Sabo asked bluntly. Ace shot him a glare, but Luffy had to tell someone what had terrified him so much that he'd destroyed the bedroom and furniture around him. Luffy curled into a ball automatically before wincing as it aggravated his stomach. He grimaced, wishing that the ordeal had never happened. He didn't wish he'd not met the Whitebeards, but he wished Teach had never attacked him.

"E-everyone was g-gone… All around the ship, no one was there. I looked everywhere, but no one was there. Th-then he was there, and I hid under the covers and then he stabbed me over and over and over again. B-but, it was a big knife. It went through me into the bed. It h-hurt really bad," Luffy confessed, wanting to let his brother's know he'd only lash out like that with a horrible dream, not the usual short nightmare that they wake him up from.

"I'm so sorry," Luffy sobbed. The three were on the whale figurehead. Ace and Sabo hugged him, Ace gently taking him onto his lap and rocking the younger side to side slowly.

"He'll never come back and we'll never ever leave you alone like that," Sabo said softly but also sternly. "Teach is dead and long gone. He died and then was eaten by a sea king, he's never coming back." Tears were coming out of Luffy's shut eyes, and the blonde wiped a few away before more came.

"I broke the room. My toys are broken, too. Everything. Sabo's story is probably ruined, and our clothes are all ripped up," Luffy muttered against Ace's chest. Sabo didn't react to hearing his story was ruined, he already knew. Had seen the pieces of paper. But, he didn't really get far and could rewrite everything easily. Besides, even if the papers were destroyed, the bits were still readable.

"Don't worry about my story, Lu. It was just notes, and nothing I can't rewrite. Maybe Izo can fix your stuffed animals. Or get new ones at the next island," Sabo said.

"I almost killed you and Ace," he said flatly, finally voicing the most worrying part about the incident. "That's never happened before. I've n-never hurt you."

Sabo rubbed his back while Ace continued to rock him. He may only be four years younger than them, but he was still their little brother. The older siblings take care of the younger, even if they're not blood related. They are family. "But you didn't."

"Only cause you were lucky," Luffy said against Ace's shirt, getting it wet with tears and snot.

"Maybe, but at least we made it so we can figure out how to fix this from the get-go," Ace said, fairly bluntly. "We don't blame you, Thatch doesn't blame you, Marco and Whitebeard don't blame you, so stop blaming yourself. If you had lashed out on purpose then we would be upset and that would be wrong, but you were trapped in a horrific nightmare and your powers were only trying to protect you. We were just in the crosshairs, on accident." He pet Luffy's hair softly. "Now, why don't we ask if anyone has any plans on what to do? The Whitebeards are smart guys, and Whiskey is a very knowledgeable nurse. She's figured out how to treat you in many ways, on the spot, too. If she can plan, then we might be alright."

Luffy nodded and wiped his runny nose, sniffling loudly. His eyes were puffy red, and he had red splotches on his chest. The three got up and walked to the infirmary. It looked like word didn't spread around the ship yet as the three weren't getting any new looks. They didn't know how the rest of the crew would react. They'd been plenty welcoming so far, but Luffy lost control. Maybe they'd find him as a threat. Hopefully, not.

The boys arrived in the infirmary to see Whiskey and Marco, talking. Wendy was treating someone who cut his thumb on a wire and needed stitches. Whiskey turned and saw the boys. Like usual, she got right to the subject. "Luffy, I've come up with an idea that might work, but it will be unpleasant. But, you have to choose comfort over safety for your brothers."

Already it had the boys nervous, fidgeting where they stood, much shorter than everyone else. "Luffy, have your powers ever worked after being submerged fully in water? You get exhausted, right?"

"No, I've always fallen asleep before anything happened. Always really sleepy," Luffy replied immediately. He wanted to know what she meant, he didn't want to drag it out.

"Well, we were thinking that, before bedtime, you'd take a long bath. That way, your entire body will by asleep. REM sleep, the time when you dream or have nightmares, starts at around 90 minutes into the sleep cycle. It can last hours, or minutes. If your body reacts strongly enough to the water, you may stay inactive throughout REM sleep. You may still have nightmares, which will need more time to treat psychologically, but the dangerous reaction to nightmares may be dulled.

"This is all speculation, but most things about you are speculation. If that does not work, then we could submerge parts of your body while sleeping. Maybe have your hands resting in bowls of water, or wrapping you in something wet to sleep. It may mimic the feeling of being submerged," Whiskey finished. When Luffy had an uneasy look, the head nurse reminded "This is for the safety of those around you."

Luffy nodded, though he wasn't looking forward to it. "How do we test it?" Luffy asked.

"Well, we will not recreate the situation. We won't trigger nightmares on purpose. As a test, I was thinking maybe having you take a long bath, and we'll see how long you sleep afterwards. Then, Marco will poke at you or tickle you and we'll see if your fruit activates. Until Ace can control his tangibility, he won't be used in any tests," Whiskey explained. Marco hadn't said a thing, but turned to Luffy and crouched down, making direct eye contact with the child.

"Even with what happened, no one is going to kick you off of this ship. Until you get better, and unless you want to leave, you're welcome to stay here safely. Many of us on here have had nightmares, just they didn't have your powerful devil fruit.

"We treated those who needed it with counseling and other forms of care and that's what we're gonna do for you," the first mate explained.

"Counseling?" Luffy wondered.

Sabo said, "It's talking to a trained physician or psychologist. They know what to do or how to help you specifically where family and friends can't."

"Exactly, but it won't be me. Wendy is the counselor on board. In case you are uncomfortable with Wendy for some reason, Curiel has offered to try, but I would not recommend him," Whiskey explained patiently. "We'd like to start the counseling as soon as possible, perhaps tomorrow."

Luffy looked behind him to see Wendy waving over to him with a smile. Luffy didn't know her too well, even if she helped him recover after the stabbing. Whiskey was more acquainted with Luffy, and had done the surgery that both healed and damaged him. But, Luffy trusted her to take care of him. Being with another one of the nurses might be strange, but he wasn't going to shun her.

None of the three had reacted to Marco saying they could stay as long as they wanted. It still didn't feel like they wanted them indefinitely. Just until the boys wanted to leave. Did that mean they didn't want them to stay for good? Only as long as they felt like it?

"What do I have to do in counseling?" Luffy wondered, not liking it and not really even knowing what it was.

"You'll preferably share your thoughts and pain with Wendy, who will treat you as best as she can. Nothing you say will be told to anybody else, even Popss. It will be strictly confidential," Marco explained. "You will be taking it slow, not exposing everything the first session, unless you want to yourself."

"Ace and Sabo are going in with me?" the child asked. Sabo was the one to answer.

"Not this time, Lu. It's just you and Wendy. We'll stay right outside the room, though," the blonde replied truthfully. Luffy didn't like this. "You can tell us all about it afterwards, but we don't want me or Ace interfering with Wendy's judgment."

Luffy pouted, but looked down, trusting Sabo. he wouldn't put Luffy someplace scary, alone, by himself.

"For now, we will try our only idea," Whiskey cut in. "I'd like to do the study early, so how about now? Have you boys gotten breakfast yet?" When they nodded, Whiskey walked the boy to the infirmary bathroom, and to the bathhouse area. It was small, but the bathtub was more than big enough for Luffy. Since their room and bed were unusable, Marco had set up a bed inside a storage room, sheets and all.

Luffy reluctantly went inside and did as they said, even if he was shaking while in the deep water. Sabo was in the bath with him, Ace sitting on the edge and wishing he could go deeper to help. The youngest became limp almost immediately, and they stayed in the warm water for over a half hour before Marco entered and told them it had been long enough.

The moment Luffy was out of the water, he passed out. Sabo dressed his limp body and Marco gently carried the boy to the storage room turned bedroom. Ace and Sabo were situated behind a wall of crates and with the door slightly open so they could flee if necessary. Marco had the unfortunate task of bothering Luffy in his sleep after the 90 minute mark. They were timing how long he stayed asleep before the dreams could start.

Once the hour and a half were over, Marco started to slowly bother his body. He poked Luffy in uncomfortable places. He didn't wake, but his body didn't react either. After a good ten minutes of poking and prodding him with Ace and Sabo watching, Marco told them to get out and close the door.

Trusting Marco they did so and left the room, though a bit reluctantly. When they were out, Marco clapped his hands loudly and suddenly. Luffy's body flinched but didn't wake up. Only a tiny coil of black left Luffy's arm. It hardened before going limp and retreating back to its power user. Marco smiled, thinking it had worked. He waited for anything else to happen, and then went to the door, twisted the door handle loudly and pulled open the door, flooding light into the room and onto Luffy suddenly.

Luffy's powers reacted in a different, non-dangerous way. The blackness seeped out of every pore but his burn. Covering himself in protection while he couldn't fight back. Marco saddened, but smiled a soft smile. This was a much better outcome than the stabbing was. But, was it good enough to trust it wouldn't hurt Ace and Sabo?

The blackness almost immediately was sucked back in. Luffy stayed asleep for another four hours, his brother staying in with him while Marco came and went to check on the boys. Whitebeard ended up going over while Ace and Sabo curled up on either side of Luffy, unafraid of being spiked. Leaving him in a time of need would be worse than being injured.

Food was brought to them by Thatch, and a little ice chest was put in the room for whenever Luffy woke up and wanted food. He didn't seem to have any bad dreams, or his body was just too exhausted to wake up from them.

After reaching the third hour, Marco had switched with them to try and rouse Luffy's powers again, but the results were the same, with Luffy shifting. Marco came out quickly, and told the boys he had hope that this would work. The two boys beamed before hurrying into the room.

After four hours and six minutes, Luffy woke up slowly, and raised his head. He looked to his sides to see Sabo and Ace, Ace was napping while Sabo was reading, book in the air and laying on his back.

"I'm awake," Luffy mumbled. "Wh-what happened?" he asked through a big yawn. Sabo closed his book slowly and woke Ace.

"It worked. When you were asleep, Marco kept bothering you but your powers reacted really sluggishly, and only covered your whole body. Your powers didn't attack anyone in your sleep. I think it might actually work," Sabo explained enthusiastically. Luffy gave a small smile.

"Good," he whispered. Then, his stomach roared. Ace brought over the ice chest and Luffy dug in to the cold lemon chicken. It didn't matter if it was cold, it tasted good to Luffy, and the cold juice was nice as well.

A couple minutes after Luffy woke up, Marco knocked on the door gently, not knowing if the boy was up yet. He must have know he was when Sabo called he could come in instead of getting up and going to the door to open it himself, even if there was no lock.

"Hey, Luffy. Sleep well?" Marco asked, holding something behind his back. Luffy nodded. "Izo fixed something," Marco said and turned on the light, pulling out Luffy's stuffed animal that had been on the bed with him. Izo had repaired it, and Marco gave it to the child, who started crying. He had thought all of his special toys and stuffed animals were gone. Even if the rest were, he had his favorite plushie. He hugged it close, and thanked Marco through tears.

"It will be hard to repair the rest since they are mostly shredded, but Izo's division will do their best," the commander said in a kind voice.

"They aren't mad or afraid of me? Everyone else?" Luffy asked in surprise. Marco shook his head with a smile. He sat on the bed next to the boys.

Marco ruffled Luffy's hair, slow enough that he could pull away if he was uncomfortable. The other two were watching apprehensively, knowing Marco would tell them what everyone thought of what had happened. "No one who knows what happened is afraid of you. Most of the crew knows you have nightmares, and that this one was especially bad. They just don't know what happened with your abilities. No one got killed. The room is off limits now, so no one has seen the interior.

"I'm gonna let you in on a secret that you can't tell anyone I told you," Marco said quietly, glancing at the bedroom door. "We welcome you with open arms to stay forever. Wait for Pops to ask to agree, but just know that question will be coming, and you will now be prepared with an answer. If you choose to leave, we will not take away your freedom, but will miss you and be sad you left." He gave them a smile and got up to leave the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

Luffy still felt sluggish, but was stiff and wanted to at least get up and walk around the room. "I don't like the feeling, but I don't want to hurt Ace and Sabo," Luffy said sadly, helped to walk with Ace securely wrapping his hand around Luffy's mid-back. After a few rounds around the room, Luffy was able to walk on his own.

"Are you scared of me now?" Luffy questioned quietly. Ace frowned and exchanged a look with Sabo.

"No. We're not scared of you. Or you when you sleep. We were both scared when the spikes came, but only because you were in the middle of it," Ace answered in a strong voice.

Sabo put his finger on his chin in thought. "You know, haki would have been really useful. We could have sensed where the spikes came from instead of blindly dodging. Sure, it worked, but it wasn't ideal."

Ace agreed. "And Marco said they wanted to keep us. Maybe they'd be willing to teach us extensive haki training," the freckled brother offered. "Though I do wonder if Marco would get in trouble for going against Whitebeard to tell us they wanted us to stay."

Luffy looked worried, no longer moping openly. "You think he'll get in trouble?" he asked in concern.

"Probably not," Sabo replied. "If Whitebeard is meaning to ask us to stay, or offer it, it doesn't go against him really. Maybe if Marco told us we weren't wanted or not to stay, he may get in trouble. I think we've all noticed Marco is the favorite." The other two boys nodded. It was clear. Marco was the only one who sat on Whitebeard's shoulder, the one he stayed with throughout the day.

"Big question to ask, but I think we know the answer: are we going to join the crew, or set off on our own?" Luffy was already sure, Sabo was leaning towards sure and Ace was not at all sure.

"Well, there are a lot of pros, but also cons. Pros are safety, family, getting trained to be stronger. Cons are loss of freedom, not that we've had it for a long time, having to do as Whiteebard says as part of the crew. And people would find out about Luffy's weakness, besides haki. The rest will have to gain our trust to let something like that slip," Sabo explained.

"I wanna stay. I wanna get better, and have more control. And Ace to learn his devil fruit. I like Thatch's food and people are nice and don't make me kill people," Luffy said. He looked almost pleadingly to Ace, who looked down at the floor.

He sighed. "I'd always stay with you two, if you decide to stay then I'll stay, too. I don't know what I want yet. I never thought of being an underling, but our future was set in a completely different direction when Lu came along. I do like the people here, but besides some of the commanders, no one has gained back my trust after Teach," the oldest said in a strong voice.

Sabo nodded, sitting down on the mattress. "Ace has good points. But you've never been a very trusting person. You didn't trust Luffy for a long time, even after I learned to. You might be biased about joining because of your issues."

Ace looked at his brothers with a guilty face. "What's wrong?" Luffy asked in concern with Ace's pained expression.

"I know we don't talk or think about it, and you say it doesn't matter, but what if they dig into our past, and find out who my family was before Sabo met me?"

Sabo frowned. "You think they'd care about that?" he asked in a snappy voice. Ace flinched. "They won't care about something so inconsequential. Besides, you don't talk about it to anyone, even us, so why would you bring it up with them in the first place?"

Ace glared at him, and Luffy didn't like it when his brothers got in fights. "Don't fight," he said sadly. Ace and Sabo flinched, and apologized to the youngest. "Why don't we go out on deck?" Sabo asked. "We've been cooped up in here for awhile. Not many were told about what happened last night, so don't worry about that, Lu," he said when Luffy opened his mouth to ask. The boy nodded, and looked down at his stuffed animal. "I doubt anyone would look down on you for carrying your stuffed giraffe around," the twelve year old said kindly. Luffy looked conflicted for a few seconds before picking up his plushie and tucking it into his inner elbow.

When the boys were out on deck, they heard Thatch, from somewhere on deck, shout about how cute Luffy looked. He always looked younger than he was, just now it was accentuated. The boys saw Marco sitting on Whitebeard's shoulder, and he gave them a wink that no one else noticed.

Armed with the knowledge Marco gave them, Ace didn't hesitate to go up to the captain and ask, "Whitebeard, would haki have helped me and Sabo this morning?" He didn't go into details, not knowing how many people around knew about the incident.

"No doubt, it would help. Both of you were incredibly lucky. Or, you may have haki already and we just haven't noticed," the man said, making Luffy feel a bit ashamed. "It is in the past, child. Remember? Be brave and try to move on." The brothers wondered if that was a new Whitebeard motto.

"Will you teach us?" Sabo asked.

"Sure. I'm sure my children would be willing to help you. Ace still needs training with his devil fruit. Luffy has improved quite a bit since the attack, I think starting up practicing would be beneficial. Besides, Ace has no doubt grown in control of his fruit. He's yet to burst into flames while Luffy has been in recovery," the captain explained.

Luffy looked proudly up at Ace, who was grinning. Cheeks a bit pink, but feeling pride for not risking hurting Luffy in any way. It seemed he couldn't be burned by Ace's fire, but the child could not risk it.

"How could I risk hurting my baby brother?" Ace asked, ruffling Luffy's hair affectionately. Whitebeard laughed his unique laugh. It was a warm laugh, welcoming and almost proud. It made the brothers think that Marco most likely had been telling the truth. With all the smiles and congratulations given to Ace, it felt to him like this might be a place to stay. And Sabo was right. He didn't need to tell anyone about his biological father. It might not matter to the captain, but it was is life, and Ace was positive not everyone on the crew had shared their entire life.

Maybe this could be a safe space to grow up, let Luffy grow up in a nice place and not a facility where people used him for their own gain.