izzywolf22: thank you!

Someone stop me. I keep digging myself deeper. I have two stories over 140,000 words long, half of From Another Time (which I already started posting) and am writing an unfinished one that is at 90,000 words now to edit. Over 900 pages to edit. More, depending on how long the one I'm writing now is. I'm just having so much fun writing these ones. But too long! Anyways, enjoy~

Dinner that night featured all of the boys' favorite foods. The party would be playing games out on the deck, hide and seek around the ship, and some sparring for the boys if they wished, even if they might still be tired. There would be no alcohol, and after much of the crew was done eating, Whitebeard stood up, silencing the room.

The boys were sitting at their usual places, though Luffy was sitting on a stool that the shipwrights had made for him to actually sit properly at the table since he was so small. Marco was glad Luffy was happy with it and not offended. He was very small, after all, not even as big as the bottom of the captain's foot.

"I'd like to explain why we have restricted the places you can drink any alcohol. There is a reason, and I thank you for not hounding us on wanting the answers. The reason is for Luffy's safety. Any sort of alcohol, even diluted, burns him severely. The burn he got that took so long to heal after Teach was not because of the cut, but because of a burn from Whiskey administering rubbing alcohol to close the wound.

"That is why we wish to have places where Luffy will not go to be safe. That's why we hound everyone at cleaning up every drop of alcohol you spill. The boys have put a lot of trust in everyone to tell you that Luffy's one real weakness is not seastone of haki, but damn alcohol," the captain finished. The room was silent before people started looking angry.

An eruption of "why didn't anyone tell us?!" and "you should have let us know!" filled the galley. Luffy started to get uncomfortable with the loud noises, and as he moved to cover his ears, Marco noticed and told the room, sternly, to shut up. He pointed to Luffy and said, "Real way to welcome him by giving him a panic attack!"

The room fell silent, and quiet apologies now filled the room. Luffy's face was red in embarrassment and shame, and Ace and Sabo rubbed his back softly. Whitebeard waited for everyone to quiet down, before speaking again. "We cannot afford to let this information spread anywhere other than on this ship. If we do, the marines and any bounty hunters can immediately incapacitate Luffy, just by throwing a bottle of beer at him," the captain stressed.

The room was quiet, but pirates were nodding along, they can't let the facts get out or spread anywhere. "All devil fruit users have a weakness to sea stone, but Luffy. All devil fruit users are weak to haki, but Luffy most of the time. So, without having those weaknesses, Luffy can fight back. But not if alcohol is in the mix. Any alcohol, even something you wouldn't even taste any in it.

"We have to be careful with this information, and I'm trusting all of you, as your father, to keep your new brother's weakness a secret," Whitebeard finished. Murmured promises filled the room, Luffy with his head down on the table.

Ace and Sabo got up and took Luffy out of the room. "We'll be back out in a little bit for the party," Sabo said. But, Marco stopped them, putting his hand on Ace's shoulder before the three left the room.

"Nobody wants a party where the guests of honor are upset. The party does not need to happen tonight," the phoenix said quietly. Ace looked at the clock on the wall, seeing it was 8:00. Dinner always lasted longer than any of the other meals.

"We don't want the party tonight. We're sorry," Sabo said quietly. "I think we're gonna try and head to bed."

Marco nodded. "Alright, if there are any problems, you can tell anyone. We're family now. It may get hard to used to, but we look out for one another. Good night, boys," the first mate said in a soft voice. He could tell Luffy was close to tears, probably humiliated that his weakness was now known by everyone. Maybe a little afraid as well, now.

Over a thousand people now knew of something that only some had known about. The pirates were sad that the day the boys joined had gone bad at the end. But, the best thing was to start over fresh on a new day. Marco just hoped he slept alright tonight.

Whitebeard sat at the table with his hands joined. "I wish we could have said all of that in private, but having them there made things more real to everyone else," he said to the commanders. The chatter of the room had resumed, though it was noticeably more quiet than it was before.

The commanders all looked a bit bummed. After all, they were going to have a party to welcome the boys and instead they went to bed upset and stressed. Jozu said, "The problem is that alcohol is so common everywhere in the world. Sea stone and haki are scarce, you either have to be a marine or a skilled pirate to use those as weapons against a devil fruit user. The difference between the commonality is huge."

The commanders nodded, and Thatch frowned deeply. "I wish we weren't so dependent on it." The other agreed, though getting rid of alcohol was just not practical on a pirate ship. If they did that, the crew would come to hate Luffy, and they couldn't have that. They just needed to be incredibly careful, and the commanders were told to brainstorm safer ways to handle the alcohol.

By the end of the day, when Marco went to bed late that night, he peeked inside to see Ace and Sabo, with the tiny ball of Luffy resting in Ace's hand on the pillow. Marco worried about Luffy being that small. At the beginning of them joining the ship, when they were inspecting the fruit, Luffy had a limit of how small he could be, and it was in no way as small as this.

He went to bed with a long sigh, wishing Luffy could live like a normal kid his age. That thought was always in the back of everyone's mind.

-x-

The next day was much better than the previous. Luffy was not startled awake, but coaxed by his brothers quietly. During the night, Ace had noticed Luffy shrink, and gently took him into his warm hand. In the morning, Luffy was a bit foggy in the head, and it made Ace and Sabo worried. There was nothing they could do about Luffy's fruit acting up on its own other than to resume the bath treatment.

They went to breakfast earlier than usual to find Thatch sitting at the table, not cooking for once. He was scribbling things down on a piece of paper, and scowling at it. The boys walked up to him, and Luffy asked if he was okay.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Thatch looked up, and they noticed he had some circles under his eyes.

"I had trouble sleeping last night, and I'm trying to come up with ideas to make the ship safer for you," the chef replied honestly. "We were told to brainstorm how to make things better, and man, was I brainstorming all night."

"I'm sorry," Luffy said quietly. Thatch grinned at him and ruffled his hair.

"It's not your fault that I'm so empathetic," he replied. "I've always been like this. I had tons of younger siblings when I was young, and I've always been a sucker for helping kids, even though I'm a big, bad pirate. We tease Marco for being a mother-hen, but I can't say I'm not one also."

The boys sat down next to him, smiling softly. Even though Thatch could be an idiot sometimes, he was truly a good person in their eyes. "Thatch, why did you become a pirate? You left your family, right?"

Thatch sighed and looked at his hands and the piece of paper that was basically chicken scratch that no one but he could read. Luffy was about to say he didn't need to answer, but he did so before the boy could say anything.

"My island had a plague break out on it. The survivors, which were about thirteen, including me, were all stuck on the island before marines came, and said we were ill, too, even if we weren't. So, they torched the place. I was able to get off with one other survivor, but we starved out at sea and I was the one that lasted longer. Then, the old Whitebeard ship found me and took me in. I was originally supposed to go to the next island, but I hit it off real well with Marco, the only one that was near his age, and became their chef. I already hated the marines, so why not be a pirate?

"But oh man was I a shit cook. Everyone was just nice about it, but I got better with practice. And I hate wasting food because I know what it feels like to have no food, and it makes me mad when people waste it," Thatch finished. Though the topic was sad, he was smiling at the memories.

"...Doesn't thinking about that stuff make you sad?" Ace asked. Thatch shook his head.

"Though it's not pleasant to talk about as it brings back sad feelings, I wouldn't be who or where I am today if none of it happened," Thatch replied. The brothers didn't really have a response to that. Luffy couldn't see him ever thinking of the days in the facility as "good". The memories he had with his brothers were tainted by the fact they were holding both of them hostage, and all of the memories doing "jobs" and killing people were all not worth it and hurt to think about because Luffy had to face what he'd done and how stupid he'd been not to know it was a bad thing.

Thatch seemed to understand what Luffy was thinking and gave him a smile. "Give it ten years and you'll be content with what happened. You wouldn't have found your brothers unless you were sent on that job. You wouldn't have learned to control your devil fruit to protect your family if it weren't for that place. And you wouldn't have met Marco or been freed if you hadn't been sent to kidnap him," Thatch listed off, counting on his fingers.

"Someday you'll make piece with your past. Might not be anytime soon, but someday you will. Just like Marco has, just like the rest of the crew. We're all a bunch of misfits with varying degrees of bad and painful pasts. I can't tell you how many of your new brothers were slaves, or orphans, or criminals in their own town. Not many of us have had perfect lives and just got bored with it and joined a pirate crew," Thatch explained with a grin. The boys smiled at him, suddenly feeling more welcome.

Marco had mentioned before that the people on the crew were from harsh backgrounds, but he hadn't gone into detail like Thatch had. And Luffy had hope that maybe, some day he'd be happy all the time like Thatch was. He looked forward to it.

The day was much better than the previous. After a short session of Izo working on Luffy's tattoo, for the first time in many weeks, Luffy went to see Whiskey, with Ace and Sabo behind him. They hadn't told him they'd forgiven her, even if Ace couldn't forget. Sabo tried to move on, but Ace would never forget his brother's face when he was told he was an incurable psychopath.

"Luffy, me and Sabo want you to go see Whiskey about something," Ace said after breakfast. Luffy gave him a questioning look. "You know how you've been turning into a really small ball during nightmares recently?" Luffy nodded. "Well, we don't think that's healthy for you."

"What do you mean?" Luffy asked in concern. Was something wrong with him?

The three were in Marco's Special Room, sitting on the couch with Luffy cross legged on the carpet after the tattoo removal.

"You used to only be able to turn into a smaller, cat sized version of your monster self, right?" Luffy nodded. "We're concerned with how small you're suddenly turning. When you wake up, you're very off and foggy. Maybe being so small is bad for you. Cutting off circulation or something. You're not used to becoming that tiny, y'know?" Sabo explained.

Lufy looked worried, not wanting to be hurt again. He agreed to go see Whiskey, wondering why now they wanted him to see her, but he said nothing, hoping they'd finally forgiven her. The three hurried to the infirmary, where pirates who were severely injured in the battle were having check ups or stitches removed.

They waited by the door, which was what you were supposed to do when all of the beds were filled. There were twenty beds in there, and all were full, which was something the three had not seen yet. When Whiskey was done with her patients, Wedny and Tami and some nurses that the boys hadn't formally met were still working.

"Boys, what can we do for you? Are you alright?" Whiskey asked, beckoning them to the bed a pirate was just on. The three sat down on the bed, Luffy's short legs not reaching the floor.

"We're concerned about Luffy. During his nightmares, he's shrunken into a ball that can fit in the palm of your hand," Sabo explained. "When he wakes up, he's dazed and confused and foggy. We're worried some circulation is being cut off or something." Whiskey was writing things down on a clip board.

"Luffy, what do you feel when you wake up?" Whiskey said, though it seemed kinder than usual. Luffy thought for a minute.

"Dizzy and foggy," Luffy replied honestly. Whiskey looked a bit worried for a second, but the look disappeared as quickly as it had come.

She asked him a few more questions, like if he knew how long he was in that form, or what he felt when his brothers woke him up. But, the end result wasn't what Luffy wanted to hear. "I think the best way to see if this is detrimental to his health is to observe him sleeping. The nurses will monitor you and you'll have connectors to your body to tell us your responses for any nightmares," the head nurse explained.

Luffy visibly deflated, not wanting to sleep in the infirmary ever again. "We'll stay with you, Lu," Sabo assured. He and Ace didn't want to stay in the infirmary either, but it was to help Luffy, or to reassure them that there was nothing wrong. Luffy nodded, determined to be brave, even if he really didn't want to do this.

"We should do it tonight. If it is unhealthy, we don't want you to continue to do it and harm yourself," Whiskey said. "We'll have the bed prepped when you come later tonight." The boys nodded, and got up to leave. "Thank you, for forgiving me," Whiskey added, sounding a bit awkward. Sabo smiled and the boys left, knowing that smile was all Whiskey needed to see.

The party was during the day, so that the boys wouldn't have trouble sleeping that night after the commanders heard about him being tested during his sleep due to a new sleeping habit. A few of them had been told, but it hadn't been anything big, so there was no commanders' meeting about it. Marco knew and Whitebeard knew, and that had been all that needed to. The pirates who weren't commanders still didn't know about Luffy destroying the room. And it was going to stay that way for awhile, the captain told them.

The party was not a typical Whitebeard party, which Marco told the boys included drinking and singing and eating a crap-ton of food. This one was playing games and eating sweets Thatch had made, along with a lot of meat and Sabo and Ace's favorite dishes. Luffy, frankly, disgusted everyone when he tried dipping a leg of chicken into a cup of melted chocolate.

The face he made had everyone around him laughing. He had the space of one person empty on either side of him for comfort in the large crowd of celebrating pirates. It was a good distraction from the worry about that night.

Ace and Sabo sparred against some pirates, and won a few, but mostly lost to them. Ace's fire fist move was the only one he had, and was dangerous until he could control it, so he mostly did hand to hand, landing hot punches and dodging fists or weapons unless they were using haki, which beat him instantly.

Luffy cheered for the boys, but they lost quite a bit. The commanders offered to spar with Luffy, but he declined, not wanting to risk hurting them or the ship. And they all respected his choice, not trying to convince him to do it and making him uncomfortable. It was a nice day to say the least.

By the end, the three were tired, but happy, and ate dinner enthusiastically. Luffy was already high on sugar, but was crashing quickly. It was only 8:00 when the boys went to bed. They got Luffy's stuffed animal before heading to the infirmary. They were surprised to see their area had been remodeled.

The bed was no longer white, crisp sheets. It had a comforter, and a quilt with three fluffy pillows for the boys. They even put a piece of cloth under the bed to make it look like a carpet. A lamp was on the side table, emitting a warm, yellow tinted color. Luffy was happy with the set up.

Tami and Whiskey were there, and Luffy cooperated as things were stuck to him. After Ace described what Luffy looked like in ball form, the nurses had gotten as tiny wires as they could, and glued them to Luffy's skin. It would wash off with water, and they were hoping they'd stay stuck to him even after he shrunk.

There were many wires attached to his head and into his hair, which was uncomfortable at first. He wasn't supposed to sleep under the covers, but a soft sheet. They couldn't have the wires risk falling off by having him under thick blankets, like his brother's were. The lights were turned off in their area. The curtains connected to the ceiling closed. Light still came into their space, but it was much dimmer than the other areas of the infirmary.

Luffy was being watched all night as he slept, and it was only an hour into the night that he transformed, shrinking, but the wires sunk into him, still able to send the machines information. His heartbeat quickened in the small form, but he didn't move.

His blood pressure skyrocketed, and immediately, the three were woken up out of worry for Luffy's health. Just by that small time, they'd learned what they needed to. This new form was dangerous for the youngest. "What? What happened?" Sabo asked sleepily.

"Luffy needs to take a bath before going back to sleep," Tami said quietly, not wanting to scare Luffy, who had just grown back to normal size, the wires slipping off of him and onto the comforter.

"Did something bad happen?" Ace asked in worry. He took Luffy's hand automatically.

"His heartbeat quickened to an unhealthy speed and his blood pressure skyrocketed into the dangerous zone. We need to go back to the nightly baths," Whiskey said with a sad look. Poor Luffy, plagued with health problems, but at least this one wasn't from their own crew. It wasn't from Teach, if was from the damn marines.

"Tonight?" Sabo asked. Tami nodded. "Okay, do we get to sleep in our room?" The nurse shook her head.

"It would be best to have him in here in case the bath doesn't work and he needs to be woken up again," Whiskey replied. Luffy looked and felt miserable, wishing all of his problems would go away. Wishing he could be comfortable in a crowd of people he now called his family. Wishing he didn't have to be a burden to his brothers or the crew.

Sabo ran his hand through Luffy's hair, careful to not pull on the wires glued to his head and risk hurting him by pulling his hair. "We'll use the bathroom here, if that's alright?" Tami nodded, saying it was for patients, after all.

The boys went into the bathroom with a single tub, big enough for the largest of the pirates. The moment Luffy was inside, he turned limp and was held up by Ace and Sabo. They didn't need to wash themselves, as it was late and none of them were dirty. Luffy crashed almost immediately, falling asleep still in the warm water.

His brothers dried him off and dressed their little brother before taking him back to that night's bed. One of the nurses stayed awake with them at all times, but Luffy slept fine, deeply, and did not use his powers at all, purposely or on accident. The bath trick seemed to be the smartest thing Whiskey had come up with.

-x-

Marco was sitting on Pops' shoulder, both watching Luffy train with his brothers, winning but also a bit slower than they were in his full form. Whitebeard was very happy, since Luffy had first called him Pops that morning. It had been hesitant, like he was unsure with the word, but when the captain grinned at it, the boy was much more confident to use the word, but only one more time. It was progress.

Ace and Sabo had not called him by that name, and Whitebeard had told them they didn't need to, even if it would make the captain very happy. No one was to try and convince them to say it, or it might have the opposite effect. Whitebeard could wait and wish, but not force.

When the News Coo dropped off the newspaper, a letter was also dropped, landing on Whitebeard's lap. They rarely got letters unless it was from family members checking up on someone on the ship. The handwriting on the envelope did not look familiar, but the names definitely did.

"To: Ace and Sabo,

From: your "shitty" gramps"

The two pirates had no idea who it was from, but were going to not open it without the boys, but were not going to let them open it when there might be something dangerous inside, like poison they could breathe in. Marco would be opening it since he couldn't get hurt if anything was inside.

"Ace, Sabo! Come here, please," the captain called, Marco jumping off of his shoulder and holding the letter Pops had handed to him. Luffy trotted along, too, back in human form.

"What is it?" Ace asked, sweaty from the sparring with his brothers and shipmates. Marco held up the letter and read who it was from. The boys' faces grew pale.

"I'm going to open it, but not read it, in case there is something dangerous inside," Marco explained. The boys nodded, Luffy looking curious since he didn't know anyone that would send him a letter, and knew it must be someone from before Luffy stole Ace and Sabo. When Marco opened it, there was nothing inside by the letter. He handed it to Sabo, who quickly pulled it out and unfolded it.

Sabo went to the railing with his brothers so no one would hear the letter, and read it to Ace and Luffy. No one was close enough, not even the captain, to hear what the letter said. They could only hope the boys would share it with them. Ace started swearing, Sabo grumbling, and they walked back over, Luffy looking sad that he was out of the loop.

"Will you share what it says to us?" Marco asked politely, non-intrusively. Sabo nodded, and took a breath before reading.

"I hear you both got kidnapped by a kid, didn't I train you better? But, that is beside the point. I did not know about your imprisonment, or where you were, and if I did, I would have done my best to get you back home. I know the boys in that poorly-made Wanted poster were both of you, and Luffy, the monster who stole you. I'm sorry I did not find you sooner. Nobody knows that I am sending this letter, and I cannot risk coming to see you. I hope you are both doing well, and wish you to be careful with both marines and bounty hunters after all three of you.

Whitebeard is an honorable man, and until you are strong enough to make it on your own, the best thing you can do right now is to stay aboard his ship. I am truly sorry I did not find you sooner, and I am very glad you are both alive.

I can promise you that I did not know of yours or the kid's situation. It is hard for me to stand being around anyone that tried to hurt you, but I must. Best wishes, Garp/Shitty-Gramps."

The pirates were shocked that Ace and Sabo's grandfather was Garp the Fist, but were glad he was not coming to steal them away, or at least, try. There was no way the boys would ever be handed to any of the marines, family or not. Luffy wondered what kind of guy their grandpa was, and what was a grandpa?

"What's a 'gramps'?" Luffy wondered.

"It's a slang word of 'grandpa'," Sabo replied, and guessed what the next question was. "A grandpa is the father of you mom or dad. You must have a grandpa somewhere in the world. Everyone has at least one."

"Is there a girl grandpa?"

"That's a 'grandma'. The mother of your mom or dad," Sabo replied patiently.

"Oh. Do you like your grandpa?" Luffy questioned. The older boys thought for a moment, exchanging glances, making the pirates wonder what the answer would be. Was Garp just as crazy as a grandpa as he was as a marine?

Ace responded, "Ehh, he's crazy. He 'trained' us by beating the crap out of us, kept insisting we become marines, and left us for years at a time. He was our adopted grandpa. He cares about us, but has a funny way of showing it."

"I can't say I'm surprised with any of that," Whitebeard said with a hearty laugh. "But, at least he's not gonna come storming onto our ship or throw cannonballs at us." Marco nodded in agreement. Garp may be a vice-admiral, and they'd just defeated multiple ones, but now that they knew he was the boys' grandfather, adopted or not, they couldn't kill or hurt him. Plus, Garp was extremely strong, though the pirates didn't know if old age had changed that. Going by Pops, probably not.

"Garp is crazy," Marco said simply, getting nods from the two older brothers. It also hinted that Ace and Sabo weren't blood related. Though, they could be. They just didn't look anything alike. "Hey, I have a question for you, Ace and Sabo. Are you two blood related?" Marco finally asked. He waited long enough, and hoped that they would answer him truthfully now that they were officially (for now) part of the family.

"No, we met when we were five. We lived together in the the crappy places in a dinky town that is probably gone by now. We stole everything to live and got away with it. It wasn't the best life, but we did get to do whatever we wanted. We only became brothers after Luffy found us. In name only, but that doesn't change the fact that we're brothers," Sabo said.

"I'll drink to that," Whitebeard said, and took a big gulp of his sake in that ridiculous bottle.

"But, you drink all the time," Luffy pointed out. Marco chuckled and Pops laughed loudly.

"You are very correct, Luffy," Marco said with an amused grin. Luffy smiled a soft smile, which made his brothers grin. "Even though we tell him every day to restrict his alcohol intake, he won't."

"I'm the captain, no one tells me what to do," Whitebeard said. "You may like to order me around, but I make the decisions around here." Marco shot him an unimpressed look.

"You're the captain, yet you're afraid of your own nurses?" Marco asked in a flat voice, though it was clear he was joking to the captain.

"As are everybody else," Pops replied. "To be honest, they're more in charge than I am!" the captain laughed. "Nobody orders me around but them, I suppose." Luffy looked confused.

"Why are you scared? They're nice to me," he pointed out, clearly wondering why anyone would think Wendy or Tami was scary. Whiskey seemed stern, but Luffy hadn't show much fear of her. "They've never been mean to me."

Marco smiled. "That's because you three have everyone wrapped around your fingers," he responded. Ace blushed and looked away, while Luffy smiled. Sabo was smiling at his brothers' reactions.

"So, when do you guys want to go back to your old room? The shipwrights will be able to get the necessary supplies to fix up the last part of the room. If you still want to stay in my attached room, that's fine. You three are honestly the quietest members of the crew. Everyone else snores like you wouldn't believe." He added something nice at the end in case the boys felt pressured to go back to the room after the question.

They exchanged a look, and Sabo spoke for them. "We'll go back to our room after it's fixed. But, can we leave the door open? Just in case something happens?" Marco nodded and said, "Of course."

That way, if Luffy had a nightmare that brought back the destructiveness instead of the cowardice, the boys could just run straight out the door to get help. But then, the hall would be damaged as well. Marco trusted Luffy to have moved past that, especially since the nightmares about Teach had been replaced by nightmares about marines.

Whiskey told them that morning that Luffy needed to do the baths again, and worried those she told when she said that turning into a tiny ball is unhealthy for him. Marco felt guilt about not waking him up when he found Luffy in that form. Whitebeard had scolded him for taking the blame when the blame was on no one but the marines.

"Would you three like to go on the island? We'll reach it tomorrow," Marco offered. The three all shook their heads immediately. "Not yet? Because of the marines?" They nodded in unison.

"We don't want to risk anything happening. Not now. Even though we're stronger and everything, not yet," Ace said for the other two. Luffy nodded in agreement.

Marco replied, "That's fine. Whenever you feel comfortable enough we'll have more than just one commander go with you. Though, it is strange that we've read nothing in the newspaper about the battle. If the marines were ever honest, they might not want to make it look bad that they tried to kidnap children, but they could also skew the truth by saying we kidnapped them and that they were trying to get you back to safety."

Pops agreed. "It is strange. Maybe they're embarrassed that some of their vice-admirals had been offed by pirates and a child. After all, they all knew Luffy, even in that form, is a child. As well as Ace and Sabo. And there's no way to mistake you for being older, especially Luffy, who looks younger than eight." He shrugged, and then added, "But I'm sure the marines will put out some false narrative about us sooner or later."

"They always do," Marco said with a sigh.