phoenix: Poor baby. I put him through so much.

izzywolf22: :(

So close to the end! I'm sad! This fic got popular. I don't want it to be over, but there is no sequel. Well, see you next week. Enjoy~

"Why is Marco doing the physical therapy now?" Sabo wondered. Luffy stayed quiet, not having told them about anything that happened the night before while they were sleeping. "I mean, I'm not upset by it, cause Marco is smart, but I wonder why now?" Ace shrugged and Luffy stayed silent, not wanting to lie to his brothers.

He was in the wheelchair, even though it was a small distance from his area and the physical therapy room. Marco was wearing something different than usual that day, when Luffy was inside the room, both doors closed so no one else saw them. Marco had only told Whiskey he had a good idea he wanted to try, and she trusted him.

Marco didn't help Luffy get to the bars from the wheelchair. He wanted Luffy to feel in control, and wouldn't like being carried the four feet it took to get to the bars. "Ready?" Luffy nodded. He covered his legs in the stick, like mud or thick oil being excreted from his skin. It soon covered his legs, from his upper thigh and down.

"Why don't you make some braces for your upper body to catch you?" Marco suggested. Luffy was wearing shorts and a tank top, not a gown anymore. He shot the stick out of the area under his armpits and onto the bar, frowning in concentration as he hardened that part. It was hard to focus on everything: standing upright, keeping his legs still liquidy and having the upper parts of him hard. It was easy doing these things while fighting, but that was him moving naturally and not having to think about it. He look a deep breath and put on a determined expression, eyebrows crinkled.

"Feel the soles of your feet harden," Marco said slowly, focused. Luffy knew he was going to try to help him, even if Luffy wished he could do it by himself. Luffy nodded and did so. "Keep the front and back sticky, but not the bottom of where your feet are. Then, if you tumble forwards, the stick will keep you in place." The boy nodded again and did his best to.

Any other time, Luffy should have been able to do this easily. Now, he was unsure and his powers were showing it. Just like they reacted to his nightmares, they were reacting to his uncertainty. But, he was determined to make any progress. He wanted to walk again. No more wheelchair!

The sick seeped out of his toes and heels, grounding him. Marco didn't need to tell him what to do next, Luffy did it. The stick around his knees was hardened so they couldn't bend or buckle under him. It wasn't going to work to walk very well, but it would keep him from falling. He took the first, jerky step forward, then a second. The stick from his chest slid along the bars as he went.

Marco didn't say anything the whole time, though he watched Luffy like a hawk, ready to help if needed. Luffy appreciated that he was doing what Luffy had wanted. Letting him do it himself, but being there to make it seem like he was coaching. Thank goodness there was no window in the doors that anyone could see them in.

The stick on Luffy's feet became more easy to control the more confident Luffy became in his powers. He'd learned by himself before, he could do it again. Soon, he was walking more smoothly, though nowhere near natural looking. The moment he tried to lessen the hardness of the stick around his knees, he buckled and fell. Marco was there in a flash, catching him.

Luffy smiled for the first time in over a week. Progress! Small, but there nonetheless. He didn't wish to work on his arms. He wanted to focus on his legs, but Marco heavily suggested he do something for his arms. Luffy thought for a moment, trying to figure out something to do. What could his stick do to help the strength of his arms and shoulders. He looked up at the ceiling, which wasn't too high. He sat down on the wheelchair, unable to stand for more than a couple seconds without the help of the stick. Marco stayed at the wall, watching carefully.

Luffy needed to use the stick without using his hands to direct it. But, he didn't have any force to stick the substance on the ceiling. He tried, but it didn't work, there was no momentum to get it up there. He didn't want to ask for Marco's help, but did in the end. He'd still come up with the idea by himself, Marco would just help him with it.

"Will you stick this to the ceiling?" Luffy asked, secreteing good out of his lower arms. Marco easily reached the ceiling by jumping, sticking the disgusting textured goo on the ceiling. It raised Luffy's arms in front of him to chest level.

He kept it there for a good 10 minutes, gradually getting rid of tiny strands of the stick, which snapped back to him and was absorbed back into his tan, stretch-marked skin. The less and less there was to help him hold his arms, the more they shook. He ignored it.

Finally, the stick was gone, and Luffy's arms were held out in front of him. He was breathing heavily, but kept his arms up for a good ten seconds before the flopped back into his lap uselessly. His longest time had been five seconds. After doing that, it gave him five seconds more.

The walking part was more convenient, so he guessed he'd do the arm workouts Whiskey told him to. They were incredibly boring, but for now, he wanted to spend most of his energy on using his ability as a brace to steady his legs. He had a plan now. But, his limbs were exhausted and he was sweaty. It was embarrassing how taxing that was.

"Practice makes perfect, and we've barely begun," Marco said, and wheeled him out of the room, already asleep in the chair. Ace and Sabo worried that Marco had overdone it and that's why Luffy was already asleep. They didn't know he didn't sleep for much of the night, but Marco assured them that he was just tired and not hurt in any way.

"Thanks, Marco," Sabo said slowly. Something was up, but if Luffy didn't tell them about it, it couldn't be anything serious. Maybe it was some new sort of training. Luffy felt useless right now, so maybe Marco changed something than the previous physical therapy sessions with Whiskey and sometimes Tami.

Ace didn't have anything click either, just wheeling Luffy to the library. Since the boys were so strong, one would carry Luffy up or down the stairs while the other folded up the wheelchair and carried that separately. They put Luffy down on the comfy couch, somewhere comfortable that wasn't the infirmary. The boys couldn't wait to be out of there and Luffy to be better.

Luffy hadn't said a thing about the marks on him that weren't fading at all. The boys assumed he didn't care. He was never one to care about appearances, let alone his own. Well, besides the tattoo. It was on hiatus for removal while Luffy recovered.

No one else had mentioned the marks, as far as the brothers knew. Whiskey had told Luffy that the marks may be permanent after a week had passed after the incident, and Luffy just nodded numbly. He either didn't process it or just honestly didn't care.

-x-

Physical therapy sessions with Whiskey had changed to only be his arms. Marco was taking Luffy's legs, so he had double sessions, but with different coaches. Whiskey was usually first, while Marco's followed a few minutes after. Those who practically lived in the infirmaries, the nurses and the three boys, noticed that Luffy always came out of Marco's sessions more satisfied.

Marco was in his office filing paperwork when an angry nurse stormed in. Marco felt her come in with his haki, but wasn't expecting her to be so loud, slamming the double doors shut behind her. Marco jerked up and turned around in his chair. "Whiskey? What's wrong? Is Luffy okay?" Marco asked in a panic, thinking something had gone wrong. He was wrong.

"I have a question," Whiskey said slowly, fists clenched.

"Yeeaahh?" Marco questioned uncertainly, looking at the exit but seeing she was right in front of the door and it would be shameful to run. But, no one ever angered the nurses, and he didn't think he'd done anything wrong. He hadn't injured anyone or anything in the infirmary.

"WHY DOES HE LIKE YOUR SESSIONS MORE!?" she bellowed. "I do everything right, like I always have, but he always comes out of yours happier! WHY?!"

Marco put both hands up in a "calm down" gesture. "I can't tell you, Whiskey. I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone. I won't break that promise and lose his trust," Marco said in a stern voice. Whiskey silenced, but still looked angry.

"Give me a hint, then," she challenged. "How do I make his sessions with me better?" Marco didn't know what to say, but knew he had to reply quickly or something of his would be broken. The man thought furiously, knowing he couldn't tell her the truth but she'd sense a lie real easily.

"I work with his devil fruit," Marco replied. It was the truth, but he didn't mention that he only supervised and that Luffy did most of the work and thinking. Whiskey demanded clarification. "We utilize his fruit, using it as assistance."

"How do I do that with his arms?" Whiskey asked, much quieter and calmer now.

Marco was going to continue with the truth, just not going into detail. Marco wasn't bound by patient-doctor confidentiality, but he would keep secret everything Luffy had old him and the way he "trained" him. That was basically what the physical therapy for his legs were. Marco was no doctor, but it was helping Luffy, so he'd continue what he'd been doing the last two weeks.

"You can't. We tried to do anything for his arms, but it doesn't work as well with his arms," Marco explained. Whiskey's face fell, and he felt bad for her. She was doing her best, but Luffy's healing of his arms were taking longer than the improvement was of his legs.

"...Thanks for telling me. I won't tell anyone else about this conversation. Including Luffy," Whiskey said, and left the room.

The next day, Marco was going to stop Luffy working on walking and instead building strength in his bones again. Whiskey was unable to make any predictions on when Luffy would be better, but he hoped soon. Or at least, major improvement that the child could see and feel. He was still on the wheelchair, and was not cheating by working in the middle fo the night. Luffy had promised he wouldn't, and Marco trusted his words.

When Marco entered the infirmary and looked to Luffy's area, he saw him coloring messily on the coloring book in front of him. He was able to move his hands, but not the rest of his arm. He may still be able to hold a spoon but couldn't lift it to his mouth, which was the main problem. It was just good he was able to use his hands.

"Luffy, did you already do your physical therapy with Whiskey?" he asked. Luffy nodded, and sat up. Marco was going to ask why Luffy was not moving in worry, before he recognzied that face. One of discovery and realization. Marco waited, wondering what he'd just thought of. Ace and Sabo were on the bed, too, worrying about why Luffy wasn't saying anything. Ace went to help him down when Luffy told him not to.

"Let me try something," he said. From his bare foot, the substance dripped out and stretched to the floor. He hardened it, and it buckled slightly, growing shorter and yanking Luffy's leg out from under the covers and over the side of the bed. He toppled off, Marco catching him before he hit the ground.

Ace and Sabo looked shocked, but Luffy had an open smile on. It was a big step in Ace and Sabo's minds, while Marco thought it was measly compared to the progress he was making with Marco. He was no doctor, and couldn't reveal much about it to Whiskey, so he couldn't make any diagnosis, but thought Luffy was coming along nicely.

The hot baths before bed helped after his legs ached. It was a mystery why it had been over two weeks and he still had trouble walking on his own and moving his arms up any higher than his belly button. Maybe they weren't trying hard enough, but Marco didn't want to jeopardize anything and make things worse.

"Luffy, you okay?" Marco asked. Luffy nodded, and told his brothers he'd be out soon. Marco carried him to the room and closed the door behind him. He set Luffy down, who latched on to the floor automatically, keeping himself stationary easily with his ability thick around his calf and knee.

"We're gonna try something different today. Your range of motion, instead of just walking a few steps forwards. We've gotten that down well. Let out some extra stick on your leg," Marco said, and Luffy let some out. Marco was over the texture of it by now. He'd handeld it often enough to be used to it. He picked up a glob of it and stuck it on the ceiling, lifting Luffy's left leg.

"This is an exercise called a leg lift, though it's modified. I want you to lower your leg as much as you can, as close to the ground as possible, and when you can't do anymore, I want you to control your way back up. Don't let it snap back into place," Marco instructed. He held onto Luffy's arm for more support as Luffy did his best. He was losing concentration as it started to get longer and longer before it was useless and now stretched to the floor. "Nice! Can you do the other leg now, too?"

Luffy nodded in determination, and planted his other leg down to the ground sturdy, Marco connecting a string of it to the ceiling again. Luffy did well, but not as well as his other leg did. It was probably because he was more tired after doing the modified leg-lift on the other leg.

Once he was unable to do a anymore, Luffy sat on the floor against the wall, his legs exhausted. "I'll get better soon, Marco," Luffy said in a flat voice. Marco didn't know if Luffy actually believed that or was saying it to make the phoenix feel better, or maybe he hadn't even noticed he'd said it at all.

"How is your sleep lately?" Marco asked, changing the subject during their break. It was gonna be a long one. "Any bad dreams?"

Luffy shrugged. "The same as always when I take the baths before bed. Not there, or at least I don't remember them." Marco nodded, that was good. He didn't need emotional turmoil in his sleep like when he was awake.

"Are you feeling any better emotionally? Like, sadness or worry or fear?" Marco probed. "You don't need to tell me if you don't want to. If you do, you know by now I won't judge you."

Luffy was quiet for a minute. "I'm still sad, and everytime I sit in the wheelchair I feel useless. Ace and Sabo say I'm not, but it doesn't change how I feel about it," the eight year old said, sounding too old. Marco wished, once again, Luffy was able to be a little kid. They'd been with the Whitebeards for over five months and if anything, Luffy seemed even older than he did when he came.

Sure, he knew more about the world but he also had a lot of very traumatizing things happen to him in a short amount of time, with a lot of side effects and emotional and physical damage. Mental, as well. "Everyone's really nice, but I don't feel it. I don't feel Ace and Sabo's love anymore. I think they love me, but I don't feel it," Luffy said sadly, sniffling but unable to bring his hand up to wipe his runny nose.

"That's understandable. Depression alters relationships and how you perceive them. You could be surrounded by people who love you, but when you hate yourself, you don't feel any of that. It passes right above your head. When you get better, hopefully you'll feel all of our love. And you will get better, you always do," Marco replied thoughtfully.

"I can't talk to Wendy anymore," Luffy suddenly said, after a few minutes of silence. Marco made a questioning noise. "Our visits aren't nice for me. I don't think they're helping either. Just make me feel more broken cause I don't feel anything after leaving. I used to feel better after the counseling, but now it just feels like… a waste of time."

Marco looked at the ceiling with a sad frown. This was hard to hear and watch, but Marco was Luffy's older brother now, he had to help him and wanted to. "Are you talking to your brothers, instead?" Marco asked in a patient voice. He noticed Luffy's look of shame.

"They're mad at me, cause I'm not talking about it. It's the same stuff, there's nothing new to talk about," Luffy replied sadly, looking at the floor. "They feel bad cause they can't help me and I'm not getting any better any faster."

"We're in no hurry, Luffy. There's no time limit you have to be better by. There's no deadline for healing. It takes time, as you have learned first hand," Marco pointed out kindly. Luffy looked down again after glancing at Marco.

"I feel like there's a deadline. There's always been a deadline, even when we were on the ship. I had to get better by a certain island. We had to be stronger to set out on our own. Now that we're staying, it feels different," Luffy replied honestly.

Marco responded with, "I'm not sorry to say there is no deadline for you to get better here." Luffy sighed.

"Wish there was…" the youngest murmured. It was moments like this that Marco forget Luffy wasn't even in his double digits yet. He was an old soul, much too old with terrible experiences.

"You can set a goal, but not a deadline. Your goal is to be able to walk within a month, if you don't reach the goal, you extend it. There is no deadline where you are a failure if you don't make it. Goals are helpful, deadlines are stressful." Luffy nodded, and agreed with that goal.

"But, you have to promise me you won't practice when I'm not there," Marco said sternly. Luffy nodded, and promised he would. The rest of that day's session was hardening his legs to the floor up to the front of his knees so he didn't fall forward, but doing squats so he brought himself back up to a standing position, which Marco assisted him with when necessary. The boy didn't complain about it, accepting the help without a word.

-x-

Luffy felt much better having a "goal". To him, it was still a deadline. But that was what he wanted. And with a deadline, he felt more motivated than he was before, which had still been pretty motivated.

He kept his promise to Marco to not move around and practice on his own. But, he could still use his fruit to try and strengthen his legs. Whenever he was alone, which was rare, he would try to coat his legs with the stick and harden it so close to his skin, so it looked smooth black. No dripping goo to be seen. It was difficult to concentrate on. And doing it alone made him sad, but he didn't want to ask for help in this. He wanted to be able to take care of himself when he could. He had been unable to heal his burn by himself so he had help, along with the nightmares and his powers activating during the night.

This was different, he could do this himself, or at least mostly by himself. Even if he couldn't, he knew he had to try and had convinced himself he could. He also did a lot of meditation, which was boring and he thought about stuff, hard to clear his mind, until he imagined hardening his bones, coating his joints inside his legs. He didn't know if it was working, as nothing felt different. But, he was trying to do what he could when Marco wasn't there.

Ace and Sabo were both miserable. They felt Luffy had stopped loving them after all of the stress and depression. Luffy barely talked anymore, mostly lost in his own thoughts and not willing to talk about them. It was like he had just set them down, walked away and never went back.

Deep down, both of them knew Luffy hadn't stopped loving them, and was just going through hard times. Though he tried wearing the poker face, Luffy was very depressed. They wouldn't forget "I don't want to be sick anymore." Those words would never leave their minds.

Ace had to leave the infirmary, crying, one day because Luffy didn't hug him back when he tried. Luffy didn't know he was crying, Ace offered to go get some food for them. But, he went to the special space that they hadn't used in a long time it seemed, since it was far from the infirmary, where the boys lived now.

Marco was in his office, which Ace wasn't expecting when he started crying loudly the moment he got to the room. Marco looked up sharply and turned around. Ace was about to leave, wiping his tears away, when the first mate stood up and hugged Ace without a word. Ace hugged him back and sobbed into his open chest, getting tears and snot all over his tattoo. Marco said nothing about it.

"Luffy hasn't stopped loving you. He thinks you've both stopped loving him because he feels useless and a burden to everyone," Marco said with no preamble.

"We try to help him, but he won't help us. He won't talk to us anymore," Ace mumbled, getting his emotions under control.

Marco rubbed his back soothingly. "When people have depression, they often curl in on themselves and shut everyone else out. When others become upset with their actions or attitude, it makes things worse. The only way you can help is to try to let him know how much you love him. And don't baby him, let him do what he can on his own. If he can't walk someplace, assist him but don't carry him. If he can't use a spoon or fork, don't feed him, support his arm so he can bring his hand to his mouth.

"Luffy has always wanted to be normal. It's not normal to have everyone around you do everything," Marco concluded. He didn't share much of what Luffy had told him, just the very bare minimum, that he could see himself just by watching his interactions with others. Often, he'd tell someone they didn't have to wheel him somewhere, even though he couldn't do it himself.

Despite how fragile Luffy was emotionally, everyone could tell he had quite a bit of pride in himself and his strength, and it was severely wounded with this injury. Ace didn't know how Luffy accepted all the help the other times when he felt so determined to take care of himself. He sometimes wondered when Luffy would truly settle in his ever-changing personality.

But, he and Sabo would always be there for him, whether he liked it or not. Ace would pass on to Sabo to stop babying or coddling their brother. He may be their baby brother, but he was not a baby. The youngest, but not a helpless baby.

Ace left, thanking Marco sincerely, and went to go get food like he was supposed to. It was lunch time, and sandwiches. Ace knew what ingredients Sabo and Luffy liked, so he made their sandwiches and easily brough all three plates to the infirmary.

Sabo set the tray down in front of Luffy, and he held the sandwich but his arms shook when he tried to raise it to his mouth. Ace said nothing as he supported Luffy's arms up while he ate. Luffy showed surprise at it, as Ace or Sabo hadn't done this before. It clearly made him feel better than Ace or Sabo feeding him completely.

The blonde brother looked at Ace, who mouthed "later" which Luffy didn't notice. After the sandwich, Ace let go of Luffy's arms, which slowly fell to his lap as the tray was moved. "You thirsty?" the freckled child questioned. Luffy nodded.

Picking up the water bottle on the end of the table and handing it to Luffy, he did the same as before, and supported his arms to lift the bottle of water to his mouth to drink. Before then, Ace or Sabo had always held the bottle to his mouth like a baby. Ace could now see how being treated like that would be embarrassing and make you feel weak.

If Ace had to have someone feed him like that or carry him to the bathroom, he knew it would hurt his pride. He understood now, and would do better.

Once Ace told Sabo about Marco's suggestion, both began to give Luffy more chances to try things on his own. It made a big difference in how useless he felt. For the better.