phoenix & HOLAA913: I'm very sad it's over, too. My longest story posted, and it was pretty popular. :(

Here we are at the end, 32 weeks from the start. I want to thank the 18,000+ views you all made. Seeing the number climb made me so happy. And thank you for all of the reviews. I'm very sad this story is ending, but hopefully the ending is satisfying. again, thanks for following it for so long. Enjoy~

It was after another physical therapy session with Marco that Luffy tried the hardening around his legs to walk like very strict braces all around his legs. The front and back of his knees were bare when the sides were connected to the black on his lower and upper legs.

For the first time, Luffy walked with his legs bent, without holding the bars. Marco grinned and congratulated him. The boy smiled, but frowned once his legs were starting to fail him. Marco was about to help when Luffy shot out stick from his stomach and hardened it to keep him from falling forward.

Marco did nothing to help, watching Luffy closely and standing close enough to catch him if necessary. Luffy pushed himself upright again, wobbling a bit, but making the soles of his feet sticky to stay in place. He had never had to use such control on his powers, and it was new, but it made him proud to be able to do this even when injured like he was.

Marco made him stop once he was going to try to walk with no assistance. "That's enough for today. No overdoing it, but you've made incredible progress. You haven't been practicing walking on your own, have you?" Marco asked in a stern voice. Luffy shook his head, smiling, even as he was carried to the wheelchair waiting by the door.

"I was practicing hardening my legs like that in bed," he explained. "I wasn't doing anything that would hurt myself."

"Good idea. Do you think it's time to tell Ace and Sabo about our training? Now that you've gotten better at it, you might not feel so embarrassed? It might give them hope, you know, to see you improving not only for your body but also your devil fruit? After all, if you can harden your entire body, you don't need to slash or consume anyone. You can just kick them or punch them and they'll be down. Much less messy."

Luffy looked hopeful at that. "Really?" Marco nodded with a smile.

"I'll teach you how to kick well. When I'm not in full phoenix form, I use kicking since my arms are unusable," the man offered, glad to see a smile on his face. "So, how about letting them in next time?" he asked, getting back on topic.

The boy was quiet for a moment, before slowly nodding. "Okay. Next time they can come in. I'll tell them so." Marco smiled, and said that was good. "They've been better to me, not doing everything for me and just helping me when I need it. Makes me… happier."

Marco grinned. "That's great, I'm happy for you. They're good brothers. Should I tell everyone else to not coddle or baby you? Do you want me to do that?" the man offered. He hoped Luffy would say yes and make everything even better. The boy didn't wait to nod. "I'll get on that as soon as possible. When do you want to start eating meals with us again? It's been a few weeks."

Luffy tilted his neck and just barely raised his shoulder as a shrug. "I don't like how they look at me," he confessed. Marco frowned, having noticed the way he was being looked at as well. It was sympathy, but could easily be seen as pity instead. And Luffy didn't like worrying over him, but it was clear everyone was concerned, whether he wanted them to be or not. That wasn't going to change, even as Luffy shut everyone out.

The commanders were feeling bad about it. Luffy had been accepting their attention at first, but the longer this lasted, the worse he got. Hopefully, with this new training that was improving him, he'd do better.

-x-

Whitebeard stood solemnly in the nurses room as Whiskey gave him the results of the new tests on Luffy's limbs. Since his ability doesn't work well after taking a bath, they could only get a good image of him when his powers weren't working. Whiskey had made sure to keep her findings to herself and the other nurses before telling the captain. She may have patient-doctor confidentiality, but she couldn't hide something like this.

"So, what your saying is, his legs won't be able to function normally anymore?" Whitebeard asked in a sad voice as he looked at the comparison images from right after the problem and a few hours ago.

The bones in his legs seemed to be deteriorating. They were in worse shape than they were before. Whiskey nodded, face showing immense sorrow. "What about his arms?" Whitebeard asked quietly. Whiskey looked much better when that was the question asked.

"I don't think physical therapy is working for his arms, but they're healing better. They will be able to heal and can move them normally. It will take a few weeks of healing himself. The physical therapy is becoming useless as it's making little improvement. You can also tell his arms are healing more than his legs based on the fact that the stretch marks that once covered them are gone. Those are the only places they've healed.

"Though the rest of his body was under stress after the event, he is functioning fine other than his legs," Whiskey explained, reading off her clipboard. Whitebeard then asked if she knew why the arms were healing and the legs weren't.

"I wasn't there to witness it, but from what you said, Luffy used his arms to help out you right? Well, that meant his back legs took all of the weight of his body and the Moby Dick, which is thousands of tons. His back legs just couldn't handle that." Her face looked pained. "I'm worried about telling him. He might slip, Pops. He might never come out of his depression if he learns of this. But I cannot keep the information from him.

"The only thing I could see helping him is Marco's training," Whiskey said.

"Training? What do you mean?" the captain asked, very confused as Marco never mentioned any training to him. Had he been doing something without telling anyone? But then, how did Whiskey know? She looked surprised.

"I thought he'd told you. He's been working on Luffy's legs, though it's hardly physical therapy in a medical point of view. Apparently, he's been teaching Luffy to assist his walking by using his devil fruit. But, whatever it is, that's not the reason Luffy's legs have no gotten better. It's because they won't. And, if he's able to use his stick on his legs, that means his devil fruit is still active, he hasn't lost that ability."

Whitebeard was very disappointed that Marco hadn't told him, but trusted that the man had a reason. Marco didn't keep secrets, so this was honestly shocking to the captain. It might have pained him a little, but he couldn't see Marco having malicious intent for this, and Whiskey said it would improve Luffy's legs functioning.

He would talk to Marco as soon as possible. He thanked Whiskey, and told her to have him in the room when she gives the news to Luffy and his brothers. He left the room, giving Luffy a smile when he watched him leave. Luffy looked worried, as did his brothers. They hadn't been given the results yet, so they were probably assuming that it was bad.

The captain found Marco in his office, head down on the table, looking exhausted and very low-spirited. Whitebeard almost changed his mind about confronting him, but he had to know why it was being kept a secret.

"Son, we need to talk," Whitebeard said, and closed the door behind him. Marco slowly brought his head up and looked at his father with worried eyes, as he wasn't giving him the usual fond look. He was frustrated.

"What's up?" he asked in a tired voice.

"Why did you not tell me you were working with healing Luffy's legs?" Whitebeard questioned, getting right to the point. Marco sighed, probably expecting that would be the question. He looked at his hands, seeming quite uncomfortable.

"I didn't want you to get your hopes up, thinking Luffy was going to heal in no time. He's gotten better while assisted with his fruit, but unassisted, there's been almost no improvement," the first mate explained honestly. "I also told him that I wouldn't tell anyone, and I wasn't going to break that trust. Not with him, with how he is now. I didn't want to make things worse, you praising him might think he's going to heal."

Whitebeard lost any of his anger and disappointment. He wished Marco had told him, but he hadn't done it to lie, he'd done it to keep the trust of a very fragile child. And now he'd broken it, but Whiskey was the one to say anything. Still, though, she would have found out by Marco. "How long have you known he wouldn't heal?" he asked, trying to move on from the secrets Marco kept.

Marco shrugged. "Couple sessions. He thinks he is, but it's only thanks to his devil fruit. I can see it helping him a lot once he finds complete balance in it. Did Whiskey tell you the results of the tests?" He sounded pleading for Whitebeard to tell him something other than what he thought he knew.

"His legs have not gotten better. She says it's from his supporting all of that weight to his hind legs in that form since he was using his arms to help us. I don't know how to tell him. But, he needs to know the truth. And he needs to know that he can do this with his fruit. You think so, right?"

The phoenix agreed, nodding. "I know there are plenty of logias and even paramecias that replace limbs with their fruits. Aokiji lost his arm, but now it's made of ice. Luffy is a logia, and he can use that to his advantage with this. Any other person I would say it was hopeless."

Whitebeard sighed sadly. "Do his brothers know about the secret training?" Marco nodded, and said he'd told them a few days ago. They'd been mad at not knowing, but knew Luffy wanted to do this on his own, and didn't want help. It hurt them, but they already knew he hated them doing things for him. He'd been incredibly dependent these last couple months on others, after living eight years doing things by himself. It was a big change that everyone seemed to have ignored or forgotten.

"Should we go tell him?" Marco asked. "I want to be there, too." Whitebeard nodded, and the two put the secrets behind them, luckily not evolving into something worse. Marco had kept the secret, but hadn't enjoyed keeping it to himself. There were plenty of times he had conversations with others and didn't share, most times.

But this was important. Pops forgave him, and they had bigger issues to deal with, like breaking that poor boy into more pieces. They had to give him some hope, though. When they entered the infirmary, the three boys' eyes were incredibly wide and scared. Both were holding Luffy's hands.

Whiskey and Tami looked up, and Whiskey wheeled out the board to compare the x-rays to the boys. Whitebeard and Marco kept their expressions not hopeless. They had to be strong for anyone that was hurt.

"We have the results of Luffy's tests. Your arms will heal back to normal as long as you do your own practices daily. They seem to be healing naturally but not due to the physical therapy, so we'll be ending the sessions, to let your fruit work its magic on your arms. I can tell its healing based on the stretch marks slowly disappearing, as well as parts of your arms healing well that we haven't been working on exclusively," Whiskey explained. The three didn't look happy, knowing there was still the issue with Luffy's legs.

Tammi took a deep breath and took over. She turned the board around to show the before and after x-rays images. "This is from the first day after you got too big, and this is today." They didn't need to be told that the newest one looked a little worse. "Luffy's legs aren't healing, and we think they won't. When you changed and consumed the ship for everyones' safety, and then used your front legs, or arms, to fight with Marco and Whitebeard, you put that tremendous weight and pressure mostly on your back legs. They couldn't handle it. You won't be able to walk normally like how you used to."

Tears were falling down Luffy's face, scrunched up eyes and wobbly mouth. Ace and Sabo looked devastated as well, both having tears, too. Ace and Sabo hugged him tightly. "We're not finished," Tami said, not wanting them to think everything was hopeless when they had some.

"With the type of training Marco has been doing, your movements have improved, right?" Whiskey asked. Luffy nodded, Ace wiping his nose since he couldn't lift his arms all the way, closer than the beginning, but still not completely healed. "We think that your devil fruit could be used to replace the effort your bones and muscles usually did. There's a logia that lost his arm, but was able to use his own fruit to grow it back.

"You haven't lost your legs. And we don't intend on cutting them off, don't worry about that. You may have had your arm cut off and regrow, but we will not risk doing something like that with your legs. With your skills honed enough, you will most likely be able to function normally, but will always have your powers being used. Just like Ace had to hone his ability to stay tangible at will all the time, or intangible all the time, you can do that same.

"There is hope, Luffy. Don't let yourself fall further. You're surrounded by loved ones, who will take care of you how you'd like," Marco spoke up. "We don't know how long it will take, but we're confident you will be able to use them again. Just more focused."

"What about shifting into his full monster mode?" Sabo asked, an arm around Luffy and rubbing his back.

Whiskey immediately said, "Not anytime soon. We won't risk making things worse. You will still be able to change into half form, the more humanoid version of your fruit, but full form is unknown as of now. You won't be carrying anyone anytime soon, but you can still consume things. Like how you did for Ace when he caught on fire all the time."

Ace spoke up, next. "So, he can still use most of his abilities?"

"Yes. Since he is already quite adept at his fruit, I think that once he gets the hang of it, he will be fine. It's all up to determination now, Luffy," Whiskey replied. "You learned everything by yourself, so you can do this with help from others."

Luffy looked down in shame, and everyone in the room knew Luffy didn't want help. But, he wanted to get better, and if getting help was necessary to get better, then he had to accept it.

-x-

It seemed that the physical therapy on Luffy's arms had been hindering him. They needed to be relaxed and practically limp all day everyday to heal. They knew this because the first three days after the news hit him, Luffy laid in bed and did nothing else, and his arms started to improve. Sabo would read stories, but his brothers didn't know if he was listening or not.

He felt horrible for making them upset like this, but his depression only got worse after hearing about his stupid legs being broken for good. Or whatever was wrong with them. They knew his arms healed by the ability to move better once he finally started moving again on his own. His legs were unable to move, so he didn't bother with getting up.

Maybe he he stayed still for long enough, they'd heal, too. But, a sign of parts of his body healing were the maks vanishing. There were only faint traces on his face anymore, but they were ever present on his useless legs. The nurses and pirates had tried to give him hope, but he was just full of shame and bottled up anger at himself and the marines for ordering that buster call.

Part of him regretted absorbing the ship, but he knew that was just the super pessimistic side, the rest of him thought saving everyone and the ship was a good thing, no matter if he got hurt. It was better than dead or without a home and family again. Well, family other than his brothers. Who he was hurting.

When he'd finally had enough of moping, and making his brothers miserable, Luffy started intense training. He refused the wheelchair and just used other people as crutches while he tried to get a hang of using his fruit around his legs. Since they likely wouldn't get any worse, according to Whiskey, he did his best.

The commanders all heard about it and the information trickled down into their own divisions. Soon, everyone were helping Luffy. Or trying to. Luffy would refuse the help, and Whitebeard told them all to not push him or they'd just make things worse. They listened, and soon things were back to how they were, besides Luffy still being injured.

Luffy slipped out of Ace and Sabo's grasp when walking to the bathroom, and fell forward only for his lower leg to snap forward and catch him. The three stopped immediately, trying to figure out what Luffy had done to suddenly improve.

He sat on the bed, trying to think about what had happened. Ace and Sabo did as well. Whatever he'd done was vast improvement. All night, they were up and thinking about what had happened. Maybe, he would try and separately control the parts of his legs that needed to be used to walk. He also had to work his toes as well, as those were damaged, too. The only good thing was that he wasn't in pain from the injury. Not anymore.

The next day, Luffy coated his legs, only leaving certain parts exposed, like his knee and the top of his foot. The rest were covered. He concentrated and focused on moving his lower leg forward. Then, he focused on bending his foot to land, moving his toes into a position that was natural. It was hard, since he'd never really focused on how to move his legs. It was always just natural to do so.

So, he sat on deck for hours, watching people walk back and forth. It was the first time in awhile that he'd voluntarily gone outside, now embarrassed to the extreme with the loss of being able to normally move his legs. He honestly rather have been burned by hard alcohol than lose mobility. He didn't care about scars or lasting burns, he wanted to be normal and this wasn't normal.

He didn't tell anyone what he was doing so they would purposely walk unnaturally to try and help him. He eventually fell asleep out on deck, and Whitebeard walked over and gently picked him up in one hand to bring to Marco's Special room with his brothers, thinking being out of the infirmary for awhile was a good idea.

After Luffy woke up, he was frightened at first before he realized someone must have brought him there. Ace and Sabo were reading, Ace practicing writing. He was doing much better than Luffy was. But, Luffy had much more important things to learn. Like how to walk again.

He covered his legs back the way he had before, only over important parts, and relied on the hours of watching people run and walk naturally. Ace and Sabo noticed him standing up and were on either side to help him, though didn't touch him so he could try on his own first, and then would help if he ended up needing it.

Closing his eyes to concentrate, Luffy controlled the stick on his left thigh to move up and forward, then for his calf to move forwards, foot up and then bent down, toes in a position to set it back down. He was now one foot further towards the door.

Ace and Sabo stayed quiet, though they felt like cheering, so that Luffy could focus. He had trouble staying on balance when he did the other leg the same, and made the sole of his left foot stick to the ground.

Five more steps and Luffy was at the door. He couldn't tell if he'd moved, eyes closed as he was so concentrated on making the hardened stick move on its own, just dragging the parts of his legs with them. It was incredibly difficult.

He finally fell when he timed it wrong, and Ace and Sabo caught him before he hit the wall. "Ace, Sabo… I walked," Luffy said in a hush, like he wasn't able to believe it. Sabo and Ace hugged him in a group hug, telling him how amazing he was. Luffy sniffled and soon he was crying out in relief. He could walk again, he wasn't going to be on a wheelchair the rest of his life! He could do it! And by himself, no one taught him to do it like that.

Marco helped a lot, though. He was the first one to point out using his devil fruit to help himself. And it had worked.

The three didn't tell anyone, wanting to make it a surprise when Luffy was able to do it longer. To walk out on deck and confuse everyone. It looked like Luffy wore armor when he walked using his fruit. The three kept his practice to themselves, using the physical therapy room with permission so they could figure it out themselves. The nurses didn't know how far along Luffy was, though. It was a miracle. No, it was how powerful Luffy was, and smart.

After he was able to walk across the room, he focused on running. It was near impossible to run as he was now, since he fell every time. But, the success of walking a good distance had lifted his spirits immensely. And having his brothers with him but not helping with everything lifted him up even higher.

He felt empowered, and hopeful that he could again run some day. He could play tag. He just needed to practice enough that it became natural to use it without having to have all of his concentration on it.

After Luffy was able to walk twice there and back across the room without losing concentration, face red from how focused he was, they decided to show someone. Well, everyone. They had been keeping to themselves for the last week that almost no one saw them outside anymore, or passed them in the hallways.

Everyone was probably worried, and wishing to know how he was doing. They would know, that day. Maybe everyone would stop worrying about him; it was increasingly annoying and uncomfortable. Something good about this whole thing was that he didn't focus on his past trauma after being so miserable about something else.

The three knew that the trauma may come back once he didn't have his entire brain focused only on improving physically, but Luffy would welcome the nightmares with open arms if it meant he moved on from this disability.

Be brave and try to move on.

Ace went out of the infirmary after eating breakfast in bed with his brothers, like usual, and checked out to see if Whitebeard and a lot of other people were on deck. They were, and Ace excitedly ran back to the room housing his precious brothers. Luffy was grinning, something that had been absent for far too long.

He was also excited that he was far enough along that he had it down, it just wasn't automatic yet, that he could try using his powers in other parts of his body while focusing on his legs, too. He would need to learn to do that to be anywhere near how he was before the buster call. Sabo carried Luffy on his back to the deck, and set him down in the doorway. He formed the strategically placed plates of hardened stick on his legs and bare feet, which would be bare for awhile, and confidently walked out onto deck.

Whitebeard was first to notice them, and boomed out laughter, but the boys knew he was just happy, he wasn't laughing at Luffy. Some turned to him, wondering what set him off, before others noticed Luffy walking over, though his face was a bit red from concentrating only on the move of his legs and feet.

Nobody spoke for a few seconds before cheers erupted, not startling Luffy with it's suddenness. Luffy smiled a wobbly smile, small though it was, no one but his brothers had seen it in many weeks. Luffy kept walking until he was standing in front of Whitebeard, who was grinning down at him.

"I'm amazed, son. Did you come up with this yourself?" he asked loudly, everyone listening. Luffy shrugged, which was much easier to do now than it was a couple weeks ago.

"Marco started it all, but I came up with this," he said looking down at his feet. The concentration broke and Luffy wobbled forward until a huge hand caught him. "I still have to concentrate a lot on it and it's still kinda hard," he explained. "But… Pops, I can walk again. No more wheelchair."

Ace and Sabo ran over and hugged him, beaming as well. He may still not be back to how he was before the buster call, but Luffy was smiling and walking and hoping again, and that was more than what anyone could ask for now.

-x-

Luffy ran across the deck in a game of tag, making loud, clacking thuds as his hardened feet hit the deck. He was still going barefoot, but a month after he first walked, Luffy was able to run. He was able to jump. He was incredible and no one knew the extent of his improvements. The crew was amazed, as no one had made such progress on their devil fruits as Luffy had in such a short amount of time.

The day before, was the first pirate battle that Luffy was allowed to take part in after the buster call. He was watched closely by those around him in case he had a moment of weakness, but he used the weaker pirates as practice dummies for using the very hard plates on his legs to kick up high enough to reach their crotch with what felt like metal and not someone's bare foot.

Since he'd learned to control the movement of his stick without any momentum, he was able to move it out of his body in purposeful directions, sometimes grabbing the pirates to powerfully throw them into the sea and so far out they could no longer be seen.

Every day, Luffy grew happier. It was like every single step he took was one tiny inch up a ladder he was getting nearer and nearer to the top of. His arms were all better, but he was still not allowed to turn into the full beast form, and he was fine with that. After all, he had no one to kidnap and preferred beating people than to slashing them open or crunching them and spitting them out, soaking himself if their sticky blood.

The tattoo steadily disappeared with Izo's work, making Luffy feel like he'd been shackled to his old life with that mark, and now it was gone.

With Luffy back in action, able to function on his own, Ace and Sabo stepped up their game, wanting to catch up to their brother. They sparred every day, while Luffy focused on manipulating his extended stick, which he could harden easily in only some places while the rest were sticky. Ace's fruit abilities were impressive for how he'd only had it for about six and a half months.

Sabo had become used to the weight of his jitte and was better at using it as an extension of his arm and not a weapon he was holding.

Days on the Moby Dick were no longer too long. They passed quickly as Luffy had fun and his brothers grew stronger. The youngest hadn't had a single nightmare in three weeks. Maybe it was his mind and body telling him they didn't want baths because then he would become imobile, and he never wanted to feel that again. Ever.

The pieces of Luffy that hadn't been put back together yet were held in his family's hands, waiting to help return them to their places. That's what they were there for, and the brothers finally felt like they belonged to a family.

The youngest had still not gone to see Wendy anymore, since he felt he didn't need to. Some suggested he still went, but he didn't want to and no one made him. Luffy thought that not having nightmares or being scared of loud noises meant the trauma was gone, but that wasn't the case. He was still afraid of meeting new people, and averse to the extreme to killing and especially drawing any blood. But, he thought he was better and no one wanted to correct him. Not so soon, at least.

Luffy, since he'd set foot on the Moby Dick, had been hurt by event after event, damaging his mind and body in the process, but it was losing something as significant as the ability to walk, and overcoming something that would be impossible for someone else made him see the self-worth he had realized he'd had. It couldn't have been done without his family to help, but he accomplished something he'd always remember.

It made him content, and it freed his brothers from constant worry and sadness. The Whitebeards couldn't be happier and, after the buster call, had made it abundantly clear that Luffy would not act on his own anymore when it came to fights or battles.

Luffy listened to his father and captain, and did as he wished, letting his family, new and old, protect him when he needed it. He wasn't alone, and wouldn't be ever again, even if the boys did decided to leave in five years.

Whitebeard was pretty sure they'd choose to stay after all that happened. And if they didn't, that was their choice and the crew would miss them dearly. The boys had just tasted freedom less than seven months ago - were still healing in many ways -, and no one would take that away from them. It was out of the question.

The End.