AN: Just so you know, Chapter One will be somewhat angsty, but it'll change. I have quite a bit planned for this story, too! =) This chapter will be a little hazy here and there because I'm laying the groundwork for future chapters. Also, if there is anything wacky going on with my chapters, please, please, PLEASE tell me, otherwise I will never know.

Somewhere in the Grand Line, in a dark cell, in a facility, there was a young blonde boy. When anyone would look at him, they would always look at him in pity.

If only they knew, he chuckled darkly.

In that same facility, there was a young freckled boy, if only a little older. When anyone would look at him, they would look at him and laugh.

They'll get what's coming to them, he grinned maniacally.

In the colosseum cages, there was another boy, with long raven hair pooling around him, and most likely the youngest of all. When anyone would look at him, they would feel a sense of loss, yet also a sense of admiration.

I will live, his lips set into a thin line, and he locked his jaw, as the cages opened, and the games begun.

o-o

A shudder wracked through Luffy's body. He had just finished another game and he wanted nothing more than to rest. He looked at his body, examining old wounds and new ones.

I broke my arm again, he observed, same with a few of my ribs.

He looked at his hand and clenched it in frustration. When had he become like this? When had he turned into a monster? He let out a roar and punched the wall, sending cracks through the wall. His attention was stolen when he heard screaming coming from near the entrance to the cages.

No, not the entrance, he realized, they have someone new. He had long since stopped caring for who they brought in, knowing that if he got attached then they would use it against him. When the guards dumped the person into the cage directly in front of him, he turned back to examining his wounds. Decidedly uninterested about whoever was in there.

"Hey.".

Seemed like the person had different ideas.

"What.", Luffy asked, still indifferent about the person.

"What's your name?", and just like that, everything froze.

My… name? he thought numbly. He distantly noted the person in front of him trying to get his attention, but didn't care.

My name? My name. MY NAME. WHAT IS MY NAME?! WHAT IS MY then everything stopped.

Of course, he thought calmly, I am Monkey D Luffy, I have 2 brothers. Ace and Sabo. I won't forget. Not again. Not ever again.

He never got to thanking the person for helping him snap out of his emotionless stupor. Nor for helping him remember who he was. He died too soon in the games for that.

o-o

A maniacal laugh sounded out throughout the halls. One young boy, just settling into teenage years was finding something amusing in the way he was being tortured. In the way he was being branded, and the way he was being used for sick, sick entertainment.

He had an amused smile on his face, as he looked around to see his best friends (read: prisoners) with him. He remembered who he was. It was his only lifeline in this place. He was Portgas D Ace, son of Portgas D Rouge and Gol D Roger. He had 2 brothers. Luffy and Sabo. Both of whom he must protect with his life.

He closed his eyes, and then snapped them open, a crazed look about him, and gave yet another cynical laugh, causing his cellmates to shy away from him.

For 3, goddamn years, he was surrounded by nothing but suffering, suffering, and more suffering. So much so, that he couldn't find a single light in it. The only reason he was alive was because he was too "valuable" to let die. Gold Roger's son has its perks after all, he thought bitterly.

He was being raised as a tool for the World Government. He was fed the Mera Mera no mi, about 1 year ago, and was tortured with it ever since. He was always woken up with ice-cold water of the sea, and cuffed with kairoseki.

In the beginning of all of this, just after they were taken and separated 3 years ago, things weren't like this. He would look into their eyes, eyes burning with red-hot fury, and don't get him wrong, it's still there. It's just… hidden is all. Now, instead of burning with fury, they shone with an untold promise.

One that he intended to keep.

o-o

In a cell, of solitary confinement, lived a young blonde boy. His insides were spilling out, but he didn't feel a thing.

In the Scientists' eyes, he was but a guinea pig. Simply kept around for entertainment. His eyes had long since lost their luster and shine. Now, all that was left was a dull, murky brown, a stark contrast to the sky-blue they once were.

It is such a shame, he thought, that I can't even bring myself to bare my teeth at them anymore.

He had stopped rattling the chains against his cages anymore, finding it so, so, taxing just to get up and use the energy to do an ultimately futile thing in the long run. He closed his eyes, untold horrors replaying themselves behind his eyelids.

The prickly feeling of the Scientists and their needles, the strong smell of blood and antiseptic, and a sunshine smile and freckles—what?

His eyes snapped open and he remembered.

Sabo, my name is SABO! I have brothers, I have hope! I have a family! Ace! Luffy! Garp! Dadan! Makino! I won't forget! I MUSN'T!

He settled down, feeling a feeling that he couldn't describe, having been so long since having felt it in the first place.

Content, he realized, I'm feeling… content. Happy.

And so, he smiled, a wide smile that hurt his face so much. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, threatening to fall, and he choked out a sob.

I won't ever give up. Even if I break, I'll have you guys to fix me up, I'll find you, in this facility, even if it kills me, he resolved, and then rested.

o-o

Luffy pushed away his food with a grimace. His ribs were starting to show, and that can't be good. Not when he has another fight scheduled for that afternoon, or was it night? He didn't know. He had written Ace and Sabo's names the best he could in his cage so he would never forget. Granted, it was in his own blood, so he couldn't forget even if he tried…

He looked at his food again and winced as his stomach gave a painful gurgle. He licked his lips and looked at the food again. Actually, gruel would be a better term for it. It was so disgusting, Luffy secretly thought that it was inedible.

He knew. They didn't know that he knew, but he knew. He knew that they were putting different drugs into his food, trying to find out which ones would make him the most "entertaining". The last one had him go on an upgraded adrenaline rush, and as wonderful as it felt, the aftereffects were not. He had broken his leg that day, as well as 2 ribs and got a busted lip to go with it.

He grimaced again, when his stomach gave another painful gurgle, and he shakily reached over to the plate, and ate the gruel. The second he finished, he felt hazy, what was it this time, was his last thought before he went unconscious.

When he woke up, all his wounds were healed, and the bars to his cage were bent in half. He got out of his cage and looked around. For lack of a better term to describe, it was a bloodbath, a slaughter.

Luffy was amazed and disgusted at the same time when he saw that all remained of the colosseum contestants were bloody smears on the ground. When he saw the guards, sick satisfaction coursed through his veins when he saw how mutilated they were. He didn't care that they died. He never did and never will. In fact, he felt at peace with the fact that they died.

Had they gone back to their families, they would've been hunted down and dead anyways. For them, death was a mercy.

Luffy walked out of the colosseum cells and down the hallway, sensing for his brothers in the process via "mystery power". He got horribly lost anyways.

He ended up walking into a bathroom at one point, and saw himself in the mirror. He winced at his own reflection. He was thin, unhealthily so, short too, but that was to be expected, he was only 11 after all. Or at least, he thought he was.

His hair was overgrown and draped all over his face, parting at only one area to show a bloodshot eye. He looked in the mirror for a few more seconds and then got an idea. He turned his lips up and stretched his face until he was smiling. It was a shadow of the smile that he used to have, and it didn't reach his eyes, but he wanted to be able to smile! Even for a little bit, after all, he wanted to show his brothers that at least one thing hadn't changed.

Satisfied with himself, he continued on.

o-o

Ace hummed to himself. He felt something was different about today. No, he didn't feel it, he just knew. Maybe today would be the day he sees Luffy again? A wicked grin split his face, or maybe today will be the day I get to find him myself. He chuckled darkly to himself.

Every time someone would come to see him, they would laugh. "Oh look! There's the son of the Pirate King! Gold Roger! What a joke!", they would mock him, and he would take it, knowing that there would be hell to pay with that.

He recently finished a few trials. Around 2 years ago, he had successfully awakened his Devil Fruit, causing him to be one of the few Logias in history to ever do that. He was now a literal fire god. Couple that with the fact that he had a scary tolerance for kairoseki, and he was near unstoppable. Really, kairoseki did nothing against him. It was useless. Other than the fact that it chained his Devil Fruit down, it no longer made him lethargic anymore.

Although, that didn't change the fact that he was lethargic and even more useless in the water.

He heard footsteps approach him, and he quickly schooled his expression into a bored one, looked up to see the guard staring blankly at him. Ace wanted so badly to snark at him, but instead held his tongue, instead opting for a thoroughly unimpressed look.

The guard unlocked his cage and grabbed Ace by his neck shackle.

Oh? Isn't it a little too early for another trial? He almost chuckled at the thought, his now morbid humor going into full swing.

He was ready to give a mad grin to the guard when the defining click of his shackles echoed through the silent cell room. Whatever expression he had on his face was entirely dropped, in lieu of a frown.

"Why?", he hoarsely asked.

The Guard said nothing, instead taking out a map, while still wearing that insufferable blank expression on his face, and circled 2 locations. One location was in the solitary cell area while the other was in the colosseum cage area.

Finally, the guard spoke, "Your brothers are here. Maybe the colosseum one is somewhere else in the facility, but the blonde one is in solitary confinement, and he won't be getting out anytime soon, so go break him out, will ya?".

Ace looked like he was about to cry, but furiously wiped at his eyes, and demanded, "Who are you?".

The Guard gave a solemn smile and said, "My name is Boris.".

Ace snatched the map from the now named Boris's hands and sniffled, "I will never forget this! Thank you! Boris!".

Then Ace ran. He ran. And ran. Straight into the colosseum cells. He knew he wasn't prepared for whatever was waiting for him, and by god was he right. He definitely wasn't prepared. In fact, he wasn't even expecting this to be real.

"No…" he whispered.

He ran towards the only cell that didn't have a bloody smear coating the ground and almost sagged in relief when he saw the walls. It had his name and Sabo's in messy handwriting scrawled out in blood on the wall.

He had new resolve now that he knew for sure that Luffy was alive. And Sabo, too, of course. He would just have to go to the Solitary Confinement next. He could only hope that he wasn't too late, and that Sabo wasn't already suffering a fate worse than death.

He ran towards the Solitary Confinement section of the facility while following the map, and coincidentally bumped into another boy roaming the halls. Just as Ace was about the shove the boy away and kill him in order to keep quiet, he froze.

"Luffy?", he hoarsely whispered.

"Ace?", the now named Luffy returned.

"Ace.", this time it was a lot happier that the boy had said it.

"ACE!", Luffy then jumped up onto his unseen for 3 years brother, and gave him a classic bear hug, all the while smiling a smile that he hadn't in 3 years.

o-o

Luffy was decidedly lost. That is, until Ace showed up with a map. Ace was a lot stronger, that's for sure! When they get free, they should spar! Maybe Luffy could finally beat him this time!

Although… Luffy frowned Ace is acting different

And that was true. Ace was acting different, if slightly unhinged, often breaking out into random bouts of hysterical laughter. It wasn't scaring Luffy, though. He had seen much worse.

They were running to the Solitary Confinement and when they finally broke through, they saw a beaten and bloody Sabo sitting in chains in a dirty and damp cell. When said Sabo saw them, his eyes widened a fraction, and then cleared a little. No longer a murky brown anymore, but a darker blue.

Not fully clear, it could never be fully clear, but it was a start. Ace had melted the bars to the cage, and the shackles that bound Sabo. Sabo gave a pointed look to Ace, and mouthed something imperceptible to their little brother.

'Want to go to sea with a bang?'

Ace gave a wicked smile and nodded.

Luffy turned a questioning look at both of them, and rasped out, "If you want anyone dead here, I can kill them for you. I was literally honed to be a fighting machine.", he finished a tad bitterly.

They both looked at him in pity, but then shook their heads, "Might as well try to find our way out of here,", he resolved, "And try not to get lost in the process…", he finished lamely.

"Gee, Sabo, I wonder how we found you in the first place, oh, I don't know, with a map?", Ace said sarcastically.

Luffy let out a chuckle, "Shi… shi…shi".

Both brothers froze and turned to Luffy.

"Let's go! Let's live!", he cheered.

Both brothers' eyes softened, and then their wills hardened. Sabo grabbed the map from Ace and said, "I remember a little about navigation, I can help you with this.".

He opened up the map and announced, "This way.".

After 30 minutes of walking, he stopped, "Wait for me here.", and he dropped the map and ran off.

Ace huffed indignantly, but still obeyed, because, who will keep Luffy under control, then?

After 2 minutes of silence, he got worried, and was about to go check on Sabo when said person returned. He returned in his top hat and cravat, with a pipe strapped across his back, and black noble overcoat. He returned with a battered old Straw Hat and red ribbon. He returned with something new as well.

"Happy birthday, Ace.", he whispered, and shoved a bright orange monstrosity of a cowboy hat into his hands, as well as a chain of red beads, and 2 pins, one smiley and one sad, to pin to the hat.

Ace swallowed and just barely kept from bawling his eyes out, "Thank you… Sabo.".

He shoved the hat onto his head, and the beads over his neck and continued on. When they reached the exit, Luffy was ready to scream Hallelujah. But there was one last guard remaining.

It was Boris.

"Kid,", he grunted.

"Boris,", Ace returned.

Both had a battle of wills for a couple of minute before Boris sighed and pointed to a boat.

"Take that, and go, kid. I'm already signing my death warrant my helping you here,", he muttered that last part.

Ace's eyes lit up.

"Thank you! Boris!".

Sabo hoisted the sails, and Luffy pulled up the anchor while Ace stood at the bow and waved back at Boris.

"I won't ever forget this.", he whispered wetly.

Then, he turned to the helm and twisted the wheel, turning the rudder and then the ship, away from the cage that they had known for 3 years, away from the oppression that plagued them, and the cause of their suffering.

Then he heard a loud explosion behind him. He turned around stiffly and noted that the former facility was no burning. The only way anyone could've done that is with bombs, Ace frowned, so who—his eyes widened and glossed over with unshed tears.

Boris.

Sabo coaxed Ace away from the sight of the burning facility, to the shimmering blue of the sea, brimming with promises of freedom and adventure.

"You know," Sabo said offhandedly, "I almost forgot what the sea looked like.".

Ace gave a warm smile, "Well then, we're going to have to remember.".

"I'M HUNGRY!", Luffy yelled before rocketing into Sabo.

"Shishishi.", he snickered.

Sabo groaned from under him, and glared when he heard Ace laughing like there was no tomorrow, but soon he gave in and began laughing as well. It was the first, nice moment either of them had in a long time. And it sure as hell wouldn't be the last.

It was 2 weeks into the sailing that they realized the real effects the facility had left on them. Sabo was near starving, and nothing could sate him. Meat was always vomited out after a while, and vegetables were simply avoided.

"Okay, Sabo, speak up,", Ace ground out, "What the ever-loving hell is going on?".

Sabo gave a groan in response and stuck his head over the railing of the ship.

"Hell, if I know, I just… blegh… can't… eat it…", he vomited out.

Ace sighed, "We're going to be reaching an island in a few hours, think you can hold out till then?".

Sabo paused for a moment and then gave a curt not, "I think so.".

"Good,".

"By the way," Sabo spoke up after a moment of silence, "Don't you think that Luffy is a little bit… too quiet?".

Ace paled, and whipped his head around. He scanned the open deck for any sign of the rubber-brain, and then promptly paled even more.

"Aceeeee…", Luffy whined near the galley, "I'm hungry,", and the tension eased from Ace and Sabo's shoulders.

"Luffy…", Ace began softly, "Would you just SHUT UP AND WAIT?!", his voice raising with each word, and by the end, taking a distinctly manic undertone. The rubber-brain got the message and promptly shut up.

For about 5 seconds.

"Aceeeee…".

"What?"

"I'm—"

"No."

"You didn't—"

"No."

"Plea—"

"NO!"

Luffy pouted and crossed his arms exaggeratedly. "Hmph, Ace is a meanie.".

Ace was practically screaming at this point until Sabo interrupted him,

"Calm down, both of you, if anyone needs food, it's me. So, both of you shut your traps and man up."

"Hoist the sails and dock!", Luffy yelled out of nowhere. When his brothers looked at him oddly, he gave a trademark grin and elaborated, "We're there.".

o-o

The ASL trio set foot on the island, and saw that for an island on the Grand Line, it was sorely uninhabited. Only a few villages here and there. They walked into one of the villages, subtly eyeing all of the goods, weighing them on a mental scale to see if they were worth stealing or not.

What? They're pirates now, after all.

"Hey, kids shouldn't be around without their mommies or daddies," a leering voice said from behind them. It was a really big, fat, and ugly man wearing a lecherous grin, "In a Town like this one, kids definitely shouldn't be walking on their own, especially females!", he finished, grabbing a pistol from his belt and firing at them.

Luffy stepped in front and shielded his brothers with his body.

"What… WHAT ARE YOU?!", the man shrieked once he realized exactly how bad he messed up.

Luffy frowned. He knew that in his time at the facility, he still couldn't tell who was lying for the life of him, but he knew what people meant when they said something. How ironic.

"Well, first off, I am male," he replied, "Second off, I am a rubberman,", and on cue, the bullets bounced off his torso, rocketing at twice the speed pack to the disgusting man.

Somehow, discarding how fat the man was, he managed to dodge a good amount of the bullets, save one. It nicked him on his face, right under his eye near the cheek. The man froze, why, he didn't know. No one in that town knew what happened that day. They still futilely thought it was a trick of the light.

They refused to acknowledge that a child, younger than 15 jumped onto a full-grown man, bit him, and then promptly turned him into a shriveled wad of skin.

Sabo himself refused to acknowledge that.

So that's why I can't taste meat anymore, he thought numbly, Crap.

He turned towards his brothers, expecting to be met with disgust, only for a human missile to rocket into his stomach, and… words? Enter his heightened hearing.

"Saboyou'reokayiwassoscaredthattheguywasgoingtokillyouand—", Luffy was cut off when Sabo put a hand to his mouth, an amused smile playing on his lips.

"Let's go, I'm no longer hungry.", he beckoned towards the ship, and his two brothers followed.

One week after that, they saw Luffy's aftereffects. It was when they chanced upon an island with a Celestial Dragon "gracing" it. The three brothers didn't know that yet, though, so they split up.

"Hmmm… I wonder where everyone is…", Luffy wondered to himself as he skipped along the pavement. Then he abruptly stopped, a shudder running down his spine.

What was that, he thought, then closing his eyes to roughly locate the origin of the shudder, and his eyes snapped open, dark rage flowing through them.

Now, it is a fact, that Ace has a rage like a red-hot inferno, whereas Sabo's is glacial. Luffy's however, is neither that nor this. It is a looming threat and endless pools of darkness. Like a predator hunting prey.

It was a good thing he was hungry.

He ran towards the town square and bolted through the crowd.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Oi—"

He couldn't care less, when he reached his destination, he saw a fat piece of crap holding his unconscious big brother Ace by gunpoint, and his eyes sparked once more.

A feeling washed over him, not unlike the one he felt at the colosseum, although he was no longer hazy. He could see perfectly clearly, minus the fact that he couldn't control his own body, that was fine.

He slowly stalked towards the oblivious crap, the perfect picture of 'terrifying' and 'predator', and without control lashed out at him.

He grabbed the Celestial Dragon by the head, and oh, now they notice, inwardly, he chuckled darkly, I'll make him regret ever touching my brother.

He opened his mouth, now filled with a gaping maw of sharp teeth dripping black liquids and chomped down on the Celestial Dragon's head, and just like that, the Celestial was dead, not a single bit of him remained.

When Ace woke up, he was greeted by the sight of a widely smiling Luffy before an aghast crowd.

He reached up to his brother and asked with a chuckle, "What did you do this time, Lu?"

"Shishishi," was all he got in return.

"I saw everything.", Ace looked up to see a certain blonde with a grim, but amused look on his face.

"Guess what, Ace?", he snickered, "You're living with a cannibal and a vampire now,", Ace looked at him, paled, and then laughed.

"Come on," he said mirthfully, "Let's return to the sea of adventure".