Ahah, chapter two. Seeing as I've updated the second chapter today, along with fixing some grammar of it, I'm probably gonna upload chapter three tomorrow. Chapter four though—that could happen anytime. If I magically uploaded chapter four before chapter three, you'd never know. Probably… I also changed the rating to M just to be safe. Anyhow, here's the chapter.
"Luffy! Hurry up, we're almost there!"
"Where are you going, Sabo~!" Luffy was so eager to know where they were headed, he kept thinking that they were on a mission for the greatest meat in the world, but that idea was shot down practically before it came up.
All he knew was that Ace was already there and that he'd be super happy once he's there.
"Luffy hurry up! You're so slow!" Luffy then had a giant pout on his face. I'm not slow!
Is what Luffy wanted to say. But right when he opened his mouth someone interrupted.
"What took you guys so long? It's been like—hours."
Luffy gleamed once he laid eyes on Ace. "Ace, it's been twenty minutes." Sabo reminded, with a blank look on his face.
"Really? I—still, you took long."
Luffy decided to intturupt, "Maybe your just dumb!"
Ace looked pricked at that comment. "Who are you calling dumb you—"
"Alrighty then! Why don't we do what we came here for?" Sabo chipped in, with a clap of his hands. Ace stopped his little rant, and all you heard from him was little grumbles of -stupid little brother, -rubber idiot.
"Ace, if you may."
Ace sighed, and pulled out the sake bottle. "Look what I got."
"Sake?" Luffy asked, dumbfounded. Why do we need sake? Luffy questioned in his mind.
Ace continued, noticing Luffy's confusion. "I heard a saying before. It went something like this: ``Those who share a cup of sake, you can be brothers in all but blood." As Luffy's eyes sparkled at the comment, he looked closer at the sake.
"Oh! That's Dadan's sake!" As Luffy said that, Ace started pouring the sake.
"We may not be brothers by blood, but we are by bond. Even if we end up sailing on different boats, our brotherhood will always be true!" Luffy and Sabo gleamed at this statement.
"To brotherhood!"
"To brotherhood!" Sabo and Luffy joined in.
After they downed the cups of sake, they all gagged. "God that tasted horrible." Ace remarked.
"Well it's worth it!" Luffy agreed with Ace about the taste, but he didn't care. He liked the idea of being brothers.
Sabo nodded in agreement. "It's funny, they say blood is thicker than water. But in our case, it's bonds thicker than blood." Ace smiled at that, while Luffy just stood there wondering what the heck Sabo meant.
"T-thank...you. For...l-loving...me…"
…
"Ace…?
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Beeeeeeeeeep—
"AGH!" Luffy jumped up, battle instincts immediately turning on as a nurse was trying to sedate him.
"S-sir! Please calm down—"
Luffy immediately grabbed the nurse's collar, shifted his grip and forced her down to the side of the hospital bed. As he did that he felt an aching in his back while the nurse screamed in horror. Multiple doctors and nurses ran into the room.
"What the hell happened?!" The main doctor, Trafalgar Law, turned to look at the kid sitting in the bed. "Mugi—kid. Did you do this?" The doctor said, motioning to the now knocked out nurse.
Luffy didn't answer.
He had no clue what the hell was happening, no clue where he was, and when it was. Seeing the distraught on the kids face, Law decided to take a different turn.
"Kid, do you know where you are?" Luffy shook his head.
"Can you speak?" Luffy nodded.
"I see. Any reason as to why you won't speak?" All he got in return was a hesitant nod. Then two figures ran into the room, Luffy had a tough time identifying them due to dizziness.
"LUFFY!" They both yelled. Ace was the first to run inside, along with Zoro behind him. Law saw them coming in, and decided to excuse himself.
"Are you alright?!" Ace exclaimed, with a face of worry tinted with anger. "He didn't do anything, did he?!" Zoro had the same worry.
Luffy, who was still mildly confused, slowly spoke. "Who're you talking...about..?" Seeing as Luffy was still injured, he was struggling to keep his eyes open, yet alone talk.
"The doctor, Dr. Trafalgar. Did he do anything?" Zoro asked.
"Umm, what do doctors usually do..?" Luffy said with a raspy voice. The pain in his back was only bearable so much.
Ace sighed, "It—It's fine. How're you?"
"I uh, think I'm doing alright? I feel kinda tired and my back hurts a ton." Luffy then felt his stomach grumble. "I'm really hungry though." Ace and Zoro chuckled at that.
"How's 'bout we get some food later, yeah?" Luffy smiled at that.
"Yeah, that sounds...good."
Then a phone started ringing. "Uh, sorry. Gotta take this." Ace and Luffy nodded. So, Zoro got up and walked towards the door and headed outside.
They sat there for a while till Luffy spoke up.
"So, umm. I know this might sound a bit wonky but uh, where am I..? Er, more importantly...when?" Ace looked a bit puzzled at that.
"Well, we're at the Glade Hospital. And it's April 28th, 2019." Luffy widened his eyes at that, I've been asleep for two days? But then slowly went back to normal as Zoro entered the room.
"Sorry guys, Kuina needs help at home so I gotta go. Catch you later?" Luffy nodded in response.
"Seeya, Zoro." Luffy said as Zoro walked out the room. Ace simply waved goodbye.
"Soooo," Ace didn't really know what to say besides stare at the hospital bed. "you uh, got any idea as to who did this to you?" Luffy twitched when Ace asked the question, making him look at Luffy suspiciously. "Luffy?"
"Huh? O-oh um not really." If Luffy was lying Ace doesn't know how in the hell he was pulling it off.
"Hey, um, Ace? Mind if I ask a question?"
"Huh? Oh, I guess. Go shoot."
"How does it happen when you, y'know, get your memories back?" Okay, didn't expect that. Ace thought, but answered anyway.
"Well, it feels like a rush. You kinda feel like it's a dream, but it's not. It's like you're the one reenacting a movie scene. Why?" Luffy moved up a bit from his bed, now lying against the headboard of the hospital bed.
"I…think I may have remembered some stuff…"
Ace's eyes widened. "What?! How?!"
"I—I uh don't know…" Luffy didn't know how to answer since he didn't have the answer himself.
"Well, what did you remember?" Luffy noticed that Ace seemed more scared than excited. He paid no mind to it though, and decided to answer.
"It was uh, one good memory and one...bad one…" It's not that Luffy doesn't trust Ace or anything, but he just doesn't want to talk about what he saw—er, felt..? He wasn't exactly sure.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Luffy shook his head, and decided to bring up a different topic.
"Why didn't Sabo come? Work?" Ace noticed the change in topic but didn't care as long as Luffy was comfortable.
"Yeah, he got a new assignment and headed out. Needed info on Blackbeard for the Whitebeards. Seems that their fourth commander was sabotaged by Marshall D. Teach, aka Blackbeard." Luffy was surprised at that.
"Thatchy?! Is he gonna be okay?" Ace chuckled, "Yeah, he'll be fine. He's in this hospital as well, getting treated, and from what I know of him, he's pretty spunky so he should be fine. But Luffy, we all know you're only worried because of his cooking."
Luffy huffed. "That's not the only reason! He's super nice during school! And he doesn't mind when I try to eat the stuff he makes, he even lets me!"
Ace chuckled, "Annnnnnd we've diverted back to the food portion of this talk! Proves my point evermore." That comment turned Luffy's huffed-face to a pouting-face, which only made Ace chuckle more.
They continued to chat for the next two hours or so, Ace left shortly to go pick up the takeout he had ordered for him and Luffy. Once he came back they soon continued their earlier conversation. An hour later Ace was about to respond to Luffy's question on how the strawhats were while he was gone, but then stopped seeing as Luffy's eyes fluttered tiredly. Ace decided to end their conversation there so that Luffy could get some rest.
"Alright bud, time for you to get more sleep."
Luffy whined at that. "But Aceee! I wanna talk more!" Right after that Luffy yawned. Ace chuckled a bit more, "Lu, we can talk once you get more sleep."
Luffy's eyes continued to flutter until he gave in. "Fine. I'll get more sleep…" Luffy grumbled. "But you promise to come back to talk more?"
Ace stared into Luffy's hopeful, shimmering eyes. He sighed, "Yes Lu, I'll come back." Luffy still looked doubtful and spoke up. "Promise..?" Ace nodded.
"Promise."
This is Sabo, since you're hearing this it probably means I'm busy and can't get to the phone. Of course, that also means you can't talk to me!
Better luck next time~!
Beeeeep.
Ace sighed, he'd been trying to contact Sabo for hours now. He left a dozen messages until he had given up and decided to call, which was an hour ago. Still no reply, not even a read message! Ace wasn't too worried yet, he knew that Sabo's work kept him. But if he didn't get a reply soon, he would start getting worried.
As he was in his thoughts, a person from behind called on him.
"Ace, You good buddy?"
Ace quickly turned around to see Deuce, his best friend and also the first member of his gang. "Yeah—yeah, I'm good. Just getting a little annoyed with Sabo. Why'd you ask?"
Deuce looked at him questionably, but answered. "Well I'd been calling you for a good while now, but you just now decided to answer. What'd Sabo do now? It doesn't usually take this long for you to answer." Ace laughed and shifted his body to a more comfortable position seeing as he was just turned around.
Once he was comfy he spoke, "Well, Sabo had some more work to do for an assignment. I went to visit Luffy and when I finished I was gonna tell Sabo about some things me and Lu talked about. I left him a few dozen messages before deciding to call him. I've called him numerous times now but yet he still hasn't answered. If this is him getting back at me for eating his cupcake, he's really testing my patience."
Deuce chuckled and went to sit next to Ace. "Don't worry too much, Ace. He's just busy, like he always is. Now~ how's about we go sneak up on Trevor and dunk him with these spoiled eggs I stashed?" Deuce could see the evil glimmer appear in Ace's eyes.
"Mind if I put some hot sauce inside the egg?" Deuce hesitantly nodded, seeing as these pranks backfired often and didn't want to be lavished in hot sauce and spoiled eggs. Deuce told Ace where to find the spoiled eggs, and as he walked away you could hear an extremely joyful Yes! In the background. That signaled that he found the eggs and hot sauce.
As Deuce walked to the kitchen quarters in their hideout for a snack, someone called him.
"Deuce! You son of a—"
Thunk
Deuce looked to the ground, which now had a heavily coated spoiled-eggs-and-hot-sauce Trevor lying on it, wiped out. Then he looked up and saw Miho looking aggravated.
"I thought I told you that next time you guys try pranks, to do it while I'm not around! I don't want to continuously have to save your asses from whoever it is you're trying to prank!"
Deuce sighed, "I thought Ace wouldn't've pranked Trevor for at least another hour. Sorry, Miho." She still looked annoyed but at least she looked more calm.
"Ahem. Anyhow, how was your shift?" Their hideout wasn't well-known around these parts, but dumb gang members would still try to ambush them. Miho sighed and sat down at the table, deciding to take the sandwich Deuce had just made.
"It was normal. A couple of gangs sent their members to ambush us, I sneaked up on them and knocked them out. Teleported them elsewhere." Deuce nodded, he didn't know why but he had felt really uneasy the past few days. "Anything else?"
Miho thought for a moment, and then remembered something. "There was this one member, I think from the Blackbeard's, who kept spewing nonsense about us demos corrupting the world and stuff. Like damn if he didn't like us demos he could've just said so. No need to spew all kinds of nonsense about our race." Miho said, waving her hand as her tail swayed back and forth, clearly annoyed.
Deuce nodded. "I expected more from the Blackbeard's, but honestly this isn't too surprising. Nothing else?" Miho shook her head.
"Nope, sorry Dee."
Deuce flinched as she said his supposed nickname. "I've told you so many times, stop calling me that! Why is it that you continue to use a nickname I had in elementary?"
She chuckled, "It's cute, why shouldn't I?" He sighed.
"Fine, do what you want." As he turned around, heading to the fridge for a glass of milk, Miho spoke.
"Dee, are you alright? You seem kinda tense." He closed the fridge and turned around to look at the woman who had a slightly worried look on her face.
"I—I'm fine. I've just got a bad feeling. Sabo hasn't been picking up the phone, and all the gangs have been more quiet than usual. I don't like this, it's odd." Miho agreed, she had been thinking the same thing.
"I get what you're saying, but don't overthink it. Everyone's been less active ever since rumors about project P.L.U.T.O.N was said to be nearly complete. Nothing we can do about it. For now, maybe finish the pile of work you've got lying on your desk?"
Deuce groaned, "God I know I gotta finish it, but Miho you still got yours to finish as well. You're in no place to talk to me." Miho then got a gleam in her eyes.
"What pile are you talking about, Dee?"
Deuce scoffed, "The pile right there—"
Whoosh
And now the pile was gone. Deuce twitched, "Damnit Miho, you and your demos powers. Sometimes I don't understand why you choose to be a part of this gang and not Red Hair's." She chuckled at that.
"What can I say, it's more fun to hang with you guys than Red. He's too easy to scare." Deuce just sent her a glare and turned around, now leaning on the kitchen counter.
Then Myles walked into the kitchen, looking for a snack. But stopped as he looked down at Trevor, and automatically got an uncomfortable look on his face. "Do I even want to know?" Miho shook her head, and continued to eat her sandwich.
"How was your shift, Myles? You had second night shift as well, right?" Myles nodded, "Yep. Nothing out of the ordinary, just some punks here and there. Although there was something really weird that happened."
That got their attention, as well as Trevor immediately opening his eyes and slowly standing up. Myles jumped a bit and Deuce looked unimpressed.
"How long have you been awake?" Trevor hummed, "Maybe about ever since Miho stole your sandwich?" Deuce and Miho sighed, seeming to anticipate this.
"But no matter, please continue on, Myles." He nodded at Trevor, and started talking.
"You know how there's an empty facility north of here?" They all nodded.
"The one that's been abandoned for years?" Trevor said, with a questioned look.
"Yeah, that one. Well, I'd say about maybe two to three hours ago, a bright light started radiating from that same building. And get this, while that was happening our radar for radiation levels skyrocketed." They all widened their eyes at that.
"What? Do we know why?" Deuce asked.
Myles shook his head. "I passed Ace in the hall while walking in my shift and I told him about it. He said he'd go check it out right away." Deuce nodded, but then noticed Miho shifting uncomfortably.
"Miho? You okay?" She shook her head.
"It's just, I saw something similar to this a couple of weeks ago. I decided to look further into it and found some things out. I didn't think to tell you guys about it because even though it did seem important, I didn't want to burden you guys. But now I think I may have to."
Trevor looked at her and said, "Well, the floors yours." She nodded.
"So, a while back I had repeatedly started getting radiational readings from all over that area, where the facility is. I just thought our computers were glitching and paid no mind to it. But then it happened more frequently and I decided to look further into it. I got some info on the place from Lyla, but what we found out was really weird. We were searching through the building's records, and found out that someone had purchased it about 10 years ago."
"Now at first that doesn't seem too weird, right? But get this, right around that time someone had issued a major payment to Marineford Corp. And that payment was the exact amount the building was bought for. We looked into it and saw that the person who issued the payment was Donquixote Doflamingo."
Myles looked at Miho, not understanding. "That's not too weird though. It's normal for people to owe the Marines money, maybe Doffy just never paid his other loans?" Miho shook her head, implying that's not what was happening.
"It's true that having loans to the Marines isn't uncommon. But I went through Doflamingo's records and it said that all his loans had already been paid off. He didn't own the marines anything. So then, why would he issue that much money to them?"
Deuce had something bugging him so he decided to ask. "Miho, if I may. What was the amount that Doflamingo transferred?"
"Around 3 million." Trevor, who was eating part of Miho's sandwich, choked.
"3 million?! Why would that old banged up facility cost so much?!"
"That was what I was trying to figure out. So I dug deeper." Miho stole her sandwich back and continued.
"I found out that the facility used to be used for the government officials. Conducting experiments, making marine tech and weapons, basically a marine weaponized stash. Then I found out that they started experimenting on living beings. As soon as the higher ups we're notified, they were forced to stop. That was ten years ago."
"Right when P.L.U.T.O.N was being tested..." Miho nodded at Trevor.
"But as I continued to get closer to the truth, the strangest thing happened. My computer had shut down for some reason as I was looking into it. I turn my computer back on and what do I find? All my files on this case were completely erased. Now I thought something like this might happen, but I didn't actually think it would."
"Therefore, beforehand I saved all my files to Lyla's computer as well. So then I forwarded those back to mine, and left a copy on Lyla's. I continued to dig again and found something. It seemed that Doffy had been forwarding money to them every now and then, but this was the biggest payment. I continued on and found out that the government wasn't only working on P.L.U.T.O.N back then, but there were others."
"There was project H.A.R.M.O.N.Y, project S.P.E.E.D.S.T.E.R, and project D.R.A.K.O.N. Now it took a ton of digging but I got the names of who the test subjects were. For project H.A.R.M.O.N.Y, the subject was called Caron Mc'ay. I heard back in the day he was a profitable businessman and suddenly disappeared around the 1960's. Then all of a sudden they found his body in a wasteland, dead from overwhelming injuries and puncture marks."
"Numerous burn marks on his back, ranging from a one to third degree level burn. There were three third degree burn marks on his back, a small one on his shoulder, a big one going down his back to his lower body, and a medium ranged one on his hip. No wonder he died, these were serious injuries. Heck it looked like he got tortured."
They all cringed, thinking about the sight.
"What about the others...?" Myles asked, hesitantly.
She sighed, "I really wished you didn't ask."
She got up and walked to her room. She came back a minute later with a pair of files in her hand. She put them on the table and opened them up. What they all saw was very, very, descriptive files, and very gruesome photos of the "patients" injuries. They definitely regretted asking. Myles looked like he was about to puke.
"Ahem. I have shown you the photos of the injuries, but do you recognize the people?" They all shook their heads. Miho then pointed to the first file.
"This is project H.A.R.M.O.N.Y, subject Caron Mc'ay." She then pointed to file two.
"This is project S.P.E.E.D.S.T.E.R, subject Kaynile D. Clain." After that she pointed to file three, which they all widened their eyes at. Except for Miho.
"This is project D.R.A.K.O.N, subject Monkey D. Dragon. Also known as the head of the revolutionaries." Trevor gave a small impressed hum while Deuce looked at the files in disgust. Myles was shaking.
"W-why would they do this..? And how in the world did they get Dragon of all people?" She had also wondered about that.
"That is something I do not know. But, Dragon was released because of an interference caused by none other than Garp."
"At least he was a good dad for Dragon then." Trevor said, letting out a snort.
"Anything else Miho? Like info about who the current subject is for P.L.U.T.O.N?" She shook her head.
"Whoever their current subject is, it's highly classified information. I called in so many favors and none of them knew who it was, not even a little bit of detail to help. It's a dead end."
Deuce picked up the files with a small hum. "Do we see any occurring pattern to their subjects?" She shook her head again.
"The ages are clearly different, the species are different, and the rashes and harm on their bodies make it look like they didn't all conduct the same tests. There's no relation whatsoever."
Deuce let out an affirmative hum. "Nothing out of the ordinary." As he read over the documents he read fishmen, mink, human, but then stopped as he saw something.
"Wait. If you look at this they all have the same blood type or a blood type compatible with each other." Miho snatched the papers from Deuce's grip, looking over the sheets.
"You're right..." Then she noticed something. "Wait a second..." Miho ran over to a computer they had in the living room. She started searching things up while the rest of them walked over to her.
"Found it!"
"Found what?" Trevor asked. Miho then got up and ran to the office, where the printer was. She came out with several papers in her hand. She went back to the table and slapped them down as the others seated themselves.
"Look." They obeyed and all looked at the sheets. Myles had a questioned look on his face.
"Their school records..?" She nodded at Myles, and then it clicked with Trevor and Deuce.
"They all had the same academic ability in middle school through college. All straight A's through every subject, and all aspired to have the same job."
"Business and persuasion..." Deuce said as he stared at the papers and files lying on the table.
"So what? The marines hand picked them because of their smarts?" Trevor asked, not seeing what the deal was. Myles was confused as well.
"No, you guys look closer. They were all involved with business. Business isn't special but they wanted to be suffice in a certain category. Persuasion. Persuasion is useful in so many things, meetings, interrogations, pacts, war." Trevor looked at Deuce with that same look Miho had.
"You don't mean..."
Deuce nodded. "Bingo."
"They're trying to make a one man army. Weaponized powers, specialized intelligence, extremely heightened senses, conqueror's haki. This is basically the blueprint of a man-made god."
"This is bad." Myles said.
Trevor let out a snort, "No shit Sherlock. This isn't just bad. The marines will have a godlike weapon in their defenses, they could take over the world with that one person. Or thing, I don't even know if we can call that human."
"Is there any other info you can tell us, Miho?" She shook her head.
"I stopped investigating once they threatened my family."
Deuce's head flipped around, it's a wonder how he didn't get whiplash.
"What? What'd they do?"
She sighed, "At first it was just a simple warning, if you continue on there's no turning back. Then I continued to research and the next emails they sent me always said the same thing, if you continue there's no turning back. Until a week later, they sent me a video of my mother's house, my brother's apartment, and my dad's farm all being burned. All that was left was ashes. Then they sent a picture of my family tied together by chains and a bomb ready to detonate in two minutes."
"It was either I continue my investigation or my family pays, more than they already have. I decided to leave it at that."
"Whoever this person or people are, they are really smart. I talked to Lyla to see if she could hack the email's to see where it was sent from, what database it used and where the sender could be. She spent hours on it, and had nothing. Absolutely nothing. We then decided to give up."
Deuce looked at her, worried and with a look that said I'm sorry.
"Look, whoever it is we're dealing with, we're gonna have to be extra careful. From my past experiences, these people would do anything that's needed to keep what it is they're doing. I do not want to get involved with them again if it's avoidable. But if it isn't? I'm giving you all access to all the data me and Lyla collected, and all the theories we conducted about this."
"We're just gonna have to be real careful and take care of us and our family. If this info kills us? So be it. But our families? That's not happening."
They nodded in agreement. But all of a sudden Deuce realized something.
"Wait a second…Myles, you said that Ace was heading to the facility, right?"
Myles nodded slowly, "Yeah, what does that have to—" Myles stood up.
"Oh shit."
Miho and Trevor seemed to understand what was happening. "Everyone get their equipment. We leave in five. If you're not ready we leave without you. Is that clear?"
They all nodded at Deuce.
"Good, any mistakes made on this mission can get Ace hurt. Now go!"
They nodded and all left for their rooms.
We're coming, Ace.
Far away, at the Marineford Base…
"Sir, all transactions and supplements have arrived. Project P.L.U.T.O.N is ready to begin the testing phase."
"Good, how is the subject doing?"
"Health is normal, heart rate is normal, breathing is normal. He is fully ready for the testing phase. Should we commence?"
Akainu nodded, "Commence testing."
He looked down at the files in his hand.
First page
ID: 20192636
Code Name: H.A.R.M.O.N.Y
Test Subject 1:
Caron Mc'ay
Age: 30
Current Status: Deceased
Cause of death: Failure to comprehend tests
Test Approvals: 25
Test Failures: 30
Total Tests Conducted: 55
Second Page
ID: 20369783
Code Name: S.P.E.E.D.S.T.E.R
Test Subject 2:
Kaynile D. Clain
Age: 25
Current Status: Deceased
Cause of death: Overdosage
Test Approvals: 50
Test Failures: 25
Total Tests Conducted: 75
Third Page
ID: 24691918
Code Name: D.R.A.K.O.N
Test Subject 3:
Age: 40
Monkey D. Dragon
Current Status: Alive, but useless
Cause: Interference caused by Monkey D. Garp
Test Approvals: 30
Test Failures: 10
Total Tests Conducted: 40
Fourth Page
ID: 20170505
Code Name: P.L.U.T.O.N
Test Subject 4:
Monkey D. Luffy
Age: 18, soon to be 19
Current Status: Alive, useful
Cause: None
Test Approvals: 100
Test Failures: 0
Total Tests Conducted: Unknown, not complete
Current Test Subject being used:
Monkey D. Luffy
Akainu then turned to one of the monitors. It showed two bodies being held in a water filled capsule.
"Hello, Monkey D. Luffy, Gol D. Ace."
Oh yeah, so something I forgot to put at the end of chapter one, this school system is kinda weird. You know how some school's are kindergarten all the way to Highschool?
This school system is basically that but it's from Highschool to College. Plus everyone has classes that have higher or lower grades with them. Usually if you're, say, a freshman, you would have juniors or seniors in your class as well as the other freshman. Mostly it'll be juniors and freshman though. Then for juniors you usually have freshman's and seniors. And so on so forth. That's why Ace, Sabo, Luffy, and all the others are still in school with them. Besides the fact that some of their ages are altered to where they can be in school of course. Cough cough, Thatch, Izo cough cough.