"Well you would go to search an enemy ship and come back with a child?"

"Marco meet Luffy."

"And who do we have here?" Marco asked. "Slave?"

"I don't think so," Thatch said. "He said he is the captain's son."

Well that complicated things. It was one thing to kill a lying, maniacal, torturous bastard who had it coming. It was another to do it in front of his child.

"Do you have like a mom or someone we can take you to?" Marco asked him.

"I don't think so." Luffy replied.

"So what? You want to let the captain go just because he takes his kid to work with him?"

"No," Thatch said. "Not when he breaks said child's ankle and chains him to the bed so he can't leave."

"The bruises, those are him as well?"

"It looks like it."

"So how do you want to handle this?"

"I was going to confront the bastard. Find out where this kid came from."

Marco nodded. "We can figure out what to do with him then."

"Do with me?" Luffy asked. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing," Thatch assured him. "We just want to take you back home. But we have to talk to your father first. Okay?"

"You're not going to kill me right?" Luffy asked him. "Usually when people say that that's what they mean." That would make sense since he was on a slave ship. Dealing with someone had taken a different meaning here.

"I swear no one's going to hurt you." Thatch promised and Marco nodded.

"See we have a captain too Luffy, a really powerful one." Marco told him. "And he would never forgive us if we did something so low as to hurt a child. So no one, not us or our friends are going to lay a finger on you alright. That's a promise on our flag. Do you believe me?"

Luffy nodded.

"Good." Marco smiled. "Stay here for a second okay, I need to talk to Thatch, adult stuff."

He ushered his friend away, going just out of earshot of the child so they could talk freely.

"Still no sign of the captain, but he's here. I know it. We got a good portion of the crew, but the stragglers are still out there." Marco informed him.

"And the slaves?"

"We have only come across two that are still alive."

"Two," Thatch asked. "Last I heard it was just that one. The teenager."

"Yea well, I found another. He needs medical attention. Desperately. He left a trail of blood behind him."

"So where is he then?"

"He got away."

"You're kidding," Thatch said. "He escaped you?"

"Not quite, I gave him to James to take back to the ship. Twenty minutes later James had a bump the size of an apple on his head and the kid was in the wind."

"So it was a kid?"

"He looked about the same age as the first one. But he was in worse shape. We need to get to him before the guards do."

"We will find him," Thatch promised his friend. For Rose. They would save every slave they could.

"So, this kid?" Marco pressed. "What's the deal with him. Most kids in his place would be crying their eyes out."

"Oh he is super weird." Thatch agreed. "I have no clue what's going on but everything about this situation is off. I was going to ask if you could take a look at him, I think he might be drugged."

"He seemed pretty coherent," Marco said looking back over at him. He was zipping around the room, running from wall to wall like they had taken him to the park instead of a storage room.

"He seems normal, but he can't tell me anything about himself. Not his age, or family, he couldn't even remember his own name for a solid five minutes. He had to go through the alphabet a dozen times before he could tell me."

Marco looked at him. "Okay that's super weird. You think it's drugs?"

"What else could it be? He wasn't even phased when he met me. If anything, he was ecstatic that I was letting him go outside. This goes beyond just an abuse situation doesn't it?"

"I honestly can't tell you," Marco said turning his gaze to where Luffy was happily zipping around without a care in the world. He did a handstand, walking about ten steps on his hands before collapsing onto his back in a fit of giggles. Honestly the way he was acting Marco wouldn't be surprised if he had never left the room before.

"Hey, Luffy can you come here?" Marco asked and the kid bounced over to them. Smiling brightly.

"Yea?"

"I'm going to take a look at you. Is that okay?"

"Uh, I guess." He looked longingly at the open room behind them. "Want to see me do a Flip!"

"In a minute." Marco told him, gently pushing him to sit down on one of the boxes. "Thatch here was telling me that you don't really remember much. You can't tell me how old you are?"

He shook his head as Marco checked his eyes. "Last name?" He shook his head again.

"Do you know the time?"

"No."

"Do you know what day it is?"

"No?"

"Month then? Year. Century. Anything."

"What's a century?"

He looked at his head first, feeling for any scars. But all Marco found were more bruises. The same with the rest of him. There were no needle marks on his arms or under his shirt just a whole lot or fresh or healing injuries that were obvious the result of being beaten.

"Your father did all of this?" Behind him Thatch swore at the extensive network of bruises on his stomach.

"I dunno," Luffy said looking down at himself.

"Okay Luffy," Marco crouched down in front of him. "Let's start small. Do you remember yesterday?"

"Yea."

"What did you do?"

"I woke up. Ate breakfast."

"You were chained up? How did you get breakfast?"

"I'm not always chained up." Luffy told them. "Only when I'm not in my bed. I guess cause theirs a padlock on it."

"There's a padlock on your bed?" Thatch asked feeling sick.

"Yea, it's like one of those beds that closes, you know." He gestured with his hands the shutting of a lid.

"You mean a trunk? You sleep in a padlocked trunk?"

Luffy nodded, oblivious to the men's absolute disgust. "Except when he has to go to work he put's me in his bed, he says so I don't get scared when I wake up and he's gone. Which is weird cause I don't get scared. I'm not a little kid."

"Yes, your very mature," Marco humored him. Luffy nodded in agreement.

"What if he is gone all day?"

"Then I have to stay in bed all day, which is so boring. I always just fall back asleep."

"What if you have to pee or something?"

"I only get to drink water and food when he's not at work."

"Oh, that's it this guy is dead!" Thatch said. Marco put his hand on his shoulder, trying to reign him in a bit so he could get to the bottom of this.

"So yesterday, you woke up and he let you out of the box and what?"

"I got double breakfast!" Luffy smiled at the memory.

"What's that?"

"It's you know- breakfast but double." He said it like they were idiots. "I get twice the food. It's awesome. Sometimes I get triple breakfast. But it's only cause he didn't feed me the day before because he was working. He said I complained so much about being hungry it gave him a headache."

"So breakfast?"

"Then I took a shower… for like two hours."

"It takes you two hours to shower?"

"No, I just have to stay there for two hours because he locks the door so I don't bother him while he's working. It's really warm so I fall asleep again."

"And after that?" Marco asked.

"He does work at his desk, and I get to run around the office. Sometimes when he is in a really good mood he let's me run around both rooms and jump all over the place. But mostly I have to sit on the couch and stay quiet so I'm not distracting." Thatch had a hard time believing Luffy was very good at that. He seemed like a high energy kid.

"Then I got double lunch and dinner. But I was running around too much after that, so I got put to bed super early."

"Didn't he have to leave to do captain stuff yesterday?"

Luffy nodded. "Yea, then I have to go back in the box."

"Why is he so obsessed with keeping you there. Have you run away before?"

"Of course I have." Luffy said it like they were idiots. "I'm not insane. I don't want to stay in that room all day. It is so boring. But I always get caught super quickly cause the crew works for him and stuff. And then he get's super mad and freaks out so it's harder to escape the next time."

"Your ankle," Thatch said horrified.

"Luffy don't take this the wrong way, but you are surprisingly well adjusted for growing up in a box." Marco told him. "You don't have any muscle atrophy. In fact, aside from being underweight your health looks good. I guess that depends on how old you really are though?"

"What if I'm like forty or something?" He asked. "Whoah! I would be older than you Thatch!"

"You're not forty," Marco told him. "Your somewhere between ten and preteen if I had to guess."

He made a face. "That's no fun."

"So you remember yesterday what about the day before?"

"Yea."

"And the week before that?"

"Yea."

"The last month."

"I think so."

"The last year?"

Luffy shrugged. "Kind of."

"I don't understand what that means?"

He tugged on his hair in frustration. "I don't know. It happened. I remember it happening. Like I know I lived it. But I don't remember the details." He sighed in frustration. "It's hard to explain. You keep saying I forget. But I don't. Cause then it would be like something is missing right? But nothing's missing."

"So you think you lived your whole life this way?" Marco asked.

Luffy shrugged. "I guess."

Thatch shook his head at Marco, over Luffy's shoulder. Not buying it for a second. And Marco was inclined to agree.

"Okay show me your handstand." Marco told him and Luffy jumped up excitedly.

"No way," Thatch said as they watched Luffy tumble around the room. "He's not withdrawn, not socially awkward. He's a bit weird. But overall, he seems pretty normal."

"I know," Marco told him. "He's definitely had people, obviously different people. Taking care of him. I can't explain what's wrong with his memory. His pupils were dilated beyond normal but there were no signs that he was being drugged aside from that. He seems to have been malnourished in the past, but he isn't currently being starved."

"So what do we do with him?" Thatch said watching him run around.

"You were right," we need to have a talk with his father. "No way that monster raised a kid this happy. He probably took him from someone. If we can find out who then we can take him back."

"And if we can't?"

"Then I guess we are going to be babysitting him for a little while."

"Half portions for half men," The guard said as he dropped the plates into their cell. Ace and Sabo would get a half bowl while Luffy always got a half of that. Because, in their words; he was a half of their half. Which meant that twice a day he got a quarter portion of food and water. His brothers, in the truest sign of love, would share equally with him. So they each had the same amount. Which was nice of them. But also not enough for any of them. Luffy felt it the hardest. He had started getting tired and passing out during the day. Usually at work. Sabo was always quick to cover for him. And Ace would take the fall when he failed to salvage the situation.

Ace passed out all the time. His narcolepsy was made worse by the hunger and his injuries he went down once a day at least. At first the guards had punished him as severely as they punished Luffy. But soon it became too much effort for them. After all they had things to do that weren't beating up a snoring teenager for an hour each day. That seemed to lose it's appeal and after the second week the guards would just make him finish whatever work he had missed during the nighttime. But Sabo and Luffy always helped so it never took very long.

Except for tonight. Because tonight Luffy had done something horrible. He had been too hungry and passed out on the floor. He had knocked a lantern over which started a fire that burned through three boxes of stored food until they could get it under control. Unsure of what to do he had taken off. Hiding himself between two barrels on one of the lower levels of the ship.

He stayed there for an hour, watching the thudding feet of guard's trample past as they searched for him. They knew it was him, they had seen him down here. There was no getting out of this one.

He sniffed, bringing his knees tighter against him. If he closed his eyes really hard he could pretend he was back home. His grandpa was visiting him and he was hiding in the jungle. He had to be quiet because he didn't want to get punched. But Garp would just kick him around a bit, try and toughen him up. Nothing like these guys. They would kill him.

"Luffy."

He felt his nose begin to run again.

"Luffy it's me, where are you?" He recognized Ace's feet as they past. His brother sounded scared. That was bad.

Wiping his nose with the back of his hand Luffy crawled out of his hiding spot. His brother turned around, relief on his face as he caught sight of him. "Oh thank god. I thought they were going to find you first."

"I'm sorry." Luffy's lip trembled. "I don't want to die Ace," He sniffed again. "They keep saying they are going to kill me. Please don't let me die." He didn't really know what he was asking for. He was just scared.

Ace opened his mouth; his eyes were soft. And then he froze. His eyes looking beyond Luffy.

"So you want me to die instead of you?" There was nothing kind in his voice anymore.

"No," Luffy hiccupped.

"That's what you're asking."

"I don't want anything to happen to you. I'm just scared."

"Do you know how much I've been taking care of you? Just because you're scared." He snarled. "Do you know how much of a burden you are to us? I would be fine, if I didn't have to keep constantly cleaning up your messes. Ever think of that?"

"I'm sorry." Luffy pulled his hat down over his eyes. "I didn't want you to get hurt for me."

"Well I did, over and over and over."

"Why are you saying this stuff?" Luffy was trembling unsure of what to do.

"Because I asked you to cover for me one time, just one time. And you try to hide."

"You asked me to cover for you?" Luffy repeated stupidly. "But I was the one-,"

"God your stupid!" Ace said in exasperation, running his hands through his hair. And for a second, he sounded like his usual self. But then the moment was gone.

He pulled a book of matches from his pocket to show Luffy. "They might have taken my powers away, but I can still destroy things. I burned the cargo hold, and with any luck I can burn this whole ship down before those idiots even notice."

Thoroughly confused now Luffy tried to come towards Ace. But the older boy pushed him away. He lit one of the matches, throwing it strait towards Luffy.

He cried in surprise as it hit his arm. He brushed it to the floor, rubbing the burned skin on his arm as he tried to approach Ace. Only to get hit in the face with another match.

"Ace stop, they're going to get mad at you." He rubbed his forehead.

"Like you care."

"I don't want anything to happen to you," Luffy insisted. "I'm sorry I asked you for help. I won't ever do it again. I promise. I'll deal with everything on my own. Just please don't hate me. I don't want you to hate me."

"Lu," Ace said caught off guard. And Luffy wrapped his arms around his brother's middle, burying his head into his chest as he started to cry.

"I'm sorry."

And the next second he was thrown to the floor.

"Get Off Me!" Ace snarled.

Luffy tried to crawl towards him but Ace slammed his foot into his stomach.

"GO!"

When he shook his head, Ace kicked him again and again. "Get off!"

"Stop," Luffy cried as he sat up, trying to get to Ace again. His brother grabbed the collar of his shirt and threw him down the other end of the hallway.

"If you don't leave right now, I will hate you forever! I mean it!" Ace screamed.

The thought of being hated by him, forever and ever had Luffy pushing himself to his feet. He ran as fast as he could down the hallway. He was crying so hard by the time he reached the stairs that he ran smack into the railing. He hit the floor with a thud. He lay dazed on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

Ace hated him. He didn't think so. But everything Ace had said was right. He was a burden to his brothers. He needed to get up, he needed to tell one of the guards what he had done. It was the only way Ace wouldn't hate him forever. Even if they killed him. But for the life of him he couldn't stop crying because he was being abandoned by the person, he never thought would leave him.

"Here he is!" One of the guards called out from the top of the stair way.

Luffy closed his eyes, gasping out as he heard the feet come down the stairs. "I DID IT!" He screamed as loud as he could. "I CAUSED THE FIRE. IT WAS ME. I DESERVE TO BE PUNISHED."

"Yea we know idiot," One of the guards said, yanking Luffy's arm back as they pulled him up. "Why do you think we've been looking for you half the night?"

"Are you going to kill me?"

"Yea, probably. You're not much use to us. Especially if you keep doing shit like this."

"Can you- can you leave my brothers alone." He sobbed.

"If they don't interfere, we don't have any reason to." The man said. But he was interrupted by a shout from the hallway.

"FIRE! FIRE ON THE SHIP! Get help!"

"What did you do?" The man swore as he called to his friends. "Don't move." He yelled at Luffy as they sprinted towards the cry.

Luffy didn't move. He didn't think he could anymore. He sniffed once and then again and again trying to get his breathing under control. Even as the hallway filled with the smell of smoke which stung his eyes and made it hard to breathe.

A few minutes later he heard a lighter set of footprints come down the stairs as Sabo finally caught up to them.

"Luffy!" He screamed dropping besides the boy. "Thank god you're okay." He tried to hug him but Luffy pushed him away scrambling back.

"You hate me!" He cried.

"What no," Sabo said.

"Ace hates me."

"Who said that?"

"He did," Luffy said bringing his knees to his chest. "I mess everything up for you guys. He said he hates me forever."

"Luffy," There were gentle but firm hands forcing his head up. "Look at me." His brothers face was pale and there was something close to terror in his eyes. "Where is Ace!"

Luffy pointed a finger towards the hallway, and Sabo was up and running in an instant. Leaving his little brother sobbing at the bottom of the stairs.

The fire was almost put out by the time Sabo got there. The entire hallway had gone up in smoke before the guards got a handle on it. Ace was already on his stomach. He was being pinned by two men as they screamed at him.

"Of course, it was the flame starter!" The guard remarked. "Take the fire out of a pyromaniac and their still pyro. With or without powers."

"Too bad you couldn't die with the fire." Ace hissed at them. One of the guards slammed his head against the ground for that.

"Do you even know how much trouble you're in? We ought to kill you for this."

"No this is beyond us; someone go get the captain."

And something inside Sabo snapped. He screamed as he ran towards his brother. But before he had even made it halfway down the hallway one of the men grabbed him.

"There you are goldilocks. I was wondering where you went off too." The man said as Sabo thrashed in his grip. "Look what happens when you don't watch him closely enough."

"STOP!" Sabo screamed at the top of his lungs. "IT WASN'T HIM!"

"Oh yea, then who was it? That kid? You."

"YES!" Sabo cried. "IT WAS ME. ANY ONE BUT HIM!"

"Shut up Sabo!" Ace hissed.

"Cute try kid, but it was flame head here. I watched him light the hallway up like a Christmas tree."

Sick and tired of this and everything Sabo drove his elbow straight into the nose of the man who was holding him. He heard him cry out as he was released. He threw himself forwards, pushing ahead towards Ace. He had to save him- he had too.

There was a bang, loud enough to shatter his ear drums. And the next thing he knew he was on the floor. For a second, he thought he had been pushed. But then he felt the pain in his ankle and saw the blood began to pool around him.

That was a gunshot. They had shot him. His fingers gripped the wound, instantly becoming slippery. He distantly heard Ace screaming as he was pinned down. And then someone hit him across the back of the head and he crumpled into the floor where he stayed as the world swam in and out of focus.

"Jesus did you kill him?" A voice asked above Ace's screaming. He felt someone grab his shoulder and he groaned in pain.

"Naw, he is just in shock."

"What do we have here?" A soft voice broke out and in an instant the room became quiet.

"Captain," One of the men stuttered. "One of the slaves tried to set some fires. But we apprehended him."

"Oh, and this one?" Sabo felt his hair being touched but he couldn't bring himself to sit up or do anything other than lay brokenly on the floor.

"He's just trying to protect the other one. All three of them actually confessed."

"Three of them?" The captains voice traveled across the room.

"We thought their little brother set the fire," The man corrected. "But it turns out this one was just trying to frame him. Real cold bastard. I watched the whole thing."

"Is that so?"

"What do you want us to do with him? Should we kill him."

"Noo," Sabo moaned, finally finding his voice.

"Shut it you." The guard said hitting his shoulder.

"Killing him won't make up for the money he destroyed will it?" The captain said coolly. "No, he will live. He will just wish he hadn't."

"Please," Sabo whispered into the floor. "Don't hurt him."

"Take him away," One of the guards said.

"Sabo, Sabo." Ace's voice was gentle but insistent. It took a few tries, but Sabo managed to lift his head from the floor and his blurry vision fixed on Ace.

"M' sorry," He choked out. But Ace shook his head as the guards hauled him to his feet.

"Take care of Luffy while I'm gone okay. He isn't strong like you and me yet. So you have to protect him."

"Please don't go," Sabo whispered.

But they took Ace away all the same. And unlike the other times they never brought him back.