The food at UA was delicious. Even if Luffy didn't eat a lot, he did enjoy it. Zoro and Sanji scarfed theirs down and got seconds and then thirds. Nami, Franky and Hiyori were sitting at the table with them. They could see Kid eating like a monster, too, at another table. The cafeteria was big, and there were a lot of other students from the other studies: general studies, business and support.
The groups didn't mingle. Luffy was glad the class was small, that there wasn't another class. Less people was better. It was the third day and Luffy felt he had a good feel for the others' personalities.
Franky was outgoing and cheerful. Nami was sweet to people she liked and snappy to people she didn't. Hiyori was in a one sided competition with Hancock to be the prettiest one in the class. Hiyori didn't seem to care, but Hancock was really after it. She was bossy and over all, not too pleasant. Kid laughed a lot, but mostly at the expense of others. Killer was quiet, and wore a mask over his face. Maybe he had something wrong with it and that's why he was allowed to wear it.
Tashigi was nerdy and followed the rules to a T. Zoro didn't like her. Robin was quiet but pleasant. She had a sort of morbid sense of humor, but wasn't mean. Kiku, was also quiet, and hung out with Hiyori. Vivi was really kind, and clicked with Nami well. Then there were the Three Jis. All three of them fit the same description: mean and conceited. The class disliked them, including Kid, who was rude sometimes, too. Law seemed kind of lonely and didn't sit with anybody else.
He felt he had a good grasp on them, and that relaxed him. That they wouldn't spring any surprises on him. There was only one person that openly pitied him, looking at him sadly every time he saw her. Tashigi. And that was probably why Zoro disliked her. Sanji just liked all of the girls.
Puberty hit him differently than Zoro and Luffy apparently. He liked girls. Zoro and Luffy had no interest. Zoro said a woman would slow him down and hinder his growth and strength. Luffy just didn't know if it was possible, so didn't ever consider it. It didn't make either of them sad, though. So that was a relief.
Three Jis were still doing lunch detention, which was cleaning up the bathrooms. For other teachers, it was picking up trash. Marco seemed to want to make it clear that, if you didn't follow his directions, you'd have a punishment worse than the other teachers.
Shanks was Luffy's favorite teacher. He was nice to him, and just seemed like a happy person. Like a Rayleigh times 3,000. He was always positive in the morning when many were tired. It was still hard for a lot of the class to get used to the school schedule, no longer summer break schedule.
So, Shanks gave each of the sleepy students an all-natural caffeine powder they could put in their water. He swore that it was tested and safe. And it worked. The students were raring to go by late morning.
Luffy was in his costume, just coming out of the changing room, and rolling up the neck of his suit to cover the scars and rings around his neck by rope and the main enemy's string power. It was the thinnest scar, but also one of the deepest. It had cut off his circulation more than the rope had. But it was hidden as it was at the base of his neck and out of sight most of the time. When he rolled it up, he looked around and saw Law staring at him with wide, horrified eyes. Luffy was surprised by this. What's wrong? he signed.
"Nothing," Law said and walked away. Luffy wondered if he'd done something embarrassing. Should he be embarrassed? He looked down at him and saw there was nothing wrong with his clothes; his suit hadn't ripped anywhere. He didn't know what the problem was, but Zoro coming to get him distracted him.
Marco's lessons were grueling. He graded easily, though, and all who'd told the truth on their reports of the first day got 100%. He forced them into teamwork a lot. And it made sense. The Whitebeards were one of the biggest agencies and known for being team oriented. It only made sense for Marco to teach them like that.
But, even the three fit teens left school tired. Yet, they pushed through it. No pain, no gain. But his mom banned him from exercising more than twenty minutes if he got two hours of exercise at school. "It's not healthy to over exercise. Okay?"
He had been a bit unhappy, but followed her directions.
It was a week later, a week of finding out that people really can be nice and accepting of him, when Law finally came and talked to him about avoiding and never looking at him. It made Luffy feel like he'd done something wrong, and would make him very upset if he didn't have others to distract him.
And he still didn't know what the problem had been in the first place. "Can I talk to you?" he asked after Luffy was going to walk off the campus and teleport home. Still, no activity in Japan, but Roger still made him only go to school and home. Well, at least if anybody asked him to go anywhere, he had a valid reason why he couldn't.
Luffy nodded and they walked to a bench. Luffy really didn't know what he wanted to talk about. They sat down, a little over a foot of distance between them since the bench was pretty long. "It might be too forward for me, and you can say no if you want." Luffy was growing nervous. Law looked uncomfortable, too. "Where did you get the thin, ring scar around your neck? What did it?" He sounded desperate for the answer. Luffy didn't know why he wanted to know, but everyone already knew he was tortured. He wasn't asking what it was like, and him asking didn't make him relive that moment. Sometimes mentions of them still freaked him out. But this didn't.
A villain's power was making strings and moving them around. He wrapped it around my neck. I don't remember his name, and his face is fuzzy. I just know he had glasses and a mean grin.
Law looked like he was almost expecting this answer, and deflated. Luffy asked why he wanted to know. Law always wore long sleeved shirts, all the times he'd seen him before school. He lifted his right sleeve, and showed a thin, ring scar around his bicep. Luffy's eyes widened. "It seems yours was much worse than mine."
Luffy didn't want to pry. He wasn't going to ask Law for specifics. Law probably knew more about the villain, but Luffy didn't want to know anything about him. Don't tell me about who it is, please. "I won't. How old were you?" Luffy made seven fingers, and Law looked shocked for a moment before he cooled himself. "I was ten."
There was a moment of silence before Law got up and said he was going home. "Please don't tell anybody." Luffy nodded, and Law walked away before Luffy disappeared, himself.
When he got home, he went to the bathroom to look in the mirror, taking his shirt off and peeling the tape on it down enough to see his neck. He looked at the thin ring. It had by far not been the most painful of the torture. That went to the chemical burns, whatever chemical it had been. Those had been the worst. The scars from the little strings were not painful.
The stab wounds were worse than they were. If Law only got the small rings, then he was let off easy. But Luffy didn't know what the rest of his body looked like. He could have a ton of scars, too. If he did, if he went through something similar to Luffy's treatment, then he had handled it much better than him. Well, Law had been older, even if it was only three years.
Plus, they were different people with different pasts and personalities. He shouldn't compare himself to Law, but he couldn't help it. He could speak. Luffy couldn't. But Law did seem lonely, and had no friends with him. Maybe they could be friends. He felt Law would reject it, but might as well offer, right?
If Law was tortured like Luffy, even if it wasn't as bad, maybe they could be friends through their shared trauma, even if it affected them differently. He couldn't tell anybody, wouldn't reveal Law's secret, so he thought about it by himself. He figured out what to do by himself. It was hard, since he always had more opinions along with him.
The next day, Law was no longer staring at him in horror. But he still did stay away. He looked exhausted, and never took the packets from Shanks, saying they tasted like shit. Luffy wanted to give him a peace offering. It was only the second week of school, so starting early might make it easier to eventually be friends. Even if they weren't close.
Luffy told his two best friends at lunch to cover for him. He had to go get something. "You can't go off campus," they reminded him. I'm allowed to be at home. I'll only be gone a minute, okay? They looked uncomfortable, but agreed.
He teleported home, sneaking through the house until he found his mom wasn't there. Nobody was. He went to the utility room fridge, which held a stash of soda and other flavored drinks. He got a bag and three different types of Starbucks bottled Frappuccinos. They had three flavors only, so hopefully Law would like one of them.
He easily went back to school, appearing a few feet away from Law. He held out the bag. Law frowned and took it slowly, suspicious. You don't like the stuff Shanks gives out. We only had three flavors at home. Hope you like one of them. And then he left, not wanting to pressure Law into responding. He already seemed uncomfortable around him.
"Where'd you go?" Zoro asked. Lunch was just declared over. Home. I got some drinks for Law. He seemed tired so I got some bottled Starbucks stuff. "Why?" Luffy shrugged before signing that he seemed lonely.
Zoro and Sanji smiled. "You're doing so well here," Sanji commented. Luffy's face went red. So far. "So far," Sanji sighed. They all knew things could get bad. This was just the beginning, but it was going well so far.
For hero training that day, they would be in teams for a stealth mission. In one of the largest buildings, they had to make their ways to the top without making enough noise to trip the system. If they were too loud, they failed. They only passed if they made it to the top button and pressed it.
Both members had to get there. So Luffy's power was useless. He was teamed up with Law, surprisingly. He seemed more comfortable, though, as they started. Luffy was absolutely silent like always, but couldn't use his powers at all. It would be useless to go on his own. Law signed to Luffy that his power wasn't in range to get to the top.
There came a moment when there was a small hole in the wall that they had to climb through. Luffy went first, and then teleported with the unattached wall outside, dropping it and then going back to Law, who could get through silently now. He was a lot taller than Luffy, so his small size was helpful.
Marco really wanted nobody to win with this. They had to crawl through vents. Law took off his over shirt and silently ripped it to pieces and tied around his shoes so they wouldn't clack on the floor. Luffy had taken his boots off at the start.
They made it through the vents and Luffy dropped down. Law came down next, landing on Luffy to not make noise. They went back up the stairs, careful to not step on the broken one they knew was there. They avoided it, seeing the cracks easily. Then there was a damn elevator they had to go through. It was jammed, though. They still weren't high enough for Law to transport both of them to the top.
They climbed through the hatch and then to the ladder, only it could only hold one person. Luffy climbed the wire silently, easily. When they got to the top, Luffy's leg slipped and he didn't have time to think to teleport as his side slid down the sharp cover of the broken ring. It didn't break the skin, and he sighed. He was unhurt.
But Law was staring at his rip with eyes or horror, his hands over his mouth. Luffy looked down and realized it was open and showing his side, all of his charred and damaged skin on show. He put his finger over his lips, not wanting to be given away and lose.
Law took off his shirt and tied it around Luffy's chest so it blocked the cut. He thanked him and they continued their way. Luffy's face was sad, ashamed. Everyone had seen it, right? Well, maybe none of the cameras had seen it. Hopefully. He hoped Law wouldn't pity him, now.
They finally got to the sixth of nine floors and Law transported both of them up with his blue dome-thing. Luffy pressed the buzzer. They won! He let out a sigh. "Keep that for now," Law said in a quiet voice. Luffy thanked him again and put the shirt on, which covered the cut completely.
"Good job, guys," Marco's voice said. "Come to the viewing room for the next group's turn." They went through the other staircase that had no blockages on it, and walked down it, Law silent. He had seen it and probably understood that it was his entire left side if he hid his arm and leg, as well as the burn reaching up his neck and onto his face. If he thought all of the cuts all over him were bad, he thought it was even worse after seeing the burn directly.
Nobody had seen any of it besides his face and neck. Maybe everyone figured he was covering himself on the left side for a good reason. But suspecting was a lot different than actually seeing it. When they got to the room, Kiku wondered why Luffy was wearing Law's shirt. And many were staring at him. Law wasn't skinny. But he also didn't have any scars like Luffy thought he would.
Hopefully that meant his torture wasn't that bad in the long run. "Luffy's suit ripped." Luffy nodded.
"Why does that matter?" Ichiji asked.
Zoro said, "None of your business," curtly. Luffy sat down at the back wall to watch the other matches. Most of them failed. Marco made it way too complicated for many of them. The groups with only girls did better than the groups only guys or with one guy. They hadn't been patient and silent like Luffy and Law had been.
After class, Marco asked for Luffy to leave his briefcase with his costume on the desk of their room so it could be fixed. "It'll probably take longer than overnight, so bring exercise clothes for tomorrow, okay? And don't worry, the camera didn't see what is under your suit. Nobody saw."
Luffy let out a breath of relief and signed a thank you. He teleported back to the school building and changed into his uniform before teleporting back to Law with his shirt. Thank you.
"Yeah," Law replied. Luffy disappeared, going home and laying on the couch, face first. Nobody else was home. He was humiliated. He knew it was only Law, and he wouldn't tell anybody about it, but still. Somebody else had seen his completely wrecked skin. It looked disgusting and terribly painful.
It didn't look anything near as bad as it had in the beginning before the skin grafts and healing, but it was still bad and would stay bad. He pulled up his shirt and looked at his stomach. The burns almost reached his belly button and spine. And it made sense since they just doused it at his side, covering his left side like they wanted.
Then he had a flashback to looking at the tub of yellow liquid they had, the fear of not knowing what it was. He had stopped crying and screaming by then, completely silent. The burns had been near the end of the three days.
He remembered feeling his skin sizzle and burn before he felt nothing. He just felt weak and ill. By then, he was already beyond broken. The burns weren't necessary if they wanted to break him. Luffy eventually calmed himself down, all alone, but it took a good fifteen minutes of rocking back and forth, eyes squinted shut tightly.
When his family came home, of course he told them about that. Not about going home for drinks, about being exposed, Law's reaction and response, and going home to have a violent flashback, ripping through his mind and overtaking his senses completely. Rouge hugged him in her arms on the couch. He was 15 now, but he was still the baby of the family, her baby.
Roger was not back yet, but Ace and Sabo were. The whole family was sad for him the rest of the night. Zoro and Sanji had texted him, but he'd said he didn't want to talk. They did as he asked and didn't message again.
-x-
"So, what's on your left side, huh?" Ichiji asked, voice mocking, while they ate. Law was sitting with them now, nobody saying a thing about it. Ichiji had walked by. Luffy glared at him, not liking him bringing this up. Or talking to him at all. "You don't want to show us?" he taunted.
Zoro, Sanji and Law all jerked up threateningly, but this was just taking it too far for Luffy. He may be shy, but he was not going to tolerate somebody attempting to push this particular button. He teleported to Ichiji, and grabbed him, leaving with him and then landing in the same spot. Luffy pushed him away as he reeled from the dizziness before he vomited in front of the whole school.
Luffy just glared down at him before leaving the table and teleporting out of the room, hearing the laughing from his class, mostly the guys laughing. He was then on the roof, sitting alone. He brought his knees to his chest, gripping his left leg. He was up there for a good hour, not even noticing he missed hero class completely.
He was lost, and hadn't noticed the passage of time. So, when the school bell rang, he was shocked and horrified. Marco would be angry and he'd get some sort of embarrassing detention. He was about to leave when a huge blue bird landed on the roof. Luffy looked down. I'm sorry. I didn't notice how long I was up here.
"I heard about what happened with Ichiji. I understand why you wanted to be alone. I know what happened to you, as I was briefed as one of your teachers. Are you going to therapy?" Luffy nodded. "Well, if you want to talk to me anytime, you're welcome to. I will give no punishment today. I'm not heartless, even if I put you all through rough training. But you can't run away when someone is mean. You have to stand your ground. And you did. Which is good, but you can't let them win."
I have to leave sometimes. Having a PTSD flashback would be worse than anything. "If that happens, go to my office. It will be a quiet and empty place. It's shared with Shanks, but he's understanding and kind as well." Luffy signed he knew that. Thank you. "You're welcome. I'll see you Monday." Luffy nodded.
He teleported to class and got his things. His suit wasn't repaired yet. He put on his backpack and left before he saw anybody else. He hated the Three Jis. At least he humiliated Ichiji in front of everybody. He deserved it for acting how he did. He appeared on his couch, looking at the ceiling. He wondered what he'd be like now if he hadn't gone through the nightmare. He went to the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror, in the spot his face could be seen. He forced a painful grin.
Trying to mimic those painful photos of him from before. Thick tears streamed down his face as he stared at the forced and false smile. It felt so unfamiliar. The last time he'd truly grinned was two years ago. Even as he improved, he was nowhere near normal. He wiped his tears away, but they stayed, and were there to stay, it seemed.
There was a knock on the front door, and he tiredly went to the peephole to see Zoro and Sanji. He didn't want to see them, but they came all that way to see him. They probably knew he wouldn't want them to come if they had texted him and asked. He wiped his eyes fiercely and made them stop. Forced them to stop and adopted a blank look.
He opened the door a crack. "Hey, Luffy," Sanji said sadly. Luffy's gaze looked away. I don't want to talk today. "Can we at least tell you what happened afterwards?" Luffy sighed quietly, but nodded, opening the door a little wider but not all the way. But he eventually let them in, opening the door for them to enter.
Luffy sighed, so tired. Or everything. If only he hadn't ripped his suit. The three sat on the large couch, Luffy pulling his knees to his chest. He waited for them to speak. "After you left, we were all really angry. We're glad that you retaliated, but we're still furious about it having to happen in the first place.
"Law used his power to dump him in the cafeteria trash can. He seemed pretty pissed, too," Zoro explained. Luffy raised his brows. Maybe pity. He saw my burns. "Maybe, I don't know. I think you made a good impression on him, too, though. Everyone in the class was pissed. When the Three Jis came back into class, well, they weren't well received. I know you didn't want to make more trouble in the class, everyone already hated them before, but everyone is rallied on our- your - side."
Pity.
Sanji said, "It might be what it is now, but I think you could make some good friends there. Already Nami. And now Law." Luffy didn't feel any happier. He just wanted to wallow all alone. "You know you can still talk to us about anything, right?"
I know. I'm happy with how things have been going so far, I guess. I wish the jerks would just go away for good. They're being meaner to me than Sanji, and they hate him. I don't know what I did to piss them off or make myself a target. I haven't talked with them at all.
Sanji scowled. "They go after anybodies' weaknesses. That's how they are, how their father is. I know they don't want to be heroes. I know that. They just want to be able to make a name for themselves.
"Marco told them today, after class, that bullying at hero schools often ends up with suspension and eventually expulsion from the school." Luffy was shocked. "Yeah. So, even if they don't want to, they'll have to stop their bullshit. They probably will hate you, but they can't act on it without the disgrace of being expelled from somewhere like UA," Zoro explained.
Luffy signed he hoped that was true. What do you guys think so far? Of this year?
Sanji said, "It seems like it'll be difficult, especially with Marco, but fun, too. We get to use our quirks daily, and I can't wait to see how strong we can all get. And it's nice having a smaller class. I wonder where all those who dropped out went. And if their spaces will be refilled," he wondered. Zoro nodded in agreement.
"I can finally use my quirk somewhere safely. They have the Ice Witch - Whitey Bay. Even the nurse when Ace and Sabo were there wasn't this good at healing," the tallest said. "Makes me confident nobody will die." Luffy was glad they were happy. They didn't regret coming, which was originally Luffy's wish. He was glad to see that they truly were not upset. They didn't feel forced to go with Luffy.
I'll try and be better. I don't want to run away, but I told Marco sometimes it has to be done. He said I can go into his office if I'm having any sort of attack.
"You don't need to force yourself to the point you're sick or feel miserable. Nobody is telling you to deal with school perfectly," Sanji said. I know. But I want to. It's just hard. I don't want to complain anymore. I always complain about things. It's all I do. "There's a difference between complaining and confiding, you know? Nobody here thinks you are just 'complaining' when you talk honestly."
Luffy looked down, knowing they all felt that way. Still. I wish I could be more positive for everybody. I don't like being the one to make everyone sad.
"Well, when you're happy, it just makes it all the more enjoyable." Then Zoro grinned. "When you smiled that day we told you we were chill with being heroes, it made me so happy." Sanji teased that he'd cried. "So did you, asshole." Luffy was blushing at that. "So, when you smile again, everyone around you will be happy."
Luffy nodded, and then asked, Do you remember the old me? Before the torture?
Sanji leaned down, arms resting on his thighs. He said, "I honestly don't. I know you were, of course. There are pictures and stuff, but I don't remember much. It was only two years. And we were five and six when we were friends before."
Zoro agreed and then said, "You think you're exhausting now, you were crazy when you were little. I just remember that's how it was. When I think of you, I don't see the one version." Sanji nodded. Luffy's face was sad, but he had no doubt they could tell in his eyes that he was glad for this. They didn't miss what he had been, and weren't sticking around just to wait for him to come back.
Thank you. I feel much better, now. The two smiled happily.
"You know what was weird a bit?" Zoro asked. Sanji knew what he was talking about and said it for him.
"Law wanted to come with us to see if you were okay after school," the blonde explained. "He was really furious with Ichiji. But he seemed to have caught himself and backtracked and then walked away. Did you guys talk or something?"
A little. Something he doesn't like others hearing, and then I have done a couple nice things. He gave me his shirt to hide the tear. That made me really grateful. I was humiliated when he saw the burns. I've never had anybody but you two, my family and the doctors see the burns on my abdomen.
"He gave you something to cover it, he didn't run away in disgust. He seemed cranky, but like a good guy. Everyone in there seems that way but a few," Zoro said. Then he scowled. "That Hancock is a real piece of work, and not in a good way. Jesus, she's toxic." Sanji actually didn't disagree with this. Which was weird since he was such a "ladies man". But Hancock did make fun of and be just downright nasty to the other girls in the class.
Especially Hiyori. It was a battle the nobody seemed to care about besides Hancock. Luffy wondered why she was so insistent to be mean to the others when she already thought she was the most beautiful. I don't think it's right to act like that. Just cause she's pretty to a lot of people doesn't mean the other girls aren't pretty, either.
Zoro snickered. "You sound so uninterested." Why would I be? You aren't either. "Well, yeah, but you sign it so bluntly and detached." Luffy shrugged in response, not really knowing what his reaction should be. People shouldn't be cruel to other people. It was that easy. Just be a nice person.
Luffy would be a nice person even if he wasn't timid and damaged.
Zoro and Sanji ended up staying the night, and Luffy went to bed on a much higher note than he was on during the day.
