Before we start, a few Mentions!

Lady Syndra: I love Whitebeard/Asl fics tooo!!! (obvi xD) And well, I think the last chapter answered your query. No stock piling needed! And...you'd be stocking up forever if you're worried about cliffhangers... *hides*

QueenEirelyn96: Aah Thank you!!! I hope you liked that chapter!! And this one. And all of the ones after xD

HangryLei: Saaammeeeeee. I ran out of ones to read so here I am. Writing. xD

If you see a * symbol next to a word or term, it will be defined or explained at the end! For those who need it, like me.

(-_- ;) A'ight! Enjoy the chapter, and review if you so desire! It's Motivating.

They raced through what had to be four entire floors of mazes, only the bottom one having slaves, but seeing how big the ship was, there were still a lot. The ship was bigger than Ace and Sabo even imagined. From the outside, when they saw it years ago, it looked big, but on this inside it just seemed so unnecessary!

Thatch and Marco guided the young boys through the endless corridors, going up whenever they found a stairwell. Marco still had the ill and feverish Luffy wrapped tightly in his arms while Ace and Sabo stayed close behind, straw hat in hand.

With Marco and Thatch as a guide, it took twenty minutes to find the first floor up to the deck. It would've taken fifteen but they got a tad lost on the third floor when Thatch made a wrong turn through his haste.

The second they emerged on deck Marco raced ahead of the group and past the last lingering fights on the deck. He practically flew across the deck as he ran towards his own ship in his need to get Luffy medical assistance.

He jumped over from the Celestial ship to the Whitebeard ship in one bountiful leap and landed gracefully onboard with a light thud.

All the pirates on deck the ship turned to face the frazzled commander as he started yelling orders.

"WHERE IS ARIA?!" He called out.

Everyone in their shock merely pointed to the hallway that led to the medical wing. Marco ran into the dimly lit passage and disappeared into the medical ward leaving everyone on deck to wonder what the heck was wrong and why Marco had a kid with him.

Marco ran down the short hallway and opened up the door to the medical wing. A woman with a white lab coat noticed his presence and pursed her lips at his distress, walking over immediately to see why the commander had burst in.

"What's wrong, Marco?" She asked.

Marco, slightly out of breath, held out Luffy and said three words:

"They had kids."

Everyone, including the doctor in front of him stopped what they were doing and stared in shock at what he just said.

"You mean to tell me there were children on that boat?" The doctor hissed quietly.

Marco nodded and gestured to Luffy once again. The doctor, Aria, now understanding the outburst, took Luffy from the man and walked over to place him on a bed.

She had instantly noted the high fever the moment his skin touched hers. He was also hopelessly pale and was so light in her arms it was almost as if he was merely bone; which wasn't completely inaccurate.

The first thing she did was put a cold compress on his forehead and hook an I.V. up to his small wrist. She took his temperature and grimaced at the numbers. Marco walked over and noticed the scowl.

"How bad is it, yoi?" He asked hesitantly.

She looked up and displayed the thermometer. "108 F. Honestly, I'm not sure how he's still alive." She sighed and placed the device on the side table.

The second she did so, the door to the room opened again and she looked over to see Thatch with Ace and Sabo in his arms and Luffy's hat clutched in his left hand. Aria's frown deepened as she saw the two kids.

"You two," she pointed at two nurses on standby, "Do a run down of those two and hook them up to I.V's. "

She then turned to Marco and Thatch. "I wanna know everything you got on these boys. Don't leave anything out." She directed sternly. Then she turned to the rest of the room. "If you've already been treated or are perfectly fine and could walk it off then get out. I don't have the time to consol you. You're pirates for crying out loud! You know how to put a band-aid on!"

After a few moments of shuffling about 90% of the Pirates that were once occupying the room had left and Ace and Sabo had been put into hospital beds next to Luffy's with new I.V's in their wrists.

Thatch placed Luffy's straw hat by his side, and almost as if sensing its presence, Luffy moved a hand so it was touching the hat's rim; a reassurance it was there. Thatch smiled and walked back to Aria and Marco.

The nurses and Doctor set to work while Marco and Thatch relayed all the information they had gathered so far. Aria had frozen in the middle of what she had been doing and looked them straight in the eyes after hearing about Luffy's situation. There was pure rage in her brown eyes as she looked at them.

"They put this kid in solitary confinement for what? How long?" She hissed.

Marco and Thatch shook their heads.

"We aren't sure how long they were there for, yoi." Marco said sadly. He then turned to Thatch, "by the way, what happened to those two?" He pointed to Ace and Sabo.

Thatch shrugged. "I think they just wore out finally. The blond wasn't doing so great to begin with. It was weird though cause it was actually Ace who passed out first. One minute they were running behind me, next, Bam! Both out cold."

All three sighed and looked at the boys. Aria furrowed her brows together as worry gnawed at her. It wasn't so much the other two, Ace was it? And the blond that bothered her. No, it was this one. Luffy. The others seemed to just be overworked, injured, and have some major malnutrition. But if what Marco and Thatch had said was true, and this child had been locked up alone for what could be years, there would be a problem.

She's seen full grown men go practically insane after a week of being stuck in solitary confinement. But years? And a child? She had no idea how bad the mental scarring would be; but she did know it would take a very long time before he was anything like what his brothers remembered to be 'normal'.

She set down the clipboard she was using to take notes and finished up working on Luffy, having given him an injection for his fever and the illness along with checking his vital signs. He was stable, at least.

Both nurses who had been working on Ace and, she soon learned, Sabo checked in and said they were stable as well. But all three were in dire need of food.

She sent Thatch out to make the three some sort of soup that would be light but well nurturing. Thatch was the Whitebeard Pirates head Chef so she knew he'd get it done. She had allowed Marco to stay and help keep an eye on the boys while she tended to the few stragglers that needed some first aid from the battle. She was hoping the three mystery children woke up soon, because she needed answers, and the only way she was getting them was from the boys themselves.

It was a long while before she got her wish. Evidently, all three were completely exhausted. Within five hours, only one of them managed to wake up, and it was Ace.

He noted that he was on something soft, which confused him. Why on earth would that good for nothing noble give us anything to sleep on? He wondered with his eyes still closed and half asleep. As he started waking up fully, he opened his eyes a little and white light blinded him. He blinked a few times before staring up at blurry figures.

As they came into focus, he saw the Pineapple dude and instantly remembered where he was. He sat up with a start which ended up surprising both Marco and Doctor Aria. They jumped a bit at the sudden movement.

Ace's eyes finally focused all the way and he could clearly see the medical ward he was in along with the women in the lab coat standing next to the Pineapple.

"Nice to see you awake," she greeted with a warm smile.

She walked up and held out her stethoscope as if asking permission before actually using it. Ace nodded hesitantly. The woman put it on his chest and listened for a minute, when she pulled back she had a smile on her face.

"Well, good news. You're stable, but need food," she informed the raven in front of her.

At the mention of food Ace drooled a bit as he was reminded of the low ache in his stomach. He was absolutely famished. He didn't even care at this point that he was letting his guard down, he just needed to eat something.

The women laughed light heartedly and grabbed a bowl from the table beside him.

"Here ya go, we made this for you while you were out. Head chef himself saw to it you'd be able to handle it, so you can have as much as you want," she explained while handing him the bowl.

Ace took a few seconds to eye the women and then the bowl. It smelled amazing. And the women didn't seem to have any ill will. So, he picked up the spoon, and took a sip, testing the waters.

But that was all it took to open the flood gate of starvation he and Sabo had both experienced and he downed the bowl in ten seconds flat. Both Marco and the Doctor looked amused at Ace's quick switch in demeanour, but figured they'd probably do the same thing in his circumstances.

When Ace finished he suddenly remembered that Sabo was actually on the brink of starvation. His eyes widened slightly and his eyes darted around the room worried about his brother, confusing both doctor and commander in the process.

When his eyes finally found Sabo, right next to him, he frowned at the sleeping form.

"How... Long have we been asleep?" Ace asked with a look of concern aimed towards Sabo.

The doctor thought a moment before replying, "The small one with the hat was out cold when he was on the ship, from what I hear. He has a pretty bad fever. You and the blond," she gestured to Sabo, "Have been out for at least five hours now."

Ace gulped and looked at Sabo. Aria frowned at his response and entered a question of her own.

"Why do you ask?"

Ace looked at the women. "He won't wake up. Not on his own at least."* Ace answered quietly.

The doctor pursed her lips in confusion. "Who won't wake up? Why?" She quizzed further.

Ace pointed to his blond brother. "Sabo. He won't wake up unless you get him up. He hasn't eaten in at least a week. He doesn't have the energy to wake up..." Everyone could hear the worried edge to Ace's voice and see the slightly shocked expression in the doctor's face as she processed this information.

Marco sighed and ran a hand through his hair as the women immediately sprang into action and was next to the unconscious child. She shook his shoulder slightly but to her dismay, this did nothing to bring the child back into the waking world.

"Sabo," she said firmly, but gently, shaking him a tad harder, "I need you to wake up for me. Can you do that? Sabo. "

Slowly, and with what appeared to be a major effort, Sabo's eyes peeled open. He blinked the light out slowly and gave a tired glance to the women above him.

He tilted his head slightly as he tried to figure out who she was. He could hear her just enough to understand her orders and do as he was told. She took something from the counter and placed it softly into his hands.

"Eat that," she ordered.

Sabo looked down on the bowl, still not awake enough to react much to anything, but nevertheless took the silver spoon and began eating the soup slowly.

After the first few bites he started to seem more awake. He kept slowly eating faster, until he was eating at a normal pace and shoveling the food into his mouth as if it were liquid gold.

Aria sighed and smiled fondly as the young boy looked up at her nervously and asked if she had anymore. She nodded and took the bowl, scooping some more into it and letting the kid eat his fill, heaven knows these three needed it.

Ace had also wanted more and together they each ate five bowls of soup each, which didn't really surprise the two adults considering how long they'd been without it.

Now that the boys were taken care of, Marco and the Doctor had more pressing matters to ask them about. However, before Aria could even open her mouth to speak, Ace started the questioning of his own accord.

"How's Luffy? You said he had a fever. Is it bad, will he be okay?" Came the instant barrage.

Aria blinked a few times at the sudden interrogation and saw both boys look at her with very concerned expressions painting their faces. She sighed and knew she wouldn't get anywhere unless they knew everything about their brother's condition. Heck, maybe it would actually help get her more info. So, she began answering everything the boys threw at her.

"Luffy does have a high temperature, but I gave him some medicine and he seems to have come down a few degrees... He needs rest though, it's still much too high. He hasn't woken up yet... But when he does we'll give him some of the soup we gave you. I doubt he'll be able to eat much though, it seems his immune system is almost completely compromised* so, he'll be slow to do anything much right now."

She took a breath and then flipped a page of her clipboard to more notes, continuing the report.

"He's gotten ill from the stress on his body, which is a symptom of solitary confinement. Stress, depression, psychosis, and a few more... I imagine he's pretty touch starved, but I have no idea how severe his symptoms are because I don't know the time limit."

She then looked at the boys and got to her own queries. "Do either of you know how long you were on that ship, or at least how long Luffy was... Alone... For?"

Both boys' faces contorted into a pained look. Their eyes diverted to their fist which were now clenched tightly in their laps.

Oh no.

She waited for an answer, and when it finally came, both Marco and Aria looked back at the sleeping straw child in sad horror.

"Three years," Sabo whispered, then looked up at the doctor, despair hidden in bright blue eyes. "We left him alone, trapped, for three years gosh darn it!"

Ace clenched his teeth as the two pirates stood staring at Luffy in a shocked stupor. Aria contemplated this with a deepening frown. She was thinking maybe a year on the ship, and a few months in the holding cell at most. This was far beyond her expectations and posed many problems for Luffy's condition.

She turned to Marco and beckoned him over to talk quietly, closer to Luffy. They stood at the end of the raven child's bed and Aria shifted an aggravated glance at the kid, then back to Marco.

"Three years!?" She whisper-shouted at Marco, "Why would you even lock a kid up that long!?"

Marco shook his head sadly, equally upset at the outcome. "Not sure, yoi. We already knew that out of all the Celestial Dragons this one was the worst. It's why we took him down. Good thing too, or else he might've ended up a slave as well. Found out a little while ago that he was headed to Sabaody next."

They both sighed heavily and looked back to check on the two older boys. They were now talking quietly to each other, looking much better than before, which somehow lighted the weight of the situation.

"Their strong," Aria started with a slight smirk. "No doubt they'll fit in fine once they get used to the crew and trust us a little more."

Marco smiled and nodded in agreement. Aria turned to her clipboard again and sighed once more, writing a few new things to Luffy's already very long list of issues.

"Marco," She said seriously, catching the first commander's attention, "Was he fed at all during the time he was on that ship?"

Marco nodded his head. "Yes, he was. But I think he got sick a couple days ago and stopped eating at some point along the way. He was pretty distraught when we got there. First thing he did was grab onto my sleeve, and didn't let go until his brothers got there and took over." He recalled plainly.

The doctor unconsciously nodded to the news. That was good at least, otherwise they'd have even more to deal with...

"Oh! And he has devil fruit abilities."

Aria dropped the clipboard and stared with her mouth gaping at Marco. The clatter of the clipboard on wood made Ace and Sabo jump and turn around to see what had happened. They shared a confused glance and looked back to see what had caused the commotion.

"He's got a devil fruit???? How?" Aria asked once regaining her composure.

Marco shrugged. "Dun know, yoi. The boys weren't surprised at it though so either it happened before they were separated, or he's had it since before they were even kidnapped."

"Oh," Ace and Sabo said together, now joining the conversation, "Luffy's been made of rubber since before we met him." They informed.

"Probably Shanks fault," Sabo shrugged and the two went back to talking, no longer funding interest in the two's conversing.

Marco raised an eyebrow. Shanks? Like the emperor of the sea Shanks? Red haired Shanks. That Shanks? He made a mental note to ask them about that later.

Aria leaned over and picked up her clipboard, tapping the pen on the side as she thought. Maybe that's why he's survived such a high fever...

Something moving in the corner of her eye caught her attention and she trained her distracted gaze to the white bed. Luffy was rubbing his eyes and staring sleepily at her, he seemed kinda out of it.

Now alert, she smiled at him and walked over to his bedside. The moment she was close enough Luffy reached out and snatched the sleeve to her lab coat. She jumped a little at the unexpected movement but decided to ignore it and pulled up a stool, sitting herself at the boys side.

Luffy slid his small hand from the sleeve to her slender finger and held it while he looked up at her with big, dull brown eyes.

She tenderly placed a hand on his forehead. He was still rather warm, but no longer in danger as he had been before. She sighed with relief, happy the medicine was working so well.

"Hello Luffy," she spoke softly as to not upset the raven haired child, "How are you feeling?"

Luffy didn't answer right away. Instead, he let his gaze wander around the room, taking in where he was. When he set eyes on Ace and Sabo he longed to go up to them, and yet something akin to fear held him in place. He was still unsure of where he was and if he was safe. But he wanted his brothers so badly. He wanted more than the touch of the mystery women's fingers, he wanted to be with his family again. God knows it had been all too long.

Aria took note at his lost and distant stare as Luffy fixed his gaze upon his brothers. She'd have to keep being patient and watch for any signs of psychological trauma, which she was certain he had.

"Ace, Sabo. Luffy's up," she called gently, trying to keep from startling Luffy.

Ace and Sabo instantly snapped their heads in the direction of Luffy's bed, and sure enough, there he was. Staring at them with a look they couldn't ignore.

Both ten-year-olds rushed to their brothers aid, Ace sitting on the left and Sabo to Luffy's right. Luffy instinctively curled up to Sabo and let go of Aria's hand to exchange it for Ace's.

Aria wrote down some notes.

Definitely touch starved.

She let the brothers be and simply observed the youngest brother. He flinched back whenever an unexpected noise or even just barely sudden movement was made. He was also constantly looking at his surroundings, which was expected of anyone who has been traumatized so badly and was being introduced to a new place, but it added to the Doctor's worry.

Luffy was not only incredibly skittish but also in constant need for physical contact, so much so that he'd lunge out at anyone to achieve it. And if that wasn't dangerous, Aria didn't know what was.

Although now that his brothers were by his side he'd seemed to become closed off and afraid of everything else.

It was quite the contradiction of symptoms.

She set down her clipboard and walked over to the pot of soup on her medical counter. She scooped up the ladle and poured the soup into a third bowl. She then walked over to Luffy, and extended the warm food out to him.

"Com'n, you gotta eat this," she coaxed when he gave her a hesitant and slightly panicked glance.

Luffy looked to Sabo, who merely nodded and said it was alright. Both knew that Luffy needed to eat for fear of further illness.

So, albeit reluctantly, Luffy took the bowl and spoon from the Doctor's hands. He stared at the soup a minute before picking up the spoon and taking a small spoonful and slipping it into his mouth. He continued like that until he had finished; slow, small bites until nothing was left.

Then he simply laid the bowl on the sheets and curled right back up to Sabo and Ace, not speaking a single word.

Ace and Sabo frowned at this. They knew what Luffy was like, what Luffy used to be like, and this certainly wasn't it. This quiet kid who only took what was given to him was so vastly wrong that it almost scared the older brothers that they might have lost the real Luffy for good.

However this thought was quickly dismantled when they heard the straw hat child murmur something to his only real family:

"I'm glad you guys are back, I missed you so much." Luffy whispered into Sabo's new white shirt, something the doctors had changed them into when they first arrived.

Both brothers felt a pang of pain in their hearts and held Luffy tighter in their arms, comforting Luffy with the warmth.

"Don't you worry, Luffy," Ace whispered softly into Luffy's hair as they hugged the younger, "We are never leaving you alone again."

A small smile made its way to Luffy's wary face. It wasn't his usual grin, but it was a start that the elder brothers accepted whole heartedly. They were off the ship, and they were never going back.

With that thought in mind, they allowed their guards to lower, and for the first time in a long while, the ASL trio were at peace.

Maybe, just maybe, everything could be alright.

Terms and Vocabulary:

"He won't wake up. Not on his own at least."

Sabo was practically on the brink of starving to death. One of the things being starved of food can cause is tiredness or exhaustion. This is because food is how you get energy, and without it your body can't function; so Sabo's brain told him to to sleep until he got enough energy to wake up... In which case would be never. Good job Ace, ya saved Sabo.

"His immune system is almost completely compromised."

This is a symptom of both starvation AND solitary confinement. Being away from literally everything is like, horrible for your health. Both physical and mental. Luffy's body can barely fight off disease, infection, viruses, etc. Based on what I looked up, this is caused from it being inactive for so long. You need nutrients to fend off such things and after lacking for so long, its really hard to get going again. Since Luffy's isn't COMPLETELY compromised, it's possible to get it working. It'll take a time and medicine, but until then, Luffy could die from something as trivial as the flu without proper medical care.

Touch Starved

Basically you don't have enough human contact. This is common in modern society, which is kinda sad. It means you yearn for touch because you don't get enough of it. If it's bad enough, you can start wanting people to stay away instead because you become used to not having contact, when in fact, that's what you need. It can also cause you to hallucinate, apparently. Not major but like you think you see something out of the corner of your eye and it's not there when you look. That but a little worse. Luffy has a severe case of this, and you'll get to see some more of it later on. ;p

Hellooooooo!!!! 4 Chapters up, 10 more till this site is caught up! Yippee!

Do y'all like the Aria? I named her Aria because I saw that someone else had named her that and I thought that was her real name. But, when I looked it up (about halfway through me finishing this) I found out the Whitebeards don't have a set doctor, and I was too lazy to change it. Kudos to that author tho, can't remember their name ;-;.

I had already warned y'all about Luffy's ooc-ness, so ya. Although honestly it kinda fits Tiny Luffy. Especially considering the circumstances. So maybe it's not super ooc.

The amount of times I lost track of where Luffy's straw hat was is s a d. I kept having to back and rewrite where his hat was.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!Until next time!!!

Chão!!!

Word count: 4529