A couple of lovely Mentions:

Jasmine: Mhm! Ace and Sabo are gonna help through it all!!! I love writting them~ And don't you worry, I have plans for Garp ʕ•̀ω•́ʔ

QueenEirelyn96: Izou is the BEST. I love him SO MUCH. Ah yes... poor Luffy...

By the way! I can't remember if I mentioned this or not but Sabo still has his top hat!! Ya know, since it'd be weird if they let Luffy keep his but not Sabo. Just thought I'd tell y'all that in case It was unclear!

Enjoy the story!

It was the middle of the night, not that Luffy could tell. His breathing was fast and heavy as beads of sweat trickled down his horror struck face. Tired brown eyes stared glazed at the ceiling, trapped in their own realm filled with panic and fear.

A nightmare.

He'd had them before, but somehow they were worse now. Before, he'd have the nightmare only to wake up and find it to be real. This new thing where he dreamed of being burned with the slave mark, and then cramped into a box, suffocated and starving, but then waking to find himself totally fine was not okay.

A small whimper escaped his lips, though he tried to compress it so that he didn't wake his brothers. His mind was racing with images from a week ago when he really had been trapped in that horrendous white closet of a cell.

In pain, alone, hungry, alone, insane, alone.

He glanced swiftly to his right and reassured himself that his brothers were indeed here and not there. His brothers often hated him in his dreams. Hated him for being weak and pathetic and not being able to save himself.

Luffy wished he could escape the trap of his own mind. Wished he could simply forget what had happened. Wished he wasn't so desperately alone.

But he was, and no matter how hard he wished, the seven-year-old was powerless to his own thoughts.

He really did hate thinking inside his head.

Luffy managed a few calming breaths and he once again looked at his brothers. He longed for them, to be near them. To be near anyone really. He no longer cared. Even if he was being hurt, at least it was something. At least he was not denied the right to have contact with living things.

Shakily, he climbed down from his bed and crawled over to Sabo's. He quietly climbed up into it and lifted the covers just enough to snuggle underneath them. He could hear Sabo's breathing lighten a little as he climbed under. He tried oh so desperately to stay quiet and not move too much for risk of waking his elder brother.

Luffy worked his way under the sheets and reached his hand for Sabo's. Once he found it he pulled it close to him and nuzzled his head against it. He suddenly felt very tired, the warmth of his brother making his eyes droop and creating comfort in his once chaotic mind.

He heard a little moan from above him and thought he heard someone mutter his name, but he was already drifting off into a land of inky darkness, and soon, his own light snores filled the room.

Sabo blinked sleepily at the small child who was now in his bed.

"Luffy?" He questioned quietly.

When the only response he got was a soft snore, he sighed and smiled softly down at Luffy.

The smile wavered slightly however when he noticed the few beads of sweat on Luffy's forehead, and the slight tremor of the boy's body.

So he had a nightmare then, Sabo thought grimly.

He wrapped his arm around Luffy's small shivering frame and settled into sleep again.

Before fully drifting off however, he made a mental note to tell Ace about this in the morning.

Sabo sighed once more, releasing all tension from his body and snuggled close to Luffy, following his little brother's lead as he drifted away into the inky black of his own self conscious.

Ace woke up to a strange buzzing noise coming from nearby.

"Pssst! Acccceeeee!!!!!"

He groaned as he shoved his head under the covers in attempts to block out the noise.

"Don't you ignore me you idiot! Ace wake UP!"

Ace sighed and raised his head to look at Sabo.

"Okay what!?" Ace whispered apprehensively at his blond brother.

He blinked when he saw Sabo's sheets all messed up with Luffy snoring loudly... On top of Sabo.

Ace giggled quietly and slid off his bed, walking over to help Sabo with the predicament.

"What happened? Why is he in your bed anyway?" Ace questioned in a hushed voice as he slowly slid Luffy off of his brother.

Once Luffy was off of Sabo and under the now fixed covers with Sabo sitting on the edge of the bed, he took in a deep breath with a slight frown on his face.

"He climbed in at around midnight last night. I think he had a nightmare or something and didn't wanna wake us," Sabo said sadly.

Ace's smirk shifted into a lopsided frown. "That idiot. Doesn't he know that he's supposed to come to us for that kind of stuff!" Ace ranted.

Sabo was about to respond when they heard the sheets on the bed shift from beside them.

They turned to see Luffy sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Morning, Lu!" Ace and Sabo greeted cheerily, inching a little closer to their brother.

Luffy sat there a good five minutes before he even seemed to acknowledge that his brothers were in the room. He slowly looked up and a wry, forced -looking smile laid upon his face.

"Hi," he remarked, soft and sleepily.

Ace knocked his head (although it was really more of a tap) and began lecturing a confused and tired Luffy.

"Why didn't you wake us up when you had a nightmare!?" Ace asked with slight offense in his tone.

Luffy bowed his head somewhat shamefully and fiddled with the sheets, staying silent.

Sabo flashed a glare at Ace that practically screamed "Wow, gentle much?".

Sabo sighed and patted Luffy's head, who jumped at the sudden contact and looked up and around with large panicked eyes.

"Whoa," Sabo exclaimed, pulling his hand away, "slow down Luffy. Look, we're right here. It's us."

Luffy seemed to be having a hard time finding them, and it was another thirty seconds before he was able to fully focus on his brother's faces.

Luffy didn't reach out to them like he had every morning before today, didn't even try to touch their hands. In fact, he was flinching and pulling back from almost every moved they made. This was new, and it worried them.

Ace and Sabo tried to stay still, almost as if they were dealing with a frightened animal instead of a child.

"Sorry," Luffy finally mumbled with his head down.

Ace sighed. "It's alright Luffy, but you know you can come to us, right?" He prompted.

Luffy looked up and nodded slowly, processing the information.

Now that they could see his face, Ace and Sabo noticed that Luffy looked simply exhausted. Light purple circles forming under slightly drooping eyes. No wonder he was so out of it.

"A bit slow this morning, aren't we?" Sabo commented calmly with a smirk, "You don't gotta keep doing that Luffy-" he motioned to Luffy's tense features, "-We know you're forcing that smile. It's just us, it's okay."

Luffy looked from Sabo to Ace, big, glossy brown eyes asking if it really was alright. Ace nodded in agreement and the façade slowly fell from Luffy's face, replaced with one of great sorrow and loneliness.

It made Ace and Sabo's hearts squeeze in pain for their brother. They wished there was a way they could affirm for him that everything was alright and that he was safe, but they knew that was easier said than done; especially with the raised sensitivity levels the morning seemed to have brought.

"Why don't you try telling us about your nightmare?" Ace offered like a peace treaty.

Luffy grasped the bed covers a bit tighter in his hands as his lower lip trembled ever so slightly.

Then, he spoke in an all too shaky voice, "It was dark. And I was alone. And..." Tears pricked Luffy's eyes and his hands clenched tighter to the sheets, "And you hated me."

Ace and Sabo had a sad-shocked look streaking across their faces. Them!? Hate Luffy??? How could he even think that!? Could anyone hate Luffy???

"Luffy..." Sabo started in a quieted stupor.

"We love you Luffy," Ace concluded for Sabo. "We couldn't hate you even if we tried. And we would never wanna try anyway. You're safe Luffy, we aren't going to leave you ever again, okay?"

Luffy nodded slowly in acknowledgement. He still seemed a bit on the wary side, but at least he was recognising the words.

"Alright," Sabo said while hopping off the bed, "now that that's settled-" he held his hand out to Luffy and smiled warmly, to which Luffy tilted his head in confusion, "-Let's go get some breakfast!"

Ace grinned widely at that. "Heck ya!" He cheered.

Luffy just nodded and took Sabo's hand. The moment he did, he felt a warm fuzzy feeling erupt in the cold blue that had once been hanging over his heart. He squeezed the hand tighter under his grasp as Sabo began to lead them, the blond stopped briefly after feeling the bit of pressure.

"Luffy?" Sabo asked with a hint of concern.

Luffy pulled up closer to Sabo, closing his tired eyes for just a second before opening them and saying, "Please don't let go. "

Sabo laughed and ruffled the hair under Luffy's hat.

"Was that all? I'll make sure to hold on tight." Sabo smiled down at Luffy, who returned it with a small smirk and an affirmative nod.

Good. He seems a bit better. Ace and Sabo thought as the three kept walking towards the galley.

They made it out of their corridor and out onto the deck of the Moby Dick. Sabo and Ace waved at a few of the pirates they knew, greeting them with simple hi's and good morning's. Luffy, on the other hand, kept his eyes either on the ocean or the wood deck below his feet, ignoring the world around him as he clung to Sabo's arm.

When they got to the galley, they headed towards the back where it was quietest, although it was more of "normal volume" since no place in the galley during breakfast was particularly 'quiet'.

The brothers got themselves and Luffy some good food from the spread that was laid out on the large table and began eating. At some point, Marco came by and sat down with them.

"How are you boys today, yoi?" He asked while putting some eggs on his plate.

"Awight I guess," both older boys said through a mouthful of meat.

Marco turned to Luffy when he didn't answer, and frowned at seeing the small kid prodding at his plate with a fork and a sad look on his face.

"What's up Luffy, something wrong, yoi?" Marco questioned casually, though he was rather concerned.

Luffy flinched slightly at hearing his name and looked up in Marco's direction.

Marco winced as he watched the straw hat boy plaster on a tight lipped smile and mutter that he was fine.

Ace and Sabo pushed away their last plates and sighed at their little brother.

"Luffy, you need to eat," Sabo stated while pulling a grape off of Luffy's plate and popping it into his own mouth.

Luffy glanced at Sabo and then at the plate of food. He stabbed a piece of ham with his fork and gnawed at it slowly. He had a distant look in his eye as he mindlessly ate the piece of ham.

Marco looked at Ace and Sabo. "What's wrong with him, yoi? Did something happen?"

Ace grimaced. "He woke up sometime last night because of a nightmare. He didn't tell us about it and when he woke up this morning he was all moody like that," Ace gestured to his brother.

Marco nodded in understanding and looked down to Luffy again. He'd stopped eating the ham and was now once again poking the plate with his utensils.

"Maybe we should get him to talk to Aria, yoi," Marco suggested as he continued to watch Luffy, "He seems to be shutting down..."

Both boys noticed that Marco was right, and their brother was indeed getting slower and slower with each thing he did.

"Maybe you're right," Sabo sighed.

After a moment of inspecting, Ace got up and circled around Sabo to Luffy. He got into Luffy's line of sight and nudged the raven's shoulder to let him know he was there.

Luffy jumped, started so badly that he nearly fell off the bench, fork dropping to the floor with a clatter. Ace caught him in his arm before he fully left the seat.

"Luffy," Ace spoke gently, proving him upright again, "we're going to go see Doctor Aria, okay?"

Luffy nodded, agreeing without a fight, then let Ace pick him up and put him on the ground. Ace stuck out his hand, which the seven-year-old gratefully took hold of as they began their slow walk to the medical ward. Sabo and Marco joined their side, looks of worry on both their faces at the youngest member of the Whitebeard crew.

They walked back up onto the deck and through the corridor to the medical ward. Marco knocked lightly on the door before entering. After hearing a muffled "Come in!" from the other side, he pushed the wooden door open to reveal Aria pacing the room while looking over medical files.

"Hello, yoi," Marco greeted as the group walked over to one of the beds.

Ace sat Luffy on the nearest one as Aria looked up and acknowledged the four new persons. When she noticed Luffy, she crinkled her brows in confusion and walked over.

"Hi... Is something wrong?" She asked, setting the files down on the bedside table.

Ace and Sabo frowned slightly while Marco explained.

"He's a bit ultra-sensitive this morning as well as down. The boys said he had a nightmare and woke up like this, yoi" Marco answered lazily.

Aria nodded and looked Luffy over. His head was lowered, causing his hat to cover most of his face. His shoulders were slumped slightly and his hands were in his lap, rubbing his thumbs together in a nervous action.

Aria bent down so Luffy could see her, causing the boy to glance up. His brown eyes seemed sad and almost hurt, fear buried deep into their cores.

Aria offered a warm smile to the boy, who tried to return it, but overall failed.

"Luffy," she started gently, "how are you feeling? You seem a bit sad. "

She waited a second while Luffy kept fidgeting his hands. Then he mumbled out an answer.

"I'm too much trouble," the young boy whispered heavily, tears pricking his eyes. "I don't know what's going on in my head or how I feel and I don't wanna be alone but I'm just-" his voice cracked slightly and he took a breath before finishing, "-I'm just bothering everyone."

Ace and Sabo stared in shock at Luffy. They had no idea he was feeling this way, he seemed alright until this morning. And it was so unlike him. Too unlike him.

Marco and Aria looked sadly at the boy sitting on the bed. Luffy was currently clutching the fabric of his red vest in his hands and seemingly trying to keep large tears from overflowing.

"You're not bothering anyone Luffy," Aria encouraged softly, setting a soft hand on Luffy's shoulder and bending down to look him in the eye, "We all want you to get better. Everyone on this ship thinks that you've gone through enough and just want you to be free. You gotta trust us, we all want you here."

Luffy sniffled, his glossy brown eyes diverting to the floor. From beside him, Ace sighed and sat down on the bed beside his brother.

"We didn't know you felt that way Luffy," Ace said slightly dejected, "If you'd told us we could've helped sooner-"

"I'm sorry," Luffy whimpered from under his hat, tears now streaking his face.

Ace's eyes widened, he'd never seen Luffy look so... So small. So real.

"No, don't apologize!" Ace countered hurriedly, waving his hands in front of him. "We should have noticed something was wrong sooner. We just want you to be okay Lu, that's all we've ever wanted, " he lowered his hands into his lap, "For all that time, all we wanted was to rescue you. To save you cause we knew you hated it. But- but we just... Couldn't." Ace grit his teeth at the reminder that he couldn't save his own little brother when he needed it most.

Luffy looked up at Ace, eyes wide and stunned as if someone told him that dragons were real and that pigs really could fly.

"Ace..." He breathed lightly.

Sabo came over and sat on Luffy's other side, then encased him in a full on bear hug. "We love you Luffy, don't ever forget it. Promise me you won't forget," Sabo rasped into Luffy's shoulder.

The tears that rolled down Luffy's face were a steady stream now, but he didn't care. He wrapped his rubber arms around Sabo and brought Ace in too, holding tight onto them.

"Okay, Sabo," he replied teary eyed, "I promise."

Marco and Aria smiled at the three from a little ways away. Aria was happy they'd made Luffy feel better, but in the back of her mind was worried about the sensitivity levels.

She knew he would be wary of the things around him, but not so much that touch, merely a tap, scared him to the point of nearly running each time. She supposed it could be that his anxiety was worse than she originally thought, but even that wasn't great news. It was probably better than the latter though.

She was broken from her thoughts when she felt Marco tap her shoulder. She hummed in recognition as she continued looking over the boys.

"There's something I wanna tell you, yoi. It's about Luffy," Marco said, his voice low.

Aria turned so that she was facing him. Judging by the look on his usually lazy face, whatever it was wasn't good.

"At the galley this morning," Marco continued, "He wasn't eating. The boys tempted him to, but the most they got him to do was take a few bites of ham, yoi. And I don't mean a few pieces, I mean he took like one bite out of one piece and then stopped eating."

Aria's brows knitted together with worry at the new information. That wasn't good. Luffy was already severely malnourished to the point that his growth had been stunted because of it. Sure, the boy was seven, she knew that. But if an outsider were to look at him, they'd probably guess five or six at the most.

She pursed her lips together. No, Luffy not eating didn't bode well at all.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb and pointer finger, trying to get inside the mind of the kid who'd been excluded from society for three years.

After a few minutes of this and getting nowhere, she took her hand down and looked back over to the three kids. She figured she'd do a check-up on Luffy now, since he was already here. Maybe the other two as well...

The three were talking with each other quietly when Aria walked up to them. They looked up at her expectantly, waiting for her to speak.

"I was going to wait a full week before doing this, but since you're all here already, I'm going to go ahead and give you three a check-up," she stated while pulling her stethoscope up to her ears.

The older boys nodded and Luffy just stayed hushed, looking around the room with mild interest.

Aria stepped forward and listened closely to each heartbeat. All three were good when it came to matters of the physical heart, which was a huge relief to the young doctor. She was glad she didn't have to add heart problems to the building lists of health issues the three had going for them.

She managed to get through everything smoothly and Luffy stayed surprisingly calm, though his brothers kept talking to him so she figured the distraction made it easier.

Not only was the check-up easy, but it also had good results. Both the older two were doing well and they were gaining back their muscle at a good pace. The only noticeable problems were Luffy's mental turmoil and the fact that he'd only gained about three pounds. He was still incredibly thin and unfortunately small for his age.

Aria sighed as she also took note of how tired he was. Although, that was much easier to deal with compared to his other issues.

The doctor went over to the medical closet and searched the shelves until she found one labeled "sleep aids".

She scanned the different medicines lined up there and grabbed a bottle of melatonin. We'll start with this for now she thought competently.

Aria exited and closed the closet with the bottle in hand, then strolled back over to be small patients.

"Ace, Sabo," she called.

They both looked over at her with curious expressions, tilting their heads in unison.

"Here," she handed them the bottle, "This should help Luffy sleep. If it doesn't, let me know and I can give him something a tad but stronger. He only needs one. I'm not sure how medication reacts to his devil fruit, so it might be stronger than usual. One should be plenty. "

Ace and Sabo inspected the bottle, scrutinizing it to ensure it really was what she said, and then looked up and nodded with bright determined eyes.

"Thank you," they both said while Ace pocketed the bottle in his khaki shorts.

"Com'n Luffy!" Sabo waved Luffy over cheerily.

Luffy clambered off the bed and shuffled over to his brothers, taking ahold of each of their hands.

They walked out together with Marco following. Before closing the door behind him, he nodded his thanks to Aria, who returned it in kind.

Once the door was shut, Aria took in a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. She picked back up the file she'd been studying and sat down in a chair to make notes.

She tapped her pen against the stack of paper, scribbled notes, thought of all she could do to help the patient and answer the mysteries inside that file.

Luffy's file.

Marco watched over the boys until they reached the deck. Once they were on deck, he asked Izou to look after them. The cross dresser agreed happily and saw after the three boys who were playing and talking by the figure head, watching the waves go by.

Once he knew the boys were safe, he went up to the front of the large open deck to stand in front of Pops chair. It was late morning so there were plenty of people on deck, hanging out, completing tasks, having meetings. Marco enjoyed watching all his siblings interact together in the wide open space, but he had a report to make.

"Pops, yoi!" Marco greeted with a lazy grin.

Whitebeard returned the grin to his son, the First Division commander.

"Marco! My son! How are you this fine morning?" Whitebeard asked joyfully.

"Pretty good Pops," Marco replied, "But I gotta talk to you about something, yoi. Do you think we could meet somewhere quiet?"

Whitebeard nodded and stood up. "Come, we can talk in my room."

Marco followed Whitebeard to his quarters. When they got there, Marco grabbed a chair and turned it round backwards before sitting on it, resting his arms on the backboard. Whitebeard sat on his bed facing his son.

"What was it you needed to report?" Whitebeard asked curiously.

"It's our three new members, yoi. Or, to be specific, our youngest," Marco explained.

Whitebeard nodded and gestured with a large hand for him to continue.

"The other day," Marco said, "he started panicking because of one of our members. It was like he would do anything to escape. I've never seen him quite so frantic as that, and the kid is constantly skittish, yoi."

Whitebeard gave him a curious look, but didn't say anything.

Marco sighed. "His brothers say they won't trust anyone Luffy doesn't trust, not because it makes the kid uncomfortable, but because Luffy is never wrong when it comes to his judgement on people, yoi."

Whitebeard put a thoughtful hand up to his chin. "Do you believe that, my son? I trust everyone one this ship with my very life. Do you think there is reason to be concerned? To doubt one of your brothers?"

Marco ran a hand through his spiky blond hair. "Not sure, yoi. I haven't known any of them long enough. But I do know those boys have a very close bond and don't seem like the lying type. I don't doubt anyone in this ship. But if they do then it's going to make things difficult. Luffy really isn't stable at all in terms of mental health."

Whitebeard contemplated what he was being told. It would be hard, if the youngest members didn't trust everyone. Keeping them away from the ones they didn't like would be hard and create a maze of issues.

"Who was it that scared the child?" Whitebeard finally asked.

Marco grimaced. "Marshall D. Teach. He's important to the ship as well as being my brother. Keeping Luffy away from him will be difficult."

Whitebeard nodded in agreement. Teach had many duties on the Moby Dick and was often about on deck or in the galley helping out. He was even a candidate for taking over the Second Division.

"This is a heavy burden, but we will keep an eye on both the children and Teach. I trust them both, but if only to put Luffy at ease we will prove his innocence to the boys. Thank you for reporting this, son." Whitebeard said placently.

Marco nodded and stood up. "I'm happy to report, yoi."

Whitebeard laughed as Marco smirked. "Cya Pops, yoi. "

Whitebeard waved him out with a smile. "Goodbye son."

He was glad and proud to have a son like Marco on his ship. Proud of his family.

Whitebeard smiled to himself. He hoped that his newest sons could soon accept everyone in his ship as family, just as he had.

When Marco made it up into the deck he noticed the bit of commotion surrounding the whale figurehead.

Curious, he fought his way through the crowd of pirates to see what was happening.

When he made it near the front, worry shot through him as he saw Sabo cradling Luffy in his arms. As he got closer he could hear what the small blond was saying.

"Breathe in and out Luffy. Slowly. You're not in the water. In and out Luffy you can do it," he kept repeating to the raven in his arms.

"Let me through, yoi! " Marco shouted urgently as he quickly finished breaking through the gathering crowd. "Everyone back up! Give the kid some space."

At the commanders order, everyone in the general vicinity instantly stepped back about a meter.

When Marco finally made it to the boys he saw Thatch and Izou kneeling on the other side of Sabo, along with Ace, trying to help in any way they could.

Upon noticing Marco's presence, Thatch stood up to meet Marco where he stood.

"What happened, yoi? " Marco asked, words laced with worry.

Thatch sighed. "Kid slipped on the figurehead and nearly fell into the ocean. He barely caught himself by stretching his arm and grabbing Izou, who nearly fell in after him. After a few minutes we pulled him up, but he was having a full blown panic attack and gulping air like he was drowning, which of course he wasn't. So now Sabo and Ace are trying to calm him down," he gestured to Sabo who was still holding the fast breathing Luffy.

Marco nodded in understanding and then turned to look at the ever growing crowd behind him. His face formed a scowl and he turned back to Thatch.

"You mind helping me with crowd control, yoi? I'm sure it'd help if they weren't so many people hovering around," Marco suggested with morose.

Thatch agreed and together the fourth and first commanders began to disperse the heavy crowd. All the while, each one kept a close eye on the situation behind them.

Luffy was still breathing through his mouth and from the way his eyes were half open and darting about, he seemed on the edge of unconsciousness.

"Luffffyyy," Sabo groaned, becoming tired from having to keep on instructing Luffy, "you can't keep gasping like that or you'll pass out."

Luffy was looking up at Sabo, a panicked look blazing his half lidded brown eyes.

"Here, let me try Sabo," Ace said with extended arms, prepared to take Luffy.

Sabo nodded and pried Luffy off of him, which made the already distressed child go wide-eyed with terror.

"Sabo!" Luffy gasped out, reaching his arms to his older brother.

"Luffy, I'm just giving you to Ace, it's alright, " Sabo explained tiredly to the boy.

Once in his arms, Ace held Luffy close to his chest. He breathed slowly and steadily, making sure he was still.

"Alright lil bro, imma need you to calm down and copy me," Ace said soothingly while stroking the raven hair.

He felt Luffy not against his chest. Ace smiled warmly down at Luffy. "Good, you're doing great."

Luffy listened intently to the steady breathing of Ace, his heart beating rhythmically in his ribcage. It was soothing and helped him regain his steady breathing once again. He focused solely on his brother's steady breaths.

It took another ten minutes, but Luffy was finally breathing properly and the crowds surrounding them had pretty much disappeared. Ace and Sabo sighed in relief as Luffy looked up sleepily at Ace's freckled figure.

"Ace..." Luffy said quietly, lightly with a short breath.

"Yeah Lu?" Ace responded wearily.

"Why's everything... all blurry?"

Sabo sighed. "Probably because you nearly hyperventilated yourself unconscious bud," he answered light heartedly.

Luffy's mouth made an "o" shape as he continued to lay loosely in Ace's lap, looking up at the bleary sky.

After a few more seconds of sitting silently, Luffy spoke again.

"Hey Sabo?" He whispered hoarsely.

"Yes?"

"Sorry."

Sabo looked over at Luffy curiously. "For what?"

Luffy hummed and mumbled, "For making you sleepy. "

Sabo blinked for a second and then laughed at the strange answer. "It's alright Lu," he said with content.

Luffy fell asleep after that, which was good in Ace and Sabo's opinion because he had been exhausted since this morning.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon was a blur for the three of them. Izou and Marco helped them to their room and Thatch said something about food; the brothers were slightly worried when Luffy didn't bounce up at the mention of a meal.

They remember being led down the corridor with Luffy in Ace's arms, curled up against his chest. Then they made it to their room and both Ace and Sabo headed towards the nearest bed and laid down on it, getting close together for warmth. Luffy always somehow ended up in the middle, though it was probably a subconscious mode of protection for the older two at this point.

After that, everything was black and hazy, because all three boys had fallen into an incredibly deep, well deserved sleep.

The two commanders left in the room smiled at the sight and closed the door as quietly as possible on the way out. Although they knew deep down, that nothing would stir the children for quite some time.

Hello hello hello! No cliffhanger this time! I hope this chapter found you all in good spirits, and if not, I hope it lifts your spirits!!!

*Sigh* Every. Single. Time. I typed "son" it autocorrected to "sin". Ah yes, Whitebeard was so proud to have a sin like Marco on his ship. I swear I just about died. I went back THRICE to make sure I fixed all the typos. Please tell me if I missed one!

Anywho, enough drabble from lil ole' me.

I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! I enjoyed writing it. Until next time guys!

Chão!!!

Word Count: 5538