Mentions:

MR: I'm so happy you enjoyed, and that (in assuming) translating the story still makes sense lol. (Hopefully this a/n makes sense too haha) Luffy certainly does have a lot to grow on in this fic, I hope it upholds you expectations!!And to you too, stay safe!!!

QueenEirelyn96: Heellooooo!!!! Its supposed to be confusing~ I'm excited to see what think about how it comes together for the plot!!! And Ace... there is one part coming up I wish I had written better. You'll probably be like "Well that was anticlimactic" xD Oh wells.

Y'all? I love you so much. You guys are great, wonderful people. Just in case you hadn't heard it today, I wanted to remind you all how amazing you are! Take care and keep being your awe-inspiring selves!

And here's a chapter for you lovely people!

Enjoy!

"He's gonna be mad Ace," Sabo sighed as the two brothers walked down the corridor to their room, Marco following right behind.

Ace scoffed and waved off his brother's tone. "He might be a tad angry I took so long, but he's with Izou! Izou's like, the only sane person on this ship. What could go wrong?"

Sabo turned to his brother. "You're thirty minutes late, Ace! It took you five to find me!" Sabo accused the raven.

Ace puffed out his cheeks and folded his arms across his chest, looking away from the blond.

"I was hungry. And I wouldn't have had to leave at all if you hadn't gotten all caught up in Pops stories!" Ace bounced back, glaring up at Sabo.

"You're both morons, yoi," Marco stated from behind, knocking them both on the head.

The siblings rubbed their heads, sending daggers towards the old pirate.

They made their way to the door of their bedroom, talking and blaming each other playfully all the while.

When they reached the door, they stopped in front of it a minute to finish the conversation.

"-and besides, you're the one who created the schedule! Who the heck doesn't stick to their own schedule! It's ludicrous! I was just trying to find-"

"Ace, be quiet a minute." Sabo interrupted suddenly, holding up a hand in front of Ace's face.

"Wha- You can't just tell me to -"

Sabo glared at the raven. "No seriously. Do you hear that?"

They all three waited behind the door and strained their ears for the unknown sound. After a minute or two, they were able to make out the faint noise. It sounded like someone crying, but there was a sort of heaviness to it that made the crying rugged and cracked.

Both boys shared a panicked glance, eyes going wide as they realised what the noise was. They quickly turned the brass knob to the door and burst in.

"Hey, yoi-" Marco called after the boys, still confused.

He followed the boys inside the bedroom, but his jaw dropped right alongside the brothers when they saw the state it was in.

The cards Ace had been playing with Luffy before were now spread all over the floor in a careless arrangement. One of the beds was disheveled and lopsided, the sheets and even the mattress slid off and halfway on the floor. The pillows were tossed to both sides and one of the corners of the wooden frame had been completely blown off, leaving chunks and splinters of wood scattered about the place.

The boys, however, paid no mind to these details as they instantly located the cause of the sounds.

A terrified Luffy was huddled in the far left corner of the room with his hands over his mouth and his head in his knees, practically gasping for air but still trying to keep himself from getting any. He was sobbing something fierce and thick watery tears flowed down his puffy red eyes and cheeks.

One of his hands seemed to be bleeding as he pressed it against his face. His hat was in front of him, apparently forgotten.

Luffy never forgot his hat.

Ace and Sabo rushed over, leaving Marco behind to take in the damaged state of the miniscule room. The moment Luffy heard the fast steps his head jolted up, his eyes wide and glossy.

The pair practically skid into sitting positions and appeared at Luffy's side.

Upon seeing his brothers, Luffy let a slight whimper escape his lips and simply began to cry harder, but he lowered his hands from his mouth and wailing sobs echoed across the enclosed space. His vision was too blurry to see properly and he honestly didn't care. All he could tell was that this was Ace and Sabo. Someone trustworthy.

He turned towards Sabo and grabbed at his clothing, holding it right in his hands, one of which was still bleeding. He slid down into Sabo's lap and curled up; he was so glad they were alright. He hadn't gotten them hurt. It was okay now.

"Sshh Lu, we got you," Sabo said soothingly, smoothing down Luffy's hair which was soaked with salty tears.

Ace and Sabo shared a concerned look as they took in the state of their brother.

"Why on earth was he alone!? I thought you said Izou was here!?" Sabo hissed quietly over Luffy's head.

Ace put his hands up in a surrendered position. "I don't know! He said he had a meeting in a little while but he knows not to leave him alone, I don't know what happened," Ace replied anxiously.

They turned and took in the room, aware that it could give some clues. By the looks of the place, there had been some sort of struggle.

Luffy started coughing and Ace snapped back to attention, placing a warm hand on Luffy's trembling body.

"Luffy breath," Sabo encouraged, taking a deep breath himself to show him.

Luffy just shook his head and kept hyperventilating.

"C-can't," he huffed weakly, "Too much. Have to be quiet. "

Ace and Sabo furrowed their eyebrows and took on confused looks.

"What do you mean you have to be quiet, Lu? What happened?" Ace asked.

Luffy only shook his head once more, tears still running down his face.

Then Sabo remembered how Luffy had been holding his hands over his mouth earlier.

Luffy, is that what you were trying to do earlier? Be quiet? Aria's right across the hall, she could've helped-" Sabo questioned, then his eyes widened as a new thought came to mind, "Is that why you didn't call for anyone? You were trying to be quiet?"

Luffy nodded this time, and slumped and little, his grip loosening a bit on Sabo's clothing.

Sabo and Ace stared in shock at the child. They were beyond worried and still incredibly unsure of what the heck happened while they were out.

Sabo was quick to notice Luffy's change in awareness, feeling his coat fall slightly at the change in pressure.

He cursed inwardly and held Luffy so he was upright. "Luffy you're going to black out unless you start breathing again," Sabo said wearily, noticing Luffy half-lidded eyes. "Watch me okay?"

Luffy nodded sleepily and, with much effort from Sabo, got back to breathing at a somewhat normal pace. Although it was still a little fast, it wasn't nearly as bad as before.

Sabo smiled down at Luffy, who was now calmed down a little more and less frantic.

"Tell us what happened," Ace demanded curtly.

"I can't," Luffy repeated.

"Why not?" Asked Sabo.

Marco walked over and knelt down nearby, listening in to the conversation.

"Cause he said he'd hurt everyone," Luffy said softly with watery eyes.

This caught Marco's attention. "He said"? Who? If someone had threatened Luffy, they had a bigger problem on their hands than a simple panic attack. That meant that there was either an intruder in the ship, or one of his own family had gone rouge.

He shook his head at the second thought. There was no way; he trusted everyone in this ship with his life. None of them would dare hurt an innocent child like that. Marco smirked to himself as he mentally added, and none of them would be stupid enough to think that they could take on the entire fleet alone.

"No one's going to hurt us, yoi," Marco stated, speaking up from the sidelines, "I'll personally make sure whoever did this is confronted and brought to justice. But we need to know who it is first."

The Commander picked up Luffy's hat, which was laying beside him, and placed it gently upon the boy's head.

Luffy brought both hands up and pulled the hat down a tad, looking up to see Marco eye to eye.

He then took his hands away from his hat and played with them in his lap, leaning into Sabo for comfort as he began explaining.

"Izou said he had a meeting to be at and got someone else so I wouldn't be alone," He exclaimed quietly, his voice hushed and raspy from all the crying, "But it was him. And I didn't like him because he felt bad. That's why I'd been avoiding him! So I said "your not safe" but he got mad and... And.."

Luffy broke down and started crying again. Ace rubbed his back while Sabo rocked him slowly.

Luffy kept going, though it was harder to understand through his blubbering. "He told me to stay quiet or he'd hurt everyone I thought loved me." He whispered through tears.

Marco stayed quiet, but his face showed the anxiety within. Luffy was avoiding this person? That meant it had to be someone on the crew already. But who? And why? He couldn't imagine any of his nakama hurting each other.

Ace and Sabo, on the other hand, became furious at what they'd just heard. Thought? Thought loved him!? Who the heck did this guy think he was!? Both wanted to smash whoever it was to Hell and back for what they'd done.

"Okay Luffy," Ace seethed through gritted teeth, trying to hide his obvious fury, "What did you say this guy's name was again?"

Luffy rubbed the tears from his eyes and put a finger to his temple as he tried to remember. A look of recollection came sparking to his brown eyes and he looked up slightly.

"I remember Izou saying his name was Teach, I think. He had a black beard and was really tall... " Luffy trailed off at the memory and Sabo felt a shiver run through Luffy's body.

So Lu was right about him after all, Sabo thought, recalling how strangely Luffy would act around the large pie-loving pirate.

They all sat there in silence, Luffy's sniffles the only current noise as they thought about Luffy's story. Marco had a worried grimace plastered on his face. Of all people, he had least expected someone like Teach to be the perpetrator. He always seemed so happy, heck, he was at the head of a long list of people who they were considering to take over the Second Division. Surely there was a good explanation?

Marco shook his head once more. He didn't doubt Luffy's words. Luffy couldn't lie, even if he wanted to. Or so his brothers had claimed. And either way, Teach's actions were a serious offence against the Whitebeard's code, regardless the reason. This was family they were talking about; going around and threatening them for fear of death was way outside what was even close to allowed.

He sighed and looked up. Luffy was breathing slow and heavy, ceasing his crying for now. He wasn't asleep, but he was clearly exhausted. Frankly, no one blamed him.

Marco's eyes trailed down to the bloodied fist that was clutching onto Sabo's coat.

"Hey Lu, yoi," Marco called softly.

Luffy opened his half closed eyes a bit wider and gazed up at the old pirate.

"What happened to your hand, yoi? We should probably get it bandaged," Marco pointed out, wondering just how far Luffy's scuffle with Teach had gone.

"Oh yeah! I had forgotten about that," Ace exclaimed while tapping a closed fist against his palm, "It doesn't hurt too much, does it Lu?"

Luffy shook his head and pointed a shaky thumb at himself. "It's fine, I hardly noticed it." He assured quietly, trying to play it off bravely and yet drawing the hand closer to himself and away from prying eyes.

"Doesn't hurt, eh?" Sabo raised an eyebrow skeptically, then gently and ever so lightly reached out and touched the injured hand.

Luffy winced and his grip loosened once more as he pulled his hand even further away from Sabo's, lips pursed in defiant pain.

Sabo chuckled and patted Luffy's head. "We'll get you patched up in no time. But I'm curious too, what happened?"

Luffy's cheeks flushed pink as he averted his gaze to the ground, causing everyone in the room to raise a brow of curiosity.

"I uh... Tried to attack him and escape... B-but I missed and hit the bed," Luffy muttered.

The three older boys all looked over at the splintered bed, and then back at Luffy as the pieces clicked together.

A devilish smirk came to Ace's face and he snickered under his breath just loud enough for Luffy to hear, "Guess you still got power, but no aim."

Luffy's light pink turned red as he boarded up at his laughing brother. "No fair, Ace!" He whined, puffing out his cheeks.

"Got that right," Marco whispered to himself, "kid sent that bed to splinters. He hasn't even trained in years..."

"Come on Ace, don't tease him," Sabo sighed, rolling his eyes at Ace's childish behaviour, "We gotta get Luffy to Aria so she can take a look at his hand. It's definitely not broken, but there could be some splinters or something."

Marco nodded in agreement with Sabo, pushing aside his earlier thoughts for now. The group then stood up and headed for the door and across the hall to the medical ward. Luffy had insisted he could walk on his lonesome, but clung to Ace and Sabo. He was still shaken up, and the three were surprised he had recovered so fast from what had happened.

They couldn't figure out if he was simply still in shock from adrenaline and later the realisation would hit him like a train, or if he was getting better at bouncing back from each of his fits.

Marco strongly suspected it to be the first one, and made a mental note to tell Aria when he got the chance.

They walked the short trip across the hall and Marco knocked lightly on the door three times, pushing it open after hearing a faint "Come in!" from the other side.

"Oh, it's the troublesome trio again," Aria teased, greeting them at the door, "What is it this time? "

"Lu hurt his hand," Sabo answered, pushing Luffy in front of him so Aria could take a look.

Aria sighed and shook her head, though a smile trailed her lips. "You boys sure are something else. Well, go on and hop up on one of the beds Luffy. I'll go grab some bandages."

Ace helped Luffy up onto the white hospital beds while Aria ran off to get some supplies for Luffy's hand. She came back quickly, with bandages and antiseptic at the ready.

"Alright," she stated, taking a seat in a wooden chair and snapping on gloves, "Hold out your hand so I can see it properly."

Luffy shifted his eyes to Sabo and Ace, who nodded approvingly, and then hesitantly held out a shaky right hand.

Aria's eyes narrowed and she shot a glare up at Marco, who shrugged lazily in a 'I'll tell you later" manner.

Aria nodded firmly, assuring she would get an explanation, and turned back to her patient.

With a cotton ball and tweezers, Aria gently cleaned up Luffy's hand, making it much easier to see the actual scratches beneath.

It wasn't nearly as bad as it had looked, though there were still a few deep cuts running along his hand in crooked lines. There were quite a few large splinters lodged within some of the deeper cuts, which was where most of the blood had been seeping from.

Luffy winced and flinched away with each one she removed, making it take a bit longer than usual and only giving the Doctors expert eye even more reason for concern.

After that, Aria made quick work of it and had the wound cleaned and bandaged in three minutes tops. She had studied the injury a bit as well, wondering how the child could've gotten it to begin with.

"All set!" She announced cheerfully as she tied off the bandages around his wrist, then added "As much as I hate to admit it, some of those cuts will probably scar over. In normal circumstances, they'd heal in a week or two just fine. Unfortunately, due to Luffy's stature and how little he eats, his body won't be able to do that for most of those deeper cuts. "

She took a breath and directed her next words towards Luffy, "I know you don't like eating but you're gonna have to get over yourself sooner or later. You haven't gained any weight since we brought you off that ship and a seven-year-old should weigh more than 40 pounds!"

Luffy cowered away from the Doctor as she raised her voice in the strict manner with which she had been speaking.

Aria instantly took notice of this and took a step back to give the kid some space. Whatever he was here for, it was painfully clear that it'd been more than some sort of accident. She grimaced as she recalled some over her latest discoveries involving the boy, and wondered if he was at all aware of it.

She turned away from her thoughts and back to the three boys sitting on the white sheets in front of her. Luffy had dark circles forming beneath his eyes and his posture invoked the impression that he was about to slump over from exhaustion.

Aria tsked the scene and clapped her hands, instantly straightening out the tired straw hat.

"You're obviously tired, why don't you let your brothers take you back to your room, eh?" Aria suggested in a kind tone.

Luffy just nodded sleepily and found Ace's hand with his. After that, the elder smiling thanked the Doctor for her help, and escorted Luffy away to their quarters for a nap.

Aria turned away from the door as it closed with a soft thump, eyeing the commander who was still standing in the empty office.

"So, what happened? No way he got that falling out of bed," she stated, folding her arms across her chest, "I know adrenalin when I see it, and let me tell you, that kid was pumped full of it."

Marco sighed and sat down on one of the nearby wooden chairs, running a hand through his spiky yellow hair.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow and pulled up a seat across from the commander, waiting for her explanation.

"It wasn't his fault, he was defending himself," Marco stated wearily, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Defending himself?" Aria asked, leaning forward slightly.

Marco nodded and looked up at the young doctor.

"He was attacked," Marco locked eyes with her, "by Teach."

Aria's mouth was agape, the information leaving her aghast and even more confused.

"Teach!? Are you sure?" She questioned hurriedly.

Marco nodded again and continued to retell what Luffy had already said. How Izou had left him and how apparently Luffy had been avoiding Teach for months because of this very reason.

"The injury was caused because he was trying to get away and missed. He accidentally hit one of the beds instead," Marco explained, and added, "Going to have to talk to Izou after this."

Marco made a mental note to get someone to replace the bed in their room later on, but figured that they'd be fine for now, seeing how they usually just fell asleep wherever they could. Probably a habit collected from their days in captivity.

Aria sighed heavily after contemplating the information. It was hard to digest; Teach had been a part of their crew for years now, they all trusted him. How could this possibly have happened!?

"Maybe... Maybe it wasn't Teach?" Aria suggested, grasping at air for answers, "It could've been a devil fruit user who could copy people or something."

The wheels in Marco's head turned as he thought about the likelihood of that being the case, then decided it impossible.

"No, I don't think so," Marco answered gravely, " Luffy said he could sense that Teach 'was a bad person'."

Marco stared Aria head on. "If you ask me. That sounds like some sort of advanced observation haki."

Aria drew her eyebrows together in a defeated expression. "You think he's got haki?"

Marco nodded, "It's possible. His brothers are always saying he's got great intuition, could be him not even knowing what it is. I wouldn't know how to test that theory though. Yet another loose end."

They stayed in silence as they considered all their options and what was being said. The matter was deep, and would cause great problems if handled incorrectly.

"We gotta tell Pops," Aria said in a defeated tone.

"Yeah."

They both sighed heavily, pondering when and how to bring it up.

Aria figured this was as good a time as any to let the commander know what she had learned.

"So..." She began, looking for the right words to fill the empty air.

Marco gave her a weary glance to show she had his audience.

"You know how I'd said at the meeting I'd found something in Lu's blood that seemed strange?"

Marco's eyes widened slightly and he straightened out his slouched position in the wood chair, now nervously eager to know what the young doctor found.

"Turns out, they were using him to test drugs. Whether the kid knew it or not," Aria said, not sure how to put it any other way, " I'm assuming this was done a lot and that these were new drugs, because I sure couldn't identify them and although the amount was trace, after not being tested on for three months, it shouldn't be there anymore."

Marco put his hands on his face and shook his head.

"You've got to be kidding me, yoi," Marco groaned into his palms, "You're telling me they not only put this, what? Four? Year old child into solitary confinement for three years, but they also used the kid as a lab rat? And now he could be a target -"

Marco paused as he realised what he just said and looked up at Aria who had the same shaken look of realisation.

"He's a target..." Aria repeated in a shallow tone.

"Marco, you don't think Teach is-"

She couldn't finish the sentence. How could she? Her own nakama? Doing that? No... but...

Marco flashed Aria a look of determination, wanting to get to the bottom of Luffy's past more than ever before.

"What else have you found out?"

Aria got up and scurried to her check board of notes, grazing them through for the important information.

"Some of the drugs were more prominent and I was able to recognize a few of them as steroid related, but the others had really weird compounds. And of course, there could have been more. This is just what I found currently in Luffy's blood. It appears they were testing for some sort of long lasting effect product. Some of these could be the reason he's so unstable. "

Aria looked up from the check-board, "Luffy probably doesn't even know he was being tested on... " Aria's eyes went wide as saucers and her face paled a smidgen, "... Or maybe he did."

"What do you mean? " Marco asked, the atmosphere tense around them.

"The easiest way to test Luffy would be to give it to him through food," Aria stated, pacing the floor as the gears in her head clicked together, "Luffy hates eating. Maybe he figured out what they were doing, maybe even only after we saved him. But either way, he realised what had happened and stopped trusting anything given to him."

Aria stopped and looked at Marco.

"Remember how sick he was when you brought him in?" Aria said, walking back over to Marco.

Marco stood up, too restless to sit anymore, and nodded.

"Well," Aria continued her roll, "It would make sense if he was this heavily drugged. Having that many different elements staying in your bloodstream for that long? No wonder he was so ill when you found him. I'm surprised he survived at all! Took a long time for it to get that bad though, assuming or they'd been testing him since day one."

"There are still plenty of missing factors, but maybe the boys can help. Eventually, we'll have to ask L iffy himself. But for now this is a good start," Marco encouraged, "Well... not good per se, but we finally have a few clues on how to help him."

Aria nodded in agreement. Both were standing in the middle of the medical ward, minds bubbling over from all the information they'd uncovered.

Both adults looked at each other with determination and rage in their eyes. They had finally pieced together a part of Luffy's lone years, and a very helpful part of it at that.

Marco walked to the door and beckoned Aria to follow. "Come on," He smirked, "we've got a report to make. "

And with that, the two hurriedly left the infirmary and up to their Captain with a report that could change everything.

Things are coming together! I'm so excited!

Fun fact: Every time I type ''nakama" it autocorrects to banana. And let me tell you, it's really hard to write intense scenes when what's supposed to be a really important word changes into fruit.

I was re-watching Strong World for what must be the tenth time and omg the ending gets me every time! If you haven't watched it yet, then I'll leave it a surprise because I literally sobbed the first time I watched it. Haha I'm sensitive. I highly suggest it tho! Best of all the One Piece movies in my opinion.

I'm trying to work on the pacing because I feel like it's going really fast, but idk. That could just be me and lol.

Thank you all for reading! Hope to see you all again in a few weeks!

Chão!

Word Count: 4401