It was the next morning, and Luffy was back to being gloomy and skittish. Not as much as before, but still a troublesome amount.

Sabo was helping the Strawhat get dressed, and grimaced at the insignia clearly burnt into the shoulder blade of the seven-year-olds rubber flesh as he slid a red vest over his arms.

He really hated that mark.

All of them did, and they tended to avoid mirrors because of it. They knew that was a bit foolish; they'd have to at least be trying to see it if they walked by one since all three had it in their backs, but that didn't really mean much to them. Just the thought of accidentally seeing it made Sabo shutter.

They kept it covered, no matter the cost.

Once they'd finished getting dressed they just sat silently for a while. Luffy hadn't said anything so far this morning, but he kept jumping when something brushed against him, tense. His eyes had an anxious sheen to them, flicking back and forth every now and again as if something was trying to hunt him down.

Over all, he was back to being a bouncy ball of anxiety.

And it irritated the brothers to no end.

Not at Luffy, of course, but because for the life of them they couldn't figure out why. It was sudden to a point of a literal mystery (unlike the kind Luffy constantly proclaimed) and it bothered them to the brink of madness.

Luffy was distant in mind but stayed close in body. Quiet. A trait that was very un-luffyish and didn't suit his personality well- or his real one anyway. The brothers frowned as he jumped back violently to the knock at their door.

Sabo patted Luffy's ruffled black hair as he looked up curiously. "It's probably just Marco, don't worry," Sabo reassured with a smile.

Sure enough, they opened the door to find one pineapple Phoenix staring lazily in the door frame. His Morning appearances had become somewhat routine, though entirely welcome. The boys were grateful for some kind of schedule, a new contact to replace the old ones.

"Morning Marco," all three siblings greeted, though Luffy's voice was a tad smaller than the others.

Marco noted the hesitancy in the youngest, and how he clung a little closer to his brothers from yesterday. It didn't take long for him to take a gander at Luffy's current mood, though it wasn't totally unexpected. The back track in progress was disappointing, frustrating even, but at least he wasn't running away in fear.

"Morning, yoi. I came to see if you wanted breakfast, and to inform you that we'll be reaching Razkatoon Island in eight hours or so," the old pirate smirked.

Luffy brightened a bit at "reaching" and "island". Even in a state of mental instability, one unknowingly controlled by unknown forces, no one could keep the rubber boy from his love of adventure. It was ingrained in his blood, after all, early half of their childhood was life with forest bandits.

"They have jam right?" Luffy queried sheepishly through obvious excitement.

Marco chuckled and nodded. "Yup, that's the one Luffy, yoi."

A spark ignited in Luffy's chocolatey irises, dim and shadowed, but there.

Ace and Sabo smiled at their little brother. So yesterday did keep some effect.

Ace leaned down, taking a knee to meet Luffy's eyes.

"Are you hungry now, Lu? We can go get some food," he asked in a coaxing manner, unsure if the boy's appetite had retreated with the rest of his usual confidence.

Many expressions flashed across Luffy's face, and Ace arched a brow as the seven-year-old seemingly glared at nothing, then grit his teeth before completely relaxing and shaking his head as if to clear it in a matter of seconds.

Ace was confused, because it looked like Luffy had been mad. Had he said something upsetting?

"Are you alright Luffy?" The freckled raven asked carefully.

Luffy opened his eyes and the spark was still there as he replied, "I'm a little hungry."

Ace smiled, but it was quickly replaced with confusion as Luffy added darkly, "The voice isn't though," with the spite of an escaped convict.

The other three looked on in perplexed concern at the small raven, wondering what the heck that meant.

"What do you mean 'voice' Luffy?" Sabo dared inquire first, slowly.

Luffy looked up suddenly, gaze alight with slight awe at the blond, as if he was surprised he knew what Luffy had said. That they had even heard him. Which only raised more eyebrows in question.

Seeking to see this as an opportunity, Luffy fu!bled a bit before beginning a short-lived ramble.

"It's always there," he said in an unreadable tone, yet another un-Luffyish thing, "it never really goes away. Doesn't like being talked abo-"

The seven-year-old cut off a bit abruptly and winced, earning many strange yet worried looks as he put a hand to his temple as said voice reared its head, protesting Luffy saying anything else that betrays it.

"Luffy?" Ace asked anxiously, holding a hovering hand out just behind Luffy's back, in case he for some reason collapses.

Marco kneeled down to Luffy's level, watching the raven close his eyes tightly the way one might do when blocking out a particularly nagging headache.

"Can you hear it now, yoi?" Marco asked softly as to not cause any more irritation by being overly loud.

If it was anything like a headache, as he suspected the sudden infliction was (or something similar at least) he knew noise would only make everything worse.

Luffy nodded meekly and looked up, cracking his eyes open slightly to look at Marco.

"It usually keeps me from saying stuff about it," he tried to explain, the voice itself screeching in the back of his mind to shut up.

"Like right now, yoi?" Marco asked

Luffy nodded once more.

Marco thought to himself, pondering the problem for a minute as he let Luffy gather his own thoughts back to himself.

After a few tense minutes and deep breaths, Luffy seemed a bit better, his three companions giving him time and space to rein in the voice (The voice he'd finally managed to tell them about and thank goodness because gosh was it getting hard to deal with. Especially after yesterday and finally realising just how much of control it had over him) and think properly once more. Or, as properly as a traumatised seven-year-old could.

When Luffy seemed to be in a bit of a better place, Marco suggested they visit Aria, to which Luffy complied, but silently wondered what she could possibly do about... It.

They walked across the hall and into the infirmary, where an unsurprised Doctor greeted them.

She was getting used to their visits. In fact, she was more surprised yesterday when they didn't show up.

"Welcome back you three, long time no see" she greets with a tease, "What is it this time?"

She turned to Marco for an answer while Ace, Sabo, and Luffy waited quietly for instructions. They, being the patients, had also gotten used to this.

"Luffy said he's hearing a voice, yoi," Marco met the look simply, "We're wondering if you had anything for migraines or headaches."

Aria arched a brow in confusion, brushing over the headache part for now. "Hearing a voice...?" She turned to the child in question, "Is it part of hallucinations or-?"

Luffy shook his head, slowly, in an attempt to not aggravate his nerves again.

"It's been there a long time," Luffy began softly, "It... Makes it hard to think, the way I want to think."

The boy seemed to try and think about it more, but in the end stuck his lip out a bit into a pout and stated, "It's mean. I don't like it."

Aria's gaze lingered on the boy a few seconds before she glanced up at Marco for more information. He merely shrugged, only knowing as much as the doctor herself.

Aria sighed heavily and rubbed her temple, lips pursed in mild irritation at the commanders nonchalance. After sending a half hearted glare the commanders way, she pointed to a chair for Luffy to sit in while she fetched her notes (more of a journal now) and some medicine.

Honestly, she couldn't catch a break with these three.

She walked back to find Luffy sitting in a chair with his brothers standing proactively on either side, she assumed to comfort him, but they always looked a bit more like bodyguards to her. She couldn't really blame them.

Marco was waiting across from them, a decent distance away, waiting on her return.

Aria grabbed another chair on her way over to the group and sat it a few feet in front of Luffy before placing herself upon it, flurry of notes in her lap.

She turned to a blank page, then looked up at Luffy with kind eyes.

"Alright," She instructed professionally, and held out a pill for the boy, "That'll hopefully help any headache, just swallow it."

Luffy took it hesitantly and stared at it a while, jumping slightly when Aria sighed and said, "It's not going to hurt you. I have no reason to harm you Luffy, this is like, your twentieth time in my office."

Luffy still looked up at her with sceptical baby brown orbs. Aria gave an exasperated eye roll as she pulled the pill bottle from her pocket and displayed it to the child.

She twisted the blue lid off and plopped one into her palm for Luffy to see.

"Look, it's exactly the same," She explained, letting Luffy match the two and confirm it before she popped the pill into her own mouth.

She raised her hand as if to show off she was fine and gestured for the raven to follow suit.

Luffy gave one last quizzical glance to his brothers, who nodded assuredly, before putting the pill into his own mouth and swallowing it.

He winced and waited a second for something to happen, but slowly relaxed when nothing came of it.

Aria nodded in confirmation, pulling a pen from the chest pocket of her lab coat and clicking it on, letting it hover over her notes.

"Alright, now," she asked carefully, "Tell me about this 'voice', Luffy."

She had plenty of things to ask them, a list piled up over months of just figuring out Luffy's mind state to best accommodate his needs.

The list was getting long.

This confrontation was a long time coming. But seeing as they came here with a new problem, she figured she'd ask about his current standpoint with all that (as well as being drugged) and his experience on the ship after they got this out of the way.

She could only force him to tell her so much, after all.

Luffy fidgeted with his hands in his lap for a bit before speaking. Out of nervousness, fear, or something else, they didn't know.

When he did finally begin his explanation, it was slow and pained, although the medicine Aria had given him seemed to begin doing it's job. At the very least, Luffy didn't look like he was about to pass out like he had earlier that morning.

"It's... Always there, making me feel weird. Bad," the seven-year-old explained to the best of his ability, Aria nodding along while she scrawled down what he said.

"I don't know where it is but it doesn't want me to talk about it," as if to prove the point, Luffy winced as the very voice itself tried to regain control over Luffy, who was too determined to stop now that he finally managed to tell someone, "it makes everything seem worse and won't let me forget stuff... Like from on the ship a-and being alone."

It was Ace and Sabo who winced this time, as if the words physically wounded them, guilt washing them over like a sand dollar on the beach. If only they had been able to keep Luffy that day, at least they would've been with him. But they couldn't. And Luffy had been left, abandoned for all he knew, by himself for years.

A shiver went up their spines from the memory, their own experiences being unpleasant as they surfaced from the backs of their memories, shoved there to be bothered with later. Luffy always came first, their issues could wait.

It was honestly the worst thing any of the trio had gone through, and they genuinely didn't think anything else would ever come close to being worse. Considering all their pasts, that in and of itself was a testament to how truly awful the Celestial Dragons and their wretched ship was.

Aria tapped her pen in the margins of her notes as she pondered what the cause could be. It already seemed much different from any auditory hallucinations, and it didn't seem to be an audible sound by the way the seven-year-old spoke of it. More like a guiding conscious... That didn't help you and messed up your brain.

She prompted Luffy to add anything else before speaking her input.

"Anything else? Does it ever go away?" She suggested, hoping for any information she could get.

Luffy hummed and even seemed to perk up, if only a bit.

"Yeah, it does. Like yesterday. It disappeared for a long time." Luffy's face formed a pout, eyebrows creasing in unease. "But then it came back closer."

Everyone gave a mildly confused tilt of the head at this, Marco arching an eyebrow at the statement.

"Came back... Closer, yoi? What do you mean closer?" He asked, Aria nodding curiously as he voiced their thoughts.

Luffy's face contorted into something none of them could peg down. He looked determined to get what he meant across, but was slightly angry, unsure how to express what 'closer' felt like.

"It's like... Louder? And less in the back, harder not to listen?" He tried, his hands moving to try and help convey his thoughts and feelings. "It's just... Closer. Not far away."

Luffy shrugged feebly and moved his hands back to his lap uncomfortably. He was painfully aware of how little sense his explanation made.

Aria, however, wrote down his description word for word, knowing it had potential to help, with a bit more analysis.

"So.. Before, it was in the back of your mind, and now it's like a present thought, but persistent?" Aria thought out loud from what she understood.

Luffy looked up at her with minor awe that she got anything from his words, nodding slowly, and adding with a slight frown, "But also outside my head."

"Physically?" It was Sabo who asked that, surprise and upset leaking into his tone, "As in someone talking to you like I am now Lu?"

Something seemed to click with that in Luffy's head, because his dim brown eyes suddenly shone a bit brighter and he nodded - and then flinched back.

The voice itself was not happy with its presence being known, much less figured out.

Luffy quickly recovered.

"Yeah! But if you were talking right into here," he tapped his head.

Well, that complicated things. Aria looked at her notes as she tried to puzzle out the enigma Luffy consistently presented.

At least they could absolutely cross out auditory hallucinations, it simply didn't match the way Luffy's visions had worked up till now, and if they went off what Luffy was saying, this voice had been around during all those times as a completely separate thing.

That, and hallucinations didn't tell you not to talk about them or manually alter specific memories and emotions, usually.

"That leaves a few possibilities..." The young doctor murmured to herself, though still just loud enough for them to hear.

"What kind of possibilities, yoi?" Marco questioned with concern.

Aria tapped her pen once more, gathering her thoughts.

"Well," she continued, "It could mean that there is some sort of outside force doing something to Luffy. Maybe even something from back then, on the ship..."

Ace and Sabo looked between their brother and Aria, expressions increasing in worry. Outside forces messing with their baby brother didn't sound good.

Said baby brother was currently staring off into space, he was having a hard time focusing to begin with, now he was just full on uninterested. He was trying to shove the voice aside mentally. So, when Aria tried to further her questioning with the boy, it took a few tries to snap him out of it.

"-uffy? Luffy!"

He startled awake and snapped his head back to the front facing Marco and Aria, Ace and Sabo next to him.

"Are you alright?" The doctor asked gently.

Luffy nodded and mumbled a "sorry" quietly.

Aria nodded, aware that she was losing his attention span, but she pressed on hoping for answers on a different subject.

Now or never.

"Alrighty then. Luffy, can you tell me anything about before we rescued you?"

Luffy looked at her, eyes seemingly haunted just by the thought of it, before shaking his head a little and clearing the look away to replace it with one of mediocre normalcy.

"Yeah..." He whispered, almost unwillingly.

Aria gave him an expectant (but patient) look. Ace placed a comforting hand on the ravens shoulder, earning a small smile from the lad, and then a shuddering breath as he started.

"It's not like anything really happened. It was just... Lonely. So lonely. A-and they wouldn't let me touch anyone or see Ace and Sabo and it was s-small and all I could do was sit there cause I couldn't move well with the sea thingy and-"

Aris quickly noticed how this was working Luffy into an anxious storm. Even though he started out somewhat composed now he was talking fast, watching with hands with glazed eyes, which he was rubbing together rapidly in a nervous motion.

"Luffy," she stated calmly, trying to get his attention before it got worse, but Luffy was already stuck back in his own head, rambling on in panicked tones.

"-It was cold and everything was fake. Nothing was real. Shanks wasn't real, the animals weren't real and I got sick of it. I never knew what time it was it where I was and I couldn't help but wonder i-if i.. If they," Luffy looked up at Ace and Sabo, tears streaming down his face, and whispered, "if maybe they'd forgotten me or left me alone for good."

The brothers' own eyes earned a heartbroken shine at the words tumbling off Luffy's tongue as he melted from that point on into a puddle of tears and trauma. Sabo and Ace rushed over, pulling Luffy into a tight, remorseful hug.

"Luffy were so sorry we wanted to get you back but we just- we couldn't." Ace croaked, both boys holding back their own tears from guilt.

They knew it wasn't their fault. They knew there wasn't anything could've done, but it still hurt knowing that Luffy was alone for all that time. It was his one fear and he had to face it all by himself with no support.

Luffy latched onto his brothers while Sabo and Ace whispered comforting words to him. They had it rough too, being locked in a cell themselves and always on the brink of starvation.

But they honestly couldn't feel sorry for themselves. Not yet. Not after all the backlash of what the stupid Celestial Dragon did to their little brother.

In the background, Aria and Marco were concerned, but also grateful. Yes, all that gibberish had quite a few bits where the elder pirates became even more troubled by the boy's past than they were to begin with. But that usually came along with knowing the details. They already knew Luffy had it rough, and it actually seemed like him being able to say what happened out loud was good for him.

Luffy wasn't forced to keep it in by anyone (Well maybe someone if they ever figured out the whole 'voice' thing) but they never really have him a chance to fully just- vent. Even now, it's only been allowed because Aria had actually told him to and it spiralled out a bit.

They were grateful, because this was another step in healing Luffy's soul.

But back to the worrying bits, well- where to even begin?

The kid was obviously actively thinking about their... Past situation, rather consistently. Even if it was because of their new (or newly discovered) predicament.

On top of that, Aria had unfortunately been correct in her guess that his hallucinating started on the ship, apparently at some point giving the boy a false sense of reality.

Then there was his comment about time. That concerned Aria the most at the moment, unsure if Luffy was still dealing with it. She wouldn't be surprised, and though these weren't the answers (or questions) she was looking for, they did give her and Marco a bit of insight on just how much solitary had affected Luffy.

They'd always known it wasn't good, the past month or so showing that all too clearly, but with some backstory it somehow seemed worse.

It did help them understand Luffy more, though. In fact, this entire conversation was helpful even if she hadn't gotten to ask whether he'd known about being drugged or not.

The young doctor was currently debating whether or not to bring that up now, and was looking to the First Commander for guidance.

"You... Think we should push it?" She asked in hushed hesitance, facing warily at the boys in front of her as they calmed down the youngest.

Marco mentally weighed this. "It's important... But maybe we should hold off till a little later, yoi," the Commander considered, unsure himself.

Aria sighed and nodded, combing a hand through her light brown locks. She cast another anxious glance to the trio, who managed to settle Luffy and were now standing by him, almost like guards, the small strawhat boy grasping Sabo's arm and holding tight to Ace's hand as a grounding (and much needed) physical connection.

Waiting was probably her best option.

Just one more thing in that case.

"Luffy," she called gently, gaining the three sets of eyes attention, "How has the medicine I gave to you far working?"

Luffy sniffled a little and thought about it, then replied, "It's good."

Aria nodded, but looked to the brothers for verification. She trusted him, but wasn't entirely sure Luffy knew perfectly well what the medicine did, so she looked for a second (and third) opinion.

Ace sighed, but answered. "The one for the hallucinations and mental stuff is working, he hasn't had anything like that recently but he still has trouble sleeping sometimes."

Sabo just kept eye contact and shrugged.

Aria wrote that down and smiled, this was good news. Luffy used to not be able to sleep well at all through the night, so 'sometimes' was an excellent improvement.

"Alright then, if you need anything refilled just drop by, you know where to find me. Until then, you're free to go," she stated warmly, standing up and placing all her notes aside on the bedside tables, a smile on her lips that reached into warm, tired eyes.

Luffy returned it with a small smile of his own.

The brothers all thanked the young doctor for her services (more out of habit than gratitude, albeit) and left with Marco to the slightly less bustling galley.

Teach, thankfully, still nowhere in sight.

The boys had officially kind of claimed the seats right up at the bar counter and no one really countered it, each pirate having a preferred spot. Besides, if it made them comfortable, so be it. Who was going to fight kids on seating arrangements?

Marco enjoyed the spot as well because it allowed Thatch to continue work and converse with the group. The five of them got along well, and though they hadn't seen Izou in a while (the Phoenix guessed out of guilt, as unfortunate as it was and the numerous times they reassured it really wasn't his fault), Marco figured it safe to say he was considered an ally in the boys books as well.

Another wonderful surprise to all, Whitebeard's addition to the short list of trustworthy faces among the massive crew. That alone made Marco smirk to himself, glad that Luffy liked their Captain.

That all of them liked him. And the crew like the troublemakers back. Though not officially invited, they were practically part of the crew. Part of the family. Kinda like the cute cousins everyone adores.

Sure, Ace still had a few trust issues and Sabo was still a little shy around the large group pirates, Luffy was a far cry from perfect. But everyone on the ship adored all three of them, whether they knew them first hand or not.

Who they would and wouldn't trust seemed to rely on Luffy's instincts, (yes, they'd picked up on that. Wasn't hard after the Teach fiasco) and it was fantastic at how many they let themselves simply be around.

They'd come so far in this month, even if they still had a long way to go and a couple stumbled backwards.

Marco watched with a reserved fondness as Luffy ate another piece of toast, happily (he hoped) munching away at it while his brothers shoveled food into their mouths at an alarming rate. They'd gotten used to it but dang could those kids eat.

A thought came to Marco and he glanced curiously at the younger, debating whether to ask, eventually deciding just go for it.

"Yoi, Luffy?"

The red vested child looked up with enquiring eyes, still nomming vehemently at his toasted bread and meat.

"What's got your appetite back, yoi? Not that it's bad- just curious," the elder pirate asked gingerly.

Luffy swallowed and looked back at his toast. "Voice didn't like food cause it helped... Or something." He then took another bite out of his toast and considered that conversation case-closed.

Marco... Had not been expecting that. But he understood exactly what Luffy's brief but overall troubling answer meant. Basic needs simply help one survive. By keeping Luffy from eating, thinking, even sleeping properly, made Luffy weaker in body and mind. It meant that this 'voice' had been actively harming Luffy from the get go and no one knew. Or would have known.

Which brought another question, a few actually, to Marco's mind.

Why now? Is something or someone really manipulating Luffy from the outside? Was Luffy becoming too hard to control or...

He thought back a little and realised that Luffy started being way more open yesterday.

So what happened? What changed?

Was it on their end, or the voices? Had Luffy done something...?

After making it over for a decent time, Marco let his brain drop the subject, for now, sighing through his nose and taking in a deeper breath to purge his mind of thought.

Whatever had happened, helped, and that's really all that mattered for now.

Marco continued sitting with the boys, watching causally as they ate their breakfast, talking to a few other commanders and crewmates as they came along. Luffy tended to inch a little closer to his brothers for most of them, except the few (such as Vista) that he knew, but not out of mistrust. More like hesitancy to trust himself.

Brothers, overprotective as ever, made sure to keep a close eye on everyone and anyone who came near them, and keep an eye out for Teach (Though they were pretty sure they'd know the moment he was anywhere near them because of Luffy's strong people senses).

Marco kept a lazy eye on a few entrances, though much more subtly and bit more casually than the younger charges beside him.

It didn't take long for them all to finish up breakfast, but they all stayed a couple hours to chat with Thatch. The fourth commander was the kind of guy you could talk to for hours and not even realise that much time had passed, the conversation just flowed on easily.

So they stayed that way a while, just chatting amongst the crew as the day waned on. The topic of Razkatoon island coming up and Thatch spoke statically about how excited he was to try their famous jams and jellies, as well as see what the three imagined of his ever popular sourdough.

All three were more than willing to accept the offer of trying some for whenever Thatch made a batch, and surely they wouldn't have to wait long.

After all, their destination was mere hours away.

Marco, being head navigator, knew precisely when their arrival in Razkatoon would be.

"Speaking of which, when are we getting there, Mr. Navigator?" Thatch teased, only semi-serious as always

Marco smirked and looked out towards the open galley doors, the rest of the group following his lazy blue eyes to the visible horizon, where a speck of black smaller than a pea could be seen.

"Six hours, twenty minutes, to be precise. And not a second more, yoi.

All caught up! Y'all gotta wait for the next chapter like Wattpad now! I'm sorry but I update really slow in reality, about once month. So yup.

Updates are slow here on out because the climax is coming.

And climax's kill me. Every. Single. Time.

I still really hate where this chapter cuts off...

Finally storyboarded, too. My wall is coated in index cards. Yippeeee. My mum thinks it's because I'm a genius but in reality it's because my memory is almost as bad as my story plotting skills. XD This next part is gonna be real fun. Finally getting out of build up and into a bit of action (hopefully by next chapter). :-:

Also, recently realised (thank you Kyuyua, my friend) that the way I pronounce Aria might be weird. So, fyi it's:

Arr (like a pirate) -EE (lika WEEEE when you're excited) -Uh (Like ugh but without the g)

Arr-ee-uh.

Aria.

*Queue "I've been pronouncing it 'uh-rye-uh' this whole time!"* Yeah, uh, fun fact, that's actually how you pronounce my user. I'm Arria (uh -rye-uh) the Dragon XD so yup. SWITCH EM!

Anyyywwhhooooo, enough of my blabbering! I hope you enjoyed the chapter at least a little. I'm not super happy with it but I tried my best.

Thanks for reading! See you (hopefully) soon!

Chão!

Word Count: 5090