Luffy was in his living room, playing on the Wii with Sabo and Ace. Even though they were both in their twenties, they had placed bets on how the consol would react to Luffy waving around all four wiimotes at the same time. It left the characters on the screen popping up suggestions for fixing the placement of the sensor bar.

They were all laughing, with Makino baking cookies for her sons. Luffy was so happy, as it felt so normal. He was with his family again, and gave his mom a big hug for a full couple minutes when he arrived with Ace driving him home.

"So, how's it going with your third quirk?" Sabo asked from the beanbag chair they'd had for ten years. Luffy said it was useless and impractical. "How so?"

Luffy huffed and explained, "I'm too small. The wind knocks me all around the place. I can only fly in a straight line in my beast form. And that's not the part of me I want seen when I'm doing hero work. I don't want to look big and scary. So flying is kind of useless. I've gone flying with Law a couple times in beast form, but I'm not graceful at all."

Makino said, "Well, at least you have the option to fly, right?" Always trying to find a brighter side. Luffy admitted that they didn't do any harm when not in use. So, they're pointless but not detrimental. "Like an emergency option."

Luffy nodded. The three brothers saw the shift in their mother and knew she was going to bring up something sad or upsetting. "Roger came to see me at work today," she said. Ace and Sabo turned angry while Luffy was a bit confused. He didn't remember anything about their father but that he was mean, and one expression. Looking downwards at him with a look of dissatisfaction.

"What the hell does he want?" Ace demanded.

"He… said he wanted to get to know you three. Luffy especially."

"No."

"It's Luffy's decision. Roger is your father, whether he was a good one or not," Makino replied, Ace sitting on the couch and crossing his arms. Luffy didn't hate him. Didn't remember him enough to hate him. He just knew he was a "mean daddy".

But he didn't really have any desire to meet him again. Even to hear an apology. Sabo was the calmest, though he had an air of irritation around him. He asked, "What do you think, Lu?"

"I don't really have any desire to see him. He was never in my life that I can remember. We didn't even talk about him. I feel bad my appearance made you two lose a father, though. I know it's not my fault and I have no control over it, but still," Luffy said honestly. Ace and Sabo frowned.

Makino said, "I didn't only make him leave because of how mean he was to you. That was a major role, but he had been getting colder. I think we were growing apart for awhile. I should have talked to him about his behavior towards you long before I actually did. I'm sorry." She sounded ashamed, and Ace and Sabo immediately told her she did the right thing.

"It would have been harder for you to raise us without him there to do some things. Luffy was only four, he needed more supervision. Roger was convenient in some ways," Ace said. Makino said that wasn't how she saw things, but that his words were logical.

She sighed, and said, "I wish you could have all had a good father." Ace beamed, and said that they did have a new father. "I know Whitebeard sees all of his subordinates as his children, but you know it's different. I wish you'd grown up with a male role model. But I'm happy all three of you turned out to be such good men."

"You raised us good, mom," Luffy said brightly, and she smiled, eyes a little watery.

"I've missed you so much, Luffy," Makino said, and Luffy walked over and hugged her tightly, with all his arms. The four put on a movie, and anything about Roger was forgotten. He enjoyed his family time so much, more than he honestly expected. He missed this, missed them. He went into his room and was sad much of his furniture was gone, it didn't look like his room.

Well, hopefully this would be his room once again soon enough. When it was time to go back, Makino drove him to the school. Ace and Sabo went back to their place, saying they'd see him at work.

When they got to the gate, he hugged Makino and then hurried inside, carrying the backpack full of baked goods. He put the things in Sanji's minifridge so nobody else ate them. He wasn't sharing them, they were from his mom and special. Sanji and Zoro were in Sanji's room, playing video games. Law was napping in his room from a long day with his family and energetic sister.

Everybody was seeing their families more, and it made the kids all happy. Things were getting back to normal. Luffy sat on the floor at the bed, and told his two best friends about his dad wanting to make contact. They both looked conflicted. Neither had ever met the man. "What do you want to do?" Zoro asked.

Luffy shrugged. "I don't really have any desire to meet him. I'm happy with my family how it is. And it's taken too long for him to make contact if he actually wanted to be part of our lives. Ace and Sabo are adults and don't live at home anymore. I'm not exactly little anymore. If he wanted this, he should have come earlier." Sanji mused that he might have been afraid to. "Maybe. Ace and Sabo don't want to meet him at all. I feel bad. They were happy with him before I was born."

"I think they'd much rather have you than ever have him," Zoro commented, punctuating his words by killing Sanji in the game. Luffy nodded, agreeing that his family loved him too much to have ever traded. He was glad he was a good son and brother. And that his family loved him. They never had extended family, both parents having come from other countries with no family with them.

There was a knock on the door, and Luffy could tell it was Law. He walked over and opened the door. "How was your day with your family?" Law asked, rubbing Luffy's ear affectionately. It felt good for him but tickled for Law, so he didn't like that.

"It was fun. But then my mom said Roger wanted to see me, see my brothers and I. So, we're not sure about that answer." Law walked in and sat at the desk chair Sanji had. "I don't know my answer. I have no reason desire to see him. My life only got better when he was gone. Maybe if he'd come back sooner, proven he was changed or his opinions changed… maybe I could have had a dad.

"But I'm past wishing for a dad, even if it wasn't him," Luffy said. The others frowned, but could understand. "I just want to live with mom again. She must be so lonely." Luffy frowned sadly, looking at his hands. They had the stoppers on them, small enough to not just hang off the tips of his fingers, being a nuisance.

Sanji sighed, and agreed. He had a single mother, as well. And she had no more children to live with her, just like Makino. But, Luffy would visit her when he could, on the weekends. Law still hadn't met her, insecure about if she'd approve of him, no matter if Luffy said she'd love him. After all, he made him very happy and was with him through the nightmares the whole time, there for him emotionally and physically.

After dinner, Sato came to him when they were cleaning up, holding his phone, and saidi he didn't want to alarm Luffy, who was now alarmed, and showed him his phone. Similar to the plushies from a couple months ago, there was a website about him. But it was much creepier than the plushies. Photos of him in various places. A the train station, with Law, with his brothers, on patrol. Luffy took the phone and scrolled down, growing creeped out and uneasy. Uncomfortable.

He asked for Sato to send him the link to the website, and soon had it on his own phone, heading to his bedroom. He couldn't find the admin of the website, and didn't really know what to do to try and get it down or to stop whoever it was from doing this. He went onto his computer and looked closer.

Frowning deeply, he emailed the school to see if they could do anything. Then he messaged Thatch. He got no answer, but he would just ask the next day at work. So, he went to bed and got up in the morning, still uncomfortable. "What's wrong?" Law asked, as Luffy wasn't very good at hiding his feelings when things weren't okay.

"I think I have a stalker," Luffy replied honestly. He ate the cereal with a dry mouth, and showed Law the website. "They have you there, too, but it looks like I'm the main focus." Law scowled and handed him his phone back. "I'll ask what the Whitebeards think about it."

"That's the best thing, I think. But, isn't it illegal to film hero students without permission? At least, while we're not in our costumes?" Law asked. The smaller nodded. That was the law, and whoever made this website was breaking it. It was different when Luffy would take a photo with little children, because he was volunteering for that.

Taking photos from afar without his permission was illegal and could cause you to be fined heavily. Which meant he probably wouldn't easily see who was doing it. Zoro, Midoriya and Sanji were still in bed after being called in very late by Endeavor for an emergency meeting. Luffy knew he wouldn't be told, because the same applied to Whitebeard meetings if they weren't shared with other agencies.

They took the train, walking quickly. When it wasn't just Luffy or just Law, they left earlier since their wouldn't be both flying or running like Luffy did. It started to rain heavily on their way, soaking them both. It was terrible. Since the rain was so heavy, they worried that they could get missed crossing the street, and had both Dazzy and Hero out as sort of living bike lights.

Hero was much better behaved when Dazzy was there. When they got to the agency, there was a jug of hot chocolate and mugs set out. Both got a mug, and Ace came over and used his quirk to dry them up with heat, evaporating the water sogging their clothes and fur. "Ace, I think I have a stalker."

"What?" Ace said sharply. Luffy nodded, and opened the saved page to the website with all of the photos taken without permission or knowledge. Ace scrolled through all of the photos, a growing look of rage on his face. Luffy was bummed that this was the second time. The first time was embarrassing with being a stuffed doll, this one was creepy.

"This was taken from across the street, but that's a diner. Not exactly a place we can track down whoever is taking these pictures." Luffy held his ears, saying he didn't like not being able to not be noticeable without his costume. Law nodded. It was frustrating sometimes.

Thatch walked over and saw them, apologizing to Luffy for not getting to him the night before. It was a late shift. "We can contact the admin of the website. Should be easy for Haruta to do with his information quirk." Haruta could manipulate information on the internet. So, he could search anything with his mind and get all the answers he needed instantly, as long as he was looking at the source he was using to the internet. He was very useful.

"Now, sorry to do this, but you'll be doing patrol in the rain. We have some umbrellas and ponchos for you. They have the Whitebeard logo on them, so they know you're both heroes. Izo made them special for you two," Thatch said.

Marco walked over with the ponchos, size varying greatly, but with two others. "Ace and Sabo will be doing it as well." Ace groaned and Sabo said nothing, having come over with Marco and the ponchos. The four of them put the raingear on, with both Luffy and Law having custom boots on, so that their feet didn't get freezing and soaked.

While being affiliated with hero organizations, both the school and the agency, it made custom clothing and equipment much cheaper, even if it was still high quality. When they walked down the street, Dazzy and Hero were out with them. Luffy and Law were listening as close as they could, since it was hard to hear over the rain. Not just the sound of it hitting other things, but the hood of their ponchos as well.

Luffy and Law both heard the shouts of people telling somebody to get off of a bridge. A suicide attempt. Luffy told them and they went sprinting in the direction, Luffy running ahead with Law giving the other two directions. It was on a big bridge over a river. The person was a small man, looking like a young adult.

"Come down, man! There's always a brighter day!" someone shouted from below. The guy was really high up. Nobody would get to him, and Luffy wondered how he got up there, either. But, he was right at the ledge, and so Luffy had Dazzy go up, and create a calming, water color blue sky above him, making the clouds above not show.

Luffy climbed up the suspensions of it and onto the metal part of the bridge, carefully walking over to him on all sixes. "Hi," Luffy said slowly, and pulled the hood down. The man with face piercings and green hair matted to his head from the water, looked at him in wary before Luffy sat down, much smaller than he was. "Do you like my light? It's pretty, isn't it? It helps when I'm sad."

He didn't really know where he was going with this, but he knew that his appearance and Dazzy were soothing to scared people. Having somebody more rough looking or larger might make him more uncomfortable. You can't be comfortable being ready to jump to your death. "My name is Luffy. What's yours?"

"Bartolomeo," the guy said, sounding uncertain.

"I can't say tomorrow will always be brighter. Some problems take a long time to go away, but you'll feel better working at it, even if its still dark and scary, if it still leaves you with nightmares and panic attacks. But if you don't work at it, you'll be in the dark even longer," Luffy said, sounding casual but sincere. He looked at Bartolomeo and asked if he wanted to talk.

"You have problems?"

"Of course. Everybody does, but my problems have been very bad. What is dark in your heart?" Luffy asked. The man looked down, and said his mother died and his father left the day after. He was alone and homeless. He had nowhere to go. Luffy pat the beam, and Bartolomeo sat down. His brothers and boyfriend were below, watching. He could hear that the fire department had been called.

"It sounds like a dark time, I'm so sorry for your loss," Luffy said sincerely. Dazzy was still making beautiful patterns right above them, and then he had her create a meadow backdrop, reacting to his thoughts and not any words. "You have no family?"

"I have an uncle, but he doesn't want me, either," Bartolomeo replied. When he was asked if he had friends, the guy said he didn't.

"I could be your friend," Luffy offered. "And you could go to a shelter under the Whitebeard agency. It's a nice place. There are dorms for abandoned kids until they find a new home or grow into adulthood. It's free, too," the faupta said with a smile. "Your life might not be how it was, but you can still live it. New experiences, growing older and wiser. I think it's worth it. Even if there was no better tomorrow for me, I wouldn't stop hoping for it, and purging ahead."

Bartolomeo said, "You seem strong. I'm not strong."

"Well, maybe not yet. But you're still a teenager, right? You have a long life ahead of you, where you can do anything!" Luffy said. Accompanied with his words, Dazzy showed a visual of the planet, and then a slide show affect of water color cities, forests, mountains. "There's still so much in the world to discover to give up on it."

Bartolomeo was crying, and said he wanted to be down. Luffy beamed and stood, walking to him and taking his hand, helping him to the ladder that was erected up by the fire department. He climbed down, and Luffy went down after. He called for a car to the Whitebeard agency, and Rayuko came, one of the commanders. Luffy rarely saw him there. There had been people filming, and no doubt got footage of all of the calming visuals Luffy had played.

He said he was going back to the agency with Bartolomeo, leaving his brothers and Law to do patrol, all looking at him proudly, with Law looking just a bit infatuated, making Luffy blush. He sat next to the suicidal teen, who was still crying. Rayuko didn't say anything, but put relaxing music on. Luffy brought Dazzy back out, and had it turn into the light ball and drift around Bartolomeo in circles.

When they got to the agency, Thatch greeted the lonely teen loudly. "We hear you're in need of assistance?" The suicidal teen nodded. "Then let's get started!" He clapped his hands, and then Luffy dried off and walked around with his new friend, staying with him while things were settled. By the end of the long day, he was in a car with his belongings, heading to the Whitebeard youth center.

Bartolomeo had Luffy's phone number, and he waved goodbye. The teen looked nervous, but also with a glimmer of hope. It was nice, and Luffy hadn't felt more satisfied than anything he'd done so far. Marco stood next to him, under the awning of the building, as it was still raining, and put his hand on Luffy's head.

"Great work, Luffy," he said sincerely. "Looks like you found another use for Dazzy, huh?" Luffy beamed and nodded. It really was an incredibly versatile and all around useful quirk, even if it was benign and harmless.

He had been on the news, as it was not surprising a lot of people were filming the incident, even if they couldn't hear when he or Bartolomeo were saying over the rain and distance. Luffy should have asked how on earth he had gotten up that high. Law was sitting at the couch with him in his lap, head on his chin.

It really touched a lot of his classmates, with Bakugo being the outlier. He thought being suicidal was a weakness and thought Bartolomeo was just a coward.

"Just cause you've never had to handle being through hell doesn't mean other people can't suffer from it," Luffy snapped, rarely showing anger. The room went quiet, and Baukgo glared at him. Luffy held the glare.

"Why are you complaining? You got over it just fine! All of you don't say shit about it!" Why was he turning it about the pit? Did he want them to say anything? The four stayed quiet until Tokoyami said, "People don't always suffer at the surface like they do inside." The room was quiet.

"Just tell us!" Bakugo demanded. "You keep this huge secret from everyone, Luffy won't even tell his best friends. What happened? Did you kill people and now won't tell anybody else? We were all grueld about it when you wouldn't say shit!"

"Bakugo, stop," Todoroki said. "We weren't there, it's not our business to know." The class seemed torn on this opinion. Luffy and the other three didn't say anything.

"...But we're friends. You should lean on us all," Ashido said. "It made me feel better once I shared the experience with others. Finally told everybody how horrible it had been, how scary." Luffy had his hands fisted, drawing blood on his palms. "I know the first time was scary, but maybe if you talked about it-"

Sanji interjected, "Can't you see talking about it is hurting them?" quietly. Everyone looked at the four, and they all had blood on their hands or lips from biting them. "Some things you can't just talk out." Luffy was irritated and embarrassed that they were all looking so weak. But still, he wouldn't break the promise again. He'd already told his brothers about much of the experience, he wasn't going to tell anybody else.

Hagakure said, "Well, we can just be glad they're all alive, right? They got out, we have to be glad about that. I don't think we should talk about it anymore, we should just try to move on. Why bring it up again? It's been a couple months…" The invisible girl was trying to diffuse the situation, though most, of not all, were on the side opposite of Bakugo's.

He made a sound and stormed away. They all ate in uncomfortable silence until Tokoyami said, "I killed somebody." Luffy's head snapped up and everyone looked at him in shock. "They turned into a monster and couldn't move themselves. I don't know if they even could think anymore. But he was in our way, we couldn't get past him and would die if we stayed. So I pushed him over the edge with my foot. I didn't even hear him hit the bottom."

The class was completely silent in shock, but Tsu got up and walked over to put her hand on his shoulder.

"We-were all of them killed?"

"Not all of them. We left many behind when they could come anymore, slowed us down. Those that were the worst case turned into mush, piles of skin and blood and guts. At the end, we were forced to choose who would stay and die, and the final ten who would make it. Three sacrificed themselves, one of them cutting his wrists and dying. We chose to continue with who had the most useful quirk," he was explaining everything.

"Tokoyami, you just broke the promise to the other survivors," Luffy said in a low voice.

"I know."

Law had his jaw clenched, angrily like Luffy was, but the smallest was able to hide his rage and disappointment. Momo said they wouldn't tell anybody. Luffy shook his head with a sigh. How could they count on twenty people to not say a thing? Ace and Sabo hadn't told a single person. He finished his food and went upstairs without a word to his bedroom.

He slammed his door shut and got on his bed, putting the blankets over his head, burrowing under completely. Tokoyami just told everyone, and Luffy had been doing okay! He didn't want to think about it, hadn't voiced it in months, and here all of it was back in full force. He could hear the screaming of the students, the sounds of splattering far, far below. The sounds of spikes meeting the fleshy monster, the sizzling of it's acidic blood.

And the evil laugh of Blackbeard as he tormented them all. Tokoyami was a traitor. Luffy told his brothers… but he didn't go into detail like that! He hadn't confessed how horrible they'd been in there. Killing, even if it was out of mercy, leaving people behind, and then deciding who would be left behind to die.

He curled up into a ball, eyes wide and full of horror. When his door opened, he could tell it was Zoro and Sanji. They shut the door behind them and locked it. "Luffy, you're not a monster, and nobody here thinks that," Sanji said firmly, but kindly. Luffy didn't make a response.

"I was doing okay, and now it's all on the surface again," Luffy finally said, voice muffled under the blankets.

"Well, now you have us to help you through it, too," Zoro said. They were trying so hard to look at a bright side Luffy never wanted. He'd moved on so that he could live again, and here everything was brought to the forefront. Stupid fucking Bakugo, stupid fucking Tokoyami! The faupta said nothing, wanting them to go away.

"Wanna come to me?" Luffy heard Law say, talking through the wall. Luffy sat up and left the room, going to Law's. He wasn't trying to hurt his friends' feelings, though.

"It's fine. Law will help him," he heard Zoro say when Midoriya saw Luffy walk away from both of his best friends. He must have looked upset. But Zoro and Sanji both knew Luffy didn't mean to be rude.

He walked to the bed and crawled into Law's lap, face against his collarbone. Law didn't say anything, just sat in the bed in the quiet, rubbing Luffy's ears gently. "I'm not happy with it either. I'd done well to push it all away, too." He didn't say Tokoyami was in the right in any way. Law wasn't close to all of his classmates. Only Luffy, Zoro and Sanji. He acted fine around Midoriya, but otherwise, he was aloof and didn't call attention to himself.

"Tokoyami said too much. I told my brothers about it briefly, but I didn't go into depth, about being why some people died or killed themselves," Luffy said angrily, quietly. "That was supposed to fade away into nothing. Leave it behind," he grumbled.

Law nodded silently, and then rested his cheek on Luffy's head. There was a knock on the door not much later, and they could smell it was Tokoyami. They didn't open the door or respond. "Can we talk, please?" the bird-headed teen asked. Luffy scowled, but it wasn't him to shut out and ignore others.

But for once, he really wanted to just leave somebody hanging, not getting a reply and feeling embarrassed. But he didn't, and opened the door, a blank face on. He didn't move aside to let him in, he just stayed in the doorway. Everybody knew already, so why keep it in secret. "I'm sorry I dragged you both into it."

"Everyone else into it."

"Yeah. It just came out. I don't feel any better about telling anyone. I was hopping I would, but all I feel now is worry that people who could do something hear about it."

"Now we have to deal with them showing pity about something that happened months ago and we want to forget," Luffy said in a monotone voice. Tokoyami was frowning and looked down, nodding. The dark teen let out a sigh, and a genuine apology. "I'm sorry for unintentionally dragging you back into something so painful." Luffy's glare softened into a frown.

"I forgive you." Tokoyami bowed in thanks. "Did you say anything more after we left? After I left?" The other shook his head. He hadn't said anything after Luffy left, and everyone had been silent. Shoji was in the hallway, too.

He said, "I'm not bringing it up with anyone. They won't hear a thing about it from me. I just want to move past it all and forget as much as I can." Law stood and said he wanted to move on as well. They all agreed for that confession to be all that was said. Never again, and they wouldn't go into detail with anyone else.

Luffy was glad they had a new promise, and knew that Tokoyami wouldn't speak of it again. Maybe he should if he truly had to, but Luffy never thought that he'd tell anybody but his family. Not their classmates. The whole class, admitting he was technically a murderer, though they didn't know if the blob died from that fall.

He couldn't even remember the facs of those that turned into fleshy blobs. He had before, but now all he saw was them as the blob monsters. He hoped they were dead. Truly hoped. Tokoyami and Shoji left, and Luffy shut the door. He sat down against it, pulling his furry knees up, pulling down on his ears before he started to cry silently, biting his lip hard. Law picked him up, Luffy not resisting, and tucked him in. Luffy grabbed the pillow he usually used in there and pressed his face to it, sobbing into it hard. He just wanted it to all be gone forever. Never speak or acknowledge it again.

That's all he wanted, and he knew that wasn't what everyone would want. By human nature, they'd be curious. And Luffy didn't know how he'd handle prying. He might get angry again, and he didn't like being angry. But he wanted the universe to know that the survivors don't want it mentioned ever again. At least, not by anybody but themselves.

But the universe loved ruining lives.