They dropped Law off at his home, and then Ace dropped Luffy off at theirs. "We will speak about this another time, okay?" Luffy nodded curtly and walked inside.
Makino saw he was grumpy, and asked what had happened. "I got in a fight with Ace. But I don't want to talk about it." The mother was surprised, since her sons rarely got in arguments. At least, not with Luffy. Ace and Sabo argued, but not with Luffy. But she didn't press. Luffy saw there was a gift basket on the counter. "What's that?" he asked from the couch, pointing to the object on the bar counter.
His mother blushed slightly. Luffy was curious, but smiled. His mom had a crush on someone! "Is it from Shanks?" Luffy asked. She talked about him sometimes, but it was usually as friends. But she was blushing now.
"Yes. He asked me out on a date for coffee," she said, sounding happy but shy.
"Are you going?" Luffy asked eagerly, so happy to see his mom happy. He knew what it felt like to be in a happy relationship and would want his mom to feel the same. It was nice! And Shanks sounds like a genuinely good man. Nothing like Roger was. She nodded, and Luffy hugged him, so happy for her.
She asked, "It doesn't bother you?"
"Of course not! I want you to be happy," Luffy said sincerely. Makino rubbed his ears affectionately. She was relieved he didn't mind, was actually rooting for her. They had a happy dinner, and it was what Luffy wanted after the stressful argument.
He stayed up late into the night again. This really was convenient. He wasn't tired at all that day, even though he didn't get a lot of sleep the night before. He was startled when his phone started chiming, his light training paused as he went to his phone and turned the volume down. The master bedroom was on the other side of the house, so unless Luffy was very loud, it shouldn't reach his mom's sleeping ears.
It worked. I just got out of the hospital, completely fine. A photo was accompanied with it. It was send to all ten survivors, even those that hadn't agreed to the rescue or retrieval plan. The photo was of the person having lights on his hands, shining brightly, the ethereal color of Luffy's lights.
The fingers gave off wispy lights, looking like smeared paint. Not the flowy, water color like lights of Luffy's. Another photo was of the person touching the wall, and the light spread across the entire surface. It wasn't only him, he wasn't special. The others could do this. And Luffy knew for a fact this wasn't normal, or all people who bumped their heads would have extra abilities.
Almost everyone replied back, asking questions about it, if it was painful, how it developed. The good thing was that, so far, all of the light powers varied. Were similar, but not identical. He was alarmed when others said they were going to try it, too. But, if they could use the lights on their bodies, maybe Luffy didn't need to use his own on multiple people.
But it left his mind reeling. Was it really the drugs they had zero information on? They would never know, but Luffy worried about it.
-x-
A week passed. And by the end of it, all of the survivors had new light powers, all having purposely hit their heads. Tokoyami did his subtly, at hero training. They had been back at Ground Beta, and Tokoyami "accidentally" tripped and hit his head on a wall. Luffy, Law and Shoji all knew it was orchestrated.
By the end of the day, Tokoyami had Dark Shadow and the ability to create wispy, black lights. They weren't colorful or bright like the others, they were pitch black and creepy looking, but still functioned distinctly like the others' did. Shoji did his on the weekend on his own. Well, not alone, but not around other students. So, by the end of the second day, he was able to shift his entire body into the light form that made Luffy sick.
While Luffy's power was the most versatile and harmless, unable to fight back against somebody, Shoji's made him into the form that Luffy had so much trouble on. And the others all had new light quirks that allowed them to use it on other people and objects to fight. It was like Luffy's matched with his personality. His lights wer gentle and soothing.
All eight of the others were keeping their new abilities away from the public eye. Only they knew about it, the ten of them. It made Luffy think that it had to do with the pit. Those that survived until the end, as none of class 1-B, those who had made it, were able to have this power. Even after vine hair girl had a baseball bat to her head from a thug, she didn't develop it.
They didn't know for sure, and probably never would know for sure, but there was a pattern. The pit, those who made it to the end and knew about the head injury thing, they were able to unlock the power. Luffy was just disappointed that none of them had portals they could use to get to the pit.
Ace had talked to Luffy again, but the teen hadn't been open. And it made Ace frustrated. They got in an argument that Luffy couldn't help but cry about. He didn't like getting in arguments, especially with people he loved. He pulled on his ears while crying in the car. It clearly broke Ace's heart, and he backpedaled as best as he could.
"I'm just worried about your safety, Lu."
"I want to save people. That's what heroes do, even if it puts them in danger!" Luffy cried. He felt pitiful, but he hated Ace being mad at him for something so near and dear to his heart. Ace didn't know the guilt he carried. He didn't know the horror of seeing deformed things in his bedroom! "I want it to stop!"
Ace climbed into the backseat and sat next to his much smaller brother. "What do you mean?" he asked, his arm around Luffy's thin shoulders.
"I don't wanna feel guilty anymore! I don't wanna see them in my room! They're scary and gross and make me remember that I left them behind! I want to move on!" he sobbed. Ace winced, looking so pained. He quietly apologized for sounding so heartless and cold.
"I just don't want you hurt again. What if you come out worse this time? What if… what if you don't come out at all?" Ace asked, voice catching. "We just can't lose you. I can't lose you." Luffy sniffled, trying to get his tears under control. "I'm sorry I'm being impatient and grumpy. But how would you feel if I went missing? Nobody knew what was happening?"
"I'd be scared…" Luffy replied, letting go of his ears.
Ace said, "I want to help you. Please." Luffy was hesitant, but finally nodded. Ace smiled and hugged him, and apologized again for making him cry. Luffy forgave him, and he was brought home, and he got a full night of sleep.
The next day, Luffy and Law were angry to find that their plan had been exposed to Marco, who pulled them aside, with Ace there, too. Luffy looked at him with angry and hurt eyes. Ace looked guilty for a minute, and walked to Luffy, only for him to back away a step. "Don't get upset yet. I'm not going to stop you, I'm going with you and Ace," Marco said. "The mission is dangerous, and we'd rather not have any of you come, but we don't know that pit like you do. We don't know where we'd find people.
"While you are leading us, Ace and I will be against the monsters in there. I can heal from any wound-"
"No, you don't fight the monsters, you run," Law said firmly. Luffy nodded, but both were relieved to have the backing of a pro, now. Marco asked them for the full story. He needed it, and promised to not spread it. This mission was going on with the permission of Whitebeard, but he was given little explanation about it. He just trusted Ace and Marco to keep the situation safe.
Luffy shared a look with Law, with the bigger faupta nodded. So, they went into Marco's office, and Luffy gave the story. He was giving this away because their cause just had significant backing. They had the permission of a high ranking pro-hero. It wasn't a secret mission anymore. Not from everybody.
Marco's face grew darker and darker as the story went on, but didn't rescind his decision. "I'm sorry you had to go through that. But we'll go to the pit, and search for any of the missing or deceased students. Based on what you said, it is unknown whether its safe to ascend or descend. We will do neither. We'll teleport in and to the different levels."
Luffy smiled. They'd needed a way in and out. Then something popped into Luffy's head. Something he hadn't thought of until now. "I have a way to know if they're down there beforehand!" he said suddenly. "My recording bunny light!" The pro heroes were puzzled. "One of my lights can record sounds and play them back. I can have it go search inside for any familiar sounds.
"The sounds the blob students make, or the sound of living students," Luffy explained. Law grinned proudly, and Luffy blushed, but was still smiling.
Marco said, "That will be helpful. We'll go to the edge of the pit, then. And have your recording light venture down inside. Based on what humans know of this place, it could take a long time. Will your bunny be safe?"
Luffy nodded. "They're unaffected by any sort of outside force or object, and Dazzy had been safe to go up and down in the pit, unlike we could," he replied.
Marco got on the phone and contacted someone named Whitey Bay. "Bay, hey. We've got a mission we need you quirk for. It's a dangerous one," he added. Apparently she liked dangerous missions, and said she'd be there soon. After hanging up, Marco turned back to Luffy and Law. "Contact your allies. We need to get to planning as soon as possible."
Luffy's heart soared. They had backing for their rescue mission! Rescue those alive, and retrieve those who had passed. No matter the state of their bodies, they'd do right by them. The least they could do was return them to their families.
