sousie: Their troubles are only just beginning lol. Lots more to come.

phoenix: It get's super emotional and graphic later. Hope it's not too much.

XoloDawg: Thank you!

Maldea: Thanks!

Kitsune Foxfire: Thank you, I hope you stick with it.

The very beginning of the time with the Whitebeards! How will it end up going, though? Hmm.

Luffy sat on Ace's shoulders in the crowsnest, standing and looking at the endless horizon. Luffy had complained that he never got to feel the wind on all of him. Ace knew he would be fine if he fell from the crowsnest since he was rubber, and he'd fallen from higher places, the little idiot. Ace held onto his legs tightly while the youngest had his arms out like he was flying. It had been nine days since the reset, and they were all feeling great. There was a part in between the dates where they felt energized more than usual.

"If you fall I'm never doing this for you again," Ace said as he felt a small wobble. Luffy then grabbed onto his head tightly, making Ace make an "oof" noise. He scowled, but it didn't hurt, so he didn't complain aloud.

Sabo's head popped up and asked them if they wanted sandwiches or soup for lunch. Luffy said soup while Ace said sandwiches at the same time. Sabo laughed when the two narrowed their eyes at each other. "How about sandwiches for lunch and then he can have soup for dinner?"

The blonde was always the one to break up an argument, small though they were, or the best at keeping them from escalating. The two black haired brothers nodded, thinking that was a good idea, and then went back to what they'd been doing before.

"The sea is pretty," Luffy said, breaking the silence. Ace chuckled.

"Just now noticed that?" he teased.

"No! I was just saying," he grumbled, and Ace laughed again. He crouched for Luffy to get off and announced he had to take a piss, and jumped from the crowsnest and landed lightly on the deck. Being a logia really had its perks. He wished Sabo could have a devil fruit, too. Well, he was the one to drag them out of the water if they fell in. But now they had more people to do that for them.

Luffy jumped down, too, no longer with Ace so no reason to stay up there. It was boring being alone. So he went to find Sabo, who he found in the office. It was a second storage room that had been converted to an office with three seats at a big desk. There were also books stacked in the corner, most of them belonging to Sabo.

"Whatcha' doin?" Luffy wondered, looking over his brother's shoulder.

"Taking notes about last time. I seemed to go faster than usual," Sabo said conversationally. "I'm hoping all of us will have it go faster so we're not in pain for over a minute straight." Luffy was interested, not that he'd noticed any slow down of his own dying. He didn't look at Ace even though they held hands. Ace always had Sabo's hand in his. His was the most painful, so he needed comfort from both of them most.

Ace walked into the room as well, sensing both of them in there. "What's up?" he asked, and Sabo told him what he'd told Luffy moments ago. "I didn't notice anything different. But I was not in the bedroom at the time, I tried to get out of the shower as fast as I could." Luffy frowned. Not having Ace there when they were resetting had been terrible, but he couldn't go and look for Ace as he suffocated. Sabo had died before him and Luffy outside their bedroom door.

"I'm sorry, Lu. It won't happen again," Ace said, basically reading Luffy's mind. Luffy nodded and hugged Ace's arm. Where his tattoo was. All three of them had tattoos, but Ace's was the only one that showed to the world. It was on his arm while Luffy's was on his back and Sabo's covered by his desired clothing. He wore such fancy clothes while Ace only ever wore shorts and boots. Luffy was more modest and plain. A red, button down tank top and some shorts and flip flops. Plus the hat. Couldn't ever forget his straw hat.

The three went to lunch, which was sandwiches, like the oldest and youngest brothers had compromised. Everyone was already sitting and eating, talking about random, upbeat topics. When the conversation had a lull in it, Saber said, "There was a letter dropped off just now. You guys weren't out on deck so I picked it up. Here," he said, and handed Sabo the letter.

He opened it at the table, and read it with wide eyes. He looked up at Luffy and Ace, who were sitting across from them. "What? What is it?" Ace asked, voice showing a tinge of worry.

"Garp sent us a letter," Sabo said in a shocked voice.

"Grandpa?!" Luffy exclaimed, and Sabo nodded. He started to read it aloud, even with everyone else there to listen. It wasn't like they'd be learning anything new from it. They knew Garp's relationship to the brothers and they knew the secret they had been keeping from the vice-admiral.

"Dear grandsons, I am overjoyed that you are all alive, though I have no idea how it is possible. I know all three of you were dead and buried, but I couldn't be happier that you are alive. Even though you are all pirates now, wreaking havoc on marines in the New World, I can't bring myself to be angry. I am too happy that you three got a second chance at life. Enjoy it. I know as a marine myself, I cannot let anyone else know about my opinion. Better not die again or I will be very angry.

Stay relatively safe and well.

- Grandpa/ shitty gramps/ Garp."

Ace was looking a little teary, and Luffy no longer looked angry. Sabo smiled and folded the paper up again, sliding it back into the envelope. "I wasn't expecting this. Thought he'd go on a rampage about us making a mess of things," he said with a happy tone.

Luffy and Ace nodded, Luffy wiping his eyes. He still thought Garp had been mean to him for making him eat and sleep. He didn't know it at the time, but Luffy hadn't cared about dying. He'd lost his brothers and his freedom completely. He suffered from panic attacks and overwhelming grief. He shook his head, not wanting to think of that time.

Ace put his hand on Luffy's head, who visibly relaxed. Sabo smiled softly at Luffy, who smiled back. They went back to eating like they hadn't gotten the letter, though the mood was lighter now for everyone. The brothers were happy, so the rest were happy as well. They cleaned up lunch afterwards, and they all decided to spar for fun.

The weather was nice, windy and taking the ship to the next island quickly, but there wasn't a storm in sight. Ace was always careful when sparring with his powers, while Luffy just went all out. Sabo didn't hold back either, ruthlessly using his pipe covered in haki. He beat the shit out of Luffy, Ace beat the shit out of Sabo, and Luffy got up and beat the shit out of Ace.

By the end, all three were bruised, and Sabo had a bloody nose. But they weren't angry at one another, just glad they were strong enough to be equals. When they were kids, Luffy was always left behind in the category as fighting and strength. It was mostly after they resurrected that he really got better.

He said it was because he knew he couldn't lose them again. And he would do his best to protect them when they couldn't do it themselves. Before his death, Ace probably would have been offended and hit him. But that time he smiled. Sabo had been baffled by the change. His death had given the oldest perspective. And it made him a nicer person. Sabo and Luffy enjoyed nice-Ace.

-x-

"We've done all we can! Get inside!" Ace screamed over the storm and waves soaking the deck. The Spades sprinted inside, some slipping and sliding on the deck. Luffy was picked up by Sabo and they rushed inside. A sudden, extremely violent storm had come out of nowhere, accompanied by water spots throwing the ship around. They managed to furl the sails, but it was no longer safe to be outside.

When the ship started to tilt, Luffy wrapped his arms around all ten of them, tightly like a rope, and ran into the smallest nearby room. The ship threw them around, but it didn't do as much damage with them all squished together.

There was a huge punching sound on the port side of the ship, which knocked the ship exactly to the other side, slamming the pirates into the door that was - thankfully - closed. But then, they ended up on the ceiling. The ship had capsized completely. They were utterly screwed.

The boat continued to slosh back and forth before it suddenly turned back over, all of them threw back to the floor or walls, all of them but Luffy hit their heads and were knocked out. He didn't know what to do, and had a panic attack with no one to sooth him.

Ace was the first to wake, and shook everyone else awake. They were resting on the wall, all of them having bruises but no broken limbs, thankfully. Sabo woke and then helped rouse the rest of them. The ship was not moving, and on its side, meaning they had washed up on an island. Well, it was better than being capsized in a storm.

Luffy went out first, Ace following after him closely, not wanting him to be in danger. They climbed up to get through the door, which was sideways and halfway up the "wall". They were on a sunny beach, meaning it was day time and the storm was long gone.

They both slid down the deck to the ground and looked at the damage. The mast was still intact, but the sails had tears in them despite having been furled. There were planks missing from the side of the ship, but not deep enough to cause it to flood. Overall, it was in good condition considering.

The others came out, Sabo thinking to lower the rope ladder from one side of the ship, which was now the top, so they could get back up. The Spades all looked at the ship. "So, who wants to fix it?" Deuce asked with a heavy sigh. They didn't have a shipwright. They took care of the ship, but they needed someone professional to fix it up. And they didn't know how they'd turn it back upright and off of the beach. There were only ten of them. They were strong, but didn't want to risk damaging the ship.

Luffy started freaking out. His hat wasn't there. Sabo tried to calm him as Ace climbed the ladder to go inside and find the hat. He came out not long after and held up the straw hat. Luffy calmed at the sight with a smile when it was given to him. He plopped it down on his head. Sabo's hat was gone as well, but it didn't have any sentimental meaning to him like Luffy's did.

"How the hell do we push it over?" Jojo questioned. Her hand kept going to her belt. None of them had their weapons besides Sabo, whose weapon was always strapped to his back. The others were all relatively fine with hand to hand, but many of them used swords. Only one used a gun, which was Ducky Bree.

Most of the pirates shrugged, having no idea how. "Maybe we can chop down some trees and use the trunks to help get it back upright. It's impossible to push it with bare hands. And if Luffy punched it head on, it'd probably break," Sabo explained. The Spades nodded in agreement.

Ace scratched his head and said, "We could see if this island has any city. Maybe they have some shipwrights we can borrow. But even if they don't have it, more hands pushing might help a lot. We should all go, I doubt anyone will steal a ship on it's side. Besides, the treasure won't be found."

They all knew that was true. There was a piece of wall that had grown weak and they could open it up. They had the treasure in bags, stuffed in the wall. It had been a hiding place for Lufy for a while until his growth spurt, even though he was still short. Those who used weapons, however, went back inside to get them, just in case they needed them.

The Spades set out quickly, walking through the foliage to go in a straight path. There were not many animals in the forest besides many birds. They came across no predators, which was lucky for now. They wanted to get this done as soon as possible, they didn't have time to fight off animals.

No one knew what island this was. The ship did not follow the log pose automatically, so they could be on any island. Probably not too far from their set course, but a mystery island nonetheless, as Luffy would say. They finally came out to a clearing that led to a small village. They could see immediately this was not an island with a place like the shipyard from Water 7.

When they entered the town, people saw them and their weapons, and started to get worried. Sabo, ever the gentleman, walked up to the nearest woman and said, "Excuse me, miss, but do you know of any shipwrights on this island? Our ship has been beached and we won't be able to fix it up or get it back to the sea on our own. There are only ten of us." He said that on purpose. They might not fear them too much if the villagers knew there weren't many of them.

"No, we-we don't have any shipwrights. I'm sorry," she said fearfully.

"That's too bad. Thank you for the information," and he bowed respectfully. It surprised the woman, who just nodded back. Sabo walked back to his family, who were sitting on stone benches in what looked like a plaze. They all looked pretty down. "They don't have major shipwrights here."

Ace pointed up at a pole. Sabo looked up and saw what had all of them upset. This was a protected island under Whitebeard. Most pirate crews avoid his islands. If you scare the villagers, then the yonko crew would come. "We're screwed if we make a bad impression," Ace said with a heavy sigh. "Why don't we go back to the ship, if there's no one here who can help us. We'll try the log attempt."

The group stood up and trudged back through the forest to their beached ship.

-x-

"Pops, they're beached on one of our islands," Marco said, smiling. "One that's actually pretty near to us."

Thatch celebrated when he heard this. "Let's go get them! I wanna meet them!" Pops laughed and asked Marco if they were causing trouble. He shook his head.

"Well, then, let's go meet them. They're joining our family."

-x-

Three days after they landed, they had all of the poles they needed, and pressed them against the ship's side that was on its side, with ropes attached to the railing in the shallow water. Five would push and five would pull. Luffy and Ace would be pushing since they couldn't be in the water, while three others were with them and Sabo was on the other side.

"One, two, three!" Sabo shouted loud enough for those on land to hear. The pirates pushed and pulled as hard as they could. The ship budged an inch before some of the poles splintered and broke.

"God damn it!" Ace shouted, erupting into angry flames. He kicked one of the broken poles across the beach and into a rock, breaking it apart. "We're gonna be fucking stuck here forever!" Luffy watched nervously, hating when Ace was angry. Sabo, feet and pants wet, walked over and shouted at Ace to calm down.

The blonde captain said, "Getting angry isn't going to get us anywhere," he scolded. He put his boots on, dusting the sand off of his feet. They were all dirty and probably smelly. They hadn't been able to shower on the ship due to it being on it's side.

Ace scowled. "Sorry for not wanting to die on a beach where anyone could see!" Ace said back, still heatedly. "You know how vulnerable we'd be? And what about the Whitebeards? I bet the villagers called them the moment they saw us."

Sabo couldn't argue this because Ace had some valid points. The day was coming up. They didn't know how long they'd been unconscious on the ship while it made its way to this island. It could be tonight that it happened or the next day. Nine days, plus the three they were on the island for, plus whatever time they'd lost. Stupid storm messed everything up. "We'll go on the ship for that. It won't be comfortable but no one will see us." The Spades nodded, pitching in that the wall was the floor now, but it was still the floor, and the ship was steady. It was stuck in the sand and wouldn't be going anywhere by itself.

Ace slowly calmed down and then pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing through his nose. Luffy went over and hugged his arm. The older looked down at Luffy's worried face and he felt guilt. "Sorry, Lu. I didn't mean to get so mad, I'm just worried and frustrated."

"We all are," Jojo said, sitting on one of the logs that had broken. "Don't worry about being vulnerable. We will protect you guys like you protect us. It goes both ways. You three don't always need to be the knights in white. You recruited us, and we've survived the New World. Have some faith in us, idiot."

Luffy said, "But aren't yonkos strong? What if they come when we're dead?" No one had the answer, so it was quiet for a moment before Sabo tried to remedy the situation before Luffy freaked out.

He said, "If we are peaceful, then they shouldn't harm us. We haven't done any damage to the citizens of the island. We've stayed here mostly. Whitebeard is supposed to be like Shanks, reasonable. Why would he try and kill us when we've done nothing? That wouldn't make sense." A few of the others looked relieved at this, but not Ace or Deuce.

"Still, we're pirates on one of their protected islands. And we're not exactly saints, we destroy marine bases and then leave them on fire. That's all the world knows of us. That we're young and like to cause chaos and destruction," Deuce grumbled and glared at Ace. Ace bristled under the look. All of the Spades were older than the brothers, some by only a few years and others decades.

Ace huffed and looked away, crossing his arms like a child. "We shouldn't be afraid but prepared. We trust you guys to do your best for us." They all knew he was saying they were not likely to match up if the yonko crew came and acted against them in any way. And none of them took offense at this because they knew it was true as well.

After another eight hours of trying to get the ship back in the water so they could at least attempt to flee, they finally gave up and had food. It was around a campfire Ace had started, and they'd gone hunting. The fridge had been opened when the ship capsized and all of the meat had gone bad while they were unconscious. So they caught their food. Mostly deer.

"We need to get situated. I'm starting to feel dizzy," Ace said, and the three got up to go inside and get ready. The fire was doused with sand as the rest followed them up. Mihar was going to stay outside, sitting on the railing that was now the flat and highest point on the ship. The three went to their room, which had a strong door and lock. Just in case.

They all got on the floor, Ace and Sabo taking their shirts off to not stain them. Deuce and Finamore stayed in as those who weren't on watch got to work trying to get the cannon in place to fire if necessary.

After they had all died, in the usual order and way, Deuce did his duty and cleaned up the two older co-captains. Blood was splattered in the ground below Ace. it had been a particularly bad reset for him. Instead of it just coming up his throat a little bit, he was choking on it before Deuce had rolled him over gently but quickly. He had been unable to support himself so Deuce held his shoulders up so his face wasn't pressed into the wood.

He died in Deuce's hold, and the unofficial first mate moved him to the side of the puddle of blood. Luffy had seen the whole thing, and would no doubt not have fun waking up. Deuce had tried to get the youngest to look away, but he couldn't. Then he suffocated and was dead as well. Like usual, he had his eyes open and the man closed them.

He left the room, but sat outside the door, multiple spare guns and swords around in case his brute strength was not enough. They would protect their captains and their brother.

-x-

Sabo woke up first, shirtless and cold, on a soft surface. It took him all of two seconds before he realized they were nowhere on the Piece of Shit. He looked to the side and saw Ace and Luffy on their own beds in this white room. This was an infirmary. Maybe they were taken to a hospital on the island? He sat up and hurried to his brothers and shook them awake. "Ace, Ace wake up," he said in a hush. Ace was going to swat him away but he noticed his surroundings as well. Sabo ran to Luffy and shook him awake as well, and Luffy was about to have a panic attack about Ace's worse-than-usual reset, before Sabo put his hand over his mouth.

"You have to be quiet, okay?" Luffy saw the desperation in Sabo's eyes and nodded, clamping his mouth shut even as last night flitted behind his eyelids. Ace got up and walked to the two. All three were barefoot and Ace and Sabo still shirtless, though no blood was on them. Just the scar that reopened every two weeks over his stomach.

They realized, once they were all awake, that they were on a ship with way too many people. And they couldn't sense their crew. Not a single member. The three were very, very concerned and worried. But they had to be smart right now.

Sabo walked to the infirmary doors, keeping low, and took a crutch he found and slid it into the handles so that it wouldn't be able to break. Now they had to find another way out. Luffy was in the corner as Ace went into another door slowly, silently. When he saw two women sitting at desks, he walked behind them and delivered a hard blow to the back of the neck knocking them out.

He took IV cords and tied them around their wrists and ankles, putting gags in their mouths. They were lucky he didn't do worse. He left the room and looked for any way out besides the double doors. There was none, so they'd have to make their own. Luffy and Sabo came when Ace waved them over silently. They knew they wouldn't win an all out fight, so the best plan was to escape off the ship.

"Find a wall with not many people behind it," Ace said quietly. And Sabo did, closing his eyes, before he pointed to the far right side of the room. They hurried over and Ace used very strictly controlled fire to burn a hole in the wall without causing any big fires in the room that would attract attention. Once there was hole big enough, all three crawled through it, Sabo moving a gurney in front of the hole.

They continued to find the places where no one was, and burned a path through the ship. They knew for sure it was a ship now based on the movement. They worried they were out at sea and nowhere near the island or the PoS. It was like a maze as they moved through the small holes. They eventually discovered a gap in the walls, big enough for them to shimmy through sideways. Ace had some of his hair on fire as a light for the three. They were silent and subtle, doing their best to hide their presences. Luffy was the least skilled at haki, so he could only hide it for so long before losing control of it.

Sabo heard the sound of wind and the ocean and told Ace to burn a hole through that wall. They were soon outside, and horrified to see there was no island in sight, and their beloved ship was gone. Ace and Luffy had no way to swim, and it would be stupid to try and swim in New World waters.

Sabo looked over the side of the ship to see there was a space jutting out above the rudder. Big enough for all three to hide on and wait until they made it to an island. He pointed there, and told Luffy to stretch down and be their rope.

Luffy wrapped his arm around the railing and quickly stretched himself down to the spot they were heading to. Ace and Sabo climbed down his arm, thankful no one was in the captain's room that had large windows to see them lowering down.

When they made it to the space, Luffy's arm snapped back. "What do we do?" he asked. They couldn't be heard now over the sound of the waves so close to them. As long as there was no sudden movement, they could stay there.

"Wait for a new island and then try to find our crew. Fuckers took us, what did they do to the others?" Ace spat, worried. All of them were worried about their family. Their precious crew that helped them through their hardest times willingly. Not everyone would be willing to clean up a blood soaked face without being asked.