Maldea: Thank you!

XoloDawg: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.

sousie: We'll just have to see. ;)

phoenix: Cause cliffhangers are the best! At least, when it's your story and not having to wait for somebody else. At least I didn't leave you hanging too long!

maimaym: Who knows? This story is much different than my other ones where the Whitebeards are saints. ;)

Marco went to the infirmary to check on the kids. It had been easy to take them, they were unconscious. As if waiting for them to arrive. Their crew fought valiantly, and were now in the infirmary on the Moby 2. If they behaved they could join the crew like their captains and Luffy. He tried to enter the infirmary but the door wouldn't open. He shook it hard, but there was something in the handles, meaning the kids had woken up. He put enough force into opening the door to snap the crutch that had been stuffed to keep anyone out. And they weren't in the room.

Marco hurried to the nurses quarters to see Tami and Whiskey were both unconscious, tied up and gagged. He said their names and undid their bindings. But they were very unconscious. He saw red marks on the backs of their necks. So they were knocked unconscious. The brats weren't in there, and he searched the room for them.

How had they gotten out? He started looking at any places in the wall, and rolled away a gurney to see a small hole burned through the wall. Too small for him to fit in. He cursed, and ran from the room to search the ship. He got other commanders, too, telling them the situation. And it wasn't long before Vista came back to Marco and Pops, who was also searching. "There's another hole in the wall through the third storage room."

Thatch huffed, "How did they find their way around without anyone seeing them?! I thought they were reckless and would light the room on fire!" Izo smacked him, and asked if he'd rather the ship be on fire. "Of course not, I was just saying," he pouted.

Vista said, "Well, they've made their ways into many marine bases."

Marco replied, "And they also destroyed the bases once inside. I don't smell any smoke or hear anything burning. Everyone should look for more holes. They had to have tried to get out onto deck. We should search the deck as well."

Pops agreed that was a good idea and they all spread out to search the deck. Marco easily found the exit hole, which led to the starboard side. But the kids weren't anywhere he could see. He turned into a phoenix and flew high above, seeing everything from a birds-eye view. They weren't out on deck, and he landed in anger.

Had they gone outside and then back inside? He looked down over the railing at the back but no one was there either. He went back to searching the interior of the ship with all of his brothers. Everyone was searching so far, and no one found them. The pirates started to be concerned about their safety. Surely they weren't stupid enough to jump off the ship?

-x-

The brothers stayed silent as they heard someone directly above them. Whoever it was looked down, but did not see beyond the part of the ship jutting out above their hiding spot. It was a good one, no one would be able to find them there as long as they were silent and hid their presence.

Sabo was getting cold, though. He had no shirt on, and his hat was gone. Thankfully, Luffy's hat was still there, sitting against his back. He was in the most stress, afraid to be the one to get them caught because of his inferior haki skill. They had no room to do anything besides sit with their knees pulled to their chests.

"I'm cold and hungry," Luffy complained, his stomach rumbling. Ace's growled in agreement. Sabo sighed and replied, "I know, I am, too, but we have to stay put. They're searching for us everywhere. As long as none of them fly, no one will find us. We have to be vigilant and not get caught. We may be here for a while." Luffy pouted sadly, and looked at the water that kept their voices from being heard.

They sat there for over an hour, the two older stiff from the position. It didn't bother Luffy since he could bend his body any way he wanted and not be in pain. "Do you think everyone is okay?" the youngest asked, all of them worried about their crew.

"If they aren't then I'm burning this whole ship down, with all of them on it," Ace said in a strong voice, completely serious. "Hey, then maybe our bounties would sky rocket since we defeated the Whitebeard pirates." Sabo chuckled and Luffy grinned. "Though we'd have to find another ship to get off of it so we don't get stuck in the ocean on a burning ship."

"Whose ship will you be burning?" a flat voice said that was not any of the brothers. They saw a man with blue wings in front of them flying and staring at them with stormy eyes. Ace didn't hesitate and sent a blast of fire at him, not caring if he died. They couldn't have their spot discovered yet. But the guy was fine, just continuing to glare at them, not a burn in sight. Defnietly a devil fruit user.

Then Sabo recognized him as the first mate of the pirates and the second strongest among them all. The captain was the strongest, obviously. Marco landed on the rudder lightly, close to them. "Why are you hiding here? You know how dangerous this is?" he asked seriously.

Ace scoffed. "Like being kidnapped by the Whitebeard pirates isn't dangerous, you prick? Where's our crew and why did you take us?" Ace asked, being as rude as possible, even though Luffy didn't like that Ace. Sabo put a hand on his head, and Luffy relaxed.

"No one will hurt you here, even if you did hurt our nurses," Marco said calmly, not fazed by Ace's disrespect.

"You're the ones that kidnapped us. You're lucky I didn't burn them to death."

Sabo chided Ace. "You're going too far," he said, and Ace huffed, crossing his arms. Marco watched Ace with narrowed eyes, and then turned his gaze to the other two, who had been mostly silent. Sabo had a cold hard look on but Luffy looked thoroughly uncomfortable. After all, he'd been keeping a panic attack inside and this wasn't helping.

"You want me to be nice to him?! He kidnapped us and hurt our crew," Ace spat. Sabo made an exaggerated look to Luffy so Ace saw what his real problem was. Luffy was starting to breathe rapidly, eyes distant and starting to rock back and forth. Sabo put his arm around Luffy to keep him from falling forward.

"Luffy, Ace is fine, Ace is here. Right there, see him?" Sabo asked kindly, while Ace gave him an encouraging smile. He apologized for scaring him, and for being mean. Even though he didn't mean it, refusing to be polite to a kidnapper, it had upset Luffy. And he was incredibly fragile at the moment anyways.

Luffy made deep breaths while closing his eyes, trying to think of being at home on their ship, with Ace and Sabo, all of them happy. He pushed away the panic attack and Ace and Sabo encouraged him with praise. The youngest gave a watery smile.

"Are you going to stay here all night? There's a storm on the way, you know?" Marco said, still standing on the rudder, not falling off even as it moved around. He had incredible balance. Ace continued to glare at him. But it had gotten to Luffy, and he was looking afraid. Sabo sighed.

He asked, "Where is our crew? What have you done with them?"

Marco rubbed the back of his head, showing awkwardness. It showed that nothing good had happened to them. All three boys narrowed their eyes, Ace having flickers of flame on his knee. "They're on our sister ship, most likely in the infirmary. They fought valiantly, but they were up against a yonko crew."

So, they hurt them. Hurt their family to take them. They weren't there for them. Luffy was furious. He shot his arm forward, wrapped it around Marco's neck and dragged him down into the water. "Luffy, no! No, they'll kill us! Get him out!" Sabo screamed, and Luffy let his arm snap back, pulling Marco out of the water. He was soaking and angry now.

"You're coming up from here whether you like it or not. Do you want to die?" Marco asked, his hair plastered to his head. Sabo had to say he was surprised Luffy was not killed for doing that. The three looked at each other, and sighed in defeat. They stood up, and Luffy walked to the edge. Marco was about to go forward to seemingly fly him up.

"Don't touch him. Don't touch any of us," Ace growled, and Luffy threw his hand, arm stretching until his hands were around the railing. Ace and Sabo climbed up his arm expertly and got on the deck, taking his hand and catching him when he snapped up.

The three turned to see there was a crowd of people waiting for them. Sabo didn't have his pipe, so he covered his hands in haki. One of them, with big brown hair, asked why Marco was wet. "Luffy dragged me into the water." The three teens worried about the reaction before the pirates all started laughing at Marco, who gave them all death glares.

"You underestimate them, idiot," a man dressed like a woman said. "Just cause they're kids doesn't mean they're weak. They made it to the New World after all."

"Stupid Marco," a smaller pirate said, with a green shirt and mousy hair. The first mate told all of them to shut their mouths, but even the captain started laughing when he came into view. He was huge. All three boys backed away against the railing. He was way too powerful for them to even think about fighting him. Though Luffy and Sabo didn't put it above Ace to have him attack the captain.

Marco's face was red in anger and embarrassment. Whitebeard turned to look at the three kids who they'd been looking for for two hours. "We're not going to hurt you. If we were, then why would we have let you sleep in the infirmary?"

Ace flamed up. He didn't care if they were "nice" to them, they hurt their family and kidnapped them. Probably left their ship there forever, or burned it down for fun. "We don't care about that, take us back to our crew!" Ace shouted. Sabo didn't scold him this time, and Luffy had his fists balled in anger as well.

Whitebeard smiled pleasantly. "No. You're going to join our crew now," he said. All three brothers were shocked and angry. More shocked. They didn't expect that answer. They were probably going to be slaves here. Servants. Ace turned to Sabo.

"I though you said these ones were fucking decent like Shanks!" he exploded, pointing at the Whitebeards.

Sabo looked down. "I'm sorry, I was wrong. I had heard differently." The pirates were floundering before the one with big hair said, "It's not like that! We're not gonna hurt you or turn you into slaves. We just want you to join us!" He looked panicked.

But Luffy said, "Then why did you hurt our family?" in a deep and quiet voice, eyes showing hate that he hadn't shown in a very long time. "You want us to join after you hurt our crew and took them away from us?"

Marco stepped in, and said, "They attacked us first. It was self-defense. Besides, none of them are dead or in critical condition."

"Whether you like it yet or not, you'll stay here," the captain said, and Ace growled at him like an animal. Luffy wasn't upset at the reaction and was angry as well. What would they do in two weeks? All three of them worried about that. No one could find out, especially not enemy pirates. Who would wash away the blood? Where would they go, hide for the whole night? They'd need to find good hiding places. No matter what.

Ace spoke, eyebrows raising and wearing a haughty expression. "I hope you don't expect us to cooperate with you, or you will be sorely disappointed." He walked forward, pulling his brothers' hands before they joined him in walking, Luffy between them. Pirates in their way were shoved out of it by Ace, nearly knocking someone off the ship and over the railing.

They went inside, not knowing where to go. But Luffy was hungry, they all were. So they'd find the kitchen and eat whatever they wanted and as much as they wanted. If they could annoy their way off of this ship and back to their crew, then that would be the ideal situation. It was clear none of them wanted to let them go as of now.

They'd change that. All three of them were resolved to do that as best as they could. They did find the kitchen eventually, looking for the biggest door. The hallway ceilings were already very tall, but the doors were sized for normal sized people. So when they found a double door that reached to the ceiling, instead of pushing it open, Ace burned a hole into it that they walked through.

Luffy giggled at it and Ace smiled for real for the first time since they woke up. He ruffled Luffy's hair and they ran to the huge kitchen, and dug through one of the four refrigerators. They didn't throw it around, though, knowing wasting food on any ship is a big no-no. Luffy got out a bowl of chicken legs, and Ace cooked a slab of steak with his power.

Sabo went for a pasta dish that looked yummy. Even if he was the most respectful and polite one of the group, it was still food. Someone came into the room, walking through the big hole in the door, not seeming bothered about it at all.

"If you were hungry you could just ask," he said. It was the guy with big hair. "My name is Thatch, fourth division commander." Ace looked at him in an unimpressed way. Sabo had to resist with all his might not replying in a polite way, so he stayed quiet, eating from the container of pasta. Luffy ate the chicken legs whole, just shoving them down his throat.

Thatch looked at him funny. "Can I ask what your devil fruit is?" Ace said a definitive "No." And Luffy nodded in agreement. Thatch frowned, but recovered quickly. "Wait for a second," he said, and walked past them, who were watching him in suspicion. He brought a huge jug or transparent, golden liquid. He put it on the stove for a second before pouring it into three large cups. "It's my special spiced apple cider."

Thatch put the drinks on the counter and walked back a bit. Luffy reached for it, but Ace held him back. The younger pouted, but stretched his arm out and got it. "I wanna try it. If it hurts me you can kill him." Thatch made an unmanly sound, but Ace let Luffy go.

Luffy took a deep gulp of the hot liquid. He contemplated pranking Ace, but it would be a mean prank and scare him, so he resisted. Sabo and Ace watched nervously. "Yummy!" he exclaimed and reached for the other two.

"Hey, you got your own!" Ace protested, and snatched the drink from his grabby hands. Luffy pouted at him.

"You don't even want to drink it!" he replied heatedly. Sabo drank his own silently and then told Luffy he could ask for seconds. The youngest looked at Thatch with blank eyes. Then he smiled. "More, please."

Thatch happily went to get him seconds as Ace scolded Luffy for being polite. "They kidnapped us, remember? They took away our family." Luffy looked regretful, and Ace put a hand on his head. "Food is yummy, but we have a point to prove," the oldest said quietly. The three put their empty glasses on the counter and left before Thatch was done with the second serving. The three still had the food they'd stolen, though.

Now that they had food, they could inspect the ship more. They looked in every room, passing pirates and giving them threatening glares. They saw mostly storage rooms for various things, many bathrooms that they took note of. Even if they wanted to piss off the pirates, they weren't so low that they wouldn't use toilets and just piss and shit everywhere. It made Luffy giggle.

"What's so funny?" Sabo asked.

"I was thinking about them finding crap and piss everywhere. But we won't do that." Ace burst up into laughter.

"That would be hilarious!" he said, getting Sabo chuckling as well. Luffy grabbed the doorknob of one room, but it was locked. He broke the handle with an easy flick of his wrist and the three poked their heads in. It had lots of shelves and den dens. They slipped inside, making sure no one was in sight, and closed the door behind them.

Sabo flicked the light switch and the light showed just how many den den mushis there were. They sorted through them, looking for one that allowed them to call anyone. It was a long shot that any of the Spades had it, but a try wouldn't hurt anything. They'd already broken into the locked room after all.

"Got it," Ace said, holding up a dial den den. He called their personal one, but it rang and no one picked up for a full minute. Ace swore, and Luffy became sad. "Well, it was a long shot anyway," Ace conceded, and they quietly left the room. The handle was broken but working. It just wouldn't lock again.

They continued down the hall and came to the stairs. "Up or down?" Sabo wondered. They decided on down, and headed deeper into the ship. This floor was much more varied. In some rooms, they were full of tools or equipment. One was some sort of work shop, with all sorts of things. Tons of wood and tools. "These guys could have fixed PoS," Ace huffed.

All three grew sad, thinking of their beloved ship, alone and abandoned on a beach. Tears came to Luffy's eyes and dripped down his cheeks. Sabo wiped them away with a hug. Luffy hugged him back. "I miss home," he said quietly.

"I do, too. We'll get back, once they get tired of us, we'll find our way back with everyone. We'll be happy again," Sabo said quietly. "Why don't we keep searching for a place to safely reset in?" Luffy nodded and Ace did, too.

The three came to a big, stone door with no window in it. There were big locks on it, and the door was heavy to open. It was cold and stale inside, the walls coated in metal, with no portholes. Ace closed the heavy door behind him, which shut with a loud slam. Too loud, but no one came to inspect.

There was one light switch, and it was minimal. They ventured in deeper finding cells with rusted locks. "Looks like we found the brig," Sabo commented. Everything was rusty or stiff, meaning it hadn't been used for anything in a while. "It's not some place comfortable, but it's clear not many come down here. We can reset here. There won't be anyone to clean us up, though."

Ace added, "We could hide a bucket of water and some towels in here. Then we can clean ourselves up just fine. I think we found a good place. And no one will think to look down here. Our presences disappear when we reset." They never called it death. It was a reset, since they didn't stay dead.

The word death carried a sense of finality. But they didn't stay dead for good. So they did not "die". They reset and would always call it that. "We can be behind here and cover ourselves with a blanket." They were all upset that they'd have to reset, be so vulnerable, in a place where they didn't know or trust anyone.

Luffy started to cry, covering his eyes with his hands. Ace hugged him tightly. "Everything will be okay. We'll go back home with our family. We'll have fun wreaking havoc on marines. We'll be free-" and he choked up, too. Sabo was pressing his lips together.

They all realized that moment: they'd lost the freedom they'd crawled out of their graves to retake. And now it is gone.

The three stayed down there for a while, putting themselves back together. All three of them had cried at one point or another down in the cold brig. They hated this. So much. And they hated the Whitebeards for taking it away from them. None of them knew what they had done to deserve being where they were now.

Sabo had to run from his noble heritage and get stabbed. Stay dead for years. Ace had to look after his brother (poorly), grieving the loss of a brother who only ever wanted freedom. Then he got sick, leaving Luffy alone. Then Luffy was trapped on a marine ship, somewhere he had never wanted to be. He lost both brothers along with the last semblance of freedom in sight. Then he drowned.

Their bodies had lay underground for years, all of their lights snuffed out. Until it wasn't. They were alive, each bearing new scars in their minds. They had to reset by themselves for six years. Luffy had to watch Ace bleed to death and wake up to the sight so often. They fought every day to grab onto their dream. And they made it, made it as pirates, formed a crew, and were living their dreams.

Until they weren't. Until they were separated by the family they'd built, lost their home. Lost all freedom they'd had. It was gone. But they would get it back no matter what.

That night they slept in an empty room with two beds. All three of them laid on one of them, Luffy in the middle. He fell asleep first, while Sabo and Ace just stared at each other with empty gazes for a good hour before Sabo drifted off, followed by Ace last.

The three didn't come out in the morning. They stayed in their crappy, unfamiliar and boring room. They skipped breakfast, even though they were all hungry. It was near noon when there was a knock on their door. "Go away," Ace called, not even getting off the bed, still laying on his side.

Luffy was laying on his back with his straw hat over his heart. He liked Shanks most out of the yonko. Whitebeard was supposed to be nice? He took them, didn't even tell them why. Just that he wanted to keep them against their will. Even though it would make them miserable… The Whitebeard pirates were selfish.

"I have food for you," Thatch's voice called.

"Fuck off," Ace called back. There was no response, just the sound of something heavy making contact with the floor. Sabo was sitting in the only chair in the room before he unlocked and opened the door to see a huge tray of food. He stared at it with a blank expression before picking it up and setting it on Luffy's bed.

All three of them stared at it for a good five minutes before Ace laid back down and turned to face the wall, knees up to his chest. Sabo attempted to eat, but it tasted like sand in his mouth. The water was fine, and felt good on his dry throat. Luffy was the only one to eat any of it at first, but he ate it in an almost bored manner.

"You guys should eat, too," he said simply. Ace made a grunt in response, but Sabo agreed with Luffy and ate some of the food. "We're gonna eat it all and Ace won't get any."

The oldest sighed and then sat up to go and eat. "You know, I felt a lot more energized yesterday about pissing them off enough to make them let us go. Now I just want to lay in bed all day. I want to be happy. I want to be the post-reset Ace. Not who I was before. I don't want to make Luffy sad. I… I want to be nice and happy. But I don't know any other way how to get off of this ship," Ace confessed honestly.

Luffy moved over and hugged him. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you guys. I couldn't keep us free." The oldest's voice was thick, heavy with guilt and sorrow.

Luffy shook his head. "We couldn't protect each other. We couldn't protect our crew. We, not just you," the small teen said with a firm voice.

Sabo was rarely the pessimist in the group (that was for Ace), but he lamented, "None of this would have happened if we didn't reset. Why does it have to happen still? It's not fair. I'm sick of it. Our family made it easier, now they're gone and we'll be going through it alone. In a dark, cold place. We'll go through painful, scary resets in the least comforing place imaginable. It's not fair."

The other two agreed. Now more than ever, they didn't want to reset. If it was the only way they survived, then they would reset. But was it necessary? If it wasn't, then why did it still happen. Why did it ever happen in the first place? They had never gotten an answer. Never. It couldn't have been something in the ground that seeped through the dirt compacting them, since Luffy was sheltered in a coffin when he awoke.

There was no way to find out, so they tried to not think about the "why"s of the problem.