LoveToBake: this one is the one where the anticipation really pays off.
Scratch-kun: It's gets a lot worse before it can get any better.
phoenix: Maybe, maybe not.
HOLAA913: In this one, Marco is not super smart lol. He made/makes so many mistakes with the Spades.
Aquarica: Who knows? After all, I've written the Whitebeards as the "villains" in this fic. Never done it before like this.
And here we are! The chapter where the truth comes out! It's bloody and gory. It's two parts. Enjoy~
When Ace woke the next day, he was a bit disoriented about where he was before he remembered their situation. He sighed and turned on his other side, staring at the wall. Today wasn't going to be a good day, he could already tell. He felt tense, tight, stressed. He moved his head to pop his neck.
He turned to see Sabo with a blank stare as he looked on the wood floor, a small frown on. Ace had a feeling Luffy would feel the same way today. It was a day they'd spend alone, maybe out on deck as long as people left them alone.
Since they had no change of clothes, they didn't want to stink them up, so all of their clothes besides underwear were in the pile in the middle of the room. Even Jojo was in her bra and underwear, under the covers. The two captains had always felt her attitude was funny but in some ways uncomfortable.
Multiple times, she'd been sleeping and was so tired she just left her room in her underwear when she went to cook breakfast. More than once she'd been found in her underwear and an apron. She just didn't care, so the men tried not to care either. They got used to it eventually, though they all were in their clothes, and when Jojo was alerted that she was not, she'd leave to go change, not saying a word about it when getting back.
Luffy woke up next, and curled into a ball on the bed, the only sign that he'd woken up. He pulled the covers over his head, pretending he was in his room. Under the warm blankets, his favorite pillow. He didn't want to leave the blanket and see that he was not of the PoS.
Slowly, everyone awoke, and just stayed in bed. No one said a thing, even when all of them were awake. Something was only said when Deuce told Ace, "Your nose, Ace." They all looked and Ace touched under his nose to see it was bleeding. Luffy started coughing, hard, and Sabo moaned from a pinching feeling in his stomach.
Ace wiped his bloody nose, but it didn't stop. But, nothing else started to bleed. Sabo was looking at his scar, but it wasn't opening up to bleed. Luffy kept his gaze away from Ace, not wanting to see blood on his face and have a panic attack. He had stopped coughing and wheezing. "Everyone okay?" Finamore asked in worry.
The brothers each collectively gulped, and said, "Mmhmm," in tight voices.
It was a bad day. They didn't go out on deck once. They didn't leave the room unless they had to use the bathroom. No one acknowledged that something was wrong. All the boys felt like crap, and slept for as much of the day as they could. They were scared, very scared. It had been the same for seven years. It was bad enough having it happen every two weeks, they didn't even want to think if they showed symptoms anytime other than the usual days.
By the time Ace got up, there was a small puddle of blood on his blanket from the light nosebleeds he was getting. Luckily for him, it didn't hurt. Sabo's hurt, and Luffy's was scary. He was wheezing for a lot of the day, and Sabo was curled up with his knees to his chest, the pain in his stomach making him scrunch his eyes up.
Deuce finally left after Luffy started crying. He went to the infirmary, and collected lots of gauze for Ace's nose bleeds, pain pills for Sabo, and he got a bag and stole an inhaler for Luffy. He brought his spoils back to the room and gave out the supplies. He taught Luffy how to use the inhaler, which hadn't been used before, and Sabo took the pills while Ace stuffed the gauze up his nostrils.
Jojo and Aggie 68 left the room to get all of the food, not that the three had appetites. They were scared about what was going to happen next. Change was scary. It had been so normal to reset every two weeks and be healthy in the time between.
Eventually, though, the symptoms stopped and they felt relatively good. Ace wiped the crusty blood off and Luffy took some nice calm breaths. "Why don't we go get some fresh air?" Sabo offered. Luffy and Ace accepted, and asked if they could have some time to themselves. They didn't need to ask, two of them were the captains, but they didn't want to hurt any of the others' feelings.
They had no problem and Jojo wanted to go to the kitchen while Deuce and Aggie 68 went to the library and the others to the training room they'd found but hadn't tried out yet. After all, they could go wherever they wanted. Even if they were prisoners, the Whitebeards wanted them to join. So who would stop them from doing whatever the hell they wanted?
The three brothers headed through the ship and out on deck, going to the back of the ship. The hole Ace had burned was gone, though it was clear the wood had been replaced since the newer parts were lighter than the surrounding wood.
They sat right at the railing, staring out at the sea longingly, wanting to be free again. Luffy leaned against Ace one one side and Sabo did the other. They all collectively sighed at the same time. "I feel like a kid again. I don't like it," Ace said quietly.
The other two knew what he meant and felt the same. They felt trapped and longed to be free. "When will they let us go home?" Luffy asked quietly.
"Maybe once they see us reset they won't want us anymore," Sabo replied in a monotone voice. "I don't want them to know, but I bet if they did, they'd kick us off the ship. Probably not take us back, though. It's been weeks since we were last there. I'm starting to think we won't be on the PoS in a long time, if ever. They may hold us indefinitely until they've broken our spirits and we agree to stay."
Ace looked at his blonde brother. "Jeez, Sabo. I thought I was pessimistic." Sabo let out a small chuckle. "But you have a point. They'll find out sooner or later. Whatever happens then, I don't know."
Jojo came out eventually and sat down next to them. Luffy turned to see she'd brought out ingredients for s'mores. That was something they did when they were younger, before the first reset. On one of their birthdays, they'd go to Goa or Foosha village to buy marshmallows, crackers and chocolate in mass. They took the funding out of their pirate stash. Jojo knew this was comfort food, and they thanked her.
She left them to roast marshmallows over Ace's hand and eat the smores. There wouldn't be any room left for dinner at that pace. But they didn't care, anything to make them feel better at that moment.
Ace eventually got another bloody nose, and Luffy had a cough. Sabo didn't show any symptoms, which was alarming. They all reset on the same day, they didn't want that to change. Well, they might be safer if they did it on different days, who knows. They just didn't want any more change. This was already getting to be too much.
They'd crack under the pressure of their stress and wishing to go home. The Whitebeards were making it worse the longer they refused to take them home. One of them would snap and really hurt someone, and then they'd be killed. Pirates will be pirates. They had already long since decided that Whitebeard was, in fact, not a decent man. Sabo had been wrong.
And what the hell were they doing? You'd think, if they wanted the three to stay, they'd be trying harder to get to know them. Was Thatch their spokesperson? They wanted them enough to kidnap them, but not enough to want to get to know them? What was the point of this?
Tears dripped down their faces, all three of them. Hope was slipping away at an alarming pace.
They didn't eat dinner that night. They lied, and said it was the smores that filled them up, but they were too upset to eat anything. It had been a very bad day.
-x-
Thatch tried to be friends with them, but the brothers had withdrawn. They didn't want to leave the room, didn't want to talk to anybody. Their crew was worried about them. Luffy had to use the inhaler often, and Sabo was downing pain pills when he could. Ace had gauze in his nose a lot.
With every symptom showing up, morale sunk lower and lower. Deuce said that things might be getting worse for them due to stress. Which meant that the Whitebeards were harming their health. Some family they wanted to be. What were they doing?! What was the point of all of this?!
Ace screamed into his pillow, Luffy cried into the blankets, Sabo ripped the sheets apart.
-x-
Deuce searched the ship for Marco. Ace, Sabo and Luffy were getting worse. Every day they got further from the PoS, every time they were declined to leave, more symptoms showed up. He was sure that they would reset early if the stress continued. Their bodies were suffering with their minds.
The Whitebeards needed to let them go. Soon, they had to get back home. They needed to get back to a place they felt safe and secure, and it definitely wasn't here. He found Marco in his office, in a place that was clearly not meant for anyone unimportant to be in.
He walked in unannounced and closed the door behind him. "You need to let us go," he said, and Marco turned around to look at him with a bored look. "Your actions are causing them extreme stress and it's affecting their health."
Marco looked surprised. "Their health? Aren't they just moping?" Deuce looked at him in incredulity.
"You apologized to us. Have you changed at all? You don't do anything but get mad at them when they don't cooperate. I don't know what your definition of family is, but it's quite different than ours. Take us back," Deuce said strongly.
Marco sighed. "I can't do that unless Pops says so. And he sees something in them and wants to keep them."
"Your 'Pops's' order will kill all three of them," Deuce said bluntly. Marco looked baffled.
"Kill?" he asked in disbelief. "Aren't you being dramatic? Stress doesn't kill you like this." Deuce was completely serious. His face showed that. "Do they have underlying health conditions?"
"Yes."
"I assume you won't tell me? Maybe our nurses could help them, we have very advanced medical equipment. I'm sure we can help treat them," Marco reasoned.
Deuce was still glaring. "I won't tell you. It's none of your business. Besides, you've never come across anything like their sickness before. It's none of your business, but you need to know what you're doing is counter productive. Everyday it gets worse for them. Why can't you understand that they don't want this? You are forcing them to stay with you when they truly don't want to. It's wrong. Are the rest of you here because of Stockholm syndrome or something?"
Marco stared at him for a few seconds, clearly trying to figure out what Deuce meant. His face gave nothing away, so Marco sighed. "What can we do to make them feel welcomed? We want you all to stay."
Deuce scoffed, shaking his head. "I've told you multiple times! They don't want to be here! I don't care if you want it, they need to get off before something goes seriously wrong!"
"Please, tell me what would happen. Maybe we have a remedy for it," Marco insisted, now sounding worried, concerned. "Maybe we can stop it, treat them for it."
Deuce put his hand to his head, taking deep breaths of frustration. "The remedy is a safe and secure place. That is not here. It will be your fault when something goes wrong. because I warned you, and you still didn't do anything to help. If you really actually cared about them, you'd do what they want and let them be free. I have nothing left to say when you won't accept anything I say." He turned and left the room, slamming the door shut. He punched a hole in the wall, hard.
This was ridiculous. If only they'd been able to fight them off, kept them from being taken, then they wouldn't be suffering like this. Tears of guilt gathered in his eyes, and he shut them tightly, trying to banish them. He didn't want them to reset early. He knew first hand how terrifying it was for them, how painful. And being here, the stress and uncertainty, were exacerbating things.
They already had to reset in the fucking brig once. It was a mess that could so easily be cleaned up. If the Whitebeards let them go home. But Deuce wasn't an optimist at heart. He had a feeling they would never be on the Piece of Spadile again. The ship was broken and washed upon the beach. They needed to start over. Their money was on that ship. They had none with them that could even come close to purchasing a new ship.
Ships in the New World were easily double the price in Water 7. Only a couple weeks ago, the brothers had been so happy, things so normal. They were themselves, not these shells that didn't want to go anywhere or do anything but lay in bed. He hadn't known stress would do this to them, but it was getting worse.
He knew, he did, that they would reset sooner than usual. Whatever happened after that, Deuce, and all of them, didn't know.
-x-
A knock on the door was made, and Sabo assumed it was one of their crew, and opened the door. But it was Marco. "What," Sabo said, voice heavy and eyes empty. He asked to talk, and Sabo let him inside. Ace didn't even hide the bloody gauze on the nightstand, or the pill bottle on Sabo's, or the inhaler on Luffy's pillow. Marco looked at all of it with confused eyes.
"Are you guys sick?" he asked, concern coloring his voice.
Sabo stared at him, not going to answer. Marco sighed once he got the jist, that they weren't going to answer. "What can we do to make you feel better other than taking you back?"
"Do you know what happens if you put a fish in a tiny bowl?" Sabo asked, arms crossed and eyebrows set. Marco didn't answer. "They become stressed. And die."
Marco asked, "Why do you all throw around 'death' like it happens so easily? You're humans, this is a big ship where you can go anywhere on. You don't have to stay in your room. You can go out and get fresh air, eat when you want. You're not fish in a tiny bowl."
Ace spoke up. "Get the fuck out. You're not going to take us seriously. You're not going to listen to what we say and want. Just get out and stop wasting our time." But Marco held his ground. He said that he just wanted them to be happy. "Yeah, well there's only one way you can make us happy. Let us go home. Let us go back to our lives. We were happy! We had achieved our dream that we've had our whole lives. And you stole that away from us and are acting like that's not a big deal!" he ranted, and Luffy started crying into his pillow, gasping for air and Sabo hurried to him and helped him use the inhaler.
Ace's nose bled again.
"We're stopping at an island soon. You can take a break from the ship there and we'll give you spending money," Marco insisted. Ace got up and kicked him out of the room.
"Fuck off," he said in a hard, cold voice and slammed the door shut, locking it. Tears poured down his cheeks, tears of hopelessness and fear. He couldn't protect his brothers, who were wilting along with him. They were going to reset and it would be a bad one. Ace was afraid of the pain he'd experience. He was scared of what would happen, because they didn't know what would happen.
Everything had been so steady, constant and now everything had changed for the worse. Letting the rest of the Spades on the ship had been a temporary remedy and hadn't changed much. They were still trapped, but now they were just trapped together.
It was hopeless. They wished they were strong enough to break off of this ship. But they weren't and they didn't have the resources to escape. Ace went back to laying on the bed.
-x-
"What do you mean?"
Marco repeated, "All of the Spades are saying that Ace, Sabo and Luffy will die soon unless we let them off. I believe them, Pops. They say it so seriously. Shanks said this, too. I think we're wrong, and we should take them back to their ship." Whitebeard was shocked. Surely no health problems could be so drastic as this! Dying? They weren't animals in captivity. They weren't trapped in a tiny space.
"I wish for them to stay, but I want them to be happy. I thought they would get used to us slowly if we left them alone. They'd branch out. They did with Thatch. If we can all bond with them, then they will realize they'd want to stay here. Thatch said that they joke around a lot when no one is around," Whitebeard said.
Marco shook his head. "Pops, they're sick already. Ace has a huge pile of bloody gauze from constant nose bleeds. They stole an inhaler for Luffy, and Sabo has a bottle of pain pills by his bed. We are wrong in this. I've tried to talk to them, reason that they could be happy and didn't need to be confined to their room."
Whitebeard was quite concerned. "I'll go speak with them now." Marco followed as they made their way back to the room the Spades were given.
-x-
Ace's nose bled heavier, and his head started to pound. Sabo was whimpering from the pain in his gut, and Luffy was wheezing. They were going to reset soon, they had to make it to the brig. But they had so much further to go.
To their dismay, they ran into Thatch, who was carrying a tray of hot chocolate to take to them. "Hey, guys! Whoa, are you okay?" the chef asked in worry. Sabo asked for him to get Deuce, and to hurry. Thatch nodded, and put down the tray to run off to find Deuce.
The three continued to head for the stairs, and for the first time in a long, long time, they were not comfortable when it started. Sabo screamed, cursing vibrantly as his stomach began to bleed.
"God motherfukcing damnit!" Ace screamed. Then, two people they definitely didn't want to see came. "Guys! Are you alright?" Marco asked in worry.
Ace turned around furiously and spit out, "This is your fault!" with a huge spray of blood, that sprayed all over the floor. Sabo had collapsed, and he was dead. Luffy was screaming and crying as Ace lost control of his body and slammed into the flood headfirst, blood darkening his surroundings.
Then Deuce was there. He pulled Luffy in and propped Ace up in one arm. "It's okay, you'll be okay," he insisted, but Ace went to talk and only spit blood all over Deuce's face as he convulsed blood building up in his throat. He couldn't hear anymore other than the screams the blood in his ears were dulling.
Luffy began to wheeze and Ace was dead, the last thing he saw was Deuce crying. Luffy grabbed at his throat as he suffocated, and Deuce cradled him, "Shh, you'll be okay. Luffy, you'll be okay, don't be scared," he said, and then the light in Luffy's eyes were gone, and again, Deuce had to close his eyes for him.