phoenix: So I could torment everyone.

HOLAA913: Yikes indeed.

cielsinclair: The physical suffering only gets worse.

LoveToBake: Yes it has! How will they react?

Maldea: It's satisfying to me. But also a bit sad.

ANQI69226972: Yeah, the way of recruitment could totally be stockholm syndrome or something. I know Ace was happy in the long run, but he was clearly not wanting to be there but they refused to let him go. Dick move.

Aquarica: Yeah, poor babies. I put them through so much but love doing it, lol.

Random Fangirl 9002: Because cliffhangers are the best when it's not me doing the reading!

lyanna castiello: I always update once a week.

Estefanlaagreste0218: And it is here!

Holy crap those are a lot of comments! Sorry not sorry about the cliffhanger, but I didn't keep you waiting too long. And now I have 6 stories waiting to be posted. Too long, too much to edit! I'm drowning myself by writing and not editing! Anyways, hopefully this chapter is satisfying. Enjoy~

Marco, Thatch and Pops were all shocked and horrified with the scene before them. Three dead kids, and huge puddles of blood all over the floor and their bodies. Sabo was laying on his stomach, eyes closed with blood seeping from under him, staining his clothes. Ace's face and neck were completely covered in dark blood. Luffy was the only one who had not died in a gruesome way.

"I fucking told you," Deuce snarled. The pirates were horrified, and Thatch was crying. Deuce, the only Spade there, propped Luffy onto his back to piggy back, and grabbed Ace and Sabo in his arms. He was bent over to keep Luffy on his back, as he headed down the hall and back to their room. They didn't need to wake up being ogled by people who shouldn't have seen this.

Whitebeard and Marco moved out of his way, and he brought his captains and Luffy's body to their beds. He laid Luffy down on his before bringing Sabo to his own. Last came Ace, who was gently set onto his bed as well.

Deuce left to go get water and towels. The Spades had come, and saw their crewmember covered in blood. "Did they-?" Jojo asked.

"Yeah. In front of the ones at fault. Help me get some water to clean them up," the blue haired man said. He said nothing of the blood that covered him. His mask was ruined, but that didn't matter much at the moment.

Marco was there. "Wh-what the hell happened to them?" he asked in a panicked voice. Good, he felt remorse. It was his fault they had to go through this early. It couldn't be permanent, but what would happen next?

"You're so fucking lucky, Marco, or I would murder you right now. Along with your asshole captain. Get the fuck out of my way, I need to clean them up," he said, not giving Marco any answers. Jojo ran down the hall and came back with towels. The others had buckets of water, and Deuce took some of the buckets as they all hurried back to their room.

"Wait!" Whitebeard called, regret and confusion in his voice. The door was slammed before they got inside. Deuce hoped they felt guilt, hoped they thought Ace, Sabo and Luffy were dead for good.

Jojo was crying, and they all cleaned up Ace and Sabo. Their clothes were stained in blood. There was no time to take them off this time. After their skin was free of blood, they peeled off their clothes.

After they were clean enough, Deuce unlocked the door and walked out, closing it quickly so they couldn't look at their bodies.

"Please, Deuce, what happened to them?" Marco begged, and Thatch was silently crying. "How did that happen so suddenly?"

The enemy pirate looked at them with a blank expression. "It's been slowly happening for the last two days. We tried to tell you, get you to understand. But you didn't and they have to suffer because of your inability to have any form of empathy. This is your fault."

Whitebeard looked upset with what Deuce was saying, that he was blaming them for the boys' deaths. And it was their fault. Completely. They were set to reset not even that week. "I'm sorry," Thatch stuttered. Deuce shot him a kind look.

"You're the only one not to be blamed," he said, and Thatch looked surprised. Then he turned back to the two he did blame. "They will wake up. Should wake up tomorrow. You don't deserve an explanation." Marco begged him for one. The Spade pirate shook his head, not sure if he should say anything. But they'd pester the brothers for answers once they woke up again.

He leaned back against the door. "It started seven years ago. Each of them died, Sabo first, then Ace and finally Luffy. Sabo was stabbed, Ace caught a gruesome disease and Luffy drowned. Then they woke up, and every two weeks they 'reset'. They die again for a while and then wake up. They've already gone through it once on this ship. This wasn't supposed to happen for another week, but the stress you people put them under made it happen sooner," Deuce explained, leaving no time for questions.

"Did you use the brig?" Marco asked, and Deuce nodded.

Thatch was frowning. "Why didn't you tell us? We'd have let them use the mattresses in the infirmary. Having plastic sheeting on it should protect the sheets from blood. And we could have used anesthesia so they didn't go through any pain," the chef said, eyebrows furrowed.

Deuce was in shock by the chef's response, and the other two not disputing him. "We're sorry, we didn't know. If we knew we would have done anything to make them comfortable," Marco said, sounding sincere.

He sighed. "Even if you accept them after this, they will still not want to be here. Your plan isn't going to work. Haven't you done enough damage already?" Deuce asked softly, before entering the room and shutting the door, locking it for good measure.

The pirates waited in there for the rest of the day, not knowing when they'd wake up since the schedule was all fucked up. Their bodies were completely still, mouths all open a tiny bit from their last breath, or gasp of air.

It was nine hours later, at around 2 AM that Sabo stirred, gasping in air and looking around frantically. They were in the room. Did that mean they made it here without anyone seeing the reset? Well, they were still on the ship, that was for sure. If anyone saw their resets, then they would have been kicked off the ship.

Ace woke next, a moan coming from his voice as his throat was rubbed raw. Opening his eyes, he saw everyone was in the room, and much of the floor was covered in blood. So was Deuce, and his clothes. His mask even had red spots, and Ace felt guilt over that. The mask was special to him.

Luffy woke last, jerking up, and then curling into a ball to try and keep his sobs in. Ace sat up and wobbled over, stepping over the pirates on the floor. He sat on Luffy's bed and curled around him, putting his hand on Luffy's forehead and whispering quiet, happy things. Reminding him of happy memories until he calmed down.

Sabo stood up and walked around his crew and the bloodstained clothes, as both Ace and Sabo were in their underwear since their bottoms got bloody as well, and opened the door a crack. It was very early morning. The hall lights were off but a few nightlights periodically. He almost stepped on what was sitting right outside the door, on the floor.

It was a tray, and he picked it up to take it inside. He took it to the nearest bed and Ace lit his shoulders on fire to light the room without turning on the light. It was a tray with a pot of cold tea with three cups. Pain medication, fresh roll of gauze, pain cream. Ace peeked out of the doorway to see there was something on the side of the door. He pulled it in and saw it was a ventilator.

"What is this supposed to be, a peace offering?" Ace hissed. Sabo shrugged and set it on the bed.

"This means we definitely reset in front of them," Sabo said quietly, putting his head in his hands.

Luffy looked sad, wishing he could be Sabo, be the one to go first. "It was really bad this time. There was blood e-everywhere. Ace was screaming at them, got blood all over Deuce," Luffy whispered. Ace hugged him, apologizing for freaking out in front of him.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, I was so angry. Am so angry. This wouldn't have happened if they just let us go," Ace grumbled. Sabo stood up, and said he wanted to take a bath. Of course, Ace and Luffy went with him, and they left the room, leaving a note on the table for if the Spades woke up.

They walked in almost complete darkness, but were used to conditions like this, or stormy nights back on Dawn Island, there weren't exactly street lamps in the jungle. They found the large door that was for the bathhouse and all walked in, closing the door quietly behind them.

The bath was already full of water, so they didn't make any noise as they all slid into the water. Ace rested his head back in the water so he could get any blood crusted into his hairline. They weren't exactly dirty, but usually bathed or showered after a reset. Especially a real bloody one. Why did Ace's have to be the worst? Though he didn't wish pain on his brothers. Luffy went through the most emotional pain. Sabo was the real lucky one.

They relaxed in the dark room in silence, none of them mentioning their thoughts, the fear from having the reset happen when it wasn't supposed to. Luckily, they were all alive and as they usually were after a reset. They didn't know what time it was, but by the time they left the bath, Ace and Sabo were still only in underwear as Luffy was clothed, the sun had started to rise. They were still going to sleep all day, like usual.

The three entered the room silently, disguising their presences so they didn't wake their sleeping crewmembers. They were really tired to not wake from the three brothers speaking. Sabo got into his bed and Ace and Luffy shared Luffy's, which had no blood on it. Ace had his face facing Luffy and they all fell asleep easily.

-x-

Deuce woke up in the morning to see Ace and Luffy had moved, and there was a tray of various things and a ventilator laying on the bed Ace had previously occupied. They were under the covers, and Sabo was facing the wall, also under the blanket. He stood up and groaned quietly. He'd fallen asleep on the floor, as had Saber, Jojo and Ducky Bee.

There was a tray on the bed that Ace had, which was stained with blood, and it had pain medicine and pain cream. And some tea. He sighed, rubbing his hand down his face. Would the pirates now try to be understanding or something? He'd need to tell the brothers the reaction that Thatch and Marco showed.

But he'd wait for them to wake up. He looked down and saw he had blood on himself, dried. There was even some on his mask, which saddened him. But Ace didn't mean to. He hadn't coughed up blood that it sprayed before, but he also never was screaming during a reset. Poor Ace and Luffy. Sabo was gone before the fall out happened.

After a few minutes, the others woke up, and they were hungry. But they looked down and saw they were dotted with some blood from cleaning up Ace and Sabo. they did have changes of clothes, some fitting and others not. They didn't cooperate enough to be measured. They changed, Jojo having everyones' back to her while she did so.

Finamore offered to go get food, who was accompanied by Jojo and Aggie 68. The brothers wouldn't be eating anytime soon, so getting them food was pointless. Deuce stayed with them, pulling the blankets higher over Ace and Luffy.

Three hours later, all the food was eaten and plates returned to the kitchen. Word hadn't spread, apparently. No one looked at them strangely. Ace and Sabo woke up first, and then Luffy. They rubbed their eyes, and the older two stood up to change their clothes. Luffy continued to lay on the bed, facing everyone and not the wall.

"Luffy, you should change," Sabo suggested, and the youngest did so slowly, sadly. They didn't want to go outside, but they didn't want to stay cramped in the bedroom. They needed fresh air. So, the whole crew left, and they looked down the hall to see all of the blood had been cleaned up. Well, that was a given. You would never leave a big smeared puddle of blood for long.

They ran into Haruta, the small commander, and he said hello and that was it. "Did they not tell anyone else?" Ace asked, though he couldn't believe those who knew would keep it a secret from the other commanders. They were the important ones on the ship. Then they passed another, having to move to the side in a single file line when Jozu walked past, the largest commander. He didn't look at them strangely, either.

The group headed to the back deck and sat down, either facing the ocean or leaning against the railing. "I'm thinking they won't take us back even with the reset being found out." Then Deuce repeated what Thatch and Marco had said after the reset. The brothers were shocked, and uncomfortable. Confused, as well.

Even some of their crew hadn't been fine with it the first time. Deuce, Saber and Jojo had adapted quickly, but the others had been disturbed by the sight the first few times after they joined.

"I'm not surprised by Thatch, really, but Marco and Whitebeard surprise me. Marco doesn't even like us, why would he be understanding?" Jojo asked, leaning her head back against the railing.

No one had anything to say to that, all agreeing. After a little bit, Ace had a sleep attack, and Luffy caught him before he hit the deck. He snored, and Luffy set him back against the railing. While Ace was sleeping and the others relaxing and silent, all lost in thought, Marco and Thatch came over. They could sense Whitebeard not far, but not in sight. He'd be able to hear them.

"What?" Sabo asked, on the defense already.

Marco and Thatch both sat down a few feet away. "Clearly, we've done a lot of harm to you for taking you on the ship. We would be understanding and accommodating if you have another reset, and we want you to all stay with us willingly. But we've done too much, or maybe not enough. We're going to take you back to your ship. We called the island, and your ship is still beached. She's fallen on her side completely, but with our help, we can repair her and get her back to sea.

"We never meant to harm you, but the stress we've unintentionally put upon you had very bad consequences. Just know we are very happy you three did not die. Permanently. We are sorry," Marco finished, and he and Thatch bowed forward.

Thatch added, "And no one on the ship knows about it besides me, Marco and Pops- Whitebeard."

The Spades were shocked. It wasn't the reaction they were expecting. Well, Deuce wasn't as surprised as the others, but still was a bit. They didn't know what to say back, so they stayed silent. The two commanders stood up and left them in the back deck.

Luffy started to cry, happy tears for the first time in over a month. "We're going home!" he sobbed, and Sabo hugged him, tears in his eyes as well. Ace woke up to Luffy crying and started to freak out before Sabo told him why he was crying.

"Fuck yes," Ace said, leaning back happily, smiling brightly. "Piece of Shit is safe. I can't wait to go home." The others nodded, too, feeling light. Their home was okay, and would be fixed for free! They felt happiness, true happiness and hope that things would go back to how they used to be.

Over the next couple of days, the Whitebeards were clearly confused with the complete 180 the Spades had done, the brothers especially. They were happy, smiling, and joking with one another. Still, they didn't get close to any of the Whitebeards, but they did feel thankful for them going to fix the PoS. They still held a very large grudge with the yonko crew, and it probably wouldn't go away, no matter what they did.

Sabo had a feeling that being nice was possibly a bad idea. What if they changed their minds? What if they saw the true attitude of them all, and decided they wanted to keep them. But he couldn't bring himself to make Ace play the brat again. Luffy was clingy to him and Sabo, too. The blonde was happy with this. He was showing equal attention to him than with Ace.

More than a few times, Sabo made a gloating look to Ace, who scowled. His brother complex was always funny. Luffy was happy, and they were both so happy to see it again.

A problem they found occurring a few days after the change in them, Whitebeards, some of the commanders especially, tried to talk to them a lot. Haruta and Thatch especially, and Marco tried to get on their good side as well. They usually politely declined. But Haruta started pestering them about pulling a prank. They wanted him to go away, so Ace advised him on a prank they'd done to their own crew once.

"Just put footprints on the ceiling and say there's a ghost or something," Ace said a bit dismissively. Haruta asked him how to do that, and where he got that idea from. "We did that to our crew. Do a handstand and cover your feet in baby powder. We have to go, now," Ace said, obviously wanting Haruta to go away, and he finally left, muttering about what's good prank it would be, and he ran to the galley, to none of the Spades' surprise.

They overheard people complain about Thatch and Haruta pulling pranks, sometimes dangerous ones.

They all headed to the bathhouse to bathe, and Jojo insisted she bathe with them and they relented as long as she kept a towel around herself and would leave before the guys got out of the water. She was happy with this and it was only awkward for the Spades besides Luffy, who just didn't care about things like that.

Someone entered while they were in there to use one of the showers, and saw Jojo in the water and fled the scene. Ace burst up into laughter, and the others soon followed. "I definitely wouldn't be allowed to walk around in my underwear if we joined." She sounded sour about it.

They all shook their heads. When they all got out of the bath, Jojo in the other part of the room, and changed, they went to go get food.

Ace hid the pounding in his head. Luffy hid his breathing troubles by taking long deep breaths. Sabo hid the pain in his stomach by clenching his teeth together almost painfully. The three exchanged glances that made them all realize they were feeling ill the same. It scared them, but they didn't want to worry their crew.

All of them were fearful of any change in the routine. The fear lasted the rest of the day, and dampened their moods. It was annoying, but a welcome distraction when Haruta came up to them and begged the brothers to tell him more about the prank. None of them were in the mood to socialize, but maybe not thinking about their illness would be good.

"Fine," Ace said in exasperation. It was late and they were on their way to bed. He told the rest of the crew he'd be back soon, and of course Luffy and Sabo came with him. They were holding hands tightly, now trying to ground themselves by painful pressure on their hands. Luffy used his new inhaler and then stuffed it back in his shorts pocket. Sabo had nothing he could do to remedy his pain. But neither could Ace.

He had a stony face as he felt the blood drip out of his nose. He was angry that people did this to them. Was it permanent? Or was it going to be back to normal when they were off of the ship? They still had weeks to get back.

They all didn't want to deal with the commander anymore. "We change our mind, we're leaving," Ace said, and turned around, his brothers doing the same. Luffy needed another inhaler. Maybe they'd go get the ventilator for him to use, maybe it'd help.

"Why?" Haruta whined.

"Because," Sabo said simply, not knowing what to reply. They turned the corner, and thankfully Haruta didn't follow them. The three hurried down the hall, and got to their room. They each collapsed onto their beds and sighed. Sabo took some pain pills and Jojo helped set Luffy up with the ventilator. They didn't know if it would help.

Ace was just given a rag to wipe his nose on. They were glad when the lights turned off and they all fell asleep. Sabo kept his moans of pain inside, biting on his pillow. Luffy was asleep with assisted breathing, and Ace was bleeding from his mouth, his eyes pink. Luckily no blood was coming from them. It was light bleeding, nothing horrific, but it was still happening.

He fell asleep after Sabo finally did. But none of them reset. That was the only good thing. Resetting was painful and traumatizing each time.