Warnings: Dark themes, lots of mentions of death, strong language, human experimentation, experimenting on children, child abduction, graphic descriptions of experimenting, lots of needles, lots of violence, poor descriptions of panic attacks, descriptions of blood, rated M for safety.

*If I need to add anymore warnings please tell me in the reviews or a PM and I'll be sure to add it!*

Chapter 7: New Year, New Tests

Ages:

Ace, Sabo- 12

Luffy- 9

Another year went by quickly. The same straightforward routine, the same testing, the same horrible food. The brothers tried their best to think of things they could do to help them escape, but had come up with nothing. Sabo had been surprised by Ace's behavior when Emily had died. He'd never seen Ace just... give up, but when she died he didn't seem to even want to try anymore.

It was off putting.

He was glad that he had given him something to strive for, a deadline, and hoped that that moment had just been due to all the stress, hoped that he would never have to see his brother act so uncharacteristically again. So far, he was back to normal. It had taken a while for all of them to get over Emily's death, especially Luffy, but everything was back to normal.

Normal sucked.

Normal was having needles poked into you. Normal was eating gross soup out of necessity. Normal was wondering if you would ever escape hell on Earth.

The only thing that broke normal was the weird room that was being built.

The brothers had noticed it when the doctors first started working on it. It was a room that was adjacent to the lab that they tested on them in. They had seen the new door suddenly appear in the room, Haru boasting to them that it was going to be an extremely helpful room. Day and night the doctors, or whoever worked on the room, were building, leaving many with restless nights from the loud noises.

Today, though, it was finally done.

"I want 11062, 11085, and 11097." They were the only three numbers called, confusing the brothers as their doctors came in, dragging them off to the lab to, presumably, be tested on. After two years of the same thing there was no point struggling, so they let it happen. Haru led them to the room, an unusually happy smile on his face as he did. The brothers ignored the practically relieved looks coming from the other children in the cells. The brothers had been there two years and survived. If they could distract the doctors from testing on the others for even a day, they would.

"Finally, after all this time, I get to unveil the newest addition to our facility!" Haru announced as they entered the lab. Ace and Sabo looked at each other, confused, while Luffy stayed silent, face expressionless.

"I like to call it, 'The Training Room'!" Haru said dramatically, the doctors leading the brothers inside the room that had been worked on for the past year. Once inside the three brothers looked around, confused.

It was a simple room, extremely large, and completely covered with fake grass. In the middle of the room was a dirt circle and around the perimeter of the room was a track. The walls were painted a light, sky blue, and the entire thing looked as if they had tried to make the room look like outside.

"With this room I'll be able to expand the variety of tests I perform, and seeing as you three seem to lack an expiration date I thought I'd get you used to your new room. I have a feeling you three will be spending a lot of time in here." Haru said, laughing.

Turns out, the brothers hated the 'Training Room' more than they hated the lab. It was awful. The doctors would send them in there with other test subjects and they were forced to attack each other until the doctors decided it was ok for them to stop.

Of course the doctors didn't stay in the same room during this. They had snail cameras all over the ceiling, watching them, and speakers in the corners so they could talk to them without actually coming in. The brothers didn't want to fight the kids and had tried boycotting it at first, until they threatened them.

"You will fight the other subjects." Haru said calmly, as if stating a fact.

"We wont fight anyone except you damn bastards!" Ace shouted, Sabo beside him with an equally angry expression while Luffy stood slightly behind them, his expression ranging from discomfort to anger. There was something about the way Haru was talking that unsettled Luffy more than usual.

"If asking politely wont work, then I guess some persuasion is in order. You will fight, because if you don't, then I'll separate you all into separate cells." Haru said. This caused the boys to hesitate. Being in the same cell was probably the only thing keeping Ace from going on a suicide mission, not to mention keep Luffy sane. Sabo had seen the look in the youngests eyes, especially when Ace would go on a rant about never escaping. After Emily had died Luffy's personality had slipped from being his normal, loud, happy self, and devolved into sadness, silent, and sometimes, emotionless. He was scared that, soon, Luffy wouldn't show any emotion at all.

'We can't be separated.'

Sabo signed the words discreetly to Ace who nodded back his agreement, knowing that wasn't an option. He had noticed Luffy's emotions, or lack thereof, and after talking with Sabo they had agreed to try and keep Luffy as happy as they could, to keep him from slipping.

"Fine." Ace spat out after a moment of silence. Harus smile widened.

"Wonderful."

And so, the days and weeks after that, they were forced to fight with the other subjects. They felt like they were breaking their promise to Emily, but there was nothing they could do. They had tried everything, even losing on purpose, but they were soon found out.

"You have to actually try." Haru had said, actually showing a hint of annoyance which made Ace happy.

"We are. We haven't exactly had the most exercise over the past two years." Ace growled back, crossing his arms.

"So the three boys who could take down animals larger than a house suddenly can't take a kid whose been deprived any type of nourishment for a whole day and had no fighting experience before now?" Haru asked. Ace shrugged.

"Apparently that would be the case." He said snidely. Haru sighed.

"You know, I've been lenient. I've given you food everyday, let you stay together, and even let you keep that chalk in your cell, but if you still refuse to fight the way I know you can then I guess Im going to have to be persuasive again." Ace and Sabo frowned, knowing that they were at the doctors mercy. Haru seemed to know this as well, smiling.

"Maybe we should run another seastone test on 11097. Its a shame that that one doctor took the only serum we had to fix it though and we've yet to create another." Haru said with mock disappointment.

"Oh well, Nayru, go prep a table." Haru said, waving his hand dismissively, a doctor behind him nodding and turning to leave. Ace and Sabos eyes widened.

"Wait!" Sabo shouted, looking at Luffy who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

"We'll fight." Sabo said softly.

Fighting was simple enough, and before they knew it the brothers were back to their normal strength. Eventually the doctors felt that they had peaked and began getting more creative with their fights. At first it started with obstacles, or rules. Can't fight with your right hand, have to spin around ten times every ten minutes, or even fight with a blindfold on. It made the fights more challenging, but it made them more annoying too. One day, though, Haru seemed extra excited about the sparring match.

"11062, 11085, 11097, I'd like you to meet 11053." Haru said, gesturing to a timid looking boy who had the usual tattered clothing on. His hair was unwashed and unkempt, and Sabo wondered if his hair really was a weird brown color or if it was all the dirt.

"I hope you four have a wonderful spar." Haru said, turning and hastily leaving the room, much to their confusion. Before they could over think the situation they were ordered to begin the match, so the brothers did without any hesitation. They couldn't afford it, not when Haru was one more step away from practically killing the three of them.

The fight started out normal enough, and 11053 began to put up a decent fight. Along with the incentive of actually living the doctors promised that anyone who beat the three brothers during sparring would win immediate freedom. No one knew if it was true or not, and as much as the brothers wanted to let them escape, they knew they couldn't. Now, more than ever, Haru was watching their every move for signs of losing on purpose.

The fight continued, with relative ease, and before the three minute mark the brothers thought the fight would be over.

They were mistaken.

Out of nowhere 11053 disappeared from sight, confusing the brothers as they began wondering where he went.

"Oi, what happened?!" Ace shouted at one of the cameras, knowing the doctors had something to do with this. When he didn't get a response Ace growled, regrouping with Sabo and Luffy, the three standing with their backs together, glancing around for the boy. Suddenly, Sabo made a sound as he bent over, grabbing at his stomach with a pained expression.

"Sabo!" Ace and Luffy shouted, confused and worried, but before they could make it to their brother they were sent flying backwards.

"What the hell?!" Ace shouted, jumping back up to his feet, seeing Luffy do the same. Sabo seemed to be recovering from whatever happened to him, but before more could be said they were attacked again. First it was Luffy, the youngest being thrown around a few times, then Ace, the same happening to him, except it actually hurt. Sabo was next, but before too much could happen Luffy was flinging an arm toward him, confusing Ace until 11053 was suddenly there.

"Got you!" Luffy shouted, letting his body fly towards his arm. 11053 looked startled, not expecting to be caught, but before he could even move Luffy reached him, slamming his fist into the boys face, knocking him out.

"Finished! Congratulations, you all get some bread with your dinner tonight!" Haru said excitedly, walking into the room and clapping. That was the only good thing about sparring. They got bread. They were taken back to their cell with shackles on, an extra precaution that the doctors took seeing as they were now much stronger than before, and thrown in without much more said. Their shackles were taken off and they were left to their own devices. Ace and Sabo immediately turned to Luffy, rubbing their fingers together to get Luffys attention, the youngest having gone into the corner to draw with the chalk.

'Luffy, how did you do that?!' Sabo asked, moving to sit in front of him with Ace. Luffy shrugged, not looking up from his drawing, no expression on his face as he signed back.

'I don't know. I just did.'

Sabo sighed, but Ace seemed determined to know, no matter how long it took.

'Yeah, but we couldn't see him and then you suddenly just... had him!' Ace signed. Luffy pouted, still not looking up.

'It wasn't that hard, he was just moving really fast so I grabbed him.' Luffy signed back slowly. Ace and Sabo glanced at each other before nodding.

'Good job Lu.' Sabo signed, patting Luffy on the back. Luffy looked up, staring for a second before smiling.

"Thanks Sabo! Shishishi!" The laugh was one they hadn't heard in a long time and Sabo and Ace realized just how much they missed it.

"Speaking of Luffy doing good, you gotta catch up Ace, Luffys been practicing his words. Hes almost better than you at reading now." Sabo said with a grin. Luffy looked at Sabo, beaming, while Ace grumbled.

"Not my fault words are weird." Ace said, glaring at the word on the ground that Sabo had written out.

"Its not that hard Ace, just sound it out." Sabo encouraged. Ace sighed, looking at the word.

"Fine. Y... ow... th?" Ace asked, looking at Sabo who buzzed, shaking his head.

"Nope. Close though, you almost had it! The o and u here don't make the ow sound. Try again!" Sabo said while Luffy cheered in the background. Ace glared again but tried again.

"Y... you... youth?" He asked, Sabo dinging and Luffy cheering. Ace smiled proudly, happy to have gotten the word right.

"Good job! You guys are getting really good now! We should try to get you to actually write words down." Sabo suggested, handing them both a piece of chalk. Ace scrunched his nose at the thought.

"What if I don't want to?" Ace asked, glaring at the chalk while Luffy grinned happily. Sabo laughed.

"Well, then Lu will know how to write and you wont." Sabo said, taking his own piece. Ace growled.

"No way! What do we do?" Ace asked, suddenly ready to write. Sabo laughed and began teaching.

"We'll start simple, your names." Sabo said, writing out his own name.

"I want you two to try and sound them out and write which letter you think would fit." Sabo explained, the two nodding and beginning to write. It was sloppy, but expected. When they finished Luffy had ended up with Loofy, and Ace ended up with Ase. Sabo smiled.

"Good try, both of you. Luffy, your name isn't spelled with O's, it has a U in it, and there's another f in it. Like this." Sabo said, writing his brothers name down for him to see. Luffy smiled, nodding and rewriting it while Sabo turned to Ace.

"And yours is pretty simple too. Instead of an s your name ends in -CE. Like this." Sabo said, writing Ace's name.

The brothers continued practicing until dinner arrived, which they ate a bit slowly. Sleep came easy to the tired brothers, but after what felt like just falling asleep, they were once again waking up to the sound of the rolling cart, the one signalling that it was time for breakfast.

They had only just barely finished eating before they were being called for testing.

Once they were taken from their cell they were sent to the training room with two others this time, 11009 and 11028. They began sparring and, like last time, everything seemed normal until near the end when the two did something weird. 11009 seemed stronger all of a sudden, while 11028 looked as if all his wounds had healed in seconds. The brothers had a feeling that everyone they fought from now on would have weird abilities like this.

Ace and Sabo took on the rapidly healing one while Luffy took the strong one, all of them knowing that, if Luffy couldn't defeat him, then he would distract him. They could only fight with punches, not weapons, so there was no way that Luffy could be hurt too bad when fighting him. The plan worked for the most part, Ace and Sabo eventually able to knock out 11028 before he had a chance to heal himself, while Luffy was thrown back for the 20th time by 11009. Ace and Sabo rushed over to help and the three of them eventually were able to take him down. They were congratulated and taken back to their cells with the promise of bread.

'Whats with those guys? Why do they all suddenly have superpowers?!' Ace signed in frustration. Sabo frowned, but shrugged, not quite sure himself.

'Maybe the doctors are trying new tests that affect someone's natural abilities? Enhancing them?' Sabo signed back.

'This sucks! Those doctors can go to hell!' Ace signed, infuriated. It made the fights harder to win, not to mention made them hurt the children more. Sabo sighed, turning to Luffy who was drawing.

"Hey Lu, watcha drawing?" Sabo asked, wanting to get his mind off of the dangerous tests the doctors were performing on everyone in the facility. Luffy looked up, eyes distant.

"Im drawing Emily, she always liked my drawings." Luffy mumbled, continuing to scribble, and Sabo was sure that that was hair... or maybe a dress? Sabo smiled lightly to Luffy, ruffling the boys hair.

"Looks good Lu, I'm sure she's watching you right now thinking how amazing it looks." Sabo said softly, wondering if that really was the case, that Emily was watching over them, waiting for them to fulfill their promise to her. Sabo picked up his own piece of chalk and sat beside Luffy, drawing on the ground as well. Ace huffed, hating that he was suddenly by himself, and joined the two with his own chalk.

It was a miracle they still had any chalk left after all the time they spent drawing.

After a few minutes dinner came, with bread, and they ate slowly, all three still invested in their drawings to pay the disgusting food any mind. After some time passed they all slowly began finishing, ready to show off their drawings.

"Mine is all of us with Emily! And there's the candy she would always give us, and the chalk, and the mikans!" Luffy rambled, pointing to each scribble and explaining what it was. Sabo smiled while Ace got ready to comment on how poorly drawn the picture was. Before he could even get a word out though, Sabo slapped his hand over Aces mouth, grinning.

"It looks amazing Lu!" Sabo praised, Luffy beaming with pride at the compliment.

"What did you draw Sabo?!" Luffy asked happily. Sabo smiled, looking at his own drawing, which wasn't as ambitious as Luffys.

"Well, mine is something that represents all of us. I drew your hat, my hat, and Ace's pipe." Sabo said, pointing to the objects. Luffys eyes sparkled.

"Wow! That's so cool! Ne, Ace, you should get a hat..." Luffy said, more of an after thought as he looked at the drawing. Sabo laughed while Ace pouted.

"Just cause you two got hats doesn't mean I need one too." Ace said, crossing his arms and puffing out his cheeks.

"But it would be so cool! We'd all have hats then!" Luffy said happily, looking over at his own hat that had stayed in the corner ever since they got there. Luffy hadn't put it on once since they were in the facility, and Sabo didn't know if it was because he didn't want to lose it or if he didn't like it anymore. He didn't think Luffy would ever not like that hat, especially when he told Ace and Sabo about how precious it was to him practically everyday when they lived in the forest.

"I look just fine without one!" Ace said. Sabo laughed some more before calming down.

"So what did you draw Ace?" He asked, glancing at the eldest brothers drawing, slightly confused by it. Ace grinned excitedly, gesturing down at his drawing.

"Me beating up all those damn doctors obviously!" Ace said proudly. Luffy 'oohed' and 'aahhed' at the picture as Ace described in detail exactly what was happening. As he finished up his explanation Luffy yawned loudly, rubbing his eyes.

"I guess its time to go to sleep, huh?" Sabo asked, glancing outside their cell where the sounds of pain had quieted down some, indicating that many were asleep. Luffy nodded and the brothers all laid down in their usual formation, Ace in the middle as a pillow for the other two, before drifting off.

Another chapter done! Another year has passed, the brothers are still trapped, and a new room had been unveiled. I think that we are now about halfway through what could be called the 'Facility Arc', meaning that the brothers are close to getting out, but there's still some time until then. Don't worry everyone, stay patient, they will get out... eventually.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Things are trucking along now, and with weekly updates, they'll be out of there in no time. Also, seeing as the brothers have been here for a couple of years now, and seeing as they've witnessed a lot of things most people wouldn't have to be subjected to, I thought that it would start to affect their personalities. It hasn't been too drastic a change, or at least, you all haven't seen the change much yet, but its there. Emily's death has affected them in more ways than one. On one hand, they have the motivation to get out, but they've all been affected by her death in ways they hadn't anticipated.

This concludes the chapter for the week! Thank you all for reading, reviewing, favoriting, or following, it means the world to me. I'll see you all next week with chapter 8!