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 8: See No Evil, Hear No Evil...

Ever since the doctors started enhancing the other subjects abilities it only got harder and harder to fight against them. Sometimes they would even have the brothers fight by themselves, only taking one brother to fight and leaving the other two in the cell. They hadn't been strapped down to take any tests in months, but everything comes to an end eventually.

"Normal testing day everybody! 11061, 11002, 11058!" The brothers exchanged glances, confused.

'Normal testing? When was the last time we did that?' Ace signed in confusion.

'And why all of a sudden?' Sabo signed back, not having any answers. Luffy was frowning, stomach churning in nervousness, not liking the feeling he was getting. Finally, Haru got to their cell, calling out their numbers, doctors coming in and shackling them, sending everyone in a line to the lab to be tested on. They were all strapped down and Sabo remembered how horrible this room was. Ace was glaring, per usual, at everyone who came into view, Luffy was staring at the ground, devoid of emotion, and Sabo was glancing at everything and everyone, wondering what the first test was going to be.

The next few hours were the worse torture the brothers had experienced yet. It seemed like every minute was an hour as needles poked, scalpels cut, lights blinded, and before any of them knew it, they were being moved to tables, doctors surrounding them and murmuring to each other excitedly.

None of them could make out what they were saying, their voices seeming far away and muffled like they were talking to them from underwater. Ace's eyes felt strained, and the light only further hurt them. He ached to close them or rub them, but the doctors were doing something to them, forcing them to stay open. The pain was excruciating, never-ending.

Sabo was in much the same boat when it came to pain, but his was in his ears. It was like having an ear infection, every noise around you only making them hurt more, the pain feeling as if it's inside your ear, where you can't do anything to make it feel better. Everyone talking around him amplified the feeling, making it seem like thousands of bees buzzing and stinging in his ears. His arms were restrained, keeping him from trying to cover them from the noise.

Luffy was staring at the ceiling, trying to imagine himself anywhere but here. The ceiling was such a bright white like he remembered the clouds to be outside. He couldn't quite remember the feeling of being outside anymore though, having been stuck inside a basement for too long. He couldn't remember what the sun felt like, what warmth felt like, what the breeze from the sea felt like. He longed for one more day outside, to feel the sun, hear the ocean, smell the salty air, but he was stuck here, where the only thing he could smell was the same antiseptic smell of the lab. His nose felt like it was on fire from the smell, giving him a headache. The alcohol smell burned his nose and the feeling only worsened the ache. He scrunched his nose, trying to relieve some of the burning sensation from it. It didn't help.

"Everythings moving along well." A voice said behind the brothers head. Doctors got closer and continued doing their experiments, sending different waves of pain through the brothers. Eventually, they were taken off the tables and taken back to their cells.

The three looked worse than normal, bandages wrapped around their limbs from all the wounds, but there were bandages around their faces as well. Ace had gauze wrapped around his eyes, freaking him out a bit, while Sabo had patches over his ears, making everything still sound muffled and far away, and Luffy had tissue in his nose and a strip of bandage over the bridge of his nose.

"What's going on? Why can't I see? What's wrapped around my eyes?" Ace asked, moving to claw off his bandages. Sabo stopped him, grabbing his arms before he damaged anything.

"Don't! We don't know what they did to your eyes. The best thing you can do right now is leave those on." Sabo said, his voice sounding quiet, though he thought he was talking normally.

"Stop screaming, I'm not gonna take 'em off!" Ace said, and Sabo was sure if he could he would be glaring at him.

"I didn't know I was shouting, I can barely hear anything. I've got patches on my ears." Sabo explained, grimacing as he touched the patch lightly. He turned to Luffy.

"They did something to Luffy's nose too," Sabo explained to their now blind brother.

"What? Is it broken or something?" Ace asked, annoyed that he couldn't see for himself. Sabo shook his head.

"I don't think so. Luffy, does your nose hurt?" Sabo asked. Luffy made a thinking face before shrugging.

"Not really... everything smells weird though," Luffy said, his voice sounding weird due to the tissue in his nose.

"I'm surprised you smell anything with all that tissue," Sabo said, assessing the damage between all of them. They looked worse for wear but they would pull through.

"I swear, if those bastards made me blind they're gonna regret it." Ace said, sitting with a huff. Sabo left him alone, letting the oldest stew in anger alone while he moved to sit with Luffy who was being silent.

'Whats blind mean?' Luffy signed to Sabo, not wanting Ace to know what he asked. He could tell Ace was angry and he didn't want to upset him more. Sabo frowned at the question, glancing at Ace.

'It means never being able to see from your eyes. It's like having your eyes closed forever and never getting to open them again.' Sabo signed back. Luffy frowned, looking down at the floor after getting the answer.

'I hope Ace isn't blind then.' Luffy signed slowly, expression sad. Sabo frowned, putting an arm around the youngest and pulling him close.

'I hope so too Lu.'

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Unwrap the bandages."

Ace stayed silent as the doctors around him began to unwrap the bandages around his eyes. His eyes were closed and he could only sit and hope that his sight was still there.

After breakfast the next day, which had been a whole ordeal in of itself, Ace had immediately been taken to the lab to be tested on. Except, he had been the only one taken. He had to listen as Haru came into the hall, practically singing his number before dragging him out of his cell and to the lab. Nobody else's number was called and they were the only two walking so Ace assumed he was the only test subject there that morning.

"Bandages removed. 11062, open your eyes." The sentence was said in complete monotone, giving an almost bored impression. Ace began to open his eyes but hissed in pain at the intensely bright lights.

"Light sensitivity. Sight appears to be intact." The same voice continued to speak as lights flashed in his face. He squinted, blinking rapidly and trying to fight an oncoming headache to no avail. Eventually, he was able to adjust to the lighting without having to squint or blink too rapidly. Everything looked a little weird... off. He didn't know how though, it just seemed... sharper? Before he could think too much on it someone was holding up an eye chart test a few feet away from him.

"Alright 11062, read the third line." Ace gave them a confused look but turned to face the chart anyways. It was best just to do what they said, something he learned the hard way over the years.

"C, H, K, R, V, D." He mumbled out, not wanting to participate, though was practically forced to.

"Good." The doctor said, nodding as they scribbled on their clipboard. Eventually, they turned to the one holding to the chart, nodding, and the person moved to the other side of the room.

"Read the last line." Ace was about to yell that nobody could read the tiny line from that far away, but as Ace looked back at the test he saw that he could clearly see what the line said.

"D, K, N, T, W, U, L, J, S, P, X, V, M, R, A, H, C, F, O, Y, Z, G." Ace recited, amazed with himself that he could see them so well. The doctors around him whispered to each other in what seemed to be happiness. The doctor in charge scribbled some more stuff down, turning to a doctor near the door.

"Lights off." As this was said everyone put on some weird glasses and the lights shut off, reminding Ace of the glasses Emily told them about that let the doctors see in the dark.

"Read the second to last line." Ace was just as amazed as before to see that he could clearly read the line, especially in the dark. He looked around the room in amazement after saying the line, ignoring the doctors' happy chatter. Everything looked the same as if the light was on, except it was like everything was under a shady tree, or like he was wearing sunglasses. They made Ace read a few more things in the dark and when he finished that they deemed his testing done, taking him back to his cell where his brothers were waiting.

"11097, you're next." Luffy was taken off to the lab before they could even say a word to each other.

'What happened?!' Sabo signed, worried for his brothers. He saw that Ace didn't have the bandage around his eyes and hoped that meant Ace could see. He was relieved when Ace signed back.

'I can see everything! I can even see in the dark!' Ace said, grinning happily. If he had to go through all the painful testing then he could at least be happy when the outcome gave him cool powers.

'Really?' Sabo signed back in shock. Ace nodded and looked down the hall. Normally the brothers couldn't see what was down there due to the lack of lighting, but it was clear as day for Ace.

'Yeah, I can see all the way to the end of the hall!' Ace signed, turning back to face Sabo. Sabo smiled back happily.

'Well, that solves one of the problems with our plan.'

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Luffy was strapped to his usual seat, Haru standing in front of him with a big smile on his face as he removed the gauze and tissue from his nose. Luffy couldn't even think straight when a wave of smells bombarded his nose. The antiseptic smell was there, like always, but much stronger than usual, as if they were holding it under his nose. He could also smell hundreds of other things, but he couldn't place them.

"Smell this," Haru said, shoving something on a plastic try in front of his face. He did as told, smelling the small specks of... something, reeling at the intense wave of onion. He scrunched his nose up and tried moving away from the smell, already getting a headache. Haru seemed pleased by the reaction and withdrew the tray, replacing it with another and having Luffy repeat the process a few times.

"Now, I'm going to place this chocolate in one of these cups. All you have to do is tell me which one it's under and you can have it." Haru said, showing him a small ball of chocolate. The smell of it wafted over to Luffy, making his stomach growl hungrily. He hadn't had chocolate since Emily snuck him some. Luffy nodded and suddenly he was blindfolded. He heard the cups moving around a few times, and then the blindfold was gone, the doctors looking at him with expectedness. Luffy could still smell the chocolate, not paying much mind to how he could smell it, but noticed it was coming more from the left rather than from the other cups.

"That one," Luffy mumbled, gesturing with his head since his hands were bound. Haru smiled, lifting the cup, revealing the chocolate which he gave to Luffy.

"Good! Fantastic!" Again, they continued this test a few times, adding more cups to the mix, moving the cups all around the room, keeping Luffy blindfolded, anything they could think of until they felt they were done. Luffy was sent back to the cell and Sabo was taken to the lab, leaving Ace and Luffy alone.

'What did they do to you Lu?' Ace signed. Luffy shrugged, not really knowing himself.

'I dunno, they just made me smell things and find chocolate under cups. It was easy, and it only gave me a little bit of a headache!' Luffy signed, counting the day as a win. It was the first time he hadn't been forced under a large amount of pain during testing. While Luffy was gone Ace and Sabo had discussed what the doctors could be up to, deciding that they were messing with their senses like they messed with the other test subjects. Luffy now had a stronger sense of smell and Ace had better vision. They figured that, sense Sabos ears were bandaged, they had tried to give Sabo better hearing too. Ace pushed those thoughts aside, turning to Luffy.

'Well, I can see in the dark, which is much cooler than smelling chocolate under a cup.' Ace signed smugly, causing Luffy to pout.

'Nu-uh, mine is cooler! I got to eat chocolate!' Luffy signed back in his defense. Ace felt a little jealous at that, wanting to taste something that wasn't green garbage.

'Well... I'm stronger! You can still barely aim straight!' Ace signed indignantly. Luffy huffed. Sure, he couldn't aim completely straight yet, but it was better than two years ago when he could barely aim in front of himself.

'You're a meanie! Sabo's nicer!' Luffy signed in anger. Ace scowled at him, hitting him on the head. Luffy whined, holding his head and pouting at Ace.

'He is not!' Ace signed, nearly shouting instead. Luffy stuck his tongue out at Ace.

'Is too!'

'Is not!'

'Is too!'

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Left."

*Beep*

"Left."

*Beep*

"Right."

*Beep*

"Left."

Sabo and Ace had been right when they assumed that his hearing would be better. Once the doctors had taken off the patches he could suddenly hear everyone and everything much better. Even when the doctors were muttering to each other it sounded as if they were talking right in his ear. They had immediately begun testing on him, blindfolding him and telling him to tell them where the beep was coming from, the left or the right. The beep got quieter and quieter each time, and Sabo couldn't help but wonder what it would sound like if his ears weren't enhanced.

"Amazing, his hearing goes beyond any normal humans hearing! He can detect frequencies too high for normal ears!" A doctor muttered in excitement.

"Not only that, everything is amplified for him too! I bet he could hear a mouse squeaking upstairs from his cell!" Another said, just as excited.

This continued for a bit until Sabo was sent back to his cell with his brothers, the two turning to him expectantly. Sabo smiled.

'I could hear your fighting from the lab.' Sabo said, crossing his arms. Ace rolled his eyes and Luffy pouted.

'Ace was being mean!'

'Was not!'

'Was too!'

'Was-'

'Alright, that's enough! Seriously, can't you two just get along?' Sabo signed, shaking his head and sitting down with them. Ace and Luffy both decided to pout for a minute, leaving the cell in silence.

'So... we all got cool powers then? Well, except for Luffy.' Ace signed, confusing Sabo. Was Luffy's smell the same?

'My power is cool! I got sooo much chocolate from it too! Tell him Sabo, smelling everything is cool too!' Luffy signed, and you could practically hear the whine. Sabo smiled at that, laughing.

'It's cool Lu.' Sabo assured, causing Luffy to cheer.

'Told you! Ah, but you guys really smell...' Luffy signed, scrunching his nose up at the awful odor that came from his brothers.

'See, not cool.' Ace signed. Luffy glowered at him, crossing his arms.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

After they were given their different powers they were sent right back to the training room where they were forced to show off their powers. they would have them fight in the dark, forcing Ace to use his night vision, or forcing Sabo to listen for where his opponent was moving. Luffy would have to smell and soon realized that he could track people with their smell, making it easy to fight in the dark, as if he was fighting with the lights on.

Fighting became much easier and the brothers soon adjusted to their unnaturally high senses, the sounds and smells no longer giving Sabo and Luffy headaches and the bright lights of the lab and training room no longer making Ace squint.

Their cell still sucked though. It was still cold, still empty, still filled with the sound of other children's pain, sometimes their own.

'Now that Ace can see in the dark we shouldn't have a problem navigating through the maze. Now, all we need to worry about is taking down all the guards, as well as find a way out of our cell.' Sabo signed, the brothers smiling. They were one step closer to getting out of this hell, and it was, ironically, thanks to the doctors' tests.

'We're stronger, we can beat the guards down!' Ace signed with a determined glint in his eye. Sabo sighed.

I'm sure we'll have to resort to that, but I'd much rather have a plan before we run blindly into them and get caught. We won't have a second chance at escape.' Sabo signed, calming his trigger-happy brother. Ace nodded in understanding. Luffy was watching, reading everything Sabo and Ace signed, but deciding not to say anything. He wasn't good at planning like Ace and Sabo were so he would leave all of that to them.

'Our best bet is-' Sabo suddenly stopped signing, looking out into the darkness of the hallway.

'What is it?' Ace signed in confusion, not hearing anything, but with his brothers' new ability that meant nothing. Luffy watched, interest piquing as well.

'I hear the food cart and... keys? I think the door down there is locked.' Sabo signed, hearing the keys unlock the door and the food cart rolling into the hallway.

'That's just great!' Ace signed in exasperation, throwing his arms up in the air.

'At least we know now. This means we should wait until someone who has the keys comes by, like the food guy.' Sabo signed. Ace huffed but nodded. Food came around to everyone's cell and Luffy gagged, holding his bowl away from his face.

'It smells baaadd~!' Luffy signed, putting his bowl on the floor and making another gagging noise.

'Told you your power was stupid!'

'Is not!'

'Is too!'

And would you look at that, another week has come and gone! Yes, the poor brothers are still trapped, but now the tests are actually beginning to show some effects. Now the three have heightened senses, which will no doubt help them in their escape, but with every step closer, another problem rises up. I know, I'm an evil writer, but the doctors wouldn't just leave the children in a room without security. I don't want it to be so easy as the brothers just being able to waltz right out the front doors without issue, hence why there are so many obstacles in their way.

However, it won't be too much longer now that they're trapped! I still have a couple of major things that I want to happen while they're in the facility so it will take more than a few chapters, but don't worry, there will come a day when the brothers put their escape plan into motion! Whether it succeeds or not though... we'll just have to see about that when it happens.

Trust me, I want the brothers to get out just as much as you guys do.

With that said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And also, we've reached 60 reviews! You have no idea how grateful I am to all of you who've reviewed and helped me with my writing or shared your opinion on it. Not to mention, we're at 100 favorites, 190 follows, and a little over 5,000 views! Seriously, you guys are so amazing!

But its time to say farewell for the week and let the countdown begin for next Wednesday. I hope to see you all then!