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 15: Check-Ups and Smelling Salts

"There it is, the Moby Dick!" Thatch exclaimed, more for Luffy than anyone else.

Luffy gazed at the giant ship in amazement. It had a giant whale head in the front and the masts were taller than Luffy would have ever imagined any mast to ever be. He had always wanted to be a pirate, all of them had, but when they had been caught their dreams were put on hold in favor of escaping. Luffy remembered all the stories Sabo would tell him of pirates, but seeing the giant ship in real life was so much cooler than Luffy imagined it to be.

Wait, were these guys pirates?

There was a black flag raised high into the sky, Luffy just barely able to make out the skull and crossbones if he squinted. So they were pirates? Were they bad pirates like Bluejam, or nice ones like in Sabo's stories? And if they were pirates why did they have doctors? Doctors hurt people, so wouldn't that mean these pirates were bad?

The confusing thoughts made Luffy pause, Thatch and Jozu already heading up the gangplank that was set out for easy access onto the boat. Izo, who had been at Luffy's side the entire time, noticed the boys pause and stayed behind with him.

"It's a little overwhelming to see, is it not?" Izo asked, assuming the boy was amazed by the boat or finally figuring out they were pirates. Luffy snapped out of his conflicting thoughts and turned to look at lady-not-lady, giving them a look that Izo couldn't quite read.

What did they say? Luffy hadn't been paying attention so he nodded, hoping he didn't get in trouble for it.

"Well that's alright, you get used to it. Moby's big, but that makes it nicer to sail on. There are lots of places to go." Izo said, starting to move towards the gangplank as well, Thatch and Jozu just making it onto the ships deck.

"Come on, I'm sure you want to be with your brothers, right?" Izo questioned with a raised eyebrow. Luffy hesitated once more but noticed that there was no getting out of it now so he slowly made his way up the plank, hoping he didn't do anything wrong while he waited for Ace and Sabo to wake up. The two walked onto the deck, Luffy amazed by the giant expanse of space that there was and the number of people as well. It made Luffy even more nervous, shifting from foot to foot restlessly when all eyes turned on him. He didn't like all the attention, what if they tried to hurt him? What if they pulled out needles and seastone and tried trapping him again?

"Alright everyone, let's not scare him off," Izo said with a pointed look, everyone who was staring openly going back to what they were doing.

"Izo, I see you've found the kid." Luffy watched as a familiar blonde made his way over to them.

"That I did Marco, poor thing, he was terrified when Thatch, Jozu and I got to him. We're heading to see Whiskey and the others about his brothers." Izo said, looking at Luffy who was getting nervous again. He could feel Ace and Sabo getting further away, their waves stretching away from him, and he didn't like it. He wanted to be with them now.

"I'll come with you, yoi. I've gotta talk to Whiskey anyways to give Oyaji a report." Marco said, the three beginning to make their way into the ship. When they were in a hallway Luffy practically sighed in relief, the feeling of being overcrowded slowly going away.

"Do you know how many kids there were?" Izo asked, the two ignoring Luffy for now, which the boy was thankful for as he listened in on the conversation. He wasn't as smart as Ace or Sabo but he picked up on a few things the two always did, like listen to the doctors whenever they talked.

"I haven't gotten a count yet, but from what I saw there was at least 30, yoi," Marco said, the two glancing at Luffy. Izo frowned, wondering what that place had been and why so many kids had been locked in cells. They reached their destination shortly after the comment, Izo gesturing to the door.

"Your brothers are in there and I'm sure Thatch is still there as well. Jozu's probably gone by now though." Izo explained, he and Marco watching the boys reactions carefully. Luffy, apprehension clear on his face, nodded. He could smell the smells of antiseptic and alcohol, his nerves jumping faster at the familiar smell. He was twitchy, and he definitely didn't want to go in there, but Ace and Sabo were in there, so he should go too! The door opened, Marco having done it after seeing the boys expression, and Luffy peeked inside, not moving from his spot.

All the kids from the facility were laying on beds, tubes, and masks covering some of them, others merely laying silently, or sleeping. The room was certainly different from the lab, the whole room made of wood, but what was attached to the other kids? Were they doing tests? People who Luffy assumed to be doctors were milling around the room. They wore pink dresses and leopard print boots, which definitely wasn't what the other doctors had been wearing, but they were fiddling with the children's tubes and masks, taking notes on familiar clipboards.

So they were doctors! Or maybe they were nurses, those people who helped the doctors? The facility had had a few people the doctors would call nurses, and all Luffy knew about them was that they helped the doctors do tests. So were these guys helping doctors? Doing tests for them?

"Go on, I'm pretty sure they're the ones in the back." Izo urged softly, pointing to the back of the room to a couple of beds. In them lay his brothers, both covered in tubes and both wearing masks, concerning Luffy. What was happening to them? Taking a quick glance at all the nurses again Luffy took a hesitant step into the room, some of the kids noticing and watching him as he did. Marco and Izo were watching him, ready to follow, and none of the nurses had paid him any mind. Yet that is.

Luffy walked quickly to the back to his brothers, doing his best to ignore everyone else. There was a nurse at their beds, looking over her clipboard and looking at the tubes connecting to them.

"Whiskey, this is the brother, the one that found me and Thatch, yoi," Marco spoke behind him suddenly, making him jump as Whiskey spun to look at them.

"Oh? Alright kid, get into the bed so I can give you a check-up." Whiskey said gently, gesturing to the bed that was beside Ace. Luffy felt his fear returning at full speed. Check-up? Was she gonna do tests?

"Its alright kid, shes just going to help," Izo said, reassuringly. Luffy glanced quickly between the two. If he didn't listen and they fought against him there was no way he could escape. Maybe he should go along with it until Ace and Sabo woke up, then they could escape together. He just had to listen and be good so that they wouldn't hurt him before his brothers woke up.

With a new resolve, Luffy made his way to the bed, sitting on it gently. It felt amazing. He had never sat on an actual bed in his entire life, and half of his life he had been sitting on a concrete floor, strapped to a metal table, or strapped to a wooden chair, all of those being highly uncomfortable. When he looked up Whiskey was pulling a stool over in front of him, wheels on the bottom of it.

"We'll start off easy, what's your name?" She asked. Luffy hesitated, opening his mouth, but closing it. Before anyone could explain that Luffy was 'mute' the door opened, Thatch coming in with something in his hand, a smile on his face.

"Hey Whiskey, I got it!" Thatch said, walking up to them and handing the something over to the nurse.

"Thank you, Thatch, but that'll have to wait until after his check-up." Whiskey said, pointing her pencil in Luffy's direction, the boy shifting nervously on the bed.

"Ah, hey there kid!" Thatch said, waving happily. Luffy hesitated but waved back.

"So, back to the question, name?" Whiskey asked.

"He's mute, yoi," Marco said, he and Izo standing beside Thatch, interested in Luffy. Whiskey raised an eyebrow.

"A mute, huh? Alright then, can you write?" She asked. Luffy frowned. He could write, but if he admitted that then they would make him write everything down, and then there was no point in lying at all about the fact that he couldn't speak. Luffy shook his head no, the others frowning at the answer.

"How was he able to get your attention?" Whiskey asked, scribbling notes down.

"He used a lot of gestures and mouthed a lot of words, me and Marco guessed what he was trying to tell us." Thatch said with a shrug. Another nod from the nurse.

"Well, if that's the case, do you have a number? Like the other children?" Whiskey asked, the others raising an eyebrow at the question.

"A number, yoi?" Marco asked. Whiskey nodded, gesturing to all the other kids.

"That's right. Everyone here has a number tattooed on the inside of their wrists, all beginning with 110." She explained.

"Do you have one, then?" Izo asked Luffy, the boy fidgeting a bit more at the attention. It wouldn't hurt to show it to them, right? Besides, the nurse knew about the other kids' numbers, so it was inevitable that she would find his.

Luffy nodded to them, holding out his arm and flipping his wrist up, showing the black numbers forever etched into his skin.

"11097? Well, we can call you Seven if you want, you know, instead of kid." Whiskey suggested. Luffy saw no issue with that so nodded his agreement, placing his arm back at his side.

"Alright, next question, seeing as you can't speak that'll make things harder, but we'll manage. How old are you? Older than 10?" Whiskey asked. Again, Luffy wanted to hide in a hole, but he couldn't not answer, what if they hurt him? What if they took his brothers away like Haru always threatened to do if he didn't listen? The only good thing about answering was that, if they knew his age, maybe they would underestimate him.

Luffy nodded.

"Ok, higher than 10, is it higher than 15?" She asked. Luffy shook his head.

"Ok, lower. Higher than 13?" She asked. Luffy nodded.

"14?" She asked. Luffy nodded, Whiskey writing more stuff down.

"You're 14?! I thought you were ten!" Thatch said in shock. Luffy pouted, looking at the ground. It wasn't his fault he was short, they didn't give him a lot of meat in the facility!

"Thatch." Whiskey said in a warning tone. Thatch, noticing Luffy's expression, frowned.

"Ah, sorry, I mean, there's nothing wrong with it! You'll look youthful even when your 70!" Thatch rambled, trying to rectify the situation. Izo sighed.

"Shut up Thatch," Lady-not-lady mumbled. Thatch laughed sheepishly but stopped talking.

"So you're 14. I'm going to give you a quick look over ok? No need to be afraid." Whiskey said calmly. She had been in charge of overseeing the other kids check-ups and all of them had freaked when a nurse got close enough to try. She had a feeling Luffy would be no different.

She was right when the second she stood up, Luffy scrambled backward onto the bed. He hadn't meant to do it, especially after he promised himself he would cooperate, but it was a habit.

"Don't worry, I'm just checking to see how healthy you are." She said softly, the others watching carefully, ready if Luffy suddenly attacked. They had seen him ready to fight before, and Izo and Thatch had experienced the kids strong haki.

Luffy did his best to sit still as Whiskey looked him over, relieved when she didn't prick him with a needle or poke at him with the weird sharp metal things. Luffy took the time to focus on her emotions, finding no darkness, only calm, peaceful, and concentrated feelings coming from the nurse. When the exam was over Whiskey sighed, sitting back on her stool.

"Good news and bad news." Whiskey said, turning to the three observers.

"Good news first, yoi," Marco said, crossing his arms. Whiskey nodded.

"Well, the good news is that he should be fine within a week, two at most. From what I could see there aren't many injuries at all, only spots that indicate that someones been injecting him with something, and multiple marks that show he was probably burned that will scar, but that's the same with every child in this room. Bad news, if I'm right, he's been drugged up five ways to Sunday." Whiskey stated a slight edge in her tone. She couldn't believe that anyone would do this to a person, kids much less!

"What makes you say they were drugged, yoi?" Marco asked, his bored and tired look changing to a mildly interested one. Whiskey frowns.

"Well, that's easy. There are the puncture marks as I've already mentioned, but there's also the fact that every child in here hates even the thought of a needle going near them, as well as when examining one child, they practically begged us not to give them any more shots." Whiskey explained, glancing at all the kids.

"There's one more thing that has me a bit confused though." Whiskey began.

"What is it?" Izo asked, looking at the brothers. Whiskey frowned.

"The thing is, everyone is malnourished, all the kids practically skin and bone, but these three have muscle." Whiskey said. Marco seemed to understand already, along with Izo, but Thatch still looked confused.

"So?" Thatch asked, Whiskey sighing.

"So, that means that they were somehow gaining muscle even when starving. It also means they were getting the muscle after being in that place. If that muscle had been from before they arrived it would have deteriorated the second they started starving." Whiskey explained, Thatch finally understanding.

"Maybe they were... I don't know... training?" Thatch suggested weakly, but not believing it himself. It didn't look like that place had a workout room for them to train in after all.

Meanwhile, Luffy, thinking the adults were more focused on their conversation, moved around the front of Aces bed to stand in between both Ace and Sabo, who were still sleeping.

"Oh, that's right, you must be worried about your brothers, huh Seven?" Whiskey asked the edge in her tone vanishing completely as she watched Luffy. All of them were watching Luffy now, noticing he had left the bed. Luffy fidgeted, looking at the group before turning to look back at his brothers. Their waves had gotten a lot better, so that meant these people were helping, right? But that didn't make sense because doctors hurt people, so why were they helping?

"What's wrong with the brothers?" Izo asked. Anyone could see how much Luffy cared for them just by the way he looked at them alone. It would be a shame if something were to happen to them.

"Right, well, it seems like they're in a coma at the moment, a forced one at that. I think one of the drugs they were given induced it and at the moment I can't do anything to counteract the drugs for fear that one of the drugs doesn't mix well with the medicine and accidentally hurts them." Whiskey said, reaching for whatever Thatch had brought in earlier.

"So we just have to wait for them to wake up?" Thatch asked. Whiskey nodded.

"That is one thing we could do, but I also have this." Whiskey said, holding up the item Thatch had brought him, though Luffy had absolutely no idea what it was, all he knew was that it smelled, strong. Luffys sense of smell was heightened and it only made the strong smell worse as he scrunched up his nose, resisting the urge to cover it. It would look weird and the others might get suspicious, but that stuff was really starting to burn his nose.

"Oh yeah, what is it?" Thatch asked, not having been told what it was in the first place. Whiskey smiled, moving over to Aces bed, Luffy watching her closely as she placed the smelly stuff under his nose. He wasn't sure if that smelly stuff could hurt Ace, but the nurse had said it would help him wake up, so it had to be good! But what if she was lying? Luffy was going to keep his eye on her, and if his brother looked to be in pain or his wave got worse he would intervene, even if he was trying to cooperate with them.

"It's a smelling salt, it helps in waking someone wake up because of its strong smell. It's not a guarantee, but its worth a shot. I don't know how strong the drug is, so I don't know how much of an effect this will have on them." She said, not moving away from Ace for a minute before sighing.

"And it seems, in his case," Whiskey began, gesturing to Ace.

"It isn't going to work." She said, all of them frowning a little, though Luffy looked worse off, his frown deeper. It didn't work on Ace... but maybe it would work on Sabo! Luffy tugged on Whiskeys wrist gently, terrified, because he didn't know if she would hurt him for touching her, but he was going to risk it.

"What is it Seven?" She asked. Luffy pointed at Sabo, and then to the smelly salt. Whiskey raised a brow.

"It might not work you know, so don't get your hopes up." She said softly. Luffy shrugged, after all, it was better than nothing. She nodded and moved over to Sabo's bed, placing the vial under his nose, Luffy wondering how someone made salt smell so bad.

Nothing happened for a minute and everyone thought it would be the same as with Ace, but then there was a groan and Sabo was moving, eyes scrunching.

"Ugh... wha' happened?"

New week, new chapter! The brothers are officially on the Whitebeards ship and it looks like Ace and Sabo have been put into comas. Now we'll have to see how the three are able to handle things once they're all awake seeing as they're surrounded by people that they don't know.

Onto other news, I've got the worse head cold imaginable and my head is pounding as I write this, but I couldn't let you all down so I pushed through and made sure that this chapter got up regardless of my condition. With that said, if there's anything off about the chapter, blame my sickness for that. I'm in a weird haze of being tired, and being in pain, and let me tell you, it's not fun at all.

However, all of the reviews I've been getting are absolutely amazing and have made my week fantastic despite how sick I am! I still can't believe that people like my story so much to be leaving paragraph long, or even just short, reviews! And now that the brothers are out, you guys are having a field day. I hope I continue to fulfill your expectations with this story as we move forward.

Until next week, goodbye!