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 17: Keep Your Composure

It had been three days since the brothers and other children from the facility had been taken to the pirate ship. By then, as promised by the pirates, most of the children had been taken to the town on the island and sent home. There were only three more children here, ones Sabo and Luffy recognized as kids who had been at the facility for almost two full weeks. They were getting final check-ups from their nurses, getting ready to leave that day.

No one spoke about the facility to anyone, not even kids who had been there for a few days. It was like an unspoken agreement that, no matter what, they weren't going to say a word about it. Because of this, though, the pirates only became more curious, wanting to know what the big deal was about the place they had been held captive in.

The nurses and their occasional visitors, i.e. Thatch and Marco, noticed that all of them, everyone from the facility, had common fears. Whenever anyone of them saw a needle they freaked, trying to get as far away as they could. Everyone was also just generally afraid of the nurses so the nurses had done their best not to hover or stay too close for too long.

Sabo and Luffy watched in what was almost jealousy as the last few kids left, going off to their homes, smiles on their faces. The two brothers hadn't been allowed out of their beds too long, their malnutrition much worse than the other children, so they were getting more than a little restless from being in bed for so long.

Not only that, but the smells of the infirmary were setting Luffy and Sabo on edge more and more every day. It never left and Luffy was even getting headaches from it due to his sense of smell. The feeling of being trapped in the room didn't help either and overall the brothers were filling with anxiety and desperation to get out.

Ace was still sleeping though and the brothers really didn't want to leave him alone, not in a room full of nurses who could do who knew what to him, but Marco had said their Captain would want to speak to them soon. If that was the case they would probably have to leave the room soon, both a good and a bad thing.

"Lunch time!" Thatch called happily, walking into the room with a platter in his hands. Now that it was only the three brothers Thatch didn't need to bring in the rolling cart which Sabo and Luffy were grateful for, the sound of it only bringing back bad memories.

One of the good things about being on the pirate ship was that they got three full meals a day that actually tasted, and looked, like good food. They had been eating light foods, broths, oatmeal, rice, etc. Whiskey said they would be able to eat heavier food soon, their stomachs adjusting well to the food. They were given normal portions, which Sabo realized made sense, but Luffy needed to eat much more than that in a day so he had been sharing his food with him. They both didn't want to ask too much of the pirates, afraid that the wrong question or request would turn the pirates on them.

"Yummy!" Luffy said, licking his lips as he was handed a plate with a few different things on it. There was rice, applesauce, and yogurt with bananas. There was even a sandwich, which they hadn't had before. Luffy began to dig in, Sabo as well, though at a much slower pace.

Thatch was easy to open up to, though Sabo was still very guarded near the man despite this, he was a pirate after all, and the brothers found themselves much more comfortable around him. That wasn't to say that the second he did something they didn't like they wouldn't turn on him. They were practically waiting for one of the pirates to show their dark side, the evil that they were convinced everyone had.

"So, how has your day been?" Thatch asked, sitting at the end of their bed as he waited for Sabo to finish, Luffy already licking his plate clean, literally.

"As good as it can be when your stuck sitting in a bed," Sabo said with a nonchalant shrug, trying to force his anxiety down and give off an air of calmness. He was pretty sure he succeeded, Thatch giving him a smile and laugh.

"Yeah, well Whiskey said that you might be able to get up today! She was talking about it to Pops earlier." Thatch explained, grabbing Luffys plate as the teen handed it to him.

"Oh? That would be nice, right Seven?" Sabo asked, his little brother nodding happily.

"Mm! I wanna get out of bed, but every time I try Five tells me to lay back down!" Luffy said with a pout. He understood why, both brothers didn't want to get on the nurse's bad side and that meant, for the moment, listening to her instructions. Unless she told them to do something that they definitely were not going to do.

"It's for your own good Seven, besides, I'm sure Two would miss you if you were running off while he was still stuck in bed," Sabo said, removing his brothers straw hat and messing with his hair, Luffy swatting at his hand, but smiling none-the-less. The door opened and their attention turned to Marco and Whiskey, the two walking in together.

"Oh hey Marco, welcome back!" Thatch announced, smiling to the first mate. Marco nodded to him.

"Did you leave lazy face?" Luffy asked, everyone, turning to give him a questioning look while Sabo paled a bit. Even though Luffy didn't mean to be rude his nicknames could seem that way sometimes and when you were trying to stay on someones good side it wasn't the best idea to make fun of the way they looked.

"Lazy face, yoi?" Marco asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion. Sabo coughed, nudging Luffy slightly as a show to get him to stop talking, the boy understanding even if he wasn't all too sure why.

"Uh, Seven has a tendency to give people nicknames, he doesn't mean any offense behind his words," Sabo said cautiously, hoping to ease the situation before it became an issue. Luffy didn't quite understand the words Sabo said but assumed he had done something wrong so he nodded his agreement. He didn't want to make anyone mad, the man just had a lazy face, always looking like he was tired or bored and Luffy, for the life of him, couldn't remember his name.

"No, its fine, and yes Seven, I did leave," Marco explained, his face returning back to its bored expression. Sabo sighed in relief, happy the issue didn't escalate.

"Well, where'd you go?" Luffy asked curiously, tilting his head.

"I was escorting the rest of the kids to the town, yoi," Marco explained, Luffy looking at him with more confusion.

"Eskirting?" The teen butchered the word, Sabo shaking his head.

"Escorting Seven, he went with the kids," Sabo explained with practiced ease. It was a regular occurrence that Luffy didn't know a word that someone said and the blonde would have to translate for him.

"Oh! I get it!" Luffy said, beaming while the others watched him, Thatch smiling, Marco not changing his expression and Whiskey not paying any mind to the conversation, instead checking over Ace. Sabo was sure to keep an eye on her as she did.

"So I take it they got there ok?" Thatch asked, Marco nodding.

"Watched them sail off myself. Two were going to South Blue and the other was going to North Blue, yoi." Marco said to Thatch. That raised a question in Sabo's mind, one he'd been wondering for a while now.

"That reminds me, where are we, obviously not in those two Blues, but are we in any of the Blues?" Sabo asked, Luffy watching with interest. He had never left Dawn Island, so anywhere else was cool to him, but what if they were super far away?

"You don't know? This is the Grand Line, or as we know it, Paradise." Thatch said, frowning to the boys. Sabo frowned as well. So they weren't in any of the Blues. That would make it harder if they tried to escape, Sabo had read books on the Grand Line and knew about the unpredictable weather patterns as well as the fact that normal compasses didn't work.

"Grand Line huh?" Sabo asked softly, though he could feel Luffy practically jittering from excitement.

"Really?! That's so cool! Sa- Uh, Five, did you hear that?! We're in the Grand Line!" Luffy exclaimed, practically laughing in delight. Sabo forced a smile, nodding to Luffy's words but not really meaning it. He tried to keep his emotions calm, not wanting Luffy to sense his rapidly growing unease, but it was hard to when there were so many things wrong with the situation they were in.

"Hows Two, yoi?" Marco asked his attention on Whiskey who was finishing her examination. Whiskey turned to face him, shrugging and sighing.

"Overall he's much better than a few days ago, but he's still not awake. The last of the unknown drugs have been cleared out of his bloodstream, but whatever made him fall into the coma has yet to leave, making it harder for him to wake him up. We were lucky that Five woke up at all seeing as even he still has the drug in his bloodstream." Whiskey said with a frown, tapping her pencil on her chin.

"Lighten up Whiskey, everything will work out in the end!" Thatch said, waving off the nurses concerns, trying to lighten the mood. Whiskey frowned for another minute but sighed.

"I guess your right Thatch. Anyways, you two are finally free to move around a bit. I don't want you two running or doing any heavy lifting or physical labor though! No straining your bodies and the second you start to get even the thought that you're getting tired I want you back in bed!" Whiskey ordered sternly, the boys fidgeting under the look, their unease rising at the order.

Luffy nodded mutely, trying to keep a frown from forming on his face as he thought of Haru when he got mad. He was always punished whenever he didn't obey an order and he was scared that the nurse would hurt him or his brothers if he didn't listen.

Sabo nodded in much the same way Luffy had, also having thoughts of the doctors ordering them to do things whether they wanted to or not and how they were forced to obey.

Pleased by their obedience Whiskey nodded, turning her attention back to her clipboard and walking away to talk to another nurse in the room. Thatch whistled.

"And that's why Whiskeys the head nurse. She sure can be stern when she wants to." Thatch said, watching the girl in pink walk off. Sabo tried to shake off the bad memories and feelings, returning his face to a more neutral look and sending feelings of love to Luffy, hoping to calm the boy.

"Seeing as you two are free to move why don't we go head out on deck? You could speak to Oyaji as well, yoi." Marco said, and suddenly the feelings of unease were back, Sabo's mouth going dry and stomach fluttering, legs going weak. He had picked up over the conversations he'd had with the pirates that Oyaji, or Pops, was another name for their Captain, Whitebeard. If they were going to talk to Whitebeard they couldn't have anything going wrong. One wrong move, one wrong word, and they could lose the only safety they had. They had no way of leaving the boat, and even if they did they had no way of navigating back home.

Luffy seemed to pick up on how important Marcos words were, feeling Sabos growing nerves. He was beginning to experience the same thing. On one hand, he wanted out of the room, but what about Ace? And what about when they did go out there and they had to talk to whoever Oyaji was? He could smell a lot of people outside of their room and he didn't want to face any of them. He and Sabo had tried guessing how many there were, Sabo using his hearing to try and distinguish just how many voices there was and Luffy using his smell to figure out how many different scents were out there, but neither of them could pinpoint just how many there were, their guess only going into the hundreds.

"Yeah, Pops has wanted to speak to you two since you got here!" Thatch said with a smile, cleaning up the dishes from lunch and getting ready to leave. Sabo swallowed, though his throat was as dry as his mouth, and gave a weak nod and smile. They couldn't say no, it was Whitebeard, you didn't deny his request at talking, but Sabo had been hoping for a little more time. Luffy rubbing his fingers together grabbed Sabo's attention though.

'What about Ace?!' Luffy signed to him through a series of discreet taps that the other two pirates didn't notice. Sabo hesitated, trying to think fast.

'I can still hear things happening in here, I'm sure if they try something I'll hear them talking about it and we can run back.' Sabo tapped back, though even he wasn't happy with that plan. What if the nurses didn't discuss what they were going to do and instead just went right to injecting their brother, or hurting him? They wouldn't be there to stop them.

'But there's a lot of people out there!' Luffy tapped, shifting at the thought. Sabo tried to send him calm feelings, but it was hard when they were both on the edge of having panic attacks.

'I'll be with you the entire time. If we want to leave we will, no matter what.' Sabo said, trying to ease both Luffy and himself.

"Do you want to go now, yoi?" Marco suddenly spoke up, oblivious to the brothers communicating. Sabo and Luffy most certainly did not want to go right now, but they didn't want to annoy the pirates so, begrudgingly, Sabo nodded, putting up a mask of calm and indifference.

"It would be nice to get out of here for a bit," Sabo said, trying to keep the strain from his voice. Luffy was staring at Ace which Thatch noticed as he picked up the platter, ready to go.

"Don't worry Seven, your brothers gonna be here with the nurses the whole time!" Thatch said with a smile, and though Thatch had tried to comfort them the thought of Ace being left with nurses didn't help them any more than telling someone who was drowning that they were surrounded by water.

"Come on Seven, let's go get some fresh air," Sabo said gently, both of them carefully stepping out of the bed they shared. Though they would be leaving Ace the thought of fresh air did help them slightly, their legs shaky from anxiety. They were both suffering from headaches, Luffys worse than Sabos, and the smells and sounds gave the two horrible flashbacks to the labs. All the nurses surrounding them also made them uneasy and the two had a hard time sleeping, taking turns instead so one could keep guard.

Getting out of the room would help the brothers, but it could also hurt them.

"Let's get going then, yoi. We can go up to the main deck, that's where Oyaji is." Marco explained, heading towards the door, Thatch at his side and Luffy and Sabo following, sending one last glance at Aces sleeping form.

"Remember, the second you're tired come back!" Whiskey called as they left the room. The brothers' anxiety spiked as the door closed and they both had to force themselves to not run back into the room and instead follow the two pirates in front of them. Luffy was gripping Sabo's hand tightly in his, the boys' eyes shifting in every direction, taking in every speck of the hallway they were walking in, Sabo watching the pirates backs intently. The two in front of them were talking, Sabo listening to a random conversation about someone named Rakuyo getting back safely from a mission earlier that day.

Luffy was looking at their surroundings, but also keeping an eye on Aces red wave, watching for any signs that his brothers' health was being harmed. Over the few days, his wave got less and less transparent, though it was still just barely transparent enough to see through. Sabo's wave had gotten so dark it was solid, and Luffy took that as a sign that his brother was completely healed, whereas Ace was still healing.

As they got closer to the door at the end of the hall the noises Sabo heard got louder and louder, the number of people talking nearly overwhelming him as he realized what they were about to walk out to. Luffy was smelling the air, becoming overwhelmed as well with just how many people he smelled on the deck and tried to focus on the fainter smells, like the oceans salty air, or the faint smell of alcohol somewhere out on the deck.

"Everyone's been wanting to see you guys, they wanted to know if you were ok." Thatch said suddenly, shocking them out of their thoughts.

"Oh?" Sabo asked, keeping his mask up, though the words Thatch said didn't make him or Luffy any more calm. Back at the facility they had always been the center of attention for both the doctors and the children. They were the oldest, the survivors, the golden children, the successes, and because of it they never got a break from testing or training. They hated the attention, and to hear that they were the center of attention here on a pirate ship as well wasn't even mildly comforting.

Luffy grip on his hand tightened and Sabo didn't mind the pain that was beginning to take form from the death grip. It was probably the only thing keeping him grounded, sane.

There wasn't even a warning as Marco pushed the door opened, the two pirates walking out onto the deck and leaving the brothers in the hallway. It was now or never. They could walk out on that deck into a million unknowns, or they could run back to Ace and stay where they at least knew their enemy. If they did that though, it would only bring up unwanted questions, and they had made it that far already, so they might as well keep going.

"Come on Lu, let's get this over with, then we can go hang out with Ace for the rest of the day. Just stay quiet, I'll do all the talking." Sabo said quietly to his brother, squeezing his hand reassuringly. Luffy nodded, trying to wipe the frown from his face. They both took deep breaths before walking out on deck.

The first thing they noticed was the overwhelming number of pirates on the ship's deck. The second thing they noticed was how huge the deck, and ship, itself was. The third thing they noticed was that everyone's attention was on them. The last thing they noticed was how bright it was.

The two brothers momentarily forgot about the number of eyes staring at them, the hundreds of pirates surrounding them, the fact that they were on a pirate ship altogether. They were much more focused on the sun, the air, the ocean.

They hadn't been outside in seven years, except Luffy, but the boy had been much more focused on other things to even remember what the sun felt like at that moment. Now, though, they were both staring up at the sky in amazement, both basking in the warmth that the sun gave them, both enjoying the feeling of the ocean breeze brushing over their skin.

Within moments Sabo remembered where they were and snapped out of it, focusing back on the pirates and squeezing Luffys hand to refocus his attention as well. Everyone was staring at them silently, no one making a sound and Sabo and Luffy had to force themselves not to start fidgeting under their intense stares.

Noticing their unease Marco finally spoke up, snapping everyone out of their dazes.

"Alright everyone, back to work, yoi," Marco ordered, everyone quickly going back to what they were doing.

"Oh, uh, sorry, everyone here is easily amused." Thatch said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. Luffy and Sabo didn't reply, too focused on how many people were there in the first place.

"Oyaji's this way," Marco said, gesturing ahead of them, walking off with Thatch at his side again, Luffy and Sabo hesitantly following. It didn't take too long to reach the literal giant who was sitting in an equally giant chair, an also giant cup of sake in his hand, Luffy recognizing it as the alcohol smell that he had noticed in the hallway.

"Oyaji, this is Seven and Five. Seven is the one that found Thatch and I on the island, yoi." Marco announced, gesturing to the brothers who, this time, were fidgeting under the gaze of the Captain. At his side was who Sabo assumed to be all the commanders, Thatch and Marco moving to join them, making for a very intimidating scene. Sabo swallowed, taking a deep breath and squeezing Luffy's hand before bowing to the man. Luffy, not understanding much, bowed as well, mimicking his brother. He didn't have a clue what was happening, but Sabo was smart so he would follow his brothers lead.

"Its a pleasure to meet you Whitebeard, sir," Sabo said, remaining polite. The last thing he wanted was to anger the giant.

"Gurarara~! Nice to meet you to brats." Whitebeard boomed, Sabo and Luffy both straightening at this.

"I understand that you wanted to speak with us?" Sabo said, tone neutral and even. He gave himself a pat on the back at how calm his voice sounded when, on the inside, he was full of sheer terror at saying the wrong thing.

"That's correct, I only had a few questions to ask," Whitebeard said, taking a sip from his cup. Sabo nodded, glancing at Luffy who was staring at the ground in front of them, doing his best not to fall into a panic attack.

Luffy had tried reading the Captain's emotions the second they got there, finding no darkness, no bad feelings, but he was too scared to try and look at his souls color. He was too jittery and nervous right now that he was afraid that when he tried bringing down the wall to look at the Captains soul he would accidentally bring down both walls and look into the Captain's memories as well.

The youngest brother wanted to be helpful, wanted to make sure this was a good person, but he was just too scared. Sabo could see the terror flashing in his brothers' eyes and was hit with just how different Luffy was from seven years ago. Seven years ago Luffy would have been running around this ship with reckless abandon, regardless of how many people were on the ship or how dangerous it could be, but now he was practically glued to Sabo's side, afraid to even say a peep to anyone. It was a harsh contrast and Sabo hated that the facility had done this to him, them.

"I hope you understand, but there are a few things that we will not be answering until Two is awake," Sabo said, tone still even and calm as he refocused his attention to the Captain. Whitebeard nodded.

"So I've heard. I do understand, I won't force you to say anything you don't want to." He replied. Sabo nodded back, he and Luffy moving to sit on the deck.

"We'll start off easy. How old are you three?" Whitebeard asked, and Sabo knew that, even though they pretended they weren't, the entire crew was listening. He could hear them whispering to each other, talking about them.

"Seven is 14, I'm 17, and Two is also 17, he's the oldest by a few months," Sabo answered diligently, back straight and keeping his attention on the Captain, not daring to break eye contact. Whitebeard frowned and Sabo, for a split second, thought he said something wrong.

"That's quite young. You're all brothers, correct?" He asked, Sabo, nodding an affirmation.

"When were you taken?" The blonde hesitated at the question but found no reason not to answer. It wouldn't give them an advantage over the three, and they also wouldn't have an advantage in keeping the knowledge to themselves.

"Seven years ago. Seven was seven and Two and I were 10." Sabo said, voice softening and a frown forming on his face, which he quickly removed, returning neutral. Again, Whitebeard frowned, and Sabo could hear murmurs from the crew surrounding them.

"That long, huh?" Whitebeard mumbled quietly to himself and though no one else heard it Sabo did.

"Where are you three from? Surely you have a family, correct?" Whitebeard asked, and Sabo grew silent, debating answering the questions. If he did and these guys turned out to be bad then they would know their hometown, and could possibly hurt their family, so maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Luffy pulled at Sabo's hand slightly, tapping on his side a series of words that only Sabo understood.

'Makino, Dadan, Garp, Bandits, family.' Sabo tapped his own side, the equivalent of nodding, and turned to Whitebeard.

"Sorry, but those are questions that will have to wait until Two wakes up," Sabo says coolly, Whitebeard merely nodding his understanding.

"I have a feeling you won't talk about anything that happened in the facility without your brother then, hm?" Whitebeard asked, and Sabo shook his head. Luffy scooted closer to him at the mention of the facility, the brothers so close together they were practically conjoined at the hip. Sabo, even though he couldn't feel emotions like Luffy did, could practically feel the nervous energy radiating off of Luffy and tried sending him feelings of love.

"Without Two we won't be saying a word about what happened at that place," Sabo said, his voice gaining a slight edge as he too thought of the facility, his calm demeanor slipping for a mere fraction of a second. Whitebeard, Marco, and Thatch all saw the anger boiling in the teen's eyes, the slight frown he held before his mask was back up and he looked as if he was never bothered in the first place.

"Understood. Do you have any questions? I'll do my best to answer." Whitebeard said, the boys having caught his interest. He wanted to know more about them but with how tight-lipped the blonde was without his other brother he had a feeling he wouldn't be learning much of anything with where they were going. Sabo was silent a moment before he spoke up.

"Why did you help all of us?" Sabo asks, and Whitebeard smiles a bit, raising an eyebrow.

"Who wouldn't help a child asking for help?" Whitebeard asks, and Sabo smiles just the slightest bit, his nerves still all over the place.

"Well, for one, you don't know us, and not to mention you're pirates, you normally kill and pillage, not save and help children," Sabo says, Luffy snuggling closer. Whitebeard nods.

"Yes, most pirates would do that, but I think you'll find that were not exactly your average pirates," Whitebeard says with a light chuckle.

"Why do you care so much about the facility?" Sabo asks, the question having been bothering him for a while now. As he said before, they were pirates, why would they care about this unknown facility on an island that they were only supposed to be restocking at.

"When I heard from my sons that there was a building on this island that was keeping children locked up in cells I was naturally curious-" Whitebeard was suddenly cut off when Luffy sat stock straight, Sabo doing the same only seconds later. Whitebeard was about to question the sudden change in their demeanor when they both suddenly stood up, charging their way back towards the infirmary, crew members moving out of their way in shock.

"What was that about?!" Thatch asks in shock, Marco merely shrugging in answer.

"Marco, Thatch, Izo, go see what the problem is," Whitebeard says, the three commanders nodding and rushing off after the two.

Luffy had been listening to Sabo talk, listening to Whitebeard ask his questions, all the while keeping a close check on Aces wave, making sure that his brother was still ok. As he stared at the wave in front of him Whitebeard began answering Sabo's question. Luffy half listened, making sure that these people were actually good so far, whether they were lying or not when he suddenly saw the wave getting darker, as dark as Sabos yellow one.

Sabo had also been focusing on both Whitebeard and the crew, as well as the nurses in the infirmary when he heard something that made him sit up straighter than he had been before. He and Luffy both tapped the same words to each other at the same time before standing and running off to the infirmary, not even sparing a second thought to the pirates.

'Ace is awake.'

Look at that, Ace is waking up! Soon all three brothers will be up and ready for action. I know you've all been excited for this moment, along with many other moments which have yet to happen, so I hope it doesn't disappoint.

I tried showing a bit of how much the facility has changed the brothers by showing how different Luffy is now. The Luffy we know in cannon stood up to Whitebeard without a hint of hesitance or fear, but this Luffy couldn't even walk up to the giant without feeling emotions cannon Luffy has rarely, if ever, felt. Its not to say that Luffy will be this way forever, because there's still so much that could happen, but after leaving the traumatic experience that was the facility, I don't think Luffy would be able to bounce back as easily as normal, especially since he was practically raised there and a child's brain is much more impressionable than an adult brain is.

With that all said, thank you all for the views, favorites, follows, and reviews! I adore all of you guys and I hope you'll continue reading this story!