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 22: Three Meals A Day Keeps The Nurses Away

"How far do you think a rubber body can stretch?"

"Do you think everything is rubber? Even the organs?"

"Begin the next test."

"How long do you think he can stay awake while we do this?"

The words were ringing inside Luffy's head as he spun around in confusion, but saw nothing but darkness. He had to get out, he had to find Ace and Sabo, they had to get out together.

"Haru, the test isn't taking effect."

"Up the dosage."

The sound of the man's voice sent violent shivers down Luffys spine, the words echoing loudly in his ears. Out of the darkness a familiar man walked out with a malicious grin, clipboard in hand.

"Ah, number 11097, thought you could try escaping, hm? Well, it seems your brothers are going to be paying for that one." Haru practically cooed out, spinning on his heels and walking back into the darkness, laughing maliciously in the silence.

His brothers? They were here too? What did Haru mean by paying? They didn't have money! Luffy moved to run after the doctor, but no matter how fast he ran the man continued moving further away from him. Luffy was near tears now, confused, scared, and alone.

"Ace?! Sabo?!" Luffy cried the words out loudly, hoping that one of his brothers would hear him. If anyone would hear him it would be Sabo! Instead of getting an answer, or any noise at all, Luffy's cries were met with silence.

"ACE! SABO!" Luffy screamed, spinning around as he looked at the blackness around him like it was trying to swallow him whole. Again, there was nothing but a faint echo of his own words fading away.

Luffy sank to his knees.

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

"Luffy, get up!" Ace muttered almost harshly to the youngest, shaking his shoulder in an attempt to jostle the teen awake. Sabo was sitting on the bed with him, looking as concerned as Ace felt. Luffy was curled up in a ball beside them, a distressed look on his face as he made small whimpering noises, tears falling fast down his sleeping face.

"Come on Luffy, your just dreaming." Sabo tried, rubbing his brother's arm in an attempt to soothe the boy. There was still no response from the sleeping boy and it was worrying Ace and Sabo. Right as Sabo was going to try again he heard footsteps heading their way, recognizing them as Marco's light yet determined steps.

"The first commanders coming!" Sabo hissed quietly to Ace, spinning to look at the door. Ace growled lowly, shielding Luffy as much as he could so that anyone at the door wouldn't be able to see him.

"Of course he is!" Ace spat out, glaring at the door as if it were Marco himself. Sabo listened, hoping the man wasn't coming to their room, but when he heard the footsteps get closer they also got slower, something people did when they were getting ready to stop moving. Sabo cursed under his breath and stood up, making his way to the door as he heard the man knock. Ace was still glaring and shielding Luffy, but he was also shaking him more, trying to get him to wake up before the commander noticed the boy and started asking questions.

"How can I help you, commander?" Sabo asked, a tense smile on his face as he opened the door for the man. Marco seemed to take notice of the tension that was in the room and frowned a little but shrugged it off.

"I came by to tell you that lunch is ready, yoi," Marco informed. Sabo nodded, becoming even tenser if possible.

"Thank you, we'll be by shortly," Sabo said, closing the door without anything further. He was going to worry about how the pirate took the interaction later, right now his priority was on Luffy, his brother who was stuck in a nightmare. He crossed the room and was back at Luffy's side within seconds, doing his best to help Ace wake him up.

All three of them had experienced nightmares on a regular basis, but sometimes they could get stuck in them and couldn't get up. They didn't understand why it happened, because shouldn't you wake up when two people are shaking you and yelling at you to wake up? They chalked it up to the doctors injecting them with something that caused it. Either way, whenever one of them got stuck in their nightmares the other two would try their hardest to wake them up, doing anything they could think of. Sabo always wondered that, if no one was there to wake them up, would they be stuck in their nightmares forever? He really hoped not, praying that the three of them all didn't get stuck in one of these nightmares at the same time.

"Wake up Luffy!" Ace hissed out, trying not to be too loud to alert anyone passing by their room, but loud enough for Luffy to hear. Sabo frowned at the lack of response and sighed, imbuing haki into his fingers and pinching Luffy, hoping it would help him wake up. Sometimes using pain as a way to wake them up worked, but not every time. The pinch seemed to work a little, relieving the two.

"Good job Lu, your dreaming, ok? All you gotta do is open your eyes." Sabo encouraged in a gentle tone.

"Yeah, that chef made lunch, I bet there's gonna be a lot of food!" Ace added, and although the three were worried about eating in the galley with others the two oldest were more focused on waking Luffy. The youngest started to shift, the tears gradually stopping and his expression evening out, only to furrow in pain and sadness again as he bolted upright, breathing heavy and looking around quickly, eyes darting across everything in the room.

"Finally!" Ace sighed out, assessing Luffys emotional state. He was very clearly panicked and distressed, and though they wanted to hug him they knew that might not do any good. Whenever they woke up from one of these nightmares they didn't always know what was happening.

"Luffy, your ok, we're all safe and together," Sabo said, continuing to use his gentle tone. Luffy glanced at Sabo, fear, and confusion in his eyes, but his breathing started slowing, returning back to normal.

"Yeah, don't worry, we're free." Ace said with such conviction that it seemed to snap Luffy out of his stupor, the boy blinking a few times, eyes finally focusing on Ace and Sabo.

"Free?" Luffy asked in a small, timid voice. The two nodded, Sabo, taking the chance to rub Luffys back now that he seemed more focused and awake.

"That's right Luffy, we're free and safe and we've got lunch waiting for us," Sabo said soothingly, further calming Luffy down, allowing him to take a few recovering breaths before the blonde stood.

"And speaking of, we should go. We don't want them coming here and if we don't go they might send us back to the infirmary." Sabo said with a frown. Even as he tried to convince Ace and Luffy that they had to go, he himself didn't want to. Ace frowned.

"But Sabo, there's gonna be a whole lot of pirates in there." Ace growled out, trying to stay calm and quiet, but just the thought of the number of people in there set him on edge. Luffy hugged his knees to his chest, not voicing his thoughts but showing them as clearly as if he had spoken.

"I know that, it's not like I want to do it either! But I'd much rather sit through a few minutes of that then a few hours, or even seconds, in the infirmary. Its the lesser of two evils." Sabo tried reasoning, both with his brothers and himself.

"Or, option three, stay in here and ignore everyone who tries talking to us." Ace muttered. Sabo glared at him.

"And starve? Ace, we've gotta last until Shanks gets here at least. You wouldn't be able to survive even a few days without food before I would force you to go to the infirmary." Sabo said, knowing just how fast Ace and Luffy's bodies burned calories. Ace glared back at Sabo but before he could say anything Sabo interrupted him.

"Look, I don't like it, you don't like it, and Luffy doesn't like it, but we have to. We can't just not eat, and we have to stay on their good sides. This is how we do that, its the safest option." Sabo reasoned. Ace still looked like he wanted to argue, and Sabo was sure he would, so he said the first thing that came to mind to get his stubborn brother to listen.

"If you don't I'll go by myself!" Sabo said in a rush, not really thinking over his words but trying to look calm. He was freaking out just by the idea, and Ace and Luffy's widening eyes showed their own shock at the thought, but Sabo tried steeling himself, crossing his arms and trying to put on an air of confidence.

"W-What?! You wouldn't! You're bluffing!" Ace stuttered out, standing from the bed to examine Sabo closer for any signs of cracking. The blonde was sure Luffy could feel his fear and hoped the boy wouldn't comment on it as he looked at Ace directly in the eyes.

"Oh am I?" He asked simply, uncrossing his arms and making his way to the door. He tried to keep his hands from shaking as he felt Ace and Luffy's eyes glued to his back, watching his every move as he lifted his hand to the doorknob, grabbing it and taking a deep breath before pulling it open.

"Sabo, don't be an idiot!" Ace hissed quietly at the blonde now that the door was open. Sabo tried to ignore Ace and his own thoughts as he stepped out. He could hear a quick shuffle of movement from the room as he walked out and heard Ace curse before Luffy was running up to his side and grabbing his hand. The boy looked petrified and was holding onto Sabo's hand almost too tightly, but Sabo allowed the pain, letting it ground him as he looked at the straw-hatted boy staring up at him.

"I-I don't want Sabo to go alone..." Luffy said in the same quiet, timid voice as before, shifting nervously from foot to foot, very obviously terrified.

"Fucking hell." He heard Ace mutter behind him as he left the room as well, closing the door behind him as he begrudgingly walked up beside him too, shuffling his feet. Sabo looked at him for a moment but didn't say anything, internally relieved that he wouldn't have to go alone, sending Luffy warm, comforting feelings in thanks. He knew that it must have been hard for Luffy to follow him, especially right after being stuck in a nightmare, but he had come anyway, and Sabo was proud of him. The three made the trek to the galley in silence, Aces hands in his pockets as he kept an eye out on their surroundings. No one was in the hallway, and even as they got closer to the galley they didn't see that many people, most probably already in the galley or elsewhere on the ship.

"Alright, this'll be easy, we can eat quickly and then get out," Sabo said, taking some deep breaths. All of them were fidgeting now, and they looked on the verge of panic attacks, but they did their best to calm down.

"Don't even bother with manners either, there's no use," Sabo said as an afterthought, knowing it was true. Manners were ingrained in his brain and he couldn't not use them, but Ace and Luffy had to force themselves to, and if they tried that now, they wouldn't be able to. Ace and Luffy nodded, Luffy trying to soak in all the warm happy feelings he could as his stomach turned and twisted, making him nauseous. He was hungry, but he was worried too, and he didn't know if he could do this.

"Let's go," Sabo said softly, placing a hand on the door and pausing for a second to gather himself before pushing it open. Even outside the three could hear the loud chatter from the pirates, but as they walked in timidly it seemed to get even louder. No one noticed their entrance, everyone focused on their own conversations or food, which made the brothers feel a little better as they stood in the doorway, not quite sure what to do now. Sabo hadn't thought that much ahead.

He could see Whitebeard and the other Commanders sitting at their own table, Whitebeard noticing them first and then the rest of the Commanders as well. This put them on edge as Marco stood and made his way over to them, gaining more and more of the pirates' attention as conversations slowly stopped and heads turned their way in curiosity. The three tensed at the attention and Sabo was beginning to regret coming here, deciding that Aces plan seemed much better than this, but couldn't dwell on that as Marco reached them. Sabo could see Aces anger rising, not because he was really angry with anything, but because he didn't like the attention and didn't know how to deal with the uneasy feelings, channeling them to anger instead.

"Everybody get back to eating, yoi," Marco called out, grabbing the brothers' attention. Luffy shifted, staring at Marco with a look that even Sabo didn't understand, deciding to ask him about it later.

"Sorry about them, yoi. Thatch made you three some food, you can come sit with us if you want." Marco said with an air of indifference to the situation which helped the three be put at ease, though still very obviously tense.

"Thank you, Commander." Sabo managed to say, albeit weakly, hoping the man wouldn't comment on it. The commander didn't, though he did look at Sabo for an extra second longer, glancing over the other two as well before nodding and turning, the brothers following close behind, not wanting to get left behind when there was still plenty of eyes on them. The group walked in silence until they reached the table where the Commanders and Whitebeard were sitting, Marco gesturing to the empty seats as he sat down in his spot.

The brothers hesitated a moment before sitting, nearly jumping in shock when Thatch came out of nowhere, placing dishes in front of them piled high with food that smelled just as good as always. Sabo forced himself to start eating, going at a normal pace, while Ace and Luffy sat looking around apprehensively. Sabo knew they were wondering how the crew would react to their eating habits, and Sabo wondered when they had started to care about what others thought. Eventually, the two started eating as well and while it wasn't as mannerly and neat as Sabo it wasn't as messy and fast as they normally ate either.

"You know," The three immediately tensed at the sound of someone speaking, scared of what they were going to say. They hadn't really planned on talking to anyone and were hoping no one would talk to them in response, but that obviously wasn't going to be the case.

"I didn't believe Thatch when he said you three ate a lot, but I guess its true!" A man they hadn't talked to before said, a cigar in his mouth. The brothers didn't know how to respond as they slowed in their eating, glancing at each other.

"Why wouldn't you believe me? Have I ever steered you wrong?" Thatch asked in mock hurt, holding his heart dramatically. The man rolled his eyes and huffed out a laugh.

"Is that even a question I need to answer?" He asked, Thatch dramatically falling to his knees where he stood behind the brothers.

"Your words wound me Fossa!" Thatch cried, crocodile tears filling his eyes. The brothers started eating at their normal pace again, seeing as the attention wasn't directed on them anymore. They just wanted to finish quickly so they could leave.

"Ah Thatch, your such a drama queen!" Another person laughed.

"Are not! I'll have you know, Haruta, that I'm the drama king thank you!" Thatch said, getting over his mock sadness as he sprung to his feet, placing his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest. All the commanders collectively rolled their eyes at the chef, Haruta laughing loudly. The brothers all stopped eating at the name Thatch had said, freezing mid bites and staring at Haruta with wide eyes. One of the commanders noticed first, raising an eyebrow at them.

"You guys ok?" They asked, but the brothers weren't really listening.

"Haru... ta..." Luffy mumbled out softly, everyone's attention on them now. Haruta was especially confused, tilting his head slightly.

"Yeah, that's my name, why?" Haruta asked, the brothers collectively shivering as memories of a certain doctor filled their minds.

"Ruta..." Luffy mumbled again, a little louder than last time.

"What?" Fossa asked, everyone still very confused, even Whitebeard who was watching the interaction closely. Luffy turned to look back at his food, picking at it with his fork and moving it around.

"Your names Ruta now," Luffy said, his brothers seeming to snap out of their trances as well as they turned their attention back to their food as well, though none of them were interested in eating anymore as they picked at it, taking bites out of habit rather than hunger.

"My names... Ruta?" Haruta questioned in pure confusion, the commanders giving each other equal looks of uncertainty. They didn't get any more responses from any of the brothers so they all shrugged.

"Well, nice to meet you, Ruta!" Thatch said, smiling widely and placing his hand out as if meeting Haruta for the first time. Haruta rolled his eyes but gripped Thatch's hand in his.

"Nice to meet you too, though you never gave me your name poofy hair," Haruta said with a grin, the commanders' confusion turning into joy as they all laughed once more. Marco shared a glance with Whitebeard, both wondering just what exactly happened a moment ago but decided now wasn't the time to ask the brothers, instead deciding to watch them once more as they ate.

Lunch continued on this way, the brothers eating quickly while the commanders joked with each other, ignoring the brothers for the most part. When the brothers finished lunch they quickly got up from their seats and practically ran back to their room, Ace nearly slamming the door shut as they all piled into their room, leaning against the door and breathing heavily. Luffy and Sabo sat on the floor in front of him, doing the same.

"That was torture." Ace groaned out, sliding to the ground, back still against the door. Luffy and Sabo nodded in agreement, falling back, laying down on the ground and staring at the ceiling.

"Only have to do that three times a day for the rest of the week." Sabo huffed out. Ace groaned again, his head falling against the door.

"Do we have to? Maybe we can skip breakfast." Ace tried, wanting to do that as little as possible. Sabo frowned, raising his head to glare at the oldest.

"Not when you two barely make it to lunch even with breakfast! You need the nutrients." Sabo said, letting his head fall again.

"Screw nutrients, I was just fine in the facility." Ace mumbled out, immediately regretting the words as they came out of his mouth. Luffy looked at him in silent shock, feeling Sabo's anger rising as the blonde practically jumped up off the floor.

"Are you kidding me Ace?! You were not 'just fine' in the facility! If anything you were just one step from death!" Sabo shouted, angrier then Luffy had ever felt the normally cool-headed brother to be. The youngest was watching the two with wide eyes, not quite sure what to do. Sometimes it was better to just let the two yell at each other. The warm feelings usually came back after they did so Luffy decided to sit silently and not get in the way of his arguing brothers, quietly standing and moving to sit on the bed.

"Well... isn't going to eat with the pirates the same thing? Except were willingly going one step closer to our death?" Ace asked, ready to say anything to keep them from going to any more meals with the people who could easily kill them in seconds without warning. Sabo's glare never left his face and if anything it only intensified.

"No, it's not the same thing, not at all! Were actually being helped here, getting fed, getting proper medical treatment, and all we have to do is smile and nod and bear with it for a week! I know you hate it but it'll be over soon and we can go home." Sabo said, his voice slowly getting quieter at the end, glare softening slowly until it fell completely and he was frowning. All three of them went silent as they remembered their home, the forest, the tree house, Dadan, even the trash heap known as the Grey Terminal.

"Look," Sabo eventually said, breathing out heavily, as if exhausted.

"We only need to eat three times a day. Other than that, we can stay here, only leave when we absolutely have to." Sabo said softly, looking at Ace with almost pleading eyes, not wanting to continue fighting with him on the matter. Ace was silent another moment before he nodded his agreement, crossing his arms and pouting slightly.

"Yeah, fine. I can't wait for this week to be over." Ace grumbled angrily, standing and joining Luffy on the bed. Sabo smiled slightly, standing as well and shaking his head.

"In the meantime, why don't we work on moving this bed?" Sabo asked, gesturing to the second bed a few feet away from the one in the corner that Ace and Luffy were on.

That became the mission for the three brothers for the next few hours while waiting for dinner. Everything in their room was bolted to the ground so it didn't move around during storms or rough waters so it was hard for the brothers to figure out how to pry the bolts out of the ground. After rummaging around and finding nothing that could help them the three sat on the ground, staring at the bolts in question.

"I could melt them," Ace muttered, glaring at the bolts. Sabo shook his head.

"If you melt them then the pirates will get suspicious." The blonde said thoughtfully, finger on his chin as he thought about their predicament.

"Oh! What if we pull reeally~ hard?!" Luffy asked, raising his hand and smiling brightly at the idea. Ace turned to glare at Luffy, Sabo holding back a laugh.

"We can't pull them out idiot, we wouldn't be able to grip them!" Ace said, gesturing to the bolts that were rounded at the top, giving them no way to grip and even attempt to pull them out.

"You could reshape the tops," Sabo said, wondering if this plan of his would work.

"What?" Ace asked confusion showing on his face. Sabo shrugged, gesturing to the bolts again.

"The tops. You could reshape them, heat them up enough to mold them into a grippable shape, and then if we can pull them out and move the bed we can put them back and you can mold them back to their original shape." Sabo explained, Luffy nodding the entire time as if he understood the plan perfectly while Ace frowned.

"Alright." Ace mumbled, moving closer to the bed and heating his fingers up as hot as possible, gripping the bolt tightly. It took a few minutes but eventually, it got pliable enough that Ace was able to mold a shape out of the top, letting go and moving onto the next one, letting the previous one cool. He continued doing this while Luffy and Sabo talked about what they could do after, Luffy wishing they had chalk or something to draw with.

Eventually, Sabo's plan had worked, though he was even surprised when they were able to pry the bolts out of the ground with their bare hands. He knew they were strong, but he didn't think they would have been able to do it so easily. They didn't think too long on it though as they moved the bed closer to the other, replacing the bolts in the legs and having Ace remold them.

By then it was dinner, and Marco came once again to tell them, this time the brothers leaving with the first commander and following him to the galley, wanting to finish dinner as quickly as possible. Like last time all attention was on them as they walked in, but Marco once again shooed them away, guiding them to the table where the Commanders and Captain sat, all of them greeting the brothers with smiles and waves.

Someone had mentioned that the brothers hadn't been properly introduced to the Commanders so one by one the brothers learned their names.

Marco, Thatch, Izo, Jozu, Fossa, Haruta, or as the brothers adamantly stuck to, Ruta, Vista, Blamenco, Rakuyo, Namur, Blenheim, Curiel, Kingdew, Atmos, and finally Jiru. It was a lot of names and faces and Sabo was sure that Ace and Luffy had already forgotten most of them in the few seconds after the introductions had been made. Sabo did his best to remember them though, not wanting it to be an issue during their time on the ship.

"I didn't see you out at all after lunch, did you guys stay in your room?" Thatch had questioned at one point, making the brothers pause in their eating like they normally did whenever they were spoken to.

"Yes, we were tired so we stayed in there all day," Sabo said carefully, hoping the chef wouldn't have an issue with it. Thatch smiled brightly though, nodding.

"Makes sense, you've only been out of the infirmary a day after all! You should try and come out tomorrow though, I'm sure its no fun to stay cooped up in there all day!" Thatch encouraged, Sabo, giving him a small smile and nod.

"Yeah, maybe." The blonde said softly, not having any intention of leaving the room tomorrow, or at all. Pleased with the response Thatch returned to eating before someone in the kitchen called him away. Dinner hadn't been much more eventful, but the commanders did keep glancing at the brothers like they wanted to ask them something but would stop themselves. It unsettled the three and when they finished their food they left just as quickly as they had left lunch, not looking back once.

"This is gonna be a long week!"

The brothers are now eating in the galley, which in turn forces them to be around large groups of people at once. Obviously, this is a big issue for them, especially seeing as they believe all of the Whitebeards are bloodthirsty pirates just waiting to attack them.

I feel like Sabo would have to be the one to force them to go eat in the galley, mostly because Ace would be too stubborn and wouldn't go without prompting and Luffy would be too nervous, so that would leave Sabo to force them all to go. Even though his actions were a bit rash, I imagine that Sabo would have left like he did because anything was better than having to see nurses, hence the title of this chapter.

If it means avoiding nurses, the brothers would do almost anything.

Anyways, seeing as Thanksgiving is next week, I'm going to be out of town by the time the next chapter is due to be uploaded. With that said, there will still be a chapter next week, but it'll probably be up on Monday or Tuesday instead, so look out for that.

Thanks for reading!