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 23: Warmth Overload
The Whitebeard pirates all watched as the three brothers rushed out of the galley, practically running back to their room. The majority shrugged it off, returning back to their food with mutters of, 'strange kids' and leaving it at that, but the commanders shared glances with each other, turning to their Captain.
"That's the second time they ran out of here the second they finished their food," Kingdew mentioned, taking a bite of his own plate. Thatch was walking back now, pouting.
"Aw, I missed them?" Thatch whined, sitting beside Izo who rolled his eyes, pulling out his fan.
"You didn't miss much Thatch, they ran away like last time, didn't even say goodbye," Izo said, though there wasn't any malice or annoyance in his tone as he spoke.
"Don't take offense children, those three brats probably aren't comfortable with eating in such a crowded space," Whitebeard said calmly, though even he was slightly disappointed that the three teens hadn't gotten used to the size of the crew yet. He knew they wouldn't be comfortable immediately but he had hoped that they would have seen by now that they weren't a threat. He supposed that they had their reasons though and would continue being patient with them.
"They don't seem to like the attention, yoi," Marco added in support of his father's words. The commanders nodded, all remembering how the brothers became uncomfortable when they were the center of attention.
"They also don't like Haruta's name either!" Vista said, nudging Haruta with his elbow. Haruta grinned, rolling his eyes.
"Its 'Ruta' now Vista!" Haruta playfully scolded, remembering the looks the brothers had when they heard Haruta's name mentioned.
"It is strange how strong of a reaction they had to your name though," Blenheim said, frowning in thought. The commanders all nodded, wondering about it as well.
"Maybe there was someone with a similar name? You know, in the facility?" Thatch questioned.
"Probably. The only thing we can do now is try and make them as comfortable as possible." Izo said sternly, not wanting anyone to make the teens upset. The commanders once again nodded, returning to their food.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"This week can't end soon enough!" Ace groaned into the pillow. It was the next day now and they had only gotten through breakfast so far today, the meal going as it normally did.
"I'm bored!" Luffy whined, sitting on the edge of the two pushed together beds, kicking his feet against the ground and frowning in boredom. Before Ace could shout at the youngest Sabo spoke up, scooting closer to Luffy and putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Maybe we'll find something we can use to draw with, yeah?" Sabo asked with a smile, sending Luffy some warm feelings that made the raven smile back, nodding.
"Mm! I'm gonna look in the desk again! Oh, and maybe theres some dust we can draw in!" Luffy said, already off the bed and digging through the very empty desk. Sabo sighed in relief that the boy was preoccupied for at least a few minutes, turning to Ace.
"I can't wait for the week to be over either Ace, but you need to calm down, Luffy can feel your emotions too, remember? If you keep up the angry attitude he'll pick up on it and I don't want to deal with two hot-headed brothers at the moment." Sabo scolded Ace quietly, noticing the freckled teens eyes widened at the mention that Luffy could still feel their emotions. They forgot about that at times, only noticing when it was too late and Luffy was acting completely out of character due to their feelings influencing his.
"Sorry," Ace mumbled, already trying to send more warm feelings to Luffy, forcing himself to bury the anger that had been there seconds before. Sabo sighed, running a hand through his hair, which definitely needed to be cut. Glancing around he noticed Ace and Luffy's hair, which was in just as desperate a need for a haircut as well, all reached a little past their shoulders. At the facility, the doctors had cut their hair from time to time when it got past their shoulders, but now they were out and didn't have any scissors to help them.
"It's not your fault, with everything that's happened all of our emotions are off." Sabo sighed out, resting his chin in his hand, elbow on his knee.
"We should set some goals for ourselves so we can keep ourselves busy." The blonde suddenly said, the thought making him brighten. Ace lifted his head to look at Sabo, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Goals? Like what?" Ace asked. Luffy was done rummaging in the empty desk, a pout on his face as he came back to the bed, sitting down and listening to Sabo as well.
"Well, small things, like... finding something to draw with! Or something to cut our hair with." Sabo suggested, Luffy brightening as well.
"Like a scavenger hunt!" Luffy said happily. Sabo smiled, nodding.
"Exactly. Whenever we go out for meals or the bathroom we should keep a lookout for things to keep us entertained. It'll give us something to do and keep us busy." Sabo said, Ace nodding as well, liking the idea.
"Alright. Hey Luffy, I bet I can find something to draw with faster than you can!" Ace challenged with a wide grin, Luffy taking the bait immediately and arguing that he would. Sabo laughed quietly, happy that they were able to fall into this small bit of normalcy after everything that had happened in the facility. They were far from healed when it came to all the emotional scarring that the facility had inflicted on them, but when the three were together, and for the moment, safe, it made things bearable. They were able to forget that seven years of their lives were spent in hell.
After Ace and Luffy argued for a little bit the brothers decided to head to the bathroom, none of them wanting to let the other go alone, so they went together. When they were in their cell there had been no privacy when it came to using the bathroom, so the three weren't uncomfortable standing in the same room. They filed into the bathroom, shutting the door before anyone could turn into the hallway and see them.
While waiting they rummaged around the bathroom, looking for their first few items. Something to draw with and something to cut their hair with. Seeing as they were in a bathroom they concluded they were most likely to find something to cut their hair with, and they were right, Luffy presenting a sharp pair of scissors out of a drawer, holding them proudly in the air.
"I win!" Luffy called out happily, Sabo quickly grabbing the scissors from the boy's hand before he could somehow manage to cause accidental harm with them.
"Good job Lu, now let's head back," Sabo said with a smile, the three standing in silence as Sabo listened to make sure no one was in the hallway or heading their way. When he gave the all clear they quickly left the bathroom, speed walking back to their own room and filing in quickly, closing the door quietly.
"So, who wants to go first?" Sabo asked, holding the scissors up and snipping them a few times, smiling. Ace volunteered, going to sit in the desk chair. They didn't have a brush so Sabo opted to use his fingers, pulling apart the tangles and knots slowly as to not hurt the oldest, though even if he didn't he was sure it wouldn't bother Ace.
Luffy was hopping around them excitedly, ready to watch Sabo cut Aces hair. The older two were pretty sure that if they had more activities for Luffy he wouldn't have wanted to watch, but with how bored the youngest was watching Sabo do Aces hair was more than entertaining.
"How short do you want it?" Sabo asked after he finished pulling out the tangles. Ace shrugged, not having thought about it.
"About this much." Ace said, putting his hand about midway between his head and shoulder. Sabo nodded and started concentrating, tongue sticking out as he began cutting away the raven hair.
"Don't forget there, and there, oh, and there!" Luffy added, trying to be helpful as he pointed out every spot he felt Sabo needed to cut at. Ace sat patiently, the minutes ticking by quickly, and before he knew it Sabo was finished, his head already feeling lighter.
"Good thing we've done this before." Ace said, running his fingers through his hair a few times to get rid of any extra pieces that hadn't fallen. Sabo grinned, nodding, remembering the times they had cut each others hair back in the forest, before the facility.
"Alright Luffy, your turn," Sabo said, the boy falling happily into the seat, his smile never leaving as he kicked his feet. Sabo began the process of untangling the hair as much as he could, scolding Luffy for moving too much already while Ace began telling Luffy stories in an attempt to settle the boy down. When Sabo began cutting the hair away, Luffy informing him how short he wanted it, he was relieved that the teen seemed to understand that he needed to sit still now if he wanted his hair to turn out alright.
With Ace and Luffy's hair now cut it was Sabo's turn, the blonde handing the scissors over to Ace, none of them trusting Luffy to be able to do it. His brother was meticulous when it came to cutting hair, making sure every strand was untangled and smooth before cutting away what was necessary. When finished Sabo did the same thing Ace and Luffy had done, running his fingers through his hair, trying to get used to the feeling of his hair ending sooner than expected.
"Now we gotta clean this mess up and get these scissors back before anyone notices they're gone." Ace said, using said scissors to point at the clumps of hair on the ground. Sabo nodded his agreement, the two eldest sweeping the hair into their hands and putting it in the trash in the corner of their room, Sabo taking the scissors back to the bathroom quickly, using his hearing to get there and back unnoticed.
When Sabo returned he could already hear footsteps turning down the hallway they were in.
"Marcos coming. It's probably lunch time." Sabo said to Ace and Luffy, the two sitting on the bed. Sabo stayed at the door, ready to open it when Marco knocked while Ace and Luffy got up as well, ready to get the meal over with. It was getting a little easier to go to the galley, though they still didn't like it at all.
When the knock sounded Sabo greeted the commander who merely raised an eyebrow at the brothers' now shorter hair, and then they were on their way to the galley, Luffy in between his brothers per usual while they all stayed on guard, ready for anything as they made the short trip through the halls.
Luffy had been spending most of their time in the galley taking in as many feelings as he could, searching for even one person with the darkness in them, but he had yet to find anyone with it. The crew was huge and Luffy knew that there had to be at least one person with the darkness in them. He stayed close to his brothers and when they reached the galley he let the emotions pour into him.
He was filled with multiple emotions at once, from joy and happiness to exhaustion and annoyance. He sifted through the many emotions, looking for any malice or darkness as he made his way to the table with his brothers, Thatch placing plates in front of them. He ate almost on autopilot, letting his brothers do any talking that was needed as he kept his eyes glued to the food in front of him.
Joy, happy, satisfied, hungry, tired, bored, annoyed, irritated.
The list went on and Luffy blocked the many emotions from entering him, not wanting to tip the pirates off to anything weird if he started laughing from letting too much happiness influence him, or screaming because he let too much annoyance get to him. His brothers kept a close eye on him, sending warm feelings his way in an attempt to balance out the many different emotions they knew Luffy was experiencing, trying to keep him grounded.
That was when Luffy realized he was feeling the warm feeling from others around them who weren't Ace and Sabo.
He hadn't expected to feel the feeling from anyone else besides his brothers, after all, the doctors had never experienced that emotion. He didn't know others could feel it. He still didn't quite know the name of it, but the closest he had gotten to describing it had been love or home. Both seemed to fit, but they didn't fully explain the feeling so Luffy never thought a better name other than warm.
Almost every pirate in the room was emitting this warm feeling, even if it was only a little bit, but there was someone emitting a high amount of it, more then Luffy had ever felt coming from one person before.
He tried pinpointing where the person emitting the feeling was, trying to filter out all the other emotions in the room in search of the person. He had paused in his eating, his brothers noticing immediately and focusing their attention more on him, but not making it obvious to the talkative commanders sitting with them.
'Darkness?' Ace tapped out on Luffy's leg, ready to bolt if Luffy answered affirmatively. Luffy shook his head minutely, still focusing on dimming the feelings of everyone else. The commanders seemed to take notice of Luffys pause as well, turning their attention on the boy who was staring mutely at his food, fork raised halfway from his plate to his mouth.
"You ok Luffy?" Thatch asked gently, concerned. Luffy suppressed the feeling he could feel coming from the chef, no matter how strong it was. He was close to figuring out where the warm feeling was. Ace and Sabo were now openly looking at their brother as well, wondering what was happening.
Luffy raised his head from his plate, glancing around the galley as he got closer to figuring it out. It wasn't coming from the right, or from behind him. Not in front of him, so that leaves the left.
"What's the matter?" Namur asked, all commanders now all having stopped eating in favor of focusing on Luffy. Whitebeard was watching with interest as well.
The warm feeling was being paired with a feeling of concern but Luffy ignored that as well, noticing that whoever this was coming from was close to him and his brothers. Luffys eyes scanned the area again, his brothers doing the same in hopes of seeing whatever Luffy was searching for. The commanders instinctively did the same, thinking there might be a threat or at least something that was unsettling the youngest of the trio.
There it was.
Luffys eyes snapped to the Captain, Whitebeard, and his mouth opened slightly in almost awe. Everyone at the table was looking at him again, the rest of the pirates in the galley oblivious to what was happening. Ace and Sabo, now noticing their brothers target, stiffened slightly, not sure what Luffy was detecting from the giant. No one knew why the boy was staring so wide-eyed at the Captain, not even Whitebeard himself.
Luffy couldn't bring himself to look away from Whitebeard, relishing in just how much warmth was coming from the man, the feeling filling Luffy quickly, pushing away any other feelings he might have been feeling at that moment. The warmth made the youngest feel at peace, like nothing bad could happen as long as this warmth never went away.
Any tenseness in Luffy faded away, the boy practically slumping to the floor if not for Ace catching him from falling backward off the bench. Everyone was concerned for him, and Rakuyo was about ready to call for a nurse while Ace and Sabo tried grabbing Luffy's attention, not knowing what was happening.
Luffy suddenly felt sleepy, at complete peace. Nothing bad could happen. Not when there was a warmth blanketing him, lulling him to relax. His eyelids drooped closed slowly, but he forced them to reopen. He could hear mumbles around him but they were fuzzy, like when he was underwater. He tried listening to what they were saying, but that warm feeling was so nice, he didn't want to let it go. He could feel himself slipping into darkness, and he let it happen, embracing it.
A part of him was objecting to doing this though, telling him that he was worrying his brothers, and it was enough to stop him from slipping completely. He opened his eyes again, trying his best to focus on his surroundings no matter how tired and relaxed he felt. He tried sitting up, noticing he was leaning into something. His senses were slowly coming back to him as he resisted the warmth, allowing him to become more aware.
"-nurse."
"He's fine... -no nurse." Luffy knew that voice, it was his brother, Ace, and Luffy could hear the tiny amount of fear hidden in his voice. Why was Ace scared? Was it because of him? Things began getting clearer, his vision sharpening, his ears picking up on noises again, his sense of smell returning.
"Luffy?" Sabo's voice was soft in his ear. He turned to look at his brother, letting the warm feeling leave him slowly, though a part of him still wanted to pull it back in, to let it envelop him again.
"Are you ok?" Luffy noticed that the galley had fallen silent and now everyone was watching him, concern floating like a cloud in the air. Luffy closed his mouth, which had been open the entire time, and nodded, the feeling of exhaustion not having left him.
"Mm..." Luffy hummed out quietly, sitting up on his own, realizing Ace had been supporting him.
"M'fine..." Luffy mumbled out, rubbing his eyes.
"What happened? You gave us all a scare there!" Luffy looked up at the voice, recognizing the man as Fossa. The boy shrunk in on himself, all the attention suddenly catching up to him as he realizes how many people were looking at him.
"I dunno... tired," Luffy mumbled softly, the commanders and Captain just barely picking up on it. Before anyone else could say anything Sabo and Ace stood, Luffy realizing he had missed whatever they had tapped to each other.
"We're gonna take him back to our room. Sorry for the scare." Sabo said politely, bowing slightly with a strained smile on his lips as Ace pulled him off the bench. It was then that they both realized Luffy couldn't stand on his own, his legs feeling like jelly. Ace wrapped an arm around Luffys middle, Sabo doing the same on Luffys other side, and the two supported the boy as they made their way back to the room as quick as they could, the attention making their skin crawl and motivate them to move faster.
If those stupid nurses hadn't ordered them to not do anything strenuous Ace would have lifted his brother onto his back and ran to the room, but they just barely got away with getting the commanders to hold out on calling a nurse for Luffy, he wasn't going to push it. He also had to play the hurt kid as well, so the pirates didn't know that he was fully healed, wanting to keep that little-known fact to himself.
Sabo had the same thoughts as they raced back to the room, practically dragging Luffy along in between them. He was worried that the pirates would be upset with their sudden departure as well as their refusal for a nurse. They didn't need the pirates turning on them after whatever had just happened to Luffy.
When they were in the relative safety of their room Ace and Sabo guided Luffy to the bed, laying him down gently.
"What happened back there Lu?" Sabo asked gently, still worried about his baby brother. Luffys eyebrows knitted together as he thought about it.
"I... don't know... I was looking for the darkness," Luffy shuttered at the mention of the bad feeling.
"And then I felt a lot of the warmth coming from someone." Luffy continued, still a little disoriented.
"It was a lot of warmth, more then Ace or Sabo have ever made, and I tried figuring out where the mystery person was," Luffy said, trying to remember exactly what happened, the memories a bit fuzzy after the emotional overload.
"The Captain?" Sabo questioned, remembering how Luffy had seemed to focus on the man. He and Ace were listening intently, knowing Luffy hadn't felt the warm feeling from anyone but his brothers before.
"Yeah! It was big mustache man! And then the warmth just kept coming and coming and it felt really nice, so I let it, but then I felt sleepy and relaxed, and safe, and I wanted to sleep." Luffy said, nodding rapidly. Ace and Sabo frowned, glancing at each other. They knew that emotions from others could influence Luffy, but they never affected his functioning before. Normally they just influenced what he felt at that moment, but if this warm feeling could incapacitate their brother they had to be careful with just how much they sent him.
"Luffy, you have to be careful next time. If the warm feeling can make you do that it wouldn't be good, especially not now when we're on this ship." Ace said sternly, worried for his brothers' safety. Luffy nodded in understanding.
"Mm! I won't let it happen next time, even if it is a nice feeling!" Luffy said in determination, making Ace and Sabo smile, Ace moving to ruffle his brother's hair.
"Why don't you take a nap Luffy, you still look exhausted," Sabo said, moving the blankets from underneath Luffy and tucking him in. The youngest nodded and curled into the blankets, eyes closing as he smiled.
"Wake me up for dinner!" Luffy said cheerily as if everything that happened in the galley hadn't really happened. Ace and Sabo sat in silence for a few minutes until Luffys breathing evened out, signaling he was asleep.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
"That was... odd," Jozu muttered, watching the retreating brothers' backs as they stumbled off. The commanders nodded in agreement.
"What the heck was that?" Thatch asked, concerned for the youngest.
"We should tell Whiskey about this, maybe somethings wrong. Didn't she say that there could be something bad in Luffy's blood?" Haruta asked, worry on his face.
"Yeah, but Ace and Sabo seemed pretty adamant about no nurses," Namur added, some nodding their agreement, remembering the vehement rejections the older two gave when they mentioned getting Whiskey.
"They're terrified of nurses though, even if one of them was terminally ill I don't think they would want a nurse checking up on them," Izo said, moving a loose strand of hair from his face.
"Either way, I'll tell Whiskey after lunch, yoi. Even if it was nothing serious were better safe than sorry." Marco said stoically.
"And what was with the look he gave Pops?" Atmos asked, everyone, remembering the look on Luffys face as he had gazed over at Whitebeard, mouth falling open and eyes widening slightly before they had glazed over.
"He looked like he was looking for something before focusing on Oyaji," Blenheim said, remembering the way the kid had glanced around before focusing on the giant.
"Whatever it was, it was interesting." Whitebeard rumbled, hand on his chin in thought. When the boy had looked at him it didn't feel like he had been looking at him, rather he had been looking at something deeper.
Whitebeard could feel his interest in the boys piquing, his curiosity growing. These boys were a puzzle, one that he was interested in solving.
Here's the early chapter I promised! As I said before, I'm not going to be available to update on Friday like normal, so I'm doing it now instead.
So, we saw a little more about how Luffy experiences others emotions! Its a bit hard to explain, but I imagine it as if Luffy is feeling another person's emotions as if they're his own. It's like a cloud around him of other peoples emotions, and if those are strong emotions, then it begins to crowd around Luffy more and more until he himself feels that emotion like it was his own.
It's confusing, I know, but Luffys a confusing person.
Anyways, this warmth is the complete opposite of the darkness so instead of making Luffy feel scared, or like he's suffocating, it makes him feel safe and warm, hence calling it warmth. As you saw, too much of it puts Luffy at so much ease that he'll just pass out. Like any other emotion, it influenced him and he experienced the raw feeling of warmth which relaxed him so much he nearly passed out but resisted it.
I just wanted to share that with you guys in case you were curious about how Luffy experiences things involving others' emotions.
So, with all that out of the way, I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! Oh, and thank you for all the favorites, reviews, and follows! That's definitely one of the things I'm most grateful for!