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 25: Thoughts of Venturing Beyond

"Luffy we're so sorry, we didn't mean for any of that to happen. It got out of hand and we didn't mean for it to." Sabo apologized, the three of them sitting on their bed, talking about the big fight Ace and Sabo had had.

"Its ok, I'm sorry too, there was a lot of anger and I didn't mean to let it in, I didn't want it to, but it just did, and then I got mad too, and I left, but I didn't know where I was going, or where I was, and then I was lost, and then Thatch and lazy face found me, and I got even more scared, and-"

"We get it Lu." Ace said, cutting off Luffys ramblings, knowing that if he didn't the boy would probably go on for another hour.

"It wasn't your fault anyway, it was ours, so we're sorry." Ace continued, frowning to himself, still mad that he'd let himself get so angry, and at Sabo none the less!

"Yeah, it won't happen again, promise," Sabo added, holding up his pinky. Luffy smiled brightly at that and connected his pinky with Sabo's, lifting his other one and holding it out to Ace expectantly. The eldest rolled his eyes but smiled and connected his pinky with Luffys as well before connecting his other with Sabo's.

"This is stupid." Ace said after a minute, which caused Sabo to laugh and Luffy to pout.

"Nu-uh! It's a promise! We're not gonna get mad at each other like that again!" Luffy said determinedly.

"That reminds me, Luffy, who taught you to bow?"

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

The rest of the day passed with little to no more big events happening, the only memorable thing that had happened was that Thatch didn't give up on trying to get the brothers out of their room, more adamant about it now than ever. The worst part about it was that even Izo was beginning to join in on it, mentioning how he'd like to see them out and about as well.

The next day, a few hours after breakfast, the trio was doing what they usually did in between meals, sit in their room and stare at the ceiling.

Ace had just suffered a narcolepsy attack, leaving Sabo and Luffy to drag him off the floor and into the bed, waiting for him to wake back up. They had been lucky in terms of Aces attacks happening out of the eyes of the pirates. None of them wanted them to know about the narcolepsy in fear that they would somehow use it against the brothers so they had tried their best to keep it a secret, but it was hard when Ace couldn't control when he had an attack.

With everything that had happened at the facility and all the drugs that had been pumped into the trio it only made Aces narcolepsy worse. The eldest always had trouble when it came to getting a good nights rest, but at the facility he always had a hard time falling asleep, his insomnia becoming worse than ever before.

Now that they were out of the facility though and Ace was able to have a better sleep schedule, free of harmful drugs and chemicals, his attacks had lessened a bit, along with his hallucinations and insomnia. He still had them, and most times he would be up a few hours after Sabo and Luffy had fallen asleep, but it was better than before when he would stay up practically the whole night.

"Get away you damn bastard!" The sudden shouting coming from Ace startled Sabo and Luffy only slightly, used to it as they began calming their brother down from what was undoubtedly another nightmare.

"Ace, its ok, we're not there anymore," Sabo said soothingly, wanting to place his hand on the eldests shoulder, but knowing that might do more harm than good at the moment. The fire users eyes were open, but they were hazy and unfocused. After his initial outburst, it seemed that Ace couldn't speak, at least coherently, anymore, his mouth opening and closing, mouthing words but not making a sound.

"Ne, Ace, did you know the swirls on the wood like like cinnamon rolls? Oh! Or meat when it's cooked and juicy and... I'm hungry." Luffy said, holding his stomach as it growled, frowning. Sabo sighed, shaking his head and turning back to Ace.

"Ace were safe, were free, its ok." Sabo continued, his tone still gentle and calm. It took another few seconds but Ace seemed to calm down, eyes refocusing on his brothers and becoming clear again. The hazy fog that clouded his mind was clearing and their brother was awake again.

"Welcome back," Sabo said with a small smile, patting Ace comfortingly on the back, Luffy grinning widely to the oldest. Ace seemed a little out of it still but nodded anyway. Sabo perked up, noticing footsteps heading their way, ones he could recognize that wasn't Marcos.

"Who is it?" Ace asked, once again wishing he had better senses when it came to noticing people coming their way. Both Sabo and Luffy seemed to know who it was due to their enhanced hearing and smell, but Ace had no clue, having to rely on them to inform him. Sure, he had his haki, but there were so many people on this ship that it was hard for him to distinguish which presence belonged to who.

"Thatch," Sabo said in confusion, wondering why the chef would be heading their way.

"Mr. Chef always smells like food!" Luffy whined, remembering his hunger once again at the smell of meat and seafood that signified Thatch. While Luffy was lamenting over his lack of food, Sabo took notice of the fact that Luffy either thought Thatch's name was Mr. Chef or called him that purely because he had called him that when talking to him. Whichever the case, it was better than Luffy making up a nickname that could possibly be insulting to the man.

"What does he want?" Ace asked, sitting up in the bed and getting ready for a fight, though Sabo didn't think it would come to that. With Ace, though, you never knew.

As always Sabo stood from the bed, making his way to the door to greet the man if he so happened to stop at their room. With how ready to fight Ace was and how timid Luffy became when talking to others, Sabo had taken it upon himself to be the one to talk to anyone and everyone during their time here.

The second there was a knock on their door Sabo was swinging it open with his false smile and calm attitude, perfect to anyone who saw it, but obviously fake to Sabo and his brothers.

"Hello Mr. Chef, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Sabo asked politely. Behind him, not that Sabo or Thatch could see, Ace was giving Luffy a confused look, mouthing the words, 'To what do we owe the pleasure?' to the youngest. He had no clue about manners, and whatever Sabo had just spewed out of his mouth had to have been polite, but Ace, and Luffy for that matter, had no clue what it meant.

"Ah," Thatch started, surprised by both how fast Sabo had opened the door as if he had known he was coming, and how polite Sabo was.

"Well, I just came by to see if you three wanted to come out on deck, you know, get some fresh air? I'm free for a bit till I have to make lunch so I was just wondering if you'd like to join me." Thatch said, somewhat sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand while smiling at Sabo, trying to peek in to see the other two. It was impossible though because Sabo was doing an extremely effective job of keeping the Commander from seeing anything but the wooden ceiling above him.

"We appreciate the offer Commander, but we were just about to take a nap. Maybe later?" Sabo suggested, trying his best to look disappointed as if he wanted to go outside despite the fact that he very much did not want to do that. As was Thatch's usual response to Sabo denying a request to leave their room Thatch pouted, but fixed it quickly, smiling again.

"It's alright, I understand, I just thought I'd ask. I'll see you three later. Have a nice nap!" Thatch said, waving as he began walking away. Sabo waved back before closing the door, smile falling to one of relief that he had successfully dodged another of Thatch's attempts at getting them to leave their room.

"What is with that guy?! Cant, he take a hint?" Ace growled out, glaring at the door. Sabo wiped his face with his hand, sitting back on the bed, suddenly feeling exhausted and in need of that nap.

"He's definitely persistent, but I have to say, it is becoming a bit stuffy in here," Sabo admitted, glancing around the room that once seemed larger, now seemingly smaller than their cell had been. Ace turned his glare on Sabo.

"Don't tell me you actually want to go out there with all those pirates!" Ace hissed, though he was conscious of the fact that his anger was rising and did his best to breath, calm down. He, under no circumstances, wanted a repeat of what happened with Luffy. Sabo also remembered what happened and made sure to breathe through any anger that wanted to rise, addressing Ace calmly.

"No, I don't want to go out there with the pirates, but that doesn't mean I don't want to go out there," Sabo said slowly. Ace went quiet, thinking about what Sabo said.

"I wanna go out too, but there's a lotta pirates and feelings, but I haven't felt the darkness, but they always stare at us," Luffy rambled, which he seemed to be doing a lot more of lately. Sabo deduced it was probably from the stressful, unknown situation they were in.

"We understand Luffy, there are a lot of unknowns out there, whereas if we stay in here we know exactly what can and will happen, I'm just saying that we're slowly going stir crazy in here and we've still got a few days until Shanks gets here, assuming he doesn't run into any trouble on his way here," Sabo explained. Luffy tilted his head.

"Whats stir crazy? Is it like stir fry?!" Luffy asked, brightening at the mention of food. Sabo sighed, resisting the urge to facepalm.

"No, it's not food Luffy. Stir crazy, its when you start to feel a little crazy from being kept in one place for too long." Sabo explained, Luffy seemingly disappointed when he realized it wasn't food.

"What are we supposed to do then? Sure, I don't wanna be in here either, but I'd rather be in here than out there!" Ace said, gesturing wildly at the door. Sabo shrugged, slumping a little.

"I don't know Ace, but if we don't somehow manage to get out of this room for more than meals and bathroom breaks I think we're going to start having a lot more problems," Sabo muttered, confusing his brothers.

"Problems?" Luffy questioned.

"How would we have more problems here? It's safer here!" Ace said incredulously. Sabo frowned, shaking his head.

"Think about it, just yesterday we got into an argument that was bad enough to influence Luffy to storm out. If we stay in this room any longer there's a chance that could happen again and we won't be so lucky that Luffy runs into Thatch and Marco who are willing to help him back to us. By being stuck in here we're not only going to be bored, but we're also going to be easier to anger. Not only that, but more people are starting to ask us to come out, and I can only dodge their requests for so long before they either get mad and attack us or think somethings up and send the nurse after us again." Sabo explained, slowly enough so his brothers would understand what kind of predicament they were in. Aces eyebrows were furrowed in thought while Luffy had listened with wide, innocent eyes leaving Sabo unsure how much of that explanation he understood.

"So... you're saying... if we stay in here we'll turn on each other, but if we go out there they'll turn on us?" Ace asked. This time Sabo did facepalm but kept his frustration in check.

"You... almost got it Ace." He said through gritted teeth, forcing a smile, and he knew he wasn't fooling either of his brothers.

"Well, sorry I'm not as smart as you are at this stuff!" Ace said, throwing his hands into the air, also frustrated. Luffy could feel the rising frustration and anger, causing worry to bubble up in him.

"No! Don't get mad!" Luffy cried out, Ace and Sabo turning to look at him with wide eyes. They both froze, taking deep breaths, and Luffy felt their anger and frustration slowly leave them, worry and warm feelings replacing them.

"Sorry, Lu." Ace said softly, ruffling the youngest's hair.

"Sorry, Luffy. This is exactly what I mean though. You were partially right Ace, staying in here, we could end up turning on each other, but the thing is, we don't know if they'll turn on us if we leave." Sabo started, already seeing Ace ready to argue with him.

"They might, but we don't know. So far, we know Thatch and Marco are good guys, right Lu?" Sabo asked, both to reassure Ace and to reassure himself because he was about to suggest something risky, something he really didn't want to do, but he trusted Luffy.

"Mm! Mr. Chef kept his promises and they both have good colors!" Luffy confirmed, smiling a little.

"What's your point?" Ace asked Sabo, already not liking where this was going.

"The point I'm trying to make is that... maybe we should try to go outside, at least once. We can stay near Thatch or Marco, keep our backs against the railings, stay close to our room, but at the very least, go outside for a few minutes. This way, we won't go crazy in here and we'll get the Commanders off our backs about going out." Sabo said quietly, not even liking his own words as he spoke them. He didn't trust the pirates, not one bit, but they had no choice but to be near them if they wanted any sort of fresh air.

Ace went quiet as he thought over the suggestion, eyebrows furrowing once more while he lowered his head. Luffy went silent as well, and Sabo and Ace both knew that, even if they both wanted to do this, Luffy was really the deciding factor. Luffy was the one who would have to feel all the pirates' emotions and, if he was up to it, check out some of their soul colors.

The room was silent as they contemplated this idea, but eventually, Ace spoke up, still frowning.

"Ok. I'll go out." Ace said, extremely reluctant, it was obvious in his voice, but he knew that this was something the three needed. While Sabo was the one who focused on keeping the brothers safe in terms of the interactions they had with the pirates Ace was in charge of keeping them safe when it came to the situations they put themselves in, and this was something they needed, but would put them in a lot of danger. Ace knew that if they did this he wouldn't be relaxed for one millisecond while out there on the deck, surrounded by pirates.

Just the thought made him shudder.

"Luffy? What do you think? If you don't want to we can stay here and figure something else out." Sabo asked softly, he and Ace watching the youngest carefully. He was wearing his rarely seen serious expression, hands fidgeting as he thought carefully about his options.

He didn't want all of those emotions to overload him, but he could help Ace and Sabo by finding out what colors the pirates' souls were. He could already feel anxiety twisting in his stomach at the thought of the sheer amount of people that would be out there.

"I-If... can we leave if it gets... gets too... scary?" Luffy asked, almost too scared to ask the question. He didn't want Ace or Sabo to think he was a kid, but just the thought of going outside was scary to him, much less the actual action of it. His older brothers expressions softened and Luffy felt them increase the amount of warmth they were sending him, making him feel more comfortable, happy they weren't mad at him for being scared.

"Of course Lu, just say the word and we'll come right back here, no questions asked." Ace said gently, Sabo nodding in agreement.

"Why don't we do this tomorrow? After lunch?" Sabo asked, not wanting to do this today, feeling too exhausted after this talk. Ace and Luffy nodded rapidly, both of them not up to doing it that minute either. Sabo sighed heavily.

"Good. Now, I think I'm gonna take that nap. Wake me up for lunch." Sabo said, falling into a laying position, ignoring Aces snickers.

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

"What's got you all pouty?" Blamenco asked Thatch. Lunch was just starting, pirates starting to pool into the galley one by one. All of the Commanders were at the table, Whitebeard as well, and they all turned to look at the chef when Blamenco mentioned him.

"Why don't they wanna leave their room?" Thatch asked dejectedly. Beside him Marco shook his head, figuring out what Thatch was talking about fairly quickly.

"They don't seem to trust us, yoi, that might be the issue," Marco said lazily as if it were obvious, and really it was. It was painfully obvious the brothers didn't trust any of them, despite how much they've tried showing them they were good people, even for pirates. Thatch's pout only got worse.

"But why?! We haven't done anything!" Thatch whined, not understanding.

"Thatch, you have to understand that were strangers to them. Strangers who saved them from a horrible place, sure, but strangers none the less. They know nothing about us, and the fact that we're pirates doesn't help either." Izo explained. The pout lifted slightly and Thatch raised his head a bit.

"Don't worry son, I'm sure that once they see we mean them no harm you will become fast friends," Whitebeard said encouragingly, smiling to Thatch who beamed back.

"Yeah, you're right, I just gotta keep trying! By the way, where are they?" Thatch asked, looking around and seeing no signs of the brothers.

"They're on their way, I went by and told them lunch was ready, yoi," Marco informed, and as if on cue the chef spotted the trio walking in, walking quickly up to the table and sitting down. Thatch was up in seconds, getting the brothers their food with a bright smile, sitting back down beside them.

"Hey guys, how was your nap?" Thatch asked, and as usual, the only response he got was from Sabo, Luffy focusing more on his food and Aces eyes darting around, watching everything.

"Good, thank you ," Sabo replied with a smile. Encouraged by both the response and the talk with Whitebeard the chef decided to ask his signature question.

"So, you guys gonna come outta your room anytime soon?" Thatch tried, and to be honest, he was expecting the same response, for Sabo to dodge the question with apologies and excuses, but he, and everyone else at the table was surprised when Sabo turned his attention fully to Thatch, still smiling. Briefly, he noticed that Ace and Luffy had given him their attention as well, the two of them slightly tense.

"Actually, we planned on coming out tomorrow. It gets stuffy staying in the same room for so long." Sabo said nonchalantly, shrugging and returning to his meal. Thatch gaped at him for a minute, having not expected the response, but quickly recovered, smile brightening as he felt excitement fill him.

"Yeah! I heard that it's supposed to be nice out tomorrow, but really, you never know when it comes to the Grand Line! Oh, I also heard," Sabo tuned the chattering out easily, smiling and nodding in all the right places, making it look like he was paying attention. Just saying those words to Thatch had taken a lot, and now Sabo couldn't take them back. He could practically feel everyone's shock when he had said the words, all eyes on him, but he did his best to not let it look like it bothered him as much as it did. He could feel Luffy shifting beside him, and though the youngest was inbetween him and Ace he was sure that the oldest was fidgeting as well.

When Thatch had started rambling it relieved Sabo a little, his brothers calming down which was a good sign, and Sabo took the opportunity to start listening in on other conversations, something he hadn't been doing with everything that had been happening.

With all this stress Sabo was sure he was going to get grey hairs soon.

Today's author's note is going to be short because I'm already running late for an appointment, but I wanted to get this up before I left!

So, the brothers will be leaving their room soon! After much persuasion, it is official that they will at least attempt to venture outside of their room. As much as they hate the idea of the pirates, they hate the idea of turning on each other more.

Anyway, I have to go now, but thank you for all the support you guys continuously give me! I'll see you all next week!