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 26: The Sun, the Sea, and the Sky

"This was a bad idea, I don't know how you talked me into doing this..." Ace mumbled, pacing back and forth in their room. Luffy could feel the nervous anxiety rolling off the oldest, which didn't help with his own feelings of fear and anxiety. Sabo had the same feelings, the blonde twiddling his fingers nervously as they all worked up their courage.

"It'll be fine, its just like when we started eating meals with the pirates, it was fine in the end," Sabo said, though he looked like he was saying it more to himself rather than to Ace.

The only thing the brothers could think of was the worst case scenarios, the pirates attacking them, the pirates throwing them into the infirmary, the nurses shackling them, doing tests, locking them up, separating them.

Sending them back to the facility.

All these scenarios made it harder for them to even imagine stepping foot outside the door, but Sabo had promised Thatch yesterday that they would do this.

Boy, how he was regretting that now.

"Maybe we can... make an excuse?" Ace suggested weakly, eyeing the door wearily.

"Yeah, like what?" Sabo asked, his voice just as weak as Aces.

"We're... sick?" Ace asked, and Sabo sighed, shaking his head. He almost wished they could come up with a good excuse, anything to get them out of doing this.

"They'll send us to the infirmary," Sabo said. Ace frowned, continuing his pacing and letting the room lapsed into silence. Luffy hugged his knees to his chest from where he sat on the bed, eyeing his two brothers with worry. He wanted to go outside, and he knew Ace and Sabo wanted to go outside, but they were all too scared of what could happen. Even though Luffy had seen good colors around people and only felt good feelings it didn't help with his anxieties. Besides, he hadn't look at even a quarter of the crews' feelings for the darkness, much less the color of their souls. Whose to say that there wasn't a group of pirates that were all bad colors with dark feelings?

"Let's just get this over with!" Ace suddenly shouted, freezing in place and giving a determined look to Sabo and Luffy who stared at him with wide eyes. They definitely weren't expecting Ace to be the one to say this.

"W-what?" Sabo asked, Luffy looking inbetween the two cautiously. Ace nodded, face growing more determined, even though Luffy felt none of his anxiety leaving.

"Yeah! Let's just go out there and get this over with. Hang out for a few minutes. Like you said yesterday, we need to do this, and we can stay close to our room or near Thatch and Marco, or with our backs to the railings! And if Luffy wants to leave, then we leave, no questions asked." Ace said, stunning Sabo into silence. He didn't have much time to think about it though when he heard footsteps and talking heading their way.

"Well, it looks like we're not gonna have a choice in the matter," Sabo said as he and Luffy straightened up, recognizing the smells and sounds. Ace froze again, turning to face the door again while Sabo stood up, stealing his nerves. He slowly made his way to the door, listening as the people grew closer. He took a deep breath, hearing Luffy and Aces own breathing grow more rapid as they got more nervous and scared.

Scared wasn't a term the brothers liked to use. It made them feel weak, but after everything that had happened at the facility, scared was something they felt daily.

Per usual Sabo opened the door the second there was a knock, blocking the view into the room with his body, smiling as best he could under the circumstances, hoping that he was imagining the feeling of the corners of his mouth twitching under the pressure.

"Commanders," Sabo greeted with false cheer.

"How does he do that? Its like he knows we're coming!" Thatch whispered in a hushed voice to Marco who waved him off. Sabo kept his pleasant smile on, finding slight amusement in Thatch's surprise before it was replaced with the usual nervousness and unease.

"Thatch wanted to know if you were coming out today, yoi," Marco said lazily, and Sabo had a feeling Thatch had dragged him along here.

"I could've said that myself..." Thatch mumbled, feeling as if he was being glossed over by the first commander. Sabo gripped the doorknob tightly in his hand, his lips thinning only slightly as he turned to face his brothers. Now was the time, if they were going to back out, they had to do it now. Ace and Luffy still looked as petrified as Sabo felt, which wasn't any help, but Luffy signing something caught his eye.

'I wanna try,' That was enough for Sabo. By the look in Aces eyes as he read Luffy's signs though, he wasn't too excited for this outing.

"We were actually just on our way." Sabo tried saying coolly, but he wasn't sure how calm and smooth it sounded to the commanders. Thatch brightened up immediately at the words and Marco even raised an eyebrow in interest, probably not having expected them to actually come out today.

Well, neither had they.

Sabo didn't move from his spot, watching the commanders closely while leaving his smile on as he waited for Ace and Luffy to reach him, listening to their slow shuffles and hesitant steps. Before Marco or Thatch could question what Sabo was doing the blonde opened the door wider, walking out with Ace and Luffy close behind him, Ace closing the door behind them.

It took only a second for Thatch to recover from his shock as he quickly caught up to the brothers, leading the way for them with Marco at his side. The brothers were in their usual formation with Luffy in the middle, following the two silently as Thatch raved about how nice it was outside.

'Bad colors? Darkness?' Ace asked Luffy, wanting the youngest to be 100% sure that Thatch or Marco didn't have the bad colors or darkness before they followed them out onto the deck. Luffys eyes focused intently on Thatch first, then Marco, his steps slowing only slightly as he concentrated, but within a minute he was done, finding it was easier to read the two seeing as he'd been doing a lot of that lately.

'No bad colors, only good feelings.' Luffy reassured, only calming Ace and Sabo slightly.

"-And there hasn't been a single cloud in the sky all day!" Thatch said as he spun to face them, walking backward. The trio tensed at the sudden attention, but Sabo forced his smile to return.

"Sounds lovely," Sabo said pleasantly. Thatch continued to beam at them for a minute before turning back around, the group coming to the end of the hallway.

"You know, everyone was beginning to think we would never see you three come out of your room." Thatch said matter-of-factly, shrugging at his words. Sabo chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

"It's been an... interesting few days," Sabo said wearily. Thatch didn't seem to notice the change in tone, merely nodding.

"Yeah, I guess its been pretty stressful for you three, huh?" Thatch asked offhandedly. Sabo bit his tongue, keeping back the words that wanted to spill out about how true that statement was, and still is.

"A little," Sabo said in the end, seeing Ace twitch a little out of the corner of his eye, Luffy slumping a little as he walked. It went silent as they finally reached the door leading to the deck, Marco and Thatch taking no hesitation in pushing it open, leaving the brothers as they walked out on deck, not noticing the trio had stopped.

'Now or never.' Ace signaled, and Sabo and Luffy knew he was right.

'We can leave at any time.' Sabo reminded, more for himself than his brothers.

I'm scared.' Luffys tapping made Ace and Sabo's faces soften.

'Don't worry Lu, we'll be with you the entire time.' Ace signaled back, and Luffy nodded, taking a deep breath. Ace and Sabo did the same, all of them preparing to walk out on the deck. The entire conversation had only taken a few seconds and Marco and Thatch hadn't gotten that far, but if they didn't move now they would lose the two in the throngs of pirates on deck.

'Ready?' Sabo tapped out, his brothers both frowning, but nodding in response. Sabo nodded as well, and then took the first step on deck. He had almost forgotten already how warm the sun felt on his skin, and how bright it was at that. They had always moved so fast between the galley and their room that they hadn't had time to enjoy the sun, but now that they were out here only for the purpose of enjoying the fresh air they were able to actually feel the sun on their awfully pale skin.

Ace and Luffy followed Sabo out onto the deck, Luffy a little more hesitantly, but within seconds all three brothers were standing on the deck, absorbing the sun.

Although the sun had its benefits, the disadvantage of having to go outside to get it meant that they were the center of attention once again.

All eyes were on them, all of them wide with wonder and shock as they openly gazed at the brothers.

'They could at least try to be discreet about it.' Ace tapped out scornfully, glaring at those staring, which was everyone.

"No need to be shy, come on." Sabo had forgotten their main plan to stay near Thatch or Marco but was immediately reminded of it as Thatch stopped and came back to them, smiling warmly to the brothers and waving off everyone's stares. Sabo couldn't even manage to force out a response, only nodding as he took a hesitant step towards Thatch, Marco watching from slightly further away. Luffy suddenly lunged forward, grabbing at his hand and squeezing it tightly, stopping Sabo from moving any further. All eyes were still on them, but Sabo managed to ignore them for now, turning to look at Luffy with a questioning gaze.

'What is it Lu?' Sabo asked, tapping on the back of Luffy's hand. Had his brother sensed the bad feeling? Or did he see a bad color? He could tell Ace was thinking the same thing as he moved closer to Luffy, scanning their surroundings quickly, ready to fight.

'Scared.' Luffy tapped the word out slowly, hesitantly on Sabo's hand, and Sabo could see Luffy scanning their surroundings as well. Sabo could hear how fast Luffy's heart was pumping, and even though his and Aces were pumping just as fast he could hear that Luffy was moving just a bit faster.

'Lots of feelings, curious, wonder, like doctors, curious about us.' Luffy tapped more fervently, remembering how the doctors had felt the same feelings towards the brothers whenever they tested on them. His breathing was picking up now and Ace and Sabo knew they had to calm him down before he caused a scene and someone sent for a nurse.

'Not doctors Lu, pirates, good feelings right? No darkness?' Ace asked, grabbing hold of Luffy's other hand. Luffy hesitantly nodded, though made sure the movement was small and discreet so as to not tip off the pirates to their silent conversation.

'So we're fine. Wanna sit on the railing? Look at the sea? I'll watch your back.' Ace suggested, discreetly moving his head towards the railing near the door they had just exited. Luffy started to calm down at the thought, knowing Ace would keep him safe, keep the pirates from hurting him. He smiled a little and nodded again, grip loosening and breathing slowing back to normal, though his heart was still pumping from the anxiety of everyone looking at them.

Sabo was once again glad that they could have these conversations between each other within seconds because otherwise they would have stood there in awkward silence for too long and it would have been hard to explain.

"Why don't we go sit over there Lu?" Sabo asked out loud, smiling a little as Luffy nodded more confidently, even smiling a little back at him.

"I hope you don't mind," Sabo said in his best apologetic voice. Thatch waved it off, still smiling.

"Its no problem, have fun! If you need me I'll be over by Pops' chair!" Thatch said gleefully, already turning to leave. Sabo sighed in relief, watching as Marco, after watching them for another second, turned and walked off as well, leaving the brothers alone. People were still watching them, but some were beginning to return to their tasks which they were grateful for as they made their way over to the railing. There wasn't anyone over there, all of them in the middle of the large deck or near Whitebeards chair, leaving the railings open for the brothers to relax near.

'Come on Lu, I'll sit with you, just don't fall off.' Sabo tapped out, climbing up onto the railing and patting the spot next to him. Luffy beamed at him, jumping onto the rail as well and plopping down beside him, looking at the large ocean in front of them. Ace sat with his back against the rail and arms crossed across his chest, legs stretched out in front of him, facing everyone on the deck. He feigned sleep, making his body look relaxed on the outside, but staying constantly tense, ready for a fight at any moment as he peered through his mostly closed eyelids at everyone walking by.

His amazing eyesight made it easy to see every person on deck, where they were looking, what their expressions were. Even with his eyes mostly closed it was still clear enough for him, making him the best one to keep watch. To anyone that looked his way they'd think he was sleeping, but Sabo and Luffy knew better, especially Sabo who could still hear Aces fast beating heart and rapid breathing.

The three sat in silence, Luffy and Sabo mesmerized by the beauty of the ocean, how it seemed to continue on endlessly, sparkling in the sunlight.

'It's beautiful, right Lu?' Sabo tapped against the rail so Ace could hear it without having to see it. Luffy nodded.

'Peaceful.' Luffy tapped back, smiling a little. The sight made him calm down even more than before, enjoying the view. Luffy remembered one of the reasons for coming out here and glanced at a large number of pirates behind him, some still looking his way.

'Stop if it gets too much.' Sabo tapped, and Luffy nodded, turning to face the ocean, his eyes unfocusing as his attention was more on the feelings in the air. He did his best to filter the feelings from being one large mass of emotion into strings, connecting to each person they belonged to, searching for even a hint of the darkness in someone. He didn't know how long he searched, but he was sure that he had searched everyone on the deck, maybe even some people lingering in the galley too.

'No dark feeling.' Luffy reported, Sabo nodding in relief beside him. The blonde had been watching Luffy closely for any signs that he was being influenced by others' emotions. The youngest had been unresponsive for almost ten minutes by the time his eyes seemed to refocus and he gave the message. Sabo knew it was because there was a large number of pirates on the deck rather than just a handful of doctors in a small room.

'Do you want to see colors?' Sabo tapped almost hesitantly. He knew how Luffy got when it came to taking down his barriers, scared that he would accidentally bring both down and start hurting people. With so many people on this deck, Luffy would probably hurt himself too by seeing too many memories at once, overloading his brain.

Luffy glanced at Sabo, an unsure look on his face as he thought about it, and Sabo saw Ace shift nervously from where he sat on the ground.

'I wanna help...' Luffy tapped, clearly nervous again. Sabo gave him a smile, sending a pulse of warmth to the youngest.

'You have helped Lu, you don't need to check colors if you don't feel up to it, alright?' Sabo responded, Ace giving a subtle nod in agreement as he listened closely to the tapping so he could follow the conversation. Luffy didn't respond for a minute, clearly thinking about his options.

'I wanna check.' Luffy finally tapped, Sabo nodding as he turned on the railing to face the crew, Luffy doing the same while Ace continued feigning sleep.

"Ne, Luffy, doesn't the cloud look like a flower?" Sabo asked, pointing to a cloud off in the distance. Luffy looked, smiling a little and nodding.

"Mm! And that one looks like meat!" Luffy said softly, pointing to his own cloud. Seeing as the brothers had been on the deck for a little bit now the pirates around them had all eventually stopped staring at them, but Sabo didn't want Luffy to suddenly start staring at them in silence with no indication of why he was doing it, so he created this distraction.

Luffy slowly, carefully, brought down his first barrier, taking deep breaths to keep himself calm so he wouldn't accidentally bring both down at once. Beside him Sabo continued rambling about different cloud shapes, pointing at them and keeping the conversation going while Luffy began glancing around the deck. He couldn't spend too much time looking at each person or else it would take him forever to get through everyone, but at a glance, he would be able to tell if there were any dark colors in someone's soul.

His eyes skimmed across the deck quickly, making sure not to linger too long on one person. Everyone was looking good so far, everyone's colors a light shade of blue, no signs of any black or even grey in their colors.

"Hello, Commander." Sabo's sudden change in conversation snapped Luffy out of his scanning as he looked to where Sabo was looking, seeing Marco walking their way, his color the same near clear blue as it had been last time. Luffy took a deep breath, replacing his barrier, the colors disappearing as Marco finally reached them.

"Hello, yoi. I just came by to make sure you three were doing alright." Marco explained, and Luffy noticed that Ace wasn't feigning sleep anymore, eyes open, narrowed at the first commander. He was sitting up straighter now, body visibly tense, but not saying anything as usual.

"We are, thank you. Luffy and I were just enjoying the view, its beautiful after all." Sabo explained easily, gesturing to the wide expanse of ocean and sky surrounding them. Marco nodded in agreement, moving to lean over the rail, looking at the water hitting the side of the boat.

"That it is. Do you mind if I ask you a question, yoi?" The Commander asked, looking at Sabo now who frowned a little.

"You may, but I'll warn you, I may not answer it," Sabo said carefully, Ace tensing more and Luffy shifting nervously on the railing, though he felt no bad feelings coming from the man. Marco nodded at the response, turning to look at the ocean again.

"I understand, yoi, I wouldn't force you to answer anything you wouldn't want to. I was just wondering about something I remembered hearing back at the facility." Marco said calmly. At the mention of the facility all three brothers tensed up considerably, Ace glaring and scowling, Sabo frowning deeply, and Luffy averting his eyes, also frowning as he shifted nervously. The three began having memories of that place, the darkness, the cells, the training room, the tests.

"When Thatch and I first walked in and they were trying to convince us Luffy was delusional the lady at the desk told us that Luffy had defeated ten guards in his escape," Marco explained, and Sabo remembered how Luffy told him that the doctors made up things when he was rescuing them, and how the upstairs of the facility had been decorated. Sabo had made the assumption that the facility had been using it as a decoy, to make anyone who wondered in believe that it was a mental hospital for children rather than a horrible experimental lab.

"And?" Sabo asked cautiously, not knowing what Marco was trying to get at with this line of conversation. Marco turned to look at them again, Luffy still fidgeting around nervously and Ace tensed, barely holding it together at the mention of the facility while Sabo was trying to keep his calm, but was failing if his twiddling thumbs were anything to go by.

"I was wondering if it was true, yoi," Marco said nonchalantly as if it were no big deal. Sabo's frown deepened even more, and with no hesitation, he shook his head.

"No, Luffy, along with all of us, has no fighting background, not to mention for seven years we were barely fed and were given more drugs than you could imagine. None of us were in any shape to fight our way out. Luffy was actually just lucky, one of the facility guards that fed us got too close to the bars and we were able to nab the keys and escape before anyone noticed really. It wasn't until we were just about to get out that they noticed and started chasing after us. Ace and I got caught, but Luffy, obviously, escaped and found you and Mr. Chef." Sabo explained, the false story rolling easily off his tongue with practiced ease. He had made up the story for this exact moment, someone questioning how Luffy had escaped in the first place, but he hadn't needed to use it yet, until now.

This would also give the pirates false beliefs when it came to the brothers' strength and fighting experience. If they believed they had none, then they would have the advantage in a fight when it came to surprising them with not only their ability to fight but also the abilities they'd gained in the facility.

'Room.' The single word was tapped out quickly by Luffy, Ace turning to get a look at the youngest who looked ready to bolt. While Sabo had been explaining he'd failed to notice Luffys growing unease at the mention of the facility.

"If you'll excuse us, we'd like to head back to our room for a bit before dinner," Sabo said, already standing up off the railing along with Luffy, Ace getting up from the floor. Marco looked at them for a second before nodding.

"That's no problem, yoi. I'll see you then." The commander said, already walking off. Sabo nodded to him before he and his brothers turned as well, quickly heading to their room before anyone could stop them.

"You ok Lu?" Ace asked when they were in the safety of their room once again. Luffy nodded, sitting on the edge of their bed, Ace joining him.

"Mm..." Luffy hummed faintly, eyes distant as he, no doubt, began having memories of the facility.

"Don't worry Lu, were not back at that place, we never will be. In just a few days we'll probably be off this ship and on our way back home." Sabo said soothingly, sitting on Luffys other side and rubbing the youngest back.

"And then we can have all the crocodile and boar meat you want." Ace said with a bright smile. Luffy turned to look at him with hopeful eyes.

"Really?" He asked in a small voice. Aces grin widened.

"Yeah. Hey, I bet we could beat the Tiger Lord with no problem now!" Ace said, and just like that the tension was gone, all the bad memories, bad thoughts, dissipating as they talked about their home.

In a few days, they would be on their way back home.

Whew! The brothers have left their room for something other than food or the bathroom! Its already nearly been 30 chapters now and we're only just getting them out on deck. I did estimate this story to be over 50 chapters though, and it is a slow paced story so I guess it makes sense, but I know you guys are all eager for more action. Don't worry though, there will be action and in only a couple more chapters, Shanks will be showing up!

Anyways, Marcos questioning the escape a bit now. After all, it would be a little weird to them for Luffy to be able to defeat ten guards and escape after being malnourished. Of course, Sabo's planned for these things and he used those questions to his advantage, because how could defenseless little Luffy take on all those guards by himself and get out?

Also, I wanted to address a review I read from Discworld where they asked how the pirates don't know more about the facility seeing as they could have interrogated the guards/doctors, as well as the fact that there was no doubt records being kept by the doctors about their experiments.

So first, yes, they could have, and did, interrogate the guards/doctors, but they wouldn't, and didn't get anything out of them. Trust me. No one there was going to say anything, and no amount of torture would get them to talk. I have a story of who runs the facility, where the facility came from, and what the purpose of the facility was, so even with terrifying pirates threatening their death, they wouldn't speak about what happened.

And let's just say that there was definitely some interrogation attempts done by the pirates that did in fact end in death.

Next, records. Yes, the doctors were very thorough in writing down every test, every symptom, every result that they got out of their experiments. However, due to the nature of this facility, none of these notes survived. There was a period of time where Luffy was out of the facility and the doctors/guards knew he was gone. With this breakout, the facilities existence was threatened and within the time Luffy was gone to when he returned, all records were destroyed.

I mentioned before on the map that Sabo had of the facility that there was a room where they took all the samples. That was also where they kept all of their information on their experiments, so when Luffy escaped, there was a chance of outsiders finding out about the facility, so to keep anyone from figuring out what the place was, the notes were destroyed. Yes, if they found Luffy without anyone finding the facility that would mean they lost years of notes, but the facilities secrecy was more important to them then the notes that they had. Besides, their more noteworthy experiments and results had already been sent off somewhere else.

With all of that said, thank you for the review! It was a bit of a lengthy reply, but I wanted to address it here in case anyone else was wondering the same thing. It also shows you all that there is more to the facility then it seems and that they will, possibly, be mentioned more in the future in terms of what they were and who was behind it.

I think this wraps up the note for the week. I hope you all have a good weekend! Until next week!