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 29: The Brothers Tell All

The Whitebeard pirates watched as the three brothers followed Shanks over onto his ship, Akagamis crew cheering loudly with excitement as they began surrounding the brothers.

It was strange to see the three closed off, timid, cautious brothers smile and accept the hugs and pats on the backs from the other crew when the Whitebeards could barely sit next to them at the table without having the brothers glare at them. But as they watched they saw Luffy smiling, laughing, jumping from one person to the next, handing out hugs with ease, his brothers following with smiles of their own.

Even still, Whitebeard could see some of the tension the brothers still held as they made their rounds. He could see the wary looks Ace and Sabo were giving to those around them, could see the slight hesitance Luffy showed before he gave a hug, but that was to be expected. None of the Whitebeards knew exactly what they had been through so there was no telling what long-term effects it would have on the brothers, even to those they used to know.

The Captain would be lying though if he said he hadn't thought about making the trio apart of his crew, but he knew they had a family, people they probably wanted to see again, and after what they had been through who was he to take that away from them?

That wouldn't stop him from mentioning it to the brothers at some point though, and if they decided to join, who was he to stop them then?

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

Ace, Sabo, and Luffy smiled to everyone on Shanks' ship, giving their final waves as they followed the Red Haired Captain and his first mate into the depths of their ship, heading to a meeting room. The three were still tense, though they did their best to put on an air of calmness, cheerfulness.

That had been the most contact that the brothers had had in years that didn't intend to harm them. Ace and Sabo were still extremely uncomfortable because, even though they knew of the Red-Haired Pirates, they didn't personally know them. They were strangers.

Luffy had no such qualms, but that didn't mean he was completely relaxed either. Even though he knew these pirates, was friends with them, he was still hesitant before touching them or letting them touch him.

Would it be the same when they returned home? Would they shy away from Garp, from Dadan and the bandits, or Makino even? If they couldn't handle these people, people they knew for sure were good, what did that mean for their family back home?

Walking into the meeting room there was only a table with chairs surrounding it in the middle of the room, a few den den mushis against a wall as well. Shanks and Ben went and sat in the chairs, the brothers following suit and sitting across from Captain and first mate. It was silent because the brothers knew what question Shanks was going to ask, and Shanks knew the brothers knew, but no one wanted to start the topic. The tenseness was already there, and Luffy couldn't lift his eyes from the table.

The three hadn't told anyone what had happened in the facility, but once people started finding out, how would they react? They had been modified to be more powerful than a normal human, so there was the chance someone would try to use them as weapons. If the marines found out would they try and use them? If some greedy pirate found out, would they try and use them? If Shanks found out... would he try and use them?

Or would he show sympathy? Would he listen to the brothers' story and give them eyes of pity? Would he try and help them get better? There were too many possibilities at play and it only served to unnerve the brothers further.

"I think we all know what the elephant in the room is, so I'm just gonna ask. You three don't have to answer if you don't want to, I'll understand, but I want to help and to do that, I need to know," The brothers all looked down at Shanks' words, ready to hear them but unsure if they were ready to answer.

"What happened?" Sabo bit his lip, staring intently at the wood pattern on the table. Luffy, who was inbetween he and Ace, was shifting again, avoiding everyone's eyes while fiddling with the straw hat in his hands. Ace wasn't much better off either though, also looking at the table, glaring at it as if it had insulted him and clenching his fists tightly.

'Do you want to tell?' Sabo tapped to his brothers. Really, he and Ace both knew that it was up to Luffy because if Luffy did or didn't want to, they would listen. Ace peeked over, though not so much as to give away that they were communicating with each other.

'Luffy?' Ace asked. The two eldest felt a little bad that they were putting all the pressure on the youngest, but, really, it was his decision. Luffy remained silent for another second, his shifting becoming increasingly more noticeable as time passed.

'I'll do all of the talking. If you want to leave at any time you and Ace can go, don't worry, it's all up to you.' Sabo said, wanting Luffy to be comfortable. He didn't want his little brother to have another panic attack over this. Luffys shifting calmed a bit and he glanced at Sabo momentarily, and then Ace, both nodding to him and sending him pulses of warmth.

'Alright,' Luffy tapped hesitantly, though he didn't raise his eyes to meet Shanks'. Sabo gulped, taking a deep breath as he raised his eyes, Ace as well.

"Its a bit of a long story Mr. Akagami," Sabo said, still unsure if he should really call the Captain Shanks, despite the fact that the man himself had already told him it was ok.

"That's fine, I didn't expect it to be short, but really, just Shanks is fine, Mr. Akagami makes me feel old," Shanks said with a light-hearted pout, obviously trying to lighten the mood. Sabo swallowed again, glancing at Ben who had been silent the entire time, allowing Shanks to do all the talking.

"Well... I guess it started the day we were taken then..." Sabo said softly. He didn't know if he was even ready to talk about this, but he had already started, so now there was no going back.

"We were just finished sparring for the day," Sabo started, the three of them remembering that day clearly. Sabo had to clear his throat before continuing, the feeling of it closing up making him pause.

"We were laying there and then, out of nowhere, these three guys came and started attacking us. We had Luffy try and run to Dadans to get help but he was caught before he could. He was able to scream though, and I'm sure she heard it too because it was loud enough for the whole forest to hear." Sabo said with a slight smile, remembering how crazy the animals around them had went, all running the opposite way they had heard Luffys shout from.

"And then they were tying us up and taking us to some other ship," Sabo said his smile dropping. Luffy began fidgeting again and Ace was clenching and unclenching his fists, his anger noticeable to Luffy who tried not to let it influence him. Shanks and Ben were listening to the story in silence, frowns on both of their faces as they did, but giving no input.

"I don't know how long we were on it, maybe a month, but we were kept in a small room, most likely a closet, and fed enough that we didn't die. It was obvious enough they needed us alive, we just didn't know why. Plenty of people had plenty of reason for wanting us after all." Sabo said with a nonchalant shrug, trying to play off how nervous he was. His stomach was twisting almost painfully and he was beginning to feel slightly light-headed at the thought of what came next in the story. Shanks and Ben's expressions hadn't changed much, the only noticeable difference being that their frowns were deeper than before, giving way to their obvious dislike of what had happened to them.

"And then, we reached whatever island it was that they were taking us to. We were taken off the ship and immediately given to a different man who seemed... excited to have us." Sabo said, trying to think of a good word to use. He suppressed a shiver at the thought of Haru, trying his best to ignore the heavy feeling in his chest or the nauseous rumble in his stomach. Poor Luffy was taking it the worst, which Sabo understood. He was beginning to tremble again, much more noticeable then his shifting had been, and he was gripping onto his hat so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. To combat this Sabo sent slightly stronger feelings of warmth than normal, hoping to calm the terrified boy. He was sure Ace was too because soon enough Luffys trembling died down and his grip loosened a bit.

"His name was Har-" Sabo didn't expect the name to be that hard to get out in that moment, but the name died on his tongue unexpectedly and he had to clear his throat and try again.

"Excuse me, his name was Haru," Sabo said, trying to play off the hiccup. He took a second to recollect his thoughts and continued.

"He took us to a building on the island, what we call the facility," Sabo said, hissing the word facility with as much venom as possible.

"The best way to describe it is hell on Earth. We were put in cells and given numbers," Sabo said, showing his wrist that held the number he had become known for back in that place. He could see Luffy grab his own wrist, covering the number with his palm, while Ace began glaring at his own number that was showing face up at him.

"And that was where we were left for our first day. We were fed but it wasn't even something I think could be categorized under the definition of the food. Garbage would be more like it. By the second day, though, we were figuring out just what our new home was. Every day they would take children, all within the same age range as us, and do tests or experiments on them. They were especially interested in devil fruits and Luffy quickly became one of their favorites. We were told by another child that the life expectancy of children in the facility wasn't long, barely a month if lucky, but we somehow managed to survive with everything they put us through." Sabo growled out, glaring at the wood now, not able to meet Shanks' eyes anymore. He was surprised he had been able to say this much though, he was expecting it to be much harder and, sure, he hadn't even gotten to the hardest part yet, but if it went this way the entire time, he wouldn't complain.

"Whatever they could think of, they tried. Want a human that can live through a life-threatening virus? Well, they'd inject a child with it and see if they could save them. Spoiler alert, they couldn't. They never could. Want to know how a person ticks? Lets cut a kid up and find out!" Sabo knew he was getting a bit too graphic, but he couldn't help it, after all, he had been one of those kids. Ace had been one of those kids. Luffy had been one of those kids. Taking a deep breath to calm himself he continued.

"After our first year in there, we were becoming known throughout the facility. We were the longest surviving children in there, having watched every child in there come and go, over and over again. We had a bit of luck though, finally, when we met Emily. She was actually nice and tried to help us in any way that she could. She would give us candy or fruit when she could and chalk to use so we wouldn't get bored when we had to sit in our cell. She even gave us a map of the facility and wanted to help us, as well as all the other children, escape." Sabo said with a small smile, Luffy and Ace smiling slightly as well at the thought of the kind woman that had helped them.

"But of course our luck ran out quickly. The doctors decided to do a test on Luffy, see what Seastone in a liquid form would do to a devil fruit user. They injected it and sent us back to our cell where Luffy only started to get worse and worse as time passed. We didn't know what to do but soon Emily came with something that would help him. It was a new test the doctors were going to try, a serum that would completely flush the seastone from Luffy's system. She gave it to us, we injected it, and it worked, but only seconds after Haru came and shot Emily." Sabo said, hatred creeping into his voice at the thought of Haru killing the one person the brothers had liked in that place. Shank and Ben's faces, which previously had smiles when Sabo described Emily, had turned to frowns at the thought of the doctors' tests, and then anger at the mention of Emily's death.

"After that another year passed and we knew that the doctors were working on something, construction. Turns out it was a training room where we were forced to spar with other children. We tried to avoid the fighting but were punished for it, so instead, we fought. The doctors promised any kid that beat us freedom, but they never made it possible for them to win. Shortly after, they began doing a new kind of testing."

"They were beginning to enhance a person's natural abilities, for example, speed. They made it possible for a child to move so fast they were invisible. Another was healing where a child's regenerative abilities were instantaneous." Sabo said, hesitating now. Should he mention their abilities too? They would lose the upper hand if the Red Hair Pirates turned on them, but he didn't think that they would.

'Should I tell him?' Sabo asked. Ace looked like he wanted to say an immediate no, but he held off, not quite sure himself.

'Shanks is safe.' Luffy's simple and quick response was enough for Sabo, because if Luffy was able to be that sure about it then it was ok.

"And then... they enhanced our abilities too. They messed with my ears, giving me much stronger hearing to where I can hear things happening on deck right now, they gave Ace much better vision to the point that he can see in the dark, and they gave Luffy a much better sense of smell to the point that he doesn't even need to see a person to know who it is." Sabo explained, noticing the looks of shock on Shanks and Ben's faces.

"It was hard to adjust to it at first, everything was too loud to me for a while, even whispers and Ace got eye strain to the point that he would get horrible migraines. Luffy would get headaches from the strong smell of antiseptic in the lab too and it would burn his nose and give him headaches too. We were forced to fight more and more. Another year passed, I think it was our third year there, and they ended up giving Ace a devil fruit, the Mera-Mera no mi, allowing him to create and control fire. We were already their favorite brothers, but now they loved us even more now that two of us had devil fruits."

"They tested on us more, did more devil fruit based tests on Ace and Luffy, and continued on with their experiments. At one point they messed up. They always did multiple tests on us at once, but apparently they did one too many tests on me or something just didn't add right, because I started to.. well... die. At one point, I was dead. They had killed me, but after a few minutes they managed to get me back and I survived. They kept me overnight and sent me back to the cell, continuing tests as if it never happened."

"And then, year four, the worst happened. We were in our cells like normal when there was suddenly a loud explosion. No one knew what had happened, and then suddenly there was screaming and a fast-spreading fire. It crept through the hall and into cells until it finally reached ours. I have to admit, I definitely thought we were going to die, the fire was huge and it wasn't going out anytime soon, but then Ace did... whatever he did and we were fine." Sabo said, realizing he had never really gotten an exact explanation on what it was Ace had done to save them.

"Even though he had been wearing seastone Ace had managed to keep the fire from hurting us and we were safe. The same didn't go for everyone else though, because when they finally managed to get rid of the fire we found out that all the other children, and even some doctors, had died. They didn't know how we survived but they didn't question it much. It took them some time but they managed to fully restock the facility with all new children and repair what had been lost in the explosion that had started the fire. They continued on like it had never happened."

"They continued doing tests on us, because when didn't they, and the next tragedy came. One specific test they wanted to do on Luffy involved poison. They gave him a myriad of different poisons with the intent of creating an antidote to cure all poison. At least, that's what I think the point of it was, who knows. Long story short, they weren't able to stop the poison's effects and they managed to kill Luffy as well. They tried bringing him back, but they gave up after a few minutes and pronounced him dead. As they started cleaning up though Luffy came back and they did the same they had done to me, keeping him overnight to make sure he was really ok."

"I think... I think the worst year though was year 6..." Sabo said, voice growing soft again at the thought of that horrible year. He could already see Luffy becoming more and more on edge at the mention of that year which made Sabo hesitate, wondering if he should talk about it at all.

'Should I stop Lu?' He asked, not wanting to say anything Luffy didn't want Shanks to know. Luffys frown deepened and he shook his head, standing up. Ace stood as well, having a feeling he knew what Luffy was doing, and followed as the youngest left his room, everyone watching them leave.

"As I said, it was a bad year," Sabo said softly, sighing as he leaned forward on the table, clasping his hands together as he got ready to tell the rest of the story.

"Things were normal in the beginning, we were tested on like normal and fought like normal, even learning haki in the process. One day, though, the doctors decided they wanted to run a new series of tests that they called the 'Pure Souls' tests. It was a three-part series. It started off with the doctors taking Luffy and giving him something that made him see someone's memories whenever he looked them in the eyes. He couldn't control it and no matter who the person, if he so much as glanced at their eyes, he would see their entire history. They also gave him the ability to feel peoples emotions. He still can't quite control that one and if someones feeling a particularly strong emotion it can influence Luffy's own emotions. For example, if someone gets really angry, chances are, Luffy will get inexplicably angry as well, even if he was actually quite cheerful moments ago."

"The next test they ran gave him the ability to see colors around people. In simple terms, they gave him the ability to see peoples souls. The lighter the blue, the better the person was, but the darker the color got, the worse the person was. If a person had a completely black color..." Sabo trailed off, shivering at the thought of Haru once more.

"Anyways, after that test was the final test, the worse one too. This one allowed Luffy to create, in the doctors' words, bridges to other people. The problem was that, in doing this, there was a possibility of the person that Luffy was trying to bridge to dying. The doctors forced him to try bridging to several children, all of them dying in the process. And then they sent Ace in, and when Luffy tried bridging to him it worked, creating a wave in Luffys words. They had him do the same to me, as well as a few more children after that, but they all died."

"It was deduced that Luffy wouldn't be able to create waves with people he didn't know well, and if he tried then they would die. The waves that Luffy created allow him to know where Ace and I are. We don't know if there's a limit on how far away he can be and still see it seeing as we haven't been apart since then. He also has the ability to see what state of health we're in from the wave. The more transparent they are, the closer to death we are, the more opaque, the healthier we are."

"After these tests though, Luffy became much more withdrawn. He felt responsible for killing all those children, no matter how many times Ace and I told him otherwise. It was a struggle to keep his hopes up that we would escape in that last year, and finally, the day came when we were escaping. We had been planning it our entire time there. We had created a silent language to use so that we could discuss things without anyone knowing, and its worked pretty well so far. We still use it a lot by making a series of tapping noises to create words and sentences. While planning Ace and I were hoping to get all of us out, but mainly our goal was getting Luffy out, not that we told him that. It worked though, we got him out and he found the Whitebeards who came and got us and all the other children out." Sabo said, concluding the very lengthy story.

Shanks and Ben sat back in their chairs, having a lot to take in. Ace and Luffy reappeared then, hesitantly entering the room, to which Sabo nodded.

"I just finished," Sabo said, leaning back in his chair as well. It was an odd feeling, finally telling someone else the entire story of the past seven years of hell. Maybe he was supposed to feel like a weight had been lifted off his chest, or maybe just a general feeling of relief, after all, isn't that what authors normally put in their books after a character tells someone something that's been troubling?

Well, he felt none of that. The heaviness was still there, and there was no relief to make him feel any better. The memories still haunted him and he was sure they would continue to for many more years to come, most likely to his death. The heavy feeling would never go away, he knew that now, it may become easier to live with, but that feeling would always be there, no matter how much he ran from it.

"What you three went through was more than anyone needs in an entire lifetime," Ben said with a sigh and a shake of his head. The trio didn't respond to that, merely staring at the table.

"I wish I had found you three so I could have beat those damn bastards to a pulp," Shanks said with a pout, Ben rolling his eyes at his Captains antics.

"I wish I had been awake to do the same thing," Ace muttered, now pouting as well. This time Sabo rolled his eyes, though a smile did form at the now light-hearted mood that was beginning to take form. Shanks sighed again, sitting up once more.

"That was a hell of a story and I'm glad you three are ok. If any of you need anything don't hesitate to ask, I mean it." Shanks said, the brothers all nodding, sure that, if necessary, they would take the man up on that offer.

"Now that that's settled... how about a party?! You three need to fatten up and a party is the best way to do that! Ben, tell the chefs to get started on the cooking, and tell them we've got some bottomless pits that need filling too!" Shanks ordered with a smile, turning the entire mood around. Ben chuckled lightly, shaking his head as he stood.

"Aye aye, Captain," Ben said as he left the room. Shanks turned to the brothers with smiles.

"Come on boys, let's go start the celebration!"

Shanks and Ben know the whole story now! This was a bit of a filler chapter, but the brothers kind of... needed to tell someone about everything they went through. Even though they don't want to talk about it, it'll be good for them to have that person they can confide in about their history with the facility, and for them, Shanks is that person.

On a side-note, I actually have an extremely busy day today, so I have to make this authors note short, but I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter I think will be more light-hearted then this one was, not so heavy, so there's that to look forward to!

I love all of you and you couldn't possibly imagine how motivating it is to see all the support you guys give this story! I hope to continue making you guys happy the same way you all make me happy.

See you next week!