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 31: Like Lambs to the Slaughter

It was silent in the brothers' room. No one was speaking and no one was going to. They were all scattered around the room, Luffy on the bed staring at the ceiling, Ace laying against the door, head in his knees, and Sabo was sitting at the desk, holding his head in his hands.

The air was thick with tension but none of them had it in them to try and get rid of it. They just wanted to sit in silence and worry, wanted to overthink all the outcomes of seeing their grandfather.

Whatever happened today would be the deciding factor in the brothers' lives. If Garp decided he wanted nothing to do with them? They would have to flee, probably go after Shanks and hope he would help like he had said he would. If Garp accepted them? They might end up returning home, see Makino and Dadan and the bandits again. If Garp took them and forced them to become marines that instant? Needless to say, they would do the same thing as in option one.

There were so many outcomes and possibilities swirling in their heads that they couldn't even focus on worrying about just one of them. Ever since they had gotten out of the facility their lives had been filled with more stress and nervousness then ever before. The whole point of escaping the facility was supposed to be for them to finally be free. Free of these bad feelings, free of people trying to control them, free of anyone who could hurt them, but at the moment, they were basically trapped in a glorified facility where the Pirates were the Doctors instead.

Time must have passed much quicker than the brothers had realized because in no time at all Sabo could hear shouts on the deck of someone spotting Garp's ship. He knew that this meant someone would be sent to get them and that he should tell Ace and Luffy, but at the moment, all he wanted to do was curl up in the bed and sleep for a year.

"He's here." Sabo eventually managed to say, his voice coming out in a soft whisper of regret. Ace and Luffy heard it none-the-less and soon Ace was standing and moving away from the door while Luffy shuffled off the bed, fidgeting with his straw hat.

Sabo made his way to the door, barely making it on time to open it after the first knock sounded, coming face to face with Izo. He couldn't say that he expected the 16th division commander to be the one there. Normally it was Marco, and if not him it was Thatch, but instead there was Izo, smiling and waving to the three.

"I came to tell you that Garp is here," Izo said calmly. Sabo nodded, putting on at least a tiny smile.

"Thank you, Commander. We should probably be on our way then." Sabo said. Izo began walking away, expecting the brothers to follow, and they did, filing out of their rooms and heading down the hall to the deck.

It was a strange sense of Deja Vu for them and Sabo was beginning to think that this hallway would always be filled with their feelings of discomfort because every time they walked down it they were on their way to do something that terrified the brothers to no end.

Reaching the end of the hall the brothers shared a glance, steeling themselves for any of the many outcomes they had come up with in their head to happen outside the door.

'We can't run now... can we?' Ace asked, eyeing the door to the deck wearily as Izo moved closer and closer to opening it.

'I wish.' Sabo responded, holding back a snort. Luffy shifted nervously, gaining their attention.

'Grandpa'll still like us right?' Luffy asked. He hadn't said anything, but that was the scariest part to Luffy, that his Grandfather wouldn't like them anymore because of what happened. Sabo and Ace didn't know what to say. On one hand, they didn't want to give the boy false hope if Garp ended up hating them, but on the other, they didn't want him to walk out there thinking that his grandfather was going to hate him.

'We just have to go and find out Lu. I'm sure everything will work out in the end.' Sabo decided on saying eventually, Ace sighing in relief that Sabo had handled it. Luffy nodded mutely, looking to the ground and grabbing his brothers' hands, holding them tightly and relishing in the warm feelings coming from Ace and Sabo. He knew they were nervous, he didn't need his powers to know that, but he was grateful that they were still trying to keep him happy. It may be a little selfish of the youngest, but it made him happy.

Izo opened the door, oblivious to the silent conversation happening behind him, and they were finally out on the deck. Ace scanned it quickly, using his superior vision to scan even the farthest end of the deck, making sure there was no threat at all that could harm him or his brothers. He continued scanning until his eyes landed on Garp, taking in the appearance of the man he knew from long ago.

He looked different, his black hair fading to a grey now, though there was still a bit of black there, and he had more wrinkles then he remembered, or maybe he just never noticed them in the first place. For the most part, the man looked the same, still big and burly, still an intimidating figure, but there was something about him that seemed more... subdued then he remembered. His big smile was gone, the childish air he normally held was gone, and he looked much more depressed then Ace ever remembered seeing him before.

Ace hadn't realized he'd been staring at the man for so long until they were right up to him, all three of them gazing at their grandfather while he did the same back.

Luffy still hadn't looked up yet, hadn't seen his grandfather. He was too scared, scared that if he did he would just see hatred in the man's eyes, and Luffy didn't know what was worse, Shanks taking back his hat or seeing hate in Garp's eyes. He tried reaching out, tried to tell what the man was feeling, and all he got was an overall feeling of nervousness which confused Luffy. He didn't know that the man could even feel nervous. He was always so brave and strong, what did he have to fear? He could also feel an underlying tone of happiness and Luffy took that as a good sign.

"Hey there Garp." Sabo managed to say weakly, using his free hand to wave a bit. The blonde could barely keep his legs from shaking as he stood in front of the man who once chased him and his brothers through the jungle for hours on end in the name of 'training'.

It was like a dam broke at those words though. Tears gathered in Garp's eyes and were falling just as quickly as he charged forward, the brothers too shocked to move. In seconds they were engulfed in his arms, all squished together tightly, painfully.

"I'm so glad you boys are ok!" The marine cried out loudly, the brothers quickly becoming uncomfortable with the situation.

"Geez you shitty gramps, you've gotten soft haven't ya?" Ace asked weakly, prompting Garp to nearly drop the three.

"I told you to call me Grandpa you ungrateful brats!" Garp roared, remembering quickly that Sabo had called him Garp. The two oldest flinched, remembering what usually followed that exclamation. Preparing themselves for the painful hits they were surprised when they never came. Peaking open their previously closed eyes they saw that Garp had been stopped by Luffy, the youngest having run into their grandfathers' arms and hugging him, and though he made no sound it was obvious by the slight shaking that the boy was crying.

"Jii-jii~! I'm sorry we got caught, and we were taken, and they hurt us, and I'm sorry!" It was almost like when they saw Shanks all over again. Garp looked shocked for a minute before he was crying again, hugging Luffy tightly in his arms. No one had the heart to say anything within this moment. Ace and Sabo watched on silently, neither one wanting to interrupt the two. It looked like they both needed this.

After a few moments, the two finally began to calm down and Garp set Luffy back down.

"Where have you boys been?" Garp asked, his voice rougher than it normally was, but they ignored that, Ace and Sabo glancing at each other while Luffy wiped away his remaining tears.

"Ah, well, why don't we go talk about that somewhere a bit more... private?" Sabo suggested nervously, glancing at the many eyes on them, all waiting for them to spill about what had happened to them in the facility. Understanding that this was an important topic Garp's expression became much more serious and he nodded.

"We can go to my ship then and discuss things there." Garp offered, the three nodding in agreement.

"Whitebeard, we'll be back shortly. Thank you for taking care of my brats." Garp said, addressing Whitebeard now. The giant Captain nodded to the marine, smiling.

"It was no problem, Garp." He said. With that the brothers were following their grandfather onto a marine ship, the marines saluting at once. Garp gave some orders, one of them being for no one to disturb them, and they began making their way to a private room, much like they had done on Shanks' ship.

Once they were settled and Sabo was sure there was no one lingering close enough to the room for them to listen in on them, he launched into another retelling of their long seven years apart, feeling no qualms about hiding anything that happened from Garp. That didn't mean he was happy telling it, but he didn't skirt around the truth when it came to their abilities and weaknesses. He talked about Aces devil fruit, his and Luffy's slight resistance to seastone and water in general, all of their heightened senses, their fear of doctors and nurses, Luffy's abilities. All of it.

Luffy had left like last time as Sabo told Garp about what happened when Luffy got his abilities and the blonde could see the fiery hatred in Garp's eyes, his fists clenching painfully tight as he tried to keep the anger from coming out.

By the time he finished Sabo felt exhausted, having relieved his entire time in the facility for the second time in two days. It wasn't pleasant to think about any day and when he had to relive every moment it was worse.

When he was finished, Ace and Luffy sitting beside him once more, they waited for Garp's response, wondering how the man would react.

"I'm sorry..." He said, his face morphing from anger to shame, shocking the brothers even more. That was probably the last emotion they expected their grandfather to show.

"Sorry? For what?" Ace asked, leaning forward slightly in his chair, curiosity taking hold of him. Luffy shifted uncomfortably as he felt the shame Garp was feeling almost double, making him feel shameful himself even though he had nothing to be ashamed of.

"That place, the facility, its... it's a government-run building," Garp said softly. The brothers' eyes widened in shock, even Luffys. He knew enough to know what that meant.

"W-what?! Y-you mean-..." Sabo couldn't form a coherent sentence anymore as he felt panic begin to rise in his chest, knowing he should try to control it. By the looks of it, Ace felt the same way, his eyes wide and darting around the room, already looking for a way to escape.

If that place was a government-run building, as in the marines controlled it, then they were literally surrounded by their worst enemy.

They were the mice who had willingly walked right back into the mouse trap after having just escaped from it.

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

"They've been over there for a while, don't you think?" Thatch asked. He was leaning over the railing, his chin in his hands as he stared at the marine ship. Beside him, Namur rolled his eyes.

"They're seeing their grandfather for the first time in, what was it? Seven years? They have a lot of catching up to do. Besides, don't you have lunch to be making right now?" Namur asked. It was nearly noon now and the chef had been standing at the railing the entire time since the brothers had left.

"Yeah," Thatch started with a sigh, standing up straight and dusting off his clothes, lighting a cigarette.

"I guess I'll go do that then. Tell me when they get back." Thatch mumbled, beginning to walk away.

"You're getting too attached Thatch, they have a family that they're probably going to return to now," Namur said, knowing his brother was sometimes much too caring and would only be heartbroken when the boys had to go.

"So what if I get attached? How can you not?!" Thatch asked, raising his arms in exaggeration as he continued to walk away from the fish man. Namur shook his head, a smile playing on his lips at his brothers' antics.

"Well, I guess you're right about that one Thatch," Namur mumbled, taking Thatch's place as he leaned over the railing.

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

"Y-you tricked us! You let them take us there!" Ace accused, jumping out of his seat, pulling Luffy with him as he did. Sabo wanted to argue against Ace, tell him to calm down, tell him Garp wouldn't do that, but it had been exactly what he had been thinking as well. He found himself scooting away from the table, getting ready to stand as well.

"You let them take us for seven years and didn't even come for us!" Ace continued, his wide panicked eyes narrowing in anger.

"Ace-"

"And now what?! You want to take us back?!" Ace asked, squeezing tightly at Luffys hand. The youngest of the three looked petrified, looking at Garp with a look of betrayal. He was too panicked because of Ace and Sabo's emotions as well as his own to even feel anything Garp might be feeling, and he didn't trust himself to take down a wall to see what color surrounded his grandfather. He was terrified that if he did successfully take the wall down he would see a familiar black surrounding the marine, but he was also terrified that he was too panicked and would take down both walls and end up seeing the man's memories as well.

"Well, I'm not gonna let you you bastard!" Ace finished, already starting to move for the door. Before he could reach it though, the marine blocked it, placing his hands on the fiery teens' shoulders.

"Ace, listen to me!" Garp pleaded. Ace was going to retort, about to flame up so Garp would let go of him, but the man continued.

"I didn't have anything to do with it! I didn't know you had been taken to the facility! If I had I would have-... I would've found you and gotten you out." Garp said, his hands slipping from Aces shoulders as he spoke, dropping back to his side as he looked at the ground, glaring and clenching his fists again. It was silent and tense in the room, a feeling the brothers had become highly accustomed to by now.

"And why should we believe you?" Ace growled out. The marine looked up, opening his mouth to respond, but sighed and closed it, looking back down.

"You shouldn't, and you don't have to. If you don't want to that's fine, I'll take you to any island you want and let you three go, never see me again, or I'll even let you just stay with the Whitebeards and decide things from there. But please, believe me, I would never do that to you boys, you're my grandsons." Garp pleaded. Everyone lapsed into silence again, and Luffy tried calming down so he could feel Garp's emotions. He could only feel sincerity from the man which made Luffy believe his grandfather was telling the truth.

'Not lying.' Luffy tapped to Ace and Sabo. Sabo, who had stood up once Ace started charging for the door, walked up behind Ace, placing a hand on his shoulder to calm the hot head down.

"We believe you, or at least, Luffy and I do. Ace might need a while to cool off." Sabo said carefully, as calmly as he could. Garp nodded, sighing again.

"I understand." He said, shuffling back to his seat and sitting down. Sabo looked at Ace who was staring at the door, glaring as he thought.

'You can go if you want Ace, but I'm staying to keep talking.' Sabo tapped out, already turning to sit back down as well. Luffy looked between his brothers with worry, feeling the anger rolling off of Ace, being careful not to let it get to him by feeling the peace and calm coming from Sabo. Mind made up Luffy turned as well, sitting back down beside Sabo.

Everyone waited, watching to see what Ace would do, and after many moments of silence he finally gave out a huff of annoyance, spinning on his heels and shuffling back to his chair beside Luffy, grumbling all the while.

"So... it's a government-run facility. Did you know about what they did there?" Sabo asked, because if Garp did know and allowed it to exist that would be almost as bad as him ratting them out and sending them there himself.

"No, of course not, only Sengoku and a few other really high ups know what happens there. I only know that its a government building where they're doing some sort of testing. I didn't know it was human experiments, on children no less." He said with a scowl. Sabo nodded.

"When I found out you three disappeared I had my men looking everywhere for you. We searched all the blues and when we didn't find you there I knew you were on the Grand Line or even the New World which made it much harder to find you. I asked for Akagamis help and he asked for Whitebeards help. Thank God he happened to be on that island, I don't want to even think about what could have happened instead." Garp said, shaking his head and looking down again.

The brothers shivered at the thought as well. Ace and Sabo would probably still be locked up there, and if they were lucky Luffy would have left the island, but even then, his chance of surviving out on the sea by himself was slim to none.

"The Marines know that the facility has been destroyed and have already sent people to try and get whatever they can from the building. Seeing as you were there for so long you were the center of many of their tests and because of that, the marines know of you. They don't know that it's you specifically, all they've got on you is your numbers, the ones on your wrist. They're already having search parties sent out to locate and recapture any escapees and they especially want you three back." Garp said, worry lacing his tone. Panic filled the brothers again at those words.

So there were people coming after them then. In that case, it was probably a really bad idea to try and go back to Dawn Island and pretend nothing had happened. What would happen if a search party came and found them? Would they hurt the people there just to get them back? They didn't want to find out.

"The good news is, they don't have any clue what you three look like. The most they know is your powers, devil fruit abilities and all, and roughly your age. If you refrain from showing others your powers and the numbers on your wrists then you should be safe." Garp continued softly as if someone was listening in on them, which Sabo was sure there wasn't seeing as he hadn't heard anyone get closer and none of them could sense anyone with their haki.

"That's great and all, but what now? Do we just go back home and forget any of this happened? Hide for the rest of our lives?" Ace asked, fury at being powerless once again taking form in him. Garp sighed, leaning back in his chair, shaking his head.

"No, it's too dangerous. Even though Dawn Island is known to be protected by me that obviously didn't stop them from getting you the first time. I've... got an idea, but I don't think you three will like it all that much." Garp said with a resigned tone. Ace raised an eyebrow, his frown deepening.

"We're not becoming Marines if that's your big idea." He stated bluntly. Their grandfather shook his head.

"No, that's not it, besides, it would be a bad idea to try and make you three marines now, they would find out too easily who you are," Garp said, shocking the brothers. Garp had been a poster boy for the marines, always boasting that it would be the best and only place the boys would end up in their lives, and now he was telling them that it was the worst place for them and that they shouldn't join?

"Oh..." Ace said dumbly, clearly shocked.

"What's your plan then?" Sabo asked.

"I think you should stay with the Whitebeard Pirates."

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

"Are they back yet?"

"No Thatch."

"How 'bout now?"

"Still no."

"Noooww~?"

"No."

"But what about-"

"Thatch, I swear to Kami, if you ask if their back one more time I'm going to cut your hair off." Thatch gasped at the threat.

"Izo! You wouldn't dare!" Thatch cried. Izo turned a glare on the chef.

"Try me."

Thatch eeped, clutching his precious hair and running back into the kitchen.

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

Omake:

The Red Force crawled slowly yet surely across the waters. The winds had died down a bit and any good progress they had been making to the next island had stopped, the sails pushing the ship along lazily with every small gust of wind.

The crew milled along lazily, much like the wind, finding no motivation to do anything that involved more than walking a few feet. After seeing the brothers and the party that had ensued, the pirates of the Red-Haired Captains crew were all fighting their massive hangovers, headaches throbbing and light blinding them.

That didn't stop the loud yelling from coming from the Captain's quarters though.

"-Can't believe they've been there for seven years!" Inside, their Captain Shanks was ranting to his first mate Benn, the two having been in there ever since they had left the brothers with the Whitebeards. They didn't know what had happened to their favorite anchor and his brothers, but from the yelling they've heard so far, it was nothing good.

"Seven years, Benn! I should have asked Whitebeard if there were any surviving bastards so I can go kill them. Better yet, let's go find a necromancer or something! Someone who can bring them back to life just so I can kill them again! Surely someones got some kind of devil fruit that'll make that work!" Yassopp and Lucky Roo shared a glance at the words, wondering just what these people had done to piss their Captain off this much.

Well, they did take their little Anchor, but they felt that something really bad must have happened to him for their Captain to go this all out.

"What do you mean that's too crazy an idea?! Fine, how about someone who can damn their souls to hell for all eternity? Do you think we could manage that?" Shanks' voice was bordering desperate, but more of a wild desperate that threatened violence along with it if his demands weren't met.

"Hey, does anyone else see that ship over there?" Someone near the railing asked. Yassopp looked, realizing that there did seem to be a quickly approaching ship.

"Ah, marines. Think they're here about our little visit to Whitebeard?" Yassopp asked. Lucky Roo shrugged beside him, taking a chunk out of the meat he was holding.

"Who knows. Who wants to go tell the Captain?" Lucky Roo asked, everyone quickly calling out not its. The poor unfortunate soul who hadn't said anything had been too preoccupied nursing his headache to pay any attention.

"Looks like you're up Richie. Knock 'em dead!" Someone said, Richie looking up in confusion. Once he was briefed about what was happening he paled, swallowed, then nodded, standing and nervously heading to the Captains cabin.

The yelling had yet to die down, mind you.

There was a cease in the yelling momentarily, most likely because Richie had interrupted him, before the yelling was back, louder than ever.

"And now these bastards are here too! Good, I need a good fight!" Shanks' voice got louder as he walked out of the cabin, face red with anger and eyes blazing as he narrowed in on the Marine ship. Benn walked out behind him, shaking his head, though he looked annoyed as well.

"Damn, I was hoping it'd be bigger than that."

Needless to say, the Marines didn't even know what hit them.

Bum-Bum-Buuuuuum~!

The facility is run by the Marines, and Garp's suggested the brothers stay with Whitebeard. Despite the fact that the only thing Garp ever wanted for the brothers was for them to be safe and in the marines, as he said, that would only put them in more danger seeing as all someone would have to do was see their numbers to know who they were.

The facility being government-run also explains a few things, like why Garp couldn't find them easily, why the people who worked there didn't spill anything to the pirates, and, if you remember, why Luffy always saw the doctors meeting with Marines before they ended up working at the facility when he saw their memories. It also explains why the facility was so secretive and why they destroyed all their test results and documents once there was a threat of them being found out. The Marines would look bad if the public found out they were experimenting on children.

Speaking of, its still a mystery why the marines were experimenting on children, but that will be revealed much later on.

Also, thank you all for the amazing reviews that you've been leaving! They motivate me more then you could imagine, and I've gotten quite a few chapters written ahead of time, so you all don't need to worry about me abandoning this story. Not to mention, we're almost at 400 reviews! That's absolutely bonkers!

I've never actually used the word bonkers before... strange.

Anyways, thank you all sooo~ much. I could never express to you all how grateful I am for all the love and support you all show this story, from reviews, favorites, follows, or even views!