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 33: Getting Situated
After Garp stopped chasing Ace he finished saying his goodbyes before he boarded his own ship, promising to visit again when he could. The brothers waved as he sailed off, much like they had done with Shanks, but this time, no one else was coming. They were going to be stuck with the Whitebeard pirates for a while.
'What now?' Ace asked when they finally finished waving. Sabo sighed.
'We can't get away with hiding away in our room all day anymore, we might as well stay out for a bit.' Sabo responded reluctantly, glancing at their surroundings and noticing they were once again the center of the Whitebeard Pirates' attention.
'You'd think they'd know not to stare by now.' Ace responded with a sour look as he continued glaring at everyone. Sabo sighed as the brothers turned and began walking off in a random direction.
'Curious people stare Ace, its just what they do.' Sabo said as he took in their surroundings. Now that they knew they were going to be here a while they should at least get used to the layout of the giant ship.
'Yeah, well, they shouldn't be so damn curious.' Ace tapped, but even he was looking around to better orient himself. Luffy was glancing around as well, using his sense of smell so that he could place smells with objects or people.
He was listening to his brothers tapping, following their silent conversation with ease even if he couldn't see it as he focused on a bundle of rope that smelled especially salty, probably having been in the ocean not too long ago. Looking around some more he noticed a familiar sweet scent, turning to find that it was coming from lady-not-lady who was making their way towards them.
He wasn't worried about the lady-not-lady hurting him or his brothers, after all, they were projecting only calm and even happy feelings and their color had been blue last time Luffy checked so he focused more on their scent, doing his best to remember it.
'Izo.' That's right, that was lady-not-lady's name. Sabo's tap alerted Ace to the presence of the commander and he tensed slightly before continuing to walk normally as if he didn't know the commander was there.
"Ace, Sabo, Luffy," Izo's words had the brothers stopping, Luffy peering up at his brothers, gauging their reactions. Sabo looked like he was steeling himself, taking a deep breath before smiling and turning to face the man, Ace turning as well, though the only thing he did was hold back a scowl, while Luffy turned timidly. He didn't know how to feel about lady-not-lady. On one hand, they were nice, that much Luffy knew, and they hadn't done anything to hurt him or his brothers so far, and he had a good color and good feelings too, so that helped, but they didn't know much about him at all, and that was enough for Luffy to be cautious.
"Commander," Sabo said, nodding in greeting. Izo waved the word off.
"Call me Izo. Seeing as we're going to be shipmates for a while there's no use keeping up formalities." Izo said, smiling once more. There was a bit of hesitance but Sabo nodded none the less.
"Anyways, I just thought I'd come by and give you guys a better tour. We didn't think you would be staying with us that long so Marco only showed you the important places." Izo said with a shrug.
'Do we have to?' Ace tapped out, and Sabo could practically hear the whine.
'It would be helpful Ace, besides, we were already going to look around, this way we'll actually know where we are.' Sabo tapped back, Ace holding back a pout. Even though the eldest knew they were going to be there a long time, and he knew they would be seeing a lot of the pirates, that didn't mean he was volunteering to go spend time with them willingly.
'Lady-not-lady's nice.' Luffy tapped simply, having been checking Izo's feelings as his brothers discussed what to do.
'Izo, Luffy, their name's Izo.' Sabo corrected, not wanting Luffy to mention that nickname to the pirate in case they took offense to it.
"Thank you Izo, that would be much appreciated," Sabo said with an easy smile. Izo nodded, moving to be in front of the brothers as he gestured to the area they were already in.
"Well, in that case, for starters, this is the way to the stern of the ship," Izo started, gesturing to the set of stairs in front of them, all of them beginning to make their way up them. As they moved along from one side of the deck to the next Izo explained to them what each part of the ship was and what it did or what you could find there. This went on for a bit, the group even venturing a bit inside at one point.
"And over there is the helm, and over here is where everyone likes to do most of their fishing," Sabo took in everything Izo said, because he had no clue how long he and his brothers would be there, so any information was important information.
'We almost done? I wanna take a nap.' Ace said, and Sabo could see that the fiery teens' eyes were beginning to droop slightly. Even though he had gotten a good nights sleep on Shanks' ship the eldest was still tired after having more than a few sleepless nights on the Moby. The stress hadn't helped either, along with his insomnia and narcolepsy and Sabo was hoping that Ace wouldn't have an attack right now when they were surrounded by pirates on all sides.
'Well, we've seen the entire deck now, and a bit of the inside... I could ask Izo for a break for now but we'd have to finish this later.' Sabo said as he thought it all out. Ace suppressed a yawn and Sabo knew they were going to have to cut this short.
"I'm sorry Izo, but seeing as the ship is so big, do you think we could continue this tour later? Shanks' party ran a little late last night and we're all a bit tired still." Sabo said apologetically, forcing a yawn, finding that it wasn't that hard to do so. Even he was feeling a bit tired, and by Luffy's slightly sluggish movements and lack of response during the conversation, he was tired as well.
Seeing this, Izo nodded, smiling to the three.
"Of course, you three go take a nap," Izo said with a wave. Sabo responded with a wave of his own as he and his brothers turned toward their room.
"Thank you Izo, see you later," Sabo said, not waiting for a response as they walked away.
The walk back was made in silence, the brothers ignoring any lingering stares from pirates who hadn't seen them since they got back from Garp's ship. They had only just closed the door to their room when Ace slumped to the ground, only slightly alarming Sabo and Luffy before they got over it, Sabo picking the hot head up and carrying him to the bed.
"Well, at least he had good timing," Sabo said as he finally laid Ace down, Luffy yawning loudly behind him.
"You should nap too Luffy, I'll stay up for a bit, wait for the hot head to get up," Sabo said with a shrug as if it wasn't a big deal, and, really, it wasn't. Luffy looked at the blonde for a second before nodding, crawling into the bed beside Ace and curling up, enjoying the fact that Ace was practically a radiator.
And that was how it was for the next few hours. Sabo sat at the desk, making patterns in the wood with his finger as he listened to the pirates, listening for anyone talking about them. People were more likely to speak their minds about someone when they didn't think that person was listening. A large number of pirates were mentioning the brothers, but nothing interesting or noteworthy, mostly just confusion, wondering what had happened in the facility or talking about the fact that they were related to Garp or knew Shanks.
"I barely even saw 'em today, but I heard Izo was givin' 'em a tour."
"Really? I thought they would have been in their room."
"A mystery those three, I don't think we'll understand them even if we spend a whole year with 'em."
"Poor kids are already being hunted down by marines."
"It never ceases to amaze me how low marines will stoop to keep something quiet."
Sabo recognized that last voice as being one of the commanders, though Sabo couldn't quite place which one of them it was... Fossa maybe? Or was it Atmos? Sabo hadn't been listening to any one conversation, instead, he was changing from one to another until he happened to hear the commander talking. Before he could listen in more he noticed Aces breathing begin to pick up, an indicator that he was waking up, from a nightmare no less.
Getting up from the desk and stretching Sabo made his way to the bed, already shaking Ace, careful not to wake Luffy as well. It only took a minute to get Ace out of his own nightmare, the eldest bolting upright and looking around frantically.
"Its fine Ace, we're in our room," Sabo said soothingly, watching the panic leave the eldest's eyes as he remembered where he was, recognizing his surroundings. He noticed Luffy sleeping beside him as Sabo began heading back to the desk chair.
"You had another attack so I had Luffy take a nap too. He seemed tired, and I guess you were too, it's been about three hours." Sabo said, taking note that dinner would be started soon.
"I think I woke up after my attack but I ended up going back to sleep." Ace mumbled as if he didn't quite know himself. Sabo raised an eyebrow at him.
"Huh, I didn't notice then." The blonde said, thinking back to the past few hours, not remembering the sound of Ace waking up.
"Really? Whats got you so distracted?" Ace asked, looking around the room as he spoke in a hushed tone. Sabo smiled, shaking his head.
"Nothing much, I was just listening to the pirates talk about us out there," Sabo said with a shrug. Ace frowned now.
"We're a hot topic then, huh?" Ace asked, remembering back when Sabo would listen in on the doctors when they talked about the brothers.
"More like they have nothing more interesting to talk about. The only other thing they talk about is recent pirate attacks or where they're heading next. Apparently, it had been pretty quiet here until they found us." Sabo said with a sigh. The two fell silent after that, and it stayed that way for a few more minutes until Sabo noticed Luffy was starting to have another nightmare.
"Wake him up," Sabo said, nodding his head to Luffy. Ace frowned but nodded, knowing that meant the youngest was having a nightmare. All three of the brothers were plagued with nightmares nearly daily, every other day if they were lucky, but Luffy tended to have the worst nightmares of the three, enough to make him more resigned for even hours after having them.
Ace was already shaking the youngest, whispering soothing things to calm him down, and within a few minutes the raven was waking up in much the same way Ace had, bolting upright with panicked eyes that darted all around the room.
It seemed he had had one of his worse nightmares if the sweat on his face and the wild look in his eyes were any indications. Sabo frowned as he once again stood from the chair and went to the bed moving closer to help comfort the youngest with Ace.
"Hey, everything's ok Luffy, we're all ok," Sabo said soothingly, Ace nodding from where he sat.
"Yeah, we're fine, it was just another nightmare." Ace said in an equally calming voice, rubbing Luffys back. Luffy rubbed his eyes, almost a little too hard, and shook his head, crawling out of the bed.
"Wanna go outside," Luffy mumbled, not even waiting for his brothers which shocked them slightly. Even though the youngest had a nightmare he was about to willingly go outside where there were tons of pirates, and he wasn't even waiting for Ace or Sabo. Whether the boy thought that the two would follow him anyways or he just didn't care, they didn't know, but either way Ace and Sabo scrambled out of the bed, rushing up to Luffy.
"Wait, Luffy, hold on," Sabo said, taking the littlest's hand in his, slowing his brothers fast pace before he could reach the door.
"Yeah Lu, you do know there are about a few hundred people out there right? Are you sure you want to go out there right now?" Ace asked with a worried expression as he looked over Luffy, wondering if his brother was beginning to go crazy. Luffy merely frowned at his brothers, moving his free hand forward and grabbing the doorknob before they could protest anymore. Even though Sabo had a hold on Luffy's other hand that didn't stop the rubber man from leaving the room, forcing Sabo to let go of his brother to keep from anyone seeing Luffy's arm stretching as he walked away.
"Luffy!" Ace and Sabo hissed quietly as they ran after the youngest, barely remembering to close their door behind them. The straw-hatted boy didn't respond, continuing to walk briskly down the hallway and out onto the deck, ignoring any looks from the pirates as he moved to the railing and climbed onto it swiftly, taking off his hat and staring at the sea with a solemn expression.
Ace and Sabo, who had followed the youngest, glanced at each other with worry, not having seen Luffy act like this before from a nightmare. Not wanting to cause a scene though they resumed their normal positions, Ace sitting on the ground and keeping an eye out while Sabo joined their brother on the railing, also looking at the sea.
It was around five in the evening now, the sky beginning to turn orange as it slowly got darker. The trio sat in silence, Ace and Sabo still thoroughly confused as to what was happening with Luffy and not knowing quite how to address it. The pirates seemed to notice the tenseness in the youngest and the worry in Ace and Sabo, many of them shooting them curious glances because of this, but all they could do was ignore it.
'Luffy?' Sabo tried, deciding now was not a time to talk, especially with everyone around them listening in.
Luffy gave no indication that he was going to respond, and Sabo was ready to leave it at that, but almost reluctantly Luffy responded, his taps slow and soft, almost too quiet for Ace to hear them.
'Sorry' The two eldest frowned at this, Sabo bumping shoulders lightly with Luffy in an attempt to cheer the youngest up.
'There's nothing to be sorry for Lu, its ok, you didn't do anything wrong.' Sabo said, Ace nodding in agreement. Luffy frowned, shaking his head.
'I worried Ace and Sabo, and I made you guys come out here even though I knew you two were nervous and scared and you didn't want to come out here but I couldn't stay in there cause I couldn't breathe and it was small and stuffy and I wanted to see the ocean, and-' Sabo had to forcibly stop Luffy's ramblings, covering the teens hand with his own. Luffy hesitated, realizing he had been tapping louder than he had meant, some pirates turning at the noise but shrugging it off once they realized what it was.
'Sorry...' Luffy tapped out again, much softer as he hung his head, still frowning.
'Really Lu, its fine, Ace and I understand. You had a nightmare and it messed you up a bit more than Ace and I thought it would. Its ok, it happens." Sabo tapped reassuringly. It went silent again as Sabo and Ace began sending warm pulses to Luffy, trying to show that they forgave him. He knew that Luffy could feel the sincerity coming from him, but sometimes the youngest would ignore those things when he was convinced of something otherwise.
'Are you feeling better?' Sabo eventually asked after a few minutes. Slowly Luffy nodded, grabbing his hat off his head and twirling it in his fingers, a small smile blossoming on his face.
'Yeah... Ace and Sabo are the best!' Luffy responded, laughing quietly. Sabo laughed a bit as well, ruffling Luffy's hair fondly.
"And don't you forget it." Ace spoke up, turning to look at Luffy as well. Luffys smile widened as he looked back at Ace.
"Mm!" Luffy hummed happily, any bad feelings from his nightmare gone now.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Marco watched the brothers carefully from where he stood against one of the Mobys many masts. He, as well as many other brothers of his, had noticed the tenseness that was surrounding the brothers when they had reemerged from their room after their nap.
Worried that something had happened Marco had decided to keep an eye on the three, debating whether he should go over and say anything or not.
The brothers had been a mystery to everyone on the Moby ever since they had gotten there. even to Marco. Even from the beginning, they were doing things that only raised more questions in the first mates' mind rather than answering anything.
He remembered when the brothers had first gotten their own room, a room he knew for a fact had two separate beds, but after only a few hours the three had managed to somehow move the beds together despite the fact that they were bolted to the ground. Not only that, but there had been the time Sabo had abruptly shut the door in his face when he was getting them for a meal. At the time Marco kept a closer eye on them, thinking something was wrong, but they gave no indication that anything was out of the ordinary so Marco decided not to question it.
There was also the time the youngest, Luffy, had practically fainted during one of the meals after acting strangely and staring at Oyaji. No one had gotten any answers other then the boy was tired, but that didn't explain why the boy had been so interested in Oyaji or what he had been looking for before he had fainted. Even Whiskey couldn't find anything wrong, so once again, they were left with no other option but to move on and wonder about it privately, because they weren't going to get any answers from the brothers.
Not only were the brothers mysterious in every sense of the word, but they also seemed to be resourceful when necessary. Before the pirates knew that they needed larger quantities of food the brothers had done a good job at hiding that fact, not complaining in the slightest or giving any indication that they were still hungry. There was also the time that they had managed to cut their hair without anyone noticing, showing that, if they needed something, they wouldn't bother asking anyone for help finding it, they would just manage to do it themselves.
Marco and Whitebeard had had many conversations in private about how puzzling the brothers were, but neither of them got any closer to figuring them out.
Marco was pulled from his thoughts when he noticed Luffy was tapping his fingers against the railing loudly. He couldn't see the boys face, but he could see the worried look that Sabo gave him, and after a few seconds of the loud rapping Sabo stopped it, covering the youngest's hand with his own.
Luffy froze up as if he hadn't realized he was tapping in the first place before he hung his head, but Marco didn't miss the minute movement of his fingers as he once again tapped against the railing, much quieter then he had before.
The first commander narrowed his eyes at that, remembering how many times he'd seen the brothers tapping like that. Whether it was against their legs, on the table, or on a railing, the brothers seemed to have a habit of tapping. Marco wondered if it was a nervous habit or something they did unconsciously.
The tension around the brothers increased for a second as Luffy hung his head, but within a few minutes that tension dissipated and Luffy was grabbing the hat off his head, smiling along with his brothers, Sabo ruffling the youngest's hair fondly while Ace seemed to say something that Luffy easily agreed to.
Marco sighed, shaking his head as he smiled slightly, moving away from the mast to go join Whitebeard.
Well, at least things on the Moby were going to be interesting for a while with those brothers around.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
After Luffy had cheered up he no longer wanted to sit at the railing, wanting to explore the ship a bit. Ace and Sabo saw no harm in it, they were already surrounded by pirates, what difference would it make if they were on the other side of the deck instead of by the railing?
They were trying to get used to being around large amounts of people, but it wasn't easy. Even though they were able to be near them the feelings of discomfort and the anxiety they got didn't make it seem worth it. Luffy obviously felt the same but was still forcing himself to at least try and explore the ship.
The three eventually moved away from the railing, slowly making their way through the many mingling pirates as they moved across the deck, using all of their senses to make sure no one got too close or tried hurting them.
The three explored the areas they had seen on their tour with Izo, Luffy familiarizing himself with the smells associated with each spot before they would move on. They did this for a bit before they heard the bell that signaled it was dinner time. Everyone began filing towards the galley, but the brothers hung back at the stern of the ship, waiting for everyone to already be inside before they made their way there as well.
"Man, this crew is huge." Ace muttered as they watched the many crewmates playfully shoving and laughing together as they filed into the galley.
"It is the strongest man's crew, so really it's not all that surprising," Sabo said with a shrug as he watched all the pirates carefully.
'Lazy face is coming.' Luffy tapped, having smelled the man ascending the opposite set of stairs, already spotting the odd haircut peeking around the corner as the man hunched slightly forward before straightening back up, making his way to the brothers.
"Told Thatch not to leave those stupid poles on the stairs, yoi." The man muttered to himself, though the brothers were able to pick it up. Apparently, the man had tripped making his way up the stairs, explaining the hunch he had before.
"Hello there First Commander." Sabo greeted with a smile, suppressing a laugh at the man's misfortune. Marco glanced over at the brothers, scanning over them quickly before nodding back in greeting.
"Just Marco is fine. What are you three doing here? Dinners ready." Marco said with a raised eyebrow. Sabo smiled a bit to the man, shrugging.
"We thought we'd wait for it to get less crowded before we went," Sabo said, gesturing to the many pirates still trying to get into the room. Marco nodded, making a noise of understanding.
"What are you doing?" Ace asked bluntly, slightly shocking the man with the fact that he had spoken. He recovered quickly though, responding with a slight hint of frustration.
"Well, it seems Thatch forgot something up here that he wanted me to get him, yoi. He also forgot to pick up his fishing poles too." Marco said, sending a glare to the objects that were out of sight.
"What'd he forget?" Luffy asked a bit timidly. Marco was once again surprised, because as rare as it was to hear Ace talk it was even rarer to hear Luffy talk. Once again though he got over it.
"His lighter. Apparently, it fell out of his pocket when he was messing around with Haruta and he's stuck in the kitchen so I told him I'd get it for him, yoi." Marco explained, glancing around for the item, though having no clue where to start looking. Even though he knew it was in the area it was still a large section to search for such a tiny item and he had a feeling it would take longer than he would like to find it.
Luffy, however, remembered what the lighter looked like, remembering how, when they were escaping, Thatch had used it to light up the dark hallways for them. Luffy took only a second to try remembering the smell before he discreetly sniffed the air, finding the familiar scent in the air.
"Oh, I know where it is!" Luffy said with a smile, Marco turning to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Really? That would make things much easier, yoi." Marco said. Ace and Sabo turned to look at Luffy, slightly confused. The brothers hadn't moved much up here and if Luffy had found the object he most likely would have pointed it out to the brothers, so how did Luffy known where it was?
Despite this Luffy began walking away, everyone following as he moved towards the smaller set of stairs that led even higher up the stern. Beside the stairs was a bundle of rope, coiled together, but Luffy stuck his hand into the middle, pulling out the lighter with ease, turning to hand it to the Commander with a smile.
"Thank you, Luffy, yoi. How did you know it was there?" Marco asked, curious as he took the object from Luffy. The youngest looked a bit nervous for a second before Sabo interrupted.
"Is that what you were talking about when you said you thought you saw something shiny in the rope?" Sabo asked, easily supplying the lie for Luffy, knowing his brother couldn't lie to save his life. Grateful, Luffy grinned, nodding.
"Mm! I remembered it!" Luffy agreed.
"Well thank you again, I think I would have been here searching forever if you hadn't seen it," Marco said gratefully.
"No problem laz-"
"Oh look, it seems things have finally settled down, come on Luffy, let's go eat." Sabo interrupted, hearing Luffy beginning to say his signature nickname for the first commander. Even though the man hadn't seemed to mind too much the first time he heard Luffy say it he didn't want to push it by letting Luffy say it more and more. He was really going to have to start teaching the youngest everyone's names.
"Yeah, come on Lu, Sabo and I'll eat everything if you don't hurry," Ace added, starting to walk away for dramatic effect. Luffy's eyes widened as he glanced from Marco to his now retreating brothers.
"Gotta go! Ace, Sabo, don't eat without me!"
Marco laughed as he watched the youngest run off after his brothers, feeling as if he had just witnessed something special. The brothers had almost seemed relaxed around him, even though Marco could still tell they were on edge when speaking with him.
The first mate looked to the lighter in his hand, twirling it around.
He did find it odd how the straw-hatted boy had found the object so easily, almost as if he had put it there himself. And the oddly nervous look the boy had when Marco questioned him confused him even more. Why would he be nervous answering such an easy question? Sabo had seemed to save the boy from answering though, and that only confused Marco more.
The brothers were definitely a strange trio.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Did you see Thatch's fishing poles on the stairs? Marcos sure gonna talk his ear off for that one." Curiel said with a laugh. The brothers were in the galley, eating their food quietly, listening in on the conversation as they resumed their normal positions, Ace and Luffy on guard while Sabo did any talking necessary.
"Yeah, he's been telling him for weeks to move those things. When do you think he'll finally do it?" Jiru asked. Haruta laughed quietly, confusing the commanders.
"Hopefully not for another week if I can help it," Haruta said casually, taking another bite of his food.
"What are you talking about?" Atmos asked, completely lost. Haruta shrugged.
"I've given myself a little game. Since things started getting boring now that we're back in Paradise I had to find new ways to get entertainment." Haruta said.
"And how does that involve Thatch not putting away his fishing poles?" Rakuyo asked.
"Its simple, every time Thatch looks like he's gonna put him away I distract him. My goal had been a week in the beginning but now we're so close to a month of them being there that I can't quit now!" Haruta explained with determination. The commanders burst out into laughter, Haruta smiling proudly.
"Well, in that case, good luck, let's just hope Marco doesn't find out you're the reason that those things are still there, you'll probably end up with watch duty and clean up for double the amount of time that they've been there," Jozu said, patting Haruta on the back.
"Its the risk that makes it even more fun," Haruta said before continuing with his meal, the commanders laughing once more before the doors opened, Whitebeard entering and sitting in his usual spot.
"Hey there Pops, have you heard about H- Ruta's new game?" Blamenco asked, beginning to slip up at Haruta's name before remembering the brothers sitting quietly at the table. Whitebeard raised an eyebrow, about to question Blamenco about said game, but Haruta began shushing them.
"Shh, shh, here comes Marco," Haruta said in a rushed whisper, trying to look casual as he began eating his food, though it was too forced and only made him look a bit suspicious. Once again the Commanders began laughing, but Marco didn't question it, only sitting down in his usual spot and beginning his meal as well.
"Hey, Marco, where've you been?" Kingdew asked, completely unfazed by the previous conversation. Marco pulled out Thatch's lighter, showing the table.
"I went to look for Thatch's lighter for him, even though the damn idiot left his fishing poles out again." It was obvious to the brothers, Marco, and Whitebeard that some of the commanders were trying to hold back laughter, Haruta sending them all glares, but Izo was composed enough to speak.
"So, you found it? That was fast, I'm surprised no one else found it first then." Izo said, thinking that if anyone saw the lighter on the ground they would notice and take it to the chef, or even Whitebeard. Marco shook his head.
"I didn't find it, yoi, Luffy did," Marco said, moving his head to gesture to Luffy who was eating quietly. The commanders looked to the boy with curious expressions.
"Really? Good job kid." Vista said, smiling to Luffy who shifted a bit, obviously nervous with all the attention directed his way.
"Where was it anyways?" Namur asked, the attention leaving Luffy at the question and turning back to Marco.
"In the rope, we had up there, yoi," Marco responded, confusing the commanders.
"How'd you- ah, they're gone... well, Marco, how'd he know it was there?" Blamenco asked, noticing the brothers had once again run away leaving empty plates behind. Marco merely responded with a shrug.
"Beats me, the kid found it the second I mentioned it though. When I asked him about it he got nervous and Sabo interrupted, yoi. Apparently, he had seen it when they were up there earlier." Marco said, causing a few of them to frown.
"A tiny lighter in a bundle of ropes? Kid must have some damn good eyesight then if that's the case." Curiel said, some nodding in agreement.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Oh, hey you three, you done with dinner already?" The brothers were stopped on their way to their room by Thatch who had just walked out as well. The brothers hesitated, not having expected anyone to stop them. Normally they could get to their room without issue after meal times.
"Ah, yeah, we actually just finished, what are you doing?" Sabo asked, curious seeing as Thatch had been in the kitchen the entire time, not even coming out to say hi like normal, probably busy. Thatch sighed, looking off towards the stern.
"Well, I've been getting a bit distracted lately every time I go to pick those fishing poles up and if I forget anymore Marco's gonna have my hide, so I'm gonna go pick 'em up before I eat." Thatch said, causing the brothers to remember the game Haruta had been playing. Luffy looked like he wanted to say something, probably spill the beans about Haruta, but Ace placed a hand on his brother's mouth, stopping him.
"Oh, well Ruta was looking for you, he said it was important." Ace said with a mischievous glint in his eye, Sabo smiling a bit at that and nodding.
"Really? I shouldn't keep him waiting then, but this should only take a second." Thatch said, seemingly debating what he should do first.
"He mentioned something about your lighter too," Sabo said, putting on a look as if he was thinking back to this imaginary conversation.
"My lighter? Maybe he found it...?" Thatch asked, more to himself as he turned to the galley doors, already walking towards them.
"Thanks, guys, I'll see you later!" Thatch said, entering the galley, fishing poles forgotten. Sabo and Ace snickered, Luffy watching with confusion, having felt his brothers' feelings of deceptiveness and mischief, confused as to why they were lying to the nice chef. He followed them back to their room regardless, though he didn't try to hide his confused expression.
"Why'd you lie to Mr. Chef? He's nice." Luffy said with a bit of a pout. Still smiling Sabo ruffled Luffys hair.
"Ace and I were just playing a bit of a joke on him. Remember how Ruta mentioned he was playing a game with Mr. Chef?" Sabo asked, Luffy nodding with a perplexed expression on his face.
"We were just helping him win." Ace said with a shrug, also smiling. Understanding flashed across Luffy's face at this.
"Oh~! I get it!" Luffy said cheerily, his brothers shaking their heads at Luffy's simple thoughts.
"So how did you know that the chefs lighter was in the ropes?" Ace asked, still curious about it. Luffy beamed, clearly pleased with himself.
"I remembered it from when he helped us escape, so I smelled for it and found it in the ropes! It smelled like Mr. Chef which made me hungry, but it also smells like fire too." Luffy said, tacking on the last bit as more of an afterthought. Understanding showed on Ace and Sabo's faces now, wondering how they hadn't thought about that first.
"Well, be careful when you do that. You helped, which is good, but you can't lie so when someone questions you about it you could end up giving yourself away Lu." Sabo said, not in a chastising tone, but more of a tone of worry, not wanting his brothers' abilities to be found out. Luffy seemed to understand the weight of Sabo's words, nodding.
"We should probably teach you how to lie better or else Sabo's gonna have to save you every time." Ace said, folding his hands behind his head and laying down on the bed.
"But lying's bad..." Luffy said, remembering all the doctors who would lie to them, tell them that the shots wouldn't hurt, that they wouldn't feel a thing, that the medicine was helping them. The youngest shivered, his brothers noticing.
"Yes, lying can be bad, but sometimes, like when we had to lie about how you found the lighter, it's helpful," Sabo explained, Luffy slowly nodding in understanding. Sabo sighed.
"Well, if we're doing this, the first step, lying doesn't always have to be false information, maybe if you add a bit of truth in your words it'll be easier."
The first day of the brothers officially being with the Whitebeards seems to have been successful. Now that the trio know they're going to be with the crew indefinitely, they're trying to at least make an effort to be a bit more comfortable around the crew. Of course, like always, these things are easier said than done. The brothers are still facing a whole lot of trauma that they haven't addressed to anyone but themselves yet, and there's a whole lot of Whitebeards, making it harder for them to even start getting comfortable around them.
Along with the brothers getting acquainted with their new home, I decided to throw in a little bit of Marcos perspective on the trio. He's been the one to keep the closest eye on them, so it makes sense that he would be the one to notice all the little things about the brothers, from their changed room to their tapping. He wont get any answers to these observations just yet, but that's not going to stop him from trying to find out anyways.
Also, I enjoyed the little prank that Haruta's playing on Thatch at the moment. In a lot of these kinds of stories, the author always has Thatch or Haruta as the two that play pranks on everyone. I wanted to have a bit of that in this story, just to have a bit of a break from all the heaviness that comes with the brothers and their past. I don't think I'll make their pranks as prevalent as others, but I might have people mention small things every once in a while, like Haruta's game.
Finally, my new college semesters officially started this week! I'm actually pretty excited about all the classes I'm taking this time, and I've made sure to set aside time to write so that I don't get behind on chapters. It seemed to work out last semester, so lets hope it'll be the same this semester!
Anyways, I'll see you all next Thursday with the next chapter! Have a wonderful week, and thank you all so sooo much for over 400 reviews!