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 38: Darkness Detected
"Well, it was fun while it lasted." Ace said mournfully as he and his brothers watched the island they had been on yesterday slowly drifting away from them. Sabo and Luffy nodded in agreement, already wanting to be back in the forest running through the trees and sparring with each other freely.
"Hopefully the next island we go to will have another forest like that," Sabo said wistfully, his head resting on his arms as he leaned over the tall wall-like railing that lined the Moby Dick.
"And more meat." Luffy moaned, frowning. Ace and Sabo rolled their eyes at that, shaking their heads at Luffy's simple mindedness. They watched on in silence as the island slowly became smaller and smaller in the distance until Sabo and Luffy couldn't see it anymore. It was just after breakfast now and the brothers were back to doing nothing. They still didn't have to do chores for another few weeks and they had no clue when they would be reaching the next island. Marco had told them that they were heading back to the New World now, but they didn't know how long it would take to get there.
Sitting on the railing was quickly becoming a usual pastime for the three, having nothing better to do than that. Even though they were bored, they were ok with that, because it meant that they weren't back in the facility, fighting every day to survive. At least here, they could sit in relative peace, even if the mass of pirates around them still put them on edge.
"Hey there!" Thatch's voice made Sabo turn, noticing once again that Ace had fallen to another narcolepsy attack. Putting on a smile Sabo looked at the man, trying his best to look as friendly as possible.
"Hello Thatch." Sabo greeted back, Luffy turning around now as well so he could also watch the man. The chef walked a bit closer, stopping before he was too close for comfort, and began speaking.
"I was wondering if you three would like to go-" Thatch was cut off when the ship hit a particularly rough wave, everyone losing their balance briefly because of it. The jostle must have woken Ace up because the eldest grumbled and sat up, looking around in a daze, but Sabo couldn't even begin to explain to him what was happening, because suddenly, Luffy was falling.
One second the boy was at his side, holding onto the railing tightly, and the next he was falling backward, a small 'eep' leaving the boys mouth as he did.
"Luffy!" Sabo called out, eyes wide as he turned to see the youngest splashing into the ocean. Ace flew up from where he had been laying, standing beside Sabo and peering over the railing to look for his brother. Sabo had to place a hand on the eldest's shoulder to keep him from jumping in after him.
"Man overboard!" They vaguely heard one of the pirates call the words out, more preoccupied with looking for their brother.
'Do you see him?' Sabo asked Ace, looking frantically around in the waves.
'He's trying to swim up.' Ace replied, gripping the railing tightly as he watched through the water, watched Luffy begin struggling to the surface, all those tests in the water finally coming in somewhat handy.
"He'll be fine, don't worry, Namurs already gone after him." Thatch tried to say soothingly, but even the chef looked a bit worried.
"Can he swim, yoi?" Marco asked, coming up as well, shocking the brothers a bit. The attention was all on them again with this new development, but they tried to ignore it. Before Ace could spit something out at the commander Sabo answered, trying his best to sound calm, even if he looked anything but.
"Not very well, we didn't have much time to practice," Sabo said through gritted teeth.
"Luffy!" Aces shout cut off anymore conversation between Sabo and Marco, the blonde brother spinning quickly to see Luffy's head poking up out of the water, a wave immediately crashing back over him though. Luffy was very obviously struggling and his brothers could see the terror in his eyes. At least he was above the water though.
They could see Namur now, closing in on Luffy until he finally reached him, pulling the small boy along with him now, back to the ship. Someone threw the rope ladder down for them and Ace and Sabo rushed over to it, watching anxiously as the Fishman carried Luffy back up to them.
They would have to hurry back to their room to keep anyone from seeing how weak the water made Luffy. Sure, they had already waved off any doubts of devil fruits, especially since they had all just seen Luffy very clearly treading water rather than sinking, but they didn't need anyone having doubts for any reason, or even send nurses at them.
"Luffy!" Ace and Sabo said in relief, retrieving their brother from the Fishmans arms and hugging him close.
"Thank you, Mr. Namur, for retrieving our brother," Sabo said gratefully, Ace already ushering Luffy away to their room.
"It was no problem, Sabo, really. And just Namur is fine." Namur said, Sabo nodding before running off after Ace and Luffy, leaving the pirates to watch after them.
"Man, I thought I could finally talk to them." Thatch whined as he watched the brothers scurry off to their room, probably for the rest of the morning. Marco shook his head.
"I'm sure you'll find a time to talk, Thatch," Marco said, patting the chef on the back as he passed by him, on his way back to Pops.
"Yeah, besides, you've had tons of chances, you normally just blow 'em," Namur said, shaking the water off of himself as he spoke. Thatch pouted.
"Like when you had a one-sided conversation with yourself instead of letting them talk!" Someone piped up, Thatch's pout intensifying.
"Hey, I was just trying to keep them comfortable! They don't like talking all the time so I thought I'd do all the talking for them!" Thatch defended, crossing his arms. Some laughed, Namur shaking his head with a smile and walking away.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"You alright Lu?" Sabo asked gently, using a towel to wipe off every drop of water he could find on the youngest's body. Luffy nodded a bit sluggishly, frown on his face. Thoughts of the facility were rushing through his brain, remembering all the times they dunked him underwater, draining his strength, forcing him to hold his breath, forcing him to move his heavy limbs.
Ace frowned, noticing Luffy was shivering a bit, and moved closer, heating his body temperature up a bit to warm his brother.
"You did good Lu. On the bright side, none of those pirates'll be expecting you to have a devil fruit now!" Ace said with a grin, ruffling Luffys hair, gaining a small smile in response.
"That's right if anyone was suspicious they definitely aren't now, not after seeing you swim to the surface," Sabo said, setting the towel aside and picking up Luffy's wet clothes, placing them on the towel. Now that Luffy was dry and warming up Sabo sighed, glancing at the door.
"Why don't we relax here until lunch?" Sabo asked, turning to face Luffy. the boy nodded a bit sluggishly, leaning into Ace more and closing his eyes.
Taking that as a cue that he was tired Ace maneuvered them so they were laying down comfortably, Sabo joining soon after.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Pops." Marco greeted as he came to stand by Whitebeards chair, turning to face his many brothers out on the deck, many mingling or doing chores. Seeing as they were still in Paradise there was little they had to worry about, giving them all a lot of downtime.
"Son. What have you come to talk about?" Whitebeard asked, knowing that something was on his first mate's mind. Marco was quiet a moment, seeming to think about whatever it was he was going to say before he spoke.
"I was thinking, yoi, the brothers, they do a lot of tapping." Marco started, Whitebeard raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"Oh? And why do you think that is?" Whitebeard asked, having a feeling Marco was having trouble distinguishing why that was himself.
"At first I thought it was a nervous tick, or a habit, yoi," Marco said, Whitebeard nodding in understanding.
"But now you think differently?" Whitebeard asked. Again, Marco went silent, thinking things over again.
"Before, when I saw them tapping, it looked like there was no pattern like they didn't notice they were doing it in the first place, but then I started to realize that the taps seemed a bit... deliberate, yoi. Not only that but when one stops tapping another starts, almost like they can't sit without tapping." Marco explained, his thoughts and theories running through his head.
"Any ideas as to why that might be?" Whitebeard asked, encouraging his son to sort out his thoughts.
"Not anything that I can come up with right now, yoi. I just thought you'd like to know." Marco said with a hint of a sigh as if he was annoyed with himself for not having figured out one of the many mysteries surrounding the brothers.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure its nothing to worry about. Either way though, keep an eye on them, after the littlest brats dip in the water they seemed a bit more skittish. We want them to be comfortable here." Whitebeard said with a bit of a sigh, looking to the door that led to the brothers' room. Marco nodded, crossing his arms as he scanned the deck.
"I think some will start getting frustrated soon with how closed off the brothers are. I'll try and calm them down though, yoi." Marco said, knowing that there were more than a few of his brothers that were starting to get annoyed that the brothers weren't being as receptive to their attempts at friendly conversation as they would like.
"Good. Try and get them to understand that those three have been through a lot. Sometimes your brothers can be a bit hard-headed." Whitebeard said with a fond smile, glancing to a few of his sons that he knew to be just that. Marco huffed a small laugh out, uncrossing his arms and standing straighter, smile on his face.
"You've definitely got that right Pops, yoi," Marco said, walking off to get started on some more paperwork he had gotten earlier.
He could hear Whitebeard laugh loudly behind him.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Come on you two, lunch is ready." Sabo groaned out a bit groggily. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, especially when Ace and Luffy were already sleeping, but at some point when listening to a few pirates drone on and on about barrels they had to move from the upper deck to the lower he had fallen asleep.
Giving Luffy another shake the youngest's eyes scrunched up a bit before he was blinking them open, grumbling. The same happened with Ace and Sabo yawned, sitting back and trying to wake up.
"Food?" Ace mumbled out, sitting up and wiping the crud from his eyes. Sabo nodded, getting out of the bed and standing.
"From the sounds of it, yeah. Pretty sure we're actually a bit late." Sabo said, listening in and noticing he couldn't hear a single person out on deck, only those in the crows nest.
"Fooood~!" Luffy groaned out, getting out of bed in a zombie-like manner and stumbling a bit on his way to the door. Sabo chuckled quietly, catching his brother before he could face plant onto the floor after tripping over his own feet.
"Calm down Lu, I'm sure there'll still be some when we get there. Wake up a bit, you don't want to get overwhelmed suddenly when you walk in." Sabo said, knowing that, for all of them, their senses were more sensitive after just waking up, making it easier for them to be overwhelmed.
"But I am awake!" Luffy whined, rubbing his eyes and pouting, trying to put on his best 'awake' face. Sabo smiled, ruffling his hair.
"Yeah, and Ace isn't narcoleptic." Sabo teased, Ace shouting a 'Hey!' from where he was sitting on the bed and Luffys pout deepening.
"Anyways, Thatch is apparently a bit overwhelmed in the kitchen right now. Seems a few of the chefs are sick with the flu at the moment so it's probably a good thing we're not there right now." Sabo said as he listened in, noticing how rushed the chef sounded, though, to the man's credit, he wasn't complaining.
"Aw, but I'm hungry," Luffy whined again, waiting by the door as he complained. Sabo sighed at his brothers' impatience.
"Don't worry Lu, we'll still eat," Sabo said as Ace stood up behind him, more awake now then he had been. Doing a quick once over of Luffy showed that he was awake now as well, to which Sabo deemed it acceptable for them to leave their room.
"Come on, we can head there now," Sabo said, Luffy beaming happily and flinging the door open, waiting for his brothers before he went any further.
The walk to the galley was made silently, and Luffy's enthusiasm quickly dimmed down as they got closer to the crowded room, remembering just how many people were in there. They finally reached the doors, Ace pushing them opening and scanning the room quickly as they walked in. Not many looked up to see them, most having gotten over the phase of staring at the brothers wherever they went, but there was still the few that glanced up to watch them, only to turn back to their friends after a second.
"There you boys are, I was beginnin' to think you weren't gonna show up," Rakuyo said with a pleasant smile, waving to the brothers as they sat down. Sabo smiled back politely.
"Sorry, we decided to take a nap and didn't get up until a few minutes ago." Sabo apologized easily, leaving his smile on his face. Rakuyo waved it off.
"Ah, don't worry about it. Rest was probably a good thing after your brothers dip in the water, we don't want him catchin' a cold." Rakuyo said with concern, and Sabo wondered if it was genuine. A quick nudge to Luffy and he was quickly given confirmation that the man's words were indeed genuine, making Sabo wonder.
"That we wouldn't." Sabo agreed, Rakuyo smiling as the conversation between them ended.
"Even if you had been here on time it wouldn't have made a difference anyway," Atmos stated from where he sat, head in hand. Sabo raised an eyebrow at that, putting on a face of confusion.
"Oh? Why's that?" He asked, noticing that Luffy, who had been listening for a minute after Sabo had nudged him, was now more focused on something else. Probably trying to sense more feelings.
"Seems some of the chefs caught the flu. Poor Thatch is workin' his butt off back there so lunch is a bit delayed." Blenheim said, and Sabo had to act as if this was new information.
"That's too bad, I hope they get better soon. Anyways, we don't mind waiting." Sabo said, knowing full well that Luffy did indeed mind waiting. With that conversation over as well, Sabo focused more on the conversations already being had by the other Commanders at the table. Marco and Izo were absent but other than that everyone else was there, even Whitebeard.
"I'm adding in another 100 on my bet that it'll take a month," Jiru said, sliding some money over to Haruta who happily pocketed the money.
"No way, did you see how mad Marco was, he's totally about to burst, two on mine that it'll happen by the end of Friday this week," Vista said confidently, also sliding money Haruta's way.
"You guys are idiots. If Marco ever finds out about this you're all going down." Namur said, shaking his head, arms crossed.
"Yeah, but Marco won't find out if no one says anything," Haruta said happily, smiling cheerfully to the Fishman who merely rolled his eyes. Whitebeard laughed from his end of the table, watching the Commanders the entire time.
"Still, I can't believe you've delayed Thatch from putting those poles away for this long, in just another, what, little over a week, it'll have been an entire month!" Curiel said with slight amazement to his tone. This had Haruta puffing his chest out proudly, but whatever he said next was ignored by Sabo whose attention was quickly drawn to Luffy.
Ace looked as well, also having caught the slight shiver that had run through Luffy just a second ago.
'What's wrong Lu?' Ace quickly tapped out, glancing around quickly to make sure no one was watching them. Luffy frowned deeply, eyebrows scrunching up in confusion.
'Luffy?' Sabo tried when the boy didn't respond. Luffy glanced to Ace, and then to Sabo before looking down at the table.
'I thought I felt the darkness.' Luffy tapped a bit slowly. That was enough for Ace and Sabo to go rigid, both of them ready to jump ship that second. Even though Sabo had always tried to drill into Ace that they couldn't just go off on their own without supplies he was ready to do exactly that. If someone on this ship had the darkness they were no longer safe, especially not when they knew Marines were looking for them and would probably send them right back to another facility if they had the chance.
Before either Ace or Sabo could grab Luffy and run though, Luffy elaborated.
'I thought I felt it, but after a minute it was gone, and it was really faint.' Luffy said, though he looked a bit confused. Ace and Sabo were also confused now too. As far as they knew you couldn't just hide a feeling, especially if that feeling was darkness, so how had the feeling disappeared? They were on a ship in the middle of the ocean, if someone with the darkness had been here they wouldn't have gone out of Luffy's range that quickly.
'What do you mean it was faint?' Ace asked, thinking that, maybe, if the feeling was barely a feeling at all, it had gone away naturally. Luffys frown deepened further if possible and he looked even more confused.
'I don't know, it was like the person had lots of darkness, but it was muffled... like they weren't here, but they were 'cause I was feeling the darkness...' Luffy tapped out. The rigidness left Ace and Sabo slowly with the news that the threat, most likely, wasn't onboard still, and even if they were, the feeling was gone. That didn't mean that they weren't going to be on extra guard now though.
'Well... for now, let's just be extra cautious, and Luffy, double check the Commanders again, make sure that it wasn't coming from any of them.' Sabo tapped. Luffy nodded and the brothers returned to their normal formation to keep guard, Sabo trying his best to tune back into the Commanders' conversations while trying to ignore the new thoughts buzzing inside his head.
It was at this point that Thatch was coming out with plates on a platter, looking a little more than tired.
"Alright everyone, lunch is ready, get in line!" Thatch called out, the pirates cheering at the announcement, tables standing and heading over to where the brothers assumed the food was. Thatch walked over to them, the Commanders getting up and leaving as well.
"And for you three, here's your meals." Thatch said with a tired smile, placing their food in front of them, also moving to hand Whitebeard his own as well.
"Thank you, Thatch, but you didn't have to bring us our food, we could have gone and gotten it ourselves if it made it easier," Sabo said, not wanting to be a burden. He didn't want the tipping point for the pirates to be the fact that they ate so much.
"No, no, it's fine, really, it's just that two chefs aren't enough to make all these people food in a timely manner without any of us feeling the effects." Thatch said with a sigh, sitting down heavily on the bench and pulling out a cigarette.
"If you need some help I'm sure some of your brothers wouldn't mind helping," Whitebeard said with a soft smile, glancing around the lively galley. Thatch sighed.
"Last time we got help from someone outside my division Hayden nearly lost a finger and we were set back even further when Pete started a fire." Thatch said with a shake of his head.
"Hmm. Its a shame most of your division is gone on a mission." Whitebeard said sympathetically.
"Oh well, hopefully, the others will feel better tomorrow and can help out again. For now, I've gotta head back and get started on dinner, maybe it'll be done on time." Thatch said, begrudgingly standing up.
"It was good seeing you three!" Thatch ended with a wave, yawning as he headed to the kitchen. By this point, many of the Commanders were returning with plates of food, the other pirates settling down as well.
"So Pops, where're Marco and Izo at?" Fossa asked as he sat down. Sabo glanced at his brothers to check the progress they had made on their food so far before turning back to the conversation.
"They're checking in on your brothers who're on missions," Whitebeard answered, taking a bite of his own food.
"Ah, shouldn't a few of them be back soon?" The Commander asked, thinking back to something. Whitebeard nodded.
"A few, yes. we'll be meeting with some once we get back to the New World as well," Whitebeard explained, Fossa nodding in understanding. The doors opened, Sabo only noticing because Aces eyes flicked over to them, and he saw Marco and Izo walk in, both of them talking to each other. Tuning out of the Commanders conversations Sabo quickly tuned in to the pair talking, curious as to what they could be speaking about.
"Thatch's division said they would be heading back here next week, they just reached the island they were sent to check up on," Izo said as he picked at his nails for a second. Marco nodded.
"Good, Pops was hoping they would make it there within this week. Ryan's group should be here by tomorrow at the latest. Teach's should be back within a few days as well, yoi." Marco replied, the two of them finally reaching the table and sitting down.
"Hey Marco, Izo, welcome to lunch!" Haruta greeted cheerily, and Sabo assumed the topic of Thatch's fishing poles had once again been brought up by how suspiciously normal Haruta was trying to act.
Sabo didn't ponder on that though as he noticed Ace and Luffy were finishing up their lunches. With that observation Sabo quickly finished his own, the three of them standing in sync and making their way out of the room quickly before anyone could stop or notice them.
No one was out on deck yet, only the brothers, so they didn't bother to head straight to the railing like they usually would.
'Luffy, do you know where you might have felt the darkness?' Ace asked. Sabo gave Ace a confused look, not quite sure what he was planning. Noticing the look Ace frowned.
'What? If someone had the darkness we should go check it out, besides, no ones out here right now besides those guys in the crows nest, but they're not even looking at us. Now's the perfect time to go snooping.' Ace tapped out as if it were the obvious next step. Sabo sighed but didn't have time to explain to Ace what a bad idea that was before Luffy was answering.
'I don't know, it was really hard to feel, but I think it came from over there.' Luffy said, pointing to the door that lead to one of the many hallways inside the Moby.
'Great, let's go!' Ace said, already stalking his way to the door. Although Sabo also wanted to know where the feeling had come from, he couldn't help but feel that, if they were caught snooping, this would only do more harm than good for the brothers.
Regardless, he followed his brother who was suddenly filled with a determination Sabo had only seen when they were escaping the facility. Luffy was beside Ace, holding onto the eldest's hand as he guided them to where he had felt the darkness.
'I don't know where it was after this.' Luffy said, stopping them at the end of the hallway they had been walking down. There were three doors that they could go through, one in front of them and one on their left and right.
'So whoever had the bad feeling was in one of these rooms then.' Ace said, glancing at the doors.
'Ace, not that I want to throw a wrench in this plan of yours, but the pirates are finishing lunch and I don't think they'll especially like that we're here!' Sabo said, hearing the footsteps of pirates leaving the galley, making their way on deck.
'Well, are any coming this way?' Ace asked, arms folded over his chest. Another quick listen told Sabo that, no, so far no one was heading their way.
'No, but-'
'Then I'm checking out these rooms. If someone starts coming, we'll leave.' Ace tapped dismissively, grabbing the handle of the door in front of them and pushing his way in.
"Ace!" Sabo hissed angrily but followed none the less. His brother may be an idiot, but he wasn't going to leave him behind for that idiocy. Luffy was seeming to understand just what trouble they could get into for doing this, the youngest shifting around nervously as he glanced around the room.
"What about your rules?! Remember one of the big ones, don't do anything to make them turn on us?! I would say this violates that rule big time!" Sabo hissed as quietly as he could manage with how angry and nervous he was. He had his hearing focused on every single step he could manage, praying one of them wouldn't start heading their way.
"The darkness trumps all those rules." Ace muttered as he shuffled through papers on the desk in the room. Wherever they were it seemed to be almost like an office, or filing room. There was a desk that was littered with papers and bookcases all around, files and books all over. A glance told Sabo that this was probably where the Whitebeards kept all their important information and that only made this all the more dangerous.
"I don't think you understand Ace, darkness or not, if they find us in here they're kicking us off for sure! These pirates have Haki Ace, they don't need to see where we are to know we're in here!" Sabo said, practically seething as he couldn't get through to the hot head. Ace was frowning, but Sabo had a feeling it wasn't because of him, rather he probably couldn't find anything.
"Ace! What are you even looking for?!" Sabo asked, ready to drag his brother out.
"Calm down Sabo, I'm just looking for anything that might show they were calling the marines!" Ace hissed his own annoyance raising.
"Luffy, who was in this room last?" Ace asked, getting the smallest's attention. Luffy, who had been fidgeting quietly, sniffed the air for a second.
"Mmm... Lotta the Commandeers." Luffy said hesitantly. Ace scowled as he moved to the bookcases, skimming over folders and books quickly.
"Its Commanders Luffy, and you Ace, let's just go, there's nothing here!" Sabo said, almost mindlessly correcting Luffys mistaken words.
"Your right. Let's try the next room." Ace said, leaving the room they were in and heading to the one that had been on their left.
"No, that's not what I meant! Ugh! ACE!" Sabo said, barely containing the shout he so desperately wanted to release. Once again, Ace ignored him, making his way into the new room, Sabo making sure to close the previous door shut before following.
"Man, nothing in here but stupid snails." Ace muttered as he glanced around the room. It only had a big table with chairs all around it and multiple transponder snails in the middle of the table.
"Great, can we go now?!" Sabo asked, grabbing Aces sleeve before the teen could head to the next room.
"No, there's still one more-"
'Ssh! Someones heading this way!" Sabo said, eyes going wide as he slapped a hand on Aces mouth. Ace glared at him but fell silent, the brothers quietly leaving the room and shutting the door.
'What do we do?' Luffy asked, and already Sabo could see the terror in his eyes.
'Don't worry, just follow me.' Sabo tapped back as he waited for the footsteps to get a bit closer. He had been too caught up in trying to leave that he had missed Vistas steps heading their way. Once he deemed the Commander close enough Sabo walked down the hallway to the intersection the Vista was coming up to.
"I told you we should have finished that tour with Izo, now we're lost," Sabo said, doing his best to use how annoyed and angry he was with Ace to his advantage. Catching on quickly Ace scowled at him.
"It's not my fault, how was I supposed to know how big this ship was?" Ace asked grumpily, arms once again crossed over his chest. Luffy stood silently between his brothers, knowing that they had things under control now, the tension quickly leaving him.
"There you boys are!" Vistas words had the brothers turning to look at the approaching man, Sabo quickly slipping a smile onto his face.
"Ah, Vista, it's a good thing you found us, we got a bit lost!" Sabo said, laughing sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head, hoping the act was believable. Vista smiled and laughed, making Sabo believe it had worked well enough.
"We thought you had taken another swim! It's a good thing Marco sensed you before anyone could go into too much of a panic!" Vista said with another laugh, Sabo laughing along as well.
"We're sorry to have worried you, but would you mind showing us the way back to the deck? Ace thought he knew the way to a closer bathroom and ended up getting us lost on the way back." Sabo explained, sending Ace a smile while the eldest glared back.
"No problem, just follow me. I'm not surprised you got lost, these halls can be a bit confusing." The mustached Commander said, turning and heading back towards where the deck was.
"Thank you."
The first sign of darkness has been detected! I think we can all guess who it belongs to, but the better question would be, where is he? And how did Luffy feel the darkness assuming that this person is not on the Moby at the moment? Tell me your theories, I love reading them!
Luffy fell in the water which caused him distress, but now the crew doesn't think he has a devil fruit. Surely that'll be a shock to them if they ever find out about the fact that he does have a fruit. Not to mention, they're going to have questions about how Luffy swimming is possible when hes supposed to have a devil fruit.
Next chapter will have a lot more action as, like I said before, things are finally picking up again. I know things had gotten a bit boring seeing as there were no big event happening, but that all changes next week!
I'll see you all then! Love you all!