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 39: Surprise Attacks Suck

'I don't know why you're still mad, we didn't get caught so everything's fine!' Ace tapped from where he pretended to sleep against the railing. Sabo, who definitely wasn't scowling at the ocean, gripped the railing just a bit tighter in his hand.

'I'm not mad.' The blonde tapped out indignantly. Ace nearly scoffed.

'Luffy?'

'He's mad.' Sabo glared at the youngest, but Luffy merely smiled back sheepishly.

It was almost an hour after Ace had gone searching for the wherever the dark feeling had come from. Sabo had managed to put up a convincing act and told everyone that asked that they had just gotten lost on their way back from the bathroom, and the pirates seemed to accept it, but that didn't mean the anger had gone yet.

'If you had listened to me we wouldn't have been nearly caught in the first place.' Sabo tapped out, Ace rolling his partially opened eyes.

'We can't just ignore someone with the dark feeling!' Ace defended, skimming his eyes across the deck for anyone who might be watching them too closely.

'We weren't going to ignore it, but going through the Whitebeards information was too dangerous! We can't be doing things like that here!' Sabo argued, and boy was he trying to calm the anger bubbling in his chest with how stubborn his brother was being. He didn't want Luffy getting angry because of him.

'How else would we figure anything out? We can't exactly ask around if someone was feeling some especially dark thoughts!' Ace replied. Sabo knew that Ace was right about that, but still, the freckled teen hadn't gone about things the right way.

'Ok, fine, for the sake of keeping Luffy from getting influenced I'll forgive you, but next time talk about the plan before putting it into action.' Sabo tapped out sternly, Ace nodding minutely behind him.

'Fine. Lu, how're you feeling?' Ace asked the semi-argument over. Luffy looked across the horizon, a small smile on his face.

'Good. I'm using the warmth from big mustache Captain to keep the anger out.' Luffy explained, kicking his legs carelessly over the railing. Even though they were more careful about falling in that didn't stop them from sitting on the railing.

'As long as you don't take too much of it in, alright?' Sabo said, Luffy nodding in agreement. The blonde sighed and focused more on the sounds around them, the brothers' conversation dropping off.

Luffy was trying to look out for anyone with the darkness, feeling slightly responsible for what had happened after lunch because he didn't know where the feeling had come from. He had never felt someone's darkness just disappear like that, and he'd never felt such a weak darkness too, like the person was far away, but how far could the person get when they were in the middle of the ocean?

It was in the middle of this thought that suddenly, everyone, even the pirates- well those who were proficient in haki- sensed the incoming danger.

It was so fast that no one really had time to react, but they all knew exactly where this danger was heading, and that was right for Luffy.

Luffy's eyes widened and suddenly everything was moving in slow motion. He could see Sabo's eyes going wide beside him, could hear him shouting his name, he could hear the pirates running over, he could hear Ace getting up, also shouting his name, and then he felt weightless.

It had all happened so fast, yet so slow, and still, Luffy had no clue what really had happened. One second he was on the railing, that he knew for fact, but then he had somehow managed to get onto the deck floor, where Ace had been, and there was more shouting, still from Sabo, but this time it wasn't his name.

A bit disoriented, Luffy looked over to where he had been seconds before and only saw Ace's back. That was weird, when had Ace gotten in front of him? And what was falling onto the ground?

Luffys blood ran cold, his eyes widening now too, his breath hitching in his throat as he slowly realized what was on the ground and who it belonged to.

In seconds Ace was falling to his knees and Luffy could now clearly see the giant slash down the front of his chest, a diagonal cut that went from his right shoulder to his left hip. It was long, it was deep, and it was bleeding heavily.

"A-Ace?!" Luffy stuttered, quickly crawling forward to his brother and catching him before he fell fully.

"Ace!" He heard Sabo shout from beside him, saw the blonde leap off the railing and join his side, examining the deep wound. He had removed Aces yellow unbuttoned shirt quickly, showing off the wound fully now.

Luffy could feel bad feelings beginning to surround them and looked up, finding who he assumed to be the one responsible for hurting Ace, the one who, had Ace not stopped him, would have hurt him instead.

Right beside the Moby, in the ocean Sabo and Luffy had been looking at, there was another ship, not as big as the Moby but still pretty big, and it was filled with mean looking people, all staring right at them.

How had that gotten there?

"Someone call Whiskey, all men on deck now, yoi!" Marcos shouting was heard behind him, and suddenly the fighting began.

"Ace?! Ace, wake up!" Sabo was pleading with Ace, slapping his cheek as he began wadding the yellow shirt into a ball and doing his best to cover the wound.

"Luffy, come hold this down, put pressure on it, ok?" Sabo said, and Luffy was overwhelmed with the worry coming from Sabo. Trying to stop the tears he knew were already falling Luffy nodded, shuffling so he was on Aces other side rather than at his head and leaning over his brother, applying pressure like Sabo had instructed him to.

"Sabo, his waves getting harder to see!" Luffy cried, watching as the once bright, deep red wave that connected to Ace started becoming whispy and translucent. This seemed to worry Sabo more as his attempts at waking Ace became more frantic.

In the middle of him trying though Sabo suddenly shot up, jumping over Ace and hitting something behind Luffy. Turning, Luffy saw that it was one of the rival pirates, at least that's what Luffy was assuming they were, that had been attempting to attack Luffy. Sabo had kicked the man in the chest, sending him stumbling back and onto the ground while Sabo glared daggers at the man.

"Don't you dare try and hurt my brother." Sabo hissed out angrily. Luffy was about to turn when he felt another presence getting closer once more, another one with hostile intent. Luffy felt completely useless, everything happening so fast.

A pit formed in Luffy's stomach as he realized who the target was for the next attack, this one being the downed Ace. A strangled cry left him as he did his best to shield his fallen brother from whatever was to come, but it never came, instead, a flash of blue came, a coolness surrounding him.

Looking up Luffy saw Marco shielding him and Ace from the incoming attack, his arms covered in blue flames and looking like wings. The youngest couldn't see the commanders face, but he could feel the anger rolling off him like a gas.

"People like you make me sick, yoi." Marco spat out before swinging his leg into the air and kicking the man across the deck. Luffy watched with wide eyes, Marco turning to face him.

"You alright, yoi?" Marco asked, the anger instantly gone and replaced with worry. Mindlessly Luffy nodded, Sabo, running back to his side.

"Enough!" Whitebeards booming voice caught everyone's attention, the giant Captain now standing with a glare on his face as his eyes roamed across the deck.

"You pirates are the worst kind, attacking downed men. If it was a fight you wanted with me, then its a fight you'll get!" Some of the rival pirates looked ready to charge the man, while most looked terrified as they realized just what they'd gotten themselves into. Nobody could move though as Whitebeard sent out a wave of haki, knocking almost all of the pirates out beside two, one seemingly the Captain.

"Now get lost you damn brat," Whitebeard growled, swinging his bisento into the Captain and his crewmember, sending them both flying back to their own ship. Cheers erupted from the Whitebeards at the victory, some beginning to throw the downed rivals back to their ship while others began cleaning up the blood and discarded weapons. A few left to get the nurses and a couple began pulling any wounded, which wasn't much, over to the side and out of the way while the Commanders headed their way.

"Ooh, that looks nasty," Haruta said with a wince as he saw Aces wound. Luffy, still slightly in shock of everything, remembered the wound he was supposed to be putting pressure to and immediately placed his hands firmly onto the previously yellow shirt, now completely covered in the red blood.

"Ruta." Izo hissed, nudging Haruta with his elbow.

"Ah, sorry, I'm sure Whiskey and the others will be able to patch it up easy," Haruta said apologetically. Luffys lip was trembling, he knew that, and the tears were coming again, because Ace was hurt because of him, and now his brother would have to go with the nurses again, and Aces wave was getting harder to see, and it was almost as bad as when Ace had been in a coma.

"Luffy," Sabo said softly, putting a hand on the youngest's shoulder. The straw-hatted boy refused to look up, eyes narrowed and focused on Aces wound, one that wasn't getting better, even with the eldest's fast recovery rate.

"Luffy, listen," Sabo said again, this time a little louder. Looking over to Sabo a bit grudgingly he waited to hear what Sabo would say.

"Why don't you go get cleaned up? I'll stay here with Ace and... and make sure he gets help." Sabo said, glancing quickly to Ace as he said the words. There was no way he wanted to send Ace to the nurses, but this wasn't just something they could play off, it wasn't something they could just say, 'Oops, he got a little scratched up, he'll be fine after a nap!'

They would have to get the nurses help, and Sabo really wasn't looking forward to that. Luffy was already a mess, the boy didn't need to see his seriously injured brother get carried away by people he didn't trust and leave them to save his brothers life.

"No! I wanna stay with Ace!" Luffy shouted, drawing more attention to them. Sabo sighed, trying to bury his worry and send Luffy feelings of warmth.

"Don't worry Lu, I'll handle this, really, trust me. Besides, what would Ace say about our baby brother worrying about him?" Sabo asked, trying to force a smile to his lips. Luffys lip trembled a bit more, but he regretfully nodded, slowly letting his hands release the pressure on the wound, seeing they were drenched in blood.

"I'll go help him get cleaned up, yoi." Marco offered, stepping forward. Sabo hesitated, biting his tongue from telling the Commander that Luffy could do it on his own just fine. He really didn't want to send Luffy off on his own, much less with someone else, but he also didn't want to send Ace off with the nurses alone, and he knew that if Luffy went with him to the infirmary then he would probably have a panic attack with all the triggers that go along with the place.

His best option was to send Luffy with Marco. Sure, the man had become much more trustworthy in his eyes, especially after today where he had saved both Ace and Luffy when he couldn't, but did that mean he trusted him to go alone with Luffy?

'What do you think Lu?' Sabo asked quickly, and even though Luffy was more than a bit out of it after everything, he was still able to look over to Marco and judge the man's intentions.

'Good. Trust him.' Luffy replied simply. He did trust Marco, and he knew that even if he wasn't with Sabo his brother would still keep an ear out to make sure he was ok. Sabo looked at Luffy for a second before nodding.

"Thank you, Commander," Sabo said, watching carefully as Luffy slowly stood up and began trudging away. Sabo couldn't help but send him a worried glance before he could hear the nurses closing in, ready to take Ace away from him.

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

The walk with Marco and Luffy was made in silence, the two of them heading straight to the washroom where Marco started filling up a bucket with hot water. Luffy sat down on a bench and watched Aces wave closely, constantly aware of how fast it was fading.

He was so focused on it he almost didn't realize Marco was kneeling in front of him, the bucket at his side and washcloth in hand, dripping with hot water.

"I sent Izo to get you some new clothes, but for now let's get all the blood off, yoi," Marco said. Luffy nodded numbly, putting out one of his hands and letting Marco gently wipe away the blood.

Something Sabo and Luffy hadn't thought about was just how pliable Luffy's skin could be sometimes, and it was at this moment Luffy realized that he may very well get caught having a devil fruit power. Although Marco was being gentle he was still rubbing hard enough for the blood to come off, in turn allowing the skin to stretch just a bit too much. As long as Marco didn't look too much into it he would be fine, but Luffy hoped now, of all times, wouldn't be the time that the pirates found out about his powers.

Everything went well though, and soon Marco was removing blood from his face, everything else clean. Luffy had been intently watching the wave and was extremely nervous to say that it hadn't gotten better, but on the bright side, it also wasn't getting any worse. It was faint and barely visible, but it was there, and Luffy just prayed that it didn't suddenly disappear on him.

He wasn't sure what happened to the wave when someone died, but he was guessing that it wouldn't be visible at all.

"There, that should be good, yoi," Marco said, dipping the washcloth into the now red water and wiping his own hands off. A knock on the door had Marco standing, opening it to find Izo. Luffy didn't bother listening to the conversation, and it was over within seconds anyways, Marco coming back in with new clothes in his hands.

"Here. I'll leave so you can get dressed, yoi. If you need anything just call." Marco said, and once more Luffy nodded mutely. He watched Marco go and waited until the door was firmly shut before he stood, frowning deeply and letting his tears fall fast and hard. He hadn't exactly been holding them in on purpose, but now that there was no one there, they had just come.

With blurry vision he managed to change his clothes, vaguely aware of the fact that he could smell and hear both Marco and Izo outside the room, telling him that they were both waiting for him. Wiping away any residual tears Luffy picked up his dirty clothes and headed to the door, opening it and peeking out.

"Hey there Luffy, everything good?" Izo asked with a small smile. Luffy nodded a bit hesitantly before he opened the door more and stepped out. He trusted Izo a bit too, but not as much as he trusted Marco. Lady-not-lady had helped him with his hat though, and he knew he wasn't all that bad.

"Why don't I take those from you?" Izo asked, gesturing to the dirty clothes in Luffys hand. Again Luffy nodded, handing the items over to the man and standing awkwardly.

"Let's head back to the deck, yoi," Marco said, he and Izo turning and beginning walking. Luffy was a little twitchy as he followed, still unsure about everything. He was alone, without his brothers, and he just wanted to be with Ace, but Ace was in the infirmary and the infirmary smelled like the facility and Luffy didn't want to think about the facility right now, but now he was thinking about the facility, and he was about to start crying again, but Ace doesn't like crybabies, and-

"One time my brother got hurt. Almost as bad as Ace did, yoi." Marcos voice drew Luffy out of his spiraling thoughts and his focus was on the commander now. Izo glanced over to Marco with a hint of confusion on his face, yet he said nothing, letting Marco continue.

"It was when we went to defend one of our islands. You know what devil fruits are, right, yoi?" Marco asked, and Luffy nodded.

"Well, he had one, my brother. His names Lyle, don't think you've met him yet, yoi. Anyways, we were in a fight with some pirates who thought they were big shots and could take one of Pops' territories. I think it's safe to say that they were wrong, but that didn't mean we won without casualties." Marco said, and Luffy, for once, wasn't focused on the fight that had happened only a handful of minutes ago, he wasn't worried about everything that had happened at the facility, he wasn't even worried about the fact that he was walking with two people who weren't his brothers! His whole attention was put to focusing on Marcos words, listening to the story with avid interest.

"Lyle's apart of my division so he was near me when we were fighting. We were almost finished, but right as I finished taking down my opponent, yoi, I sensed someone going to attack Lyle who was taking on a few of his own opponents. I didn't have time to reach him and he ended up with a large cut along his hip, from armpit to the back of his knee." Marco explained, pointing along his own body where the cut had been. Luffy's eyes widened at how massive the cut was, waiting for Marco to continue, wanting to know how it ended.

"We took down the rest of the pirates and had Whiskey and the others come to take the injured. Lyle had to go into surgery and no one knew if he would make it, yoi. After a few hours, Whiskey came out and told us she had managed to save him just in time, and now he's perfectly healthy. He's even got the scar to prove he's survived, yoi." Marco said, finishing the story as they reached the deck.

"Really?" Luffy asked in wonder. Marco smiled to him, nodding as he made his way to Whitebeard.

"Really really," Marco said, and Luffy beamed.

"Ace is strong, he's gonna survive, I know it!" Luffy said confidently, gripping the edges of his straw hat tightly in both hands, pulling it down onto his head.

"I believe that yoi. Why don't we go wait by Pops? I'm sure he's got plenty more stories to tell then I do, yoi." Marco said, waving a hand over to the Captain. Luffy, smile still on his face, nodded rapidly. If there was anyone on this ship he trusted more than Marco it was the Captain. He knew he would be safe by the giant and had no qualms about waiting for his brothers there.

As he began making his way there Izo stopped Marco, waiting until Luffy was out of hearing range.

"Lyle got that scar in a bar fight," Izo said with a raised eyebrow. Marco smiled to him, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"I know."

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

Sabo sighed in both relief and exhaustion. It had been nearly an hour, maybe two, since the nurses had come and taken Ace into the infirmary. At first, they weren't going to let Sabo follow them, but after a bit of arguing on his part and Whitebeards permission he was allowed to stand along the wall, out of the nurse's way, and watch.

It had been extremely touch and go for a while and Sabo's eyes were feeling a bit strained from how carefully he was watching every nurses movement, making sure they were solely trying to patch his brother up and not do any weird unnecessary tests in the process.

At one point they had nearly lost Ace, and Sabo was sure Luffy was freaking out, but every time he tried listening in on his brother he heard nothing from him, just Marco or the water they were cleaning him up with.

Finally, though, the nurses had finished. Ace was stabilized and Luffy was being kept occupied by Whitebeard who was telling him stories.

Sabo definitely felt his trust in Whitebeard and Marco rise after this incident, especially with everything that had happened. They had had plenty of opportunities to get rid of the brothers, be it through sending them to the marines or just letting them die, but they had adamantly fought against all those opportunities and kept the brothers safe.

"Why don't you go tell your brother that this one's fine? We'll move him to a bed to rest and you two can come back and wait with him." Whiskey said softly as she walked up to Sabo. She looked exhausted as well, her hair frizzy and forehead slick with sweat. Her gloves and clothes were both covered in blood, and all in all she looked a mess, but that's what hours of surgery does to a person.

A quick glance at Ace showed his brother sleeping peacefully, a bit paler then he should be, but alive and breathing.

Normally Sabo wouldn't let Ace out of his sight after this, but right now he needed to get Luffy and tell him Ace was ok for the time being. Hopefully, their brother's fast healing would kick in now and he'd be good to go in a few days. Besides, after all of this, his trust in the nurses on this ship had also increased. It was a small increase, but it was an increase all the same.

"Alright, I'll be back," Sabo said, and he could even hear how tired he sounded. He left the infirmary, keeping an ear out for the nurses trying to do anything to Ace they weren't supposed to. His trust in them may have gone up a bit, but like he said, it wasn't that much.

He walked quietly through the halls, using both his memory and hearing to make his way to the deck. When he reached it he beelined right to Luffy and Whitebeard having no doubt that Luffy could smell him coming but was too caught up in Whitebeards story to notice. Sabo smiled a bit at that, happy that at least Luffy was able to relax instead of worry over Ace like he had been.

"Luffy," Sabo called as he grew closer, noticing that a few of the commanders were there too, namely Marco, Izo, Jozu, and Curiel.

"Sabo!" And just like that Luffy seemed to remember everything that had happened as he launched up from where he was sitting in front of Whitebeard, turning to Sabo and bolting over to him. Obviously, he wasn't planning on stopping with how fast he was going and Sabo braced himself, ready for a Luffy sized impact. When it came he stumbled back a bit, but caught himself from falling, holding Luffy in his arms.

"Sabo, hows Ace? Is he ok? Can we go see him? When-" Sabo stopped Luffys ramblings, laughing.

"Calm down Luffy, Ace is ok," Sabo said though he couldn't really fault Luffy for worrying.

"Really?!" Luffy asked happily, relief spreading across his face.

"That's right. You weren't doubting him were you?" Sabo asked playfully, raising an eyebrow. Luffy shook his head, still clinging to Sabo.

"No! Cause Ace would get mad, and Ace is strong!" Luffy said confidently. Sabo laughed again, ruffling Luffys hair, his straw hat dangling from the string around his neck.

"Don't confuse strong with stubborn Lu," Sabo said, this time causing Luffy to smile. Turning to the Captain and Commanders Sabo bowed, Luffy following suit even though he had no clue why.

"Thank you for helping both of my brothers," Sabo said, genuinely thankful.

"It was no problem, as long as you're on this ship you're apart of our family, and family keeps each other safe. Now, head off and be with your brother." Whitebeard said with a smile. Sabo stood straight, nodding to the Captain and taking Luffy's hand, leading him to the infirmary.

Maybe these pirates weren't so bad after all.

Man, the response to the last chapter was overwhelming! Also, many of you were right in your theories on where the darkness had come from! Luffy did feel it from a transponder snail, because in my mind, the snails can do such a good job expressing emotions coming from the people using them that I feel Luffy would be able to pick up on them as if the person was there. I wont divulge who the feelings came from, but I'm pretty sure you all know who it was anyways.

This chapter had more action as promised, though it involved Ace getting hurt.

Whoops.

It was a necessary development though, because now the brothers are beginning to trust more, which wouldn't have happened if they continued sitting at the railings and not interacting with anyone. It doesn't mean I don't feel bad for nearly killing Ace there though.

More information on the attack will be divulged next chapter, as well as the pirates' reaction to it all.

Also, we've almost reached 200 reviews which is phenomenal! I never ever expected to get this kind of response, and I'm still in awe by all the love this story gets! This was just something I was doing for fun, something I was writing because it was something I would want to read, but to see so many other people wanting to read this as well, is almost overwhelming. I'll never be able to thank you all enough for everything, but that doesn't mean I wont stop trying!

You guys keep me going, and that's not an exaggeration either. Even if there's just one person whose still invested in this story by the end, that'll still be more then I could ever ask for.

Thank you all so much for everything.