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 43: Darkness Revealed
"They're here," Luffy whispered softly from where he sat on the bed, bringing his knees to his chest and holding them. Sabo frowned and nodded, sitting against the door and concentrating on listening to everyone out on the deck, keeping an ear out for anyone coming near the ship. Ace was sitting on the bed with Luffy, sitting on the edge of it, tapping his foot on the ground anxiously as he watched Sabo closely, waiting for any kind of reaction.
"Oi, Teach's group is back!"
"Someone grab the ladder!"
"Hear that Pops, his mission must've gone alright then."
Sabo could hear all the talking, the rope ladder going down, the group of pirates boarding, the celebrating. Everything.
"Luffy, are they on the ship?" Sabo asked quietly, really hoping that this wasn't the person with the darkness. If it was, that meant that someone apart of the Whitebeards had the darkness and if that was the case that meant that they would have to leave. After they were just getting used to this place too.
"Mhmm." Luffy hummed, shaking a bit now as the dark feeling crept over him.
"Who is it, Sabo?" Ace asked, frown on his face as his foot tapped faster.
"It's someone apart of the Whitebeards. A group of them just got back from some mission." Sabo said, standing away from the door now as he told his brothers.
"That's it then. We're leaving, we can't stay here." Ace said in a slight growl, fists clenched at his sides. Sabo nodded, taking a deep breath.
"You're right. Alright, we have to get to the snail phones." Sabo said, trying to think quickly in case this person somehow knew about them and was here to hurt them. He listened to what was happening outside for a second and frowned.
"What if we go ask Marco to use the phones, that way no one gets suspicious and we can get out of here," Sabo suggested, trying to figure out the safest route out of here. Ace frowned, not liking the idea of talking to anyone on this ship now, but knew that Sabo was normally good at planning these things out. Nodding along to the plan he stood up, Luffy also getting up, though a bit shakier.
"Ok, then we'll go out, I'll ask Marco, and if for some reason he doesn't let us then we'll sneak down there anyway and call Shanks," Sabo said, going over the plan quickly. Luffy quickly sidled up in between Ace and Sabo, grabbing their hands as they left the room, trying to take calming breaths. The closer they got to the deck though, the more suffocating the darkness got, reminding him of his nightmare earlier that morning.
When they reached the deck they all scanned it quickly, Ace spotting the first Commander quickly and leading them to him while Sabo listened around for anyone talking about them, while also keeping an ear out on those who had just come to the ship, knowing one of them had the darkness.
'Luffy, which one has the darkness?' Sabo asked as he looked over the crew. Luffy also began scanning for a second before potentially spotting whoever it was harboring the dark feeling, shrinking back a bit.
'That guy, the one with the long black curly hair, missing teeth, black bandanna.' Luffy tapped as he swallowed thickly, another shiver running through him as he put a face with the feeling. Ace and Sabo zeroed in on the man quickly, both frowning and tightening their hold on Luffy's hands. From what they could see, he looked like a pretty normal, friendly guy, but knowing that he had the darkness in him made it all that much worse.
Moving their attention away from the man they turned to where they were closing in on Marco, Sabo preparing himself to act as if nothing was wrong at the moment.
"Marco!" Sabo called as they grew closer, placing a smile on his face, though it was a bit tense despite his best efforts.
"Yes, yoi?" Marco asked as he turned to face them, not having noticed that they were even back out on deck.
"Sorry to bother you, but we were wondering if we could use one of your snail phones. Luffy wanted to talk to Shanks. If that's ok with you that is." Sabo said, doing his best to not raise any flags with the Commander.
"Sure, I'll take you there, yoi," Marco said, making Sabo nearly sigh in relief as they followed the first mate into the ship, towards where they knew the snail phones were. Even so, the three of them were still on guard, having no idea what could happen next seeing as there was someone with the darkness on board. The group walked silently through the halls until they finally reached the room, Marco stopping and pushing the door open.
"Do you want me to stay here until you're done?" Marco asked, Sabo shaking his head because that was exactly what they didn't want him to do.
"No thank you, that's fine. Thank you, Commander." Sabo said with another smile as he watched the man nod and turn to leave. The brothers didn't dare move until they saw him turn the corner and disappear, leaving the three alone.
"Finally, let's get off this damn ship!" Ace hissed as he nearly bolted into the room, Luffy following. Sabo sighed, also following, pulling the door shut behind him. He was barely two steps into the room and Ace had already pulled one of the snail phones close and was putting in Shanks' number, a look of concentration on his face. Ace was sitting in the chair at the end of the table, Luffy in his lap as he watched his brother put in the number. Sabo joined the two, sitting in the chair beside them.
"Purupurupurupuru~" The three waited in tense silence for the red-haired captain to pick up.
"Purupurupurupuru~" More silence as they waited, not knowing what to do if he didn't pick up.
"Purupurupurupur- gatcha." A collective sigh of relief resounded from the brothers at the sound of the snail being picked up.
"Akagami here, whos this?" Luffy's face lit up while Sabo took the snail from Ace before he could begin ranting.
"Shanks, it's us," Sabo said, watching the snails face light up in recognition.
"Ah, Anchor and his brothers! Everything going alright?" Shanks asked, an inquisitive look now appearing on the snail's face.
"Actually... no," Sabo said a bit hesitantly, glancing to the door as he made sure no one was listening in on them.
"Oh? How so? Whats happened?" Shanks asked, the snail frowning. Sabo frowned as well, turning his attention back to the snail.
"Well, you remember how we told you Luffy could sense people feelings?" Sabo started, hesitant to even be saying this much out loud.
"Yes," Shanks said, waiting for him to elaborate.
"And do you remember how we told you about the darkness?" Sabo said, voice going lower at the mention of the feeling. Shanks frown deepened as well, sensing the seriousness.
"Yes, I do. The doctors had it, correct?" Shanks asked as he remembered what the brothers had told them. Sabo nodded.
"Yes, and you remember how we told you that people with that feeling were bad? Very bad?" Sabo asked, and again Shanks' snail nodded in response.
"Yes. I assume you're telling me all of this again for a reason." Shanks said, already having a feeling as to where this conversation was going, but still unsure.
"I am. The thing is, someone here has the darkness." Sabo said, wondering how Shanks would react. Luffy shifted, the feeling of the darkness still creeping over to him, even when the man was still out on the deck.
"That's actually pretty surprising. Do you know who it is?" Shanks asked, sounding legitimately surprised by the information. Sabo thought back to what people had been saying, specifically to the person Luffy had pointed out.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure someone called him Teach," Sabo said after a second. Shanks look of surprise quickly morphed into one of understanding, turning to a frown quickly after.
"Ah, now it all makes sense, I always knew that man was no good," Shanks said with a hint of anger in his tone.
"We were wondering if we could come to you. After what happened in the facility we'd really rather not be near anyone with the darkness at the moment." Sabo said, hoping the Captain would agree to at least wait for them.
"Have you told Whitebeard about the darkness?" Shanks asked, confusing the brothers.
"No, we haven't even told them anything about what happened in the facility, much less the fact that Luffy can sense feelings," Sabo explained.
"I think you should tell them. Not about the facility and all of that, but at least warn them about Teach. I highly doubt that they even have a clue that he could be up to no good. Whitebeard and his crew are good people, Teach is just an unfortunate outlier that could end up causing them harm in the future if they don't have any clue about him." Shanks explained, and though Sabo knew why Shanks wanted them to do this, it was still a lot to ask.
"No way in hell. We're leaving the second we're done with this conversation, we're not staying another second near that bastard." Ace growled out, gripping the arms on his chair tightly. Sabo sighed, but couldn't find it in himself to disagree with Ace.
"I understand, and you don't need to tell them about the whole, Luffy can sense feelings thing, just... tell them to look out for him. Tell them that he's someone they should keep an eye out for. I still think the Whitebeards are good people and that you should stay with them, but if you disagree and decide you still want to leave after you tell them, then I'll wait for you to come to my ship, I'll even turn around and start heading back toward you." Shanks said, leaving the brothers to sit in silence for a second.
"So you're saying that all we have to do is warn them about Teach and then we can leave?" Sabo asked, the snail nodding in affirmation.
"Yes, but again, I still think you should stay. Trust me, they're good people, well, besides Teach that is, stay away from him, but other than that, they'll keep you safe. Probably better then I can." Shanks said. Another moment of silence passed over them as they took in Shanks' words until, eventually, Sabo spoke up again.
"Alright, we'll warn them, but we make no promises on staying here afterward." The blonde said a bit reluctantly.
"That's all I ask. I'll call back in a few minutes so you can tell me what you're going to do." Shanks replied with a bit of a sigh. Sabo nodded.
"Thank you Shanks." He said, getting ready to hang up.
"No problem Sabo. Gatcha." The sound of the snail going to sleep sounded, Sabo placing the receiver back in its place and leaning back in his chair.
"Well, I guess we should go tell Marco about Teach then," Sabo said with a sigh, running his fingers through his hair.
"Or we could just not and pretend we did," Ace muttered, earning a glare from both Sabo and Luffy.
"Just a suggestion! I don't want any of us getting near that guy again." Ace said, raising his hands up defensively.
"But we told Shanks we would tell Marco, so we gotta tell Marco," Luffy said determinedly, even though he himself definitely didn't want to go back out on deck where Teach was either.
"Luffy's right, if Shanks is right, I would rather warn them about Teach so they can avoid any issue with him in the future," Sabo said, moving to stand. Ace pouted a bit but nodded, Luffy getting off his lap as the two stood as well, following Sabo to the door.
'Teach is still out on the deck with Marco, but they're not that close. If we're lucky we won't have to even look at Teach.' Sabo said as he took note of where people were on deck, noticing someone talking to Teach where he knew the railings were while also hearing Marco giving out Commands from the upper deck.
'Let's make this quick then.' Ace tapped as they began to walk briskly through the halls, Sabo having closed the door behind them. Once they were reaching the door that would open up to the deck they slowed, Sabo listening quickly before pushing it open, leading his brothers away from Teach and to where he heard Marco. Ace was keeping a close eye on Teach, eyes narrowed on the man as they walked, and Luffy sidled up closer to Sabo who was in the front, the brothers walking in a straight line with Ace at the back.
"Marco!" Sabo called cheerfully as if it was a coincidence that the brothers were once again stumbling upon the man. The first mate turned to look at the approaching brothers, raising an eyebrow.
'Confused, curious.' Luffy tapped, so his brothers could know what they were walking into when it came to how people were perceiving them. He knew that, with the appearance of the darkness, everything and everyone was now much more suspicious then they had been the day before.
"Welcome back, how was your talk with Akagami, yoi?" Marco asked, giving the brothers his attention. The smile remained on Sabo's face while Ace continued to keep watch on Teach from the corner of his eye. Luffy was carefully taking note of the emotions he could feel coming from the first mate, reporting them all to Sabo.
"It went well, thank you. It's a bit busy up here today." Sabo said, trying to subtly get Marco to bring up Teach first so it wouldn't be all that weird for him to just suddenly mention them. Marco nodded, taking a glance at the pirates that were still unloading things from the ship Teach had come from.
"That's right, a group that was sent out to handle a mission came back recently, yoi," Marco explained, and Luffy could still sense the slight confusion coming from the man, though other than that he felt calm and generally at peace.
"Were they successful?" Sabo asked as if he was oblivious, though he had already heard all the conversations about how successful they had been. Marco nodded though, completely unaware that Sabo held this knowledge.
"They were, yoi. Teach has been bragging about sense he got back." Marco said with a bit of an eye-roll, though he wore a smirk at the mention. Sabo, silently pleased that Marco had mentioned Teach, pretended to look confused.
"Teach?" He asked, using his best, 'Who's that?' look.
"You haven't met him, he was on the mission when you got here, yoi. That's him right over there." Marco said, pointing the man out for them, though they all knew exactly who and where he was.
"So he's apart of the crew?" Sabo asked a bit distantly as he observed the man a bit closer now that he had the opportunity. The ease that the man smiled and laughed with others, how friendly his outward appearance seemed, it was all still very unnerving to the brothers.
"He is, yoi," Marco said, also watching the man now. Sabo, knowing this was the time he needed to bring up the warning, swallowed thickly, preparing himself to get the words out. He had no idea how the pirate would react and his nerves were beginning to jump.
"Ne, Marco." Sabo started carefully. Catching the sudden tone of seriousness coming from Sabo Marco turned his attention back to the blonde brother, curiosity piquing now.
"You should keep an eye on him," Sabo said in a low, serious tone, quiet enough that only the first Commander could hear him, as well as his brothers. Marco raised an eyebrow at that.
"What do you mean, yoi?" The commander asked. Sabo couldn't sense any hostility in the man's voice, and the confirmation from Luffy gave him the confidence to continue.
"Something bad will happen." Sabo continued, his mouth a bit dry as he spoke.
"To Teach?" The first mate asked, not understanding what Sabo was trying to tell him. The blonde shook his head, face turning grim.
"No, not to him. Because of him, something bad will happen." Sabo elaborated. There was a beat of silence as Marco took in those words, glancing back at Teach for a second.
"And how is it that you know this, yoi?" Marco asked, and again Sabo waited for confirmation that there was no hostility coming from Marco before continuing.
"Ace, Sabo, Luffy! Akagami called back, said he forgot to tell Luffy something!" Haruta's voice called from the lower deck. Sabo turned to the pirate, smiling and nodding as he said they would be down in a minute. Turning back to Marco his face turned serious again.
"Trust us on this Commander," Sabo said, staying for a second more before he and his brothers left to go answer Shanks' call and give him their verdict.
"Sabo, yoi." Marcos call made the brothers falter, Sabo turning to see what Marco wanted, hoping it wasn't to yell at him.
"I'll make sure to keep an eye out, yoi," Marco said, his face just as serious as Sabo's had been moments earlier. Not knowing how to respond and wanting to leave Sabo merely nodded in response, the three of them turning once more and making their way back to the den den mushi room. He could feel Marco watching them as they walked away but he ignored it, dead set on the next few minutes. Depending on what they said and did, they could be off this ship and on the way to Shanks' with either little to no problem or with a big fight.
'We're leaving now, right?' Ace asked with an antsy look on his face, glancing this way and that as they shuffled their way through the pirates.
'Hopefully, yes.' Sabo replied, listening for anyone following them, his heart rate picking up at the thought of getting caught. Luffy was snug in between the two oldest, eyes low as he tried blocking out the darkness wanting to creep in, but it wasn't easy.
A quick, brisk walk allowed them to reach the room with ease, Sabo closing the door and moving to pick up the receiver, the snail patiently waiting.
"Shanks?" Sabo asked, holding the piece up to his mouth, listening anxiously to everything happening out on deck, nervous that someone would head their way and over hear their conversation.
"Sabo, did you tell them?" Shanks asked, his voice loud and clear in the silence of the room. Sabo nodded, glancing to the door briefly.
"We did." He said shortly, wanting to leave as soon as possible.
"And?" Shanks prodded, wanting to know how things went.
"We told Marco to watch out for Teach and he said he would. Did he mean it Lu?" Sabo asked, knowing Luffy had been getting a read of Marcos feelings throughout the entire conversation. Luffy nodded, swinging his feet from where he sat on the table next to the snail.
"Mm. He meant it. He was worried and a little uneasy but he meant it when he said he would keep an eye on him." Luffy relayed, remembering the feelings easily and the conviction the commander felt as he spoke to the brothers.
"Good. So, what's your verdict?" Shanks asked, Sabo sighing a bit.
"We have to leave. We can't stay near someone with darkness, no matter how nice everyone else is." Sabo said a bit reluctantly. He had been getting comfortable here, Ace and Luffy too, and for them to suddenly have to leave was a bit disheartening, but there was no way that they would be comfortable staying on this ship in such close proximity to someone with that much darkness in them.
"I understand, but you need to know that it would be much harder for me to keep you safe. I don't have as much power as Whitebeard does and the marines may be a bit more hesitant toward me then other pirates but that won't stop them from trying if they find out you're with me. Whitebeard would be able to keep you much safer." Shanks said, trying to make sure they understood exactly what it was they were giving up.
"You may get away from the darkness, but you would be giving up safety that no one else could provide." Shanks continued, the brothers listening in silence.
"No matter how safe someone is the darkness trumps that." Ace said in a low voice, a scowl on his face.
"Whitebeard may be the safest place for now, but what happens if Teach goes around and starts turning peoples blue into black, just like at the facility? This place would become much more dangerous than the facility had been." Sabo added, knowing it was a strong possibility that Teach could start planting dark thoughts into these pirates' heads, turning their blue into grey, and then black.
"If that were the case, I'd agree with you, but as it is now, Teach has been with the Whitebeards for at least a decade. If his goal was to turn everyone on the ship into those with the darkness wouldn't there be more people there with it by now?" Shanks countered. Sabo had to agree, it was a bit weird that the man had, supposedly, been there that long and not a single other pirate that they had seen had the darkness. If he had been there this long, it should be crawling with people with the darkness.
"That's not the point, the point is, we can't stay here with him because any second he could find out about our numbers and go tell the Marines about us. People with the darkness couldn't give two craps about what happens to others, only what would benefit themselves." Ace hissed out, annoyed that this was even a conversation they were having. They should have been off this boat by now, watching it get smaller as they sailed away from it.
"I know, you're right Ace, I just worry I won't be able to keep you as safe as Whitebeard could, that's all. It's not gonna be easy to keep the marines off both my, and your, backs." Shanks said again, knowing how stressed the brothers must be. Sabo took a deep breath, closing his eyes and rubbing his hand over his face.
"I'm sorry were asking so much of you, Shanks. It will be more difficult for you if you have to worry about us on your ship, especially with all the marines out searching for us, but even if we wanted to stay, someone with the darkness is much more of a danger to us then the marines. I don't think there's much that you, or anyone, could do to get us to want to stay." Sabo explained, knowing they were putting Shanks into a difficult position.
"You're right Sabo, it is a bit of a tight spot you three are putting me in, and even so, I'm more than happy to help any way I can, but again, I'm just letting you know what you're giving up, what you're going to lose when you come here. Safety isn't something that you can get easily, not when the entire government is working their butts off to find you, and when you step off the Whitebeards ship you're going to lose the safety that you three desperately need." Shanks once again reiterated, trying to drill into the boys just what they were giving up. There was silence now as they thought this over.
Safety was something that they needed, Shanks was right about that, but was it still that much safer here on the Whitebeards ship when there was someone with the darkness onboard? Sure, if they had been here this long and hadn't hurt anyone surely that was a good sign, but that didn't, by any means, mean that they were a good person. In fact, it was the complete opposite, it just meant that whatever they were planning to do was taking a long time to put into motion.
So would they be giving up all that much to go join Shanks on his ship? Did the safety that came with being on the Whitebeard pirates' ship outweigh the danger of being near someone with the darkness?
"I don't want Marco and Mr. Captain to get hurt," Luffy spoke softly, reluctantly. His head was down and his feet, which had been swinging, weren't moving. He was gripping his pants in his fists and Ace and Sabo could see the frown on his face.
"What do you mean Lu?" Sabo asked, confused.
"If we leave then Teach is gonna hurt 'em. I don't want 'em to get hurt, they're good people, but I don't wanna stay around the darkness either." Luffy explained, feeling conflicted. Ace and Sabo watched the boy, neither one of them knowing what to say in response. They didn't want Marco or Whitebeard to get hurt either, after all, they had been the ones to save them from the facility and keep them safe from marines ever since, but, like Luffy, they didn't want to stay anywhere near the darkness.
"There's nothing we can do though, not unless we stay." Ace said, and by the sound of his voice, he most definitely did not want to stay.
"Even if we do stay, what can we do? We'd just be tiptoeing around Teach trying to avoid him." Sabo added, even though he did want to help the Whitebeards. Luffys frown deepened.
"I know, but we could make sure he doesn't hurt 'em," Luffy mumbled softly, his feet swinging slightly now as he spoke.
"It seems we're all very divided on what you should do." Shanks piped in with a sigh. He was right though, because as much as the brothers wanted to leave, there was a part of them that longed to stay, not only to keep the pirates safe, but because this was the first place they had felt normal since the facility, the first place that they were able to get comfortable at.
"It is weird though. If Teach has been here for as long as you say, what's his goal? Everyone with the darkness is motivated by something, most of the time its nothing good, so whats Teach's plan?" Sabo pondered more to himself than to anyone else.
"I don't have any idea, but I do think that he's been hiding his true nature from Whitebeard, so to hear that it was him with the darkness wasn't that surprising," Shanks said, the snail now putting on a face as if it were in thought.
"Then that would mean he doesn't want the pirates to know about it. He's putting up an act to keep them from finding out about him, and most likely about his plan too." Sabo deduced, though that didn't answer much at all.
"That's great and all, but why are we talking about that bastard again?" Ace asked, arms crossed over his chest impatiently.
"I'm just a bit confused is all Ace. After all, this is the first person outside of the facility that we've felt the darkness from." Sabo said with a bit of a shrug.
"Yeah, and that's exactly why we've gotta get as much distance between us and him as fast as possible." Ace said with a bit of anger in his voice now.
"What if you leave and end up regretting it?" Shanks' words made the brothers freeze, none of them having expected that question.
"What?" Ace asked, not sure if he heard right.
"What if you leave and realize later that being on the Whitebeards ship really was the best place for you and end up regretting it?" Shanks elaborated, the brothers pondering his words for a minute.
"I really do think that you three should stay there for now. With Teach being there now the Whitebeards don't know what he's capable of. Marco may be keeping an eye on him now, but he doesn't know what he's looking for, but you three do. If you keep an eye on him you can find out what he's up to, and at the same time keep him from hurting anyone." Shanks suggested, leaving the three in shock.
"You want us to spy on him?!" Ace hissed, already not liking the plan.
"You don't have to, but whenever he's around, keep an eye on him, make sure he's not trying to hurt anyone or plant any bad ideas in their heads. Otherwise, you could avoid him and continue to sail under Whitebeards name safely." The red-haired Captain explained, knowing that this would be a hard request to ask them. He truly wanted to help the brothers, and he truly believed that they would be better off on the Whitebeards ship rather than his.
"No. No way." Ace said firmly, Sabo hesitating. The blonde knew why Shanks was asking them to do this, he understood that it would be more beneficial for them to stay on this ship, but the thought of being near the darkness deterred him from wanting to stay.
"Ace-"
"No, Sabo, you're not going to try and talk me out of this like always. There's someone with darkness here, and that means we're leaving. These pirates are strong and if Teach ends up trying anything I'm sure they'll be able to handle it." Ace growled out, his anger only rising with every second they stayed arguing about this.
"But what if they can't? You know as well as I do how dangerous someone with darkness can be. They're deceptive, and these pirates won't know until its too late that they should be worried about Teach." Sabo tried reasoning.
"What do you want to do about it? It's not like we can just go and beat him up! For some reason, I don't think that'll go over so well with the others." Ace said sarcastically. Luffys eyes began flicking in between his brothers, watching the two as they continued to argue back and forth. Shanks had gone silent as well, letting the two work things out on their own before he would butt in with his own comments.
"Of course not, but Shanks is right, we could just watch him from afar. We don't get close, we don't let him near us, but we make sure he isn't trying to hurt anyone here. I don't want to be here with him either, but I don't want anyone getting hurt because we knew about him and did nothing to stop him." Sabo said, already feeling guilty for something that could happen in the future should they leave Teach to his own devices.
Sabo was being swayed again. This kept seeming to happen. Whenever they had the perfect opportunity, the perfect reason to leave, he was swayed right back into staying with the Whitebeard pirates. Sabo didn't know how he felt about that, but he knew it was getting on Ace's nerves. The eldest had every right to be annoyed with him though, he had said that he wouldn't put up a fight if the darkness was apart of the Whitebeards. He had said they could leave without any fuss, but here he was, fussing. Despite this, Sabo couldn't find it in him to just leave quietly, and a look at Luffy showed the youngest felt the same as him on the subject. Luffy was clearly conflicted on what he wanted to do in this situation, wanting to help the pirates but not wanting to be near Teach either.
But Shanks had made some good points. Points that he had to take into account now that they were so close to jumping ship. If they did go to Shanks they would have to be more diligent about staying hidden, they would have to be more careful of their surroundings, they would have to be more guarded, and that wasn't something that Sabo really wanted to do. A selfish part of him wanted to stay here, purely because he would be able to relax just slightly more then he would if they went to Shanks.
"In that case, Sabo, we still have to be on the same ship as him. If we go to Shanks we don't have to worry about that at all!" Ace hissed, trying to keep his voice down in case anyone was close enough to hear him should he start yelling. Sabo frowned.
"Yes, but in return for not having to worry about Teach we have to worry about the whole of the government looking for us!" Sabo hissed back, hoping his brother would see reason in what he was trying to say. At this point, Sabo didn't know if he even wanted to stay, but from the way he was arguing with Ace, it sure seemed like he did.
"We have to worry about that anyway!" Ace argued back.
"Yes, but here we don't have to watch over our shoulder every five seconds like we would if we went to Shanks!" Sabo countered, Luffy's head moving back and forth like he was watching a tennis match.
Both Luffy and Sabo knew that Ace was only trying to keep them safe, but sometimes he could become narrow-minded and ignore the facts telling them that staying here would be much safer for them then going to Shanks.
"Look, we're just repeating ourselves now. I know you don't want to stay, and really, I don't think I want to stay all that much either, but you have to see that the safer option would be to stay here with the Whitebeards. Leaving would mean giving up all the safety that comes with the marines being scared of him, and not to mention all the territory he has would keep people from thinking twice about us. It would be easier for us to hide if we stayed with him, but if we went to Shanks we would have to give up some of our freedoms, like being able to wander freely at islands." Sabo explained softly, making sure that Ace knew just what was at stake.
The room went silent again, everyone thinking over their options. Finally, it was Shanks who spoke up.
"Why don't we do a trial run?" Shanks asked, confusing the brothers.
"A trial run?" Ace asked, wondering where this was going.
"Yeah. Stay on the ship for another day or two, watch Teach, and if by the end of it it's too unbearable to be near him then you can come to my ship instead. This way you'll also have time to think over if you really want to leave or not and I'll feel better knowing you've thought through all of your options and at least gave staying with the Whitebeards a try." Shanks explained, the brothers finding no complaints. Sabo and Luffy both nodded, agreeing to the plan, and turned to Ace, wondering how he felt about the idea. Ace was quiet, looking to be in deep thought.
"Alright, we'll stay for another day, just so I can show you that staying is a bad idea." He finally said a bit reluctantly. Luffy smiled, glad that they might be able to keep Marco and Whitebeard safe after all, while Sabo smiled as well, happy that Ace didn't put up too much of a fight at this new plan.
"Well, in that case, thank you Shanks, we'll call back tomorrow," Sabo said, the snail smiling.
"No problem boys. Talk to you tomorrow then." Shanks said, the snail hanging up after and leaving the room in silence once again.
A nice long chapter for Teach's big reveal! So, surprise surprise, the darkness belonged to Teach, and now the brothers are debating on whether or not they should stay with the Whitebeards or jump ship and stay with Shanks instead. Marco has been warned, but as mentioned before, just because they warned him about Teach doesn't necessarily mean that he will be able to prevent Teach from doing something. Just because he knows to watch out for him doesn't mean he knows what to watch for.
I'm loving writing this story, and I can't believe that you all love it this much as well! Thank you all so much for your support, and I'll see you all next week where the brothers start their trial run with the Whitebeards and Teach!