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 58: Telling Whiskey

The whole story of the brothers' past took Sabo so long to tell that by the time he'd finished talking, it was time for lunch. Thatch was still muttering about a feast for dinner, but in the meantime, everyone was heading to the galley to eat and then move on with the day.

The brothers followed the lunch crowd, some of the crew giving them and the Commanders curious looks seeing as they had spent most of the morning in the meeting room talking.

They sat at their table with the Captain and Commanders, ignoring the looks, and thanked Thatch as he set their food down in front of them. The chef said a quick no problem before rushing off to the kitchen.

'We have to talk to Whiskey too.' Luffy tapped out as he ate, although he looked a bit uncomfortable with the idea. Sabo sighed, knowing his brother was right, while Ace scowled.

'Why? I wanna stay as far away from her as possible.' Ace replied with a huff. Sabo nudged his brother lightly, sending a light glare to him.

'Ace, we're apart of the crew now, you can't just go saying things like that anymore.' He reprimanded, knowing that they would still have their qualms about the nurses, but that didn't mean they had to voice them. It would be preferable if the crew didn't think they hated their nurses, and they didn't, they merely had a... distaste of them was all. Nothing personal.

'Yeah, and we promised we'd tell her stuff after we joined!' Luffy tapped with a bit of a frown. When it came to promises, Luffy didn't take them lightly. None of the brothers did.

'Fine, we can go talk to her after this.' Ace replied grudgingly. At this point, the brothers were acutely aware of the fact that the Commanders had noticed their silent conversation, watching with wide curious eyes as they tried deciphering whatever it was the brothers were saying to each other. Sabo held back his laughter as he noticed this, tapping to his brothers again.

'Thank you. Now Ace, do a flip for the crowd. Really wow them.' Sabo tapped playfully, only earning another glare from the hot head while Luffy laughed loudly, clearly enjoying himself as he continued eating. Still lost, the Commanders watched on.

"I wish I knew a cool secret language," Haruta mumbled again as he watched, wondering just what the brothers were saying.

"It would make it easier to communicate with marines around." Atmos agreed. At this point, Thatch was returning from the kitchen, his food in his hand.

"I'm here! What'd I miss?" He asked as he sat down, smiling gleefully. Luffy felt himself grinning wider as he felt the happy emotions, feeling a little giddy himself now.

"Nothing much, the brothers are just speaking amongst themselves," Izo said with a smile, gesturing to the still tapping brothers.

"Ooh~! Hey, you think you guys could teach me some of that?" Thatch asked the brothers, resting his chin in his hand as he leaned forward eagerly. Sabo laughed at the chef's eagerness while Ace scoffed and Luffy smiled. The Commanders also looked interested, not having thought of just outright asking.

"I don't know, the point of something being secret is that other people don't know about it," Sabo said, pretending to look as if he was seriously considering it.

"But we could teach them the easy ones! Like, be careful, or be quiet! Oh, and you stink!" Luffy piped up, and Ace and Sabo could tell that someone was probably influencing the young teen's emotions a bit, the boy seemingly too giddy for the moment.

"I suppose we could, it would help if we needed to tell them. Also, Luffy, calm down a bit." Sabo said, messing Luffy's hair up and making the boy pout a bit.

"But there are so many happy feelings! It's nice." Luffy whined but tried to calm down, forcing himself to not let in as much of the happiness as he had been a few seconds ago.

"Yeah, but we don't want you bouncing off the walls because of it." Ace said offhandedly, shoving another sandwich into his mouth. Luffy pouted but agreed to tone down how much happiness he let in, deciding to allow some of the warmth in instead to help him calm down. Pleased, Sabo turned back to Thatch.

"As Luffy said, we could probably teach you guys some of the easier, more cautionary ones. For example, be careful." Sabo said, tapping the words out as the Commanders watched on with interest.

"Like this?" Thatch asked, tapping, though his taps were a tad too slow, and instead of, 'be careful' the chef had accidentally tapped out, 'With kittens' instead. Ace choked on his third sandwich as a laugh forced its way out, and Luffy smiled again, giggling quietly as well. Thatch blinked, looking between the brothers.

"What? What did I say?" He asked, wondering what was so funny. Sabo merely smiled, shaking his head.

"It was nothing, don't worry. You just tapped a bit too slow which changed the words completely. If you don't tap as fast as this," Sabo said, demonstrating once again the proper way to convey the words.

"Then the meaning changes," Sabo said, and Thatch nodded in understanding, becoming more determined as he tried the words out again.

"So, like this." Thatch said, trying it again, doing it the way Sabo had shown him. The blonde nodded as Luffy and Ace watched the tapping, easily deciphering it to be the words the chef had been attempting to tap.

"Exactly, just like that." Sabo praised Thatch, beaming proudly after his success.

"What's the next one? I bet I'll learn it no problem!" He boasted, a determined smile on his face as the other Commanders around him laughed and rolled their eyes. Sabo was reminded of when he was teaching Ace and Luffy how to read, Ace determined to be the best at it while Luffy merely wanted to learn because it was the only source of entertainment for him.

"Well, I could teach you, 'be quiet'." Sabo mused, wondering which one to teach next. There were a few cautionary phrases that would be beneficial to teach the Commanders, it was just a matter of which ones to teach first.

"Teaching Thatch to be quiet? Not gonna happen." Atmos rumbled jokingly, causing another round of laughter. Thatch responded with a playful glare.

"I think you're just jealous that I'm learning a cool language and you're not." Thatch teased, in turn making Atmos to return the glare.

"Am not, look, I got it." The Commander said, all eyes on him as he tapped on the table. Within seconds, Ace and Sabo were choking on their food while Luffy looked on with a look of confusion. Ace and Sabo both had wide eyes, jaws dropped a bit at whatever Atmos had said.

"What did he say?" Haruta asked, everyone, even Marco and Whitebeard concerned. The looks on Ace and Sabo's faces told them enough to know that it was anything but good.

"N-nothing, it's just-"

"Ne, Sabo, Ace, whats a big-" Ace and Sabo simultaneously slapped their hands over Luffy's mouth, stopping him from saying whatever it was he was about to say.

"Luffy, you should eat so we can go talk to Whiskey sooner. You know, don't want to keep her waiting." Ace said in a bit of a rushed voice. The Commanders were left to imagine what Atmos had said as Luffy nodded, turning to eat the rest of his food.

If what Atmos had said was bad enough that Ace was ready to go talk to a nurse, it had to have been pretty bad.

Sabo cleared his throat, slowly getting over his shock as he realized that they should be careful when teaching the Commanders any more phrases with Luffy around.

"Anyways, like with Thatch, you gotta tap at the right pace, yours was a bit too, uh, fast," Sabo explained, still trying to get the words Atmos had unknowingly tapped out of his head.

"It must have been hard to learn and make up this language if something like the speed of tapping can change the entire sentence," Rakuyo noted as Thatch taught Atmos the proper speed to tap.

"We had lots of time to practice." Ace muttered to the man as he finished his lunch, Luffy and Sabo finishing soon after as well.

"There's only so many different ways to tap. The only other way to make up new words was to find new ways to tap, and for us, that meant using the speed to our advantage. Its harder to decipher taps that all look the same." Sabo said as the brothers stood up, ready to go speak with Whiskey.

"If you want to learn more I can help you after we speak with Whiskey," Sabo told Thatch who nodded. The brothers left after that, no one asking why the brothers were going to talk with the nurse. It only took a few minutes to make their way to the infirmary, and soon they were pushing the door open, trying to ignore the anxiety rising in all of them. Luffy's nose twitched at the burning smells filling his senses while Ace scanned the room, finding the nurse almost immediately and leading his brothers towards her.

"Ace, Sabo, Luffy, what can I do for you?" She asked, turning to look at them with a smile after another nurse told her they were heading her way.

"Hello Whiskey, we're here to uphold our end of a promise," Sabo replied, making Whiskey raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Oh? And what promise would that be?" She asked, holding a clipboard to her chest as she spoke.

"We did say that once we joined the crew officially we would tell you everything you should know about us," Sabo said with a smile. Whiskey, realizing what this meant, only nodded, turning to the nurse she had been talking to when they had walked in.

"I'll be back. Can you make sure Oyaji takes these for once? He avoided it yesterday." Whiskey said with a hint of aggravation in her voice as she handed over a pill bottle to the pink-haired nurse. There was a nod from the other nurse who scurried off, presumably to Whitebeard, while Whiskey turned to them.

"Come on, let's go to my office, we'll have more privacy there." The nurse said, already beginning to walk out of the infirmary. The three brothers shared a look, wondering if they should follow her. They were still highly distrustful of doctors and nurses, even if they were apart of the same crew now, so who's to say that she wasn't luring them away to finally attack them?

But those were thoughts that they would have to start getting over. Sure, most of the world was after them and would be after them for the rest of their lives, but that didn't mean there weren't a select few that were on their side. They just had to get used to the fact that, maybe, this crew was one of those select few, and these nurses were ones they could trust.

That trust wasn't going to be something that came easy though.

Reluctantly, the brothers decided to follow the nurse out of the room they hated. They only walked a few doors down before she opened one up and led them in. The room had filing cabinets along the entire back wall and a desk facing the door, which Whiskey went to sit at, pulling out some papers and putting them out in front of her. The brothers hesitantly walked into the room, Sabo, and Luffy sitting at the two chairs in front of the desk while Ace stood in between them, arms crossed over his chest.

"Sorry, there's not a lot of room in here, this is mostly just so we have a place to store our records on crewmembers, and seeing as I'm the head nurse they made it my office to give me a bit more space for my notes." Whiskey explained.

"It's fine, we won't be too long I don't think," Sabo said truthfully, not thinking this talk would take too long. It's not like they were telling their entire history as they'd done with the Commanders and Whitebeard.

"Whenever you want to begin, you can." She said, holding a pen to the paper as she got ready to write. Sabo nodded, wondering how he should phrase some things. He couldn't just say they all had heightened senses without questions being asked.

"Well, to begin with, you know Ace has narcolepsy, he's had it ever since he was born." Sabo started, Whiskey nodding.

"None of us have any more medical conditions like that, but the facility... gave us different abilities that normal people don't possess," Sabo said, picking his words carefully. Whiskey raised an eyebrow at this.

"Like?" She asked, deciding not to question exactly how the facility had 'given' the brothers these abilities.

"Like our senses. My hearing has been heightened to the point that I can hear things extremely far away." Sabo said as Whiskey wrote something down.

"Alright, do you know just how far you can hear?" She asked, not looking up from her paper.

"Not exactly. A quarter-mile? Maybe a bit more." Sabo guessed, not really having measured it before. Whiskey nodded as she wrote that down.

"Is everything louder? Or is everything the same volume, you can just hear further away?" Whiskey looked up, her appearance giving away nothing but a calm, professional exterior.

"Everythings louder. Whispers sound like normal talking, normal talking is like shouting." Sabo said, having come to terms with that long ago, back in the facility. It had been painful for everyone to sound like they were constantly shouting, and it took a while for Sabo to figure out how to talk normally without whispering, thinking that was normal, but it had all evened out in the end.

"How long ago was it that you're hearing was enhanced?" Sabo thought about it, knowing that it had happened sometime during their second year in the facility.

"Around five years ago." He answered dutifully.

"Did you have more ear-related injuries or illnesses since then?" And Sabo had to consider that one because, after all, that the doctors had done, it was hard to determine what was illness and what was the result of a bad drug.

"I don't know, I don't think so. When my hearing was first heightened everything was too loud to listen to and I got headaches a lot because of it, but I don't think I've had any other problems besides that." Sabo responded.

"Okay, I think that's it. What else?" Whiskey asked, looking up from her notes with a hint of a smile to reassure the brothers.

"Well, at the same time that they enhanced my hearing, they also enhanced Luffys sense of smell and Ace's eyesight," Sabo explained. Whiskey nodded, pulling out a different paper from under the stack and setting it on top.

"In that case, we'll start with Luffy. You said it was the same time, so that was five years ago." The head nurse said, more to herself as she wrote it down before continuing.

"Why don't you explain to me what your senses are like so I know what to ask." Whiskey said, giving Luffy a more noticeable smile, knowing that the brothers were still easily scared of nurses.

"I can figure out who someone is by the way they smell, and I can follow someone's smell to figure out where they're at too," Luffy said, not the best at explaining things, but doing his best.

"Alright, does that mean everyone has a particular scent that you can recognize?" Whiskey asked, needing a bit of elaboration. Luffy hummed an affirmation and she wrote some more before asking more questions.

"How long does it normally take until you cant follow someone's scent anymore?" She asked, and like Sabo, Luffy hadn't really had much practice with it to know, but he remembered Sabo saying that he overheard the doctors talking about that before.

"A week I think." He responded uncertainly.

"And like I asked Sabo, does everything smell stronger than before, or does it smell the same, you can just smell more now?" Whiskey asked.

"Stronger," Luffy answered easily, scrunching his nose up as he remembered the smell of the infirmary.

"Last question, another repeat. Since your senses were enhanced have you had an increase in nose problems? Stuffy nose, only smelling out of one side? Anything like that?" She asked, getting a head shake from Luffy.

"Nope, I don't think so. Sometimes smells burn my nose though and give me headaches." Luffy answered.

"Any smells in particular?" She asked curiously.

"Medicine, and that alcohol stuff, and those smelly salts you used that one time, oh, and anterepic? No, anselenite? No, that wasn't it either... denterpet-"

"Antiseptic, Lu." Sabo interrupted, knowing Luffy would take forever trying to pronounce the word correctly, and wouldn't get any closer to saying it right.

"Yeah, that stuff!" Luffy said with a nod. Whiskey frowned, but Luffy could tell it wasn't because she was mad at them or anything. He could feel a bit of guilt coming from the nurse, making him tilt his head curiously at her.

"What's wrong?" He asked, surprising the nurse who looked up at him instead of down at her papers.

"Oh, its nothing, I just feel bad for keeping you in the infirmary. I didn't know it was hurting your nose." Whiskey said in an apologetic tone, only confusing Luffy more.

"But you didn't know, cause we didn't tell you," Luffy said matter-of-factly, causing Ace to scoff quietly.

"Yes, however I still feel responsible." Whiskey said.

"But you're not, cause we are. That's that." Luffy said stubbornly, crossing his arms as he pouted slightly. Whiskey blinked at that before smiling, holding back laughter.

"I guess you're right Luffy. Anyways, I think that's all for you, Ace, it's your turn now." She said as she pulled out another new paper, presumably the one meant for Ace. The eldest nodded, not looking excited to talk, but looking willing to none the less.

"I'm just going to go through the same question I went through with your brothers. Again, this happened five years ago, so there's that. Can you describe to me what your eyesight is like now compared to how it used to be?" Whiskey asked politely, pen at the ready.

"I can see really far away and I can see in the dark too," Ace answered shortly, though that didn't deter the nurse.

"Do you know how far away you can see?" Whiskey asked, and Ace shrugged.

"I dunno. Pretty far. Maybe about fifteen-ish miles." Ace estimated, knowing he could see pretty far away if nothing obstructed his view.

"And is it with perfect clarity the entire fifteen miles, or is it blurrier after a certain point?" The head nurse asked.

"Perfectly clear." Ace said, knowing for a fact that everything was always clear and easy to distinguish.

"What is it like in the dark?" Whiskey asked.

"Just like it is in the morning. I can see everything perfectly fine, but it's like I'm wearing sunglasses. Like it's tinted" Ace answered. Whiskey wrote this down before continuing.

"Final question, any eye-related injuries or illnesses since they've been enhanced?" She asked, looking up at Ace as she asked the question.

"I got eye strain a lot, and I got migraines too, but I haven't gotten that in a long time." Ace replied. Whiskey sighed as she wrote the last of the information down.

"Well, now that that's done, is there anything else?" She asked, and Sabo felt bad that they were, probably, overwhelming the nurse with information. It wasn't every day that your new crewmates came with a list of inhuman abilities.

"Only a couple more things Ms. Whiskey," Sabo said in a slightly apologetic tone. Whiskey nodded, getting ready to write some more.

"Ace heals at a much faster rate than a normal person. What usually takes weeks to heal will heal within days." Sabo said, and Whiskey had an immediate look of realization on her face as she looked up from her papers.

"That's why your wound healed so fast!" She exclaimed, making Sabo and Luffy laugh while Ace smiled triumphantly.

"Yes, it is. Also, this one's not as important, but it's proven to become an issue sometimes. Luffy can feel what other people are feeling. If someone is feeling really happy or mad, it can influence Luffy's own feelings so that he feels the same way, even if he was just fine moments ago." Sabo explained after calming himself down.

"The only reason I bring this up is that, after being overly influenced by a certain emotion, Luffy became so relaxed by it that he nearly passed out," Sabo said, glancing at Luffy out of the corner of his eye. Whiskey wore a frown as she nodded, jotting the note down.

"Does this happen with every emotion he feels strongly or was it just with this certain one?" Whiskey asked.

"Just that one and one more. The first one he explains as a nice, warm feeling that's relaxing which is why we think he nearly passed out from it. The other emotion isn't a good one and he describes it as suffocating basically. He's been affected by that one as well and it caused him to go into a panic attack. Other emotions don't make him like that. Anger will just make him shout and storm off and happiness will make him giddy and excited." Sabo said.

"Got it. Is that everything?" Whiskey asked, setting her pen down and looking at the brothers.

"Yes, that's everything," Sabo said with a smile, to which Whiskey smiled back.

"Well, I'm glad you three told me all of this, it will definitely help in the future." Whiskey said as she put the papers away into a filing cabinet. Sabo and Luffy stood up as Whiskey did.

"Thank you for listening," Sabo said as the brothers turned to leave the room.

He was glad that everything had gone well, glad that Whiskey hadn't pushed to know more. Even though she was a nurse and was, no doubt, curious as to how the brothers had gotten their extra abilities, she hadn't asked and hadn't been mad when the brothers didn't tell.

If only all nurses and doctors were like that.

Another transitioning chapter, or filler chapter even. The brothers told Whiskey about their senses and are starting to realize that, unlike the facility doctors, the nurses on the Moby aren't out to hurt them like they'd assumed all this time. We also got a bit more information on the brothers' senses in case you were curious about how far Ace could see or how far Sabo could hear.

The Commanders are also starting to learn some of the taps the brothers use too. Of course, its not as if they're going to be taught every word right away, the brothers still want to have some privacy when they tap amongst themselves, but its another huge leap of trust in the brothers to give up even just a little bit of their language to them.

The next few chapters will mostly focus on the brothers getting used to being officially apart of the crew, because even though they've been with them for a while, they were never officially apart of them, so it feels different for them now.

Thank you all for your support on this story, I'll forever be grateful to every single one of you! I'll see you next Thursday with the next chapter!