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 66: Waking Up
The sun was shining, the water was splashing against the side of the boat, and the cuffs were clicking closed around his wrists. A fire burned in his eyes as he glared menacingly at the man who had just locked the draining stone around his wrists, immobilizing his hands from being used to fight.
"What the hell is this?!" He growled the words out venomously, but he got no answer, not even a flinch or look of guilt as he was kicked, literally, off the ship and right onto another.
"Let's call it getting rid of a pest." He bristled at the words, something breaking painfully inside him.
He had trusted them. He had gone against his every instinct, and here it was, biting him in the ass.
"Now now, you'll be home soon, don't you worry," A new voice behind him said, the man walking up to him with a smile, placing his hand on his shoulder. He snarled at the doctor, trying to move away, but his movements were sluggish and uncoordinated.
"I know you're excited to return, but you don't want to exhaust yourself," The doctor said, the words spoken as if they were supposed to be caring, but he knew that wasn't the case. The only thing those damn doctors cared about was results. Results and their 'Golden Children.'
"Who would be excited to go anywhere with you?" He snapped out, the doctor remaining unflinching. No more words were spoken, not because he didn't have more to say, but because a needle was piercing his skin and everything was starting to feel foggy, his mouth moving at a delay to the words his brain was trying to get out. As much as he wanted to scream, yell, curse, fight, he couldn't. His legs felt weak and he fell to the deck, hands holding him in an upright position as he gasped for breath. It felt like he couldn't breath, like someone was sitting on his chest, like the air had to be filtered through something before it was allowed to fill his lungs.
Sounds became muffled as he looked up, looked over to the other ship beside them, to the ship that had betrayed him, turned him back over to the damn doctors. He could see them looking over their railing, glaring disdainfully at him, some scoffing and leaving as if they had better things to do.
He watched as the biggest of them all grinned sinisterly at him, and he knew that pain in his chest wasn't coming from the injection the doctor gave him. He knew that there was nothing they could give him that would hurt him as much as this.
As things became too fuzzy to see clearly, he fell sideways, ignoring the wetness running down his cheeks.
When he woke up next, he felt groggy, like there was sludge all around him, keeping him from moving fluidly. Blinking a few times and flexing his fingers he looked around and felt his blood run cold.
The blinding white clued him into exactly where he was and the lack of mobility told him he was sitting in the horrid chair he had gotten all too familiar with.
"Welcome home." The words were chilling, a shiver wracking through his body as he looked up at the doctor who was leaning into his face, smiling.
"There's so much we have to catch up on. No more dilly-dallying." With a snap of the doctors' fingers, nurses poured into the room, all holding needles or scalpels as they advanced towards him. Despite his struggles, the restraints held him in place, allowing the nurses to poke and prod at him. It felt liked hundreds, thousands, of bee stings as needles went in, quickly being replaced by a new one the second the liquid was injected.
All the meanwhile the doctor merely stared on, a smile frozen in place on his face as he watched the show.
The pain coursed through his body, but that wasn't all that surprising. He knew the second that he had betrayed that this was going to happen. It felt as if cutting off his every limb would be less painful than what was currently happening to him, but he would never get any such relief like that. Not that he wanted that, but at that moment, it felt as if he would give anything for it to just stop.
It was hard to breathe again. Not only that, but it hurt to even attempt breathing. Something essential, something he had to do, felt worse than he imagined what suffocating would feel like. What was the point of continuing breathing if every breath he took, his lungs felt like they were on fire? Every time his lungs expanded even marginally, it felt as if someone was shooting him in the chest?
And the migraine. It pounded behind his eyes, made everything hard to see. Blinking hurt. Moving his eyes hurt. Moving his head hurt.
He just wanted it to be over.
When the darkness started creeping into his vision, he welcomed it. So long as he was given some relief from all the torturous pain, he would let anything happen. His labored breathing sounded loud in his ears, his heart pumping alongside it, and he watched as the darkness swallowed the nurses around him. He knew they were still there, he could feel the needles and the scalpels, but he couldn't see them anymore through his spotty vision.
All he could see was the doctor staring straight at him, still smiling. The doctor was unmoving, unblinking, uncaring. He would have thought the doctor was a statue if he didn't know any better.
His vision was getting even darker now. The doctor was becoming even harder to make out now, but even so, the picture of his smiling face was imprinted on his brain. He let his eyes slide closed, hopefully for the last time, and tried to breathe through the pain.
They call people monsters, but he knew.
People weren't monsters. the true monsters were people.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"What's the verdict Whiskey?" Marco asked. The commanders and Whitebeard all watched as the nurse fiddled with her clipboard. They were in the meeting room because even though everyone on board was worried about the brothers, they didn't want to start another panic if there was something truly wrong with the brothers. If there was something horribly wrong, the commanders and captain would handle it, and if it was something they, Kami forbid, couldn't help, they would have to slowly break it to the crew.
"I, honestly, have no clue." Whiskey said with a sigh as she looked at her clipboard with a hard look before letting it fall to the table, looking up at Whitebeard.
"I've done every test I can think of, I checked their blood, I even did tests for the more rarer conditions, but I've never seen or heard of anything like this happening before." The head nurse continued with a frustrated look on her face.
"But are they ok?" Thatch asked in concern. He had really come to like the brothers and after their shitty lives, he just wanted them to be happy and healthy.
"I-... I don't know. There isn't any damage internally and there isn't anything externally, however, it looks as if they are in pain. Not to mention the sweating and the thrashing." Whiskey said, picking up the clipboard again to reexamine her notes as if the answer would show itself the twentieth time after looking at it.
"What can you tell us, daughter?" Whitebeard asked gently, seeing how conflicted Whiskey looked about the brothers. The nurse looked up at her father figure again, sighing.
"All I know is that it looks as if the brothers are just sleeping." Whiskey said, confusing everyone again.
"But we can't wake them up? So is it like a coma?" Jiru asked, remembering that Marco mentioned trying to wake them up with no success.
"Yes, exactly, however, people in comas are completely unresponsive. They don't move, they can't feel pain and they don't react to light or sound." Whiskey informed easily, probably having told this to herself many times while examining the brothers.
"But the brothers have been moving..." Izo said softly, Whiskey nodding.
"Exactly. A coma would be the easy answer if they weren't so expressive and responsive. There isn't any trauma that would knock them unconscious and there isn't anything physically wrong with them. It merely seems as if their sleeping. Dreaming even. My best guess is that they're stuck in REM sleep, which is unusual in of itself." This earned the nurse looks of confusion.
"Whys that?" Fossa asked.
"Well, when we sleep we go through cycles. The REM cycle is when we have our most vivid dreams. The first cycle, we only stay in REM sleep about ten minutes, but as we continue cycling the amount of time we stay in that cycle extends longer and longer. What's unusual is the fact that it's been going on this long. Normally, by our last REM cycle, we'll reach maybe an hour, but it should never be as long as this. Not to mention the fact that we cant wake them up at all." Whiskey said, once again putting her clipboard down.
"So... they're basically just dreaming and we cant wake them up." Atmos summarized. Whiskey nodded in confirmation.
"Are they at risk of getting hurt? Or getting worse?" Kingdew asked.
"As much as I wish I had answers, I don't. There is the potential that they'll hurt themselves with their thrashing which is why we've restrained their hands and feet, but other than that, I don't know if this could be permanent, become permanent, or even gets worse somehow. All we can do right now is monitor them and attempt waking them up." Whiskey said. It was silent after that, everyone mulling over the nurses' words.
"Thank you, daughter. Are we able to visit them?" Whitebeard asked, everyone looking at the nurse, all of them wanting to see the brothers despite the state they were in.
"You can, but it's not exactly a pleasant sight. There are also a few more tests we'll be attempting to wake them up." Whiskey said a bit hesitantly.
"We understand. If at any point we have to leave, we will." Whitebeard said, the commanders nodding in agreement. Whiskey looked at them all a minute before nodding as well.
"Alright. I should be heading back now. We can take up to four guests for now." She said, standing and picking her clipboard up as she did. She didn't stay long enough to listen to the debate of who got to see them first, deciding her presence was needed more in the infirmary.
The brothers had always been a mystery, and even after thinking they had learned all they could about the brothers, they still continued to mystify them. Looking over her notes, again, Whiskey let another huff of frustration fall from her lips.
There were no drugs in their systems, they responded to light, they seemed to be feeling pain, and they were moving which already contradicted what she knew about REM sleep. Whenever someone went into REM sleep the skeletal muscles would be paralyzed.
None of it made sense, but then again, nothing about the brothers made sense. Heightened hearing, heightened smell, heightened eyesight, rapid healing. The list of abnormalities piled high. Not to mention the many phobias and, no doubt, mental illness they had because of their time in the facility. Whiskey had a strong feeling that all three of the brothers suffered from PTSD, but due to the brothers' phobia of nurses, she had yet to push the envelope on that subject. She didn't want to scare them away, but she truly wanted to help them.
It was a very conflicting feeling.
Walking into the infirmary showed her that there had been no improvement in the brothers' condition. Nurses surrounded their beds, all trying to find out what was wrong, and for a brief moment, Whiskey was glad the three were comatose, for lack of a better word, while it was happening. If they had been awake, they would be terrified.
"Shirley, what's the update?" Whiskey asked as she walked over to a nurse with reddish-pink hair. Shirley looked over at Whiskeys words before looking at her own clipboard.
"Nothing much. We've tried a few more things to wake them up but we've been unsuccessful." She said, gesturing to the still very much asleep brothers. Whiskey sighed, moving to see what Shirley had written.
"Damn. And I thought for sure that one would do something." Whiskey said, looking at one of the methods the nurses had tried.
"Me too. Didn't do anything though." Shirley said sadly, looking at the brothers again. The door opened and they looked over, noticing it was just the first group of visitors.
Jiru, Jozu, Rakuyo, and Vista all walked in, casting worried glances at the brothers.
"If you wait there a moment we should be clearing up around the brothers. You can sit near them then." Whiskey said, noticing that, after another failed attempt at waking the brothers up, the nurses were dispersing again. The commanders nodding, waiting patiently until the spaces beside the brothers was clear, before moving to sit down.
The brothers, despite being restrained, were still attempting to move their bodies, their straps straining as they pulled, and their faces scrunched in a mixture of what looked like pain and fear.
"My God," Vista muttered as he sat beside Sabo.
"I know. We're running out of tests, and at this rate, we're going to have to wait it out." Whiskey said. There was silence, only the sounds coming from the brothers filling the air. Time seemed to pass slowly as all the nurses continued working, the commanders occasionally moving away to let them work. Eventually, those four Commanders left and a new four came in, like a rotation. At one point, Whitebeard himself had even come in to visit, but after the designated time was up, he too left, allowing a new four to enter.
This went on until it was Marco, Thatch, Izo, and Haruta in the room. It was the fourth rotation of commanders and it had been about two and a half hours since the brothers had been in the infirmary. Whiskey was at one of the desks in the room, pouring over her notes again and again. She only had one more idea that they could try, she was just waiting for a nurse to bring her what she needed in order to attempt it.
"I've got it Whiskey!"
Speak of the devil.
As Whiskey got to work on her newest idea the commanders all sat despairingly at the brothers' bedside.
"What do you think they're dreaming about?" Haruta asked softly from where he sat beside Luffy's bed. Izo sighed beside him, looking at Sabo's pained expression.
"Whatever it is, it doesn't look like a fun dream." He said, moving the blondes hair from his sweaty forehead, having sat beside Sabo.
"No kidding," Thatch muttered from where he sat on Luffy's other side. Marco, at Aces side, sighed, opening his mouth to speak, but stopping when Whiskey started walking over.
All of the commanders had been given instructions on what to do when the nurses attempted to wake the brothers up. It was unpredictable what state the three would be in if they woke up, so the commanders were to be the first thing they saw rather than a nurse. If the brothers seemed calm, they would unstrap them immediately, but if they seemed hostile, they would attempt to calm them down until they could be let go without worry for anyone's safety.
"Another test, yoi?" Marco asked instead of whatever he was going to say before. Whiskey nodded, holding a vial of liquid in her hand, the top corked shut.
"Mhmm. If this one doesn't work its back to the drawing board." She said with a tired sigh. Marco and the rest of the commanders watched as Whiskey moved to the other side of Aces bed where no one was sitting and uncorked the vial.
"What is it?" Haruta asked, eyeing the liquid in confusion.
"It's like the smelling salt we tried on Ace and Sabo the first time they were brought in. This one, however, has a few changes to it. I added jasmine, which increases beta waves, and citrus and peppermint scents which help in the same way smelling salts do." The nurse said, placing the vial under Aces nose, careful not to let the thrashing teens face knock it out of her hand.
"Doesn't sound like it'll smell all that good." Thatch said, scrunching his nose up in thought, but got no response to his words as everyone watched, hoping the concoction would work. It seemed it wasn't going to though, Aces face in the same mixture of terror and pain as it had been the whole time, but right as Whiskey began pulling the vial back, pushing the cork back into place, Aces eyes flew open and he made the loudest gasp for air the crew had ever heard. It almost sounded as if he hadn't been breathing for a few minutes and he was only now getting oxygen.
Everyone could only stare in shock for a minute before there was finally movement. Marco shot up out of his chair with Thatch, the two of them moving to either side of Ace and watching as the teen looked around wildly, the same terror they had seen on his face now in his eyes.
"Ace-"
"What's going on?! Let me go you damn bastards!" Aces fear left, quickly being replaced with a fiery hatred that shocked the two commanders momentarily.
"Hey, Ace, calm down-"
"I swear when I get my hands on you-!" Ace cut himself off as he pulled on his restraints furiously.
"Calm down Ace, everything's alright-"
"I'm gonna kill you! When I get my hands on you I'm gonna rip that damn smile off your goddamn face!" The snarled words surprised the commanders but they shook it off, Marco watching as Ace continued straining himself, trying to get out of his restraints.
"Ace!" Marco said firmly, snapping Aces attention to him. He kept a straight face as the teen stared at him.
"You need to calm down. No one here is going to hurt you. You're safe, it was just a dream, yoi." Marco said, his voice still firm, but gentle at the same time. Ace stared at him a minute, his expression slowly relaxing and the anger fading.
"Marco? Wha-? What's happening?" Ace asked, pulling at the restraints again, this time only gently, as if testing them.
"You and your brothers have been... sleeping? We're not exactly sure, yoi, but we couldn't wake any of you up." Marco said, and sensing that the teen was calm now, began undoing the restraints, Thatch helping.
"Sleeping? Crap, where are Luffy and Sabo?!" Ace asked as if suddenly realizing something, his eyes going wide.
"They're right there-" Thatch was cut off when Ace jumped out of the bed, rushing over to Sabo's side. Izo stood up on the other side, in case he needed to stop Ace, but didn't do anything as Ace held Sabo's shoulder in a firm grip, keeping the blonde from thrashing.
"Hey Sabo, it's alright, it's just a dream, you're safe, we're safe." Ace murmured softly. He continued muttering similar sayings for a few minutes, even when Izo started to tell him that it wasn't working. Ace merely sent a glare to Izo which shut him up, before returning to murmuring to Sabo. Another few minutes later and Whiskey was getting ready to step in and stop the oldest of the brothers, but suddenly the blonde woke up in much the same manner Ace had.
Instead of anger like Ace, though, Sabo's face was full of panic. Like Ace though, the blonde pulled against his restraints, and once he realized he was restrained in the first place the panic only grew.
"Sabo! Calm down, I'm right here, we're out of there, no one's gonna get us. Look, the restraints can be taken off, and they will be taken off." Ace said, unstrapping one of his brother's hand. Sabo's eyes watched as his hand was freed before looking up at Ace.
"A-Ace?" He asked in confusion, looking around once more.
"That's right, we're all ok, but we have to wake Luffy up." Ace said, beginning to undo the rest of the restraints with Izo's help.
"Luffy?" He asked, his voice still a bit distant.
"Yes, Luffy's alright, but he's stuck too so we have to wake him up." Ace replied softly, helping Sabo sit up once he was completely free.
"Sleeping? Right, yeah, alright, let's wake him up." Sabo said, seeming to get more of his bearings straight as he also got out of bed, the two brothers heading over to Luffy, the Commanders all moving out of their way and watching in interest. Even though they had tried everything they could think of to wake the brothers up, they were able to do it in a handful of minutes with just the repeating of a few simple phrases. It also seemed as if this had happened before, or at least something similar to it.
"Luffy, it's alright, you're dreaming, Ace and I are right here so all you have to do is wake up and it'll all be gone," Sabo said gently, brushing Luffy's hair back.
"Yeah, everything's alright, we're all safe. We're all free. When you wake up we can go look at the ocean and the clouds." Ace said soothingly. Like with Sabo, it took a few minutes, but finally, Luffy was awake as well, eyes blown open in terror. The tears came quick and fast as Ace and Sabo immediately got rid of the restraints holding the youngest down and pulled him into their arms.
"Shh, shh, It's ok Luffy, we're all safe." Sabo murmured quietly in Luffy's ear and the boy sobbed. The commanders stood awkwardly to the side, not wanting to interrupt. Ace and Sabo seemed to have it handled after all, but there was a lot of questions that they had about exactly what had just happened.
Tapping caught their attention and they noticed Luffy was tapping with his trembling fingers on Aces arm.
"I know it smells. Why don't you and I go sit outside for a minute?" Ace asked Luffy nodded fervently at the idea. Haruta looked like he was going to speak up, but Marco placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from speaking and instead looking at Marco in confusion. Marco merely shook his head, the two of them turning back to watch as Ace and Luffy got out of the bed, Luffy still obviously shaken up, while Sabo remained sitting, watching the two walk off and out of the infirmary.
When the door finally shut completely behind the two Sabo sighed, rubbing his forehead as he turned to face the commanders and nurse.
"Sorry about all this." The blonde said sincerely.
"No, it's alright, but... what was that?" Thatch asked, eliciting another sigh from Sabo in response.
"As much as I wish I had answers to that question, we're as in the dark about this issue as you," Sabo said truthfully.
"But it looked as if this has happened before," Izo said, thinking back to how easy it was for the brothers to wake each other up.
"That's true because it has. I'll give the best explanation I can, but as I said before, we don't know much about whatever... this was. Sometimes when we go to sleep we just... can't wake up. We get stuck in our dreams, or rather, our nightmares, and it's extremely difficult for us to wake up. We don't know how long we would stay asleep without outside assistance, the longest its lasted before was a few hours. This rarely happens, and we've never had all of us stuck at once, normally it's just one or two of us." Sabo said, his nightmare still flashing behind his eyes, and he had to keep reminding himself that that's all it was. A nightmare.
"When did this start happening?" Whiskey asked.
"I... don't know... sometime during the facility. We've always just assumed it was another test, another side effect from a drug, but then it never went away. My best guess is maybe... three years in?" Sabo said, trying to remember who even got stuck first, but coming up blank.
"And when you're... stuck, you're dreaming? Having a nightmare?" Whiskey asked for confirmation.
"That's right. They're not very pleasant to put it lightly and their extremely vivid. It may as well be reality for us, so when we wake up, as you saw, we're very disoriented and can't tell the difference between our nightmares and reality." Sabo said.
"What time is it anyway?" He asked, looking over to the window, noticing that it was pretty bright outside.
"Its almost lunch. We noticed that you didn't eat the breakfast we left for you so we checked on you and found you still sleeping, but then we couldn't wake you up, yoi." Marco explained, Sabo's eyebrows furrowing in thought.
"Definitely the longest yet then. Thank you for helping us out. How did you wake Ace up?" Sabo questioned curiously prompting Whiskey to hold the vial she had used in the air.
"I made a concoction of the smelling salt I used on you and it seemed to do the trick after a few minutes." Sabo nodded at the head nurses explanation, eyeing the vial curiously. He was about to say something more when he turned his head towards the door, everyone doing the same out of instinct.
"If you'll excuse me for a moment. It seems Luffy's having a bit more difficulty waking up. I'll be back to answer any more questions you have after if you don't mind." Sabo said, his nerves returning as he remembered the fact he was in an infirmary, addressing a nurse. His nightmare came back to his mind and his every instinct told him it was going to begin to happen right in front of him, but he pushed that thought down, taking a deep breath and standing.
"Sounds good. I just want to make sure you three are alright." Whiskey said. Sabo smiled to her, nodding before turning and hurrying out the door. He heard the commanders leaving with him, but didn't pay them much mind. It wasn't like they had any reason to stay in the infirmary now that the brothers were out of it after all.
He focused his attention back on Ace and Luffy, the former attempting to calm the latter, but it wasn't working as well as it normally would.
Walking out onto the deck, Sabo spotted his brothers immediately. It was kind of hard not to when the entire deck was looking their way. Ace sat beside Luffy on the railing, rubbing the youngest back comfortingly as he mumbled soothing words, but they didn't seem to be having the intended effect. Luffy's body was wracked with shivers, and both Ace and Sabo knew it wasn't because he was cold.
"Look, Sabo's right there, we're all safe, all together. No one's gonna hurt us. We're apart of the Whitebeards crew now, and we're here with Thatch and Marco and Izo and Whitebeard. No one's gonna tear us apart here." Ace murmured as Sabo walked up to them. The blonde was quick to climb onto the railing beside Luffy, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Hey Lu, Ace is right, we're safe here," Sabo said softly, ignoring all of the onlookers the best he could. Once again, he ignored his own nightmare fighting its way into his thoughts, forcing himself to live in the moment. After hours of being stuck though, it made it extremely hard to just push the thoughts aside.
"B-but what ab-bout the... the big m-monster and the n-needles and the d-darkness and-"
"None of that here, right Ace?" Sabo asked, looking at the oldest who looked around dramatically.
"Nope, I think we're all clear on monsters, needles, and darkness." Ace assured, turning to look back to Luffy who still looked both worried and terrified.
"Why don't we go sit with Whitebeard, hm? You can get some warmth and he'll keep all the monsters away for us." Sabo said, nodding to the giant captain who he had seen looking their way with worry every once in a while. Luffy looked toward the Captain as well, a bit of hesitance now appearing on his face as he took in the Captains appearance.
He had seen the Captain many times. He had felt the Captain's emotions even more times than that. So why did the man seem so foreign to him right now? Why did everyone around him seem like a stranger, even though he knew for a fact that he had seen them all at least once during his stay here on their ship?
Logically, he knew none of them were strangers, none of them were going to hurt him, but something in his mind told him that that wasn't true, that he had to be careful, watch his back. He knew it was because of the nightmare he'd had, knew that was the reason for the confusing thoughts, the feelings of terror and uncertainty, but it didn't help any.
With Ace and Sabo at his side, their feelings of love, warmth, and comfort slowly filtering into him, he found it easier to ground himself, to remember he wasn't sleeping anymore, and that being here was ok, he was safe here.
That didn't stop the panic, however.
"All of them?" Luffy's voice was small and timid, but Ace and Sabo tried to not let it phase them, their expressions softening.
"Every single one. No monster is a match for him." Ace boasted easily. It was definitely a turn around from the man who would have claimed that the captain himself was a monster only a few weeks ago, but it was a welcome change. True, he may only be saying it to keep Luffy calm, but he was saying it none the less.
Luffy took another nervous glance to the captain, trying to push down the panic, the heavy breathing, the sweat he could still feel lingering on his forehead.
"Mm... I wanna go..." He said quietly, clenching his fists on the railing one more time before releasing his hold and getting off, Ace and Sabo following.
"I still have to go talk to Whiskey, but I can stay out here for a little bit until then. I could even ask one of the commanders to go get her and ask her to talk with us out here if you don't want me to go." Sabo said gently to Luffy, not wanting to leave if the boy needed him, but not wanting to scare him more with a nurse if unnecessary.
"I-I think I'll be fine with Ace..." Luffy said as he walked, eyes glued to the ground as he did. Sabo nodded, he and Ace sharing a look.
"I'll be as quick as I can and then I'll join you again." The blonde said the eldest nodding in response as Sabo turned to leave, giving one last comforting squeeze to Luffy's shoulder. He saw the commanders who had been with them in the infirmary at Whitebeards side, watching the brothers as they made their slow approach, but thankfully none of them attempted to make conversation with them. Sabo took this as a good sign and left his brothers, walking at a quick pace to the infirmary, wanting to get this over with quickly so he could be with his brothers again.
Ace watched Sabo leave, making sure no one bothered him as he disappeared into the Moby. Like his brothers, his own nightmare was clawing its way into his mind, telling him that none of this was real, that this was the dream. He was waiting for the moment he would wake up back in that horrible nightmare land, but realistically, he knew that wouldn't happen. This was reality, not that terrible dream his mind had conjured up in an attempt at showing him his worst fears.
When he was sure Sabo was gone safely, he turned his attention back to Luffy and their destination. He easily ignored the stares of the Captain and the Commanders, instead, focusing on guiding Luffy over to the side of Whitebeards chair, both of them resting their backs against it. No one said anything to them, and they had no intention of saying anything either, so they all sat in silence save for Ace murmuring words to Luffy whenever it looked like he needed them.
As promised, it wasn't too long before Sabo was reemerging out onto deck, heading right back to Ace and Luffy in seconds.
And the three sat there. They sat mostly in silence, sometimes speaking in hushed voices amongst each other, and occasionally tapping to each other, but mostly, it was silent. They sat there until lunch where they ate the food that Thatch brought out onto the deck for them, and they stayed there until dinner, where the gesture was repeated.
Sitting out there for that long, you think they would get bored, but after their traumatizing nightmares, all they wanted to do was stay with each other, prove to themselves that everything they had seen was a nightmare, not true.
When they finished dinner they got up, ready to head to bed, but Izo stopped them, smiling.
"I think you three should stay just a bit longer. I'm pretty sure Thatch has something he wanted to give you." Confused, the brothers nodded, sitting back down against the throne that was Whitebeards chair, waiting for the chef to reappear with whatever it was he wanted to give them.
It didn't take too long before he came out, balancing plates on his arms like he was apart of a circus.
"Dessert is here!" Thatch sang as he set the plates out in front of them. Luffy smiled and Ace and Sabo both raised an eyebrow. It wasn't often that Thatch made dessert, but they weren't going to complain, especially seeing as it was food.
"Cake!" Luffy exclaimed happily, grabbing his plate and shoving the sweet into his mouth. Sabo smiled now as well, picking up his own plate. It hadn't escaped any of their notice that the man had made all of their favorites today, and that made Sabo's heart warm, knowing that the pirates truly did want to help, even if it was just by doing small things like this.
"Thank you, Thatch," Sabo said before eating, the chef beaming happily.
"No problem! I hope you guys like it." He said, and Ace scoffed, though was smiling as well.
"As if you could make anything we don't like." He said with a slight roll of his eyes, eating with the same ferocity as Luffy. This only seemed to make Thatch beam brighter before he had to excuse himself to make sure the rest of the crew got some dessert. The trio stayed for a few minutes after that, finishing their food, before they finally decided to head to bed.
After some quick good nights, they were rushing back to their room, closing their door and falling into bed with tired sighs coming from all of them. Despite the fact that they were worried about having more nightmares, they all fell asleep within minutes.
As they slept, they only had nice, peaceful dreams of the ocean and big, green jungles.
And so the brothers woke up and everything turned out alright! Turns out, all three of them had gotten stuck in their nightmares. Speaking of, can you guys figure out who was having what nightmare? I left some hints and clues in each nightmare so that you could figure it out, but I never used their names in any of them so it's going to take a bit of detective work from you guys to figure it out! I think one of them is kind of obvious as to who's it is, but maybe I only think it is.
Anyways, I needed some more hurt/comfort from the brothers and Whitebeards, even if this entire story is hurt/comfort. Ever since the beginning of this story, I had planned on having something like this happen, but I never knew how I was going to have it happen. One of my ideas was for this to be a smaller thing and for the brothers to wake up naturally on their own without anyone knowing, but I didn't like that idea as much as I liked this one.
Also, in case you were worried, the action is still not over. Next chapter we'll see more action going on, and even after that there will still be more. This story may be over half way done, but I've still got a lot planned for it that I need to have happen. So buckle up and get ready because its a wild ride from here on out!
I hope you'll all continue to stay with me through the journey of these brothers! I'll see you all next Thursday!