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 68: Getting Help
When the brothers woke up from their nap it was because of a knock on their door. Sabo was the first to wake up, his brothers groaning and burying their faces further in the pillows rather than getting up to answer the door. Sabo grumbled in annoyance at having to be the one to get up, but did it none the less, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he walked up to the door. After a quick yawn, he pulled it open, finding Marco standing there.
"Hey, Marco, what's up?" Sabo greeted, blinking a few times, trying to wake up.
"Lunch is done and Whiskey wanted me to come check up on you guys to make sure you're doing alright, yoi," Marco said, causing Sabo to remember the events that had happened earlier. He quickly realized that the ringing in his ears were gone, and as far as he could tell, it was back to normal.
"My hearings back to normal now I think and Luffy's good too. I don't know about Ace. Hey, Ace!" Sabo said, turning to look back into the room to shout at the oldest.
"Hm?" Ace hummed, still not opening his eyes.
"Can you see yet?" Sabo asked, annoyed by his brothers' lack of physical response. Ace groaned, obviously not wanting to open his eyes to find out, but sat up regardless, blinking open his eyes slowly and looking around. His eyebrows furrowed and he blinked a few times before nodding.
"Yeah, s'kinda blurry still, but 'm good." Ace managed to get out, his words slurring slightly. Sabo nodded, turning back to Marco and smiling, feeling more awake now.
"Seems Ace is better too. Thanks for waking us up, we'll be out for lunch in a minute." Sabo told Marco, to which the commander nodded, giving a quick goodbye before he left. Closing the door, Sabo turned, watching Ace as he rubbed his eyes, nudging Luffy awake as he did.
"Food." Ace mumbled, making Luffy shoot up in bed, looking around.
"Food? Where?" Luffy asked, sniffing the air for the telltale smell.
"Where it always is Luffy, the galley. Wake up first though." Sabo said, shaking his head at his brothers' one-track mind.
The trio all took some time to wake up before they headed out for lunch. Seeing as there was time for everyone to recover from the battle, more people stopped them on their way to the galley, wondering if they were alright after everything that had happened. Sabo would tell them they were, thanking them for their concern as he did before they continued walking on.
Lunch was a much more peaceful event compared to the beginning of their day, even though Teach was still nearby. He was easy to ignore, especially seeing as they were with the commanders and Whitebeard, people who they trusted wouldn't let Teach do anything horrible.
After lunch, there wasn't anything nearly as eventful as their morning had been, which was fine with the brothers. It was a slow day, and before they knew it, they were heading off to bed, excited for the island they were going to reach the next day.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Come on, come on, I wanna hear about the island!" Luffy said, pulling Ace and Sabo by the hands out to the deck. They had just finished breakfast, making sure that someone else was done with them at the same time, and Luffy was eager to hear about the island they were about to reach. It was still a while away so Luffy wouldn't be able to see it clearly himself, but that was where Ace came in.
"Alright, alright, calm down Luffy, we're coming." Ace said, though he was smiling, both he and Sabo happy to see Luffy looking as energetic and outgoing as he used to be. Being apart of the Whitebeards had definitely helped all of them get passed their trauma. That wasn't to say that they were in the clear, because that just wouldn't be true, but more and more, their original personalities were showing. No longer were they as timid as they had been after the facility, they weren't as cautious or introverted. Now they were beginning to trust those they were surrounded by, making it easier to smile, to laugh, to relax.
It was a welcomed change.
"Is it big? Is there a forest? Or a town? Or animals?" Luffy questioned as they reached the railing, the youngest of the trio looking at Ace expectantly for answers to his questions. Ace looked across the ocean, finding the island they were heading towards and taking in as many details as he could see.
"It's pretty big and there's some forest from what I can see. It does have a big town, but I don't know about animals, I cant see into the forest, the houses are in the way." Ace said, taking in all the details he knew Luffy would want to know about.
"The trees are tall and it looks like the villagers are getting ready for something. There's a bunch of boxes and stuff hanging around and everyone looks like they're decorating the town." Ace continued, Luffy beaming at his side as he stared at the island that they were growing ever so slowly closer to.
"Is it a party?!" Luffy asked excitedly, nearly bouncing in place. Sabo smiled fondly at his brothers' excitement, noticing that Blamenco was watching as well, a smile on his face too.
"Don't know but it sure does look like it. They have colorful flags out and banners that they're hanging throughout the town." Ace said with a shrug, watching the civilians as they worked to decorate their town.
"Wow! Do you think we could go to the party?" Luffy asked, looking to Sabo who normally dictated whether something was a good idea or not. The blonde merely shrugged.
"Who knows Lu, we don't even know what the party's for. We'll just have to wait and see." Sabo said, calming the overly excited teen down a bit. It didn't take long for Ace to describe everything he could see on the island to Luffy, and soon enough the three were sitting in silence, left with nothing to do for the meantime.
They were content to sit there for a while until Sabo suddenly remembered the talk he had had with Whiskey after they'd been stuck in their nightmares.
After everything that had happened with the brothers getting stuck, the nurse was very obviously worried for the brothers. When Sabo returned to speak to her alone while Ace and Luffy sat out on the deck, she brought up that she had a feeling the brothers suffered from PTSD, which Sabo was inclined to agree with.
Whiskey continued on to say that she knew the brothers still weren't comfortable around nurses, which she understood, but she wanted to help them manage their fears and anxieties. She suggested that the brothers come in and she could give them ideas on how they could manage, and hopefully help, their PTSD, but that involved going and talking to her about it, which also meant Sabo had to convince Ace and Luffy to go do it.
Sure, compared to how they first were, the brothers were much more comfortable around nurses, but compared to a normal person, they were miles away from ok. They knew this, which was why something like this would be difficult for them.
Sabo wanted to get better, he wanted to get over the trauma that was the facility, and he knew it wouldn't be easy. It would involve doing things he most definitely didn't want to do, however, and that was the problem; taking those steps to get better, no matter how much he didn't want to do it.
So he may as well just bring it up already and see how it goes, because the first step is always the hardest.
"Ace, Luffy," Sabo managed to finally say. Luffy had known something was going on with Sabo because his calm, peaceful feelings had quickly morphed into a nervous worry within seconds, but Luffy hadn't mentioned it, knowing Sabo would say something if it was an issue, so it didn't surprise him that the blonde was talking now.
"Yeah?" Ace asked, confused. He could recognize the turmoil on his brothers face and he wondered what had happened to cause it.
"Remember when I talked to Whiskey? After we were all stuck?" Sabo started slowly, still unsure how he felt about saying this. Ace frowned, his mind thinking the worst while Luffy continued watching carefully, keeping close attention on his brothers' emotions as he spoke.
"Yeah. She didn't do anything did she?" Ace asked tone lowering, no doubt ready to go find a boat and leave if that was the case. Whitebeards now or not, if the nurses turned out to be like the doctors at the facility then he wouldn't hesitate to leave.
"No, no, she didn't do anything. It's just... we were talking, about how we have nightmares and things, and she mentioned that she suspected we have PTSD," Sabo trailed off here, knowing Luffy didn't know what that meant and while Ace probably had an idea, he probably wasn't too sure about what it meant either.
"P-T-S-D? Does it mean we're sick?" Luffy asked slowly, starting to become a bit worried now. He couldn't be sick, he felt fine!
"No- well, sort of. Its a mental illness, like our brain is sick." Sabo said, still being careful how he phrased things. Ace frowned more at this while Luffy tried comprehending Sabo's words.
"People get PTSD after they've been through something traumatic and it causes you to have things like nightmares and flashbacks back to whatever the trauma was, among other things. I had a feeling we had it before she mentioned it, but we were talking and she said she could try and help us overcome it, or at least manage it." Sabo said, leaning on the railing and watching the ocean below him.
"We don't need a nurses help." Ace grumbled, arms crossed as he said the words Sabo predicted he would.
"Normally, I'd agree with you Ace, but this isn't something I know how to help, and the only ones who do know are the nurses. If we want to get better, we have to get their help." Sabo said gently, even though he was still battling with the idea of asking the nurses for help over something so personal to them. They didn't like the fact that they were constantly plagued with nightmares, they didn't like that they couldn't stand walking in big crowds of people, worried that one of them would pull out a needle on them or see their numbers, and they most certainly didn't like that people who were meant to help them, people who were meant to keep you alive, were people they feared the most.
It only ever is one bad apple that ruins the whole bunch after all.
"We're fine. So what, the nightmares are bad, we can handle them. We have been this long." Ace said with a shrug. Luffy still looked uncertain, like he was having his own thoughts on this subject, but Sabo couldn't decipher whether they were good thoughts or not.
"I don't want to just handle them though. I want to be able to go to sleep and not dread the fact that I'm going to wake up terrified. I want to be able to go to a nurse and not think they'll pin us down and pull out their needles. I want to be normal, or as normal as possible after whats happened." Sabo said, his tone of voice becoming almost desperate as he spoke. Ace was silent, thinking over his brothers' words carefully while Luffy shifted nervously beside him.
"If all that comes out of this is I get nightmares every other day rather than every night, I'll be happy. Even if nothing comes of it, I'll still be glad because at least I tried." Sabo said, finishing with a sigh. It was silent amongst them now. The rest of the crew was milling around them, no one stopping to have a conversation with them, no one bothering their tense conversation. The background noise was almost soothing, but it was off-putting at the same time, to be having such a personal conversation out in the open.
Just a week ago, they would have never done this, not even by using their silent language. Hell, this wouldn't have even been a topic they would have considered, but the longer they stayed, the more they got to know everyone, the more trustworthy the nurses became to them, and the easier it all was.
"... Do we have to get a shot?" Luffy asked, not having any idea what they would have to do to help PTSD. The youngest agreed with Sabo because he didn't enjoy having nightmares every night, but if he had to get a shot to stop them then he wasn't going to.
"No, you don't need to get a shot Lu," Sabo said with a gentle smile. Luffy looked down at the ocean for a second, frowning deeply in thought.
"I wanna try too then. I don't like nightmares, they're scary and they wake me up and they wake you guys up." Luffy said softly, and even Ace seemed to be coming around if his face was anything to go on.
"Why don't we just go and talk to Whiskey? Before we get to the island? We can ask her what we would have to do, and if we don't like it we don't have to listen." Sabo suggested. Luffy nodded at that idea, the two of them turning to look at Ace who was still frowning, shifting his weight nervously.
"Yeah, fine. Why do I get the feeling you two will always outnumber me on these things?" Ace asked with a sigh, thinking back to how many times his brothers both agreed to do something he didn't want to do, like agreeing to stay with the Whitebeards indefinitely.
"We wouldn't have to outnumber you if you weren't so stubborn," Sabo said with a good-natured smile, pushing himself off of the railing and placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"I'm not stubborn, I'm cautious." Ace said with a glare, though there was no heat behind it.
"Cautious. Right. And my names Rover." Sabo said with a bit of an eye roll. Luffy watched in confusion.
"No, it's not." He said, wondering why Sabo called himself Rover all of a sudden.
"Exactly. Now come on, maybe we'll be at the island by the time we're done talking to Whiskey." Sabo said, glancing back to the horizon and noticing that the island was now much more visible to him then it had been previously. It wouldn't be much longer until they were docking.
"Fine, whatever. This better work." Ace said with a huff, he and Luffy also pushing off against the railing and following Sabo, the three heading back towards the dreaded infirmary that they wanted to avoid.
Sabo said nothing in response to Aces words, instead deciding that silence was better. It wasn't a long walk to the infirmary, and Whiskey was easy to find, so when the brothers walked in they found her within seconds, asking her if they could go talk in her office. She agreed and told them to head there ahead of her seeing as she had something to take care of first, so they left, going straight to the office that was nearby and entering.
Like the last time they were in there, Ace stood while Luffy and Sabo sat in the two chairs facing the desk. It didn't take too long for Whiskey to join them, but it was long enough for the brothers to stew in their nervousness and anxieties, so when she finally joined them all three of them were fidgeting and tapping their feet or fingers nervously.
"Sorry, sorry, there was still some things to take care of after the attack yesterday." Whiskey apologized as she put some papers away in the cabinets before sitting at her desk, giving the brothers her attention.
"No, it's alright, we didn't mind waiting," Sabo said with a tight smile.
"Well, what was it you wanted to talk about?" The nurse asked, folding her hands on the table. She, of course, had an idea as to what they wanted, but she was going to wait and see if it was correct or not.
"We were discussing what you and I talked about the other day, about the PTSD and stuff," Sabo said, Whiskey nodding along in understanding.
"And we decided that we wanted to try and overcome our... problems," Sabo said, trying to figure out the best way to phrase the words.
"I understand. I imagine this is a very difficult topic for you three, especially seeing as one of the problems is medical personnel in general, so I'm glad you three came to this decision. I just want you to know, mental illness is difficult to combat, and sometimes there's no helping it, only managing it. Hopefully, that won't be the case here." She said, the three nodding along as she spoke. She watched them for a second before shuffling a few papers around on her desk.
"Well, I'm going to need to speak with the three of you to figure out the best way to help you all. Treatments are different for everyone, and symptoms and triggers could be different as well. This way I can figure out what the best course of action would be to take. Of course, I know that one of the issues is me, so this could be a bit difficult to figure out." She said, knowing that the brothers weren't comfortable around her, so asking them to speak to her alone was already asking a lot.
The brothers seemed to figure this out as well, all three of them shifting once more in their seats and giving each other glances.
"If this is something you three do want to go through with, just know that anything we speak of will be kept between us. I will not tell anyone, not even Oyaji, not unless you want me to." She continued to say, wanting them to know everything, if only to help calm them a bit.
"Again, I know this will be difficult for you three, and I only want to help, but if you decide you cant do it because you don't want to speak with me alone, then I at least have a suggestion that you could try that doesn't involve seeing me," Whiskey said, intriguing the three. They hadn't thought they would be able to help themselves without the nurse and the thought that they could interested them.
"It's good timing too. On the island we're heading to, you three should go and get yourselves a journal you can write in. I do know that you three have issues with nightmares, and one method that is used to combat nightmares is to write a new ending. Basically, after waking up from a nightmare, get your journal and write a different ending to that nightmare. For example, if I dreamt I was being chased and got caught when I woke up I would change the ending of the nightmare and instead write that I was being chased but I got away safely and I ended up ok." Whiskey explained, the three following along easily.
"It won't work immediately, and there's a chance it will never work, but its something you could try if you don't want to see me." She finished, leaving the brothers to their thoughts.
"Do you have any questions you'd like to ask?" She asked, wanting the brothers to be comfortable, wanting them to know she only wanted to help, and maybe if she gave them as much information on this as possible, they would be more inclined to get that help.
"If we do end up talking to you, what would happen next?" Ace asked almost hesitantly, like he didn't want to ask in the first place. She smiled as warmly as possible, knowing this was difficult for the brothers.
"Well, that'll depend. After we speak privately I'll discuss different options we could try to help you three. For example, one of you might benefit more from therapy where we talk about what's happened, while another might benefit more from cognitive processing therapy, where I'll help teach you how to change any upsetting thoughts and feelings you might have had since the trauma. Everyone's different, so its only natural that the treatments would be different." Whiskey said.
"Can we stop if we don't like it?" Luffy asked. The youngest was very particular about his freedoms, as were his brothers, so if something stopped him from having that freedom he wouldn't want to get involved with it.
"Of course. If you find that you don't like it, or you don't want to continue for whatever reason, you can stop. No questions asked." Whiskey assured, easing the brothers. The three glanced at each other for another minute, no silent language necessary for them to know that all of them were deeply considering taking the nurse up on her offer. It sounded like it was something they could benefit from, and they really did want the help, but Whiskey had pegged that one of their issues was talking to her which made all of this that much harder for them.
"When we talk... where would we do it?" Sabo asked, wanting to know if it would be in this office. Talking to the nurse with all of his brothers was easier than without them, especially in such a small, enclosed room.
"I've thought about that. I think it's safe to assume you three don't like the idea of us talking in here," She began, the brothers all shaking their heads at the thought.
"So I came up with an idea of where we could go instead. I know you all like being out on deck so I was thinking that I could ask Oyaji if we could use a section of the deck and we could talk there instead." Whiskey suggested, the brothers finding that they liked the thought of that much better then they did sitting in here with the nurse.
'Want to do it?' Sabo asked his brothers, wanting their thoughts on the subjects before he agreed or rejected anything. Ace and Luffy thought about it another second before they nodded, both still a bit hesitant. With the confirmation he needed, Sabo turned back to face the nurse.
"I think we'll do it." The blonde finally conceded, Whiskeys face lighting up happily at the words.
"Fantastic. I'm happy you three decided to let me try and help you. We don't have to have your talks today seeing as we're about to dock. We can have it once we leave the island, however, I still recommend the three of you get journals while we're here, they could really help." Whiskey said. The brothers nodded along, still feeling a bit jittery with the adrenaline that came with making such a big decision, and soon after they were wrapping up, Sabo thanking the head nurse and the brothers leaving swiftly, ready to enjoy the island as much as they could in an attempt to avoid the thoughts of what was to come.
Being out on deck almost immediately calmed the three down, the sense of familiarity washing over them and soothing their jumping nerves. After a month of being with the Whitebeards the brothers had become accustomed to the mass amount of pirates constantly moving and working around the deck, and it almost became a comforting sight to watch it happen. When they had first gotten to the Whitebeards, it had been the complete opposite, the sight of the hundreds of pirates terrifying them, but now it was peaceful.
Looking over the railing they saw that the island was only a few minutes away, the pirates getting ready to dock. They hadn't realized just how long their conversation with Whiskey had been, so it was a shock to see the island much closer then they remembered it to be.
"Adventure!" Luffy cheered happily, any and all thoughts of their talk with Whiskey leaving his mind at the prospect of having another island adventure. Ace and Sabo both smiled at the ease with which Luffy shifted gears, finding that he was slowly turning back into the Luffy they once knew.
It was still a long ways off from the original though, and they both wondered if they would ever see Luffy as the same hyperactive carefree boy that he once was.
"Sorry Luffy, but from the sounds of it the festivals tomorrow. They're only setting it up today." Sabo said, listening in easily to the conversations happening on the island. This made Luffy pout, and looking to the eldest, Sabo saw that Ace was pouting too.
"Oh come on, that doesn't mean we can't still have fun," Sabo said, hitting Aces arm playfully. They both dropped their pouts, looking at Sabo with confused expressions. Normally the blonde wanted to lay low, they all did, so what could he be suggesting they do to have fun on an island they knew nothing about?
Reading the expressions easily, Sabo rolled his eyes and shook his head, sighing a bit.
"Well, first we have to get journals like Whiskey said. After we get those and bring them here we can go and explore a bit. We might even be able to spar too if we can find a good spot." Sabo said with a smile. Immediately, smiles lit up on his brothers' faces, all of them excited at the prospect of getting a good spar in. Fighting the marines was fun and all, but they weren't enough of a challenge for them. Not after everything they've been through.
"Yay! Sparring!" Luffy cheered, raising his fists in the air happily.
"Hey, you three!" A voice greeted, the brothers all turning to see who it belonged to. Haruta, who was being closely followed by Izo, walked up to them, waving with a smile on his face.
"Hello, how are you two today?" Sabo asked politely, returning the smiles sent his way.
"Pretty good. We overheard you talking about a festival." Haruta said, Izo nodding along beside him.
"Yes, Ace saw what looked like the villagers setting up for a festival and I overheard them talking about it taking place tomorrow," Sabo said.
"I wanted it to be today," Luffy said, his pout back at the reminder that he wouldn't be able to go to the festival today.
"We'll still be here tomorrow, you can go then," Izo assured, making Luffy smile again, excitement filling him at the thought.
"I didn't know there was supposed to be a festival here so soon. Normally this island has them more near the end of the year." Haruta said with a pondering look.
"You guys dock here a lot?" Ace asked. Haruta nodded, his smile returning.
"Yeah, whenever we're around really. Since they're so close to the last island it's a good place to restock and it allows us to split how much we need between two islands rather than buy out the entire store of one island." Haruta said, referencing just how much it took to feed and supply the entirety of the Moby Dick.
"Which is why it's strange for them to be having a festival," Izo said, his hands hidden in his sleeves.
"Maybe they just wanted to throw a party," Luffy said, still excited about the prospect of a festival. He hadn't ever really been to any festivals, only the new years festivals that his village used to throw, but even then they weren't that big or grand. Besides, the last time he had been at that festival was almost a decade ago.
"Maybe. In any case, Marco's going to be heading onto the island with you again. We should be docking within the next few minutes, so if you want to go wait with him, he's near the helm." Izo informed, having gotten the information from Whitebeard.
"Thanks for telling us, we'll head there now," Sabo said, all of them bidding goodbye to the two Commanders before seeking out Marco. They didn't mind going with the man every time they went onto an island, it made them feel safer. When the entirety of the Marines were after you just because of something they'd forced you to be apart of, it made them feel better about it to have the first commander of the Whitebeard pirates walk with them whenever they went out.
"Marco!" Luffy cheered, obviously feeling more comfortable around the man as he nearly skipped over to him, a bright smile on his face.
Maybe it was the mixture of an island, a festival, and sparring that made him so outgoing and excited all of a sudden. Whatever it was, it made Ace and Sabo feel nostalgic for the Luffy that they had grown up with in the jungle. The one that would walk up to obviously dangerous people and ask them if they could poop. The one who would swing between trees like the monkey his name signified and laugh louder than the tiger that chased him could roar. The one who would run out of Dadans hut with them to get out of doing chores that the crazy woman should have never expected them to finish, or even start.
Ace and Sabo both mentally cursed the facility for changing Luffy so drastically.
"Hello, Luffy. Ace, Sabo, yoi." Marco greeted with a smile of his own.
"We heard you'll be heading out with us again," Sabo said.
"I will be. Do you three have any ideas of what you'd like to do?" Marco asked. Sabo nodded, but was stopped from answering by Luffy who blurted out before anyone could stop him.
"We're gonna spar!" Luffy cheered happily, and Sabo was beginning to think that maybe Luffy had more pent up energy then they thought he did. It was a good thing they were heading out to spar. Maybe it would help him expel that excess of energy he seemed to have all of a sudden.
"Yes, Luffy, we'll spar, but first we need to go shopping, remember?" Sabo said with a raised eyebrow, reminding the youngest of what they'd talked to Whiskey about.
"Oh, right," Luffy said, mellowing a bit, but his smile was still on his face.
"Shopping? Do you need something, yoi?" Marco asked, looking over at the crew that was now getting ready to disembark. Sabo hesitated a bit, not sure how to quite explain what they were getting.
"Well, yes. Whiskey recommended we get journals. She said they could help us." Sabo said with a shrug, hoping Marco wouldn't question them more on the subject. It was hard enough to talk to Whiskey about it.
"Good idea. I know a place you could get some." Marco said, and Ace and Sabo both felt relieved he didn't pry anymore.
"Ne, Ace, do you think we can find cool journals? Like one with a ship on it! Oh! Or one made of bronze! That'd be pretty cool!" Luffy said, tugging on Aces arm. The oldest rolled his eyes but smiled.
"I don't know Lu, but I'll keep an eye out for the cool ones." Ace assured, Luffy cheering again before he moved closer to the railing to watch the crew finish up everything.
"What's gotten into him?" Ace asked Sabo with a raised eyebrow of his own. Sabo shrugged while Marco watched the two brothers. The commander had noticed Luffys hyperactivity but hadn't mentioned it, hoping it meant the youngest was becoming more comfortable around them.
"I don't know. He seemed normal earlier until we came out on deck. Maybe he's just unusually happy about the island?" Sabo asked. Ace looked skeptical about that, turning to look at Luffy's back for a minute.
"Oi, Lu, are you taking in too much happiness again?" Ace asked, and Sabo wondered how that would be the case. Sure, the pirates may be excited about the island too, but wasn't Luffy limiting the amount he took in from the pirates just for that reason?
"What? No, I don't think so, I stopped taking so much from everyone cause it made me too hyper, remember?" Luffy said, blinking slowly a few times in thought. It went quiet a moment as Luffy made a look of concentration, trying to figure out just how much happiness he was filtering in.
Just as he thought, the amount he was taking in from the pirates wasn't enough to overload him, but as he noticed that, he also noticed that he was taking in a lot of happiness and excitement from somewhere else.
"Oh, it's not the pirates. Sorry, I took in too much from the people on the island. They're really excited for the festival." Luffy said, his smile returning as if nothing was wrong.
"You can feel their emotions?" Sabo asked in slight amazement. Sure, they were docked at the island now, but the furthest Luffy had usually been able to feel was anyone on the ship, or if someone was in the ocean right beside the ship. Last they checked, he shouldn't have been able to feel the emotions of people in the town.
"I guess so. I didn't notice before. Sorry!" Luffy said, before turning to watch the crew again.
"Was he not able to do that previously?" Marco asked curiously, watching the entire interaction with interest.
"No, normally he could only feel anyone on the ship. The furthest it went was anyone beside the ship in the ocean, but not much further than that." Sabo said, voice low in thought.
"Oh! They're done! Can we go now?! Please?!" Luffy begged as he skipped back over to his brothers, pulling on their hands and interrupting their discussion.
"We have to wait until Marcos done, Luffy." Ace said, ruffling his brother's hair. Luffy turned his wide, begging eyes to Marco who smiled again, nodding.
"We can go now, I've got the money for your journals with me, and then we can go to the forest so you can spar, yoi," Marco said, patting his side where a bag hung from his waist.
"Yes! Come on, I wanna get the coolest journal, and then I cant wait to spar!" Luffy cheered, dragging his brothers off the ship, Marco following close behind.
The group went to the shop Marco recommended, and true to his word there was plenty of journals for the brothers to choose from. Luffy ended up getting the red leather journal with a ship and wave pattern embossed on the bottom corner of it, Ace got a black leather journal with a spade embossed on the front of it, and Sabo got a regular brown leather journal with a compass embossed on the front of it. All three had matching leather strings around them to keep them closed.
Sabo also made sure to get some pens for their room, as well as a few books that he was going to make Ace and Luffy read so they could freshen up on their reading skills.
Happy with their purchases they went back to the Moby where they dropped their things off in their room before meeting Marco at the dock again, following him to the forest. Luffy chattered happily, and soon they were in a clearing that was perfect for sparring. Marco watched and even gave a few tips and pointers as they fought to help improve their skills, and soon the sun was setting.
Overall, it had definitely been a good day, one the brothers would probably remember as one of the only peaceful days they ever seemed to get.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
As the man walked along the streets of the village and began nearing the dock, he noticed a group of pirates heading back to their ship. Whitebeards. He knew better than to mess with them without good reason or back-up, so he opted to watch the four from afar, making sure they didn't do anything that would endanger the lives of the citizens here.
He had been there when the ship first docked and had watched the pirates mill around throughout their town restocking. He sneered at the thought of the savages and was about to turn away when he saw something.
Three of the pirates were wearing wristbands, which wasn't all that unusual seeing as it held the Whitebeard mark on it, but one of them was pulled up a bit too far, and underneath it, he was sure that there was something achingly familiar hiding there.
Immediately, he pulled out his Kameko and steadied the shot on the teen's wrist, taking a few shots of it. He kept the camera out, noticing now that the three with the wristbands were all in their teens, the youngest of them barely looking to be in his teens at all.
Swallowing dryly, he refocused his attention to their wrists, taking a few more shots of the coverings they wore on them. He was about to put the camera down when the group stepped onboard the infamous Moby Dick but paused once again when he watched each of the teens begin taking their bands off.
Right there, in clear view of his Kameko, were three numbers that he, and everyone else, had been on the lookout for.
Despite the lack of a face to go with the numbers, the man took as many pictures of the numbers as he could before letting out the breath he had been holding.
After all this time, he was the one to find the infamous demon trio.
He was sure to get a promotion after this.
Uh-oh, someones onto the brothers! After all this time, the brothers are finally going to be found out. How it happens though, is still to be seen.
In lighter news, next chapter will be the brothers relaxing and having fun at the festival. They deserve it after all after everything I've put them through, and have yet to put them through. Also, the trio are finally getting help from Whiskey! They've come so far after all this time and were able to go to the nurse for help which is something they would have never thought they could do when they first arrived on the Moby. It just goes to show how much progress they've made towards healing.
Luffys powers also seem to be getting stronger. The range he can feel emotions seems to have increased to the point that he felt the townspeople's emotions from the Moby, something he couldn't previously do. I treat his ability to feel emotions almost like observation haki. The more you train in it, the wider the range you can sense.
And last but not least, we've almost reached 900 reviews. I swear, you all are the best supporters ever! Whenever I come back to check reviews, I always think I'm somewhere in the 600's and am always surprised to see I've almost reached 900! I love you all more than words can express.
Thank you all for everything you do to support this story. I'll see you all next week!