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 76: Suspicious Calls
"Do you think this island will have a cool adventure?" Luffy asked, head resting on his hands which were on the railing. He was staring at what seemed to be the endless ocean, though he knew that in the direction he was looking there was an island. Ace had said so himself.
"Who knows Lu, we'll just have to find out for ourselves when we get there." Ace said from where he stood beside Luffy. Sabo was on Luffy's other side as he also looked in the direction of where the island was.
"But we won't get there for a whole 'nother day!" Luffy whined, wishing he could stretch far enough to grab onto the island, even if he couldn't see it yet.
"Just be patient Luffy. You didn't mind waiting when you didn't know there was an island," Sabo said with a smile.
"'Cause I didn't know there was an island!" Luffy said, making Ace and Sabo laugh.
"Why don't we-" Sabo didn't finish his sentence when he saw Luffy turn his head away from where the island was, a frown on his face.
"Teach?" Ace growled out in question, knowing purely from the look on Luffy's face. He turned to look where Luffy was looking and confirmed it himself, watching as the man drifted slowly towards them on one of the mini Mobys.
"Mm." Luffy hummed, more for Sabo then Ace now.
"I think now's a good time to visit Whitebeard then, hm?" Sabo asked, standing up straighter with his brothers and heading towards the Captain. They sat in front of him like they usually did, no one finding this odd anymore after having seen the brothers do it multiple times in the past weeks, and waited as Teach eventually made his way to the Moby. The three didn't even turn to watch him board, all three of them doing their best to ignore his entire presence, but knowing that they couldn't because they had to keep an eye on him.
They didn't want the bastard to hurt anyone, not when they had the perfect ability to keep tabs on him without having to see him. Sabo made sure to keep focused on any and every conversation Teach had while Luffy would check the aura of anyone Teach interacted with, making sure no one got even a speck of grey in their auras after talking with the man. Ace, as much as he wanted to also help keep an eye on Teach, knew he wouldn't be able to do so without attracting unwanted attention, so instead he focused on facing forward and letting his brothers handle it, knowing they could do it better then he could, as well as inconspicuously.
Whitebeard watched the brothers, not for the first time, focusing on Teach, whether they looked like they were or not. After Luffy had explained to them how Sabo would listen in on the man Whitebeard had noticed it more often. The blonde brother would grow more silent than usual and would have a look of concentration, eyes slightly downcast as he did. The Captain took no offense when he did this, even if it did mean he wasn't listening to whatever the Captain was saying. He understood what and why Sabo was doing what he was doing it and he also knew how difficult it was for the brothers to continue being near Teach.
It hurt Whitebeard though, that someone he had come to accept as a son could be doing all of this as an act. If there was one thing Whitebeard disliked the most, it was traitors. For him to give Teach a home, a place to belong, safety, protection, and watch the man use it to his advantage- knowing he was doing all of this for his benefit, using them- made the Captain both angry and hurt. It wasn't something he could control though, and for now, he was just going to have to continue keeping an eye on the man.
"Now where did I leave off on my last story, hm?" Whitebeard asked, more to himself. The brothers briefly gave their attention to him at the words before smiling and going back to what they were doing.
"Ah, that's right, we had just finished the battle with our third marine ship in twenty minutes," Whitebeard said with a smile.
If all he could do was provide the brothers a cover as they kept tabs on Teach, he would do it.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Breakfast came and passed and the brothers found themselves walking through the halls with Namur and Marco. The two commanders were heading down below deck to go count their inventory, make sure they had enough supplies and make sure no one was stealing from their stores.
So why were the brothers going with them?
Well, that was easy. Teach had been heading near them again, so in a desperate attempt to keep away from the man, the three had gone to the closest Commanders to them, which happened to be Marco and Namur as the two passed them on their way to the inner workings of the Moby.
The two had understood immediately why the brothers had sought them out so suddenly without much of a reason after seeing Teach walking closeby, eyeing the trio as they joined Marco and Namur. They invited the brothers to come with them, and they had agreed quickly which was how they found themselves in their current situation.
"Do you have any idea why Teach seems to seek you three out so much?" Namur asked after his conversation with Marco ended. The brothers frowned but shook their heads.
"Maybe he knows we're the kids from the papers? But even then, I don't know what he wants with us." Sabo suggested, trying to think of reasons as to why the man would continue to attempt to make conversation with them.
"Maybe he thinks we're strong or something." Ace said with the usual scowl he wore whenever Teach was involved.
"He gets the greedy feelings whenever he sees us. And the dark ones." Luffy piped up with a frown of his own. Like Aces scowl, whenever Teach was involved Luffy became much more quiet and reserved compared to the more outgoing teen he was starting to become.
"Greedy?" Marco asked in confusion.
"Mm, like the feeling Izo gets when he sees clothes he wants, or like the doctors got whenever they liked the answers and wanted to do more tests," Luffy explained with a bit of a shiver, not enjoying the memory of the last example. The doctors' greed, like Teachs, was slimy and unsettling, whereas Izos greed had been lighthearted and easy, no ill intent behind it.
"Teach has the bad greed. The slimy greed." Luffy added. Now everyone frowned, contemplating Luffy's words and trying to figure out what it meant and why Teach was so focused on the brothers.
"He might want us to help him do whatever it is he's planning, but that seems a bit far fetched," Sabo said, sighing after. Trying to figure out what Teachs motivations were was both frustrating and exhausting.
He began to sympathize with the pirates, feeling a bit bad that this is probably how they had felt when they had tried figuring out just what had happened at the facility.
"There's no use worrying about it now, yoi. Unless Teach tells us outright or you overhear something, Sabo, we won't know what he's up to. Like Oyaji says, we'll just have to continue keeping an eye on him and try to prepare for whatever he's planning." Marco said, soothing every one with his words as they realized he was right. The group walked along silently now, heading further down into the Moby.
"So, we should have plenty of extra bandages after our last restock, and Whiskey said she found a box someone hadn't counted last time so we even have more then we thought,"
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Right there is good!" Vista called to the brothers who all stopped, putting the barrels they held down.
"Thanks again for the help you three," Vista said as he walked up to them, smile on his face. The brothers smiled back and shrugged.
"Its no issue, it gave us something to do. It felt weird to just watch and do nothing to help out." Sabo said honestly.
After checking the inventory with Marco and Namur it had been lunchtime. The meal had passed by without any incidents, and after the trio had been sitting on the railing with Vista. Soon after, however, he excused himself, saying he had to oversee his division who was moving barrels both onto, and off, the deck. The brothers had spent a few minutes watching but felt a little weird doing nothing to help. Luffy had been the one suggesting they help, and Ace and Sabo found themselves agreeing with him.
It was good exercise too.
"I get that. Still, if I were you, I'd probably have sat there and done nothing." The commander said with a wink, making the brothers smile.
"Yeah, well we like moving around and doing things. Sitting around was getting boring." Ace said, stretching his arms as he spoke. It felt good for the three to move around and do something. After years of sitting most of their days away in a cell, it felt unbearable to not do anything. Now that they were finally relaxing and becoming comfortable with the pirates the trio wanted more and more to help out and move around.
"Well, I sure won't stop you. Having extra hands helping out is always nice. Thanks to you three we should be done moving all of these barrels before dinner." Vista said with a grin, hand on his hip as he spoke. Luffy smiled happily back at him, enjoying all the nice feelings coming from the man.
In the midst of all the happy feelings though, Luffy could feel the darkness from Teach slowly creeping his way over, causing Luffy's smile to falter as his eyes darted over to the man heading their way. Luffy's teeth clenched and he swallowed, feeling the anxiety making his body tremble slightly from just the thought of the man getting close to him.
The young teens change in mood was obvious to the other three and it didn't take long for Ace and Sabo to zero in on Teach heading their way once again. Vista was quick to notice as well, but no one could do anything to stop it. The brothers didn't want to walk away from the commander in case Teach went after them and caught them alone, but they didn't want to stay put either and watch him grow closer and closer.
Vista wasn't sure what to do either. On one hand, this was someone he had considered his brother for a decade now, someone he had thought he could trust, but seeing the brothers' reaction to him only confirmed what they had said about the man having ill intentions. It left a weird feeling in him, and he wasn't quite sure how to describe it. It was an oddly stomach-dropping feeling, but also the feeling of the breath being knocked out of him at the same time. Like he couldn't breathe.
Teach's smile was as easy going as it always was, and Vista found himself analyzing it, trying to find the maliciousness that Luffy could sense so well from the man. He found nothing, though he didn't really expect to find anything, and it only made him that much more angry at both himself and at Teach.
He and the others should have been able to catch the fact that Teach wasn't showing them his true nature. They should have been able to stop him on their own, but if they hadn't met Luffy and his brothers, chances were that they would never have guessed that Teach was planning anything bad at all until it was too late.
Not that he was mad at the brothers or anything though, he was actually grateful that they were here, both because it meant they didn't have to stay in that damned facility, and also because they had found Teach out. He felt a bit guilty though. Guilty that he hadn't caught Teach before he could cause harm to the brothers like this. It wasn't like the man was doing anything to them, but just his presence made the trio look sick to their stomachs, and honestly, they probably were.
"Commander! All the barrels moved yet?" Teach asked as he walked up to Vista, his smile still in place and a friendly look in his eyes that still perplexed Vista.
Teach was one hell of an actor.
"Sure are! The last few are being brought up now." Vista replied with his own smile, and he only hoped he was as good an actor as Teach was, because as much as he wanted to get rid of Teach, he knew he couldn't, not when he hadn't actually done anything yet.
The brothers stood quietly behind Vista, all three of them trying not to make eye contact with the bearded man they feared. Luffy stood squarely behind the commander, making it impossible to even see Teach which calmed him slightly, even if he could feel the darkness still creeping into him.
"That's good, the second division was getting antsy. Rumor was that we were going to have to help out and you know how lazy they get about manual labor this close to dinner!" Teach said, laughing afterward. Vista gave his own laugh, forcing himself to find the humor in Teachs words. It was true, second division often got lazy in the afternoons and it was always a hassle to get them to help out when they needed it. Because of this, they were usually sent to do watch or check inventory.
"In that case, they can rest easy! We're all good here. If you'll excuse me though, I was just about to take the brothers to Marco. You wouldn't happen to know where he is would you?" Vista asked, knowing it would be best for everyone if he got the brothers away from Teach and towards someone they seemed to be able to relax around. It didn't get passed anyone that the brothers had a fondness for Marco, and even Thatch as well. Marco claimed that no such thing was true, but everyone had noticed how watchful he'd become of the brothers. Thatch, on the other hand, had been quick to claim that he was best friends with the brothers, whether it was true or not.
"Last I saw, Commander Marco he was checking up on Oyaji again. Apparently, he's giving the nurses a hard time about taking his medication today. I think they were trying to limit his alcohol intake again and he threatened limiting his medicine intake." Teach said with a shake of his head. Vista found himself sighing and shaking his head too, knowing that Whitebeard could be stubborn about certain things, alcohol being one of them.
"Thanks. Talk to you later Teach." Vista said, waving to the man as he ushered the boys away from Teach. Teach smiled and waved back, saying his own goodbye as he watched them go.
"Thanks," Sabo said with a sigh of relief as they moved further and further away from the man they hated.
"No problem kid. Now, do you three think you could distract Whitebeard long enough for the nurses to hide his alcohol?" Vista asked with a grin. Similar grins grew on the trio's faces as they all nodded.
"Mr. Whitebeard, can you tell us a story?! A really long one, with a lot of action and stuff!" Luffy called as he ran over to Whitebeard. The Captain looked over to the young teen with a smile, momentarily stopping his argument with the nurse beside him.
"Leave it to us Vista." Ace said as he followed after Luffy, Sabo close behind. Vista laughed as he connected eyes with Marco who was just making his way up to Whitebeard.
"Don't worry Marco, I think the brothers have this one handled." The commander said knowingly.
He got a look of skepticism from Marco, but he chose to ignore it.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The brothers had been successful in distracting Whitebeard, the three of them watching as Marco and another nurse they didn't know the name of snuck off with the barrel of sake Whitebeard had beside him. Of course, it didn't take long for the perceptive Captain to notice, but he merely laughed about it before continuing with his story, not seeming angry in the slightest which Luffy confirmed he wasn't.
It was the beginning of dinner now. Ace, Sabo, and Luffy had all just sat down, ready to eat, and the rest of the crew was still slowly crowding into the galley. Noticeably, Teach had yet to arrive, and Sabo was making sure to keep an ear on him. Currently, the man was in his room doing who knew what.
Conversation arose around the trio and Thatch gave them all their dinner before he sat in front of them, talking animatedly, gestures included as he did. Luffy took it upon himself to respond to the chef, his own gestures and faces matching Thatch's enthusiasm in a way that made Ace and Sabo briefly wonder if he was being influenced or not.
Sabo tuned back in to Teach and realized he was done fiddling with whatever it was he had been fiddling with and by the sounds of it he was dialing a number on a snail phone. Curiosity piqued, Sabo focused more of his attention on the man and what he was doing, tuning out the conversations around him. He briefly noticed Ace and Luffy catching onto his sudden focused state, the two of them growing quiet as they watched him.
The snail phone rang for a few seconds before the tell-tale 'gatcha' sounded and whoever Teach was calling answered. The loud conversations in the galley drowned out some of it, but Sabo was able to hear enough to get the gist of the conversation. At one point Teach gave a frustrated sigh and muttered out a, "Haven't found it yet." that confused Sabo, but he tried not to think too much about it and focused his attention back to the talking.
The conversation lasted only a few minutes at most, and Sabo didn't hear most of it, but what he had heard confirmed, to him at least, that Teach was definitely up to something, and from the sounds of it, he was looking for something he'd yet to find.
"Sabo?" Ace asked, Luffy noticing his brother had gone from focused to confused and telling Ace as much.
"Did you hear something?" Luffy asked with a frown, knowing it would most likely be Teach he had heard something from. Sabo nodded, still looking a slightly confused.
"Teach just-" Sabo cut himself off when he heard the galley doors open, and the devil himself walked in, friendly smile on his face as he walked to the food, grabbed some and made his way to his usual table, laughing and joking easily with those already there.
"-Called someone." Sabo continued, picking up where he left off. He knew the Commanders and Whitebeard were listening intently, all of them wanting to know just what Teach was up to.
"What did they talk about?" Izo asked with a frown, eyes darting over to Teach, the mans back to him.
"I didn't get a lot of it, it's too loud in here, but I heard Teach mention he hasn't found something yet," Sabo said, starting to eat his food now.
"Hasn't found something yet? Did he say what?" Rakuyo asked. Sabo shook his head.
"No, or at least I didn't hear what it was. The other person was a bit annoyed, but Teach did some explaining to him, something about how 'it would all be worth it in the end' and the other guy conceded." Sabo explained, everyone, frowning now.
"So whatever he's planning probably relies heavily on whatever it is he's trying to find then." Fossa deduced.
"Most likely." Sabo agreed, steeling his own glance at Teach
"Maybe that's why he's always volunteering to go on missions. Maybe its because he's trying to find whatever thing he's looking for." Namur suggested.
"That's likely. Who was the other person that he was talking to though?" Kingdew asked, reminding everyone that this meant Teach had more people in on whatever he was planning.
"He didn't sound like anyone I've heard on the ship before. It was a man though." Sabo said with a shrug, thinking back to the voice. It wasn't familiar to him in the slightest, so he'd probably never met the person before.
"So he's got people outside of the crew that he's working with then, yoi," Marco said with a nod. That was slightly good news at least. It meant that there was only one traitor on board.
"That could be possible. We'll have to continue keeping an eye on him in that case." Whitebeard agreed with a nod. Teach probably wouldn't meet up with this person with others around, but it was possible that he could, and if he did, they would be ready for it.
The conversation dropped after that, and slowly the previous conversation picked up. In no time Thatch was smiling and gesturing wildly again, Luffy doing the same, and Sabo and Ace found themselves engrossed in the tale, both of them trying to ignore the fact that Teach sat only a few tables away.
Luffy made sure to pay attention to whether the darkness got any worse or not, but for the most part, he too tried ignoring Teach. He didn't like the man and he wanted to avoid him at all costs, but he wanted to keep the Whitebeards safe, and to do that he had to keep tabs on the man and his darkness. He just had to wait until they could take Teach down, and right now, they couldn't do that. Not when he hadn't done anything yet.
Dinner passed easily after that, everyone finishing their meals slowly but surely until they were milling back out onto deck. The trio stayed up for a little longer, hanging out with Thatch, Haruta, and Izo in the meantime, but soon they were saying their goodnights and heading to their room.
Watching Teach all the time was exhausting and mentally taxing for the brothers, but as long as they continued to rely on the other Commanders and Whitebeard, then they had a feeling they would be able to get through this.
An island in the distance and Teach being suspicious. The peace is definitely gone.
As I said last chapter, things are finally going to start happening and I'm happy that they are. As much as I wanted to jump right into whats going to happen, I also didn't want to just rush into it which is why its taken this long for it to start. Now that we're here, chapter 76, it's finally time!
Anyway, I don't really have much to say except thank you for everyone who reviews or PMs me about this story. Honestly, I'm constantly being surprised by the fact that there are still people following this story since the beginning, or even people who read this entire 76 chapter story over the course of days or weeks. Thank you, thank you, thank you, a million times thank you!
I'll see you all Monday with the next chapter!