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 79: Mary and Henry Depart

The next morning, the brothers sat beside Mary and Henry in the dining hall, watching as the green-haired girl slowly ate her food, still looking nervous. Henry had no such qualms as he ate quickly, a smile on his face as he did so.

"You don't have to be scared." Luffy suddenly said to Mary, shocking the poor girl.

"E-excuse me?" She asked, turning to look at the young teen.

"You don't have to be scared. Everyone here is really nice! We were really scared when we first came here too, but Whitebeard, and Marco, and Thatch, and Izo, and Jozu, and Ruta, and-"

"I think she gets the point Lu." Ace muttered as he ate a forkful of eggs.

"Oh, well, they're all really nice! They fed us, and gave us clothes, and kept us safe and stuff! They'll help you too!" Luffy said, beaming at Mary, throwing her off guard. It took her a second to find her words again.

"Are you apart of the crew as well?" She asked curiously.

"Mm! But we weren't always. Whitebeard and everyone saved us and helped us, and we just stayed." Luffy said, making Mary curious as to what they had needed saving from.

"What happened?" She asked, realizing that maybe she had more in common with these three then she thought. After all, she had just been saved by the pirates as well just last night.

"Ah, we don't exactly like talking about that, sorry. Let's just say... we were kidnapped for a long time, and the Whitebeards helped us escape our... uh... captors..." Sabo said, stumbling as he tried to find the right words. Mary only nodded, feeling sympathetic towards the brothers. She could only imagine how horrible it must have been, and if they weren't fond of sharing details it was obviously a traumatic experience.

"Anyways, you'll be fine here. Besides, Jiru said that they called the Mini Moby closest to us and you'll be heading off after lunch. They'll take you to one of Whitebeards islands." Ace said with an indifferent shrug as he finished his meal. Mary only nodded in response, turning back to her meal, noticing now that her brother wasn't with her.

"Henry?" She asked, slightly frantic as she looked around the galley for him.

"He went out on deck. We can go get him for you if you want." Sabo said with a worried look in his eyes. Mary opened her mouth, hesitating again as she looked at her food.

"Would you mind? I just-... I'd rather he stay close. Stay out of trouble." She said. Sabo smiled, shaking his head as he and Ace stood.

"Its no problem. I understand how it feels to be worried about your siblings causing trouble." Sabo said, earning shouts from Ace and Luffy as they tried defending themselves, causing Mary to smile.

"We'll send him in here shortly," Sabo said, ignoring the shouts as he left. Ace rolled his eyes and followed, while Luffy tilted his head, watching them go but not following. The two oldest stopped when they saw he wasn't following, but after a few seconds, they both shrugged and left the room, leaving Mary and Luffy sitting at the table. The young teen was swinging his feet and humming, a smile on his face as he did so.

All the other commanders who had been at the table earlier had left, and with breakfast being nearly over, that left Mary and Luffy as one of the only two people in the galley. Feeling a bit awkward and still nervous, Mary tried focusing on her food. The sooner she finished, the sooner she could leave.

"I used to be really scared and stuff too. Especially of Whiskey. Actually, I'm still a little scared of her, but I'm trying not to be." Luffy said suddenly, surprising Mary.

"Whiskey?" Mary questioned, not knowing who that was. She hadn't really gotten anyone else's name, having gone straight to sleep last night.

"Mm. She's a nurse. Me and my brothers don't like nurses, they weren't nice to us, but the nurses here are nice, or at least I think they are. We're trying to not be scared of them." Luffy explained.

"Is it that obvious that I'm scared?" Mary asked with a hesitant laugh, picking at her food with her food.

"Nope," Luffy said, confusing Mary, but suddenly she flushed. Had he tricked her? Bluffed her into confessing she was scared? She felt a bit ashamed that she had been tricked so easily, but that feeling left when Luffy continued talking.

"I felt it." He said, his head tilting again as he looked at the table.

"Felt it?" Mary asked, wondering what he meant by that.

"Mm. I could feel you were scared. You still kind of are, but now your just confused and curious." Luffy said, turning to smile at her.

"H-how do you know that?" Mary asked. Luffy opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a different voice.

"Our brothers an empath." Sabo suddenly said. Luffy's mouth closed as he and Mary both turned to look at the blonde.

"An empath?" Mary asked.

"It means he can feel other people's emotions. Don't know how, it was just something he was born with." Sabo said with a shrug before turning.

"Anyway, we got Henry for you. He was watching the ocean." Sabo said, patting her brother on the back who smiled brightly to her. Conversation with Luffy forgotten, Mary turned a stern look to her brother.

"Henry! I told you to stay with me!" She scolded, making Henry look to the floor sheepishly.

"Sorry, Mary." He mumbled. She rolled her eyes.

"It's fine this once, as long as you didn't cause trouble. Just don't do it again, alright?" She asked. He nodded, sitting beside her on the bench.

"If you'll excuse us, we have an appointment. Come on Lu, time to talk to Whiskey." Sabo said, Luffy nodding and leaving the table. Mary was reminded of her conversation with Luffy and how he said he and his brothers were trying to get over their fear of Whiskey.

"Bye Mary, bye Henry! See you later!" The young teen called as he waved to them, exiting the galley. The siblings waved back to him as they watched him leave, and once he was gone, it was quiet.

"I like them," Henry said suddenly, shocking Mary.

"Really?" Mary asked hesitantly. Henry nodded.

"Yeah! They've been really nice and stuff." The boy said, smiling cheerily. Mary frowned, turning back to her still unfinished food.

"Yeah, I guess they have been."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I can't believe I missed all the action! Again!" The chef cried. Mary and Henry were sitting nearby the Captain, not sure where else to go. Since they were so close to the giant though, they could hear the conversations happening between the commanders and the captain himself.

"Seems like a problem that none of us are suffering from," Haruta muttered from where he was cleaning his saber. Whitebeard smiled as he listened, drinking from his large sake cup.

"That's it, I'm sticking to the brothers like glue from now on!" Thatch declared, earning a few laughs from the commanders and Captain.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure they'll take that real well. We've only just started getting them comfortable here with us, but sure, go ahead and scare them off again Thatch." Blamenco said with a smile, making the chef pout.

"I won't scare them off. We're buddies, they know I just want to have some fun too. I'm sure Sabos listening right now and will agree." Thatch said, crossing his arms.

"Uh-huh, that's definitely how it'll go," Namur said with an eye roll.

"It will! Where are they? I'll ask myself!" Thatch declared.

"They're speaking with Whiskey son, and you know no ones interrupting that. You'll just have to wait until they're finished." Whitebeard said with a smile to the man. Thatch groaned but nodded.

"Mark my words! The next time there's action, I'll be there for it!" Thatch said as he stalked off, right towards where Mary and Henry were. His pout left his face as he spotted the two and was replaced with a smile.

"Ah, you two are the ones Marco, Haruta and the trio saved, right?" He asked as he sat beside them.

"Yup! I'm Henry!" Henry said with a smile.

"I'm Mary," Mary said with her own hesitant smile.

"Well, I'm Thatch! I'm the chef here. How are you two fairing around here?" He asked, watching the crew as he spoke.

"Just fine, thank you," Mary said politely. Thatch laughed.

"You remind me of Sabo! Well... pre-comfortable Sabo." Thatch said, more to himself.

"What does that mean?" Mary asked in confusion. Thatch blinked for a second.

"Oh, right, well uh, the brothers weren't very... what's the word... open when they first arrived here. Sabo usually did all the talking for the three of them, and they didn't share much of anything about themselves. Luffy pretended he was mute at first you know! Had us all fooled!" Thatch said with a laugh, and Mary was reminded of the fact that Sabo had said they'd been kidnapped before they'd become pirates.

"Anyway, the way you talk and act, its how Sabo acted. Before he got more comfortable here that is." Thatch said. The three were quiet now, Henry looking to the sky instead of listening while Mary looked to the ground.

"You know, Sabo said that Luffy was an empath, that he feels other people's emotions. Is that true?" Mary asked. Even though Luffy had basically confirmed it for her in the galley, it was still too hard to believe.

"Oh, he said that huh? Well uh, yeah, it's true. A bit hard for us to believe too you know, but after seeing him do his thing a few times, it gets more believable." Thatch said, rubbing the back of his head. Mary frowned.

"Now that we're out of our village it's hard to believe just how secluded and cut off from the outside world we really were. Like devil fruits, and empaths, and pirates. We didn't know about any of those things. We were only taught how to please Zenshana and what not to do." Mary said, thinking back to her conversation with Marco about how he had turned into a flaming bird.

"Explains how none of the villagers recognized us then. We're pretty well known. Usually, the second someone sees Marco they know we're Whitebeards." Thatch said, again, more to himself than to Mary.

"We don't get the newspaper, it was seen as an act against Zenshana. We weren't allowed to interact with outside ships, only Declan and a few of the people working in the market could. We couldn't go too far into the woods either or else we would be outcasted and shunned." Mary said, explaining how they knew nothing about pirates.

"Honestly, it's amazing you survived there." Thatch said with a whistle. With all the restrictions, he didn't think he would be able to last a day without breaking some kind of rule. Mary's mouth twitched upwards into a smile at the words, shrugging.

"We were all raised that way. It's easy not to give in to temptation when you don't know what you're missing out on." She said.

"Well, real-world rule number one, take everything the marines say with a grain of salt. Real-world rule number two, not all pirates are as nice as us, we're a bit of an exception. Real-world rule number three, the fear of being sacrificed isn't something you have to worry about normally." Thatch said, ticking the rules off on his fingers. Mary smiled again, laughing a bit.

"I'll remember that. Thanks." She said. Thatch smiled to her, patting her shoulder.

"No problem! Now, if you'll excuse me, it seems the brothers are done speaking to Whiskey and I've got some pressing questions to ask them." Thatch said as he stood, jogging off toward the brothers who were walking down from the upper deck. Mary watched him leave with a smile, turning to look to Henry after a minute. Her brother seemed content to just watch the sky, a smile on his face as he did. Even though their life had been hard, she had nearly been killed, and their father had died, he seemed to be taking it all pretty well. Much better then she was anyhow. Maybe it hadn't all caught up to him yet?

In any case, she would deal with it when it came, but for now, she would try and stay strong. Try and give these pirates a chance. They had saved her and Henry after all.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Get them! Get the demon trio!" Mary and Henry watched safely from Whitebeard's lap as the pirates fought against the marines. Ace, Sabo, and Luffy were fighting in front of them, Marco closeby, and a group of marine soldiers charged forward, swords raised as they did.

"Demon trio?" Henry asked, confused why they were calling the brothers that.

"Its a moniker the marines gave the brothers," Whitebeard said as he watched his crew fight, careful eyes scanning over the entire thing.

"Why?" Mary asked in equal confusion. The brothers seemed really nice, so why would they be titled such a horrible name?

"The brothers were involved in something that the marines wanted to cover up, and in an attempt to shift the blame onto someone else, they labeled the brothers as the bad guys. Because of that, they were given the moniker the Demon Trio." Whitebeard explained with a frown.

"Ace, duck!" Sabo shouted, the eldest doing just that without hesitation as Sabo swung his pipe where Aces head had been, knocking a marine away as he did.

"That's not right," Henry mumbled with a frown. Whitebeard smiled, laughing.

"You're right, it's not, but that's how the world works, unfortunately." The Captain said with a sigh. Mary frowned as well and remembered Thatchs first real-world rule.

"Sabo!" Ace called, the blonde nodded as he jumped backward, behind Ace. The raven-haired teen immediately threw his fist back, the hand igniting immediately as he threw a flaming punch forward, knocking away a few of the soldiers.

"Leave some for me!" Luffy called as he sprung over Aces shoulders, fists raising as he punched rapidly, knocking away even more of the marines. Mary and Henry watched in awe as the entire crew fought, clearly the victors already even if there were still a few marines up. The crew was strong, only a handful of them actually injured which said something when there were hundreds of them on board.

Soon enough the marines were driven off the boat, the pirates cheering for their victory as they watched them go. Henry and Mary smiled as well, enjoying the cheerfulness of the pirates as they watched the marines run off.

"Do you guys fight marines often?" Mary asked Whitebeard, immediately finding that it was a stupid question. They were pirates, of course they fought marines a lot, its what they do.

"Whenever they get overconfident enough to believe they can take us down, yes," Whitebeard said, his smile never leaving his face as he spoke to her. Mary smiled back before turning to face the crew again. Ace and Luffy were talking animatedly about something, and from the looks of it, it was pretty amazing if Luffy's hand gestures were anything to go on. Sabo was off to the side talking to Thatch who kept switching his features from hopeful, to pouting, and then smiling.

Whatever they were talking about though was interrupted when Marco walked over, pointing to Ace and Luffy who were now butting heads about something. Sabo sighed, pinching his nose as he stalked up to the two and knocked them both on the heads, the two falling into a squat as they rubbed their heads.

"Ow! What was that for?!" They asked simultaneously, looking at Sabo with looks of betrayal. The blonde rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

"For being idiots. Like always." He said, the two pouting at his words. There was an immediate reaction as they tried to defend themselves, but Mary tuned it out, laughing instead.

"They sure are energetic." She said, Henry, nodding in agreement beside her.

"Gurarara~! That they are. They weren't always like that though." Whitebeard said, his bright smile turning fond.

"Oh yeah, I keep hearing bits and pieces about that," Mary said, remembering what everyone had told her about the three.

"They used to be quite reserved. Didn't really speak unless spoken to. It's only been the last few weeks that they've really opened up." Whitebeard said with a sigh as he took a sip from his cup.

"Really? So soon?" Mary said in surprise, thinking that the brothers had been like this for a long time, not just a few weeks.

"That's right. Those three have a long way to go to heal, but they've made fantastic progress." The captain said, smiling fondly once more. Mary turned to look at the bickering brothers, finding herself smiling and nodding in agreement.

"It sure looks that way."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

It was just after lunch when Haruta came up from below deck, having left lunch early when he got word that they had a call.

"Pops, the Mini Moby should be here in an hour," Haruta reported, which Whitebeard nodded to.

"Thank you, son," Whitebeard said, turning to look at Henry and Mary.

"Seems your ride should be here shortly. They'll take you to the closest island under my protection and you'll be given a place to stay. You're welcome to stay there however long you want to." Whitebeard said to them. Mary's eyes welled with tears of gratitude, but they didn't fall.

"Thank you. That's extremely kind of you." Mary said, wiping at her eyes as she said so. Whitebeard laughed.

"Don't mention it child. Hopefully, you and your brother will be able to lead happy lives now." Whitebeard said, to which Mary nodded to, hoping the same herself.

She and Henry sat off to the side for the most of that next hour, not wanting to get in the way, especially now that they were being provided a home on one of these pirates' protected islands. Soon enough, the Mini Moby was in sight and was beside their ship, ready for them to board.

"See you later Mary! Henry!" Luffy said with a bright smile as he waved, he and his brothers having walked over to say their farewells. The two smiled and waved back.

"Goodbye. Thank you again for everything!" Mary said as she and Henry boarded the Mini Moby. The Whitebeards waved their goodbyes to them, all shouting their well wishes as they did, and Mary felt a swell of joy in her chest as they did. It was nice to feel cared for, even if it was from a pirate crew she had only stayed with for less then a day.

They had saved her after all.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Getting acquainted on the Whitebeards Island was a lot easier then she had expected. She and Henry had been given a home to stay in and their neighbors had welcomed them with wide-open arms, explaining how they ran things in their quiet village and places she could get work from if she needed it. Henry was also going to school, a real school, not one that censored everything to the point that you didn't know anything but your small town, and he was making friends.

Mary smiled to herself as she walked to the market, basket in hand. People greeted her as she passed and she responded in kind before continuing on her way. It was a nice, bright, peaceful day, not a cloud in the sky. Birds chirped quietly from their trees and kids ran along the path, laughing and smiling as they did so.

It was almost too good to be true, to go from living a nightmare one day to living in paradise the next.

Passing by a news stand, Mary paused to buy one of the papers. Ever since she learned there was a world outside of her small secluded town she found herself wanting to learn everything she could about it. Thanking the man as she bought the paper she looked at the front page, eyebrows raising as she saw three familiar faces right on the front cover.

"Oh? The Demon Trio Found Out?" She asked herself, skimming the article. She smiled to herself, shaking her head as she opened the paper, three bounty posters inside.

"Rule number one of the real world; Take everything the marines say with a grain of salt."

And with that, this little mini arc is over and a new one will begin. Next chapter will be a transition chapter, but then after that a new mini arc will start.

This chapter was to wrap up everything involving Henry and Mary, because it didn't feel right to just save them and then write them off in a few sentences. I wanted to give a little bit of an outsiders perspective on the brothers and how others see them and this was the perfect opportunity to do so. Seeing as Mary and Henry know nothing of the world, they were the best candidates to observe and give their opinions of the brothers.

Also, thank you to Miqila for catching my mistake last chapter where I accidentally had the brothers saying Harutas name. I went back and changed it, but I just wanted to thank you again for correcting me. If anyone else see's mistakes, just let me know and I'll try and fix them as soon as possible!

Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews! You all mean the world to me, and I'll see you all again on Friday!