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 81: Taking the Hit

"Its alright Ace, it's just a dream, a nightmare." Sabo soothed, trying to wake Ace from whatever horrible dream he was having. The eldest was thrashing, a look of discomfort on his face as he shook his head back and forth. Luffy sat by his brother, frowning in worry as he counted out how long he was stuck.

"All you have to do is wake up, open your eyes. Everything's alright. We're all safe." Sabo continued, grabbing Ace's hand that had swung right for him and placing it at his brothers' side again.

"No one's going to hurt you." He tried again. Luffy's nose twitched and Sabo's ears pricked up, both using their senses as they noticed Marco heading towards their room.

"Can you take over Lu?" Sabo asked the youngest, earning a nod from the boy. Sabo stood, heading to the door while Luffy began mumbling to Ace, repeating the simple phrases over and over in hopes that it would wake their sleeping brother.

Marco's footsteps, in the meanwhile, grew closer and closer until he was right outside their door. He stopped, and Sabo anticipated the knock that came, swinging the door open before the Commander could knock a second time.

"Marco." He greeted with a tenser smile than usual.

"Sabo. Everything alright, yoi?" Marco asked, a hint of concern in his voice as he noticed the blondes demeanor. Behind him, Sabo heard Luffy continuing to coax Ace out of his sleep, but it didn't seem to be having any effect.

"Ace is stuck is all. He should be up soon, it's already been..." He trailed off, trying to think back to how long Ace had been in his nightmare.

"Fourteen minutes." Luffy's voice piped up, loud enough for Marco to hear before it quieted to low mumbles again.

"Fourteen minutes. They don't normally last longer than fifteen, twenty max." Sabo said, his tense smile returning.

"I see, yoi. Well, the crew members on watch said they might be seeing some ships in the distance, about two or three from the sounds of it. I was wondering if Ace could check if they were pirates or not, in case they might want a fight, yoi." Marco said, his worry still obvious.

"When he wakes up-" A sudden, loud gasp behind him had Sabo turning, allowing Marco a view of inside the room where Ace was sitting up, panting with wild eyes. Luffy, who had backed up to give Ace some space, moved toward him again, holding his hand while Sabo turned back to Marco, blocking the view again.

"We'll be out soon." He said, his smile laxer now, relief showing on his features while Marco nodded, thanking him before he left.

"Wha's goin' on?" Ace asked, having noticed Marco in the doorway.

"Watchmen think there are a couple of ships heading our way and Marco wanted to know if you could check them out. Tell them if they're pirates or not." Sabo explained, sitting at the foot of the bed while he watched Ace. The eldest nodded, running his fingers through his hair, grimacing at how slick and greasy it felt from his sweat.

"Sure. I need a bath after though." He said, Sabo, laughing while Luffy smiled.

"Honestly, we all do. Maybe we should hold off until after we find out if they're pirates or not though. No good getting clean if we're just going to get sweaty again from fighting." Sabo said. Ace nodded his agreement, getting out of the bed and heading to the desk to grab his journal before thinking better of it. The crew needed to know if these were enemies or not, so he would just have to wait until after he'd identified them to write.

"Let's go." Ace said. Sabo frowned, noticing Ace wasn't getting his journal like he seemed to have been doing at first.

"Not going to write?" He asked as he stood, Luffy grabbing his hat off the nightstand as he listened.

"I will after. It would be better to find out who the ships are first." Ace said with a shrug. Sabo seemed to accept the answer though, nodding.

"What about your senses? We should stay here for another minute. It'd be no good walking out and blinding yourself because you're not awake enough." Sabo said, referring to their heightened senses that got overwhelmed easily after waking up. Ace grumbled, forgetting about that.

"Fine, I'll write for a minute and then we'll go." He said, sitting in the chair and pulling out his journal. Sabo rolled his eyes but turned to Luffy who was twirling his hat between his hands.

"How'd you sleep Luffy?" Sabo asked his brother, moving to sit on the bed while he waited for Ace. Luffy looked at him, a smile plastered pleasantly on his face.

"Great! I didn't even have a single nightmare last night!" Luffy responded cheerily, Sabo's eyebrows raising.

"Really? That's good." He said honestly. It was rare that any of them had a night where they only had a nightmare or two, but to have none at all was a blessing they hadn't had the luxury of having lately.

Sabo and Luffy chatted for another minute, waiting until Ace was finished so they could head out on deck. It didn't take too long, and soon Ace was opening their desk drawer, placing his journal back inside before standing and stretching his arms.

"There, done. Can we go now?" Ace asked Sabo as if he needed permission. Sabo rolled his eyes but nodded, standing.

"Yes, we can go now." He relented. Ace grinned along with Luffy as they both headed to the door, ready to go out on the deck.

"What's got you so excited anyways Ace?" Sabo asked, noticing Aces eagerness to go identify the ships.

"A fight, what else? If these are pirates looking for a fight its probably gonna be a good one if there's more then one ship. Even if its marines, that just makes it all the better." Ace said, grinning at the thought of being able to fight marines. He hated them with a passion, just as much as Sabo and Luffy did, and as much as they wanted to avoid them, they wouldn't pass up fighting them either.

"If it is going to be a fight you better be careful. We haven't fought big groups like this before." Sabo warned, not wanting anyone to get hurt, though that was inevitable when it came to fighting.

"It's not any different from fighting small groups. It's just more people." Ace said with a shrug as they walked out onto the deck. Ace narrowed in on where Marco stood with Whitebeard and headed their way, his brothers following behind him. Soon the two spotted the brothers as well and Marco began heading their way.

"I'm glad you're alright Ace, yoi," Marco said with a smile, reminding the eldest that he had been trapped in a nightmare when Marco came by earlier.

"Gonna take more than stupid nightmares to keep me down." He said with a nonchalant shrug. Even though being stuck in nightmares sucked a ton more than just having normal nightmares, he wasn't going to show anyone how truly bothered he was by it. Besides, he was trying his best to ignore the residual fear and anxiety that he felt from the nightmare.

"So where'd they see the ships?" Ace asked in an attempt to change the subject, looking over the railings, trying his best to spot wherever they were.

"Over here. They're still too far for our telescopes, but they're close enough to see that there's more than one, yoi." Marco said, walking over to the railing and pointing off in a direction. Ace walked up beside him and peered into the distance, spotting the ships immediately.

"Oh, yeah, I see 'em. There's three ships. The one in front's bigger but all of them have the same jolly roger so they're definitely pirates. It looks like the usual skull and crossbones, but there's something around it. Like... bubbles or something. Bubbles with bubbles in 'em." Ace said, trying his best to describe what he was seeing to those who couldn't.

"Bubbles with bubbles?" Jiru asked, having been nearby.

"Its the best way I can explain it." Ace said with a shrug, turning to look to the Commanders and Whitebeard.

"You think you could draw a picture of it?" Marco asks, Ace nodding.

"Yeah, definitely."

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

"A fight it is then." Thatch said with an excited grin.

"And after I just got freshened up," Izo said with a sigh, waving himself off with one of his many fans.

"At least you didn't just get back from fighting a bunch of upstart rookies." Blamenco moaned, having just got back recently from a mission with his division.

"In any case, there's three ships so even if they're weak, they have numbers. If they're strong, they have the potential to put up a hell of a fight." Vista said, twirling his mustache.

"Which is why it's a good thing Ace here was able to identify them so soon for us so we could get prepared!" Rakuyo said, patting Ace on the back. The teen smiled, unsure how to take the praise while Sabo and Luffy both snickered at their brother's obvious discomfort.

"All we can do for now is get ready seeing as they'll be here soon. You all should go warn your divisions and get your weapons ready." Whitebeard said, the commanders nodding before heading off to do just that. The brothers stayed with the Captain, deciding it was the best place for them if they wanted to stay out of the way.

They watched patiently as the crew got themselves ready for the upcoming fight, Sabo relaying to the Captain and Commanders that the pirates heading their way were definitely looking for a fight. Soon enough, everyone was ready and waiting for the pirates, ones Haruta identified as the Sea Terrors after he saw the flag Ace redrew for them. He also knew that the Captain had a devil fruit, but was unaware as to which fruit it was. Apparently, anyone the crew fought, didn't live to tell the tale, except for one sole survivor who had spread the rumor of the Captain having a fruit.

Once the ships were close enough, it was a flurry of action as cannons were fired, pirates boarded the Moby, and vice versa with the Whitebeards boarding the enemy ships. The brothers were told they could stay near Thatch during this fight so that Marco could fly over the enemy's ships and make sure everything went smoothly there, ready to help anyone in case they needed it. Even though the pirates trusted the brothers' ability to defend themselves, it was more for everyone's peace of mind that a commander stay near the trio.

The fight was going well so far, the Whitebeards, as usual, on the offensive and winning. As predicted, it was a tougher fight than any of the others they had had lately, many actually putting up a sweat as they fought. The trio of brothers were in their normal formation, each watching another's back and trusting that their own was being watched as well. They tore through crowds of pirates with practiced ease, smiling gleefully as they did.

Of course, they were recognized as the Demon Trio quickly which attracted more of the pirates' attention, all wanting their bounty. It didn't matter though as they continued burning, stretching, and knocking pirates out with pipes, enjoying it all the while as they did.

The fight was coming to a close, many pirates still standing, but not at their full stamina after the half-hour that this fight had already lasted. Ace had just knocked out yet another pirate thug that thought he would be an easy target when he spotted another one of the Whitebeards about to be attacked. The man was already fighting three enemies in the front, and from behind the enemy Captain was sneaking up on him, a malicious grin on his face as his hand began to glow, most likely from his devil fruit.

Without thinking, Ace flung himself towards his fellow crew mate, knocking them out of the way of the Captain. However, in the process, he ended up taking the attack full force. He heard Sabo and Luffy shout his name, he saw the enemy Captain's surprise as he took the attack, and then, everything burned, which was odd seeing as he was fire, and then it went black.

At least he saved his crew mate.

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

"Ace!" Sabo and Luffy shouted, watching as the enemy Captain used his attack on Ace rather than the man he had first intended it to be used on. The two flew into action immediately, Sabo swinging his pipe into the Captain's head, making the man fly back into the railing while Luffy rushed over to Ace.

As he did, he checked on his brother's wave, trying to assess how bad the damage was, and was confused, and a slight bit terrified, to find the wave flickering in and out of his vision. For a second he wondered if his powers were being a bit wonky, but after checking Sabo's and seeing the bright, opaque yellow wave, he figured it had something to do with Ace himself.

That couldn't be good.

Kneeling beside his brother, who was unconscious on the deck, he felt for a heartbeat, finding it quickly. There didn't look to be any injuries, but that didn't explain why he was unconscious or why his wave was flickering like that.

Sabo joined him shortly after, and Luffy realized Thatch was pinning the enemy Captain to the ground, another crewmate from Thatch's division running up and cuffing the Captain. The fight was dwindling down around them, and when he drew his attention back to Ace, he realized that his brother seemed to be... shrinking? He blinked a few times, looking to Sabo who looked just as confused and scared as he felt.

"What happened?" Izo asked as he came over, his own eyes full of confusion as he watched their brother get smaller and smaller.

"He jumped in front of an attack- because he's a suicidal idiot- and now he's shrinking. I think its got to do with whatever that guys devil fruit is." Sabo said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder to where Thatch was questioning the enemy Captain, glancing worriedly in Aces direction every few seconds.

"Is there anything else wrong? You know, besides the whole shrinking thing?" Izo asked, looking over Aces chest for any sign of injury.

"Other than being unconscious, I don't think so," Sabo said. The enemy crew was taken care of now, all of them either in the sea or on their battered ships as they left there, obviously captured, Captain behind.

"What's happening?" Marco asked as he changed back into his human form, landing lightly in between Ace and the enemy Captain. Izo told him what was happening while nurses began rushing on deck, helping the injured to the infirmary. Whiskey's familiar face began heading their way, concern in her eyes as she saw the crowd around Ace.

"His waves flickering," Luffy said as the nurse reached them, having been watching it this entire time in fear that it would disappear completely.

"Flickering? Has it done that before, yoi." Marco asked, both Luffy and Sabo shaking their heads.

"No. It keeps disappearing and then coming back in flashes. it's not getting see-through though." Luffy said, implying that Ace was in good health despite everything. Their once tall 17-year-old brother had now shrunk down to what looked to be when he was in his earlier teens, maybe from the age range of 12-15. The rest of the Commanders were here now, and Whitebeard was only a few feet away, able to see and hear everything.

"What fruit do you have?" Thatch asked from where he was still pinning down the enemy Captain who seemed too scared not to answer.

"I-I have the Saibō-Saibō no mi." He stuttered out, everyone's attention turning to him, wanting to know what he had done to Ace.

"The cell-cell fruit? What's that got to do with Ace shrinking?" Izo asked with an angry frown as he walked over to the man, crouching down to look him in the eye.

"I-I have the power to manipulate cells, and with it, I c-can regress them to exactly how they were years ago. When cells regrow, they grow with new information, and when I regress them back, its as if they're at the point in their life when their cells had less knowledge. They don't have the same knowledge that the mature cells had, thus, the body reverts back to how it was at the point in time matching the point in time the cells are at. The brain loses the information it gained, and all they remember is whatever they already knew when they were living with those cells." He explained shakily, practically trembling in Thatch's hold. Everyone shared looks of confusion, not quite following the man's explanation.

"Alright, that hurt my brain trying to follow that." Blenheim moaned, rubbing his temple. Whiskey frowned as well, following the explanation better than the others and not liking what she heard as she gave Ace a check-up.

"So in simple terms, you regressed Aces cells back to when he was a young teen, and now all he remembers is whatever he knew back then?" She asked after deducing nothing was seriously wrong at the moment with him. She did hear something in his lungs though that she didn't like, like a fluid.

"Exactly!" The Captain affirmed with wide eyes, nodding, hoping if he cooperated he would be spared.

"And how do we change him back?" Sabo asked with a scowl. because the more the man spoke, the worse the news got. Luffy seemed to understand just as much as he did how bad it would be if Ace, a possible preteen at the moment, only remembered being in the facility and suddenly woke up to find himself surrounded by people he didn't know.

"Oh, I can't do that." The Captain deadpanned.

"What? What do you mean 'you can't do that?!'" Thatch asked, shaking the man a bit in anger.

"I-It means, unless you want him to lose all of his memories from after he was that age, I can't do that. Regrowing cells is much different then regressing them. I would need to know exactly how they were when I regressed them, and last I checked, he jumped in front of my attack that was meant for someone else. I didn't exactly take the time to remember what information had been stored." The Captain defended, only getting glares in response.

"Does that mean he's stuck like this forever? Has to relive his life from this point?" Sabo asked, trying to keep his own anger in check, not wanting to influence Luffy who already had to manage all of the Commanders' anger. Whitebeard watched from his chair with a frown of his own, hands gripping tightly to the arms of his chair.

"No. I may be able to regress cells, but that doesn't mean it stays that way forever. If it did, that would be the key to immortality right there. No, it'll last an indeterminate amount of time, anywhere from a few days, to a few weeks. The body will... for lack of a better term, go through a dramatic growth spurt and then, boom, you'll have your friend back just the way he was." The Captain said in a rush, trying to save himself as best he could.

"So what your saying is your useless to us now, yoi," Marco said with an arched eyebrow, many of the Commanders smiling as they caught on to Marco's words.

"Y-yes..." The man admitted hesitantly, not liking the looks.

"Alright. Thatch, go ahead." Marco said with a wave of his hand, Thatch grinning as he lifted the man up. The enemy captain began blubbering, but Thatch shoved him over the railing without another word, all of them hearing the distant splash as he hit the water.

"Asshole," Namur muttered, many nodding in agreement.

Sabo and Luffy shared a look before turning to Ace. Whiskey was finished looking him over, turning to look at every one.

"I don't know how, but he's got fluid in his lungs which I don't like, and his heart rate is skyrocketing. Its almost as if he was drowning, or is in the process of drowning." Whiskey said to them.

"How? That ass Captain only said he's basically de-aged, nothing about drowning." Rakuyo said. Sabo and Luffy's frown deepened.

"He said he regressed his cells though, that the body is using past information to constitute itself right now. At this point in Ace's life, he was in the facility, a place where they did a number of tests to us." Sabo muttered darkly, already thinking of a few tests the doctors had done involving water and drowning.

"That's right, I forgot... Does that mean he won't remember us?" Haruta asked.

"Most likely. When he wakes up, you guys shouldn't be close. We don't know what powers he has yet, and I'd rather he not attempt to fight you all thinking you're doctors or something." Sabo said while Luffy held their brother's hand. Sabo couldn't give any more warnings though before Ace groaned, eyebrows slanting in what looked to be pain.

And then he gasped, shooting upright.

And here's the next mini arc everyone! Next chapter, in thanks to all of you amazing people, will be a lot longer than my normal 3,000 minimum. I've got most of it written already and its easily going to be over 5,000 words from the looks of it. Like the last mini arc, this one will only be a few chapters, maybe even just the next chapter, but I'm having a lot of fun writing it so far so who knows really?

Ace's love for the crew is really starting to show now though. He took a hit for someone else without even a second thought. I'm so proud! Even though I mostly wrote this mini arc for fun, there was a reason behind why I did it which you will all see in chapter coming very soon.

I can't wait to finish the next chapter and upload it Friday. Even though it's not even finished yet, I can't wait to get all of your feedback on it. Until then, however, I'm going to have to finish and edit the beat I've taken on. Wish me luck.

I'll see you all on Friday! Thank you all for your amazing support throughout this seemingly never ending journey!