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 88: Making a New Wave

With Thatch awake and Teach taken care of, the moral of the Whitebeard Pirates was once again through the roof. Even though it was early morning there were quite a few crew members up and about, getting a head start on their chores for the day as they waited for breakfast to be ready.

It had been a few days since Thatch had woken up and his recovery was going well. The nurses still stuck by their estimate that Thatch would be good as new in a week's time, and while everyone agreed that that would be the best, Thatch tried everything he could to convince the nurses he didn't need to stay for so long. His excuses ranged from, 'I can sit up without any pain at all now, which means I'm practically all done healing,'- which Luffy was quick to call him out on, telling Whiskey that Thatch actually did feel a slight ache from sitting up- to, 'I think this one time Ace got some of his blood on me which gave me his super cool healing powers, so I should be good to leave tomorrow.' For obvious reasons, no one believed that one.

Needless to say, Thatch was still stuck in the infirmary. He had plenty of visitors though, from the commanders coming to check up on him, Whitebeard telling him stories, Luffy and Sabo coming to talk and make jokes, or even Thatch's division coming to give reports and updates on everything they were doing.

That day the brothers were all waking up for the day rather early. It wasn't unheard of for them to be up so early, but it didn't happen every day.

All three of them had slept peacefully that night, no nightmares for any of them, so it was a bit confusing when Ace and Sabo both saw the pensive, thoughtful look on Luffy's face.

"Whats up Lu?" Ace asked as he put one of his boots on while standing, wobbling a bit as he tried to keep his balance while doing so. The youngest of the three was quiet for a moment, but Ace and Sabo didn't pressure him to speak, merely continued getting ready for the day while sending him concerned glances.

"Mm... I think... I wanna make a wave." Luffy eventually said, shocking the two elder brothers. Ace nearly fell on his face in shock as he lost his balance again, but caught himself just in time, booted foot slamming to the ground a little too hard. Sabo wasn't much better, the blonde nearly tripping over the blankets that were pooling on the ground beside the bed where they'd been tugged off.

"W-what?!" The two asked in unison, tones full of both shock and surprise. Luffy could feel his brother's emotions, had been expecting them, so when he felt the shock and surprise practically fill the room he tried to ignore it.

"Why?" Sabo asked after a few seconds of Luffy not responding. Still, Luffy remained silent, and now that his brothers' surprise was dimming, he could begin to feel the tell-tale worry and concern making itself present once again. Feeling this, he shifted nervously on their bed, eyes down as he stared at his hands in his lap.

"Luffy, what brought this on all of a sudden?" Ace asked, voice much calmer and gentler, then it had been before, the concern creeping into his tone as he spoke. Luffy finally peeked up to look at his brothers but looked down once he saw their expressions, ones that only mirrored the concern that Luffy already could feel coming from them.

"Well... I have waves with Ace and Sabo, but I don't have any with anyone from the crew." Luffy responded weakly. Even though he had brought this up, he still wasn't completely sure how he felt about this. He wanted a wave with someone else, felt almost a need to make one, but that didn't mean he was free from the memories of what had happened in the facility, what the possible outcome of making a wave with someone would be.

"Yeah, but... are you sure? You've never, uh, wanted to make waves with anyone before." Ace asked nervously, not sure how to approach talking about this sensitive subject. He knew Whiskey had helped his brothers, as well as himself, immensely. He knew that she had gotten to the root of all of their trauma months ago, and had been helping them get past it, but Luffy had never mentioned anything about making waves, not since he had been forced to by the doctors. Ace wasn't even quite sure if Whiskey knew about that part of Luffy's trauma.

"I-I didn't want to hurt anyone," Luffy replied softly, yet truthfully. He had been too scared, and still too traumatized before to even consider making a wave with anyone else. He worried that he didn't know the pirates well enough, worried he didn't know their souls well enough, and if he tried, he worried that would cause them to die. Now, however, he felt differently. He still worried that he would fail, that he would hurt someone, but he still wanted to try. He believed he knew and trusted them enough to be able to do this, and after dozens of sessions with Whiskey, it was marginally easier to think about the catastrophe that had been the facility forcing him to kill other children.

Ace and Sabo, on the other hand, had remained silent, the two of them looking at each other as they tried to figure out whether this was a good idea or not. It wasn't that they didn't believe Luffy could do it, it was just that if they allowed Luffy to do this and it went wrong, there would be far too many consequences.

"Why don't... why don't we go talk to Whiskey and Oyaji about this? If they agree, then I don't see why not. Just to be sure though, you really want to do this?" Ace asked one more time for confirmation. When Luffy nodded yet again, the eldest sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Alright then."

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

"So that's how it is then, hm?" Whitebeard asked to himself after Ace, Sabo, and Luffy explained to him what the youngest wanted to do. They were out on the deck, but most people weren't paying their conversation any mind, everyone still caught up in their own actions to pay attention. Marco, per usual, stood beside Whitebeards chair, listening closely to every word the brothers said.

"Do you know who you'd like to make a wave with?" Whitebeard asked Luffy, the boy shifting under the attention. He shook his head because he hadn't really thought about it too much, he just felt like he had to make a wave with someone. Whitebeard leaned back into his chair, humming to himself.

"I wouldn't mind, yoi," Marco said from where he stood, face not giving any of his emotions away, but Luffy could feel the worry that Marco felt for Luffy, could feel that the commander felt confident in his own words. It reassured Luffy as he scanned the emotions, not finding a hint of fear coming from the man at the possibility that this process could kill him.

"Are you sure Marco?" Sabo asked, the worry increasing in his brothers who were watching the first mate carefully.

"Yeah, besides, maybe my devil fruit would make this whole thing less lethal," Marco said with a shrug. He brought up a good point though because Marco always healed from wounds. Whether making a wave could be healed in the same way as physical wounds could, they didn't know, but it was their best bet to try this out on Marco if anyone.

"We still want to talk to Whiskey about this, but we wanted to get Pops' permission first." Ace said now that the matter of who was going to make a wave with Luffy was settled.

"It's alright with me," Whitebeard said with a nod of his head.

"I'll come with you, yoi," Marco said to the brothers who were now turning to head to the infirmary.

Once they reached the strong-smelling room, Ace was quick to track down the nurse they needed to speak to, gesturing her over. Thatch slept peacefully in his bed, blissfully unaware of what was happening only a few feet away from him.

"What's up, guys?" Whiskey asked once she finally reached the group. It was once again explained to the nurse what Luffy planned on attempting and the nurse listened, a familiar look of concern crossing her features, just like with everyone else who heard about the plan. It was obvious to Ace and Sabo that she and Luffy must have brought up the trauma surrounding this process because Whiskey constantly turned to look at Luffy while they spoke as if to reassure that Luffy was still doing alright and was on board with this idea.

"Well, I can't say I know what the possible repercussions of this are. You and Sabo are the only two to have had this done successfully, so if there are different outcomes I wouldn't know. I don't even know what changes creating waves could have had on you two seeing as I wasn't there when it happened. If we are doing this I want to be there just in case something happens. Also, that means full check-ups both before and after Commander Marco, regardless of the fact that you think you're fine because of your fruit." Whiskey said, voice becoming stern as she turned to the commander who rolled his eyes.

"Alright, alright," Marco said, raising his hands in surrender. The nurse narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, as if not believing he would give in so easily, but brushed it off quickly, gesturing for them to follow her as she led them to one of the nearby beds, the one next to where Thatch lay sleeping.

"Wait here, I'm going to go get a new file for this." Whiskey said once Marco was seated on the bed, the trio of brothers standing at the foot of the bed as they watched. Marco nodded and the nurse headed off, leaving them alone. It was at this moment that Thatch woke up, eyes squinting as he shifted slightly. Luffy could feel the previously muted feelings start getting clearer, an indication that someone was waking up, and turned his attention to the chef, smile on his face.

"Thatch!" Luffy called cheerfully, making his way to the commander's bedside and getting everyone else's attention.

"M'hey Lu," Thatch mumbled, sitting up and blinking groggily. Ace, Sabo, and Marco all smiled, happy that Luffy had a distraction now. He hadn't spoken much today and was clearly under some stress over this whole making a wave thing, so for him to finally look happy made them happy as well.

"'Wa's goin' on here, hm?" Thatch asked, noticing the rest of their group, Marco sitting on the bed next to his.

"Ah, well, Luffy wants to make a wave and Marco volunteered so Whiskey wants to do a check-up before Luffy does anything," Sabo explained as briefly as possible, he and Ace already having to explain this multiple times today.

"Wait, what? I'm already being left out of the infamous adventures of the brothers?!" Thatch whined, eyes wide as he frowned. Ace scoffed and Sabo smiled while Luffy laughed cheerily.

"Only one adventure per customer." Ace said.

"But Marcos been in almost all of the adventures!" Thatch whined as he pointed to the commander accusingly.

"Isn't that just too bad for you Thatch," Marco asked in a bored tone.

"Besides, Marcos a special case. He's always just... there when things happen." Sabo said with a shrug, not quite sure how all of their so-called 'adventures' managed to have the first commander close by whenever they occurred.

"That's cause Marcos always worrying about us and stuff!" Luffy answered, still grinning widely from where he now sat on Thatch's bed.

"Always the worrywart." Ace said with a shake of his head, though he was smiling.

"Luffy, what have we said about telling others what we're feeling, yoi?" Marco asked with a sigh.

"Its an imitation of piracy!" Luffy recited but only made those around them laugh.

"No, its invasion of privacy." Marco corrected as automatically as Sabo normally does. After a year of being around the brothers, the pirates had all grown used to the brothers' habits and ticks, Luffy's inability to say certain words being one of them.

"Don't listen to him Luffy, you keep on telling us all about Marcos feelings whenever you want!" Thatch chirped happily, still trying to catch his breath after laughing too hard.

"And while you're at it, feel free to announce to everyone which of Thatch's stories are lies, yoi." Marco retorted, glaring at the chef who gawked.

"Wha-?! Wait, no, don't do that Lu! On second thought, emotions are private and no one should ever know which of my stories are lies!" Thatch said, quickly backtracking on his words, waving his hands back and forth frantically as he did.

"So you admit that some of your stories are lies then?" Sabo asked mischievously, Ace snickering beside him and Luffy still beaming happily as he listened to everyone speak around him.

"Well, uh, you know-... Never mind." Thatch said, visibly deflating and causing another round of laughter to erupt from Ace, Sabo, and Luffy while Marco watched, his own smile forming now.

"I'm back. Ready Commander Marco?" Whiskey asked, holding a folder in hand with papers inside. Marco nodded, and everyone remembered quickly why they were here, the mood turning serious once more as they focused on Whiskey and Marco.

Whiskey was quick with her check-up, and once she was happy with the results, she released Marco, giving her permission for he and Luffy to make a wave. As Marco stood and they all got ready to head back out onto the deck, Thatch gave him his well wishes and requested they give him a play by play once they were done.

Once they were back out on the deck, Whiskey in tow, they headed back down into the sunken area of the deck. Apparently, word had gotten around fairly quickly about what was going to happen because Sabo could hear their crew mates whispering to each other about it as they watched the group walk. How they had heard about the news already, Sabo had no idea. Whitebeard sat in his chair, indifferent to the chattering around him, and all of the commanders- sans Thatch- were nearby, interested in what was about to take place as well.

Finally, the group sat down, Marco in front of Whitebeard, his back to the Captain, and the brothers in front of Marco facing him and Whitebeard, while Whiskey stood close by, clipboard in hand as she watched Marco closely, ready for anything.

"So, how does this work, yoi?" Marco asked as he got comfortable on the deck, wanting to know what he should expect.

"Well, we're not quite sure how Luffy does it really, he just kind of imagines creating a bridge between the two of you." Sabo started explaining, watching Luffy from where he sat in between him and Ace.

"You'll get a headache, or at least, Sabo and I did. Hurt like a bitch." Ace continued, Marco nodding in understanding. Luffy continued taking in Marco's emotions, looking for even a hint of hesitance or regret to agreeing to this, but the Commander was as confident about this as he had been when agreeing. Luffy shifted, getting ready to begin, and it seemed everyone picked up on this as well because the deck went silent, anticipation heavy in the air.

Ace and Sabo watched, eyes darting between Luffy and Marco every few seconds, just waiting for something to go wrong.

Luffy sat completely still, eyes unblinking as he stared at Marco, allowing himself to see the color of the commander's soul clearly. It was still as bright a blue as it had been when they had first met him, not a hint of grey in it. Luffy's lips almost twitched into a smile at that, but he fought it off, focusing instead on the task before him.

He remembered exactly how this was supposed to work, how Haru had told him to bridge him and the other person together, remembered doing it over and over with the different children.

Again, he shook away the unwanted thoughts, once again refocusing his attention to Marco, to the bright blue soul in front of him. He began creating that bridge, imagined it slowly forming across the gap between him and Marco, stretching from his own chest and finally making contact with Marcos.

At this point, Luffy started feeling that Marco was in pain, the feeling filtering over to Luffy who was also keeping a close eye on the commander's emotions, still waiting for any regret, any sign that he didn't actually want to do this. The pain made him hesitate for a moment, but despite the fact that Luffy could feel that Marco was in pain, the first mate was doing a good job at hiding it from his expression. The only indication that he was even in any discomfort was the slight squint to his eyes.

Ace and Sabo seemed to pick up on Luffy's hesitance as they shifted uneasily beside him. They restrained from touching him though, not wanting to break his concentration and possibly mess something up. Taking a deep breath Luffy tried to ignore the pain he could feel coming from Marco, tried to ignore that this was the moment of truth, the moment where either a wave would be formed between Marco and Luffy, or Marco would possibly end up dying.

One last push and the bridge between Luffy and Marco formed completely, disappearing and leaving behind a bright blue wave. Luffy watched it a moment, practically waiting for it to disappear, for this whole thing to have not worked, but when it stayed, strong and steady, and Marcos pain started to dissipate, Luffy slowly began grinning until he was full-on beaming, joy in his eyes as he continued admiring the beautiful blue wave. He brought up Ace and Sabo's waves too now, looking at all three waves almost sprouting from his chest and guiding him to the souls they belonged to.

"I did it!" Luffy chirped happily, turning to look at Ace and then Sabo. The twos tension faded and they smiled back, pride and happiness rolling off of them.

"Good job Lu!" Ace praised as he ruffled the boy's hair, Sabo patting him on the back. Meanwhile, Whiskey went over to Marco, asking him a series of questions as she took his blood pressure again.

"What color is his wave?" Sabo asked out of curiosity. Luffy had told them both what color their waves were when they were first formed, so it interested him what color Marcos could be.

"It's blue, but not like the sky or the ocean, its brighter, like his flames!" Luffy said, head tilting as he tried explaining the color to his brothers. The ones close enough to hear Luffy listened as well, trying to imagine the color.

"Well, it seems everything's alright. Commander Marco is as healthy as ever." Whiskey announced as she put down her stethoscope.

"Really?! Come on Marco, we have to tell Thatch!" Luffy said excitedly, grin blossoming on his face as he jumped up and ran over to Marco. He pulled the first commander off the ground and immediately started dragging him towards the infirmary. Ace and Sabo both sat back and watched, laughing as Marco rolled his eyes, a slight look of exasperation on his face.

"And he thought Luffy was a handful before. Now that he has a wave with him he'll be that much more overbearing." Ace laughed, Sabo nodding his agreement.

"Even if it's just a little fade, Luffy'll be on him instantly," Sabo said, referring to how worried Luffy could get about Ace or Sabo whenever their waves got even a hint lighter than normal.

"Note to self, don't get a wave with Luffy," Jozu said from where he and the other commanders were standing, listening to Ace and Sabo talk.

Ace and Sabo grinned to him while Whitebeards laugh boomed across the deck for all to hear.

As much as I wish I could write a nice long authors note for you all, I'm already running late. I wanted to get this up for you all before I left for a semi-important thing, so I hope you enjoy it! I feel bad leaving this note off here without even talking about the chapter, but I also didn't want to upload this chapter later. Its just how the cookie crumbles I guess.

Anyway, I'll see you all Friday with the next chapter! Thank you all for your unending support of this story! It means the absolute world to me!