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 89: Training for the Future

A week passed after Luffy made a wave with Marco and as expected, the youngest almost always had the wave in his vision, monitoring it for even a flicker of transparency. Being a constantly healing Phoenix, Luffy didn't know if Marcos wave could even get transparent, but in the slow week that passed, he hadn't seen it happen once which relieved him immensely.

Ace and Sabo thought that Marco was lucky they hadn't had to do any fighting this week.

Thatch, after being forced to stay in the infirmary the entire time, was finally given the ok to leave, although Whiskey was sure to explain exactly how mad she would be with the chef should he go against her strict regimen. Thatch wasn't allowed to do any heavy lifting, wasn't allowed to do any strenuous work and had to take breaks throughout the day to make sure he didn't overwork himself. The chef had been against it at first, but after finding out that it was either do that or stay in the infirmary, he gladly agreed to the conditions.

Now that he was finally out Thatch was going around and celebrating with anyone unlucky enough to be caught by him.

"Travis, have a drink with me!"

"Thatch, it's nine in the morning. Besides, didn't Whiskey tell you no drinking?"

"Bah! What Whiskey doesn't know won't hurt her!"

Sabo snickered quietly to himself from where he sat listening on the railing. Ace was off doing some paperwork he'd neglected to do ever since Thatch had been hurt and Luffy was off bouncing around with a few others from the second division.

Overall, things were slowly returning back to normal. One by one, they all got better, and even though what had happened with Teach had been traumatizing and had brought up plenty of bad memories for the brothers, that was something they would talk with Whiskey about during their sessions and eventually, that trauma will be a distant memory. It'll be more manageable. Won't hurt as much to think about. They won't remember it as the day Thatch nearly died, the day the darkness was so bad Luffy was almost always in a state of panic, the day they nearly let Teach kill one of their brothers. No, instead, it'll be a day they remember Thatch survived, and a day they remember how strong Luffy was to put up with a darkness so intense it encompassed Whitebeards warmth, a day they stopped Teach from doing something unthinkable.

But it would take time for them to believe these thoughts like it has with the facility. They still had sessions with Whiskey weekly, no longer so scared of her that they had to sit out on the deck. They'd begun having them with her in her office, and the day that had happened had been a huge improvement, showed just how far they'd progressed in their healing.

'Ne, Sabo?' The blonde was pulled from his musings as he heard the familiar tapping coming from the brothers' room where Ace was.

'You think you could go tell Whiskey that I need to postpone my session until tomorrow? I don't think I'll get this paperwork done until late.' Ace said making Sabo sigh, shaking his head as he jumped off the railing.

Of course, if his brother had done the paperwork when he'd first got back like he was supposed to, he wouldn't have had to worry about missing his session, but there was no point worrying about that now.

Luffy caught a glimpse of Sabo as he left the deck, heading towards the infirmary. He shrugged, deciding he'd ask what he was doing later and turned back to the group he was with, a handful of cards in his hands as he returned to the task at hand.

"Got any 3's?" He asked one of the men sitting in their circle. There was a familiar uproar of laughter that made Luffy laugh, even if the laughter was because of him.

"How many times we gotta tell you we're playing Cheat and not Go Fish?" Reiner asked.

"Yeah, and how did you end up with so many cards anyway?" Perry questioned with a raised eyebrow as he looked at the stack of cards in Luffy's hands. The boy pouted, deflating.

"Cause you guys cheated!" He said, unceremoniously grabbing more cards from the pile in the middle, causing another round of laughter.

"Who wants to explain to him that you don't pick up in this game?" Devan stage whispered to the others.

"Hey Luffy, you done with your turn?" Reiner asked, to which the boy nodded, still pouting a little.

The game continued on, Luffy still oblivious as to how to really play despite how many times his division members explained it to him. He had a fun time regardless, and when the lunch bell started going off he only then began to realize how much time had passed.

He jumped up happily before bolting off to the galley, barreling through anyone still new enough to the crew to not know to get out of the hyperactive boy's way. All the amazing smells wafted to his nose and made his mouth water. In seconds he was in the line for food, piling his plate high enough that it threatened to fall over.

"Why don't you go take that plate to the table, Luffy? You know you can always come and get more, yoi." Marco said as he walked up behind the teen. Luffy pouted, seeing some meat he really wanted to add to his plate, but nodded and left anyways, balancing the food tower expertly, not a single crumb falling.

Sabo was the next of the trio to arrive, filling up a large quantity of food and leaving which confused a few who had noticed, but Luffy, who felt the confusion, explained.

"Sabo says Ace is a probashing idiot so he's bringing him his food." He said in between mouthfuls of food, having watched as Sabo tapped against the plate he had been filling. Luffy noticed that the commanders' confusion only grew at his words, which confused him in turn.

"Luffy, did you mean procrastinating?" Izo asked, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to find the word Luffy might have meant to say. Understanding dawned on Luffy's face and he smiled, nodding.

"Yeah, that!" He said before returning to his food, noting that the confusion in the commanders was quick to leave now that they knew the correct wording.

"At least someones looking out for that fire brained kid." Fossa said with a bark of laughter once he was over the confusion. Many nods of agreement were shared amongst the commanders and conversation was quick to sprout as they all started eating their own food. Luffy joined in cheerily, in a much better mood lately now that all the stress of Teach and Thatch being hurt was gone. He also had a new wave to look at, still in awe at how pretty and vibrant the color was.

Sabo returned shortly after, filling a plate of his own, and by then Luffy was onto his thirds.

"Still want to train after lunch Luffy?" Sabo asked, the youngest having nearly forgotten.

"Mm!" Luffy hummed, mouth full of food and impeding his speech. Sabo chuckled.

"Alright, now slow down, you look like you're about to choke," Sabo said with a raised eyebrow, watching as Luffy swallowed his entire mouthful of food, a visible lump passing down his throat and making some of the commanders cringe.

"Ace won't be joining so its only me, but that should be alright, we'll just be focusing on one emotion," Sabo said as he began eating now.

Another thing they'd taken to practicing during their year with the Whitebeards was Luffy tolerance to different emotions. It became problematic sometimes if pirates who started feeling anger suddenly influenced Luffy, or when Luffy would get so happy he would nearly catapult himself off the ship, so as a way to counterbalance this, they began training him

Luffy would go with someone, Ace, Sabo, Marco, Whitebeard, anyone good at controlling their emotions, and they would attempt projecting small feelings at the boy. Luffy would then do his best to avoid letting the emotion influence him, no matter how strong. Over the year of practice, it had already shown positive improvement and the young teen was able to resist letting emotions take him over easier than ever before.

With the excitement over wanting to train, Luffy finished his meal faster than ever, but that just meant he had to impatiently wait until Sabo was done as well so they could leave.

"You done yet Sabo?" Luffy asked as he waited, though even calling it waiting was stretching it. The teen was swinging his feet rapidly and he was squirming so much he looked like a snake. Sabo rolled his eyes as he continued eating, making sure he wasn't eating any faster than usual.

"Nope. Probably won't be for some time." Sabo said nonchalantly, an indifference in his words as he spoke them. Luffy whined at that which made Sabo smile, finding it funny how impatient his brother could be sometimes. The commanders around them were finding it amusing as well, a few trying to hold in their laughter as they watched Luffy begin to tug on Sabo's sleeve.

"But Sabo~ I'm bored! I wanna train now~!" Luffy whined, tugging the sleeve as he spoke in an attempt to hurry the blonde. Sabo, however, didn't let this have an impact, still being mindful to keep his movements slow, purposely messing with Luffy, knowing how impatient his little brother could be.

The other commanders found this funny, having easily caught on to Sabo's tactics, and watched as Luffy got more and more desperate to leave the room, wanting to train as soon as possible. Eventually, Sabo stopped teasing, finishing his food and standing with a now very ecstatic Luffy. Sabo said his farewells to the commanders while Luffy bounced off to the galley doors, calling for his brother to hurry up, to which Sabo rolled his eyes.

Once out on deck Sabo and Luffy headed to the upper deck and seeing as many were still eating in the galley the spot was relatively empty. Of course, nowhere on the Moby was ever completely devoid of people, there were so many members onboard the ship that you'd be hard-pressed to find a room with no one in it, so a couple of people opposed to a big group was as empty as it was going to get.

"Alright, you're still having trouble with happiness so why don't we focus on that emotion for now?" Sabo asked as he and Luffy sat cross-legged across from each other. Out of all the emotions, Luffy was most easily overwhelmed by happiness. This was mostly due to the fact that he enjoyed letting the feeling in the most, sans the warm feeling, but that only made it all the more reason to grow his tolerance for the emotion.

"Mm!" Luffy agreed, settling and taking deep breaths. Sabo began thinking of all his happiest memories, allowing the emotion to bubble up in his chest, and he could already see that it was having an effect on his brother if the smile was anything to go on. Luffy was able to quell the emotions from overwhelming him though, refocusing his attention on his breathing and thoughts rather than the nice emotions he could feel coming from his blonde brother.

Sabo smiled as he watched Luffy take deep breaths, his brother's smile leaving as his face returned into a neutral state. The blonde began ramping up his feelings, allowing himself to feel more and more of the happiness he was creating.

This continued on, Sabo amping up the emotion he was exuding, and Luffy doing his best to not give in to the temptation of letting in the feelings and instead taking deep breaths. An hour passed and once it had, Sabo could see a familiar figure heading their way. Luffy was too focused on keeping out the happiness that he didn't notice, until suddenly a bout of anger surprised him, the emotion flooding him instantly and taking over him.

"Ace! What are you doing?!" Luffy shouted angrily at his brother who stood behind him, smirking.

"Too easy Luffy, maybe next time." Ace said as he ruffled Luffy's hair. This caused the youngest to pout, but the anger melted away now that he knew he had been influenced. Ace sat beside Sabo on the deck floor, Luffy settling back down as well as he faced them.

"We'll have to work on that some more too. If you get too focused blocking out one emotion it becomes way too easy for you to become influenced by another." Sabo said with a smile, noticing that Ace still seemed extremely satisfied with himself for catching their brother off guard.

"Did you finish your reports?" Sabo asked. The smirk left Aces face at the reminder and he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yeah. It was a pain in the ass too." He muttered, looking away as he did. Sabo and Luffy snickered now which made Ace pout in turn.

"Maybe one of these times you'll learn not to procrastinate like always." The blonde replied, but all of them knew that the same thing would happen next time. Ace had been a commander for a year now, and each and every time it came time for him to write up a report on something he always put it off until the last second.

He was practically asking for Marco to give him a lecture about how he couldn't shirk his Commander responsibilities.

"It's not my fault. Whenever I get back everyone's always doing all this cool stuff. Besides, I do my best work under pressure." Ace said with a shrug. Sabo rolled his eyes at that answer.

"Yeah, sure. I'll believe that when I stop hearing Marco complain about your rushed reports." Sabo said, making Ace glare at him, but they both knew it was true. More than once, Sabo had accidentally overheard Marco ranting to himself as he read over Aces reports, all of them having been procrastinated and rushed.

"Stop listening in." Ace retorted, though it was a weak retort. Sabo scoffed.

"Stop seeing so far away." He responded. Both brothers knew they had no control over their senses, hence why there was no heat to their words. It was said more with endearment then it was with any actual anger or expectancy for them to really do anything about their enhanced senses.

"Anyway, now that you're here you can help with Luffy's training. We can work on battling more than one emotion this way." Sabo said, the two turning their attention back to Luffy who had been watching them the entire time, not saying anything. Now that they were about to start training again though, Luffy brightened up, sitting up straighter and nodding happily in anticipation.

It wasn't often he got to train with two people at once. Everyone was usually busy, so this would be good for him.

"How about Ace and I both focus on happiness at first, and at random intervals, Ace can focus on anger instead. That way you don't know when it will happen and you'll gain experience on how to better handle sudden spikes in emotions." Sabo suggested. Ace and Luffy both agreed, and with that, training resumed.

It was more difficult now that Ace was there as well, and Luffy had a hard time keeping himself from being influenced by the sudden anger from his older brother, but that was why they were training now, so he could get better at it now. This way, if this happened on an island, he wouldn't be caught off guard by someone having a sudden spike in their emotions.

That didn't mean it made it any easier though, and when another anger spike from Ace influenced him as well, he wasn't able to calm himself down in time to stop the explosion.

"This is stupid! And so what if I want to let in the happy feelings?! They're nice!" Luffy shouted almost defensively. Ace and Sabo, both knowing that he was only being influenced, let him shout. They got some looks from passing crew members and those close enough to hear their brothers outburst, but none of them paid them any mind. It was routine by now for the crew to hear Luffy have an outburst due to being influenced. It had happened many times now over the year, whether it was because someone got angry stubbing their toe, or someone was angry that the food they had Thatch save for them had been eaten by another crew member. It was inevitable there would be anger, and when there was, Luffy was, nine times out of ten, influenced by it. To see him having another outburst was nothing new to the crew, and once they saw what was happening and realized what must have happened, they left the brothers to deal with it like always.

Once Luffy calmed down from his shouting, Ace spoke up, smiling a bit as he tried not to laugh at yet another of his brother's outbursts from this training session.

"Why don't we take a break? We've been at it an hour now, and you two were training even before that." Ace said, stretching his arms above his head as he spoke. Sabo nodded in agreement while Luffy pouted. Even though he had just shouted that he thought this was stupid, he hadn't meant it. He loved training, getting stronger, and he had only shouted that because the anger had suddenly overcome him and made him vent his frustrations without any filter. He knew his brothers didn't take anything he said during his outbursts seriously, which was good, because he didn't mean what he said most of the time.

"That's a good idea, I'm getting sore sitting here this long," Sabo said with a frown, rubbing his back as he did.

"You're getting old." Ace teased.

"Ace, you're older than me. Calling me old is calling yourself older." Sabo said, rolling his eyes as he stood. The oldest of the trio blinked, thinking over the blonde's words for a second as he stood as well.

"Nah, I think you're aging faster. You'll be an old man when you're 20." Ace said with a smirk. Luffy looked at Sabo in awe, taking his brother's words as fact rather than the teasing that it was.

"What?! Really?! Sabo, how are you doing that?!" He asked, walking circles around his brother as he examined him as if expecting to see something on him that would explain his speedy aging that Ace claimed he had.

"Luffy, Ace is joking, you should know that," Sabo said, rubbing his temple in exasperation. Even though Luffy could literally feel that Ace was joking, he still believed him.

"Oh yeah. I forgot." Luffy said, stopping his examination of Sabo as he blinked slowly, taking in the fact that he had felt that Ace was joking. He had been so caught up in the idea that Sabo might actually be aging faster that he hadn't even taken into account his brother's feelings.

Sabo sighed yet again. Maybe he was aging faster. If that was the case, it was definitely because of his two idiotic brothers.

"That's it, I need a break from you two," Sabo said, walking off as he spoke and plugging his ears to avoid hearing anything else from the two. Ace and Luffy shared a look before watching the blonde walk off, ears still plugged.

"Ne, Ace, you wanna put glue in Sabo's boots?"

"And hide his socks?"

"Shishishi, let's go!"

I've got news everyone. Sad news.

This chapter was a transition chapter. The next chapter will be- Brace yourselves- the final arc.

I know, I know. Lets all take a moment to let that sink in. Next chapter will be the 90th chapter, as well as the beginning of the end of this story. Don't worry though, I have a sequel planned which I will be talking more about at the actual end of this story, so it's not truly over, but this section of the brothers' lives will soon be coming to a close. I'll get into all the sappiness of ending a story when this story actually ends, but I thought you all should know how close we were getting.

Anyways, in lighter news, the brothers are much happier and healthier- physically and mentally- then they were in the beginning. They've come a long way and have worked hard to be where they're at right now. The next arc is something I've been building up to and hinting at for what seems to be forever now and I'm excited for you all to see whats in store! I can't really give any hints without giving the entire thing away so your all just going to have to wait and see.

I think that's all I have to say about this chapter. As always, thank you all for your unending support on this story. It always brightens my day and it means the world to me. I'll see you all on Monday!