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 98: Thoughts of the Future
Over the years that the brothers had been with the Whitebeards, they had yet to stop their sessions with Whiskey. Every week, like clockwork, they would go to the upper deck and each take turns talking to the nurse. Sometimes sessions would have to be postponed due to missions, fights, or everyone was just too busy, but they always made sure to reschedule.
Time and time again the brothers could see the improvement that talking with Whiskey had on them. Nightmares weren't as frequent, strangers weren't as scary, and they were able to tolerate doctors they'd never met before relatively well compared to before where they'd had a near phobia of them. Needles were easier to handle as well; easier with each check-up they went to.
They'd told Whiskey a lot, more then they'd told each other, and the nurse felt like a safe person they could tell anything and everything to. It was nice to have that kind of person in their lives. They needed it.
The journals that Whiskey had had them write in so long ago were filled with every nightmare they'd had since then to the point that they had to get new ones, which they'd also filled rather quickly. They each had a total of fifteen different notebooks, fourteen of them filled with writing on every page and the last one still in progress, but with how far in between they had nightmares, they no longer filled the pages as quick as they used to.
Even after all of this time talking to Whiskey, there were some things that they'd yet to talk about, and for Luffy, that was the matter of seeing people's memories.
Seeing people's memories wasn't exactly a scary topic for Luffy, but he still didn't like talking about it. He didn't like the idea that, at any time, he could will himself to see any one person's memories whenever he wanted. It felt like an invasion of privacy- like he was prying into something that he, nor anybody else, should be able to see. Memories were precious, and they weren't something that Luffy liked to even think about peeking in on.
The fact that he could see anyone's memories whenever he wanted made him extremely uncomfortable, so he tried his best to forget that he even had that ability. He didn't let the idea cross his mind, didn't let the temptation to look into someone's memories overtake him. He hadn't looked into anyone's memories since back at the facility.
Sitting in front of Whiskey now, talking as usual about different topics, the topic of seeing memories came up.
"I know its not something you particularly like talking about, but what are your thoughts on seeing memories? Have they changed since we talked about it last?" She asked. Long ago they'd briefly talked about it, but Luffy didn't want to say much and Whiskey let the topic change quickly after.
"I don't know..." Luffy started with a frown, shifting a little now.
"I don't like looking at people's memories, so I don't." He said bluntly, looking to the ground. Whiskey nodded in front of him.
"I understand. What about it makes you not like it?" She asked him gently, her voice always the same during these sessions. She never pressured them into saying something, never urged them to go on when they were uncomfortable, she only spoke calmly, gently, letting them speak on their own terms, on their own time.
"Memories... memories are private. They're people's treasures, and I don't have a right to look at them." Luffy said after a bit of thinking, face scrunched as he tried thinking of the right words to use.
"And what if someone said it was alright to look into their memories? Say, for example, I gave permission for you to look. How would you feel about that?" She asked, and now Luffy was confused. He'd never thought about that before. Everyone on the crew didn't even know about his ability to see memories, only the Commanders, Whiskey, his brothers, and Whitebeard, so the idea that someone would want him to look into their memories confused him.
"Why would they want me to do that?" He asked in confusion, face still scrunched. Whiskeys smile widened and she laughed lightly.
"Who knows. This is more of a hypothetical situation, an imaginary situation. So if someone gave permission, how would you feel about that?" She explained, asking the question again afterward. Luffy stopped talking to think about it for a moment because he'd never thought about it before.
What if someone wanted him to see their memories? Told him it was alright for him to do so? Would he be alright with it then?
"I think it would be ok then. If they wanted me to." He said slowly after much thought. Whiskey nodded again, writing something down on her notepad.
"And what if you didn't have permission, but looking into someone's memories would, say, save someone else's life. How about then?" She asked trying to find the limits of Luffy's comfort levels revolving around seeing memories. Luffy had to start thinking again, and Whiskey could visibly see the effort it took for the teen to think over her question. He wasn't shying away from the questions and was taking them all seriously, which was a good thing. They helped her know where she needed to help him and where she needed to work on.
"If I had to, if someone would live because I did, I think I could do it. I wouldn't like it though." Luffy told her, tacking on the last bit to let her know.
"That's understandable." Whiskey told him, finishing her writing on this subject.
"I heard the plan is for you to leave here soon, is that right?" She asked him, changing the subject. Her job as the brothers' nurse was to get them as healthy as she possibly could, both mentally and physically, and with Luffy leaving soon, she wanted to make sure she helped in every way she possibly could.
"Mm! I wanna set sail when I'm seventeen so Pops told me we're gonna have an early birthday party for me and then I'm gonna go back to my home island and set sail there. That's where I would have set sail if I hadn't been taken." Luffy told the nurse with a smile, excited for the future. In just a couple of weeks, he would be leaving the Moby and becoming a pirate Captain of his own. The idea of it made him jittery with excitement and happiness, but he reigned himself in, focusing back on Whiskey.
"That's a good plan. Seems like we're going to be ending our sessions soon too if that's the case." She said with a fond smile, proud of how far Luffy had come.
"Yeah, but you taught me lots of stuff, like writing in my journal and how to calm down when I'm scared and how to not be too scared of needles," Luffy said happily, feeling the pride from the nurse, but also a bit of sadness.
"That's right. I want you to take a mini den den with you when you go, though. I'm sure Oyaji or Marco, or maybe even Ace or Sabo, might have already brought up that idea." She said, Luffy nodding in agreement that that had happened. All of them had made the suggestion to him at one point or another, Ace and Sabo because they wanted him to be able to call them if needed and Marco and Oyaji for mostly the same reason.
"It would help if you need someone to talk to or you want to have a session like this with me but we're not together. If you ever have a question about your, or anyone else's, health, mentally or physically, you can give me a call. Anytime Luffy, you hear?" She asked sternly, pointing her pencil at him. He nodded, laughing at the nurse's seriousness, making her sigh.
"In any case, I think that should conclude our session for the day. I'll see you next week." She told him, standing. Luffy did the same, giving a farewell before running off to talk to Thatch about his upcoming party.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The brothers' time with the Whitebeards had been extremely helpful for all of them. They'd learned important skills like haki and fighting techniques, gained better control over their senses, learned how to cope with their traumatizing past, and had made good friends. A family.
However, Luffy would be leaving soon, and Sabo was beginning to think that maybe he would too. Talking with Koala back on that island not all that long ago, he'd found that he still held a hatred for the government that he couldn't quite keep down. The idea of the Revolutionary Army seemed nice; helping people, freeing facilities like the one he'd been trapped in, and taking down the corrupt government that was the Marines.
It was appealing, and more and more Sabo found himself thinking that he might want to become a Revolutionary himself.
It was just an idea he had, he wasn't quite sure if he wanted to follow through with it yet, but the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to do it. Being a pirate was fun, freeing, and the exact opposite of being a marine which was a plus, but he wanted more. He wanted to make a difference, and the Revolutionary Army seemed to be able to make that possible.
He hadn't talked to anyone about this yet, and with Luffy leaving so soon, he felt more inclined to stay here on the Moby with Ace. He, Ace and Luffy had never been separated before, and the thought of all of them separating at once was a bit scary, but it was bound to happen eventually.
He loved the Whitebeards, he was eternally grateful to them for everything they'd done for him, and it felt wrong to leave them. At the same time though, he knew they would understand if this was something he truly wanted to do.
It was going to be a hard decision for him to make, but he felt confident that everything would work out in the end.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Whitebeard sat in his chair, watching as everyone went on with their day. Amongst them was Ace, Sabo, and Luffy, the three brothers laughing with Thatch and Izo. Whitebeard smiled fondly at the group, thinking back to when the brothers had first arrived and they'd barely even come out on deck. Now they had opened up and become family just as everyone else on this ship had and it made him a proud Captain to see this.
In just a couple of weeks, his youngest son would be leaving him, and that was a big step for everyone. Not only would Luffy be off on his own, but his brothers would also be without him. The three of them had never truly separated before, and Whitebeard wondered how they would take it once they finally were.
He was pulled from his thoughts as he noticed Marco walking his way, and from the look on his face, he wanted to speak to him about something.
"Oyaji." Marco greeted as he came over, leaning on the arm of Whitebeards chair, arms crossed as he watched the crew with the giant.
"How are things, my son?" Whitebeard asked him with a gentle smile.
"So far everything's going smoothly, yoi. No doubt someones going to have some sort of issue sooner or later." The commander answered with a shrug. Whitebeard nodded in agreement, knowing that was probably going to be the case. He had a lot of sons and daughters on this ship, it was inevitable that some would have issues at some point, and it just so happened that many went to Marco when it came to their problems.
"That is true. Was there something else you wanted to speak with me about?" Whitebeard asked, looking at Marco out of the corner of his eye with a knowing look. Marco had been apart of his crew long enough that he was able to identify the man's emotions pretty well based off of his looks, and right now he looked like he was just waiting to talk about something. Marco seemed to know this as well, frowning as he looked at Whitebeard before sighing and shaking his head in defeat.
"Not really, yoi. I just keep wondering if Luffy's ready to go off on his own yet." Marco admitted, uncrossing his arms and letting them rest at his sides. Whitebeard hummed in understanding, waiting for Marco to continue.
"He's strong, I'll give him that, and all three of the brothers are progressing well in their haki, but they still have a lot they need to work on. Not to mention that there are still things they haven't completely healed from yet, yoi." Marco said, voicing his concerns. Whitebeard continued listening silently, nodding along to show he was listening.
"Whiskey says they're doing better than they ever have before, but that doesn't mean they're healed, that they won't have setbacks, yoi. What if Luffy's on his own and has a setback? And we're not there to help him?" Marco asked, finishing his mini-rant.
"We can't force him to stay here forever. I understand your concerns son, I have some of my own, but we're helping him all we can. We've already convinced him to take a mini den den with him, and if he needs us he can call and ask and we'll do what we can. Even if he's not here, he's still family and we help family when they need it." Whitebeard told Marco calmly, watching Luffy now as he spoke.
"You're right," Marco said with another sigh, nodding.
"You know, I thought Ace or Sabo would be worrying more over this then they are, yoi," Marco said, looking to the brothers now as he spoke.
"I'm sure they are, they're just handling it differently then we are is all. Everyone deals with their own emotions differently, and those three have a tendency to handle many things differently than we normally do." Whitebeard said with a smile. His words weren't an insult, merely an observation after having dealt with the brothers for the past few years. Marco scoffed, crossing his arms again.
"You've got that right, yoi." He said, smiling himself now. Seeing as he had been watching the brothers, he and Whitebeard were both able to witness as Luffy grabbed onto the rigging above them, Ace, Sabo, Thatch, and Izo yelling something at him, but it was too late as the teen went flying upwards.
And into the water.
"I take back what I said, yoi," Marco said in exasperation, pinching his nose as someone jumped in to save their youngest crew member.
Whitebeard only laughed.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"You want to join the Revolutionary Army?" Ace asked, eyebrows furrowed as he repeated what Sabo had just told him.
"I've been thinking about it, yes," Sabo said from their desk chair. Luffy was sitting on the bed, listening, while Ace was taking off his boots.
"Gotta say, I wasn't expecting that." Ace said honestly, throwing his boots toward their closet, not caring if they made it there or not.
"I haven't exactly decided if I wanted to or not, but I'm thinking I might." The blonde said, finishing putting things away in the desk and turning in the chair to face his brothers.
"If you leave too you better take a mini den den like Luffy." Ace said sternly, taking the news much easier then Sabo had expected him. He raised an eyebrow at this, wondering what was going through his brother's head.
"I planned on it. After all, what if Luffy wanted to call me instead of you?" Sabo teased instead, knowing that Ace wouldn't voice his worries if he didn't want to, and the best way to distract his brother from said worries was to make fun of him.
"Why would he want to call you over me? Tell him Luffy, you'd rather talk to me instead, right?" Ace asked Luffy, the two looking at the unsuspecting boy who only blinked owlishly at them.
"Why can't I talk to both of you?" He asked in confusion, tilting his head as he spoke.
"Because that's not what we're talking about." Ace said plainly, which only made Luffy laugh and Sabo smile.
"Ne, Sabo, does that mean you'd be working for my dad?" Luffy asked, completely ignoring the previous conversation and moving on to another. Ace sighed in annoyance but was intrigued by Luffy's question, turning to the blonde.
"I guess. I talked to Koala a little but not too long and she was telling me about how everything works. She couldn't tell me a lot, super-secret operation and all, but the gist of it is that Dragon runs everything which we already knew." Sabo said with a shrug.
"Would you be like a ninja then?! Cause they're all sneaky and stuff too!" Luffy said, stars in his eyes at the thought that his older brother would become a ninja. Sabo laughed at this while Ace snickered, Luffy feeling the amusement coming from them and smiling as a result.
"Sure, Luffy. I'd be a ninja." Sabo agreed, despite knowing that wasn't the case.
"Woah! Ninjas are so cool! But not cooler then pirates, pirates are the best!" Luffy said as if struggling with whether he liked ninjas or pirates more. Sabo shook his head, standing from the chair and stretching.
"Alright, let's get some sleep. I heard Thatch was making pancakes tomorrow." The blonde said with a smile, noticing that Ace had gone quiet but not saying anything on it.
"Thatch's pancakes are so good!" Luffy said dreamily, licking his lips at the thought of them, getting into his spot on the bed.
"You've only ever had Thatch's pancakes Luffy," Sabo noted, also getting into the bed.
The room was dark once Sabo turned out the oil lamp on their bedside table, and despite how excited he knew Luffy was over the idea of tomorrow's breakfast, the teen fell asleep rather quickly after saying his good nights.
Sabo wasn't able to fall asleep immediately, he hadn't been for a while now ever since he'd first thought about joining the Revolutionaries, so it wasn't surprising for him to still be awake a half-hour later, still staring at the ceiling.
What was surprising was Ace speaking up from the other end of the bed.
"Sabo?" The eldest asked, nearly making him jump from the voice all of a sudden. He'd thought Ace had gone to sleep too, but that obviously wasn't the case.
"Ace? I thought you were sleeping. Nearly gave me a heart attack." Sabo told him, taking a steadying breath, heart pounding heavily in his chest at the scare.
"Sorry," Ace said, but he didn't sound it at all, if anything, Sabo guessed his brother was smiling right now at his expense. He sighed.
"What's up?" He asked, wondering what Ace had wanted in the first place. It was quiet now, Ace not speaking. Sabo waited patiently, not letting himself believe Ace had finally fallen asleep lest he be caught by surprise again.
"You better stay safe. You and Luffy. And if you need us, call." Ace said, voice hard again, and Sabo knew his brother was worried; he was too. Worried for Ace, for Luffy, even himself. All of his childhood he'd wanted to be free, and then he'd met Ace, and then Luffy, and his dream changed to that of being a pirate. When they were taken by the facility that dream was changed again, back to wanting that freedom he so desperately wanted as a kid, and when they got out, became pirates, it had been amazing, but... there was always something that didn't feel right. Sure, he was free, he was a pirate, everything he'd ever wanted, but the facility was still there, still holding him back and making him feel as if he wasn't truly free.
Joining the Revolutionaries, he would be able to actively fight against the facility. He would be able to rid the world of those horrible buildings, and once that happened, he would truly feel free.
"I will. Hey, if you ever want to talk, just call me. I don't care what it's about." Sabo told him honestly. Ace had gotten better at expressing his emotions to others, but that didn't mean he was always the best at initiating conversations with others about said emotions.
"I'm holding you to that. I'll call whenever I want to complain about Curiel leaving his dirty socks everywhere. Or Kingdew taking all the fun in fights. Oh, or when Marco yells at me for putting off my reports till the last second!" Ace said, and Sabo could hear the smile again.
"As long as you don't call to tell me about Thatch complaining that he's never in our 'adventures'. I've heard enough of those to last me two lifetimes." Sabo groaned. Sometimes super hearing sucked.
"Especially then." Ace snickered.
The room grew silent again, the two not speaking anymore. Sabo continued staring at the ceiling, and he had a feeling Ace was doing the same, not having heard him shift. After some time passed, Sabo found himself falling asleep, not even realizing he'd closed his eyes.
Things were changing, and soon nothing would be the way it used to be.
And so ends the wrap-up for the brothers with the Whitebeards. The next two chapters will be about Sabo and Luffy leaving the crew, and then, The Devil Wears White will be over.
Like most times, I don't have much to say about this chapter. I wanted to show a more in depth look at how everything has changed since this has all started, from the brothers being carefree children, to tortured kids, to traumatized teens, and now, nearly healed teenagers. Everything they've been through has shaped who they are today, how they experience the world, how they interact with others. If they hadn't gone through everything that was the facility, then they wouldn't be as damaged as they are now and everything would have worked out like in canon. This isn't canon though, and from here, things will continue to be different.
With this story ending soon, I can only continue to repeat to you all that I am so very grateful for everything you've done to support this story. I'll never forget the love you've shown in the reviews or in the view count. I can honestly say that this story would not be the way it was without all of you. Thank you all a billion and I'll see you again on Friday with the second to last chapter.