A/N: Beta by Navigator101, updated on 9/22/18.

Chapter 1

Everything that happens
helps you grow,
even if it's hard to see right now.

- Unknown

Marco winced in pain as he opened his eyes. His head hurt like hell, and he felt like shit. He looked around and found himself in an empty cell. How did he land himself there? What happened? The last thing he remembered is eating at a restaurant on an island with a few of his fellow commanders.

Then he remembered running after three kids who ate and ran out without paying. There was a little girl and two boys. He also remembered chasing them to the pier before they stopped and looked at him. And then what? Let's see, the girl turned to run up to him, looking oddly determined. Determined? What for? That was the last thing he remembered.

By the pain on the back of his head, he was probably attacked from behind while he was distracted by the kids. He hoped the kids were okay.

He shifted to a sitting position and found himself handcuffed with sea stone. Well, that explained why he hurt. Pain is not something he'd felt in a long time. Whoever caught him must have been really good to be able to catch him off guard like he was.

With nothing better to do, he just leaned back against the wall of his cell. Might as well wait and see who dared to mess with him and see what they wanted. The slight swaying of the cell told him that he was on a ship. He was sure Pops and his brothers would find him eventually.

Then he heard yelling from down the hall. It didn't sound too far away.

"What do you mean we messed up? We caught him didn't we? And no one saw us!" Marco thought it strange that the person sounded young, so very young.

"You were seen. I heard you were chased after you ate and ran without paying." an older, deeper male voice sneered. "You eat what I give you. You're not supposed to go out and do whatever you want. You would just draw unwanted attention. Take them away and teach them a lesson."

"No! Luffy!" two young voices yelled.

Marco watched as a man dragged two struggling and yelling boys to the cell across from his own. They were the boys who ate and ran with the little girl. Now he wondered where the girl had gone.

The cell door slammed shut, and the boys reached out in between the bars to the man and yelled,

"Luffy!" as agonizing screams were heard from somewhere further away on the ship.

The two boys moved to lean against the wall and curled in on themselves, covering their ears as best they could to block out the sounds of painful screams. It went on and on before the screams finally stopped, and another man, in the same uniform as the one that brought the two boys earlier, carried in a small unconscious body and tossed it in with the boys, where it landed painfully loud on the solid concrete floor.

"Luffy!" they both yelled in fear as they crawled over to inspect their companion. Marco recognized the dress. It was the girl who was with them earlier.

"No food for three days," was all the guard grunted with a bland expression as he turned to leave them.

One boy quickly pulled out an emergency kit from a corner of their cell, as the other undressed the girl to patch her up. Only now, Marco could tell it was a boy, not a girl. He could also tell the kid was in bad condition from where he observed them quietly.

Once they finished bandaging the poor kid, they sat there with their legs pulled up and stared at the boy. They weren't crying. Strange that. They look like they wanted to cry.

"I see you were caught too-yoi," Marco finally said, just wanting fill the dreary silence.

They both moved their eyes to glare at him.

"We weren't caught, you were," the brunette growled.

"We're the reason you're caught," the blond's eyes looked at him tiredly and a little red.

"This is your fault," they both said as they went back to staring at their injured cellmate.

"I see," Marco said in understanding. Well, that was a good way to get anyone off guard. No one would normally suspect a bunch of kids, especially ones that young. "Why didn't you just run away-yoi, instead of going through all that trouble of clubbing me and bringing me here?"

The two boys pointed to the injured boy's left foot. Then he saw the bomb collar, a small one but a bomb nonetheless, on the boy's small ankle. He looked over the other two and saw that they didn't have one.

That made a lot of sense. They seemed to be very close to each other. They used the small one as leverage against the older ones. That's how they punished them. They use the smaller one to get to the others. That just pissed Marco off. He really hoped his family finds him soon and give these bastards what they deserve.

"So how long have you been here-yoi?" Marco tried to get them to talk, not being used to the quiet. He had a large family, so his home was never quiet.

"Why does it matter?" the brunette huffed.

"You should worry about yourself," the blond mumbled from behind his arms.

"Just thought we'd talk and forget about being here-yoi," he offered. "I'm Marco."

"Ace," grumbled the brunette hesitantly.

"Sabo," the blond pointed to the injured boy. "That's our brother, Luffy."

Brothers. The three of them were brothers. "How old are you?"

Ace glared at the man before he answered, "We're 10. Luffy's 5 … probably."

"Probably?"

Sabo gave a small depreciating laugh. "Those idiots tossed him in with us when he was still a baby that couldn't talk. All he did was giggle and makes noises. We don't know anything about him other than his name."

Marco gave a frown at that. "How long have you kids been here?" he asked again slowly, pretty sure he wouldn't like the answer.

"Five years," the blond boy's exhausted answer was even more muffled as he lowered his face into his arms.

"We're tired. We're going to sleep," Ace declared as he curled up next to Luffy with Sabo slowly doing the same on the other side.

A few hours later, Ace heard the clanking of the cell door opening. He got up and woke Sabo up in the process, thinking they had another mission. Instead they found a guard in the cell across from theirs with the prisoner.

"Oh, hey," Marco greeted the guard with a cheerful smile. "Took you long enough to visit. I was starting to get lonely-yoi."

"Shut up," the guard growled before thrusting a Den Den Mushi at Marco. "Call your captain."

"You sure you want me to do that-yoi?"

"Just make the call."

Marco shrugged and made the call.

"Who calls?" the gruff voice on the other line answered, sounding put-off.

"Hey, Pops."

"Marco? Where are you? Thatch and Atmos just said you ran after some kids and never came back," the man on the other end sounded curious, rather than worried.

"Would you believe I got caught and am now a prisoner-yoi?" Marco smiled at the Den Den Mushi.

"Gurararara," the older man laughed. "Is that so? They haven't harmed you, have they, my son?"

"No, not a hair. Though, I may need a doctor or three-yoi," Marco said, eyeing the boy lying on the ground. The kid looked like he was having a hard time breathing.

The man on the other end hummed in concern. "Then? What do they want?"

The guard grabbed the Den Den Mushi. "We want you in exchange for him."

"Is that so? All right, then. Where would you like to meet?"

The guard rattled off a destination and hung up before he left.

"You don't seem too concerned," Ace said when he was sure the guard was too far away to hear them.

"Nah. Pops will take care of them-yoi," Marco waved it off. "They're messing with the wrong person."

"That must be nice, to have someone come get you back," Sabo said wistfully.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure you'll be freed from here, too-yoi," Marco gave them a warm smile.

"Right. Don't get your hopes up," Ace went back to laying down next to Luffy. He ran his hand through the younger boy's hair in worry before bringing the boy's head closer to his chest and closed his eyes.

There was nothing else to do but to lay there. Luffy wasn't up. There was no one to play with, no one to teach of the outside world, no one to tell stories to. That's all Ace and Sabo could do. There's nothing else in their empty cell.

With Luffy out of commission, they just lay there with nothing to do. To them, Luffy is their world, a baby that was suddenly thrust at them to take care of. A small, tiny being that knew nothing of this terrible world that rejects them. Luffy is theirs. They want to protect him, but there was no hope for them ever leaving. If they left, there would be no one to watch over Luffy.

-*/-*/-*/

The next day, before the guard was able to kick them awake, Ace and Sabo got up to protect Luffy from the expected kick. The guard scoffed at them and told them to follow him. The man then went to unlock the other cell and told their prisoner to follow as well. The guard led them up to the open deck, where about twenty armed men and their leader stood in wait. Their leader didn't even acknowledge them.

"You two are to watch this man. Do not let him go until we have their captain," the guard told the kids. "And remember, if a fight breaks out, you are to protect me, otherwise …" he man trailed off, knowing the boys would get the hint. He handed the boys a pistol and a small dagger each.

The boys didn't say anything. They just took the offered weapons and placed them in their belts where they usually carried their weapons and just stood there, expressionless as they gave in to their fate. They had left Luffy in their cell alone. He was still unconscious when they left him. Hopefully, they'd be done and back before the boy woke up.

Marco saw the two boys eye the leader's hand that was playing with a device of some sort. It must be the device for the bomb. Too bad the man was too far away. If he was closer, then he'd have a better chance to make a grab for it.

He smiled when a familiar whale figurehead sailed closer. The large ship anchored right next to the ship they were on.

Whitebeard stood atop the figurehead and examined Marco, glad to see his son unharmed. Though he was concerned about the doctor comment. He had all their doctors in their station and ready for anything just in case. The rest of Whitebeard's crew stood at attention on the ship with their weapons drawn.

Ace and Sabo's eyes went wide at the sight. Why didn't the idiot leader tell the man to come alone?!

"I don't think even Lu can take on that many people," Ace whispered to Sabo.

Sabo nodded in agreement before a thought entered his mind. "Hey, you," Sabo hissed quietly, not wanting the leader to hear.

Marco nodded slightly to let the boy know he's listening.

"You said you'd free us too. Can you really do it? If not all three of us, at least Luffy. Please?" Sabo whispered.

The blond man only smirked confidently in response.

The large intimidating figure on the other ship laughed. "I thank you for keeping my son in one piece. Now, what is it you want from me?" The grin never left the man's face as if he wasn't dealing with a enemy.

"Your head, of course. If I can give your head to the Young Master, then I'll finally be recognized as part of the family," the leader laughed loudly. "Unless you want your precious Commander dead, you will give yourself to us."

Taking his cue, Ace cocked his pistol and pointed it at Marco's side. He'd aim for the head, but the man was a lot taller than he is, and with that angle, he wouldn't be able to hit his target if he had to kill him.

Whitebeard narrowed his eyes at that and looked at Marco. His son just eyed him steadily, relaying a silent message to his father figure. The large man nodded, which a guard took as an agreement and walked up to Whitebeard with a sea stone cuff.

Marco used that as a distraction and shot his leg out and swiped Ace's legs out from under him and dodged as the pistol went off. Then all hell broke loose as if the sound of the shot fired was the signal for the start of the battle. The men from Whitebeard's ship dropped down in droves onto the smaller ship and a battle ensued.

Marco took that moment to use his remaining strength to knock out both boys so they wouldn't have to fight. The sea stone cuffs were taking a toll on him.

"Marco!" a tall man with a light brown hair done up in a pompadour ran up to him with a sword in one hand.

"Thatch, we need to get a remote from that man-yoi," Marco explained to his friend urgently. "He might have the key to this too." He shook his confined wrists.

Thatch looked confused for a moment before he shrugged and took off.

Marco looked around at the one-sided battle, mildly surprised that no one was even bothering with him. It was pretty sad, really. It'd been only five minutes, and there were only a handful of enemies left. He called out to the closest member of his division to take the two boys to Moby Dick, so they'd be safe and out of the way.

Thatch had easily taken down the leader not minutes later and ran back over with a set of keys and the bomb release. "What's this for?" Thatch showed him the small device as Marco rubbed his free wrists, feeling whole again.

"The reason why I wish I was the one to kill that bastard," Marco growled. He looked around and saw that the battle is already over and his siblings cheering as they made their way back to their ship. There was nothing left for him to do here, so he walked back down to the cell area, with Thatch following. "I'll be right back-yoi," the First Commander called over to his captain.

As soon as Thatch saw the body of a naked and poorly bandaged young boy, he sucked in his breath. "What the fuck is going on here?!"

Marco opened up the cell and tested every key he had to take off the bomb anklet. "They've been using this boy to get those other two to do their bidding. This here," he took off the anklet and waved it in front of Thatch, "is a bomb collar-yoi, just one small enough for the ankle. I'm hoping the other two boys will have more answers. Seems this one's been here since before he could properly speak-yoi."

"Fuck."

"Took the word right out of my mouth."

Marco carefully cradled Luffy to his chest, noticing that each movement caused the boy to twitch in pain. They boarded Moby Dick, where everyone was ready and waiting for them to return before raising anchor and leaving the place. He walked past his captain wordlessly towards the infirmary, only giving a slight nod in acknowledgement.

Whitebeard frowned at the state of the young child. So that was what he needed the doctors for. It was a good thing they had a skilled pediatrician on board. He quickly gave orders to depart before he went to his room to wait for Marco to come by and give his report.

Marco was glad to see the two older boys conscious by the time he had Luffy settled and in a bed in the infirmary. It took some time, but he was able to assure the two children that they were finally free, and that Luffy will be taken care of, before he gestured for them to follow him.

Ace and Sabo turned to give their brother one last look before leaving the room.

Once they entered Whitebeard's room, the two boys looked at the large man with wide, fearful eyes. They knew who he was. They've seen his wanted poster, but they didn't think they'd actually meet the strongest man in the world, nor that he was this big! Now what have they gotten themselves into?

Whitebeard laughed. "There's nothing to be afraid of. I'm not going to eat you. I just have some questions for you."

They answered the questions as best they could. There was no need to anger the strongest man in the world. They couldn't die there. They have a younger brother to take care of. A younger brother that needed them. A brother that knew nothing of the outside world. Who knew what these people would do to their brother if they weren't there to watch over him.

If they didn't have Luffy to care for, Sabo knew for certain Ace would have taken this chance to defeat the man known to rival Gol. D. Roger, just to make his mark in the world as his own person and not just that man's son. They may be stronger than your average kids, but even then, they were just kids. Even Ace knew they were no match for the man before them.

They told him about how they were kidnapped while out hunting on Dawn Island. How Luffy was just dumped on them to care for when he was a small baby. How they were forced to do random odd jobs for those people. Then how they were forced to kill people for them because kids are unsuspecting (Marco agreed with that). Then how they had to take Luffy with them on those jobs once he was able to walk without tripping over his own feet. They had to teach Luffy to defend himself because the jobs got harder and harder for them to protect him. If they didn't want to do something, the men would take it out on the younger boy to punish them. They'd been passed around to different ships to work for different people.

The last guy was the worst, always beating Luffy to the point that he couldn't walk. The last job was the first time they messed up by getting noticed doing their usual dine and dash, and the first time Luffy had been beaten that badly. They gave Marco a glare for messing up their plan and getting them in trouble.

"Yeah, sorry about that-yoi," Marco looked away from the glare, as he rubbed the back of his head in shame. "So, about this Young Master that guy was talking about, you wouldn't happen to know who that is, would you-yoi?"

Ace and Sabo paused at that. They know who the young master is. They'd never met the man before, but they had heard talks around the ships they were kept on.

Ace paused before he answered as if the person wasn't anyone important, "Some guy they call Joker."

"Shit," Marco hissed to himself, causing the two boys to flinch at the way it was said.

"Indeed. Joker, also known as Doflamingo, is a pirate that works for the government, part of the Seven Warlords. He's not someone we should pick a fight with without reason," Whitebeard sighed at the information given.

"Is there anywhere you want to go? Any family waiting for you? We can even take you back to Dawn if you'd like-yoi," Marco offered.

They both shook their head. "You can just drop us off at the next island," Sabo said. "We don't really have anyone waiting for us, but we can take care of ourselves." It'd be safer for them to stay away from Dawn. They would only cause a commotion if they showed up after being gone for so long. He wasn't lying when he told them there wasn't anyone waiting for them. He was sure Dadan and her gang and Makino thought they were dead.

Whitebeard gave it some thought before voicing it out loud. "Why don't you stay here with us for the time being? At least until we figure out what to do with you."

Just then they heard a few people yelling outside the door. They all quickly went to check what the commotion was.

Ace and Sabo were the first to notice a small bandaged figure weave in and out of the legs that were in its way. "Luffy!" they called out in horror. The small figure froze and turned his head to their voices.

As soon as he found his brothers, he dropped the small knife he had in his hand and ran up to them, crying silently in their arms. He had learned that if he wanted to cry, he had to do it quietly, or he would get hurt, and his brothers wouldn't like that. They said it hurt them to see him hurt. He didn't want them to hurt.

"Luffy, these people saved us. Don't attack them," Sabo admonished softly as he rubbed the boy's back.

Marco smiled at them before crouching to reach their eye level. "Hey there, brat," he greeted the youngest. "Shouldn't you still be resting in the infirmary-yoi?" He pointed to the blood seeping through the bandages.

Luffy griped his brothers' shirts in fear. He recognized this man. This was the man they kidnapped. He didn't understand what was going on. The last thing he remembered was being beaten because he ate yummy food. Then he woke up in an unknown place where this strange lady tried to attack him.

"Luffy, this is Marco," Sabo introduced. "He helped us. Tell him 'thank you.'" He gently pushed his little brother off them and turned the boy to face the older blond.

Now that they were free, Luffy needed to adjust to the outside world. Talking to someone other than them was a good start. The two boys waited patiently for the boy to say something. They could see that he was trying.

"Come on, Luffy. You can do it," Ace whispered encouragements to his brother.

Luffy had never talked to anyone besides the two of them. Even with them, he didn't say very much. Ace and Sabo had taught him to not talk to anyone as precaution. Who knew when Luffy might say something that would get them in trouble. Everyone they'd worked for simply assumed the boy couldn't talk.

Ace and Sabo held Luffy's hands as the boy opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to say something. Luffy then started to feel dizzy before he blacked out.

The two boys caught him as he tilted forward. "Luffy?" They both said in alarm.

"I'm surprised that he's able to move around with those injuries," the woman who was taking care of Luffy said as she walked towards them. "It's no wonder he passed out. Just walking should be painful. Don't worry, nothing's broken, just some lacerations and bruises everywhere. I really mean it. Bruises everywhere," she scowled.

"What happened to your hand-yoi?" Marco pointed to the hand she was holding close to her chest.

"He bit me before he took off," she answered dryly. "The kid has a set of very sharp teeth and a strong jaw." She had the kids follow her back to the infirmary so she could take another look at Luffy to make sure he hadn't aggravate anything she had already treated.

"Marco," Whitebeard sounded like he had the weight of the world on his shoulder, "call Garp. See if he can do something about putting them in a foster care where they can stay together. I don't think they would take well to being separated. As much as I want to keep them, a pirate's life is no place for children that young, much less with us."

Marco smiled as he nodded and walked away. He knew the children interested the captain, but he was right. A pirate's life was too harsh for children, especially one that lives out in New World.

After finishing the call to the Vice Admiral and everything else that had been left undone while he was gone, Marco slipped into the infirmary. The sight brought a smile to his face. The three children were asleep in the same fashion as he had seen in the cell, with the two older boys hugging the youngest between them. He took a seat next to their bed and watched them, as a sense of tranquility washed over him.

-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/

A/N: Reviews are greatly appreciated. I usually don't respond to them though, because I don't have much time. So I just want you guys to know that your reviews are appreciated. Thank you~