Chapter 26

Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.

- Rumi, Masnavi i Man'avi

Garp, Dragon, Shanks, and a few Whitebeard Commanders stared at the castle before them as the last remaining battles around them were being finished.

"You think it's safe to let those kids fight Doflamingo by themselves?" Kyros asked in worry. "Even if Luffy is strong, they're just children."

"That's a good question," Izo gave the ensuing battle above the castle a worried look.

"Think one of us should go supervise?" Vista asked as he twirled the end of his mustache.

"The boys should be fine. Ace and Sabo should be able to handle things up there," Dragon said confidently.

"Of course," Garp declared. "Those are my grandchildren."

"I didn't mean to go help them out," Vista said as he looked up warily.

Riku gave them all a disbelieving look. "Those are just children. Shouldn't you all be more worried or go help them out? Doflamingo is a very dangerous man who can control people with his strings. He could control one of them to fight for him."

"There's no need to worry about those brats-yoi," Marco said. "You should be more worried about-"

There was a loud sound of things crashing coming from the roof of the castle, before the whole building came crashing down.

The former king and Kyros stared at the ruins of the castle in bewilderment.

"-your castle-yoi. I guess it's too late."

"Those damn brats," Garp grumbled, though he had a proud smile on his face. "Don't they know who has to help pay to rebuild that?"

Not moments later, they hear the boys arguing with each other.

"At least he's still alive," Luffy pouted at Ace, nursing a lump on his head, the only sign of injury on the boy.

"You didn't have to take the whole building down with us!" Ace yelled at him, sporting various cuts from Doflamingo's haki infused strings, along with Sabo and Law.

"He's lucky I didn't use Third Gear on him," Luffy grumbled, glaring at the man being dragged out of the rubbles by Law.

"That would have been overkill," Law sighed. "Then again, a haki infused punch while in Second Gear is also overkill. Isn't that the same move you used to take down that giant in the tournament?"

"So? Mingo's a giant pain in my ass," Luffy retorted.

"He was defenseless, Luffy," Sabo rubbed his hand over his face. "As much as I hate the man, punching him that hard while unable to move and already down is just wrong. A regular pistol punch would have been fine."

"Overkill is that," Luffy pointed to a building where the marines were working to put out the fire.

"Sabo's fault," Ace said with a blush.

"Definitely Sabo-ya's fault," Law agreed.

"How is that my fault? Ace did that!" Sabo yelled at the two.

"It just is," Ace huffed, sending a glare at Sabo, "and because of that stupid call of yours, I burned a few – toy? people? – just to get out faster."

They both looked to Luffy, who just yelped in pain, only to do the same, along with Law.

"What was that for?" Law exclaimed, nursing a lump on his head from Garp, dropping his hold on Doflamingo.

"That was for property damage. Who do you think has to pay for all the mess you boys caused?" Garp roared.

"None of the damages were even caused by me. Those were all your grandsons'," Law retorted.

"And who are you?" Garp asked the remaining two that followed out from the rubbles.

"Bartolomeo, mafia boss," the man said, looking down on the Vice Admiral. "What's it to you? And how dare you hit Luffy-senpai?"

"Mafia, pirates, you're all the same," Garp sent a haki infused punch on Bartolomeo's head before the mafia boss could create a barrier, sending him crashing to the ground. "How I discipline my grandson is none of your business. And you?"

"Rebecca?"

The girl looked behind the man to see her father and the former king looking at her with wide eyes. "Father! Grandfather!" She ran over to give them a hug.

Kyros then walked over to Luffy with his daughter and Riku. The former king held out his hand to the boy, who gave him a handshake with a grin.

"I would like to thank you for saving Dressrosa. I have heard much about you from Kyros and your part in the plan. You have put yourself in much danger for us. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart," the man said gratefully to which Luffy laughed at.

"All I did was give Mr. Soldier information. He did the rest. All I wanted was to take down Mingo."

Riku shook his head at the boy's generosity. "Is there any way I can repay you?"

"Food. Lots of food. I'm hungry," Luffy held his stomach as it let out a loud growl, echoed by Ace and Sabo, who blushed.

Izo walked up to the group and grabbed Luffy's arm. "Food later. We need to get you checked and you three bandaged."

"Food first, please?" Luffy begged nervously.

"No. Check-up first, then you can eat," the kimono wearing man said as he dragged a protesting Luffy back to their ship, that was relocated closer to the island. "Thatch is already working on some snacks for you. You can eat more at the party later."

The boy dug his feet into the ground and Izo stretched the arm he was pulling. "I don't wanna! Dad, help me!" He turned to the person he wanted to spend more time with for help, thinking his dad would want the same.

Dragon looked to Garp, who had slung Doflamingo's unconscious form over his shoulder. "Your son. You deal with him. I have to get back to headquarters with this guy and pretend I didn't see any of you lot," and Garp walked away from them towards the marine ship that was waiting for him. "But first, I have to get the civilians off my ships."

With a sigh, Dragon walked over to Luffy and picked him in the same manner Garp had Doflamingo. "Sorry, son, but this is for your own good."

"Oh, is that the stuff I told you to get from Caesar?" Luffy asked when Law handed the files to Izo. "Shouldn't that go to Grandpops or Pops?"

"Why would files concerning your health go to them?" Law asked.

The boy paled and struggled a little more when Law handed Izo the file they had gotten from Caesar's lab. "Those weren't the files you were supposed to get. You were supposed to find the stuff about whatever Mingo wanted Caesar to make."

"Opps," Sabo said and pointed towards a burnt and destroyed building.

Izo turned his head to glare at the struggling boy, waving the file at him, "This is more important. As your doctors, Kobato and I have the right to know everything that's going on with your body. If not for your health, then for the safety of everyone on Moby."

That had the boy slump in defeat. The head doctor was right. He had to keep his family safe, especially from himself. The fight with Diamante told him that much.

-*/-*/-*/

Kobato nearly tore the papers apart in anger as she read through them. "You!" she pointed at the boy. "Bed. Now." They were in the Second Division Commander's room since there wasn't much room to move around in the infirmary with all the injured pirates. Ace, Sabo, and Law had brought all the equipments Izo thought was necessary after being bandaged up.

Not liking how angry the normally meek woman was, Luffy laid on the bed. She went on to prod and poked him, checking his temperature, and anything else she thought to do. Once she was done, she frowned and sighed. Law, who had been helping, stood by Ace, Sabo, and Dragon to hear her diagnosis. Though, Law already knows what she's going to say.

"Luckily, the experiments were only on expanding your haki. The only problem I see in the future regarding that is the fluctuation of your haki before it settles. Unfortunately, I don't know how long that will take," she the motioned to Law. "I don't know much about haki, but Law or Izo can fill you in on what to expect later."

Luffy nodded, even though he didn't really understand, but trust Law to explain it to him.

"Right now, I'm more concerned about the drugs administered."

Luffy twitched at the mention of the drugs. He didn't know what they gave him, but he knew to expect the withdrawal symptoms. It shouldn't be as bad as the last time, or so he hoped. "They wanted to get me to talk, say things, like where I've been, even though they knew I was on Pop's ship, who I was with, if I'm hiding anything, stuff like that. Didn't work, I think. Passed out a few times after. There was this one time I woke up in Mingo's room. Don't remember how I got there."

"What happened with your fight with Diamante?" Law asked.

"Right before the fight, Gassy did something and ... I don't know what happened. I just wanted to kill everything I saw," Luffy scrunched his face in thought. "And it made me a lot more powerful. It was really hard to control."

"I see, so…" she trailed off, unsure of how to word it, "well, with your haki going haywire, it may be best to put you in a holding cell until the symptoms subside."

"You're going to put my son in a cell?" Dragon asked in disbelief at what they're asking of his son.

"It's going to have to be one with seastone," Ace said looking at Dragon. "For the safety of the crew. When he was younger, it wasn't so bad because he wasn't as strong. But now, he could easily hurt, or worse, kill someone without meaning to."

"There were a few times when Luffy would – I guess throw a tantrum? – and it's always hard to get him to calm down without hurting anyone," Sabo explained.

"It's okay, Dad," Luffy said as he sat up on his bed. "Everyone here takes good care of me. I don't want to hurt them on accident."

Dragon just sighed in resignation. "I'd like to spend some time with my son before I leave."

Kobato nodded. "You won't be showing signs of withdrawal for at least a few more days. Thatch will let you know when your snacks are ready."

"Yay! I'm taking Dad to our room," Luffy said and jumped up to push the desk out of the way.

They all left the two to catch up on lost time.

As Kobato, Ace, Sabo, and Law walked down the hall, they ran in to Thatch. "Hey, how's the brat? Snacks are done."

"I'm on my way to report to Pops. You can get your update there. He has lost weight, though," Kobato said tiredly. "And he's spending time with his dad right now. Give them an hour."

Viola, who had just walked out of the infirmary where she was helping to tend the injured, overheard. "That shouldn't be. He ate everything that was given to him, and we fed him quite well."

"Yeah, but how much did you feed him and what?" Thatch raised an eyebrow.

"We gave him the same as what the family executives would eat, and he would ask for snacks in between meals," she answered, looking confused and worried. "The first month or so he would ask for seconds."

"So normal portions for normal people," Thatch concluded. "What kinds of snack?"

"Fresh fruits."

"Did you prepare the meals?"

"No. Our meals were prepared by Monet. Is something wrong?" She asked when she saw Ace and Sabo pale.

"Luffy eats enough to feed at least ten full grown men, plus snacks. I'm surprised he didn't demand more food, especially when it sounded like he was treated so well considering he was technically a prisoner," Sabo said.

"Thatch! More food!" Ace grabbed the head cook and shook him frantically.

"Whao, calm down there," Thatch stopped the shaking. "He can eat as much as he wants during the party. I'll make sure there's enough for him."

"He was so compliant the whole time. I didn't realize," Viola said worriedly. "If he had said something, I'm sure we could have gotten him more food easily."

Kobato placed a hand on Viola's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. It's not your fault. That would be Luffy's own doing. And just so you know, compliant isn't a word we would normally associate with that boy. We know him as a trouble-making, selfish brat. He does what he wants. You are not to blame. If anything," she glared at Ace and Sabo, "it's their fault for raising him that way."

"And he turned out great!" They both said, looking proud of themselves, only to be smacked on the back of their heads by Law.

"That wasn't a praise."

"You're not any better," Kobato reprimanded him. "You spoil him just as much these idiots."

"If it's like that," Marco said as he walked passed them, on his way to his room, "then you should blame everyone here. The whole crew spoils the brat." With that he closed the door to his room to finish up some work. As much as he wanted to see Luffy right now and give him a huge hug, he has to tend to his division duties and part of Division 2 since Ace and Sabo still hasn't gotten the hang of everything yet. The only thing that's stopping him from barging in on Luffy right then and there was the fact that his boy was home.

-*/-*/-*/

"Luffy, snacks are ready," Thatch called out in the galley an hour later.

"Food!" They hear the boy cheering from right under them.

A door opened from the floor boards and Dragon climbed up with Luffy, now wearing a yellow dress and his straw hat, hanging off his dad's back. He jumped off once they were out. The man gave the other three teens considering look. "You boys need a new hobby. It's bordering creepy."

Ace and Sabo gave him a knowing grin. "You can't have him back, you know. He belongs to us now," they both said.

"You two are the creepiest," Dragon said as he sighed and took a seat next to his son. "It's almost as if you two are one person in two bodies."

"I think they're secretly twins," Koala commented. "Bet they can communicate telepathically, too."

"I'm inclined to think it's because they share the same Devil Fruit," Izo said. "They weren't so in sync with each other before then. Luffy, eat slower. No one's going to steal your food. The only thing they had in common before the fruit was their abnormal obsession with your kid."

"I'm surprised you haven't commented on his dress," Law said timidly, a little afraid of the intimidating man he's meeting for the first time.

"There's an okama Queen working for the revolutionary army," was all the explanation Dragon gave.

"I think the dress looks cute on him," Koala gushed. "And we were already expecting it. Those two," she gave Ace and Sabo a look of disgust, "showed us pictures after pictures of mostly Luffy in dresses."

"You weren't joking about the amount of food he eats," Viola said as she watched the amount of food Luffy consume.

"That's just snack," Kobata said. "He has an abnormally high metabolism. That may be the cause of his stunted growth, coupled with malnutrition at a very young age. It's the reason why Thatch personally prepares the food for the kids. He's in charge of their nutritional intakes."

"I'm also the head cook here. I'm not about to let anyone live on this ship hungry, nor am I going to let the lack of food be the reason anyone is sick," Thatch said proudly.

Ace and Sabo watched Luffy eat, happy that he was back, and Sabo noticed something. "Did you give Luffy a bath?" he asked Dragon with a surprised look.

Dragon nodded. "He needed one."

"How did you get him to stay in the bathroom until you got clothes on him?" they both slammed their hands on the table and leaned over to Dragon.

The man furrowed his eyes in confusion. "He just kept talking nonstop about what he's done while on the ship."

"Lu-ya has a habit of running out of the bath before even getting dried," Law explained.

The sound of tiny cheers called attention to their new visitors, cutting off Dragon's response. The Tontattas clung on various parts of Luffy's clothing in a hug. "Luffy! We're so glad you're okay," Leo said. Kyros, Rebecca, and Riku followed in after the little people.

"We thought you were going to die," Flapper said, tears streaming down his face.

"I'm fine. See?" Luffy laughed. "Did you find your man princess?"

"Princess Mansherry," Leo corrected him. "Yes, we did."

A small girl walked up to Luffy's plate and bowed. "Thank you for helping my people."

"You'd make a great revolutionary, kid. You just saved a whole kingdom, a very selfless act. Maybe you should come back with your father," Hack suggested.

Luffy just tilted his head in thought. "I didn't really care about saving the kingdom. I just wanted to mess with Mingo without getting myself in trouble. I met Leo, and he said he wants to save a princess. Then Mr. Soldier came and said he wants to take out Sugar so he can be human again. And I knew you guys were going to come, so I used them to get you information, especially about Mergo -"

"Vergo," Viola corrected.

"- in case you called Gramps. I was lucky that Mingo was letting me go wherever I wanted. I pretended to get lost and spied on lots people." Luffy laughed.

"Told you Luffy was selfish," Ace grinned at everyone's, minus the Whitebeard Pirates, gob smacked look.

"For Doflamingo to be that trusting towards anyone was very strange. He trusts no one, not even the top executives," Viola said. "He was very off-guard around Luffy."

Rebecca nodded. "I was sure you were on his side. It almost looked like he was caring for you like he would his own child. How did you do that? How did you get him to trust you like that?"

"I don't know. I just did whatever he wanted. Next thing I know, Mingo was spending lots of time with me."

"You two spent a lot of time reading in the library," Viola pointed out. "How were you gathering information like that?"

"I wasn't really reading. I wanted to know where everyone goes everyday. That was the best place to keep track of everyone, and I wanted Mingo to know I wasn't doing anything wrong. So I stayed where he can see me."

"What does Pizza -"

"Caesar," Law corrected.

"- have to do with anything?" Sabo asked. "You wanted him alive, so I had a very hard time dealing with him."

"Oh, the gas-guy. Mingo kept going on and on about how Kaido had his back or something and that Gassy was doing secret work for him. I remembered Trao saying to cover all bases, so I thought to use Gassy if this Kaido-guy comes after us."

"Good thinking, Lu-ya," Law ruffled the boy's hair. "You did a lot of thinking, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I don't like it. Hurts my head," Luffy scrunched up his face in disgust.

"That's great that you listened and all, but didn't we also tell you to be careful and to not do anything dangerous?" Sabo said. He had a smile on, but everyone there knew he wasn't happy.

"That's right. Do you know how worried we were when Pops found our ship in the middle of nowhere, and you weren't on it? We all thought you fell over and drowned. Luckily, Trao told us there was someone who could fly working for the pink bastard. Otherwise, we wouldn't have known to come. Care to explain?" Ace said with a scowl.

"Monet and Pisca threaten you guys, so I had to go with them," Luffy whined as if a child not getting the candy he wanted.

"We could have taken care of ourselves, Lu-ya. Or do you not trust Whitebeard-ya and everyone else to be strong enough?" Law asked.

"No. I know everyone is strong, but I didn't want Mingo to come after us later. What if when I leave home to find One Piece, he attacks you guys or my crew? What if not everyone on my crew is strong or they can't fight? I don't know if I'd be able to protect them all," Luffy said as if it were a well known fact.

Kingdew, who had just walked passed their table, stopped in shock and quickly ran out back to the deck. "Everyone, rejoice! The runt used his brain!" There was a shocked silence before everyone on deck cheered loudly.

"What? The brat has brains?" They could hear Shanks exclaim through the cheers, before he joined in the cheering.

Then there was a couple of thuds.

"The party is later. Get back to work. We need to restock the ship before we leave in the morning," they heard Marco say.

"Pops!" Luffy cheered before running out the galley to find Marco.

"Speaking of which," Thatch said, pushing himself up from his seat, "I need to finish preparing for tonight's party."

"We need to leave also," Dragon got up from his seat, followed by Koala and Hack. "Thank you all for taking great care of my son. I will see Whitebeard before we leave to thank him also."

"This has got to be the weirdest group of pirates I have ever met," Riku said, amusement clear in his voice.

"Are you really leaving so soon?" Viola asked.

"We have to," Izo answered. "The marines will be back to help rebuild your kingdom. We've already caused enough trouble for Garp. He's already have to think of a story to keep his men out of trouble. If anyone finds out that they worked with pirates, they would be in trouble, Sengoku included."

-*/-*/-*/

The entire island joined in on the party. Kyros had gone around earlier with the former king to inform everyone who to thank for freeing them from Doflamingo. More than half of the people crowded around Luffy to thank him, as if everything were his idea. This greatly annoyed the boy as all he wanted to do was to get to the food.

At one point, he even resorted to yelling at the people, "I'm not a hero. Stop calling me that. I'm a pirate! Give me my food!"

Once he finally reached where Thatch set up his cooking area (it really wasn't far from the ship, but it just took Luffy and his brothers longer than it would normally take because of being surrounded by grateful people) Luffy took to hiding behind one of his many brothers just so he could eat in peace. He liked parties. He liked being around people, but he really didn't like be kept away from food. Especially, when he's super hungry.

"There you are, kid." Luffy tensed behind Law before he recognized the voice as Shanks. He turned to look around his brother to see the man.

"Shanks!" he yelled as he ran over to give the man a hug. Then he looked to see the other man staring at him with strange gold eyes. Then it clicked. "I remember you," Luffy pointed. "Mingo made me watch lots of recordings with you fighting."

Shanks and Thatch paled at that, and the man next to him looked curious. "Why would he have you do that?"

Luffy looked at the man thoughtfully before answering. "Because you're the Greatest Swordsman in the World."

"That answers nothing," the man scoffed.

"I'm more interested in how he got the recording," Shanks said. "Oh, yeah. Luffy, this is Dracule Mihawk."

"Right, a hawk," Luffy nodded. "So how do you cut down a huge ship without breaking your sword? When I tried it, the sword broke into tiny pieces. Is it because you use that huge black one on your back?"

"You managed to use my attack?"

"Yeah. Mingo said to cut down this one marine ship, so I did. Broke the sword though," Luffy looked put off at the thought of breaking the sword.

"Luffy!" Ace smacked the boy on his head. "You don't say things like that to people."

"But why?" Luffy said with his hand on his head. "He's Shanks's friend, right? That means he's a good guy."

"Luffy, did you get enough to eat?" Sabo asked. The boy nodded happily. "Then, how about a dance?" he gestured to the bonfire where people were already dancing.

"Okay!" The two left the others to clear up the mess Luffy caused.

"That boy is dangerous to have around," Mihawk said, eyes never leaving the boy.

"Oh, we know that," Thatch said with a smile. "But he's a good kid. Here, have something to eat. Don't think about it too much. We're here to help guide him in the right direction."

"If it helps any," Ace said, "it's not something he can control. He can't un-see what's been shown to him. Blame the pink bastard. He's the one that did that to Luffy. Something about wanting an army of strong fighters or something. Too bad for him, Lu's the only one that survived."

"I heard that he defeated Diamante single-handedly," Thatch said proudly. "Bet he could have taken down everyone else too."

"So glad he didn't do that and had the right mind to wait for us," Law sighed. "He's just one person, a very small person. Taking on all the executives and Joker all at once by himself would have been suicidal."

"His talent is one thing, but I'm speaking of his ability to get in Doflamingo's favor. The former royal guards that were in the dungeon with the boy were talking about how Doflamingo seemed to pamper the boy," Mihawk said. "Doflamingo doesn't seem like the kind of person to pamper anyone."

"That is true," Shanks said. "Who would pamper their prisoner anyway?"

They stood there talking for a while, people coming and going, eating, and having fun. Then Sabo came running at them, carrying Luffy in his arms, looking panicked. "Where's Izo or Kobato?" He demanded before anyone could ask what happened.

They all looked at Luffy's sweaty face and the way the boy's arms were wrapped around his stomach.

"I saw Izo earlier over there," Thatch pointed to a direction. "Kobato should still be on the ship."

Ace, Law, and Shanks took off after Sabo to the ship.

"What happened?" Kobato exclaimed upon seeing the state Luffy's in.

"I'm not sure. We were dancing, and then he said he was hungry again. He saw a food stall and wanted to try it. We ate some, and then he said he wasn't feeling good. Half way to getting back to Thatch to find you, he doubled over and complained of stomach pains," Sabo explained as Kobato lead them to the same room they used earlier for Luffy's check-up.

As soon as he laid Luffy on the bed, the boy rolled over to the side and hurled. It was only a small content of what he had eaten that day, but it was the blood that accompanied that worried everyone. The boy only rolled back onto his back and panted, pain evident on his face.

"I want everyone, but Law, out. This room is too cramped for us to work with so many people," Kobato said tersely.

Not even thirty minutes later, the door opened to reveal Law, looking worried. Marco, Thatch and Mihawk had joined them sometime during then. As he opened the door wider for him to walk out, they all saw Luffy asleep on the bed, with Kobato quietly tucking him in. Instead of waiting, Marco barged his way in to the room.

"What's wrong?" Sabo asked.

"The idiot didn't tell anyone that they've been lacing his food with poison. Not with the intent to kill him, but to make him immune to them," Law growled as he punched a nearby wall. He continued once he had his emotion under control. "The poison eroded the lining of his stomach, causing him some problems digesting some food. Whatever he ate at the vendor had too much oil and grease for his stomach to handle. That's why he was fine with Thatch's food."

The head cook nodded in understanding. "That's right. I don't use anything too fatty for you boys or much seasoning, letting the flavor and nutrient of the ingredients do all the work."

"Best to not let anyone else know for now. Let the people enjoy themselves and not worry about Luffy," Kobato said as she exited. "He needs the rest right now anyway."

The all looked in the room once more before leaving to see a defeated looking Marco sitting on a chair next to Luffy's bed, petting the boy's hair.

That night when the three older boys came to check up on Luffy, they found Marco sleeping on the bed with Luffy's face buried in the man's chest. Shrugging, the three ended up sleeping together on the floor just so they could be close to their youngest brother.

-*/-*/-*/

By the time they departed the next morning, Luffy was still sleeping. Before he woke up, the entire ship had been briefed about his condition. At least now no one would panic if they randomly fell asleep from his haki going out of control. Law, Ace, and Sabo would sleep outside of the cell at night with him.

The second day, Luffy could feel himself feeling twitchy and a little irritated, so he walked himself into a special cell set up for him, with Haruta locking the door behind him apologetically. There would always be a commander there to watch him and keep him company. Every so often, other crew members would come to check up on him and talked to him, telling him the going ons on the ship.

The third day, Law, Ace, and Sabo came down with the newspaper in hand. They excitedly told him about their new bounty. They held up their own to show him. The three of them smiled happily at the cameraman. The picture looked like it was taken during the party, but they didn't know when the picture was taken. None of them remember posing for it.

Then they showed him his. It was a picture of him dancing happily in his dress.

"That's funny," Luffy laughed. "My bounty is higher than your guys'."

"That's probably because they heard that you took down Diamante on your own," Sabo grinned. "I like that they put a D. in my name. Must be Gramps' doing."

"Yeah, but then they took it off mine," Law looked confused.

"Your name is too long," Ace laughed. "Tralfalgar D. Water Law. Yeah, no room for all that."

"The article also says three out of four of us are the ASL trio, but they can't figure out which one of you two is L," Sabo laughed.

"We both are," Luffy decided. "Me and Trao can take turns. Bet that would be fun."

"That would certainly confuse the marines, what with one of us being of different height each time," Law grinned.

"I want a tattoo too," Luffy said suddenly. "The same one Trao got."

During his couple months in the cell, he had a few violent outbreak. The commanders on watch each time could only watch on in sympathy, though they enjoyed the reaction from Caesar, who was in the cell next to Luffy. The gas man would scramble as far as he could from the boy's cell and scream in fear, sometimes crying like a baby.

There was once when it was just Jozu watching him, when Luffy asked if everyone was okay, worriedly.

"Of course, they are. Why are you asking?"

"Because everyone's flickering on and off."

Jozu laughed and assured the boy it was because of his haki and told him to not panic when they all disappear from his senses. "Your haki will be back in working order in no time."

He was let out after a week of no violent outburst, even though his haki was still not back to normal. By the time Luffy was free of his cell, everyone on Moby had gotten used to their random naps. Someone even admitted to the boy, "Now, I know how Ace feels when his nap attacks happen."

-*/-*/-*/

One morning Marco found Luffy trying to shake his brothers awake through the bars, looking panicked. "What's wrong-yoi?" he asked alarmed.

"Marco!" Luffy gave him a relieved smile before he went back to looking panicked. "Is everyone okay? I can't sense anyone."

Marco crouched down to ruffle the boy's hair. "Everyone is fine-yoi. It's probably just your Observation Haki shutting down. It should be temporary-yoi." He looked to Ceasar for clarification.

"Yes. Yes," the gas man answered in annoyance. "He's probably over his withdrawals too, so just get him as far away from me as possible."

The Commander just gave the prisoner a glare and unlocked Luffy's cell, kicking the other three awake on the way. Marco picked Luffy up and carried him up to the deck. "See? Everyone's fine-yoi." He then walked them over to Whitebeard and set Luffy on the captain's lap.

"I don't like it," Luffy mumbled with his face buried in his Grandpop's lap.

"What is it you don't like, child?" Whitebeard asked.

"I don't like when I can't sense everyone. It's scary," his voice cracked as he tried to hold back his tears. "and lonely."

Whitebeared picked the boy up and sat him up properly, so that he could see the entire deck. "Look at everyone, Luffy." Everyone who were awake and on deck waved at the boy with a smile, happy to see him out again. "We're all doing fine. No one is hurt. We're all here with you. There's no reason for you to be lonely when you're home. Why don't you sit here with me, where you can see your family easily, until breakfast is ready."

Marco, Law, Ace, and Sabo ended up sitting there on the upper deck with them. As soon as a crew member woke up and heard that Luffy was with Whitebeard, they went to greet the boy.

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

A/N: I hope everyone in the US had a great Thanksgiving~ I did. I ate so much that I'm pretty sure I gained 10 pounds. hahaha

I have no medical background and no medical knowledge. I made up stuff. Sorry if what I wrote is all wrong. (*´-｀*)

Almost 200 reviews and over 350 story followers! Thank you!

One more chapter and an epilogue that I haven't written yet. I wasn't planning on writing one, but since I'm going to do a sequel, I figured I'd put one in. Oh and 3 omakes.