Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

"Can I stay a little while longer?"

Everyone was leaving the apartment. Sanji had to come home before his father came back from his trip, Nami was exhausted, Usopp still had a homework to finish at home and Vivi didn't want to worry her parents further. Zoro's case was a bit different. His father had been released from the hospital in the afternoon since his wound hadn't been too deep and he knew his frustration would be taken on someone. His mother tried to stay away from home more often now, fearing the drunken man's wrath.

"Of course," Luffy answered with a small smile. His friend's well-being was important to him and he didn't want Zoro to go back to his house now. If it was possible, he would've wanted him to never go back, but he wouldn't be able to do that.

Ace, Luffy, Sabo, Zoro, and Kuina sat in the living room in silence for a few minutes before Ace decided to break the uncomfortable atmosphere.

"We should talk about that now." Kuina and Sabo seemed mostly unfazed, but they both looked down darkly at Ace's words. Luffy bit his lips and took a large breath. Zoro raised a brow, curious about what that could be.

"Yeah... Ace, Sabo, do you know all the phases and steps? I didn't see that many 'turn' so I wouldn't exactly know them well." Luffy said as he looked at his brothers sheepishly.

"We know the basic idea... But it's been like... three years? A bit more than that actually... I don't remember it well." Ace said as he tried to remember.

"Me neither. I don't think I want to remember those crazy bastards anyway." Sabo said with a shiver.

"What are you talking about?" Zoro said as he turned to his raven-haired friend.

Luffy sighed softly. "Kuina... when she attacked your father, she took the first step towards becoming a poltergeist. I am not saying she will turn soon, I am just saying it is now inevitable if she doesn't cross."

"Cross?"

"To the other side."

"Oh..." Zoro wasn't sure he understood everything it meant.

"Let's put it like this. She hurt a living human out of anger. This is the first step. after this, she will go through different phases, slowly but surely getting detach from who she really is until she becomes a poltergeist." Zoro narrowed his eyes.

"What happens then?"

"She could go on a rampage or start haunting someplace. Hurting people who did nothing wrong. It will be one hundred times harder to make her cross then."

Ace and Sabo nodded, confirming Luffy's words.

"I can resist it! I won't become a mindless freak!" Kuina protested. Sabo glared at her.

"Everyone says that, but it's impossible to resist forever if you took the first step." The blond said with clenched fists.

"I promise I will leave when Zoro will be out of this bad situation he was put in." The blue-haired spirit said louder.

"What's happening?" The green-haired teen could feel the pressure building in the room. It wasn't Luffy playing with the lights or temperature, it was a stifling tension that came from the only two empty seat around the table.

"Sabo and Kuina are mad at each other." Luffy summarized.

"And who is going to take care of that?!" Sabo said angrily. Ace was trying to pull Sabo back and tell him to calm down but his hand would only pass through.

"Well... I thought Luffy-"

"I am not letting Luffy die the way I did so keep him out of this," Sabo said with a strong and dark voice, glaring directly into Kuina's eyes. Zoro shivered. Sabo's voice had slightly resonated in his head.

"Both of you shut up!" Luffy said harshly as he slammed his fist on the table. "Kuina, you'll have to accept to cross one day no matter what situation Zoro will be in and Sabo, Zoro is my friend. If I decide I will help him, it is my choice and not yours to make!" Ace put a hand on Luffy's shoulder, making him sit back down.

"Sorry... Just, don't fight like that." Luffy said as he looked down. "Now about the... poltergeist... phase thing."

"Sabo and I used to call it 'mind decay' or 'decadence of the conscious'." Ace said with a hint of nostalgia in his eyes and a small smile harboring his lips.

"Why not just call it 'turning'? Like when spirits turn into poltergeist?" Luffy said as he looked at his big brother weirdly.

"Well, Ace thought it sounded cooler," Sabo said with a small chuckle. "I didn't think it made sense." Ace rolled his eyes.

"You're the one who came up with that name, stupid."

"Can we get to the point?" Kuina said as she started loosing her patience. Zoro had sat there silently, listening to the interaction between Ace and Luffy and trying to understand what the two spirits were actually saying.

"Yeah sorry," Luffy said.

"Well... I know a guy at work who knows a lot about ghosts and spirits. He's a medium too. His abilities are a bit more like mine than Luffy's or Sabo's, but he has had it for longer so it's better... Do you understand what I mean?" They nodded and Luffy's eyes lit up.

"You have a psychic friend?"

"He is not a psychic, only a medium."

"Doesn't matter. It's so cool! Can I meet him? I always wanted to talk to other mediums!" Sabo's and Ace's eyes narrowed.

"We don't count?" They said in unison.

"Well, Ace is new to it and Sabo isn't one anymore really... So yeah, you both don't count!" Luffy said happily. Seeing the cheerful boy actually managed to make Zoro smile a bit and got Kuina to calm down. They all knew Luffy had been through a lot. Seeing him so full of life made them hopeful for their own situation.

"Alright... So, can I meet him?" Luffy asked again and Ace sighed in defeat.

"You already met him before a few times. His name is Marco. He works with me at the Whitebeard company."

"Pineapple-head guy is a medium?" Luffy said curiously. Sabo and Ace snickered.

"Yes, he is. I'll call him now, wait a few minutes." Ace said with a smile as he left the room.

Zoro looked at the chair he knew Kuina was sitting and said spirit shifted uncomfortably under his indirect gaze. Luffy was messing with a pencil by making it levitate and try to write with it that way. He always started doing this when he was bored or nervous. Telekinesis had become a something like a quirk for the young psychic. He really wanted to learn how to write well with telekinesis so he would be able to control more than one pencil at a time and finish his homework 4 times faster. When Ace came back in the room, all eyes turned to him.

"Marco is coming over, he said he was going to help explain himself."

"He probably thought you were too dumb to explain it to us correctly, let alone understand everything," Sabo said with a mocking smile, making Luffy chuckle.

Zoro returned his gaze to the empty chair Kuina was sitting on. "Do you know how you become a medium? Is it a genetic thing or..." The young teen had been curious. Luffy, Ace and Sabo were all mediums and now he knew one of Ace's friend was a medium too. It seemed like it was more common than he thought if all those people Luffy knew were mediums. Maybe there were a lot more people he knew that were mediums but never told anyone.

Also, he would never admit it, but seeing Kuina again was something he secretly wished he could do. It was natural. She was his rival and his model. He looked up to her since she had always been strong and determined. He just wanted to be at the same level as her. He just wanted to prove that he could be strong by defeating her in a duel, but she died. He had cried a few times when he was alone. It had been even harder for him since Kuina had been his first crush too, but he never got to tell her. It was too late now to think of what could have been.

"We don't know exactly what makes people mediums, but we have a few clues. Maybe Marco will know." Ace said nonchalantly while sending Sabo a scowl.

"I think you need to die to become a Psychic," Luffy said in a soft voice. Sabo and Ace turned their eyes to the youngest with a puzzled and startled look while Zoro eyed the medium boy in a mixture of curiosity, interest, and fear.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, like I told you guys earlier, the time I drowned 11 years ago is when I became a medium. There is no way this is unrelated." Ace frowned.

"You could be right, but it wouldn't explain how me, Sabo and Marco became mediums." Sabo looked at the floor sheepishly.

"It would explain how I became a psychic at least..." Everyone except Zoro turned to him expectantly.

"I was in a house fire when I was around three or four, That's how I got this scar," Sabo said as he pointed at the charred skin over his left eye. Ace looked at him, bewildered. In all these years he got to know the blond, never had Sabo ever mentioned the permanent disfigurement of his face and every time it was brought up, the blond would change the subject or stop talking completely until Ace decided to change the subject.

No one dared to ask any further comment or question him further as Luffy relayed this new piece of information to Zoro. Sabo had always hated remembering this particular night. It was the oldest memory he had. He couldn't remember anything before that point, and, even if it was his most distant memory, he could remember everything that had transpired that night so clearly. Thinking about it was hard. Remembering it, replaying every step and every breath he took, remembering every little detail that had played out was excruciating. Not because it was hard to do but because it was hard to watch. The memory was so vivid he could feel the smoke entering his lungs and the unbearable heat as if he was walking on the sun.

However, the physical pain hadn't really been the hardest part of this tragic experience.

A small blond boy got out of his bed as he was woken up by the rising temperature of the room he was in. Smoke was entering the room by the half-closed door. Sabo got up, holding his teddy bear close to his heart. The boy slowly made his way out of his bedroom, his eyes getting cloudy and unfocused due to the smoke and tears and his lungs burning him as if he had breathed in toxic waste. Looking down the hallway, he saw the fire. There was fire everywhere and it was rapidly growing. The little boy's eye widened in fear. This was nothing like the small fireplace in the living room, it was the whole floor that was on fire.

Down the hall, his mother and father came running in his direction. The little boy's tears stopped as he waited for his parents to save him. They had come back for him. However, they didn't stop to take him in their arms or take him out of the house, the two nobles ran right passed him with only a small glance his way.

Those eyes were uncaring and unloving. They were as they had always been towards him. The little blond boy bit his lips as he thought about it clearly. His two noble parents had never cared, why would they start now? They came back from the room they had entered, both carrying everything they thought was valuable before sprinting as fast as they could out of the house. Sabo clutched his teddy bear harder as he started to run out of the house too. His legs were wobbly and his vision was seriously starting to fail him. He hated this house. It was so big and really hard to get out of in case of an emergency. He was panting heavily now and every breath was even more painful than the last one as the fire and smoke had decided to completely destroy his lungs.

sabo lifted his eyes. In front of him, there was a fireman. He was coming towards him fast, making big alarmed and frantic gestures to him. Sabo frowned slightly, incapable of understanding what was happening before he turned around and saw a flaming pillar fall over him.

Everything went black.

He was lucky to have survived really, it was a miracle according to the doctors how he had avoided death. Of course, it was due to the fireman's effort that he hadn't died, but Sabo couldn't help believing it was faith.

Why? Because when he fell unconscious, he dreamt of his death. There was no way he was going to die now since he was destined to die around thirteen years in the future, in the arms of his best friend he hadn't even met yet. The dream was short and didn't give away that much detail since it was only the first time he had seen it. Nevertheless, the blond newly psychic boy knew exactly what this dream was. He knew right away this was how he would die. After this, he had shortly seen himself laid down on the floor. It wasn't too long though. He regained consciousness for a few minutes only to fall back not long after. The next thing he remembered was waking up in a hospital bed, his mother and father nowhere to be seen.

Honestly, he would've preferred if it had stayed that way, yet, they eventually reluctantly came to get him.

The doorbell rang. Luffy was the first one at the door, pretty excited to meet another medium besides Ace and Sabo, followed closely by Ace who wanted to greet his friend.

"Hi, pineapple!" Luffy said with a grin as he opened the door.

"I already like this kid." Luffy looked behind Marco to see a bloodied and wounded spirit smiling at him.

"What's your name?" Luffy said as he tilted his head to look directly at Thatch, surprising both him and Marco when the kid stayed calm even after seeing Thatch's appearance.

"I am Thatch." Luffy smiled and let them come in. Behind the psychic boy, Ace looked at his friend with a puzzled look. He knew that Marco could feel the spirit right behind him, but he didn't do anything about it. It was as if he knew him like he knew Sabo. He sighed.

"So, Marco, you have a stalker too." Ace said with a small chuckle.

"Yep."

"I will take offense of that comment." Said Sabo, Thatch and Kuina practically at the same time. Luffy just laughed and guided the two newcomers in the living room.

"So you are a medium too?" Luffy said. He almost looked like he had stars in his eyes. It hadn't been often that Luffy had been so openly excited and happy in his life, however, since he had gotten his friends, he had never been happier.

"Indeed."

"You can see that Thatch guy?" The young psychic pointed at the pompadoured haired guy.

"Yes."

He then pointed at Kuina and Sabo. "Can you see them too?"

"I can hear what they say and detect their presence."

Luffy pouted. "Bummer..." Ace sighed and tried to come back to the subject they were supposed to discuss. Zoro was still sitting silently in his seat, waiting for any useful information.

"Oh, yeah, the phases," Marco said in remembrance as he looked in Kuina's direction. He could clearly feel the difference in Kuina's soul compared to Sabo's or Thatch's. She had made the first step and there were no coming back from that. She wasn't going to turn anytime soon, but her protectiveness over the green-haired teen made her burn through the first phase quite fast.

"So, the first phase of-"

"Mind decay." Ace said.

"Decadence of the conscious." Sabo retorded.

"Turning."

"-the changing is the Phase 1: sole interest," Marco said as he looked at the three brothers with a look that told them to stop talking right now.

"In the first phase, the spirit won't do that much. The changes occurring in that phase are more around the spirit's priorities. The thoughts of that certain spirit will drift slowly from anything that used to interest him or her to a sole interest, the only thing that can be on his or her mind. Kuina is currently in that phase since she made the first step." They all nodded.

"Phase 2: Obsession

The object of the spirits sole interest will become an obsession. Depending on what the sole interest is, the spirit can become very protective of it or bent on having his or her revenge. This phase can be very long as it can be very short depending on the strength of the will of the spirit." Marco continued.

"Phase 3: Lapses

In the third phase, the spirit will begin to have lapses of time where they completely lose control. During those lapses, the spirit will highly be guided by his instinct and will be hard to communicate with." Kuina gulped. Ace's coworker was saying this in such a monotone voice, it sent shivers down her spine. Thinking of the lapses was scary.

"Phase 4: Madness

The lapses become longer and more violent in some cases. The spirit is often going to see things that aren't real, hallucinations of threats and other things like that until it is completely pushed into madness." This time it was Zoro who seemed nervous about this information. He had fought with Kuina a lot when they were younger. They would spar and have fun together but she had never been mean or intentionally hurt others. She had always been in perfect control and thinking she could lose it completely and start hallucinating and going insane made a pit in his stomach grow.

"After this phase, it becomes a poltergeist. The spirit will hardly be reachable by anyone at this point. It will mostly pass time by hurting anyone it can find."

"It still takes a while to pass through the different phases right? Kuina and Zoro don't really have to worry for now right?" Luffy said with hopeful eyes and Marco nodded. It was still not enough to ease any of their worries.

"It depends on what kind of spirit she is." Ace said with a thoughtful expression.

"Kind?" Zoro looked at the three mediums in the room, his eyes betraying his slight nervousness.

"You see, there are a few categories of spirits. Not all of them evolve through the phases or just act the same way." Luffy started as he stood from his seat. "You already know about the poltergeists, if only briefly. They are scary and dangerous if anything. You also have the lost souls. Those are spirits who don't know they are dead yet."

"Then, there are the wanderers." Ace continued. "Those are the spirits who will move around without getting attached to anything or just stay in one place. They usually do the same thing every day and always seem nostalgic of everything."

Luffy nodded. "Yeah... Like that Brook guy who plays violin in the cemetery at the cliff!"

Marco decided to continue. "Then you have the stalkers." Sabo Kuina and Thatch gave him a dirty look. "They follow around one certain person and usually are self-proclaimed guardian angels." The older blond still smiled affectionately at his spirit friend, despite his words. "You also have to watch out for vengeful spirits. They are the ones who turns the faster. They hold a grudge and usually won't rest before they are avenged. Those are the main categories... Now the question is... Is your spirit friend a stalker or a vengeful spirit?" Kuina took a sharp breath. Sabo, Thatch and Luffy turned to look at her to see the fear start to rise in her dark irises.

"Calm down a bit. Nothing is set in stone yet." Thatch said slowly.

"Except the fact that sooner or later, I'll turn into a homicidal psycho ghost." She shouted harshly. The atmosphere became tense and even Zoro could sense the heaviness of the air in the room.

"You won't. I'll deal with Zoro's problems in your stead and you will be able to leave in peace." The raven-haired psychic said as he sat back down.

"No, you won't!"

"It's my choice Sabo, not yours! You made mistakes, maybe I won't do the same thing!"

"We already know his dad is violent and Kuina could become dangerous to you too! What will happen after that? You are the only thing Ace has left!" The blond spirit shouted.

"I am right here you know, don't talk as if I am not in the room." Ace said in a low tone. "Sabo... We had our share of shady adventures... You ended up biting up more than you could chew and I wasn't there to help. Luffy has my support and you know I won't let him die. I would hope if he could have your support too."

Sabo looked up to his best friends, his vision blurred by thick tears. "So you think he should just go on and continue on this road until he dies too?" Zoro was sitting awkwardly in his chair, obviously knowing he was witnessing a heated argument, even if he was the only one who couldn't hear it entirely.

"I am not letting him die."

"You can't be sure-"

"I won't let him die either," Zoro said as he stood up. "I don't know what the big fuss is about exactly, I don't know everything about all this spirit nonsense, but Luffy is my friend and I won't let anything bad happen to him. Promise." The green-haired teen managed to look directly in Sabo's eyes even though he couldn't actually see him as he made his statement clear.

Thatch stood up "So, what I see here is three kids who are as close as brothers and would do anything for each other, a kid who is going through a hard time at home but won't be going down since he has people who will always stand by him and a ghost who is, slowly but surely, burning through the first phase. This is bound to be interesting. You are all good kids, I can tell right away..." He picked up the pencil Luffy was messing with earlier and pointed it at the said psychic. "But you should still listen to blondie over here." He said, gesturing to Sabo. "All of this mess could get you in trouble. They say psychics die young. Be the exception to that rule." The pompadoured-head spirit finished seriously.

"What's that?" Zoro and Ace stared at the flying pencil.

"How are you doing that?" Sabo asked curiously. He had never seen a ghost who could interact with objects or people that weren't passed the first step and burning quickly through the different phases to become a poltergeist and, obviously, Thatch wasn't a vengeful spirit or one of those crazy mindless intangible beasts.

"Practice, blondie. You could be able to do that too, one day." Thatch said with a grin as he tossed the pencil at him, which only managed to pass through him.

This almost managed to bring the said blond spirit to tears again. Almost. The thought of being able to interact with objects again... With Ace and Luffy, Feel their warmth instead of the cold and dreading feeling every time they passed through was almost too good to be true.

"Guess we should go now," Marco said as he looked at his watch.

"Yeah... Thanks for enlightening us and everything..." Ace said as he led his friend outside. As he stepped outside the front door, he gave said friend a frown.

"You didn't tell me you had a stalker spirit friend." He said accusingly to the blond medium.

The latter shrugged. "You never asked." Ace rolled his eyes and both friends parted ways.

"Do you mind if... Over the next few weeks, I crash at your place from time to time?" Zoro asked as he looked at his psychic friend.

"Of course I don't mind. Why not crash at Sanji's though?" Luffy responded as he tilted his head to the side.

Zoro ran a hand through his hair. "There are so many reasons I won't, but that is not up to me to tell you all of that. I'll be leaving then."

"Okay, good night then," Luffy said as he also led his friend to the door. "Don't forget your coat!" Luffy grinned as Zoro's coat flew from where it was hanging to land directly in the green-haired teen's face.

"I'll have to get used to that too." The latter said as he put the coat on with a sight.

"I am getting better at it too!" Luffy said with a happy grin. "Maybe one day I'll be able to make myself fly!"

Zoro chuckled. Luffy had such so many obstacles in his way. He had so much darkness in his life, however, he still managed to stay in the light. Zoro could only dream of being so carefree.

"Goodnight." On that thought, Zoro left the two brother's apartment, heading straight to the only place he shouldn't go back that night, or ever. Home.

Only bad things could happen on that night in that house as Zoro's father had been released from the hospital and his mother, seeing the short lapse when said man had been in the hospital as an escape route, had walked out of that house without a look back to her son or husband.

She had left her son alone to deal with a dangerous man in the foulest of moods.

Sorry for the wait, not only for this fic if you are also reading one of my other stories... It's the end of the year and I have many things to think about currently.

I want to thank you for your support and all the reviews! We are almost reaching 100 followers on this fic and I am so happy! Merci beaucoup!

Until next time!