A/N: Generic disclaimer applies... Don't own, don't sue... all I own is this plot, which is being supplied to me by my fickle muse. Thank you for the lovely reviews, alerts... etc. etc.

"Yohoho…" Luffy heard the sound in his head drifting off to sleep.

Looking around, he knew he was still in the institute sleeping; yet he was also on a ship. The ocean was calm and he saw people walking around, yet he couldn't see their faces. The smell of something cooking was drifting over to him, and he decided to follow the smell, only to have a swift hit on the head for his troubles.

"How soon till we get to Laboon?" a voice asked from behind him.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw Brook, "Not long now." He grinned at the skeleton.

Everything started to fade, and Luffy was in darkness for a few seconds. When the darkness slowly ebbed away, he could hear the sounds of a fierce battle taking place. His ship was on fire, it was as if someone had poured molten lava onto it, the heat was more intense then the hottest fire Luffy had ever felt, except that time with Ace… It was as hot as that time, his mind froze momentarily as he tried to remember what he had meant about Ace, it was as if a blank had been drawn in his mind and he couldn't remember why it was so important.

Voices yelling around him, one was shouting that they had to save the Thousand Sunny, another was shouting about how it had been possible that the Marines had found them so quickly… on and on the voices went until it all seemed that the sounds were all merging.

Slowly this scene faded from him, only to be replaced with another one, even more disturbing. Something within him was stirring as he watched his nakama slowly be captured; one by one the vast horde of military might captured them, till it was only him left unshackled.

Each time though that he defeated someone, trying to get to his nakama; two took the place of the fallen, slowly wearing him down till he was spent. With a groan, Luffy sank down on his knees. His last thought was for his nakama, he should have made them leave him after attaining his own dream five years ago, instead of letting them continue on with him.

Once more the scenery had changed, he was chained to a wall with sea stone. Making him feel weak and vulnerable. In front of him was Brook; he was softly singing Bink's Sake. He too was chained, only thing was he was slowly being torn apart, limb by limb, his bones were being taken to a metal grinder and being reduced to dust that was placed inside a sea stone crate. Even though his skull was still singing, Luffy knew that the pain must be unbearable.

"Brook…" he barely whispered, his voice seemed to be husky with pent up emotion.

He desperately pulled on his tethers, trying to break free. The skeleton looked at him as his skull was being led to the grinder and said; "It has been a pleasure following you on our adventures, thank you Luffy for letting me reunite with Laboon… Yohoho…"

"BROOK!" Luffy yelled with panic and sadness mingled in his voice. This is not happening, he told himself, this is only a dream, one in which I will wake up from and have all his crew back along with the ship. "Brook… Brook…"

"Yohoho…" the sound was echoed throughout the square that all the spectators had fallen silent in as Luffy had screamed.

Someone was shaking him, which was what made his scream stop. Clawing at the person, he said, "Brook… where is he?"

"As far as I know, that skinny ass skeleton is at his own home sleeping." Franky was the one that was shaking him, behind him was Iceburg and a few guards.

"Which is what you should be doing." The large guard nearly yelled it.

"Paulie, take Tilestone back to the front desk. I don't think we need you two here." Iceburg quietly said as he leaned against the wall next to the small dresser.

Once the two guards were gone, Franky snorted and said, "If Luffy here hadn't woken everyone up with his screaming for Brook, then Tilestone just now did."

Iceburg didn't say anything as he looked at Luffy, then he quietly said, "Tell me what your dream was about."

It was all still fresh in his mind and with a little caution, he said; "I saw Brook being killed, he was tortured first, others were in the dream. I couldn't see them though, I did hear them sometimes, and I remember a voice saying we had to flee or else end up sinking like the Thousand Sunny."

"Who told you that name?" Franky demanded.

"Luffy," Iceburg calmly said, "How did you know about the Thousand Sunny?"

"Yeah," Franky seemed upset, "Only Iceburg and I know about it."

Luffy looked between them and realized he had said something that they both knew about, "It was the ship in my dreams, it was engulfed in flames though and sank in the ocean."

"I built that ship two years ago," Franky said, he was looking at Luffy like he was a monster, "It is not sunk."

Luffy didn't know what to say, so he just kept quiet. Wishing that Boa was here so that he could sneak into her bed and be reassured that everything would be okay.

Iceburg though was looking at Luffy with concentration, earlier when the screams for Brook had echoed in the building; he had thought that something bad was happening. Some of the other patients had even opened their doors, looking around the halls wondering who it was that was screaming at three in the morning. Maybe he should give the boy a sedative, he thought.

"So how did you know about my ship, boy?" Franky asked.

Luffy shrugged his shoulders and looked away.

"Leave him be, Franky." Iceburg said, "Starting tomorrow I will give him a sleeping pill to help him sleep." To Luffy he added, "For now if you want to get up you can, I want you to write down everything from your dream in your journal though; you need to work on resolving them so that they no longer trouble you."

Luffy reached under his pillow where he had stashed the notebook that Iceburg had given him earlier. Absently taking the pen that the man handed him.

He was so busy writing all the details down that he didn't notice the other two leave.

Franky was a little disturbed about what the seventeen year old wisp of a boy said, once they were heading down the hall he asked his brother, "So how in the hell would that kid know about my ship?"

Iceburg raised one eyebrow and would have said something if one of the other patients doors hadn't swung open in front of them. It was Sanji, "What the hell is going on here tonight? That new kid disturbed my sleep."

"As if you sleep," Franky said.

"Go back to bed Sanji," Iceburg said, "Everything is being taken care of."

"Hmm…" the blond went back to his room and slowly closed the door. Soon enough he would make his way to the kitchen to help Zeff make breakfast.

"So do you think that kid is psychic?" Franky asked as they once more walked down the hall.

"Sanji?" Iceburg asked evasively.

"Damn it Iceburg, you know who I mean, that Luffy kid." Heading into the offices, Franky said, "He kind of creeps me out."

"Aahhh…" Iceburg went by his desk and pulled out his pet mouse from the cage and put it on his shoulders, absently he rubbed its head as he thought how he would best talk to Franky about all this. Honesty would be the best way to go he decided and said, "I don't know, when his cousin brought him in, all I understood was that the teen was having problems with sleeping, I think it is more than that though. For the time being I think we should observe him and make sure that while he is awake we get him to start to remember his dreams. I think that is the key to helping him."

"Well, how should I help him then?" Franky sat down where hours ago Luffy had sat talking to Iceburg. "I am not good with the therapy part of this."

"Just watch him, and if he seems to be acting strange, document it. For some reason, the government seems really interested in him, and I want to know why." The man waved his hand dismissively at Franky and added, "Now go home and get some sleep, and just because you stayed to finish up your paper work, gives you no reason not to be here at one still."

"That was not anything I could control," Franky complained, "That kid you are so interested in freaked me out earlier with that electrical cord that is messed up, the one I have been trying to get you to fix for how long now?"

"You need to get over your fear of electricity Franky." Iceburg said as he followed him out the door. "All your life you had this fear."

"Maybe in a past life I died by electrocution." Franky joked with him, trying to get Iceburg to let the subject drop. Something within the large man though felt that he had it right, that in a past life he had experienced the way electricity coursed through his body. Shaking his head to dispel the feeling that settled on him, he added, "Well whatever the case, I will see you at one."

Leaving the institute, Franky headed toward his motorcycle; it was his pride and joy, he had spent an entire summer rebuilding it piece by piece. Everyone had thought that he should just buy a new one, yet this one was all him. He had put more than money and physical labor into it, he had put a piece of him in as well.

Sanji was sitting on his bed; once more reading one of Usopp's many manga's, this one was about a guy that wanted to be king of the pirates. His favorite character was the spunky cat burglar that was the navigator.

His big question was how could someone be 'king' of the pirates when everyone knew that pirates were no good, and if one was to be 'king' then he had to be feared and hated by all others.

Tossing the book on the bed, he went into the small bathroom to shower. Soon it would be four and Zeff would get there. It was his favorite time of day, helping the cantankerous old coot out and fixing breakfast. As he toweled off later, he wondered what had gotten into the new kid to make him scream so loud and call out for Brook of all people. He must really be crazy, he thought.

Once he was in the kitchen, he promptly forgot about Luffy's rude disturbance through the night and started to argue with Zeff while doing most of the prep for breakfast.

Usopp was not able to go back to sleep after Luffy had screamed; he was too worried about his new friend. Sure yesterday Luffy had sort of freaked him out with the unnatural way he could stretch his body, yet for some reason, he liked the other teen. In fact he had thought that if Luffy would ever join his 'gang' then he would make Luffy second in command.

Pepper, Onion, and Carrot wouldn't mind, they were only eleven after all, and all of them idolized him.

Sneaking out of his room about ten minutes after the hall was silent; he tiptoed across the hall to Luffy's room. Silently he opened the door; Luffy was sitting on his bed and just closed the notebook when Usopp entered.

"Uh," he said nervously, now that he was here, he didn't know exactly what to say, "are you going to be okay?"

The grin spread across Luffy's face and radiated in the entire room, it seemed as if the sun was shining just for the long nosed liar. "Yeah," Luffy said, "I just had a bad dream. Everything is fine now."

Usopp nodded his head and put his hand on the door, ready to walk out once more, when Luffy indicated the long nosed teen sit on the bed with him.

"Don't go…" Luffy said, Usopp could tell that the teen was still troubled, yet he was trying to hide it.

Sitting on the bed, Usopp asked, "Do you want to hear about my gang?"

"Sure."

"Well, Carrot is one of the guys in my gang, he is a good kid; one day when I got in trouble for something or other, he stuck up for me. Pepper looks like a bell pepper, well his hair that is. Onion is a little quiet considering all the others, he tries to sooth anyone that is hurt."

"So he is like a doctor?"

"No…" Usopp smiled at his new friend, "if someone is upset, he tries to sooth them so they don't fight."

"Who else is in your gang?"

"Countless others, in fact too many to name." Usopp said vaguely.

"So what do you all do?"

"We protect the weak and defenseless." Usopp puffed out his chest, "We have a rivalry with another gang, and we try to protect the normal citizens of the town from their cruelty."

"So your gang is a good one." Luffy stated, smiling as he said it.

"Yeah," Usopp agreed, "Do you want to join it?"

"No!"

"What? Why not?"

"I don't live by you."

"You could be an honorary member."

"I could." Luffy nodded his head in agreement.

"So you will join my gang?"

"Nope."

"I don't understand you." Usopp complained.

"I can't join your gang, even as an honorary member." Luffy sat up straighter, "I already have a gang."

"What! No way!" Usopp seemed shocked. "Tell me about it."

"Well," Luffy put his finger to his chin and looked up in concentration, "to begin with all my sisters and Ace are in my gang, Sabo used to be too till he died. You are in it, and so are the others that are in here with us."

"Me?" Usopp asked. "How is it I am in your gang?"

"Well we are friends now right?"

"Uh… yeah. I guess so."

"So that means you are part of my posse."

Usopp laughed and said, "What is it we do?"

"Have fun."

Usopp nodded his head, to him, Luffy was odd, yet he enjoyed the way the other teen just assumed that they were all some gang with the quest of having fun. Unbeknownst to him, tears were starting to form in his eyes. Even before his mom had died, Usopp hadn't been as easily accepted as Luffy was accepting of him. Something within him swelled up, not the fake pride that he used; it was more along the lines of being content, of finally finding his niche.