The red head felt his mouth go dry and his eyes began to sting as he took in the familiar face before him. Once round cheeks were sunken in, a pair of what use to be bright blue eyes were dulled, and his skin was so pale the freckles across his cheeks seemed to be the only coloring he had.

"Hey Sabo." Shank said, his voice shaking as he crouched down. "Where's your brothers?"

The boy stared at him in confusion for several moments that seemed to last forever. For a split second Shanks wondered if he hadn't spoken at all and the question was actually just voice in his mid. But, Sabo moved his arm away, dragging the blank away from two huddled forms. Ace was on top of Luffy, the younger curled into his arms like a ball, both were shivering rather violently and he could see like their blond brother the two ravens had lost a lot of weight.

"Sabo what happened?" He demanded, moving forward to cradle the unconscious boys.

"Men found out bout us. Gramps- gramps said if he had to move us again we'd be separated." He mumbled slowly, blinking slowly as if it was hard to do so. Sabo moved forward as if he was underwater and being weighted down, curling his arms around Shank's shoulder and resting his head.

"Logan can you grab Ace? I can't carry all three."

Resting his arm under Sabo's butt and cradling Luffy's small form to him he stood up, stepping back to allow his friend to grab the last child.

"Be careful, I haven't seen them in a while so I'm not sure how well his control is of his power."

"Aye." The gruff man said scooping up the kid and following after the red head.

The walk to the car wasn't long, the hardest part was strapping the three boys in. Sliding into his seat Shanks watched the scenery go by for all of two minutes before cursing.

"That damn bastard!" He hissed his voice low as he cursed. "Garp knows! He knows how much those boys are co-dependent."

Logan glanced at Shanks for a second, his eyes going back to the road.

"You wouldn't know." He informed the dark haired man besides him. "We didn't really know what to do with it. Ace, that's the dark haired one, and Sabo, the blond. Their twins, Roger and Rogue's boys. They always had balanced each other out. But when Luffy was born…" Shanks trailed off seemingly lost in thought. It was nearly a half hour later that his voice cut through the silence.

"Rogue got really sick. Luffy's father vanished, up and left all four of them. Rogue died soon after. It started before that though, Rogue said the second Luffy was born the other two knew. It was almost impossible to hold Luffy let along feed him or anything, Ace and Sabo carried him around, either dragging him around on a blanket or eventually a sling. They would take the bottle right out of your hand and give it to him! Luffy, he never cried, they always knew what he needed. Rogue told me she woke up one night and when to check on the boys, Ace and Sabo had climbed into Luffy's crib and were curled around him. We- mostly Garp got worried about it, but she told us not to separate them. They needed each other. I don't know why Garp won't listen- he of all people knows you cannot separate them!"

"What happened?" Logan finally asked when it looked like Shanks was done ranting.

"What?"

"What happened when they got separated?"

"It was right after her death, I took Ace, Buggy took Sabo, and Garp Luffy. The first night… the first night they looked lost, walking around the houses like they had never been there before. The second night they were quiet and wouldn't eat, we didn't think anything of it they're mother had just died after all. The third night all of them got nose bleeds, Luffy lost so much blood Garp took him to the emergency room. And the fourth night fits or seizures, they cried screaming out for each other. Buggy and I got the message, we had been on the phone discussing everything when the first one hit. We drove straight over to Garp. We- we haven't separated them again, to scared that it would be worse."

"For- For Garp to even suggest to separate them-" His voice shook in suppressed anger.

"It would mean death."

"So they ran." Logan supplied, glancing at his rearview mirror just as a pair of hazy reddish eyes opened.

Ω

"They're some of the youngest we've had. Usually the gene stays dormant until their teens." Hank, a blue fuzzy man told them, looking at the computer that had the blood sample.

"Other than malnutrition they seem to be okay. What did you say their powers are so I can write it in their file?"

"The oldest Ace is not so much as pyrogenetic as he is made out of fire. He has a nasty habit of going up in flames if he's angry, or surprised, though he steams if he's embarrassed or really happy. I'm pretty sure his power began to manifest around 10."

Hank hummed, making note to warn the professors to have a fire extinguishers present if not Bobby.

"And as far as we can tell both Sabo and Luffy have some form so control of any fire Ace makes."

The Red head added as an afterthought. Hank paused in his typing, turning to stare at the man.

"What?"

"They never get burned, even if they stand in the middle of the flame."

"I see."

He did not see, this is not something that had happened before.

"Sabo, makes pocket dimensions or small holes that he sticks things in. He manifested around the same time as Ace. He- he also, I don't know if this has to do with the X gene but he's able to absorb and understand information at a really fast rate."

Nodding the blue furred man typed.

"Ah, just like a warning if someone hurts the other two- Sabo is a little sadist fuck who will use physiological warfare and won't stop attacking unless he deems the person is adequately punished."

Now Hank had to make a note to watch out for the blond boy and make sure nothing happens.

"Now Luffy…"