Welcome!

Notes: Very graphic with mentions of rape (nothing shown just talked about), explicit torture, human arenas, and language. If you can't handle those things, I advise you not to read. No pairings, just brotherly love and friendship, very ooc Luffy, and character deaths.

Chapter 1: Hell

The cell was numbingly comfortable for Luffy, a sort of sick twisted comfort from the horrors that lay beyond. Every day was hell on earth for the 13-year-old, constant beatings, death matches between slaves, and other things Luffy didn't even want to think about. His only comfort was that Ace and Sabo didn't have to share in this hell, that they could lead-free lives away from those damned Celestial Dragons. All of this was Luffy's fault anyway, so it makes sense that they should be far far away, Sabo and Ace weren't devils, they were normal kids with fantastic aspirations of freedom and adventure. Though he still missed them, he knew that somehow, this was for the best.

His cell was of a simple layout, four walls, one of which sea stone bars, covered in dried blood and grime. Luffy lay in the middle of the floor, unmoving due to the pain of recent torture. A huge scrape sat on the left shoulder, deep, but not deep enough to be life-threatening unless infection set in, then that would be a different story. Scrapes and gashes lined Luffy's whole body and a brand of the Celestial Dragon was located in the center of his back.

Luffy was zoning out when he heard a loud THUNK coming from the cell next to him, startling him out of his trance. He slowly lifted his head from the hard cell floor to see what happened. Having friends was detrimental to survival here, he learned that in his first year as a slave, but he wanted to at least look at the next poor soul who was brought into hell. As he lifted his head a surge of pain befell his whole body, but he was determined to see this person. It was a full-grown man, he had a ridiculous pompadour haircut, what looked to be chief's clothes, a scar around his left eye, and bright silver eyes. The man across the hall didn't seem to be branded yet, but he would be soon. His bright eyes then meet Luffy's cold, dead ones. They stared at each other for about two minutes before the man suddenly blurted out

"Yo"

"H-hello" Luffy replied with a hushed rasped voice, he hadn't spoken in forever because his master forbade it.

"What's your name? Also, where the hell are we? Why are you on this ship?"

"L-Luffy, we are on a cruise liner for Saint Marvin, aka the master." Luffy wanted this conversation to end as soon as possible. Talking to this man would lead to a possible friendship, and friendship meant a fight to the death, and a fight to the death would only lead to more pain for the victor, especially if the loser was a favored slave. Thankfully, Luffy always won his matches so whoever the victor was wouldn't have to be punished for killing him.

"Luffy, hm? My name's Thatch, damn, I messed up this time, hahaha! Marco is going to kill me for this!" The man, Thatch, laughed. How could he still laugh? "Say Luffy, when my family gets here to bust me out, why don' you come with us? We can get you medical attention an–"

"Shut up."

"What?"

"Shut up, if you don't, people will think we are friends, and then they'll brand you and make us fight to the death. Your family won't come for you, trust me, I've waited years for my brothers to get me, hell even my grandpa to get me and….. nothing… they left me," he sniffs, " I-I was bad… I just wanted to find my big brother a birthday gift. H-he hates his birthday.. an-and I tried to make him remember it—" Luffy sobbed to this man he just met without even realizing it. Hot tears streamed down his face as he continued and Thatch didn't say anything the whole time, he just listened to this poor, broken, and hurt boy. Thatch listened intently while studying the boy. He was thin, way way too thin, the boy was lying on his stomach so that his back was exposed and it was horrifying. Thatch could see every vertebra in Luffy's back, his hip bone and rib bones prominent, including the false ribs. There was a plate of food just outside of his cell but it was clear that it was just out of his reach and it was clearly like that on purpose. Thatch was a chef and a damn good one at that, he could help get nutrients into Luffy if he lasted that long. Thatch also took note of the amount of torn and bloodied skin on his back and the cuffs of what was presumably sea stone around his hands, ankles, and neck.

"Hey, Luffy" Thatch started, cutting Luffy off from whatever was going on in his head.

"Hm?"

"For the record, I don't think your brothers hate you or that you deserve any of this shit. Maybe -" Thatch was cut off by a loud BOOM that echoed through the wooden halls. "The hell?!" Thatch hadn't been beaten too badly yet and wasn't chained to every surface like Luffy was, so he ran up to the bars to look down the long corridor. The boy was shaking so hard that Thatch could clearly see him across the hall. Down the hall, a steady river of blue flames streamed through burning anything in its path. Thatch merely smiled at this, knowing it could mean only one thing; Marco was here. Marco was a doctor who could help this poor boy who was worsening as time passed. Next came a wave of red fire, one clearly from a devil fruit which then made Thatch frown because that meant that someone else was there. However, it was not Marco or the person with the red fire that appeared, it was a boy with curly blond hair, a blue suit, a top hat, and a scar on his left eye.

"Ace! Come here! Lu may be down here!" The blonde shouted to the other. "Right, Sabo. Marco, can you make sure no one comes while we are searching? Maybe we will find this Thatch guy you were looking for!" Ace shouted back to the blonde.

This was what Thatch was waiting for! And Ace and Sabo were Luffy's older brothers that he was talking about! Perfect! Thatch thought. Now he and Luffy would be saved and Luffy could be treated. So Thatch took in a huge breath of stale air and shouted, "OI! MARCO! OVER HERE!"

"Thatch, yoi?" Marco shouted back.

"Yea, over here! I'm down the hallway to your right 5 cells down on the right, there's a little boy here that desperately needs medical attention!" Thatch continued to yell, "Are those two boys with you by chance looking for a boy named Luffy?"

The fire boy, Ace, stepped out, and Thatch got a good look at him. He looked about 16, with wavy black hair, freckles, and stern silver eyes that looked like Gol D. Rodgers', black cargo shorts with a belt, an orange open polo, and slacks. He looked like Luffy. "You found Luffy?! He's here?"

The two boys then ran down the hall that Thatch instructed, but looked to the left. On the floor in the cell was their little brother; he was still shaking like crazy and had short labored breaths. Their baby brother was there, lying with his back to the sky, looking much more like a corpse, blood pooling at his stomach.

"Luffy!"