Ace couldn't quite understand his feelings at the moment. Many of the sights he was seeing were more horrifying than he could imagine, and he could see Sabo struggling with something similar. Both boys struggle to even look at Luffy. But once the woman attacked, they both lept into action despite it all. Ace set out to back up the lady while Sabo rushed to get Luffy free and away from the fighting.

Luffy's mom fought brutally and, if Ace was honest, very cruelly. Her opening move was to stab the man who had been beating Luffy with a knife, one Ace hadn't even seen her pull. With how low she was striking he had assumed she was gonna stab him in the stomach. To his absolute fucking horror, she stabbed lower.

Ace quickly looks away and takes advantage of a few goons looking at their leader in horror and fear. He is able to take two of them down swiftly in their stupor, then the fighting gets real as their shock fades to fight or flight and the pirates begin to fight back.

Ace doesn't actually see much of Luffy's mom fight, but he can hear the screams of pain she caused. He did soon realize however, he was having a much easier time of it.

Ace gets hit a few times, a painful fist to the stomach, a deep cut on his arm, and currently a strike to the side with a bat. He ached but kept fighting tooth and nail.

Soon he found no more strikes coming. He blinks and looks around to see all that was left was the woman wrestling on the ground with one of the goons, the man's hands currently wrapped around her neck. Unfortunately Luffy's mom was doing very badly, she had been holding him off until recently but was quickly losing stamina and air.

Ace didn't even hesitate once he took the sight in, a strange fear gripping his chest. He grips his pipe and winds back.

The pirate was now on top of her, straddling her hips, but Áine's eyes met Ace's and she grins. This confused the man who looked over just in time for Ace's pipe to cave his face in.

The woman shoved the man's body off of her and gasps raggedly for breath. Ace rushes to her side worried that she had gotten really hurt. Not even a heartbeat later though, Ace hears Sabo call from outside.

"Guys! We should really go!"

Luffy's mom stumbles to her feet reaching out and grabbing Ace's hand, pulling him out of the shack quickly. The four tear off back to the jungle. The boys instinctively try to return to their usual hiding place, but the woman leads them in a different direction. With Ace's hand still in hers he had no choice but to follow, Sabo doesn't complain and follows her change in direction.

She leads them on for a while, long enough that even Ace was feeling the strain and burn in his legs. Just before he thought he couldn't take anymore, she slows pace and leads them to a small encampment.

There was a fire pit, a makeshift bed of leaves and moss and he noticed, hanging pretty high up from a tree, was a backpack and a large sack. The woman lets go of Ace's hand and goes and cuts the backpack and sack down, catching it with only a wince. She sets the sack down about a foot from the fire and directs Sabo to set Luffy on the bed. He does so quietly and backs away to stand next to Ace. She makes her way over to the makeshift bed and sets the backpack down. Reaching out to look Luffy over.

Both boys are torn between looking away and watching as Luffy and his mother interact. Both of them filled with complicated emotions at the sight. She was hugging Luffy tight to her chest, his rubbery arms wrapped around her waist several times himself. Both sobbing as they did.

The two boys start to inch away while the other two are distracted but are stopped by the woman's voice.

"Stay, let's get you both looked at after Luffy." Luffy's mom says, gently pulling a reluctant Luffy from her and whipping her eyes. She kisses Luffy's forehead and he finally relents.

Ace is hesitant, but Sabo tugs him closer to the others. He lets his best friend drag him over. They sit, Sabo next to Luffy and Ace next to Sabo. The three boys watching the woman as she set about getting Luffy's torn and bloody shirt off. She used a small knife and was gentle with each movement. Ace looks at Luffy, who seemed oddly relaxed after what had just happened. The youngest boy was just watching his mom with a smile. Luffy looks up and catches Ace's eyes. He smiles brightly before going back to watching his mom.

"Boys, unpack my bag please, there is a first aid kit. I need one of you to get it out. And toss the big bottle my way when you find that." She instructed them. Sabo reaches over and grabs the backpack. He pulls it over and Ace helps him look for the instructed things. The metal bottle was easy, it was visible outside the bag, so Ace pulls it free and rushes to give it to Luffy's mom.

She takes it with a smile and thank you. She turns back to Luffy, dumping some of the water on him as she washes the blood away, the woman wincing at the sight.

Sabo let out a cry and holds up the first aid kit.

"I found the kit!"

"Thank you hon. I will have to get Luffy down the mountain in the morning and you too grumpy. You both need a real doctor. But, we can just leave either of you like this." She explains, giving Ace a pointed look that Ace struggled to interpret, and shifts over to face the two other boys kneeling down. Looking at them with a soft expression on her face.

"My name is Áine, as I mentioned before, I'm Luffy's mom. After medical treatment you both will be free to go, but please stay with us until then." She continues as she opens the first aid kid and grabs out a box of disposable gloves. She pulls on a pair quickly and takes out some gauze and some large cotton balls. She looks up to Sabo. "Are you willing to help kiddo?"

Sabo's eyes widened but he is quick to respond.

"Yeah!" He stutters out. With Áine's instruction he pulls on his own gloves, realizing that she was using them because they couldn't wash their hands. He grew determined. She passes the wad of gauze she had made and passes it to Sabo.

"Hold that to Grumpy's cut. If it gets red too fast let me know ok? He is bleeding quite a bit. I'm gonna take a look at Luffy. It's gonna be hard to sanitize these wounds here, I have alcohol that I'm going to use to clean up Luffy, I already asked him."

"Grumpy, I want you to think if that is something you are comfortable with, the alcohol will hurt quite a bit." She moves as she speaks, not pausing in her task. She pulls out a hip flask from the pile of her backpack contents.

She turns her attention to her son and begins to check him even more thoroughly. Cleaning various places with cotton balls soaked with the fluid in the flask. Sabo and Ace can hear Luffy's soft whines and sharp intakes of breath from the stinging. All the while Áine keeps talking, her voice calm and smooth. Her tone was reassuring as she explained to Luffy each of her actions. Occasionally she reaches into the kit to apply something or even once, sew up a too deep cut. Once she was done she kissed Luffy's nose.

"You did so well sunshine. I'm proud of you." She tells him and Luffy just smiles up at her.

"Aces turn!" He says pushing his mother towards the other boy. She doesn't fight, just giggles and moves the first aid kit with her as she settles next to Ace. He was still shocked by Luffy's words so he just blinked at Áine.

"So that's your name! I was worried I would be stuck calling you Grumpy all the time." She says as she gently moves the gauze Sabo was holding to the cut. She thanked him and looked at it and frowns. Her eyes meet Ace's.

"Ok hon, want me to clean this?" She asks softly. Instead of answering her question, Ace asked his own.

"What would you think if the most evil man in the world had a kid? You would wish he was never born right!?" His words are filled with sudden anger and emotion. Áine was surprised by the sudden shift in tone from the kid, but she was able to see it all clearly in his eyes when she looked and her heart broke for the boy. She knew what to do, she leans forward and gently cups Ace face in her hands. She locks eyes with him, easily allowing the boy to see into her, to see her intentions and the truth of her words for himself.

"Never. Never would I hate anyone for the actions of another." Before the boy could even respond she continues. "Do you expect me to hate Luffy because his grandfather stole him from me?" She pulls back slightly letting him go, smiling at him.

Ace had never been so confused in his life. How could this stranger be so kind? He didn't get it, he wanted to pull back to lash out, her words weren't what he had expected and that scared him in a way he didn't understand. But as he stared back into her odd white eyes, he felt like he could understand her completely. He was beginning to feel over whelmed and his breathing grows far to rapid. Sabo had seen Ace like this once, but he didn't know what to do.

"Ace honey, it's ok. I'm going to breathe and you can join me if you like. Then you can tell me what you need right now ok?" She says, using the same calm and reassuring voice she did when tending to Luffy. She begins to breathe in even breaths. Long and slow. She doesn't say anything more, just sitting with Ace and the boys until he speaks.

At first Ace wanted to refuse or jump up and run away. But, as he listens to the sound of rhythmic breathing he found it easy to fall into the motion with her. He closes his eyes and focuses on breathing. Now that he feels moderately more calm he ponders her question. What did he need? Was there honestly anything that would make it any better? If there was… did he really deserve it?

Not even a second after the thoughts full his head does he feel the woman's warm hands on his cheeks.

"None of that kiddo. If you want something all you need to do is ask. It's my job to worry about getting it." She assures him. Ace opens his eyes and looks into hers. He decides to slip back into the familiar territory of aggression.

"You some kind of mind reader?" He accuses the woman. Sabo looking at him shocked at just how rude he was being. Áine just smiles and shakes her head. Instead she turns to Luffy. The boy doesn't even need her to speak to realize what she was asking. He quickly scoots closer to Ace, smiling brightly.

"Nuh-uh, Mama doesn't know what's up here!" He says poking Ace's forehead, making the boy hiss at the contact. Luffy just giggles and continues. "Just what's in here!" He points at Ace's chest. At first Ace doesn't understand, but soon Sabo makes it clearer for him.

"So, you can read peoples emotions?" The blonde asks, his head tilting to the side as he ponders it. "But not their actual thoughts?"

Áine nods her head, looking proud.

"That's right! My home island has a saying, 'Eyes are the windows to the soul'." She looks back to Ace. "So kiddo, what is it gonna be."

He pouts and looks away, mumbling his answer, his mind racing with everything he was trying to grapple with.

"You can do whatever you want. I don't care."

Áine just smiles and nods.

"Alrighty, well I want to clean your cut and fix it up so we can get to the doctor, is that ok?" She explains. Ace huffs.

"I already said you can." He knew he was being stubborn, the the woman wasn't reacting the way he expected.

"You did. But you never said if you are comfortable with it." Áine elaborates. Ace's expression becomes confused.

"Why would that matter?" He asks. He can see Sabo watching the conversation with rapt attention, it seemed like his best friend was just as confused by her behavior.

"Ace, your body is your own. No one ever has the right to touch you if you don't want it. I do make exceptions for health of course. If you were unconscious I would make the choice to treat your wounds, but you're not and you can express your own wants and needs right now." She says. Luffy was nodding next to her. They had a similar talk not long after he moved in with Áine so the youngest boy was familiar with this rule. He had even promised her he would follow it too.

The other two kids are quiet for a while, but eventually Ace speaks up, his voice low and almost apologetic.

"You can fix the cut. I don't mind."

Áine just nods and gets to work. She rinses it with the water from the bottle, then using cotton balls she disinfects it quickly, just like she did for Luffy. Watching her work, Ace pulls up the courage to ask a question that had been burning in his mind.

"Why do you treat us like Luffy? We aren't your kids." His words come out harsh, harsher than even he intended but, it was something that he was dying to know the answer to.

Áine lets out a soft hum before responding. Seeming to think about her answer.

"There are two answers to that. The first is because of how I grew up, back home all kids got raised by everyone. Kids still had parents, but everyone in the villiage is expected to help. The second reason is because you are Luffy's friend." She says shrugging her shoulders. She had cleaned his cut while she spoke and was not getting ready to give him a few stitches.

Ace mulls the explanation over. He was kinda surprised to know that some places actually took care of kids, but moreso he was focused on her second reason. He feels the guilt of how they treated the younger kid bubble up.

"But! Why? We are the ones that got him hurt!" Ace protests, frowning at her. Áine pauses in her work to look at Ace.

"Ace, people fuck up. It happens. Luffy told me your his friends. Given he was the one hurt, I'm going to trust his word here." She says, turning back to her work. Ace looks to Luffy completely lost for words.

"Why!?" He borderline shouts at Luffy. The younger boy's face falls to something more serious.

"I don't have friends. Just auntie and Mama. I don't want to be alone anymore, it hurts." He says, biting his lip. "I like Ace and I want to be friends. But if I told them where the treasure was, Ace wouldn't be my friend. You'd never open up."

Ace hears a wet sniff and looks over to see Sabo crying next to him, and after a second he realizes he was too. Luffy just smiles at them, his own eyes watery.

They all fall quiet for a bit, Áine needing to do at least 3 stitches to get Ace prepared to travel. She bandages his leg and moves all the used and bloody cotton and gauze and sets it by the fire.

"Ok boys, if we leave by first light we will get to the village by noon tomorrow. But, I don't think that making Ace and Luffy travel that much is wise. So I propose that you boys stay at the cabin with Makino while I continue to the village to get the doctor. Do you guys like the sound of that?" She says as she builds and lights a fire faster than Ace had ever seen anyone else so so before. It didn't even take 15 minutes until it was a full blown campfire.

It was Sabo who spoke up first, cutting Ace off before he could speak. The blonde glaring him into submission.

"That sounds good mam!" He says politely. Áine smiles at him and giggles.

"You don't need to be so polite kiddo, just Áine works."

They fall back into quiet once more, and it takes Ace a moment to realize that Luffy had fallen asleep. He looks at the dark haired boy, strange new feelings in his chest.

He doesn't even realize that Áine had been cooking until the smell fills his nose. He blinks and looks up to Áine holding out a strip of jerky.

"Here, the food won't be ready for a bit, I'm making soup. Do you and your friend eat alot?" She asks. Ace takes the jerky and immediately takes a bite. He nods his head to her question.

"Yeah, tons. And his name is Sabo." He says, looking to his blonde friend to see that he too had fallen asleep. He felt tired too but he didn't want to sleep yet. Áine smiles at him again. Reaching out, but hesitating before pulling her hand back. It takes Ace a second to realize she had intended to ruffle his hair, but had stopped.

"You should nap too kiddo, you all need some sleep. I'll keep watch." She says, even as she speaks Ace feels his eyelids grow heavy. The woman just giggles softly.

And soon, Ace slipped into a deep sleep, feeling warm and safe.