Luffy peaked out of his hiding spot- two floors away from where he locked his brother in- and seven doors down from Thatch, who had locked Marco into another room. If said rooms only unlocked doors were the ones that attached the two room together…

Luffy giggled. He had seen how sad Ace had gotten when ever the pineapple man ignored him or walked away. He had even heard Ace cry, Ace never let him see him cry- he said if he cried in front of him, he, Luffy would take it as permission to be a crybaby. So, Luffy had gone to Makino in the hopes of figuring out what to do. Makino had gotten Thatchy to help, and now he was hiding. Sitting down on his heels, he got comfortable after the loud thumping and yelling stopped. He wasn't sure how long he was supposed to wait.

Leaning heavily onto the side of the wall, Luffy fought against his dropping eyelids. He didn't want to sleep, not with out Ace nearby. He hummed quietly to himself, and started to tie his fingers into knots. He always remembered horrible things when Ace wasn't near. So, he had to stay awake and not fall asleep. Nodding to himself about his decision, he bounced his leg and started to imagine what it will be like when he sets sail. Smiling, to himself, he leaned against the wall and started to imagine all the adventures, meat, friends, and fun… Blinking back sleep, his mind wondered to Dawn.

The sun was shinning through the trees, warming his face and his shoulders. Blinking through the sunshine, he saw the familiar navy blue of his blond brother's top hat. His arm was outstretched and his missing tooth grin was stretched as he laughed. Ace was father behind him, leaning against a tree with a lazy smile and his pipe set besides him.

"SHISHISHISHI~" Luffy laughed, stretching his arm out to grab hold of Sabo, but just as his fingers touched the familiar flesh the image blurred.

Embers crackled and trees burned, the now familiar smell of people burning made him gag. His brother's forms fell under the flames. The sounds of screams echoes loudly through the trees.

Vista leisurely walked down the hall, his arm full of paperwork and his mind on what he was going to teach his siblings. He had, sadly lost the bet between him and Kingdew, and now was put in charge of training for this week. It was as he was passing by one of the few emptier rooms on the ship that he heard it. Pausing, he took a step back and listened closely. There was sniffling and the sound of chocked sobs, that was muffled from the closed door. Glancing at the paperwork in his hands, he walked down the hall until he found a table and promptly dropped the paperwork, hurriedly jogging back towards the room.

Knocking softly, he called out, "Hello?"

"What are you doing?"

Jerking back, Vista was meet with the sight of his very amused, very blue brother.

"Namur," he sighed before shaking his head, "Can you hear that?" He asked after a moment.

For a second it was silent, and a loud sob busted from the door. Namur's eyes widen in shock, before he surged forward, forgoing knocking to instead nearly slamming the door open.

Slumped against the side of the wall, with his thin arms circled around his middle was the youngest and newest member of the Whitebeard pirates. Tears were streaming down closed eyes and his lips were trembling as he held in sobs. Vista didn't wait, crouching down and bringing his arms around the young boy.

"Hey, why did you flinch?" Namur hissed lowly, glancing between his brother and the young dark-haired boy.

"My hand is bigger then his entire chest." Vista grumbled, "I could break him."

"But you won't."

Carefully, he cradled Luffy, bringing his large hand up to rub his back.

"I'm going to get Ace."

"Hey, little brother," Vista mumbled, absentmindedly waving Namur away.

Ace ran down the hall, leaving behind Namur in his haste. Ducking around crewmates and around a door, he skidded to a sudden halt, nearly collapsing when he focused on the sight in front of him.

Luffy, in all his unapologetic glory, was sitting on Vista's lap, tongue sticking out between pouting lips. The dried trail of tears was still visible and his eyes were red, but his focus were on the cards in his hand. Vista leaned over, pointing at one of the cards and whispering something that made Luffy's face light up. Haruta, Joe and Neil from division seven, Rakuyo, along with Stork from his division, sat in a circle, each holding their own cards.

"Rake, do you have seven hearts?" Luffy asked after a moment of silence.

Rakuyo's grimaced at the name before saying, "Gold fish?"

"Awww," he pouted.

Ace felt his shoulders relax at the image.

"Hey Lu." He called softly.

Luffy's head turned so fast it would have given a normal person whiplash, his face lighting up and cards forgot, jumped up and dived headfirst into Ace's stomach.

"Having fun?"

"Mhmmmm, Mister small mustache was teaching me a game, its fun, but there is no real fish!"

Not really listening to his brother's chatter, he nodded in thanks to the six men before him. Idle pushing the straw-hat back and running fingers through surprisingly soft hair.

"Thank you," Ace nodded towards his crewmates, curling his right arm protectively around his brother.

"It's no problem," Vista told him standing to stretch, "You forget, he's our brother too."