Disclaimer: I do not own one piece.

I changed some details at the end of the chapter to make it fit better with where the story is going, but nothing major!

I walked in the corridor like I did every day, heading toward the cafeteria. I didn't make a sound or looked up, You don't want to catch any of the guard's attention. It would be stupid. Something you learn pretty quickly. I was in my place in line, right after another kid. He had black hair and always seemed tired. We had to walk at a steady pace, not to fast so we wouldn't seem like we were trying anything funny, and not to slow so we wouldn't delay the schedule. I took a tray and slide it, waiting for a plate to be put on it to go take my drink before sitting at our table. The woman who served me didn't even look up, like most people from the outside.

I sat in my usual seat between the tired boy, Law his name was, and the girl who walked behind me in line, a girl named Robin. We were sitting in the kids' section, All 'patients' under 20 were put aside in the same section so we could talk with people our age when we were permitted to talk.

I put my two hands on both sides of my tray, waiting for the speech before we could eat, everyone else mimicking my behavior. At the table beside us was the P-section, right behind us was the Z-Section, just beside the RZ-Section, the L-section in the back of the cafeteria and finally the H-section, who was rarely eating at the same time as them, making them a mysterious bunch. They were the one with the most security around them and would rarely be able to talk to the others They weren't here today too, probably already in test chambers. It wasn't often that we could talk with someone outside your section, but it happened every week or so, and people would often exchange small pieces of paper without any guard noticing during those time. The scariest thing at the facility was the forgotten. Being part of the unlucky was bad enough, being caught in here and all, but thinking of being a forgotten was worse. Nobody talked about them and nobody was allowed to. The only thing we knew about those who were taken away was that you would never see them again and hear sometimes, at night, their screams, pleading for death, since it was always a better option.

"Today, the Z-Section are to be in the testing chambers of the third district at 9:35. RZ-Section at the training chambers of the second district at 10:00. L-Section at the medical wing of the first district at 9:25. P-Section is on chores, Cleaning the mess of the fourth district. For the children of the C-Section, Public room at 9:45. Be sure to be done before your assignment. Lunch will be delayed for C-Section, you will eat at 12:45. You may eat now. Dialogue in your own table is allowed." The voice from the intercom spoke.

Taking my hands of the side of my tray, I carefully picked my spoon to begin eating my breakfast. The food wasn't really good, it mostly didn't taste anything actually.

"Luffy are you alright?" Robin told me with a worried glare.

"Yes. I am. Just, I miss being a free-roamer." Law elbowed me in the ribs.

"Shut it." He said quietly as a guard passed by. There was a lot of things you couldn't do or have in here, thinking about freedom was one of them.

"S-So, we are in public room today?" I said nervously. This was probably the thing I hated the most. Since we were kids and mostly harmless, we were the ones who were assigned to the public room the most. It was, above the tests, training and daily (drug to improve our capabilities) medicine, the most dehumanizing experience. Nobles would come to look at them like a freak show! Some of them even came to the public room to see their abilities from up close. They were like a zoo. It was awful. The thing that made the experience less of a pain was this one boy. He was a noble too, but he didn't look at him like a toy or entertainment, he would try to understand him. Be fascinated by him. When he first came, the raven boy had been wary, but after a while, they had started talking casually and even became somewhat friends.

The young noble had blond hair and a blue noble attire. He always wore a Top-hat decorated with a pair of goggles. Sabo was his name. He was, in fact, the only noble who didn't give a wave of superiority, he was kind and would secretly teach him or give him a few things. The body search and security was always lower for the C-Section after all.

"Yes, we are. Do you think Blondie-ya will be there today?" Law said in a playful tone.

"I like Sabo! He is nice and doesn't think I am a monster!" Chopper, a reindeer with a human Zoan fruit had said. He was one of the youngest, being only 5 when he was brought in 2 years ago. I had attached myself to the little blue-nosed boy since I got here, which was precisely 10 months ago. I have turned 10 a few weeks ago, but I was still one of the youngest. Robin was 13 and Law 14. The eldest in the C-Section always took the new ones and the youngest under their wings to keep them out of trouble.

"I hope he is there too, he reminds me of-" I froze and looked down. I shouldn't have started thinking about that. I shouldn't even hope to see him again, he is a free-roamer. I just continued cherishing the memories I had of us together and free.

"I know we don't have a lot, but we are still free, so it shouldn't matter right?"

Well, now I don't even have my freedom.

Finishing my tasteless meal, I stood and walked to the counter where I put my tray, my bowl and my glass in their respective pile and the spoon in the plastic container right next to it. The L-Section had already left since it was now 9:20, meaning we had 15 minutes before we had to walk to the public room. Sitting back in my chair, I notice everyone was stiff. A guard had walked up to us.

"We have a new patient in the C-Section, He is going to be tested during the time you are all in the public room, he will be joining you for lunchtime. Now start heading there." He said in a harsh tone. we didn't move for a few seconds, waiting to see if he had something else to say. If you interrupted a guard by standing during the time he was still speaking, it was 3 hours in isolation, which was one of the shortest time in isolation. Which wasn't simply standing in a small unlit room. Isolation was a nicer way of saying torture if you asked anyone actually. If it was physical or mental torture depended on the mood of the guard who was supervising you, since they liked getting their stress out on someone. But the more original guards who were more sadistic were incredibly and surprisingly good at making an adult have nightmares for months.

When the guard turned away and walked to the RZ-Section's table, we all stood and walked in line to the Public room. We always were in the same order, going by the order of our room chambers' numbers. Mine was C-5. The facility was pretty big, but you would never get lost since if you were out of your group, you were in isolation and the one in front of the line had been there at least a year, which meant he knew exactly where he was going. Plus, there were guards at every corner. Walking along the long grey corridors, we finally made it to the public room. We all stood in line by the wall without leaning against it, hands at our eyes level, clearly showing we had nothing in them. The door closed and we heard a small whistle from the intercom. We all waited 3 seconds then started walking around aimlessly. There were a few things in the rooms, objects like balls, cubes, and grips on the sealing to display of their abilities.

The blond noble came for around an hour between 10 and 11, and, during that time, Luffy smiled. Not a fake smile like everyone wore for the nobles when they entered the Public room, it was real.

The rest of the time, Luffy did tricks to entertain the nobles. If you were somewhat entertaining enough, the guards would be a little bit less rough. But just a little bit was considerable enough to make the users want to display their abilities. Law was making objects levitate and switch place. Robin sprouted arms like flowers. Chopper would shift into different forms. Nothing major or actually interesting. Like always. Except for Sabo, Luffy was very wary of the nobles. Especially the kids. They would always want to touch them and use them like toys, which made the raven-haired boy extremely uncomfortable.

"Luffy!" The raven turned around and grinned. Sabo always manages to make him happy, even if he didn't do anything yet.

"How are you today, Sabo?"

Sabo had always been really kind and friendly to him. Sometime he would ask questions about the facility and the person in them and always seemed really interested in what the other boy said. He would start talking about the mean scientists and the good people in there, like Makino.

Makino was one of the nurse and caretakers. She would always be sort of like a mother, kind and considerate, but she wasn't the norm, most of the scientists and caretakers were horrible.

"-And also, Rocinante is really funny and is always good to us, not like Akainu." The blond looked at Luffy and nodded.

"That is great!" The blond grinned.

"Yeah, but I almost never get assigned to him, it's mostly Law who is." Luffy sighed.

"Sabo, we are leaving!" Said a voice from behind.

"Yes, mother. I am coming." He turned and went back to his house.

The raven-haired boy looked up to the grips on the sealing and swung one arm to grip it. His aim was still a little of, but he managed to do it on the third try. Snapping upwards, Luffy was now hanging from there. He would often do that to have a break from the noble kids, and they would find it really fun to have a kid gripped up there, for some reasons.

When public room time was over, Luffy returned to line hands in the air. After the small whistle and the nobles all out of the room, they walked back to the cafeteria. The other sections were already done and were all on their afternoon assignment. Luffy took his tray, the food was served and he sat at his usual table, two hands on each side of his tray. Two guards came with the new boy in between them. Nobody looked up, in fear of getting punished. When they finally could look at the new boy, Luffy froze. The boy smiled at him and sat in his place right next to him. Tears threatened to fall on his cheeks.

Ace...

So... this is a cliffhanger for the first chapter of my new fic, Headache. I hope you enjoyed it.