Hello! Glad you could read this story! Here's an overview of what I want to do with this. The story is just following One Piece, except some concepts have been changed, and events that never took place in One Piece will happen in this!

Note, that this still follows the One Piece storyline. I might add new arcs, but it will still follow the Straw Hats on their adventures.

I'm new to this whole writing thing, so I would appreciate some feedback on how I do!

I do not own One Piece as that belongs to Toei and Eiichiro Oda

"Ace! Don't do this!"

"They have Luffy, Dadan! I'm going to go get him back!"

The door to the mountain bandit's hideout flew open and a furious Ace ran out. Dadan tried to stop him, but Ace was too strong. He easily escaped the mountain bandit's grip.

"Ace, you don't know that! Makino just said that they were talking about an unruly patient! That's not enough information! It could be anyone!" Dadan shouted at Ace's shrinking form.

"Not enough information?! The facility was built 6 years ago! That's around the same time Luffy disappeared! You won't stop me Dadan! I won't let you!"

"Please, Ace! You can't do this! It's a facility owned by the World Government! If you attack it, you'll be labeled a criminal!"

"Dadan!" Ace couldn't take it anymore. He rushed into the woods where he knew Dadan would have trouble going through. "I made a promise to Luffy! I would protect him no matter what!...I'm a shitty brother, Dadan! I couldn't protect him! I couldn't save him from the World...but that doesn't matter! I'm rescuing him now!"

"Ace! You don't even know if he's in there! Please! Come back!" Dadan's voice was fading.

'I'm sorry, Dadan. I never did tell you that I was going to be a pirate when I reached the age of 17. I'm already 16, but I think I'm going to have to set out earlier than I said I would.' Ace lamented as he allowed himself to remember the years that have gone by.

Dadan had been kind to him his whole life. These past 6 years were rough on everyone as Luffy had disappeared shortly after Sabo had been killed.

He almost tripped on a root. Ace continued as if he didn't notice. He was too deep in thought now, and the darkness would not stop him. He would save his brother this time. No matter what!

The facility in question had been one of many that have been built in the past years. He couldn't remember when it had all started. The facilities were built to study Devil Fruits. Like there were many Devil Fruits out here in East Blue! He should have realized that they were here for Luffy!

'There was more than just nobles on that ship!' Ace angrily thought. It wasn't weird that there was a heavily armed escort with a world noble, but it was more than that. There were scientists and researchers on board. They had quickly built a Facility in the mountains between the main city of Goa and Foosha village. They would look for people to work in the complex, such as maintenance workers or even gardeners for the big garden surrounding the building.

'Pretty stupid thing to have a garden in a building like this.' Ace climbed the high fence surrounding the area.

The complex itself was pretty plain looking. A rectangle building surrounded by a huge greenhouse area. A fence went around the area, but there were many guards posted along it to prevent many of the Corbo Mountain beasts from breaching the fence. Ace was smarter than the beasts and had been studying the fence for weaknesses, which he eventually found.

Makino had actually been enlisted to help out at this research facility. It was a mandatory summons that all the villagers get. She had some friends take care of the bar while she was gone. She was "hired" to be one of the gardeners in the area, as they didn't trust Foosha villagers much, and she had overheard that the researchers had trouble with a patient they've had for a very long time, and they were discussing some options on how to deal with the patient. They mentioned such things as starvation, or beatings, things that had terrified Makino as she knew that's not how to treat someone you would call a patient.

Ace had never been inside the Facility. He didn't want anything to do with the World Government after Sabo's death. He was in the greenhouse section, which wasn't really guarded as the fence would repel the Corbo beasts. Taking a good look at one of the doors leading to the interior of the greenhouse, he picked the lock and was able to get inside. Weird fruits and vegetables were being grown everywhere inside. He noticed that there were some flowers on the plants, but all of the plants were fruits.

Makino told Ace about this patient they were discussing, and he was convinced that it was Luffy. Ace had never trusted the government after the burning of Grey Terminal and Sabo's death. Makino didn't argue, as she felt the same distrust towards the World Government after Luffy's disappearance. Garp had done nothing at all, and he never visited anymore, which was strange since he loved Ace and Luffy. They were his only family left.

Pushing past all the plants, he made his way to what he thought was an entrance to the main building. There were tubes from the greenhouse leading to it, so that must be an entrance. Ducking behind a counter that had something like melons growing on it, Ace saw some guards ahead. They seemed to be on patrol, with all of them walking in one direction. He knew that this wouldn't be so clean, it was heavily guarded after all. He took out a pipe and steadied his breath.

When Luffy had disappeared, Ace was devastated. He couldn't believe that he had lost both of his brothers so quickly. The Dadan gang had supported him through this loss, but Ace believed Luffy was still alive and that he would find him. Older brothers were supposed to protect their weaker siblings.

The crack that the pipe made against the skull of the first guard almost made Ace think he had killed him. The other guards turned to see what the noise was about, but were quickly subdued by Ace's furious swings. Even if it turned out his brother wasn't here, Ace wouldn't let an opportunity to hurt these bastards go by. After they were all taken down in a matter of seconds, Ace hid their broken bodies underneath some of the vegetation. He didn't bother to check if they were breathing or not, he just shoved them somewhere he thought they wouldn't be found so soon.

Ace had searched the entire island for Luffy. He didn't want to take any chances with his brother's safety. Luffy was liable to get lost at times, so maybe he just couldn't take the pressure of Sabo dying and ran off somewhere. Ace would understand, just so long as Luffy came back home. He had never checked this place because Luffy would never come to a building like this.

He reached one of the tubes leading into the building. It was clear of any of the weird plants, and it was pretty barren. There was a vent on the wall that looked like a good way to go further into the facility. Ace pried the vent open with a knife he was carrying. He used this knife to cut animals up and threaten people for money in the past, but now it would serve a better purpose of helping Ace rescue his brother.

Ace remembered the times he had spent with his brothers, and he trained even harder since the day they both taken from his life. He didn't know how strong he was, but he wouldn't let something like limits get in his way. He would be as strong as he needed to be to save his brother.

The main building looked more like a prison on the inside. Ace peered through the ventilation shaft at times to see that there were many rooms along the walls that had small windows that were blocked off. It was very strange, as the only prisons he had seen used cages, not sealed off rooms. He wondered what they were for, but it looked inhumane. There were many doctors moving around, even this late at night. They were talking about many things, such as classifications of Devil Fruits, and if they should bring in more samples from some other facility.

None of this mattered to Ace. He was listening about any news about an unruly patient or a rubber human, or anything that might lead him to Luffy! Nothing else mattered.

"I swear, it's been 6 years now! Patient 1 has an unusually strong will."

Ace stopped. He quickly looked for the source of the noise and saw a tall lanky man in a doctor's outfit. He wore pretty big glasses and had a weird purple afro. He was speaking with a smaller man, maybe less than 5 ft tall, who looked more like he used to be taller but someone squished him. He was a wide man who wore a black suit with a top hat.

If Ace wasn't so serious about looking for his brother, he would have thought these were two of the stupidest people he had ever seen. They were currently standing near an open office which Ace had guessed belong to the man that looked like a doctor.

"It doesn't matter how strong of a will he has, we only need samples and tests that affect his body. His mind nor sanity is needed." exclaimed the short pudgy man.

Ace felt rage boil inside him.

"We have many samples and data from Patient 1. He is a very unique specimen, very unique indeed!"

The pipe became dented as Ace's hand gripped it tighter.

"Has he outlived his usefulness?"

"You cannot outlive usefulness, my friend! We can still use him for many more tests! Why, we were just wondering if a Devil Fruit becomes stronger if the ability user has a strong will! Patient 1 will be an excellent subject, an excellent subject indeed!"

The ventilation shaft exploded and the pieces fell from the ceiling. Ace burst forth and clobbered the fat little man's head with such force that the end of the pipe broke.

"Tell me where he is!" Ace roared as he put the sharp end of the pipe to the doctor's head. The doctor was caught off guard and cried out with surprise as he slammed his back into the wall behind him.

"H-h-hold on there, young man!" The doctor had all but collapsed out of terror. His knees were shaking as he eyed his former companion's head as blood seeped from it. "W-who is this he you are talking about?"

"My brother! Luffy! Where are you keeping him?!" Ace was edging the pipe closer to the man's neck. The man might have been tall, but Ace had grown over the years and was much more powerful than the doctor in front of him.

"You mean Patient 1? He's i-" The pipe clanged against his head and he stumbled from Ace's grasp and fell to the floor dazed.

"His name is Luffy! You will tell me where he is or I'll make sure you'll wish you were the first one I hit!"

Taking another horrified look at the fat little man he cried, "L-L-L-Luffy is on this floor! H-he's just down the hall! Room 4, yes Room 4!" The doctor's afro was dented in and blood had stained the edges of the dent. He looked absolutely terrified of Ace, who wore the expression of a demon.

Ace didn't say a word as he smashed the pipe into the doctor's head one last time. The doctor slumped further into the ground as his body didn't move after the blow. Ace didn't turn to see if they were still living as he stormed down the hall.

He didn't see any other doctors or men in suits, but a guard who had heard the noise opened the door near room 4 to see what the commotion was about, but he didn't have a chance as Ace's fist buried into his head and launched the man further down the hall.

Ace took a moment. He finally found his brother, after all these years! He couldn't help but peer into the room the guard had arrived from.

The world went silent. Ace didn't want to believe what he was looking at, but it was real. Too real for him.

A woman laid in the corner. Her long blonde hair stained with blood. She wore no clothing, as what the guard had planned to do with her involved none. She had shackles on her wrists, but the ones on her feet had been removed. Ace could tell that much by seeing the red marks above her ankles. The room looked like it had been transported from hell, as there were many devices lining the walls, none of them looked like it was intended for comfort. The woman had an expression of deep fear and pain, but her eyes affected Ace the most.

There was no life in them. He couldn't tell if she still breathed or not, but it looked like the woman had died a long time ago.

Not wasting anymore time, Ace rushed to room 4. The door looked much more sturdier than the others. It had only one lock on it, but it appeared to be made of some sort of stone.

Ace tried breaking the door down, but was unable. The stone door was very durable. He looked at the lock and was dismayed to find that he couldn't pick it. He remembered the doctor and the fat man and turned to run down back to their broken bodies.

He was running back towards the doctor, when he heard some shuffling. It came from room 3, the room with the girl in it, and Ace stopped. Could he really help the girl and Luffy? He didn't want to think those thoughts. He wouldn't let these monsters keep Luffy from him any longer.

He reached the doctor and the man. Blood was pooled under them. He must have hit them harder than he thought.

'However hard I hit you two bastards, I wouldn't be able to hit you as hard as you deserve' Ace rummaged around in the doctor's coat and managed to produce a key. He only hoped it was the right one.

A sword being drawn from a sheath could be heard behind him.

'Shit!' Ace looked for a weapon. The pipe he had from before could be used, but it was risky. He also had the knife he used to get into the building.

He turned to face what he thought was his attacker.

Ace saw the woman from room 3 bring the cutlass the guard had to her neck. She was crying.

"Don't! Stop!" She was too far to run to. He knew yelling would let his position be known, but he couldn't just let this woman die in front of him! He needed to-

The woman looked at him. He saw the dead eyes that had frozen him once more. Though she was crying, she pointed a faint smile in his direction.

"Thank you" she mouthed to him

She looked much to thin to produce much blood, and she appeared to not have much left, but Ace could swear a fountain poured forth from her neck.

The key almost dropped from his hand. He couldn't believe that the poor woman did that. He didn't know her name, or know how old she was, but judging by her appearance, she had been here for a while.

If she was driven to suicide, what of Luffy?

Bounding across the room, Ace reached room 4 and threw the key into the lock and turned. It clicked and the door opened.

The tears that wouldn't shed for the woman began to show for his brother. For 6 years Luffy had been taken from him.

Luffy had been in this hell for 6 years.

"It doesn't matter how strong of a will he has, we only need samples and tests that affect his body. His mind nor sanity is needed"

Time froze. The world began to grow cold

"You cannot outlive usefulness, my friend! We can still use him for many more tests! Why, we were just wondering if a Devil Fruit becomes stronger if the ability user has a strong will! Patient 1 will be an excellent subject, an excellent subject indeed!"

His body was becoming numb. He couldn't take what he was seeing.

"I made a promise to Luffy! I would protect him no matter what!"

"...Ace?"

The tears couldn't be held back. Reality was rushing back to him.

"LUFFY!"

"Ace...this wasn't your fault."

Brought back to the living from his brooding, Ace looked at Dadan.

"Of course it's my fault! I should have noticed it earlier! Luffy had to go through whatever torture they had for them there...I should have been able to notice that they had them."

"There was no way for you to have known, Ace! Even if you did know that they had built that place to study Devil Fruits in the beginning, there was no way of knowing that they would kidnap Luffy!"

The Dadan gang had tried to cheer Ace up, but they were just as shocked as he was.

Ace arrived back at the hideout covered in blood with Luffy on his shoulders. He was heavily injured and was pleading for them to treat Luffy.

They had never seen Ace so distraught. He even cried! Ace might not have known Luffy as long as he had known them, but it was obvious that Ace loved Luffy dearly.

Luffy's injuries were severe. He was malnourished and his body was cut up from whatever experiments they had preformed on him. He was unconscious when Ace brought him back and he was still asleep.

They were surprised to find that his straw hat was intact, but it was odd that he had it after all he had been through.

"Ace, you have to tell me what happened over there."

Ace's head moved towards Dadan quickly. He wore an expression of hate and rage so fierce it made Dadan gasp.

"...they're monsters, Dadan. They were experimenting and torturing people in there. I saw this girl...she looked like she had been there a while. They did horrible things to her..." Ace spoke quietly.

He felt unwell thinking of the woman he couldn't save.

Dadan looked at Ace wearily. She knew that he had gone through much these past 6 years and had discovered something frightening.

There were things she had to know still.

"When the workers from Foosha went down there, they said the facility was destroyed. They were scared that some bandits had gone and ransacked the place. Ace...what happened?"

"...I killed them, Dadan. I killed all those bastards that dared to harm my brother."

Dadan was silent. She never took Ace as a killer, but what had happened there must have changed him greatly. She knew he was still a good person, she had known the brat for his whole life.

If she were there, Dadan didn't doubt that she would do the same thing to the people that had done this to Luffy.

"Wait a minute, didn't you say there were others? Other people being experimented on? What happened to them?"

Ace didn't move. He knew he would have to tell Dadan at some point, but he never knew it would be like this."

"Dadan, you know that they'll get recaptured if they stay on this island."

"If they're smart then they'll get away by boat before anymore marines arrive."

"...I'm planning on going away with them. They're going to be part of my pirate crew."

Dadan stood up from shock. She couldn't believe this! First, they find that Luffy has been maimed from torturous experiments from the World Government, and now Ace decides to take off?!

"Hey! Just wait a minute! Are you planning on leaving Luffy here after what happened?!"

"I said I was planning, but that doesn't mean it's set in stone, Dadan! Who could protect Luffy if I were to leave?! I'm waiting to see how he is before I do anything!" Ace retorted with a strained breath.

He had thought of that. Leaving before Luffy woke up. He had failed Luffy as a brother and he couldn't bear rejection if his brother hated him.

Luffy had told him he was glad that Ace was alive. He had failed to protect Luffy.

They stared at each other for a while in silence. With a huff, Dadan sat back down and sighed.

"Just don't go leaving us all behind, Ace. I could barely hold it together after we lost Luffy. I don't know what would happen if you were to just take off so suddenly."

Ace didn't respond. He was thinking back to the time he had told Luffy he would leave when he was 17.

Could he really keep his word? Ace didn't know. All he could do was wait till Luffy woke up.

"When do you think you would be leaving?"

"We would have to leave before the government finds out that their base is destroyed. One of the doctors was considering asking for more supplies from another facility. I'm not sure if they really even report to anyone."

Ace didn't do much digging around for information after he had burnt the facility to the ground. The patients had all been evacuated and Ace had taken the blonde woman's body from the hall she had killed herself in.

She didn't deserve to burn with these monsters. He buried her in a place that seemed nice.

Dadan made another sigh. "Jeez, we don't even know when they'll check in on the facility. Every day will be more riskier than the last."

"Even if they were, I won't let them touch Luffy! I won't let this happen again if I can help it."

Before they could continue their conversation, Dogra ran into the room. "Dadan! Ace! Luffy's awake!"

The two rushed out of their seats toward the room Ace and Luffy used to sleep in. They had laid Luffy in the center of the room when Ace brought him in.

Luffy stopped moving around. He was wearing his straw hat which, even after all these years, looked a little to big for him.

Luffy turned towards the new arrivals. A grin split across his face.

"Dadan! Ace! I'm so glad you're both alright!" His voice was the same as ever though it wasn't as high pitch as it was when he was a kid. Ace barely noticed this as he couldn't contain his happiness.

"Luffy! You're alright?! That's great!" Ace ran over and tackled his brother.

"Hey! Be careful! He's still wounded so don't do such careless things!" The room screamed at him.

The two brothers didn't seem to notice as they were reunited after so many years. The room stopped when Luffy suddenly burst into tears

"That's so great! You're all alright! I'm so happy!" Luffy cried. His voice distorted from the tears he shed.

The room was shocked. They were the ones who worried so much about him.

Ace bopped his head with his fist. "Idiot! Why are you crying?! You were the one that was kidnapped! We were the ones worried about you!"

Luffy held his head in some pain. "I thought you all had died! I missed you all so much!". The tears kept spilling from his eyes. His face huge due to his rubber abilities.

"Stop crying, crybaby!" Ace yelled, though he had a tear forming in his eye. He couldn't bear to see Luffy in such pain after reuniting with him after so long. "We're obviously all okay, so there's no reason to cry!"

"I'm just so happy!" Luffy continued, his tears drying up after Ace's command.

"Oh, by the way, can I have some food? I'm starving!" exclaimed Luffy. The room let out a collective sigh of relief. He seemed to be okay for the most part, even if they hadn't seen him in years.

His body was covered in bandages from all the wounds they had dressed. They looked out of place on Luffy.

"Sure, Luffy! I'll get you something to eat." Dadan said, pocketing the handkerchief she had out as she cried a bit when she saw Luffy was okay.

As Dadan exited the room, Luffy looked around. Things seemed to be a bit different than he remembered.

"Hey Ace?"

"Yeah, Luffy?

"What happened? Why did the room suddenly change? It looks a little different."

"Luffy? What are you talking about? You haven't been here for 6 years!"

"What?!" Luffy yelled. "6 years? That's a long time!"

Ace was a bit worried now. "Luffy? What's the last thing you remember?".

Ace cringed. He regretted asking that question because he didn't want Luffy to recall his torture.

"The last thing I remember is running away from some weird people. Everything kinda went dark...and I remember something about people in weird dresses talking about how weird I was."

"So, you don't remember much?" Magra asked. He was concerned as Luffy didn't realize he was gone for 6 years.

"Hmmm..." Luffy took up a thinking pose. He stayed like this for a while and everyone realized he was grunting in concentration. His head took up a red hue and he suddenly gasped for air.

"Ah...thinking hurts. I should stop now so I won't get a fever."

"What?! That's not how it works!" Ace exclaimed. Inside, he was glad that Luffy didn't remember his imprisonment, though he wondered how it would affect him to know that 6 years have disappeared from his life.

"Hey! Where's Dadan with the food? I'm hungry!" Luffy took up another grinned and laughed.

The room felt exhausted, but Luffy was alright after these years, so they couldn't stay too mad at him.

Dadan ran into the room with a bunch of food, Dogra and a few others helped Dadan carry it all in and they threw a mini-feast. This was the first time in a long time since they had all been so happy.

Luffy was finally back and they all felt everything was fine.

Late at night, Luffy tossed and turned. He and Ace decided to sleep inside this time, as it felt safer to the both of them.

Luffy struggled, all he could see was darkness. He heard voices and screams and they all scared him. He thought this place was bad, and that he should get out as soon as he could.

He looked around, but there was nothing around him. "Ace! Ace! Where are you? Help me, Ace!" he shouted as loud as he could. He felt that if he stayed here any longer, something terrible would happen.

Images started to flash through his mind. Images of pain, agony and fear. He saw other people ripped apart. People being violated. People drugged up, but conscious as callous doctors pulled their insides out.

Luffy wanted out, but he found that he couldn't even move anymore. He looked down at his hands and found they were bound. He had straps going across his body and he was on an operating table. A doctor was leaned over him with a scalpel.

"Hey! Stop! Please! Stop! Don't do this!" Luffy screamed. The doctor didn't listen. Attendants stood around, waiting for orders from the doctor.

The doctor was slowly lowering the scalpel closer and closer to Luffy. He struggled as much as he could, but the straps were too strong. His eyes widened as the blade drew blood from him, the doctor had a maniacal glint in his eyes.

Luffy couldn't take it anymore! This was too much!

He felt a like his head was splitting apart. He wanted to tear this man into pieces!.

Rage began to consume Luffy. Hate and madness replaced his fear.

He couldn't just let this man do this to him! He wouldn't let him!

Luffy groaned and cracking sounds resounded through the room. Through half-lidded eyes, Ace saw him get up and then hunch over, as if in pain.

"Luffy? You okay? What's wrong?" Ace was beginning to get up. There was something wrong in the air.

Ace was answered by up sound of an unearthly shout. He stumbled as he tried to quickly stand, but he was smashed through the wall behind him and was sent outside the house.

He looked up to see what had hit him but the figure moved too fast to be seen. He was sent flying towards a tree and he flipped so that his feet would land on the tree.

Pulling his knife from its sheath, he gasped as breathing had become more difficult.

The air became suffocating. Ace was having trouble focusing his eyes.

Looking up, he saw his attacker. The thing had white skin and had no discernible features.

Ace hadn't seen anything like it.

It looked just like some white silhouette. The face had no eyes, but there was a thin line where a mouth should be.

"What the hell?! Who are you?!"

Ace didn't get an answer as the beast threw its hand out at him. To Ace's horror, the limb stretched towards him with great speed and almost hit him right in the face. The fist landed against the tree he had stopped his flight with and it was broken at the site of impact. It began to collapse as Ace realized that the arm had stretched like rubber.

"Luffy! No! What's happened to you?!"

He didn't get an answer, but the thing had used the reverse motion of his arm and was rocketing towards Ace. The thin line grew into a large grin, but it wasn't like Luffy's gleeful smiles.

It was one filled with malice and madness. The teeth had become sharp at the end.

Ace couldn't move. This monster was his brother.

He was like this because he couldn't protect him from the world that had taken Sabo away.

The world grew dark as Ace was overpowered by the aura the creature exuded.

The tree landed on both of them just as the thing had reached Ace, fingers on the other hand outstretched to grab Ace's face.

Ace awoke inside his bedroom. The wall was still broken, but some members of the Dadan family were working on it. He saw Luffy next to him, asleep with a bubble of snot coming from his nose.

He had a bit of a smile on his face as he snored happily.

Ace's vision blanked out and Luffy's face was replaced with that featureless monster.

It wore that great big fearsome grin as its hand encompassed his face and he could feel the powerful grasp that it began to apply.

He was shook from that terrible memory when someone had noticed that he was awake and called for Dadan.

She was shaking his shoulder in worry.

"Ace...Ace! Are you alright?"

Ace noticed that he was covered in bandages and it felt like everything in his body had been crushed.

He grunted, and looked at Dadan.

"Hey...what happened last night? All I remember is getting attacked and then..."

He remembered the tree falling on him and the monstrosity. It was a pretty big tree, which is why it was surprising that the beast could down it in one punch.

"You tell me. The only thing we know is that we heard this scary cry in the middle of the night, and two loud crashes. We found you and Luffy underneath a tree outside." Dadan let go of his shoulder. She walked over to Luffy and knelt next to him.

Luffy continued to snore, blissfully unaware that he was being talked about.

"...I think they did something to Luffy." Ace muttered. He still felt guilty about Luffy's kidnapping

"Ace...you have to let it go. Luffy doesn't blame you for it and there was nothing you could have done."

"No! I could have been there for him! I was supposed to protect my wea-"

"Stop this Ace!" Dadan yelled as she turned to face him.

Luffy's bubble burst and his eyes opened a bit, though he still wore his grin on his face.

"You have to realize you can't be there for him all the time! What happened was something that was unfortunate, but we all have to move on! Luffy doesn't even remember any of it!"

"Morning already? Ah! Ace! Want to go catch some food? I'm hungry!" Luffy yelled energetically. It seemed that he didn't realize what had happened last night.

"Luffy? What's the last thing you remember?" Ace had to know if Luffy knew about this.

"Huh? This question again? I was chased by a bunch of strange looking people and I guess they must have caught me." Luffy answered. It seemed he didn't recall last night's events.

"Oh! By the way, were you the one that got my hat back, Ace?" Luffy asked. "I kinda remember that it was taken from me by those weird people."

Ace had gotten his straw hat back. It was located in the office that belonged to the purple afro man he had interrogated.

The straw hat was in good condition, though it had gathered dust. It must have just sat there in the corner.

"Yeah, I did. I was lucky that I came across it before I left."

"Ah! Thank you, Ace! I don't know what I would have done if I had lost my hat." Luffy was now bouncing towards the door. His stomach could be heard grumbling from afar.

"Wait! Luffy! You can't go yet! You're injured!" Dadan cried. She lept forward to stop him, but he had already kicked the door open and ran off.

"Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed, " Don't worry about me, Dadan! My injuries are mostly healed by now!"

"What? But you had injuries that would cripple normal people! Ah...he's gone." Dadan walked back to Ace.

"What did you see last night?" Dadan demanded as she sat down.

"Luffy...or, what I think was Luffy attacked me." Ace's eyes darkened. He couldn't really understand how this had happened. How his lovable little brother could turn into that creature.

"What do you mean, you think Luffy attacked you? You couldn't tell?" Dadan pressed.

"It was just this human shaped monster. It was all white, and it only had a mouth."

"What?! That's pretty creepy. I've never heard of something like that."

"Yeah, me neither. The reason why I think it was Luffy is because it stretched its arm at me. Like Luffy would if he was able to aim right."

Dadan put her hand to her chin. This was a bit much to take in. That Luffy could be a danger to the whole Dadan family, his family. She could think of a few things to do, but she didn't want to isolate Luffy from everyone.

"Ace!" Luffy could be heard from outside, " Cmon already! I'm hungry! Hurry, hurry!"

"Stop yelling!" Ace yelled, "I'll be right out!". He took a look at Dadan and said, "Dadan, I'll keep an eye on Luffy, you go tell Makino that Luffy's back."

"Stupid brat! I don't take orders from you!" Dadan got up.

"I was planning on doing that anyway. That girl truly missed Luffy. She knew him much longer than I have. It must have torn her up inside when he went missing."

Makino rarely visited since Luffy disappeared. She came up sometimes, but she would have a dark depressing aura around her. Luffy could be compared as a son to Makino, and she knew that he didn't have many people in his life.

She came up to tell them that she had overheard the faculty in the facility talk about someone who could have been Luffy.

Ace remembered the desperation in her eyes. She had shown him the path that led him to Luffy. He felt indebted to her.

"Alright. I'm off, Dadan! I'll see you later." Ace ran out. He didn't want Luffy to get too impatient to run off on his own. That's what led to all of this in the first place.

Ace arrived outside and he saw Luffy near the hole in the wall. He walked over to him and bumped him on the shoulder.

"Hey! Ace!" Luffy rubbed his shoulder, "What's this hole doing here? I don't remember it being here last night."

"What? You just noticed it? You were in the room, you know." It seemed Luffy was as slow as ever.

"Ah! Whatever! Let's go catch something to eat!" Luffy started his run into the forest.

"Hey! Wait a second! Slow down, you idiot!" Ace took off after him.

Luffy ran much faster than he should have, Ace noted. He had been in that facility for a long time, but it seemed to only boost Luffy's strength. They ran past the wrecked tree and went down to the river. Ace watched Luffy the whole time to see if anything was off.

He seemed just as he was before he was taken.

"Alright! Meat! Watch this, Ace!" Luffy yelled as he readied his fist at a alligator near the bank.

"Gum Gum Pistol!" His fist flew at the alligator, though it was much slower than Ace expected and it impacted with reptile's head.

Luffy had sent the beast into the water, but Ace could tell it wasn't enough to kill it.

'What's going on? He should have been able to split the thing's skull in two!' Ace thought as he readied his pipe.

He hadn't bothered to replace or even clean it from the time he had invaded the facility.

Luffy had stopped. He stared at the pipe in Ace's hand, even as the alligator came up to swallow him whole.

"Hey! What are you doing, Luffy?!" Ace pushed his brother out of the way and jumped above the alligator that came crashing into the ground where Luffy once stood.

Luffy wouldn't respond. He just stared listlessly at Ace. He seemed to have his mouth open and couldn't speak.

Memories of blood and torture ran through his mind. Needles piercing skin and liquid flowing from it to him.

Ace shoved the pipe deep into the alligator's skull. Blood and brain matter seemed to erupt from the beast and its life slowly faded away.

He heard muffled screaming so he quickly looked over at Luffy, who had his head wrapped in his hands. Luffy's eyes closed tightly and he clenched his teeth so hard Ace could hear his teeth scrape together.

"Luffy! What's wrong? Are you alright?!" Ace jumped over to see what was happening to Luffy. This was just a normal thing they used to go through, what could possibly make him act this way?!

Luffy didn't acknowledge Ace. He kept screaming and a cracking noise could be heard in the air. Ace was surprised to see that Luffy's skin started to turn white and his clothes started to seep into his skin.

"Luffy!" Ace shook his shoulder. All of a sudden, the noise stopped and things seemed to return to normal.

"...Ace? What's happening? What's going on?!" Luffy screamed. He still wouldn't let go of his head. "I'm scared, Ace!"

"Just calm down!" Ace smacked Luffy's head. He would have felt bad about that if he wasn't scared. He didn't want his brother to become that thing again if he could help it.

"Ouch! Why did you hit me?!" Luffy cried. He clutched his head and it seemed whatever was happening stopped.

"Shut up! Don't freeze like that when we're hunting! Last time I checked, I still don't like cry babies so stop that!" Ace couldn't help but get a little angry. The process seemed to stop, so he wasn't so worried at the moment.

"I...I couldn't help it, Ace. I just remembered some bad things..." Luffy trailed off. His eyes were downcast. "Ace...is everyone alright?"

"What do you mean, Luffy? Of course everyone is alright." Ace didn't want to mention the guards, doctors and the blonde lady. Those had been the only ones to die and he didn't want Luffy to know anything about that.

"It's just...I saw a lot of people get hurt, Ace." Ace looked Luffy in the eyes. Luffy seemed worried.

"I just want to know if they're okay." Luffy his voice was serious.

Ace struggled with himself. He really didn't want to tell Luffy.

"...most of them made it out. There were some people who didn't, but in the end, all the people that were trapped there are okay."

Luffy seemed to brighten up at the news.

"That's good! How about we start working on this guy now?" He asked while eying the alligator's cooling corpse.

"Sure, I'll go get a fire going."

"Yay! Meat!"

"Gum Gum Rocket!"

Luffy called out as we went rocketing towards the bear. He hit it in the gut with tremendous force, breaking it's ribs. The bear cried out in pain and stumbled backwards where Ace was waiting with pipe in hand. He swung it and bashed the back of it's head, stunning it. It toppled over and Luffy had already hopped from it's stomach, hand already outstretched in the air above him.

"Gum Gum Bullet!" His hand stopped its ascent and began to fall and slam into the creatures head. The force caused its nose to collapse into its head, killing the beast. As it lied there, Luffy grinned at Ace.

"Alright! Ace! We're the best!" Ace couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah, we're the best cause we can beat all the biggest animals on this island." Ace said with a grin. He was being sarcastic, but Luffy's enthusiasm was infectious.

"Shishishi! Well, enough waiting! Let's eat!" Luffy didn't wait for Ace as he just took a bite out of the neck of the creature.

"Hey! Luffy! What have I told you about eating things raw! Wait for the fire first!" Ace whacked Luffy with his fist. Luffy pouted while he held his head.

"Aw, but I can't help myself! You know that if I see food, I eat it..." Luffy muttered.

Ace did know what he was talking about, but for different reasons. Luffy seemed to be a bit more direct and ruthless than he used to be. It's been almost a year since he had saved Luffy from the facility. It was currently November, and Ace knew that he didn't have much time to stay due to his promise to leave when he was 17.

"Hey, Ace? Fire? Remember? Jeez, idiot" Luffy took another bite. Blood spewed from the wound and covered Luffy with it.

"I don't want to hear that from you, idiot!" Ace yelled as he thought about hitting Luffy some more. It's not like he can give Luffy brain damage. You needed a brain for that.

He thought more about Luffy's condition as he started working on a fire. After some time, Luffy returned to how he kinda was before the kidnapping. Personality issues aside, he was surprisingly open about the tortures he endured. It's as if it didn't happen to him, but had witnessed it instead.

Ace managed to start a fire without much trouble. He always had a kind of affinity for flames. He stared at it before telling Luffy to bring the corpse over so they could cut it up. Pulling his knife out, Ace began to strip the fur from the bear. They could sell this for a high price.

Luffy grumbled, "...I could eat it now..."

"Don't you dare."

"Ahh! Whatever, Ace! I've eaten things raw before! What's the problem now?"

"It's disgusting watching you eat." Ace wondered if eat was too weak of a word to describe what Luffy did to his prey.

"Shishishi! I bet you just want more meat for yourself!"

"Damn straight. I barely get enough now since you're here. You use your ability to grab as much food as you can and shove it into your mouth."

Luffy had become much faster and stronger as a result of his imprisonment. He mentioned that the scientists wanted to see how strong they could make him, but he gained too much power in a short period of time. They had to lock him up and subdue him with sleeping gas when they wanted samples.

"Told you my rubber powers are powerful!"

"You still can't win against me though." Ace smirked at Luffy.

Luffy returned with a grin, "Someday, Ace! I'll be stronger than you!"

"You have to realize you can't be there for him all the time!"

'I sure hope so, Luffy' thought Ace, recalling Dadan's words.

After they had finished their meal, they sat on the forest floor and looked up into the sky. The sun was blocked by some trees, so they were able to look into the vast blue of the sky.

Some time passed by. The brothers were just enjoying the company. Luffy frowned a bit.

"Hey, Ace?"

"Hm? Yeah, Luffy?"

"How old are you now?"

The question took Ace by surprise. "...I'm 16, Luffy. In January, I turn 17."

"Ah. I see."

More silence passed by.

"...Why do you ask, Luffy?"

"Ah! Because you're leaving when you turn 17, right?"

Ace didn't want to answer. He was just reunited with his brother. He didn't want to leave so soon. Not when-

"Shishishi! You'll see, Ace! I'll be the Pirate King!"

"What?" Ace couldn't help but be shocked. Luffy still held onto that dream?

"I'll be the Pirate King! Remember? That's my dream!" Luffy grinned at Ace.

"...Heh, we'll see, crybaby."

The two could be heard laughing for a while.

Ace didn't expect this. Luffy seemed to be...normal. After everything he went through, he still stayed the same. His stay was prolonged enough as it was. Foosha Village had actually taken in the refugees from the government facility for a while. The populace was surprisingly welcoming, as they couldn't refuse the people help. Many of the refugees had come from different seas, some of them even came from the Grand Line.

The people he saved told Ace that they owed their lives to him. The things they had been put through had scarred them all. They couldn't return to a normal life.

Luffy was no exception. He carried his scars silently. Nightmares plagued Luffy and he rarely slept anymore. It was one of the things that had changed him. Ace worried for his health, but Luffy shrugged him off and laughed, saying that he'll be alright as long as he gets a steady diet of meat.

"Ah! I think we should catch something for the others! We could have a party and have lots of fun!" Luffy exclaimed. He never like being alone anymore and would always want to be with his friends.

"Sure, Luffy. Let's do that." Ace said as he got up. "What do you feel like hunting now?" He fingered his knife. He always made sure to clean it as much as he could and carried it whenever he went.

"How about tiger? I love tiger meat!"

"Luffy...you love every kind of meat." Ace sweat dropped. Hopefully they wouldn't come across anything small enough to fit inside Luffy's mouth. Well, everything could fit in Luffy's mouth.

"Shishishi! I know! Maybe we'll find little snacks along the way!" He licked his lips and grinned.

Ace always told him to be careful with his excitement. He didn't know why, but when he got excited, Ace would get scary looking.

Ace paused as he saw the maniacal glint in Luffy's eyes. Ever since his near transformation, Luffy never showed the monster again, but the idea always kept Ace on the edge.

"Alright, enough stalling. Let's get moving!" Ace told Luffy as he ran by.

"Alright! Here we come, meat!" Luffy chased after Ace.

It was now January in the Goa Kingdom.

It was finally time.

Ace was standing in front of a grave he had dug almost a year ago. There was only a simple stone tombstone with no name on it.

This was the grave of the blonde woman that had killed herself in front of him.

He didn't know why he would come here. He visited the grave at times to remember the tragedy from last year.

To remember how he had found his brother in a twisted facility.

Ace made sure to burn the entire facility down. He had asked some of the survivors the significance of the greenhouse that surrounded the bland building.

The surviving patients told him that the greenhouse was special. The Devil Fruit eaters they managed to bring here were in poor conditions at all times as they performed various experiments on them.

The greenhouse was for the "failures" from those experiments.

Ace wasn't sure what that meant, but he was certain he didn't want to know.

He had told everybody that nothing remained from the blaze. That wasn't exactly the truth.

There was something that had been spared. He had left it here.

He dug into the ground next to the grave. He had buried it in a box he used to keep his treasure in.

As his hands touched it, he was uncertain if he should go through with this. There was no going back once he went through with it.

Then he thought of the things he would have to face on the sea. He had a good crew that could help him to start off, and they were all loyal to him since he had saved them from that hell.

Making up his mind, he pulled the box from the ground and opened it. Pulling its contents out and stuffing it in one of his pockets, he reburied the box and stood yet again in front of the grave.

The thing had belonged to this woman, he was sure of it. He was told that she was forced to wear special sea-stone handcuffs at all times, and as a precaution, they had inserted sea stone into her body so she wouldn't be able to use her ability.

The greenhouse was there to produce Devil Fruits after the original host had died.

He did a short prayer. This woman was not known to him, but he saw a part of her pain and regretted not being able to help her.

"Ace! Where are you?!" Luffy's voice could be heard in the distance. Ace didn't want Luffy to find him here. It would completely ruin his tough guy image.

"Thanks again. I'll make sure no one has to suffer what you had to go through" Ace whispered as he turned and walked away.

"Thank you"

He could still remember her mouthing those words to him as he walked away.

She didn't even have enough strength to speak as she took her own life.

He arrived at some docks they had all built. There were many survivors from what was locally named the "Goa Incident".

Odd that they would call that an incident when they covered up the Grey Terminal "purification" 7 years ago.

The ship they had was one they had stole from some marines. Ace wouldn't mention any of this to Luffy, but that ship was there to check on the facility. There were no survivors as they procured the ship.

Many of the survivors were, oddly enough, not Devil Fruit eaters. They were just tested on by the scientists and doctors to see if they could replicate effects of Devil Fruits, or test the abilities of Devil Fruits on.

He was told Luffy was possibly the scariest test subject to go against as he was known as a demon who would eat his opponents.

Ace, at first wouldn't believe them, but he was more convinced as time went by. He had been told that it really wasn't Luffy's fault. Luffy had been starved and was put on many different drugs to make him believe that he was being attacked. The survivors understood that it was kill or be killed, and they were lucky that Luffy wouldn't exactly kill them.

It wasn't pleasant to be eaten alive though, as they retold their tale to Ace.

The Dadan family and Luffy had been waiting at the docks for him. Dadan was absent, but he didn't mind. He left a note for her that he knew would make her cry. She was too easy to read sometimes, he thought with a smile.

"Ace! You're here! Thought you were going to miss your ship!"

"Luffy, there's no way I would miss this. I just had to go get something first."

"Huh? Wait! Don't tell me you were off stealing the food I hid underneath our base!"

"Luffy...you really can't keep a secret sometimes, can you?" Ace and the Dadan family sweat dropped.

One thing that hadn't changed about Luffy was that he was as brainless as ever.

"Oh! So you didn't? That's good." Luffy sighed in relief. He didn't want anyone to take that before he got back.

"So that's the feeling you express towards your brother as he's leaving? Worried that he took your food?" Ace said with a grin.

"Hey now! We'll meet again and when we do, I'll be much stronger, Ace! You just wait and see!" Luffy grinned at him. He held his fist out for Ace to bump.

Ace obliged him and bumped his fist with his. "You better, Luffy! But remember, you'll never be as strong as me!" Ace couldn't help but smirk at his brother.

Luffy and Ace had trained as hard as they could together in what little time they had left. It was kinda hard to do so since they had been visited by Makino almost every day. She cried in happiness as she saw Luffy and wanted to see him as much as possible.

Ace nervously asked her if she could teach him manners. He, Luffy, and Makino spent a lot of time together as Ace learned more on how to act polite.

"Shishishi! We'll find out later!" Luffy shouted as Makino and the Mayor arrived. Everyone was finally here.

"Alright, Luffy! Everyone! Be sure to keep reading the papers! I'll be a famous pirate someday!" Ace yelled as he jumped onto the ship.

His crew mates were already to leave. They didn't really like company, but they waved at the group on the shore. They were indebted to the Foosha villagers and the Dadan family.

Everyone was saying goodbye as the ship set off. Ace kept waving his arm as the island slowly faded from view.

He had finally set off to start on his dream.

Many crew members had passed by, making sure everything was working as they sailed away.

Ace smiled as he realized he would need much more strength if he wanted to protect his family on the ship. He walked away to the helm.

"Captain? Anything wrong?"

He removed the object from his pocket and held it to his mouth.

"No. Nothing's wrong."

Ace took a bite of the Devil Fruit he had taken from the grave.

"I'm just glad that we're setting off on a new adventure!"

"Alright! Back to training!" Luffy yelled as he ran back to the forest.

It had been about a month since Ace had set off, and they were already hearing things about him.

He even had a bounty poster! They called him, "Fire Fist Ace".

Which was weird because Ace didn't have a Devil Fruit, thought Luffy.

His arm stretched out and grabbed a tree. He pulled himself to it, let go, and went sailing through the air some distance before he crashed into the ground.

"Shishishi! I need to get stronger and stronger! So much that I can protect everything!"

Luffy had arrived in the area he used to fight Ace and Sabo in. Ace and Luffy had used this area to train themselves for a while and the land was marked by craters.

Making sure his hat was still on his head, he walked to the center and sat down. He took a deep breath and tried to concentrate.

He focused on the feeling of hunger and pain.

As he did this, his skin started to turn white and his face was beginning to lose its features. He looked up. He didn't want to tell Ace this new trick he had found out.

It was still hard to concentrate, but it granted him a bit more strength than usual.

Luffy was a little worried he might get a fever though.

"Alright! Let's see what I can do!" he shouted as he stood up. The white skin turned back into his tannish skin and his features returned. Luffy frowned. He was disappointed that he wasn't able to do much with it.

"Gah! I still can't get it right..." he muttered as he turned back to normal.

He walked to a tree and looked at it. It seemed pretty sturdy. At least, until Luffy stretched his arm back and slammed his fist into it. The tree cracked and splintered as it fell over.

Luffy jumped out of the way and watched as it crashed into the ground, dust blowing up as it landed.

Even without that transformation, he was still quite strong.

He grinned. He felt a little hungry and decided to go hunting.

After a short walk, he came across a giant boar. It was stripping berries of a bush and was too late to notice Luffy standing next to it.

It's eyes widened as it saw a drooling human wearing a hat next to it. Luffy licked his lips as the boar started to run away.

"Not so fast! Gum Gum-...!" He spoke as he jumped into the air, his legs stretching towards the boar, curling around each other before his feet grabbed its head.

"...Giant Hammer!" The boar went twisting through the air and eventually slammed into the ground headfirst. It didn't move after the dust had settled around it and it fell onto its back.

"Alright! Meat! Ace! Get the fire re-..." Luffy began, but trailed off. He forgot Ace had gone on for a second.

"Ah! Oh well! I think I can just get a fire started!" He started to get a fire going, but stopped midway. He looked at the boar hungrily.

"Well...Ace isn't here and I can just eat it as is...". Reluctantly, he got up and walked to the boar's corpse. He opened his mouth wide and took a bite out of it.

The warm blood tickled his throat as he swallowed. The meat was juicy and delicious.

Wasting no more time, Luffy quickly began to consume the corpse. Eventually, there was nothing left but bones and Luffy sat down, belly comically bloated.

"That was good! Shishishi! I don't know why Ace didn't want me to do that!" Luffy shouted. He grinned a bit, but he couldn't notice the sharpness of his teeth as he began to wonder what to do next.

3 years. That's how long Luffy had to wait till he could set sail. All of this time, but Ace had gone on already.

Luffy jumped up. After warming up a bit, the extra weight disappeared and he began to train. His training consisted of stretching as far in the air as he could with his limbs and lift heavy rocks.

Also, he needed to eat every creature that he ran into because meat made him stronger. He didn't understand why it did, he just felt better after eating.

After his workout, he ran back to the Dadan hideout with an alligator he had killed. When he arrived he wanted to throw another party, as everything was better with laughter and noise. Makino had visited and everything was better.

Late at night, Luffy laid outside the hideout. He looked up into the sky and wondered how long 3 years was. The days were getting a bit longer without Ace.

He shook his head. He couldn't be thinking like this! He needed to get stronger so he could show Ace who was better!

After much training, Luffy had passed out in the forest. His nightmares hadn't stopped, but they didn't really disturb Luffy that much. He had to be brave!

He would no longer fear his nightmares!

Luffy had felt a presence in his nightmares though. It felt like something was next to him as he witnessed the atrocities that were committed in the place he had been held in.

The presence would never make itself known, but Luffy could sense something off about it. He felt an all consuming rage coming from it and he never wanted to meet it if he could help it.

Shortly after waking up, Luffy ran outside.

Whatever it was, it had never attacked him or hurt him. Another day had ended and this one was just beginning.

Luffy wondered what kind of adventures he could have today.

The three long years passed by.

Luffy continued to train as much as he could, and today was finally the day! He was going to set off after his brothers and become the Pirate King!

"Hey, Luffy! Wouldn't you want to set off on something else? I think I got a boat you can borrow!"

"Nah! No thanks! I'd rather set off with this." Luffy replied. He was setting off from Foosha village and the villagers had all come to say goodbye.

Luffy had already said his goodbyes to the Dadan family. He managed to make Dadan cry.

Luffy laughed. She was too easy to read sometimes.

He waved back at the villagers. They had all been so kind to him and he would miss them all. Makino and the mayor especially.

"Sabo! Ace! You may have taken off before me, but I'll catch up to you!" Luffy shouted to the sky. The villagers were a bit confused, but attributed that to him being Luffy.

Something emerged from the sea behind Luffy. The ripples from the emergence shook Luffy's boat.

Luffy looked behind and saw the seaking that had taken Shank's arm so long ago.

"So, it's you?" Luffy looked up at it. The beast had gotten bigger from 10 years ago.

It started rushing towards him, but Luffy still had a smile on. He stretched his arm backwards until it reached a sufficient distance.

"Gum Gum Pistol!" He cried as his fist shot forward. It caught the seaking by surprise as it impacted with its face. The force behind the blow was so strong that it had actually launched it out of the water

The villagers were stunned by Luffy's strength.

He had gotten much stronger than that little runt they used to see running around the village.

"Shishishi! See the results of my training? I'm just going to get stronger and stronger! Until I become the Pirate King!"

Luffy shouted into the sky. Watching him on that day, everyone agreed that they felt that he could actually do it.

Some time had passed since Luffy set sail.

"Oh? This might be trouble."

He was currently trapped in a whirlpool and drifting closer to the center where it would sink the boat.

Luffy sighed. "This would really suck if my adventure ended here. What should I do?"

He thought for a while. While he was thinking, he was losing precious time.

"Ah! I know!"

He dumped the contents of a barrel he had on board and he sealed it shut.

Listening to the roar of the whirlpool was making him sleepy. Before passing out, he wondered if this was a good idea.

Combined the first 6 chapters or so in what I call, "The Growing" arc.

Hope you all enjoyed it!