Let's Go One More Time On An Adventure Together!

Luffy Has a Panic Attack

With so many things begging for his attention, Marco forces himself to focus solely on his mate above him. Not only is he the best distraction, but he also noticed some things that bothered him.

"Luffy?"

Tilting his head, Luffy continues to look down at Marco from his spot on his stomach.

"Yeah, pineapple?"

Rolling his eyes in amusement. Marco snorts a laugh at the familiar nickname.

"Those bandages. How did you get hurt? I thought you said you got away?"

"Ah..."

Luffy looks down and away in shame.

"I... did get away... but...um...I.........."

Many of the commanders get an unpleasant sense of dread in the pit of their stomachs.

"Ototo?"

Izo narrowed his eyes at Luffy gently, grabbing his hand and squeezing.

"Luffy..... How did you get those injuries?...

Marco asked, a dangerous gleam in his eyes and a growl in his words.

Luffy just shakes his head and refuses to meet their eyes.

Now, even Newgate was getting worried.

Marco gently cups his mates' cheeks, rubbing his thumbs along his cheekbones in soothing circles. A type of grounding method him and Law learned works wonders in getting luffy to open up to them when he wants to bottle things up and act like they don't matter so as not to be a bother.

"Luffy, you know Law, and I don't like it when you do that. Come on, Lu talk to me. What's going on in that head of yours, hmm?"

Sucking in a shuddering breath, Luffy stares at Marco with wide, scared eyes. Causing the Pheonix to panic and swiftly sit up.

"Lu? Hey, what's wrong, sunshine? You gotta talk to me, bud . What's got you so spooked?"

Luffy softly shook his head with tears streaming down his face as he trembled softly in Marco's lap.

Everyone was concerned about the boy. Nobody had a clue what was wrong or how they could help. Even Newgate was helpless in this situation.

Everyone was unsure how to fix the mess they seemed to have landed in, everyone except Thatch. Because he had an idea of where this might go. But only because of his experience with Marco in the past.

First, Thatch gets his brothers attention. Then, he gestures for them to circle the kid between the three of them.

At first, they thought he was asking to hug the kid and nodded with agreement. But when neither of them moved, he shook his head before gesturing again.

Marco and Izo share a confused glance.

Doing the gesture for hug again, they start to nod their heads again, only for Thatch to put up a finger in a wait sign.

Next, he puts up 3 fingers and points at each of them before doing the hug gesture again.

This time, they understand he wants to have them all hug Luffy at the same time.

Both of their eyes light up in comprehension, and they send Thatch a relieved smile in gratitude.

With a bit of shuffling, Luffy now sat curled against the three commanders in a surrounding hug, grounding him and reminding him that.

'He's in the past, he's safe, he's not a slave, Teach can't touch him again.'

"There you go, sunshine. Come back to us, ok? Where right here. You not alone, ok? You're safe, I'm safe, Law's safe, we're in the past. We're on the Moby Dick flag ship. You're surrounded by my brothers and Oyaji. No one can get us here.

Slowly, the boy went limp. With each reassuring sentence, more and more tension left his small mates body.

Luffy could feel his shaking come to a stop, as he sagged against the three, holding him so carefully, yet so firmly making him feel safe and secure at the same time.

"Can you feel that warmth, Lu? Follow that feeling, follow it until you can feel our hands, ok?"

"Mmhmm..............sorry...."

Luffy mumbled into Marco's chest.

Marco just sighed in a defeated way before gently nuzzling his head as he chastised Luffy.

"Huuuhhh... Luffy, you don't have to apologize for having a panic attack. You are not a burden. We want you to be open with us because we care, rmember?"

All he gets in response is an overwhelmed whine as his sun buries his head further into his chest to hide.

(Poll in comments, please read!) ❤️ 💙 💜