Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

Chapter 48: Chaos Comes Calling

"Luffy..." Nami said softly as she shook her head. "When we finally get you back... I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

She said that last part so loudly that she made several of the others jump back from her in fright, but she didn't care. She stood there, breathing hard, her eyes shadowed over as she played everything that they had just seen in her mind's eye. "How...?" she croaked out, "How could he do something like that to us?"

"Nami?" Usopp asked timidly, making sure that he stood far enough back so that if she lost it completely, she wouldn't attack him.

"How?" she asked again, and that was when he noticed that she was crying a little. Tears gently falling from her eyes onto the ground. "What was he thinking doing something so stupid? What was he doing when he made a deal like that?!"

Her hands curled up tightly into fists as she yelled, "WHAT KIND OF IDIOT GIVES UP TEN YEARS OF THEIR LIFE AND NOT TELL US?!"

"But he had no choice!" Franky tried to reason. "You saw how bad a shape he was in!"

"He shouldn't have fought that poisonous freak to begin with!" Chopper cried out, on Nami's side here. He unable to get those terrible images of Luffy strapped to that table, the blood that poured out of his body... his screams of pain still rung in his ears and he couldn't help but start crying all over again. He wasn't the only one though... Brook, Usopp, and Zoro looked like they were agreeing as well.

Zoro was looking more angry than sad however—as if he too wanted to kill Luffy for keeping something like this a secret from them for so long. But then his hand, that was clenching his sword so tightly a moment ago, suddenly slacked and became almost limp. He was the last person to be talking about hiding your own suffering from the rest of the crew. In his mind's eye he saw Kuma standing before him, setting the terms for agreeing to let Luffy and the rest of the crew live... by taking in Luffy's suffering.

Brook was uncharacteristically quiet, tears silently falling from his eye sockets as he stared at Luffy breathing hard, as everyone else in the memory stared at him in shock. Brook honestly didn't know what to think here. On one hand he was relieved that Luffy had survived such an ordeal... but seeing what he had to go through on his own? He just couldn't help but feel as though his non-existent heart has been torn in half.

"I... I'm not any happier than you are here," Brook said softly. "But Luffy-san is alive and I am truly grateful for that."

They looked at him, trying to remember that they should all just count their blessings that Luffy did make it out alive. But the realization that Luffy had suffered through all that pain, had to give up ten years of his life... all to save his brother? That was something they couldn't forget and had planned to talk that over with Luffy as soon as they left this horrible place.

But just then the large group of people who had been helping to feed Luffy had all screamed out, "HE ABSORBED ALL THAT ENERGY!"

"You're unbelievable!" another screamed out. "You an't human!"

"There's no way you could've survived Magellan's poisons!"

"He beat the poisoning in only 20 hours!"

"HE WAS IN PAIN LIKE THAT FOR 20 HOURS?" Chopper screamed, pulling at his face as he thought that through. He couldn't imagining anyone having to suffer like that for so long.

"Well, you can't deny that he didn't deserve to live after all that," Franky gulped down. If that had been him, he'd probably have lost his mind and killed himself.

"It's an unbelievable miracle!" some whispered in awe.

"A miracle..." they heard Ivankov said. "This is more than a miracle...!"