The Devils Wear White

Chapter-4

The brothers spent their morning eating breakfast and talking. The two had asked Luffy where he had been taken and what happened but Luffy had gone distant, not saying much except that it was a really white room and he really hurt. They didn't ask anymore after that and instead started creating new signs for their sign language, Luffy finding it enjoyable which encouraged Ace and Sabo to continue doing it. Luffy seemed to be feeling a little better today, though was still sore and aching in some places, barely able to sit up comfortably.

"Oh! And this could mean, 'You stink!'" Luffy said, scrunching his nose up as Sabo laughed and Ace reprimanded Luffy.

"Why would we need a sign like that dummy?!" Ace asked. Luffy pouted.

"Because you smell," Luffy said bluntly. Ace flushed and sputtered while Sabo laughed louder, knowing it was true. The three hadn't been able to take a bath in a month so they were all smelling riper than normal.

"W-Well... So do you!" Ace shouted back defensively. Luffy pouted, crossing his arms.

"Do not!" Before a fight could break out Sabo calmed himself down, planning on being the mediator.

"Now now-"

"Do to! We all smell! Even Sabo!" Ace said.

"Hey!" Sabo said, an offended look on his face, even though he knew it was true.

"Ace is a meanie," Luffy muttered, causing Ace to scowl. Footsteps sounded in the hall and the brothers were amazed they even heard them. It was pure luck that they almost always heard footsteps when the sounds of pain coming from the others in cells was loud and overwhelming. It was never silent in the hall.

"Who's ready for some tests?" A voice asked cheerily from down the hall. It still sounded far away but the sound of a cell opening and someone screaming and crying was loud and clear. Luffy shivered beside his brothers and the two stood up defensively. They had watched Luffy go last time without being able to fight. This time they were going to be prepared. The sound of cells opening and people screaming continued to echo throughout the hall, gradually getting closer.

"11023, 11059, 11004." It was Haru's voice reading off numbers, sending chills down the brothers' spines.

"11080, 1104- Oh, seems we need to send 11049 out," Haru said, coming into view of their cell and looking at the one across from them, 11049's cell, the one who had talked to them their first day there. Sabo paled, having assumed the person there had died that day, and when he heard nothing from that cell since he assumed he had been correct.

A doctor- Sabo found it was easiest to just call everyone there doctors, whether they were ones or not- went into the cell and Ace and Sabo watched as he pulled out a body that was definitely no longer alive.

They had no hair and there were bruises and cuts littering the small person's entire body. They looked like they were older than Sabo and Ace, but not by much. Ace shifted his stance to completely block the body from Luffy's sight. They both turned green at the sight, but also the thought that the poor person had been rotting in that cell for at least a day and no one had noticed.

"Now, back on task. Seeing as there is now an extra opening, 11097, 11062, and 11085, it seems you're all up for tests today!" Haru said in his normal, cheery voice. Ace growled at the man as two other doctors came in, grabbing Ace and Sabo despite them doing their best to fight back. Turns out, they were a lot weaker than they thought due to lack of proper food and training. Haru came in as well, grabbing Luffy who was much too weak to even struggle.

"Let us go! Bastards!" Ace shouted, being pulled out of the cell and down the hall. Sabo was pulled out behind him and, though he struggled, he spent more time looking at his surroundings. He saw the end of the hallway now, cells lining the entire two sides of the hallway. There seemed to be about 20 cells, 10 on each side, and at the very end of the hall on the left, there was a space next to the last cell. Sabo assumed it was a door and made a mental note of it in his head, turning to focus on the right side. There was the same amount of cells, but instead of the extra space next to the last cell, there was an extra space in the middle, about 5 cells in. Sabo could clearly see a door here as well as they got closer and realized that that was where they were headed.