【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 436 It’s Your Existence

"But it all worked out well, didn't it?" Sabo grinned. "You and Ace fit in perfectly here. I can tell you're happy here. I'm glad Ace isn't in the same state he was when he was little."

"Yes, this is where he belongs." Lucci said with a smile, "After becoming a Whitebeard pirate, Ace rarely falls into that state anymore. He has received a lot of support, so he has become happier and happier. They really make Ace better and better."

"I don't think it's entirely because of Whitebeard and the others. Another reason is probably because you've always been by his side." Sabo suddenly looked at Lucci and said seriously, "At first I also thought it was because Whitebeard and his pirate group supported Ace, but after seeing how Ace and you get along, I realized that it was actually you, Lucci, who really helped Ace get out of the darkness."

"Me?" Lucci stared at Sabo blankly, then frowned in confusion. "How is that possible? I didn't do anything. This is something we didn't do when we were kids. When we first started sailing with Ace, I couldn't successfully stop Ace after he fell into that state. So it wasn't me..."

"It was your presence that allowed Ace to successfully escape." Sabo interrupted Lucci's self-denial, a gentle smile on his face, and a firm tone, "This is true, Lucci. I think even if you lost your memories at that time and didn't recognize each other, the familiarity of brotherhood has always surrounded you, and your subconscious has long recognized each other."

Lucci remained silent. His thoughts were a bit confused. He looked up at Sabo's eyes, searching for any trace of lying, but there was nothing. There was only sincerity. Sabo really believed that, so he had not completely forgotten his brother, nor was he a complete failure. Thinking of this, Lucci smiled genuinely, "Thank you, Sabo."

"What an idiot! Stop thanking me." Sabo hugged his brother tightly. He liked Lucci's smile now. It was the only smile he liked tonight. "We are brothers, brothers forever."

"Well, it always will be, nothing can change that." Lucci said, closing his eyes.

"Of course," Sabo grinned before patting Lucci on the back and releasing him, happy to have his brother back at his side.

……

Five days have passed since Ace and Lucci were rescued from Impel Down. They cannot say that they have completely returned to the situation before the incident, but they are making gradual progress. They have also brought back the sisters (nurses) who stayed on the island, and some of the wounded have returned to work one after another. Life on the Whitebeard is gradually returning to normal.

Even though Luffy had been recuperating in the infirmary for the past two days, almost all of Whitebeard had met him, although his bad habit of not calling people by their names properly annoyed some people.

But after Harta's repeated attempts to get him to call him by his correct name failed, the Whitebeards gave up and accepted Luffy's nicknames for them.

In fact, most people believe that it was the hot-tempered Captain Ace who beat his younger brother too hard when he was a child, causing irreparable damage to his brother's head. This explains why the three brothers doted on Luffy so much, so it doesn't matter if they just call him a nickname.

Well, he was still a little unhappy. Every time he heard Luffy call him Pineapple, he would think of that prank. Marco frowned in his heart.

Marco sat down in the restaurant and noticed that Ace didn't come with Lucci today. In the past, two of them would come to the restaurant to eat and then bring the food to the other two in the infirmary. But today, only Lucci was here. Marco was a little confused. "Lucci, Ace didn't come today?"

"Lucci said Ace is still sleeping." Thatch grinned and placed a plate of breakfast and a drink in front of Marco. "Coffee."

"Thank you." Marco nodded and turned to look at Lucci, who still looked calm, with some worry. They all saw how he and Luffy parted ways unpleasantly yesterday, and the dead animals on the island also showed how angry Lucci was.

Ever since he found Lucci last night, he had been worried that Lucci would trap him, but after a night's rest, he noticed that Lucci's expression was not as bad as he thought.

Even though the dark circles under his eyes were still clearly visible, the light in his eyes was not as dim as he had seen when he accidentally looked at him while he was treating him last night, and his expression was not as depressed and dejected as he had imagined, so Marco took this as a good sign and the situation was not too bad.

"Lucci, why are you wearing your shirt properly today and buttoning it up?" Izo asked in confusion. "Although I'm glad you didn't end up like Ace and didn't dress properly."

Marco didn't even raise his head and continued to drink from the cup. He knew the reason but didn't say it out loud.

"I was just about to ask." Thatch also came over exaggeratedly, "You were led astray by Ace before, and always wore your clothes open like him, but fortunately you didn't go shirtless like Ace." As he spoke, Thatch began to express his relief exaggeratedly.

"Are you that surprised?" Lucci was amused by Thatch's exaggerated expression. "I've worn it before, too."

"I do wear it, but I never button it." Harta complained.

"You bastards, are you saying bad things about me in front of Lucci while I'm gone?"

"Who dares to say anything bad about you?" Thatch shouted exaggeratedly, complaining to Ace who walked in from the door, "Don't try to find an excuse to burn my precious hair."

"That'd be great." Ace glanced at Thatch's hair, then sat down next to Lucci. "Why didn't you call me today?"

"I see you're sleeping soundly." Luffy said with a smile.

Marco noticed that Izo silently pushed a tray next to him to Ace. He thought it was the food that Izo was going to eat, but he didn't say anything. He knew that everyone was still scared about the two young crew members.

"Marco, did you get today's newspaper?"

"Yes, I received one, but I haven't opened it yet." Marco nodded and handed the newspaper he received that morning to Lucci.

"What's written on it?" Ace looked at Lucci staring at the newspaper for a long time and asked curiously.

"Yeah, I talked about our escape from Impel Down, but that's a bit exaggerated." Lucci threw the newspaper to Ace and complained, "How could I have such great power to mobilize the Revolutionary Army?"

"What does this mean?" Everyone at the table gathered around Ace and looked at the newspaper in his hand, which read "Prison Break of the Century."

"But it's a good thing that they didn't focus their attention on Luffy." Lucci continued.

"It's a pity that Teach also escaped, but he will definitely not bother us in the next few months." Marco looked away from the newspaper, crossed his arms, and said in a serious tone.

Ace's nerves were tense. He clenched the newspaper in his hand and glared angrily at the report about Blackbeard's escape. "That bastard."