The Return Of Joyboy!

Chapter 25

"Mom," He desperately bawled. "Why can't I be with you?"

He didn't get an answer. His eyes welled up with more tears, as a single tear rolled off his mother's blue eyes. Oh his mother wanted to comfort him so much, to wipe the tears away, but she couldn't.

"Why am I supposed to be lonely?" He looked down from the place where he was trapped by his duties. The tears blurring his sight. 

"I'm sorry," That's all his mother said before diving in. Fresh tears welled up in his eyes as he curled up in himself and sobbed. He hated being lonely.

Footsteps echoed through the darkness, which was lightened by his glow and the sun's ever present brightness.

"Son," The voice which could be the harshest he had ever heard spoke up. With his red watery eyes he looked up to see his father, who sat beside him.

"Why?" He asked, his throat sore and heart all feeling heavy. "Why me?" Why me when all my other siblings are with each other, with Mom, and... free. Why am I bound to the duties? Why?

His father read all of those from his drenched face, without him having to actually voice it.

"It's the duty of the prote-" His dad began and he didn't want to hear it at all. Not again and not anymore. It was so hard.

"I'm tired," A low voice filled with pain came from the young god as he looked below.

Creatures interacting with each other, his brothers and sisters playing and performing their duty playfully with no restriction. Do they miss him? He doesn't know. 'Cause its only in some centuries that they remember to greet him. Why? Why was he created like this? To live this lonely existence, where he could only watch from afar. 

.

Ace felt something was wrong, but wasn't able to point to what was wrong. All he knew that someone he loves needed him. One look on Sabo, he felt he saw him looking the same. His tense shoulders, and the way he was scanning the area confirmed it.

At sudden, a low sob hit their ears, making their head snap to their little brother who's clinging to Ace's unbuttoned shirt and shaking. Ace stood up at once, ignoring the ever present eyes of Whitebeard and Marco. He cradled Luffy in his arms perfectly as he looked at Sabo. Luffy didn't let go of his shirt. One look on Deuce showed that he had got the message.

"Thanks for the party," He heard Sabo speak as he headed towards the Piece of Spadille. The Spades retreating with them. 

"Hey, Lu," Ace whispered hoping that his brother would hear above the violent sobs and the shaking he was going through. 

The sky was getting a gloomy shade of gray, making Ace and Sabo frown. They knew the sky reacted to their brother's whims sometimes and it was the perfect picture of what their brother was going through. He was sad and in a nightmare. The air started feeling heavy with humidity and a faint rumble of thunder echoed as Luffy started crying harder holding Ace. 

"Ace," Sabo said. Ace hummed in reply showing that he was listening. "We need to get him up." He knows that but how much even he tried to shake him, the boy held to him as if he would die if he can't get a single touch. The wind was also picking up, stirring the leaves and dust on the ground. Few drops of rain started to hit the ground and luckily they had reached the ship by that time. 

"...Why?" Luffy whispers in the most heartbreaking way.

"We get off the Island tonight. There will be shifts for the night. Deuce is the first one to go. We will be out in some minutes." Ace ordered his crew and went in his cabin, with Sabo following.