【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 454 He did it to protect me

“But he eventually pulled through with his own tenacious will.” Reilly took a sip of his drink and continued, “This loss of control wasn’t his fault. He had experienced too much at that age. From the shocking scars I saw on his young body back then, I could guess what he had gone through before he met me.”

"What's more, their memories were taken away by violence. Being forced to find a new direction in life after their self-awareness was torn apart by violence, and then having to quickly rediscover the world with the damage they suffered, is a heavy pain."

"Although he was very good at controlling his emotions and remained calm, and always showed unusual composure, Lucci was still a child at that time. I guess this uncontrollable loss of control may have been a self-defense mechanism that his young body could not withstand."

Ace and Sabo looked at Rayleigh with serious expressions, but remained silent and attentive. Luffy sat in his chair, staring quietly at Lucci lying on the bed.

“However, apart from that one time, he never fell into such a completely out-of-control state again, although he would occasionally drift off during training.” Seeing their worried expressions, Reilly continued, “But no dangerous situation occurred.”

"Based on my two observations, when he is out of control, he consumes twice the energy in battle as when he is fighting while he is conscious. When he is out of control, he should be unable to control his strength, his Haki, or his Devil Fruit ability. In fact, he cannot perceive anything during this process. Pain, overexertion, and fatigue will all disappear. This is very dangerous."

"If no one stops him, he will keep fighting until his body completely breaks down, he is exhausted, and his lungs may even collapse and his heart stops beating."

“It’s terrifying.” Luffy stared intently at his brother.

“That feeling of completely losing yourself must be terrifying,” Sabo said, frowning.

“Indeed, but the inability to control it is the most terrifying thing,” Rayleigh replied.

Ace's face was grim, his nails dug into his forearms, and his jaw was clenched. "Is there no way to solve this?"

“The brain is very complex, especially this kind of loss of control; we don’t understand the mechanisms,” Ridley explained.

"How can we stop it?" Luffy turned to Rayleigh and looked at him seriously. He was worried that if this situation happened again, they would not be able to help Lucci.

“Since you’ve already successfully awakened him once before, the same method should work.” Rayleigh looked at Ace and teased, “This time, it’s very likely that I arrived too early.”

“However, if you can’t wake him up, then you’ll have to use force. It might hurt him, but it’s better than letting him fight until his body breaks down and causes irreparable damage,” Rayleigh said in a relaxed tone.

"That's good, that's all I want!" Luffy grinned, leaning back in his chair as he spoke, stretching out his arms. "That way, next time Lucci has an attack, we can calm him down."

Rayleigh laughed, then looked at Ace's arm, took a sip of his drink, and said with a smile, "I wasn't sure about the last time, but this time it should be caused by an unusual fear and anger."

Ace instinctively placed his hand on his already bandaged wound, looked down at his brother, and instantly understood that it was his injury that triggered Lucci's loss of control. "Lucci thought I had been shot, which is why he became so furious. He was trying to protect me."

"Ace, what's wrong?" Luffy tugged at Ace's sleeve. "Are you alright?"

Ace tensed up for a moment, then looked at the worried Luffy and Sabo and confessed, "I... I feel responsible. I shouldn't have been so stupid as to provoke that Marine into firing. As a Logia-type Devil Fruit user for so long, I didn't even realize that the other party might have Seastone bullets that are effective against Devil Fruit users."

“Ace was indeed quite clumsy.” Luffy nodded in agreement. “But you shouldn’t blame yourself.”

Ace grabbed Luffy's cheeks in dissatisfaction and pulled them apart, saying, "It's unbelievable that I got scolded by my younger brother."

Sabo couldn't help but laugh as he looked at Luffy's serious expression. Then he looked at Ace and said, "Luffy is right, Ace. Lucci just did what he was supposed to do, and it's all over now. What we need to do is let him know that it was the right thing to do, and not let him feel too guilty."

“I know.” Ace released Luffy’s cheek, crossed his arms, and looked at Lucci again. “I’m just terrified. He seems unable to control this state, and he can’t wake up on his own. What if we’re not there when it happens again…”

“Indeed, it’s dangerous, but I’m not too worried,” Rayleigh said with a smile.

Ace looked at Rayleigh with a puzzled expression, not quite understanding his words. Wasn't he very concerned about Lucci?

Seeing the three brothers' puzzled looks, Rayleigh smiled, took another sip of his drink, and then said, "Actually, you don't need to worry too much."

“Based on previous experience, he shouldn’t have any memory of this loss of control,” Rayleigh reassured him. “I suspect it’s some kind of self-protective mechanism that his consciousness developed after his body completely collapsed due to the last loss of control.”

"What is this?" Luffy looked at his two older brothers in confusion.

Ace looked at Rayleigh and asked, "Does that mean Lucci won't remember anything he did in this state?"

“That was indeed the case last time; he only remembers fainting,” Rayleigh explained.

"That's why you gave us the same style of clothes." Sabo looked thoughtfully at the clothes in his hand.

“That depends on what you want to do,” Rayleigh said with a smile. “The situation is different now. I can see the connection between you. Lucci was able to regain his memories because of you, right?”

"So if there is anyone in this world who can help him, it must be you. He has you by his side now. You can tell Lucci everything. After he knows, he may be able to control the situation."

After Rayleigh finished speaking, he left, leaving the space to his brothers.

The door closed softly, leaving only the four brothers in the room. Ace turned his gaze back to Lucci, who was lying unconscious on the bed, his face still bearing traces of dried blood.

Ace finally looked up at his two brothers and said firmly, "We won't tell Lucci."

Sabo glanced at Ace, then looked back at Lucci, his brow furrowed. "You want to hide it?"

“Yes, that would be better. We should continue.” Ace nodded and said earnestly.

“We need to tell Lucci the truth.” Sabo frowned and hesitated. “Perhaps Lucci can…”

“No.” Ace interrupted, frowning, not understanding why Sabo disagreed. “The feeling of losing control is painful. Telling him the truth will only make him feel more pain. He is very likely to overthink again because of self-blame, causing more pressure. This pressure may even cause him to lose control again. So I don’t understand why you want to tell him.”

“No, it won’t happen,” Sabo insisted. “Just like Rayleigh said, we’re all here. We can help him. We can deal with the pain in a healthy way. If anything happens, we can handle it.”

“Sabo, what can we do? You should know that this kind of loss of control is uncontrollable.” Ace stared at Sabo. “Even if we resolve the emotions now, he will only feel more pain when he finally realizes that he cannot control this loss of control at all. And I know him; he always thinks about complicated things in this regard.”

Sabo lowered his head, somewhat conflicted. He knew Ace was right, but Lucci was unaware that his own situation was also dangerous.

“Lucci can control it,” Luffy said, frowning. He felt they shouldn’t do it this way. “We can help him too.”

“Luffy, this will cause a lot of pain and may even put him in a more dangerous situation.” Ace sighed, knowing that he had to convince his two brothers that this was the best decision.

Luffy looked at Ace hesitantly, "Will that happen?"

“Of course.” Ace stroked Luffy’s hair, looked into Luffy’s eyes and said seriously, “Imagine what would have happened if we hadn’t been here. If no one could have stopped him in time, Lucci would have continued to fight out of control. He might have fought with his bare hands until his finger bones were broken. Even in that situation, he still wouldn’t have stopped. He would have continued to kick with his intact legs until he could no longer stand.”

"Ace..." Sabo called out, frowning, and put his hand on Ace's shoulder, trying to dissuade him. Ace's emotions were a bit off, and what he said to Luffy was rather...