Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Strong gusts of wind blew everything that dared to oppose its way. The clouds above were tinted with black ink, dark and unpredictable. Thick fog spreading everywhere made it harder for Sabo to see anything at all.

Sabo sighed, giving up on trying to make out his route back to the base. It was impossible to see anything this way. He really should’ve gotten back to the base a day ago from his mission, but the Grand Line seas weren’t so forgiving as to let him get even on the route to Baltigo.

Sabo leaned onto his small boat’s wall, eight years as a revolutionary and he’d never felt so bored on his solo mission.

It would’ve been better if there was something to do other than trying to get back to the base, it was so boring that Sabo wished that his mission wasn’t going so well.

Really, he would’ve had something to do if the Marines were simply more competent, getting and destroying the documents keeping tabs on the Revolutionaries almost felt as easy as breathing when it was kept in a room guarded with an intern that was also sleeping on the job.

Now there were no documents, no missions left to do, and he was still on a small boat with horrible weather and there was no land to stop by and huddle away from the storm, not to mention that he’d lost his Den Den and it was just going great.

A sound rung, a sound other than the waves or the wind. It sounded like a cry for someone.

Sabo blinked, keeping keen ears to listen to it, the only sense he could use in this ever-loving hell of a foggy sea.

Getting closer and closer, it sounded more like a voice than a mere sound. It had a scratchy ring to it, odd and young and familiar and-

“Aceeee! Did you get lost? Ace!” a loud yell sounded from a form sitting on a-

A… Sea turtle. Getting closer, Sabo could see the form of a teenager wearing a straw hat sitting on top of a large sea turtle.

That was.. quite worrying. Really, Sabo wasn’t in much favour of the seas either, but with the waves getting more unpredictable, not to mention the sea turtle also being unpredictable, Sabo at least had paddles that would help him control his boat.

The straw-hat-wearing teenager noticed Sabo, turning his head around.

“Oh! You’re not Ace. Hi! Your top hat looks cool.” the teenager turned his body around, silhouette behind the fog waving at Sabo. His voice brought an odd sense of familiarity in Sabo’s mind, although no clues popped up about just who this teenager was.

“Quite impressive boat you got there. Never saw someone riding a turtle before,” Sabo started.

“You mean this guy? I mistook him for a rock, so I took a nap on him and when I woke up I’m here on the sea! Ah, have you seen Ace by the way? I think he got lost.”

Sabo blinked, not believing a word he’d heard. “You napped on a sea turtle? You shouldn’t randomly nap anywhere randomly!” Sabo scolded.

“Shishishishishishi! You talk like Ace!” the teenager laughed, without giving a hint on who Ace was.

Sabo sighed, “you really should be more worried, a storm’s approaching real quick. There’s no land near here, you’ll drift further away into the sea if you keep yourself on that turtle, Grand Line waves aren’t kind.”

“No need to worry! I’ll definitely find one on my way!” while Sabo adored the absolutely reckless teenager’s positivity, Sabo really doubted that he would find any land nearby, and letting a kid die of drowning was not a goal Sabo would be in favour of doing.

Sabo sighed, finalizing his decision. It couldn’t hurt to give him a lift, Sabo really didn’t know what he would be getting himself into, but searching for this teenager’s Ace shouldn’t be so hard.

“You really shouldn’t rely on your luck. Come board my boat, the weather’s not getting better by the second, we’ll search for Ace,” Sabo urged the teenager, Grand Line storms weren’t so forgiving to small boats and the quicker Sabo got this kid off of the sea turtle, the better.

“Search for Ace? Really? Thank you, Mr. Top Hat!” the teenager suddenly stood, getting into a stance as he lowered his torso and spread out his legs.

“Gomu Gomu Nooo- Pistol!” without a warning, the teenager’s right hand stretched and grabbed ahold of Sabo’s boat.

Just as Sabo was about to question it, the teenager sprung through the fog, instantly hitting Sabo’s chest as there was no room for Sabo to dodge.

A Devil Fruit user, Sabo noted as he rubbed his head that suffered the painful fate of crashing on the boat’s surface, coughs from the impact still nagging on his lungs.

“Shishishishishishi! Bye sea turtle!” the teenager giggled as Sabo got himself to breathe again. Looking up to the sky, Sabo saw droplets of water began to dive for the land, a few hitting his face.

“Oooo, it’s raining!” the teenager said without a care in the world.

“We better get out of here quick,” Sabo turned around, grabbing ahold of the paddles.

The best step- and really, the only step currently available was to get out of these waters before the storm came for them.

Grand Line storms were no joke, Sabo had heard and read tales of ships toppling over in the same second it got caught in a storm. What it could to a small boat like Sabo’s were terrifying to think about, so the quicker they got away, the better.

The small boat began to drift away from the ink-black clouds, as fast as Sabo could move his arms.

“Can you tell me where and when you last saw Ace?” Sabo started as he rowed, it was better if he got directions early, once he escaped the storm, he could immediately get the teenager back to his Ace.

“I was in island with a huuuuuuge market this morning! We were kicked out from the ship and told to do errands because Pineapple-Head said Ace and I eat so much so we should take responsibility and get some more food to restock the food supply! And then I got separated with Ace so I got back to the shore, near Ace’s firey-boat. Ace is a troublesome big brother, so he takes so long to get back to shore and I fell asleep on the sea turtle waiting for him,” the boy said quickly, without even stopping at any of the sentences.

Rowing his boat to escape the storm and trying to decipher the teenager’s words were an excruciating task to do, but he didn’t train in that painfully long “Revolutionaries Quick Info Class” for nothing. Understanding a muffled and cloudy information quickly was a task that every revolutionary should master.

To net out the useful information Sabo caught, this teenager and his older brother Ace were on an errand run to restock a ship’s food stock- meaning that they may be a member of a crew of some sort, and got to an island with a huge market- that meant an island that acted as a trading center.

“Could both of you be pirates?” Sabo shot a guess.

“Mmhm! Ace’s pirate name is Fire Fist Ace, and I don’t have a known pirate name yet, but I’m Future Pirate King Luffy!!” the teenager excitedly said.

Fire Fist Ace. The name instantly clicked. Fire Fist Ace of the Whitebeard Pirates.

Sabo bit back a sigh, “so you’re both Whitebeards, huh?”

“I’m staying with Pops ‘n Ace till they let me gather my own crew! Hey, hey,  Mr. Top Hat, do you have any food? It's been five hours since I last ate.”

A lost Emperor’s son on his boat.

Sabo could safely guarantee that things wouldn’t stay boring anymore, not like he could change that fact.

Chapter Text

A frown stretched on Luffy ‘s face as he clutched his empty stomach. Searching for Mr. Top Hat’s stuff on the bottom of his small boat in hopes of finding food only came in vain. He didn’t have much, only a leather bag filled with books, maps, a water bottle, and something that piqued his interest; A long metal pipe that had begun to rust, laid on the bottom of the small boat.

Luffy stared at the pipe dumbfoundedly, owlish black eyes running on it.

He raised his head, staring at his new friend’s back, “Mr. Top Hat, what do you use this pipe for? Is it to pick your nose?”

Mr. Top Hat chuckled, an awfully familiar one that Luffy haven’t heard for too long. Soft, bubbly, a bit of age differentiating him with a certain someone.

“No, of course not, Luffy. It’s my weapon,” Mr. Top Hat said. His voice sounded odd, his soft-spoken tone was familiar, now that Luffy could finally hear him clearly.

The approaching storm earlier was so loud that when Luffy asked anything, Mr. Top Hat only replied with a muffled-sounding “oh?”, “what?”, “sorry-“, and “ah- can’t hear you!” Not like Luffy cared, he liked Mr. Top Hat and talking with him, even though he couldn’t hear him. His presence felt like Aces, it was natural, calming and familiar. It felt right.

His paddles crashed on the waves again, the boat going just as quick as to make the wind sway Luffy’s hair.

“A metal pipe? Woah, awesome!” Luffy grinned brightly.

Luffy's brand new friend hummed, “it seems odd, to be using a pipe as a weapon, but it’s the only weapon that feels truly comfortable in my hand."

A surge of memories so warm Luffy could spend all day thinking about it coursed through Luffy’s head. Of three boys who used pipes as weapons, of meat roasted in a bonfire every night, of a mountain, of a rickety treehouse, of two big brothers, one sharper and one kinder.

Mr. Top Hat was plenty familiar, Luffy noted. Top hats, soft laughs, a metal pipe and nice presence, it felt too much, too uncomfortably like someone.

The gears turned in Luffy’s head as he perked up, “oh, then are you a pipeman?”

There was a silence there, only the sound of Mr. Top Hat only rowing the boat quickly until he finally replied, “a.. pipeman? A swordsman with pipes?”

“Yep! Just like a swordsman, right?”

Luffy’s brand new friend laughed, soft and warm. “I don’t think I qualify as one, I use my hands too, so I’m not entirely hung up on my pipes,” Mr. Top Hat answered with a patient tone.

“So you’re double, then, a fist-pipeman?” Luffy excitedly pushed.

“Fist-Pipeman? Well.. That could be a pleasant epithet. Wouldn’t your name be Flying-Arm Man, then, following that pattern?”

“Shishishishi! That’s a cool name but I’ve already got a cooler name, Future Pirate King Luffy!”

The boat stopped as Mr. Hat released the paddles he’d been gripping for a while, “we should be fine now, the sky’s clear again. Ah, my arm’s sore..” Mr. Top Hat sighed, shrugging his wrists.

Luffy grinned, “Now, now, can we fish for food? It’s been five hours since I last ate! Oh, oh, let’s use your pipe to catch fishes!” his empty stomach growled.

He chuckled, “let’s see how many fishes we could get with that method.”

Mr. Top Hat finally turned around, his figure was clearer now that there were no fog and shadows obscuring him and time seemed to stop itself.

Luffy’s eyes widened, Mr. Top Hat dressed so much like him.

Napkins on their necks and top hats with goggles wrapped around it. And Luffy could only stare, stare and stare with disbelieving owlish eyes as Mr. Top Hat lifted his hat.

The sun beamed on a blonde hair with bangs kept almost lopsidedly, being more on the left, partly covering the milky-white, unseeing left eye on a scar stretched across the left side of his face. His hair framed a soft face, round eyes that looked so much, too much like Sabo’s.

He looked like Sabo if he really got to grow up. If that explosion hadn’t killed him.

His smile was bright. Familiar and toothy, it felt so warm. So warm and fitting and eerily familiar and Luffy couldn’t help but let hope surge in him.

“Sa..bo?”

It couldn’t be. Sabo was dead. Ace said that he's never going back.

(Secretly, Luffy had waited for him a few days after his death. He never came back.)

It couldn’t be a hallucination, Luffy was sure of it. Because the Sabo in his head, in his dreams was forever ten, never getting older even by a day. His chipped tooth was always present on his smile.

He always disappeared when Luffy tried to touch him, tried to urge him to not go.

Luffy’s hand moved by itself. His hand reached and pinched Sabo’s cheek. Seeing Sabo react, seeing him wince, feeling his cheek on his fingertips, Luffy’s breath hitched.

“You’re really here!”  all thoughts of food and empty stomachs were lost as Luffy quickly lunged across the boat, looping his arms around Sabo as he buried his face on his big brother’s chest.

“I- Luffy?”

“I missed you! I missed you so much, I missed your stories, I missed your hugs and I thought you’d be dead forever. Ace said so and I’m so glad that he’s wrong, I’m so glad that you didn’t die in that explosion!” sniffles and tears began to bubble up and up and Luffy’s so glad that he could hear Sabo’s heart beating.

Alive, alive.

“Luffy-“

“And Ace- and Ace missed you too. We both do- I’m so glad- I’m so glad I can see you again,” Luffy sobbed and sobbed, and he could feel more tears, more and more as he felt Sabo’s hand gently tug at his fringe.

“Luffy, Luffy, can you- look at me-”

Luffy stared up, and on his older brother’s face was something tinted with guilt. And it was wrong, so wrong.

“Can you tell me who am I to you?” his guilty gaze seeped into his soft tone.

 “You’re- you’re my big brother- and you’re Ace’s brother, too. You’re Sabo who’s smart and kind and like to read books and you make stories just for- for me n’ Ace-“

Luffy’s sobs got the better of him, tears streamed down his face and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. He sucked out a short breath before continuing his story.

“But- but you died. Celestial Dragons shot you when- when you were trying to sail out.” Luffy stared up at Sabo, all wondering.

A solemn look flashed on Sabo’s face. Hurt and sad and guilty and wrong.

Sabo let out a shaky sigh, “I’m sorry. Your Sabo, your older brother- he died that day. Even if you knew me as your big brother once, I can’t remember you. That explosion you mentioned.. It took everything I could remember away from me, I'm not the Sabo you know. I don’t think..  you should want me to be your brother anymore,” Sabo’s tone only got quieter and quieter, guiltier, more wrong as he spoke.

Luffy shook his head instantly at Sabo’s statement. “You’re Sabo. Me n’ Aces, always. We swore that our bond can never be shattered. Except you don’t want to be, Sabo’s always my big brother, even if he doesn’t remember anything, it’s fine. Because you’re alive and it's not your fault,” Luffy tightened his hug on Sabo, basking in the warmth.

“And you’re fine? Fine with me not remembering?” Sabo said quietly, voice shaking.

“Not Sabo’s fault. Dumb Dragons’ fault,” Luffy shook his head, because it wasn’t.

It wasn’t and never will be his fault. It’s those Celestial Dragons’, who dared to point their cannons to Sabo who just wanted to be free.

“And if you don’t remember anything, it’s okay ‘cause I’ll be like Sabo!”

“Like me?” Sabo asked quietly.

Luffy nodded, “I’ll tell- tell you stories, everything ‘bout me n’ Ace and the forest, and stupid Gramps. But- only, only if Sabo wants to hear it. Only.. only if Sabo’s okay with being me n’ Ace’s brother.”

There was a pause, for a while. A pause until Sabo managed a weak smile on his face.

“I want- I want to know, care to ‘be me’ for a second?” Sabo quietly asked.

Chapter Text

He had expected oddities and bizarreries from the bubbly Emperor’s son, but he didn’t expect him being Sabo’s younger brother. The shocking fact was amplified with the fact that Sabo was somehow, also Fire Fist Ace’s brother. Sabo was really, really question his lineage more and more as more seconds go by.

“-No, no, we’re all not related, we swore to be each other’s brother by sharing a cup of sake!” Luffy had shaken his head when Sabo asked him, still clinging onto him like he’d disappear if he let go.

(It felt right, how affectionate Luffy was, but nothing in Sabo’s head explained why it felt so right.)

“So we have different parents?” Sabo decided to ignore that question.

“Mhm! Oh but I guess me and Ace have the same dad now, Pops really likes calling us his sons anyways. I think he’d want Sabo as a son, too. Don’t worry though, Pops’ way better than Sabo’s old parents, he’ll like you,” Luffy casually added with his sun-bright grin. Sabo giggled, fondly ruffling Luffy’s head.

“I really don’t think that he’d casually accept me, Luffy, even if I’m your brother. It’s about how he really feels towards me and I don’t think he’d instantly see me as his son,” Sabo reasoned, because in what universe could he get casually adopted by an Emperor.

“I’ll ask Pops to make you his son too, if you want to!” Luffy’s cheery attitude never failed to surprise Sabo.

And while being inherently absurd, no matter how he looked at that beaming face, no lies were present on Luffy’s face. Every doubt, everything was vaporized ever since Sabo listened to the first sentence of his story. His face was incredibly genuine, too warm and too kind for his own good, too kind for someone who forgot him.

He wasn’t good at lying, supplied Sabo’s head. Even though no memories of Luffy were there, even though Sabo didn’t know how he could know that fact.

So Sabo listened. He listened wholeheartedly as Luffy told him about a forest, about a hag- Luffy’s words not his- named Dadan and her bandits, about a treehouse, about a gentle barmaid called Makino, and about Ace, not interrupting even just a second except when the younger expected an answer, in hopes of getting everything back.

And only bits of pieces of memories perked up in Sabo’s head as Luffy’s story go by.

It was never enough, only tiny pieces.

A small glimpse of three sake cups.

A faint sound of a rushing river.

A slight tang of crocodile meat on his tongue.

And a tight feeling of trust, longing, and care coursed through Sabo’s chest whenever Ace was mentioned, it was there every word Luffy said each time. So tender and so big and his heart so full, it was a mix of everything at once.

It felt right.

And that’s why it’s so frustrating, it felt like his mind wanted to remember the joy that was Luffy, wanted to remember him because his presence and his clinginess that felt so right, right in the way that his hug was something Sabo had missed so much, a tiny puzzle piece. Like a thick wall, his void of a memory loomed over him. And Sabo could never pass through it.

Looking at his enthusiastic face telling him about the rivers and about a whole crocodile they caught made guilt dig into Sabo’s chest. Not like he showed it on his face, no one should see that and be forced to bear with Sabo, especially Luffy, practically beaming as he told his stories.

Sabo couldn’t help but smile fondly at the hopeful grin ever so present on the younger’s face. It was still like a stranger’s, Luffy’s face was, but Sabo was relieved. Relieved that the younger was still smiling so brightly, so joyful, even though he didn’t remember just what made him feel so.

He couldn’t remember anything, and Sabo hated that fact. Because what kind of a brother was he if he couldn’t remember this joy, this little brother of his, so bright and vibrant.

The sun was still shining when the boy finished his story, although the seas were now tinted with a slight golden light, it’s afternoon, Sabo noted.

“That’s all the fun stuff that we did! Well, except for Gramps,” Luffy shuddered. And then he looked up and Sabo saw wonder and hope, shining and swirling so brightly in those eyes and Sabo felt his chest shut.

This boy was staring to a completely different man with a shell of his brother’s face. But Sabo wanted to be Luffy’s big brother because it felt right.

Here’s a secret: He was terrified. Terrified that he might crush that hope with his hands, because his head was still blank, devoid of any memories, only sensations and pieces that almost meant nothing.

It’s funny. Maybe skulls weren’t the only thing Sabo could crush.

A poke on his cheek broke him from his thought, Sabo realized that his idiot self had been spacing out in front of him.

But Luffy was still smiling.

“But it’s okay if you still don’t remember, I just want you to know ‘bout all the fun!” Luffy grinned. Still full of joy that Sabo didn't understand.

Sabo felt his stomach lurch, how could he forget this?

---

Ace’s amped up Striker cut through the waves of the seas with ease. Strong wind caressed his features, playing with his hair in the air.

In contrast to his stably speeding up Striker, Ace was absolutely frantic. The seas wa already bleeding with red from the sun’s light, yet his dumbass little brother was still nowhere to be found.

His brothers back at the Moby (especially a certain pineapple) would probably scold him for not returning to the Moby before afternoon- okay, and probably for searching for Luffy until he’s in the middle of nowhere, and maybe about crossing a storm too, but he absolutely didn’t care, because it’s Luffy. His name just spelt trouble, mischief, and absolute recklessness. So Ace’s frantic search was justified anyway because seas, who made his little brother such a troublesome scoundrel?

He did, didn’t he? Luffy was too much like him that Ace had found himself feeling what Sabo felt like trying to be responsible and taking care of him.

(Not like it’s not all worth it, but Ace would never admit that. Well- he did, sometimes, but that’s beside the point.)

Squinting his eyes, Ace slowed down his Striker seeing something waving at him. Getting closer and closer, Ace noticed the straw hat and a grin split his mouth. His little brother, safe and sound, Ace had to thank the person lending his brother a ride, and maybe pay for all of the supplies that Luffy ate.

The flames around his feet crackled as Ace doubled the fire moving the Striker. Luffy’s figure was getting clearer and clearer as the Striker rushed to him like a mad dog.

Ace stopped his flames as the boat was right in front of him, glancing at a coated figure quickly, probably the boat’s owner, before directing his stare at the absolute scoundrel in front of him.

“Ace!!! Look, it’s Ace! Hey Ace, look who I fou-“ Luffy didn’t get to finish his sentence as Ace pulled his little brother’s ear, not hard- he wasn’t too much like himself in the past, but enough to stretch Luffy’s ear.

“Ah, Acee!” Luffy whined. Ace heard the boat owner snorted as Luffy glared at him.

“That’s what you get for running off on your own! I crossed a storm to get here, did you know how worried I was?!” Ace scolded, pulling it more. Luffy pulled his stretched ear across from the direction Ace was pulling it to, a tug of war.

“Aaace but there was a bug sale! I want to look at the beetles, they’re so cool!” Luffy pouted, finally getting his ear free as it snapped from Ace’s pinch. Rubbing it, the scoundrel even used that damned puppy dog eyes on Ace, and while it was absolutely adorable, Ace still lunged his hands at Luffy’s cheeks, poised to stretch it too, but Luffy was too quick, ducking behind the boat owner’s back for protection.

“Protect me Sabo, Ace is being mean!” Luffy looked up to the coated figure.

Ace froze at that name.

Ace heard a laugh, warm and soft, it sounded older than he could ever be. “Ace’s right. You’re on your own here,” Ace’s gaze trailed to the figure’s face, and just like he had expected, a cheeky know-it-all grin was present on his face.

A face so eerily similar to someone Ace had failed to protect, someone he’d failed because Ace wasn’t good enough. Even the blonde hair, the goggles put around that top hat.

“Sabo,” Ace said exasperatedly, voice half a whisper. The name rolled off his tongue with an unbelieving tone after years and years of being unspoken, an effort to shove it in the deepest pit of Ace’s memories but it never worked.

The coated figure looked up.

And it felt as if time had stopped then and there. Sabo’s stare held a vacant glint, so detached but so warm. So fond. So familiar.

So like him, Ace almost didn’t believe he was real. Alive.

Ace stepped down from his Striker to the boat. Slowly, slowly but surely. And then he stopped in front of Sabo, grey eyes meeting mismatched one.

Just as slow, Ace lifted his hand. Sabo only stared.He looked nervous, he didn’t show it on his face, but Ace knew his body language, how he didn’t let his shoulder tense but his fingers twitch when he’s nervous.

A pause, there, a quiet pause. Luffy even stopped his whining. Only waves against the boat and the afternoon wind sounded out its presence and-

“BASTARD!” Ace yelled as his fist struck Sabo right in the cheek, before his dumbass blonde brother could even manage to react, Ace reached out his hands and pinched both of his idiot younger brother’s cheeks, because no, he wouldn’t let him get off the hook so easily.

“Did you know how many years you left us, huh?! Luffy cried and I cried dumbass I cried!  Our baby brother didn't eat for days because of you! Where were you, huh?! Why didn’t you write home?! Why didn’t you come back?!” exasperation dripped out of Ace’s tongue as he searched for an answer on Sabo’s face.

Secretly, it didn't matter to Ace. Because he knew Sabo deserved to hate him for abandoning him, for not saving him even though he was suffering in that "home" of his. Because Ace had done the same, how he hated himself for abandoning Sabo.

But that was it, it was Ace. Ace abandoned Sabo, not Luffy. Ace deserved all the spite and hate and resentment Sabo had because he'd abandoned him. But Luffy didn't.

Ace deserved being left by Sabo, but Luffy didn't. Never in the entire world did his youngest brother deserved such painful fate.

It was okay, even if it hurt so much it was okay if Sabo was to hate Ace, if Sabo was to leave Ace, but Ace would never forgive him if he hated Luffy.

But there was no resentment on that face, only hurt and that vacant, detached glint.

Sabo's breath shook, “Ace- I’m I’m sorry- I can’t-“

“Sabo has anemia!” Luffy cheerily perked up from behind Sabo. Ace furrowed his brows, Sabo looked even more confused than he did.

Ace tried to make up the the correlation, “like, the lack of red blood cell? The hell does it have to do with-“

“Oh wait, it’s ammonia!” Luffy innocently corrected his sentence. Granted, it still felt incorrect.

Ace tried to think, “ammonia? The-“

“Amnesia, I have amnesia,” Sabo said exasperatedly, sounding as done with them as ever.

Ace’s breath hitched, slowly releasing his hands of Sabo’s cheek. His stare was still planted on that scarred face.

“You couldn’t..?”

Sabo shook his head, “I still can’t remember you, even right now.”

It wasn't resentment, and Ace almost wanted to feel relief, but all he felt was anger, blazing hot anger for people who'd dared to rip his younger brother of everything.

"I understand, if you no longer see me as-"

 “I don’t give a shit," Ace deadpanned.

Just like that, his arms moved by itself, crushing Sabo in a tight hug as to never ever let him go again. Pinpricks of tears formed on both of Ace’s eyes as he cradled those blonde locks so close, so real.

"Oh, I wanna attack Sabo with a hug, too!" Luffy seemed to get on with the program, latching himself on Sabo’s back and looping his arms again and again, Ace and Luffy practically jailing him in a hug-cell and served him right, Ace thought, eight years gone and he expected them to not make up for the hugs lost? Oh yeah, no.

“You’re not allowed to be selfless again, I will beat you up so bad if you tried to pull that self-sacrificing stunt ever again,” Ace said so quietly, voice shaking.

Ace had expected a snarky comment, but nothing came out of Sabo’s mouth, only a rocky feeling of him shuddering under Ace's arms. Ace didn’t pay it any mind as he tightened his embrace, he’d get his idiot younger brother to talk once he’s done smothering him in a hug.

Chapter Text

Golden sunlight dawned on them as the orange sky loomed over them, the red sun seeping through the cracks of the water, infusing it with red. After they broke out of the hug, all three of them had been sitting on the small boat Sabo brought.

“To hell with you for making me cry,” Ace sniffled, wiping the tears out of his face.

Sabo felt his shoulder tense, he knew what would happen next and he would prepare for it.

Luffy pointed at Ace nosily, “shishishishi! Ace’s crying!” the oldest of them glared at Luffy threateningly, which was only responded with a chorus of Luffy’s signature laugh.

“Weren’t you crying too, Lu?” – Oh wait shit- Dumbass- he’d cursed at himself -don’t use that nickname so casually as if you never left them in the first place you bloody idiot! 

Internally panicking, Sabo tried to keep his face blank as he waited for their reaction, he should’ve known better.

Sabo only heard a soft chuckle breaking out the pause.

“Oh were you, now?” Ace pointed his gaze at Luffy.

Sabo blinked, disbelieving at the lack of anger he was expecting, what? Wait, what?

Luffy’s shoulder shook as he laughed, “shishishi! I’m just so glad that I get to see Sabo again!” Luffy beamed brightly.

Ace grinned at Sabo, gently poking him, “it’s been too long since I’ve last seen your dumbass face.”

Seas- Sabo stared at the twin pair of smiles directed to him.

-it’s so warm, Sabo’s chest felt so warm.

They were.. accepting him. Not at all angry, none of that, none of the things he’d deserved, instead accepting him, including him like he never even left. They even hugged him.

Luffy said that it's okay, Ace even saying that he didn’t give a shit even though he should’ve.

Nothing, nothing but genuine love for him present on those smiles, overflowing and true, he felt joy bubbling up in his veins, even though he knew he shouldn’t feel something he didn’t deserve.

He didn’t deserve making himself comfortable, enjoying their presence. He left them. 

 Sabo stared at them with wide eyes as millions of questions haunted his mind, hovering and stabbing.

Wasn’t he a stranger to them? Wasn’t he different than the blonde kid they had called their brother? Didn’t he forget them?

So why? They should’ve been angry, yet they weren’t. The flooding relief brought a pang into his chest, clanging so loudly. Oh, Sabo knew he shouldn’t enjoy that relief, enjoy a love, a care that he didn’t deserve, but it-

It blurted out of his mouth, suddenly.

“I’m happy. I’m so happy,” his shaky voice barely set a foot against the crashes of waves against his small boat.

And then Ace and Luffy’s smile grew impossibly wide, impossibly loving.

He couldn’t help but smile back, smile contently even though this happiness, this love wasn’t even his. Ace and Luffy that were never even his brother.

They were the Sabo in the past’s, the Sabo they missed, the Sabo that actually deserved their overflowing love. Not him, who left them, made them cry, forgot them. What did he get in return? Love. Love he was so undeserving of it hurt.

“Now then, let’s go get food! With Sabo this time!” Luffy excitedly shouted, rising up and jumping excitedly like there’s no tomorrow.

“Hey, Sabo?” he perked up upon his name being called.

“What’s up?” Sabo stared at the freckled face in front of him.

Ace’s steely gaze suddenly fixed on him. It was tense, yet so undoubtedly concerned.

“Don’t think too much. Can’t have my dumbass little brother be thinking too much things to himself now, can I? We’re here now, with you.” Ace’s stern face melted into a smile, beaming with a deep longing and wonder. So terrifyingly fond.

“Now, now. Who are you calling your little brother? We both look the exact same age.”

“Two months are a big difference, so you’re still my younger brother” Ace stuck out his tongue.

“Sure, big brother,” Sabo mocked, still smiling.

Sabo’s chest felt so warm, yet so heavy. Because it was selfish, enjoying this warmth, this fondness radiating off them that he didn’t deserve was selfish, Sabo knew.

It scared him, how selfish he was. Oh, how it scared him, how easy it was to love them despite of him being so undeserving of it. Guilt clawed at him for indulging on the warmth that wasn’t his.

How painful it was.

---

The Striker cut through the waves crashing against it with ease, going full power. After smothering Sabo to death with the hug, they tied Sabo’s boat behind Striker, Ace on carrying them on the Striker while both of his little brothers boarded Sabo’s boat.

Having Luffy drift too far out to sea and the storm separating them even more from the island that Ace and Luffy had first landed in, they were off to the nearest island to stay for at least a night before going back to the Moby and maybe get some restock for reals this time, Sabo directing them with his own map posing as their navigator.

They were finally whole, with Sabo along with them, it fit. And Ace couldn’t ask for anything better than this, his blonde idiot of a younger brother alive and safe again. Together again.

This time, he’d never let anything hurt Sabo, hurt any of them ever again. He’d choose his brothers’ life over his own, to hell with his life. Because he would never forgive himself for letting Sabo be scarred, for letting his memories be ripped away from him.

This time, he would protect them. That was a promise, a promise he made on his life.

The waves crashes against Striker, the sound paired with the soft conversation going behind Ace’s back on the small boat.

“Ace, Ace! Sabo said he wants some roasted meat along with ramen! Cause he’s back now, you’d do what he wants, right?” Luffy’s voice caught his attention.

“Hm? Now just when did I say that?” Sabo questioned with a curious glint in his voice.

“I’m saying that for you so you don’t have to say it.”

Ace rolled his eyes, “you just want to rob me of all my money and use Sabo as an excuse, don’t you, you evil scoundrel?!”

“But you never pay anyways, so it wouldn’t make a difference,” Luffy waved it off with a careless tone.

Sabo gasped, “oh ho, what’s this? The oldest brother's teaching Luffy to steal? Y'know Ace, according to the normal equivalent of a big brother, you’re quite a bad influence.”

Ace rolled his eyes at Sabo's dramatic response, waving his hand dismissingly, “that’s called a boring equivalent of a big brother, Bo’. I’m just being the fun and cool big brother for your sakes, besides-“

Ace turned his head around, smiling warmly at Sabo and Luffy, “-we’ll get ramen, your favourite! Can’t turn that down, can you, oh, so mannerful gentleman?”

“Ramen with Ace and Sabo! Let’s go!” Luffy grinned back, twice as bright as Sabo's unbelieving wide-eyed face flickered into something way too familiar, before melting into a smile that Ace hadn’t seen since too long ago.

“Oh I’m far from a gentleman, I wasn’t going to turn it down in the first place. And also, for your information, mannerful isn’t a word” Sabo finally replied cheekily.

Looking at these two dumbasses, Ace felt warmth bloom in his chest. Utterly, shamelessly sappy. 

(Really, when was the last time Ace saw these two idiots smile together? Ah, it felt like far too long ago.)

Seas, he was so grateful he could see them altogether again, despite all of his imperfections.

Despite never even deserving it, he still had these idiots with him.

Such lovable fools, Sabo who thought too much stupid things and Luffy who was brimming with recklessness.

(He still had to do something with Sabo’s dumbass overthinking so visible in his face. Gaping and swallowing.

But they’d figure it out, he knew. They’re together now.

It still felt unbelievable.)

So Ace straightened his gaze towards the seas in front of him, intensifying the crackling fire under his feet.

They were here now. Together.

“Dine n' dash then, like the old days! Sabo, directions!” Ace straightened his gaze to the seas in front of him.

“Go straight to the north!” Sabo instructed.

“Yahooooo! Sabo's awesome! Go full power Ace!” Luffy shouted like there was no tomorrow. 

“Got it!”

Chapter Text

Small traces of orange were smudged on the dark sky above them, the clouds covering the nuances of the afternoon sky, the hours passed to the night.

Luffy rapidly turned his head left and right, running his eyes over everything present in the small town they just landed in.

It wasn’t too crowded but it was lively. Here and there, transactions were taking place, casual talks, and occasional waves. Luffy paid no mind to it, eyes instantly wondering over the food stands. They were displaying colourful food that Luffy had never seen before, all lined up neatly.

Luffy also realized- although a bit later due to the fact that so much food were locking his eyes on them- the colourful smidges of practically everything being sold on the tables.

Colourful spices put in display, spices releasing an aroma that swum in the air, flowing clothes with swirls of patterns, even rocks were sold. No, not some “holy” stones that they say granted you some protection stuff, they were just plain old rocks.

What a funny place this was!

Before Luffy could go anywhere, a hand grabbed the back of Luffy’s clothes, holding him like a cat being held by the scruff of his neck.

“Don’t you dare trail off on your own again, you scoundrel!” Ace glared at him, keeping him in place. Luffy still kept his running pace, feet dangling rapidly in the air. “Look Ace there’re so many stands and shops! We should get Sabo a book there!” Luffy pointed at a bookstore.

“We should get you two some things, too. Sein Jea’s a trading town, so it should sell lots of unique things around the world. And iiiiincidentally, I just acquired extra money,” Sabo held up three leather wallets with the most innocent smile in the world.

“What, Sabo-did you just pickpocket someone?!” Ace glared at Sabo, eyes widening.

“Don’t worry, it’s from a marine’s pocket, so it should be okay,” Sabo pointed out a thumbs-up. “Now, any enthusiast for extra snacks?” Sabo flicked his gaze to Luffy.

Luffy beamed, arms flailing in the air, “let’s get skewered meat!”

Ace sighed, “okay, stealing from a marine is actually very funny- but it’s been five minutes since we stepped foot in this town, Sabo. No stealing,” Ace emphasized his words.

 “Five minutes rule!” Luffy suddenly barged in without context. Ace only blinked as Sabo giggled until his shoulders shook. Ace glared at Sabo over the carelessly grinning Luffy.

Sabo managed to catch his breath, “it’s not the five minutes rule works, Lu,” Luffy caught panic flash on Sabo’s face for a little moment, “ah- sorry- I mean- Luffy-“

Sabo’s face snapped into a too-formal look, as if he’s making himself a stranger, looking as though he’d done a wrong thing, but he didn’t.

Luffy instantly shook his head, “Sabo’s so stupid, Lu’s fine!”

“Don’t act like such a stranger dumbass, I know every politeness in your body has turned to dust, so quit acting like you gotta be so gentlemanly with us,” Ace glared, at Sabo with his “Big Brother Stare” superpower he often used when scolding Luffy.

Sabo’s face suddenly became unreadable, still, Luffy saw something flash in Sabo’s face, an expression so unbelieving of their words it’s wrong. It’s wrong because Sabo’s never a stranger.

Ace’s glare at Sabo sharpened, “idiot, you’re our- wait- oi, LUFFY-”

Suddenly, Luffy broke out of Ace’s hold on the scruff of his shirt. With a restrained yell from his big brothers, the rubber boy looped his arms with theirs and leaped straight into the town, sprinting with all of his might, uncaring for his big brothers behind him banging their head on a stand signpost and a store window because of his sudden leap.

“Stupid Sabo! You don’t have to be all weird and stranger-y with me n’ Ace just ‘cause we didn’t see you for long! We’re brothers and brothers get ramen together! And I’m hungry!” Luffy yelled with a merry grin, laughing joyfully as he quite literally dragged his-almost unconscious big brothers behind him.

“My head.. I think I’m losing my memories again..” Sabo, dragged on the ground, cradled his head with one free hand.

“If that scoundrel isn’t my little brother I think I’d chuck him to the nearest river..” Ace groaned, also being dragged on the ground.

Ignoring Sabo and Ace’s writhes of pain, Luffy bolted through the town, knocking over stands and people with his almost K.O’d brothers behind him. His head searched left and right for a ramen shop, eyes blown wide with enthusiasm. Totally uncaring for people who were screaming or giving them odd looks.

Because this, their dine and dash wasn’t just a criminal act. It was familiarity, it was joy, it was home. There’s nothing better than a dine and dash to show Sabo that he’s home, that he’s not a stranger and he shouldn’t act like that.

Sabo was stupid. As stupid as Ace.

“Don’t sleep yet, Ace, Sabo!” Luffy laughed as his older brothers let out a pained groan. “It’s only a teeny bit before I find a ramen shop!”

“LUFFY- LU- WE’RE NOT SLEEPING, YOU’RE DRAGGING US!” Ace screamed.

“LUFFY IF YOU DRAG US FOR A MERE MORE FIVE MINUTES WE’RE GOING TO DIE!!!” Sabo followed up.

Luffy’s eyes lit up as he saw a shop with a bowl of ramen drawn on the sign. Still, the line forming in front of the entrance was far too long.

So Luffy improvised.

He skidded to a halt and decided to use the attack he’d been working on, spreading out his legs and lowering his torso. As he aimed at the shop’s window, Luffy heard Ace gasp behind him, but he wasn’t listening.

“Shit, I know that stance!” Ace screamed in terror behind him. “Ace? Ace, what’s that stance?!” Sabo asked in a hurried haze, panic filling up every corner of his words. “He’s going to-“ Ace didn’t get time to reply as Luffy sounded out his signature cry.

“GOMU-GOMU-NO…..” Luffy’s legs rolled itself to amplify the force.

“CATAPULT!!” Luffy jumped, lunging far from the ground straight to the shop’s window, nearby townspeople that were lining up before the entrance stared in a mix of awe and horror as Luffy launched in the air towards the shop’s second floor window, a reporter even managed to snap a picture as the shop’s windows got immediately shattered by Luffy’s head.

With a loud crash, Luffy dived straight into the shop, landing on a wall head-first. Ace and Sabo behind him banged their heads on tables, immediately sending them sprawling on the ground.

Luffy rubbed his head, head immediately snapping to the cook behind the counter. Surprised looks from the customers all around the room loomed at him, yet Luffy didn’t care anyways.

“Hey, old timer, three ramen bowls please!” Luffy grinned.

The cook turned his head to the huge hole that used to be the windows, his body immediately stilling as his eyes were blown wide in horror. “My.. my windows….”

“Hey Ace, Sabo, we’re here, order up!” Luffy poked on the two who were still sprawled on the floor. “I already ordered, go order your fills!”

“D-dammit Luffy, I think I’m going to die..” Sabo groaned in pain.

“He’s always l-like that, s-so please be a nicer little brother Sabo,” Ace sighed, slowly sitting up. “We’re already here anyways… one ramen bowl for me please..”

Sabo groaned in pain as he sat up, gloved hand clutching his head, “one.. one ramen bowl, please old man.”

“Shishishishishi!!! Ramen with Ace and Sabo! It felt like it’s been so long!” Luffy sat near them on the floor, smile beaming ten-thousand watts.

“Bo’, help me with Lu, please. You’re the smart one, right?” Ace sighed exasperatedly as he stared tiredly at Luffy.

“I.. I don’t believe that any of us can help with him..” Sabo sighed at the giggling Luffy.

“We’re together now, so stay. I know you want to anyways!” Luffy firmed his tone, staring at Sabo intently. Ace smirked, “no going back.”

A small smile tugged on Sabo’s lips.

 ---

“Why do I have to be his ‘partner’” Koala sighed, fixing the position of the dumbass disguise-sunglasses on her nose.

Again, she had to embark on an additional mission because a certain someone probably got his ass beat or something of the sorts.

She cursed Sabo under her breath. A million times.

---

“Think they’re up to something?” Thatch raised a brow.

“They always are,” Marco sighed in a you-don’t-need-to-ask tone.

His first mistake was trusting Ace to be responsible, wasn’t it?

Chapter Text

Ace sighed, “this is the exact reason why you should listen to me, Lu,” he glared at his youngest brother who only grinned in response.

Turns out, multiple marines were docking in this restaurant. Ace would clap his hands and say bravo if they weren’t holding out swords and guns to their heads. Sabo and Luffy looked even less fazed than he was, somehow.

Really, the situation was more awkward than threatening, what was Ace supposed to even say? Oh can you do me a quick favour and let me and my brothers go? Yeah my youngest one accidentally threw us here sorry for that,” like hell they would believe that!

“Fire Fist Ace, what are you doing in Sein Jea?” the marine glared at Ace with a steady steely gaze.

“Hey, hey! Don’t forget me too! Oh and Sabo!” Luffy broke the tension, waving at the dumbfounded marine cheerily before Ace could say anything.

Ace sighed, he wasn’t in the mood of beating up random marines. “Officer-“ Ace started with an exasperated tone, “-for the record, I don’t know what the fuck happene-“

“These Whitebeard Pirates are holding me hostage officer, please, please don’t try anything, I-I want to live!” Sabo’s meek voice cut Ace’s words suddenly.

Ace snapped his head towards Sabo, a mix of a surprised and a disbelieving glare pointed at Sabo like a blade.

Sabo winked under Ace’s glare, and Ace understood.

Still the ever-mischievous bastard, Ace smirked, standing up from the shards of glass sprawled on the floor. Before any of them could react, Ace curled his fingers into a finger-gun position.

BANG! CRASH!! Shards of glass and splashes of alcohol flew in the air from the wine bottle Ace shot with his fire pistol. Swiftly, he pointed his finger-gun to Sabo’s head, the latter faking the act of curling into himself.

“That’s what going to happen to this blondie’s head if you guys dare to interfere. Don’t try anything with me and Straw Hat Luffy if you want this posh bastard to live,” Ace hissed cooly, glaring at every marine present in the broken-down restaurant.

He really wasn’t one to threat someone, most of the time he just yanked his fire out to get the job done, he wasn’t the one with the silver tongue.

Everyone in the room stilled, shoulders tensing and face drawn into a terrified wide-eyed look, except for Ace- who was really trying to bit back a loud laugh, Sabo, the absolute madman of a mastermind, and Luffy, who really didn’t get what’s happening but still went to flow along with them.

He heard Sabo whisper something to Luffy in the middle of his act, his littlest brother suddenly keeping Sabo’s hands behind his own back, as if he was immobilizing him.

Ace’s smirk almost burst into a laugh as Luffy pointed a thumbs-up at Ace as he held Sabo’s wrists behind Sabo’s own back, innocently grinning like usual. Ace could see Sabo’s pretend-grimace almost curl into a smile.

Ace didn’t know what the hell his younger brother was planning, but he didn’t care anyway because Sabo’s plans were almost always funny back then- as long as it wasn’t directed at Ace.

The marine captain broke the tense silence with a snarl, “rotten pirates! How dare you take advantage of those who cannot fight back!” the captain heightened his stance to lunge at Ace.

Ace smirked, “oi, another move and off with his life. Step back and drop the weapon. When we leave, don’t you dare try to chase us or this puny noble gets a hole in his head”

The captain’s face curled in anger, throwing a knife-sharp glare at Ace before dropping his gun, clanging to the floor along with every other weapon the marines were holding.

Easy, now, to flee-

Before Ace could say anything more, a stretchy hand plopped on his wrist. He snapped his head behind him and was met with the absolute horror of Luffy getting into a stance again. His eyes widened in horror, Sabo doing the exact same thing.

“Seeya marine people! Seeya pops! The ramen was great!”

Ramen? Ace must look surprised, because Sabo gestured to the floor, Ace almost facepalmed as his eyes trailed to the floor near Luffy’s feet, seeing multiple ramen bowls totally eradicated of their contents.

Oh so that’s why he’s so quiet when he was threatening the marines.

Ace mentally added the possibility of “snagging ramen from people” into his “Shit Luffy Would Do That I Should Look Out For” list.

For the sake of Sabo, who was getting paler and paler by the moment, Ace swore he really tried to get into Luffy’s head.

“WAIT- wait, Lu, listen to your brother-“

Luffy only grinned as he firmed his stance.

It was most terrifying grin Ace had ever seen coming from his youngest brother. Because no, it wasn’t the “sunshine” type of Luffy grin, it was the I’m-gonna-yank-my-big-brother-and-give-him-brain-damage Luffy grin.

Which would happen just about-

“GOMU-GOMU NO… SPRING SHOT!!!”

Now.

Ace was suddenly yanked to his youngest brother’s side, hard.  Sabo suffered the same state, face paler than a sheet of paper.

Without having any time to react, Luffy quickly bent down ahead to the floor, the floorboards creaking under them impact. And with the restrained yell of the marines, Luffy jumped backwards, yanking them to straight to the air out of the hole they made earlier.

With a chorus of shishishishishi’s, multiple yells from the marines, and snaps of pictures from nearby reporters, Luffy with two big brothers hanging on his hold for dear life, were flying in the air with no direction with a stupidly fast pace.

 Sabo suddenly slipped out the pipe from his back, turning his head to his back, Ace saw him focusing, free hand steadily grasping the pipe.

CLANG!! Sabo swiftly used the curved part of his pipe to hook himself to the lamppost, ultimately stopping their endless flight in the air.

The three of them dangled in the air, their only reason of not falling being Sabo’s pipe hooked onto a lamppost and Sabo’s own ridiculously strong grip.

Luffy broke down the stillness of the streets, guffawing hysterically. “That was awesome!!” Luffy freely laughed. Oh Ace swore Luffy was going to get a scolding. Sabo looked down, chuckling. “And that’s how you dine and dash without anyone chasing you.”

“The only one who got the ‘dine’ part is this scoundrel right here, don’t pull out that stunt again!” Ace huffed, glaring daggers at his youngest brother.

“No promises!” Luffy dismissed Ace’s ire with a shrug.

“Oh so that’s how you treat your big brother now?! Who was sent tumbling to the ground the last time we sparred, huh?!”

Luffy rapidly shook his head, causing the three of them to dangle even more, “that’s Ace! Sabo was there, right Sabo?”

The two of them looked up to their middle brother. A blank face on Sabo’s face suddenly forced into a grin, “pretty sure I wasn’t,” Sabo sing-songed.

It was a quick change, a gesture that you could miss if you didn’t pay attention enough, but Ace never failed to notice such oddities in his brothers. Sabo’s grin looked painfully too much like a front, it looked genuine, but Ace could see the tense shoulders and how his smile didn’t flow to his eyes.

No, Sabo’s shoulders were already tense even before they landed on Sein Jea. They were tense when Ace and Luffy had hugged him, tense when he’d corrected himself on Lu’s nickname.

Something was wrong, he was thinking too much again. Ace had to find out what it was.

(Secretly, Ace already knew what it could be, but by seas did he hope that he wasn’t right.)

“I’m hungry, let’s go eat something now,” Ace cut off his younger brothers’ bickering. Luffy’s eyes lit up a thousand watts, “food! Let’s go! Let’s go!”

---

Ace squinted his eyes, a small fire lit on a small candle danced in the air. Trailing the orange glow, Ace’s eyes caught Sabo’s back, sitting on the bedside. He wasn’t moving an inch from his position when they first got here.

Why wasn’t that idiot going to bed?

It’s already dark outside, after dragging Luffy away from a street food seller after his fiftieth skewered meat and stopping Sabo’s hands from picking out yet another wallet from unsuspecting marines’ pockets, Ace had collapsed face-first onto the inn room they’d rented.

Luffy was already fast asleep, sprawling his rubbery limbs above Ace, softly snoring, murmuring about meat. One more idiot brother to go.

Ace almost hesitated on dragging him to bed. Because it felt terrifyingly private, how Sabo was staring at his arms, sleeves rolled up to his elbows and leather gloves left on the bedside table. Ace couldn’t see his face because Sabo was facing away from him, but Ace knew something wasn’t right by how tense his shoulders were

Looking at him from this angle, with no coat on, Ace could see an old burn scar peeking on his neck, disappearing under his collars. Ace hated it, hated how Sabo was scarred because of Ace’s own failure of protecting his own younger brother. Hated how Sabo was looking at it with such disdain.

“What’re you doing this late at night?” Ace couldn’t bare the deafening silence, breaking the tense air.

Sabo turned his head, tugging a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Was just going to sleep.”

Ace sighed, sitting up as he gently nudged his youngest brother to the side. Luffy was unfazed, always the heavy sleeper.

Ace stared at Sabo with a tense glare, “that’s a lie, we both know it.”

“Fine by me if you see it that way,” Sabo shrugged, turning away from Ace.

Ace didn’t miss how Sabo looked at his own scars, it was something solemn. Something so far in the past that Ace was scared he’d lose Sabo from this moment.

“Ace?” before Ace could ask anything, Sabo already broke the silence. His voice sounded so small against Luffy's snores.

“Hm?”

Sabo paused, staring at space.

Ace focused on his younger brother, paying attention.

“Why aren’t you angry at me?”

A wind blew from the creaks underneath the closes window, Ace felt himself going very still.

Seas, please don’t let his suspicion be true.

Sabo's breath hitched before Ace could ask anything more, “I can’t even remember you, or Luffy. Hell, I made both of you cry, I left. So why? Why don’t you resent me?” his voice grew smaller and smaller at each word spoken, barely an audible whisper when he ended.

Curse everything, curse him for not being strong enough to stop this feeling from ever touching Sabo.

Because Ace knew it too well, for guilt was a terrifyingly familiar melody wrapped around his heart like a barbed wire, and Ace knew how it hurt- hurt so much that it felt like his chest was about to burst open from the weight.

And not in a million years did Sabo deserve to experience such a painful feeling fill up his chest.

Ace sucked in a breath, “I thought you were the smart one, but everything that came out of your mouth sound absolutely stupid. Listen to me, didn’t I say I don’t give a shit-“

“You should’ve.” Sabo turned his head, facing Ace now. Ace almost flinched at the sheer hurt filling those mismatched eyes, swallowing it up whole. How could Ace let this happen?

“Who are you to decide how we should be feeling when you didn’t even leave us?” Ace shot, voice and gaze tense and firm. His gut felt like a mix of dread, like a sunken ship with no compasses, yet he tried to keep his composure.

Sabo’s eyes widened. “I-“

“You’re a fucking dumbass if you even think of us hating you because something you didn’t choose,” Ace flicked Sabo’s forehead. Ace yanked Sabo into a tight hug before he could react.

“You didn’t choose to be shot when you’re fucking ten, you didn’t. You’re acting like you left us purposely and we all know that didn’t fucking happen. So shut up, and listen, we’ll never hate you, not in a million years.”

Sabo so shakily nodded. His body tense, yet shaking like a leaf that met a storm.

Seas, why? Why guilt? Why guilt for his younger brother? Why couldn’t Ace be there? Why couldn’t he be a better big brother and stop all of this?

If only he was there eight years ago, then maybe Sabo wouldn’t think so stupidly like this.

Wouldn’t have to bear so much weight on his shoulders

---

Sabo couldn’t make himself stop shaking, couldn’t urge his arms to move.

To hug Ace back, even though that’s the only thing he wanted to do more than anything else.

His head was tangled up like yarn, all over the place and torn everywhere. Millions of thought bombarded his head as Ace still continued to clutch him close.

The hug wasn’t something familiar, but it felt like something Sabo never wanted to let go of.

In a whirlwind of thoughts, Sabo suddenly felt a head plopping on his shoulder, followed by a soft snore filling the air directly right after, cutting off his train of thoughts for a moment.

Sabo blinked at his- at Ace, dumbfounded.

“Ace?”

Only a snore was heard.

Did Ace…  fall asleep?

“Ace does that sometimes, Marco almost gave him the CP- thing because he thought Ace died,” a droopy voice stood against the soft snore.

“Luffy?” Sabo muttered, voice still shaking.

Without any warning from Luffy, Sabo felt a warm weight on his back. Rubbery arms  wrapped his waist, clutching him just like Ace did.

“We missed you,” Luffy muttered before falling back into snores.

They still love him so very much.

And Sabo couldn’t think.

They shouldn’t. They really shouldn’t.

This wasn’t- no, they deserved to be angry, they needed to be- because he deserved that.

He deserved such a hot, scorching anger, yet he only got love from these people who so, so lovingly called him their brother.

He wanted to say it back, because by seas, it just felt so right. The word brothers felt so right, fitting the space in his head from what used to be there that was ripped away from him.

Sabo wanted to be able to accept their embrace. Wanted to so, selfishly raise his arms and hug Ace back, and lean to Luffy and accept everything they’ve given to him.

 The words were lodged in his throat, begging to be said-

-brothers. My brothers..  he selfishly wanted to say.

He wrongly wanted to say.

Casually accepting him, still, still, loving him, not caring at all. Why do they still love him?

He didn’t deserve this dammit, why didn’t any of these fools understand?

He left, then he forgot. Even if he didn’t choose it, it was still wrong of him. They have all the rights to hate him. They needed to be. That’s the only thing Sabo deserved.

It was wrong of them to not be angry because Sabo deserved it all. Why couldn’t they see it?

It’s been eight years, enough for them to hate him yet they didn’t-

He didn’t deserve this everything. Two people genuinely too loving for him who forgot even their names.

Two people too good for him to call them his brothers.

Sabo couldn’t close his eyes, body shaking between two people holding him close.

Chapter Text

NEWS COO OF THE DAY:

FIRE FIST ACE SPOTTED IN SEIN JEA KIDNAPPING A CIVILIAN.

Yesterday, the infamous pirate Fire Fist Ace was seen barging into a restaurant with accomplice “Straw Hat Luffy”, bringing an kidnapped civilian with them that they used as a hostage.

Nearby marines failed to capture the criminal as the pirate threatened to shoot right through the innocent civilian’s head with his Mera Mera no Mi.

“Straw Hat Luffy” aided their escape by “jumping with rubbery limbs,” according to a witness  in the crime scene. Being a direct accomplice, a bounty has been put on “Straw Hat Luffy”'s head with an amount of 90.000 Berries.

The kidnapped innocent civilian is not yet found. With the parting words, the Marines urge people of Sein Jea to try finding and helping the innocent civilian.

His features can be seen in this photo taken by reporters present at the crime scene.

A photo was slipped under the article, showing Ace pointing a finger gun to a terrified-looking posh blonde's head, Luffy eating a bowl of ramen hurriedly behind the blonde, unbeknownst to Ace.

Luffy's bounty poster was also slipped between the pages of the News Coo, displaying a very low quality and blurry picture of him maniacally grinning his infamous I’m-Hauling-Ace-Somewhere grin.

Marco sighed at the news while his siblings laughed their asses off in the background. If Ace and Luffy didn’t disappear from the market for a day with no news, maybe Marco would’ve joined.

It's so like them too, trouble everywhere they go. Marco gave in into a thin, amused smile. Screw how endearing those fools were.

“That’s our little brothers!” Thatch slapped his hand on Marco's shoulder, body shaking with loud guffaws, totally forgetting the fact that he probably had to scavenge leftovers to cook dinner with no food supply. Not like he’s cruel enough to remind him.

“These brats are always the same,” Marco shook his head.

Pops' laughter rumbled through the air, “give it a rest, Marco. You know well how those little brothers of yours are.”

Once again, Marco sighed exasperatedly, why must he worry about those two idiots all of the time?

(It’s because he loved them. Of course it was.)

 ---

A gloved hand set the newspaper and bounty poster down. Sighing, Koala plopped her head on the newspaper.

It just had to be Sabo. And it just had to be her getting the mission of “retrieving” him.

Koala really couldn’t believe her liar of a partner.

“I promise I’ll come back before you have to train the new interns, swear on my life, Koala!”

“It’s just a quick mission, Koala! I’m not going to get kidnapped or anything, why are you acting like I’m going to get mauled by a pirate?”

Now look what happened, genius.

Really? Kidnapping? How did he get into this situation anyway? Did he piss off Fire Fist or anything?

Or did he pickpocket him? Wouldn’t that be anticlimactic? Pickpocketing a pirate infamous for his  “Dine n' Dash” gig would be so stupid of him.

Whatever. Koala sighed, whatever, she was far too fed up with Sabo's shit to even get mad anymore.

Either way, hauling his ass back to Baltigo was her duty now, so at the very least she had now acquired a direction for her oh-so-exciting “additional mission”.

Oh she couldn’t wait to get to Sein Jea.

Chapter Text

Sabo heard a knock from the door. It was persistent and frantic.

Sabo blinked, it’s not morning yet. It was the first awareness he had since he felt Ace and Luffy’s weight so warm against him, the first awareness body wouldn’t stop shaking, he realized.

It hadn’t stopped, the shaking-

Sabo knew why. The insistent pounding in his head wouldn’t stop speaking, still clashing in his head, still questioning and questioning, still so many things that clouded each other at the same time and he couldn’t-

Knock knock knock! The persistent knocking sounded out against the soft snores of his br- no, you cant- of Ace and Luffy.

It brought a bitter taste in his mouth, to refer to them as anything other than that, but he didn’t deserve it, he never would for-

Stop, he urged. There’s something else to think about now. Focus.

Sabo sucked in a breath, it’s cold. It grounded him, in a sense. He’s here, he’s here. Those thoughts could wait. Later, later.

With still shaking arms, Sabo peeled Ace off of him with as much gentleness left in him as possible. He sighed, unimpressed at the man still soundly-sleeping in front of him, always the heavy sleeper.

(He’s always like this. Sabo didn’t know how he knew.)

He slowly set Ace on the spot that Luffy was before. One Luffy left, he huffed. He slowly untangled the rubbery arms looped around his stomach, turning around and setting Luffy right beside Ace. He draped the blankets around their shoulders.

An unfamiliar fondness warmed him, seeing their peaceful faces.

Sabo tried to ignore the curdling guilt lurching in his back at the sensation of sheer unfamiliarity clouding over that fondness.

He turned his back, walking to the door. He only realised now how the frantic knock was intensifying more and more, each knock-knock-knock grew more panicked than before.

Quickly, before it could get worse, he turned the cold doorknob and swung the rickety door open. Immediately, he was met with a woman, her face pale and worried.

“Oh heavens, you’re safe! I’m sorry I didn’t knock earlier, but I only knew it was you after these men described your face!” the woman Sabo recognized as the innkeeper clutched his shoulders.

Sabo blinked, confused. “What, excuse me- uh-“ his sight trailed to the group of men behind the innkeeper, eyes widening upon the realization that they were actually a group of marines looking suspiciously like the marines from the restaurant, no, more than the ones in the restaurant were grouped behind the innkeeper.

They were holding out a search party for him, all for his ruse back in the restaurant, he realized. Well that’s just- he really didn’t know how to react. Well, at least there’re competent marines in the world, Sabo tried to make positive amends with the horribly misunderstood situation.

Though their competency just worsened the misunderstanding here, he realized, trying not to sigh.

Really, Sabo tried to reason, “oh, it’s not-“

The marine captain from before stepped out from the group of men before Sabo could play the situation off. He gently set his hand on Sabo’s head, ruffling his hair. Kindness ran in his eyes and Sabo wanted to hysterically combust into flames over the situation.

Then, his gentle, genuine tone filled the quiet air, “you’re safe now. No more pirates, nothing is tying you down anymore. Step back, we’ll take care of that Whitebeard scum for you.”

It’s rare from a marine captain, he figured from his days as a revolutionary. And really, while normally Sabo would admire the captain’s blatantly hopeful resolve and kindness, it’s really misplaced in this fucking staged “pretend hostage” situation.

He’d usually have a field day crushing skulls of pretentiously inhuman marines, but Sabo really didn’t want to fight a marine captain as rare and painfully genuine as him, so what would he do to stop this dumbassery without violence?

That’s right, another ruse.

“No, no! You don’t understand!” Sabo fake-flinched from the captain’s gentle gesture, shakily taking steps back and spreading his arms in front of the entrance. His face dawned the “meek boy” persona once again.

The captain held up a steely gaze over him, his men and the innkeeper behind him staring tensely at him.

Sabo carefully staged his body language, tensing his body and knitting his eyebrows together, careful as to make his face as soft as possible. He’s supposed to be a timid pushover, after all.

“They’ll- they’ll do terrible things to you, Fire Fist is under Whitebeard, an Emperor! Leave me be! Please!” his voice wavered in the tense, cold air, nobody daring to move an inch from their places.

The marine captain stood still, his gaze turning into something understanding, kinder, too out-of-place for a marine and for a damn ruse Sabo was really starting to regret, “boy-“

“No! I’m better off dying! It’s better than you and your men wasting your life on me!” Sabo closed the melodramatic scene with possibly the dumbest dialogue he could muster up, scrambling back into the room and closing the rickety door.

He locked the door, dragging a nearby chair to block off the door then- just in case they tried to barge in before the three of them escaped.

Sabo grabbed a pillow, yanking it straight to Ace and Luffy’s face, the older immediately jolting awake. Ace haphazardly tried to assess the situation as Sabo hurriedly put on his attire.

“Sabo? Sabo what is happening-  what- where are you going?” Ace’s croaky voice sputtered.

“The answer is where are we going. The marines from the restaurant and co are at our doorstep, put on your hat and shoes, wake Luffy up, and be quick about it!” Sabo slammed open the window opposite to the door, “I’m preparing our escape route!”

“And co- okay let’s just ignore whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean,” Ace was quick to scramble from underneath the blankets, shaking Luffy’s shoulders like there’s no tomorrow.

The marines full-on banged on the door, no longer knocking hurriedly. “Boy! Answer!” Ace stared at the door, then turning his head at Sabo, glaring at him with question, Sabo only shrugged, grabbing his pipe from where he’d leaned it on a wall.

Carefully, Sabo observed the streets from the window with his only working right eye, taking in everything and finding possibilities for a quiet-but-quick escape route. Finding an answer quickly, he turned to Ace and Luffy while the banging on the door continued, snorting at the sight of a half-conscious Luffy looking disoriented. Ace only rolled his eyes at the droopy teenager.

The yelling from the door only intensified, they had to get out of here, quick.

Sabo inched closer to the window, followed by Ace and a sluggishly moving Luffy, “now, for our escape route, be quiet.”

Quickly, he climbed to the window’s railings, free right arm held out for Ace and Luffy to grab on. “Hold tight,” Sabo hissed as he turned his head to his target: the inn’s roof. Feeling Ace and Luffy’s hands grabbing ahold of his arm, Sabo quickly jumped outside from the window, yanking Ace and Luffy with him.

Before they could fall, Sabo used the curved part of his pipe to hook them on the inn’s roof, the three of them dangling from the side of the roof. The yelling sounded more distant, though not nearly far enough than Sabo liked it.

“Woah- neat!” Luffy yelped from beneath him. “You seem to have a knack for this pipe thing,” Ace quietly remarked.

Sabo chuckled, “it’s my favourite weapon, after all,” with a swift move, he pulled them outwards, yanking their three bodies to the roof. Ace landed with an “oof!”, Luffy bouncing on the rooftiles with his rubbery body, Sabo landed on his feet, being quick as to listen to the yelling.

“Now what?” Ace urged, seemingly understanding the situation more. Luffy listened to the yelling below with a furrowed brow.

“Now, we run towards the Striker. We need to get out of this island if you don’t want to do any more horrible acting, anywhere would do. We’ll talk about it later,” Sabo rose up to his feet, followed by Ace and Luffy.

And with a tilt to the west, the three of them started running under the moonlight and above the roofs of poor, completely unassuming Sein Jea citizens. Their footsteps thrummed on the rooftiles, complimenting one another, raggedy breaths filling the air.

Oh, Sabo realized as he saw the grinning faces of Ace and Luffy with their hair flailing haphazardly with their movement, oh, I missed this.

Even though he couldn’t remember just when he’d done it with them, it just felt so painfully right.

His blood had rushed against his ears like this before, and he’d heard and he’d loved the thrums of their hurried footsteps before, and he’d ran with them before, just like this.

He so badly wanted to recall, recall the memory to fill his wretched void of a memory. Just why- just why did he have to forget?

He’d done this before- he’d-

“Say, Sabo, Ace, let’s go to the Moby!” Luffy carelessly grinned at Sabo, snapping his bubbles as they jumped onto the roof of a restaurant. “Pops’ll be so happy about meeting you! Aaand you get to eat Thatch’s food- the best of the best! And you’ll be able to meet our cool brothers back there!”

“Whitebeard’s..?” Sabo blinked at the grinning Luffy.

“Ooooh great idea, Lu!” Ace perked up at the mention of Whitebeard, “you have to meet the old man, Sabo! He’s great!”

Sabo.. really didn’t know what to feel about meeting an Emperor- the feeling was really solidified when Ace and Luffy called him their pops while being Sabo’s brothers, he really didn’t want to think about the implications to that.

He was just opening his mouth to say no, but suddenly, in front of Sabo were two faces lighting up at him with earnest want, two faces he didn’t recognize but he knew he’d loved before. And so with that, Sabo opened his mouth once again and he really couldn’t believe what he’s about to say,

“Okay,” he sighed. Why, just why did they have look so happy? “okay, our next destination is the Moby,” Sabo grinned, matching Ace and Luffy’s smiles.

Luffy opened his mouth, okay, a little bit too wide than- “YAHOO-“

“Idiot, shut up!” Ace and Sabo both hissed in unison, slapping their hands onto Luffy’s mouth. He almost went scrambling onto the rooftiles if it weren’t for Ace and Sabo dragging his arms to keep on running.

Moonlight shone down on the three of them, running on top of roofs and trying to be quiet (read: keep Luffy quiet) and Sabo wished he could be a child again and remember.

---

Sein Jea was a small town sat atop a small island, a speck if it’s compared to other islands in the Grand Line. The three of them managed to come back to the shore, trailing just near a large rock that Ace had hid the Striker in.

Ace climbed atop of the striker while Luffy and Sabo sat down on the boat Sabo brought with him. Fire crackled beneath Ace’s feet, the Striker easily cutting the calm waves with the small boat behind it. Luffy watched Sein Jea shrink behind them.

“Say Sabo, what the hell was that back then? Did you finally pay for stealing those wallets?” Ace asked a bit loudly in front of them, eyes still locked to the seas beyond.

Sabo chuckled softly, wincing a bit. “Those genius marines thought that our stunt in that restaurant was real, so they held out a search party for me.”

Ace wheezed while Luffy straight out guffawed until his stomach started to curl into itself, “those marines really are funny!”

“Yeah, no doubt! Oh, this is making me cry- they fell for your stupid idea?! That’s-” Ace continued laughing before he could finish his sentence, Luffy trying to breathe in between his laugh. Sabo shrugged, smirking cockily, “guess I was that good at acting.”

“Shishshishi! When we get back, we have to introduce you to Pops, he’ll really like you,” Luffy nodded with a sure expression on his face.

His oldest brother chuckled, “knowing that old man, I think he’d want you as a son, ‘Bo. Well, being our brother, I guess he’s already claimed you.”

Sabo chuckled, shaking his head. “Ace, Luffy, he’s Whitebeard, an Emperor. I don’t think there’s any way that he’d accept want me as a son that easily.”

“Why not? He wants Ace as a son even though Ace tried to kill him,” Luffy instantly replied, pointing to Ace. Sabo’s eyes widened, head snapping to Ace’s direction, “Ace tried to- what?!”

They couldn’t see Ace’s face from behind him, but by the way Luffy saw Ace’s back hunch, he knew his oldest brother cringed, “okay, those are details-” Ace remarked carefully, “-and look, after all of that I’m his son now, so you don’t have to worry about anything,” Ace waved lazily.

 “Don’t sweat the small stuff, Sabo! He’d like you, I’m sure of it!” Luffy only laughed as Sabo’s face only grew more confused.

Chapter Text

Dawn was peeking from the horizon when the three of them neared the Moby Dick, only a little time away and they’d be meeting eye-to-eye with Whitebeard of all people, an Emperor whose name was written in history as “The Strongest Man in The World”.

Sabo was reluctant to head to the Moby at first, but after taking a glance at the stupidly bright sun-grin on Ace and Luffy’s face, he suddenly forgot about it all. He wasn’t soft, the revolution never required him to be so, but with them, Sabo felt a certain fondness injected into his veins only for them.

So Sabo sighed and cursed himself as they continued to inch closer to the Moby.

Anything for their smiles, something so terrifyingly foreign, but right, whispered to him.  And although Sabo couldn’t recognize why he might be feeling this way, he couldn’t help but feel that it was right.

 Anything, Sabo echoed on his own.

The sound of crackling flame under Ace’s boot died down more and more as they went closer to the ginormous Moby Dick, stopping completely when the Moby was straight out looming over them, the Striker stopping completely with the boat in tow.

Suddenly, as he was just about to make plans on how to get on the ship, Sabo felt a rubbery hand clutching his arm, and his head instantly snapped to Luffy’s direction, eyes filled with horror.  Luffy was only grinning with the grin that said “I’m-Mauling-You.”

Sabo instantly paled, “wait, Luffy- Luffy- I’ll die if I-“

“Gomu Gomu no…..” Luffy prepared his stance. Realizing that it’s too late for a civil negotiation, Sabo tried to tug free of himself from Luffy’s hold, to no avail.

“A-Ace-“ Sabo turned his head to Ace, whose body dissect into fire when Luffy tried to grab him too, “sorry, Logia here. You’re on your own here, ‘Bo,” Ace, the traitor, smirked.

Sabo stared at Ace with a death glare, “you bastar-“

“ROCKET!”

“I’ll get you for this!” Sabo yelled at the snickering man below him as his and Luffy’s body were sent several feet in the air.

“HELLLOOOO! I’M BACK!” Luffy laughed, everyone on deck looking shocked except for the First Commander, who only sighed as he massaged his temple.

As quick as they launched to the air, Luffy and Sabo plummeted down to the deck face-first, Luffy only laughing merrily as Sabo’s pale face only paled even more, trying to brace for the impact.

“BANG!” Luffy and Sabo crashed a barrel of apples, the fruit being sent flying everywhere as their faces banged the barrel.

“Shishishishishishi!” Luffy’s chorus of laughter rumbled through the air, sitting cross-legged on the wooden deck among the crushed apples. Sabo sighed as he sat up, picking out remnants of apples from his hair. Well at least he smelled like apples.

“Luuuuufffyyyy,” a man with a pompadour groaned, Thatch, Sabo recognized from the Revolutionary Army’s data, “those were for apple pies tonight!” Thatch pointed to the crushed apples with clouding sorrow on his face. Sabo smiled apologetically at him.

“Shishishishi! Sorry, Thatch! I’ll make it up later! Oh, Sabo, let’s go meet Pops!” Luffy, not paying any mind to the despairing cook, dragged Sabo by the arm. Ace joined them, jumping off from the ship’s railings, seemingly using his Mera Mera no Mi to propel himself upwards.

“YOU ALWAYS SAY THAT, LUFFY!” Thatch yelled behind them.

“This happened often?” Sabo raised a brow.

“Yep, Lu always say the same thing, but he never really made it up,” Ace snickered.

“I’ll pay Thatch back for the food with the treasures I’ll gather later when I get my own crew,” Luffy objected merrily.

Sabo shook his head, “little shits you both are.”

“Like you aren’t,” Ace rolled his eyes, Sabo only smirked at the comment.

Luffy’s steps abruptly stopped in front of a quarters built like some kind of arena, Sabo felt his fingers twitch at the sight in front of them, something that always happened whenever he felt nervous.

But really, in this situation, how could he not feel that way?

Because, in front of them, looming so grand just like the Moby, It was Whitebeard, sitting on the arena. IV tubes were attached to his body with medical instruments surrounding him, yet it didn’t reduce the air of authority that he reigned over. His gaze trailed to the three of them, turning into something painfully fond with the sight of Ace and Luffy.

Ace and Luffy, of course, were more relaxed than Sabo, the two of them raising a hand and waving to the Emperor. “Pops! Heya! We’re back!” Luffy cheered with a grin.

Whitebeard smiled, “welcome back, my sons. It seems like you’ve made quite the mess to make Marco over here worry over you,” his voice rumbled through the air with a steadily might wave. The said Marco, the First Division Commander, Sabo knew from the RA’s datas, sighed at the sight of them.

“Shishishishishi, heya too, Marco!” Luffy waved at him. Ace grinned at the commander, “miss us much?”

“With the mess you’ve made, I really don’t-yoi,” Marco deadpanned.

Ace shook his head with a mock hurt face, “you’re so mean to your little brothers Marco, you really have to be nicer, ‘cause you’re having a now one! Pops, Marco, everyone! this is Sabo, our middle brother!” Ace grabbed Sabo’s shoulders, quickly pushing him for everyone to see.

“Ta-daa! Sabo! Pops, Sabo said that he wants to be your son, you’re allowing him, right?”

Sabo snapped his head to Luffy’s eternally-smiling face, “wait, when did I say that-”

“You mentally said that,” Ace reasoned with a wise face, it really wasn’t a reason at all.

“Gurarararara!” Whitebeard’s laugh suddenly boomed, cutting off their conversation. “So it seems like my sons are following my footsteps! Now, who’s my new one here?”

Sabo almost spluttered at the sudden attention of the Emperor put to him, much more by the sheer fact that Whitebeard was referring to him as his new one, Ace and Luffy really weren’t joking when they said that he’d accept him just like that.

Taking the silence as a cue to introduce himself, Sabo sucked in a breath and quickly bowed to the man. “As Luffy here said, my… name is Sabo, sir,” Sabo awkwardly said, mouth still bitter. “And while I am flattered that Luffy and Ace here wanted me as your son, I cannot join your cause.

Sabo straightened his back, gazing straight into Whitebeard’s eyes, “the reason for that is simply because I am a revolutionary, through and through.”

Unexpectedly, Whitebeard only guffawed, his laugh ringing in the air. “So another one of Dragon’s boy is here! No matter, Dragon’s boy or not, you’re already my son, boy.”

Sabo’s eyes widened, Whitebeard’s easy acceptance of him reminded him of Luffy and Ace’s of him and his long-gone memories that he was too weak to protect.

He was taught that everything held a reason, yet still, these people, these people accepted him like it’s so easy to, without obligations, without anything, while they shouldn’t so damn easily.

This wasn’t right, no, they- they weren’t supposed to just accept him. He didn’t- he didn’t deserve that.

Wait-

“Another one of Dragon’s boy?” Sabo asked.

“Sabo, you know my dad?!” he innocently asked. Ace looked just about as surprised, “you’re a rev?!”

Sabo’s stomach lurched, eyes widening, “Dragon is your what?!” Sabo was sure his eyes was going to pop straight out of his eye sockets. “My dad! My name is Monkey D. Luffy!” Luffy nodded rapidly.

“Dragon- Dragon has a son?!”

Whitebeard, then Dragon. Nothing could describe the whirlwind of thoughts Sabo was having, it was as if he was struck with a damn tornado of information that made absolutely zero sense, the possibilities were off the charts and everything mixed with one another.

Just how confusing could this family get? Just how many fathers did Luffy have?

Sabo’s head shut down on the spot, staring into space indefinitely with a confused expression on his face.

“Uhh, Lu? I think you broke Sabo.”

“Gurarararara!” Whitebeard only laughed at his new son’s antics.

---

Sabo blinked, gaze trailing across the room unfamiliar to him.

When Sabo had shut down in front of Whitebeard, Ace and Luffy both decided that food was the best remedy for this, so they grabbed Sabo’s wrist and led him to the dining hall. They sat him down on the long chair until their middle brother finally blinked aware.

“You finally here, ‘Bo?” Ace pulled Sabo’s ear, the latter swatting his arm with a glare. “Guess you’ve snapped out of it, then,” Ace grinned.

“Wait what? What happened?” Sabo’s annoyed face contorted into a puzzled expression.

“Whe-wn we were talkhing ab- out Dad, Shabo suddenly shuht down,” Luffy relied with a mouthful of chicken sandwich. “Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Ace and Sabo warned their younger brother in unison, who was busy stuffing his face with everything else present on the table.

“By now, I don’t think that my head even fully accepted the information. I mean, my boss’s son is my brother, and I didn’t even know that he has a son,” Sabo was still bewildered.

“I dunno, maybe that’s the extent of your short-circuited brain,” Ace snickered.

His younger brother glared at him, “you really suck for that, oh and don’t think I forgot that you left me to be flung by Luffy.”

“Buht ish’ a nhice flight, rig-ht Shabo?” Luffy asked again, still with a full mouth. Sabo shook his head insistingly, “no, I don’t think it is, Luffy, I think you cracked my soul.”

Luffy only grinned, fingers holding out a peace sign, Ace laughed at his youngest brother. There was only the sounds of the crowds in the dining hall, for a small moment, before Sabo broke the silence between the three of them.

“I really hope it’s okay,” Sabo suddenly blurted out, “me being a revolutionary and all.”

Ace furrowed a brow, Luffy swallowed his food before he stared at their middle brother with confusion, “why wouldn’t it be okay?” his youngest brother beat Ace from asking the question.

Sabo’s face went somber, too dimmed down that it left a bitter taste in Ace’s mouth. “We vowed to be pirates, but look, I changed course and went on my own as a rev. “

“Are you happy as a rev?” Luffy asked. Sabo nodded, it was reluctant, yet Ace could see a shine in his eyes similar to the one in Luffy’s when he’s gushing about how cool pirates were.

“Then it’s alright! Rev or not, Armenia-”, “amnesia,” Ace corrected his youngest brother, “-or not, Sabo’s Sabo, and that’s already great!”

Sabo’s eyes widened, a puzzled look flicked to Ace, in which the latter replied with a smirk, “now, now, listen to our genius youngest brother, will you? You’re our idiot fancy-clothes brother, you’re wrong if you think that we’d treat you differently, just when will you accept that, dumbass?”

Ace shrugged, “besides, I’m interested on how an idiot like you managed to infiltrate an army led by the famous ‘World’s Worst Criminal’” Ace turned his head to his younger brother, interested.

Sabo only stared at them, for a while. His gaze melted into something so soft before smiling and opening his mouth, “eight years ago, when that… incident happened, Dragon saved me when I thought I was going to drown. He brought me back to the RA’s ship, and I stayed there after waking up without any recollections of my past.”

Dragon, huh? Shit, now Ace was indebted to the man that abandoned his youngest brother. Still, Ace wouldn’t mind thanking the man if he got to punch him in the face, he would be forever grateful that his idiot blonde brother was alive, after all.

“We gotta thank Dad, then, right Ace? Sabo’s here because of him, after all!” Luffy perked up. Ace huffed in irritation, nodding anyways. Sabo turned away his head from their views, Ace furrowed a brow at his odd manner.

“Shishishishi! Now, come eat, Sabo! Thatch’s cooking is so good,” Luffy’s hand reached out to grab a piece of meat, yelping in surprise as the food was swiped right from under his nose.

The three of them looked up to see Marco looming over them, his face was folded in displease. Ace was snickering at his youngest brother’s reaction, Sabo only grinned.

“Oi, Marco! What’s that for?!” Luffy’s nose scrunched, pointing a finger at Marco, who was unimpressed by the former.

“For many, many things. For example, what happened to the restocking I asked you to do?”

Luffy and Ace’s faces immediately paled at the realization, Sabo, the traitor, was cheekily giggling at them.

“Now that you both are home after disappearing, you two-” Marco pointed to Ace and Luffy, “-are hereby sentenced to clean the dinner tables before you eat the leftovers.”

Just as the D brothers were about to rejoice at the unusually light punishment, Marco opened his mouth again.

“And, tomorrow, cleaning duties in sweeping, moping, washing the dishes, washing clothes, hanging the clothes, cleaning the windows, helping Thatch cook, clean off the dusts from the storage room, and hide every booze across the ship before Pops get his hands on them.”

“Marcoooo, why????!?” both Ace and Luffy whined as Sabo laughed at them.

Marco sucked in a lungful of air, “first, you both failed to do literally the only thing I asked you to do, restock the supply, second, you both disappeared, third, you both busted a restaurant and kidnapped him," the commander held out a newly printed newspaper and a bounty poster in front of their noses.

The immediate reactions were mixed, Ace full-on wheezing at the news, Luffy throwing out his hands in the air and cheering out “I FINALLY HAVE A BOUNTY!!”, and Sabo paling profusely at the news, mismatched eyes widening.

“Oh, shit! I’m in the newspaper!” Sabo snagged the newspaper from Marco’s hand, rereading the paper with shaking hands.

Marco raised a brow, “compared to your brothers, it seems like your reaction’s the most underwhelming-yoi.”

“Yeah, because my partner is going to boil me alive if she knew my stunt,” Sabo spluttered with horror in his eyes.

Chapter Text

“Koala. Report,” Dragon’s gruffly voice sounded far less concerned than Koala thought he would be. She had to raise her brow at that, knowing that Sabo, who he treated with such fondness like a father would to his son (though he would never admit doting on him), was involved with a Whitebeard pirate of all people.

And while Whitebeard was known as rather the good-natured end of the pirate scale, evident from the many islands that he’d protected living in peace, he was still an Emperor, a force to be reckoned with. Still, Dragon always had his own reasons, so Koala started the report.

“I’ve just went off from Navarone after my inspection yesterday, with my current vessel, I’m heading to the west, passing-Sunia route. It may take a few days to get to Sein Jea, and I figured I’ll check the Moby Dick first, since communication with him isn’t available.”

Dragon hummed in approval, “don’t rush it, the current near there is rough. This mission doesn’t require too much of a speed, go steady and keen.”

“Roger.”

“Also, Koala”, Dragon added, “do not make enemies with the Whitebeards. Edward Newgate is a good man, I have trusted them with my son, and I will trust them with another, I’m sending you to confirm that Sabo really went with Fire Fist Ace by his own will.”

Koala blinked, the ship’s wheel almost slipping out of her hold, “your... son?”

“Monkey D. Luffy,” Dragon replied. Ah, of course the crazy rookie was Dragon’s son. It made Koala wonder if Sabo was a honorary “D” too with his madness. They must have a connection with each other, maybe they’re brothers, but Koala wouldn’t want to jinx that.

“I… see… I will go call back when I get the confirmation and news from both of your sons,” Koala sternly said, cutting the line before Dragon questioned the “sons”. Still, “I have trusted them with my son, and I will trust them with another,” Koala wondered if he noticed how he referred to Sabo.

Really, Koala had zero clue on what the hell the situation really was, but she knew one thing for sure;

Sabo owed her a break.

---

After Sabo was sentenced into Marco’s scolding along with Ace and Luffy, the three of them began to work their asses off to clean the dining hall. They first started by collecting the finished plates all along the hall.

Luffy slid another plate onto the pile on his hands, searching for more. “Stuck with chores?” Saki, a member of the medical team asked from the nearby table, grinning.

Luffy huffed, “yeah, just when I was about to show Sabo the Moby… Oh, yeah!” Luffy suddenly remembered something, “hey Saki, I can show him your lab, right?” Luffy’s demeanor changed at the remembrance, asking Saki enthusiastically.

Saki furrowed a brow, “Sabo? A new one? I don’t remember Pops getting a new one.”

Luffy shook his head, “no it’s not Pops who brought him here, Sabo is already my big brother, I just found him again yesterday.”

Saki chuckled, “he’s your big brother, huh? Then I bet he’s a menace too, then. Just don’t break anything and you’re free to bring him to the lab later,” she nodded, smiling warmly.

“Thanks Saki!” Luffy slid another plate on the stack. Having felt that he had enough plates on his hand, Luffy walked to Sabo’s direction, handing the stack to him. Sabo left the hall to give it to Ace, who’s washing the dishes downstairs, and Luffy scoured the dining hall for more dirty plates.

The day was going off slow, the number of dirty dishes were decreasing fast, (sometimes by Luffy dropping the plate, the ratio of the dishes washed into safety and the ones dropped being 1:5) and finally the three of them met up in the dining hall, tired out of their minds.

Sabo huffed, planting his head on the table. “When I thought of being on the Moby, I certainly didn’t think that I would be doing chores. Bloody hell, that was a workout.”

“So you never did chores in the RA? Ohh, look at our Sabo here Lu, look how much they spoiled him,” Ace pointed accusingly, even though he himself was covered in sweat.

“Sabo’s a spoiled brat? I can’t believe this,” Luffy shook his head, face hurt.

“Of course I do chores, but unlike you two, I do not get punished by chores every day.”

“You lied to them so you’d never get caught, didn’t you?” Luffy accused, pointing a finger to his older brother, Sabo was always a far better liar than Ace and himself, after all.

“A spoiled brat and a liar?! Oh seas, look how much they massacred my younger brother!” Ace dramatically complained.

Luffy’s stomach rumbled out of the blue, Ace and Sabo sighed knowingly at their younger brother. “Wonder what we’ll eat for today..” Luffy dug a pinky into his nostril.

Ace hummed, “Marco did say we’re eating leftovers, but Thatch’s leftovers are good anyways.”

“Do you think we’d have some meat?”

Sabo chuckled, “that’s all you ever want, huh? But I do wish they have some ramen…”

“So you still like ramen, ‘Bo? So some things never change, huh?” Ace said gleefully. Sabo’s face brightened, “I did?”

Ace and Luffy both nodded, “back at Dawn, you liked it so much you finished nineteen bowls all by yourself,” Luffy added, rubbing his booger on the long table.

“Oi, that was you,” Ace sighed, waving his hand. “Oh, is it?” Luffy rubbed the back of his head.

Ace huffed at Luffy, “look at him, Sabo, he’s always like that, eating everything you’re given to without caution, when we were first stuck here, he ate all of their stock without even caring if it’s dangerous or not.”

“Stuck here…? Is that when you decided to kill Whitebeard?” Sabo tilted his head. Ace’s face blushed red almost immediately, “i- it is, but-“

“That’s right,” Luffy cut off Ace’s words, who glared at him immediately. Luffy’s gaze wavered, pointing at Ace as to target his oldest brother, “when Ace and I were taken to this ship, Ace was always thinking about stupid what-ifs and what-ifs, he didn’t allow me to eat anything they served us.”

“Let me guess, you didn’t listen to him and raided their supply after that?” Sabo suggested.

“Shishishishishi! Of course I did! I snuck into the pantry after that!”

Sabo guffawed, his shoulders shook with every bit of his laugh, “cut Ace some slack, Lu, Ace must be worried sick for you. Someday his hair’d go all white like an old man if you keep stressing him out like that.”

“Yeesh, like shitty Gramps…” Luffy glowered at Ace.

“Oi, oi, don’t think of stuff like that, what are you saying to him, Sabo!”

Sabo only grinned, holding up a peace sign, Ace rolled his eyes.

“…but you’re right, ‘Bo, you bet I was worried…” Ace pointed at Luffy, face turned to Sabo, “this idiot came running to me when I was fighting Jinbei even though I told him to stay put, he even challenged Pops in front of his face.”

“Ace was getting himself beat up!” Luffy objected, trying to reason to Sabo, who turned both of them down with a small smile.

“So you’re both worrying each other then,” Sabo chuckled, “You both are reckless idiots, know that? By how I see it, you both don’t get a say about each other’s recklessness, you’re both the same way.”

“You’re the same, Sabo!” Ace and Luffy objected at the same time.

“Oi, black holes!” before Sabo had any say in it, (which he had zero in, by Luffy’s thinking,) Thatch’s voice snapped the three of their heads to the door, Luffy’s eyes instantly widening at the sight of stacks of food on Thatch’s hand.

The cook stepped to the long table, setting the plates onto the table, Luffy instantly digging into the food, stuffing a whole fish into his mouth. His lips tugged into a smile at the feeling of warm fish on his mouth, straight out of the grills. Ace instantly did the same, stuffing his face with five sandwiches all at once.

Thatch chuckled, “go eat up! You too, new kid! Don’t be shy,” soon, his back disappeared outside the doorways, going down the hallways.

 Sabo eyed Thatch with his blank gaze, an odd weight in his stare that Luffy didn’t fail to notice.

“Aren’t you eating, Sabo?” Ace asked in-between chews, noticing their brother’s oddly hesitant, blank look.

Too much like a switch, Sabo chuckled, putting on a smile, “of course I’m digging in, the meat looks whole though… I thought we were eating leftovers?” Sabo turned his head to Ace and Luffy.

“Thatch almost never gave me or Lu leftovers- if there’s even any, he’s a big softie,” Ace explained as he saved his meat from being snagged from his hand by a certain rubber boy, who huffed in disappointment.

A pan flew from the hallways, and-

THWACK! It hit Ace right on the back of his head, making him drop his meat.

“Who’s a softie??!” Thatch’s voice emerged from the hallways. “Ouch! What the hell!” Ace rubbed the back of his head, wincing in pain.

“Thought you were a Logia,” Sabo smirked, poking at a snarling Ace. The former winked to Luffy, who understood the signal immediately (read: snag the meat out of Ace’s plate.)

“Well I’m eating, you dumbass,“ Ace reached for the meat on his face, shock dawning on him when he realized his plate was clean. Instantly, he snapped his head towards the perpetrator, “Lu! When did you-” Ace glared at Sabo, knowing what had happened.

“Oh, so you both are ganging up on me, aren’t you?!”

Twin peace signs and grins (under a mouthful of meat, in Luffy’s case) were directed to Ace, who only replied with an irritated “tch”, though the three of them knew it was faked.

---

After they almost kickstarted a food war, Marco finally decided that he’d torture Sabo with chores too, immediately.

The three of them decided to do the laundries first. They took the dirty laundries of five divisions at once down to the laundry room, now waiting for the big barrel in the middle of the room to stop spinning the clothes.

Luffy thought that everything was going normally, and in place.

“Luffy, did you put dish soap in the laundries?!”

Luffy stopped rummaging the shelves for a minute, turning his head to look at his very much displeased oldest brother. “There’s a difference?” Luffy tilted his head, staring at Ace with a not-knowing gaze.

Yep, still in place.

His oldest brother sighed, shaking his head, “Sabo, help me on- Sabo?!”

Their middle brother was pouring another tub of dish soap inside the laundries, “might as well, since it’s already stained with dish soap anyways,” Sabo shrugged, smiling brightly.

Ace sighed, digging his face in his hands, “you know what? At this point, let’s dig up Marco’s shirt and submerge it in dish soap, come on, I’ll help.”

“Ace, Sabo, I found the window cleaner! Let’s drown Pineapple Head’s shirt in here!” Luffy proudly held out the floor cleaner, Ace smiling funnily as Sabo’s lips tugged into a scheming smirk.

As they waited for the large bucket in the middle of the room to stop spinning, the three of them managed to pick out Marco’s purple shirt, dumping it in a bucket and pouring the window cleaner into it, snickering like little devils they were.

“I wonder what it is that got the devil duo snickering?” Luffy turned to see a familiar moustache, “Vista! What are you doing here?”

Vista stepped towards them, carrying stacks of boxes, “nothing much of the sorts, just getting these detergents down. You guys used the last of it?”

Luffy stood up, facing Vista fully, “nope! We used-“ Ace suddenly smacked a hand on Luffy’s mouth, “yes actually, we did use the last of it!”

Vista smiled funnily, although brows furrowed in doubt of Ace’s words, “then why does this room smell like dish soap?”

Ace was at the edge of spluttering, almost making Vista distrust them more when Sabo suddenly stepped forward with an embarrassed expression, hand scratching the back of his head.

“Sorry, I didn’t know where the detergent was, so I made a mess with the dish soap, spilled it everywhere,” Sabo blurted with a sheepishly soft tone that reminded Luffy of his acting in the restaurant. Sabo always made it seem real, even though Luffy knew he could always see lies in Sabo’s face.

Ace’s face contorted into amazement as Vista seemed to trust their middle brother, chuckling at Sabo’s sheepish nervousness, “it’s best to not take it too seriously. Are you a new stray that Ace picked up? I’ve never seen you before, this firecracker didn’t try to kill you, did he?”

“What- firecrack-”

“-Well he did punch me in the face,” Sabo shrugged, cutting off Ace’s protest.

Vista laughed, completely expecting the response, “that’s to be expected of our Ace here, my name’s Vista, and this crew gets quite a bit wild sometimes, but it’s their own charm.”

“Figures, these two people here are already insane as they are, I’m Sabo.”

“As if you aren’t as insane,” Ace muttered, rolling his eyes.

“Ace, as insane as Sabo here is, I think he would never try to kill Pops,” Vista pointed his gaze accusingly at Ace, Sabo wheezing at the statement.

Luffy finally escaped from his older brother’s hand over his mouth, “Ace tried to kill me too!”

“Hey, at least I stopped! If there was anyone who’d tried to kill us, it’s you Lu!” Ace reasoned. Sabo paled, “oh please don’t remind me of that ever again.”

“Shishishishi! But it’s a nice flight, isn’t it?”

“It’s really not,” Ace, Sabo and Vista replied in unison, Luffy only grinned.

“Try not to kill your big brothers, Luffy,” Vista smirked, “and you three, don’t go making Marco mad, now.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Sabo grinned as Ace nodded, “we’re going to do these chores on a whim, no mess-ups, promise!”

Vista snorted, back disappearing in the hallways as he dropped of the boxes. Then, like devils, three of them stared at each other, faces knowing damn well that they’re not going to do it without a mess-up.

Without any words, Luffy instantly knew that today was really not going to be an ordinary chore day, and Marco’s window cleaner-smelling shirt said exactly that.

---

Izo and Haruta stared at everything that was going on.. whatever the hell that “Everything” is because with just a single glance at each other, both of them knew the two of them were clueless on what the hell was going on.

Really, what the hell was going on? The dining hall was smothered in something that suspiciously smelled like detergent, bubbles were present everywhere on every corner, making the hall almost pure-white.

Ace and the blonde one they had just taken aboard were scrubbing the floor and wall respectively with sponges and a broom, and Luffy sat in the middle of the room, bursting water from his mouth with the infamous Water Luffy style. Were they… using Luffy as a water hose?

Izo squinted his eyes, wait- was that- Ace.. skateboarding on the floor using sponges on his feet? Okay, that backflip was insane, but in the dining hall? With detergent?

Izo could only blink.

“Hey Izo..” Haruta’s voice shattered the “what the hell is going on” silence between the two of them, “you’ve met some adventurers from around the world, right?”

Izo nodded, gaze still locked on… the scene unfolding before them. “… I have, what about it?”

“Do they have any account on this method of cleaning around world?” Haruta’s tone was serious, too serious to the scene he was pointing to in front of them.

“No. No one around the world is doing kick-flips while cleaning, Haruta,” Izo was really sure of it.

Haruta hummed, probably too invested in this matter, “I wonder where they got the inspiration, this is weirder than the usual.”

Compared to the two idiots who were being a professional sponge-boarder and being a Water Luffy, the blonde one was by far doing the most normal thing, (which didn’t say much because who would scrub the walls with a broom?) yet Izo’s keen eyes moulded from years of being a gunslinger recognized a certain madness behind the mismatched eyes so cheerful yet so scheming at the same time.

“I bet it’s the blonde boy,” Izo wiped a bubble that had flung to his face as Ace did another backflip with his sponge-board. Really, he was too amazed to be angry. “Either way, it’s really far too early for their shit, let’s get out of here, Haruta. Let Marco deal with this.”

Izo practically banged the door shut, Haruta was still looking like he had seen the secrets of the universe. “So much for a snack..” he muttered.

This would be a good day, Izo was not going into that shit. Because today will be a good day.

A hissing balloon sound suddenly lingered in the air until-

WHAM!

Izo turned his head and was met with the sight of Luffy embedded into the wall, Ace, soaked head-to-toe belly-laughing at his younger brother while the blonde one smiled funnily, the wall to the dining room was also destroyed, pieces of wood scattered everywhere.

Destroyed, like Izo’s sanity would be if he didn’t get the hell out of here.

“Izo, I think if we don’t want to get involved, we’d just have to make a run for it,” Haruta suggested.

“Nice idea, Haruta,” Izo was already sprinting, Haruta followed him in a swift move. The hallways were filled with menaces, so it’s off limits for today, Izo noted, engraving into his brain to not cross this hallway for the day.

He’s keeping his sanity, thank you very much.

---

“Wanna bet on how many walls you think they’d destroy today?” Kukai sat next to Saber, who was lounging around after just finishing the lookout job on the crow’s nest.

“Betting, huh? well I’m no coward, hit me with it.” Saber smirked. Kukai nudged at him, “you go first.”

“Okay, so, considering that they only destroyed two last week, I bet on five hundred Bellis that I think it’s going to be three this time,” Saber smirked surely.

Kukai raised a brow at his companion’s method of guessing, “you think there’s a pattern?”

Saber shook his head, “I don’t think there is, but, every week, I at least get hit once by Luffy’s Gomu-Gomu no Rocket.”

Kukai hummed, “how’d you managed to survive every time anyways? Even when we were still Spades, you never really broke your bone whenever that kid crashes onto you.”

Saber shrugged, “my mom used to tell me to drink my milk every day, so I guess my bones grew pretty strong ‘cause of that. Anyways, back to the topic, what’s your guess?”

“Well, I bet there’re five-”

BANG! Pieces of the wall lurched everywhere as a blur of red crashed the wall Saber was just leaning on, diving onto the back of Saber himself, who was sent tackled to the ground.

Kukai watched, unsurprised, knowing that someday in the week, Saber was going to get sent flying by Luffy anyways.

“Holy shit, Luffy, Saber again?! Give him a break, why’d you always end up launching towards him, anyways?” Ace, who was stifling his laugh, suddenly appeared from the hole Luffy made, stepping over the piece of broken wall to poke at his younger brother.

“He must have bones denser than iron and spirit higher than Oars to not get his skull crushed by Luffy’s moves,” an unfamiliar sultry voice came from a blonde who also emerged from the broken wall- hole, whatever it was called.

Looking at experience on the blondie’s face, Kukai snorted, “believe me or not, every single week, Luffy accidentally launched onto him, his bones are harder than seastone, i swear.”

 Saber groaned from underneath Luffy, “can confirm-” he busted out into a cough.

“Another hole, really? How’d you make it this time?” Deuce emerged from the corner, the five of them turned their head to the unimpressed man. “Hey Deuce!” Ace, Saber, Kukai and Luffy greeted him.

“Well we were finally done cleaning the dining hall and we have to get the brooms and sponges back to the storeroom, I thought that I can just catapult there but guess I’m wrong,” Luffy shrugged nonchalantly.

Deuce sighed, “it’s barely twelve and Luffy’s made three holes. I’m so grateful that we’re not on the Spadille anymore that I don’t have to deal with this shit any longer.”

Saber, upon hearing Deuce’s groaning, cheered loudly, “hell yeah, I won the bet!” Kukai snorted and threw five his five hundred Bellis to the man.

Chapter Text

The deck was quieter as the sun fell into the swooning arms of the seas, just like every day, Newgate breathed the salty seas of the Grand Line, watching the seas soar and fall before walking to the chatter-filled dining hall, joining his children on their usual dinner

As he took another breath, he caught something out of the corner of his eye, the new brat Ace and Luffy took in sitting right beside him, his top hat shadowed his face, still, the brat pulled it downwards again.

Ever since meeting him in the morning, Newgate had noticed a pattern of calmness-concealed thoughts from the boy, like he needed to hide a weight, a weight so evident on his shoulders. Always present in his every action, so carefully concealed.

(Poker face, a trick revolutionaries harboured so deep in their brains. He knew their game.)

“I’m honoured to be able to seat with you, an Emperor, much more with The Strongest Man in The World,” Sabo broke the silence, eyes looking over to the darkening seas ahead of them. Dragon’s brats Whitebeard had met was never free from the double talk technique, it seemed.

“No need to be so formal, call me Pops, squirt, you’re my own, too, now,” Whitebeard gently tapped his top hat, a bit hard enough to make the hat dig into his head, covering his eyes.

Sabo went silent at that, no reaction except for his hand twitching for a flash moment.

“…Why so easily let me call you that..? you’re a pirate as notorious as to receive the title of an Emperor, yet.. why exactly did you so easily let me on your deck, amongst your crew? so easily want me to call you Pops? Are you sure.. about letting me on your ship?” his voice went a bit quieter at the last of his words.

(The candle danced on the table, lighting up a grimacing freckled face.

“He was your enemy, don’t you want to kick me out?” Ace said in a disbelieving tone. His face was hurt, an old thing already embroidered in him, and Newgate wondered just how many bastards had made him feel that hurt.)

Such a familiar question with such different meanings. Newgate was no fool, this time, it wasn’t about Sabo’s origins, he knew. This question was about something else, acceptance.

Newgate sighed softly, just why did he have to be so similar to his brother in doubting himself? All Newgate saw in the kid’s gaping eyes were guilt.

 The kid was good at layering his face to take off the thoughts from his face, but at this point in time, Newgate knew that this, staring at him, was the real Sabo, how he really felt.

Oh, this guilt was far too old. Already caving inside the boy.

“I have a feeling that this isn’t about me.” It’s about those two brats, Ace and Luffy, Newgate knew, but he wasn’t going to pry, either, even if he knew. He knew something personal when he saw one, and if the brat didn’t want to share, then so be it.

The brat’s eyes widened, before he threw his gaze back to the seas, “it might not be.”

Newgate grunted, “I am sure about all of this, that’s a fact I’ll never change. Everyone here accepts you brat, and I know that question doesn’t come out of the blue. You think that I shouldn’t accept you, do you? That’s where your question comes from, right?”

There was silence between them, only filled with the usual sways and waves of the seas. Newgate let the wind pass, and let the boy be silent.

He let the boy hear those words and feel it’s meanings, before he added one more, turning his head so slightly just to see the boy’s shoulders tensing, almost shrinking on himself if it wasn’t for his poker face.

“But,” Newgate continued, “whatever it is that make you think that I shouldn’t accept you, even if it’s yourself, that’s damn bull, everyone deserves to be accepted. Do you get that, boy?”

“I…. see,” the boy’s voice was carefully put together, but Newgate could hear the tremor. “Thank you,” he stood up, bowing deeply.

(His tone was too nonchalant to be true.)

The boy scooted away, the weight on his back was still as clear as day, so Newgate turned his head to the skies, and then he smiled.

(He knew his brothers wouldn’t let the foolish brat feel like that.)

 ---

A tick tick tick tick was running down his spine and Sabo felt his stomach was in his feet. The feeling of wrongness haunting him ever since meeting Luffy was amplifying more and more on this ship, because everywhere he looked was a clutching reminder that he’d trespassed here.

He knew, he knew he should keep his worries under thick layers of faces of a teasing, cheeky brother. Like always, pretend that his guilt wasn’t gnawing at him like always, laugh alongside his brothers and bury everything deep like he’d always done, but-

But Whitebeard’s words from his conversation with him the afternoon stuck to him like needles and Sabo couldn’t think of anything other than it.

“Whatever it is that make you think that I shouldn’t accept you, even if it’s yourself, that’s damn bull, everyone deserves to be accepted. Do you get that, boy?”

So.. kind. So kind that it amplified Sabo’s guilt over and over again and it threatened to sink him for how undeserving he was-

A trespasser. Even though Ace and Luffy and even Whitebeard had said otherwise, there’s someone, something else in the back of his mind that reminded him that he was a trespasser undeserving of his brothers and the kindness the whitebeards had given him, and it’s gnawing him inside, eating him up and he felt like he couldn’t breathe-

“Sabo?” he felt a hand touch his shoulder, his head snapped up to see Thatch, the cook looking down at him with his eyebrow furrowed and eyes narrowed. He blinked, taking in the loud music around him and the noises that go hand-in-hand. Ah right, he was in the middle of a party.

(It felt wrong in his gut to think of an event they had planned carefully for him being the reason for the sinking guilt in his gut.)

“Sabo, are you okay?” Thatch asked again, tone a bit more ushering.

Sabo managed to force out a chuckle, he hoped it’s audible from the loud music. “Why, a sudden worry for me, Fourth Division Commander? I’m flattered.”

Thatch stared at him with an unimpressed stare. “Don’t try to revolutionary-technique out of my question, Sabo,” he deadpanned and Sabo must’ve messed up somewhere (hey, maybe everywhere!). Sighing, he decided that it would be the wisest to stop trying to bluff his way out of this.

“I’m just a bit… overwhelmed by all this,” Sabo softened his tone, playing with the sleeve of his shirt. Thatch stared down at him with a look full of concern that felt more like a bright flashlight’s shine to him, a trespasser.

Sabo felt cockroaches running on his spine. Quickly, although a bit hasty, he stood up from the barrel he’d been sitting on, making a show of dusting his coat off.

He gave Thatch the most innocent smile he could muster up, “go worry about someone else, okay? It’ll do you more good than worrying about me,” Sabo grinned, waving his way out of the dining hall. (A stare of concern and warning bored into the back of the unaware man.)

Stars litter up the skies as Sabo walked out to the deck, boots thumping with the wood planks as the party went on. With his head up, reaching for the stars, he decided to go away from the noise, alone with his own thoughts.

(He didn’t know which was worse, because his own guilt and a sense of wrongness clutched him and threatened to sink him the more he was on the dining hall. Yet here outside, he could feel it in his skin, wrangling and unnumbed by the music.)

He found a spot, just a bit near the mast, and leaned to the railings, staring out to the inky seas below him. The trespasser stared at the moons and stars and tried to think about something else, yet he-

“You’re Sabo. Me n’ Aces even if you don’t remember. We swore that our bond can never be shattered. Except you don’t want to be, Sabo’s always my big brother, even if he doesn’t remember anything, it’s fine. Because you’re alive.”

“You didn’t choose to be shot when you’re fucking ten, you didn’t. You’re acting like you left us purposely and we all know that didn’t fucking happen. So shut up, and listen, we’ll never hate you, not in a million years.”

He groaned, clutching his blonde strands at the memories of what his brother had said to him.

“Sabo!” Luffy bounced suddenly to his right, grinning brightly and softly like he wanted to make Sabo’s night better and oh, Sabo couldn’t do this, not now-

“What are you doing out here all alone? Oi, ‘Bo? Why the long face?” Ace leaned on the railing on his left, his face is soft and kind and like always, he wanted to understand and Sabo- Sabo couldn’t handle it.

He should pretend. Like always. Keep it in, keep it in.

Sabo shrugged, “just a bit…. overwhelmed, by everything. Sorry, I’ll get back right now-“

“No.” Ace stated, Sabo’s eyes widened. “Not until you’re okay.”

“We can stay here,” Luffy shook his head, “it’s okay. The party can wait, it’s always fun with you around.”.

(Trespasser, trespasser, trespasser, trespasser)

Sabo turned his head and everytime he did was Ace smiling gently and Luffy grinning softly, he couldn’t- he couldn’t do this-

(Keep it in, keep it in.)

Sabo buried his face in his arms, trying to make himself stop breaking. Oh, he knew, he knew he should keep it in, but his eyes stung and he felt droplets on his cheeks and would keeping it in do something?

“Why?” the question was ripped out of his throat. His voice was sore and choked.

“Huh? Sabo?” Luffy reached for his shoulder and Sabo backed away before he had the chance and just-  just great, now he managed to make their eyebrows crease with worry when they should be smiling but he just couldn’t put up the face anymore, “I’m sorry-“

His carefully put-together face broke at the kindness and softness and everything he received that he didn’t deserve. Guilt crushed him like an anvil, suffocating, suffocating like he was buried under layers of water.

“Why?” Sabo repeated, desperate, so desperate to know about their acceptance.

“Sabo?” Ace worriedly creased his eyebrows, Luffy’s smile quickly dissipated into a frown, “Sabo, what’s wrong?”

Sabo shook his head, again and again like as if it would stop the thoughts, the guilt that had taken over him since he met Luffy again, “why are- why are you doing so much for me? what- what have I done other than- than abandoning you?”

Two pairs of eyes fixed on him with a widened stare, and Sabo should really stop burdening them with his thoughts, but he couldn’t stop. Couldn’t stop the rushing feeling of guilt he had been keeping in layers so, so carefully.

All of his guilt came crushing down on him in that exact moment, his shoulder shook as his breath threatened to catch in his throat. “I- I was gone for eight years! Yet- yet you both accepted me just like as easy as breathing! Why?! Why?! I don’t-“ Sabo gulped on air as he shook his head again.

Stop, stop shaking stop, stop it- why are you still talking- why are you still burdening them-

“I- I don’t- I don’t deserve such acceptance! I- I don’t deserve such kind brothers like you both!” Sabo forced his throat to form words as his eyes begun to sting.

“Why….? Why aren’t you… mad at me…?” Sabo’s words came out as a weak mutter as he hunched his shoulders, yet Ace and Luffy heard it just the first time.

Ace narrowed his eyes hardening his gaze and putting a hand on Sabo’s shoulder “Sabo, there’s nothing to be mad abou-”

“There is! I don’t- I don’t get how you both can’t see it- I don’t get why there’s no resentment over how I left. I can’t- living with this guilt feels horrid, every day and I- I can’t help but feel that all the love, the affections, and everything you’ve given to me is stolen from the Sabo who died years ago-“

“Sabo!” Luffy yelled out his name, shocking both Ace and Sabo. His gaze was stern and steely as he shook his head. “Ace’s right, there’s nothing to be mad about. Me n’ Ace don’t blame you for anything, Sabo! We don’t resent you, we’re not mad at you because there’s nothing to be mad at!”

Sabo didn’t listen, only shaking his head as his guilt remained running rampant. He felt hot tears on his eyes and he just couldn’t anymore-

“You should be mad.. I- I deserve it! Why can’t you see that?! I- I… I forgot such amazing people and I-“

His sniffles made its way to sobs and he’s sorry for Luffy and Ace that had to handle this, everything that he tried to do to compose himself broke and he couldn’t stop trembling as those hot tears trickled down his face, his breath quickening.

“Sabo,” Ace held his name tight and he felt a hand on his cheek. “Sabo, no. It’s not your fault. It’s never going to be. Don’t apologize to us. It’s not us.”

“Sabo,” another hand tugged his wrist, breaking his grip on his hair, “it’s not your fault! You only owe you an apology! All that’s left to apologize to is you! You want us to hate you because you hate yourself!” Luffy’s voice shook at the end and Sabo’s chest ached.

Because- because seas. He could never lie to them, could he? He’d resented himself, cursed himself because he couldn’t remember.

He sobbed, knees buckling yet two pairs of arms held him tight, not letting him go tumbling on the ground. He choked on his own tears because he was so tired, of this guilt weighing down his chest until he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

He let himself break unto Ace as Luffy held him tight, he knew he shouldn’t but seas, he was so tired. Two pairs of arms held him and Sabo leaned and cried, letting out everything he’d been keeping underneath his eyes.

Seas, he’s so damn tired of the guilt. Of letting it gnaw inside of him until he felt that he didn’t have anything to give.

Guilt racked his body as they hold him close, Ace holding him to his chest and Luffy hugging his waist, and it’s so warm. They whispered assurances to him, how it’s not his fault and how it’s going to be over and everything hurt, yet everything’s warm.

He cried, under the stars and moon and in the safety of his brothers’ embrace, holding them tight and listening to the ba-dump-ba-dump of their chests, and it felt like the pit in his stomach was lessening and lessening until he could only listen to the sounds of their hearts and everything lessened to sniffles.

Luffy leaned his head on his side as he held him close, wiping his tears as Ace pulled them both closer unto him, softly caressing Sabo’s hair. They both whispered comfort and everything nice, Sabo finally hearing it after his sobs fell to sniffles.

“Sabo,” Ace caressed his hair. “Will you forgive yourself? For me and Luffy?” and oh, it’s a hard request to fill.

“We’re going to be here,” Luffy whispered and oh. Oh.

“You’re- you’re going to be here. Both of you… you’re.. you’re going to be here…” Sabo whispered, not having the fight on him to cover up his exhaustion. They both hummed and he couldn’t hear anything more comforting in the entire world.

“It’s hard,” he croaked, “it’ll be hard- but I’ll..” he couldn’t help but trail of, because after everything, after letting everything gnawing in him out, it was only him and this guilt in front of him, wasn’t it?

It was his decision.

So Sabo sucked in a breath, “It’ll be hard,” he tried again, “but I’ll try.”

He looked up, and he saw the most beautiful pair of smiles in the world lighting down at him. So Ace moved his body until Sabo’s back is on his stomach and Luffy hugged his side, leaning his head on Sabo’s shoulder. Ace closed the space with wrapping his arms around the both of them and propping his chin on Sabo’s head.

Oh. It’s so warm this way, Ace’s heat was radiating off of him with a comforting degree and their arms held Sabo so close.

Sabo’s tears fell again, quiet this time, and he felt Ace’s embrace tightening and Luffy’s finger wiping off the tear from his cheeks and his arms squeezing him just a bit tighter.

“Sabo, Luffy softly said as he wiped another tear from his face with a calloused finger, “even if you don’t have any memories at all, we’re still going to love you. You’re nice. It’s nice to have you.” Sabo felts something warm swirl in his chest.

He felt a kiss on the crown of his head, from his older brother. “Mhm, and knowing someone as nice as you thinking these things hurt. So say sorry to yourself?”

Sabo’s breath hitched, but he nodded. He’d do anything for them.

“I’m tired,” he muttered. He felt Luffy burrow on his side and Ace holding them and he felt a soft smile.

He’d felt this safe before. He could remember a smell of soil and leaves as he’s held, drifting off to sleep, finally letting himself lean to them. It’s just a fragment, but a fragment is enough, it’s enough for them to still love him. It’s enough, he convinced himself, this is enough.

It’s hard, to not think of the gaping space the fragment left behind, but he’ll focus on the warmth.

He’ll try to.

---

(Later, Newgate proved himself right as he stepped to the deck in the middle of the night. His eyes catching the form of three brats huddled up with each other with the mast as their support, of Ace, Sabo and Luffy draped around each other like they’d never let go of the other ever again.

Newgate knew that Ace’s fire would be enough to warm them all up, yet later, he still draped the softest blanket he could find over the three of them, careful as to not wake them up.

Later, when he stepped away to find a bottle of booze, Marco, still awake like usual, teased him for being so soft. He only shrugged and smiled, “those fools are my sons.”)

Chapter Text

Ah….
What a familiar sight.

Marco smiled at himself as he stared at the same pair of brothers he’d learned to love hugging each other, with an addition of a cheeky blonde in their middle.

He didn’t know what had happened before the three of them decided to coop up together, but Marco noticed how much Sabo’s face eased compared to when he first met him, signifying how the tears stains on his cheek had helped him raise a weight from his shoulders.

They looked so content with each other. Ace leaned on the mast with his head on Sabo’s, the latter’s back on his stomach as Luffy’s arm stretched behind Ace and on Sabo in a tight hug.

His siblings had looked everywhere for the three after they left the party, Marco making it his job to tell them on the dining hall that they’re getting some rest.

The night was growing cold but he couldn’t help but feel warmth under his chest at the sight of them oh so peacefully wrapped around one another with careless, tired faces gleaming under the moonlight. He felt as if he could sit there, cross legged all night looking at those peaceful faces caressed by sleep.

“Big brother’s being doting again, huh?” a voice called, playful and teasing. Recognizing that voice, Marco chuckled, “what can I say, Thatch? It’s what being a big brother of thousands does to you, yoi.” He finally rose from the deck, turning around to stare at Thatch with a lazy smile.

“I have a feeling that you’ll like the blondie and have an aneurysm dealing with him at the same time,” Thatch cut himself off with a chuckle, “he’s not as gentlemanly as he looks like, I swear.”

“I think I might need to make a correction, he’s just like this devil duo” Marco sighed. Thatch laughed, knowing well that he’s also one of the main perpetrators of trouble in the Moby.

“He looks a bit happier, even if he’s a bit funny-looking,” Thatch smiled, tilting his own head.

Marco gave out a sigh, turning a last stare to the sleeping devil trio- (he tried not to think of the implication of there being another one)- and rising up to his feet, going to his quarters.

“Night, mother hen,” Thatch half-yelled to him, Marco chortled as he kept stepping away.

---

Sabo cracked his eyes open to the sun shining straight on his eyes.

After a second avoiding the shy morning sunlight from reaching his eyes, he blinked, remembering what had happened last night.

He sighed shakily as he listened to the soft snores above his head and a steady warmth surrounding him, Sabo looked around and arms holding him and Luffy close. He must be leaning on Ace, then, Sabo realized.

Something consuming, a wounded part of him wanted him to break free, (shy away from this warm hold that you’re not deserving of.)

For once, he tried to do something against it, making himself more comfortable and tugging Luffy closer to himself, focusing more on Ace’s warm, comforting arms and basking more in their warmth.

“I deserve this,” Sabo shakily whispered to himself, because he said he’d try to forgive, because if he let these thoughts consume him, it’d only break his mind more and more.

(It’s so hard to say those three words, he figured. But for his brothers, he’d try anything. Even if he only remembered fragments of smells and sounds and images from their childhood, even if he only figured out from Ace and Luffy’s stories, he’d try.)

“I deserve this,” he tried again, feeling the love surrounding him, “I deserve this,” the words were heavy, but he wanted to believe it.

“’Bo? You up..?” Sabo blinked at the voice. Trailing his eyes up, Sabo’s sight caught Ace staring down softly at him.

Eager to see his big brother’s face, he unfurled the blankets huddling him tight and slowly moved away from Ace’s hold and unto the deck, smiling as he turned to look at his brothers.

A goofy smile burst on his face as he took a look of his brothers. Because there, in front of him were Ace smiling fondly at him, love deeply surging through his crescent smile, and Luffy peacefully snoring in Ace’s embrace, fingers still partly grasping Sabo’s shirt.

“Who wouldn’t be after hearing five seconds of your astronomical snoring?” Sabo teased as he slowly tugged Luffy away from Ace’s hold and leaned his younger brother on his own chest. He chuckled as he moved away Luffy’s black strands covering his closed eyes.

Ace yawned, stretching away his muscles now that he wasn’t holding anyone anymore, his face wearing a raised brow, “still got room for witty remarks, huh?”

“There’s always a chance to make fun of my brother,” Sabo grinned cheekily. Ace huffed, inching closer only to flick Sabo’s forehead, “don’t get so cheeky now, I’m still your big brother,” he said with a smug grin.

Oh, was that a challenge?

“Is that so? Then please do show the proof of that, brother dearest” Sabo narrowed his eyes, shit-eating grin present on his face.

“Well for once, I was the one holding you both last night, so I get big brother points for that.” Sabo rolled his eyes, “you’re just making things up now.”

Ace stuck out his tongue, “I’m not, and I’m sure Luffy would ag-“

WHAM! a sudden punch from the still-sleeping Luffy collided with Ace’s nose. Sabo barked out a laugh as Ace winced, glaring down at the still carelessly snoring Luffy.

“Luffy definitely did not agree” Sabo snickered. Ace replied with a glare that looked too familiar on his face.

Just as Sabo was about to piss Ace off more, Luffy suddenly shot awake, his head hitting Sabo’s chin and mercilessly making Sabo’s head fly backwards with bursts of pain.

Luffy’s eye lit up as he rubbed the sleep away from his eyes, pair of black eyes somehow brighter than the sun itself.

“Oh, did I hit something? “ Luffy carelessly asked as Sabo groaned in pain.

Ace laughed loudly, Sabo sitting up with vengeance in his eyes.

Their younger brother carelessly scratched his head as he looked around with droopy eyes, “hmmmm…” his voice was tinted with sleep, “I thought I hit something twice but I guess it’s just my imagination… “

“You hit us, Luffy!”

For once, Sabo felt that he could laugh with them without guilt chaining him down. It was still there, nagging and whispering, yet he’d try to not mind it too much.

He did promise, after all.

---

“Give me that meat, Ace!” Luffy demanded, pointing his index finger to Ace’s nose. Ace smirked and triumphantly took a small bite of the meat.

Not content with a ‘no’ as an answer, Luffy bit Ace’s arm with a savagery of a starving beast as he reached for the meat in his big brother’s hand. Ace yelped in pain and plucked Luffy off of his arm onto the creaky wooden deck in front of them.

Just like that, both of them were back in square one as they stare at each other with a feral glare like a cowboy showdown, a chaos waiting to happen.

“They’re fighting again?” Marco sighed as he leaned on the ship’s railings. Sabo, beside him, just chuckled as he rubbed his eyes, “no other explanation.”

Marco chuckled at how typical it was for them to fight over something so mundane. It was a bit after breakfast that the two decided to fight over some meat right on the deck, the blankets draped over them long abandoned.

Marco glanced at Sabo who was busy with snickering at their antics, he never really talked to him properly, did he?

(Looking a bit keener… how odd it was that his eyes looked oddly puffy.)

“You’re not joining them?” Marco remarked, glancing at the newcomer. Testing the waters. Sabo glanced at Marco, tugging a smirk on his own face, “It’s funnier being a spectator.”

Remembering times when Marco watched the kitchen explode by Ace and Luffy’s own bare hands, he really doubted the credibility of that sentence.

Marco raised a brow “You’re not stopping them, then?”

Sabo shrugged, chuckling, “I want to test out my theories. Whether it’s A, Luffy makes another hole in the deck, or B, one or two of them gets chucked into the ocean.”

A chuckle escaped Marco’s lips then, “I guess you’re not stopping them like you didn’t stop them from dunking my shirt in window cleaner and directly hanging it under the sun, yoi?” Marco cleared his throat, an attempt to hold the brat responsible.

“Oh, that…” Sabo looked away, his tone nervous, “um.. I didn’t know where the detergent was.. so…” he sheepishly looked up. Marco sighed, if it was accidental, then…

“Okay, I’ll let you off the hook this time. Just don’t be like them, by seas, some day they keep using cleaning products for the wrong purpose..”

“Somehow, I believe you. Were they devils to begin with?” Sabo chuckled with a mischievous glint that earned Marco a raised brow,

“They’re devils from their debut. Luffy’s first action on here was to destroy the deck, yoi,” Marco stared at Sabo with a pained stare. Sabo smirked, “I don’t think I expect anything less than it.”

Marco stared at Sabo, looking at him, he looked calm and composed, but there’s something behind those mismatched eyes that hid something, a lingering sharpness tucked in a soft-spoken looking face.

Danger. A ferality that his brothers had, caved onto them deeply. But there was something else, an air of an unsettling glint in his eyes.

Marco wondered how he’s so similar to them, yet his name was never mentioned. When he opened his mouth to ask, a “BANG!” echoed in the air. His reflexes turned his head to face forward to the broken, holed railings, the absence of the two brothers explained with the “SPLASH!” way under.

“Well, it seemed that both of my theories were correct,” Sabo slipped off his coat and threw it beside him, rushing to the holed-up railings and jumping after them.

Marco chuckled, thanking him for saving the idiot Devil Fruit users. Still, he wondered…

---

“The blondie is a bit odd,” Thatch remarked as he propped his head on his hand, “he looked like there was something on his mind back in the party yesterday night, he just looked..” Thatch shrugged, “I dunno, blank.”

“I think there was something weighing his shoulders,” Marco looked across his way at Thatch, “he does look.. unsettling sometimes. Brat’s got a silver tongue.”

Thatch chuckled, face holding a bit of seriousness, “yeah, and his cravat. Why wouldn’t he tuck it in?”

Marco glared, “Thatch, that’s not the point,” he emphasized his words in case he had to knock it into Thatch’s head, which happened 90% of the time.“ Why are you so focused on the cravat?” Marco narrowed his eyes.

“Because he’d be much cooler if he tucks the cravat in!” Thatch gestured what Marco judged as a tucking-in-the-cravat gesture which he really couldn’t find the relevance in the discussion.

“Oi, Izo!” Thatch turned his head to Izo, who was still mumbling something about “kick flips”, “dining hall”, and “detergent” for some reason. Izo only glanced a bit at Thatch, stopping his little trip across the ship.

“That blondie, Sabo, he’d look cooler if he tucks the cravat in, right?” Thatch tried to prove his point, only to have Izo glare at him and say the following words in the most warning-experienced tone ever;

“How did he even cover it all with detergent?”

Marco was convinced that his brothers had lost a piece of their mind somewhere ever since the blonde joined them in their voyage.

(Well, Actually, maybe when Ace and Luffy first joined, too.)

Chapter Text

Luffy was very busy today.

Busy with what? Of course, busy with stuffing his face with Thatch’s fresh cooking (very important stuff, because eating was eating.)

Finishing the sandwich in his mouth, his eyes roamed around for any additional food free to snatch. Eyeing the long table in front of him, Luffy narrowed his eyes, spotting Sabo’s deliciously unattended meatballs that he immediately aimed for.

His hand bolted as fast as lightning, grabbing the edge of Sabo’s plate and pouring the meatballs into his mouth. Sabo could only yelp in surprise as Ace guffawed, “your Luffy-sense is damn rusty, bo!”

Sabo only huffed as Luffy grinned, “th’his ish rh-eally ghoohd Sh-abo!” Luffy stuffed more rice into his never-ending stomach.

“How many plates this morning, Lu?” Ace bit off a piece of roasted chicken in his mouth. “Not enough!” Luffy quickly answered with no hesitation.

Ace guffawed, ruffling Luffy’s unruly mess of black hair. As Luffy’s hair became a mess of a web, the pout on Sabo’s lips disappeared, replaced by a delighted chuckle, “someday you’re going to burst out open, Luffy!” he said. Luffy perked up, eyes catching a smidge of his smile, taking to details how much it’s unburdened and free.

Then he gazed at Ace’s that was smirking and crescent shape, truly warm like his hugs and oh, he figured as he laughed loudly, some food bursting out of his mouth-

(-How he’d do anything for it. For his big brothers’ happy and free smile.)

“You two don’t get to talk about portions!” Jo, a member of the kitchen group, showed up with plates filled to the brims with food, all stacked with one on the other. Luffy drooled, spending 0.0000001 second to practically vacuum the food into his stretching mouth after Jo had barely set the plates down.

Jo yelped, sighing at the usual quick response from, his head turning to Ace and Sabo as he fixed his glasses, “you guys might wanna be quick before he eats the whole dining hall.”

Ace and Sabo, flabbergasted that Luffy was vacuuming all the food, fought tooth and nails for the plates on the table, a very rough roughhousing ensues, scrambling on the plates like feral hyenas hungry for food. Luffy got the best of the food, mouth forming a large “O” entirely for vacuuming food.

Jo only chuckled, walking off from their table. Another day, another chaotic lunch (or every meal time, for that matter.)

The rest of the crew only stared at them with a stare that could conclude to them adding a new number into “Shit The Devil Trio Would Do That We Should Watch Out For” list.

(The numbers in the S TDTWDTWSWOF list were incredibly many even though Sabo had just been with them for only three days.)

Whitebeard, at the very front of the hall, guffawed with amusement, knowing damn well how they would be punished to clean out the hall again. He took a sip of the sake in his cup and stared at his blonde top-hatted brat.

His smile was radiant, lopsided because of his scar, yet definitely, it was undoubtedly true. A grin just like his brothers’.

Whitebeard took another sip of the giant cup, his new brat would be just fine.

---

Four days after Sabo lost contact with the HQ, Koala finally, finally arrived before The Moby Dick with the small vessel she stole from the marines.

Feeling relief (and the urge to clobber Sabo into the end of the sun), Koala dropped the anchor, muttering grateful words to the seas that the day was sunny without Grand Line’s absolutely mental storm.

Up there, peering over The Moby’s railings, Commander Haruta popped up, his eyes narrowing to her and her vessel. Before he made any other decisions based on the seagull symbol of the Marines painted on the ship, Koala raised her RA flag up to set the note that she wasn’t here to fight.

She showed her face to Commander Haruta clear and in broad daylight, if there was anyone who knew hidden information on something as taboo as the Revolutionary Army members, it would be him.

“I’m here for another revolutionary, blonde haired, top hatted,” she said, loud and clear

Just as she expected, Commander Haruta’s brows inched upwards, recognition.

“Come aboard and get your friend to stop using random things as detergent!” Commander Haruta yelled about a certain someone before Koala could and oh, wasn’t that familiar?

(It was unwritten law on Baltigo that Sabo, under any circumstances, was not allowed to wash clothes, it had been scientifically (not really, but Koala could swear it was) proven that Sabo was a petty little shit that would do shit like that just for the funs.)

Koala tried her hardest to not indulge into needless violence against her best friend but she’s on the damn brink on just slinging Sabo over her shoulder and throwing him to Baltigo at 1000 km/s.

She jumped onto the deck, not minding Commander Haruta’s surprised eyes, practically whirling past, her knuckles cracked.

Catching a rather familiar figure exiting a room with wide doors, Koala braced her stance and-

BAM!! The sound of her fist hitting Sabo’s skull rattled the air.

“Ow!”  Sabo clutched the back of his head almost instantly. He turned around, eyes widened. “Ko!”

“Don’t ‘Ko’ me, you ass!” Koala straight up glared at him, and honest to the seas, if she could roast him charred at the point, she absolutely would.

Before Sabo could open his mouth to throw whatever bullshit of an answer he had stored, a black-haired teenager from the newspaper ran straight in front of him.

Monkey D. Luffy, Dragon’s son, and supposedly Sabo’s kidnapper pointed at Koala, his brows furrowed with accusation. “Oi, who are you?! Why’d you punch Sabo?!”

As if Monkey D. Luffy wasn’t enough, another one of the kidnappers, Portgas D. Ace, lunged in front of Sabo, eyes glaring daggers with a cutting scowl, “don’t even think about hitting him again, step forward and you’re crisp,” his tone was boiling hot, protective.

Protective of Sabo, who he kidnapped. Goodness gracious, what the hell even is happening?

Koala sighed, dropping her arms at her sides. “Portgas D. Ace and Monkey D. Luffy, save your worries, I’m a revolutionary sent here to check up on my partner,” she said with a strain of irritation, her gaze directed to Sabo behind them.

“A partner,” Koala added, “who lost contact with the HQ, appeared on the newspaper as a hostage that presumably got kidnapped by Whitebeards!” she raised her voice on the last two parts, eyes narrowed to Sabo behind Luffy and Ace. “Huh?” the two of them blinked turning their heads to Sabo.

Both of them watched closely as Sabo stood up, tapping dust from his coat with a sheepish grin on his face that Koala wanted to clobber right off. “I’m sorry, Ko! I forgot about the ‘going back to Baltigo’ bit and I lost my Den Den! The storms weren’t helping either!”

“And how exactly did you end up on the Moby Dick, huh?” Koala clenched her fists and decided to humour her partner.

“Ko, you won’t believe it. It’s complicated and... it would be a long talk for later but I..” Sabo took a deep breath, “I found my brothers again,” he smiled softly, his hands gesturing to Ace and Luffy. The both of them smiled at her, Luffy waving.

Koala’s eyes widened, “…I did jinx it.”

Everything made sense yet everything absolutely refused to make sense.

Paying no mind to Koala’s mind still processing everything, Luffy waved his hand, grinning, “yooo, Floppy Beret! I’m Monkey D. Luffy! Future King of Pirates! My big brother’s a dumbass, huh? Shishishi!”

“Oi, Luffy!” Sabo took notice of that remark, offended. Luffy only grinned merrily.

The other, Ace, snickered, taking it for his cue to bow down, “Portgas D. Ace. Apologies for Sabo’s dumbassery, I look forward to you beating the shit outta him.” Sabo elbowed Ace in annoyance, eyes glaring down at him.

Koala let out a snicker, pulling her gloves from where it had slipped when punching Sabo. “I’m Koala, Sabo’s partner. And I too, look forward to beating the shit out of him,” she gave a sharp glare to Sabo.

Sabo sighed, “is it my fate to get bullied by everyone?”

“Yes and you deserve it,” Koala fished out a Den Den Mushi from her pocket and threw it lightly to Sabo, who caught it with his gloved hand. He raised a brow, waiting for an explanation.

“Speaking of, go call him, I don’t doubt that he’d want to hear from you,” Koala said with a warning tone. “After all, it’s why I’m called to check on you.”

Sabo’s eyes widened, “wait, what? He did?” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Alright, better not keep him waiting.” he turned away, waving to Ace and Luffy who waved right back.

Once Sabo was out of view, Koala turned to Ace and Luffy with a smug grin. “So, how about an exchange? An embarrassing story about my dear partner from you guys for mine.”

Ace snickered, while Luffy’s grin stretched further.

“I like how you think,” Ace said, grinning.

---

“Dragon,” Sabo greeted the gruff-voiced man once he was away from the group. His leader on the other side of the line hummed slightly, the baby Den Den’s face barely holding any expression.

“So, ‘kidnapped’ by Whitebeards?” a rare, slight humour on Dragon’s voice earned Sabo a slight chuckle.

“Pretty much like that,” Sabo leaned his back onto the wooden wall, staring up to the ceiling, “just replace ‘Whitebeards’ with ‘long lost brothers’, and you get the full picture.”

A small pause, an exhale before Dragon spoke again, “you found them.” He said, flat like usual, but slow, fond for Sabo who had heard it times and times before.

“They found me,” Sabo smiled, warmth surging in his chest. A giddy chuckle escaped his lips, “what a coincidence that one of them is your son, I really wonder where he got that smile from.”

Dragon exhaled a little on the other line, Sabo grinned that his poking was successful.

“He’s doing good, by the way, if you want to know. He really has a knack for getting us into dangerous situation, though.”

“Not much difference from you, then.”

“Hey, hey, at least I thought it out first,” Sabo added, Dragon made a small grunt of amusement in response.

“You want to stay with them,” Dragon said after a slight pause. Sabo’s eyes widened a bit, of course he’d know.

A small twinkle made it into his eyes and his smile, lighting it up with a warmth that he’d felt when he was snuggled with his brothers.

“May I?”

“Your decision.”

“Yes,” Sabo said, no second thought in his decision. “I’d stay. As long as the rest of my off days allows me.”

“Two weeks, then.”

Sabo grinned, “two weeks.”

Click! Sabo cut the line. He stuffed the small snail into his pocket and jogged right to where his brothers and his best friend were, a huge, merry grin placed right in his face. Because he’d be with his brothers, and wasn’t that a wondrous thought.

(Being close to them, held tight with warm faces and warm hugs.)

“-Shishishishihshi! He did that?!” Sabo heard Luffy’s amused laugh as he approached the place where he’d left them.

“And then he kept that plush around forever!” he heard Koala say once he turned around the corner. His gaze caught his brothers and his best friend laughing out loud.

The gears turned in Sabo’s head. “Of course you told them about the dragon plush story,” he sighed dramatically, joining their small circle. A slight red crawling into his cheeks.

“It’s only payback of what you’ve done,” Koala said with a smug face, “and don’t say you don’t deserve it.”

Sabo huffed, yet his smile couldn’t be wiped out of his face. “I deserved it,” he said, as his brothers’ laugh rumbled in the background.