Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Home was a mercurial concept for Sabo.

Ever since he was old enough to understand, he knew that he did not have a true home with Outlook III and Didit. After all, how could he have a home with a pack that had rejected him? They watched, apathetic, as he withered away in front of them, nearly dying thanks to the neglected bonds between them. They called him weak, useless, unworthy. They would have left him to rot and moved on as if it were all his fault.

It wasn’t a strange phenomenon for nobles to block bonds between themselves and their pups. It was done under the pretense that doing so would weed out the weak from the strong. If a pup were truly worthy of bearing the title of noble, they would not need to depend upon a biological bond. Nobles, by and large, did not see bonds as more important than the laws and norms put forth by the Celestial Dragons. The Dragons themselves preached that blocking those bonds as soon as possible was paramount to showing that the lesser nobles placed the Celestial Dragons above all else. After all, if someone was still actively bonded to their pups, pack mentality could take over and there was every chance that they may put their pup above the creators of the World. A lesser noble’s devotion was to be to the World first and foremost and not to their own pack. Blocking the parent bond showed that.

However, even amongst nobles, the point at which those bonds were blocked was usually once a pup was 2 - 4 years old. It was at that point that birthbonds had already naturally faded into a standard parent bond, losing the near telepathic nature birthbonds created between a pup and their dam. It also lessened the danger that those blocked bonds would threaten a pup’s life. That was ostensibly why severing bonds were seen as a more radical stance amongst nobles. Blocking bonds had its dangers but severing them too early was all but condemning a pup to death. Nobles still needed their heirs, killing them was pointless so bonds weren’t severed for the most part. Blocking bonds instead did not eliminate the danger. Noble pups would get sick once a bond was blocked as a toddler, but about 70% recovered and the lost 30% were considered the weak, culled from those that were worthy of the title of noble.

Sabo’s was a different case.

His mother blocked the birthbond when he was only a month old and his father didn’t form a proper bond with him. Thus, he had a parent pack, but it did not offer the comfort or care it usually would for a pup. He couldn’t sense his parents, nor could they sense him. There was no nest for him to retreat to in times of stress. There were no arms to embrace him and wrap him up in a protective scent. His parents did not teach him how to tell the difference between scents or how to request tokens for a nest (not that they ever would’ve gifted them to him). They didn’t love him. He was little more than a trophy, an object brought forth to carry their blood and that was all. Sabo survived the first five years of his life through the goodwill of the servants living in the house he had the misfortune of calling home.

The servants were the ones to make sure he was fed and clothed. They were the ones who would gift him shiny things and trinkets to hoard and marvel over, even though he was unable to understand why the small items eased the tension in his chest. The servants were the ones who explained to him why he was so sick all the time, why he felt like his soul and heart were infected masses leeching rot and sickness into his blood, destroying him from the inside out. They were the reason why he knew that his parents’ apathy towards him and inability to love him was literally killing him, poisoning him thanks to the rancid bond which had taken root within him.

Sabo understood he was trapped and on a collision course to an early grave. He wanted more out of life. He lost himself in books of adventure, craving a chance to live those stories. He wanted to see the world, learn things, experience the wonders it offered, meet interesting people. He wanted to travel and record it afterwards, just like in the books he read. He couldn’t follow that dream if he was dead of a broken soul.

So, he ran. He ran fast and far and ended up in a place full of misfits and unwanted souls such as himself. He didn’t expect to survive Gray Terminal as a 5-year-old on his own, but he also wouldn’t have survived the cold opulence of High Town either. Besides, he didn’t have much of a choice. The only way to be free was to run. He’d spend the last few months of his life struggling in squalor if it meant he got a taste of freedom.

The people in Gray Terminal were different from those in High Town. There were many people who were cutthroat thugs that didn’t care if he was a pup. He had to learn to hold his own quickly. But, if one looked deeper, there were gems within the junkyard, people who were simply struggling to get by in a world that made it clear it didn’t want them. Even so, they found a way to survive, in spite of the world. Sabo found a kindred spirit in the people of the junkyard and so it had felt more like home than High Town ever had.

Not completely though. He couldn’t deny the differences between himself and the poor residents, most of whom couldn’t read or write or do much beyond basic math so were often ripped off by those who were more educated than them. His better start in life had given him access to knowledge that the maligned masses of Gray Terminal would never have. It set him apart, made him different, made him an ‘other’ in his new home. Still, it was better than what he had in High Town: a cold detachment that held no hint of love or promise of a better future.

Once upon a time he thought all parents were like his, but even among nobles, there was a closer bond that existed between parents and their pups than there was with Sabo, Outlook and Didit. It was true the nobles were teaching their offspring the same skewed view of reality as they learned from their own families, but they were spending time together and forging bonds that would last even if they were blocked one day. Sabo’s parents left him to teachers and servants and anyone else they could think of to deal with him. He only ever spent time with them during dinners or during events when he was paraded around like an accessory so his parents could play the part of happy family.

That wasn’t to say Sabo didn’t try to get their attention. He tried to learn piano because his mother enjoyed it, but she had told him his fingers were too clumsy on the keys. He tried to take more interest in his etiquette classes so he could impress people at balls in hopes his parents would notice, but instead they criticized him for how he walked, for how he sat, for eating too quickly or slowly. He tried to be more distant and disdainful towards the “lowly masses” but his own guilt from the crestfallen faces of the servants who had become his surrogate family wouldn’t let that last long. Nothing he did worked.

He had gathered the courage once to ask his parents what it was they wanted from him, what he could do to make them see him differently, make them love him. His mother had stared at him blankly while his father tutted.

“Love? What does love have to do with anything? We aren’t on this world to fulfill such a trivial and lowly pursuit as love. We’re here for the furtherance of our family name and lineage. That’s all. It’s precisely such foolish notions as that that are causing your body to fail you. If you aren’t strong enough to survive without something as useless as love, then it’s only for the best that your weakness will likely take you so early in life. Only the worthy survive, son. Hopefully our next pup will learn that much earlier than you.”

Sabo had blinked harshly, trying his best not to cry even as Didit continued to stare at him with a plastic smile on her lips, eyes blank and emotionless.

Sabo had run away two weeks later, determined to make the last few months he had count.

But months became years and before he knew it, he was 10 years old, older than anyone said he’d survive to be. According to Hongo, he likely had Ace to thank for that. Who knew the kid he helped survive an encounter with Edge Town thugs would be the miracle he needed? Not that Ace would ever believe him if he said so. The two lonely pups had stumbled their way into a bond that saved both of their lives for the next five years and carried them to where they were now.

Sabo looked over at the other pups he walked through the forest with as they practically vibrated with excitement.

He hadn’t spent much time in Windmill Village. People in High Town largely forgot the small coastal town existed and it was quite a trek from Gray Terminal to the village. So, he wasn’t familiar with their traditions. However, he could vividly recall year after year sitting on the tallest garbage heap he could find and looking up in awe as fireworks shot into the sky from all around the island, lighting up the night.

The Festival of Lights was held to celebrate the beginning of spring on Dawn Island. While there were also celebrations happening on the rest of the island with Town Center having the largest public celebration and even High Town having a Spring Equinox ball, Uta and Luffy had spent weeks gushing about the festival in Windmill Village. That crazy old man, Garp, had lifted the command on them that barred them from entering the village, so they had the opportunity to attend and wouldn’t shut up about it.

“Damn, can you two talk about anything else,” Ace grumbled as Luffy was going on another tangent about how amazing the festival would be while the four children trekked through the forest towards the village. Dadan had waved them off when they mentioned it, claiming to have better things to do (even though Sabo doubted that). Still, she had encouraged them (yelled at them) to bring an overnight bag and stay with Makino for the weekend for the festival.

“We’re just so excited,” Uta replied with a wide smile on her lips.

Sabo was surprised to see how carefree she looked. It was a rare expression on the young girl he had grown accustomed to hearing Ace complain about. Most of Uta’s smiles were reserved for Luffy and Shanks but Sabo felt gratified to be one of the people on a short list that could make her smile too. He wasn’t sure why, but it made him feel good about himself as much as it made him feel good when he got Ace to relax and see that he was worth people’s time and when he received one of Luffy’s tight hugs and compliments for his intelligence.

“Uta’s right. It’s going to be the best. We’ll get to eat lots of yummy food!” Luffy exclaimed enthusiastically.

“And see all the decorations around the village,” Uta added.

“Makino will make honey cakes and braised lamb and fluffy rice and her herb-crusted fish for the first day,” Luffy continued.

“We’ll get to watch the fireworks and paint our own lanterns to release them.”

“Mrs. Chicken always makes spiced eggy milk to eat with our lemon-butter cookies and Mr. Mayor makes pan-roasted duck breasts with garlic mash for the second day. It’s so good I don’t mind that they make me eat veggies too.”

“The last day we’ll get to dress up all fancy for the beach party.”

“Party!”

“And there’ll be music and dancers in costumes.”

“And a feast with yummy food!”

“Are we only going just so you can eat?” Sabo asked Luffy with a raised brow.

“Nah, Uta’s got to sing her special spring song too.”

The young gamma blushed at that.

“Luffy. I told you, I’m not singing this year.”

“Why not? You sing every year.”

“Well, that was before… before. People in the village won’t want me to get on stage and sing.”

“How come? I poke fun, but you sing well enough,” Ace asked.

Sabo gave Ace a look at that. Sometimes he could be so dense.

“Do I really have to spell it out for you, Freckleface?”

Ace shot her a glare. Sabo could see an argument brewing that would utterly derail them, not to mention might attract the wrong attention in the forest. He quickly curtailed it by smacking the brim of Ace’s hat so it covered his eyes. The boy turned irritated eyes towards him. He gave him a meaningful look before the raven-haired boy grumbled and shifted uncomfortably.

“Do you really think it’ll be that much of a problem? I mean, it’s true they’re dumb and some of them have a whole thing about gammas, but you’ve lived in the village your whole life. It’s not like they don’t know you,” Ace commented.

Sabo smiled to himself sadly. That wasn’t how the world generally worked.

“It doesn’t matter to some people whether I’ve lived there my whole life or not. I’m different so I’m an outsider now. We always were in a way. Our grandfather is Monkey D. Garp, that already set us apart. Being a gamma just made it worse. For some people, that’s all I am and all I’ll ever be.”

“It’s stupid though. It doesn’t matter if Uta’s a gamma. That doesn’t mean she can’t still sing better than anyone else in the village can,” Luffy grumbled.

Uta smiled and ruffled his hair lovingly.

“How about this? I’ll sing my song just for you guys on the last night of the festival. That’ll make it even more special, right? ‘Cause then it won’t be for everyone, just my family.”

Luffy brightened at that.

“Yeah! We can do it at Makino’s and that way she’ll be there with us, Ace and Sabo too. I wish we brought the snail. That way we would’ve been able to call Dad and the crew too.”

Anything else Luffy and Uta were chattering about faded to the background as Sabo focused on putting one foot in front of the other and not tripping over any roots, even as his mind spiraled with their words.

A family? Is that what they were? A few months ago, he hadn’t even known who Luffy was and he’d only met Uta a few times. Ace was the only one he could count as a friend, something approaching a pack, and only in his head because if he ever said so, the other boy would explode out of an inability to accept such a notion and Sabo would’ve lost him. How had that changed so drastically?

Sabo’s fingers went to his face involuntarily, more specifically his burn scar. He got flashes of that night in his head: the pure anger he felt as he listened to his father barter for slaves, the self-hatred as he realized the kind of people he was born from, the indignation as he walked with the men that helped him commit that evil, the pain as he was beaten and listened to the others be beaten as well, the sheer force of will as he refused to give in to Porchemy and his ilk, the fire erupting in the hut, knocking all the walls down and spreading throughout the surrounding garbage piles in the Terminal but leaving the pups untouched and unburned, the screaming of the dying people caught in the blaze, the pounding of Sabo’s own heart as he took in the destruction of the place he called home for 5 years.

A night like that could bind even the worst enemies to each other. That shared trauma and the subsequent recovery from the incident had only made Ace and Sabo closer and made him open up to Uta and Luffy, even to Shanks and his crew. He hadn’t been expecting that when he snuck to Eudora’s mansion that night to help Ace abscond with a devil fruit and get a boat so they could leave the island. But still, would he call what he had now a family?

He knew they were a pack, but he also knew that that was initiated by necessity. Hongo had figured out Sabo was in a bad way immediately and the doctor refused to be deterred from helping him no matter what Sabo said. Then, for reasons Sabo still was mystified about, Shanks had visited him one night while he was still in recovery with Ace by his side and helped them to formalize a pack bond and then, even more mystifying, he’d offered to bond with Sabo himself. The blond didn’t know how to respond so he hadn’t. He moved in with Dadan and the bandits since his home at Pirate’s Cove was turned to rubble during the incident with the Bluejam Pirates.

He thought that was the end of whatever Shanks had been trying to do, but then he started visiting. Sometimes, he had the twins in tow but sometimes he was by himself. When he came by, he never reserved his attention to Ace alone. He always spared time for Sabo. Then he started to give him gifts: books he thought he would like, a new pair of goggles after Sabo’s last pair had burned in the Terminal, a spyglass so Sabo could look out into the ocean from the hills of the island. He liked hearing Shanks’ stories about his pirate crew and didn’t mind fishing with him, but he was still reluctant about forming a bond with a man he barely knew. He could only guess Shanks wanted to do so out of a sense of obligation to Ace and because Sabo had helped the twins during the Gray Terminal incident. He didn’t think he’d done enough for the omega to feel such a sense of responsibility for him. Sabo had been getting by just fine on his own for five years, he didn’t suddenly need some adult to butt in on his life.

He didn’t start to see things differently until after the incident with Higuma and the sea king.

That wasn’t the first time Sabo had encountered a parent willing to sacrifice for their pup, but it was the first time that it occurred to him that a real parent would put their lives on the line for their pup, that they would sacrifice something as crucial as a limb.

“You love them a lot,” Sabo had commented one day when he was on Shanks watch.

Sabo and Ace had taken to guarding Shanks after Beckman had told them to keep an eye out for the twins and the captain. After Shanks woke up, they started alternating shifts while also making sure the twins left the room occasionally. It was Ace’s turn to get them some fresh air while Sabo made sure Shanks didn’t push himself too hard at the behest of Hongo. The blond sat at the red-haired omega’s bedside, staring at the door pensively with his pipe clutched in his hands firmly.

Some of the more curious villagers that liked to frequent the bar with the pirates kept trying to stick their noses into the room to gawk at the captain. The two older boys had already had to bash a few heads in, but the gaggle of onlookers wasn’t easily deterred.

“Hmm?”

“The twins. You really love them.”

“’Course I do. They’re mine.”

“That doesn’t mean you love them.”

Didit and Outlook III didn’t love him and he was as much theirs as it could get.

Shanks had gotten a contemplative look on his face at that.

“No, I suppose you’re right. You know, I don’t know who my biological family is. The alpha who claimed me as his found me in a treasure chest, stinking of severed bonds, at the tail-end of a massacre. I probably would’ve died if Roger hadn’t decided to claim me. When I’m feeling more hopeful, I make myself think my biological parents did that to protect me. Reality is probably something different, but who knows? What I do know is that the people who chose to love me are more my family than anyone else in the world. I think you can choose to be someone’s just as much as someone can choose to claim you, bloodbond or not. It takes more than blood to be a parent.”

“If you love them so much and you claim them as yours, then why’d you ever leave them,” Sabo asked.

He immediately regretted the forward question as Shanks blinked in reply.

“I— I shouldn’t have—”

“No, it’s a fair question to ask and I can understand why you of all people would wonder about it. Me leaving when they were babies had nothing to do with not wanting them or loving them. I sent them away because I want what’s best for them. I was faced with keeping them and having them likely die by my enemies or losing them and knowing that somewhere out there, they were safe and alive. I chose the latter. It may not have turned out exactly as I envisioned, but the alternative could’ve been much worse.”

“You kept the bond between you guys. You didn’t choose to block or sever it.”

“It would’ve been much worse for them if I had. Just our separating so early made them sick for a month, if I had blocked the bond it would’ve made them even sicker. If I severed it, it more than likely would’ve killed them. It was barely a choice that needed to be made for me.”

Sabo had heard the twins mention in passing that they could always feel that there was something out there for them, likely Shanks and the bond they shared. Sabo sometimes felt that way too, but not in the same way the twins did. For him, it was more like there was a roadblock between him and the thing he longed for, an impenetrable wall that would not allow the bond to tether itself to what was on the other side. It left him feeling hollow, empty, rubbed raw. That longing was always tinged with pain even after he ran away. It was a dull sort of pain, one he learned to ignore, but one that persisted nonetheless. In his more hopeful moments, he wondered if his parents felt this way too. If they felt like he was a missing piece of them that their souls wanted to tether to, even if their hearts didn’t want him. Shanks was like them in a way, a parent separated from his pups, though for Shanks and the twins it was literal distance and not the emotional kind that existed between Sabo and his parents.

“How— how did it feel, the bond, sending them away? How did it feel for you?”

Shanks had stared at him blankly for a moment before a small sad smile crossed his lips.

“I won’t get into the weeds of the details, you don’t need to hear all that, but it was miserable and painful, made worse for me because I didn’t block or sever the bond. It’s dulled since I found the twins, but it’s still there,” Shanks explained, tapping over his chest.

“It looms like a shadow over my heart, a reminder of what that loss felt like. But I’m glad I felt it. Feeling that way meant they were out there, somewhere, alive. I’d feel that pain a hundred times over in the face of that.”

Sabo had blinked in return before looking away. He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting to hear or even wanted to hear, but he didn’t think he was expecting that. He knew that Didit and Outlook III would never do the same for him. They were actively planning to sever all connection to him so they wouldn’t feel the pain he would be going through when his illness finally ran its course.

“Hey kid.”

Sabo looked over as fingers brushed against his own, which were clenched tight on his pipe.

“For a real parent, when it comes to their pups’ lives and wellbeing weighed against their own, there’s never a real struggle involved. If there is, then they aren’t a true parent to begin with. There are people in this world you may share blood with but that doesn’t make them your family or your pack. You’re not obligated to choose them or claim them.”

“You want me to be in your pack though? Why? You don’t even really know me.”

Shanks had laughed at that, the strange boisterous bright laugh that made Sabo feel a warm flutter in his chest. Shanks had the kind of laugh that demanded attention. It stopped a room and lit up a space. Sabo didn’t understand it. Maybe it was all the charisma the captain had dripping off him in waves or maybe it was an omega thing.

“I know you, Sabo. You’re a boy who could’ve let the loneliness crush you by now but instead you’ve found reasons to live, even while living in the darkest corners of the world. That kind of steadfast spirit and strength of will is exactly the kind anyone can admire, but especially me.”

“You… admire me?”

“You’ve spent five years away from your birth pack, being so strong, fighting to survive in this world, finding people to love, trying to find a place to call home. That’s not weakness, that’s strength, that’s willpower. That’s the kind of spirit that all pirates have to have deep down or they never would survive on the seas. I’ve seen grown men who’ve gone through only half of what you have and wind up broken. But you’re still here. How could I not admire that? How could I not want to claim someone with your strength and will as my own? How could I not want to call that person pack?”

Sabo had blushed at that, unable to say anything. No one had ever complimented him in that way before. Sure, some of the people of the Terminal called him resourceful, strong, a good fighter. Ace saw him as a good partner, but Shanks was talking about his spirit, his soul, and claiming he admired him.

The guy who just gave up his arm saving an innocent pup from an evil bandit and a sea king attack admired Sabo for his strength and determination to stay alive. It sounded both ridiculous and surreal. And Sabo, who had to admit that his own veneration of Shanks had skyrocketed when he learned what had happened and what he’d given up for Luffy, couldn’t help but flush in embarrassment and shyness at receiving any praise from the guy.   

“I don’t have all the answers, Sabo, I’d be a liar if I said I did or that I even know for sure what’s going to happen two days from now, but I know that I would like to show you what a true pack is like. I’d like to help you gain a sense of home even if I won’t physically be here much longer. Luffy and Uta are mine, Ace is mine and I’d like for you to be able to consider yourself mine too one day. I know why that’s difficult for you to imagine but whatever your birth parents did or didn’t do, I know that they weren’t your family, they weren’t your pack. Whether you’d like that to be me or not, I know that there are people in this world who you belong with and who can show you the true meaning of those words. You won’t live your whole life alone. You’ll get the home you deserve. I just hope I can be part of that for you.”

What was he to say to a man who was all but offering to open himself, his arms, his heart, his soul to Sabo? To be his family when he owed him nothing, had nothing but a connection that was several degrees removed from him? It seemed insane and impossible to contemplate. Even after Sabo accepted the packbonds and technically joined Shanks’ pack, he still felt like an outsider. Now, here was Uta and Luffy implying that he was family to them, throwing him in the same conversation as Shanks and Makino.

He looked over as Ace knocked a shoulder against his. The brunette shook his head.

“Those idiots never watch what they say, huh? They just spout whatever nonsense they want and don’t consider how it sounds to anyone else. They must get that from Gramps. Don’t bother dwelling on it. I think Luffy also includes all those beetles he likes to collect as family,” the other boy said brashly.

Sabo deflated just a little.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. It’s all so stupid.”

Ace reached out and smacked Sabo’s top hat right off his head. He shot the boy a glare and quickly scooped it up, dusting it off.

“You’re stupid. You’re supposed to be the smart one so stop acting so dumb.”

Sabo blinked at that, trying to decipher what Ace meant. Usually, he was fluent in Ace-speak, but this time he was stumped. The brunette just grimaced in reply.

“I really hate you, you know that? Trying to make me talk about a bunch of mushy crap. Just get your shit together,” the young fire-starter snapped before sticking out a foot to trip Sabo and speeding up, so he was at the front of the group.

Sabo stared in confusion at the eldest pup before rolling his eyes, chalking the exchange up to Ace’s usual emotional constipation. Maybe he felt strangely about being included in Luffy and Uta’s family too, even though he had a much greater claim to it given his and Shanks’ mutual connection. He decided to put all his musings aside for now and just enjoy this weekend with the other pups.

The village was a wondrous thing to witness, all lit up with decorations and lights. The weekend was just as fun-filled as Luffy and Uta claimed it would be. They stayed with Makino and helped her cook meals for each day of the festival. They got to decorate lanterns and release them and dress up in funny costumes. There was a treasure hunt on the second night and then on the last night there was a party down at the beach where game stands and food stalls were set up along with a concert stage with jovial music playing loudly into the night as fireworks lit up the sky.

It was nothing like spring equinox celebrations in High Town. That just involved a stuffy ball that Sabo struggled to get through while trying to play the perfect part for his parents’ sake.

He had snuck into Town Center a few times during their celebration, but it was never to indulge, it was just to pickpocket unsuspecting attendees.

Celebrations in Gray Terminal were scarce. People rarely ever had enough to celebrate any holidays or felt jovial enough to want to celebrate anything. However, sometimes Thierry would gather other musicians and play music as they watched the fireworks from other parts of the island shoot up into the sky.

Windmill Village was the first he got to really experience this. It was all so fun that Sabo managed to forget about the issue of Uta getting to sing some special song.

He sat and watched as she sadly looked at the stage where several villagers would climb up and sing songs unprompted. Luffy kept poking her, telling her to take a turn, but Uta never moved. She’d just distract him with food or get into an argument with Ace instead. Now that Sabo was in town, he could understand Uta’s reluctance more. It was hard to ignore the looks of several villagers as they made their way through the festival grounds. At first, he thought the disdainful and suspicious looks were directed at him and Ace. They had been to the village before, but they were still largely outsiders, so maybe some people didn’t trust them as a result. It only took a couple whispered comments for him to realize it was Uta that they were staring at.

He watched her try to ignore it all night, lose herself in the festivities, supervising Luffy while Makino worked a drink stall and bantering/arguing with Ace. Still, she stiffened every now and again when they got too close to certain people. She looked down and tried to shrink herself when others stared too long. It was clear there was a divide between her and some of the villagers. It made Sabo feel both sad and angry to see Uta making herself small around these people when it was so antithetical to how she behaved at the bandits’ base, where she often bossed everyone and anyone around and clashed in loud arguments with Ace.

Sabo could tell the others noticed as well because Luffy had taken to hanging off his twin like a limpet and Ace’s scowl was deepening more and more as the night wore on.

“Screw this, why don’t you just go up there and sing already,” Ace burst out after another sidelong glare made Uta flinch.

“I already told you—”

“I heard what you said but who gives a damn what these people think? We’re going to be pirates, that means being free to live how we choose. Cowering in a corner because these dickheads might be mean to you isn’t living free.”

Sabo pursed his lips. He got where Ace had been trying to go with that, but did he need to be that abrasive about it? It’d only make Uta defensive.

Just as Sabo thought, the girl shot the eldest boy a glare.

“Oh, that’s easy for you to say, isn’t it?”

“How’s that?”

“At least they can’t smell your deepest shame on you the way they can with me.”

Ace bristled in return and Sabo quickly stepped in before things could spiral.

“What Ace is trying to say is that we know you have a song you want to sing. It’s probably bursting at the seams trying to get out of you and it’s not like you to not give those songs a voice is all. We know it’s because of these people but we’re here with you. So, if you really want to give it a shot, you should.”

“Sabo’s right. You can sing better than this whole village. They’re lucky to hear you. Remember what I said that night we slipped out of Eudora’s place? You’re strong and good and brave and if silly Uta forgets, then I’ll be there and I’ll believe hard enough for both of us,” Luffy exclaimed earnestly.

Sabo felt an involuntary smile cross his lips as the twins bumped their foreheads against one another after Luffy’s declaration.

The moment was cut short by several derisive snickers from nearby.

Sabo looked over to see three pups around his and Ace’s age standing a few feet away from them.

“Strong, good and brave, huh? As if,” one of the boys said to the others.

“Yeah, what kind of monster could ever be those things?”

“She’s just a demon at the end of the day.”

The three boys laughed to each other as they spoke loudly enough for the group to overhear.

“I don’t even know why she’s here. We’re supposed to be celebrating new growth and life. How can we celebrate life with a monster that got villagers killed,” a blonde boy said.

“How do we know she won’t do that to the rest of us. You saw how close she was to those murderous pirates after all,” a redhead added.

“That’s why she’s a gamma. Because she’s evil. My mom says only monsters become gammas. Their spirits are wrong, so they attract bad people who turn them into gammas and then when they die, they go to hell,” a brunette commented like it was a fact known by everyone.

Sabo clenched his fists at the words. Uta trembled and tried to look smaller while Ace and Luffy visibly grew angrier.

“Hey!” Luffy shouted, stomping over to the boys despite Uta’s protests.

“You can’t talk about my sister that way!”

“Your sister is a curse that brought death to our village and got innocent fishermen killed,” the blonde boy retorted.

“That’s not true!”

“Is so. I heard my parents talking about it. They said your sister is a demon whose aura attracted another monster. Then, your sister lured innocent men to him so they would be killed, like a demonic sacrifice or something,” the brunette boy asserted.

“That’s not what happened! They were trying to save Uta from a bad man. She didn’t kill the fishermen, that meanie Daku did!”

Uta flinched hard at the mention of the name of the man who had abducted her. Sabo put a comforting hand on her slightly trembling shoulder in response.

“She’s just as guilty as that guy was.”

“How?” Luffy demanded.

“Because she was born wrong,” the red-haired boy proclaimed.

“That’s dumb. Uta and I were born together and Dad said we were perfect.”

“Yeah, you were born together and you’re just as wrong as each other. She might be the one everyone knows is evil but that doesn’t mean you aren’t either.”

“Although you might just be too dumb to realize it,” the blonde taunted.

The boys started snickering, pointing at Luffy and Uta and chanting names.

“Demon. Retard. Demon. Retard. Demon. Retard.”

Uta got up then, placing herself in front of Luffy as she bared her teeth at the boys.

“You can say whatever you want about me, but you do not get to talk about my brother that way.”

“And what are you going to do about it,” the blonde boy challenged.

“Don’t test her, Nate. We don’t know what kind of evil powers she might have,” the redhead said, equal parts mocking and nervous.

“Yeah, if she hadn’t brought him here, that guy couldn’t have hurt any one of us. We don’t want her to curse anyone else in the village,” the brunette added.

“Oh please. She’s an evil seductress, sure. But she’s also weak. She couldn’t even hurt the villagers herself. She had to lure someone else to do it, so what can she really do to us?”

“You wanna find out what I can do to you?” Ace threatened, speaking up for the first time as his body practically vibrated with anger. Sabo felt like his own anger was simmering in the pit of his stomach listening to this filth and drivel being smeared against Uta for something that wasn’t her fault.

Nate’s eyes flicked over to Ace dismissively before he looked back to Uta, a devious grin splitting his face.

“I saw you, you know? That day when Vice Admiral Garp brought you back. I saw him carrying you into town like you were some newborn pup, saw Makino fretting over you like you deserved it, saw this idiot crying over you like you being gone was a bad thing. And do you want to know what I realized then? You’re not some all-powerful monster—”

“No way!”

“She’s a gamma and everyone says—”

Nate held up a hand, cutting off his friends’ protests.

“You’re not a monster and I don’t think you’re a demon either. I think you’re something worse.”

“And what’s that,” Uta challenged, her voice unwavering even as her clenched fists trembled.

“You’re weak. You’re just a weak, useless, burden. A burden that got innocent people in this village killed. Far as I’m concerned, whatever happened to you is just what you deserve, especially if you were too weak to stop i—”

Nate was cut off as he suddenly went flying a few feet back, landing on a prize shelf of a game stand amongst a pile of stuffed animals. Sabo looked over at Ace who was huffing air in deep angry gulps as his fist returned to his side.

“If you’re so strong, jackass, why couldn’t you do anything to stop that,” he spat at the boy.

Sabo could see that they were drawing the attention of several adults even as the brunette and redhead with the main bully glared hard at the rest of the kids.

The redhead made to lunge at Uta, but Sabo was there in a second. Using his pipe, he knocked the boy off his feet and then swung him into the air to fly in the same direction as Nate, breaking the table and sending the two boys crashing to the sand before being buried by toys.

The brunette went for Luffy, throwing a punch that sunk into his strange rubbery skin. The bully gaped as Luffy grinned largely in return.

“That doesn’t work on me anymore,” the elastic boy declared happily as Uta moved past him and swiftly kicked the boy in between the legs sending him to his knees.

“I told you, you can come after me but not Luffy,” she spat indignantly.

“Screw that! If they want to keep all their limbs, they won’t come after any of us,” Ace declared, kicking the last boy across the sand to join his friends sprawled out on the floor.

It was clear they had drawn attention as there were several adults approaching the scene, including the mayor, Makino and a policeman.

“How dare you lay a hand on my boy? I want these pups arrested,” a blonde omega woman cried out, cradling Nate to her body.

“I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation for all this,” Mayor Woop Slap placated as Makino came to stand amongst the four pups, placing her hand on Uta and Luffy’s shoulders while looking them all over for any sign of injury.

“Yeah, the kid’s a dickhead bigot and he deserved to get his ass beat for it,” Ace stated nonchalantly, staring at the omega woman unapologetically.

“Excuse me? Who on earth could he be a bigot against?” she gasped, offended.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the girl with the rare second gender,” Ace threw out sarcastically.

“The truth is hardly bigotry. The girl is a demoness and a changeling. That’s common knowledge,” she said dismissively.

Sabo clenched his teeth at that, reminded in that moment that prejudice was not reserved for the nobles of the world.

“I’d appreciate it if you kept such vulgar language to yourself. Uta is a good, kind, talented, loving young girl. That’s all,” Makino defended.

“Too loving one might say. It certainly doesn’t bode well for her future that she would try to pursue mateship at such a young age as this. That sort of promiscuity has no place in Windmill Village, Makino. You should know this by now.”

“What I know is that it’s exceedingly ironic for a woman to accuse an 8-year-old child of being promiscuous due to the actions of a grown man and then turn around and decide that children should be absolved of any consequence due to their supposed wrongdoing. Though I guess that rule doesn’t apply when it’s your child’s wrongdoing, does it?”

“How dare—”

“No, how dare you speak about this innocent girl like this. To treat her as if she is the culprit in the horrible crime committed against her and our village? Our fishermen fought bravely against that awful excuse for an alpha who only came to this village to steal our greatest assets, our pups from us. If it wasn’t Uta, it would’ve been someone else. I wonder if you’d be spewing this same rhetoric if it was your Nate he stole. It’s very easy for you to preach your hatred when you get to continue to live in your perfect little bubble, one step removed from the cruelty of this world. It’s easy for you to judge because you don’t have to lose any sleep at night, knowing just what horrors there are in this world. People like Daku, the Bluejam Pirates, Higuma and his bandits, they can remain abstract boogeymen to you, while for my pups they are all too real. Instead of supporting Uta and Luffy, who were faced with that darkness much sooner than they ever should’ve been, all you and people like you do is compound on that tragedy. To teach your pup to do the same is a failure of parenthood. Shame on you, as a mother, as an omega, as a woman and as a member of this community,” Makino retorted, her voice never raising but ringing out strong and firm amongst the gathering.

Sabo stared at the omega bar owner in awe. Makino was soft-spoken but she had a protective streak when it came to the twins. She had been their main caregiver for most of their lives, so it made sense. It was rare for her to get this angry, though Sabo had noticed that hers was a quiet anger, like an eye in a storm. However, once she had a grudge against someone, she held it. Sabo suspected that Nate’s family wasn’t going to be welcome to Makino’s bar any time soon.

“Enough of all this. No one is being arrested. They’re pups. Childish spats are bound to happen. This is a day of celebration, not one meant to be used to indulge in conflict or prejudice,” the mayor declared, looking over both groups with a withering gaze before settling on the bullies.

“Mrs. Velt, why don’t you get Nate home? Travis, Daryl, find your parents and do the same. Uta, why don’t you take the boys and go on a walk, hmm?” Mayor Woop Slap suggested to everyone, though Sabo got the feeling they weren’t suggestions.

Makino leaned down and kissed the top of Uta’s head, rubbing her cheek against the girl’s hair comfortingly and washing her in her personal scent, cinnamon, vanilla, elderflower and maple. Sweet but not sickeningly so.

Makino graced the boys with a smile as she pulled away from Uta.

“Good job defending her, boys. Make sure you keep watching out for her and each other, okay?”

The three boys nodded in reply, accepting the hair ruffles Makino gave the older boys and the big hug Luffy wrapped her up in before they began walking away. Sabo took note of the glare Makino sent to Mrs. Velt, telling him that as he suspected, the omega planned to hold a grudge. Not that he was going to blame her for that.

Uta led the foursome further down the beach away from the party with Luffy snatching food off people’s plates as they went. They walked to a darker part of the beach, lit only by the moon. The pups sat on an outcropping of rocks, looking out into the horizon where the water and sky disappeared into an indiscernible blotch of black.

They were quiet for a while before Sabo looked over at Uta. She was sitting still, staring down at the Log Pose Shanks had left her, her small fingers running over the three glass domes encasing the twitching dials. She was mumbling something to herself that Sabo had to lean in to hear.

“It happened to you, not because of you.”

He bit his lip upon hearing that before he lightly knocked his shoulder into hers.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. That’s nothing I’m not used to.”

Sabo knew that was true but still. He was aware there was no easy fix to this. There was nothing wrong with Uta, it was the world. The world chose to believe a certain thing about a group of people it couldn’t understand and rather than see those people for themselves, they shoved them into a box and refused to let them out. He had seen it many times in his short life: with the servants in High Town, with the people living in Gray Terminal, with Ace and his heritage and now with Uta and her second gender. People saw and believed what they wanted to as long as it served whatever narrative they chose to believe. Even though Uta was only an ordinary girl who was good at singing, enjoyed fighting more than she’d admit and adored her family, that didn’t matter because gammas were supposed to be demons and changelings, they were supposed to be promiscuous seducers, they were supposed to be monsters and so that’s what people chose to believe Uta was.

Sabo wished there was a way not just to make a change in people’s hearts but to make a change in the world. He wished there was a way to fight for true justice, true equality, true reform. He wondered how long the world could keep going on this way, with people deemed unworthy crushed under the spinning wheel of the status quo while the highest echelons continued to profit off their suffering and subjugation. He couldn’t be the only person in the world who saw this injustice and wanted to do something to change it. He couldn’t be the only person who felt a fire burning in his heart, a need to effect change, somehow, some way. There had to be someone who wanted to fight for a bigger cause, a cause that was more than just personal freedom but freedom for everyone. Not just by setting an example of what freedom could be like pirates did, but by actively liberating those in need of freedom. Sabo would like to believe that in this world, those people existed, even if he’d never get to meet them.

Ace stood up on the rock abruptly, his body flaring with fire as he let out a frustrated yell. He was vibrating with energy while fire licked at his shoulder blades and arms.

“Assholes! Who cares what they say anyway? What do they know? They’re a bunch of babies barely out of a nest who have never seen the world and probably will never leave this island. Uta’s got an actual dream worth fighting for. She’s gonna make a difference. Once Shanks gets back, we’re going to leave this place. Then we’ll be one step closer to being pirates in our own right. We’ll be free. Every dickhead on Dawn Island like Nate can only dream of something like that,” he ranted.

The other three children looked over at the eldest boy with owlish blinks before Luffy grinned widely.

“Ace is being so nice.”

The brunette’s face immediately turned beet red at that as his flames flared up.

“What? Go to hell! No, I’m not!”

Sabo snickered at his vehement denial.

“What a compassionate thing to say. Right, Luffy,” Sabo hedged, grinning wider when Ace glared at him.

“Yup! Ace ate a compass!”

“Compassionate.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said. Ate a compass.”

“How are you getting that from the word I said?” Sabo wondered aloud.

“Hey Ace, was the compass tasty? Hongo says I shouldn’t eat things that aren’t food because it’ll make me sick, but I’m rubber now so I bet I could swallow all the plates I want without hurting my tummy.”

Ace and Sabo both stopped and stared at Luffy as if he had grown three heads while the boy blinked back innocently and picked his nose. Their staring contest was broken by a laugh that sounded like bells and windchimes. They looked over to see Uta looking at them with an amused glint to her previously downcast eyes.

“You’re all such dumbos,” she declared but her voice was dripping with fondness that belied the words.

“Hey! We’re being nice and Uta’s calling us names. Meanie Uta,” Luffy complained.

“Yeah, Meanie Uta. Forgive me?”

“Of course!”

Sabo watched with a small smile as the twins hugged each other, rubbing their faces together and get their scents all over each other, not that they weren’t practically drenched in each other’s personal scents already. Sabo glanced over at Ace and saw a similar smile on the other 11-year-old’s face, though he was trying to hide it.

“Now that you feel better, will you sing your spring song for us?” Luffy asked once they pulled away.

“What is this spring song anyway? I’ve never heard of it,” Ace pointed out.

“It’s not an official song. It’s more like a song I make up each year based on what the Voices of the world are saying around me,” Uta explained.

“Voices of the world,” Sabo asked in confusion.

Uta hesitated at the question.

“Grandpa says we shouldn’t talk about this with anyone who isn’t family… but it’s you guys, so I guess that means it’s okay,” the girl decided, even though her referencing Sabo and Ace as family once more made the blonde’s heart twist.

“Luffy and I have these special abilities that let us hear things that others can’t hear. Daddy says it’s called the Voice of All Things and it means we can hear voices and thoughts of things and animals that other people can’t or would never be able to hear. We can do a few other things with it too, but it also helps me hear the Songs of the World. There’s music in everything and in everyone and I can hear those melodies, interpret them. It’s part of my dream, to be able to gather all the Songs of the World and give voice to them, write them down so that everyone can understand the world around them and co-exist in it better. A new genesis can only happen if people understand the world we’re living in after all.”

“That sounds… insane. So insane I half think you’re making it up,” Ace landed on.

“Nuh-uh, Uta’s not lying. I’ve always heard the Voice since I was little. There are voices in the world and in people’s hearts. It can get kind of loud sometimes and then sometimes I can’t hear anything at all. Grandpa says it’s better to ignore it all, but sometimes it’s nice to listen. Sometimes, there are cool stories to hear and other times the stories are not so nice,” Luffy tacked on.

“So this spring song is what you hear from the world?” Sabo asked, fascinated.

“It’s my interpretation of what I hear at least. Sometimes, I don’t hear words or sentences from the world, just feelings or images and I interpret it all as best as I can. The good thing is that music isn’t ever just one thing so my songs can change and grow and evolve into something else as I’m listening.”

“How does it work,” Ace asked, cautiously curious.

“I just close my eyes and open my heart and ears to everything around me. I listen to the breeze, the waves, the rocks, the trees, the sand. I listen to the sky and the stars. I listen to everything coming together to sing their songs. Sometimes, the songs are fighting and clashing and some are louder and stronger than others, but if I listen just right, it all comes together to make one single song about that one moment in time.”

Uta was quiet for a long while, her eyes closed, her head tilted back and her face turned up towards the moon as the wind ruffled her hair. She looked peaceful like that in her quiet stillness. Even Luffy didn’t do anything to break her concentration. Sabo felt himself waiting on bated breath to see what her quiet listening would produce. He even felt Ace leaning in beside him, though he was certain the older boy would deny it.

Life is not a highway strewn with flowers
Still, it holds a goodly share of bliss
When the sun gives way to April showers
Here’s the point you should never miss

Though April showers may come your way
They bring the flowers that bloom in May
So if it’s raining, have no regrets
Because it isn’t raining rain, you know
It’s raining violets

And when you see clouds upon the hills
You soon will see crowds of daffodils
So keep on looking for a bluebird, and listening for his song
Whenever April showers come along

Sabo felt an overarching sense of peace overtake him as Uta’s song ended. Her voice was always soothing but there was something about this particular song that put him at ease and he could tell it was the same for the others. The four pups involuntarily slumped into each other, curling around one another on the rock overlooking the ocean, cuddling together for shelter and comfort.

A warmth that he had come to associate with Shanks suffused his chest, spreading throughout him and bringing a smile to his lips. The notion of family with Ace, Luffy, Uta and even Shanks didn’t seem so bad when Sabo let himself think about it.

Chapter Text

Spring went by faster than Sabo expected it to. Time usually dragged for him, a monotonous march of fighting and scrounging to survive in Gray Terminal with the barest glimmers of light slowing things down so he could gain some appreciation of the world. Life felt different with the others. When it was just him and Ace, he hoarded precious moments of calm between them since he knew Ace’s insecurities would cut their time short but now with Luffy and Uta added to the mix, those moments lasted much longer and Sabo had the luxury of basking in their presence.

The four pups were practically attached at the hip and did most things together. They hunted together, trained and fought together, annoyed Dadan together, nested together. It was easy to get closer than they already were as they learned more about each other, special interests and hobbies and hopes and dreams.

This care extended to other people as well. Sabo wasn’t expecting to have grown such a strong attachment to the bandits they lived with. He saw a lot of similarities between them and the people of Gray Terminal that he had come to favor. They were a group that was maligned by the public due to perception of who they were but when you got to know them, they were gems, diamonds in the rough, people with genuine hearts and caring dispositions. Even Dadan, who chose to portray herself as a chain-smoking, uncompromising pack leader who resorted to violence more times than not, cared much more than she let on. Sabo could see it in the way the alpha would indulge Ace in his more aggressive moods by arguing and wrestling with him, though always much gentler than she did when she was wrestling the rest of the pack. He could see it in the way she would paint Uta’s fingernails for her and braid her hair before they went hunting, indulging in the more feminine things Uta enjoyed which Dadan herself never seemed to care for. He could see it in the way she would point out beetles to Luffy while they were walking in the forest even though she hated bugs. He could see it in the way she made sure that Sabo had new books every week, although half the bandit family was illiterate.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t tough though. In Sabo’s experience, gentle and alpha were mutually exclusive.

He laid out on the ground, huffing breathlessly thanks to Dadan’s training. Her training was nowhere near as extreme as crazy old Garp’s (thank the heavens) but that didn’t mean it was light. According to Ace and Uta, she had ramped things up ever since the fire in Gray Terminal. Sabo couldn’t speak to that, but Dadan certainly wasn’t going to let them get away with not being able to hold their own in a fight. Not that that was a problem. The kids could beat most of the adult bandits in a one-on-one fight and they were working on learning how to work together to fight as well, but Dadan still felt the need to put them through their paces, especially when it came to weapons training, which Luffy was awful at no matter what was put in his hand. Ace and Sabo were better with blunt force items: clubs, pipes, bats and the like. Uta was decent with blunt force weapons too, but she took a special interest in blades. She was trying her hand at all types to see what she was most comfortable with. Currently, she was attached to the idea of polearms, liking the range it gave her. Although it was kind of funny to see her wielding the weapon which was three times taller than her. It was less funny to be on the receiving end of said weapon.

Sabo glanced up as Uta held out a hand to help him up after he had taken the shaft of Uta’s staff full force to the stomach. He took her hand and let her pull him even as he felt his ribs smarting at the blow. That was going to leave a bruise. She could hit surprisingly hard for a girl her age. Sabo blamed Garp for that. A kid couldn’t be thrown into the forest and forced to train against monkeys and other dangerous animals and not end up stronger than average.

“You okay,” Uta asked, looking him over. Sabo nodded in reply, getting his bearings.

“That was alright, but next time follow through on your swing. Take advantage of your opponent being on the ground,” Dadan advised.

“Grandpa says it’s not honorable to attack an enemy who isn’t on their feet,” Luffy commented.

“There’s no sense in fighting with honor when your life is on the line. Especially not for your sister,” Dadan retorted.

“Why,” Luffy asked.

“Cause the dangers she’ll face won’t be the kinds Garp does. That goes for all of you in a way. If you manifest as a beta or an omega when you grow up, you’re going to spend your whole life being underestimated and sought after to fulfill a certain role, to be a possession. You don’t want that? You better know how to fight for what you want to be instead. Uta’s already manifested and she’s manifested with all the baggage that comes with being a gamma. She doesn’t have a choice but to be strong. It’s my job to make sure she’s as strong as I can make her so when someone else decides they want to take her and make her theirs against her will, she’ll be able to fight back and win.”

Uta nodded back with a grim expression as Luffy wandered off towards a bright red mushroom that had caught his eye, clearly having stopped listening halfway through Dadan’s speech.

“Don’t you mean if someone else wants to take her,” Sabo asked.

“No, I don’t,” Dadan replied flatly.

“Don’t know why you’re making sure a big deal out of this. The three of us are going to be there if someone tries that crap with Prissy Princess again,” Ace commented gruffly, shooting off small flames from his fingers as he tried to control how much fire he summoned. He was concentrating on it enough that he couldn’t dodge the slap to the back of the head Dadan gave him.

“Ow! What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Don’t be an idiot, Ace! You can’t always be there with someone. You can’t protect them from everything that might want to hurt them. How foolish can you be?”

“Isn’t that the whole point of a pack? To fight for each other,” Sabo asked, smacking the mushroom out of Luffy’s hand before he could eat it.

“Your pack is your family, your refuge, your strength, but they can’t be everywhere with you all the time. Is Garp always here? Is Red Hair? Makino’s on this island, but is she always around? No. But they’re still part of your pack. Besides, how can anyone become strong if there’s someone else that’s always swooping in to protect them?”

Sabo couldn’t argue that. He had learned that lesson in Gray Terminal.

“In this world, if you can’t protect yourself then you won’t last. That doesn’t mean a pack is useless. No one can stand on their own without a pack behind them to support them in the places where they lack. A pack’s job is to help you become strong enough to fight your own battles but to also pick you up, whether you win or lose. You and your pack walk through life together, struggle together, hope together, dream together. You fight for each other but if you don’t fight for yourself too, then you’re spitting in the face of your pack and how important you are to them. So, I don’t want to hear that crap about protecting Uta so she doesn’t have to lift a finger for herself. All of you need to become strong in your own right, you hear me?”

Sabo, Uta and Ace nodded their heads while Luffy took the opportunity to snatch up the mushroom Sabo took from him and stuff it into his mouth. The other four watched in horror as the boy chewed.

“You sure you shouldn’t be training this idiot’s brain instead of his muscles,” Ace commented as Uta snatched the spear off her back and swung it at Luffy.

“Sissy?! What’s that for?!”

“Throw it up, now!”

“Nuh-uh, I ate it fair and square. It’s mine.”

“It could be poisonous, Luffy,” Sabo implored.

“How can a mushroom be prisonous? It didn’t look like it was doing anything to go to jail. Why’re you being so mean to the delicious mushroom?”

The three older children looked at each other, coming to a wordless agreement, before they set upon the boy. Luffy proved much less willing to part with the mushroom and took off into the woods.

“Hey! Training’s not done yet, brats!” Dadan protested.

“This is training,” Ace retorted as they took off after Luffy.

The boy was agile and small. He wasn’t very good at controlling his Devil Fruit, but he had recently taken to launching himself.

Gum Gum Rocket, he called it. He never landed where he intended to, but in this case all he wanted was to get away from the other three pups. Sabo looked up and watched Luffy’s body arch through the air and land somewhere off in the distance.

“Damn idiot. I’m gonna knock some sense into him when I get my hands on him,” Ace groused.

“You’re not knocking anything into my brother, Freckleface.”

“You almost beat him with a spear, Prissy Princess.”

“That’s different. It was going to be a hit of love, like Grandpa’s.”

“Maybe if Gramps didn’t hit us in the head so much, Luffy would have a few more brain cells left. Dumbass is probably off somewhere dying to a poisonous mushroom.”

Sabo felt a stab of anxiety lance through him at that. He usually let Luffy’s antics roll off his back, but sometimes, such as moments like this, it was harder to do so. Uta seemed to notice his anxiety and she playfully bumped her shoulder into his.

“Don’t worry. This isn’t the first time Lu’s eaten something potentially poisonous. Either it’s not really dangerous and we’re overreacting, or it is and he’ll have a stomachache which he’ll be miserable about and then be back to tiptop shape in no time. Trust me. I’d know better than anyone else. Plus, if he really was dying out there, we’d feel it through our packbonds.”

Sabo still felt some lingering worry but nodded.

“Let’s catch up with him before he finds another way to kill himself,” Ace ordered.

The other two nodded and ran off in the direction Luffy had gone in. As they ran further into the woods, a thick fog began to set in. This wasn’t overly strange, but given the nature of this forest, it was something to be wary of. Sabo found himself looking around anxiously, feeling like there were eyes on him from somewhere, though that could’ve been his imagination.

Thunder rolled in suddenly and he looked up just as rain drops began to fall.

“Oh no! My hair,” Uta groused as the downpour soaked her red and white locks.

“You’re such a baby, Princess,” Ace snorted.

Uta glared at him and smacked the back of his head in response prompting the boy to knock his shoulder roughly into hers, almost making her slip in the mud if Sabo hadn’t caught her in time. He shot Ace a withering look in response and the older pup had the decency to look at least a little contrite.

“Where’s this coming from anyway,” Sabo wondered aloud.

“Whatever. We’d better run at least. No use just standing around in this.”

The three pups began running towards where Luffy flung himself as the clouds quickly overtook the daylight, plunging the forest in murky gray. After a while, Ace paused in his running as his flames slowly began to die down. His face pinched as he tried to make his fire flicker back to life, but it was a slow-going process.

“Damn it! I can’t keep my flames burning when I’m running. I’m spending too much time focused on not tripping over vines,” he complained.

“We’ll just have to make do with the light we have. We’d better find Luffy before this storm gets any worse,” Sabo replied.

No sooner had he finished his sentence than a loud scream ripped through the trees.

The three pups looked at each other.

“Luffy!” They all exclaimed, running towards the scream.

They all stopped short when they came upon the scene before them. Luffy was backed up against a tree, staring fearfully up at a large tiger. Sabo stared at it wide-eyed, taking note of the scar on his right eye which identified it as not any tiger, but the King of the Mountain. It was the largest, meanest predator living in the forest. None of the bandits or the pups were any match for it and most of the other predators on Mount Colubo weren’t a match for it either. Its only rival was an equally large bear, aptly named the Queen of the Mountain. Sabo was thrilled to have run into either one of them.

The pups had encountered the King once before back when Sabo had first met Garp and been declared one of the crazy old man’s grandsons (victims). The four pups had been put through brutal drills before the man chucked them into the forest for “training” and told them to survive on their own for a week. Things had actually gone smoothly, other than Luffy’s accident-prone injuries. They managed to go up against some of the forest’s toughest predators from crocodiles to wolves, but the tiger had been too much for them. Naguri from the Gray Terminal had luckily shown up in time to save them using what Sabo now knew was called Conqueror’s Haki, but the experience told them all they needed to know about whether they were ready for an opponent of this scale.

“Get up and run, idiot. What are you doing,” Ace hissed under his breath as the three children hid behind a tree.

“He’s too scared. He can’t,” Uta retorted.

“We need a plan to get him out of there,” Sabo announced.

“We don’t need a plan. We just need to kick that thing’s ass,” Ace argued.

“We can’t. It’s the strongest creature in these woods.”

Ace grumbled but didn’t protest Sabo’s point.

“Uta, can you sing it to sleep,” he asked.

“I can do animals, but it doesn’t always work. And I’ve never tried to use my power on something that big before.”

“Okay. Here’s what we’ll do. Ace and I are going to run in different directions to distract it. Once we do, Uta will run straight for Luffy. Once you have him, climb up that big tree to safety. From there, you can try to sing it to sleep. Even if it doesn’t work, at least you and Luffy will be out of its path.”

Ace and Uta nodded in reply as thunder boomed again, barely covering Luffy’s terrified screams. Sabo withdrew his pipe and started flanking the tiger on the left, hollering as much as he could to get its attention while Ace did the same on its right. The tiger looked between the two boys with a low growl, its head swiveling between them indecisively. Ace’s fire flared up on his shoulders, catching the beast’s attention enough for it to decide to charge for him.

“Ace, look out!” Sabo warned as the tiger lunged at Ace. Sabo watched in a confusion as Ace’s body seemed to dissipate into flames, allowing the tiger to pass straight through him, before his body reassembled as if it had never happened at all. Both Ace and the tiger paused in confusion.

Uta took the opportunity to dart across the space, running until she made it to her twin. She snatched Luffy’s hand and made for the large tree, trying to climb up to escape the tiger’s rage. Sabo watched with concern as the two started to climb but the rain-slicked bark didn’t give them enough purchase and they started sliding back down. They gave short exclamations as they hit the forest floor, but it was loud enough to catch the tiger’s attention.

The animal got its bearings back quickly and began to charge towards the tree where the twins lay in a crumpled heap. Sabo’s heart leaped into his throat as the tiger closed in and gave a ferocious swipe of its overly large paw. Uta and Luffy just barely managed to roll out of the way.

“Hey, you dumb cat! Leave them alone!” Ace shouted, his body flaring up as he ran at the giant animal’s feet and began hitting it. His fists, usually devastating weapons, did little more than agitate the tiger along with the singes it was getting from Ace’s flames. It lifted its paw, intent on crushing Ace, but Sabo ran forward and knocked him out of the way. They skidded to a stop across the wet grass and glanced over at the twins. They had taken shelter in a small hollow at the bottom of the largest tree.

A loud growl broke the air as the tiger began charging at the older boys.

Sabo could hear Uta singing something distantly, but the tiger kept coming anyway. They had to do something or they would be killed. Sabo jumped up, figuring that he’d rather draw attention to himself and give Ace a chance of escape. Getting the three of them out alive was the most important thing to Sabo. It didn’t matter if he had to sacrifice himself to do it, he’d do so in a heartbeat.

“Hey! You want someone!? Come for me, I’m right here! I’m the one you want, leave the others alone,” he exclaimed, running straight at the tiger.

The creature paused briefly, taken by surprise.

“Ace! Now’s your chance. Take the twins and get out of here,” Sabo ordered as he swung his pipe at the creature’s leg, knowing it wouldn’t do much. The tiger lifted its paw and swiped at Sabo. The boy dodged as quickly as he could. He managed to get out of range of the tiger but his feet slid against the muddy ground, sending him to the floor. The tiger turned to look at him, all its attention focused on Sabo just as he wanted. The blond blinked as he noticed a familiar hole-ridden white cloth hooked onto one of the claws of the tiger’s right paw.

Sabo’s cravat.

He felt a surge of anger and possessive as he saw it in the predator’s grasp. It wasn’t just a piece of cloth. It was Sabo’s totem, the thing that he was most drawn to and collected as a result. It was a source of comfort for the pup as much as Uta’s journals or Luffy’s beetles or Ace’s rocks. His affinity for cravats was one of the only things his parents ever indulged him in, allowing him to collect as many as he wanted even though they never bothered to explain why he was so drawn to the simple piece of cloth or why it soothed something in him to have them near. He didn’t know what a totem was until Shanks explained it, told him that it was common for pups to become fixated on things, small things that were usually inconsequential, but became a source of comfort. It was an early nesting instinct, according to him. The cravat Sabo usually wore had seen better days. It was ridden with holes and worn down with fraying threads, but it was a gift from his former nursemaid, Maple, and he wasn’t about to lose it to the tiger.

He felt a growl building in his chest as he got to his feet and charged the thing nonsensically. It growled back as it watched him coming, it’s paw lifting to strike at him. Before it could, a fury-laced yell broke through the din.

“Firefist!”

Sabo ducked down as a wall of flame went slamming into the tiger, sending it flying across the clearing. Before Sabo could see it land, a hand grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him towards the hideout Luffy and Uta found. Sabo’s back hit the far side of the tree roughly as Ace shoved him inside beside the twins.

“What the hell do you think you were pulling with that?!” He shouted at him, shoving Sabo harder against the tree.

“Ace, cool off! Let him go,” Uta protested.

“This dumbass almost got himself killed. What the hell was that back there?!”

“The plan didn’t work. I was making a new one,” Sabo answered calmly.

“By trying to sacrifice yourself? That’s not a plan, that’s just you being an idiot.”

Before they could argue more, the tiger got to its feet, gingerly putting weight on its left hind leg which was burned from Ace’s flames. The beast growled before charging at the tree angrily. Ace and Sabo threw themselves on top of the younger pups before pressing themselves as far into the hollow as they could go. Sabo braced himself as the tree shook with the force of the tiger colliding with it. He waited for a moment after that, but nothing happened. He peeked up to see the tiger ineffectually trying to reach its paw into the hollow, but the hole was too small for it to fit in. It attempted to shove its mouth inside as well to similar results. The tiger gave another bellow before huffing and taking a few steps away from the tree. It paced in front of it agitatedly before it sat down across the clearing, staring at the children inside.

“It can’t get in, so its waiting for us to get out,” Ace stated.

“What do we do,” Uta asked.

“We can’t leave. We’ll have to stay here, wait the tiger out until it gets frustrated enough to leave,” Sabo replied.

Suddenly, loud crying broke the atmosphere. The three looked over at Luffy, who had fat tears rolling down his face.

“I’m sorry, guys! This is all my fault! I got us stuck under this tree and almost eaten by a big dumb tiger!”

“Yeah, you did. And you’re a dumbass for it. But, lucky for you, there’s a bigger dumbass sitting in this hollow,” Ace said before Sabo felt a hard punch connect with his head. He clutched the area, cursing under his breath at the pain that bloomed.

“Freckleface, you’re going too far!”

“Like hell I am! You listen up, Sabo, ‘cause I’m only going to say this once. You ever try to sacrifice yourself for us again and I’m going to beat the crap out of you, you got it?”

Sabo glared back at Ace.

“I don’t apologize. It was the right thing to do. I was trying to protect you guys.”

“Trying to protect us? What? You think we’re weak or something? Or do you think you’re so much stronger than us that you need to take on that beast alone?”

“You’re putting words in my mouth. That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what are you saying, huh?!”

“I don’t want to lose you guys! You’re the only family I have, the only people I want to call family. You saved me. All of you have, but you especially, Ace. You saved me just by being with me all these years and I wanted to save you. So, yeah, I put myself in front of that tiger and I’m not sorry for it!”

All the others paused at that as Sabo felt his cheeks warming up, embarrassment overtaking him at his own words. Ace’s face began doing something complicated before his lips curled up and he turned his back to the other three, pressing himself into a corner of the hollow and muttering angrily to himself, likely cursing Sabo out.

“We don’t want Sabo to get hurt trying to make sure we don’t get hurt. Pack protects each other. That means everyone should be trying not to get hurt. We can’t be a pack if you’re dead you know,” Luffy said, wiping his tears.

Sabo pursed his lips at that.

“Maybe think about that same thing before you put strange mushrooms in your mouth,” Sabo muttered in reply.

Luffy laughed at that before crawling over to Sabo and throwing his arms around him.

The four pups huddled together for warmth and comfort, their scents mingling together into an aroma that all but acted as a sedative, knocking out the other three pups almost instantly as they remained beneath the tree. The tiger still loomed in the clearing, preying on them. Sabo found himself unable to fall asleep as he stared at it. The creature was sleeping now, tucked into itself. Like this, it didn’t look like the intimidating predator that Sabo knew it to be, but he had learned a long time ago that looks were deceiving. The rain had stopped a while ago too, but the smell still hung in the air. Sabo had come to appreciate that smell in the years he had spent living outside of High Town. He had to learn to appreciate the little things in life seeing as how he didn’t think he would have much time to live.

“Hey, Sabo? Are you awake,” he heard Luffy say in the voice that meant he was trying to whisper. He was really bad at it, but Uta was used to sleeping through Luffy’s snoring and Ace barely ever woke up for anything short of a global calamity, so they didn’t so much as twitch.

“Yeah. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking s’all.”

“That could be dangerous.”

“Huh? How come?”

“Nothing. Forget it. What’s up?”

Luffy was quiet for a while before he finally spoke.

“How come you tried to make the tiger hurt you earlier?”

Sabo sighed at that.

“I told you, I was trying to make sure you, Ace and Uta got away.”

“But why would we want to get away without you?”

“Sometimes, that’s just how things go. The whole point of the plan I made was for you and Uta to get away while me and Ace distracted the tiger and that’s what happened. Then, Ace needed to get away too, so I followed the same plan.”

“But then what were you going to do after that to get away from the tiger?”

“I would’ve figured it out.”

“Sabo is pretty smart, but you were being pretty dumb then, almost dying like that.”

“I don’t want to hear that coming from you after you ate a mushroom that could’ve poisoned you or even killed you for all you knew,” Sabo scolded.

“Shishishi, that’s true. Still, Sabo was being dumb. You’re our friend, our pack, our family. You can’t do dumb things and almost hurt yourself.”

Sabo felt a surge run through him again at that word. Family.

It was a strange word for him. He knew that family wasn’t just blood. Family was pack, which could be separate from blood. Family was also choice, which could be separate from both pack and blood. He supposed there was a part of him, deep down, a part that he didn’t like to acknowledge, that still yearned for all three of those things to have been one. It wished that his blood family could’ve chosen to be his pack rather than what had happened. His blood had chosen to let him die rather than keep him and that might’ve had more of an effect on him than he would admit to anyone. He pushed the thoughts down to focus on Luffy’s words.

“Again, coming from you? The kid I’ve watched be swallowed by a crocodile, jump off a cliff into a river, get his head stuck in a hornet’s nest, end up in a copse of cacti and be chased by rabid wolves all in one weekend? The message is a little lost, Luffy.”

“I do things that are dangerous sometimes, but that’s because I’m trying to have a cool adventure, like Dad and his crew.”

“I’ve heard some of those stories from the Red Hair Pirates. I think Beckman would tell us not to follow in Shanks’ footsteps too carefully.”

“Yeah, he probably would. Beck thinks Dad’s a dumbo a lot of the time. Dad can be pretty stupid, but he’s so cool that it’s okay that he’s dumb sometimes. I’m gonna be just like Dad. All my cool is gonna be way bigger than all my stupid.”

Sabo snorted a laugh at that.

“That’s an… interesting way to put it, Luffy.”

“Besides, I only do all those dangerous stuff because you and Uta and Ace are around. I know you guys have my back, like a good pack should. And anyway, if I get hurt it’s because I was trying to do something cool or I was trying to help my friends and family. But you’re not supposed to try and get hurt so bad that you leave your friends and family,” Luffy continued before pouting.

“I hate stuff like that. It’s scary. It reminds me of Uta going with Daku so he wouldn’t hurt me or the village any worse. Or her making all of us leave her in Gray Terminal. Or Dad getting his arm eaten by that dumb sea beast to save me. Uta does stuff like that a lot because she thinks I’m better than her and that she’s bad, but Uta deserves everything good in the world and so do you.”

Sabo blinked at Luffy’s words, opening and closing his mouth as he tried to come up with a response for that.

“I know you probably did that thing with the tiger because you feel like Uta does sometimes. It scared Ace, what you did earlier.”

Sabo made a protesting sound, but Luffy stared at him with that wide-eyed, soul-searching gaze he got sometimes that shook the blonde down to his core.

“Sabo scared Ace. Ace is scared to lose us. It’s one of his big fears. Ace doesn’t want to be alone. Sabo made sure Ace wasn’t alone for a long time. Ace wants to protect Sabo because Sabo is his oldest treasure.”

The blond blushed at that, looking down and away.

“Well, Ace is my oldest treasure too, so I want to protect him. I was alone before I met Ace. I had run away from home after my nanny died. She was an old omega woman. She was the person who mostly raised me from a baby to 5 years old. She was the one who told me why my family was the way it was.”

“Dad says there are plenty of people who haven’t earned their title as parents because of how they treat their pup. I overheard him and some of the crew talking about how your parents were bad people and how they would make sure you didn’t go back to them after your place in Gray Terminal got burned and buried. I know Sabo’s family was mean to him. I just don’t get why.”

Sabo pursed his lips at that. Wasn’t that the million berry question? He spent the first five years of his life wondering that same thing. Didit and Outlook III didn’t give him satisfactory answers, but finally, one day while writhing in his sickbed he asked his nanny, Maple, that burning question.

“I don’t get it,” Sabo had said back then, curled up into a ball of pain as his body ached and shivered. He got sick often growing up in High Town. In the beginning, he tried his best to grin and bear it, to hide his various illnesses from his parents so they wouldn’t see him as more of a burden than they already did. The servants that he spent most of his time with figured him out almost immediately and brought their concerns to the masters of the house. Didit and Outlook III had him seen by a parade of doctors, as was expected of them. After a while, they stopped coming and Sabo was left to deal with the illnesses on his own. Thankfully, the servants of the house would sneak to see him, especially the head maid who doubled as his nanny, an elderly omega with a kind smile who always made time to care for Sabo when these mysterious illnesses took him over.

“I’m theirs, aren’t I? So why won’t they bond with me? Why can’t I feel them? Why can’t they love me?”

Maple ran withered fingers through his hair, the omega projecting a comforting scent over him and purring gently as Sabo laid limply against her chest.

“You are theirs, young master. No one can doubt that. I was there when Lady Didit gave birth to you.”

“Then why?”

“I’m sorry to say but your parents simply don’t have hearts that are able to love you,” Maple replied regretfully.

Sabo had looked at her with bewilderment.

“Lord Outlook doesn’t care for much other than his ego and money. As for Didit… well, I’m not supposed to know this and never supposed to say, but you know we servants hear things, so I was able to learn that your father married your mother for her money when he was near to losing all his due to his father’s gambling debts. Lady Didit had her heart set on another alpha of lesser status and renown, but her father made her marry Lord Outlook instead. Neither are fond of each other and so they did not create you out of love. This is not something that matters much to nobles. Lady Didit’s parents didn’t love each other but they spoiled her rotten. I believed the same was to happen with you. Lady Didit was happy when she learned she was pregnant and not just because she had fulfilled her wifely duties. She was excited to be a mother.”

“Really?” Sabo asked incredulously.

“Oh, yes. She smiled so much during her pregnancy, even though Lord Outlook didn’t care. Her experience on the birthing bed was a rough one. She nearly died giving birth and when she woke, I could tell things were wrong.”

“So… it’s my fault? She would love being a mother if I wasn’t her son.”

“No, no. Your mother… Lady Didit has a sickness of the heart. It happens to some dams after pregnancy, makes it so they can’t form a good bond with their pup. I noticed it soon after you were born, talked to Lady Didit about it. There are doctors for that sort of thing, to help before the sickness can sour the bond between a dam and their pup, before it hurts ‘em both. Lord Outlook wouldn’t allow it, said it wouldn’t look good, it’d make them seem weak. I suppose since Lady Didit has blocked the bond between you two, she isn’t feeling this quite so bad as you are. She knows what’s wrong, she understands, she knows how she can fix it. She just…”

“She doesn’t want to and my father doesn’t care to,” Sabo concluded.

Maple nodded sadly in return.

His family didn’t want him. That was the reality Sabo had accepted when he was only 5 years old and primed to die a slow and painful, lonely death. One he escaped only because of his rebellious nature and refusal to submit to death like some meek sacrificial lamb. He had internalized this reality for five more years living on his own. His family didn’t want him, family was not a thing that Sabo could have, a pack was not something he was deserving of. He was meant to be a lone wolf. Being a lone wolf saved his life even. It wasn’t until later that Hongo told him that it wasn’t just his striking out on his own but finding and making a connection with Ace that saved him. Even if he hadn’t consciously known that, he had always known that he owed a debt to Ace. He took him out of his lonely existence, gave him a companion, a partner in crime, a packmate, a brother (though Sabo would hesitate to say as much out loud). So, it wasn’t strange to Sabo that he would put his life on the line for Ace.

Luffy blinked at him, wide-eyed as he explained what he knew of the reasons for his parents’ rejection of him. He wasn’t even totally sure that his words were understood by the boy. Luffy could be oblivious most of the time. The boy tilted his head to the side. Sabo could practically hear the wheels turning as he thought over everything Sabo had said.

“Sorry Sabo, but your parents sound really dumb.”

Sabo choked a little on air at Luffy’s blunt answer.

“Yasopp says your berri treasure is never more important than your people treasure, so your father was being really dumb there.”

Sabo’s jaw snapped close at that, the words heavy in his mind with its implications.

“And if your mom was so sad that she couldn’t love you and there was a doctor that could fix her, she should’ve just gone to the doctor so that she could love you.”

“I don’t think it was that simple,” Sabo defended weakly.

“Dad was sad and hurt for a long time after he had to send me and Uta away. His heart was hurt so bad that sometimes he couldn’t be happy, not even with his pack. At first, he didn’t tell because he’s the captain and the captain’s supposed to be the strongest on the crew, but his hurt heart was making the pack sad too and he couldn’t be the best captain if he kept acting like he wasn’t hurt. So he told Hongo and Hongo was able to use his doctor powers to help Dad’s heart feel better. Then, he was able to be happy with his pack.”

Sabo sighed. He doubted it was as simple as Luffy made it seem, but he understood the sentiment nonetheless.

“Yeah, maybe she should’ve but she didn’t.”

“They left Sabo all alone.”

“I— they— yeah. Yeah, they did, didn’t they?”

The hollow was silent for a moment before Sabo felt a small hand touching the left side of his face, brushing over the burn scar covering his eye. He glanced over at the young boy across from him. Luffy had a wide smile stretched across his face.

“But that’s okay, because now we get to have Sabo. We’re never going to let Sabo go. Sabo’s ours now. Shishishi.”

The blond boy felt a lance of warmth spread all throughout his body. He opened his mouth, trying to find something to say, but nothing would come out. He found himself throwing his arms around Luffy, pulling the boy closer to him even as the two slumbering pups nuzzled in closer to the other warm bodies.

Sabo tried to find that longing that he usually felt for his family, his blood, their acceptance. It was nowhere to be found, not now, not while he was with the other pups, not while he was living with the bandits, not while he could feel Shanks’ bond nestled next to his heart. That longing wasn’t there. Sabo hadn’t even noticed when it stopped. Maybe that fire in the Terminal had burned away more of him than he realized it had.

~*~*~

Ace wasn’t talking to him.

The four pups had managed to sneak out of the clearing past the tiger at the crack of dawn and hightailed it back to the bandits’ hideout. They had been greeted by Dadan’s bellowing curses, Magra’s stuttering and Dogra’s shaking head before being forced to wash off and then clean the entire hut before breakfast. Well, Sabo and Uta cleaned. Ace argued with Dadan the whole time and Luffy made an even bigger mess, so Uta had distracted him with emergency food and songs to dance to while the two middle children did all the work. After that, Ace grabbed his pipe and stormed off into the woods, ignoring any calls after him.

Sabo felt a surge of both guilt and indignation. Ace had done tons of dangerous things before, frequently risking his life for the most foolish endeavors. Sabo may have knocked him upside the head for it, but he had never given him the silent treatment before. Still, he couldn’t get Luffy’s statement that he had scared Ace out of his head. Ace didn’t do well with emotions like that, Sabo knew that better than most. However, in this particular instance, he was certain Ace’s reaction wasn’t justified.

He held on to anger as much as he could but as it began to pour down again outside and Ace still hadn’t returned, his anger gave way to worry. He sat in the window frame of the pups’ bedroom, staring out into the downpour as the droplets hit the forest floor forcefully, disturbing the tree branches and creating small rivulets that drained into the pots the bandits set up to collect rainwater.

“Hmm, hmm, hmm

Springtime of my lovin’

Mmm, mmm

You are the sunlight in my growin’.”

Sabo glanced back at Uta, having forgotten she was in the room with him. She was lying on her and Luffy’s bed, writing in one of journals and humming to herself while absentmindedly singing random phrases.

“These are the seasons of emotions.

Hmm, oh, no. hmm mmm

Upon us all, upon us all,

Just a little rain must fall.

A little rain must fall…

Hmm, hmm.”

Sabo smiled to himself hearing Uta’s songs, even one that wasn’t finished yet.

“Is that a new one you’re working on?”

Uta startled at the question before looking over at him.

“Hmm?”

“The song you’re singing? About the rain?”

“Oh, I didn’t notice I was singing. I was just listening to what the rain was saying, trying to make sense of it.”

Sabo tilted his head curiously.

“The rain is speaking?”

“Kind of…”

“Is it that Voice thing you and Luffy were telling us about?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if it’s the rain talking or the world still, but the songs I hear when it rains are different. Sometimes, it’s hard to get all the words. It’s like they fall down with the droplets and get lost in the ground once they hit the floor so I can’t hear them anymore.”

Sabo hummed curiously, glancing back at the downpour.

“Can you hear what it’s saying now?”

“You… you really want to know?”

“Of course.”

“You don’t think it’s weird?”

“We’re all a little weird, Uta.”

The girl chuckled in response.

“That’s true,” she conceded before coming to sit next to him on the window frame.

Sabo watched the younger girl tilt her head back and close her eyes as if she was concentrating deeply or listening intently. Perhaps both. After a moment, a small smile broke out on her lips.

“What,” he asked.

“The Voice is singing to me.”

“Isn’t it always?”

“The world usually doesn’t speak directly to us unless we talk to it first.”

“Oh. What is it singing to you?”

“They are the sunlight in your growing
So little warmth you’d felt before
Now, it’s not hard to feel you glowing
We watched the fire within you grow so low

It is the summer of your smiles
Flee from you, oh keepers of the gloom
Sing to us with your gentle eyes
It is to you, we give this tune

We felt the coldness of your winter
We never thought it would ever go
We cursed the gloom that set upon you
Just know that we love you so

Upon us all, upon us all, a little rain must fall

A little rain must fall
Just a little rain, oh, yeah.”

Uta’s eyes were a little wet by the time she finished the song. Sabo took in the words before responding.

“Is… was that about…?”

“You know, after Daku took me and made me eat the Sing Sing Fruit, I thought Mother Ocean hated me. I could always hear her whispers before that, but it was faint. When he took me, and I could hear Her so much clearer. She would sing songs to comfort me and… maybe it was just my imagination, but it felt like She was using Her waves to rock Daku’s boat sometimes when it was hard for me to sleep. All that stopped when I ate the Devil Fruit. I can’t hear Her at all now even though I can still hear the rest of the world. I thought She hated me.”

A familiar shadow crossed Uta’s face before it was chased away by a light smile.

“But then She brought Grandpa to rescue me. She gave us good weather so I could get back home to Luffy quickly. She brought Daddy and the crew to the island. That led us to being here with you and Ace. I wish all that stuff with Daku didn’t happen, but this isn’t such a bad thing to happen after all of that.”

“You’re pretty strong, you know?” Sabo commented.

Uta glanced up at him with a slight blush on her cheeks.

“You think? Well, you’re strong too.”

“I don’t know about that.”

Uta raised an eyebrow at that.

“You and Ace were taking down fully grown men in Gray Terminal and Edge Town before I could swing a proper punch.”

Sabo looked down and away, not wanting to admit a thought that had been lingering in the back of his head lately. Uta knocked her shoulder into his pointedly.

“Just… sometimes, I wonder… I just wonder what things will be like when we grow up.”

“What do you mean?”

“I… forget it. It’s stupid.”

“You’re the only one around here I can rely on to not be stupid.”

Sabo chuckled in agreement before biting his lip.

“Don’t let Dadan hear you say that,” he warned.

Uta lightly chuckled in response before a contemplative look settled on her face.

“Does… whatever you don’t want to talk about have to do with what happened with the tiger yesterday?”

Sabo slumped a little at the mention.

“Is what happened really such a big deal?”

“Ace thinks so. He’s mad at you. I get it though. You wanted to protect us. That was more important to you than yourself. It just sucks for us is all.”

Sabo thought of Uta in Gray Terminal making them leave her behind. Maybe she did get it.

“Sometimes, I feel small. Especially compared to you guys. You’re all so… you’ve got your great powers and great dreams, I’m not… I don’t have anything that big.”

“You want to write a book about the world for other kids, so they know the truth about it. That’s not small. It’s actually bigger than you know. Grandpa told us that there are some things the World Government doesn’t want everyone to know and they’d punish people for learning about. I’d bet there are secrets out there in the world that only someone like you can discover and teach the world about. That’s not a small thing.”

Sabo supposed that was true, but still...

“As for our powers, so what? Luffy can’t even throw a punch right thanks to his stretchy arms. Ace can’t control whether he makes a spark or an inferno. Their powers are pretty useless compared to you right now. And my powers aren’t really for fighting.”

“I’m on par with Ace’s strength right now. It won’t always be like that though.”

“Well… it’s a good thing we’ve got Grandpa then. He doesn’t have any Devil Fruit. He’s going to make sure we’re strong enough to fight anyone no matter what. Daddy doesn’t have a Devil Fruit either or anyone on the Red Hair Pirates but they’re still super strong. We’ll all have to train hard so we can be strong like them. You’ll do the same thing. We’ll all be powerful when we grow up and none of us will see you any differently whether you ever get a Devil Fruit or not. You’ll still be pack and family.”

There was that word again. Family.

“I don’t even know what family is. I’ve never had one,” Sabo confessed.

“Family… family is the people who lift you up, who make you the happiest, make you feel the safest. They’re the ones who encourage you to follow your dreams, the people whose dreams you believe in just as much as your own. Family is where home is. And you know you’ve found home if when you’re away, you miss it the most. That’s family. To me anyway.”

“And you see me as family?”

“I do. Even though Daddy’s not here or Makino or the crew, being here with you, Ace and Luffy? You guys make this place feel like home for me.”

Sabo looked down, a blush coloring his cheeks.

Home was a concept he was a little more familiar with, if only for the impermanence of it. He called High Town home for five years but never really felt like it was a home for him. Maybe because of what Uta said. He didn’t have a family there. He had the servants, whose goodwill saw him through his early days, but they were more friends than family.

He called Gray Terminal home for the next five years, bouncing between the garbage heap and his hideout in Pirate’s Cove. He didn’t have family for a long time there either, but he had felt free. He gained a level of affection for some of the residents and disdain for others. He learned how vast the wealth gap could be even within the same island let alone in the world. He had gone from being unwanted by his parents to being seen as little more than living trash by the kingdom of Goa. Yet, Sabo had accepted that in exchange for freedom. That had been his goal in the end, freedom and a chance at adventure before he succumbed to his illness. He wasn’t looking for home or family, but he found both with Ace. After he met Ace, he supposed Gray Terminal did start to feel a lot more like home, even though Ace didn’t live there with him.

Then the fire happened and he was briefly forced to live in Windmill Village. That had been an culture shock. He was moved from a city to a small coastal village. Everything was so much smaller, slower and quieter. It had been nice the first few days as he recovered but he quickly grew antsy, especially being surrounded by people he didn’t know who seemed to know more about him than he was comfortable with. Windmill Village was nothing like home and he didn’t see it as such either.

Moving to the bandits’ hideout was another big change but closer to what he experienced in the Terminal. He had a level of freedom here and he also wasn’t alone. He had a pack, which was new, and people who were willing to look out for him, which wasn’t new but still something he was getting used to.

Still, even with all that, the most relaxed he had ever felt were those small moments when he got to climb into his nest with Ace, Uta and Luffy, surrounded by their combined scents with tokens smelling of other packmembers he had come to accept mingling in the air around them. He found peace cuddling with the others in a cocoon of safety and trust, something he hadn’t ever experienced before. He supposed then that he had found a home and if that equated to family, then he guessed he had that too.

Somehow, impossibly, even without Didit and Outlook III, he had a home and family, people who wanted him. It was a scary prospect, but Sabo wanted to hold onto it with both hands as tightly as he could.

“You know, Luffy used to tell me that if I couldn’t believe in myself or love myself that he’d do it for both himself and me until I’m ready. I’d do that for you if you need me to. You just have to ask.”

Sabo blinked at her in response, surprised by the offer and the kind words. Uta had enough on her own plate. Sabo didn’t think he warranted any of her attention, especially not for something like this, but still, he nodded in reply and gave her a small, shy smile.

“Thanks. I think I could use your help every now and again.”

Uta smiled in response and knocked her shoulder against his before turning back to face the rain. Sabo watched her face fall as she gazed out into the storm.

“Oh, that idiot,” she groused.

Sabo blinked at her, wondering what prompted the response. Uta’s face was a mask of exasperation and concern. He followed her gaze and reared back in shock as Ace came limping out of the tree line towards the hut. Rain beat down on him, coming away red from blood, black from soot and brown from dirt. Ace seemed unaffected by it all, trudging ahead single-mindedly.

Sabo and Uta shared a look before they bolted towards the front door, meeting Ace just as he stepped inside, ignoring Dadan’s shouting after him.

“Where the hell did you go?! And what did you do to have you coming back looking like this?!”

“And you’re trudging dirt and blood through the hut that we’re going to have to clean up,” Uta complained. Sabo could hear the undercurrent of worry underneath her indignation.

Ace glanced up at the two with a glare set on his dirty face. His eyes lingered on Sabo for a moment before he threw something at him. The blond boy snatched the item out of the air and opened his hand to see what it was. He squinted in disbelief at his bloody cravat. It was still stuck on one of the tiger’s claws which Ace had somehow managed to rip out.

“Damn thing’s still alive. Stupid fucker won’t die that easy. Burned it real good though. Knocked it out with that Haki thing Shanks says I have and got back your dumb rag. You’re welcome,” the brunette boy explained before promptly falling over and passing out.

Sabo stared down at him with alarm while Uta shook her head and Dadan cursed lowly.

“Damn brat. Couldn’t have chosen to give something a lot less dangerous than that for a gift,” she grumbled before snatching Ace up and carrying him to the bandits’ medic.

Ace was tough so Sabo wasn’t overly surprised that, despite being covered in wounds from claw marks and bites, Ace did little more than sleep his harebrained encounter with the tiger off and go back out the next day to try again, all while strictly forbidding the younger pups to join him. Of course, none of them had any intention of listening to him but Ace could be elusive when he wanted to be and they all had trouble tracking him. Add to that that Ace was still refusing to talk to Sabo and the blond was finding himself constantly wrongfooted. Ace was never usually this mad at him.

That being the case, Sabo was surprised when Ace hesitantly approached him out of the blue one day. The boy looked nervous, frustrated and unsure all at once.

“Ace,” Sabo asked.

Ace bit his lip before nodding jerkily towards the pups’ bedroom and then all but running off towards the room, not looking back to see if Sabo was following.

The blond glanced over at Dogra who was sitting in the room with him.

“Think that’s Ace talk for ‘follow me’. Sometimes I think Pochi has more of a developed vocabulary.”

Sabo huffed a small laugh before walking towards the kids’ designated room. He paused briefly outside the door, wondering if Ace wanted to fight him or something. Then again, if he had, he would’ve just attacked him no matter where they were. He’d done it before to all the pups. With that in mind, Sabo walked into the bedroom. Uta and Luffy were off with Dadan, so it was just Ace in the room. Well, Ace along with the transponder snails.

The duo was sitting on the nightstand between the two beds. The white snail had recently acquired the name Dumpling, one they’d compromised on after Luffy wanted to name it Polar Snail Tofu Snail Dumpling Snail. It had also recently been decorated so the snail’s shell was painted with a flame pattern and sported a small top hat in homage to Ace and Sabo just like the pink transponder was decorated to resemble Uta and Luffy. The pink snail also had a name. Strawberry, short for Princess Strawberry, ruler of Shortcake Island according to Uta who liked to act loftier than Luffy but was just as bad at naming things. All of Ace’s suggestions had been summarily vetoed and were better forgotten. Sabo had left the naming to the other three and focused more on actually keeping the snails alive. Communication devices or not, they were still living things that required maintenance.

Dumpling sat as nonchalant as ever on the nightstand, munching on a leaf of lettuce that Sabo kept in the drawers while Strawberry notably had acquired three distinctive scars on its left eye stalk.

Ace had a strange look on his face as Sabo sat on the bed near him. The slight scent of distress hung in the air along with fear, anger and frustration. It wasn’t an unfamiliar mixture where Ace was concerned but he was usually better at suppressing such things, not allowing his scent to give away how he felt so easily.

“Shanks? Is everything alright? This isn’t your usual day to call.”

“Don’t worry, Niteowl. Everything’s alright here. The crew just passed a lightning island. It’s constantly raining down purple lightning. You need special umbrellas just to stay here. You’d love it. I’ll tell you all about Raijin Island during our regular call.”

Sabo’s interest was piqued by Shanks’ description, but he was equally curious about the origin of Shanks’ call. Ace was still looking cagey, his arms crossed over his chest while he refused to meet Sabo’s gaze, his hat pulled low over his face and shadowed his eyes.

“The twins aren’t here. Dadan has them helping her collect water.”

“That’s alright. I’m here as a mediary of sorts. Ace wanted me on the line as moral support because there’s something he wants to discuss with you.”

Sabo’s eyes went to Ace. The boy’s shoulders were hiked up high to his ears and a scowl took over his lips.

“Not that it’s important or anything. Why don’t you just forget it? I don’t want to look at your dumb face anymore anyway. I’ve got better things to do than waste my time talking to you,” he snapped.

Sabo, used to Ace’s moments, didn’t take it to heart and didn’t bother leaving.

“Now, Firefox. We just had a lengthy talk about not covering your true feelings with anger and resentment. I’m going to feel like an idiot if everything I said went in one ear and out the other.”

“You’re an idiot either way,” Ace grumbled.

Shanks chuckled in reply.

“Maybe so, kid. But in this case, I think I know better than you. Sabo can’t know how you feel if you don’t tell him. No one can read your mind, and you can’t go around thinking you know what anyone else is thinking either. You’ve gotta talk.”

“Tch,” Ace huffed before glancing at Sabo hesitantly. The blond stared back expectantly.

Talking was decidedly not Ace’s strong suit, unless that “talk” involved insults, shouting and anger. It said something that he was aware of this, reached out to Shanks for help and was trying to have this conversation with Sabo.

“It’s okay, Ace. Whatever it is, I’ll listen,” Sabo assured him.

Ace still looked hesitant, but he turned to face the other boy anyway.

“I’m mad at you. I am. I am. What you did was dumb. It was stupid. You didn’t have to do that. We never do that. We’re a team, we always have been. We fight together, always. If one of us is bait, it’s on purpose and it’s never because we think one of us isn’t going to get out of something. We don’t do sacrifice plays, not us. So, yeah, I’m mad.”

“But not just mad, right kid?” Shanks hedged.

Ace bit his lip and nodded even though Shanks couldn’t see.

“I am mad, but… but I was also… I was… I was scared,” Ace admitted, as if it was a dirty, shameful thing.

“I wasn’t expecting you to… we always know what the other is going to do when we fight and then you were doing something I didn’t expect, something you don’t normally do. I couldn’t control it and I got afraid. I wasn’t even thinking when I made that firefist hit the tiger. I just knew I had to… I had to protect you and Luffy and Uta.”

Sabo took in all Ace said, processing all of that.

“I felt the same way. I wanted to protect you guys. When it was just the two of us fighting guys in Edge Town and the Terminal, I wasn’t as worried. I was confident in our combined abilities. With Uta and Luffy, it’s different. I just feel like they need more protection, even if they’d hate to hear that. I know you feel the same way.”

“Of course. Luffy’s an idiot who puts himself in danger cause he’s stupid and brave. Uta… Uta needs us. I don’t care what Dadan says or how Uta feels. As long as we’re around, nothing that happened before is ever going to happen again,” Ace declared.

Sabo nodded in agreement before continuing.

“But I also know that you don’t feel like you’re worth as much as them.”

Sabo’s words stopped Ace up short.

“You are to me though. You’re the reason I’m here at all. Here in this hut, here in this pack, here alive.”

Ace looked down, his cheeks turning red at that.

“S’not totally true. Leaving your folks did that.”

“Yeah, but I still would’ve died if I didn’t find you.”

Ace ducked down even more, shrugging a little.

“You saved me that day. I bit off more than I could chew in Edge Town. Those guys would’ve roughed me up pretty good if you hadn’t shown up,” Ace admitted.

“I may have saved you that one day, but you’ve been saving me ever since. When I saw that tiger going for the twins and you, what else could I do but put myself between you guys and it? It was the right thing to do to protect you all.”

“I don’t need you to protect me. I’m the oldest, I’m supposed to protect you all.”

“You’re only two months older than me, I’ve got just as much responsibility to look out for the twins and for you.”

“If I could cut in here, I’m happy you all have each other’s backs, but you’re also still pups. Making a sacrifice play for each other is way beyond the scope of you getting to just be kids. Feral jungle kids, but kids nonetheless. My sanity would much prefer it if neither one of you were running around thinking you had to sacrifice your lives for the twins or each other,” Shanks commented.

“That’s rich coming from you,” Ace retorted.

“Yeah. Didn’t you sacrifice your arm for Luffy a few months ago?” Sabo asked dubiously.

“That’s totally different. I’m an adult with fully functioning cognitive capabilities.”

“That’s debatable,” Ace muttered.

“Oi, here I am backing you up and all I’m getting in return is insults. I’m starting to feel unappreciated. Just for that, there’s something else Ace wanted to say, even though he’s dragging his feet about it. Isn’t there, Firefox?”

“You said you weren’t going to say anything,” Ace hissed.

“That was before you made me feel bad.”

“Ugh, you’re such an ass. You act more like a kid than we do.”

“Dahahaha. I know quite a few people who’d agree with that actually.”

Ace huffed again, cutting his eyes to Sabo hesitantly.

“I was thinking. I know you have your dream of writing a book about all your adventures and you know I have my dream about going to sea, beating the World’s Strongest. We had our whole plan of saving up to get our ship and sail out of here, but we never really talked about how things would look, how we’d be, as a crew I mean.”

Sabo blinked at that, surprised at the turn of conversation.

“Shanks says we gotta wait until we’re 17 at least to sail out, although we should be with him by that time. Luffy and Uta are set on sailing out together with Uta as his singer. They’ll be together. I guess I… I just always thought… I thought we’d be together too, you and me. So I… I was thinking maybe, when the time is right, maybe we could sail out together. Officially, I mean, and you could be my navigator. If you want, I mean. You don’t have to… maybe you’d rather be captain and it’s stupid to ask anyway. Just forget it. I—”

“Ace,” Sabo said, stopping his rambling as he turned redder and his posture became more defensive.

“I did originally think I’d want to be the captain of my own crew, but that was partly because I figured I was alone anyway. I didn’t have a pack so I’d have to start my own. After the fire and being here with you guys… I don’t think I’d like to be away from my entire pack when I set sail. I think it’d be better if we sail out together. Which is not to say I’ll never want to have my own crew, but I think it’d be best if we were together, at least in the beginning. Besides, you’d pick a fight you shouldn’t within the first day you went out to sea without me.”

Ace looked over at him, surprised.

“You mean…”

“Yeah, I’ll join your crew, Ace.”

The brunette stared at him for a moment before completely surprising Sabo by throwing himself at him. At first, he thought Ace was trying to tackle him, but the contact quickly resolved itself into a hug. Sabo relaxed into it, wrapping his arms back around Ace. He found himself instinctively nuzzling into Ace’s neck where his scents glands were, rubbing his nose against the area as he squeezed Ace tighter. Ace tensed slightly before a low rumble began emanating from his chest. Purring was extremely rare from Ace. He rarely felt safe or vulnerable enough to do so. Growls were much more frequent, even though most pups their age were just learning to use that ability. Luffy and Uta hadn’t even started growling yet, but life had made it necessary for Sabo and Ace to be the kind of pups who growled rather than purred. A purring pup was a vulnerable one, a relaxed one, a pup who let their guard down. That kind of thing would’ve likely gotten the two of them killed by now as it had done to so many other kids in the Terminal. In this hut, that wasn’t a concern.

He jumped slightly as he felt Ace nuzzling against Sabo’s scent glands and drawing a rare purr from him as well. It was an uncommon moment of quiet and peace between the two of them, one that Sabo was loath to have broken, but Luffy clearly didn’t feel the same way.

“Hey! No fair!” The boy exclaimed before his rubber weight was unceremoniously slamming into the older pups, sending them toppling off the bed in a tangle of limbs. Sabo groaned as his head hit the floor and he found himself on the bottom of the pile.

“You little twerp! What the hell is wrong with you?! Plus, you’re wet,” Ace griped, smacking Luffy upside the head with a fiery fist. Luffy rubbed his steaming head as he pouted.

“You’re big meanies. Why didn’t you tell me we were having a cuddle pile?”

“Awfully rude of them, isn’t it, Anchor?”

Luffy’s head popped up with a gasp at that.

“Daddy!” He exclaimed, popping up off the floor and approaching the snail, allowing Sabo to breathe.

“But it’s not call day. I know ‘cause Dadan says I’m extra annoying on call day and she only yelled at me five times today.”

“Dahahaha. That sounds like her, alright. But I was just helping the boys with something.”

“Oh, then I get to tell you all about the cool beetles I found today. Dadan screamed so loud when I showed her my giant Hercules beetle. I named him Koushi. Dadan says he can’t stay in the house and I need to choose something less gross to be my totem, but Uta convinced her to let me keep him if I get a teranodon.”

“Terrarium,” Uta corrected, stepping into the room.

“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Luffy answered absentmindedly.

“A beetle named veal, eh? Only you, Anchor.”

Uta blinked in surprise at hearing Shanks’ voice before she settled close to the older boys.

“Daddy? Is everything alright?”

“Why does everyone think the sky’s falling just because I called early?”

“You said our schedule had to be strict to make sure we didn’t take any chances, that’s all.”

“Yeah, but my boys needed me, so here I am.”

Sabo and Ace glanced at each other before both turned scarlet. Uta and Luffy both began to snicker.

“Ace and Sabo are blushing,” Luffy teased.

“Shut up! Am not,” Ace protested.

“They’re as red as toadstools,” Uta pointed out, poking Ace’s cheek before dodging out of the way of his slapping hands.

“Honestly, anyone would think you boys are embarrassed of me or something,” Shanks said, a pout obvious in his voice.

“That’s because you’re embarrassing,” Ace retorted.

“You’re so mean to me,” Shanks whined in reply.

Sabo chuckling hearing it. Shanks acted like such a big kid sometimes.

As the blonde settled down with the other pups and Shanks, listening to the others go back and forth, teasing each other and sharing interests and anecdotes of the time they’d spent since they last talked, Sabo couldn’t help but remember lonely days in High Town, shivering alone in his room while all the bonds inside of him shriveled and decayed from a lack of love, care and interest in Sabo as a person. He had always known that wasn’t a life that he wanted but in this moment, with these people, he found that maybe, just maybe, he’d actually found a family after all.

~*~*~

“Where are we going, Freckleface?” Uta asked as the four pups trekked through the woods, following behind Ace.

The four had fallen asleep in a pup pile to the sound of Shanks singing a song he’d claimed was an Alabastan lullaby, an island at the beginning of the Grand Line he promised to take them to one day. When Sabo woke up in the wee hours of dawn, he had noticed that Ace was awake and staring down at the three of them with an unusually soft expression. His face had gone through a complicated mixture of emotions when he noticed Sabo had caught him before he settled on determination. Then he was ordering Sabo to get his shoes and doing the same to the twins after he woke them up. After that, he went out into the kitchen and returned with a sack that he wouldn’t let any of them look into, no matter how hard Luffy tried, before ordering them to follow him into the forest where they had been walking with seemingly no direction ever since.

“Are you getting us lost,” Uta pushed.

“I’ve lived in these woods longer than you have, Princess, I know my way around,” Ace defended.

“How close are we? I’m hungryyyyy,” Luffy whined.

“You’re always hungry,” Sabo pointed out as Luffy’s belly let out a rumble.

“Daddy says it’s on account of us being a D. Luffy’s stretchy stomach just makes it worse,” Uta replied, pulling out a piece of foil paper from her pocket and opening it up to reveal strips of bacon which she handed to Luffy one by one so he wouldn’t eat the foil paper too. Sabo shook his head a little. Uta knew her twin too well, but another thought popped into his mind.

“What’s it mean, the D in the middle of you guys’ names?”

“Huh,” Ace replied absentmindedly.

“Monkey D. Luffy, Monkey D. Uta, Portgas D. Ace. Even Gramps has the D in his name and so did Roger. What’s it mean?”

“Hmm. I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it,” Uta replied.

“I don’t know why, but who cares about a name anyway?” Ace added flippantly.

Names had always been important where Sabo came from. Family names whether it was last names or first names, were passed down. Sabo didn’t have a family name but there were names passed down. His father was Outlook III and Sabo was technically Sabo IV, not that he would ever walk around calling himself as such.

“You want a “D.” too, Sabo?”

“Huh?”

 “Oh yeah! Sabo needs one too. Sa D. Bo,” Luffy exclaimed.

“Don’t put it there,” Sabo protested.

“Your name’s Sa D. Bo now,” Luffy declared as Ace and Uta chuckled.

“Well, I do call you Bo anyway,” Ace shrugged.

Sabo shook his head but couldn’t help but chuckle too as the group came upon a clearing leading to a hill. Ace took them to the edge of the cliff where a tree stump sat. He plopped himself down on the ground and brought his satchel around, pulling out four small red bowls and a familiar green bottle.

“Is that Dadan’s sake,” Uta asked, a hint of disapproval in her voice.

“Yeah, but before you start complaining, Prissy Princess, just listen to me first. Yesterday when I called Shanks for advice he was telling me about sakazuki.”

“Sakazuki? What’s that,” Uta asked, tilting his head curiously.

“Well, it’s kind of a secret.”

Luffy perked up at that.

“A secret? Ooh! Ooh! I wanna know! Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me tell—”

“Alright, idiot! I was gonna anyway!”

Ace huffed as he uncorked the bottle and poured sake into the four bowls.

“There are different kinds of sake cup ceremonies. There’s Kobun Sakazuki. That’s for followers to pledge loyalty to their leader. All the Red Hair Pirates drank sake together when they pledged themselves to Shanks. There’s Oyako no Sakazuki. That’s Parent-Child Sake Cups and there’s more of a ceremony with that. But there’s also Kyōdai Sakazuki. That’s for brothers… and sisters too I guess. Either way, all it takes to be siblings is to drink some sake together, pack or not.”

“Whoa, really?! That’s so cool! I wonder if Uta and I drank sake when we were babies.”

“No, Lu. Ace means that this ceremony can bind people who aren’t already blood siblings,” Uta explained, ruffling Luffy’s hair.

“Shanks said he and Buggy did it when they were kids. That’s what gave me the idea at all,” Ace explained.

Uta got an impish look on her face then.

“What happened to all that posturing you do with Grandpa? Thought we weren’t your siblings and anyone saying so was crazy.”

Ace, surprisingly, didn’t get angry.

“That was before. I know that you guys, Gramps, the bandits, Shanks and the crew… you guys are my family. I’ve known for a while now. Just didn’t wanna admit it. But I won’t let any of you idiots get yourself hurt or killed while thinking that I don’t care about you, that I don’t see you as mine and me as yours. Drinking this sake together just makes it official s’all.”

The three younger pups blinked in surprise before looking over at Ace with a trio of wet eyes. The brunette instantly scowled.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that. S’not that big of a—”

Before Ace could finish his sentence, the three pups rushed him and immediately began scenting and cuddling up to him.

“Okay, okay. Jeez, now I regret all this,” he grumbled but notably didn’t push any of them off.

After a few minutes, the pups released him and gathered around the tree stump in front of their respective sake cups.

“This will be our vow. No matter what sea we end up in. No matter what crew we find, what packs we join, what ships we sail on or what goals we have, we’ll always be siblings, family, pack. Nobody can take that away,” Ace declared, picking up his sake cup.

All the children followed along and lifted the red bowl into the air before clinking them together and drinking the whole bowl.

“Yay! I have brothers now!” Luffy exclaimed once they finished their sake and placed their bowls down.

“Guess I’m not the oldest anymore,” Uta commented ruefully.

“Yeah, I’m the oldest now. I get to tell you all what to do,” Ace declared.

“But I’m the funnest, so I should tell everyone what to do,” Luffy protested.

“What? That doesn’t even make sense. And you almost kill yourself every day, who’d listen to you?”

“Nuh-uh, I haven’t hurt myself yet today.”

“The day’s still early.”

“Plus, I’m gonna be king of the pirates, so I should be in charge.”

“No one wants the crybaby in charge.”

“Hey, what’d you call me?”

“You heard me.”

“Well… well, no one wants the sleepy baby in charge.”

“Sleepy baby?”

“Yeah, cause you’re always falling asleep at funny times so sleepy baby.”

“Don’t call me that!”

“Sleepy baby! Sleep baby! Sleep baby!”

“You little twerp! I’m gonna kick your ass!”

Sabo and Uta glanced at each other as Luffy and Ace continued bickering before the two middle children gave each other a knowing smirk. Let them think whatever they wanted. Sabo and Uta would be there to bail the two of them out of whatever harebrained plots they got mixed up in or be there right beside them, creating mischief. They were siblings now, so whatever one of them went, the other would follow whether physically or in spirit.

In that moment, Sabo made a silent vow to himself.

This is my family. This is where I belong. I won’t let anything hurt them. No matter what.

Chapter Text

“Ah!!!”

“Again, Lu?”

Sabo didn’t immediately move when he heard Luffy’s exclamation or Uta’s exasperation. Living with his baby brother for a full year now had taught him well enough that he could get himself into trouble effortlessly and trying to stop him was a losing battle. Eventually he did make his way to the window and peered down to see what was wrong. He rolled his eyes as he saw Luffy had fallen into their boar trap again.

“You’re lucky Ace isn’t here to see you down there, Lu. He’d smack you in the head if he was,” Sabo pointed out as he climbed out the window and down the ladder of the pups’ treehouse.

They had taken up near permanent residence in the getaway they had all crafted together. It was initially meant as a hideout from Garp, whose training got worse after the pups had made their sake cup promise. Nowadays, they spent twice as much time here as they did the bandits’ hut. Dadan had explained that their desire to create a space just for the four of them was a part of their nesting instinct. The sake cup promise had made their bond stronger. Their nesting instincts drove them to protect that bond by building a den together where no one who wasn’t pack could breach their space. Sabo could admit privately that he was comforted by being in a space filled with the scents of his siblings mingling together as a constant reminder that they were always close. Even the annoying siblings who constantly forgot the hole he himself dug near the tree.

Sabo’s feet thumped against the ground as he approached the hole and peered down. Luffy was a tangle of limbs and indignation, staring up at him with bewildered eyes.

“You know, we dug this hole to satisfy your impossible stomach. You’d think you’d remember where it was,” Sabo pointed out as he grabbed a rope Uta dropped down to him from the lookout perch and lowered it to Luffy.

“I can get out on my own. I’ll use my rubber powers,” the boy declared, standing up.

“Every time you try, you just hurt yourself more.”

“Nuh-uh! I’ve been practicing.”

Sabo could attest to that much. Garp was doing his best to whip Luffy and Ace’s Devil Fruit powers into submission, even though he wasn’t a user himself. Both boys were creative in trying to use their power’s defensively, though both still lacked the control to use their powers constructively. Garp had also discovered Ace’s Conqueror’s Haki to which he had given a long laugh before declaring it wasn’t a surprise given that Roger was a Conqueror as well.

Sabo hadn’t known how Ace was going to react when Garp had casually stated that Ace was “a chip off the old block”. Ace was still mercurial when it came to Roger. He wasn’t as blindly rage-filled about him or blamed him as much as he did before, but he still struggled with the legacy of being his son. Ace might’ve been exposed to a different side of the Pirate King but the world’s opinion hadn’t changed. However, Ace had surprised Sabo.

“Shanks has this Conqueror thing too, doesn’t he?” He had asked.

Garp had blinked at that before answering.

“Yeah, Red Hair’s got it. Damn strong too, that brat, much as I hate to admit it.”

“Guess it’s alright that I’ve got it then,” the boy had said and left it at that.

Garp had blinked again before looking at Sabo who had simply shrugged in response.

Ace was calmer ever since their promise. He still sometimes gave lip service to his aversion towards affection, but they could all feel the protective energy he constantly gave off around them nowadays and the way his scent clung to them.

Sabo had heard some talk amongst the bandits that they thought Ace was going to manifest as an alpha. As it was, all the boys were too young, but Ace and Sabo were the closest given that they were 11 years old and manifestations started as early as 13. Sabo didn’t think too much about what it would mean when they manifested. He didn’t foresee it changing much about them as a group, but it would change how they were perceived by people, not that any of them really cared too much about that.

“Bo, if he’s trying to convince you to let him get himself out, don’t let him!” Uta shouted from above, breaking Sabo from his thoughts.

He glanced up at her where she sat in the lookout perch above their tree, their rudimentary flag waving above her declaring the tree as the territory of the ASUL Pirates.

“Don’t think Luffy’s in a listening mood.”

“When is he ever?”

Sabo stepped back as Luffy’s arm shot out of the hole and latched on to a tree.

“Gum Gum…” he started.

“Frog!” He declared, clearly having just come up with the name.

Sabo was sure his intention was to crouch down and use the momentum from his stretchy powers to leapfrog out of the hole but as he ascended, his arm retracted too quickly and it left him flailing midair over the hole, looking like he was about to fall right back in. Before he could, a disembodied hand swooped in and snatched him out of thin air before setting him down next to the tree trunk.

“On the list of things Shanks has done to annoy me, having you chaotic gremlins has got to be at least top three,” Buggy grumbled as he trudged into view alongside a giggling Eudora and a scowling Ace.

The two adults had arrived a week earlier, laden with gifts from the Red Hair Pirates and stories of their exploits since the pups had last seen them over a year ago. Uta in particular was ecstatic to see Eudora again given that she was the only other gamma she knew of and their shared love for music.

“Ow,” Luffy exclaimed as Ace punched him on the head.

“Idiot. What have I told you about falling into that trap?”

“It’s not my fault. I can’t remember where it is,” Luffy whined, rubbing the tender spot on his head.

“Ow,” Ace exclaimed, as Uta dropped down from her perch and punch him on the head in the process.

“Be nice to Lu, Freckleface,” she warned, saddling up to her twin’s side and inspecting his head before she smacked the back of it.

“Owwww! Not nice, Sissy,” the rubber boy whined.

“I’ll be nice when you be more careful,” she retorted.

“Oh, so you can hit him, but I can’t,” Ace grumbled.

“Yup,” Uta replied shortly.

Eudora’s musical laughter rang through the air then.

“You pups are an endless source of joy,” she commented, her purple curls bouncing with her chuckles.

“That’s not exactly how I’d phrase it,” Buggy muttered.

“Those two’s bickering has got to be one of the main lowlights of this little excursion of ours.”

“My grandmother always said that bickering is just the love language of true siblings. That must be why you and Shanks argue so much.”

Buggy reddened at that, as did Uta and Ace. Sabo snorted at the sight of the spluttering trio as Luffy and Eudora laughed.

“They’re so red! They must be so embarrassed.”

“You don’t have to point it out like that, brat,” Buggy shouted.

Luffy laughed even louder in reply.

Sabo shook his head in amusement, used to the shenanigans by now. He looked down as he noticed the bags the newly arrived trio had with them.

“What’s all this?”

“Just some things we picked up while we were in Town Center. Buggy wants to set up a training ground for Ace and Luffy’s Devil Fruits.”

Sabo nodded in reply. Buggy had stated that was one of his main goals in coming to Dawn Island, now that they were over a year removed from Shanks’ visit. Apparently, he had an agreement with Shanks to watch over the pups but hadn’t wanted to come back so soon and draw suspicion to the island or catch the attention of Garp. Eudora still had her house in Town Center and Buggy was well liked in the city for his show (and all the money it generated), enough that his pirate status was a secondary factor.

Still, the pups had all been surprised to see the adults and a little wary (mostly Ace), but Ace and Luffy did need to train their fruits and who better than another Devil Fruit user? Eudora was helpful too given that she knew so much about Ace’s fruit and her noble status even gave her access to a Devil Fruit encyclopedia that she let Sabo read.

“Did you only go to Town Center?” He asked hesitantly as Buggy began setting up the training grounds with the assistance of Ace, Uta and Luffy (though from Buggy’s shrieking, Luffy was doing more harm than good).

Eudora blinked before giving him a sympathetic smile.

“We visited Edge Town as well, checked in on the former residents of Gray Terminal. They’re as well as can be expected. The buildings are still run-down there, but they’ve been repaired as much as we could to allow them to live inside and anyone who hasn’t managed a space in a building has been sheltering in some huts the more industrious people have built. Crime is still an issue. There are many vulnerable people there and many people looking to take advantage of them. The situation is as stable as it can be at the moment, but hardly sustainable.”

Sabo let out a heavy sigh.

That night haunted him in more ways than one. The scar on his face was a daily reminder of what had happened, one that would never fade. The bond between himself and the twins had been forged in the same fire that burned away the place he called home for five years. Sabo still felt guilty for that night.

Gray Terminal itself was back to being used as a garbage heap and had been renamed the Goa Refuse Station in an effort to further distance it from its recent past. The gates were guarded by royal guards who would not allow the people who had claimed it as home before to return upon threat of arrest or death. King Sarie Furanshisu declared that all former residents of Gray Terminal were to be considered illegal immigrants since they were stripped of citizenship when they “chose” to live in the Terminal in the first place. Under his logic, they had no right to aid from the government and crossing Goa’s borders subjected them to arrest.

Sabo knew the nobles of Goa were corrupt, he had seen it with his own eyes. Hell, he’d lived it. There was a part of him that still held on to naïve hope. It was that part of him that was constantly disgusted the more he learned about the depths of depravity possible for the people he’d been born into. Sometimes it made him want to claw his own skin off just to be rid of the stench of them.

He looked up as Uta knocked her shoulder into his, obviously having noticed the dip in his mood. She gave him a smile of commiseration and understanding.

“That’s not fair. Those people live on Dawn Island too. Those meanie nobles should be helping them,” Luffy declared.

“You’re probably right, kid. But that’s not the way the world works. The last thing most nobles want to do is part with their berri, especially if it’s to help someone they see as beneath them,” Buggy pointed out.

“Most nobles,” Eudora reiterated.

“Luckily, I am very familiar with the mind of nobles. Most of them will tighten their purse strings at the mere mention of helping others, but there are also those who like to indulge themselves from time to time in what I like to call egotistical altruism.”

“What’s a eagle alti-mism,” Luffy asked.

“There are nobles who like to think of themselves as saviors. They see people of lesser means as an opportunity to stroke their ego by swooping in to save them from their situation. Narcissistic? Sure. But valuable if you know how to sway people like that to your side.”

“Sounds like politics. I hate that stuff. Gramps is always trying to force it down my throat even though he hates it too,” Ace dismissed.

“Yeah, sounds boring,” Luffy agreed.

“Diplomacy isn’t as thrilling as the pirate adventures you’re after. However, politicians are more like pirates than they’d ever admit and strong pirates use diplomacy more than any rookie realizes,” Buggy stated.

“Eh, if you say so,” Luffy replied breezily, picking his nose.

“Why do I even bother,” the clown muttered.

“Hey, Uncle Buggy. Can me and Ace practice our powers now? I wanna punch something,” Luffy whined.

“At this point, I’d be satisfied if you could hit a damn target with your powers,” he replied, waving Luffy towards a target they set up.

“I can so! I’m super strong now. Watch! Here I go! Gum Gum… Pistol!”

Sabo watched Luffy jump into the air as he threw his arm forward. Instead of going towards the target though, his arm stretched out until it hit the ground and then turned on an angle to punch Luffy in the face.

“Ouchie,” the boy whined as he laid out on the floor, rubbing his cheek.

“Loser,” Ace teased.

“Why don’t you hit the target then!?” Luffy jumped up, stomping on the ground furiously.

“Fine, watch me.”

Ace’s hand lit up in a ball of flame.

“Firefist!”

A column of fire went shooting at the target and incinerated it immediately upon contact. The fireball was so large that it set several bushes behind it ablaze and scorched the grass beneath it.

“I wanted you to hit the target, not turn it to ash!” Buggy complained as Eudora used her own Devil Fruit to create a space around the fire and freeze time within it, stopping the fire from spreading any further.

“You might be able to hit a target, but you need to moderate how much fire you’re producing at any given moment. If you want your Devil Fruit to be useful as a strategic weapon and not just a glass cannon, causing indiscriminate destruction, then you need to learn the value of control,” Buggy advised as his hands detached and went flying up to the treehouse before coming back with a bucket of water which he poured over the fire to extinguish it.

“And you, you little loudmouth brat, need to learn the value of patience. Rushing in without thinking is part of the reason you can’t hit straight,” Buggy continued, turning his attention to Luffy who pouted in reply.

“Come on. Let’s keep practicing.”

Luffy hopped up and trotted towards Buggy.

“I’m hungry though.”

“When are you not, you bottomless pit?”

“Can we practice while hunting?”

Buggy let out a long-suffering sigh.

“Fine. Less chance of you annoying me with your whining that way.”

“Hey, I don’t whine,” Luffy protested with a pout.

Ace didn’t follow the duo right away. His eyes were locked on the extinguished flames and the aftermath of his powers. Sabo could smell Ace’s scent becoming slightly stronger. A mixture of uncertainty, guilt and anger.

“I do hope you guys can help the people of Gray Terminal. What happened to them… what I did—”

“It doesn’t do to dwell,” Eudora advised in a soft tone.

“I won’t ever forget the cost that came with me getting my powers or this pack… my family. So, if you need me to do something, I will. I’m not smart enough for any political stuff, that’s more Sabo and Uta’s speed, but I can still help in any way you need me too. Luffy can too. He’ll be a disaster at it, but he can make those people smile at least.”

“I have no doubt of that. I’ll let you both know next time I visit so you can join me. Your powers would be quite helpful around there. Heating can be a problem, a boy who naturally makes flames would be a godsend.”

Ace didn’t look like he totally agreed but he nodded his head before going off to join Luffy and Buggy.

“Can you really sway those people to your side to help the people of Gray Terminal,” Uta asked.

“Yeah, the nobles I know never cared to help anyone,” Sabo added.

“But they do care about appearances and accolades. They like the attention that taking up a charity case will give them. That’s what I play off of without letting them know as much. Diplomacy requires a subtle hand. But it’s one I think you two in particular would be good at. Buggy was right. Pirates use diplomacy too, the pirates that aren’t interested in raiding every place they go at least. Ace and Luffy are trouble magnets. It’ll be up to you two to negotiate that chaos for them. You can’t keep it all away but at least you can learn to recognize the good trouble from the bad trouble.”

Sabo opened his mouth to speak but before he could, something wrapped around his and Uta’s waist, pressing them together. He looked down and his eyes widened when he realized it was one of Luffy’s stretchy limbs.

“Come on, slowpokes! We need to catch some crocodile meat!”

“Lu! Don’t you dare!” Uta warned, before the two children found themselves flung through the air anyway towards the other group in a uncontrolled manner, leading the two middle siblings to barrel into Buggy’s back, drawing a surprised exclamation from the man as his body dissembled into multiple pieces from the force of the hit before Uta and Sabo finally crashed onto the forest floor in a groaning heap.

The two pups twitched on the ground in pain as Luffy’s raucous laughter coupled with Ace’s mocking one filled the air along with Eudora’s light hum of amusement.

“Like I said, chaos and trouble.”

~*~*~

That night found the small group eating around a bonfire outside the bandits’ hut along with the Dadan family. Mealtimes were always loud, chaotic affairs with Luffy stealing food off people’s plates and Ace cursing and chasing him whenever he managed to steal any of his food. The three Ds of the group would pack away nearly half of all the food, despite still being pups, while the bandits would squabble and fight for the other half. Sabo would do the same, not about to let himself go hungry either. Buggy and Eudora were clearly unused to such a spectacle if their faces were anything to go by. Still, Buggy used his abilities to ferry food towards the couple before they were left out of dinner service as well.

During and after meals, the bandits would usually begin wrestling with each other. It was their way of showing affection to one another.  Through wrestling they could scent and claim one another without the intimacy that came with an embrace or touching each other’s scent glands in a soft way. The kids joined them simply because they liked fighting and it was good training.

Sabo sat back and watched Ace wrestle Magra and Dogra at the same time. Ace’s agility and natural strength usually had him winning against grown men. Sabo usually did too but he still lost more times than not against Ace. He usually won against Uta and Luffy rarely ever won at all if he used his Devil Fruit. However, if he relied on his natural abilities, he stood a better chance. Luffy was proving that now as Uta managed to evade his stretching limbs and get clean hits in easily.

Buggy had also been convinced to join the wrestling matches and was showing how much better he was at controlling his Devil Fruit as he easily disassembled and reassembled his body at will, using flying body parts to his advantage to attack the bandits who were fighting him. It was freaky to say the least, but effective.

Sabo felt content as he watched the scene. It was utter chaos, no doubt about it, but he felt at home here. More than he ever had in High Town. It may not be the prim and proper upbringing his parents wanted him to have but who cared about something like that when in return, he got to feel safe, wanted, loved, a part of something that didn’t see him as a bargaining chip or a burden. He’d rather be here in this forest in a thousand lifetimes than marry some royal just for the sake of his parents’ upward mobility. At least he still had his dignity and pride. His parents couldn’t say the same.

Sabo looked up as Luffy let out a war cry followed by Uta’s giggles and Ace’s mocking jeers. Luffy and Ace were on Buggy’s back, seemingly trying to wrestle him to the ground while Uta danced around his feet, trying to trip him up. Buggy’s face showed both annoyance and amusement as he contended with the trio. Sabo let out a lighthearted laugh at the spectacle before getting up to join them.

This was where he belonged. He never wanted to find himself living within the walls of High Town again.

After a few hours of wrestling and feasting, the four pups were ready to retire to bed. Rather than go back to their treehouse, they decided to stay at the bandits’ house after Dadan’s gruff non-invitation/demand that they do so.

“Besides, I wanna make sure you brats actually take a bath every now and again so you’re not leaving this hut until you’re clean.”

The bandits had a single bathhouse that was split into two rooms. In one room was several drums that could be filled with water and fit a single grown man or a couple kids and in the other room was a larger wooden tub that could fit four or five grown men. Uta and Eudora skipped towards the room with the larger tub while Sabo, Ace, Luffy and Buggy stayed in the smaller room. Luffy was resistant about getting in a drum due to his Devil Fruit, as was Ace, so Buggy filled wooden bowls with water and soap and instructed them on how to get clean without their Devil Fruits getting in the way. Sabo enjoyed a soak in a drum of his own.

The pups would be back to sleeping in their old bedroom for the night. It was a nostalgic feeling to do so. A few months ago, he felt so embarrassed about his instincts that he created a nest and hit it in the closet for fear he’d be made fun of and now he openly shared a nesthome with his siblings. It was strange how quickly things could change.

Sabo was making his way towards the bedroom where his siblings already were. Uta, Luffy and Ace were all cuddled up on one bed. Eudora was there as well, reading a book to them. Sabo recognized it as a gift from the twins’ alpha father, a man they’d never met before. He was about to join them, but he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Buggy approaching him, his disembodied hand still hanging on Sabo’s shoulder. He cringed a little at the dismembered limb as it reattached to Buggy’s arm with a weird ‘pop’ sound.

“Wanted to talk to you alone for a minute, kid.”

Sabo blinked in surprise but followed Buggy outside and up to the lookout. Sabo could see the stars peeking through the branches of trees from this vantage point. He couldn’t help but compare it to the unrestricted view he got in the Gray Terminal. Some nights he would climb to the top of the trash heaps and stare up at the starry skies, imagining his life free on the seas away from his family and all the baggage that came with it. He still wanted to go out to the sea, but he had found his own kind of freedom here on Mount Colubo.

The two stood side by side quietly for a moment. Sabo glanced over at Buggy curiously, wondering what the man wanted. He didn’t think he’d had a single conversation one on one with him since they’d met months ago.

Buggy glanced over at him and met his eyes. If Sabo didn’t know any better, he’d think Buggy was nervous about something.

“Shit, I don’t… um… I wanted to ask you a question.”

Sabo blinked in return.

“Just… how you doing, kid?”

Sabo blinked again, tilting his head in confusion.

“… fine?”

“I meant, fuck… I know that most of our attention gets drawn to the others. They’re louder no doubt.”

Sabo shrugged at that.

“I don’t mind.”

“It doesn’t mean there’s no reason to be concerned about you too.”

“Me? Why would you be concerned about me?”

“Well, for one, you don’t complain about it, but you’ve had to compensate for the loss of vision in your left eye thanks to that burn.”

Sabo’s fingers went to the pink, raised skin on his face.

“It’s alright. I got used to it pretty quickly.”

“Yeah, you don’t complain about much, do you? I know how it feels to be in your position though, so I’m checking in, making sure you’re alright.”

“What position is that?”

Buggy glanced over at him contemplatively for a moment.

“I was an abandoned pup too before I ended up with the Roger Pirates.”

“Oh.”

“My birth parents abandoned me when I was three. The headmaster at one of the orphanages I ended up in said it was because of my nose. They thought it was weird, made me a freak and so my birth parents didn’t want me anymore once they got tired of looking at it. I wandered for a while before I met Shanks.”

“How’d you meet?”

“I stole Captain Roger’s watch if you can believe it.”

“Really? Why’d you take it?”

“Nesting instinct. Made me want shiny things. Didn’t have a pack to gift me what I wanted so I started stealing things instead. The watch caught my eye. In hindsight, I think Roger let me take it. He could’ve stopped me if he wanted to.”

“What happened after that?”

“Shanks went chasing after me. The watch got stolen by some other thugs and we went after them. I gave back the watch in the end after Shanks agreed to take me to the ship and let me choose whatever shiny thing I wanted. He and Roger decided they’d rather I stuck around after all. It was the first time anyone did. Hard to say no to that.”

Sabo thought of the relationship he grew with Ace in the Terminal, the way Luffy instantly wanted him in his life, the way Uta had slowly warmed up to him, how quickly he became comfortable around Shanks and his crew as well as Dadan and the bandits, even how fast Garp accepted him as his grandson. It was such a stark contrast to the cold, hollow life he led in Hightown with his birth parents.

“Yeah, I get that.”

“It took a while for me to get better from my parents’ abandonment. There were things that still lingered even after I got better. Low moments, lots of second guessing myself. You ever feel that way?”

“Sometimes. Not as much lately. Mostly…” Sabo trailed off, unsure of himself.

Buggy gave him a nod of encouragement.

“I’m happy the way things are right now. It’s just that sometimes, I wonder why. Why didn’t they choose me? Why wasn’t I enough for them?”

Sabo’s brows furrowed at the thought of days of confusion and loneliness, a life of rigid noble indoctrination coached as education, long nights of crying and wishing for a warm embrace from his mother and father that would never come.

“It’s not worth dwelling on things like that. The people who chose to love you are more family than anyone else in the world. You can choose to be someone’s just as much as someone can choose to claim you. It takes more than blood to be a pack.”

A small smile alighted Sabo’s lips at those words.

“Shanks said something just like that to me once.”

“That’s not a surprise. Our mother said it to us. The words ring true to me more and more the older I get. You’re creating strong bonds in place of your parent bond and that’s good. My bond with Shanks was the first real one I made, even before I bonded with the rest of the crew or my parents. It’s probably what saved me. That and spite.”

Sabo giggled a little at that.

“Still, if you’re ever feeling low, need an ear or someone that understands, I’m around.”

Sabo nodded in reply.

“Thanks, Buggy.”

The beta patted his shoulder.

“Good. Let’s end this conversation here before someone accuses me of being sentimental.”

Sabo chuckled again at the words before following Buggy back into the hut and towards the pups’ bedroom. Eudora still sat, reading her book to the trio. Sabo trotted inside and made himself comfortable on the bed, cuddling up to the other three children. He leaned back against Ace as Luffy sprawled out over Sabo’s lap and Uta rested her head on his shoulder.

Eudora smiled at him as Buggy took a seat at her side, throwing an arm over her as she continued reading the story.

Sabo smiled to himself and settled in comfortably with his family.

~*~*~

Dawn Island had always been a little strange to Sabo.

Granted, he’d never left the island before so his gauge for strange places was limited to books and stories from well-traveled people like Garp, Shanks, Buggy, or former pirates who’d settled in Gray Terminal like Naguri. He had still always known that the rigid segregation that the island lived under was unfair and he had dreamed of a better way, a fairer life for the people of Dawn. He had not imagined this though.

Objectively, the settlement that was built by the former residents of the Terminal in Edge Town was better than what they had in the trash heap. In Gray Terminal, there were towers of garbage with scant lean-tos and huts made from any salvageable material that could be found. At least in Edge Town, there were actual buildings and structures that could be repurposed into something resembling a home. 1000 people had lived in Gray Terminal and of them, 60 people had died. Many more may have perished if Uta hadn’t used her powers to make people evacuate towards the gates.

As Sabo walked with the others through the streets of Edge Town, he could see the scars left from that night. Some people had burns, like him. Some people coughed as they walked, their lungs still not healed from the acrid and toxic smoke that the fire had generated. Some people had a slope to their shoulders that spoke of weariness and trauma. However, as he walked, he could also see a spark in the eyes of the displaced people. It wasn’t a new phenomenon. It had been part of what drew him to Gray Terminal in the first place. These were people who knew what it meant to survive against the odds, who knew what it was to be alive in a world that was indifferent to your existence and sometimes outright scornful towards it.

He could relate. He had lived in the lap of luxury, yet had spent his life in an emotional desert, devoid of love and affection, acceptance or belonging. He knew what it was to be rejected, unwanted and abandoned. He had found kindred spirits in the people of Gray Terminal. He still saw that fighting spirit in them even now. It gave him hope.

Eudora was another spark of hope. She walked through the streets with an air of elegance and a warm smile on her lips, stopping to greet people by name and easily strike up conversations, listening to complaints and commiserating without being patronizing, using her Devil Fruit to entertain children. Sabo was surprised. In his experience, nobles weren’t like Eudora. He couldn’t help but say as much as they made their way through the sheets. Eudora gave him a knowing smile in return.

“I have a similar experience. Nobles can be the most selfish, irresponsible, clueless group of people in the world. Their ignorance and lack of empathy coupled with the near unlimited power they wield is a recipe for disaster if you are a common man, just trying to survive. However, their cruelty affects all those who are vulnerable and when I was a child, I couldn’t escape being a victim of that and learning it firsthand. Ever since then, I’ve resolved to be better than the nobles who hurt me.”

Sabo nodded in reply, understanding that resolution.

“I decided that too when I left home. I decided that I’d be better than my parents.”

“A goal I can confidently say you’ve reached.”

“You don’t even know my parents.”

“No, but I know you. I doubt the alpha and omega who left you abandoned with no packbonds beyond the decayed one they failed to nurture is anywhere near as kind, understanding and wonderful as you are.”

Sabo looked down and away, a blush coloring his cheeks.

Eudora let out a warm tinkling laugh before patting his head and moving towards another group of people. There was a familiar sort of warmth to her, like she knew what it was to be displaced and without a home. Sabo remembered that she was a gamma. That doesn’t happen by accident. Maybe she understood more than he was giving her credit for.

Sabo couldn’t help but study people as they passed, looking for familiar faces. He recognized some, people he knew in passing but weren’t the closest with. He was looking for several faces. Thierry. Tegann and her baby. Naguri. People he’d grown close to. People who it would crush him if he didn’t see, if only to confirm they were still alive.

He found his body tensing up the longer time went on without seeing those faces until a familiar tone caught his attention. He glanced at the group ahead of him. Eudora was discussing something with a tall man garbed like a member of the royal guard, serious looks on their faces. Luffy was playing with two other kids nearby with Ace supervising. Uta was sitting next to an elderly woman and chatting amicably with her. Sabo turned back to where he could hear a cavaquinho being strummed to play a mid-tempo song. He walked down an alleyway to an open door that had a cross painted on the wood.

A church?

He peered inside cautiously. There was a large open space with several cushions set up in rows. A makeshift kitchen was off to the left side of the room with a chipped wooden table. Sitting on one of the chairs inside was Thierry, the cavaquinho clutched in his hands, his dark fingers picking at the strings as he sat back with his eyes closed. Tegann was sitting on a small stool next to him, her baby strapped to her back as she painted on an easel in front of her and swayed back and forth to the music.

Several other people, mostly children, were sitting down watching the beta man. The scene was familiar to Sabo. There were days when Thierry, an exceptional storyteller, would sit by the bonfire playing whichever instrument he decided suited his tale best, crafting and weaving whole worlds through his words. Sabo had been inspired by him from a young age and it only fueled his dream. He had wanted to create the same sense of wonder that Thierry did. He wanted to create his own stories and hoped that somewhere there would be a child like him reading his words with the same sense of awe.

He leaned against the doorway, listening to Thierry’s story.

“He was a being of incredible strength. His power was only limited by his imagination and as his imagination was as wild and free as a child’s, he could create the most ridiculous circumstances, fight in the silliest ways. It seemed insane and yet his power was unmatched. You see, he chose to act the fool to make others laugh. To him, laughter was his greatest prize. In his eyes, laughter meant freedom and so that’s what he brought to everyone. He was the white-haired warrior, freeing the oppressed and enslaved from their chains with a smile on his face, fighting back against those who would take away their freedom with a wave of laughter at his back. All those who took away the will of others cowered as they heard his heartbeat. It beat out a rhythm that meant a new dawn, a new age of freedom. It was called the Drums of Liberation. It was a simple rhythm.”

Thierry paused then, stopping his strumming to stomp on the ground to a peculiar rhythm.

Doom dut da da doom dut da da doom dut da da doom dut da da

“It brought light to the hearts of his followers. He made a promise to them to bring them out of their chains and into the light, so they may chase him across the seas which gave birth to him. He is the Sun God, Nika.”

“A god? But I thought the gods live on top of the world far far away in a distant sea,” one child pointed out.

Thierry’s music changed then. Sabo didn’t quite know how to describe it. Uta would’ve been better at finding the words, but it took on a distinctly darker tone.

“It is true, there are those who live in a distant sea on top of the Red Line which divides the world in two. Those people call themselves gods and content themselves to be worshipped as such. But they are only human, just like you and I. They are flesh and blood and bone. They are the ones Nika fought against for us. He didn’t fight alone either. Races all over the world came together under Nika’s flag to fight for the dawn. From the sky, the earth and the sea. Warriors big and warriors small.”

“So, where’s Nika now,” another child asked.

Thierry’s song took on a somber tone.

“Many fierce fighters came together to help win the day, but alas it wasn’t enough. Nika was betrayed, ancient weapons were used that threatened the entire world and ultimately Nika was lost. But legends say a piece of his will still exists in the world. So long as it does and so long as there are people who spread his name and the ideals of freedom, then there is always hope for a new dawn.”

Sabo looked around the room as Thierry’s words rang in his ears. He didn’t know if he would call the lives that the former Termites was living a new dawn, but it was a new beginning, it was a chance to maybe live a better life than they did before, if the king could be convinced to help them anyway.

On a personal level, Sabo thought he might understand this new dawn. He had gone from a lonely life in High Town, to running for his life and scrounging for scraps to survive in Gray Terminal alongside Ace to now living with his brothers and sister in their very own nest-home. However, he didn’t think he’d ever be fully satisfied as long as he knew that there were people who lived unjust lives simply because of how or where they were born.

Nika sounded like a dream, a nice story for kids who were naïve enough to believe it. Sabo wondered if there was a real man, a real person that was flesh and bone, who would rise up against people like Porchemy and Bluejam and King Furanshisu and fight for a better world for everyone.

He looked up as sounds of wonder and excitement filled the room. Tegann had revealed the painting she had been making. The drawing appeared to be a silhouette of a laughing figure with flame-like hair holding a spear in one hand and a sword in the other. Nika, Sabo assumed. He didn’t look like much from the drawing, not like the heroic portraits nobles often commissioned of themselves to look more regal. Still, there was a certain power that seemed to exude even just from this picture that made Sabo wonder.

He jumped when a hand landed on his shoulder. He looked up to see Thierry had approached him and was smiling down at him. Sabo’s eyes immediately went to the burn scar on the right side of his neck and shoulder, feeling a wave of guilt at the sight.

“Sabo! Our little demon! We haven’t seen hide or tail of you anywhere. I confess, I feared the worst for you.”

“Hi, Thierry. It’s good to see you,” Sabo said in a small voice, suddenly feeling shy.

“What’s all this? Where’s the feisty little boy I know?”

“Just… I’m sorry,” Sabo said, unable to say anything else.

Thierry blinked in return.

“For what?”

His eyes went back to the burn scars and Thierry’s eyes widened in realization.

“Oh, this? It’s not your fault. The Terminal was due at any moment for a fire like that one. And I can see you haven’t gotten out of it unscathed either,” Thierry replied, waving a hand at the burn on the boy’s face.

Sabo didn’t want to get into specifics, it wasn’t just his tale to tell anyway, so he quickly moved on.

“You’re still telling stories.”

“People need a little distraction every now and again. More than that, they need something to believe in.”

“Something like Nika? How’d you come up with that?”

“Me? Oh no, Nika is a legend that’s been told for generations, passed down by people in secret so he couldn’t be erased by those on top of the world. My family has a long history of griots, that’s storytellers, who have seen fit to keep his name alive. I’m afraid I was neglecting that duty for a long time. I think I lost my belief, but after everything in the Terminal, I came to find it again. I believe in a new dawn. Maybe there won’t be a figure like Nika who ushers it in, maybe it’ll be someone who’s heard his story and was inspired by it. Nika didn’t fight alone after all, he made friends along the way and inspired others to fight for freedom. The least I can do in service of that is make sure his story is told.”

“Do you think freedom is possible in this country?”

“I think it’ll be even more impossible if we don’t try. There are men and women in the world who are fighting for the liberation of others.”

Thierry pulled out a few papers from his back pocket. They seemed to be clippings from newspapers. He handed them over to Sabo. He looked over the headlines with interest.

The Hero of the Slaves! Lone Fishman Attacks the Holy Land and Frees Hundreds From Captivity

Overthrown! The Revolutionary Army Dethrones King Bekori of Sorbet Kingdom

Tumi’s Civil War Ends! Rebels With Support of Revolutionary Army Defeats King

Incarnation of Love! Queen of Fishman Island Given Audience with the World Nobles, Preaches Harmony Between Humans and Fishfolk

Dragon, Leader of the Revolutionary Army, Officially Named the World’s Most Wanted Man

“There are people out in the world fighting, young Sabo. I hope that when it’s your turn to inherit this world, we can make it just a bit better for you.”

Sabo smiled at that before a commotion outside caught his attention. He looked over just in time to be pushed into the room by a forceful hand. He caught himself before he could fall and pulled out his pipe before getting into a defensive stance. The room was quickly filled up with men wearing the uniform of royal guards. They surrounded the area, taking up positions by the exits.

“What’s the meaning of this,” Thierry demanded.

“By order of King Sarie Furanshisu, the royal guard will now take up occupation of this lawless area to ensure no non-citizen of the Goa Kingdom crosses the border into his territory.”

“He can’t do that!” Sabo exclaimed, ignoring Thierry’s calming hand.

“And just where is this border? The gates I assume,” Thierry asked.

“It’s been pushed further back actually. Just past the abandoned pet shop.”

Murmurs instantly filled the room.

“The river is past the shop. We use it to fish and we trade for goods by the gates. If the border is pushed further in then we face the risk of starvation.”

“The king’s concern is his citizens, not outcasts who can’t figure out how to survive without a handout.”

“The king’s job is to protect his people and take care of them when they need help. The only reason the people of Gray Terminal aren’t citizens is because he decided they shouldn’t be,” Sabo protested.

“As is his right, brat. As far as I’m concerned, it was an act of God that the Terminal burned down. We would’ve been better off if you trash all burned with it.”

Sabo gritted his teeth, wanting nothing more than to hit this man.

“Any of you found outside the border will be treated as an invader and disposed of as such. You’ve been warned.”

~*~*~

Sabo was practically crawling out of his skin, though he didn’t let it show. He was used to putting on a face for nobility, acting as if everything was okay when it was the opposite. He knew what was expected and he knew how to play the part.

He sat inside a resplendent room alongside Uta, Eudora, King Furanshisu and Princess Nantokanette. The room was decked out in silks and satins, draped in red, gold and white and filled with the trappings of nobility. It made Sabo feel like there were ants crawling under his skin. It was too familiar, too much like the house that had never been a home.

Coming back to High Town at all felt strange and dangerous. If he did not have such an interest in making sure the people of Gray Terminal stood a fighting chance, he wouldn’t be here at all. He needed them to be alright, he needed them to survive. They deserved to chase freedom and walk in the sun with a smile on their faces and full stomachs of food. Sabo was no god like Nika, he wasn’t a revolutionary like Dragon, he wasn’t a diplomat like Queen Otohime or Lady Eudora, he wasn’t a hero like Fisher Tiger, but he could still fight for the freedom of others, even if he had to fight Eudora’s way.

Eudora’s way, apparently, included smiles, laughter and polite conversation. This pleasantry wasn’t anything new to Sabo, he had had to play this role for years, but it still chaffed to have to put this back on. Uta seemed to be taking her cues from Eudora and was doing the same: polite smiles, polite conversation, polite agreement with whatever the princess and king said. It rankled Sabo, but he followed along.

“…the South Blue is a good deal warmer than here in the East and good deal more restless. This ocean is quiet. I don’t find myself too eager to leave it just yet,” Eudora was saying.

“Yes, well. I’ve not had the pleasure of visiting any other Blue, although I have left for the Grand Line to attend the Reverie. I hardly see the need to leave at all when the East has been so good to my people. Did you know that Dawn Island is considered the most beautiful island in the East? My family has worked very hard to make sure that the Goa Kingdom is the jewel of this Blue.”

“The Sarie family weren’t the original rulers of Dawn Island, if I remember correctly,” Eudora prompted.

“Indeed. Centuries ago, this island was a lawless place which refused to submit to the World Government thanks to the former leaders, an unnatural pack of only alphas led by a man of the D Clan.”

“The D clan?” Uta questioned curiously.

“I’ve met several members with the name D. They’re often a willful people,” Eudora commented.

“Savage, more-like. Unruly, unwilling to follow social mores. More beast than man. The Ds are said to take more after our animalistic ancestors who gave into the urges and whims of their second gender rather than learning to live above such things and show restraint. Those lot are the enemies of the gods for a reason,” the king derided with an upturned nose.

His display drew a giggle from the princess who was sipping her tea with a raised pinky. Sabo glanced at Uta who shrugged lightly in reply, clearly clueless about whatever the king was talking about.

“There are all sorts of ways people can be viewed as lacking restraint. Giving into the urges of ruts or heats may be one way. Similarly, giving into the lure of greed is another. It is considered a sin for a reason,” Eudora replied innocently.

Sabo could read the double meaning in her words. He wasn’t sure if the king could.

“Yes, well. You’re right, of course. Some of my fellow alphas, I’m ashamed to say, give into the lure of greed and lust. But you know that even better than I.”

Sabo narrowed his eyes at that, not liking the implication in the king’s words about Eudora and gammas.

“Might I just say how gratifying it is to see you’ve risen above your own… delicate nature to be such a fine young woman. Many here in High Town are amazed at how well-spoken and well-mannered a gamma can be. Not many here have ever met a gamma, you see? It is quite the experience to do so. I dare say you’re something of a celebrity. Though, your association with that pirate clown leaves something to be desired. I can’t deny his presence provided a steady flow of income through Town Center during his last show, so I suppose I will permit him to remain here for the time being with your endorsement.”

“A gamma? Is that why this girl smells so weird,” Princess Nantokonette said, a curious cock to her head as she stared at Uta.

“Now, now, dear. That’s singularly poor manners to say something so bluntly.”

“My apologies.”

Uta shifted uncomfortably before pasting a smile on her lips.

“It’s okay. Miss Eudora is a kind woman for helping me to become the best gamma I can be. I am very lucky to have her. So many people are. Like the people in Edge Town.”

Sabo glanced at Uta. He could tell the princess’ words bothered her but the smile on her face made it hard to tell. It reminded him of the fake smiles many nobles wore. It was strange to see that on Uta’s face and he found he didn’t like it.

“Ah, those poor wretches. I must say, though I admire your tenacity Lady Eudora, I do find it odd that you’ve taken up such a banner for those lost souls. I’m aware that the South struggles with an overly large number of vagabonds and layabouts who often take up arms to rebel against their rightful rulers. Perhaps this has softened your heart to such people as the Termites. However, they never brought anything of value to our country. The trash heap was exactly where they belonged. If they couldn’t figure out how to live amongst us before that fire, why should I believe they could learn to live amongst us now?”

“The good thing about that is they don’t desire to live amongst you. Edge Town has long been abandoned and left to ruin. These displaced people simply wish to live there in peace and continue as they were before.”

“Yes, well. Beyond that, you also wish for me to pour financial aid into restoring this area that will not even benefit my kingdom.”

“You were the one who said that Dawn Island is the most beautiful of the East. I’m sure that seeing the dilapidated nature of Edge Town when compared to Town Center and High Town doesn’t make for the most pleasing sight. Restoring Edge Town would benefit this island just as much as it would the people living there.”

“That is a good point. I was quite happy for Gray Terminal to burn to the ground. It has been an eyesore on our coastline for far too long. Be that as it may, as far as I see it, Edge Town has been occupied by refugees who now seek to force my hand and drain my pockets.”

“Speaking of pockets, I’m sure the markets in Town Center might’ve mentioned that there was quite the steady flow of exchange going on between the people of Gray Terminal and those in Town Center. With one half of that flow being gone, that trade and the profits from them have been disrupted. The people of Town Center were well-positioned in the beginning. As you said, Buggy’s show generated quite the revenue stream during his residence here and it created a cushion for the businesses that benefited from it, but we are almost a year removed from Buggy’s last show. You might’ve noticed the struggle those outside the gates have had in the past few months with paying their Heavenly Tribute.”

“Hmm. I did hear fussing about that. Still, the benefits seem to outweigh the costs. I trust they will balance out in the long run. The pirate clown’s return will help.”

“Momentarily, but a permanent solution and replacement for that revenue is needed.”

Sabo felt a burning in his chest as the king maintained a look of polite interest hiding a lack of care and he couldn’t stay quiet anymore.

“Is this why you sent guards into Edge Town to bar the people from leaving that area,” Sabo asked, speaking up for the first time.

Eudora shot him a warning look which he ignored. The king turned his attention to Sabo.

“Hmm, you look familiar, boy? Do I know you?”

Sabo stiffened a little, wondering if the king could truly remember him after five years away.

“Your scent certainly isn’t familiar, but your hair, your eyes, I could almost swear…”

“You don’t know me. I grew up in Gray Terminal actually. I know what it was like living day in and day out in a place where your life was always on the line and your survival depended on your strength.”

“He’s one of the trash people! I thought he’d smell worse,” the princess piped up, staring at him with her head cocked to the other side, a curious glint in her eyes.

“Nanie, such poor manners!”

“My apologies.”

“We lived for years in fear of men like Bluejam and even royal guards and nobles who would take us and sell us into slavery. Or kill us outright for just trying to survive. Or take all we own because there wasn’t much we could do about it anyway. We live on this island just the same as everyone else. The people from Gray Terminal didn’t choose to live in a trash heap. If they had a chance to live outside of it, they would. There was no protection for us, no help. No one cared. You’re the king. Isn’t your job to help and protect your people?”

The king shook his head and turned back to Sabo, a strange look in his eye.

“Yes, well. How to explain this? You see, there are people born in this world who are chosen by the gods at birth to live a certain life and other people are chosen to live another. Take, for example, our second genders. An alpha’s lot in life is to be a strong leader. Nature has willed it so. Afterall, alphas are usually larger, more dominant, more powerful, stronger, smarter than other second genders. In contrast, omegas are smaller, gentler, weaker, submissive. They are to raise families for their pack, keep a pack’s nesthome maintained. I do not believe, as some alphas do, that their sole purpose is to procreate. After all, an omega can add a lighter touch to the rougher edges of an alpha. There is value in that. Betas are meant to bridge those two, to act as a support for both the alpha and the omega. Then there are, of course, special cases like gammas and deltas but that’s another matter entirely. If we were to apply that thought process to the Goa Kingdom, Hightown would be alphas: chosen to rule at the top of the food chain. Town Center would be betas: existing to help Goa Kingdom by paying their taxes for the Heavenly Tribute and entertaining the idea that the residents of Gray Terminal provide an intrinsic value to the kingdom. Gray Terminal would be omegas: useful for a time, existing with a certain purpose but weaker than their counterparts, bringing nothing that another couldn’t also provide. Afterall, betas can procreate too. Then I suppose our villages on the outskirts such as Windmill Village would be the gammas and deltas in this little metaphor, but the point is, Gray Terminal served a purpose for a while: housing the… undesirables of the kingdom. Fate showed its divine hand and burned the place to the ground, telling us exactly what was to be done with those… people. There is simply no place for them in this kingdom anymore.”

Sabo clenched his teeth angrily.

“I have an alternative viewpoint,” Eudora piped up, placing a calming hand on Sabo’s shoulder.

“You yourself admitted that omegas have a place in society. I believe the people of Edge Town do as well. I understand your position, King Furanshisu. I agree that we shouldn’t expect charity, not without an exchange or proof that Edge Town can provide a service and be a benefit to this kingdom if given the chance. The people in Edge Town are already skilled in the art of recycling, turning all that trash that ends up in Gray Terminal into something functional. We both know the kingdoms garbage will pile up again, but there are gems to be found, young Sabo can attest to that.”

“So, what are you proposing?”

“Allow the people living in Edge Town to pass the gates and borders into Gray Terminal for the purposes of recycling. Not just finding the odd valuable items that others might discard, but I mean something more. There are people there who are able to turn some of the materials found there into jewelry, bags, clothes even. If they can do so, they could sell their wares and eventually make enough that they would be able to contribute to the kingdom through a Heavenly Tribute. They would even be able to trade with those in Town Center to reopen that line of revenue between those people again and help ease the burden of the Heavenly Tribute the citizens of Town Center need to pay. In exchange, you would restore Edge Town so they might open up actual shops and stores. It will be an investment into a future where Goa Kingdom is richer and happier and certainly more equitable for everyone. In time, the revenue made by Edge Town will surpass whatever funds you put into restoring the area.”

“Hmm. That is quite the vision you have. Ambitious, some may even say foolish.”

“It’s like you said. I’m from the South Blue, I’ve seen countless times how disgruntled and disenfranchised people can rise in anger. They usually outnumber those sitting at the top of society on any island. I simply wish to stop a cycle I’ve seen repeatedly too many times. On my very own island, I saw nobles’ homes burned to the ground. It’s part of how I became a gamma. I have also seen that a rebellion that grows large enough can attract the attention of the Revolutionary Army. I doubt that it is a force you would want to invade this island. I may not be my place, but I just want to suggest a peaceful resolution to a problem that plagues too many islands.”

“You are a generous soul, I will admit.”

“Thank you. I know it is a difficult decision to make, so perhaps it is something you can bring before the nobles of Goa. There are monthly council meetings in which issues are brought before the people. Perhaps my proposal is something that I can present there.”

“Yes, well. I believe it would be the best forum. After all, any funds put forth would also be coming from the great families of Goa. I shall have them vote on the matter, but whatever decision is made will be subject to my approval or rejection.”

“Of course.”

“Now, let’s move on to happier matters, shall we?”

“Yes, let’s.”

The trio spent another hour making small talk about nothing with the royal family. Sabo still felt like he was crawling out of his skin the whole time, especially with the way the princess stared at him and Uta like they were zoo attractions rather than people. By the time they left, he had to stop himself from running out of the room.

The trio was silent as they left the castle and walked towards the gates leading to Town Center. Sabo waited until they were past the gates before rounding on Eudora.

“You didn’t say anything about the soldiers,” Sabo pointed out.

“No, I didn’t.”

“Why not,” Uta asked curiously.

“Because the king wouldn’t budge on it.”

“You don’t know, you didn’t even try,” Sabo exclaimed.

Maybe Sabo was wrong about Eudora, maybe she was just like all the others. Uta placed a calming hand on his shoulder, moving closer to Sabo before turning to Eudora.

“I thought we’d mention it to the king,” Uta commented.

“If he felt emboldened enough to send them into Edge Town in the first place, he isn’t likely to withdraw them. In truth, he isn’t likely to take my proposal either.”

Sabo stopped up short at that.

“Then why bother at all?”

“Because I was able to put the thought of bringing my idea up to the other nobles during a council in his head. When I do so, I’ll be able to gauge the temperature, see who is likely to support it, who I can flip, who will be a problem.”

“How do you know any of them will care? I know those people, they won’t do anything to help anyone else if they don’t get something in return.”

“Of course they won’t, which is why I was sure to make my idea appear as profitable for Goa as possible. If the king thinks he can get money from the people living in Edge Town, he might allow them to trade and move freely through the cities. He’ll come to see their value, even if it is only in how they can serve him.”

“And maybe one day he’ll let them be declared as citizens again,” Uta realized.

Eudora smiled at the young gamma.

“Exactly.”

“By playing things his way,” Sabo retorted.

“By making the game work in our favor. It may not be a plan that will break the status quo, but it will make those people’s lives easier. I meant what I said in that room. Rebellion has its place, but it is an option that isn’t easy on the people who are at the bottom of the food chain, even if they’re the ones rebelling. It’s a bloody business and without proper support, it will lead nowhere. People are selfish, they won’t part with what they view as theirs for nothing in return. It won’t be a fast process, Sabo. Bureaucracy never is, but at least this way the people will be in less danger.”

“But the people are in danger now. There are guards posted everywhere, not letting them move so they can’t even get food for themselves.”

“The king believes so, yes.”

Sabo stopped up short at that.

“What do you mean?”

Eudora smiled mysteriously at that.

“Remember what Buggy said, ‘politicians are more like pirates than they’d ever admit and strong pirates use diplomacy more than any rookie would realize.’ I use diplomacy more than any other tactic, but I also recognize that sometimes a heavier hand is necessary. I’m not a pirate, but Buggy is. A well-placed threat here, a little shove there, a word, some berri and you’d be surprised about what results you’ll get. The guards are still there since they have to be, but Buggy and his crew are making sure people are able to discreetly go fishing in the river and come into Town Center if necessary.”

Sabo stared at Eudora, not finding words.

“I may play within the confines of the system sometimes. I compromise where I must, but I know where I stand always. Make no mistake young Sabo, I’m aware that the system the World Government has put in place is broken. It benefits the few rather than the many. I was once one of the few privileged in this world to be on top and found myself crashing to the bottom through circumstances not my own. Now I find myself floating in the middle. I bear a name that still has prestige but a second gender that is maligned and stigmatized. For this reason, I have no compunctions about coloring outside the lines when I must, especially if it’s for a cause that I care about or for people whom I love. If I’ve taught you nothing, at least remember that much.”

~*~*~

The wind blew hard throughout the forests of Mount Colubo. Strong gales whistled through the branches and shook the leaves from the trees, bending the weaker saplings to their will while it howled down the paths like a living thing. Rain beat down against the ground, kicking up dirt and leaves. However, laughter and childish glee also floated on the wind from one tree.

“Hold on tight! The storm’s starting to pick up!” Ace shouted from his position within the treehouse, twisting the decorative wheel attached to a wall as he stared out into the storm with a grin on his face.

“It had better be! I’m bored anyway,” Sabo declared, standing next to him.

“I see big waves just ahead! Turn two degrees starboard,” Uta ordered, giving the log pose on her wrist a look of concentration.

“No, no. Three degrees back to port!”

“Is it starboard or port,” Ace demanded with annoyance.

“Sorry, Captain. The storm is really strong. It’s pushing the ship all over. Just listen to your navigator, I’ll guide you through,” Uta retorted.

“Hey, guys! It’s getting windier and windier up here!” Luffy added. 

“You just hold on to that flag tight. It’s our jolly roger. Buggy says it tells everyone that this place is ours, so don’t you dare let it go. It’s your job as lookout to keep it safe,” Ace warned.

“Real pirates can’t have some storm blow their flag away,” Sabo added.

“Gotcha, Vice Captain Sabo. Come on, stupid storm!”

“This is nothing!”

“Do your worst!”

“Yeah! Bring it on!”

Perhaps they were being a little too eager because just then the storm blew hard, sending gales bursting through the treehouse and disturbing the nest the pups had built inside.

“Ahh!”

The three older children paused before their eyes widened.

“Luffy!”

They ran to the window to see their brother’s arm stretched out as the wind blew him, his rubber body, taken by a gust.

“You okay,” Ace asked.

“Do I look okay to you,” Luffy retorted in panic.

Ace and Sabo glanced at each other before they both smirked.

“Actually, looks kind of fun.”

“Yeah, maybe we should leave you there,” Sabo joked.

The two boys started chuckling and instantly regretted it as Uta punched them both on the head.

“Dumbos! Get Luffy back in here!”

“Ow, we were just kidding,” Ace grumbled as he grabbed a rope and threw it to Luffy.

Once Luffy was inside the four pups huddled together in their nest, riding out the storm in their home. Sabo couldn’t help but wonder about the people in Edge Town and hope they’re okay.

“The sea must be mad to make a storm like this,” Ace commented.

“The seas don’t make the storms, the sky does,” Uta corrected.

“The sea is mad though, She usually is about one thing or another,” Luffy said offhandedly, half of his attention on his totems, his beetles which were crawling around the large terrarium Dadan had procured for him with funds that Shanks had sent.

(Sabo had heard Dadan cussing out Garp at length about not sending any child support for Ace all these years when the damned omega pirate was sending money for the four pups in her care. All to herself of course, she’d never say as much to Garp’s face, at least not without apologizing right after. Dadan was a funny alpha that way. Then again, Garp scared everyone no matter their second gender.)

“Why’s She mad all the time,” Sabo asked.

“Because they stole from her,” Luffy replied distractedly.

Two of the beetles had begun to fight. Sabo recognized them as the Hercules beetle Luffy had named Koushi, claiming Koushi was his “spirit beetle”, and the rhino beetle, Kasai which was Ace’s spirit beetle. Kyoku, Uta’s spirit beetle, a sabertooth longhorn, came up behind Kasai as he rolled Koushi on his back and began ramming her horn into the smaller beetle. Meanwhile, Koshikoi, the elephant stag beetle Luffy assigned as Sabo’s spirit beetle, was busy flipping Koushi back onto his feet. That was quite fitting of the four siblings so maybe Luffy was onto something.

“Who stole from Her,” Ace asked skeptically.

“People from a long time ago. They stole Her sunlight and ate Her soul.”

“She told you that?” Sabo asked.

“Uh-huh, I don’t know what that means though. The sun looks fine to me and souls don’t sound real tasty to eat.”

“You ate a whole Devil Fruit and those things are gross. I don’t trust your stomach to care about what tastes good,” Ace retorted.

“It was pretty gross,” Luffy replied with a chuckle.

“Do you hear the sea talking about this too, Uta?” Sabo asked, curiosity burning in his heart.

“I have, yeah. But I don’t understand it any better than Luffy. We can hear the Voices and Heartsongs of things that don’t talk but they don’t talk like normal people do. Sometimes they talk in riddles and we can only guess what they mean. Daddy calls it the Voice of All Things. He said Roger had it too, but he thinks ours is stronger since Roger could never get the things he heard to talk back to him.”

“If Roger had it then it must be a pretty strong ability,” Ace admitted, sounding both reluctant and curious.

His biological father would always be a touchy subject but at least Ace could mention him without blowing up.

“I guess. Not as strong as my Devil Fruit. Hey Bo, you should’ve seen how close I was to hitting the target during practice today,” Luffy said enthusiastically.

“You hit Buggy instead and made him fall to pieces,” Ace deadpanned.

“Oh yeah, Uncle Buggy got so mad, shishishi. But I still almost hit the target, it was great. I wish you and Sissy could’ve seen instead of doing your boring polynis thing with Eudora.”

“Politics,” Uta corrected.

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

Sabo shook his head briefly before answering.

“It probably would’ve been funner to go to training with you guys, but this was more important.”

“Are the people from Gray Terminal going to be safe now,” Ace inquired.

“They live on Dawn Island. I don’t think they can be 100% safe, not with a king like ours who promotes segregation based on money. But Eudora’s trying.”

“I wish I could just punch the king in the face. Everyone would be happy then,” Luffy declared.

“I don’t know if it works that easy.”

“It could be easy without all the stupid polynics.”

“Politics,” Uta corrected again.

“That’s what I said.”

Uta rolled eyes while patting Luffy on the head.

“I wasn’t hoping for much in the first place. I know this island too well to hope. You two are lucky you grew up in Windmill Village. The king and the nobles basically forget that place even exists,” Ace pointed out.

“If they remembered, the whole village would probably be bankrupt and in ruins by now thanks to being forced to pay the Heavenly Tribute,” Sabo added.

“What’s that,” Luffy asked.

“Nations under the World Government have to pay a tax of get their protection. The money really goes to the World Nobles so they can waste it on who knows what.”

“Dad has mentioned the World Government before. That’s who keeps telling everyone that omegas are weak even though Dad is super strong. He’s going to show them who’s boss and then they’ll make him an Emperor. Then Dad will come back for us and we can finally be pirates! I hope it doesn’t take too much longer. Dad’s been gone forever.”

“It’s only been a little over a year.”

“So loooong.”

“It’ll take time, Luffy. It’s like you said, those dumbos think Daddy’s weak. It’s stupid but he’s gotta show them he isn’t first. Then he’ll come for us. Be patient.”

“Alright,” Luffy groused.

“Maybe by the time Shanks gets back, you’ll be able to throw a straight punch, but I doubt it,” Ace quipped.

“Hey, no fair! Your fire can grow big, my powers can’t do that.”

“Not my problem, idiot.”

Sabo smiled to himself as Ace and Luffy started squabbling and Uta started hurling abuse at Ace for beating Luffy. Politics had its place and he’d always care about the freedom of others, but seeing his family like this made him so glad that he was still alive. If he had died 5 years ago as he was meant to, he wouldn’t have them. He didn’t know that there was anything he wouldn’t trade to be here with them like this.

~*~*~

Sabo and Uta did not join Eudora when she visited the palace for the nobles’ council meeting, Sabo didn’t want to run the risk of running into anyone he wouldn’t want to. He hung out in Buggy’s tent instead, watching Buggy get more and more frustrated as he trained Luffy and Ace’s Devil Fruits. Buggy was the histrionic sort. Loud complaints and whining.

Sabo had always heard that betas were supposed to have a calming presence. Buggy was anything but. Still, Sabo felt a sense of calm watching the chaos.

“Ugh, okay, let’s try this again,” Buggy groused, running a hand down his face as he stood in front of Luffy and Ace.

“I’m trying my hardest. I don’t mean to keep missing,” Luffy whined, stomping his foot. He had been getting increasingly more frustrated the longer it took him to get his powers under control. Buggy’s lack of patience and Ace’s teasing probably didn’t help the situation.

Sabo glanced at Uta who was watching the scene with concern.

“Lu’s feeling helpless,” she commented.

Sabo glanced over at the boy. He looked angry more than anything else but, being his twin, Uta would likely know better than him.

“It’s not like people learn to use their powers overnight, is it?”

“Lu usually learns fighting quickly. He ate the Fruit because he wanted to be stronger to protect the people he loves. He thinks because he can’t control his Fruit, it makes him weak.”

Sabo glanced over at him in contemplation. Usually, he’d be right beside Ace, teasing Luffy as well, but he also understood when to stop, unlike Ace. Sabo sighed as he stood up, aware of the powder keg forming.

“Hey Luffy, c’mere,” Sabo called.

Luffy glanced back and stomped his way over to Sabo and Uta.

He and Uta locked gazes for a moment, a silent conversation passing between them. Whatever was communicated made Luffy’s shoulders drop a little from their tense hunch, but his lips jutted out in an even bigger pout.

“Hey, remember when we were hunting those moles,” Sabo asked.

“Yeah, they were pretty yummy.”

“Well, we had to be patient and wait for them to come up out of the ground before striking. That’s what you have to do for training.”

“Huh? But the targets are already above the ground.”

“I meant you have to wait for the right time to strike. Stop trying to rush to hit the target. Stay in one place like we did then and then strike when it feels right.”

Luffy took a moment to think this over before nodding and trotting off towards the targets.

“Okay, I’m ready to try again.”

“You sure,” Buggy questioned.

Luffy nodded in reply. Buggy stared at him for a moment more before shrugging and resetting the target.

Luffy stood on the mark Buggy had placed on the ground and took a deep breath. Rather than running at the target as he did before, he shifted his body, putting his right leg behind him, and bent his knees. He took another breath before he threw his arm back.

“Gum Gum…”

Sabo and Uta ducked as the arm went stretching above them.

“Pistol!”

Luffy’s arm snapped back and then went flying towards the target which shattered upon impact with his fist before his arm retracted back to its original size.

“Whoo! I did it!” Luffy cheered happily.

Sabo and Uta clapped for him as Buggy patted his head.

“Nice job, kid.”

“Hey! When I broke the target, you got mad,” Ace protested.

“You didn’t break it, you turned it to ash. Besides, you hitting the target was never the issue.”

Ace grumbled before knocking his shoulder into Luffy’s.

“Congrats, I guess,” he said begrudgingly.

Luffy threw himself at Ace, hugging around his waist, before he ran at Sabo and Uta and did the same.

“I can’t wait to tell Dad all about it. He’ll be so happy,” Luffy gushed excitedly.

“Yeah, I’m sure he will. He’ll probably even cry for joy about it,” Buggy muttered.

“Maybe. Dad cries for stupid reasons sometimes. Once, he cried because the straw hat fell on the ground, but Beck said it was just ‘cause he was drunk,” Luffy giggled.

Buggy stared for a moment before shaking his head to himself.

“That is unfortunately entirely believable. Anyway, just because I didn’t flip shit about you breaking the target doesn’t mean I’m just going to let you get away with it. You better go make a new one. I’m not spending anymore berri on it.”

“For the record, I’m not going just because you told me to. We needed some wood to repair the treehouse anyway after that last storm,” Ace defended.

“Noted,” Buggy replied in a flat voice.

Sabo and Uta shared an amused look as the four pups filed out of the tent.

“Where are we going to find wood anyway? We don’t have money to buy any,” Luffy pointed out.

“Could just take it from somewhere,” Ace suggested.

“Really, Freckleface,” Uta snapped with a glare.

“Oh please, don’t act all holy when you dine and dash with us all the time.”

“That’s just because keeping Luffy fed is a full-time job,” she justified.

“Well, getting wood will keep a roof over his head, so get over it.”

Uta sighed but didn’t protest anymore.

The four pups slipped into Town Center as stealthily as they could. They were building a bit of a reputation thanks to all the dining and dashing plus fighting any thugs that recognized Ace as the kid who used to beat them up in the bars. The four peeked around the corner at the woodworkers shop. There were pallets with wood sitting right outside on display along with people milling around, choosing between different kinds of wood as well as wooden figurines.

“So, how are we going to do this,” Uta asked.

“Sabo and I are the biggest, it’ll be easier for us to carry the wood. You two need to make a distraction for us.”

“I can do that,” Luffy grinned.

“Trust me, we know,” Sabo said.

“I have an idea,” Uta declared.

She glanced over at Luffy, having a moment of twinspeak, before she grabbed his hand and pulled him out towards the crowd. The two stopped a few feet away from the woodworks shop before Uta suddenly gasped before falling to the ground dramatically on her back.

“Wah, Sissy!” Luffy screamed in surprise.

His shouting drew the attention of people close by who immediately flocked over to the little girl seemingly passed out on the floor.

“Oh no! Is she going to die? My sister is dead,” Luffy wailed loudly, drawing even more attention.

“I’m sure that’s not true, little boy.”

“Look at her! She’s so pale. Or is she too hot? Maybe she didn’t eat enough? Does anyone have any food? Get my Sissy some food!” Luffy rattled off.

“Food,” a man asked.

“Yes! Get my sister some meat!”

Sabo and Ace glanced at each other before shrugging and slipping through the crowd towards the wood stacks. They filled their arms with a couple of beams each before swiftly jogging away from the chaotic scene.

“Oh no! I don’t wanna be all alone!”

Sabo glanced back to see Uta’s eyes pop open before she sat up.

“Oh, I’m all better now,” she declared.

“Uta! You’re okay,” Luffy exclaimed, pulling her into a hug.

The crowd blinked in surprise.

“Are you sure, dear,” a woman asked.

“Yup. Thank you for being concerned,” Uta replied, flashing the crowd a charming smile.

Everyone seemed to be disarmed enough. Luffy’s eyes locked on a man who had returned with the requested meat, but Uta hopped up and grabbed his hand before trotting towards Ace and Sabo.

“Nice performance,” Ace complimented.

Uta smiled and did a little curtsey while Luffy laughed.

“Shishishi, I wasn’t sure what was going on. Sissy just told me to go along with whatever she did.”

Uta look slightly contrite before holding up a finger to indicate for them to wait. Sabo watched her slip back towards the loitering crowd and snatch a kebab from the man who had brought her food.

“Thanks,” she said politely before skipping away back to the boys and handing the kebab to Luffy.

“Yay, meat! Apology accepted,” Luffy declared before stuffing the whole kebab in his mouth and swallowing the roasted meat in one go.

“Let’s get these back to the tent before Buggy flips shit,” Ace decided.

The four began their trip back with their haul at a leisure pace.

“We can probably get away with using one beam to make a new target and use the rest on the treehouse. Those repairs are more important,” Sabo suggested.

“Yeah, we can—”

Whatever Ace was going to say was cut off as a man stepped out in front of them, causing Ace to bump into him.

“Hey, watch where you’re going,” Ace snapped.

“It’s filth such as yourself that needs to watch where you’re walking. I hardly want your stench on me.”

Sabo froze as he heard that voice. He was afraid to look up but the scent that wafted under his nose was unmistakable: brandy, cloves, rosemary and apricot. He glanced up reluctantly and felt his blood freeze as he found himself staring at Outlook III.

He immediately felt panic gripping his heart as it rabbited in his chest. His stomach felt like a huge stone was in it and his head was light and woozy. He was certain his distress was overwhelming his scent, making it impossible for anyone not to know what he was feeling.

He felt a nudging warmth tugging on his chest, a reminder of his connection to Shanks and a question about his wellbeing. Sabo couldn’t find it in himself to acknowledge it or the worried looks Uta and Luffy were giving him. Ace stepped in front of him, covering him from view.

“Who the hell are you,” he demanded.

“You dare speak to me in such a manner? I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised you’re fraternizing with such ruffians, Sabo.”

“You know this guy, Bo,” Luffy asked curiously.

The blond opened and closed his mouth, unable to find an answer.

“I am Sabo’s alpha and his father, Lord Outlook III. I am having a conversation with my son now so you thugs can find somewhere else to be.”

“Hell no. You aren’t Sabo’s alpha and you sure as hell aren’t his father. You chose that when you abandoned him,” Ace snapped angrily.

“Abandoned? He was the one who chose to leave home. And for what? For this gaggle of ragamuffins? Well, it’s been long enough. It’s time to come home, Sabo.”

The blond stiffened at that. His father wanted him to go back to High Town? But why? They didn’t want Sabo. If it were up to them, he’d be dead by now. Maybe they had changed. Maybe in all his time away, they missed him. Or maybe that was wishful thinking, the lingering wishes of a child who didn’t know better.

“Sabo has a home with us. He belongs with us,” Uta protested, glaring up at Outlook.

The dark-haired man stared down at her imperiously.

“I certainly want no lip from a girl of such ill-repute as yourself, gamma. I dread to think what manner of evil your association with my son has done to his impressionable mind.”

That snapped Sabo out of his stupor and he stepped up so he was standing beside Ace in front of the twins.

“Don’t talk about my sister like that. The only evil here is you,” Sabo said with a sneer on his lips.

“Sister?”

“I have a real family now.”

“A family? Living a life of debauchery and wickedness with these whelps have fooled you into believing that this is a family?”

“It’s more than I ever had with you or Mom. You guys didn’t want me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. What noble wouldn’t want an heir?”

“I didn’t want to be your heir, I wanted to be your son! I wanted you to see me as your pup, not your trophy! You wouldn’t bond with me properly, you wouldn’t nest with me or scent me. You watched me get sick because of it and you never helped me! If I stayed with you, I would’ve died and you and Mom wouldn’t even have cared.”

“Yeah! Sabo’s ours now. He doesn’t need you,” Luffy declared angrily.

“Sabo is my son, which means that he’s obligated to live on the path that I’ve prepared for him. You should be ashamed, steering him towards the life of a petty thief! Do you have any idea how embarrassing it was to have the king himself come to me and express his concerns and suspicions that my own son was gallivanting around, claiming to be trash from Gray Terminal? I’ve let this farce go on for much too long. You are coming home now, Sabo.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you!”

“I wasn’t asking you,” Outlook warned.

Sabo stiffened as several noble guards melted from the shadows, surrounding the children.

“Come with dignity, Sabo. If you do so, I won’t have these wannabe thugs arrested.”

“Arrested? For what? They didn’t do anything!”

“For tempting you into this life of delinquency of course.”

“No one tempted me to do anything. I made my own choices. I ran because I wanted to.”

“You wanted to? Your personal desires are irrelevant want it comes to securing the legacy of your family. I’ll do my best to drill that into your head this time around.”

“Sabo, ignore him! We can take these guys, easy,” Ace declared, his hands flaring with fire.

“I heard that these whelps had Devil Fruit powers. I came prepared for such things. Unlike this thug, I see no need to resort to violence. Negotiation is a much cleaner tactic.”

“Negotiation?” Sabo asked.

“I’m aware that you seem to have a vested interest in this business with funding Edge Town’s restoration. Lady Eudora managed to charm some of the nobles, but the vote was still a near even split, causing the king to postpone the official vote for both sides to continue to lobby for support. If you come with me of your own volition, not only will I leave these brats and whatever pack claims them alone, but I will lend my support as well as all the support of my business partners to Lady Eudora’s cause. That’ll turn the tide in her favor and those… people will find themselves with the king’s aid after all.”

Sabo stopped up at that, shocked.

“You… you wouldn’t. You don’t care about the people living in Edge Town.”

“Of course I don’t. But I do care about the reputation and legacy of my family. For that, I will make certain concessions. It’s up to you though. What will you choose?”

Sabo’s mind was a mess of thoughts. His own guilt over what happened in the Terminal, his affection for the people of Gray Terminal, his love for his siblings who were being threatened as well as the bandits who Sabo knew Outlook III would find and harm just to get to him. Possible even Buggy and his crew. The pirates could probably hold their own but the bandits he had less hope for.

“Sabo, don’t you dare,” Ace warned, turning to him with a sneer.

“You don’t get to leave us. You don’t get to make that choice. You belong with us! No one is taking you!”

Ace lashed out with a stream of fire towards one of the guards, but another came up behind him and managed to sling him down to the ground. Two others did the same with Luffy and Uta. The children began to squirm and fight against the arms holding them down. Sabo drew his pipe but didn’t move forward. He watched in confusion as the three guards withdrew a short rod from their belts and pressed it into the backs of the pups.

“What did you do to them,” he exclaimed as he watched the three children sag and begin groaning lethargically.

“Sea stone. An export from Wano. The government is looking to make weapons of this. I managed to procure some material when I heard you’ve been consorting with Devil Fruit users. The effects are similar to that of the sea, though without the drowning.”

“You’re hurting them! They’ve done nothing wrong. All they did was love me!”

“Love? Haven’t we had this conversation before? We aren’t here in this world to fulfill such a trivial pursuit as love. We exist to further our family’s bloodline and nothing less. Certainly not for something as lowly as love. That’s what was killing you before, nothing your mother or I did, but this weak notion that love means anything in this world. Only power means something. Power comes from lineage and money, something these vagabonds know nothing about. I will give you some credit for surviving this long on your own. The gods above know I didn’t think you would last a month let alone years. Clearly you are strong in some regard, but you still have much life to live and much to learn. You won’t survive to do so on love.”

“That’s not true. I know better now.”

“Clearly not. I will rectify that. Now, the effect of the seastone will abate once I give the order to remove it from making contact, but I need your word first that you’ll come with me.”

“No.”

“Sabo…”

“Don’t… go….”

Sabo glanced down at his three siblings who, even weakened, were still protesting his departure. But what else could he do? He wasn’t as strong as them, wasn’t as important as them. They would get on just fine without him. He couldn’t be the reason anyone else was hurt.

“If you don’t hurt my siblings and if you help Eudora and the people of Gray Terminal, I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll live whatever life you’ve mapped out.”

“Then come home. You will never return to this place again. You’ll cease all contact with these lowlifes, you will break whatever bonds you’ve seen fit to forge with them and you’ll never think of leaving your life in High Town again.”

“…Bo, no…” Uta groaned.

“Don’t… do… it,” Luffy moaned out.

“Run… away. Be… free,” Ace ordered through gritted teeth.

Sabo’s lips quivered as tears formed in his eyes. He wanted to be free. He didn’t want to leave his family or abandon his dreams. He wanted to live his life with them and for them, but if he had to make this choice to keep them safe and to give the people in Edge Town a chance, then he would do this.

He looked up as Outlook placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned Sabo and led him down the street. His shoulders shook as he tried to suppress his sobs.

This was what he could do, this is what he was strong enough to do. He had made his choice, and for better or worse, he had to live with it.