#but i think ace is really tired... like he's been worrying about luffy... and suddenly his brother starts uncharacteristically start

[taizi]

A lot of people have brought up this idea about devil fruit users inheriting memories from the previous user. It's mostly used with Ace and Sabo, I haven't seen this idea with any other devil fruit pair but everytime I think of that idea all I can think of is Sabo having dreams about what Ace and Luffy went through after Sabo "died", specifically the "Ace didn't protect Luffy when a bear mauled him and Luffy almost died causing Ace to have a breakdown" incident.

read on ao3

x

It was raining. Sabo was running through the dark. He was very small, the size of a child. Dark hanks of coarse hair blew across his face, getting into his eyes. His skin was brown, not pale. His chest was heaving, and the path in front of him felt longer and harder than it rightly should, and his limbs were burning with exertion. He was carrying something. Someone. 

“I’m sorry,” he panted. It was his mouth, his throat, but it wasn’t his voice. That was his brother’s voice, his twin. Utterly familiar in all ways, after all this time—even now, when it was so throttled with fear it hardly sounded like Ace at all. “I’m so sorry, Luffy, it’s all my fault,” he said again. 

Luffy, Sabo realized. The person they were carrying was Luffy.

He looked down. Suddenly he could feel the oily slide of blood on his hands. The obscene warmth of it all down his front. Luffy’s face was cradled in the crook of his shoulder, so Sabo could feel the faint puff of his breaths, but they were shallow and slow, like each one was halfway certain it would be the last. 

“Hang on, Lu, hang on,” Sabo-as-Ace begged. “I’ll let you beat me up as soon as you get better. But you have to hang on, okay? Don’t go anywhere without me.”

His voice was hoarse, breath coming in great gulping sobs. The jungle was too big. The storm was too loud. Luffy was so small, but Ace was small, too. He didn’t feel big enough to be the one carrying him, he wasn’t big enough to raise this kid all on his own. He wasn’t enough, could never be enough. He was so afraid. His arms were so tired. Luffy was so heavy. 

But he didn’t stop. Even when his lungs were burning, and every breath hurt. Even when the trail darted upwards over the hill, and Ace had to clutch Luffy to his chest in one arm and use the other to half-crawl, half-claw his way up through the mud, he didn’t stop. 

He ran every step of the way back to Dadan’s country, and sobbed for help, and kept sobbing long after help arrived like a dam had broken somewhere inside him and he didn’t know how to stop the flood from pouring out. 

Sabo’s eyes flew open, still wet and stinging, a trail of tears down his temples dampening his hair. 

x

It’s an old wives’ tale. A sailor’s superstition. The sort of thing that isn’t taken seriously and that no one really believes, except no one disbelieves it, either. 

A respawned fruit, they say, remembers the body before. It retains an echo of its user. 

Sabo didn’t put much stock in those stories, because there was no reliable way to study the phenomenon without a significant amount of murder, and also because it didn’t really apply to him besides. He had a million other things on his mind, an army to babysit, and no plans of becoming a Fruit user in the first place. 

The universe sure loves to laugh at him.

It takes a while for Sabo to be sure of what he’s experiencing. The dream of the bear attack was frightening and unsettling, but it could have easily just been a bad dream. He brought it up to Koala once, asked if she’d ever dreamed from someone else’s eyes before, and she launched immediately into an animated retelling of a dream she’d had from the perspective of a lobster. Which was not exactly the same thing at all, but close enough that some of Sabo’s worries were soothed. 

“Dreams are weird,” Koala surmised wisely, and then reached across the table to steal his food. 

But after that, it continues to happen. When Sabo dreams, he dreams of Mount Colubo. Brief snatches of sun-filled days that he doesn’t remember, that he wasn’t around for. He sees it all from Ace’s perspective, looking out of his twin’s face at his view of the world, at all the things he saw. 

He wants to cling to the dreams like a miser hoarding gold. He wants to keep them, but in the pack of his mind he’s still half-convinced that it’s his subconscious trying to make him feel closer to the brothers he’d left behind. 

“Hey, Lu,” Sabo says one day, slipping it into conversation as casually as he knows how. “Back on Dawn Island, did you ever have a pet?”

The snailphone laughs, a bright, noisy sound that fills the room. It makes Sabo smile without fail every time. 

“I did!” his brother exclaims. 

From his end of the transmission, there’s a clatter of voices in the background, something busy and chaotic going on behind him. Luffy doesn’t ever take his calls in private, because the idea has probably never occurred to him, and generally wherever he goes, at least three or four of his nakama aren’t far behind. It sounds like something’s on fire, if the panicked screeching is anything to go by. Calling the Sunny always makes Sabo’s life feel peaceful in comparison. 

But Luffy is unconcerned as he goes on, “Her name was Roly-poly!”

It lands in Sabo’s ears like a clap of thunder. 

Roly-poly was the tiny peccary he’d dreamed about three nights ago. Her mother had been caught in a trap and she was the last of all her siblings to survive in the wilderness alone. Luffy had stumbled upon her while foraging for mushrooms and, after coming to the conclusion that she was too small to eat, picked her up and held her out to Ace. 

“We can’t eat that!” the older boy snapped. “It’s mostly fur and bones!”

“I know, duh! We just have to wait for it to get bigger, then we can eat it.”

Luffy’s baby seal eyes were no less effective at nine years old than they were at six. Ace had rolled his eyes heavenward. He didn’t say it out loud, but Sabo was watching this scene from inside his head, so he heard Ace think loud and clear, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here, ‘Bo. I bet you’d be laughing at me right now.

“Fine,” Ace said, capitulating the way anyone who knew him could have guessed he would from the very beginning, “fine! But don’t you dare name it or you’ll get attached!”

Of course, that had only lasted about three hours. They were both attached by the end of the night, and Roly-poly rampaged around with them every day and cuddled in their treehouse every night for all six long years of her little pig life. 

“She was my best friend,” Luffy adds, the snailphone’s eyes squinting with the force of its smile. 

“Oh yeah?” Sabo says, feeling oddly like he’s about to burst into tears. “Tell me about her.”

He never hurries Luffy off the phone, content to let every conversation last as long as possible. He once rather famously stopped mid-fight to answer his baby snailphone, holding a Marine to the ground with the butt of his pipe pressed against the man’s throat and listening attentively to his brother describe in great detail the latest island he and his insane crew had sunk into the sea and the impenetrable fortress they’d stormed just for fun. It was a ceasefire that lasted nearly twenty minutes, and the Revolutionaries were just as incredulous as the soldiers were by the time Sabo bade Luffy a cheerful goodbye. 

Koala and Hack might let him live that down someday, but Sabo isn’t holding his breath. 

“How did you know about Roly?” Luffy asks suddenly. “I haven’t talked about her to anybody.”

Sabo presses the heels of his hands into his eyes and breathes for just a second. He won’t ever lie to Luffy, but the thought of trying to put these experiences into words makes him feel like he’s swallowed broken glass. It hurts all the way down. 

So he says, “I’ll tell you later.”

x

It isn’t every night, and it isn’t always a memory laid out like a story with a defined beginning and end. Sometimes it’s brief snatches, half a dozen mundane little moments that wouldn’t stand out as meaningful or important next to all the other things Ace lived through. But it’s those memories that Sabo clings to the hardest. 

Sabo dreams of Ace raising himself at the same time he’s raising Luffy, and all the shenanigans and heartaches and adventures that come with boyhood shared between them. Luffy grew like a weed, or one of those absurdly large tropical flowers you can find along Dawn Island’s coast, and even a complete stranger would have been able to take one look at him and rightly guess that he was somebody’s pride and joy. 

Sabo dreams of the day Ace turned seventeen, standing alone at sea in a little boat and tipping his hat out of his eyes so that the last thing he sees is his brother. The memory contains the knowledge of the night before, Luffy’s puffy red eyes and tearful go be free, but make sure I can find you again, okay? and how close Ace came to rethinking their promise, overhauling the whole arrangement, holding out a few more years until this kid—his kid—was ready to tag along.

But on the day of the departure, Luffy is beaming at Ace without a shadow of worry or doubt, holding Roly-poly up so she can see him, too. They would miss each other, but only for a little while. 

“Sabo!” Ace had cried, voice carrying across the water, a reverberation of anticipation and eagerness and wistfulness and joy. “Watch me!”

Sabo dreams of finding his fruit by chance and splitting it with the man who would become his right hand, of the fire that coiled inside his blood and bones and never let him feel cold again. Forming the Spades, meeting Shanks on a snowy mountain, being folded stubbornly and affectionately into the Whitebeard crew. He dreams of betrayal and Thatch’s blood on his hands and scouring the seas for the man who tore a hole into his family.

Sabo dreams of meeting Luffy’s crew in Alabasta, the ragtag little group of rookies on a cute caravel too small to survive the New World but just big enough to carry all their dreams until then. To an outsider, the crew is a mess, and there’s no real sense of leadership or structure to be seen at a glance. They’re a collection of extreme personalities constantly at odds with each other, with no cohesive goal.

But Ace’s memory as it slides into Sabo’s mind is washed with relief. Luffy found good people—of course he did. He attracts goodness the way light attracts moths. Ace tosses Luffy the Vivre Card, says, So you can find me again. If Luffy remembers being fourteen years old and tearful and asking his brother for that specific promise before he went away, it doesn’t show on his face. They say goodbye for a second time, but it’s never meant to be forever. 

Sabo dreams of a young man with curling orange horns poking out of a wild mane of white hair, shackles on his wrists and a fire in his eyes that his imprisonment hadn’t managed to snuff out. The closest Ace ever came to falling in love, the potential of it a warm secret in the farthest corner of his heart. He’s certain they’ll meet again. 

Sabo dreams of Blackbeard, that evil, disgusting excuse for a man, one that Ace used to consider family. He killed Thatch for that stupid fruit when he could have just asked. Then, beneath the rage and hatred that makes Ace feel like he’s ten years old all over again, never having learned how to love in the first place, there’s a sudden stab of icy terror. Because Blackbeard needs a bounty to present to the Marines and he wants Straw Hat Luffy.

Conviction calms the biting, snarling creature Ace’s heart had become. He would die before he let anyone hurt his little brother. 

Sabo dreams of Marineford. 

He shoots out of the chair he’d nodded off in, chest heaving for breath that isn’t coming. He’s alone on this mission and there’s no one there to help him make sense of the riot in his head and his heart. 

With shaking hands, he packs away his things and sprints down to the harbor. Pick-up isn’t for another two days, so without a vessel of his own, Sabo steals a small cutter. He sails out of the bay at full-speed, a fistful of flames aimed behind him to propel him like a rocket, faster, faster, faster. 

He’s trembling, the memory like a brand behind his eyes. The very last one. Luffy’s tear-stained face, bloodied hands, his childish, frightened, “Ace?” 

Then a slow, creeping darkness. The absence of warmth as a fire went out. 

x

Sabo sails straight through dusk and well into the night. Robin and Nami are good about keeping him updated on their whereabouts, just in case. He feels like he’s going insane, so he tries to keep his mind empty, focus only on the sea and the way ahead of him. Ignore the dark. Ignore the cold.

The Thousand Sunny is heaving-to, headsail backed and rudder locked, her course a sleepy, non-urgent thing. Whoever is on night watch must see Sabo coming from miles away, lit up as he is like a torch on the open water, because there’s a few people waiting for him on deck. Familiar faces peer over the rail at him, curious and concerned. Robin’s arms bloom along the hull, lashing Sabo’s stolen cutter safely to Sunny’s side. 

He doesn’t wait for a rope ladder—jumps as far as he can, digs his hands into the worn grooves of the hull, and climbs the rest of the way. 

He feels stricken, he feels raw and hurt, and it must show on his face.

Zoro speaks before anyone else can. 

“He’s in the bunk room,” he says at length, dark eye steady and unfailingly loyal and seeing more than most people with both eyes ever could. “You know the way.”

“Thanks,” Sabo says, or thinks he says, and cuts across the grassy deck without another word. It takes all the willpower he has not to run. That would be stupid. There’s no reason to worry them anymore than he already has. 

It’s been a long, long time since he was a child running for comfort after a bad dream. In the morning, he’ll feel really stupid. But for now, his heart is breaking, and he can hardly hold it together. He needs more hands. 

Half the bunk beds in the crew’s quarters are occupied, but he picks Luffy out right away. And maybe it’s the leftover dregs of those memories that aren’t really his, that don’t actually belong to him, but Sabo doesn’t hesitate to shuck off his boots and coat and crawl into the bunk beside his brother. 

Luffy’s face scrunches up the way it always does when he doesn’t want to wake up yet, but his body moves automatically to share the space. It’s how he grew up, Sabo thinks with equal parts affection and grief. Sharing space. Making room. Ace is the one who carved out a place for them in the world, but Luffy is the one who filled it. 

Don’t go anywhere without me.

Make sure I can find you again.

“Sabo?” Luffy mumbles, half-dreaming. “You’re here?”

It takes him a minute to answer, because he’s wrestling with the pain. Trying to force it down into something he can live through. It keeps spilling out of his grip, the pressure building until it’s unbearable.

With every second, his failure mounts. Luffy’s eyes open, stark brown and wide awake. 

“He promised,” Sabo finally says, only it’s more of a sob. “He promised he wouldn’t die.”

Luffy’s skinny arms slip around him, and he buries his face against the top of Sabo’s head, and it’s exactly like the way Ace used to hold Luffy when he was hurting. From Ace’s perspective, as Sabo had seen firsthand, he was floundering, desperate to make it better but unsure of what to do. From Luffy’s perspective, Sabo realizes now, as the one being held this time, it was the safest and warmest place to be in the whole world. 

x

The farthest corners of sky are turning gray with the promise of dawn, the stars and the moon pale and faint overhead. In the kitchen, worried voices murmur over the sounds of the stovetop, the beginnings of a hearty, comforting breakfast coming together. A familiar song on an old violin drifts like a lullaby through all the rooms, reaching every ear. 

In the crew’s quarters, it’s dark and warm, and someone has draped another quilt over the two bodies in Luffy’s bed. It smells faintly of oranges and each stitch feels like love. 

He looks down at himself, crammed into a bunk that would have been a tight fit even before he decided to share it. His hair is a haphazard mess, and his face is pale and tacky with tears, and his hands are clutching tight to the back of his little brother’s shirt. 

Luffy, who could sleep comfortably anywhere he dropped, is out like a light. His face is slack and untroubled in his sleep, even as squished as he is. His hands are curled into fists in Sabo’s shirt, too. 

It’s like going back in time. He thinks of those cold, blustery nights in their treehouse when the weather started to turn and they hadn’t scavenged for coats and blankets yet, little kids clinging stubbornly to the tail-end of summer. Even before the Fire Fruit, Ace put out heat like a furnace, and he always complained about Sabo and Luffy piling on top of him, but he never pushed them away. 

The jungle was their playground, huge and wild and stretching on forever, and it’s where they built their house. Walls made of scavenged parts and put together by their own clumsy, unlearned hands, a tiny pocket overlooked by everyone else. It creaked, and leaked, and let all the cold in, but it was where they lived. 

It’s the first place he thinks of when he thinks of home. It always will be. 

He reaches out and pushes Luffy’s hair away from his face. Luffy turns his head in his sleep, pressing into the familiar touch without waking. He doesn’t know how Luffy carries the weight of everything he’s seen without breaking underneath it, where he learned that raw, stubborn strength from, but he’s glad. He’s proud. Luffy will be the best of them all. 

He moves on, regarding the sight of himself with wistfulness and fond exasperation. It should have been very strange to look down at his own face but he only sighs. His hand is rich brown against the pale golden hair as he tugs gently on a frizzy blond curl. Warm, the way he’s always been warm, always letting his annoying brothers crowd in close to him against the cold.   

“Who’s the crybaby now?” he says, in Ace’s voice. 

Sabo wakes up to the pale light of dawn streaming through the porthole. Luffy has moved around in his sleep, sprawled on top of Sabo now in the boneless, drooping way his rubber body sprawls. Sabo maneuvers an arm out from under him and works out the pins and needles. 

He isn’t sure what woke him. But the heartache he fell asleep with isn’t so heavy anymore. It feels like someone halved his pain and took their share of it away. 

Luffy stirs, called to life by the sunlight on his face, and stretches out his lanky limbs like an overgrown cat.

“Morning, ‘Bo,” he mumbles. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Sabo replies honestly. “I think I had a good dream.”

#one piece #opfic #revolutionary sabo #monkey d luffy #asl brothers #my writing #prompt #op #asl bros #anonymous

[sabo-has-my-heart]

500 Followers Event Failed Fic 14

So I was trying to write part 2 to My Bestfriend, Ace's part, these are 2 of the failed attempts

MY best friend part 2A attempt

A sigh left Ace’s lips, raising his head from its place in his hands, revealing the soot dusted cheeks as he looked up at Marco and Thatch.

“Are you absolutely certain?” Ace asked, worry and fear evident in his eyes, “It couldn’t be something, anything, else?” Thatch chuckled and shook his head, starting to strip off his now filthy gear.

“Positive. There’s nothing else that I can think of that it could possibly be.” Thatch said with a smirk.

“It’s not that unsurprising, yoi. You’re best friends, you’ve known each other for years. It happens pretty often.” Marco added with a dismissive wave of his hand, taking off his own soot covered gear.

“Yeah, but… love? There’s… we’re… she’s…” Ace struggled with what to say, not entirely sure what to say.

“Ace, we’ve known for a while how infatuated with this girl you are. The only people you go on about as much as you do Y/n, are Sabo and Luffy, particularly Luffy.” Izou said, walking into the room, having already heard the conversation from the other room.

“Well yeah, but that’s… she’s just… are you positive? Nothing else? A virus? Disease? A parasite? There’s-.”

“No! There’s nothing else it could be, Ace, you love her, deal with it.” Vista shouted from across the room, tired of hearing about Ace’s ‘predicament’.

“He’s right, yoi. There’s nothing short of literally dying that this could be, and no, you’re not dying.” Marco said, cutting off Ace’s look at the words ‘literally dying’.

“The question now is, do you face it like you should or are you going to try to run from it?” Thatch asked, the group now paying very close attention to Ace.

“If I ignore it, will it go away? Will the pain stop? The… anger, the misery the… the jeal… the jealousy?” Ace asked, grinding his teeth at the last word. He didn’t want to admit that he was jealous, especially of his brother.

“Not likely. It’ll just hurt more, fester, and eventually it will eat you alive.” Izou said, rolling his eyes as he headed for the showers.

“Worse, if you’re not careful, you’ll also lose Y/n, possibly your brother as well.” Vista commented, gathering up the dirty clothes everyone but Ace had removed and started to head for the laundry room.

“Lose her? I… I could lose her?” Ace asked, fear suddenly overriding everything else.

“In so many ways, yoi.” Marco said, placing a hand on Ace’s shoulder.

“Then I have to talk to her! I… I need to tell her! I… if she doesn’t feel the same then fine, but I won’t lose my best friend.” Ace said, practically jumping up, heading for the door until Thatch threw out an arm, stopping the boy.

“You might want to shower and change, I doubt she wants to see you in your gear covered in soot and smelling like sweat.” the man said, shaking his head at the oblivious boy. Ace laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

“Y-yeah, you’re right. Then I’ll go talk to her.” Ace said, quickly stripping off his gear and heading for the showers.

Looking at Ace, you tilted your head at the fidgeting boy. He’d asked to meet you alone at your favorite diner, saying that it was important, but now that you were here, he couldn’t seem to get the words out.

“Ace, come on, we’ve always been able to talk. Tell me what’s wrong.” you pleaded, placing a hand over his. He’d been your best friend, he’d been there for you through your worst breakups, he’d made you laugh when you’d been on the verge of sobbing, you were worried about the boy. Ace took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

“I uh, I know I’ve been acting really… strange, lately and I’m sorry, I just… it’s… IhaveacrushonyourandI’vebeenjealousofSabo!” Ace blurted out, eyes screwed shut, hoping that he wasn’t shaking. There was a pause as you tried to understand what Ace had just attempted to say. Once the jumbled up words finally clicked, your eyes widened.

“You… are you serious?” you asked, staring at the boy in stunned silence. All Ace could do was nod, eyes still closed tightly, afraid of your reaction.

“I… I don’t want to lose my best friend but I… I hate how often I see you around Sabo. I can’t… I can’t just tell you not to hang out with him, not without at least some reason why you shouldn’t be around him so much.” Ace muttered nervously, head tilted down, hands clenching into fists and he tried to keep his emotions from going haywire. You felt a blush cover your cheeks, glancing down at your own lap. Ace felt his heart drop when your hand left his, you’d left, you were upset and he’d lost you anyway. The dark haired young man almost jumped out of his skin when he felt a head lean against his shoulder, not having noticed as you sat down next to him.

Walking back to his apartment, Ace ran a hand through his hair. Jealous, they’d told him that he was jealous. Of course that’s not all that Thatch and Marco had told him, but that was what he was focusing on right now; because if he didn’t, he’d focus on what else they’d said and he wasn’t ready to think about that just yet. Okay, perhaps this ‘revelation’ that he was jealous of his brother wasn’t exactly ground breaking or surprising, but it was still something he had to deal with. Afterall, how was he supposed to explain to his best friend that he thought you were spending too much time with Sabo and that he didn’t want you around his brother anymore? How was he supposed to say that to Sabo?! You’d be confused, probably a little hurt, and likely fairly annoyed, but if he explained it, you’d probably sigh, shake your head, call him an idiot, but agree to spend a little less time with Sabo. His brother on the other hand, was another matter entirely. He was a rebellious person by nature and had already made it clear that he wasn’t going to put up with Ace’s shit, meaning that it was highly unlikely that he’d get Sabo to agree to spending less time with you. It wasn’t like Sabo was wrong, you had every right to spend time with whoever you wanted, you could do whatever you liked, but

#one piece ace #one piece #portgas d. ace #fire fist ace #ace x reader #portgas d ace #fire fist ace x reader #portgas d ace x reader #fluff #one piece sabo #500 followers #500 followers event

[bluewonderer]

Hey Blue! I'm pretty curious about your "All At Sea"; actually I'm curious about all of them lol but I figured I should pick just one. How far along have you come with this one?

Hi, Soraya! 💕 Thank you so much for asking about my WIPs!! It's SO fun to talk about them!

Snippet and then some rambling below the cut:

Ace is going to die one day, it’s something a person like him deserves. But to drown on a fishing trip would be so stupid.  A small wave turns into a giant swell and suddenly he’s submerged to the crown of his head. He opens his mouth to shout like an idiot and near about swallows half of the whole damn East Blue. He clamps one hand around Luffy’s thigh and pumps furiously with everything he has in him to surface again. He coughs and gags up seawater. It burns his nose and throat and his chest feels so tight. Luffy is heavy and he’s so tired.  “You can… come back for me,” Luffy pants.  Ace ignores that bullshit, too intent on treading water and not dying. His heart is pounding and his limbs are so tired he’s worried they’ll just stop working.  (Is this how Sabo felt? Or was it over before he could even drown? Did he know what was happening to him? Did he know that Ace had abandoned him, in the end? Did Sabo know that Ace was a liar?) “It’s OK,” Luffy continues. “You can.”  “Shut up, moron,” Ace says forcefully, suddenly deciding that he’s too pissed off to drown right now. “I’ve carried you this far, you’re going to suck it up and go the rest of the way. No one else is dying in this shitty sea.” 

All at Sea has actually been sitting for a few months now and isn't very long yet--just about 1K, I think. BUT I did think up an ending this week! So I think I'll finally be sitting down to really work on it soon.

It's a fic about Luffy and storytelling. Specifically, the various people who have told him stories over the years. It started because one of my favorite parts of the ASL flashbacks is ASL playing pirates together, and how vivid their imaginations painted out the stories they were telling themselves.

Not as exciting as some other stuff, I suppose, but I'm actually really looking forward to it! I love character interactions and storytelling. I think Ace and Law will be featured. And likely Usopp since he IS the Strawhat storyteller. I'm also really loving the idea of Rayleigh and Sabo. I think it'll be hard to choose characters and keep it contained, actually!!

It's probably a gen/nakama fic, but I always headcanon that Everybody Loves Luffy so I'm sure at least some ship feels will sneak in somewhere when I least expect it.

Anyway, title is from "All At Sea" by Jamie Cullum!

But sometimes don't you just crave To disappear within your mind You never know what you might find So come and spend some time with me We will spend it all at sea

#Ask Blue #writer memes #blue writes #thank you for the ask! #💕💕💕💕

[feriowind]

i wrote up a whooole feral luffy AU bit on twitter last night so am posting it here too (slightly cleaned up) hahaha

Feral luffy AU where the basis is that Luffy is the one who, somehow, set sail the day the celestial dragons arrived and had his boat shot down. 

 He's considerably further out to sea when this happens, and when he falls into the water, he's swept away by a strange ocean current. He winds up on a deserted island surrounded by the same strange currents and it keeps him stranded. 

 Ace and Sabo are devastated by the loss of Luffy, as is Garp, Makino, Dadan and the bandits, and later on Dragon and Shanks when they find out, attempts are made to locate Luffy's body but they never find him, the assumption that he sank too far out into the ocean due to his devil fruit. Ace & Sabo grow up significantly less cheerful without Luffy's presence, but their bond to one another is as strong as ever.

 Sabo fakes his death after begging Garp for help, anything to throw off his family from ever finding him again. Garp agrees because his hatred of certain nobility has grown significantly after Luffy's "death", and he can't stand the thought of losing another grandson.

 Luffy meanwhile, adapts as best he can. Surviving in this new jungle is painful, but doable despite the constant near brushes with death. The true hardship is how lonely he is without his brothers. Luffy has always thrived in the company of others, and without any he struggles, but again, Luffy adapts. 

 He manages to befriend some of the animals in the jungle, and accidentally discovers conqueror's haki when he nearly loses his hat to a predator, his one link to something beyond this island.

 The animals can't replace his brothers, but they ward off the loneliness. Throughout this time, Luffy makes multiple attempts to sail off the island with handmade rafts. Craftsmanship has never been his strong suit however, so they crumble instantly in the harsh currents.

 Perhaps due to luck, the currents always wash him back ashore instead of allowing him to sink and drown. Luffy's speech also slowly degrades over time. As much as he loves talking to his animal friends, the inability to hear someone else speak causes his words to slur and distort

 Ace and Sabo still hold true to their promise to set sail at age 17, but decide that they want to sail together instead of separating. When they finally set sail, they decide to take their time getting to the Grandline, exploring more of the East Blue at a leisurely pace.

After roughly a week of sailing, they get caught in a freak storm and are swept away by a giant wave where they too end up caught in the same strange current that stole Luffy all those years ago. The two wind up unconscious on Luffy's island, where Luffy finds them on the beach.

Luffy doesn't recognize them however, only that wow! For the first time since he arrived, there are other humans on the island with him that are alive! It's an exciting occurrence, and Luffy drags their bodies to the jungle where the tide won't reach.

When poking and prodding don't wake the two, Luffy sets off to gather food for his guests. He still remembers how tired and hungry he was when he first washed ashore, and figures they'd feel the same. As Luffy comes back, Ace wakes up in a panic.

Luffy rushes Ace in excitement and babbles. It's nearly incomprehensible to Ace however, especially in his panicked just-woken hazy-brained state. All Ace wants is to know where Sabo is and where this place is, and pushes Luffy away.

That's when Ace notices Sabo is lying just a few feet away asleep. The tension leaves him immediately and he's able to actually pay attention to the stranger trying to talk to him. 

Luffy is young and shorter than what he would have been had he been able to grow up on Dawn Island. His hair is long, wild and tangled, and he's dressed in furs and leathers. As Ace is studying him, he asks if he's the one who saved him and Sabo. 

For a moment Luffy stares silent, mind untangling the words until they make sense, and then he nods exuberantly. He tries to explain that he found them unconscious on the beach along with their boat, but Ace can barely decipher Luffy's speech. It sounds like someone speaking with a heavy accent at lightning speed.

But it’s then Ace notices the faint scar under Luffy's eye, and the strawhat hanging off his back. That in combination with Luffy's excited movements and speech sets off confusing alarms in his head.

Luffy's dead, Ace knows this, but he forces this strange kid to calm down and asks for his name. Again it takes a moment for Luffy to understand, and he replies. There's that same strange lilt to his words, but it's clear. Monkey D. Luffy! and it's said with a wide, proud grin.

Ace's world tilts then. Luffy? MONKEY D. LUFFY? His brain feels like its shorting out, refusing to register this new bit of information. He thinks he chokes a reply of some kind, but his mind feels blank. Luffy only laughs, not noticing Ace's shock.

In broken speech he asks for Ace's name too, but Ace doesn't hear his question, can only stare at Luffy's face. It can't be Luffy, he thinks. Because if it is... IF IT IS... They're only roughly a week's sail from Dawn Island. Just 7 days.

Is this boy trying to tell Ace that Luffy, in these past 7 years, was only a 7 days boat ride away? And they simply didn't look hard enough? He was here all alone while Ace and Sabo moved on? Ace's heart feels like it's constricting as his vision tunnels in on Luffy.

Luffy's finally noticed that this stranger is looking pale and ill, and pats him in worry. Is he sick? Does he need food? Are you okay, he asks. Ace grabs Luffy's arm then and stares at him with a strange expression. Luffy, it's me, he says, voice shaking. Ace.

Luffy's brows furrow in confusion and he tilts his head. Ace repeats himself, voice growing stronger. I'm Ace! he exclaims, and waits (prays) to see the light of recognition in Luffy's eyes.

Luffy mouths Ace's words silently to himself with frown. Ace? ...ACE! Luffy suddenly leaps towards Ace, landing directly on his chest and crushing him against a tree. He's directly on him and he's got Ace's head clasped roughly between his hands as he stares at his face intently

Ace? Luffy asks out loud, and starts repeating it over and over as he studies Ace's face. Luffy's grip is stronger than expected but Ace manages to give a jerky nod. The piercing stare breaks and Luffy's eyes water. ACE! he cries out in joy and it's the only word he can say.

Luffy wildly paws at Ace's face, then shoulders and arms, as if trying to make sure he's really there, and he's laughing and crying all at once. He then suddenly turns to Sabo on the ground and starts patting his body. He looks up at Ace with a hopeful smile and asks, Sabo?

Ace chokes back a sob because oh. OH. It's really Luffy! He was here this whole time and they never knew! Why hadn't they just looked HARDER? Luffy meanwhile crows in joy and triumph that BOTH his brothers are here with him. 

Ace gets down next to Sabo and starts violently shaking him. Wake up WAKE UP, how can he be SLEEPING when the greatest thing they thought they had lost was BACK. Sabo groans awake and is greeted by the pained teary face of Ace and an equally teary, but grinning stranger

 the shock of the scene jolts Sabo upright and he asks what's wrong? What happened? Ace just points to the boy beside him. It's Luffy, he says through clenched teeth, as if he were trying his best to stave off a breakdown. Huh? Sabo replies, what about Luffy?

 it's LUFFY, Ace grits out again, and this time Luffy chimes in with a cheery, Sabo! and leans in close to his face. Sabo is still confused and Ace nearly snarls in frustration. Luffy's ALIVE, Ace growls, and Luffy laughs. Sabo stares at Luffy and understanding slowly dawns.

 Luffy? he asks in disbelief, and Luffy nods excitedly before crowding in Sabo's face even more. Sabo! Luffy says with a smile and starts repeating his name like he had done with Ace earlier. Sabo, Luffy's been here this whole time, Ace says in a pained whisper.

 This whole time? And the same realization that Ace had grows in Sabo. Luffy, you've been here, all alone...? And we were so close? Sabo's body moves and wraps Luffy's body in a bone crushing hug. Luffy, I- we didn't know! Sabo stammers but it sounds like a terrible excuse.

 Guilt is devouring both Ace and Sabo but Luffy is only smiling. He's overjoyed that his brothers are here, and with their help he can definitely get off this island now! Things do work out!

 We have to go back to Dawn Island, Sabo says suddenly. We need to take Luffy home and we- we gotta tell Gramps! And Dadan and Makino! Luffy's okay! He's okay! And it's like a dam breaks and Sabo is the first one to break down into a full-body sob.

 Luffy gives a cry of dismay and does his best to comfort Sabo. Ace gives in and wraps both Luffy and Sabo in a hug. Both older brothers are whispering apologies to Luffy responds with just wrapping his arms several times around them both in one of his infamous rubbery hugs.

 like luffy had tried to explain earlier, the brothers' ship is beached on the coast and, surprisingly, only suffering a few minor scuffs. their departure is fairly swift, only waiting for the ideal weather after gathering some supplies and luffy's scant belongings

 Perhaps one or two of Luffy's animal friends joins them, but regardless, with the help of a 3 man crew, a sturdy ship, and an actual navigator, Luffy finally escapes the island, and the 3 brothers head home.

 Now all Ace and Sabo have to worry about is helping Luffy readjust to human civilization........

#one piece #feral luffy AU #art #i can only bring myself to write these weird long winded half summary half fic things lol #monkey d. luffy

[yukipri]

Marco’s Bauble Part 4 - a One Piece Mermaid AU Text Story

Next part of Marco’s Bauble! Was posted in advance on Patreon ^ ^

In which the Whitebeards gossip

Contains mention of Marco x Luffy.

Continues off of, and should be read after:

👒🐟Marco’s Bauble Part 1

👒🐟Marco’s Bauble Part 2

👒🐟Marco’s Bauble Part 3

~~

Namur values his crew's privacy. And given that he doubts he was even supposed to see Marco's secret, he absolutely can't disclose it to anyone.

Which is why he's snuck into Izo's room at ass o'clock in the morning, when everyone but the morning shift is asleep, but Izo's awake because he takes a few hours doing his hair and makeup.

"This had better be good, I don't usually enjoy an audience before I'm presentable," Izo says.

Namur doesn't really get what's unpresentable about Izo now. Sure he looks different, with his ridiculously long hair still loose and spilling to his waist, pulled back from his face with a seemingly simple band that Namur saw Izo drop a small fortune for. Izo's plucking up various bottles of liquid lined up on his vanity, methodically shaking a few measured drops into his palm before patting them into his face. Namur doesn't see any difference before and after the drops are applied.

"It's...it's not my secret to tell, but no one else seems to know, and I need to talk to someone, it's too big for just me," Namur says, reluctantly. "But you can't tell anyone, Izo, I mean it."

Izo just hums in response, and Namur sweats. He seems to be doing a lot of that these days. Maybe he needs to take a few days to just swim, being above sea level for too long can be stressful for fishmen.

Because this is already seeming like an increasingly bad idea. Izo isn't known for being particularly good at keeping secrets; if anything, he's a known gossip. That being said, he's also one of the best listeners aboard the Moby (it's how he gets his info), and more importantly, is the third best person to go to for good, thoughtful advice.

The best person to go to for advice is, of course, Pops, but Namur wilts at the mere thought because it really, really isn't his place to talk to Pops about this without Marco's consent. And unfortunately, the close second for Best Person to Go to For Advice is none other than Marco himself, everyone's Big Brother and caring Mother Hen Supreme.

And, well. It's not like Namur can go to Marco to talk about Marco.

"Well, I'm waiting," Izo says, and apparently he'd gone through his entire lineup of six little bottles of mysterious liquids, and is now blotting some paste onto his skin with a weird brush-like contraption. Namur squints, but can barely see any difference between the areas with the paste and without.

"Please don't tell anyone, unless they already know," Namur stresses again, praying.

"Yes, yes." Izo continues blotting.

"Marco proposed to someone."

Izo continues blotting.

Namur sweats.

Izo's hand gradually slows, and Namur realizes he's finished covering his entire face. Namur sees zero difference.

"Just so we're clear," Izo says, as he finally turns to face Namur. "When you say 'Marco,' we're talking about the fire chicken one, and when you say 'propose,' we're talking about the marriage, weddings, and babies type?"

"Babies?!"

No, no, that actually hadn't crossed Namur's mind, but it's there now, and he knows logically that devil fruits don't work like that, but his mind is suddenly filled with the image of an entire school? flock? of tiny colorful winged merbabies, and he's oh, oh NO they're so cu--

"Namur! Focus, please!"

Namur blinks. He doesn't know when it happened, but one of Izo's eyebrows is more defined than the other now.

"Yeah, that Marco," he confirms. "And I, I don't know about...the last thing, but yeah, if successful, usually the kind that results in marriage type."

Izo's oddly calm, and is facing his mirror again. He frowns momentarily, but then smooths his expression and begins applying his other eyebrow. Namur realizes that Izo's able to keep his face so smooth because he wants to draw on his face evenly, and that's actually quite impressive. Though, he has no idea why Izo needs more eyebrows, when he already has perfectly normal ones growing on his face.

"Who's the boy who stole the stupid pineapple's heart, it must be someone we know," Izo says, voice light.

Namur wasn't exactly planning on disclosing this much, he'd just wanted someone else to help him think of how best to support their brother's potentially upcoming union, but Izo's definitely not taking no for an answer, and that's a fight he knows he can't win.

"It's Ace's little brother, the one Thatch went to go fetch," he says reluctantly. "And even though she's his 'little brother,' she's apparently a girl, and a mermaid."

There's a clatter, and Izo curses. Namur tries to peer at Izo's face in the mirror, and notices a weird black blob by his eye that Izo's now trying to delicately smudge off. It wouldn't have been there in the first place if Izo hadn't been trying to poke himself in the eye with the weird brush thing. Namur really doesn't get this makeup business.

"You're telling me," Izo growls, and Namur flinches at the irritation, though he gets the feeling it's directed mostly at the eye blob. "That Marco's straight? I could have sworn he was gay!"

Namur blinks at Izo.

Izo blinks at Namur through the mirror. The eye blob makes his face look slightly crooked.

"Oh, right," Izo mutters, picking up his brush with face distorting ink again. "I thought Marco only liked guys like that, so it surprised me that he likes a girl. Maybe he's bi. Don't worry about it, it's a dumb human thing."

"Oh," Namur says, and yeah, he's heard vaguely about humans being weirdly obsessed with only liking a specific gender or two. It's a very foreign concept that Namur doesn't really get because it doesn't exist on Fishman Island, and romance stuff rarely comes up on the Moby, shockingly enough, or at least in front of Namur. But he's glad Izo doesn't seem too upset, because that would upset Namur. Namur's never met Ace's little brother, but he imagines she'd look so very charming next to Marco, given how in love Marco looked when he was sending off his proposal. He wants to root for them.

"Although, hm, does Ace know? I doubt he'd be very happy about Marco sweeping his dearest little brother off her feet, er, fins," Izo says, seemingly more relaxed now that his face distorting paint is cooperating. His face is now even, although his eyes actually do look different now, more like the Izo Namur usually sees. It's fascinating.

"I don't know," Namur confesses, and he's suddenly feeling very glum at the thought of their little fire cracker baby brother not being happy. Even though Ace didn't formally join, he's still their littlest brother, and Namur's very fond of him, and has honestly lost track of the number of times he's dived into the sea to fetch the reckless kid. He was honestly devastated when Ace said he was leaving. It's alright now, now that Namur knows it was just to bring home Marco's future bride, but he hopes Ace will be supportive too.

"And how did you know he was proposing?"

At this point, what does it matter what else Namur shares? "Well..."

By the time Namur's done answering all of Izo's questions on Fishman Island courtship and Marco's respectful application of it, Izo's done with his face.

"Well, that was certainly a fascinating talk," Izo says with lips the color of a raw fish's innards. "Now I'll have to kick you out before I do my hair. At least I finished my face."

Namur knows he's been excused. "Thank you for your time. Also, it looks very nice, your face," he says politely as he gets up. It seems awkward not to comment on it, after having watched Izo work so hard on it for the past half hour. "Although it looked nice before too. I like the eye paint."

Izo pauses contemplatively, then nods. "That's an acceptable compliment. Thank you. Now, shoo."

~~

"So, who's the wedding for?"

Izo jolts as Haruta settles his tray on the other side of the table.

"What wedding?"

"Don't play dumb. You're planning a wedding. I noticed some of our books were moved in the library, and you were the only one who was in there before me. You were looking up Grand Line marriage traditions, and going through shitty wedding magazines that no one's touched in a decade," Haruta rattles off as he stirs his soup, and Izo inwardly curses.

He thought he'd placed them all back where he'd found them, but alas, apparently nothing gets by Haruta's observation skills, and his talent for butting into business that has nothing to do with him.

"And given the selections, I'd say it's not for you." Haruta continues, as though he knows Izo's tastes by heart and sadly, he probably does, and not just Izo's but the whole crew's. "So someone's getting married, or they're thinking about it, and you're planning. I want to know who."

"You're a nosey little shit," Izo says, because he knows there's really no point in denying it to Haruta without tangible evidence, which he lacks. He's also too tired to deal with this shit, because he did his hair in a hurry in order to make it to the library before everyone woke up, which means it's slightly less perfect than usual. And being anything less than perfect is a truly exhausting business.

"Mm-hmm," Haruta says, and momentarily seems distracted by his plate. There's a tiny, almost imperceptible frown on his lips, and Izo only recognizes it because he'd had the same thought.

The food's by no means bad, and they have many fine cooks on the Moby. It's just, it's a little different, without Thatch's personal touch. Izo hates that their brother's temporary absence is so tangible. Damn him for going on his little vacation.

They continue their meal in silence, and Izo hopes that Haruta's forgotten, his mind having moved on to terrorizing other innocent brothers. Izo thinks he might be able to get away, when Haruta gets up right alongside Izo to return his tray.

"So who is it?" he repeats, as though they hadn't just sat in thirty minutes of silence, and Izo wants to tear out Haruta's hair in frustration, because Izo would never tear out his own hair for any reason.

"It's none of your business, don't you have work to do?"

"My work is knowing stuff. Tell me."

"This isn't something you need to know. That's what I'm telling you."

"Nice try. Lemme guess. Is it Marco?"

Haruta laughs at his own joke, and promptly walks into Izo's back. Izo tries to get over his momentary freeze, but the damage is done.

"Holy shit, it's MARCO?!"

"What happened to Marco?" Vista has the absolute worst timing in entering the cafeteria, because he's standing directly in front of them. He already has his sword sheaths removed from his belt, no doubt so he can polish them in a corner after he's done eating, as is his usual ritual.

Haruta's eyes are blown wide, and Izo wants to stop him but no one can out-talk Haruta when he wants to talk, so it's like watching a cannonball hurtling towards an inevitable collision.

"Marco's getting married."

Vista never drops his swords.

Vista's swords clatter to the ground.

And now everyone inside the cafeteria, and those in the line forming outside behind Vista, all stop to stare.

~~

~~

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

And as always, comments/reblogs/tags always immensely appreciated!!! People sharing their thoughts with me motivates me to write so much more, and update more frequently, so thank you so much for everyone who’s so kindly done so in the past!! ;A;

(The next part’s already up on Patreon if anyone wants to read in advance <3)

❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀

Read the next part: Marco’s Bauble, Part 5

~This ask has been added to the Mermaid AU Text Headcanons Compilation post~

#OnePieceMermaidAU #One Piece Mermaid AU #Marco the Phoenix #MarLu #Whitebeard Pirates #MaLu #Monkey D. Luffy #genderbend #text headcanons #fic #longpost #long post

[nakunakunomi]

Hello!! Congratulations on 300!! Love your writing could I request Ace and #47? Hope you a nice day!!

Hiya! Thank you!!! Some freckly boi goodness for the final scenario of this event! Thank you for participating (and please check your PM for your giveaway prize) I hope you like this scenario!! Enjoy! 

4th time is the charm - Ace x Reader 

Cliche with bae prompt #47: “I have loved you for years” Character: Ace - Word count: 2k 

The first time you were children. A marine ship had come into town, and curiosity had taken over: the vice-admiral leading the ship had brought with him two young boys, his grandsons, who seemed less than impressed with the trip their grandfather took them on. You loudly heard them declare something about pirates and trying to sneak away from their grandpa. And you, a child on the island often running away and hiding, knew just the places to get the boys to! Only the eldest saw your motions and ditched his younger brother without a trace of doubt. 

You learned his name was Ace, the younger brother’s name was Luffy. Ace cared about Luffy, but like many brothers, he didn’t always show. “Besides, he’s got grandpa looking after him.” The two of you (and sometimes the three of you) always ended up playing together on the island for hours on end, oftentimes either their grandpa or your parents looking for you around dinnertime. When they eventually left the island, you hugged him tightly, telling him to visit again if his grandpa would come to the island again. You even cried a little after the ship disappeared from the horizon. 

The second time was when Ace had just become a pirate. You were both just teenagers, just starting to figure out what you wanted in life, but he was already so strong, so determined. He was traveling island to island, trying to recruit people for his crew. When you recognized him, you spent multiple days catching up. But at the end of his visit, he wouldn’t take you along on his travels. “You’re too weak y/n, I wouldn’t want you getting hurt because of the pirate life”. 

You were incredibly hurt, more than you thought you’d be. You asked him if he’d by come again if he would take you along when you were stronger. “You’ll have to prove your strength y/n”, he said, “but if you are strong enough, I’ll take you along.” That was enough to set your heart ablaze, and you wished that the hug goodbye would never end. It did, unfortunately, but you did not cry as he left the island this time. You were determined to get stronger.

And thus you trained every single day, no matter how sore you were from the day before. And you did get stronger. Became skilled with many weapons, started learning Haki. You were contemplating leaving the island to go look for a devil fruit. But you couldn’t really leave now, not when Ace might come by again and take you along on his travels.

Years went by and you kept an eye on the newspapers and saw how he became more and more notorious. He and his Spade pirates were making a name for themselves. He’d eaten a devil fruit and had even refused a position as a shichibukai, and even though it made your heart swell with pride and even maybe even a little love, it also made you worried. You were strong, but not that strong, and it had been years now. Maybe he’d never return at all. 

The third time you met was after he’d already joined the Whitebeard pirates and you had started traveling on your own. Tired of waiting for him, and half-convinced he was not going to show up anymore, you were now going from island to island, combining low-level bounty hunting with each and every little job you could find in order to keep in shape and earn money to support your travels and upgrade your weapons. You were not sure what your long-term goals were exactly, maybe you wanted to join a pirate crew eventually, but for now, you settled for exploring the world. You had seen amazing things already and you were sure there were plenty of adventures still to come.

When you heard a ruckus outside, you were pretty sure another pirate crew was on its way to the bar where you were working at the moment. It was one of the biggest in town, and you had seen your fair share of pirates. You just hoped they weren’t the angry types of drunks. Not that you couldn’t handle them, they were just a way bigger pain to deal with. 

When the door opened, you looked up smiling, ready to greet the new guests, but fell immediately speechless when the first thing you saw was the freckled face of the man you had been waiting for at home. He was just as surprised to see you as you were to see him, and long, firm hugs were exchanged, with plenty of unnecessary comments from his crew. You provided him and his friends with drinks and spent the entire night almost neglecting other customers in order to catch up with Ace. 

He apologized for not coming to get you and explained how he had found this crew, or family, as he’d like to call them. He told you of his adventures so far, and you told him about yours. Yours weren’t nearly as impressive as his were, but he still listened to you intently, asking questions and praising your strength and skilled that you had honed over the years. You didn’t dare tell him it was all for him, in hopes he’d take you along after that. You didn’t get to explain too much, somewhere halfway through one of your stories his head suddenly drooped and he fell asleep right then and there. The crew laughed and explained to you that it was quite a common occurrence and to just wait it out. 

By the time he woke up, it was nearing the morning, everyone leaving so you could close the bar for the night. Ace apologized profusely, and you told him he could make it up to you by meeting you again the next day. His ears were turning red and he looked positively embarrassed, but he did say yes, avoiding any and all eye contact before he waved you goodbye and followed the rest of the crew back to the ship. 

The next day he met you at the back of the bar, and you took him to one of the more quiet places on the island, enjoying the view together. There were no awkward silences, conversation flowed so easily and it had been as if you were talking for years on end, not these random faithful encounters that made your heart flutter every single time. You were wondering if you should tell him how you feel, but now that you were on your own adventure, it would not be as easy to keep up a relationship as it would have been all those years ago. Besides, he had his own family now, no use in trying to work your way into his world, which was always so different from yours.

You were sitting together for a while when he suddenly stopped talking, his head falling onto your shoulder, and because you weren’t prepared and flinched when it happened, slipped onto your lap. He was fast asleep again, in a position that didn't really seem comfortable. You tried to gently shake him awake but to no avail. You tried to move his body as much as you could to make him at least a little bit more comfortable and made sure his neck wasn’t bent in a funny way that could potentially hurt him when he woke up. Not wanting to move now that he seemed relaxed, and softly snoring, you settled for raking your hands through his hair. Although he was sleeping soundly, Ace seemed to lean into your touch a little. 

When you grew tired of curling his locks around your fingers -you didn’t want to mess his hair up too badly-, you settled for counting his freckles, softly tracing those on his shoulders. You felt him shift a little and pulled your hand back when you looked down and saw his eyes were open, something in between a gentle smile and a full-on grin on his face, mixed in with some embarrassment, out of all times to fall asleep, this wasn’t the best possible moment.  

A few moments of slightly uncomfortable silence and some insanely intense eye contact later, Ace sat up straight again and was on his feet. You followed suit, walking back, it had become quite late and he didn’t want to worry his crewmates. You understood but felt the pang in your heart as he said goodbye. You pulled him in for a hug, which he returned. When you let go, he still held onto your arms, as if he wanted to say something more, the words ready to roll off his tongue. And yet he seemed to swallow them. You couldn’t get yourself to spill your feelings either, so heartfelt goodbyes were all that was exchanged that night. 

You regretted not saying or doing anything from that moment on. The next morning the big ship was nowhere to be seen, and you had no idea when you’d ever see him again. With both of you actively traveling, the possibility of you running into each other again was insanely small. But you moved on nonetheless. 

The fourth and final time was when Ace was solo traveling as well, and you did not recognize him as you were sprinting to get the final spot in an overcrowded bar. You jumped onto the barstool only to bump right into a muscular chest who’d been just a little faster to claim that final spot for some drinks and dinner. You cursed loudly and were surprised when you heard someone call out your name. Ace. 

He quickly offered you the spot, and another evening of catching up ensued, and he told you all about how he was going after someone from his division that had killed another of his family. You listened intently as you saw the pain and guilt on his face when he blamed himself for not being able to catch this man. Your heart made all sorts of jumps when he placed his hand on yours and told you not to worry. You made up your mind right then and there. 

“I want to come along with you” “y/n… I don’t think..” “I won’t get in your way, I won’t fight if you tell me not to, and even if you say no, I’ll just be happening to travel in the same direction as you are.” You shrugged and he couldn’t help but laugh at that statement. “Don’t you have your own adventures to live?” “Oh Ace, I initially traveled to seek you out.” His smile faded as he looked at you confused. “I have been in love with you for years now. Please take me along, I cannot take another goodbye.” His mouth opened and closed a few times to say something, his brain obviously not catching up with what you had just said, and you made the bold move of leaning forward and softly pressing your lips to his in order to put some action behind your words. You were careful though, so he could still reject them in case you had completely misread the situation. 

You had not: once he got over the initial shock of the situation, he wrapped one arm around your waist, the other sneaking to the back of your head so he could deepen the kiss. You only pulled back when the bartender made a clicking noise, not the best place to share an intense kiss while other people were just trying to enjoy their meal. You both were blushing as you looked in each other’s eyes. 

“I thought I’d never get you to travel along with me. I love you y/n. Always have, for all these y-” His head slumped forward and you managed to catch it right in time before it landed in his plate. You giggled. Maybe it would be a good idea that someone came along on his travels.

#ace x reader #portgas d ace x reader #ace #portgas d ace #One piece #one piece writing #one piece headcanon #one piece imagine #imagine #one piece x reader #headcanon #reader insert #one piece HC #request #HC request #300 followers event #cliche with bae #dam-snackbar

[madlymiho]

Miho! Welcome back mon coeur! Can I ask you for HC’s on how Ace, Sanji and Zoro would prepare for their first time with an s/o they’ve been pining for? It’s so wonderful to have you back!

Hello mon ange! ~ thanks for this adorable request, omg, I love it! 💚

I hope you'll like it!

Warning : slightly - mid NSFW

Ace :

• When Ace fell in love with you, he has imagined what sex would be with you. The scenarios are always playing in his head, and most of the time, it has helped him vainquish his own shyness

• He feels that your feelings are also changing, and soon enough, that physical barrier would be broken. He knows that he needs to be ready for it, and he makes a few efforts to make you feel at ease

• There's no date settled. Ace doesn't want to require something, he prefers for you to be entirely sure and ready. He's just more physically present though, caressing your thighs, brushing your hair... warm touches wich can definitely lead to something more carnal

• He cleans up his room ; putting everything where it should be, making sure that the bed is also ready and the sheets clean. He's not very aware of what he should have, yet, he definitely has condoms and lube in his drawer, when you'd be ready (no need to say there's plenty of them if you want to have a lot of fun!)

• For his own hygiene, well, Ace cuts a bit of his hair down there and showers everyday. He knows that sometimes he used to be a bit boderline concerning his everyday cleanliness. Ace doesn't want to have a bad surprise, and it thrills him because... who knows what could happen today?

• Ah, well, to be honest, Ace is worried about his performance. Basically, he wants you to have the best time ever, and for that, he can't let you down. So yes, he jerks off a little bit more than usual, not enough to decrease his libido, but enough to be sure to last when you'll be under him

• So the day it would finally happen, and even if he's slightly nervous, Ace has prepared for everything. You just need to let yourself go in his hungry kisses, slowly but surely heading to the most tender intercourse ever

Sanji :

• Sanji is honestly like a lost puppy when it comes to you, and it clearly affects his behaviors. He's so in love that he has already needed more than once a blood injection, and he's really not able to think straight when you're around

• Sanji desperately hopes to become physical with you, and that, since day one. He's still a gentleman, though, despite his comments and his nosebleeds, and he perfectly understands that you need time. But for him, it's time to be ready, it's a part of the perfect boyfriend attitude

• Among all the Straw Hat men, Sanji is certainly the one with the most cleanest hygiene. He takes a shower everyday, and usually cuts or shaves his hair, so you don't need to worry about it. He knows how to give the best of him, on the physical appearance matter, and if he can seduce you, well, it's an absolute win!

• Of course, Sanji needs to really clean his room, and more than cautiously! Between his porn zines, and the many kleenex in his trash, he clearly doesn't want you to find those... It would ruin the mood, and he doesn't want to look like a pervert when he needs to be the perfect gentleman

• He disposes candles, flowers, towels, tissus, basket of fruits, chocolate, champagne, condoms and lube... Everything is ready for you to feel at ease. He wants to treat you as the princess you are, and honestly, when you finally decide to take things further, you're absolutely mesmerized by what he did for you

• Sanji, as Ace, discreetly gets himself in the mood as well, and wants his performance to be the best. Watching photos of you, he masturbates at least four or five times a week. At least, he's more than concentrated the day you will share his bed, focus on your desires, and not his

• So for your first intimate moment with him, Sanji is as his physical appearance : perfectly ready. He wants to swipe you away in another world and he would make sure that you'd have the best time ever in his sheets... and you will!

Zoro :

• Zoro is seriously a desperate cause. He doesn't really know where your relationship would lead ; he just feels that yes, more than once, his pants are a bit tight whenever you're too close, and that's it's pleasant to jerk off, thinking about you

• Not that he's a total ignorant, but Zoro isn't the most romantic fellow either. Sex is sex, okay? It's just putting his cock inside of you and comes, so why should he gets prepare for this? Why does he have the sensation it's a big deal when it's not?

• He does know that one day you will probably cross that line, and since you seem to be ready, well, you should just do it without making a whole ceremony for it. So he's a bit surprised when you tell him that you need to prepare yourself first

• It makes him wonder what he should do... And perhaps cutting a bit of his hair could be enough? He growls, unsure, getting more and more nervous because he has no clue... what's the meaning of all of this? It just feels awkward and impossible to handle! Sex is that complicated? Well... He's definitely blind to his own feelings so he's messy

• He's so desperate that he requires the help of the men onboard (anyone but Sanji and Luffy). Franky gives him a good amount of condoms, and Chopper warns him about STDs and other bad stuff if he doesn't protect himself... which literally destroy Zoro's confidence and affects his mood, especially toward you

• So when you're finally about to cross the line, you discover a very panicked Zoro, suddenly parting his lips, his cheeks a bit red. He awkwardly asks if you have any disease he should be aware of... and before you could answer, surprised, he growls that "fuck that" and hungrily leads you to the nest (no need to mention he didn't really clean it)

• Of course, during your first time together, and overwhelmed by all his emotions, Zoro forgot about the condoms, the lube, the towels and everything... It's carnal as hell, but at least, you seem definitely very satisfied (and utterly tired...)

#one piece headcanons #one piece headers #one piece imagine #roronoa zoro #portgas d ace #vinsmoke sanji #zoro one piece #portgas d. ace #black leg sanji #one piece hc #one piece #one piece hcs #not suitable #slightly lemon #lipstickandbarbedwire

[psychedelic-ink]

Hidden by a smile

Believe me or not, I did as Law said; I didn’t try working out in secret, I didn’t try to look for something to do around the ship, in fact, I did nothing that would count as exertion at all. I walked around the ship, exploring the space – gosh, I did a lot of walking – saw Jean Bart move the shelves back into Law’s office and felt a bit guilty, so I hurried my step, I swear I stood in front of a window for hours just watching the underwater view. I also went to check on Bepo just before lunch, he was still out…

Shachi and Penguin called me over to sit with them at the mess hall. They were really nice guys and told me that Ikkaku – that they knew I was looking for – had her work cut out for her after the fight and she wouldn’t be leaving it until it was done. I also noticed Law’s absence but didn’t voice it, figuring that, as the captain, he could just eat later. We talked through lunch, the boys were alright, asked me about my crew and if I had a boyfriend – I assured them they had no chance – I was never the kind of girl that daydreams about a boy. My daydreams were about the ocean, the tides and all the mysteries they held. Still, Shachi and Penguin were fun to hang out with.

I was a bit lost in conversation when I see something that has me drop my fork and run for the door. Standing there, alive and well was a friendly face I wouldn’t soon forget “JIMBEI!” I called out just as I jump to hug him.

He hugs me back and laughs “Luna! It’s so good to know that you’re alright!” he said and I felt his voice vibrating through his big chest “When I visited your brother, I was worried for you, but Trafalgar said you might be here.”

I pulled away to look at him “I didn’t even know you were here! I thought you might’ve gone with the Whitebeard Pirates!”

“No, after I got away from Admiral Akainu, this pirate with a big red nose caught all three of us and I’m afraid I lost consciousness at around that time.” He replied.

As I let myself fall back to the ground, I noticed that he was also wrapped up in bandages “Did you get hurt?! What happened?! Are you ok?!”

He took his big hands and placed them on my shoulders, smiling kindly but I was worried, could’ve sworn that he wasn’t that badly injured before I passed out, I wondered what happened to him but he just said “Do not worry yourself with that, I’m alright now.” And dismissed my worry for a nice plate of warm food “How are you doing, Luna?”

I looked myself up and down “Eh…” I shrugged “My injuries are healing but Law is about to murder me since I keep getting new ones.” I saw his eyes widen slightly and I quickly laughed it off “Don’t worry, I’ve settled down. I… think?”

Jimbei put his left hand over my right shoulder as he was just a step short of being beside me “That’s not what I meant…” I suddenly felt the weight of his hand on my shoulder and how his arm covered most of my view “I’m sorry.” There was the smoke… The blood. My brother’s blood… I looked down at my hands – blood.

Smile. I told myself. Breathe and smile.

“I’m alright.” I nodded with the best smile I could muster. I didn’t have the breath to say anything else. I just waved off as I walked back into the hallways.

It was so hot all of a sudden…

I unzipped the jacket and took it off. The smoke…

I took a deep breath but it didn’t really happen. Shit, what’s…?

My legs gave out from under me as I walked and I came crashing down on the floor. Why was breathing suddenly so hard…? It was like I had to tell my lungs to expand, tell the oxygen to go down my throat but there didn’t seem to be enough oxygen around me.

As I reached for my shirt, I noticed I was shaking. Why am I…? I felt suffocated.

I couldn’t feel my legs, I couldn’t breathe, I was shaking like a leaf in the wind “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!” my voice cracked but I didn’t have it in me to cry “Damn it…”

All I heard was my unreliable heartbeat but it’s not like I could spare any energy on anything but trying to get my lungs to function. Everything was drowned out. Ifelt like I as drowning.

“Luna…” A single familiar voice broke through the memories of the war, through the smoke, through the blood. I looked up to see Law, a bit blurred, I couldn’t focus my eyes but I was sure it was him. I know I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. Law looked around before he put his sword down on the side and showed me his hands “It’s a panic attack. Have you ever had one before?” I shook my head “Let me help, ok?” I nodded and he moved to kneel beside me, I felt one of his hands on my back as he held out his other hand for me. I took hold of it before I knew it, like a lifeline at sea “I know it’s hard, but take a deep breath in.” I saw him do it and I instinctively mimicked him. It hurt. Breathing hurt like there was a force pressing on my chest but I didn’t even notice that I held on tighter to his hand “That’s it. Now out…” his voice was calm as he exhaled and I tried to do the same. Breathing out was easier but I could still feel myself shaking “Again, c’mon.” he took a deep breath in again and soon enough let it out again. I couldn’t say how long we were at it, but it helped. I stopped shaking, I could see again, and I could even move my legs to sit better now “There you go…” I took one final breath in and looked over at his golden eyes, so soft, I didn’t think I had seen those eyes so soft before “Are you feeling better?”

I nodded “Y-Yeah…” my voice was still shaky, but it was settling now “Sor---”

“You say sorry, I swear I’m smacking you over the head.”

I scoffed with the little energy I had regained and noticed he hadn’t tried to pull his hand away from mine, despite how sweaty I could tell I was. Self-consciously, I pulled my hand back and rubbed it against my shirt “Thanks then…”

“It’s alright.” He said, shifting to now sit on the floor instead with one hand supporting his weight and the other over his knee “With the way you’ve been acting, I figured this might happen…” I raised him an eyebrow but he just shrugged “You wake up only a couple of days after your body goes way over it’s limit and you’re all smiles? Sorry kitty, but that’s not how trauma works.”

“I wish you’d stop calling me a cat, I’m a tiger.”

“I wish you’d stop calling me a panda.”

I rolled my eyes, the motion made me feel a bit dizzy “Agree to disagree.”

“You’re doing it again.” I dropped the smile I didn’t even realize I had and when I focused back on him, I noticed how sharply his golden eyes landed on mine “Look, you can’t just brush this off. It’s not going to go away that easily.”

“What am I supposed to do, then?” I snapped at him, it wasn’t his fault in the least, but this sudden attack thing had freaked me the hell out “I can’t sit with Luffy because I’m absolutely terrified that I’ll be watching my last brother die! I can’t sit by myself because it floods my head with bad memories that hurt like hell and good memories that make me want to rip my heart out of my chest! I can’t distract myself with doing things because I’m too fucking weak to handle that and these damn scratches! I can’t mope around and cry either because I’m so damn tired of that shit! I couldn’t do anything when we lost Sabo! I couldn’t do anything when we lost Ace! And now I’m watching as I lose Luffy and I still can’t fucking do anything! I’m so freaking useless! I’m always the one that needs protecting, the one that’s been watching them go! I mean, look at me! I’ve been doing so well, I vowed that I’d come out of this a new me, better, like a phoenix! And all it fucking takes to bring me crumbling down is my stupid brain connecting a ‘sorry’ to losing Ace!”

I only felt his hand on my cheek, his thumb brushing away tears I didn’t realize were raining down my face and I stopped. I locked eyes with him, the golden of his irises burning into my empty grey ones “A phoenix needs to allow themselves to burn up before they can come back from the ashes.” He said, pulling his hand back to him “You can’t just put on a smile and make it go away, Luna. As a doctor, I’m supposed to tell you that it might pass eventually but I personally know better. It doesn’t pass, that hole in your chest that makes you want to tear the world apart, it’s not going to go away. You’ll just learn to deal with it better.” I looked down but he reached out his hand again and lifted my chin back up “But first, first you need to let that burn over you. Let what the war hurt. Let the loss of your brother hurt. If you shut it out, it’s not a door you’ll be able to easily open up again.”

I pulled my hair back with one hand as I looked down “I’m just so lost without them…” he didn’t say anything and I looked back at him “Can I tell you a secret?”

He raised me an eyebrow as that wiseass smirk came back to his lips “What? What we’ve been talking about is public knowledge?”

I narrowed my eyes at him “Oh, shut it, panda.” That seemed to have annoyed him enough and I continued as I looked at the empty hall “We had him, you know…? We were so close…” then I turned back to him “I don’t know what kind of story the marines are trying to sell, but we had him. My brother wasn’t executed, he was murdered. We managed to get to the scaffolding, we managed to get him out of the cuffs, we were on our way back through the war when…” I couldn’t bring myself to say it, I just looked at my hand. The same hand that had held his, the same hand that had let go when he turned to Akainu…

“And that will always be a part of you.” He said, making me look back at him “You’ll just have to learn how to carry it…”

“Did you?” he didn’t reply “When you lost your sister… Did you learn how to carry that with you?”

We sat in silence for a moment, in my numb state I thought that maybe I had stepped over a line there, but as he looked to the other end of the empty hall and sighed, he said “You’re already doing better than I did at the time.” Then he turned back to look at me “I went straight to the tear the world apart thing and it took a great man to get me started on the right path…” he even smiled but he wasn’t looking at me anymore “But then again, I did turn into a pirate so I’m not quite sure I can call this ‘the right path’. Definitely better than the one I was heading down though… Hell, I’m certain I wouldn’t be alive right now without Cora-san…” he got up and gave me his hand for support so that I could get up too “Now let’s find my jacket.”

I tilted my head “Your jacket…?”

He smiled back at me “Yeah, the long black jacket you’ve been wearing? Mine. And now you seemed to have left it who knows where.”

“That’s… Your jacket?”

“Yeah.”

I rubbed my face as I remembered the nice smell that had come from the fabric the first time I put it on “I fucking hate my enhanced senses right now…” I grumbled.

“What did you say?”

“I said I had it in the mess hall!”

[crapitskizaru]

Step On It. (Driving School!AU)

Chapters: (0), (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7)

Summary: you’re desperately trying to learn how to drive, but the instructors at your local driving school happen to be quite…eccentric, doing more harm than good. Will you be able to pass the exams before New Year’s Eve and win the bet with your friend?

Word Count: 2k

You exhaled deeply in the heated inside of the car. Most of the buttons and colorful gauges on the control board were still a bit of a mystery to you - that being the reason you had the textbook open on your lap as you leafed desperately through the pages. It also had something to do with the fact that you had been waiting a rather long time for your instructor who was nowhere to be found.

There was a squirming knot in your belly that reappeared with double force whenever your thoughts got sidetracked, imagining all the tragic accidents that you could be the cause of. With Law and his wits, his calming voice and dependable manner, those exact thoughts seemed to just vanish into the thin air; but with Kid? That man already gave you a scare yesterday, and that was even before he got to be your instructor. 

So much time had passed, you managed to spot most of the student drivers that happened to be struggling with the same issues as you were, wandering in and out of the driving school office. 

You jumped in surprise when someone knocked on the window. 

“Didn’t mean to scare you.” Law’s usual smirk seemed forced. You noticed, not without a bitter taste of reluctance, your heart skipping a beat at the sight of his messy, dark hair and alluring gaze.  “Eustass-ya will be driving with you to-”

“I remember,” you gritted out. “I thought you said you’ll be absent today?” 

“I just came to grab some papers and I’m out, but I think I’ll be able to check on you later. Also, (Name)-ya, don’t take things he says personally. Oh, and if he ever suggests-” 

“Yeah, yeah, get your skinny ass away from my car, Trafalgar. I hope you two already cleaned up after yourselves,” Kid said, making you grimace at the hidden meaning behind his words. He didn’t seem too bothered about that, pushing Law away and getting into the car - his posture was huge, but he moved with surprising smoothness. “Well? Are we drivin’ or waitin’ to die here? Start that car, kid. What’s that?” 

The last question was asked when Kid noticed the textbook on your lap - which was briskly snatched by him and thrown over the shoulder onto the back seat as he growled. “This ain’t a bookclub.”

Am I really going to drive with that maniac? you thought and took a deep breath, turning the key in the ignition. Already, you noticed your hands starting to shake when you reached up to clench them around the wheel. 

“I think you could practice some turns today. It’s easy,” Law added and you couldn’t help but reciprocate when he sent you a smirk. The last thing you wanted was to be left alone with the redheaded individual while Law was so available, or at least seemed to be. 

Apparently, Kid thought otherwise. He furiously rolled the window all the way upwards, cutting Law off. “Enough of that creep. Hit the road.” 

If all of your survival instincts suddenly decided to gather together, they’d be telling you to get out of the car and run. You disregarded the negative thoughts. What could possibly happen? That guy was an instructor, it’s his job to take care of your safety. 

Clinging to that desperate conviction, you slowly rolled the car out in the direction of a curve. Before you entered the main street, in your side-view mirror there was Law, talking with the ridiculously tall man you already knew was trying to teach Luffy how to handle a car. Drake seemed like a good instructor, but he didn’t always land himself very fortunately when it came to students. 

“Oi,” Kid disturbed your train of thoughts. “Eyes on the road, sweetheart. You’ll check that skinny ass out later.”

The heat in the car suddenly started to feel more intense. The vibes, however, were different than the ones Doffy gave out - his were annoyed and aggressive, whereas with Kid your worries were directed more towards how unpredictable and bold he was able to get. 

“He’s my instructor,” you mumbled, trying to keep the redness out of your cheeks, but it only seemed to gain in strength. 

“Pft, so what? He won’t be teachin’ you forever, will he?” 

Kid’s words rung in your ears, making them tint as well. Wriggling in the seat, you tried to focus on driving. Without Law’s clear instructions, it was challenging to keep up with all of the sequences before each turn, crossing and in traffic jam.

“So,” Kid sighed, stretching and sprawling his long limbs all over the place when you got stuck on a red light. “Why are you here?” 

“What do you mean? I want to get a driver’s license.” Your lips pressed into a thin line as you slowly got the car going, but it kept swinging back and forth. 

“Yeah, but why? Most peeps change schools after the first lesson. Why didn’t you? And release the clutch slower next time, add more gas.” 

You nodded with a deep inhale, keeping your eyes on the road. “I made a bet with a friend. I have to get that license before New Year’s Eve. He’s also a student here and wants me to get through the same school.”

“Who is he? And what if you lose?” He smirked mischievously, as if the perspective of you losing the bet was giving him some sort of satisfaction. A grimace bent his face when a rusty car drove past you. “Are you gonna let that jerk pass you? C’mon, step on that gas.” 

“50 is the speed limit here. And I’ll have to get whatever tattoo design Ace comes up with.” 

“Ace?” If your instructor had been drinking water, he’d have spit it out dramatically all over the place. Thankfully, he wasn’t, so he limited his reaction to a pitiful snort. “That dumbass? He can barely hold the wheel for more than half an hour before he hits the hay while the car is on full speed.” Kid snarled and looked out of the window. “That’s dumb. You don’t always manage to get the license fast and on the first try. Even if you’re a good driver.”

That’s the challenge, you thought but decided to keep quiet. On a roundabout, you took the wrong lane; all the blood suddenly rushed into your brain when Kid jerked the wheel to the right and directed the car the right way. Driving seemed like child’s play when you observed how he handled the car - with such confident manner, it was simply admirable. 

“When you wanna turn back on a roundabout, take the outer lane. Common mistake.” You took his words as a way to say ‘don’t worry about it’ - despite that, your hands started to sweat and tremble even harder than before. 

“Oi, get yourself together,” he mumbled, letting you take the wheel back. “More chill. You ain’t gonna crash while I’m in the car with you, sweetheart.” 

Thankfully, you two managed to make it alive to the maneuvering area; Kid hit the radio at some point and the tunes of Psycho Circus accompanied you when you entered the training place, the whole car vibrating due to how loud he set the radio on. 

“This whole fuckin’ school is a psycho circus,” Kid muttered under his breath, making you giggle. It felt as if a barrier had been lifted from in between you two - this man certainly wasn’t as bad as he posed to be at first. Or so you’d thought, back then.

He sent out careless waves to other instructors when you passed them. Since Law suggested to practice turns, you directed the car towards where the designated lanes were drawn - but, of course, Kid had other ideas. 

“Trafalgar wanted some curves, didn’t he? He’d need some for himself. But a’ight, he’ll get what he wanted. See those white lines on the road? Park there.”

As soon as the engine was turned off, you were able to look around the area. Immediately you spotted the absurd duo entering the place as well, with Drake being the one driving. He surely didn’t trust Luffy to maneuver the car in the public roads properly just yet, smart man. 

They pulled over beside you; Luffy rolled the window down with the usual grin on his face. “Shi shi shi, you guys are getting a lift too?” 

“I’m not giving you a lift, Luffy!” Drake barked from behind the boy’s back. “You were supposed to pay attention to the sequences-” 

“This kind of looks like we’re racing, shi shi!” 

With how much you wanted to disregard that horrifying idea, you couldn’t help but admit Luffy was right. Your cars were lined up perfectly, with a long, empty track in front. One glance at Kid was enough to guess just what he was thinking.

“Oi,” he started, and you already wanted to reply a strong ‘No’. “Wanna learn what true drivin’ is about? How about a quick race, Drake? My student against yours.” 

The repeated shaking of your head was left ignored when the instructor got out of the car, standing near enough for you to hear him. Drake looked like the exact reflection of your panicked thoughts when he pressed his lips into a thin line, trying to politely decline. 

“No, thank you. Luffy isn’t skilled enough yet. And it’s just an unnecessary risk too, since-” 

His sentence was abruptly cut off when another car lined up, tires screeching. This time it was a man you hadn’t seen before. His student was also a new sight - the girl looking fierce and just itching to step on that gas pedal with all of her might, her pink hair spreading around her shoulders in a similar fashion to Hina.

“Ah,” Kid smirked with content, greeting the new instructor. “Finally someone normal. What do you say, Shanks? A little race?” 

“Only if I get to race with you, after hours,” Shanks casually replied, much to your dread and panic, leaving his student in the car. “Get on it, Bonney!” 

The conversation and agreements in between the instructors were happening just too fast, as for your taste. You were barely able to comprehend the situation, when, all of a sudden, you found Kid spurring you on as if everything was already settled. 

“C’mon, kid! Show them what that skinny bastard taught you!” 

“W-wait,” you stuttered, turning over your shoulder and searching for your only ally in this predicament. Drake was already getting out of his car and jogging over to you, his eyebrows furrowed and expression concerned. 

“(Name), you don’t have to do this. Trafalgar asked me to keep an eye on you, and this is the exact opposite of what you’d consider safe-” 

“Oi, quit rambling! Let them feel those engines!” Kid laughed, quickly joined by Shanks. Those two looked like they were already having fun, whereas you felt like the heavens were calling out to you, pure terror creeping up your spine. What contributed further to this catastrophe of a lesson was another KISS song suddenly tuning in from the radio - Shout It Out Loud this time, which might have fitted the situation quite well, if only you weren’t busy enough trying to keep your heart inside your chest and not yet gushing out of your throat from nerves. 

Anything could go wrong. What if you lose control of the car? What if something suddenly jumps in front of the hood? What if the brakes stop working? You sent Drake a plead for help and, seeing his worried gaze, you were ready to get out of the car and just go home. 

“You scared or what? I did this a million times already,” Bonney yelled over to you from her seat, her furiously pink lipstick visible from the distance. “I wanna race! C’mon!” 

You took a deep breath. Maybe it would turn out to be good practice, after all. It was almost certain Law wouldn’t approve of this, but he wasn’t here. 

“It’s okay, I can try,” you told Drake, earning yourself a loud cheer from Shanks and a grin from Bonney. 

Luffy’s instructor still wasn’t convinced, however, as he took on a strict tone of a teacher scolding a disobedient child. “Kid, no.” 

“Kid, yes,” your instructor mocked and gestured for you to get the car started back on. 

#eustass kid #xoxobb #one piece #trafalgar law #x drake #diez drake #jewelry bonney #driving school au #shanks #monkey d luffy #monkey d. luffy #op scenario #one piece scenario #op imagine #one piece imagine #op fanfiction #op fanfic #one piece fanfiction #trafalgar law x reader #one piece fanfic

[cheswirls]

save the trouble (but you're already here)

little late gift for @alpanmix, i got sick while editing ;; then i got sick again.. 2020 has not been kind to me, sorry love. here’s 15k of asl to make up for it.

[ thx opsecretsanta2019​ for hosting ]

“Ace is coming back.”

Sabo’s fingers tighten around the corner of the blanket he held. He glances over at Luffy, who’s sat with the tabletop in his arms, waiting for the go ahead to place it atop the blanket. He looks, for all intents and purposes, rather calm. Like the news wasn’t out of the ordinary. Like he’d mentioned going out with his friends or needing something from the store. Like it wasn’t supposed to bother Sabo so bad.

Unfortunately, it does.

Sabo turns away before Luffy can look back at him. He goes back to straightening the blanket atop the low kotatsu table, keeping an eye on the cord that would later go into the wall. “Is that so?” he mutters before he can help it. Now he knows Luffy is looking at him, his eyes narrowed and lips pursed. He scowls in response. His hand waves out, gesturing to the miniscule space around them. “Where’s he even gonna stay, Luf? Not like our apartment is that big.” 

Luffy shrugs the best he can around the tabletop. He looks unbothered by the growl in Sabo’s voice. “We can figure it out when he gets here. My room is definitely too small to share, though.”

Sabo tugs too sharply on the blanket, sending it up off the floor on one side. He sighs and releases his hold, crawling over to the misaligned side to fix it. “He’s not sharing mine,” he says, voice firm. He looks over and Luffy flicks his eyes away, brows growing pinched. “Uh-huh,” he mumbles, seeing through Luffy’s intentions. 

“But Sa-”

“Just put him in your room. You can share mine.” He gives Luffy a pointed look. “Any problem with that?”

Luffy just sighs, his chin digging into the wood.

-

Luffy is the one to pick Ace up from the station. He’s the only one.

Ace resists a yawn as he moves further into the room, dragging along a suitcase that he releases in favor of steadying himself when Luffy jumps on him. It crashes to the ground as Luffy wraps his arms around his shoulders, and Ace only sighs and returns the hug in fervor. 

“I missed you,” Luffy says, and Ace forgives him for the heels digging into his side.

“It’s good to see you too.” He sets Luffy down after a minute, adjusting the bag on his shoulders. “Is it still snowing? I think I saw some on my way here.”

Luffy bobs his head. He reaches down to grab the handle to Ace’s luggage, pulling it along. “Yeah, started this morning.” He tugs on the scarf wrapped around his neck. “Sabo wouldn’t let me leave the house without at least this.”

“Ah.” Ace’s shoulders tense slightly at the mention of the name. “He’s not here?” he casually mentions, testing the waters.

“No.” Luffy sighs. “He’s at work. Didn’t even ask off.” He mutters the last part, but Ace still manages to catch it. “Don’t worry, though. You’ll see him later!”

“Right.” His eyes move to the side, catching the snow falling as they move outside. He reaches out a hand, letting some flakes fall into it. “He’s . . still not in school?”

“Not yet,” Luffy hums. “He wants to be, but . .” He hesitates. “Well. Money’s kinda tight right now.” A gust of wind has him dropping the topic in favor of grasping Ace’s arm, tugging him forward. “C’mon, it’s too cold to be standing around! Let’s go home already.”

Ace smiles, letting himself be pulled along. “Lead the way.”

-

Luffy drags all of Ace’s stuff into the bigger bedroom as he investigates the kotatsu set up in the main room. He doesn’t question this, figuring Luffy had won the room somehow. He tries to recall any conversation he’d had with his youngest brother that would support this, but comes up blank. Well, nothing to disprove it either, he supposed.

“Wanna try it?” Luffy says, startling him from his thoughts. Ace looks from him to the table, conveniently already plugged in, like someone had expected them to come in and use it. “We set it up last week,” Luffy mentions, pushing Ace forward until he was sat under it, sighing in appreciation as his skin met the heat.

“Feels nice,” he murmurs. Luffy scoots him over until they’re sat side-by-side, reaching for the bowl of mini oranges placed on the tabletop. Ace almost snorts at he catches sight of it. Typical Sabo.

He tips, leaning into Luffy’s side, and gets a questioning hum in response. “Tired,” he mumbles. “Think I’m gonna shower and get some sleep.”

Luffy sets the top half of the peel on the table and pops a piece of the fruit into his mouth. He’s on his second one before he answers Ace. “Okay. But tomorrow we’re doing stuff together!”

Ace huffs out a quiet laugh. “Yeah, sounds good.”

He disentangles himself from his brother easily enough, padding over to the bathroom and shutting the door. He’s shrugging off his shirt when the door suddenly opens, and he looks up as Luffy pokes his head in. 

“I forgot to mention,” he mumbles around his orange. “Make sure you turn the fan on or everything gets all wet.” He moves a hand to tap above the second switch near the sink. “Sabo says the room’s too small or something, I don’t really remember. But he gets super mad when I forget to leave it on, so-” He waves his hand and Ace catches on, nodding.

“Got it. Thanks.”

Luffy smiles at him before leaving. Ace leaves all his clothes in a pile on the floor and investigates the room as the water heats up. Luffy was right. It was small. It probably didn’t have good ventilation, which was why the steam lingered and soaked everything.

Ah, that was right. Ace breathes out a sigh and flips on the fan switch. He grabs a towel from the cabinet and drops it to the floor, then steps under the warm spray.

He hums. Definitely felt better than the kotatsu. He’d been travelling all day, so this . . yeah, it felt really nice.

He reaches back blindly for a bottle of soap and flips one open only to be met with an overwhelming citrus scent. Ace blinks, looking down and slowly closing the bottle. He turns to see a different one on the ledge and picks that up instead, sure that Luffy wouldn’t mind him using his.

It’s cold enough in the house that he feels bare with only a towel wrapped around his waist. He leaves the fan on and flips the light off, moving to the bedroom and waving to Luffy as he went. This room is a little warmer, but he’s still pulling on sweats before collapsing on the bed, no energy to even slip under the sheets. He moves a loose blanket over him instead, content enough with the warmth it provided. He knew Luffy was built like a furnace, and managed to wrap himself around whoever was closest when he slept. 

He sleeps for long enough that it’s dark when he opens his eyes, the door opening waking him. A sharp inhale has him glancing up, Luffy’s name on his tongue, but fading as he catches sight of who’s in the doorway.

Ace is suddenly much more awake. “This isn’t Luffy’s room, is it?”

“No,” Sabo mutters, voice curt. He still hasn’t moved. He doesn’t say anything else.

Ace sighs and lifts himself up, rolling out of bed. “Okay. I’ll go sleep on the couch.”

Sabo moves his arm away from the door, letting him pass. He keeps his gaze forward, not looking at Ace, not giving him any sort of reaction. 

He’s barely out the door before Sabo’s closed it on him. Ace breathes out another sigh. He’s still tired enough that the cold out here doesn’t bother him, and he’s asleep before he knows it.

-

Luffy barges into Sabo’s room too early the next morning. He slams the door open with such force that it bounces off the opposite wall, and Sabo opens his eyes into slits at the noise, awake and already very annoyed. 

“Why is Ace on the couch?” Luffy yells, stepping further into the room. Sabo huffs out a breath and just barely resists the urge to bury his head back under the blankets. 

“His choice,” he mutters.

“Bullshit,” Luffy snaps. He comes close enough that Sabo can’t see his face, having no desire to look up and meet his scowl. He does see his hands, though, as they slam down on the matress in front of him. “You could’ve told him to stay. What the hell is your problem?”

Sabo grits his teeth. “My problem, huh?” he mutters. He tips his face up to match Luffy’s glare. “Don’t act like you care. What, he come crying to you?”

“No. He’s still asleep! I just found him in there!”

“Then it’s fine-”

“It’s not fine, what if he gets sick? He doesn’t even have a blanket!”

“Stop yelling at me!” Sabo snaps. “If you really cared, you would’ve put him in your room and just stayed in mine! It’s not my fault!” He tugs the blanket sharply over his head, keeping his voice loud enough that he’s still heard over it. “It’s too early for this! Go away.”

Luffy slouches, knowing Sabo’s tone was final. “At least hang out with us today,” he tries.

“I have work,” Sabo grumbles. He doesn’t say anything else.

“Fine,” Luffy mutters. He tugs Sabo’s door closed before he leaves, trying not to think about the dent in the wall he’d get yelled at for later. 

When he moves back to the living room, Ace is sitting up on the couch. Luffy winces. Guess he could’ve been quieter, all things considering.

“Everything okay?” Ace asks. 

“You heard?” Luffy asks in turn.

“I guess.”

Luffy huffs, crossing his arms. “Wait here.”

Ace blinks, but doesn’t question as Luffy darts back the way he’d come. He does raise his brow at the noise that echoes back to him. “Luffy-!” Sabo growls, but it’s cut off by the door closing, and then Luffy reappears with a big blanket in his arms.

“Here, take this,” he says, shoving it at Ace. “He’ll be gone in a couple hours, and then we can do whatever.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Ace mutters. “Wake me when the sun’s out, okay?”

“Fine.” Luffy moves past him, to the kitchen. “I only came out for water anyways.”

It’s significantly warmer with the blanket. Ace falls back asleep, but he’s startled awake again as a blur moves past and the kitchen light blinks on. He lifts his head a little to see Sabo wrapping a scarf haphazardly around his neck, pulling open a cupboard and leaving it open in his haste after taking something. “Shit, shit,” he mutters, rounding the counter, stuffing his arms into a thick jacket. Ace hears shuffling as he pulls on shoes, and then the front door is opened and closed in a hurry.

He still can’t see the sun, so he goes back to sleep.

-

“Why do you keep it so cold in here anyway?” Ace asks, squirming further under the kotatsu. Luffy glances away from his tablet screen for a moment, and he’s chewing on his lip when he turns back. “What, is it a secret? Are you hiding a body?”

Luffy snorts, elbowing him in the gut. “No. It’s just. Uh. Well, having the heater on gets expensive.”

Ace raises a brow. “It’s supposed to. It’s winter. Your other alternative is freezing all the time. You’re meant to be warmer inside a building than outside of one.”

“It’s not colder than outside!” Luffy defends. Fair point. It was snowing.

“You really can’t afford it?” Ace tries. 

“It’s not that.” Luffy sets his tablet down. “We just spend less this way. Save up more.”

Ace’s eyes narrow. “You mean Sabo saves up more.”

Luffy shrugs. “Yeah, so?”

“Luf, you can’t let him do this,” Ace argues. “This is your health we’re taking about here. He can save money some other way, one that doesn’t sacrifice your wellbeing-”

“Sabo takes care of me!” Luffy shouts. He quiets down, a flash of regret in his eyes, but he doesn’t apologize. “Look, you’ve never been here before. You don’t know how we do things.”

Ace leans back against the couch. He eyes the snow falling out the window. “Go turn the temp up,” he finally says, voice low.

Luffy looks up, eyes wide, but Ace continues before he can be countered. “Don’t worry about the cost. I’ll take care of it.” He holds up a hand. “I’m gonna be here a while, okay? It’s the least I can do.”

Luffy purses his lips. “I should ask Sabo.”

“I’ll tell him.” He glances away as Luffy’s expression turns hard. “I will, alright? Promise. Just go do it.”

Luffy stands after another moment, passing him the tablet. “You pick the movie,” he mutters. Then he moves over to the thermostat situated in the hallway. “You should call him after we get out. He’ll freak if he comes back and sees it like this.”

Ace picks the closest time and types in his credit card number from memory. Luffy comes back over as he finishes paying and plucks the tablet from his hands.

“Perfect!” He grins. “You’re paying for popcorn, by the way.”

Ace shrugs. “Sure.” He wiggles out from underneath the table, stretching. “We’ll have to leave soon if we wanna make it on time.”

“Right, Sabo took the car.” Luffy sighs, casting a forlorn glance out the window. “I wonder if he’d let us borrow it,” he mumbles.

“Don’t bother him. We can walk. It’s not that far.”

“Whatever. I’ll just steal one of his scarves.” Luffy moves to put his tablet up and Ace steals into Sabo’s room to get dressed in warmer clothes. Luffy comes in not too long after and rummages through the drawers until he pulls out a thicker wool scarf, winding it around his neck. “You want one?” he asks, and Ace’s lips quirk up.

“Nah, I’m okay.” He’s not sure it would be appreciated. Scratch that, it definitely wouldn’t. He was already taking a gamble today, too, best to keep his chances high.

His phone chimes just as they’re leaving, and he reads the message twice before pocketing it. 

“What was that?” Luffy asks.

“I’m visiting a friend tomorrow,” he hedges. “I might come back with a surprise.”

“Really? Which friend? I’d know them, right?”

“If I told you that, it might ruin the surprise.” He laughs at Luffy’s put-off expression. “Well, you’ll see.”

-

Sabo pulls himself through the doorway and breathes out a sigh, eyes falling shut in content as he’s met with the warmth.

Then they snap open and his posture goes rigid as he realizes it’s warm and it’s not supposed to be-

He slips his shoes off and moves quickly to the hallway, breath halting as he catches sight at what it’s set to. His shoulders go slack, mouth falling open, and he lets himself have a single, unfiltered moment of panic before his gaze snaps to Luffy’s room.

No, no. Before that, he had to turn it back. He reaches out for the meter, sighing in thinly veiled annoyance, and flinches hard when his wrist is caught in midair.

Sabo turns to his left and wrenches his hand back, snarling. “What?” he snaps.

“Don’t change it,” Ace says, voice firm. Sabo’s eyebrows rise to his hairline.

“It wasn’t Luffy,” he mutters. “It was you.”

“It was Luffy,” Ace admits. “But I told him to.”

“Why?”

“Because you shouldn’t be putting your health at risk like that.” Ace’s voice is so calm it’s irritating. “Also, I told him I’d pay for it.”

Sabo falters. “Wha-Why?”

“I’m staying here? And I’d rather not freeze to death while I do.”

The words have barely left Ace’s mouth when Sabo’s expression regains its earlier heat, and then he’s stabbing a finger into Ace’s chest, making him wince. “You don’t live here,” Sabo tells him, words tight and emotion barely contained. He lets it boil over in his next sentence. “You don’t get to barge in and make all the decisions like you’re the one in charge! The only reason you’re even here is because Luffy let me know you were coming too late to do anything about it. It doesn’t matter and I don’t care how long you stay, you will not go over my head like this again.” Sabo drops his finger but he’s still glaring at Ace. He holds it for another beat before reaching for the thermostat again. 

Ace scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away. “Since when did you become such a scrimp with money?”

“You’re the one who caused it,” Sabo mutters, turning the dial back down, but leaving it a couple digits higher than it had been. 

Ace’s head snaps back toward him. “You’re still on about that?”

“Yeah, I am.” Sabo glares at him again but turns away with a huff before he can start yelling. Again. “Where the hell is Luffy?” he whispers, mostly to himself, words harsh.

“Out with some friends,” Ace answers. 

“Of course.” Sabo rolls his eyes and pads back out into the living room. “Don’t follow me,” he tosses back to Ace, moving to his room and shutting the door with more force than necessary.

-

Luffy catches him on his way out the door, just about to come in from the cold, and Sabo spares him a minute after glancing at the time.

“Did Ace talk to you?”

Sabo’s lips quirk down. “Yeah, I guess. Don’t let him do that again.”

Luffy deflates. “Oh. Sorry, he said he’d pay for it, so I thought it would be okay.”

Sabo huffs, crossing his arms. “He’s just trying to take control.”

“I think he’s just worried, actually.” Luffy points to the sky as Sabo’s brow raises. “Look, it’s snowing again.” Luffy sighs and reaches out to flip up Sabo’s hood. “It has been kinda cold lately,” he admits.

Sabo takes Luffy’s hands from his hood into his own, rubbing his thumbs over Luffy’s gloveless ones. “It it was too much, you should’ve told me. I thought that’s why we set the kotatsu up.”

“But you’ve been doing so much better lately,” Luffy counters. “I didn’t wanna mess that up!”

Sabo lets out a sigh, dropping Luffy’s hands. “You can turn it to 75. Don’t go higher than that.” He pauses for a moment. “If Ace wants to pay for it, let him.” His phone buzzes and he jumps, quickly switching places with Luffy. “I gotta go, okay? I’ll be back later.”

“We’re still getting stuff for nabe tomorrow, right?”

“I’m off in the morning. We can do it then?”

“Yeah!” Luffy reaches back and opens up the door. “I’ll see you later!”

Sabo waves at him one last time before climbing into the car. It peels away from the driveway before Luffy can shuffle inside and take off his shoes.

-

“I wouldn’t mess with that.”

Luffy pipes up as he spots Ace. He waves him off. “Sabo said it was okay. Just not too much.”

Ace’s eyes narrow. “At least he submits to someone,” he mutters. “Where is he, anyway?”

“Left.” Luffy shrugs at Ace’s questioning gaze. “You didn’t hear the door? He’s at his second job.”

“Thought it was you.” Ace scoffs as the words process. “He has two jobs and yet he can’t afford to keep the house warm?”

Luffy frowns. “It’s about more than just that,” he defends. Ace turns to look at him.

“Like what?”

“You’ll have to let Sabo tell you.”

Ace grumbles, turning away. “Yeah right. Like he’d tell me anything.”

“You talked today, didn’t you?”

“We . .” Ace hesitates, frowns. “We only yelled at each other.”

“That’s still talking,” Luffy notes. “Just give it some time. Sabo will get over it.” He perks up. “We’re getting stuff for nabe in the morning. Wanna come?”

“Ah.” Ace waves him off. “That’s when I’m meeting my friend. I’ll be back in the afternoon.”

“Oh, okay.” Luffy’s frown quickly morphs into a barely-contained grin, teeth poking out from between his lips. “Does that mean you’ll have the surprise by then?!”

“Yeah, guess it does.” Ace is grinning now, too. “Just wait a little longer, little brother. I promise it’ll be worth it.”

-

Sabo wakes to the sound of Luffy shouting his name, blearily opening his eyes, and clenches his arms tighter around his pillow when the teen dogpiles him.

“Luffy,” he says around clenched teeth, and Luffy begrudgingly slides off of him, landing in a heap on the other side of the bed -the empty side, he notes.

“Sorry,” Luffy says, not sorry at all. “But you didn’t answer.”

Sabo turns over to face him properly, face still partially hidden by the blankets. “You didn’t give me a chance.” Luffy shrugs and he sighs. “Well? What is it?”

“We’re still going shopping, right? Ace is out, so we should go now!”

Oh. Sabo blinks. “Where?”

“Where’s Ace?” Luffy tips his head, a little surprised Sabo cared. “Out with a friend.”

“Which one?”

“Wouldn’t tell me. Said it would ruin the surprise.”

Sabo releases his hold on the pillow and debates sitting up. “We have to go now?” He resists a yawn.

“I mean, it’s past ten, so you should probably get up.” Sabo’s expression gains a little more light as he takes this in, and Luffy leans closer. “What time did you get home last night?”

“A little after eleven,” Sabo admits. 

“Yeah, you should get up,” Luffy repeats. Sabo’s already working himself into a sitting position, stretching his arms over his head when he accomplishes this.

“Okay,” he murmurs, swinging his legs over the bed. “Give me ten minutes.”

“It’s snowing again,” Luffy calls as Sabo throws himself into a cold shower. It properly wakes him up, but after dressing warm for the weather, he finds the more heated atmosphere of the apartment making him tired again.

He really feels like going back to sleep.

Luffy drags him outside, drags him to the car, drags him to the store. It’s not until they’ve entered the building does he attempt to respond to any of the teen’s conversation, and even then, it’s to cut him off.

“We’re not pulling a whole salmon in the nabe, Luffy, it’s too big.” He turns away from Luffy’s pout, staying firm on his decision. “Unless that’s the only meat you want in there.”

“No!” Luffy gasps. “I still want clams! And pork! And chicken! And scallops! And beef! And-”

“Three types of meat,” Sabo says, holding up three fingers. “That’s your limit.”

Luffy blows his cheeks out. “Do dumplings count?” he finally asks.

Sabo resists the sigh at the edge of his lips. “Are you going to make them?”

“Sabo!” Luffy whines. “You know I can’t! Please!”

Sabo, unfortunately, makes the mistake of looking over at his brother. He winces at the look Luffy gives him, feeling his resistance melt. “We should have flour at home,” he mutters, and Luffy cheers.

“Let’s do pork dumplings. We can do the broth with the chicken, and then the clams-”

“In the same broth?” Sabo questions, an edge of disgust in his tone.

“Yes in the same broth!” Luffy announces. “And then the salmon-”

“You’re still on about that?”

Luffy gives him another look and Sabo can’t believe he falls for it twice. They’re actually at the fish section and he gives completely after seeing the sale price. “Fine. We can do a third of it. Then we can have the rest another night.”

Luffy blinks over at him as he accepts the wrapped seafood and sets it in the cart. “You’re gonna cook again?”

“Probably not,” he sighs. “I’ll marinate it, though, so you can just throw it in the oven.”

Luffy makes a face. “I’m not good at that.”

“Have Ace help you.”

“Sabo. It’s Ace.”

“Point taken.” He sighs. “I’ll make it simple. A third of the salmon in the nabe. That’s it.”

“Fine,” Luffy whines, dragging the word out.

“This is all your meat,” Sabo tells him, putting the pork in their cart. “What else?”

“Potatoes!” They’re actually not far from that section of the store, so it’s short work to grab some. Sabo walks them back to the produce section. “Mushrooms,” Luffy announces, and Sabo makes a face. “You don’t have to eat them,” Luffy throws over his shoulder, and Sabo slumps against the cart at his statement, sourly watching him pick some out.

“We need chili peppers for the broth,” Sabo reminds him, and Luffy zips off to grab some. He returns to find Sabo sorting through the radishes. Sabo rolls his eyes at the look Luffy gives him. “You don’t have to eat them,” he mimics, swiping at Luffy’s hand as he reaches in to take the vegetable out.

“They ruin the flavor!” Luffy argues, trying again. His hand comes away red.

“They literally do not,” Sabo counters. “What else? Do you want noodles?”

Luffy hums, thinking on it for a minute. “Nah, we can just use the rice we have at home. Let’s get snow peas!”

“Those will fall apart. Get green beans instead.”

“Carrots!”

“Sure.”

“Can we get seaweed?”

“Go for it.”

“Oh! Baby corn!”

“That’s fine.”

“Can’t be nabe without cabbage!”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Let’s get squash too!”

Sabo stops him from moving forward after depositing the vegetable into their cart. “Luffy, I know produce is dirt cheap right now, but I am begging you to stop. My wallet is begging you.”

Thankfully, Luffy gives in without much trouble. Sabo lets him throw in one more green before they move away. His head spins as he glances over all their ingredients. “This is going to be . . a mess,” he mumbles.

Luffy only chuckles beside him. Sabo resists the urge to kick him. “What kind of sauce?”

“Sesame sauce!”

Sabo raises a brow. “I thought you liked sesame butter better.”

“I do, but not when you make it.”

Sabo stops the cart, looking affronted. “What’s wrong with how I make it?”

“Makino’s is better.”

“Makino is literally the one who taught me to make it.”

“It tastes different,” Luffy argues. Sabo sighs, jerking the cart into motion again.

“Fine. We’ll make sesame sauce. I should have enough egg at home.” He risks a glance at Luffy and sighs again. “Go get the oil. I’ll get the vinegar. Meet me at checkout, and don’t get anything else.”

Luffy salutes him and goes running off. He comes back with more than sunflower oil, because it’s Luffy, but Sabo forgives him, knowing they haven’t bought any snacks in a while. Now that he was out of school for winter break, too, Sabo should’ve suspected he’d be snacking more. 

“Hey. Have Ace bring you here sometime this week. Pick up a few things to have around the house.”

Luffy stops the cart just short of the car, looking over to Sabo. “And spend his money?”

“Why not?” Sabo shrugs, pulling the cart the rest of the way and beginning to shove the bags in. “He has it, right? Plus, he’s staying with us. It’s the least he can do.”

“He’s staying with us because he’s family, and it’s been a full year since we last saw him.” Sabo doesn’t turn back to Luffy, knowing he wouldn’t like the boy’s expression. He continues to load the bags. Luffy doesn’t stop. “We’re not taking advantage of him. Or his money.”

“Consider it rent.” Sabo shrugs. “If you really want,” he continues, before Luffy can get mad, “think of it as him buying his own food. And being nice to you. He has to eat something, right? Plus, we’re sharing this with him.” He gestures to the bags.

Oh. Luffy didn’t think of that. He helps Sabo put the last of the stuff into the car. He hadn’t thought Sabo was . . willing to share, but now that he thought about it, that was the path of least resistance. Still, he hadn’t expected-

His phone vibrating cuts off his train of thought. He takes it out of his pocket as Sabo closes the trunk.

“What is it?” Sabo asks, taking note of the growing excitement on Luffy’s face.

“Ace is back! We have to get home right now!”

Sabo raises a brow, holding up his keys. “Where else would we go with all this?”

Luffy ignores him. “I can’t wait to see the surprise!” He types out a reply to Ace and pulls on his seatbelt at Sabo’s chiding. 

-

Sabo feels his jaw drop as he pulls into their small driveway. Ace is waiting for them.

So is Eustass Kidd’s motorbike.

Luffy screeches and wrenches the car door open, tumbling out with another shout. Sabo turns the engine off and sits there, watching Luffy fawn over the bike. Well, that explained who Ace went to go see. Still. To think Kidd actually parted with the thing.

“-said I could borrow it for a few, while he tests out the new model Wire is trying to pawn out to him,” Ace tells Luffy as Sabo climbs out from the car. Ah. That answered that question. The only thing better than a motorcycle was a new motorcycle, in Kidd’s eyes. Ace glances up and Sabo ducks out of his view, wondering how long it had been since he’d seen the redhead himself. Maybe he’d come by to check on his bike and he and Sabo could catch up.

“Can I ride it?” Luffy asks, and Sabo hears the smirk in Ace’s voice.

“‘Course. That’s why it was a surprise.”

“Come help me unload,” Sabo says, before that particular conversation could continue and leave him stranded with all the groceries. He says it for Luffy, but Ace leans off the bike to come and grab a few bags as well. Sabo doesn’t feel like thanking him, so he moves around them both to unlock and kick the door open, trusting one of them to shut it.

“-thinking we could cruise around for a bit, while it’s stopped snowing,” Ace is saying when him and Luffy walk into the kitchen. Sabo frowns and opens the freezer so he’d have an excuse to be turned around. 

“That sounds great! Hey, Sabo, you should come too!”

Sabo’s shoulders tense before he can help it. All the meat’s in the freezer drawer, so he shuts it and comes to a stand. “I’ll pass,” he murmurs, looking to the oven clock. “I need a nap.”

“Oh.” Luffy deflates a little, but he doesn’t protest. “Okay. What time do you go in?”

“Four.”

“I can wake you around three?”

Sabo waves him off, already walking away. “Don’t worry about it. Go have fun. Be safe and all that.”

“Right. Thanks,” Luffy says. Ace doesn’t say anything.

-

“Helmet.” Ace shoves it into Luffy’s hands before he can climb on the bike. “Don’t give me that look! I brought an extra for a reason. See? I’m wearing one too. Now put it on.”

Luffy huffs but ultimately shoves the helmet over his head, cheeks puffing back out at the way it muses his hair. He flips up the visor as he situates himself behind Ace. “Don’t see why I need this. Don’t you have experience with these?”

“I drove it over here.”

Luffy flips down the visor and grabs tight to Ace’s middle without another word. Ace laughs. “It’ll be fine! Kidd wouldn’t have leant it to me if I didn’t know what I was doing,” he throws over his shoulder, revving the engine.

“Where are we going?” Luffy asks, growing rigid despite all his initial excitement as they pull onto the road.

Ace shrugs. “Wherever. You wanna go somewhere?”

“Let’s go see Nami!” Luffy perks up, hooking his head over Ace’s shoulder. “I wanna show this off.”

“Of course you do.” Ace laughs and his hands tighten on the handlebars just as Luffy audibly gulps near his ear, the turn they just took maybe a tad too sharp. “They still live out on the farm?”

“The very same.”

“Right.” Ace leans forward. “Highway it is, then,” he says, voice overly cheery. Luffy’s head rockets up.

“Wait-” he begins, but cuts off into a scream when Ace floors it, leading them on the access road. 

His fear is short-lived, though, and not even halfway there he’s right back in Ace’s space, hand outstretched to point out where Ace can move to weave between traffic. They make it out to country roads in under half an hour and speed down the empty strip, pushing ninety. Ace has to stop Luffy from tossing both arms in the air like he was on a rollercoaster several times, and learns very quickly how to manage steering with one hand.

They pull up to the tangerine farm only to find Bellemere waiting for them, smoking under the relative shelter of an awning with her head tucked underneath one arm, and looking like she was barely resisting ripping the heavy coat off her thin frame.

Ace slides to a stop in the drive, one foot on the ground and just turning off the engine when Luffy jumps off and runs up the slope, waving his arms and loudly calling the redhead’s name. Bellemere grins in response, shuffling the cigarette to speak around it.

“That’s new,” she notes, nodding to the bike as she sets a heavy hand on Luffy’s head, ruffling his hair. “Could hear you coming up. Was wondering who was making all the racket.”

Ace bites out a laugh, managing to hook his helmet on one of the handles before moving towards the two. “I’ve never been very subtle.”

Bellemere snorts and finally drops her hand as Luffy pushes away from it. “Understatement. How’ve you been, kid? I mean, obviously well, if you can afford that, but like, generally.”

“It’s a friend’s, actually.” Her brows raise. “I’m just borrowing it while I’m in the city.” Ace shrugs. “I’ve been fine. Work is . . a lot. But I’m off for a while. Hopefully when I go back, I’ll have been away for long enough to miss it.” He ends by shoving his hands into his pockets, the cold finally catching up with him. It doesn’t go unnoticed by Bellemere, who stubs out her cigarette and comes to a stand.

“Come inside,” she insists. “I’m sure you’ve come all the way out here for something, but I’ll let the girls sort it out.” They move along on the stone path leading to the porch, and she swings the front door open for them but doesn’t follow them in, closing it shut behind them instead.

“Hey, mom?” Ace blinks at the familiar voice, and blinks again as Nami rounds the corner, her orange locks bouncing near her shoulders, decidedly longer than the last Ace had seen. She cuts herself off when she catches sight of the boys. “Oh. You’re not-”

“Nami!” Luffy interrupts. “Guess what?” Nami blinks, caught off-guard by his shouting, and before she can guess Luffy’s grabbed her by the wrist and is tugging her back outside. Ace turns his head to watch, but a new voice stops him from following.

“Hey Portgas. Been a while.”

He throws his head over his shoulder, beaming. “Nojiko!”

Nojiko finishes descending the stairs, stepping into Ace’s hug. “What brings you all the way out here? Thought you lived somewhere else now.”

“Vacation,” Ace hedges. “Here, specifically, though -Luffy wanted to show off the bike.”

Nojiko cocks a brow and Ace clarifies. “Kidd’s.”

Her expression turns sour. “He’s not here, is he?”

Ace laughs, glancing away. “No. The bike’s on loan.”

“Good,” she mumbles, crossing her arms. “Where-” She cuts herself off, turning to fix him with a cursory look. Ace holds it, but she must find what she’s looking for, because her eyes narrow. “Sabo’s not here,” she guesses. Ace huffs in lieu of a reply, only confirming her suspicions. “You’re not speaking to him.”

“Would you blame me?”

“I’m not answering that.” Nojiko slouches in place as the front door opens back up, bringing a wave of chill into the house. “That’s like asking me to choose between my friends.”

A moment of silence follows her words before the door closes shut and the tension cuts. “We were making cider,” Nami announces, tugging at the scarf around her neck. Luffy’s eyes widen and she smirks, eyes darting between him trailing at her heels, and Ace and Nojiko, still in the living room. “If you’re staying for a little, come have some.”

Ace thinks back on his cold fingers and nods, following them into the kitchen. Bellemere comes back in after a while, and the five pass the afternoon leisurely, sitting around the dining table surrounded by tall windows that reveal the snow coming down, keeping the container of cider in a precarious state of half-empty and their mugs half-full. They talk and drink and shuffle around some dominoes, falling into old habits. Luffy convinces Nami to make him more cider, over the break, and she promises to bring by a sizeable carafe sometime. 

They leave around three, while there’s a break in the snow. Nojiko pulls him aside beforehand, depositing a pair of black gloves into his hands. She waves off his questioning look.

“They were Praline’s. She gave them to me once, and I never got around to giving them back.” She shrugs. “You’ll find better use out of them.”

Ace glances down at them. “My hands are bigger than yours,” he notes. Nojiko snorts.

“Yeah, so are hers. Just try them on.” 

He does, mildly surprised they fit rather well. She’s already stepping away, something else in her grip, and Ace blinks up to find her approaching Luffy.

“These are for Sabo,” she tells him. Luffy glances at the bag before stowing it away inside his jacket.

“Thanks!” he says, grinning up at her. “I’ll make sure he gets them.”

He does, but only just. Sabo is shrugging into a coat when they make it back to the apartment, one eye on his phone. He barely looks up as they come in. 

“Sabo, it was amazing!” Luffy gushes. He runs up to swing the blond into a hug and is only stopped by a palm pressing into his forehead, keeping him at bay. It does nothing to deter the wide smile on his face. “You really should’ve come, we had so much fun!”

“That’s good,” Sabo says, words a little absent. He pockets the phone and moves around Luffy. “I gotta go.”

“Oh, Nojiko gave you these!” Luffy pulls out the plastic bag and Sabo turns his head to glance back at it.

“Just put ‘em in my room,” he calls, already opening the door. “Bye.”

Luffy drops the bag in his grip and pauses on his way to the hall, catching Ace’s eye. “They’re scent melts,” he announces, brandishing a new smile instead of a bag, and he raises his voice as he moves out of the living room. “She handmakes them, so they’re mostly tangerine scented. There’s probably some spice, I haven’t been able to figure out what.” He moves back into the main room after tossing the bag into Sabo’s bedroom, an orange square in his palm. “We can’t have candles anymore, so we use these instead.” 

Ace gives him a look and Luffy suddenly avoids his gaze, reaching out to plug the scent melter into the wall after setting it atop the kotatsu. “This is less of a fire hazard,” he reveals, but nothing more. By that point the wax melt’s scent has intrigued Ace enough to wander over to the other side of the table, and he drops the conversation, not willing to dog Luffy into oversharing at that exact moment.

-

Ace is set under the kotatsu mid-morning the next day, a mug warming his hands, trying to blink the sleep from his eyes with minimal success. Luffy moves into the room and gives him a half-hearted wave on the way to the door. “Gonna check the mail,” he says, and Ace mutters something noncommittal in reply.

Luffy walks outside with his shoes halfway on and pauses a quarter down the driveway when he realizes it was Sabo’s car that was blocking the sunlight and making him shiver in the shade. Then that thought processes and he turns on his heels, mail forgotten.

Ace jerks his head up and jumps in his seat when the front door bangs open, Luffy running by without bothering to close it. “Sabo!” he yells, pausing only to catch himself on the back of the couch to keep from skidding over his heels and glance at the clock on the oven, in full view in the kitchen. His face pales considerably from Ace’s viewpoint, and he calls the blond’s name again, loudly, and takes off running into the hallway again.

Ace frowns, but doesn’t move to get up. He forces his hands to relax around the mug. He can hear Luffy yelling again soon enough.

“Sabo, you need to get up. It’s nine and you’re late!”

Ace’s brows crease.

He hears Sabo’s voice not long after that, devolving from tired to panicked in the matter of seconds it takes him to wake. There’s a crash that has him glancing toward the open bedroom door and a harried mix of voices that has him decidedly turning away from it again. 

“Don’t think like that, dad’ll understand,” he hears Luffy say. “But you do need to hurry-”

“I am hurrying!” Sabo snaps, and it goes deathly quiet.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean-” he mutters, and Luffy cuts him off, voice oddly subdued. 

“I know. Here.”

Ace can’t make out their words after that. He’s left to wonder in silence until Sabo stumbles from the room, and then he becomes a quiet spectator as the blond flies around the kitchen and finally moves for the open door. He pauses just in Ace’s frame of view, pulling an empty hand from his coat pocket, and sighs as he turns back around. Luffy’s a couple paces away and quickly hands him a ring of keys, then turns him back around and shoves him toward the door. 

“Thanks,” Sabo mumbles, then they’re both outside and the door is shut and Ace slumps down to the floor, burrowing more under the kotatsu. He lies there until Luffy comes back inside, shivering, and works his wet socks off into a small heap on the faux-wood floor. He glances over to see Ace’s hair sprawled out on the carpet, the only visible body part of his while the rest lied spread under the table, and Ace blinks heavily as Luffy snorts and approaches. He moves around the corner, burying his cold feet into the carpet, until he’s more right-side-up than not, in Ace’s view. 

That’s when he finally remembers what he was going to say. “So he didn’t have another morning off.”

Luffy’s tentative amused smile disappears with a sigh. He huffs out a second time, trying to clear the hair from his eyes, and then swipes out with a hand when that didn’t work. “I thought he was long gone already.”

Ace squints as he tries to recall more of the conversation. “He works for Dragon?”

Luffy blinks. “In the day,” he says. He doesn’t say anything else.

Ace hums, then casts a glance out the window. “It’s snowing again.”

“Oh yeah.”

Luffy’s words have him looking back, though he can’t see well from his current position.

“I’m gonna be out today. I’m meeting up with Zoro and Usopp and everyone. Chopper had something to show us while it’s still snowing so much.”

“I’ll stay in today.” Ace says that before he quite knows what he’s saying, repeats it in his head, then nods when he finds he’s satisfied with it. 

Luffy shrugs. “Suit yourself. I’ll call you if something comes up.” He reaches for one of the mini oranges on the tabletop and starts to peel it, and they pass the rest of the morning like this, relaxed and content in the silence.

-

Ace had been faintly surprised to spend the majority of the day alone, actually. Luffy had been out for a while, and was apparently preoccupied, but not even Sabo came home between shifts. He wonders if that’s on purpose. A later phone call from Luffy assures him that it’s not.

“Me and Zoro are bringing lunch to Sabo. You wanna go get food after?”

He thinks on it, casts a glance out the window, and gives in when he finds the snow has stopped. “Sure.”

“Great! Vivi told me about this new place downtown last week, and-” Ace half-listens as Luffy rambles, mostly trying to take in the information he’d already acquired. It wasn’t really lunch at half past five, but if Sabo had stayed late at his first job and had to immediately go to his second, and hadn’t gotten the chance to eat yet, he supposes it would count as lunch. Ace frowns, noting the ease in which Luffy had explained the errand, and wonders how many times he’s had to do this already.

“Is Sabo late a lot?” he asks, cutting Luffy off mid-sentence. He’s met with a moment of silence, and then the dull hum of the car he’d been hearing in the background cuts off. 

“That’s-” Luffy stops. “I’ll tell you later, okay?”

He hangs up before Ace can respond.

-

“Can you cut it up without nicking your fingers?”

Luffy whines in protest, letting the pork fall from his hands to the cutting board. He picks up the small knife and points it in Sabo’s direction. “One time, Sabo! That was one time!”

Sabo raises a brow, unperturbed, and goes back to shaping the dough. “My point still stands.”

“I’ll be fine,” Luffy assures him, already moving the knife through the pork. Behind them, the timer on the oven beeps, and he glances over his shoulder at it. “What’s that for?”

“The peppers.” Sabo sets aside another rounded piece and wipes his hands with a towel. “I let them strain, so now I just have to add the juice to the broth.” He turns around to do just that and Luffy goes back to his task.

“Can we make extra for later this week?” Luffy asks, once Sabo’s returned to the dough. Sabo makes a face down at the counter and shakes his head.

“That what the salmon’s for. Twenty dumplings, tops.” He sighs through his nose at Luffy’s whine. “That’s not helping your case.”

“Fine!” Luffy wails, dragging the word out. He pushes the cutting board over and gestures to the chopped meat. “Is this enough, then?”

“Should be.” Sabo glances over at Luffy’s hands, but he can’t see any blood, which is good. Luffy catches him looking and grins, tossing the knife into the sink.

“See? I was careful this time!”

Sabo shapes the last piece and doesn’t deem Luffy with a reply, reaching out to grab some of the pork instead. He wraps the dough around it and sets the first dumpling aside, already reaching for the next wrapper. “Why don’t you get all the vegetables out?”

Luffy nods and opens the fridge. “Can we eat at the kotatsu?”

“If you can plug the burner in over there.” Sabo shrugs. “It’s under the cabinet -no, the other one. If you unplug something, careful with the cord!”

He finishes plating the dumplings quickly enough and portions the salmon out, throwing a big piece into the simmering broth. Luffy is getting out dishes for all the vegetables as Sabo turns the heat up, taking the pot he cooked the peppers in in his other hand.

Luffy frowns when Sabo moves over to the sink and puts the pot under running water. “Why don’t you just do dishes later?”

Sabo casts him a look. “Will you help?”

Luffy shrugs, looking away. “Nevermind.”

“Me too. That wasn’t a question. You’re helping.” He ignores Luffy’s protests in favor of tossing the clams into the broth. In the main room, Luffy had managed to fit the portable stove onto the table. They set out plates of different ingredients around it, then after a little more time has passed, Sabo picks up the pot with the broth and brings it in.

“Where’s the sesame sauce?” Luffy calls. Sabo bends over to place the still-hot pot on the new burner. 

“Back of the fridge,” he calls back. “Bring the rice too?”

Luffy returns with the sauce and little bowls to portion it. “I set the rice on the counter. There’s not room here for it.”

Sabo shrugs. “Guess you’re right. That’s fine. As long as it thaws -it’ll heat better at room temp than it will cold.”

Luffy takes a seat and grins at the nabe, barely at a boil. “Think the fish is ready?”

“I think you should cook something else before you try it,” Sabo cautions him, taking his own seat. He puts a potato chunk into the broth and pulls out a wedge of chicken. “This should be done, though.”

Luffy lets a few dumplings boil and they sit back, talking about their day. Sabo had gotten off a little early from his day shift to find the house empty. Since he had the night off, he resorted to start on the dumpling dough and the nabe broth. Luffy had been out with Nami and Vivi, and had come in later with a carafe of cider that now sat on a corner of the kitchen counter. 

The door opening has Sabo breaking off mid-sentence. He turns around to see Ace moving into the room, eyeing their setup while one hand slipped a key ring back into his pocket. Sabo’s eyes narrow.

Behind him, Luffy doesn’t seem to notice. “Finally! Come eat with us.”

“Yeah sure,” Ace says, words easy. He moves to the hall, though, swinging his bag off his shoulders. “Just give me a minute.”

Once he’s out of sight, Sabo jerks his head back to face Luffy. “He has a key?” he mutters, voice low.

“I let him copy mine,” Luffy tells him. His eyes shine with ire. “He’ll be here all break. It’s better that he has one.”

Sabo huffs, but doesn’t protest. Ace joins them soon after that, and they dissolve into light conversation. From the outside, it looks like they’re all participating, but that’s not quite the truth. Sabo and Ace talk with Luffy, but never at each other. Eventually Sabo stops talking altogether, finishing up the last of the nabe while glancing down at his phone.

Once all the plates are cleared, he stands up to get the rice. Luffy turns the temp on the burner down and Sabo spoons in enough of the pre-cooked rice that it covered the remaining broth. 

The TV gets turned on at some point, so they all remain at the table even after the nabe pot is emptied and the stove turned off and tucked into the corner. Sabo puts his cheek to the wood and blinks at the mindless droning, letting his phone screen wink off as he tries to figure what was playing. Eventually, a tug at his sleeve has him glancing up. Luffy had scooted to his side of the table at some point. His expression was a little pinched, but mostly lax.

“Hey, why don’t you go lie down? Ace and I can take care of the dishes.” Sabo’s brows furrow, but Luffy continues before he can protest. “You look tired. Don’t force yourself to stay up, okay?”

Sabo blinks, takes a minute to let that thought turn. Finally, he sits up and nods, shuffling to his feet. He hears Luffy mumble something to Ace, but he doesn’t pay it mind, already moving toward the hall.

-

“-and then Sanji-” Luffy cuts himself off to stuff a handful of fries in his mouth. Ace watches him, head tipped in his head, with amusement. Before Luffy can start back up again, he chimes in.

“So you had a good day, then?”

“Yeah-!” Luffy gasps as he picks the last fry off his cleaned plate only to find their waiter setting down the kiwi cheesecake he’d ordered. Ace laughs into his free hand before taking a sip from his glass.

“I’m not sharing,” Luffy frowns over at him, already picking up a spoon. Ace waves him off.

“Yeah, go for it. I didn’t order any for a reason.” He squints. “Hey, did the lights get brighter?”

Luffy blinks, swallows his bite of cake, and hesitates before the next one. “No? You-” He nods towards Ace’s ale. “Maybe you’ve had enough.”

Oh. “Guess you’re right,” Ace mutters, moving the glass away. He squints again, a new thought dawning on him, and his lips downturn.

Luffy, noticing this, sets his spoon down and leans over the table. “Hey, you feeling okay?”

“Fine.” Ace waves him off. “I just realized, uh. We took the motorcycle here. I don’t think I can drive it back anymore.”

Luffy straightens up, eyes glowing. “I can-”

“I know for a fact you can’t drive a motorbike, Luf.” Ace huffs out a laugh at Luffy’s distraught expression. “Well, I’d be willing to let you try, but it’s Kidd’s bike, not mine. So no.”

“But I could-”

Ace waves him off. “Just call Sabo,” he mumbles.

Ace spends the rest of dinner a little lost in thought. It must do something to Luffy, because he offers Ace the last bite of cheesecake that he humbly accepts. His grin must not quirk up at the right angle, because when they exist the restaurant, Luffy steers them over to the first bench he can find.

“What’d he say?” Ace asks, wincing at his own hesitant tone. Luffy pulls out his phone and hums.

“Actually, he hasn’t answered.” He presses a button and holds the phone up to his ear. Sabo answers after three long rings.

“Luffy? What’s wrong?”

Luffy’s lips curve into a frown. “Did I wake you up? Sorry. I . .”

Ace tunes him out right about then, gazing across the street. He’s picking his own phone out of his pocket when Luffy hangs up and leans heavily on his shoulder.

“He’s on his way,” Luffy mumbles. Somehow, the words aren’t quite as reassuring as he thought they’d be.

It’s a weekend night, and the parking lot stays busy. Ace doesn’t pay attention to the next car that pulls in until Sabo steps out of it, and even then he turns his gaze from a blurry blond to Luffy trying to doze off on his shoulder. A shadow falling over him has him looking back up.

Sabo just looks tired. Not mad, or disappointed, or anything like what Ace had been expecting. He reaches out and nudges Luffy’s foot until he’s sitting up, hand on the spare helmet at his side.

“Come on. Let’s go,” Sabo says. He doesn’t say anything to Ace.

Luffy obviously wants him to, because he pushes Ace into the passenger seat before clambering into the back. Ace takes a deep breath and shuts the door, setting his own helmet in the floorboards. 

Sabo yawns into the back of his hand before turning the car on. The ride home is silent. 

When they make it back, Sabo turns the car off and Luffy slides out while he’s putting his keys away. Ace takes his chance. “Sorry,” he mutters, glancing at the blond. “And thanks.”

Sabo looks up, blinks at him. His expression doesn’t change. They hold gazes for a moment, and then Sabo’s opening the door without a word. Luffy repeats Ace’s words inside, and Sabo moves to ruffle his hair as he passes. He yawns into his free hand, again, waving goodnight with his other, and then the bedroom door is shut.

-

“We would have to be speaking to be in a fight.”

“Exactly!” Luffy near-shouts. “If you weren’t in a fight you would be talking with each other. It’s so obvious that you are.”

“Fine.” Sabo huffs, leans back. “What of it?”

“Can’t you just apologize and move on already?”

“Apologize?” Sabo’s eyes narrow. “Me? Really. Me. Why?”

“You know Ace is too stubborn to ever-”

“I didn’t do anything wrong. Why does it even matter? It’s not like you know everything that happened.”

“I know enough, okay? Enough to realize you two really need to at least start talking again. This is ridiculous, Sabo. It’s been a year! If you can’t forgive him, can’t you at least move on?”

“What, like he has?” Sabo crosses his arms, huffs again. “No, I can’t. It’s still affecting me, so-”

“What if he paid you back?”

Sabo’s mouth hangs open, left there from Luffy cutting him off and frozen from his words. He closes it sharply once he realizes. “Did he tell you that?” he says after a moment.

“No.” Luffy’s eyes are hard. “It’s just a question.”

“It still wouldn’t fix the prob-”

“Wouldn’t it, though?” Sabo frowns, but remains silent, a gesture for Luffy to continue. “If you got the money back, you’d have enough to go to school. You wouldn’t have to worry about two jobs. You might be able to pay off-” Sabo’s glare sharpens and Luffy, wisely, cuts himself off. “It would fix things.”

“You’re wrong. What’s the point if he doesn’t regret it?”

“Sabo-”

“Just drop it, Luffy.”

Luffy purses his lips. “Y’know, things would be a lot more fun if you two would just get along again.”

-

“I take back what I said!”

Ace glances back at Luffy, who’s grinning down at him. “About what?”

“You can totally drive this thing,” Luffy boasts, gesturing to the bike. Ace carefully grabs the flailing limb and wraps it back around his waist. “And this is so much fun! You think Kidd will let you have it?”

Ace laughs. “Do I think he likes the new bike? Yeah, sure. Do I think he’ll let me have this without paying for it? No way.” He shrugs around Luffy’s protests. “Not like I need it. Besides, I don’t have that kind of money.”

“Oh.” Luffy deflates a little, his conversation with Sabo coming back to him. Guess that answered that question. 

“Just enjoy it while it lasts-”

“Hey, Ace?”

Ace turns back at luffy’s uncharacteristic tone, but right at that moment, a street sign flashes past them. Luffy blinks, eyes turned away to read off it. “Wait, did that say there was ice-”

He doesn’t have time to finish before their tires slip. Luffy’s breath catches as Ace jerks his head forward again, trying to straighten out. They jerk further into the ice patch instead, and Luffy’s mouth opens in protest, but he doesn’t have time to shout before they’re tossed from the road into a deep snowbank.

It takes Luffy a moment to regain enough strength to breathe and find his mouth filling with snow instead. He kicks out into a panic until he bursts from the snow, gasping now, and leans back on his hands as a wave of vertigo spills over him. “Ace?” he mumbles.

“Shit,” Ace mutters, several feet away. Luffy finally raises onto his knees to see Ace’s dark form splayed out across the snow. Thankfully he wasn’t trapped under the upturned bike, but he did seem a little dazed. Luffy moves into a crawl until he’s at Ace’s side, prying the helmet off to reveal his mess of dark hair. Ace doesn’t wince at the movement, so Luffy assumes he’s good. The sizable dent in the helmet is probably to thank for it.

“Sorry, Luf,” Ace mumbles.

Luffy collapses beside him and waves away Ace’s sudden concerns. “‘s fine,” Luffy breathes. “We’re okay. That was pretty cool.”

“It’s not happening again.”

“Yeah, definitely. Is the bike okay?”

“I haven’t exactly gotten up to check.”

Luffy lets them have a couple more seconds before heaving himself up, offering Ace a hand next, and then they stumble in the snow until they’re righting the motorcycle, checking it over.

“Looks good,” Ace murmurs. He has Luffy help him move it back onto the road -thankfully empty at this point in the day- and it starts just fine. Ace sits back on the seat, breathes out a sigh.

“Let’s just go home.” Luffy nods and hands him back his helmet. Ace slips it on and Luffy climbs on after him.

“You sure you’re good?” Luffy asks. Ace glances back.

“Yeah. You?”

Luffy shrugs, as best he can while wrapped around Ace. “I think so. I just landed hard.”

Ace sighs -again. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

That doesn’t stop him from worrying about it.

That doesn’t stop someone else from worrying about them, either. Sabo sits up at the kitchen counter as Ace holds open the door for Luffy. They slip off their shoes, but their clothes are still soaked, something that doesn’t go unnoticed.

Ace slips his helmet under his arm and reaches out to help Luffy take his own off. 

“What happened?” Sabo asks.

“It’s nothing,” Ace mutters, finally sliding the helmet off. Thankfully, Luffy doesn’t show any signs of discomfort. He does stumble, though, on his way further into the house, and Sabo is out of his seat within a moment, hoisting Luffy up before he can crumple to the ground. He turns to Ace with a snarl.

“Nothing. Of course.” His eyes drop to Ace’s helmet and widen. “Wh- Did you crash?!” 

Ace winces at the raised voice. Luffy tries to steady himself in Sabo’s arms. “We didn’t-”

“Stay out of this, Luffy,” Sabo growls. His gaze is still pinning Ace into place. After another long moment, Ace nods. Sabo pales. He turns away from Ace in an instant, hooking an arm under Luffy’s knees and hoisting him up. Luffy whines in protest but Sabo is careful not to jostle him under he’s lying on the couch. “Where does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t- hurt,” Luffy complains. “I just fell hard. My legs ache a little, but it’s not bad.”

Sabo presses his lips together, wanting to say so many things but wisely holding it in. He moves his hands through Luffy’s hair instead, checking for any bumps. 

“‘m fine, Sabo,” Luffy mumbles. “Seriously.”

“What happened?”

Ace finally unlodges himself from beside the front door. “We slipped on some ice. Crashed into a snowbank.”

Sabo’s head jerks over to him and Ace stops dead in his tracks at the blond’s glare. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

Ace’s eyes narrow in challenge. “Well he certainly wasn’t gonna tell you.” He nods to Luffy, who tries to press himself further into the couch. “So-”

“I can’t believe you,” Sabo half-yells, no longer willing to hold back. “Not only did you make a stupid mistake, but Luffy was with you. What if it hadn’t been snowing? What if you skidded into a car instead of off the road? Did you ever even think of that?”

“We’re okay, Sabo,” Ace snaps. “Just chill out.”

“Luffy’s obviously not or he wouldn’t have collapsed like that-”

“It’s probably just the adrenaline wearing off. You know he’d say something if he was-”

“That’s not the point!”

“Will you quit shouting at each other!” Luffy finally yells, throwing his arms up. Sabo rounds on him.

“Why? You’re the one that wanted us to talk, right?”

“I didn’t mean arguing, and over something as stupid as this!”

Sabo’s arm flails out. “There is a dent in your helmet the size of my fist! It’s not stupid, Luffy.” Luffy’s face pales at this, and Sabo’s expression softens just a little. “You didn’t know, did you? It’s on the back. I thought the angle was just odd until I saw how Ace’s was dented, too.”

Luffy’s lips purse as he moves a hand to feel the back of his head. “I’m okay,” he mutters, after a moment of digging through his hair, right where Sabo had been earlier.

Sabo’s shoulders slouch. “Just stay here. I’ll get you a towel.”

He stands and Luffy tries not to think about how much of a pain it was gonna be to clean the couch now that he’d gotten it all wet. Ace comes over as soon as Sabo’s not occupying the space and helps Luffy out of his jacket. Luffy’s frown deepens as he catches sight of Ace’s guilty expression.

“It’s okay.”

“I should’ve checked,” Ace protests. “You checked mine. I should’ve-”

Sabo comes back and growls and Ace stumbles back. Luffy glares at Sabo but he pays it no mind, wrapping him in the towels and slipping a thicker one between him and the cushions. 

“Stay here for an hour. If you feel worse, let me know. If not, you can go ahead and shower.” he throws a look at Ace. “You can do that now. Stop dripping all over the floor.”

Ace, wisely, doesn’t say anything. He just pads over to the bathroom and shuts the door.

“It was an accident-” Luffy tries.

“Doesn’t matter,” Sabo says firmly. He retrieves his phone from the counter and settles at the kotatsu, on the end near the couch. “One hour. Let me know.”

“At least turn on the TV,” Luffy mumbles. In the background, the shower turns on. Sabo hands him the remote.

Eventually, Luffy starts shivering, despite the coverings, and Sabo takes pity on him. Luffy sits up and Sabo helps him unwrap from the towels and come to a stand. Luffy shrugs him off and walks in a circle, demonstrating his steadiness, and then hurries into the bath Sabo had drawn earlier. 

Sabo collapses under a corner of the kotatsu, scrolling through his phone until he reaches Law’s number. He bites on his lip. The both of them really should get checked out, but Law charged a fortune, even if it was nothing compared to what a hospital would. Plus, they seemed fine. At the very least, Luffy hadn’t acted strange despite the initial collapse.

“Sorry,” Ace mutters, and Sabo jumps, startled. His leg bangs against one of the table’s, and he curls in on himself in pain. When he rights his head, squinting, he finds Ace is hovering next to him on the couch. He lifts his eyes to meet grey ones, regret evident in their depths, and them looks away again. He’d dropped his phone. He swipes at it, but Ace speaks again, before he can do anything else.

“You don’t need to call Law. We’re both fine. Promise.”

Sabo turns to stare at him again. Ace has a hard time holding his gaze.

“We landed deep. The snow’s been pretty thick, so we were honestly lucky. The bike’s good, too. Whatever we hit, the helmets took the full brunt.” He curves his shoulders in. “Sorry I wasn’t being more careful.”

Sabo’s gaze moves to the bathroom door, where splashing can be heard from Luffy picking himself up from the water. “It’s not me you should be apologizing to,” he mutters. Then he buries his face under the blanket and goes back to ignoring Ace.

-

Sabo doesn’t realize he’s fallen asleep until Luffy’s saying his name, and he notices that he can’t hear the movie playing in the background.

He blinks, disgruntled, and lifts his head from his arms. The movie is paused on the TV. Luffy is looking at him oddly. “It’s too hot in here,” he mutters, because he’s tired and not thinking straight.

Luffy’s brows raise, and in the next moment he’s on his feet, dragging the blanket a little away from Sabo with the motion. “I’ll go turn the air down,” he says, already moving towards the dial. 

On the far side of the couch, Ace sits up fully. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he snaps. Sabo’s expresion sours, and he tips his head to find Ace glaring at him. “Why would it matter if it’s hot?”

“I have narcolepsy,” Sabo says, before he can think of something better to say, or put a filter in place, because he’s still tired. He finds, after a moment, that he really doesn’t care anymore. “It’s easier to stay awake when it’s cold.”

He turns away with a yawn, missing Ace’s expression. Luffy comes back in and settles near Sabo, looking a little hesitant. He gives Sabo a look and Sabo just shrugs, blinking heavily.

“That’s why he’s always oversleeping,” Luffy tells Ace. Sabo frowns. “And why I’m used to dealing with it.

He frowns deeper. “Hey-”

“Since when?” Ace asks.

Luffy shrugs. “The summer?” Sabo huffs and leans against Luffy’s shoulder. “That’s when he got tested. That’s also why money’s tight. Paying for insurance, and then what insurance wouldn’t cover for the tests and the medicine. It adds up.”

He tries again. “Hey-”

“That’s why he’s always asleep when he’s not at work. And why he panicked that one time, because he’s overslept and shown up late dozens of times before, even though I tell him dad knows and understands about it all.”

“Luffy-”

“What? You don’t wanna talk, right? So let me do it.”

Sabo realizes, then, that Luffy was giving him an out. He settles back down.

“That’s why I don’t mind if the house is so cold, even if it is snowing, because it’s better than Sabo getting tired all the time and screwing up his timetable. It’s why I offer to bring him food and wake him up and look after him, as much as he does for me.”

Luffy pauses to breathe and Sabo feels his cheeks go warm. Ace’s voice fills the silence.

“I see.”

He doesn’t say anything else.

Sabo’s lip worries. He still refuses to look away from the TV, refuses to face anywhere but forward, cheek pressed to Luffy’s shoulderblade.

“Thank you, for telling me.” Ace shifts. “Both of you.”

Luffy’s head tops back, and that’s Sabo’s clue in to know they’re both looking at him, waiting for a reply. He closes his eyes. “Let’s just-” He pauses to breathe. “-finish the movie, okay?”

Luffy shifts to face forward again and Sabo slouches back against the couch. The sound comes back on after another moment, but he’s not paying attention anymore.

-

“What?” Ace looks up, a little scandalized, from his breakfast. “Repeat that,” he demands.

“Sabo’s sick.” Luffy tosses a wool scarf around his neck. “I’m busy today, so you look after him.” He works on the buttons to his coat as Ace sputters.

“How about- Uh, no- I mean-”

“It’s not like you have anything better to do.” Luffy shrugs, moving to the door. “So just do it.”

“Lu-!” The front door shuts before he can get the name out. Ace sighs, slouching.

-

Ace had gone for a run before the sun was up, so he actually wasn’t aware that Sabo hadn’t left the house yet.

Peeking into the dark room, he can now clearly see Sabo’s form buried under a thick blanket. Probably from Luffy’s room, if he had to guess.

He pads in a good few steps then turns on his heel and moves back out, because from the sound of it Sabo was fast asleep and not just hiding from him.

He comes back in when the sun has risen and there’s a distinctive noise on the other side of the door. Sabo’s arm is over the side of the bed, poking around the floor for his phone, which laid just out of reach. Ace slips the door open further with a sigh and picks up the phone himself, laying it beside Sabo’s shoulder.

Sabo freezes when Ace moves back, then snatches up and throws the blanket further over his face. Ace stands there for a long moment, waiting.

“You’re welcome,” he tries.

Sabo doesn’t respond.

Ace crosses his arms, then uncrosses them to jerk the shades from the window. Sabo groans, burying further underneath the covers. Ace sighs and sits down on the floor, now with enough light to see by.

“How are you feeling?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Sabo mumbles, the words somehow audible from under the blanket. Ace tries not to take it to heart.

“Alright, so bad. So? ‘Peppermint tea’ bad? Honey lemon? Is it your throat at all?”

Sabo moves the blanket down until his eyes are peering out of its folds. “Why do you care?”

“Luffy sent me to take care of you for the day.”

Sabo holds his gaze for a long moment before dropping it to the floor. “I just have a cold,” he mutters. “I’ll be fine.”

“Peppermint, then.”

Sabo sighs. “Sure.”

It takes a trip to the store and a full hour before Ace brings in a cup of steaming tea. Sabo is set up at this point, barely, and accepts the drink after a moment. Ace, carefully, drops to a seat on the edge of the bed. Sabo sips gingerly from the mug before wrapping both hands around it and leaning back.

“Thanks,” he mutters, eyes downcast. Ace wonders if he would argue, had he had the energy for it. He decides not to test it.

“Anything else I can get you?”

“A book.” Sabo uncups one hand from the tea to wave the air. “I can’t read off my phone. The screen’s too bright.”

Ace nods, looks around the room, then moves off the bed to settle before a small bookshelf. “Does it matter which one?”

“Not really.”

Sabo’s lips quirk into a sort of grimace, like he was trying to maybe smile but didn’t want to put in the effort. He takes another sip of the tea then trades it for the book. Ace sets the mug down on the nightstand. “Thanks.”

Ace decides not to mention that Sabo had already thanked him. His eyes were looking a little glassy.

“Did you call in?” Ace asks, after he’s determined that Sabo’s not going to open the book just yet. His eyes had actually slipped shut, like it was painful for them to be open. 

“Yeah,” Sabo mumbles. “Caught it from someone there, so they were understanding.”

“Do you want any medicine?”

His eyes open to half-mast. “What time is it?”

“Little after ten, I guess?”

“No. Luffy gave me some earlier. ‘s too early.”

“Okay.” Ace stands, then pauses. “I’ll, um. I’ll make you something to eat.”

Sabo flips the book open instead of replying. Not that Ace minds. Luffy was right -it wasn’t like he had anything better to do.

-

When Ace comes back in, a bowl of sorta-soup in his hands, he finds Sabo asleep with the book open against his chest. It didn’t look like he’d gotten far.

Ace sets the bowl down on the nightstand and picks up the book, marking it before closing it. He places it where the tea was, then moves from the room with the mug in his hands.

After warming the tea back up, he comes back to see Sabo set up, drawn awake by the smell of the food. He sits up a little more, but not enough to eat by himself. Ace grimaces at the thought.

He sets the tea down and kneels by the bed. Sabo turns to look at him.

“You wanna scoot up more?” Sabo shakes his head. Ace sighs. “What, you want me to feed you, then?”

“Guess so.” Sabo grunts. Ace squints.

“Fine.” He sits on the edge of the bed, making Sabo squirm until there was enough room. Ace lets out a quiet huff and picks up the bowl. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”

One of Sabo’s brows raises. He opens his mouth and Ace dutifully slides the spoon in. “I can’t believe you agreed,” he mumbles.

Ace shrugs. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you like this. I can barely remember when you last got sick. We were probably just in high school.”

“Summer before, I think,” Sabo muses. He swallows another bite and then sighs. “You fed me like this back then, too.”

“Yeah?” Ace pauses. “Is that why you’re letting me now?”

“Maybe I’m taking advantage of you,” Sabo counters, but it’s weak and punctuated by a strangled cough. Ace recoils by the end of it, setting the bowl down in favor of the reheated tea.

“I don’t think so.” He shrugs again, when met with Sabo’s halfhearted glare, and offers the tea. 

“I’m not used to being sick.”

“I know.”

Sabo closes his eyes. “Can I just -sleep?”

“Sure.” Ace moves away from the bed, trying not to think on how this is the first real conversation they’ve had, since he got back. “I’ll check back in in a little bit.”

Sabo hums, already halfway asleep. Ace is careful to shut the door quietly.

-

A week after they graduate high school, Sabo and Ace pile into a car with four day’s worth of luggage and prepare to make the trip down to their childhood home.

Maybe childhood was stressing it. Sure, they’d spent the first several years of their lives living in that particular town, but they’d spent the next few growing up where they lived now. Also, it was only home in sentiment. The actual building had burned down years before. 

Luffy waves one more time from the driveway as they pull away. He doesn’t say ‘say hi to Dadan for me’ because the woman had died before they’d even moved. Perhaps that had been the reason, actually. It’d been so long Sabo was starting to forget.

Since it was a ten hour drive and the only person they’d had any sort of meaningful connection to was dead, Ace had called up a very, very old friend whose name Sabo wasn’t privy to, and had begged off a few days’ stay from them. For free, thankfully, because Ace only had so much money to spend of the trip, and Sabo even less so, a large majority of his savings set aside for tuition for the upcoming semester.

“Yes, yes, I know,” Ace groans. “You mention it every chance you get.” He takes one hand off the steering wheel to jab a finger in Sabo’s direction. “You’re lucky I didn’t decide to go to school, or most of that money would be mine.”

“Bullshit,” Sabo retorts, lifting his head to say it. He squints down at his phone in the next moment, watching the dot slide across the map. “Where are we going, by the way?”

“Oh, that.” Ace laughs nervously and Sabo glances up again. “If I’m gonna see Fai, I need a drink first.” Sabo raises a brow, unimpressed. Ace flaps a hand at him. “Don’t look at me like that. She’s a lot to deal with. You’ll understand when you meet her.”

They pass the city limits sign and Sabo settles in his seat. “Fine. Do I need to drive the rest of the way?”

Ace turns to eye him carefully as they pull up to a red light. He does this until Sabo finally looks at him back. “I’m not getting that wasted. I just need something to take the edge off.”

Sabo turns back with a hum, rolling his eyes. “I’ll hold you to that.”

In hindsight, he supposed he should’ve placed the bar based on location. Even if the name had changed, and most of the exterior. He doesn’t realize where they are until they’re already inside, and it’s only because everything is like he remembered, even in the face of all that had changed.

Sabo stiffens and Ace glances back. “What?”

He loosens himself immediately, to the best he’s able. “It’s nothing.” He shakes off Ace’s persistent gaze. “Nothing. Promise.”

That proves to break easily enough, because the girl stationed behind the counter recognizes him easily enough. “Sabo,” she calls, surprised. Ace spins on his heel, eyes narrowing. Sabo sighs.

“I . . used to work here. That’s it.”

Sabo stalks past him, not leaving any room for questioning, so Ace shrugs and follows, watching him stumble through an awkward conversation with the bartender before saving them both from each other by ordering. She casts him a thankful glance and moves away, grabbing a glass as she goes. 

Unfortunately, she’s not the only one that remembers Sabo.

Just as Ace is taking his first sip, a cacophony of noise erupts from the back. “Oi, look, blondie’s back!” a voice shouts above the rest. Ace would elect to ignore it, considering the bartender was a blonde as well, but the way Sabo’s shoulders tense up has him reconsidering. 

He takes out his phone instead of looking to Ace, but shifts a little so he’s leant closer in his seat. Ace goes back to his drink. A blubbering of footsteps and a concerned glance from the bartender has him looking up again, but he doesn’t turn around.

Sabo happens to make that mistake, peering around as someone approaches them, and blinking as the person spins on their heels and heads back to an occupied table. “Yeah, he still has the scar!” he half-shouts, and Sabo flinches, grip going tight on his phone.

“Hey blondie, where ya been? It’s been too long!”

“Yeah, we really missed our old scapegoat.”

“Come back to hang out more?”

Sabo’s shoulders hunch and the air becomes increasingly more uncomfortable. After another one of the catcalls, Ace breathes out through his nose and slams his glass down on the counter, duly fed up. A grip on his arm is the only thing keeping him from leaving his seat. He turns to find Sabo’s eyes on him.

“Don’t,” he says, words terse. Ace’s eyes narrow, but Sabo presses on. “Seriously. It’s okay.” He gestures to the glass. “Finish your drink.”

“Ya know, I really didn’t miss the scar, blondie,” comes a particularly inane shout. Sabo’s lips purse, and his gaze drops. 

“Let’s just leave,” he mutters.

Ace’s eyes slit, and he can feel his veins threatening to pop, but he complies. He drains the glass and tosses a crumpled bill on the counter, and Sabo finally pulls him to a stand, still holding onto his arm.

“What’s this, ya got a boyfriend now?”

Sabo grits his teeth but his grip on Ace only tightens, fearing what would happen if he let go. “Ignore them.”

“Kinda hard to do that,” Ace mutters, tossing a glare over his shoulder. It doesn’t do much good.

The calls continue until they’re at the door, and Sabo feels Ace’s arm tense in his grip as one of the men called out about coming back to see them. Ace whirls around and Sabo moves a hand to his shoulder, holding tight.

“Ace, really,” he begs. “It’s fine. I promise. Let’s just go. Please.”

It takes a few seconds, but Ace nods, turning in Sabo’s grip. There’s still fire in his eyes, but he’s not doing anything, so that’s good.

Sabo breathes out a sigh of relief, and then the door opens behind them. He glances over his shoulder, pales, and then suddenly he’s being spun around, an arm tight around his back. 

“Hey, look!” The guy holding Sabo uses his other hand to wave at the others. “Scar-face is back!”

Sabo opens his mouth, prepared to unlatch himself and make for the door, when he suddenly finds himself free. The guy is on the floor, clutching his jaw, and Sabo’s eyes grow wide when he realizes Ace was in front of him, fist raised and red. 

The bar bursts into chaos after that.

-

Sabo sits with his legs curled against the steering wheel and his head against his knees. He waits until the last of the police sirens fades into the distance and then waits a little longer to finally turn his phone back on. He has to reach past his copy of the car keys to do so, and his hand jumps as it brushes the cool metal.

He’s not surprised to see an abundance of missed calls from Luffy. Responding to his text earlier, asking if they had made it yet, with ace is probably in jail was bound to be concerning, at the least. As he thinks on this, his phone starts ringing, and he wastes no time in answering.

“Sabo! What happened?”

Luffy’s voice is loud, but Sabo supposes he can excuse that. Circumstances, and all.

“I- uh.” He pauses, swallows thick. “Ace . . got into a bar fight.”

“Was it bad?”

Sabo shrugs, despite the fact that Luffy couldn’t see it. “I guess. He was one of the first loaded up.”

“That’s insane. Do you know where he is? What are you gonna do?”

“I-” Sabo cuts off with a sigh. He scrubs a hand through his hair. “The sun isn’t even out anymore. They probably won’t process him until morning.” He frowns. “I don’t know where his friend lives, either.”

“You don’t have their number?”

“No.” He sighs again. “I’ll just- stay at a hotel, I guess. I should probably go.” His legs are numb, so there was no pressing need to hurry. Not like he could drive anyway. But his tongue felt heavy in his mouth, and he didn’t want to hear Luffy anymore, so he hurries to hang up and throws his phone in the passenger seat.

He sits curled up in the parking lot for a long time.

-

“Name?”

Sabo’s face does a strange contortion that he blames on the lack of sleep. The secretary has no sympathy for him, pen tapping mercilessly on the side of the registry. Sabo sighs. “Portgas.”

He spells it out for her and watches her flip through the pages, then turn to type it into a computer instead. The monitor is faced away from him, but he sees the glow on her glasses. She must find when she’s looking for, because she stops scrolling after a moment, lips pressed into a frown.

Sabo doesn’t like what she tells him.

He sees Ace not long after, though it’s in a blank room with a glass panel separating them. Ace doesn’t look like he got much sleep either. Sabo rubs a hand down his face as he tries to process that, then gives up and lets it drop into his lap instead.

They have a brief conversation. “Did they post bail?” is the riveting conclusion, on Sabo’s part, because Ace’s face suddenly closes off. It takes him a while to nod out a yes. It takes him more time to admit what it was.

Sabo’s hands grip tight onto the plastic armrests of the chair. “How much?” he chokes out.

Ace repeats the number. Sabo stands up, knocking the chair back but not with enough force to topple it over. Not that it mattered -his action still shakes Ace, evident by the look on his face.

Sabo leaves. He sits in the car for a long time before going back to the hotel, and even then he doesn’t leave the parking lot. The sun is setting when he reaches for his phone and searches the map for the nearest ATM. 

-

On the last week in winter break, Luffy tells Sabo and Ace, separately, that they were all going to a fireworks show for New Years. Luffy was riding with Zoro, so that left the other two to arrive through some other means.

Then Luffy leaves and they’re in the house alone. Together.

Ace knocks lightly on Sabo’s door before pushing it open, finding the blond fiddling with his shirt buttons, sat down on the edge of his bed. He looks up when Ace pushes the rest of the way into the room.

“We really need to sort this out.”

Sabo’s tentative gaze immediately breaks off -he finds the far wall much more interesting, turning forward with a jerk of his head. “Are you finally going to apologize?”

“I’m not saying sorry for fighting those guys.” He waits until Sabo’s eyes are back on him, though the glare is a little much. “I’m not apologizing for something I don’t regret. Not like you do.”

Sabo’s expression changes, anger fading a little, bemusement mixed in. “Regret?”

“Yeah.” Ace has never voiced it, but here he is, about to. His tongue feels like lead in his mouth. “Regret bailing me out. Don’t act like you don’t. You used all your university funds on me.”

“Is that what you think?”

“It’s what I know.” He can’t stand to look at Sabo anymore.

“Well, you’re wrong.”

This time, it’s Sabo who waits for Ace to look back up. “You’re wrong. Was it a lot? Yeah. Did I have to think about it? Yes. But would I do it again? Absolutely. You’re my brother, Ace. I would do anything for you.”

“Then- Then why are you so mad?”

“Because you acted like it was such a bother.” Sabo’s face twists. “You never said sorry, or thanks. You acted like it was the worst decision I could’ve possibly made. Like I was making a mistake. Like keeping you out of jail was a mistake.”

“Yeah? Look what good it did you! You’re still sitting on less than you need for tuition, and now you’re forking most of it out for medical bills.”

“Are you saying I should’ve left you in there?” Sabo’s eyes are piercing. 

“Maybe.”

“No.” Sabo shakes his head. “No, Ace. Look, if you hadn’t picked a fight in the first place-”

“I picked a fight?”

“We were almost out the door.”

Ace crosses his arms. “I’d do it again.”

“Yeah? So would I. That’s exactly how I feel. Knowing you appreciated it even a little bit would be nice. I sacrificed a lot for you, you’re right, but I got so mad because you didn’t seem to care at all.”

“That’s . .” Ace hesitates, slowly drops his arms. “That’s not true.”

“You sure haven’t acted like it.”

“It bothered me. A lot. Maybe I needed time to blow off steam. Not . . that you made it easy. A year is a lot.”

Sabo’s brow furrows. “Well-”

“Wait.” Ace holds up a hand. “I do care. I wasn’t-” He sighs, scrubs a hand through his hair. “Okay, look. I wasn’t going to give you this, but-” He cuts himself off again to cross the room. Sabo watches as he digs through his backpack until he pulls out a white slip. He crosses over and presents it to Sabo. “Here.”

Sabo takes it, a little dubious. “What is it?” he mutters, already folding the seal up. He bends it to look inside and freezes. 

“It’s not a lot,” Ace admits. Sabo slowly pries the slip open further, slipping two fingers inside. “It’s not even half, I know. It’s only around twenty thousand.”

“Onl-” Sabo cuts himself off, harsh, and finally takes the stack of money out.

“I care,” Ace says, voice softer. “I’ve been earning it back. It’s been slow. I’m sorry it couldn’t be faster. This is what I have so far.” He inhales, deep. “Please take it.”

Sabo nods, just barely, and slowly slips all the money back inside. 

Ace inhales, again. “And. Please say we’re okay.” He looks down to find Sabo’s eyes on him, and holds the gaze steady. “That we’ll be okay, at least. I really wanna watch the fireworks with both of my brothers, tonight.”

He’s a little surprised when Sabo throws the money down to jump to his feet, arms around Ace in an instant, but he tries not to let it show. It doesn’t take long to return the hug and realize all the implications it carried.

Sabo’s hair smells like citrus, just like he’s always remembered.

“Yeah,” Sabo mumbles. “We’ll be okay. I- thank you.”

“Right back at you.” 

-

Luffy texts them to inform them they were twenty minutes late to the fireworks show, but since it was known to last for over an hour, it didn’t hold much weight. He eventually gets over his ire when they show up, together, smiling and talking and being nice.

It’s the best New Years they’ve spent as a trio in a long, long time.

#opsecretsanta2019 #reposting bc i messed up the html the first time

[lawluheaven]

Love makes people do crazy things

Monkey D.Luffy was the embodiment of a natural disaster.

That was Law’s first impression of him. From where he sat in the crowd, watching as the Straw hats made a much more entertaining show then the auction, Law decided that he was worth getting to know.

 It was something about the way he blatantly disregards everything but his own goal that was alluring to the young doctor. He broke up the auction to save a friend( nice),  Stood against the prejudice the crowd had against the fishman (Double nice) and then punched a Celestial  Dragon in the face (Holy shit take me)

It didn’t hurt that the rubber man later showed he could fight, well enough that he could take a seemingly useless devil fruit and do things even Law would never have thought of. (Plus the look on Kidd-ya’s face when Luffy completely ignored him was the best darn thing)

So yes, Luffy was a natural disaster, a storm waiting to be unleashed upon the defenseless world. Law had no intention of letting someone like that go without having some form of deal. If he aided the monster, he could gain a favor and later cash that in when bringing down his target. 

A powerful weapon and alley in his corner to use later on in life sounded like a good idea. A invested based on a whim. 

At least that’s what he told his crew when he demanded they rush to the Marineford. It had nothing to do with his heart rate stopping, then rapidly increasing as he watched the young man punch a Celestial Dragon.

Had nothing to do with the world suddenly going colorless and all that was in focus was Strawhat-ya’s scream of rage as he sent the disgusting freak flying, looking like an arch angle descending upon mortals to deliver justice. 

It certainly had nothing to do with the smile Stawhat-ya spotted after the three captains battled it out with the marines, and Law was nearly blinded by its brightness. 

No, no it was because he would be useful, that’s the only reason Tragfer D. Water Law showed up to the war, as fast as he’s sub could go, ready and willing to join in on the battle. 

He just didn’t want to lose a useful possible alley. That’s all there was too it. He was just worried about his future plans. 

Maybe it was due to this that he arrived just in time to watch Portgas D. Ace get a fist of melted lava through his chest, and maybe this was why he enough time to Room the two brothers off the battlefield and into his operating room. 

“We’re losing him!” 

“Stabilize his heart rate! Bepo bring me more blood!” 

“Captain, we ran out of his blood -” 

“I am not losing this man! Find some more now!”

The shouting coming from inside the operation room made every pirate angsty. But none more then Monkey D Luffy, who through sheer willpower alone kept himself awake, waiting with a terrified breath as a man he’s never spoken to properly fought to save his brother’s life.  

The plastic fold-out chair the Heart Pirates pulled out for him was cold, but not uncomfortable- it’s been a long while since he felt much pain, or discomfort with sitting places Luffy’s forgotten what it’s like.

 It was damp in the hallway, and dark. The yellow submarine had submerged the first chance it got rushing out of the battlefield before anyone could think of stopping them. Luffy had no idea what happened; if Ace’s family made it out, if the war ended if Coby was okay or.... if Ace would live. 

 He bites his lips, hugging his shaking arms closer to himself. Hugging his aching body and hoping to last long enough to see the result of the surgery was the only thing he could do. It burned him up inside.  

“It’s going to be okay,” The lady that was on the Heart Pirates said to him. She, alongside all the other heart pirates, gathered in the hallway the moment the surgery started, waiting with him.  “Captain is the best surgeon in the world. He’ll save him”

She patted his arm briefly before walking by. He didn't know her name and he really didn’t care to learn it. As far as the Straw hat pirate knew, she was a mere engineer and could not do anything for Ace. 

Just like him.

Luffy sucked in a stuttering breath, fighting the tears that threaten to spill. He was so useless.  His crew was sent away, he hadn't found Ace in Impel Down and now he couldn’t save his brother. 

He was so weak. Too weak. He couldn’t let this happen ever again. He had to get stronger. Much stronger. How could he be Pirate King if he couldn’t even protect those he loved-

“Strawhat-ya”  The voice makes him jump, forcing Luffy out of his thought and opening his eyes. He hadn’t been aware he shut them, hadn’t been aware he was crying until a hand reaches out and whips some tears away. 

In front of him Tra-tragfer-ta? The Room-guy smiles, tired and pale but strong.  “Your brother made it through. He’s just fine.”  

Monkey D Luffy has only enough energy to do two things then. One is to start bailing loudly, wobbling with relief and the other is to throw his arms around the man who saved his brother.   

He passes out not a second later never seeing the sudden stiffens of the Heart pirate, not the red and chocked questions. If he had, he may have compared it to how Hancock handles hugs too.  He would have also heard Law’s crew cheering on the captain, loudly chanting “Get some!” 

Instead, Luffy sleeps for five days, and wakes to his bed bond brother threating to kill Law who in turn looks like he’s this close of pulling the plug on his life support.  

Luffy has no idea why, but for some reason, Ace thinks Law is trying to steal something precious from him. Which makes no sense, beacuse Torao is good and him stealing would be not good. 

After what he did, Torao is the goodest good to ever good. And Luffy is never going to forget it, not as long as he lived. He would make it up to the man.

So even if Ace rants and screams, Luffy sees no reason why he can’t make an ally out of the other captain and why he can’t go on beach walks, take afternoon naps together or even star gaze with him. Luffy does what he wants. 

#LawLu #Love makes people do crazy things au #For what a nail fic: Law develops a crush and this makes him save one imporant life #Yes they are dating #No Ace does not approve #Law is in denial about his feelings

[sunshinepunks-secretsanta]

Winter nights, cold and long

Merry Christmas, @midnightluck​!

Sabo yawns softly, trying not to interrupt Ace and Marco as they attempted to finish setting up their tree. It was a tiny thing, barely reaching above Ace’s waist and smelling brilliantly like pine and something that made Sabo think of snow days spent by the fireplace.

“We have too many ornaments,” Ace mutters softly leaning over the plastic tub that they had gotten when their collection had gotten too big for the little cardboard box. “We’re gonna have to pick our favorites.”

“Ignore all of the ones we got from the craft store when we first started dating,” Marco answers as he frowns at the star in his hand, trying to make it balance on the top of the tree. “Too much glitter.”

Ace nods shifting those to the side, “Sabo, do you have one that you really want on the tree?”

“Pops, the,” Sabo buries his face into his pillow as he yawns. “One he gave us.”

“That’s a good one. And the one that my mom gave me when I was born,” Ace holds it like it’s something extremely fragile as Marco sets the star to the side, wrapping the string of lights around the top instead. “Marco?”

“That’s as good as we’re going to get for the star,” He nods. “This one.”

Sabo hums, watching them carefully decorate the tree through slitted eyes. He had meant to get more sleep last night, but his brain had been caught up in something and by the time that he realized the time, it had been too late to take one of his sleeping pills. Not that he liked to take them in the first place, but they had made him promise. And Sabo wouldn’t break a promise to them.

“Still tired,” Marco asks suddenly, his hand carding through Sabo’s hair.

“Hm.”

Marco nods, “I’m sorry for that. Do you want to take a nap? I think Ace said he wanted to sleep for a little bit and he loves to cuddle when he can get the chance.”

“Nap?”

“Yeah,” Ace yawns, a shiver making it’s way down his spine and echoing down his limbs. “I’m too tired to stay up unless I take a nap. Do you want to join me? Marco put the heater on the trunk at the end of the bed to keep us warm.”

Sabo nods, “Nap.”

Marco ushers him up, “Come on. Sleep, Sabo. I’ll wake you both up when it’s time for dinner, how does that sound?”

“Like heaven,” Ace answers kissing Marco’s cheek and wrapping an arm around Sabo’s shoulders. “Thank you. For dinner and helping me with the tree.”

“I’m sure you could have done it without me,” Marco teases gesturing at the small tree. “Get some rest. I’m thinking of steak for dinner.”

“Steak is good,” Sabo mutters, pushing his face against Ace’s neck, the light brighter without the throw pillow to hide from it. “And coffee.”

“No coffee,” Marco corrects kissing Sabo’s temple. “Early night tonight, we can make up for it later. Now go lay down, both of you. Before you fall down.”

“I’m as graceful as a butterfly.”

Ace laughs, leading Sabo back to their bedroom, “A drunken butterfly. You couldn’t make it more than a few steps without me to balance you, Sabo. Come on. We’ll nap and then Marco will have dinner ready for us.”

“Food,” Sabo agrees.

“That’s right food.”

Marco shakes his head as they stumble through the door to their bedroom, Ace kicking the door shut behind them. He waits for the grumbling to stop and for the soft sounds of them sleeping to echo out the room. One day, he was going to remember to film them asleep to prove to them how they did in fact snore, thank you very much.

“Alright,” Marco says sighing as he looked over the living room and took in the mess of cups, with differing levels of cold coffee from Sabo’s most recent late night study binge. “I’m going to have to clean this before I do anything else.”

Sabo always put a cup down and never remembered which one he had been drinking from when he was that deep in his work. It always drove Ace and Marco mad because they could never keep enough of their coffee mugs clean and Sabo would even steal the ones that Marco and Ace had written their names

“Sabo,” Marco sighs, smiling softly as he finds his mug half buried underneath the couch, almost filled to the rim. “I should have gotten him one of those heaters.”

Sabo stumbles out of bed, his eyes burning as he tried to open them, blinking at the sudden darkness outside their room, the light still on from where he had dragged Ace into the bed with him instead of allowing him to turn it off, the only light coming from the Christmas tree. A small pile of gifts had been added to the scene since he had last seen it.

“Waking up now,” Marco asks, smiling when Sabo jerks to look at him, leaning on the island, a mug in his hands. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. Dinner is still in the oven, do you want to eat?”

“Food sounds nice,” Sabo yawns stumbling over to him and shoving one of the stools away from the island to sit down, leaning his head on his arms. “I’m sleepy still.”

Marco brushes Sabo’s hair from his face and rests his palm on his forehead, “Mhm, you don’t feel sick. That’s good, I was worried that you were going to get sick with all the late nights that you’ve been pulling.”

“Feels like ice.”

“That’s because it started snowing about an hour ago and I haven’t upped the heat,” Marco admits setting a plate in front of him. “It’s pretty.”

“Pretty?” Ace grumbles, steadier on his feet than Sabo had been. “W’as pretty?”

“The snow,” Marco answers setting a second plate down for Ace. “It started up not too long after you both went to sleep. News says that it might delay traffic which would get us out of work for a bit tomorrow.”

Sabo pouts, “Not me.”

“That’s what you get for working from home,” Ace yawns, leaning heavily into Sabo’s side, feeling hot enough to almost scald.

Ace always felt too hot to be human when it started to get cold outside. It was like his own personal furnace. Marco too, to a lesser extent. Always warmer than Sabo but never as burning as Ace.

“Don’t have to get dressed.”

Marco smiles, “He does have a point.”

“Clothes are the worst.”

“Only when you have to dress like Marco does,” Ace counters shoving his spoon into his mouth. “It’s d’lcious!”

“Mouth closed when there’s food, light of my life.”

“Sorry Marco.”

Sabo snorts, knocking his knee against Ace’s as he ate. It was nice having this, just the three of them. Christmas was going to be a mess of hurrying from their house early in the morning to get to the Newgate house for the family event and then staying there for most of the day, except for the brief time that they would have to escape to trade gifts with Luffy, who was spending the holiday with his friends instead of them.

“If you two want to stay up a little longer, I can make some hot chocolate. We’ve got some marshmallows and we can watch the snow fall for a little bit.”

Ace nods, eyes glowing, “Do ya think we could have a snowball fight tomorrow after work?”

“I’m sure that we could as long as you both aren’t too tired.”

“Okay!”

“Blankets,” Sabo asks finishing his plate. “We need them if we’re gonna be watching the snowfall.”

Marco gestures over his shoulder, putting the plate in the sink and grabbing one of the newly cleaned mugs, to where a small pile of blankets and pillows were spread around their sliding glass door, the outside light turned off and the only light the distant glow of their neighbor’s Christmas lights glittering on the fallen snow.

“You’re magical,” Sabo says leaning forward to steal a kiss when Marco returned with his hot chocolate. “A being made of Christmas magic.”

“Santa Marco,” Ace adds stealing his own kiss. “Come on, Sabo! We need to get the best spots!” Ace only stops long enough to steal a kiss from Sabo as well before dragging him to the blankets, spreading them out to make it more comfortable.

“I’ve got your mug,” Marco promises Sabo, the drink left behind in Ace’s rush. “Get comfy and I’ll bring all there in just a moment. And Ace, I couldn’t be Santa.”

“You’re right,” Ace says smiling at him. “But Pops would make a good one.”

Marco laughs, balancing the mugs carefully so they wouldn’t spill, “He use to dress up like Santa when we were little, so I would have to agree.”

“Aw, we missed it,” Sabo leans into Ace’s side, humming happily as Marco settled against his other side, sandwiching him between them. “Thank you.”

“Welcome,” Marco mutters softly, glancing out the door to where the snow was swirling to the ground. “It’s suppose to turn into a real storm later.”

“Good, they aren’t as nice to watch.”

Sabo takes a sip of his drink, laying his head against Marco’s shoulder. This was nice, the quiet of the night, watching the snowfall from the warmth that both of his lovers seemed to radiate. It was everything that Sabo wanted out of a quiet evening. There was even hot chocolate.

“Don’t fall asleep,” Marco whispers, kissing Sabo’s temple again. “I’m not going to carry you to bed if you fall asleep.”

“Mhm,” Sabo snuggles closer. It was a lie after all, Marco would carry him to bed, even if he complained about it tomorrow. He always did.

#masss #massecretsanta2017 #merrimasss #merry mas #midnightluck

[wildcardwriting]

Absolute Confusion#2

[One Piece]

Chapter #1 | Chapter #3

Absolute Confusion on AO3

Summary: It was hard enough understanding what drove Monkey.D. Luffy the first time, but the second time-now that’s absolute confusion. A slightly smarter Luffy has time traveled, let the confusion begin…

Please Read: Old fanfiction. Probably terrible.

XXxxxxXX

Chapter 02: Crossing Paths

"You're not going to tell him, Ace?" Makino asked staring down at the youth.

Ace shook his head. His face was serious but he wasn't looking at Makino, no he was looking off into the distance watching as Luffy's small form ran off.

He smiled suddenly, "Not now, but I'll tell him...when he's older. He doesn't need to be disappointed again."

Makino nodded. "I understand. I won't say anything either, it's your business...yours and Luffy's." She smiled softly, slightly communicating that the topic was closed." But what are you going to do while Shanks-san is here?"

Ace looked down and scratched the back of his head. The excuse he'd given Luffy earlier was a lie, as he had no errands to do, and the houses, as well as the groceries, were done.

So what was he going to do?

Finding Shanks was very easy, as the only ship entering the dock was Shanks' huge ship Armeria (1).But as Luffy ran closer to the pirate ship; he noticed several oddities about it. For one, the huge ship's head pole was still a bright red, unlike the faded brown one Luffy remembered fondly, and then there were the missing holes from the ship's sides.

Luffy blinked. 'Shanks' ship has finally been fixed...'

He let the thought trail off as the ship lowered its anchors, and docked, dropping the wooden bridge connecting the ship to the port. Luffy grinned brightly and pushed the 'suddenness' of the ship's repair towards the back of his mind. He could think about that stuff later, but now Shanks was here.

"Shanks! Mr. First Mate! Lucky!" The named people turned and looked at Luffy smiling and waving. Calls came and yelled greetings in a jumbled mess, that Luffy didn't even try and figure out, but all the same, the Straw hat pirate was happy to see and hear them so happy.

"Well, if it isn't the anchor. What you up to, brat?" Shanks said standing up from his seat, on the captain's chair. The infamous red-haired pirate smiled brightly at Luffy, watching carefully as the future Straw Hat ran up the bridge and onto the ship. No one stopped the native boy from boarding and instead watched with obvious amusement as Luffy ran up to their captain.

Luffy smirked. "I've been looking for you! Makino said you'd arrived." He told them casually. Shanks raised an eyebrow at Luffy's words, something about how he said that sentence sounded off. "Where have you been, Shanks?"

Shanks smiled. "Oh, here and there… Saw a sea king, but that's it. What you doing here?" He motioned to where Luffy was currently standing.

"Making sure you don't get lost again, Shanks!" Luffy proudly said taking Shanks' left hand and guiding him to Makino's Tavern. Luffy knew that if he let Shanks go by himself, he wouldn't get to Makino's till later and by then he'd be too drunk to stand.

Shanks laughed and ruffed Luffy's hair. "Sure, you are... I bet you just want to hear more about my adventures."

Luffy shook his head. "Nope."

Shanks raised an eyebrow." So you finally get tired of becoming a pirate?" His smile was a little sad but kind. He had hoped Luffy would take after him...but whatever Luffy choose to do he'd support him.

"I'm not going be any pirate," Luffy said noticing that Shanks' and his crew were paying full attention to him. "I'm going be King of the Pirates."

Shanks laughed. "Yeah, right you can't even swim, you're an anchor."

"It doesn't matter if I'm an anchor I believe in my nakama (2)," Luffy said glaring hotly. Though Luffy wasn't really mad at Shanks, he knew his friend was just teasing. Shanks was just like that.

Shanks blinked and considered Luffy's words for a few seconds. 'Nakama? He has nakama?' Shanks smiled. Even if it was a bit farfetched Shanks believed Luffy, the anchor didn't lie; hell the red-haired captain doubted Luffy even knew what a lie was. Though Shanks was a bit curious about these nakama of Luffy's...

"Who are your nakama, Luffy?" Luffy looked up at Shanks. It was unusual for the older to call him by his name. Luffy smiled his toothy grin.

"A pirate hunter, a thief who hates pirates, a lying sharpshooter, a cook with a bad attitude, a wanted archaeologist, a living skeleton, an underworld ruling cyborg, a reindeer, and me," Luffy said not noticing that he described his crew instead of naming them. "Hey, there's Makino!"

The future pirate king sped off leaving the crew of the Armeria in his dust.

Ben glanced over at his captain. "A pirate hunter and a thief who hates pirates?"

Mr. First Mate shrugged. "Luffy also said something about a stone reader, a cook with a bad attitude, and some other strange people. What you think Cap'n?"

Shanks blinked confusedly. "Hell if I know what the anchor meant." He said, laughing. "That kid's something else..."

Makino wiped down another table as she waited for Shanks and Luffy to make an appearance. She needed to give the Tavern a quick clean if she wanted to be prepared for the mess that always happened during the 'Great Voyage Toast' Shanks crew had. But regardless of the mess, they made she always enjoyed their presence. They were good people, even with the job title of pirates-

"Makino!" An excited voice said running into the tavern.

It was none other than Luffy, and standing right behind him was the infamous Shanks and his crew.

"I see you've arrived on time." She said smiling a few of the men started laughing thinking of the last time they were late.

Luffy smiled his usual grin. "Yeah, I didn't let Shanks take any detours-or get lost!"

"Hey!" Shanks yelled.

The crew laughed, and Makino stepped away to get the pirate crew their usual drinks (beer), and food, while Shanks turned in his chair leaning back to hear a joke one of his crew was saying.

Luffy smiled at the interaction, before turning back to his plate, and finishing off his meal. His steak was as delicious as he remembered at and within seconds everything was gone-.

SMACK.

A small treasure case hit Luffy in the back of his head. The white-hot pain went through his head and he started rubbing his poor head, unaware of the devil fruit that had fallen onto his plate during the exchange.

"Eat your vegetables," Makino said entering the kitchen with another barrel of alcohol if she had been paying proper attention she'd would have noticed the devil fruit, that wasn't just any vegetable on Luffy's plate…

Luffy pouted, but did as he was told and picked up the vegetable and swallowing it whole. The vegetable tasted a bit off, but besides that Luffy didn't pay any special attention to it. He finished off his milk and was about to get Shanks' attention when startled yelling broke out.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S GONE?" He yelled thoroughly angry.

This is a nightmare…where could that devil fruit have gone… He thought to look around the tavern, hoping beyond hope that the devil fruit would just reappear on its own. He'd found the empty treasure chest on the floor but no devil fruit.

Shanks waited for something to happen, but nothing did and he was sorely disappointed, and more than slightly worried about the consequences of the person who took and, possibly ate the forbidden fruit.

SLAM!

The door of the tavern was slammed opened allowing entrance to the offenders, and a group of people entered looked like villains with their clothing stained with dirt and blood. The leader of the group was by far the ugliest of the group and carried an air of alcohol, appearing drunk and in a foul mood only looking for one thing and one thing only-alcohol.

Unfortunately, the Tavern was empty of the poison, and their mission was in vain as Makino told the group that she no longer had any alcohol, or brandy as she just sold the last of her batch to the people in front of her (conveniently leaving out that the so-called people were, in fact, were pirates).

The drunken leader did not take the answer lightly and descended upon Shanks' and his group.

"We demand all the alcohols you have, now." The idiot said glaring at one of the Four Pirate Kings with a pathetic look, and an even worst threat.

The villains were mountain bandits, and called themselves 'The Scourge of the Mountains', but their attacks were weaker than any punch Nami through on her worst day. They were lower than scum in Luffy's mind and he severely disliked people like the ones in front of him.

Luffy's glare was very freighting and without realizing he was releasing a small amount of Haki (3) into the air. So far the amount was only enough to put pressure on the bandits but the idiots in all their glory simply brushed off the pressure as heat, and other less dangerous things, so the group of morons did not know how truly close they were to danger when the leader continued glaring at Shanks.

Shanks, a master of Haki took note of the Haki he felt but was unable to get a clear reading from where it was coming from and instead replied to the bandit. "Sorry about that, mate'." He said with a smirk, and he offered up an unopened bottle of liquor. "I'm feeling a little guilty about drinking up all the liquor-why don't you have this? It's unopened."

The bandit acted rashly and broke the bottle of liquor over Shanks' head. A move that would forever haunt him...

Luffy's Haki increased and his hidden power burst forward sending a powerful wind shooting through the Tavern as Makino, as well as Shanks group, looked on in outrage, and concealed anger regarding the actions of the 'feared' mountain bandit. The minions of the Bandit leader immediately went unconscious as Luffy's power reared its wrath at the men. The bandit leader himself was pushed back a few feet and was shaking slightly from the effort of staying conscious.

The burst of Haki lasted only half a second but the whole atmosphere changed in that moment as Shanks quickly tried to figure out who was the owner of the Haki that sent the mountain bandit to their knees. His task was made difficult as his few conscious crew members made nervous talk as they too recognize what happened. Everyone within the Tavern was confused, except for one (future) pirate who more than figured out was he had done, not that he regretted his actions.

Where did that Haki come from? Shanks thought after a minute of eliminating as many people as he thought possible from his list of potential Haki users. Only five people from his own crew could have the Haki he was searching for as everyone else fainted when he was anger (no doubt unable to stand his Haki, and Makino and Luffy were immediately thrown out as even at their angriest did nothing happen. But still, the captain of the Armeria felt like he was missing something.

Something very obvious...something he should have seen...

"Cap'n look at them run." Mr. First Mate said laughing at the pathetic sight of the leader dashing away with the few members, the 'Scourge of the Mountains' was able to wake up yet, the looks he was sending at Shanks crew was more enough to say his message.

The bandit wanted revenge.

"Those bandits were pathetic." One of Shanks crew remarked after a couple minutes. "Still what was that blast of wind earlier, it felt like Haki-?" The pirate was cut off in mid-sentence as another answered.

"That was Haki," Shanks said surveying the crew. "A control burst of Haki, as far as I can tell, and it's someone in this room." The Tavern went into silence shock at Shanks words. Makino blinked surprised written all over her face as she considered Shanks words, but she quickly schools her face as she moves away from the counter and to sink to wash dishes.

Could it be...? She wondered sparing a glance over at her smallest patron, before she smiled and shook her head, and pushing the possibility out of her mind. So what if Luffy had a scary look on his face when that burst of wind happened that didn't mean anything...right?

She erased the thought from her mind and went back to the dishes. Still, uncertainty lay in her mind, and she wondered...

"Shanks, you're okay, right?" Luffy said breaking through Makino and Shanks thoughts.

Both looked into the concerned eyes of Luffy, and Shanks shook himself off as best as he could and picked up his straw hat off the ground (it had been forgotten in the wake of the unexpected Haki). He smiled weakly at Luffy and picked up his fork again. "Of course, I am, little anchor. Like a little bottle of Liquor is enough to keep me down." Or a burst of Haki, he thought to himself, never dropping his smile.

Mr. First Mate closely watched Luffy for the rest of evening...

XXxxxxXX

1- The Armeria was the name I made up for Shanks' ship name, as I found no record of what his ship was actually called...

2- Somehow the word 'friends' just doesn't seem to convey the same amount of attention as 'nakama' do so the rest of the fanfiction I'm going to use this word. It's Japanese and can mean a variety of things such as crewmates, friends and so on….

3- A slightly spoiler for later chapters; Haki is the shorten version of Houshou Haki or "King's Ambition" and putting your entire willpower into another person, very similar to the killing intent in Naruto expect that if the person is not strong in willpower or does not possess a decent amount of Haki themselves they faint.

Author’s Note:  Sorry about the long wait, my cousin made me (threaten me) to help her write her stories...

Chapter #1 | Chapter #3

Absolute Confusion on AO3

#one piece #absolute confusion #monkey d.luffy #time travel #Sardonyx_Ichigo #wild card writing #old fanfic

[graveyard-tales]

"What do you think you’re doing exactly?” Ace sighed and turned back to his blond brother. He hadn’t seen the man in weeks but of course as soon as Ace make a decision like this Sabo suddenly appears out of nowhere. Adorned in a dark cloak, snuck in like he had expected.

“What do you expect me to do? You can just disappear and expect me to drop everything just because you came back to tell me so.” Ace said low and stern. No real anger behind his words, he was too tired for that anyways.

“Why not? Isn’t that what you are doing anyways? For Luffy?” Ace’s steel eyes met with Sabo’s dark brown but he didn’t hold them. His gaze darted to the ground.

“Dropping what, exactly?” Ace sighed and Sabo growled grabbing Ace’s hand before ripping off this glove.  Ace didn’t fight Sabo when his own hand was shoved into view. He stared longingly at his finger before jerking his hand away. “It’s better this way.” Ace bit out.

“How is this better? Ace think about Luffy, how he’d feel if he found out!” At that Ace snapped, squaring his shoulders and puffing out his chest.

“Don’t you fucking dare! I am thinking of Luffy. I am always thinking of my brothers!” He growled, looking straight back at Sabo, this time not daring to look away.

“You think this is what Luffy wants? What either of us want Ace? Fuck, why do you think about yourself for once instead of just always worrying about us?” Sabo cupped his brother’s face. “Why do you always think you have to sacrifice everything. I get it, you’re doing it to make Luffy happy but do you think he’ll be happy when he learns about this deal? When he sees just unhappy it made you?”

Ace closed his eyes and covered Sabo’s hands with his own. They lingered there for a moment before gently prying them from his face. Stepping away he laughed, a sound that was anything but happy. “ You forget how selfish our little brother can be. It’s not something he’ll find out for a long while.” Sabo shook his head and was about to retort but Ace cut him off.

“As long as I remain here they will be complacent. As long as I follow along they won’t go after him. And by the time Luffy learns of it, I’ve have learned.” Learned what? To be happy, to smiling convincingly? Not even Ace was really sure but he was sure that he was willing to do it.

“Ace” Sabo breathed, his heart breaking.

“You should leave Sabo. I’d hate for you to get caught.” Ace smiled, forced and painful. “I’d hate have to deal with your friends storming the place for you now that it’d be my problem to deal with.” Ace turned to walk away but Sabo caught his hand. Pulling him back, he placed the glove he took earlier back in Ace’s hand. Ace had already forgotten about it.

“If you need me.” Ace tugged his hand out of Sabo’s.

“I know.” Ace whispered before he finally walked away, leaving Sabo in the dark corridor before he to slipped out.

It had only been a day but looking up at Ace on the stage it had felt like months. He hadn’t slept that night, and judging by the dark bags under Ace’s eyes he could tell Ace didn’t either. He wanted to jump up to Ace, knock that mockery off his head and drag him off the platform and away from all these prying eyes.

He flinched at the hand suddenly on his shoulder but he didn’t take his eyes off of Ace. “Come on Sabo, we can’t linger here anymore.” Koala whispered to him, dressed in a heavy, dark cloak as he was. He nodded and let Koala drag him away, eyes trailing after Ace until he couldn’t see him anymore.

Today was a celebration but this was far from a happy occasion.

The harbor was filled with sudden laughter, a small group busting their way through the crowds. With sacks slung over their shoulders and boxes in their arms it was clear they were on their way to one of the many ships along the waters. Ready for a grand adventure on the sea.

On of the younger men stopped, distracted by written news being passed around. He brushed his thick black curls away from his face, reading what they were about. “Hey look, they finally picked a-”

“Come on Usopp” a young red headed woman snapped “hurry it up, we will not miss the tide cause you’re distracted.”

“Yeah come on!” They bright smiling ‘leader’ shouted. “You’re a liar, not a slow poke, so hurry it up!” He laughed loudly.

“Hey! Luffy!”

He read the words over and over and over again. Rough hands tight on the soft, clean parchment. Not much was written on it just one simple line actually. ‘I’m sorry’ was all it said but it was more than it needed to say, really. What was encased in the envelop with it was more than enough to get the message across.

“Hey Marco has another letter!” His brother laughed loudly, gathering the attention of his other.

“Oh do tell us when we finally get to meet this mysterious sender.” Marco didn’t have to turn from the ocean’s horizon to imagine their painted lips quirked up ever so slightly. They both had waited but Marco remained silent. Instead he let the letter fall from his fingers, blowing off by the sea breeze.

“Come one, when do we get to meet this girl you are fawning over? It’s been literal months and you still say nothing about her!” This time Marco did turn around to look a them. Looking at their shocked faces he can tell the smile he turned with wasn’t as convincing as he had hoped. It certainly felt bitter and heartbroken.

He signed but kept the smile up. He unclenched the object in his hand, flicking up the small thing in the air as gold caught and glittered in the sunlight. “It doesn’t matter now.” Marco caught it again and reached up around his neck to untie his necklace. Both Faces stared in, what might be horror as he weaved the string through the gold band, it clinking against another that was identical to it. Marco had these rings since he was a child.

“He said no.” With that he walked across the deck and below to his room, leaving both his brothers speechless and heartbroken as realization dawned on them.

*Shrugs + i don’t know noise*

#Portgas D. Ace #Sabo #Monkey D. Luffy #Marco the Phoenix #MarcoAce #One Piece #Angst #I DON'T KNOW #??? #I just wanted to write something vague and sad??? #this might be really bad #but i'm too tired to tell #lol #enjoy maybe?