#okay should we call him koala again instead of polite cat now? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cheswirls · 5 years

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it’s your extension (let me extend) 3/6

sabo wakes with a start, tears in his eyes.

he sets up in bed, touches his wet face.

he touches the bandage on his cheek instead, and winces at the contact.

in the corner, his phone goes off. he stumbles up to check on it, shivering as his feet hit the cold flooring.

he has a text from robin. almost there, it reads. his eyes furrow. almost . . almost where?

“what did you do this time,” he mumbles under his breath, tossing the phone on his bed in favor of slipping a worn notebook from his desk. he flips it to the last entry.

whatever you did to your face, it hurts.

robin says you’re reckless, so i guess i didn’t act out of character.

she saved my ass.

i might’ve almost gotten into a scuffle at work.

don’t worry, i didn’t.

your pretty face still only has one bruise.

you should be more careful, by the way.

also, i scored you a date.

shinjuku station, 10am.

i was hoping for another double event, if i’m being honest.

but if you get to go, you better treat robin right!!

if nothing else, she’s a great friend.

you’re welcome.

he’s bounding down the hall before he can process most of the notes, working on a casual blazer over a tee, tripping over his untied boots. from the kitchen, makino calls out to him, watching as he stumbles past. sabo runs into the door, fixes his shoes, and opens it in a hurry.

“gotta go! i’ll be out all day!” he calls back. the door’s shut before she can reply.

the station is crowded, and he has no idea which section he’s supposed to meet robin at. he eventually just texts her, asking where she was, and she replies promptly with her location. it’s not tough to find her, after that.

she looks pretty, all dressed up in casual clothes.

sabo’s never been on a date before.

sabo’s never been on a date with a girl before either. he knows for a fact ace hasn’t, either, flashing back to an event that occurred a few weeks prior.

“she’s kinda pretty,” sabo mumbles, passing by a group of girls on the road. from his other side, lami nudges him in the side.

“girls don’t like hearing that unless you mean it,” she huffs. “just stick to hitting on kidd.”

sabo raises a brow. “i thought it was the other way around?”

lami stops, pausing mid-walk. she recovers after a moment, laughing, and shoves him away. sabo over-balances, and he nearly loses his footing. she laughs on. “maybe you’re not as dense as i thought,” she howls, and sabo’s face colors.

nah, pretty sure he still is, he thinks. then, without thinking, he adds, “i think he would still settle for you, though.”

lami winces, laugh cutting off. “wow, harsh.”

sabo shrugs. “just my way of saying it’s never going to happen.”

“thanks, i guess?” lami mumbles. “you’re right, though. his dad would flip if he started dating a guy. now i see why you wanna move away so bad.”

sabo didn’t think that had been one of the reasons, but as he starts thinking, he realizes she may be on to something. an empty town in the middle of nowhere, a dad who ran out to play politics, a family who enforces traditions, nothing to do, nothing to see once you get over the lake-

and. suppression?

maybe not for ace. maybe the goa appeal was more about anonymity. not being important, being free to be who he really was.

or maybe he was reading too much into it. he hadn’t had the luxury before shanks and makino, after all, always being told he couldn’t like girls and boys-

sabo’s never been on a date, but he knows robin is nice, and pretty, and ace likes being around her. sabo does, too, so he decides to make the most of it.

they go a bunch of different places, having the whole day, after all. an observation tower, an upscale diner, even a cat cafe, after some careful prodding and recalling koala mentioning it one day. sabo thinks it goes okay, but he knows their conversation was awkward. he was by far not a smooth talker, and it showed as the day progressed. sabo could talk his way out of any situation -and when he chose not to, well, there was a bandage on his cheek for a reason- but chatting up someone about everyday stuff was not his strong suit.

they take lots of pictures, and sabo humors them just for ace to be able to see later. his camera roll had never been so full before they started switching bodies, and he certainly didn’t pick up the habit, but he could deal with it.

they end at an art museum. it’s small, but everything is well-placed. robin signs the registry for them both, and sabo stands quietly in the background, looking at the paintings hanging in the foyer.

robin stays quiet this time, wandering from piece to piece, picture to picture. sabo trails after her. it’s not until they reach a wall of photographs that he pauses, eyes catching onto a piece in the center.

it was the lake. the crater-lake where ace’s mountain village was.

he stares at it a bit too long. robin wanders back.

“you’re . . a bit different today,” she notes. sabo tries not to let it bother him.

they’re passing a footbridge when sabo speaks next. “are you hungry again? we can go and grab dinner.”

robin pauses in her walk, turning back to gaze at him. it’s the first time sabo notices that the sun is setting, just behind her head.

“nah,” she says. “let’s be done for the day.”

sabo tries not to visibly deflate. “oh. okay.”

robin smiles and moves a little closer. “hey . .” she waits until sabo looks up. “you . . used to have a little crush on me, didn’t you?”

“eh?” sabo’s face colors.

“but now you don’t.” her smile turns softer. “now . . you’re in love with someone else, right?”

“what?” sabo blinks.

your pretty face still only has one bruise.

his mouth opens. nothing comes out.

across from him, robin laughs, covering it with one hand. sabo copies her, but he’s not laughing, just covering his own quickly-reddening face.

“n-no!” his shoulders move up to his ears.

“hmm?” she moves closer. “you sure?”

“positive!”

“well, okay.” she pats him on the shoulder. “bye, sabo. thanks for today.”

the sky is more dark than light, now, and sabo’s still on the bridge.

way, far ahead of him, the last of the sun’s rays hit the goa skyline. twilight, for sure.

he has his phone out. there’s a last bit of the notes ace wrote for him that he didn’t read, in his rush to leave. lucky for him, ace always took a picture when he finished writing.

by the time your date is over, you’ll be able to see the comet.

sabo frowns, looks up at the sky. the only thing he sees is a passing airplane.

his gaze moves back to his phone, but it catches on the hand holding it, at the red cord wrapped several times around his wrist. he stares. and stares.

wait.

wasn’t that-

a noise catches his attention, and he throws his head up just to spy another airplane, this one lower, just having taken off.

he sighs, closes out of the photos to open his number directory. comet? what is he talking about?

they’d given each other their numbers a while back, but never used them, always opting for the notes instead.

sabo’s finger clicks on ace’s, bringing up his contact.

ace portgas.

he stares. and stares.

then he clicks ‘call’, and holds the phone up to his ear.

“when did you give me . .” he mumbles, almost whispers. his phone rings. and rings.

ace’s phone buzzes from across the room.

he opens his eyes, awoken from his catnap against the window seat. looking out, he can see the sun beginning to set, disappearing behind the crater’s crest.

slowly, he moves to stand.

“hello?”

“ace? why weren’t you at school today?”

“oh, kidd?” he blinks. had he been expecting different? “i just didn’t feel like going,” he lies. “sorry.”

“what about the festival?”

he hums. “that’s tonight, huh?” right. the comet. it would reach its closest point that night, be the brightest. it had been such a long day already, he’d forgotten.

“lami and i are meeting at nine.”

“okay.” he turns to the mirror, pushes a hand up into his hair, into the dark strands setting just below his shoulder. “ . . i’ll be there.”

“admit it. you just wanna see ace in a yukata.”

kidd flinches back before glaring sharply at lami, who’s laughing at him now, legs swinging from the bench they were set on.

“just because it’s a festival-”

“oh, come now, luffy won’t let him leave the house without one. their grandpa would make lu wear one, and he’ll whine to ace until he’s matching, until they’re both suffering the same.” her smile turns a little whimsical as her gaze falls, staring at her own yukata sleeve. “though, i don’t see why. they’re really comfy.” she looks over at kidd again, a glimmer in her eyes. “y’know, i did offer you one of law’s old ones. instead you chose to show up in oil-stained shorts, an old hoodie.”

kidd huffs. “so what?”

she shrugs. “nothing.”

kidd crosses his arms, leans back. “still. he didn’t sound so good.”

“it’s ace. he gets worked up sometimes. if he said he’d come, he’s probably better than you think-”

“hey.”

they both turn.

“ace!" lami’s smile quickly turns into a frown. her eyes widen. “w-wha-”

kidd falls off the bench.

ace blinks, first at her, and then at the redhead now sprawled across the dirt. he rubs a hand on the back on his neck, the short strands there tickling his palm. “is it that different?”

kidd is frowning. lami wants to ask, but they’re not that far behind ace, so she grabs his arm and lets them fall a few more paces back, ace walking further ahead, blissfully unaware. “what is it?” she hisses.

“think he got his heart broke?” kidd mutters. “think there’s some other guy?”

“why? because he cut his hair?” lami scoffs. “can’t people just cut their hair? it doesn’t have to be all about break-ups.”

“sure, but why so short? i can see his ears now, and it’s not even up!”

“get over yourself! just because you don’t like it-”

“hey, who says i don’t-”

“oh!”

ace’s voice breaks them out of their argument. they turn to see him breaking out into a jog, dipping off the road, and onto the grass proper. “you can see it,” he calls back, and lami and kidd forego their arguing to catch up.

ace stands on the edge of the ridge, looking out across the lake, and up into the sky.

it’s now after half-light, and above them, the comet is flying.

his breath catches as his eyes lock onto the trail it leaves behind, colors shining like the northern lights he’d always heart so much about. just another place to go, another thing to see, when he finally left this place.

the comet had been a tease since the start of the year. news anchors loved to talk about how it was coming, something that only passed every 1200 years. astronomers set a date for midsummer, for about four days you could view the comet. the time grew closer and closer. even as he switched with sabo, the next morning, news about the comet would always be playing on the old television at he ate breakfast.

sabo . .

i wonder if he can see it.

on the third day, today, tonight, right now, the comet moved to its closest point to the earth’s surface, and became the most visible than any of the other three days.

ace’s eyes move from the trail to the white speck itself. he hears lami and kidd come up behind him.

he watches as the comet moves, and then blinks, gaze caught on a new streak separating from it, dipping off, going red from white, and red, and redder, and lower and lower and lower-

oh.

“the number you have reached is no longer in service. please hang up and try-”

sabo sighs and ends the call. must’ve typed it in wrong. whatever, he’d ask for it again next time they switched. he pockets his phone, finally moving off the bridge. his fingers move to wrap around the cord.

“how’d it go?” shanks asks as soon as he’s through the door. sabo only sighs, faking his forlornness to exaggerating lengths to hide the real stuff lingering underneath. shanks lets out a breathy laugh, and then he’s slinking off to his and makino’s bedroom, holding a finger to his lips before he slips in and shuts the door.

sabo catches the hint, and takes off his boots before moving across the apartment.

at the end of the night, before he can properly settle in bed, he reaches for his marker and scribbles down his arm.

when did you give me this?

he wakes up, and the note is still on his arm.

the next night he frowns, re-writes it.

the next night, before he can re-write it, he forgets what he was going to write in the first place.

the next night, he starts drawing.

sabo draws ace’s village, so he won’t forget, just like he forgot the writing on his arm, just like he forgot everything that happened before he got the burns, before shanks and makino. he draws for the same reason he’s been writing those notebooks.

he draws the view from the dining room, when the shoji doors were open, and the tatami a little damp from the weather. he draws the lake, and the houses nestled into the cliffside. he draws the front of kidd’s mother’s diner. he draws the high school, sitting alone at the top of the crest. he draws the broadcast club room, where he’d come to pick up lami after school had ended. he draws the big torii gates on the edge of the village. he draws the radio towers clustered together on the far side of the lake.

he draws the shrine, the streams and puddles and the tipped tree and the giant stone slab. he draws the scenery of the plateau atop mount corvo over and over and over.

he draws until he runs out of pages, until the sketchbook is empty, all the drawings torn out and hung on the wall, the last remaining page all the notes he and ace scribbled all those months ago.

he uses money he’d earned from his job to buy a new one, because without ace spending it all on food after school, he actually has some spare.

time passes. life goes on. he spends time with koala, goes to work, eats breakfast with makino, gets teased by shanks. he keeps drawing, filling his entire wall with sketches pinned there by a strip of clear tape.

he glances down at the red band tied to his wrist, and can’t help but think, well.

that he’s missing something.

summer fades. the weekend comes. sabo takes all the drawings off his wall, and pulls out a trash can.

he stuffs the tape into it, then shoves the paper into the sketchbook, and slides that into his backpack.

he hikes on a jacket, because it was still rainy season, and he didn’t fancy getting wet.

he wraps the red band around his wrist, ties it there with a clasp. it’s routine at this point. methodical.

a glance at his phone confirms koala’s last message, a thumbs-up symbol, for the millionth time. sabo moves out of the thread to a different one, to a long list of failed-to-send messages.

he knows, if he looks at his call log, it will read the same. ace portgas, over and over and over again.

he opens up a new app, his list for settlements surrounding the corvo mountains. it was a wide mountain range, so he had his work cut out for him.

he’s worth it, he thinks, and then slams a lid over that thought quickly. he shoves his phone into his jacket, slings his backpack over his shoulder, and leaves the apartment before makino wakes up for the day.

at the station, koala and robin are waiting for him.

sabo blanches. he turns to robin first. “w-what are you doing here?”

“koala told me,” she hums, smiling down at him, curse her height.

he turns to glare at the redhead next. “traitor.”

koala hands him a ticket. “say it on the train,” she drones, pushing him towards the platform.

“i told you to cover my shifts and make up a lie to makino,” he hisses, once they’re all properly seated. koala rolls her eyes.

“you have a week off. i’m not lying to makino. i told her we were taking a trip.” she shoves a finger into his chest. “and i’m not letting you go alone. you’ve never met this guy before, what if he’s some old man?”

sabo sputters. “he’s not-”

“plus, you’ve been acting weird.” she crosses her arms over her chest, leaning back and from her other side, robin leans over.

“it’s someone you met online, right?”

“no!” he says, maybe a touch too loud.

“i think he’s been using a dating site,” koala whispers to her. robin laughs.

“no!” he says again, definitely too loud this time. he ducks in his seat, shoulders hunching, as people turn to stare.

it’s not until they’re switching train cars at another station does robin finally ask the big question. “so. where are we going?”

“uh.” sabo gulps. “i don’t exactly know.”

robin stares.

sabo moves his gaze away. “i just know what the town looks like. and that it’s somewhere near the corvo mountain range.”

the silence remains. settles. the train begins to move.

“you’re a terrible trip planner,” koala finally says, snorting.

sabo huffs. “you didn’t have to come!”

“yeah, i did,” she continues, bumping shoulders with him. “that’s what friends are for.” she gestures to robin. “and we’re your friends. we’ll help you find him.”

they leave goa nearing six in the morning.

it’s almost been eight hours since then.

they’ve rode the train for hours. sabo shows his drawing, the one of the lake and the village, to everyone. train conductors, station workers, taxi drivers, inn keepers, the people who served them breakfast, the couple who offered them lunch, the town mascot. the list went on and on.

sabo spies a torii gate and forces them off at the next stop. his heart falters as he sees the scenery is wrong, gate on top of a slope, and stone steps leading up to it. he stops a pair of older women before they can make their way up, but they don’t know what to make of his drawing, either.

sabo shows his drawing to passing farmers, shopkeepers, other locals, other tourists, delivery men, young kids, old people. he points to a distant mountain, comparing it to the one in his sketch, but gets waved off each time. not here, they say. and not anywhere i know. sorry.

he shows it to the bus driver who takes them out of town, but when that, too, comes up empty, he has the old man stop on the edge, and all three of them collapse onto the tiny waiting bench.

“this isn’t going to work,” sabo sighs, his head falling into his hands.

“what?” koala gasps. from his other side, robin looks affronted. “but we’ve spent so much effort!” and money, she doesn’t add, but there’s no need.

“we?” sabo side-eyes her. “i’ve been doing all the work!”

koala had taken sabo’s wallet hostage, and treated herself and robin to a local delicacy at every stop, not to mention small knick-knacks. they’d played cards as sabo conversed with locals, stopped to admire the small stations and all they had to offer, took tons and tons of pictures while sabo obsessed over the list on his phone, hope fading with every crossed-out line being added.

“a ramen.”

“a ramen!”

“uh, a ramen, then.”

their server, an older woman who ran the shop with her husband, hums and takes their menus. “it’ll be right out.”

sabo sighs for the zillionth time that day and resists plunging his face into his water glass. he tosses a straw into it instead, swirls it around.

“maybe i should just give up. could we make it back to goa by tonight?”

robin turns to look out the window. “could be close. let me check.” she pulls out her phone.

koala leans forward in her seat. “but, sabo! is that really okay?”

there’s a faint glimmer in her eyes he doesn’t want to acknowledge. he sighs again, instead, and leans back in his seat.

their ramen comes. they dig in, each surprised and impressed by the flavor. sabo considers koala’s words and sets down his bowl halfway through. he plucks the drawing out from the sketchbook, set in the chair beside his own. “this isn’t going well,” he mutters. “does it matter if it’s okay? what choice do i have?”

“oh. that’s fuusha, ain’t it?”

sabo blinks, then looks up. the woman is back, refilling their water glasses. her eyes are on the drawing in sabo’s hands.

“drawin’ you’ve got there looks just like it. hey, hon, come look at this!” she calls. from behind the counter, the chef pauses in his work, then slowly ambles out.

“yeah. that’s fuusha,” he notes.

“he’s from there, y’see,” the woman tells sabo.

“brings back memories,” he hums.

sabo feels his breath catch. “fuu . . sha.”

the hope returns, a small flicker growing into a large flame.

“yeah! fuusha, that’s it! do you know where it is?”

he’s nearly out of his seat. his heart is racing, suddenly his head feels a lot lighter as the adrenaline kicks it. fuusha. fuusha village. he’s found it. after everything that day -no, the week they’d stopped switching-

no. the months since they started.

he’d finally found it. him. ace.

something shifts on the chef’s face. him and his wife share a glance. “where . . ?” she asks. “but . .”

sabo blinks. he feels like he’s stuck in a loop. the adrenaline kicks into high gear. his hand squeezes down on the wooden tabletop. across from him, koala and robin exchange looks.

“fuusha,” koala murmurs. “isn’t that . . ?”

robin’s eyes widen. “yeah. that’s where the comet-” she cuts herself off, face closing off.

sabo catches it, though. he turns his head sharply, from the shop owners to his friends. “comet?” he mutters, recalling the mention of such from ace’s note, a week back.

when robin looks back up to him, it’s with very sad eyes.

his heart plummets.

sabo’s already running. it’s short work to jump over the yellow caution tape warding strangers off from the area.

he jogs to the edge of the crater. to his left, the high school sat, still intact, still giving the illusion that everything was okay.

below him, where fuusha should have sat, there was a second lake.

his heart catches.

rubble coated the side of the crater. everything below the ridge he stood on was decimated, destroyed.

there was a second lake, almost as big as the first. it formed where the walls of the crater once began, right near the bottom, where sacha’s restaurant and kidd’s home had once been. it stretched near where the top of the crater was, where sabo now stood. the wreckage collected on the sides. in the middle, there was nothing but rock and earth and water.

his breathing stops.

he lets his arms fall limp to his sides.

behind him, robin and koala come to a stop a safe distance away. koala gulps as she catches sight of the damage.

“hey . . this can’t be it. there’s gotta be a mistake, right, sabo?” she asks, her voice raising. “this can’t be the place, right? you’re mista-”

“i’m not!” sabo shouts, spinning on his heel. his eyes are burning. “this is it! this is fuusha. but . .” he shakes his head. “i . . no.” he gulps. “i was here. i was just here. i’ve been in the high school-” he gestures vaguely at the building. “more times than i can count this semester. i’ve been here. i was here. how is it . .” he shakes his head. “how can it be . . . ?”

he stands there for a long time. tears dot the ground at his feet. he keeps his head hung low, so he doesn’t have to see the sun finally setting behind him, drawing this impossibly long day to a close. from further back, behind the girls, the ramen chef leans against his car, having taken the time to drive them all down there.

“you can’t have,” robin says, speaking up softly. “the disaster happened three years ago. no one has touched fuusha since.” she swallows, looks pained. “lots of people died, sabo.”

his breath catches, again. he remembers, very faintly. seeing the comet. seeing the split.

his hand reaches for his jacket pocket. he slides out his phone, and his hands begin to tremble. “no,” he mumbles. “no, that’s not right. i-i still have the notes he wrote for me. all the pictures he took-”

he cuts himself off, staring at his camera roll.

a bunch of blank image slots greet him.

he clicks on one, almost frantic, and is greeted with a simple message. “image corrupted?” he murmurs. “that can’t-”

it’s like that for all of them. his whole camera roll, all the way up from when they first started switching.

his phone dies, right there in his hands. he hadn’t charged it all day.

sabo lets out one choked, forced sob.

he collapses before he can let out another.

the miran comet had an orbital period of around 1200 years.

three years ago, astronomers predicted its path near earth, down to the day, the hour, where it would be a stone’s throw from the atmosphere. three years ago, as summer finally dawned, it was all the news stations could talk about. the comet was coming. the comet would be visible. what weather to expect, what it would look like through a telescope versus through the naked eye, what deterioration it had taken in space from the last time it had flown by the planet.

what no one had predicted, though, was for the comet’s nucleus to split. three years ago, the stuff that made the comet a comet, the snowball part that was lit on fire, for a simple enough explanation, broke. plummeted to earth, as the rest continued its course. caught on fire. fell. crashed.

“right into fuusha,” koala finishes, pointing to a spot on a map from one of the many books they had lying open on the table. sabo sat in a chair in front of them all, head resting on his hands. he’d hadn’t -more like refused to- believed it, so after they had gotten a ride back into town, robin drug him to a library, where they dug up articles and such about fuusha from three years back.

it was starting to process, by now. he was starting to remember. seeing the comet split, watching from the rooftop.

“a third of the town died,” robin murmurs, coming up to them with a new book. “nearly five hundred people.”

she sets it down and sabo’s eyes widen at the title. it was a list of victims. a thick, black-binded tome. he doesn’t waste time in flipping it open, in scanning the names.

it doesn’t take long before his finger stops moving down the page. “kidd,” he mutters, voice hoarse.

and another time, on a different page. lami, he thinks, attempting the words vocally with no success, lips moving along silently.

and then, on a separate page, the name he didn’t want to find. the one that makes him gasp, breathy and quiet, as his finger slides to rest over the number, over the ‘17’ marking the age he died at.

portgas ace.

koala leans closer. “that’s him? ace?” her lips purse. “then, that can’t be the same person. i mean, he died three years ago, sabo! it’s right there . .” she trails off, eyes widening as sabo begins to shake his head.

“no,” he whispers. “a week ago, he told me i could see the comet. he . . he-”

ace?

old man garp’s words echo back to him.

you’re dreaming now, aren’t ya?

“he . . what . . .” sabo blinks, looks up from the names.

but.

it wasn’t supposed to be a-

koala finds robin in the common room of the small inn they’d picked to stay for the night. it was far too late to catch a train back to goa, not with all the stops and transitions they’d have to make. unfortunately, the inn they had found had only had one room available. robin had insisted it was fine, but koala was closer to sabo, the two had been around the other for years, and she didn’t exactly know how well the raven was really taking it. sharing a room with two teenagers.

koala watches for a moment as robin’s eyes move around the room, watching, scanning. she pulls out a book before too long, and before she could get into it, koala marches over. robin looks up expectantly once koala’s shadow falls over the pages.

her lips pull tight. “sorry we couldn’t get another room,” she mutters, shuffling over to rest in the seat next to robin, who only smiles, marks her page.

“i’ll manage. how’s he doing?”

“ah . .” she glances away. “well. still reading. he did take a lot from the library, but . .” she shrugs. “he brought his laptop, i guess. he’s reading internet articles now. anything he can find about fuusha.” her eyes move back to robin, questioning, watching. “what do you think of his story?”

“hm.” robin blinks, closes her book. “i’d sooner believe in reincarnation,” she answers bluntly.

koala almost laughs. how . . very robin-like.

“if you had told me, say, sabo got into an accident three years back. and ace’s soul was reincarnated into him, instead of his own. that would make more sense.” she shrugs again, as koala’s expression shifts. “still certainly . . not exactly sane. but more believable than-”

“that?” her brows raise. “yeah. i know what you mean.”

robin frowns. “or if it was from the same time-”

“but it’s not.” koala sighs. “not if it was recent, for sabo.”

“i don’t think i can believe it,” robin answers after a long, silent moment. koala nods, slowly.

“i do think,” she continues, and koala perks up, thinking that the conversation had been over. “that he had been acting differently, lately. almost like he could’ve been an entirely new person. i would like to believe it.” robin’s lips purse. her eyes go carefully blank. “maybe i could have, if ace was still alive.”

“but . .” koala murmurs.

“regardless, i do think he’s met someone.” robin smiles over at her, and koala only blinks. “someone who has changed him.”

“that, i can believe, at least.”

sabo brings up his camera roll again.

now, not even the notices of corrupted images are left. there’s not even blank space. his camera roll just picked up where he left it, middle of freshman year, some random things he thought looked cool, back before he could draw to preserve things for his memory.

he can’t even have the reassurance that the notes are still intact, in his notebooks. how many did he have, by now? nine? eleven? which one had ace been writing in again?

. . if he had been at all?

he can’t even go home and check, either. trains weren’t running. it’d cost a fortune he didn’t have to get someone to drive him there. he would be walking for days if he set out on foot.

he turns his phone back off. puts his head in his arms, right over the folded articles spread out on the table. from the corner of his eye, his computer screen finally winks off to sleep.

there had to be a reason. there had to be.

option one. he saw the news three years ago. he remembered the scenery from then. that’s what he had been sketching, all this time. you see enough before and after photos, you can draw some old buildings, right?

option two. he really . . was dreaming. imagining. he runs a hand through his hair, face still pressed down onto his other arm. the switch only occurred in his dreams, right? or, was he schizophrenic, now? imagining people, forgetting days of his life.

option three.

the door opens.

sabo sits up, rubbing at his face. “koala?”

“sorry, she’s in the bath.”

he looks over his shoulder. “oh. robin.”

“hey.” she moves closer. spies all the papers. her expression grows a bit pensive. she manages to even it out, slides into the chair across from him. “hand me a mag, okay?”

“sorry,” he mutters, staring blankly down at the same page and not comprehending a word. robin looks up, but sabo doesn’t. “for dragging you into this. for . . saying all this crazy stuff.”

robin watches him carefully before replying. “regardless, i did have fun today.”

sabo lets out a laugh. its short. “glad someone did.”

she flips a page, hums. “this one’s interesting,” she notes. “braided cords? tradition, apparently.”

sabo looks up.

robin does as well, glancing to his wrist. “that’s one, right? a braided cord.”

sabo blinks. looks down to the red wrapped around him. “i . . yeah,” he mutters. “yeah.” his brows furrow. “someone gave it to me. i can’t remember. i . . . when, who-” you know, though, his mind echoes, and he mentally nods. he knew who it belonged to. but. how long had he had it? when did he get it? when did he stop paying it mind?

when did he notice it again? all this time, and he only noticed . .

after it had ended?

wait.

“someone told me,” sabo begins, slow. “someone who makes braided cords. they represent the flow of time. twisting and tangling and unraveling and mending together again.” his eyes widen. across from him, robin’s narrow.

“wait,” he breathes, and one hand fumbles for his phone without him realizing. he finds the corner of a map, instead. “if i went there . .”

robin’s hand falls over his. he jumps, but she doesn’t pull back, even when he finally looks into her eyes.

“not tonight, at least, okay sabo?” robin murmurs. “rest tonight. it’s been a lot day.”

he nods. right. it had been a long day. and the weekend wasn’t over. he still had time.

except, did he really have time?

he writes a note, early, too early in the morning. he tells the girls to head back to goa. he would catch up with them.

there was one more place he had to check.

#saboace #SaboAceWeek2019P2 #acesabo #writing #one piece #iye/lme

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wordsdrippinginink · 6 years

Note

(3 of 4) OPVengers. Meeting Luffy. Again and for the 1st time. (because we all know that this is gonna be a mess of the highest caliber)

“Why do they call you Gol D Ace,” Steve asks curiously as Ace frowns at the newspaper that a bird had delivered. “I thought your name was Portgas D Ace, was,” he pauses. “Were you just too polite to correct us?”

Ace blinks slowly at him, the same way that Steve has seen Kotatsu do, before sighing, “About twenty, fuck I’m suppose to be twenty two? Twenty four years ago, there was a man who became the Pirate King, before his execution, he said that the person who made it to this island that he had left his treasure on would take his place. His name was Gol D Roger, he’s-” he gestures hopelessly. “-my male genetic provider.”

“But you’re suppose to be twenty two?”

“My mom, Portgas D Rouge, lived on a small island called Batterilla. That man stayed with her for a time before turning himself into the marines and the marines heard rumor that Gol was going to be a father. They killed a number of women and young children to prevent his bloodline from continuing.”

Steve feels sick because this is starting to make the Marines sound more like the Nazis in his memories, the men who would kill off another group of humans because they didn’t approve of them. For a government to willingly, publicly, approve of murdering children and pregnant women-

“My mother extended her pregnancy. I think it was Conquer’s haki, which forces your will over someone else but Gramps said it was will power, for almost two years. It killed her, she lived long enough to name me.”

“She sounds like an amazing woman,” Steve says instead, because he knows amazing women. Portgas D Rouge sounds as strong as Peggy and his mother, the number of other women that he’s met over the years. “I’m sorry you never got to meet her.”

“Thanks,” Ace says smiling softly before glancing back at his paper. “This says that Luffy’s been up to his usual shit, the little brat, and gives us an idea where he’s going to be heading, since Marco’s heard rumors about Luffy working with Trafalgar.”

“What a Traflga?” Tony mumbles into his cup, eyes narrowed at a speck of nothing on the table. “Is that a food?”

“Trafalgar Law, he’s a member of the Marine’s pet pirates,” Ace says shrugging. “He’s got a devil’s fruit that,” Ace shrugs. “It’s a little hard to explain, I think. But let’s say if you run into a blue circle, you’re fucked because he’ll dismember you. You’ll live and get everything reattached easily enough, but it’s annoying.”

Pepper hums looking at the map that Ace had taken from Marco, “Where is Fishman Island on this?”

“Under this,” Ace answers tapping on a landmass. “It’s underwater, you have to get the ship coated so that it can go under and this island is Saboady, best place in the world to find someone to coat your ship,” his finger trails to another island. “This is Dressrosa. If Luffy keeps on track then he’ll be here about the same time that we will.”

“Any plans for when we arrive?” Pepper asks finally, probably mentally calculating the days until they arrived. Steve has found that she plans as well her as she does for Stark Industries. She also looks more relaxed than Steve has ever seen her. “We’ve got several choices.”

“Undercover,” Ace answers simply. “The island has been taken over by one of the other pet pirates the Marines have running around. His name is Doflamingo and I would burn him alive if I got the chance.”

“What,” Clint asks raising an eyebrow. “is a pet pirate?”

“The marines have a group of seven pirates that they Warlords, whom work for them. They offered me a spot before I was revealed to be,” he taps his name in the paper. “It also offers protection, which is why some people take it. I wouldn’t but I know that Boa Hancock worked with my brother to try and help me escape execution, which means she’s playing her own game.”

The politics of this world are just as complicated as Ace and Marco had tried to explain to them in the beginning and Steve doesn’t know what to think. Sometimes he thinks that maybe pirates are right, maybe they’re the ones that are doing the right thing, but then, then. He doesn’t know what to think and it’s driving him mad.

“You said undercover,” Pepper says because she’s focused. “Undercover how?”

Ace smirks and Steve shivers because the last time that they saw that face, they had taken out a marine ship that had been chasing them and left the survivors for dead, “What do you know about disguises?”

“You don’t want to get involved with that,” Clint whispers as Luffy clings to the man that he thinks is Ace’s other brother, the one that Marco had mentioned, sobbing his heart out. “They’re already having emotional break downs.”

“I died in Luffy’s arms,” Ace says softly, leaning back against the statue that they’ve taken to hiding behind, not looking around it to catch sight of them. “And he’s got a big fight coming. I don’t think it’s fair to throw him off balance just yet.”

“And Sabo’s not doing the same thing?”

Ace hums, “your older brother dies when you’re not even in the double digits, but he comes back years later to tell you he’s alive before a big battle. Emotional, but not compromising. Your brother who died in your arms to save your life two years ago shows up alive?”

“Point,” Clint says softly. “What is your plan then? I know you made us all memorize what Luffy’s crew and this Trafalgar guy’s crew look like, but if Sabo’s running around too, who we don’t have a picture for just your description, he’s got to have allies.”

“That’s Sabo’s fault for being a member of the Revolutionary army,” Ace shrugs and Clint can see the tension in his shoulders.

“Would it be that bad? For Luffy to see you now?”

“Marco says Luffy was catatonic after my death. If you were that bad after someone dies on you, what would you do if they came back?”

Clint sucks in a breath through his teeth, “Jesus fuck. So we’re good to be spotted as we like, but you’ve gotta keep yourself out of sight. Do you have a plan to meet up with Luffy again?”

“After. There’s always time after fights like this and I think it’ll be better. Just,” Ace shrugs and he pushes himself upright, pulling the baseball cap that Pepper had shoved onto his head down to shade his face. “We can’t avoid to distract him now. I can’t afford to ruin this for him.”

“But after?”

Ace grins, halfhearted, “After this, I think Luffy would love to have both of his older brothers back in his life, don’t you?”

Doflamingo stops short at the swirling inferno that separates him from where Law has dragged Straw Hat, flames too hot and bright for him to risk a step further.

“You know, I think that you’re a little creepy about Trafalgar,” that’s a voice he’s heard before. The entire world had heard it. “But that’s my baby brother down there and no offense, you fucking nut job, but I don’t think you’re going to get a step closer to him.”

“I see the rumors about your death were exaggerated, Gol D Ace.”

Gol hisses and his eyes narrow, “Portgas, Noble.”

“Oh, you know about that, do you?”

“I know a lot of people and for those that I don’t Marco does. A little rumor about how the Donquixote family was disgraced? Marco is going to hunt down everything about that,” Gol smirks and the baseball cap looks foolish on his head. “He’s going to beat you.”

“A brother’s belief, I heard Straw Hat thought you would live.”

“I did, didn’t I? I’m standing here and,” Gol shifts and his shirt falls open revealing his chest and not a single sign of the wound that Doflamingo had expected to be there. “I certainly hope you don’t think I would be stupid enough to come that close to death again.”

They both stop at the sharp rise in Haki, Gol smirking viciously and with all his teeth, “I hope your death is ignoble and erased from history.”

He vanishes, the flames gone as fast as they appeared, Straw Hat once more on his feet and moving forward.

Doflamingo laughs, shoulders shaking, what an interesting day. He would be sure to sting Gol up after he had murdered Straw Hat, he would get his answers then, after all, how many escaped death?

Luffy smiles, exhaustion pulling at him as he’s watches Sabo, alive and well, talking with his crew. It’s nice, he thinks he should probably be more upset, but Sabo’s been dead to him for twelve years since he was seven.

“You expecting someone?” Zoro asks as someone knocks on the door. “Because we aren’t.”

“I’m not,” Sabo agrees. “Unless Koala thinks that I’ve taken too much time and wants me to hurry up, would one of you mind opening the door? I’m a bit far.”

“I have it,” Robin says, an arm sprouting from the door and opening it, her voice wavers part way through her greeting. “I do not believe that is Koala.”

Luffy tilts his head to look at the door and feels his heart sink in his chest at the silhouette in the doorway before they step inside.

“Sorry I’m late,” Ace, because it looks like Ace, says smiling softly. “I got a little lost, would you believe it? Took me ages to get home-” he turns into flames as one of Zoro’s swords slash at him. “That’s just rude.”

“Ace?” Luffy hates how his voice chokes up and breaks.

Ace’s smile goes impossibly softer, like when he was dying in Luffy’s arm, “Hey Luffy. I’m sorry, I didn’t know it would happen like this. Are you okay?” He takes a step forward and stops as Luffy’s crew steps between them. “Oh, right. Gotta prove I’m Ace, don’t I?”

Luffy wants to tell his crew to move, to let him see his big brother, but Ace, not Ace, is right. He needs to prove he’s Ace or Luffy will kill him. If, Luffy can feel the tears returning, if it’s Ace-

“Remember where you spent all your time after Sabo died?” Ace says after a moment, keeping his hands up and Luffy’s eyes shift away from him to where there’s a too big cat in the doorway, because either this will be right or wrong and he can’t look at him. “I promised you that I would never die before you. Punched you first, said you should worry more about dying before me, since you’re so much weaker than I am.”

“Luffy, is that?”

“Ace,” Luffy sobs holding out his arms because he’s too tired to move but this is Ace. “Ace, it’s-”

“Luffy, you crybaby.”

“-you’re alive!”

Ace moves forward slowly, dropping down beside Luffy on the bed, “I promised, didn’t I? That I wouldn’t die before you. I’m sorry it took me so long to get home, I’ve missed you so much. But look at you.”

“Ace!” Luffy sobs, wrapping his arms tight around Ace.

“I’m sorry,” Ace whispers leaning closer and hugging him back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was two years, I was only gone a week. I’m sorry.”

Luffy squeezes tighter, feeling his exhaustion creeping up on him, “Don’t leave.”

“Of course not.”

“Another world,” Sabo says slowly looking at the people who had burst in when Ace hadn’t returned. “You went to another world?”

“I don’t wanna hear it from you, you got amnesia that only went away after my death. Marco was gonna beat you up if you didn’t know so much,” Ace shoots back, brushing Luffy’s hair from his face. “Kotatsu, come here.”

The big cat that’s been sitting in the doorway, jumps onto the bed with grace and curls up against Ace’s side, purring loudly. Sabo remembers this cat, it had been at the house with Marco the Phoenix when he had arrived to see Ace’s grave.

“Why does Marco the Phoenix know so much about your childhood anyway?” Sabo asks. “You told him a hell of a lot for a crew-mate.”

“Serious boyfriend,” Ace corrects, smirking. Sabo’s head aches and he knows he looks shocked, he is. “We were pretty serious when I died and Marco,” he tilts his head. “Marco asked to, if we could pick up where we left off and I’m weak.”

Sabo shakes and takes half a step forward, “may I?”

“I’m not gonna vanish if you touch me, Sabo.”

“Fuck,” Sabo hisses tripping over his own feet to hug Ace, biting back a sob when Ace doesn’t vanish and remains solid. “Ace.”

“I’m glad you aren’t dead too, you idiot.”

Sabo hides his face against Ace’s shoulder, “That’s my line, you idiot.”

Luffy is warm, he’s warm and he doesn’t want to open his eyes because he had the best dream in the world. Sabo had been alive and he had kept his promise to Traffy, and then Ace had shown up. He had dreamed up Ace, alive and smiling and coming back to apologize for being gone for so long, which wasn’t even fair.

“Tatsu,” Luffy hears a whisper, too soft to do more than just hear the voice. “Let him sleep, he’s tired.”

“He doesn’t look like he’s going to let go of you anytime soon,” Luffy doesn’t know that voice but he can hear Robin laughing, so it means that it’s safe. He feels safe. “Are we going to be here until he wants to let go, Captain?”

“I think I owe him that much.”

Luffy burrows close and pretends that his dream is real for one long moment before opening his eyes.

“We’re going to travel with him for a bit, aren’t we?”

“I am, you’re going to be leave to go home at some point and I wouldn’t dare keep you,” Ace says grinning. “Besides, Tony says that he’s making me one of those things you use and if I don’t talk to him once a day, he’s going to come back and kick my ass.”

The woman he’s talking to laughs, her head thrown back, “That sounds like Tony.”

“Ace?”

“Oh,” Ace is looking at him, smiling softly. “Did we wake you up, Luffy? I’m sorry, do you want to go back to sleep?”

Luffy shakes his head, feeling like he’s about to start crying again, “Ace’s real.”

“I’m real,” Ace promises.

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