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Chapter Text

“How did you guys meet?”

The question was randomly blurted out by the youngest brother, during a meal one late night. The boy faced two older pre-teens who both froze as the straw hat wearing boy’s voice rung out. The freckled one coughed loudly as his food got stuck in his throat, surprised by the blunt innocence of his younger charge. Sabo had spit out his water comically, as he tried to think of an answer which wouldn’t be as bad out loud as he knew it would.

 Ace and Sabo both blinked at him, faces turning a dark shade of red.  Luffy merely stared back, not having to look down at his meat to eat, waiting for a story.

The question hung in the air for a while before the only blond one among the three cleared his throat.

“We…um we meet when we were five Lu.”  Sabo said embarrassingly, pointing staring at his hands.  He tried not to peer at Ace, felling his heart beat faster in his chest. He hadn’t thought too much of that day in recent years but suddenly it felt like it was only yesterday since he met the angry version of his brother among the trash piles.  He felt his stomach flip when more memories of that day were brought to his attention.

Ace shift a bit to his right but said nothing otherwise. The blond never knew that silence can could be so loud.

The younger one crocked his head to the side, a pout forming on his lips in displeasure of the answer. Both pre-teens winced, knowing they could not resist the puppy dog’s eyes that were sure to follow said pout.  It seemed like trying to misdirect Luffy’s attention would not work that night, the boy wanted answers and he was stubborn enough to get them. If the boy could follow Ace for three months with life endangering “accidents” then bugging his older siblings would not be a problem at all for him.

“But how did you meet. Like how you become friends?” The boy asked his eyes unnecessarily wide, face as open as book, looking like the answer to the universe’s secret was on the line.  Luffy wasn’t aware of his power to make himself look undeniably cute so that was the only blessing that came with it but sometimes  Ace wished his baby brother wasn’t so darn honest and dense. Can’t he see how they were reacting? Couldn’t he see how Sabo had not even glanced at him since the question was sprung? Did he not see how much Ace was gripping his pipe?

 Was he blind?!

“Oh. Um, you see it was in the Gray Terminal….” Sabo started but then trailed off. He stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth nervously as he tried to arrange his thoughts.  He wanted to tell Luffy all about it, really he did, just when the boy was older and more experience in life. Especially with how the two boys ending up being friends, after all it wasn’t  the usual way most did. Not even Luffy’s friendship with them was odd compare to this story.

How do you tell your ignorant little bother of “the incident” without scaring him?

“Yeah it was there…in that place… y-you know Gray Terminal”   Ace oh so helpfully said as Sabo continued to chew.  He swallowed thickly twirling his pipe a bit, not looking in anyone’s eyes. His face was  getting redder and he knew it.

“And? And?” Luffy asked nearly bouncing in place with enticement. “Was it during a mugging? Was it when Ace first went there? Was it Sabo who said Hi first?”

“Well…um….you see”

“Uh…um there was...”

Both ten year olds could not keep up with the rapid fired questions.  Luffy didn’t seemed to notice however and starting naming scenarios that were “cool” in how they could have met. It varied form casually bumping into each other on the street to being telepathically connected from day one and they just knew they were meant to be together. Sabo’s head was starting to spin from the effort of following the words of the straw hat boy and, trying to find a way to tell the younger one that it wasn’t possible for them to be telepathic without a devil fruit’s aid. He momentarily forgot the original question until Ace, who was beyond frustrated ended up shouting the answer. He never really had enough patience with Luffy when the boy really got going.

“We accidently kissed each other when we first met okay, so shut up already!”

Dead silence.

Sabo let out a small whimper as he pulled on his hat to hide his face.  Dammit Ace, grow a filter!

The other pre-teen most have realized what he said a moment after it was out of his mouth because his whole body turned red. He knew since his face was smashed against his hands in modification, and he quite frankly could feel the rest of the heat travel throughout his body.  This wasn’t how he wanted to start the story, but it was best this then  “the incident” that came after the kiss. That Luffy never needed to know, after all, he was still pure while they were far more jaded then they acted. The boy didn’t need to know about the darkness this world had. Ace wanted to keep him in his safe happy bubble for as long as he could.

“So? I kiss Makino all the time too!” Luffy exclaimed not seeing why his brothers were behaving that way.  He had finally noticed the nervousness that surrounded Sabo and the hollow emptiness of Ace despite his embarrassment.

Sabo sighed but eventually peeked out of his hat; though his face was still burning he managed to calm his racing heart a bit. “Yes Lu, but your kiss and our kiss is different.”

Ace nodded though he had yet to look at either of them.

“Why?”

Of course Luffy would ask that.  The kid didn’t know the difference he was seven after all. It still didn’t make answering easier though but one of them had to say something, and frankly Ace was too busy hiding to satisfied the youngling.

“You see we k-kissed on the l-lips. And you only do that with someone you…um like.” Sabo stumbled to say his voice losing volume with each word. Wasn’t this a little too early for this kind of conversation anyway? Why was Luffy doing this to them?

“But I do like Makino!” the boy protested instantly offended at the idea of doubting his adoration for the bar maid. It was no secret that the boy thought of the woman as a mother-figure.

“Not like Lu, like like” Ace mumbled from his hands ears still an interesting shade of red.

Luffy relaxed at the explanation, then suddenly his jaw dropped in shock “Ace you like like Sabo!?”

Sabo eyes widen and his stomach started doing jumping jacks. He wasn’t expecting Luffy to come to that conclusion. And neither was the other for the older raven haired lad nearly jumped in place at the question. Sabo tried not to show how much it hurt to see his brother react to that kind of question.  

Ace let out a chocked gasp before raising his head a tiny bit to stare at the little one in shock “What?”

The strawhat upon the raven hair jerked back and forth as the little boy nodded eagerly pleases with his response “Cause Sabo said you kiss on the lips if you like someone but you said only if you like like someone, and you kissed Sabo on the lips so that means you like like him right?”

A heavy awkward silence fell upon the trio.  It stretched long enough for Sabo to turn curious eyes on the other pre-teen, no hint of what the blond was truly thinking. He didn’t seem disgusted with the thought but he was exactly hopeful looking either. He just seemed plain interested in the freckled lad’s reaction. No more, no less. Ace swallowed as the pressure of the question was placed on him.

The silenced continued.

Then it was broken by the freckled boys voice. His eyes were hollow and he shook a bit but managed to get the words out his mouth regardless of Sabo’s worried looks  “Later that day Lu, a man tried to rape me when I got lost in the Gray Terminal. Sabo rescued me before he could do anything though, so I knew I could trust him with my life. That’s why we are friends.”

Sabo quickly added in before their younger brother could make a comment on the topic  “ We meet when Ace was first walking on the high trash piles by the east side, and he accidentally fell on me.  The landing had him over me and I thought he stole my first kiss on purpose – they try to do that a lot in the Gray Terminal- and I followed him after he ran away. I wanted to beat him up for doing that to me but when I finally caught up to him, Ace was being pinned to the ground by some asshole. I know what he was planning on doing, I’ve seen it all my life there and I knew I couldn’t let it happen to Ace. It wasn’t right Lu, it not something a human does.  So I jumped in pipe swinging blindly- it was the first time I used it in a fight-  and managed to knock him out. I spend the rest of the day trying to keep Ace safe. For the first time in a long time I had a purpose of the day.  Ace gave my life purpose…..so that why we are friends.”

Luffy stared wide eye at them then nodded solemnly.

“I’m happy you found each other.” Was all he said, aware that this was a serious topic and unknown to his siblings, knew perfectly well what the word “rape” meant. The meat in his mouth suddenly tasted like ash. The rubber boy didn’t want to eat anymore.

“Me too.” Sabo conformed.

All Ace did was nod, staying quite as he traced the pipe in his hands. His eyes far away from the diner in front of him, lost in his own mind.

The conversation was soon moved on to lighter topics and before long they were all settling down to sleep. Luffy and Sabo made sure to place Ace between them, to hold throughout the night and keep the nightmares away. The oldest felt warmth blossom in his chest, when they wrapped him in their arms, yet had not fallen asleep when the others did. It was at least a hour later that he whispered the answer he didn’t want to say before instead choosing to tell Luffy about “the incident”. He didn’t have the courage to say it out loud yet but some day Ace hoped he would.

“Yes, I like like Sabo.”

With that he closed his eyes and embraced the dreams of him and a blond man getting married some ten years later.  

That night was another of the many memories that turned bittersweet for the flame user, later on in life, because Sabo had died before Ace had found his courage. His marriage dream stayed a dream; sometimes it even becoming a nightmare, because he knew when he reopened his eyes that the blond would still be dead .  Nothing would change that.

Yet those memories were the only thing he had left of the other lad, and he would never give those up. Not even if it meant his life.

And maybe, just maybe, Sabo was waiting for him on the other side, eyes still curious for the answer.

Chapter Text

Marco scoffed as someone tried to grab his ass again. Seriously, did no one here have any respect?  Just because he was in a bar did not mean he was looking for a hook up. Most of the people didn’t seem to understand that and it angered him greatly, especially when they acted as if though the Phoenix own it to them after and he quotes “walking in here dress like that.”

 Seriously, how pathetic can you get if you believe that? 

He was a notorious pirate true but that didn’t mean he was always looking for that kind of bounty.  He was a picky man that hated when people pushed themselves onto him. This was one of the main reasons he avoided places like these when his crew docked on an island, choosing instead to visits the market place or other lively areas. It tended to have less idiots roaming around.

He snapped a dark glare at a young man who was heading his way with a drink, flirtiest smirk playing on his lips; no doubt thinking he had a shot when he witnessed Marco blankly tell a woman to find someone more interested  earlier. He liked both genders but Marco had only slept with two people before in his long life and quite frankly didn’t believe in the casual sex she had offered. He only wanted to make love and you couldn’t do that unless you actually loved your partner. The young men froze at the look and promptly turn back around to his group of friends that were giggling softly.

At least he was smart.

The blond let out a sigh.

Why was he even here anyway?

“H-heeeyyyyy. Your cuuwt. Wa-wanna sit down with me?” A familiar voice slurred on his right.

Oh yeah, it was because of this idiot.  

Marco turned half lidded eyes to his crewmate, who was currently having a hard time sitting up.  He watched as the younger man wobbled a little to turn his head up at him but it was futile efforts for not even a second later did the other re-place his chin onto the table in drunken glee. This made the first mate of the white beard crew frown in worry; after all he had never seen the second commander this drunk before. Usually when someone drank this much it was either because they were addicted or trying to drown away a memory. Ace rarely consumed alcohol, so Marco knew this was a bad sign.

“Ace, what are you doing yoi? You were supposed to have met the others an hour ago.” The man slightly scolded as he drew near the intoxicated teen.

The freckled teen blinked at him, face flushed red and eyes slightly glossy.  “I-It’s bewn an houw? Sowwy, I was twying to fowget.”

The blond raised a brow, understanding the other without the Rs just fine.   

“Forget what?” he asked a little puzzled by Ace’s honesty. You usually had to pulled on the second commander’s teeth to get anything out of him when he was sober.

“o-oh, yeah.  You don’t k-know.” The other responded as he took another chug of his bottle. Marco counted about seven empty ones upon the table a little surprise that all were the same type of cheap sake. Why hadn’t the he gotten a better tasting one?  This was the cheap watered down typed found in the East Blue and should not have been strong enough to get Ace this drunk. 

“Sweee this sa-sa-sake? Hmmm, it was the one I used for the o-o-oath.” He hiccupped a bit but was no longer smiling. “I wanna fowget.”

“forget the oath?”  The first mate asked confused on what the other meant. “What oath? Is the oath the reason  your drinking yoi?”

Ace nodded almost falling out his chair while doing so. Marco quickly went over to help him up and was surprise when the teen smashed his face into his shoulder, rubbing his freckled nose into his neck.  “You smell- smell nice. Mawco, you smell weally nice.”

The blond felt his face heat up a bit but forced his racing heart to calm down. Now was not the time for his shitty crush to  pop it’s stupid head, Ace was drunk and probably didn’t even realize what he was saying. This was not a moment to have hope about being with the flame user, no this was about helping his friend back to the ship to sleep off his state.  “Thanks yoi. But its time to go back. The others are waiting, and are worried about you.”

The teen shook his head stubbornly however and Marco wanted to bash his head against a wall when he saw the defiant glint in the slightly more focused eyes of the other. Great it looked like he was going to have to force his crewmate back instead of guiding him. 

“I-I can’t. No. not yet. I haaavve to fowget. It still huwts, Mawco. It huwts.”   Ace said eyes suddenly filling with tears voice cracking towards the end.

Marco felt his eyes widen at the sight not expecting this turn of events. “What hurts Ace? What’s wrong?”

The teen said nothing but leaned on the older man fully his breath hitching into soft sobs. The phoenix awkwardly patted his back trying to calm the other down, unsure on how to proceed. What could he do when the normally hardheaded male broke out crying? Even while drunk this was the first time Marco had ever seen tears or sobs come from the raven hair lad. Seriously, what brought on such a reaction?

“Sa-sabo gone.”  Ace sobbed his voice almost not understandable with all the trembles in it  “He’s dead. And- and , I still love him. But he’s dead. I nevew got to- to tell him! His dead, Mawco, dead!”

Marco felt his heat break into half- one side for his unreturned love and the other for the misery his friend was in. Whoever Sabo was, his death had broken Portgas D. Ace in a way that would never be able to be put back together correctly again.   He knew this because in his life on the open seas, the blond had seen so many others in a similar state.  What was worse was the knowledge of being unable to do anything about it, for this was something only Ace could get over regardless of how much others wanted otherwise. All he could do for his friend was offer comfort and help him move on.

“Come on Ace let’s go home” He whispered as he pulled the other to the exit. The freckled teen didn’t fight him this time but he keep mumbling Sabo under his breath as he was dragged along, seemly lost in his own world. Marco hoped he could find a way to pull him back to reality once their back on the Moby Dick.

He may never have anything pass friendship with the other but Marco was okay with that. After all they were part of the whitebeard crew, were family and were nakama.

Their bond was much harder to break then that.

The next day, Ace woke in Marco’s room wrapped up in warm blanket of the First mate’s bed,  eyes swollen red from crying and head pounding in a hangover. To his right sat Marco who had fallen asleep in a chair the night before watching over the flame user to make sure everything would be fine. Ace remembered hazily of what happened, that tended to happen each year on Sabo’s death anniversary, but knew the other commander had spent hours rubbing his back as he threw up, whipping away tears when he sobbed and offering comfort till he too drop from exhaustion.

Ace hated how his heart race at the sight and he hated the warmth that came with it. He had loved once: it left him destroyed, hallow and fearful of being left alone.

But he couldn’t deny how much he loved the other, and wondered if Sabo would be mad at him if after nine years he was finally willing to let go.

Almost as to answer him, the wind blew the window open and a small blue bird landed on the railing.  Sabo used to tell his wide eyed siblings of an old East Blue legend of how blue birds were the symbol of the dead and of love each night as a bed time story. It was both Ace’s and Luffy’s favorite regardless of what version the blond created.

He could almost hear his first love voice’s retelling the same ending  “If you see one in morning  after you wake up, it means they are still with you, and no matter what,  will always love you”.

 Ace smiled at the bird as it flew off back to the open sky, freer than anything else in the world, feeling a bit lighter. His head still hurting but heart slightly more pieced together.

Chapter Text

Tom Night was born a pirate to a pair of pirate parents. Both were part of his uncle's crew and so he was to know how fire a canon before learning how to ride a bike. He rarely spends any time on land and when he did it was mostly just to raid the poor saps his captain had decided were easy targets. He grew with his sea legs and the lack of consent rocking of the floor beneath send him back to his family ship as quickly as he could go.

The sea was his only home. Even when he grew old and left his uncle's crew intended on creating his own. Both his parents were teary eye but they stood proudly as he rowed away from the large boat he called home to follow his dream.

He wanted to be a pirate that did not hunt for treasure nor raid civilians. No, Tom wanted a challenge something that always made his blood rush with excitement. A good old fashion fight; It pumped the blood through his veins, made him addicted to the adrenaline that came with it.

This was why at the age of twenty-five, with a bounty of two hundred million bellies he had directed his crew into the cursed waters intending to find the fight of his life. After hearing a very interesting folk tale on the last island his crew had docked in.

He never really paid much attention to the legends the locals told but this particular legend had peaked his interest more than the last three battles he fought. It was said that three demons were lurking in the Dead Man's Fog just waiting for any fools to come by and attack. They were rare to find but whenever encountering a human, one of the three demons would ask them a question, if answered correctly then the ship said human was on would find itself docked to a island covered in gold.

Theirs for the taking, and make all their wishes come true.

However if answered incorrectly then that human best be prepared to fight for his or her life, since the demon would not hold anything back. The horrors that befall the crew unlucky enough to get the wrong answer, never returned to the sea again, if they survive that is. Most tended to perish, after facing the monsters lurking within the fog.

Tom and his battle-loving crew could not pass up the chance to fight real live demons and insistently sailed to the demons' domain. That was four days ago, and they had yet to spot the demons themselves, but they felt them, oh did they feel them.

As soon as they entered the fog all crew-members had felt a shiver of dread run down their spines and uneasiness settle into their chests. Day two had small objects around the ship disappeared or began to move by themselves, which weren't that alarming merely a small annoyances. It wasn't until day three that the crew started to fear for their lives, as scratch marks began to appear at odd hours, making the already edgy crew jump.

The last day, crewmembers simply disappear, after their scream of terror echoed down the halls.

Every single night child laughter could be heard bouncing off the walls of the ship and sometimes, if the crew-members felt the smallest hint of fear they would be randomly lifted into the air only to be dropped right afterwards. Some crewmembers said that for a second, just a small second, they could feel tiny hands roam their bodies’ right before they hit the deck floor.

It was around this time that that the Battle pirates realized their mistake. They came looking to fight demons in hopes for an adrenaline rush, forgetting the fact that the ones they had come to poke with a stick were demons.

They did not think like humans did, they didn’t have the need to engaged them in battle moreover they were portability able to kill them all with just a thought.

The demons were the cause of countless massacres, why would their ship be any different?

If though, they were going down it , danm well won’t be without a fight that was for sure.

Tom watched the fog that surrounded his ship weary, prepared to react at a moment notice knowing his men were in similar state out on the deck. Today had been different, nothing had really happened besides the sounds of tiny feet running though the ship, shifting into footsteps of grown adults at odd times. Tom had long ago placed sea stone coating on the ship as he – and his men- did not believe in eating a fruit for power. They preferred the old traditional way of combat, and were determined to make others play on even grounds while on their home turf.

This was why the demons presence was all the more terrifying. They weren’t devil fruit users scaring locals with their powers in order to gain a reputation; no this was real live otherworldly powers in play.

Tom swallowed as male laughter suddenly sounded in his right ear, it was full of mischief and danger.  He turns readying his ax- his choice of weapon taught to him by his mother- and was shocked to see such a human looking twenty year old on his deck. He was shirtless, his only clothes being a bright orange hat two faces – one smiling the other frowning – on it, black combat shorts and blood red beads around his neck.  His face was covered with freckles that danced around a large easy going smile, his raven locks licked the base of his neck and his black eyes were bright with glee.

He looked harmless, maybe even friendly.

Yet the captain of the Battle pirates knew this was one of the demons, as when his eyes locked with the other he saw his own death flash before his eyes. It had been by his own ax, coming to life on its own and swung at his exposed necked like a hungry lion, he had drowned in his own blood as the ax got stuck half way between. Tom had enough time to gasp then fall to his knees in fright dropping the ax like it had burned him, terrified of the one object he took from his uncles ship, when before it had been his anchor in life. He wondered if his comrades had seen something similar but knew his answer when he heard the numerous thumps. He felt half his crew faint at the images behind him, the other’s still conscious were sobbing in fright as they throw away the weapons they had on them.

All this from a look….what chance did they have?

If it’s one alone, it means it’s there to ask the question. It’s your only hope for survival. Make sure to answer correctly!  The old lady’s voice who had told them the legend suddenly came to mind and Tom found small hope growing in his chest. She was right, he could still make it out of this alive.

Just one question; all that was on the line was their lives. 

Just one question; answer correctly and can finally go on their merry way, far ,far away. l

Just one question; the one no one’s been able to answer correctly before.

Just one question.

The demon opened its mouth.  Tom had to strain his eyes to hear the words over his rapid beating heart terrified of missing even one syllable.

“Where do the sins of the parents fall upon death?”

What? Had- had he heard that right?

Tom stared wide eyed at the other, watching in stunned wonder as flames suddenly busted around the raven hair demon’s back.  This seemed to be a touchy topic for the creature regardless of his smile.

Yet the Battle captain knew the answer, new it deep in his bones, after all, it was his uncles favorite saying. He knew this riddle like a nursery rhyme.

He licked his dry lips but answered confidently.  “ In their graves.”

The demon’s flames disappeared along with the fog that had been around the ship almost all week. It was like someone had suddenly flicked on a switch, as light that they hadn’t know was missing rained down onto the now joyful crew. The pressure that each had felt gone in seconds, and suddenly the missing members of the crew were once more on deck, unhurt as the day they disappeared. The Battle pirates were in shock at the change for a moment or two amazed to know they were going to live. They kneeled there on the ground in a daze unsure if what they were seeing was an illusion or not.

That was until the demon throws his head back and let out a throaty laugh.  It was deep and warm in all the best of ways.

It shattered the spell they fell into and at once the crew jumped to their feet, ready once more for battle. Even Tom who had moments ago been unable to even glance at this family ax was now twirling it in his hands with atincpation.  They had answered correctly, now what was to happen? Were they going to be sent to the gold island or – and what he hoped for more would be done- get their wish for the battle of the century?

“I like you! My names Ace by the way and these are my brothers! Say hi Sabo!”  The now named Ace cried joyfully hands at his hips as a wide smile blossomed on his face.

 “Hi!”  A equally cheerful voiced called down to them from above, and the lookout who was standing in the nest jumped in shocked at the casually sitting blond man on the main sail next to him. The blond looked around Ace’s age but was dress so much different than the raven haired demon.  Sabo, as the crew guessed he was, was dressed in a long black jacket with a buckle on the left sleeve. A  a blue shirt and vest were underneath  said jacket, a frilled cravat around his neck , a simple belt holding a pair of loosen light-blue pants, black boots and brown leathered gloves. He also wore a black tom hat styled nicely with blue goggles over the band. He was the either the perfect definition of smart dressing or steam punk. It was hard to tell which from the way he carried himself despite the large burn mark on his left eye.

“Luffy! You too!” Ace’s voice ripped their attention from the blond man as a strange laugh filled the air.

“Shihihihi. Ok! Hi!”  A voice shouted in the middle of the crew who all scrambled away in shock. How long had that guy been inside the huddle?

He was younger looking then the other two at least by three years so most likely nineteen. He had the same raven hair that Ace did but his was slightly shorter and a bit straighter. The teen wore an open, long-sleeved red cardigan with four buttons, a yellow sash tied around his waist completed the look.  His most interesting figures however was the moon shaped scar under his left eye and  X-shaped scar covering most of his chest.

All in all, the demons looked so…human.

Ace grinned as Luffy made his way over to him, and laughed as the tough pirates jumped almost ten feet in the air as Sabo casually jumped down to meet them both. They had their fun with them but as they weren’t rotten and had some morals, Ace guessed it was time to say goodbye to the Battle pirates.

“Thanks for visiting us! I had so much fun! Next time our prank will be bigger and better than this one I swear! Shishishi!” Luffy shouted his body almost bouncing in place as he laughed.

“Yeah, and next time I’ll make sure to make you guys wet yourselves from fright! Just you wait!” Sabo promised making a fist to throw into the air.

“what?” was all Tom could say. His crew was stupefied into silence.

Ace grinned as red flames surrounded his form.  Sabo too busted in to flames but his were a navy blue, much hotter than his own. Luffy was the only on among them that didn’t use flames however he did have the ability to screech far beyond average and  could will others to do his bidding so Ace guessed it was all that bad.

He explained to the confused pirates as casually as one would speak of the weather.  “Yeah. We like to play scare pranks on pirate boats that pass by. Each day we switch among each other and see who can scare the crew onboard the most. Whoever does gets the biggest piece of meat at dinner. How did you all liked the death pressure? That was me.”

“I was moving stuff! I bet you guys couldn’t find any of it afterwards!” Luffy added cheerfully placing his hands behind his head

“And the scratch marks were my doing. I used my dragon claws to do so but man you guys only jumped, usually that gets at least some screams” Sabo said his face  bright despite his hands soundly popping to form said dragon claws. It looked rather painful.

“What?” Tom asked again overwhelmed with the information.

“Yes. It was fun but you see, we aren’t allowed to scare the same people twice as it makes it hard to keep count. So whenever one of you screamed we removed them from the ship. Sorry about that, oh and laughing at night, it was just too hard to stay quite when we thought of your faces. We didn’t mean to keep you up all night.”  Ace said falling into a bow, his brothers following his example though Luffy did so rather clumsily.

“I-its okay. I mean you didn’t mean to” Tom answered unable to ignore the polite tone Ace used. His father was ironically big on manners, and the pirate captain had them drilled into him from a young age at the risk of being punished by bathroom cleaning duties should he fail to use them.

“Well we will be on our way, see you guys soon oh and Tom?  I have three words for you.” Sabo said as he and his brothers started to glow in a soft green light.

“Yes?” the captain replied curiously.

“Dine.” Luffy’s arms stretched across the sea a big bag of meat on his back as he shot out.

“And”  Ace’s feet turned into fire making him shoot straight into the air and out of sight in seconds; with tow barrels of booze.

“Dash”  Sabo finished as black dragon wings sprung out of his back, rushing across the ocean in the opposite direction that Luffy took. Two crates of fruits in each arm.

The Battle pirates were left alone once more on the blue sea, waves calmly crashing against their ship. The sky clear blue and beautifully bright by the sun, a few birds flew by chirping happily completing the picture. The wind blow loudly across the deck as the crew took in the peaceful atmosphere still somewhat dazed by their encounter with the three brother demons.

That was until Tom finally processed what had happened and let out a shout of outrage that reach all the way back to the island that started it all.

“THOSE DAMN BRATS!”

Chapter Text

Monkey D. Luffy sat on the old wood, eyes wandering over the walls in slight wonder. To think they had come this far, that they had all gone off to live their dreams one way or another, that it had all started here.  

To think one of them died while out there.

The strawhat captain shook his head, trying to push the sad thoughts away and focus on the good of what this place used to mean.

He stood from the center of the room after a few breathing exercises that Chopper taught him to help whenever he felt the raising pain  and walked around. Noting the layer of dust that lingered on the old furniture and the random crude drawings pin to the walls he was suddenly taken back to the days that he chased the backs of his brothers through the forest. He remembered the wind hitting his face, his eyes unable to properly see the pathway as the sun shone too brightly from above but the solid forms of his brothers running guided him on to keep pushing his little legs even when he called out to them to slow down. He used to love the way their shadows looked upon the ground as they raced across the forest.

The tears came to his eyes unwelcomingly when he found the only picture Ace had ever drawn as a child. It wasn’t the most amazing piece of art but Ace did have a natural talent for drawing, especially when it came to looking realistic and he had one day presented his shocked siblings with a image of them in pencil; Sabo on the right, Luffy in the middle and Ace on the Left, among the branches of their tree, before the building had been finished all sporting wide smiles.

Luffy whipped his eyes as he unpinned the picture wanting to take it with him when he left for the sea again. His crew had docked about three days ago on Drawn Island but he hadn’t been able to force himself up into the tree house until now. He had walked to it many times since arriving, he had stood just under the shadow of the giant tree and looked up at his childhood home, but not once could he climb up. He tried to, even made it half way up but the strawhat man – at age nineteen-  would be unable to move even a inch higher.  So he would slide back down, turn to his worried crew and walk back to the Parts Bar without a word. The other Strawhats had come with him every day to the tree house but they never said anything as he lost himself in his memories all acting as if though they were visiting a grave stone.

In some ways Luffy guessed it was.  

 After Sabo disappeared from their lives Ace and Luffy had taken months before they could return to the tree house, and when they did it almost seemed darker regardless of the bright sun that shone daily. It was if the blond boy had let death into his side of the room. Luffy remembered wondering -when he couldn’t sleep at night- if his brother was still there haunting the one place he belonged. He also recalled how fast he sprinted to Ace’s side and how his older rocked him to sleep promising that it was going to be okay, and that nothing was there.

His blond brother’s ghost was not watching them from the darkest parts of the house, Ace used to say, after all Sabo was in heaven.

“ He was in a place that was full of happiness, meat and all the adventure he could ever need, Lu. Sabo isn’t stuck here, trust me. He moved on and his waiting for use on the other side I promise”  The oldest of the three said every time Luffy had a nightmare about Sabo. He said it like he was trying to convince himself. Luffy never mentioned that though happy to believe in that too.

The pirate captain let out a bittersweet laugh. He had spent weeks with that fear as a child, and  meanwhile Sabo had been alive in another part of the world, sleeping soundly. He was both grateful and resentful for that fact.

Sighing The strawhat Pirate took a another long look around the walls. It was all exactly as he left it. Not a single thing missing from when he packed all that time ago excited to be able to travel the seas.

This had been the place Ace, Sabo and he had grown, but it was also the place they left behind to go out into the real world. They had left most of their childish possessions behind and now Luffy realized how stupid that was. How could he have forgotten to bring Ace’s favorite blanket with him? It had oddly still smelled like his brother when Luffy curled up in it, during the following months after Ace’s departure when his brother had turn seventeen.

 How could he not take Sabo’s short stories that he used to write for practice for his  pirate-adventure-book? Luffy used to spend hours and hours re-reading them as a child because they were so full of his blond brother’s odd morbid humor that sometimes it felt like Sabo was right there again.

How could he have not realized the value of these small objects?

Luffy was amazed with how much he wanted to take everything with him that very moment.

Why not?  He thought and started shoving everything he came across into bags that Robin had given him just as he started to climb that morning. His archaeologist probably knew today would be the day he actually made it to the top so she had planned ahead and provided her captain with the means to take something with him if he chooses too. Luffy loved her for that.

In fact he loved them all for going along with everything he did.

His crew had been kind enough to allow him time alone, understanding his need to do this by himself even though they eyed him with worry as he left. They were all patiently waiting outside; he could hear their hushed conversation as the wind carried bits and pieces up to him.

“Is taking hours..alright to be….not able to do anything…I wish this wasn’t as painful…his strong, his Luffy…”   It was hard to tell who said what but he knew that they were all just holding themselves back from jumping up to check on him. Their topic though was fairly easy to deduce from what he could hear, and he gave another bittersweet smile at it. They were worried about him even though they knew they could do nothing to change how he was coping.

 His crew was loyal, his friends were good to him and he knew he had made the right choice when adding them to the ship. To Luffy, being a pirate meant freedom, and he knew it meant something else for each of the strawhat members but to be a Strawhat pirate? That meant family. It meant place to belong, a place to return to and a place to find comfort.

He may need the last one a little more today than any other day. For today, Luffy stood in his old tree house that he had built using his own two hands with his brothers all those years ago. It had been a random idea to stop at his birth island, since his crew had gone back to the East Blue on a whim but he was happy he had done so. It had been painful sure but he needed closure.

Needed to be able to look at the past with fondness once more instead of pain and he thought he might have found it among all the wonderful memories here.

“Hey Ace, your special blanket is still here.” He mumbles with tears, stuffing his face into the blanket. Huh, even after all this time it stilled smell like the freckled man. It broke a sob from his throat as he sniffed obsessively, trying to image his brother with his soft warm smile aimed at him, but Luffy felt his heart lighten. He folded the blanket up some time later before gently placing it into his bag along with everything else. He rubbed his eyes with his forearm and stood from the kneel position he had at some pointed fallen into when crying.  

It was time to go, the sun was setting and his crew was departing that night in order to make it back to the Grand Line before marines caught wind of their route.  It was time to let go of this place and continue his journey.

“I’m off again, see you soon guys” He whispered to the room and jump out the door.

Ready to live in the present once more.

Chapter Text

Portgas D Ace sat nervously in the waiting room among the other hopeful applicants.  He felt as if though he was the only one who didn’t quite belong, seeing as he was the only one under the age of thirty. The man to his side was the second youngest- a nice fellow at the age of thirty- five.  He felt like a kid who had gotten lost and it only made it worst when he overheard others speak about their work experience for this was the first job he had ever applied to that involved his art.

 He shift a bit in his seat when he locked eyes with a man who scowled right away at his form of dress.

Ace had come to the interview in a casual button shirt and comfortable combat shorts.  Everyone else was in a suit of some kind. It made him stand out but he guessed it wasn’t in a good way. There really nothing he can do about it, though, as he didn’t have the money to offer a suit, not with the bills piling up back home. The water had been cut for the second time this month and it was thanks to Sabo putting in more hours at the college library again that they were able to even drink or shower.

God, he really needed this job. He had been unemployed for the last six months and money was getting tighter and tighter.

 He flipped through his personal profile and resume for the twentieth time in the last ten minutes disappointed in how short they both were. Everyone else had a least a two-inch binder, while all of his fit in only a cheap folder Sabo had forced on him.

Thinking of his brothers, how had they been able to convince him this was a good idea?  

Sure he loved to create art, it was one of his favorite pass times, but Ace was no professional. He didn’t go to college for it, didn’t even take an art class in high school, and had honestly no idea what he wanted to do with his life.  While both Sabo and Luffy were always praising his work to be amazing, Ace often thought it was due to them being his siblings than his actual skill that warrant said comments. He started to create digital media for his Tumblr page, most of it was fanart of his favorite characters and sometimes he made original art that he posted to. Other than that, however, he had didn’t really do much with his art tablet.

His followers all praised them highly; some even begging for Ace to open commissions but the nineteen-year-old didn’t think he was all that great. He just happened to be able to create a few works here and there which sometimes got him a few extra bucks from happy fans when he needed it. He needed it a lot too.

Ace and Sabo had practically raised Luffy, and now that the black hair teen was getting ready to start looking at colleges the two older brothers knew it would be a long shot to send him if the house didn’t find another form of steady income soon.

Ace had known they couldn’t afford his schooling and Sabo’s at the same time so he had chosen to lie to his brothers and claim “College is just more school, I don’t want to go.”

Sabo had bitched and raved for days on end but nothing he did could change the freckled teen’s mind. After all, Ace knew that Sabo really wanted to go as his dream depended on it and that the blond had been saving since middle school to get in . He would not steal that from him, not after all the work he put in it, no matter how much Sabo insisted that they would find a way to pay off the student loans.  Luffy had even offered to find a job in a fast food restaurant somewhere if it could help, but Ace had put his foot down on the matter.

 All Luffy needed to worry about was passing his classes in high school and enjoy his youth. Sabo needed to focus on getting his degree so he could be a social worker they could be proud of and have fun along the way.

 It was his job as the oldest to provide and damn he would.

Even if it meant missing out on the whole higher education and getting one of those bone-tiring jobs.

At least that was the plan until Sabo had slammed a flyer onto his art tablet one night, when Ace was filling out job applications, with a determined glint in his eyes. Ace knew the expression he wore instantly; his bold brother would not take no for an answer.

“Whitebeard Design is hiring and you are applying” was all he said before whisking away to his first shift.

Luffy had been nothing but supportive, happily claiming Sabo was right in saying the job would be perfect for him.

Ace disagreed.

Whitebeard Design was the best in the city, they even did work overseas, and everyone who was anyone knew that their work was on a whole other level. They did all sorts of media, starting out as a small family company that used to put on art galleries every Sunday to a world-renowned art company with some type of show every single day. They not only work with digital art but any art in general as long as it fell under the umbrella that the subject was. Ace had even heard rumors of graffiti galleries and tattoos parlors under their name would be opening soon somewhere in the shadier parts of town.

This was a professional environment, not a place for him.

“Number seven: Portgas D Ace yoi”  a voiced suddenly called from the side door making said teen jump.  He stood up quickly but tripped on the chair leg on the way over to the opened doorway and had all his papers fall out of his folder when he hit the ground. He heard a few muffled laughs, as he face planted. Shit, so much for making a good first impression.

Ace swallowed hard when the whole room turns to stare at him, most already dismissing him as a threat to the position as he tried to gather his papers with as much dignity as he could. He was surprised when someone bent down to help him but smiled gratefully at the blond man before him.  He was older then Ace by at least five years, he looked half bored with his lidded eyes but his smile was kind. His haircut sort of reminded the raven teen of a pineapple but it did nothing to hide how handsome the guy was.  His suit did wonders to that perfect body.

He  should be applying  for the modeling section instead of the digital art branch because holy moly,  does he have it going on. The teen thought running his eyes over the other’s form with appreciation.

“Thanks. Here’s hoping the new boss isn’t a hard ass about this, heard they were all a bunch of stiffs.” Ace said jokily as he took the papers from the stretched out hand hoping to make the guy laugh. Hey, he may be nervous but Ace liked to flirt, especially if the guy was hot.

The man rose a brow at him before saying in a horrifying familiar voice  “No worries. Now follow me and let’s get this interview started shall we, yoi?”

Ace wanted to die.

“Um. Sure, yeah..um ok. L-lead the way” He said as his face busted red. Great not only did he make a fool of himself with the fall but he also called the guy who was the boss a stiff. Ace wondered if McDonald’s was still looking for a fry cook.

The man nodded and turns to walk back through the door he came out of, the humiliated teen right behind him.

In the room was three other people sitting around a circle table. One was a man with a brown pompadour hairstyle casually flipping through notebook paper, he smiled encouragingly at Ace when he caught sight of the nervous teen. Across from  him sat a man- or was it a woman?- with the most elegant pink and purple kimono the teen had ever seen. The person was replaying lipstick on and didn’t even glance in Ace’s direction. The most notable person though was the one in the middle. He was old, big and hooked up to varies breathing machines. He had an amazing white mustache and had a fatherly feel about him.

“Go ahead and sit down yoi” His guide said closing the door behind him.

Ace nodded moving stiffly to one of the open chairs around the table. It wasn’t every big and he would probably bumping elbows with the blond man if the other took the last remaining seat next to him.

“H-hello. I’m Portgas D. Ace” The teen said bowing before the others.

He was met with silence and when he glanced up he almost jumped as all four were each writing something down on their small notebooks. Shit, had he done something wrong?

He swallowed again and quickly took  his seat, placing his hands in his lap. He wanted to go home.

“It’s nice to meet you Ace! My name is Thatch and I’m in charge of the fourth division which is anything food related ” the pompadour man said with a giant smile.

“It is a pleasure, I am Izo. I run division sixteen. Anything that involves fashion runs through my fingers first around here” The person in the kimono said with a kind smile, surprising Ace with how soft spoken they were.

“I am Marco and I’m second in command, plus commander of the first division. I mostly do paperwork and anything with paint yoi” The blond man said next to Ace making the teen turn to look at him in surprise. Was this guy one of the top dogs? And Ace had tried to flirt with him?!

Before he could panic a loud voice boomed in the room. “Ga hahaha. Marco seems scary I know but don’t worry son, his friendly once you get to know him.”

Ace turn to the old man across from him in confusion before realizing his fear might have shown on his face. “Oh. Um….I'm sure his…nice”

That prompted  the old man  to laugh before saying. “I like you, boy. I’m Edward but people call me Whitebeard around here. It’s a pleasure.”

Wait. No. please tell Ace the owner of the company was not sitting in front of him. Please.

He stared wide eye at the man, trying to think of what to say but his mind drew a complete blank. Darn, now was the worst time to choke!

“Ace here, says we are all a bunch of stiffs yoi.” Macro casually informed as the raven teen seemed to have eaten his tongue.  Ace whipped wide eyes at the blond, horror washing into his face, as the others hummed in thought.  “He also dropped all his papers outside, rather clumsy.”

They wrote more down before Thatch held out his hand “You had a profile of your work right? Can I see it?”

Ace practically shoved the folder at him unable to look up from his hands. This was bad, Marco seemed to be sore about his entrance and now the others were informed about it. Not to mention the blond man called him clumsy. Holy hell, he was so not getting this job.

“Oh my God! Your FlameFist?!” Thatch suddenly exclaimed as he flipped through the samples Ace had picked causing the teen to look up in shock. Since he didn’t really do anything else other than fanart and Ocs he had picked his best works from his Tumblr and hoped for the best. He was relying on   the interviews not know what anime was and just think he liked to draw cartoons. He wasn’t expecting one of them to know his style on sight.

“Um…yeah that’s my Tumblr username,” Ace answered awkwardly shifting a bit when he noticed the others looking on in curiosity.

“Dude! I just bought this from you last week!” The man yelled thrusting a familiar key chain into Ace’s face.  The freckled teen blinked in wonder as his art hung in front of him ,mind completely blown. A professional had bought his stuff? A professional from an art company wasted money on something he made?  ‘

“T-thank you for your support?” Was all he could say as Thatch eagerly flipped thru the rest of his work. Well, okay a fan was one of his interviewers. That was apparently happening.

“Oh, now I know who you are!  Did you draw that comic Little brother, right? I loved the clothes you gave your characters. The design for that dress Whitey Bay wore was brilliant. Tell me did you go to design school?” Izo suddenly asked leaning in to look at Ace.

Ace blinked but answered anyway. “No, I only finished High school.”

“Are you currently enrolled in college?” Whitebeard asked as Izo eyes glowed in interest, furiously scribbling in their notes.

“No. I’m not …sir” Ace hastily added ashamed trying to hide a wince when the others paused to look at him. This he was familiar with; after all, most of the jobs that had turned him away before didn’t like his answer one bit.

“Why yoi?” Marco asked, head leaning on one of his hands. “You’re obviously talented, I’m sure any art college would fall over them selfs to get you to go there.”

Ace wondered if that was a good sign that his interviewers were praising his work and answered without thinking  “I can’t afford to go if I want my brothers to attend.”

The room suddenly became dead silent and the teen realized his mistake when the others suddenly snapped their attention to him. Whitebeard did not look, please. “What was that?”

The teen swallowed suddenly getting scared. Shit, did he just tell them he was poor? Really?!

“I..um, my brothers want to go to college and it’s expensive so…um…I’m not going?” He asked, letting his gaze fall back onto his hands, not wanting to see the disapproval in the old man’s eyes. It was just getting better dang it, and now he shot all the chances he had for working here.

“Where do you live?” Whitebeard asked after a few moments of silence  motioning for Marco to take notes. The blond did so while Izo started flipping through their phone eyes intensely staring at whatever they were looking up. Thatch reached under the table pulling up a small carrier of papers. He flipped through them until he found four sets of stapled papers and placed them on the table.  He clicked a pen and turn to face Ace intently before starting to fill out two forms.

“In..in East Blue lane? It…um, it passes the Red Line.” Ace answered confused on what was happening.

“Hmm.  So the colleges around there are East Blue community College,  Pirate University and Grand Line School of Art. I’ve sending you links to the basic information for each thru my phone for you but I’m guessing Grand Line is where you’ll most likely go. Still, I think you should look them over and choose which one you like the best.” Izo said as they typed away on their smartphone –Ace’s contact information before him.

“Wha-?” Was all the teen could say.

“Ok, so here you go.”  Thatch cut him off placing the remaining two set in front of him. “Sign here, here and  here please.”

Ace did so robotically. 

“Great your scholarship money will be in the mail. You can take it down to the college after you register. Also please remember to bring in your doctor information too.” His surprise fan said as he passed around the papers getting the others to sign it. “If you have any questions about how it works don’t hesitate to ask…Marco. Alright?”

“Um”

“Alright, Son  I expect you Monday morning for orientation at eight if your class schedule allows it. Make sure to get some online classes as well understand?” Whitebeard said standing up from his chair. He turned to Marco before Ace could even mutter a word. “Tell the rest to go home, and make sure Ace is ready for the second division as soon as possible Son”

“Yeah Pops, I’m on it yoi,” Marco answered not paying mind to the wide-eyed teen next to him.

“Cool! see ya, Monday FlameFist!” Thatch said following Whitebeard out with a hand thrown in the air casually.

“I expect you to help in my next fashion show boy. You better have some ideas for men too.” Izo said with a smile leaving the room gracefully.

“what- what is going on?!” The teen final busted as only he and Marco were left in the small room, mind finally catching up.  Did this mean what he thought it meant? He felt overwhelmed!

“Oh, you got the job, we are giving you a full ride for college and I’m going to get all you stuff together yoi,crowed” the blond said casually as if though they were speaking about the weather.

Well, if Ace thought he was overwhelmed before now his mind broke. 

“Wha?.Dah? Huh?” he asked.

_____________________________________________________________-

A hour later found Ace standing outside the Whitebeard Design building in a haze.  He stared at the paperwork he was given with wonder.

“I got the job.” He whispered before jumping in excitement, yelling at the top of his lungs crowded street  “I GOT THE JOB!”

He fisted pumped and ran all the way home. He couldn’t wait to tell Sabo and Luffy! Tonight they were going to celebrate with ramen!

He missed the four pair of eyes watching him from one of the higher floors.

“What  was the first thing you wrote about him in your notes?”  Izo asked the other three as they flipped though some images of male suits.

They got the same answer as the one they wrote down from their family members.

Portgas D Ace is adorable.

Chapter Text

Sabo Outlook loved to dance.

He practiced it whenever he was alone in his room, and had time to do so. Today with no classes, no work and Ace away on a job interview the blond nineteen year old thought it would be perfect to put some nice music and waltz around his room. He held his hands in the air, holding onto a imaginary partner, and allowed the music to whisk him away.

It was relaxing in a way that often made him think of the past.

It was the only thing he was proud of when he was still living with his birth parents. They were high class kind of people and placed him in all sorts of waltz courses so that he could impress the other high class families.  He remembered a time thinking the only way he felt happy was when he was gliding across the dance floor and nothing else. Because for those few minutes, Sabo mattered. His parents were neglectful at the best of times and downright abuse at the worst.

To them he wasn’t a child, but a means to get higher in the world. They often times reminded him to be the perfect “doll” child. Something that could be seen but not heard, something that was perfect in every way not matter what and something that they own. Sabo was theirs to do with as they pleased and the blond boy had no right to want anything else.

He wasn’t allowed friends.

He wasn’t allowed pets.

He wasn’t allowed to speak.

He wasn’t allowed to be happy.

This one time he got stab by a snobby  kid who’s family had higher standing then Sabo’s  and his parents allowed it to happen. They even got mad at him for defending himself, outrage that Sabo had been disobedient enough to left a fist at the boy who had him pin to the ground. The blond was only five then but even he knew that if hadn’t done anything that boy would have killed him, stab him to death with his shiny gold knife, while his parents would have done nothing. They would have only gotten mad that they lost their most recent project instead of mourning the fact their child had been killed.  

They probably would have just had another child and repeat the process, replacing him without a thought. Because Outlook Sabo was that easy to replace, after all he wasn’t a child, he was property of the Noble Outlook household.

It scared him. They terrified him.

Especially when he had been bleeding out from where the other kid managed to nick his temple and his mother had only scoffed at him.  “Don’t you dare bleed on the carpet! Do you have any idea how much it’s worth Sabo?!”

They hadn’t even taken him to see a doctor, and thus the blond boy had to bandage the head wound himself.  He had been five, and he had enough.

So in the middle of that night while his parents sleep on, Sabo made a run for it. He picked the lock on his window, climb all the way down to the first floor from his bedroom, jumped through his mother’s prized garden and scaled the wall escaping into freedom. He had nowhere to go, not a cent to his name and he still believes to this day it was the smartest thing his ever done.

From there the child spent about five more years on the streets.  He grew into a fighter, a boy with the strength and will to take down anyone who tried to hurt him again and even started to attack people for any pocket change they might have on their person using nothing but a pipe. He grew confident; sure of his worth with each fight he came out victorious. He spent evenings around fires that the other homeless built on corners or under bridges, listening to their outrage stories with wonder. Most of the men he met there treated him like a equal, and even though they had nothing to offer him, still allowed the strange blond child to seat next to them and hear stories.

His parents seem like nothing but a bad dream at the time.

But it wasn’t all fun and games either. Sabo was contently on guard, not allowed to trust anyone for even a second, least he would be taken into the darker parts of the street life. The part where people go die wether it be by body or by mind.  

It was a hard life, filled with danger that he sometimes wonders how he got through unscathed but it had been worth it when child services finally did something about the blond mugger that was terrorizing the locals in East Blue Lane.

He was caught, thrown into a holding cell while they held his trial, and left there for about three days. Sabo remembered begging the police to throw him into Juvenile Hall, let him rot in prison, hell even kill him instead of taking him to his parents. He didn’t cared what happened to him, he remember  shouting from the cell bars, just never allow his birth parents to find him. He screamed that so long his voice become too hoarse to understand after a while and still he tried to keep speaking, feeling oh so helpless.

He was desperate and suddenly that bad dream that had been at the back of his mind for five years  could become his nightmare once more. The police had been baffled at his fear, they couldn’t understand why Sabo was much more terrified of his own worried parents that had been looking for him, then of the consecutions of his actions. They realized that something wasn’t quite right with the missing person report the boy’s parents had filed five years ago.

The report stated that Sabo had been kidnapped from his bedroom on the night someone had broken in to steal valuables.  Sabo acted like they were going to drag him back to monsters.

They decide to investigate , and see who was telling the truth.

The first thing they did was call in Dragon, a social worker that dealt specifically with problem children like Sabo. He was known as a genius and somehow always managed to find a way to get the most closed off kids to open up to him.  The man had walked into the room, taken one look at the shaking child and promptly promised Sabo then and there the words that changed his life. “You will never go back to them. You are safe now.”

It was enough to make the blond burst into tears and relief flown through him so suddenly he passed out after a few minutes of sobbing out “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou” while banging his head onto the table in front of him not minding the blood it forced out. He wanted to bow in gratitude but seeing as he was in a chair the table go in the way.

When he came to he found himself in a hospital bed, placed there by Dragon as he was classified as a “danger to himself” case. He was held in the mental hospital for about six months while his parents were investigated fully, and much to his shock, were then sent to jail for their treatment of children.  Turns out the pair had adopted another child who was much more damaged then Sabo, and quite frankly utterly brainwashed into believing the doll child way of life. Sabo didn’t meet his younger brother Stelly, and quite frankly he doesn’t want to.

He doesn’t want to see how he would have ended up as if he hadn’t run away when he did.

After some time Dragon returned to be his case holder.

Sabo loved him instantly.

He loved how Dragon fought for those without voices, loved how the man truly wanted to help children, and loved how safe he made him feel. It wasn’t too long before he wanted to do something like that too, and even told the man one day as they were walking around getting ice-cream. “When I grow up, I’m going to be the best social worker this nation ever seen!”

Dragon had smiled at him, small though it was and responded with “You can be my Chief of Staff instead brat, I’m the best social worker ever seen.”

Sabo had laughed and agreed.

He was released from the hospital and taken to a foster home not long after that. At first Sabo was unsure of how he felt about it, because in his experience being raised by someone only made it easier to be controlled. But once he step foot in the actual house he knew he belong there.

 His new foster mother was a woman named Dadan. She was huge in both presence and personality, often time seeming like she would rather be anywhere then raising the foster children. But Sabo could see the hidden love in her whenever she acted otherwise. He had lived with parents that didn’t care before, so he knew what “I don’t really love you but I’m faking it anyway” looked like. She never shown the signs rather she went out of her way to make him feel like was raising himself because she knew it was what he wanted. It was her own way of saying he had control of his life.

Sabo loved her for it and still sometimes calls her whenever the mode hits.

Another thing that made him want to stay was the two brothers that he met there.

Ace, the angry little shit who turned out to be one of the most adorable people Sabo ever known. He was fascinating in a way that made Sabo want to befriend him the moment he laid eyes on him. He was strong, knew it too but Ace had the tendency of believing nothing he could do was right regardless of the fact he cared for everyone in the house like a big brother and even helped Dadan find a way to feed everyone.  

The other brother was Luffy. A cute kid that was found by a red-head man named Shanks one stormy night. . No one knows who his parents were as Luffy was abandoned by the docks in a small fishing boat with nothing but his name and a blanket. The little guy however didn’t seem to care either way as he was happy with his big brothers, the rest of the “bandits”  and was raised by Makino; A girl who was also part of the same foster home not too long ago. Dadan said she was the only girl she raised and that most of the people who showed up around the house were once kids that grew up there or grew up with Dadan herself, in the system.

 “Bunch of bandits they are, stealing my food whenever they want.” Dadan used to say rolling her eyes dramatically as the men showed up unannounced but her smile was still present on her face.

Sabo loved it all.

Ace and him all but raised Luffy on their own but that was because Dadan knew they needed to. She spoke once to Sabo about it, when the then sixteen year old questioned her strange way of parenting, “Ace needs to know someone depends on him, and is happy his alive. The brat is under the consent belief his is worthless and shouldn’t have been born. But if he is raising Luffy? Then Ace knows his place in the world a little better: He is the big brother who provides. Tell me Sabo what are you?”

Sabo had answered instantly “ The one they can rely on no matter what”

Dadan had smirked then blown smoke at him from her cigar. “Good brat. Never forget that. Now go away,  back to that stupid tree house you idiots built in my yard.”

Sabo had laughed and done so, feeling warm inside all over again. He belong here in the Dadan Family- as Luffy dubbed the bandits- and he knew that he would stay with his brothers even after they left the foster home.

He was happy to say he was right even though Luffy didn’t technically live with them per-say, as the law said he still needed to be at Dadan’s foster home. The teen just happened to spend a lot of nights at their place to the point they got him a bedroom instead of keeping it as a guest room. Sabo was sticking to that story for life or until Luffy turned eighteen and could officially join them.

“I GOT THE JOB!” Ace screamed as he slammed open the front door of their shared apartment snapping him back to the present with a jolt.

Luffy cheered from the living room  “I knew you could! Shishishii!”

“SABO WE ARE GOING OUT FOR RAMEN COME ON!” Ace yelled

“RAMEN!” Luffy echoed.

Sabo smiled softly at their antics and turned off his music gracefully before gunning it to the closet slipping on a jacket and shoes.

“HELL YEAH WE ARE! RAMEN!”  He screamed back, opening his door to the older raven head telling the younger about his new hot boss, and how his interview went. Also if Sabo –who loves to tease- heard about his latest crush Luffy was going to die. Ace promptly paled when he felt the blond leaning in to whisper into his ear “Marco must be super hot for you to make it this easy for me.”

Both males screamed in fright not noticing Sabo’s quite approach beforehand. The blond man bowed then turned waltzed away with a hum, please in the shouts in his wake.

“Dang it Sabo!”

“Whoa! Sabo are you a ninja?!”

Sabo loved this family.  

Chapter Text

Monkey D. Luffy smiled as he raced through the dorm halls searching for room 301.

All around him freshmen were pulling in bags and boxes from their cars mumbling in excitement. Some upper classmen were greeting each other at the doors with a pat to the back and he saw more than one person opening the wrong room. He thought it was funny and exciting like an adventure!

Today was the first day of college, he had gotten up bright and early to unpack in his dorm. His brothers had been unable to see him to the school but were going to take him out to eat to celebrate after they got out of work. Luffy understood however as Ace had been made the commander of division two for the Whitebread Design Company not too long ago. His brother loved his job but it now had so many responsibilities he couldn’t skip out on. Sabo had been apprenticed to Dragon- who turned out to be his dad, which still baffled Luffy- and was shadowing him today for a home visit. His blond brother had been so excited about it, he had spent nearly three days picking out what to wear, what to say, and the likes.

So while he wished they were here, the raven nineteen year old forgave them for missing out as he understood they were working for their dreams.

Arriving to his dorm, he plastered on the most happy go lucky grin he could muster before kicking open the door.

Inside he was met with a plain small room. The walls were a soft peach and the floor a nice navy blue carpet. Two beds,  two chest, one desk and two different book shelves  were the only furniture inside. It had a window right between the beds giving the excided teen a perfect view of the main campus lawn. His roommate didn’t seemed to be here yet so the teen thought it was fair that he got to decided his side of the room. He glanced over the beds with a calculating look before deciding that the right one looks the most comfy.

Dropping the box he carried in onto the bed the teen let out a laugh as he kicked off his backpack.  This was it. He was officially moving into the dorms of Pirate University!

This box- which carried his bedding and clothes- was the first thing he was going to unpack! After today, He was a college student!

“Oh hey, you must be Luffy.” A voice said suddenly scaring the happy teen  who had been trying to put his sheets onto his bed. It was a lot harder then he thought because when he pushed on one side the sheets shifted on the other. It didn’t help that the beds was so close to the wall either. Wished he had paid more attention to Sabo when his brother changed the sheets now.   

He turned to come face to face with a young man. The guy was older than him by a few years and had awesome punk green hair. Luffy liked him instantly.

“Yeah, shishishishi that’s me! And your Zoro right?” The raven haired teen asked as he stood up from his bed.  He walked over with a hand raised. “I guess we’re roommates huh? Nice to meet ya!”

The man –Zoro- nodded as he shakes Luffy’s hand. “Yeah Likewise.”

They spent the rest of the night unpacking, getting to know each other along the way. Zoro was there to study law and would hopefully become a police offer after graduation. He had promised his foster father Mihawk that he would make honors before the end of the year or he would not be allowed to join the kendo club. Apparently Kendo was a big deal in the foster family and that was a legitimate threat. This was Zoro’s second year, but he wanted to move into the dorms since driving back and forth to his house was too hard (he got lost a lot).

Luffy in turn told him about being a general studies student but was hoping to be a fireman someday. He had come to college on the encouragement of his siblings and the promise of freedom that came with leaving home and going to college. He wanted to join almost all the clubs, meet as many people as he could and hopefully fall in love. He had never been in a relationship before but he used to watch his brothers cuddle on the living room couch with boyfriends and girlfriends for years now and a part of him wanted to have that. Luffy knew it wasn’t smart to just get one however without truly having feelings for the other so, even though he had some admires back home, he never agreed to a single date.

It’s best not to give people false hope.  He did tell Zoro right away about his preference for males right away, so that if the man wasn’t alright with it they could switch rooms before the year truly kicked off. Turns out his roommate couldn’t care less and had many friends who were interested in the same thing. Luffy officially dubbed Zoro his best friend, the man had no say in the matter.

His roommate got a text around six that night which had the green hair man dropping his work in an instead once reading it. Half of his things were still in boxes but the man seemed done with finishing unpacking.  “Hey, a few friends of mine are having a “new year celebration” party in like two hours. You want to come with?”

Luffy felt a wide stretching across his face art the offer ; Zoro is really nice! “Sure! I love parties! Shishishisi!”

Half an hour later the teen was dressed and waiting by the door, looking through Zoro’s phone to see the friends he was going to be partying with. There was a red hair girl named Nami, a fellow freshman named Ussop, a blond man called Sanji and cool looking older woman Robin, a young looking kid who had apparently skipped a lot of grades know as Chopper, a blue haired man that went by the nickname Franky and many more. Most looked like trouble but in the fun way. He couldn’t wait to meet them.

 “So if you’re single, I know this great guy named Law. His going to be at the party if you want me to introduce you, just know he can be….antisocial.” His new best friend said as he was tying his shoes. The green hair man had shown the younger male a picture of this “Law” earlier and Luffy would be lying if he said he wasn’t interested. With a nod he followed after the green hair male with a skip in his step.

 Luffy couldn’t wait for this party to start.

Chapter Text

   DING.  

PORTGAS D. ACE HAS ENTERED SAKEBROS CHAT ROOM.

Ace: Hey,  I need advice.

DING.

MONKEY D. LUFFY HAS ENTERED SAKEBROS CHAT ROOM

Luffy: What is it Ace?

Ace: No. I need  Sabo’s help. 

DING

OUTLOOK SABO HAS ENTERED SAKEBROS CHAT ROOM

Sabo: Yo. What you need?

Luffy: Why are you like this?! I can help too Ace!

Ace: *sigh*  Ok I need all the help I can get. I might sort of like someone but…his totally unreachable. How do you get someone like that’s attention?

Sabo: He straight?

Luffy: Does he already have someone else?

Ace: NO! @Luffy.  Not sure @Sabo

Sabo: well. Ask. Maybe flirt a little.

Luffy: Yeah! You can drop hints like buying him meat!

Ace: I have flirted but he thinks I’m a kid.

Sabo: Course he does. You suck at flirting.

Luffy: Shishishi Very true!

Ace: SCREW YOU!

DING

HOST PORTGAS D. ACE HAS CLOSED CHAT ROOM

___________________________________________________________________

DING

OUTLOOK SABO HAS ENTERED SAKEBROS CHAT ROOM.

Sabo: Hey guys! Quick question. How do you change a broken pipe? Also ask a girl out?

DING

PORTGAS D. ACE HAS ENTERED SAKEBROS CHAT ROOM

Ace: Here ###,###,###. It’s a number for this awesome plumber and I’m sending a link for the second part. Hold on let me find it.

Sabo: Thanks Ace!

DING

MONKEY D. LUFFY HAS ENTERED SAKEBROS CHAT ROOM.

Luffy: Buy her meat! She’ll say yes if you buy all the meat during the date!

Sabo: Ok Lu, I will. Thank you.

Luffy:  Shihihi Your welcome!

Ace: *link: How to get over heartbreak and the steps to getting better*

Sabo: YOU ASS!

Ace: MA HA HA HA!

DING

HOST OUTLOOK SABO HAS CLOSED SAKEBROS CHAT ROOM.

___________________________________________________________________________________

DING

MONKEY D. LUFFY HAS ENTERED SAKEBROS CHAT ROOM

Luffy: How do you have sex?

DING

OUTLOOK SABO HAS ENTERED SAKEBROS CHAT ROOM

Sabo: LUFFY, WTF?!

DING

PORTGAS D. ACE HAS ENTERED SAKEBROS CHAT ROOM

Ace: YOU DON’T.  THAT’S HOW. YOU. DO. NOT. HAVE. SEX.

Luffy: Nevermind Law said he’ll teach me!

Sabo: THE HELL HE IS! LUFFY YOU STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM!

Luffy: Got to go. He said I’m going to learn now. Bye guys! Wish me luck!

Ace: LUFFY DON’T YOU DARE!

DING

HOST MONKEY D. LUFFY HAS CLOSED SAKEBROS CHAT ROOM

Chapter Text

Naruto Uzumaki, Jinchuuriki of the nine tails fox Kurama, had been through many things in his life. Battling the odds, falling down to hit rock bottom and getting back up through blood and fire. It was a common concept in his life. If things were getting better something equally as horrible were going to ruin it. That was what life, fate and destiny had taught him. To retaliate he changed all of them and did what many dream of but could never achieve.

 He created peace.

He managed to bring together all the villages, despite their differences and hatred, to win a war against a mad man.  He pulled at people until they realized that they lived under the curse known as the circle of hate and broke it without a second thought.

He fought alongside the very people who once upon a time , screamed for his blood. Who believe he didn’t deserve to live. Who claim his existence a sin. Who made it their life goal to convince the lonely orphan that he was as unwanted as demons.

Naruto heard it every day in his childhood. Heard it as he walked through the streets, saw it when parents pulled their children away and felt it in his very bones when the villagers eyes were turn to him.

Why are you alive?  The eyes always seem to say, can’t you see you are unneeded, unwanted, unloved?

The Leaf villagers had no quarrels with letting him know just what they thought of him. Every single day, without fail someone managed to belittle him in some way.  Some even acted as if though he deserves this treatment regardless of the fact he was barely a decade old and thus had done nothing to gain such scorn.

For a while he even believed them but then he found his precious people; the ones who showed him the value of life, the feeling of love and the reason to continue fighting for his dreams despite the raising odds against him. True, he used to shout them at the top of his lungs back when he was a snot nose brat, but most times they were empty words. Only noise from someone who was never heard, not matter how much he made, desperate for even a glance from those around him.

Naruto knew he had some unresolved issues that stem from his childhood. He had spoken about them a bit with Jiraiya before the toad sage had died but he never truly opened up to someone about it. Others just assume he was strong enough to endure it while few who didn’t even know he had problems. But to have told the wandering hermit, even if only a tiny bit, relieved more pressure in his chest then he could have ever known was there.  He had remembered making a tiny comment about wanting to be Hokage so people could acknowledge him and somehow Jiraiya had heard the underlined desperation he carried with him. The old pervert probed the Uzumaki until an entire hour passed of Naruto doing nothing but sobbing and explain his experience.

He had felt so emotionally raw afterwards but lighter as well. The next day the toad sage didn’t bring it up pass  “If you need to talk about it I’m here. Just remember that. I will always be here”

Naruto never brought up again but he never forgot the rush of gratitude he felt for the sage either.

This was why when he was walking home one night from the Gray Terminal of the strange new world he found himself in after the Fourth Shinobi War, Naruto had allowed the three children who had made the misjudgment of him being a easy target get away with noting more than a few bruises and a small lecture about proper mugging techniques. The Do’s and Don’ts that every ninja knew, when trailing a target and how to successfully get away with everything they own.  All three seemed too stunned to react to his words and didn’t argue when the blond waved them away telling them “Hurry off, it’s getting pretty late”  

They were gone in a flash, under the darkness of the night from which they jumped out off. It had been three days since that late afternoon, and the ex-Leaf villager had not seen head or hair of all three. It wasn’t like he was looking for them however, because if he was, Naruto guaranteed he would have found them in under an hour. The people of this strange new world were so unaware of their surroundings it was almost laughable; they could have been surrounded and not realized it until it was too late back home, by child civilians.

He tried not to think of them too hard, focused on creating a life after the war in the new dimension his final Justu  blasted him to and setting up business using clones to really be of any help to them.  He had sacrificed himself so that the Element Nations could stay standing, now he had to sacrifice his own morals until he was settled enough to really do anything. He knew this. Hell, he was trained like this all his life.

 Yet Naruto could not get the boy with the freckles out of his head no matter how much training he has  gone through, for in his eyes he had seen what he never wish to see again.

He had seen Gaara, a boy who’s entire world revolved around killing to prove he even existed.

He had seen Sasuke, a boy with nothing left but the desire to make the world pay for his pain.

He saw Neji, a boy trapped in the life he was born to, forever caged until the end, even if he died with a smile.

He saw himself, a boy who doubted his right to live, even when shouting he would be number one if it killed him.

And Naruto Uzumaki, Element Nations or not, would not leave someone like that alone.

It wasn’t hard to track the three younger boys down.

The three had quite a reputation among the Gray Terminal and various other places. Apparently he was the only one had fought them off by himself when the three little muggers attacked. Everyone else weren’t that lucky or that skilled to do so. There were many looking to get petty revenge, all too willing to help out a follow “hunter” find the three.  Naruto thankfully did not tell them why he was searching for the children, content with letting the fools believe what they wanted.

He was able to piece together their haunting grounds however, from the large amount of victims the three left in their wake. It was well planned, for civilians to say the least. They would always wait for either the early morning or the late afternoon using people drowsiness against them. After effectively knocking out their targets the three little “demons” would make off with whatever the poor saps had on them and disappear without a trace. Then they would pop again in a different area allowing the wariness from the previous to cool down from the people in them and repeat the process as many times as needed.

They were followed by angry crowds before but most were either beat away or thrown off trail.

This is where Naruto’s ninja training paid off the most. It wasn’t hard to find information on them, nor find the general direction they usually took. After all, the three were known for coming from the large forest area.

They used the forest to lose any who followed and while they were skilled in doing so, the three were no match for a Leaf ninja especially one as determined as him. He keep to the trees watching as all three hunted animals far larger then he was used to unless of course he was in the Forest of Death or had seen someone summon  in the heat of battle.  The blond man guessed they had no formal teacher and had learned how to survive solely on the environment around them. He liked their efforts but the sloppy forms they fell into when attacking had his inner ninja scoffing. Even Naruto wasn’t that bad when he was their age, and he was dead last of his class.

The strongest one was the freckled boy but that was only due to his rare physical strength. He had no control of his emotions and tended to get angry easily something that could one day cost him his life.

The second boy, no older then the first, was strong but his greatest strength was his brain. The boy was quick to think on his feet, create plans and applied it to the two others subconsciously; he would be a good squad leader. However he also tended to forgo plans and rush in regardless of the dangers around him.

The last and youngest, had an odd blood line, one that allowed him to stretch any part of his body at will even launch them from far away areas. He however was the worst. The straw wearing boy did not plan, did not think and sometimes didn’t even notice when there was danger around. His entire fight style relied on his instincts, his devil luck and the backup of the two others. He had so much potential though, in fact they all did.

If given the proper training the three would grow to be a force to be reckoned with.

Naruto watched them for the rest of the afternoon making sure to take notes of their individual fighting techniques , already planning the proper forms for each.

He knew they were there.  It was his plan from the beginning.

Naruto wasn’t a fool. If he tried to approach them then the two older ones would instantly be on guard against him while the younger would accept him without a doubt of him betraying them. This the blond teen gathered from the hours spent watching them. He had learned all of their names a well, Ace , Sabo and Luffy. Such odd ones, true, but he was fishcake so he couldn’t really say much on the topic.

The ninja had noticed many things about them in over a week.

For example Ace had the tendency to push his bangs from his face whenever he thought of something mischievous. Sabo was easy to scare if the pranks the other two played on him were any indication and Luffy would stare at his siblings whenever they wouldn’t notice. He had seen that look before, it was the same one Konohamaru had directed at him way back when, and he knew the little straw hat boy hero worship the others in the privacy of his mind.

He knew all this and more, from his observations, using all the ninja spy training Jiriaya had stuff into his head during their two years together.

It was odd to do ninja things again.

When he first woken up, Naruto had to use Genjustus and clones to gather information on the world he landed in. He spent months and months gathering what little he could scrape up, sneaking into libraries and even looking into building illegal businesses that way he could have some form of income. When it became a fact that he would never see his home again the blond boy had shut down and almost lost his mind but he stubbornly pushed through, determined to at least find a way to survive if not for himself then for those he left behind.

Sure his clones now ran pretty successful ramen stands, clothes shops, wood art galleries  and even a blacksmith shop the blond had done nothing in that time to really apply the usage of his previous career.

He had gotten soft and started to slack in his training due to this. But there really didn’t seemed like a point to it anymore, after all as far as Naruto knew ninja were considered a myth here.

It was too painful to realize he was in a world that didn’t have the ninja system, instead had something called the World Government. He only gathered information from Dawn Island and the few boats that docked on it so it was very limited  but Naruto would bet his Leaf headband that the World Government wasn’t as  “peaceful good doers” as the world believed. 

Everything he heard about them made red flags wave and alarms ring in his head;  In the Element Nations most of the stories people told about  the World Government  would be called out on the sugar coating for being too darn sweet. They sounded too good to be true, and based off the Gray Terminal with High Town,  they were obviously hiding the darkness from the public.

But that was not his problem. No Naruto only cared about the three hungry boys that watched him from the bushes as he continued gutting the crocodile he capture. He wondered what he looked like to them. As far as he saw, no one besides the three ever tried to eat the meat from these large beasts and he knew that they recognized him from the week before.  Would they come out or stay hidden in their poor disguise?

Which reminded the whiskered teen, who taught them that placing a few leafs- and flowers in Luffy’s case- in their hair were enough to blend into the bushes completely?  They hadn’t even bothered covering their faces.

Something he needed to work on later on. After all, how could they pull pranks when they were so easy to notice?

“Don’t eat that brat. It’s not cooked yet, it’ll make you sick”  The words left his mouth absentmindedly as he finished skinning the croc. Behind him he felt Luffy stiffen in shock, little hand stretching for the fresh meat on the blanket he sat on. Naruto smirked when the bushes stared to shake in rage and knew the other two were panicking about Luffy’s safety. Again.

“If you want to eat something go ahead and take the fruits in the bag, but you’ll have to wait for the meat, understand?” Naruto asked as he turned to stare into the strawhat boy’s eyes.

Luffy peered up at him in wonder most likely shocked that he was offered food but that quickly slipped away as the boy all but dived for the promise bag. He shoved all of the food into his mouth without hesitation and took off just as fast throwing a “Thanks shishishis!” over his shoulder as he went. He rounded a tree and was back into the bushes his friends were in not seeming to understand it could give away their location. Naruto pretended not to see however, as he wanted the kids to stay.

The teen just raised his hand casually as he started a fire intending to eat his meal. He had just placed the meat over the flame when twin pipes swung at the back of his head. Seem like Ace and Sabo wanted to try mugging him again. Well, they shouldn’t be disappointed if they thought he wouldn’t fight back.

Ducking under the pipes skillfully Naruto quickly turned on his heels and grabbed the boys by a wrist, as they were still in mid air from their attack. He ignored their startled looks and promptly throws them against the ground. They rolled onto their feet quickly much to his approvable, and spilt up to surround him on both sides. Both were clutching their pipes pretty hard, glaring at him like one would a vermin.

“Why are you attacking me?” Naruto asked honestly curious about the answer. He hadn’t done anything threatening to them or to the younger one. He knew that they were smart enough not to simply jump into a fight they knew they couldn’t win. So an explanation on their sudden surprise attack would be lovely.

One he didn’t get as both boys jumped at him again with a battle cry.

The blond ninja reframed from rolling his eyes at their attacks and deflected all of their attempts to land a blow on him.

Eventually Luffy joined in and their teamwork started to improve dramatically. Naruto made a mental note to train them in fighting in pairs, or individually. It was obvious they were rarely away from each other but a day would come when the two others wouldn’t be able to help and they needed to be able to adapt to that.  The blond ninja moved to jab Luffy in the ribs, swung to kick out Sabo’s legs and then caught Ace’s pipe making sure to push the boys into better battle stances with each touch. They didn’t notice but their attacks did start to get more solid, and Naruto was glad for their quick learning skills.

He may have never been a Jounin sensei but Naruto had taught at the academy sometimes when Iruka asked him for a favor. He pretty much did everything his teachers did to teach him and knew that one’s bad habits were easier broken in the middle of battle. Plus it was funnier a hands on exercise then study books or scroll. Unless of course that scroll was forbidden then it got interesting.

Eventually all three dropped from exestuation Unable to move beyond the occasional groan of pain. The blond blinked down at them, confused on why they tried out so quickly when he remembered the lack of chakra in this world. Even academy students back home had higher endurance due to the constant flow of life energy in them, unlocked as it was, and sometimes Naruto forgot that the people of this world did not have it. Well he guesses he could work around that, maybe even boost their stamina beyond anyone else around them.

But first thing, first; He needed to make them his students.

“So, you guys hungry?”  He asked as he pulled the meat off of the flame.

The boys could only numbly nod.

“Here”  Naruto placed a large bag in each of the boys’ lap two weeks later.

He had kept coming back to the river, hunting the large crocodiles and casually going off to take a lion for their fur. Naruto used all the skin to make clothes, his sales among the nobles rose to shocking levels due to it. This was his excused for being in the forest.  He had even brought a sketched book once just to design some coats knowing the three boys were watching him. He didn’t have to full out say it but Sabo was smart enough to figure it out and had most likely told the others for their weariness had noticeable lowered around him.

Naruto made a point of always placing three extra plates on his picnic blanket regardless of the fact if the children joined him or not. He always smiled when he got up and went to check his traps, to find all three plates empty, stacked perfectly on the blanket when he returned. He was a little peeved that they took his share too, but never did much about it. If they we willing to try to mug him, then the ninja found it reasonable to steal his unguarded food as well.

 He decided to place unseen traps on his share next time so they will learn two lessons at once. A) how to direct traps and b) don’t steal Naruto’s food.

He grinned as the traps caught all three that morning allowing him the golden opportunity with delivering each their bag.

“Wha?” Ace mumbled as he tried to untie himself. The boy had fallen in to one of the ninja’s springs traps which wrapped around his body in seconds. Luffy had been caught by a foot and was then pinning to the ground when he stepped on a tripwire. Sabo was still trying to get out of the small pit, unaware of the seals preventing him from doing so, frustrated that he couldn’t grip onto the wall.

“You brats have been wearing the same thing for over two weeks.” Was all Naruto said as he packed up his stuff, walking away casually.

He made a point to throw down some rope for Sabo as he walked by, knowing the boy would release the other two once he was free.

“If it don’t fit let me know. I’ll get the right sizes for ya”

Naruto hoped the kids like their new clothes, he spent hours brainstorm designs for them  and not to mention the time  he spent making said clothes.  It would be such a waste if they didn’t use them.

He smiled when he heard Luffy’s excited scream carried by the wind reach his ears  “Mine shirt had meat on it!”

“Raise your hands a bit more and put your right foot forward”

Ace jumped a good foot off the ground which was hilarious to the blond. The boy hadn’t heard his approach, too focus on improving his fighting style without the pipe all three seemed to carry around. Naruto approved of his forethought, as there was no grantee one would be available to him at all times.  It was nice to know the kid had spent time practicing , but his starting form weaken his defense a bit so the blond ninja thought he would give him some pointers.

“What the hell-? Go away before I kill you!” The child roared at Naruto, seemly unpleased with his audience.  

“Kill me?” the teen teased “With that stance?”’

This made Ace snap as the raven child charged at him. He swung wildly no real plan in fighting him, just trying to land a blow. His moves seemed sloppier then usual but no means less dangers. Naruto dodged effortlessly, eyes closed just cause he could, surprised that he couldn’t sense the other two nearby. Seemed like it was just Ace today.

Always angry Ace.

“Amazing Ace! You have gotten so much better since the last time I saw you!” he encouraged as the boy fist nearly broke his nose. “Your darn amazing! Try to put more weight on your left foot though, it helps with controlling jumps”

The raven child roared again in outrage, but did take the blond’s advice , seeing as his fist was much closer than last time. Naruto smiled in satisfaction. He made a habit to randomly yelled out improvements when facing the boys as the three challenged him every time they crossed paths. The kids had all taken to his secret lessons like fish did to water, and tended to apply each comment during the battles.

Luffy would get excited each time Naruto praised him, while Sabo would accept the advice with a small nod of gratitude, Ace however seemed to take it as an insult.

 The teen thought it was kind of cute how angry the other got over such a small comment, but frown when he noticed the lack of attacks after a few seconds. It was way too soon for the other to tire out and he didn’t feel the kid moving to try and regroup. In fact he felt like he just stopped where he was.

Confused Naruto paused as well, crooking his head to the right at the lack of violence. When he opened his eyes he was meet with a ten year old sitting on the ground, his tiny arms wrapped around his legs and face hidden into his knees, seeming for all the sense in the world defeated. It was so unlike the kid that Naruto was in front of him in a flash checking for any visible injuries with his eyes. He hadn’t tried to fight hurt had he?

“Hey you alright?”  He asked after confirming there was no wound wondering what had brought this reaction up.

He got no response which made him frown in worry. The child just started shaking, and after a moment, a faint sob broke out from him. What the hell?

Naruto didn’t know what was happening, didn’t know what had cause this to happened but he knew what he needed to do. Bringing the smaller male into his arms, regardless of the struggle he was met with, the blond started rocking back and forth humming softly. He rubbed comforting circles into the tiny back hoping to make the other feel safe again. He felt Ace fight against him for a while before the boy slumped into him, rubbing his wet face into the ninja’s chest.  Suddenly it was like a dam broke and the boy was all right bawling. He hiccupped loudly and shook all over but clung to Naruto like his life depended on it.

The ninja returned the hug just as tight, softly whispering  into the raven locks “Shhhhh. It’s okay. I’m here. I got you.” 

The two stayed like that until Ace’s breaths even out about twenty minutes later. Naruto stood with the sleeping child safely tucked in his arms and walked back to his camp site. Whatever was bothering Ace, needed to be talked about, and Naruto wasn’t taking no for an answer.

They spent the whole day talking about parents, and burdens. Naruto was a little shocked to learn about Ace’s dad but he made sure to let the kid know he was no demon, no matter how much the kid denies it.

It was a hard conversation to have but eventually, Ace relaxed completely around him and was even willing to train with Naruto for a while. The blond ninja loved the bright light in the silver eyes, as the kid raise his hands to follow the Leaf village basic fighting style that Naruto was teaching him.

He got his first student in the bag.

“What did you do with Ace?!”

Naruto turned eyes to the blond child hovering over him, not paying mind to the pipe against his throat.  “Would you not shout? I’m trying to sleep.”

Sabo sneered at him before apply pressure to the pipe. “Where. Is. My. Brother.”

“Sleeping. Like I’m trying to do.”  Naruto mumbled nodding his head to the side of the tent covered by a cloth.  After Ace’s melt down the teen thought it would be best to put up something that would give his guest some privacy when he woke. After all he knew from expertise just how far a little bit of fabric did to reassure someone.

“Sleeping?”  The intruder asked eyes still filled with mistrust.

Naruto nodded. “Yeah, we were training and I guess he tried himself out. I brought him here so he could have a good night’s rest and out of the rain. You can go see him if you want.”

He watched as the top hat wearing child thought over his words before removing his pipe. He kept his eyes on the yawing teen but moved over to the cloth almost desperately. On the other side laid Ace,  covered perfectly by two blankets and sleeping onto of the mattress Naruto carries in his seals at all times. He looked so peaceful it brought a smile to the older male’s face.

“Sabo, you can take him home tomorrow morning. Don’t even think about walking back through this rain- you’ll catch a cold.” The teen ordered as he turns in his sleeping bag so his back face them. “The mattress is big enough for both of you so sleep there. Make sure to cover yourself with both blankets. It gets super cold.”

“Why do you care?” The question was whispered but he was happy to note Sabo had moved to do as he was told.

“Because you guys are worth it.” Naruto answered.

He pretended not to hear the gasp. 

When he woke the next morning both boys were gone along with his mattress. Naruto wasn’t even annoyed.

Luffy stared up at him.

Naruto looked down to keep eye contact.

“Did you really give Ace and Sabo a bed?” The child asked.

“No they stole it” Naruto responded.

“Oh.”  The boy looked disappointed

Naruto rubbed his neck before asking “Do you want a bed too? I’ll buy you one.”

The smile he received was blinding.

“Can you teach me that?” Sabo asked, watching as Naruto placed his traps around the clearing.

By now it was common to find the boys near him.

All three were over the moon when Naruto offered to train them, though Luffy’s and Ace’s reaction to the word train had him worried- who had scared them so much they both tried to run away?- and spent hours upon hours following him around. He didn’t mind in fact the ninja found it rather adorable, regardless of what they were doing. He had set up training dolls around the forest for them to practice with, had taken each to the side to help further their development and made sure to banged  them up afterwards. Luffy’s bloodline had been a concern at first, seeing as there were no family members nearby to explain the family trait to the ninja but he soon found out the problem that stood in the way.

Luffy tended to throw his arm to the ground, and not expect the rubber’s path way.

Naruto fixed that the first week their official training with him started. The kid didn’t have full control yet, but at least now he could actually hit something when he wanted to. It wasn’t much but it was something.

Ace’s Taijustu was coming along nicely. After he had the Leaf basic form down, Naruto had moved him to the Fire-style of the Uchiha Clan. He knew that fighting style almost as well as his own, and was happy that the quick motions worked for the kid. It almost seemed like Ace had been born in his world to the actual clan with how fast he picked it up. The ex-villager had to fight back the urge to puff out his chest every time Ace practice.

Sabo had been more focus on  the varies of weapons Naruto used much to the surprise of the oldest. The younger blond had all but demanded the Jinchuuriki  to teach him how to throw a shuriken, when he happened to walk in on the ninja’s own training. Now he stood at the ready, a small weapons pouch at each hip filled up by the kunai and shudiken he was learning to throw. It was hilarious to see him practice because Sabo turned out to have as much luck as he did when Naruto was in the accadmy but it didn’t seem to stop the younger. 

Naruto turned to see all three of his students watching his finial trap come to life with awe eyes.

“Yeah, so back home this trap is called, Nightwake, and this is how you do it…”

The lesson began.

 “Get your hands off them.” His voice came out more like a growl but Naruto didn’t practically care.

He had wondered what had taken the boys so long too met at their usual spot but thought it was probably due to their Pirate Fund again. Though the children did not know, Naruto had long ago found out their little hiding place, and had added some extra protection to the fund via seals. He knew that whenever they didn’t spend time with him, the kids were either training , hunting or mugging people.

With their new training, the kids were expanding their range to much stronger opposites and were taking them down like flies. Their pirate fund was skyrocketing by the boat loads.

He guessed he shouldn’t be so proud of the fact but he was, so the blond ninja let them continue their activities. He made sure to place some hidden clones in the junk yard however, in case the kids every bite off more than they could chew and needed immediate assistance.  He hadn’t felt the need to step in so far, even when the boys were left covered in wounds since their lives weren’t in danger and the ninja wouldn’t fight their battles for them. In the long run, baby all three would hurt more than help.

Today however he was glad his clones were nearby.

He didn’t know the full story of what was happening but from the way all three children were surrounded by the pirate group, and the smug Noble that smirked down at them, the ninja knew it wasn’t one he would like. Ace and Luffy were shouting out in desperation to the shaking Sabo who was walking towards the Noble. Screaming at him to leave them and run before his freedom was stolen once more. Naruto had some suspicions about Sabo’s behavior before, because no matter how much he tried to hide it, the boy had the air of someone from a higher class. True it was dulling a bit by living with the other two but any ninja worth their salt could tell someone’s social status by their body langue.

And right now, Sabo’s was telling him that the blond child did not want to go any near the ugly Noble but was being forced to.

Naruto felt his blood boil at the tears in his students’ eyes, so with the intent to bring down all the nine tail wrath on the group of men before him, the Leaf ninja stepped out growling out his command.

“N-naruto!” Luffy screamed from the ground. A man had him pinned with a gun pointed at his head, the poor boy was sobbing “They want to take Sabo away!”

The already cold blue eyes of the teen seem to glow a demonic light before sending a warm smile towards the down boys. Ace was also being held down his eyes filled with worry and fear.  “I won’t let them Luffy. I promise. So don’t worry alright?”

“Think you can do anything to stop us boy?” A common thug taunted from the crowd.

Naruto tilted his head to the side a bit before blurring out of sight only to reappear next to the man. He leaned in to whisper into the shocked man’s ear  “Oh, believe me. I can .”

It was a slaughter.

They tried to defend themselves, they really did, but Naruto was not in the mood to give out mercy. He attacked quickly and painfully. Each time he moved someone screamed in pain. He broke bones with each punch, chopped off a few limbs and knocked out those that ran. They had been willing to hurt defenseless children, so the ninja thought it was only fair they get the same treatment. The ones holding on to his boys were dealt with first. Naruto would not allow the enemy to hold a hostage if he could avoid it. As soon as Ace and Luffy were free, Sabo had made a mad dash for them. They crumbled to the ground in a desperate hug, sobbing to each other in fright.

Naruto placed himself in front of them as he faced the only two people left. The Noble and the Pirate captain.

“W-what are you?” the pirate asked terrified of the teen before him.

“Their friend.” The blond said stalking towards the coward with a sneer “And you tried to hurt them.”

“W-we were only doing what he told us to! It was a nothing but a job!” The dark skin man screamed pointing an accusing finger to the pale Noble.

“I do jobs too, you know. I have to do what I’m told too, when on a mission.  But then again, I’m also the one who accepted them.” Naruto said his eyes cold and accusing but developing a mad glint. “Why, should you be any different, and why should I not kill you? I really want to kill you. ”

The man screamed before shooting at the teen. Naruto rolled his eyes, deflecting the bullets easily with a chakra influenced kunai. Soon the gun was empty, and in one flick of the wrist Naruto had him down by a kunai at the knee. He screamed as he hit the ground but blue eyes were already on the last target.

The noble was trembling as Naruto sneered at him too, hand raising his Kunai to throw when the man suddenly yelled out “W-wait! I can pay you as much as you want!”

That got the blond interest. “Pay?”

The noble seemed to get more confidence by this response as he straightened, smug grin back on his face. “Yes, I’m of noble blood. Name you price and I will pay it fully.”

The ninja tilted his head to the side, in thought, “You want to pay me to let you go?”

“And to return my son.” The noble answered sending a superior look to the children behind the ninja. He heard Luffy whimper,  Sabo held his breath and Naruto could all but feel Ace’s tense form. He felt eyes burn into his back all three wondering what he would do. They knew by now that if Naruto wanted to crush them, they would be unable to beat him. If he betrayed them now they could do nothing to stop him.

“Sabo is your son?” The ninja asked.

“Yes, but he went missing five years ago. I came to get him back.” The noble said  “He should have known not to run away. It is the job of the children to live as their parents demand”

The whiskered teen hummed before releasing a good amount of killing Intel that had everyone besides himself and his boys gasping. All those that were still conscious clutched their throats, feeling death itself embracing them. One by one they each witnessed their own death by the demon in the shape of a adolescent male. It was enough to make the Noble foam at the mouth, shit his pants and fall unconscious but not before he heard the words that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

“Don’t you dare come near Sabo or the others again. I will paint the ground red with that pretty noble blood if you do.”

The flames were everywhere. The nobles and royal family watched with horror filled eyes as everything they knew was consumed by the fire. One by one screams filled the air of the unlucky that hadn’t been able to get out of the houses they were trapped in. Buildings collapsed left and right, sending dust into the air. Mothers were crying as they clutched to the tiny still bodies in the streets. People ran to and for trying to find a way out but the heat was unbearable and the smoke made it darker than anyone had ever seen the sky before.

Everything was in a hue of red.

There was no escape however, and everyone would eventually die. Already the stench of burning flesh made many throw up the fancy meal they had for supper until nothing but acid came out. For some this was the first time they ever felt truly empty stomachs and they wondered how so many people had been able to live with the feeling.

The wall that they once loved, for it keep all those beneath them out, was now caging them in. The gate would not open not matter how much they plead for them to, no matter how much they pounded on the wood, no matter how much they screamed.

They were going to die and no one cared.

“Good thing they are burning trash tomorrow.”

“Sleep tight, and remember the vermin die tomorrow!”

“I bet they are running around panicking right now. Ha! Like they could escape the flames.”

“Well its about time someone did something about that trash pile. If you ask me, we should have killed them all a long time ago”

Everyone still alive froze as their own voices came from above. It was what they had said or thought of when the fire was set to Gray Teminal. The words they said in the comfort of their homes sleeping peaceful as the horizon turn red.

One woman looked up to the sky only to scream in fright at the sight of larger size version of herself lighting the roof of a house with a torch that oddly resembled her family crest.  It was like looking into a mirror at a fun house. She recognized her hair, her body , her voice even but her expression had made the blood in her veins freeze. It was one of pure superior scorn and glee at the misery she was causing. Her duplicate sneered down at her when they locked eyes. “vermin like you shouldn’t even look at me!”

The woman could do nothing but sob as she was killed by flames she set, wondering if the man she told that to not two days ago felt the same helplessness she did. God, all he had asked was for directions, and she had him exiled for being poor. He had died in the fire like all the others. She screamed in regret for all she done as the flames ate her whole, the laughter of her other self a haunting farewell. 

A voice, like God himself was punishing, suddenly screamed above the noise of death.

“Witness what you have done, and suffer the consequences.”

The screams echoed throughout the night as High Town was destroyed by giants; giants, that were Nobles with too much power and so little care for the smaller beings that were powerless.

It wasn’t until everyone had been killed by the fire that a soft voice whispered into the night

“Release.”

Everyone awoke the next morning traumatized and a little bit humbled.

Ace had been acting strange around me lately. Naruto thought, head almost completely under the hot water.

He had missed the hot springs resort form the Leaf and because he could not find one in town, created his own by the use of justu. He had shift the earth until it form a water fall like structure on both sides, pressing the ground into the shape of a small lake. Then had added water with a small water dragon justu, until it was almost filled, afterwards he used Sasuke’s fireball justu to spit flames until the water was nice and hot. To keep the temperature the same at all times the bond happily applied seals at the bottom of the hole. He build a little Inn to the side, and watched as people flocked to his business with a satisfied smile. He had of course given the boys a gold pass, which allowed them to enter for free whenever they wanted.

The way their faces lit up as they first tried out the baths still had him smiling- even though Luffy had been oddly affect by the water.

“N-Naruto. Can, um , can I come in?”  A timid voice asked snapping the teen from his thoughts. He turned to look at the boy he was thinking about surprise to find Ace staring at the ground.

“Hey Ace! Sure come on in the water feels great Dattebayo!” He answered shifting away to make room. He grinned at the ten year old who shift a bit before walking into the water.  

“T-thank you.”  The lad said, face red.

He had gotten so polite ever since asking Luffy’s mother figure to teach him manners. Apparently the boy wanted to properly thank him for saving his brothers, along with a man named Shanks who had saved Luffy  before the ninja met them. He found it cute and had accepted the thank you with a smile and a rub of the raven hair.

“So what you been up to?” The sixteen year old asked as he turned to the boy who couldn’t drag his gaze away for the water.

“J-just hunting and stuff. Luffy and Sabo wanted to, you know, take a bath so we came.”  The freckled lad answered face flushing further. He sunk into the water unaware of the worried frown directed at him.

It was worrying to the ninja because for the life of him he could not figure out why Ace’s face always seemed to be a hue of red. It reminded the ninja of his friend Hinata back when the girl had less confidence but unlike her Ace didn’t faint at the sight of him. So obviously it wasn’t because the boy had developed feeling for the older male. Naruto may have only had one girl say she liked him but he noticed some of Sasuke’s fangirls faint at the sight of him too so that must be the indicator of someone feelings. So in his mind, Ace was just being strange.

 Maybe he was getting sick? Was it a side effect of the Narcolepsy he was diagnosed with? Should he get another doctor to get a look at him? Was taking Ace to get a check up once not enough?

“NARUTO!” a blur of rubber limbs slammed into him before he could think more about the troubling new shy attitude of his student. The blond teenager laugher as Luffy jumped onto his back , a more detained Sabo following close behind with a calm smile.

“Guess what?! I caught a crocodile all by myself today!” The little energy ball cheered.

“Really Dattebayo?! Good job Lu! Tell me everything!”

He spent the rest of his bath listening to a epic tale of three hunting brothers.  How relaxing it was.

“Good luck out there you two.” A twenty three year old Naruto said.

He faced the two seventeen year olds who had flourished into fine young adolescences over the past seven years they were together. Ace still couldn’t look him in the eye properly but he throws an excited smile at him from his little boat anyway. Next to him Sabo tied a bag into his own boat double checking to make sure he had everything he needed for his trip. Today would be the day they left Dawn Island to follow their dreams, and conquer the seas. As promised Ace would be the captain of his own boat while Sabo would find a crew to call him captain as well. They would be splitting up but would forever remind brothers.

Naruto had taught them each almost everything he knew and had even managed to help unlock their version of chakra. It was weaker because they could not manipulate the elements like the ninja could but it did make them able to sense attacks, harden their bodies and even knock out weaker opponents without touching them. The last one Ace and Luffy had been naturals but Sabo didn’t seemed to be able to do so, if it wasn’t due to Naruto killing Intel release training the blond would probably be the only one unable to use it. Both teens were at the level of high jounin and quite frankly Naruto couldn’t be prouder.

“Thanks Ruto.” His fellow blond said before bowing in the older males direction  “For everything”

Naruto grinned at him. “You’re welcome. Now go out there and give them hell!”

Ace whooped as he released his sails, letting the wind take him away. Sabo laughed loudly as he did the same.

“BYE ACE! BYE SABO!” screamed Luffy on his right, waving his arms as much as he could. The boy still had a ways to go, and he would be staying with the blond ninja for three more before he too left the nest. Naruto knew his power level to be near high chunin but that wasn’t enough for him to survive alone, so the bond man had held him back from going as well.

“Bye Luffy! I’m off to make my dream come true!” Ace screamed back waving just as much.

“By Luffy! The next time you hear about me I’m going to be one of the people to change the world!” Sabo screamed too, hands cupping his mouth as they had sailed quite a bit out. “Naruto please take care of him! And keep Gramps away too!”

Naruto threw his head back and laugh. It was true that the marine vice admiral was tough and had given the teen quite the work out the day they met he was also for to be around.  For some reason the old man seemed to like him. Naruto was the only one who could distracted Garp long enough so his grandkids could make a run for it. The man was also happy that someone else was teaching the kids how to fight, and even asked him to try to convince the three brats to become marines in his stead. Apparently under Naruto’s teachings the three were better candidates for the marines  corps.  (it still made the blond man sad however when he thought of Garp’s desperate need for the World Government to accept his grandkids as valuable weapons. The old man knew they would be killed for their parentage otherwise.  Naruto felt no need to lie about that.)

“I will dattebayo! See you guys soon!” He screamed back waving an arm with glee wondering what he was going to tell the old man when he came to visit next time.

Luffy and Naruto stood waving at the boats that grew smaller and smaller in the horizon until they were barely out of sight. This was why it surprised them when Ace’s voice suddenly scream from afar.

“Naruto! When the whole world knows my name….I’M GOING TO TELL YOU HOW I REALLY FEEL!”

Well. Shit. Did not see that one coming.

He stood watching as Luffy sailed away feeling oddly empty yet satisfied.

Naruto knew this day would come. It was Luffy dream after all but, it had felt too quick that  his youngest brat turn seventeen. Over the last three years, Luffy had been turned into his prize pupil and he couldn’t image a life where the rubber teen wouldn’t be there every morning to enjoy large unhealthy amounts of ramen with. The two had made a routine to train in the morning then split up to do any errands they each had. Naruto still ran many businesses and was currently richer then the King of Goa but to keep his money flow steady the man had to occasionally step in so his clones knew what to do.

His power that came with said money  had allowed him to have top notch information about Ace and Sabo. Both have been doing well for themselves.

Ace had been a high coming rookie, leader of the Spade Pirates and had over a five million beli reward on his head. His student’s fighting style was rumored to take down whole armies and that was without the help of his devil fruit.   Currently Ace was the second commander of the Whitebeard crew, most feared in the word.. Not bad for the three years he was out.

Sabo had been a well known pirate too for the first year, creating the Freedom Pirates by raiding slavers and slave owners, he was feared for his not quite Conquer haki that apparently many couldn’t deflect, that was until he was recruited by the Revolutionary  army. Currently his blond student was Chief of staff and kicking butt at it too.

The days had past in a haze and before he knew it, Luffy had started packing for his journey. It was a little hard to say goodbye since Luffy’s not a bloodline but a devil fruit had been hard to turn into a weapon luckily both had creativity to pull it off. His student was leaving the island with a high jounin level statues as well. Naruto was once again proud.

“Goodbye Luffy!” he screamed on last time when the teen turn his attention to the sea monster that had tried to eat him. The boy waved back to him after a big blast of killing Intel had the monster foaming at the mouth.

“Bye Naruto! I’m going to be the King of the Pirate!”

The twenty six year old man knew he had done right when not even three months later Luffy’s first bounty was published.

May the world survive his three little brats.