Word Count: 1,553
A/N: Day thirty of a writing challenge.

Freedom: noun. 1. The power or right to speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. 2. The absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government.

Dream:

While he's in classes Sabo drifts, barely hearing the drawling words of his newest tutor - his parents want him to be more then educated, they want a genius. He dreams of wood that creaks, cloth that snaps, people that cheer, and swords that gleam. He dreams of being a pirate. A person that is free, that can sail the seas as they please. Instead of taking notes his book is filled with ideas and plans and doodles.

Where notes on economy and trading should be are the prices of both ships and the raw materials it would take to make one from scratch. In the area that language should occupy is crossed out idea after crossed out idea for a crew name - he wants to be recognized as part of a crew that both helps and hinders where it is appropriate. An assortment of other notes are replaced with pirate trivia; science is forsaken for the formula and mixture of gun powder, mathematics is pushed aside for navigation, and the arts are shunned for doodles of his future nakama.

Everything he does is to reach his final goal, to sail on the freeing seas with his flag snapping proudly in the wind.

It's why he runs away. He abandons the posh life for one of hardship and poverty; training for when he's out at sea with barely anything. He leaves behind his fine sheets, soft clothes, plentiful food, and vast riches for belief, inspiration, and a chance to be free.

When the weather turns south and everything is covered in cold he shivers while dreaming about the life he'll have soon. It's the one thing that keeps him going, his dreams. Or, it was until he spotted him, Ace, who was thrashing a pair of thugs.

Sabo remembers thinking that the other boy was cruel, that his actions were unnecessary. For Ace broke the thugs fingers, snapping them one by one at the joints. He whispered and taunted, telling them that they were scum, filth, and trash. He carefully stepped on their throats as they withered in pain, pressing down just hard enough to cut off all but a sliver of air. Ace was ruthless and Sabo didn't understand, he couldn't. He had been raised in a land of manners and ease where everything was handed to him on a silver platter. Even the short amount of time he spent on the streets wasn't so bad, he had taken a fist full of bellis with him when he left and was able to pay for a decent room at a inn and enough food to fill him.

He also remembers Ace's face when he yelled at him to stop, to leave the thugs alone, because hadn't he done enough already? His words froze the freckled boy and the thugs, seeing a chance, stood up and fled. Yelling back as they tenderly held their broken fingers that their boss would avenge them, that they would get the demon spawn, devil child, worthless runt back. That's when he finds out that Ace is Gol D. Roger's son, that he was beating the thugs because when he was younger, smaller, weaker - they had beat him. Kicking, punching, hitting, and even branding in some areas. They had left him on the edge of death before.

And Ace, Ace is nothing but vindictive then. Because they had hurt him, insulted his mother, and when he was just about to have his revenge after so many years of being defeated this snot-nosed boy dares to take his prey from him? This child that looks like he had been pampered all his life has the guts to deny him this? Sabo is shaking by the time that Ace is done; his eyes have been forced open by the other boy and he hates what he sees.

All around him is filth, dirt, and trash. Nothing of the glorious treasure he had dreamed of. His dreams crack and his resolve with it. He begins to shake, he doesn't notice it until Ace points it out though. His limbs are quivering and tears are barely held back by sheer will power. He feels his life as a pirate slipping from his fingers- turning to smoke before his eyes, when Ace reaches out. Sabo doesn't know why he does but he does, the freckled boy stretches out a hand that is worn with work and tells him softly that everything will be alright.

Sabo won't think until months later to ask Ace why he had said those words, why he had comforted him after he had lost him his revenge, but by that time Ace won't remember. Because Ace has done that kind of thing before, he has reached out and helped others. Claiming that it's to repay for the sins of his father, secretly, Sabo thinks that Ace is just that kind of person. That he's just that kind at heart that he would try to comfort a child that had caused him nothing but grief.

Whatever the reason Ace helps Sabo, lending a hand to build him a ramshackle hut when his money runs out, checking in every once in a while to make sure he has food. Ace is a god send, a god send that has similar dreams as him. Ace wants to sail, not for the same reason as Sabo though. No, instead of freedom the freckled boy wants to step out of his father's daunting shadow and show the world that he is more than just the son of Gol D. Roger. That he is his own person. In his mind Sabo thinks that Ace wants to be free as well, but he never voices that thought, the last time that he had tried to explain freedom to Ace the other boy had slumped down and left. Only coming back when his conscious reminded him that Sabo didn't know how to survive quiet yet.

It went like this for close to a year; with Ace helping Sabo and Sabo unknowingly saying something that caused Ace to leave. But he's gotten better at communicating with the other boy, to the point that Sabo would even dare call them friends. So when Ace strolls into his hut with a armful of food he is careful not to set the freckled boy off, instead he smiles brightly and greets Ace. Waving happily as the other boy frowns at him.

He doesn't know why but for some reason that changes things between them, because Ace sticks around longer and starts to talk more. Sharing with Sabo some of his thoughts and hobbies and life in general. They find a balance after a while. They become close friends with a shared dream. They want to own a ship and be pirates, and once they agree they get to work. Stealing and doing odd jobs to earn money for the ship that they will one day purchase.

This goes on for some time where the only thing that Sabo counted was the cash that he and Ace was raising, forgoing keeping track of time. They set up a routine of getting some money, meeting each other, and hiding the bills in their stash. Sabo always thought that he would be the one to break that pattern for one reason or another, but it's Ace that shatters it. Well, Ace and Luffy.

Luffy who will become the final piece in his dream because Luffy turns into his little brother, not by blood but by something stronger. Luffy is his soul's brother, just like Ace is. His goofy, childish, reckless little brother who brings Ace and him joy and light. The addition of Luffy brightens their world; Ace is less tense and Sabo feels a sort of calm settle on him. It's an aura of fun and mischief and protection and love all rolled up into one. It's Luffy. The three of them build a tree house together, a place to call their own and plan their futures. For a moment, everything is perfect.

And in the next everything is shattered. The city burns, he's been found, and Ace and Luffy are in danger.

Sabo acts fast, doing the only thing that could help. He leaves, setting sail earlier then they had planned. Because his father wasn't going to stop and Ace and Luffy were in danger if he stayed, he had to leave. As he sets sail Sabo looks to the forest, knowing that Ace, Luffy, and the letter he left are there. Knowing that the three will find each other. For a second, a terribly brief second, Sabo feels freedom. The wind is tugging at his clothes, he can smell salt, and wood creaks beneath his feet. He is content and bliss fills him, but it all bursts into flames, the Tenryubito destroy his ship and everything is on fire and he is dying.

But he's okay with that, the only regret that he has is that he's leaving his brothers. Because he's sailed the seas and felt freedom, no matter how short his journey was, and that was enough.