Luffy seems uninjured when Ace and Dadan rescue him from Bluejam, but the natural jubilance he used to display and eagerly use to get intoeverything is gone.
Actually, Ace thinks, groaning quietly as Luffy manages to send an entire table crashing down on Dadan, the boy laughing at their caretaker's surprised yelp and curses, It's like something's missing. Like he's missing something important.
His energy hasn't faded, but the rare moments when Luffy's quiet seem to have increased in frequency. Ace catches him distractedly squinting at things when he thinks Ace is busy with something else. It's confusing, and slightly irritating, and Ace can't for the life of him figure out the answer to why Luffy is being so quiet if something is bothering him, considering how open his younger brother usually is.
Ace tries to put it out of his mind, however, because even if Luffy doesn't want to talk about it now, he'll probably spill it in a few days, and Ace has the niggling feeling that he knows what it is. Sabo was his brother too, and the ache from the knowledge that he is gone still makes Ace's heart do stupid, painful things in his chest.
Except a few days pass, and while Luffy has plenty of openings to talk about what's bothering him – Ace even leaves some of them open on purpose, invites his younger brother to talk about Sabo, like he knows the blond would do, if Ace'd been the one on that boat – Luffy doesn't say a word.
And then, almost two months after Sabo'd left them, and the two of them had survived the Grey Terminal fires, Luffy woke Ace during the night.
Accidently, which Ace should have realised was the first indication that something was wrong, and he blearing blinked his eyes open, confused at the darkness.
"No, no, no, no, pleease. Please just let me see," Luffy's voice was a quiet, desperate chant in the dark next to him, sounding almost in tears, and Ace groggily rolled over, his tongue tangling his brother's name and slurring it.
"Luf-?" He asked, trying to force his sleepiness from clogging his head because his brother sounded tearful, "What's up? Why are you awake?"
Luffy's voice immediately stopped, and Ace saw the shadowy figure of his brother jump in the darkness. "Ace-! I- I was-"
Brow furrowing, Ace slowly peeled himself from the warm blankets, staring at his brother's form in the dark, the edges slowly sharpening as his eyes adjusted. "Are you- why were you- what can't you see, Luffy?"
"A-" his brother's voice wavered, before the rubber boy sniffled, breath jumping as though he were crying. "Anything! I can't see anything!"
It's dark, Ace's mind helpfully supplied him with, but the pure panic he could hear in his brother's voice assured the sarcastic part of him that Luffy wasn't reacting to that. "What are you talking about? Luffy, you can't see?"
His silence was as much of an answer as a denial, only the breathy hiccups in the dark, and Ace shuffled closer, until their knees bumped.
"A-a-after Bluejam," he mumbled, almost so quietly that Ace couldn't hear him, and the brunet could see the reflection of the moon on Luffy's cheeks. "Couldn't- Everything was- everything was all blurry," He sniffled again, but this time Ace just couldn't tease him for it. His heart felt like it'd frozen in his chest, and he couldn't help the painful thought of; did he hide it this from me because he was afraid of me teasing him?
Did he really overstep his boundaries as Luffy's older brother that much, that Luffy wouldn't come to him with a problem? It'd been ages since they'd rescued him! Had he really been dealing with slowly deteriorating eyesight since then?
Before he'd even realised that his body was moving, Ace had gathered his snivelling little brother up in a hug, arms wrapped tight around the younger boy; but Luffy's arms didn't obligingly squish him back.
When he Luffy stiffened instead of sinking into the hug and returning it, Ace felt something fragile in his chest crack, and he cursed himself to the sun and back for ever making Luffy feel like he'd be angry with the young boy for showing weakness. If he couldn't tell his brother that he'd been slowly going blind, how was he meant to ever trust and confide in his future crew?
"You're an idiot," Ace spat, though the words came out with more venom than he'd intended and he immediately wrapped his arms tighter around Luffy, in case he took in the wrong way, "This is serious, and I'm your brother! You need to tell me next time!" his tone was half an order, but he couldn't stop the undercurrent of worry that made his voice sound pinched. "How are we meant to help if you don't?"
"I just-" Luffy's voice hiccupped, and Ace could envision his brother's lip wobbling as he tried not to cry, "You were- worried. And I didn't- I didn't want to make it worse." His breath hitched again, and Ace sunk his teeth into his bottom lip to prevent the sting from his own eyes.
"We'll get something to make you better," Ace mumbled against Luffy's hair, as he felt droplets from his brother's tears splatter against his collarbone. "Okay? I promise, I'll find something that'll fix your eyes, and you'll be able to see properly again."
Luffy sniffled, burying his face even further into Ace's chest, but this time his arms obligingly inched around Ace's back, warmth pressing through Ace's shirt as he hugged back.
"'M sorry," he mumbled, sounding absolutely guilty for making Ace worry, and Ace's jaw set.
"Don't you apologise for this," he growled, arms tight around his brother, "It's my fault. You're mine and Sabo's treasure and I'm going to protect you, even if it's the last thing I do. You got that Luffy? Whenever you need me, I'll be there. So don't you ever say sorry for it, because it's my choice."
Luffy almost seemed to try and press even closer, his squishy body practically melding to Ace's, and the freckled boy pressed a kiss to Luffy's head, mumbling his next words to the crown of Luffy's head. "I promise, little brother."