A/N: Some Tags from AO3 that are only fair if I post them here as well:

Characters: Sabo, Ace, Luffy, Koala, Kid, and Robin. Among many many others. I won't name them all for that reason, just the ones that play a key role in the story going forward with each arc.

Sabo-centric, Modern/Virtual Reality AU, No Major Pairings (Minor Shanks/Makino and Implied Corabelle), Slow Build. Plot Isn't immediately obvious.

Occasional Bad Language, Canon-Typical Violence, Major/Minor Character Deaths, Heavy Dose of Conspiracy, A lot of characters come and go on a chapter by chapter basis (all depends on what's going on at the time)

Mystery/Drama/Humor with some Fluff and Angst.

Blend of the Modern and Virtual Worlds. Some Characters have alternate names because of this. No named characters are OCs. Everybody who's anybody is somebody. Hence the above-mentioned alternate names. Gets increasingly more Sci-Fi as the story progresses.

Anywho, without further ado:

Chapter One

The break room was hardly worth calling a room. It felt more like a storage closet with metal shelves lining the walls crammed full of binders, books, stacks of paper, and scattered knickknacks and if it wasn't a shelf, it was a stack of boxes full of more of the same. Against one wall was a mini-fridge with a microwave perched on top of it, and in the center of all of that mess was a table with four chairs tucked up against it. One of these chairs was occupied.

Sabo sat at the table, fingers tapping away at the keys on his laptop. The end of a fork was held between his teeth, bobbing every time he shifted his jaw, and the lunch that required it sat mostly forgotten on his right. A notification appeared in the top right corner of his screen and he paused in his typing to glance at it, pulling himself out of his work zone.

NikonFlash has sent you a message VIA One Piece:
"Here are the pictures you requested!"
Click Here To Respond

"Sweet." Sabo whispered around his fork as he clicked on the notification, pulling up a basic chat window. He clicked on the downloadable file and waited for a second, pulling the fork out from between his teeth.

Sabo stared at the fork. Why did he… right. He was on his break. He was supposed to be eating lunch. He looked at his long cold meal and shrugged, sticking his fork into the container full of left over stroganoff. His neighbor had given it to him on his way out of the house that morning. He stuck a single bite of the noodle, mushroom, and meatball mixture into his mouth and chewed, eyeing the download wheel and wondering why it was taking so long to get the files. Makino's meals were alwa—

A notification appeared saying that the download was complete and he abandoned his thought, his fork situated between his teeth once more as he clicked on the open file option. He made a quick scan of the contents before selecting the chat window and typing out the message: "Thanks, Flash. They're perfect," And hitting enter before he even took a really good look at them. In the months that he had known the photographer, he'd long since learned to be confident in the images that she provided.

He turned to examine the first of the images when another message notification appeared from his friend,

NikonFlash: Sabo, what did I tell you!? You can call me Koala now!

Sabo snickered and quickly typed a message back.

dragonlord23: Still can't believe your name is Koala.

NikonFlash: Listen here, Dragon-boy, I happen to love koalas and my name is perfectly acceptable.

dragonlord23: I never said that I didn't like it! It's quite the contrary; I think it's kinda cute.

Sabo turned his attention back to the first of the provided images. "So, that's Sir Crocodile." He hummed in thought as he studied his features, fork bobbing up and down between his teeth once more. There was something was awfully familiar about the man standing high above the digital streets of Nanohana with his arms spread wide as if in welcome to the people. Sabo peered at the background of the image and realized that Koala would have had to climb to the top of one of the Alabastian Towers to take that picture and he laughed. Koala never ceased to amaze him with her crazy dedication to getting the perfect shot.

The first image had been a wide shot that appeared to have been taken from the left and slightly behind Crocodile, getting a glimpse down into the courtyard below. The courtyard was unusually full of what he assumed was a large crowd of NPCs.

A second photo had been taken from a slightly different angle that was not so much behind and more direct at Crocodile's profile, giving Sabo a glimpse of a long scar that stretched across the bridge of his nose and his left cheek in a straight line. A third shot was zoomed in closer to Crocodile's face, which had turned slightly towards the camera, confirming that the scar was mirrored on the other side as well. Another zoomed in shot was angled downward, focusing on the golden hook, wich took the place of his left hand, which was peaking out from under Crocodile's fluffy green coat with thin white stripes.

The last image of the set wasn't an image at all, which explained why the file had taken so long (in reality it was probably only 15 seconds, if that) to download. The last file had been a video. It wasn't often that Koala used the in-game streaming/recording function to record what she was seeing, so he was mildly curious about what was going. He pondered what might have been so important she felt she had to record it rather than just send him images of it as he clicked play and let the footage roll.

"I'm just going to apologize in advance in case you get motion sick watching this, but I'm running towards a spot that I had scoped out for photos and things just started happening. You have to hear this." Koala's voice greeted him, her words coming in short bursts as she tried to sprint her way through the crowd of NPCs; the sounds of their cries were nearly drowning out her voice. They were calling out to Crocodile, relief in their voices as they declared themselves saved. They called him their savior, their hero, the protector of Alabasta, and the King of the Desert. There were NPC pirates, something that Sabo could never recall having seen before, also scattered through the square. They were paused in their attack as they laughed and questioned Crocodile's real strength. He was just a single man after all, but Sabo had been playing enough of One Piece to know that a single man could make all the difference.

Koala shifted her gaze from the people as she broke out of the crowd and turned upwards to reveal a shaky version of Crocodile standing atop that tower as bullets passed right through him. So a logia user then, Sabo concluded as Koala's attention shifted once more to focus on a band of pirates before the footage ended.

Sabo checked the remaining time left on the video, but before he could even read it the footage had started up again and redirected his attention. It was significantly quieter now, he noted, and much steadier. But the footage was focused on an empty patch of sky. "I missed the beginning of all of this while I was climbing the tower, but holy crap, Dragon-boy. You gotta check this guy out." The video motion blurred as Koala quickly shifted her gaze downwards to the city square. Sabo wondered what-oh. Oh. Sabo's eyebrows shot upwards as he took in the sandstorm that obscured the courtyard from view. Sabo could actually hear the screams of people coming in through the feed now.

"He's definitely the Crocodile, one of the seven warlords like we suspected" Koala voiced. "And apparently a Sand logia type. The readers will certainly want to know about this." She mused.

"Oh yeah. They definitely will want to know." Sabo agreed around the fork situated between his teeth before reminding himself that this was a video feed and not a chat. He watched the storm begin to subside to reveal the pirates laying on the ground in total defeat, the townspeople scattered about relatively unharmed. It was only a few brief moments before the people started cheering again.

A bell chimed, echoing from what seemed like everywhere at once and yet nowhere at all, signaling a system announcement. Koala's gaze shifted towards the sky where a message was being displayed in large gold lettering, "Special Event: Clash! Alabasta's Plight! Will begin tomorrow!"

"And there we have it. Let the games begin!" Koala laughed. "Let me know if you think we should get some people together and try it out ourselves." And then the video ended.

Sabo remained frozen for a moment, staring blankly at the repeat option displayed in the video window as he took in all of the information that he had just learned. He pulled the fork from between his teeth and took another absent-minded bite of his cold meal. So Crocodile was definitely one of the seven warlords that had been laced into the game's lore since the beginning, but having never made an appearance themselves. He had thought that Koala's reminder that he was one of the warlords would shake the feeling of recognition from him, but there was still something nagging at the back of his mind about it and he couldn't quite place it. Sabo turned his gaze to the article he had been working on during his lunch break as he stuck his tongue between his teeth and his cheek in thought.

"Hey, Sabo? You done with your break yet? I need you to run register." The voice of his boss, Chris, called from outside the open door of the break room. Sabo dropped his fork back into his meal in surprise and glanced at the doorway before turning his gaze to the clock in the corner of his laptop screen. He realized with a shock that his break had ended ten minutes ago. Sabo turned his gaze back to his unfinished meal chilling beside him. "Uh… right. Yeah. Whatever. Yup, I'm coming." He smacked the container's lid back down on top of it and sealed it shut as he stood, pushing the lid of his laptop closed. Picking up the container, he circled the table and approached the mini-fridge on the other side, placing his unfinished within. He straightened and turned, nearly tripping over his own shoelaces as Chris poked his head through the doorway.

Of course. Trip in front of your boss. "I swear to god Tontattas are real" Sabo grumbled as he kneeled down to tie the laces of his grey converse. "How else do your shoes come untied while you're sitting down?" he grouched.

"You've been playing a little too much One Piece lately, Sabs. Especially if you've met the Tontattas." Chris chided as Sabo pulled the leg of his jeans back down to his ankle and stood.

Sabo? Playing too much One Piece? Impossible. His play schedule was perfectly reasonable. A minimum of four hours a day wasn't that much. Seven or eight if he had a day off during the week… just until Luffy got back from Soccer practice and Ace was working or sleeping that day and he didn't have any homework to do. Besides. Sabo was a journalist for the digital paper, it was just job to play One Piece. "I write for the News Coo, remember? I have to be on top of things like this." Sabo insisted as he approached the doorway.

Chris sidestepped in order to let Sabo through the door. "Yeah, whatever. You keep telling yourself that, buddy," his boss was totally not buying it if the pat on the back as he passed was anything to go by. "Right well, I'm going on my own break now. I know you didn't actually eat, so you're allowed a free candy bar to hold you over till I get back. Just make sure you write it down." Chris informed him as he back-peddled with practiced ease through the organized mess that was the storefront of his small shop. "Want anything?" He added as he paused by the front door.

"Just bring me back a mountain dew, I can pay you back." Sabo requested as he shifted the position of the chair behind the counter.

"Don't worry about paying me back! I've got it covered. Be back shortly." Chris amended as he pulled open the door to the shop, the little bell attached to the doorframe chiming as he went.

"It better not be coming out of my paycheck then!" Sabo called after him. The closing of the glass door cut off Chris's laughter as the man waved good-bye and walked out of view. Sabo huffed and scanned the small store for any customers that might be hiding amongst the merchandise.

Summit City Games & Comics, the one shop stop for all your analog geeking needs. The shelves at the front of the store were all crammed full of board games and card games of every kind – new and old. The last renaissance of tabletop, face-to-face gaming having filled the store with games of just about every style and genre. On display a top the short book shelves were small package card games and merchandise of all geeky varieties. The wall across from the register and to his right were covered in racks of comic books, art books, guidebooks, and rulebooks and rows of tables by the wall to his left were covered with boxes of more comic books arranged alphabetically, and even more boxes were stacked underneath them. There was a door in the back corner of the store that led into the game room full of tables and chairs, ready for game nights and the front desk itself was a display case that spanned almost half of the wall it sat against. There was a section for dice of all shapes, sizes, colors, and designs, followed by a section with valuable cards for classic card games like Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, and Yu-Gi-Oh that were so valuable they couldn't just be displayed out in the open like the boxes and binders full of cards sitting on top of the display case were. One the other side of the dice was video game, comic book, and anime figures on sale. What was left of the wall space around the front desk were deck boxes, dice bags, miniatures, miniature-painting supplies, collectors items, and card game packages. In short, Summit City Games & Comics was the perfect nest for any nostalgic nerd. Sabo definitely included.

Having confirmed that there were, indeed, no customers to be seen out front, he ventured in back to check the game rooms to make sure no where wasn't anyone back there running a private game or anything that Chris might have forgotten to mention. There was no one there. He wasn't concerned that the store was empty at lunchtime on a Tuesday. Most of their business came in on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Often times, this time of year those days were their only business, but that was about to change. Finals had just wrapped up at the college (Sabo inwardly celebrated that one and was waiting impatiently to find out his final grades), but High School would still be in session for another month. It was then that the weekends would start to get a little hectic.

Thursday night card game nights were popular with the high school and college students. Friday nights were board game nights, which Sabo was noticing an age bracket shift for in the last couple years. More of the younger kids were starting to get into them where it used to be just older college students and adults. Then Saturday nights were the tabletop gaming nights, which consisted of their only consistent customers. They met every Saturday night without fail so they could progress the story lines of their various campaigns (the information for which were stored on the shelves of the break room). Sunday was a day that he'd discovered the regulars dedicated to playing One Piece together. When they had learned Sabo was an invested player, they'd all clamored for him to join their Crew: The Summit City Pirates. Sabo had declined joining the crew, but he'd agreed to meet up with them a few times in-game.

Game nights at Summit City Games were long nights, often stretching 'til one or two in the morning before the store officially closed up shop for the night. He felt kind of bad about that because, if he wasn't out late at work, then he was attending his evening classes at the university or doing homework and studying, so his time spent with his brothers (specifically Luffy) had been reduced to Sundays, breakfast before school, and dinner on Thursdays. Sabo felt bad about all that, but he needed to work to pay for his classes and he loved his job, which made it easier. But he still couldn't shake the bad feeling.

Sabo had been starting to notice little things about his little brother. The falter in his smile every time Sabo said that he had too much homework to do; the excited squeal and the arms that wrapped a little too tight around his torso when he made it home in time to cook dinner; the small pout when Sabo admitted that he was too tired to hang out and he needed to go to bed. A pout that would quickly dissolve into a smile at the promise of snacks, but disappeared immediately after Sabo had his back turned (he'd caught it once, when Luffy thought that he was no longer looking). Sabo was noticing all these things and more, and he knew that he'd have to make it up to Luffy… and soon, especially now that the semester was over and he had more free time.

But it wasn't just him who wasn't around… it was Ace as well. Ace's work at the fire station came in bursts. He worked a twenty-four hour shift, then got two days off (one of which he spent sleeping), then after that break he would work three twelve hour night shifts, followed by four fourteen hour day shifts, and then got three days off before the cycle started again. But, when there was a big fire anywhere within a thirty-mile radius of Summit City, he'd get called in to help even if it was his day off. He could be out for days fighting fires on shifts with the other departments until the fire was out. He'd always come home exhausted and occasionally wouldn't even make it all the way through the doorway before he'd fall asleep in the hallway, dead to the world. His days off were always spent sleeping or trying not to fall asleep and by the time he was well rested and energetic, he was working again.

They'd both missed so many of Luffy's soccer games that Luffy had stopped bothering to invite them at all. Sabo had noticed that Luffy no longer even put the game schedule for the month up on the fridge and that had been Sabo's serious wake-up call. He'd asked Luffy about it and Luffy told him it was fine and that work and school and homework and all of that were more important. He then declared that he was a star athlete, best soccer player in the league, and had been offered full-ride scholarships to colleges around the country. He said that he wasn't lonely because the whole school loved him and wanted to be friends with him, but Luffy had never once offered him a name for even one of these apparently numerous friends of his. He never mentioned going out to hang with friends, or told stories about the people he hung out with… and Sabo was beginning to suspect that Luffy had been lying. Lying for a very long time.

Sabo frowned as he browsed the comic book shelves, selecting a few of the newer ones to take back with him to the front desk and read so that he had something he could do to pass the time. Pros of working at a comic book store, he didn't have to buy the comics.

As Sabo placed the comic books down next to the register, he remembered what he was doing before he got called out to the front and headed into the back room to collect his laptop and bring it back with him to the front, grabbing a large Twix candy bar before sitting down on the black office chair. He ripped open the package and half removed one of the cookies and fit it between his teeth, prying open his laptop and quickly keying the password before he could start drooling all over the front desk. He grabbed the package before using his teeth to break off the chunk that was in his mouth and started to chew, examining the word file that contained his article and the window that contained the pictures Koala had sent him. He nudged the snack stick further out of it's package and took another bite as he eyed the notification in his task bar that told him Koala had responded, but he ignored the message in favor of working on the article and adding in all of the new information that his friend had gathered for him.

First Ever Special Event: Clash! Alabasta's Plight!

Written by dragonlord23

Two weeks ago, Celestial announced that it would be brining us it's first ever, special event within the world of One Piece since the VRMMO went live two years ago. It has since been revealed that these events will become a regular occurrence with the world of pirates. Once every two weeks they plan to bring us a new story and a new boss complete with glorious prizes. Each event will last a week, so be sure to test your crew's strength and wits before it passes. The first crew to complete the event will receive extra bonus rewards and the guarantee of a devil fruit to be amongst the spoils. Expect Sandy Island to be inaccessible as a normal quest hub for the duration of the event. The island will only be open to challengers and only one group of challengers may tackle the event at a time. We have a feeling here at the News Coo that it's going to take more than brawn to best this challenge.

So what's in store for the players tomorrow? Not much is known about the story of Alabasta's plight, but our expert photographer has brought us photos that reveal the identity of one of the seven warlords of the sea. Yes, you read that right. The face of Crocodile, one of the warlords, has been revealed. He seems to play a critical role in the story of Alabasta. He's a logia type user in possession of the Sand Sand fruit and he's seen below whipping up a sand storm to take out a group of pirates terrorizing the city of Nanohana. It was these events on Sandy Island that triggered the start of the count down to tomorrow's event. It is still unknown whether or not Crocodile is a player or an AI, but either way, the Hero of Alabasta is expected to play a prominent role within the Special Event.

Until now, the faces of the seven warlords have been kept tightly under wraps by Celestial, their names being the only things revealed to us through stories and rumors from the NPCs within the game. They've been hinting at these people for a long time and we're excited to see what the future of One Piece looks like with the addition of these special events that may continue to feature Warlords as key players. It's sure to spice up the game play all over again.

Expect for the One Piece server to shut down between 3:30 PM and 5:30 PM CST in order to prepare for the opening of the event at 6:00 PM CST May 10th. We will update you with more information as it becomes available.

Sabo finished the last of his Twix bar and left the wrapper abandoned next to the register as he pulled the photos he wanted to use from the folder and into the document and then screen-shotted a frame from the video of Crocodile's attack. He ran a hand through his tousled blonde locks as he read the article through once more to check for errors. He made some changes here and there before using the keyboard shortcut to save the file, naming it "May 9th – dragonlord23" and saving it again for extra measure. He closed the word file and then opened the One Piece chat window and clicked on the tab labeled "News Coo." The tab opened up a group chat window with all of the writers for the in-game Newsletter for submission to their editor, Absa. He attached his file to an empty message and hit send.

"Alright. Now that that's done." Sabo sighed, closing the lid of his laptop and settling back in his chair, fingers drumming on the armrests as he looked around the empty store, subtly nodding his head. He abruptly stood and scooped up his laptop and took it back into the break room, slipping it into his messenger bag before returning to the register.

It was that moment that the front door chimed and Sabo reflexively called out "Welcome to Summit City, may I help you find anything?"

Chris' bark of laughter snagged his attention and Sabo eyed his fellow blonde as he made his way to the front desk. Sabo caught sight of the six-pack of mountain dew bottles that Chris brought in his wake, setting them down on the desk in front of Sabo. "Here you go, Sabs. Think of it as a thank you gift for all your hard work in my store. You don't need to pay me back; I'm your boss. I pay you. That's how this works. Besides, I know how fast you inhale Mountain Dew. It's all yours." Chris, contrary to what he said, removed one of the bottles from its plastic prison "But I'll still be taking one. As taxes." He joked.

"Better take four more then." Sabo laughed, nudging them closer to Chris.

Chris snorted in a poor attempt at suppressing a laugh before he set the one he had taken as 'taxes' in front of Sabo. "You're right." He picked up the rest of the bottles for himself. "Thanks for reminding me." And took them all with him into the break room, patting Sabo's shoulder along the way.

Sabo snickered as he picked up the bottle left for him, Chris' voice drifting out from the break room to tell him that the rest of the bottles would be waiting for him in the mini-fridge for whenever he wanted them.

Cracking open the bottle, Sabo took a long, refreshing, gulp of the sweet, yellow-green, carbonated beverage within and then set it down with a contented sigh. "I needed that." He breathed as he replaced the cap and picked up the first comic book from the stack he had brought up to the register and settled back to read.

About three hours later, the door opened with a chime of the bell. Sabo didn't even get a chance to spill out his automatic greeting as he organized the contents of one of the bookshelves when he was interrupted by a "Hey, nerds, anyone home? You're not buried under this mess are you?"

Sabo's head shot up and he stood, looking over the shelves as he gawked at their new visitor, "Ace! What the hell are you doing here? Get lost on your way to the club?"

Ace laughed, "No-o! It's only half passed five! Much too early for the club. Luffy should be home from soccer practice already, and I just got off work. We need to talk about his present! His birthday is tomorrow. You did take off work tomorrow, right?" Ace reminded him as he navigated his way to where Sabo stood somewhere between Munchkins the card game and Naruto the board game.

"I'm pretty sure I did." Sabo answered. Suddenly panicking that he might have forgotten, he turned towards the door to the break room and called out "I don't have work tomorrow, right?"

"Nope!" Chris called back. "It's your brother's birthday, right?"

"Yeah!" Sabo affirmed before he turned his attention back to Ace. "I thought we already talked about his present, like, ages ago. You haven't already gotten it?"

Ace shook his head as he shifted his weight to one side, resting an elbow against the bookshelf to his left as his fingers played with the strings dangling from the hood of his sleeveless hoodie. "We've both been saving up our money for a while now and I think… I think that we should pool all the money that we've saved… and" Ace gritted his teeth, looking slightly hesitant before saying "I hate doing this because they do so much for us already, but ask Makino and Shanks if they can pitch in some money to help, too, because… because I think that we should get him one of the Celestial Dragon headsets." Ace declared, leveling Sabo with a determined look.

Sabo took a moment to let that soak in before his eyes widened in surprise, largely impart to Ace's willingness to ask for help with money, but when he thought about it… it really made sense why he was willing to. "You've been noticing, too?"

Ace nodded.

"Do you think that we can afford it?" Sabo asked, thinking about the outrageous price of the headset and how it had taken him two years to save up for one so he could eventually afford to buy one a few months after it's release.

"If it means that it'll make Luffy happy again, then I don't care if we can feasibly afford it or not. I'm sure that the neighbors would love to pitch in. They practically raised us. It could be a present from all of us together. You, Me, Makino, and Shanks. He'd be delighted to be getting anything at all, really. But this… he'll be more than thrilled to be getting one, especially once he tries it out for the first time. You know what One Piece is like; it's his dream world Sabo. We've been playing pirates since we were kids he would love it so much. You and I have both been playing for a while now, you longer than me. But…"

Sabo nodded, thinking about Luffy's reaction visiting the world of One Piece and he gave a soft smile "The system will let him in now that he's turning 17. It really is the perfect choice." Sabo agreed.

Ace nodded before furrowing his eyebrows slightly in thought, "Oh, Avô sent some money as well." He added.

"Gramps? So he's not…?" Sabo furrowed his eyebrows as well.

Ace scoffed "When was the last time that old Geezer stopped by? There's no way in hell he'll be showing up for Luffy's birthday, especially if he sent us some money for us to get him a gift with." Ace shook his head; "He doesn't even pay the bills anymore." He added as an after thought.

"Probably thinks that since the two of us are 20 now we should be able to handle it on our own." Sabo speculated.

"That does sound like him." Ace agreed.

Sabo thought back, trying to remember the last time he'd seen Ace and Luffy's grandfather, but an even older memory surfaced instead and he snickered.

"What are you laughing about?" Ace asked, looking and sounding a little accusatory.

"I was just remembering the first time I met Gramps. I'd been living with the two of you for six months already by the time he showed his face." Sabo reminisced.

Ace gave a curt laugh, his eyes lighting up at the memory "Yeah, surprised the hell out of him! Especially when Luffy and I started talking to him in English instead of Portuguese. It took him at least five minutes before he realized it."

"I'm pretty sure that was the only reason why he let me stay and didn't call the cops to send me home." Sabo laughed. "He looked at me and said," Sabo lowered his chin and cleared his throat before mimicking an exaggeratedly deep and gravelly voice "Brat, are you the one that's been teachin' them English?"

Ace pitched forward in laughter and had to turn and rest his forehead against the crook of his elbow to stay standing. He struggled to catch his breath as he tried to talk "And you!" he broke into laughter once again "You… I'll never forget it! You looked him straight in the eyes without a single hint of fear. You were always a ballsy kid; I'll give you that. He didn't intimidate you at all! Even though you were probably only as tall as his hips you looked at him like you had a few inched on him! You just looked him in the eyes and said 'yeah, what of it you old geezer, it's certainly a better job of it than you've been doing!' And Avô returned that look ten fold and I was scared that he might beat you up for disrespecting him! But instead he smiled and declared that you were a cheeky little brat, but that he liked you and you could stay."

Ace sighed fondly, a smile settling onto his features before he continued in a more relaxed voice. "You really got to Avô with that. I remember how he stayed for a whole week and came to visit a little bit more often. At least every couple of weeks. He took us out camping, put-putting, go-karting, but mostly camping and fishing. He started sending money for us to buy groceries with so that we'd stop thinking about stealing it all the time… He was a little scary, but it was a lot of fun…" Ace chuckled fondly but began to frown. "I wonder why he stopped? It's probably been five years now…" he frowned.

A thoughtful silence fell between the two of them as Ace looked away, staring out the front window of the shop and at some far off memory before he sighed. "Sabo."

"Hm?" Sabo grunted curiously, prompting him to go with a quirked up eyebrow.

"You really need to talk to your parents." Ace declared, settling a hard gaze back on Sabo.

Sabo scowled, anger broiling in his chest. "Like hell I will! It's all their fault. They were going to kick me out to 'teach me a lesson' so I saved them the effort and saw myself out the door with a pocket full of cash. They cut me off from the rest of their resources immediately. They never searched for me. Never contacted the police. Nothing. They didn't give a shit that they'd just put a ten year old out onto the streets with nothing to his name." Sabo growled.

"You said it yourself all those years ago. They didn't expect you to have been so serious about it. They thought you'd come back as soon as you realized how difficult it was to live without their money." Ace frowned.

"Yeah, well, they misjudged my determination. I didn't give a shit about their money and there was no way in hell that I was taking over the family business. I wasn't going to let them marry me off to some spoiled, prissy little bitch so that their company might benefit from it. I wasn't going to be a pawn living off of my parent's success. Living off of money that they got from lying, cheating, and stepping all over the people beneath them. I didn't want to deal with the fact that I could trust no one around me. How people never talked to me for me, but for my family's influence. It's an empty existence that I want nothing to do with." Sabo spat. He took a deep, shaky breath in an attempt to calm down after his outburst before he continued. "I'm happy, Ace. I'm happy living here with you and Luffy. I'm happy working here in this dusty game shop, selling things that are finally pulling themselves back from the brink of being obsoleteness. I'm happier now that I ever could have been there… I just." Sabo exhaled slowly. "I don't want to talk to them. They have Stelly. They never needed me. There is nothing left to associate them with me anymore, not even my last name. They gave me up, Ace. They let Garp take custody. They let me change my last name. They don't even want me back and I don't want to have anything to do with them. I'm not going to talk to them." Sabo leveled his gaze back on Ace with those final words, conveying his absolute conviction.

Ace pursed his lips, turning away from Sabo's gaze to take a second to collect his thought before responding. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up again… but I never said that you had to leave us. I want you to stay just as much as you want to stay. It's just… sometimes I think about how lucky you were. Not that you were born into a rich family or any of that shit… but that you had a family—that you actually knew your parents. And how I know that, no matter what you think, they probably loved you and still do to this day. Even if it seemed like they never did, I'd imagine that they, like all other parents, just wanted to make you happy. Even if what they thought would make you happy wasn't exactly spot on. They probably realized what it was you really wanted a long time ago." Ace paused, taking a measured breath and Sabo waited for him to continue, feeling a sliver of him starting to believe what Ace was saying. "Sabo, just… just think about it at least. It's been ten years. I think that, for a long time now, they understand you."

Sabo lowered his gaze without a word, staring at the cover of one of the Munchkin's expansion packs. He could still see Ace's legs in the corner of his vision as he pondered those words. He thought back to what Ace had said all those years ago about his family. How he and Luffy were actually cousins and they had moved to the states from Brazil with their grandfather. Ace's mother had died in childbirth; Luffy's had abandoned him. Both of their fathers were brothers and wanted criminals at the time, both were caught and arrested when the boys were young. They'd never met them once. Garp had returned from America to try and take care of them, but there was only so much that he could do. He enlisted the help of some of his friends in the slums and it was several years before he had gotten all the paper work he needed to move the two boys to the states. Luffy was six then. It was just a year later when Sabo had run into them on the streets and joined them in that big empty house.

His thoughts were interrupted when Ace began to move, stepping away from Sabo with a deep, quiet breath before he began to speak once more. "We're getting Luffy the headset for his birthday. We should go to the store while Luffy's at school tomorrow and pick it up. They let me borrow one of the headsets from the station. I figured that, after we gave it to him, the three of us could all play together at least once. I'll talk to Makino about pitching in to help when I get home, alright?"

Sabo nodded, his gaze still directed at the Munchkin expansion packs, but his attention still focused on the issue with his parents. He felt Ace's eyes on him for a moment before the bell above the front door rang as it open and his brother left.

A familiar sting in his eyes and a lump in his throat began to form and he fought to choke it down. He squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep, shuttering breath before the feeling passed. He rubbed his eyes with the sleeves of his button up and then shook his head.

"You gonna be alright?" Chris asked from the doorway to the break room.

Sabo nodded, clearing his throat. "Yeah. I'm fine." He swallowed, continuing to nod as he tried to remember where he'd left off in organizing the shelves. He was not going to talk to his parents. He couldn't. He wasn't going to back down on this. He wasn't going to attempt to rebuild burnt bridges when they were the ones that burnt them down in the first place.

That night, when Sabo got home, he found a container of leftovers sitting on the island situated in the middle of the kitchen with a note saying they were for him. Makino must have made dinner for them tonight. Sabo was a little disappointed that he wasn't able to join them for their meal, but at least he still got to taste her cooking.

Sabo popped open the lid of the container, but left it on, before pushing it into the microwave. He closed the door, set the timer, and pushed start before setting about making himself a glass of water. As the timer reached zero, he became aware of the fact that he was no longer alone in the kitchen when the sound of bare feet walking across the tiled floor reached his ears.

"Hey, Sabo" Ace greeted with a yawn, glancing at the clock on the microwave once Sabo had shut it's door again. With the bowl of leftover spaghetti in hand, Sabo took a glance at it himself to find that it was five past midnight.

Sabo turned his attention to the freckled raven head as his brother began to speak "I talked to Makino and Shanks after dinner." Ace began, sitting down on one of the barstools, pulling out a second for Sabo to sit in on his right while the blonde pulled a fork from the silverware drawer.

"And?" Sabo prompted as he hoisted himself into the provided seat, sticking his fork into the large mess of spaghetti with extra meatballs and began to eat.

Ace leaned against Sabo's left shoulder with another yawn. "They were very enthusiastic about it," he mumbled, "They'll definitely pitch in."

"That good." Sabo smiled as he shoved another forkful into his mouth. He felt Ace's weight start to relax further into his side and he frowned "You better not fall asleep on me, I'm trying to eat." Sabo warned around a mouth full of spaghetti.

"Mnotsleep…" Ace mumbled, smacking his lips a little as he shifted slightly so he could get more comfortable on Sabo's shoulder.

"Ace. Go to sleep." Sabo nudged Ace with his elbow, only to get a pouting whine in response. Sabo sighed fondly. "You're such a big baby…" and let his brother be, keeping is left arm still as he spun another forkful of spaghetti and took another bite, Ace snoring softly into his shoulder.

A/N: And that's a wrap for now.

this is my first foray into writing fanfiction.

With college, i'm shooting for 2 week release schedule in anticipation of the homework hell that is 3D animation.

I don't have a Beta, so I apologize for any mistakes. (If someone is interested in Betaing, let me know.)

Hope you enjoyed! Feedback is always appreciated.

(This chapter was previously split into 2 chapters because i felt like it was too long. But then the rest of my chapters were about that long anyway and i realized it was pointless. So it's back to 1 chapter.)

Next Chapter: Luffy's Birthday!

To be continued...