Hello, this is one of the many other fanfics in which the ASL brothers are created by the Whitebeard Pirates :)
However my story has a much heavier content, it will have graphical scenes of violence, sexual and psychological abuse, and human rot in the form of nobles. Of course, I'll try to keep the boys' personalities mostly intact, Luffy will still be Luffy, Ace will still have his self esteem problems (to a much higher degree) and Sabo will be the one with the greatest patience among them, but the bond between boys will surely be stronger, the super protection of Ace and Sabo as Luffy will be even sharper.
The boys will have a more.. dark personality, the change of Luffy being the clearest, but that does not mean that the Luffy who wants to be King of the Pirates when he begins his journey will be totally different from the canonical universe. The boys are sure to be stronger, with control over Haki and a better idea of Luffy's "Power to Listen," even though it's still a "mysterious power" (hahahah).
All will have serious changes during the Arc that shows the children of the three so if my "timeline" is a bit confusing excuse me, it's been a long time since I watched One Piece and now I only follow the weekly episodes like almost everyone.
Ace felt his head throb, his whole body seemed to ache, but his head seemed to want to explode and this seemed to keep him from opening his eyes and seeing what was happening around him. Ace could only feel a light body at his side, hugging his arm in a way of perhaps comfort. It didn't take much to recognize that that body heat came from his younger brother, Luffy.
"You're finally awake." Ace heard Sabo's voice by his side and after a few attempts the boy finally managed to open his eyes, the first sight he had was of a concrete ceiling dimly lit from the room. He turned his gaze to where he had heard the voice of his other brother.
"Sabo... What happened?" Ace tried to sit down, but he gave up when he remembered that Luffy was still clinging to him. Sabo looked at him and smiled with amusement at the scene, making the black wires look with a frown, when he saw the boy's moody mood, he seemed to decide that it was best to tell him what was happening.
"I don't know what happened to you, but I tried to escape when I heard about the fire to warn you, but there were guards in the Edge Town who prevented me, I was injured and I don't remember what happened, but when I woke up I was hiding in an alley..." Ace watched as his brother's expression turned dark with the course of his story, even though there was also confusion in his eyes, showing that the blonde was trying to remember something.
"What happened next?" In an attempt to keep Sabo focused and distracting him from whatever thought the blond was having, Ace asked him to continue telling him what he knew.
"Well, there was no way I could get past the guards and I didn't want to go home so I hide. Some men who worked for my father came after me, but I managed to hide somewhere in the Edge Town for a few days, until..." Sabo's pause was even longer, but this time it seemed that the boy was debating internally whether he should even tell what had happened or not to his brother.
"Until what did Sabo do?" Ace narrowed his eyes dangerously, not accepting that his brother was once again trying to hide something from him. Sabo seemed to understand that lying or hiding something from Ace at that moment didn't seem the right decision.
"Some guards and marines found me. They...They took me to some place in the Edge Town and they locked me in a cage. "Sabo kept his eyes hidden by the hem of her top hat, but then he raised his head, looking directly at his brother. "Ace, we're trapped and there are marines everywhere, helping to trap people from the Gray Terminal."
Ace this time got up, forgetting Luffy clinging to him and focusing only on the image of his other brother, leaning against what looked like iron bars and bandages. They were trapped. Ace, Sabo and, oh god, Luffy were trapped and other people were being arrested as well. His shock was evident and his confusion at the situation was more than expected. There was no reason why the people at the Gray Terminal were being arrested, not after all the damn hell they'd been through when Bluejam, with the help of Ace and Luffy (the self-loathing that gripped Ace's body almost made him vomit in the thought that he had helped in that), had burned the dump.
"Why are we stuck?!" At that moment Ace also seemed to remember another, even worse detail. Dandan and the mountain bandits. They had come out of nowhere to help Ace and Luffy. "And where's Dandan?!"
Sabo's eyes widened, realizing that if the people at the Gray Terminal were being captured then surely the rogues of Mount Raven should also be being pursued.
"I don't know! I didn't see them when they brought me here! Do you think they were arrested too? "Sabo asked, feeling more and more distressed, even though Dandan and the mountain bandits weren't as strong as the three brothers, they were still strong and just thinking that they too had been captured decreased still more the hope of Sabo that his brothers and he could flee.
"I don't know, but they were with us in the Gray Terminal." On Sabo's confused face, Ace decided it was best to explain what had happened to him and Luffy after Sabo had been taken. The bitter taste of self-loathing lingered in his mouth, leaving his dry with the prospect of being hated by his brother for helping Bluejam.
"After you left Bluejam persuaded us to do a job for him, I wanted to distract Luffy from his match and earn some money for our pirate fund, when we finished Bluejam laughed out of our face talking about how we had helped him create a fire in the Gray Terminal. He left us there and before I knew everything was on fire..." Ace didn't want to look at the blonde, didn't want to see the expression of disappointment or whatever the negative emotion that Sabo would be feeling towards him at that moment, but still he forced himself to look up.
Ace saw fear and guilt, and a desperation he didn't understand where it came from, clouding Sabo's still childlike features. They expected anything but that.
"What happened? Why didn't you flee to the forest? "Concern overloaded Sabo's voice, and shock-eyed eyes helped to express this concern.
"No, the fire spread very fast, but that wasn't the problem." Sabo seemed to want to ask what the problem was, but he held on, waiting for his brother to tell him everything. "Bluejam appeared out of nowhere, it seems that he was betrayed by the nobles, and I, I, I, I don't know...He seemed crazy, wondering where our treasure was and speaking that he wanted revenge on the nobles..."
Ace sighed, trying to rearrange his thoughts, now, after all the panic of trying to survive the fire, not even he understood why Bluejam wanted the treasure being that it was clearly impossible to escape the fire when it had spread so fast and was so intense.
"Ace ..." Sabo tried to call him, as much as the blond wanted his brother to take his time, he was still too nervous to know that his brothers were in the middle of that fire while he could do nothing to save them.
"I'm not sure a lot, but even after I said where Bluejam's treasure was yet to come... We were caught, but Luffy managed to get loose, but then..." Ace looked about to vomit at the cry of Luffy's pain and the blood covering his face. "Luffy was hurt, there was a lot of blood and I could not let go...Sabo..." Ace turned his face toward his brother once more and Sabo felt himself holding his breath as he saw the expression on the other's face.
Ace was about to cry, his eyes transmitting pure helplessness.
"They were going to kill him. Luffy almost died again and I couldn't do anything." Sabo approached Ace and gently held his hand. The two were never to use contact to comfort and Ace didn't like to appear weak, much less Sabo, the affection of the two was always intended for Luffy since it was the quickest way to calm the younger when he cried, but at that moment not only Ace, but also Sabo, needed some comfort.
"It's okay, Luffy is safe," Sabo said quietly, and they both turned to where they knew Luffy lay still, clutching Ace's arm weakly, unaware of everything around him. Both Ace and Sabo felt a burden leaving their shoulders to see just how peaceful their younger brother - and weaker - was.
"I'm not sure what happened, but I yelled to stop and suddenly Bluejam and all the others stopped and then Dandan appeared along with the other thieves." Ace sighed, remembering how Dandan's presence made him feel relieved, with Dandan and the thugs there Luffy would not die. "Dogra and Magra took Luffy and I stayed behind with Dandan to fight Bluejam."
It was at this moment that Ace stopped with his tale, the freckle with remembrance vaguely remembered his fight with Bluejam, but then it seemed all a blur. Sabo seemed to realize his uneasiness as he couldn't remember what had happened and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to get his attention.
"It's okay if you don't remember now. What worries me is that I didn't see Dandan when I was captured, much less the other bandits and, from what you said, Luffy was with them. "Sabo frowned, trying to put all the pieces together, he still didn't understand why he had been captured and imprisoned by the Marines, but, he remembered as he looked at the state in which both Ace and Luffy met, he had other things to worry about now. "Ace...are you okay?" Ace focused on Sabo, trying to understand why he was worrying about himself when he was full of bandages.
"I should ask you, you're covered in bandages." Sabo stared at him for a moment, realizing that the other hadn't realized that he and Luffy were more bandaged than he was.
"You too! But the worst among us, of course, is Luffy." Ace stopped to look at himself, noticing the bandages that weren't in his body before, but soon his gaze fell on Luffy, who, as Sabo had said, was worse off state.
"I'm not feeling much pain right now, but my head still hurts a little. I'd like to know who treated me and Luffy..." Sabo agreed with Ace's thinking, thinking that soon it would become yet another unanswered mystery.
A loud noise from an iron door opening caught the attention of the two brothers who approached the bars wanting to see who was coming in and if they could finally leave that place. Ace and Sabo hated to feel trapped.
Soon a male voice was heard, along with steps of two people. One of them seemed to be tied while it was pulled by the other. At the approach of the two people, Sabo and Ace felt their eyes widen at the sight of Dandan completely bruised, with blood dripping from various parts of her face.
"DANDAN!" The scream was automatic. The woman heard them and reacted surprised to the call, stopping to walk and looking at the two in the cell. Ace was surprised to see tears gathering in the woman's eyes.
"Oy, go ahead." Dandan was pulled, stumbling forward and almost falling. A moan of pain seemed to leave the woman's lips and the man who pulled her-one of the guards of the High Town - didn't seem to care when, once again, pulling her toward him, forcing the bandit chief to accompany him.
Ace felt something like anger bubble inside of him as he watched the man treat the already injured woman. He watched through clenched teeth as the man threw her into a cell in front of him as if it were rubbish.
"OY! LEAVE DANDAN PEACE IN, YOUR SHIT!" The shout surprised not only himself as Sabo and Dandan looked at him with open mouths. The guard on the other hand, didn't seem happy with Ace's speech and then approached his cell, opening the door and grabbing the boy with freckles by the arm, dragging him out and throwing him on the floor.
Ace propped himself up with his hands, trying to slow his fall, but his hands scraped on the stone floor and he felt old and new cuts opening, bringing an almost unbearable glow to the place.
"What did you say, kid?! It looks like I'm going to have to teach you another lesson, you bastards. "The guard grabbed Ace again, this time by the hair and dragged him out of that place full of cells.
Ace was struggling, but the tightness in his hair seemed to make his headache even worse, and his body ached from sudden movements. Sabo watched impotently as his brother was dragged away from him as he remained trapped in that damn cell, with his younger brother unconscious and an extremely silent and wounded Dandan.
Sabo was worried. Ace had been taken nearly two hours ago, Dandan was still silent, looking somewhere in his cell, not even acknowledging Sabo's presence, but his biggest concern at that moment was with Luffy. The younger one was burning with fever and seemed to lose the previous tranquility, moaning in pain during sleep.
He didn't know what to do, and at that moment he had no real solution. They were trapped, Ace had been taken, and Sabo couldn't take care of a sick brother.
"What happened to Luffy? The brat doesn't stop moaning, it's already getting on the nerves." Sabo glanced toward Dandan, the woman seemed to have finally decided to acknowledge their presence.
"He seems to be with a fever and a lot of pain." Sabo approached Luffy, bringing the boy's head to his lap and stroking his hair in an attempt to bring him comfort. With the proximity Sabo also noticed how the smaller one seemed to be having difficulty breathing.
"What happened to you? Ace said you were with your parents, brat. "Dandan spoke again, she looked nervous, always looking at Luffy and then turning her eyes to him like a chicken mother caring for the newborn chicks. Sabo felt warm, Dandan could treat them badly and always yell at them (most of the time rightly), but she still cared about them, that was fact.
"I ran away. I went with my father to prevent him from hurting Ace and Luffy, but when I heard about the fire I ran away wanting to warn them. I spent about three days running away until I was caught. "Sabo quickly explained everything that had happened to him, turning his attention to Luffy who was now trembling in his arms.
"Your parents are noble aren't they? I don't understand why they arrested you." Dandan spoke, and Sabo looked at her, not expecting the woman to know his lineage. "What? Did you think I would not know that you, with your clothes and intelligence, are a noble?"
Dandan looked at him cynically, twisting his mouth into a sarcastic smile. Sabo should have expected this, after all Dandan was older and seemed to know well the nobles.
"Why is it that my parents are noble because I am not here? I ran away, remember?" Sabo asked, wanting to get away from Dandan's thoughts by being smarter than she looked.
He heard Dandan's high chuckle, she continued to laugh for a while, as if she were really amused by Sabo's ignorance of the whole situation.
"Boy, who held us were the nobles." Sabo sighed, surprised at the revelation, yet he should have expected something like that after the fire. "Not any noble, but a Tenryuubito."
This destabilized Sabo, who held himself so as not to scream in surprise and horror. A Tenryuubito? Sabo knew that one of them would come to visit the Kingdom of Goa, but for what he knew the visit should only occur in a couple of days; if Sabo had been captured three days after the fire, that meant the Tenryuubito had arrived earlier than expected.
And that was not good, not good at all. Sabo knew very well what the Tenryuubitos were like; they were those who made slavery possible, since they were most fond of the action of taking the liberty of those they considered inferior to them, which included all who were not them. In short, they were the kinds of people that Sabo hated most.
"It doesn't matter if I'm a nobleman, Dandan." The woman looked at him, noting the boy's trembling form. If Dandan had a better maternal instinct she would, of course, resent the blonde and try to protect the boy, but the only thing Dandan could feel at that moment was sadness.
He is just a child in a rotten world and this world has no pity for anyone or children.
"If it's a Tenryuubito who arrested me, then surely it doesn't matter what class I am and my parents are sure to be doing everything so they don't know I have any relation to them." Sabo looked at Dandan, his blue eyes closed with resignation. "After all, they wouldn't like to tarnish their reputation."
Before Dandan could reply the iron door had been opened once more, Sabo watched as a different, bigger and stronger man carried Ace like a sack of potatoes as he dragged some other chained people whom Sabo recognized as residents of the Gray Terminal.
The man soon approached the cell where Sabo and Luffy were, opening the door and throwing Ace against the wall, making the boy utter a small cry of pain. Sabo looked at his brother, seeing blood covering various parts of the boy's broken body. The blonde wanted to cry and scream in anger, but he was content to crawl, with Luffy now sitting on his lap, facing the brunette with freckles and positioning him so that he was lying with his head on his shoulder.
When he managed to find a partially comfortable position for himself and Ace, Sabo returned his attention to the man who now played the other people in the other cells. He watched cautiously as the man walked to the door and paused, looking carefully at all the captives.
"In a half hour a man will come in here and examine all the wounds, you should not react at all, or you would not receive treatment and you will be punished accordingly." The way the man spoke made Sabo feel like vomiting. If before the inhabitants of the Terminal were already considered pariahs by the ambitious society of the Kingdom of Goa, they had now been demoted to mere expendable objects that could be bought.
As the man left the room, several residents of the Terminal began to despair, some resigned themselves to their situation, kept silent and others began to cry, but none of them commented on how there should be some hope of getting rid of the destiny of being a slave. Everyone knew there was no escape, creating hope was only a way to die faster.
"Dandan.." The whisper came from Ace, his voice weak and broken, almost inaudible among the cries of the other prisoners, yet Dandan seemed to hear him and turned to look at Ace.
"What was a brat?" Dandan felt himself on the verge of a heart attack, the boy she saw growing up from a tiny, prickly baby was covered in blood. Even when Ace was still learning to hunt, he wasn't as hurt as he was now. Danda had never felt so useless at the time.
"Where are the others?" Ace seemed to be having a hard time speaking, breathing shallow and shaky, Sabo by his side was afraid the other had broken ribs, yet Ace continued. "What happened to Dogra and Magra? They should be with Luffy. "
Sabo also found himself curious, the only thug he had seen so far had been Dandan. The building they were in looked like a chain, maybe the other bandits were trapped somewhere else? He hoped Dandan would know.
"Do you remember what happened after we fought against Bluejam, Ace?" Dandan answered them with another question that was also one of Sabo's doubts among all events.
"No...I just remember fighting with him." Ace looked at Dandan, for a moment he seemed to faint, but only sighed slowly, trying to concentrate on breathing without groaning in pain.
"You know what happened, Dandan?" That time it was Sabo who asked, for now he would ask the questions, Ace wasn't in a position to speak. Dandan looked at them and sighed wearily, she seemed to look for something in her pockets, to realize that what she wanted was no longer with her. Maybe it was her cigarettes, the woman was a compulsory smoker after all.
"Yes. After fighting against Bluejam we managed to flee, the fire had been extinguished by dawn and city guards were looking for survivors to eliminate. You took a heavy blow to the head so you shouldn't remember Ace, but you dragged me to a part of the forest, I couldn't walk well. "Dandan paused, watching the boys in the other cell. "Dogra and Magra appeared with Luffy still unconscious, they apparently decided to wait for us in the surroundings and then took care of our wounds."
Dandan broke off again, feeling his heart pound in pain, she didn't want to remember what had happened, but the boys had to know and they wanted to know.
"I couldn't walk, Magra was carrying Luffy and Dogra was injured so we stayed in the surroundings for two days, until some people from the Gray Terminal appeared, they said they were able to take refuge in the forest during the fire and that they were going to check if it was to hold back to the Terminal. "Dandan again interrupted his speech, but this time it was because of a coughing fit coming from Ace.
Sabo looked at him and moved to see if his brother's ribs were really broken, but Ace shook his head, pointing a finger at Luffy who was sitting on Sabo's lap, still unconscious and feverish. Sabo sighed and simply leaned down so that he would let Ace fully lie down on the blonde. Dandan, observing all the interaction, resolved simply to clear his throat and continue his tale; she could do nothing for the boys.
"At night one of the residents who had gone to the Terminal returned bleeding, he said that the guards shot and captured the others. Worst of all was that he said the Marines seemed to be helping them. "Dandan sighed, feeling tired and old. "Magra and Dogra took care of the wounded man, but..."
Ace looked at her, his black eyes daring Dandan to continue, not accepting the hesitation of the woman. She seemed afraid of what she was going to say and Ace didn't have the strength to play offense at the bandit leader in order to force her to speak. Dandan seemed to realize this as well, for with a resigned look he returned to tell his side of the story.
"A guard and a marine followed the man and discovered us. I had Magra get you and Luffy and get away with Dogra, but they were faster." Dandan closed her eyes, remembering the events. "They shot Dogra, right in the head and then they shot at Magra, the shot hit Luffy." Ace and Sabo choked, feeling the familiar panic rise through their throats and suffocate them. Sabo pressed Luffy into his arms, wanting to make sure his little brother was really there.
"But Luffy...He doesn't look like he's been shot." Sabo said, running his hands gently over the bandages covering the boy's body and looking for a wound that sent a bullet.
"Oh, you have to thank Akuma no Mi the boy's." Dandan laughed, a little relieved and a little tearful. "Apparently he's bulletproof."
"EEEHHHH?!" Ace and Sabo's reaction was too hilarious for the situation; his eyes wide and her mouth open in surprise. In the end, Luffy's power didn't seem to be as useless as before in the eyes of the two older brothers.
"Yes, I imagined you wouldn't know." Dandan laughed for a while longer, until she sighed, bowing her head and hiding her eyes that were now tearing with sadness. "Magra became distracted after Luffy was shot and shot in the leg, I tried to fight them and make time for Magra to try to run away again, but reinforcements arrived and we were caught."
Ace and Sabo were stunned. Dogra had been killed and Magra was wounded, and if he wasn't with Dandan this could only mean that he was also dead. Ace felt his stomach twist at the thought that the two bandits had died trying to protect Luffy and him.
"Where's Magra?" It was Sabo who asked, wanting to put an end to all his own doubts. It was cruel to ask, but the whole situation was already cruel, a phrase less or more wouldn't make any difference at that moment.
"Dead." Dandan replied, sneering and unwanted tears sliding down the weathered face. Magra and Dogra were the first bandits to join her at Mount Crow, were the ones who witnessed much of Dandan's life experiences. But most importantly, it was they who helped her to create Ace, maybe it wasn't the best way, maybe the mountain thugs could have given more affection instead of screaming.
Perhaps Ace wouldn't hate his birth or blood so much, but these were the "ifs" that Dandan preferred to think of on nights when the sakê warmed her and the forest was as silent as a graveyard. In the end, Dandan and the others raised a strong boy and then watched as the same changed with the arrival of Luffy, a troubled, traveling ray of sunshine that had become as precious to Dandan as Ace.
Tears continued to fall, and neither Ace nor Sabo had the courage to interrupt the woman's mourning moment. They knew that Magra and Dogra were the closest Dandan ever called anyone in the family.
After that there was only silence and Ace felt drowsy, the pain was now little recognized by the weary mind and before the boy realized he had gone to sleep. Sabo, too tired, decided to follow his brother's example and snuggled up, squeezing Luffy into his embrace and resting his head on top of Ace's. Dandan watched them and for the next few minutes watched over them, then the man who was supposed to treat his wounds would come and then the boys would know of his fate.
Okay, I'm feeling horrible after that chapter, I'm sure someone will comment on my decision to kill Dogra and Magra, but as I said before, my story is somewhat darker than One Piece and, unlike Oda, I don't feel so sorry for killing characters.
I had reason to kill both, the first is to give you a taste of the kind of story it is, and my second reason is that the two were the most vulnerable at that time because they were responsible for running away with Ace and Luffy, while Dandan, even wounded, still had a way to defend himself without worrying about the boys. On the whole, circumstances have made Dogra and Magra vulnerable and those who work for nobles are never merciful. In OP even this is made clear when Magra (or Dogra, I don't remember well) tells Luffy that it is dangerous to return to the Terminal because there are city guards patrolling the burned garbage dump.
In all, I hope it wasn't a very boring or long read, I wanted to leave all the explanations for a single chapter so I confess that this first chapter was very long (the word count was more than 4k, I'm slightly impressed).
- xoxo :)