MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ONE PIECE CHAPTERS UP TO 751

Unconditional

Neither of them had expected things to play out this way. The Straw Hat crew had docked on an island as usual and their captain had proceeded to wreck absolute havoc on it. In the meantime a small team from the Revolutionary Army was there for a job as well, the Chief of Staff ordered by their leader to investigate a threat to their organization. As it turned out that threat was nothing but a single girl and Sabo had no choice but to eliminate her or at the very least get her to Dragon. What he couldn't have expected was that his brother would have already befriended her.

It all began a few moments ago.

Sabo was ready to attack a girl he had been chasing for hours now but found himself abruptly and unexpectedly stopped. He had gathered his newfound fire in his hand and prepared to strike. However somehow out of nowhere his little brother rocketed himself in front of them and extended his arms protectively. "No!" He yelled. "Don't hurt her!"

For a mere second both of them stood perfectly still, Luffy looking expectedly at him, wearing a pair of puppy eyes that had unknowingly always made his brothers cave in when they were younger and Sabo just stood there, trying to understand what was happening right in front of him. What on earth was his little brother doing? The fire dissipated from his hand but his anger stayed exactly the same.

"Luffy...? What are you doing?" He asked slowly, carefully as if his brother was acting crazy and needed to be carefully dealt with.

"I'm not going to let you touch her," the other stated, his voice brimming with determination and confidence.

And just like that the two brothers who would die for each other in a heartbeat, staring each other down with hard looks that gave away the stubbornness of both not to give in. Then again this was never about stubbornness. This was about two different types of ideal clashing. This was about the duty of a soldier, of a leader against the duty of a friend. And the duty of a brother smashed somewhere in between on both sides.

So they ended up here. With Luffy wearing a look that screamed "touch her and I kill you" and Sabo seeming ready to snap at his brother any time now.

"Move out of the way, Lu," he insisted as if there was any hope to change the younger's mind.

"No."

"This is ridiculous. Why do you even care?"

"She's my friend," he explained as if it was obvious, as if it was stupid of Sabo not to know that.

Sabo's fist clenched a little and like they somehow sensed it rather than see it both sides tried to move a little closer. A few unfamiliar faces made up this part of the revolutionary army but between them was thankfully Koala also who was obviously Sabo's most loyal companion and friend. Knowing she was there made the Straw Hat crew who had come to their captain's aid feel a little better. However both of them protested their arrival. "Hang on-" "-Stay out of this!" "-I can handle this!" They commanded in unison. Everyone paused in their steps and studied the two brothers carefully instead.

"Luffy..." The blond tried to reason again. "Dragon has requested we..."

"I don't care."

"Lu, your father.."

"I DON'T CARE! Call him whatever you want, it doesn't change anything. Blame me or something. But no matter what, you're not going to touch her."

By this point the girl was practically bawling behind them, shaking helplessly with Luffy's kind words. Yet his older brother was having none of it.

"Move out of my way, Lu!" He all but growled at him. Even Luffy was taken aback for a little but managed to quickly recover.

"If you want to get to her, you're going to have to get through me!"

"Come on, Luffy. I'm not going to fight you," Sabo all but scoffed at him, a violent hit at his little brother's pride. It angered the younger to no end.

"I'm not a child anymore!"

"That does not mean you're not going to get your ass kicked." He vaguely thought he heard Koala call his name somewhere in the background.

Luffy had honestly thought his brothers would never purposefully hurt him no matter how annoying he got. Yet a sickening gut feeling warned him, a bad instinct about this situation. He may have just been wrong...

"Fight me, Sabo," Luffy challenged without much thought and left any regrets for later.

Sabo himself spat out a "fine," but halted the fire gathering in his fist. He wouldn't use Ace's power against their little brother, he couldn't.

The raven-haired cracked his fists and prepared himself, ignoring the bead of sweat the trickled down his neck. Fighting his brothers again to show them just how much he had grown was something he had always wanted to do. But now one of his brothers was… dead and the idea of fighting the other… suddenly seemed somewhat terrifying. His kind older brother, the one who had run away from home full of hopes for the future had never given him such a hard look before. And while Sabo had indeed acted in a quite scary manner back in Dressrosa, Luffy had never believed such a violent look could ever be directed towards him. Only now did he seriously consider that this may not be the same brother who had left all those years ago.

On the other hand, the older couldn't believe he was actually going through with this. Wasn't he the one who was supposed to protect his little brother no matter what? But how was he expected to protect and help him when he insisted on getting in his way? Luffy couldn't understand how important this was. Despite what Ivankov had tried to convince him of, the young adult was nothing like his father. At times after finding out about Dragon's family, the blond had often wondered if he had in fact replaced Luffy in all this. Now he was certain his little brother could have never belonged in the army. Perhaps that was a good thing, though. Sabo couldn't imagine sweet, innocent Luffy seeing the horrors he had witnessed…

As the two sides of comrades held their breaths, the two powers clashed.

The battle was angry and messy and so wrong in every level. You could tell by the tightness of their jaws and the liquid pain in their eyes that neither brother was okay with his. Nothing was okay about this. It wasn't supposed to happen. Sabo could almost feel Ace glaring at him from the afterlife. This was nothing like their childhood fights. There was no laughter, there was no freckled kid rolling his eyes at Luffy's "attacks" in the background, there was no "you were a little better this time, Lu. Keep trying! I'm sure you'll get it right eventually!". No. This fight was only fists and sweat and dust and the sound of flesh hitting flesh and a please, you guys, just stop! heard from one of their spectators.

The end didn't differ much. Luffy would be lying if he said he wasn't a little proud of how many bruises Sabo spotted by the end of their fight. But unfortunately, that very end included him lying dead tired, bruised and panting on his back, struggling to get up with his brother slowly approaching his way to deliver the finishing blow. From the corner of his eye he could see his crew itching to come to his aid but he was certain they would respect his order and keep away. However, seeing his brother wearing such a scary face with shadows under his eyes twisting his features into something more sinister, something more twisted, he almost wished he had someone with him. Briefly he wondered if everything would have been alright if only he had saved Ace like he should have. He wondered if Sabo would ever look at Ace like that if Luffy had been the one to die.

A shake of the head drove those heart-clenching thoughts away but when he opened his eyes again he found his brother right above him, his right hand clenched tightly in a fist, uncharacteristically not using his so-called "claws". Perhaps he wasn't planning on hurting him much after all. Though physical pain didn't mean so much to him at this point. A pair of ink black eyes stared defiantly up, even if he had been the one to lose.

Unable to move, he braced himself for the hit.

"Sabo-kun!"

An image of a gap-toothed boy smiling at him flashed in his mind.

A brief sight of a somewhat too large a grin played in front of the older one's eyes.

"Please! Stop!"

Luffy heard his brother scream in frustration. He heard a crash, an impact, but felt no pain. At some point he must have closed his eyes, because suddenly everything was dark. With hesitation, he blinked slowly and tried to locate the source of the sound.

Sabo was kneeling at his left, his head buried in his hands, fingers tearing at his locks of blond hair. A top hat was lying forgotten somewhere near. Rumble surrounded him, most likely a result of letting out his frustration on that last attack that never hit the target.

With shaky, uncertain moves Luffy made his way up and clumsily approached the hunched figure. There were whispers coming from him, but he couldn't make out what he was saying.

"Sa-Sabo..?"

A choked sound left the other's throat. "I hurt you. I hurt you."

"Sabo…" The nineteen-year-old's voice had considerably softened.

"I could have killed you."

The pain, the overwhelming regret behind the statement made Luffy's breath catch in his throat. He sensed their comrades slowly approaching, close enough to offer support but far enough to grant them some privacy.

A rubbery hand was carefully placed on the revolutionary's shoulder. "You're not okay," Luffy said. It wasn't so much a question as it was a statement. Sabo was not okay. He probably hadn't been for a long time.

"No… Not really," the blond answered anyway.

The captain made his way around the man so that he could properly face him and he too, kneeled in front of him. A wide, slightly painful-looking smile graced his young face as a pair of arms stretched and wrapped around the shaking shoulders of his brother once, twice… and tightened as hard as they could without hurting either of them. Sabo's eyes widened at the gesture, liquid spilling and trailing down his face, down his scar. The same liquid that was staining Luffy's cheeks.

"That's fine…" he said. "It's fine if you're not okay." He pulled a little away to look straight in the other's eyes.

"Because I love you either way."

In the end, the Revolutionaries failed their mission. They let the girl go. Sabo figured some things were more important and after all they had seen, nobody could ever disagree with him.

A/N: With crazy, unstable! Sabo no one can say he's there to replace Ace, that's for sure.

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Salt out.