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This story is written by both Syrisna and Rose7anne101, you are welcome to check our other works.
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The chapter was beta'd by the wonderful Black' Victor Cachat, he had written some amazing stories, go check it yourself.
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This story will be posted in both of our accounts.
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We don't own One Piece (things would be different if we did).
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"Land in sight!"
The navigator, a man in his thirties by the name of Crutch, upon receiving the alert, went off in search of their Chief of Staff, only to find the man lying on the figurehead facing away from them, staring absently at the sky, the morning sun beating down on him.
"Chief, the Liberty will be arr … Chief?" He tried again. Still...
"…"
"Chief...are you listening?"
"…"
THWACK!
"Sabo-kun! Snap out of it already!" A rolled-up newspaper appeared suddenly, smacking their absentminded chief harshly on his face. The navigator could only stare agape. Where did she come from?
"Gah! Koala! Are you trying to kill me?" Sabo sprung up instantly, rubbing the place where his second-in-command, Koala, who had acquainted herself with the newspaper enough to use it as a deadly weapon aimed at his head. The petite brunette huffed, hitting the rolled weapon against her palm in irritation.
"I wasn't. But I might if you don't get your head out of the clouds right this second."
Koala gave him a withering look, but even with his head in the clouds he could glimpse the worry she was trying to hide. Maybe he shouldn't have told her...
Sighing, the young blonde turned around to face the ship's navigator as the young woman stalked away, muttering about idiot chiefs who kept giving her more things to worry about.
"You were saying?" He asked, rubbing the spot where he had been hit.
Crutch rolled his eyes and reached out, grabbing his commander by the shoulders and turning him to face outwards.
"As I was saying, the ship will be reaching Dawn Island in approximately one hour." He pointed at the island in the distance. "So, I was wondering if we should dock at the island or drop anchor some little ways out?"
Sabo furrowed his brows, seemingly thinking. "If we docked, where would we be docking?"
"The harbour in Goa Kingdom," the words were said in the unmistaken matter of fact tone.
Right…of course they'd be docking there. He hadn't been paying attention in the meetings as he should have, good thing that Koala wasn't here to reprimand him about it.
The private conversation he had had with Dragon before they left sprung into his mind.
...
..
The whole meeting and planning session had been a blur in his mind after their destination was announced—Goa Kingdom. The name brought forward bittersweet memories, filled with laughter and warmth but also pain and despair.
"Sabo, stay please." The soft-spoken words were a clear order, pulling him by force back to reality.
Sabo wasn't aware that the meeting had ended until his name was spoken by Dragon.
Koala, was beside him, pinching his arm and calling his name quietly without him noticing. She stood up and left giving him a sulking look as goodbye.
"Sure," he murmured quietly while waving his hand half-heartedly in her direction, amused.
With him and Dragon the only one in the room, Dragon said, his voice blank.
"Do you want to go?" As always Dragon was to the point. Even though Sabo had known him for almost ten years now, He still couldn't read past his stony exterior and the emotionless quality of his tone.
"Do I have a choice?" Sabo regretted the words before they fully left his mouth, he seemed like sulking child.
"We always have choices, Sabo."
Dragon was unimpressed with his deflection.
Sabo sighed, his shoulders slumped, he wasbeinga mopey child. The destination of the mission did catch him unprepared, it had been only few months since he had remembered thatplace, and what it meant to him, the good and the bad.
"I am not sure, to be honest. That place brings back a lot of memories, and not all of them are ... good. I am not sure how I feel about going back there." Even the 'good' memories ached right now, they were drilling holes in his bleeding heart.
Sabo paused, Dragon watched him silently with an impassive face.
The quiet was strangely comfortable, Dragon was giving him some space to make his own decision. Sabo knew that Dragon would not force him to go, nor would he think any less of him for whatever choice he made.
Sabo titled his head, his eyes sparkling with renewed determination as he looked squarely at Dragon.
"I don't really want to go back right now, but..." he trilled off and added "I suppose you'd tell me to face my problems and sort them out," he mused. "Wouldn't you?"
No answer was forthcoming, not even a bat of an eyelid. Sabo continued, not expecting a reaction. He would have been truly surprised if he'd gotten one.
"Anyway, getting as much information as we can about the upcoming Reverieis important to our future plans,especially with all these new kings."
"So you were actually paying attention." Dragon amusedly said.
"Worry not, leader, your second in command has everything under control." Sabo said half joking, while standing up.
"We are sending other teams to check the Sakura Kingdom and confirm our information about Alabasta, of course." Dragon told him conversely.
"We are?" Sabo paused, erasing the confusion from his face as he composed himself and said, "Of course we are. We need every bit of information."
Dragon had an amused expression on his face with slightly arched eyebrow, he gave an acknowledging nod, Sabo mirrored it with one of his own and turned to exit intending in preparing hastily for the new mission.
Sabo paused in his step and turned to face Dragon and in serious tone to match his serious face, he asked. "Any messages you wish me to deliver backhome?"
The amusement disappeared from Dragon's face, and a nostalgic expression replaced it that quickly disappeared, his face returned to his original blank expression.
"Everything that needed to be said was already said."
Sabo nodded, he didn't expect anything else but he thought he should still ask.
"And Luffy?"
There was no hesitation in his answer this time.
"Everything that needed to be said was already said."
..
…
Goa Kingdom.
He scowled, remembering the place and the reason he left, but quickly wiped his face blank, but not before receiving a curious look from his subordinate.
"Isn't there anywhere else?" He remembered that there was a harbour in the small village on the other side of the island, surely it'd be better if they could dock there? After all, they were here on Revolutionary business, and it wouldn't do to draw the attention of the marines, even if they were in East Blue. Or at least that was the excuse Sabo told himself.
The navigator shook his head, trying to hide his displeasure. "As we said in the meeting we will dock in the official dock as merchants. We did stop in Paradise and brought a lot of merchandise for that purpose," he paused waiting for Sabo to show any kind of recollection. Sabo with blank face nodded for him to continue. He vaguely did remember Koala and Hack mentioning something about it, and clearly remembered the new food they were suddenly served in the galley. He had been too preoccupied with his thoughts about returning to notice much of what was going on around him, Sabo admitted to himself, he should get his head straight; this was an important mission.
"But if you prefer we can dock the ship at one of the smaller islands nearby and sail there in boats. Should I change directions?" Crutch continued.
Sabo sighed resignedly.
"No, stick to the plan." He grinned suddenly, a hint of mischief in his eyes. "But before that, make a detour to the other side of the island."
"The other side? Why?"
"There's a village there...and someone I want to see." His voice trailed off at the end, and his eyes gained a faraway look. It had been several months since the war, and Sabo wondered how that person had taken the news of Ace's death.
"There is?" Crutch's question brought him out of his thoughts, and he turned around to see the older man picking a piece of parchment of a pile and studying it which Sabo supposed was a map of Goa.
Of course Crutch wouldn't know about Foosha. Not many did. The only reason he even knew was because of Luffy, who'd never stop talking about his idols the Red-Haired Pirates once he started. Now that Sabo thought about it, he knew quite a lot about the Emperor and his crew's various quirks, despite never having met them thanks to Luffy.
He pointed to the large plain on the opposite side of the mountain from Goa. "It's somewhere around here if I remember correctly."
The navigator looked at him suspiciously. "And you know this how?" In response, Sabo shot him an annoyed look, followed by an eye roll. "I have my ways" Duh, I used to live in the area. Not that he knows. Sabo thought to himself, memories that only a while ago were always slipping from his fingers, kept surfacing in his mind's eyes with startling clarity.
Shrugging off the weird feeling his commander was emitting and the fact that he had been absent minded more than usual for this whole journey, the older man left, disappearing into the navigation room while grumbling about whimsical leaders who think they can do whatever they want whenever they want, leaving Sabo to gaze out across the blue sea with an unreadable expression.
Sure enough, there was a village on the other side of the island. At first glance, the village seemed rather quiet, but the moment the Liberty got close enough to be spotted, the small docks at the edge of the village was immediately crowded with villagers, curious about the ship that was heading for their little town. Travellers rarely came their way when the Goa Kingdom was just on the other side of the island. Most of the time they were merchant ships, but with the villagers' minimal experience, they couldn't tell if the approaching vessel was one of those. For one, it wasn't as bulky as merchant ships were, and had cannons built into the side, which most merchant ships didn't have.
"I don't believe it. There really is a village…" Crutch was muttering, his gaze fixed on the waters ahead. Beside him, Sabo was sitting cross legged on the railings, a small smile gracing his features as he spotted a familiar face amongst the people. The blonde chuckled at his companions' mutterings. "Were you doubting me?" He asked teasingly. "I'm almost hurt that you thought I'd lie."
"Wouldn't be the first time now would it?" The older man retorted.
"...you're no fun." Sabo pouted when he didn't receive the reaction he wanted. Seriously, his friends were all mood-killers. Crutch gave Sabo a sideways glance, an expression reserved for when he was being stupid.
Sheepish, Sabo excused himself, claiming that he had to go prepare.
"Prepare? This is just a short detour, isn't it? What's there to prepare?" The navigator asked, receiving an amused look from Sabo.
"A lot actually. Basic necessities, toiletries, all that stuff." The chief carelessly waved his hand as he hopped off the figurehead where he had been for the past hour and started towards to cabins.
"Why would you need all that when it's just a…" Realisation dawned on the older man as he watched his superior's receding back. "Wait! Don't tell me you're planning to have us stay here for several days?! What about the mission?"
Sabo paused in his steps, turning back to grin widely at him and at that moment, Crutch felt a sinking feeling in his gut.
"I'm gonna be staying for a few days, You guys, are going to continue on to Goa as planned."
…
...
He was gone.
Damn you, Sabo.
...
….
On the way, Sabo picked up a few sandwiches from the galley, deciding to munch on them while he packed. As Chief of Staff, Sabo naturally had his own room aboard the ship, though it wasn't much really. It was pretty much bare apart from basic furniture-bed, desk, chair, wardrobe, the usual. Locating a small canvas sack from within the wardrobe, he stuffed a few sets of clothes, some daily necessities-toothbrush, soap, etc and a small purse in it. Last but not least, he grabbed his metal pipe which was propped up next to the bed, giving it a few twirls before slipping it into its intended place on his back.
All set.
Grabbing his things, he headed out the door onto the deck, running into Koala who was just on her way to get him. Just like him, she also had a pack slung over one shoulder, filled with things that they would need over the next few days.
"So..Goa, huh? How does it feel to be back here?" She asked as they made their way above deck.
"It's kind of complicated, to tell the truth." Sabo replied, choosing not to correct her. Scratching the back of his head. "I'm happy, but at the same time, I'm not."
They emerged from below just as the Liberty entered the harbour, and the image of a quaint little village greeted them.
Koala looked around confusedly. "This is the Goa Kingdom?"
"Actually, no. This is Foosha village."
"Foosha…? I don't suppose you know why we're here, do you?" Koala said darkly, a tick starting to form on her forehead.
"Oh, that? I wanted to see someone here, so I told navigation to make a detour...OW!" Sabo shrieked in pain as his cheeks were suddenly pinched and harshly stretched by none other than his faithful companion Koala. Who was glaring daggers at him now.
"Why the hell didn't I hear anything about this?!" She screamed, oblivious to the way everyone else turned their heads away, pretending not to hear anything. The brunette never discriminates when she was angry, and no one wanted to suffer at her hands, so all who knew wisely kept their mouths shut and let their commander deal with her. It was his fault after all, no doubt about it.
"Itsh wash a lash mint decsion…" Sabo got out somehow, and pried Koala's hands off his cheeks. "That hurts, you know."
"What happened to you leading the mission?" She demanded.
"Nothing." He replied, rubbing his cheeks. "I'm just gonna catch up with you guys in a few days."
"You're gonna do what?! If you go off on your own where does that leave us? How will it seem if the Head Merchant is not present when we arrive at new place to sell our merchandise. You are the leader of this mission, Chief of Staff." Koala was poking him in the shoulder stressing every word.
Sabo opened his mouth but closed it thoughtfully, she was not yet finished and better not make her hackles raise even more. He needed to wait for the right chance to present his idea.
"You are not going to run away from your post and leave your responsibilities to me again, are you?" The underlying threat in her voice obvious to all while Sabo was exclusively subjected to the menacing look that Koala was famous for.
"I am going to lead of course," Sabo answered in calm voice, showing no doubt while he looked Koala straight in the eyes.
He waited until Koala shoulders slumped in relief before adding, "but from behind the scenes."
"HUH?"
Sabo didn't intend to give anyone the chance to refuse or doubt, he hurriedly added.
"You and Hack will be joining me."
"What?"
"Well, I thought about it and all of us being merchants would limit how much we can gather information and how fast we do it, but if some of us were to sneak in and fit with crowds we could get a variety of information and faster."
"But..."
"Of course, if we were all seen as merchants we couldn't then take another role without risks and we don't want any kind of raised eyebrows here, right?"
"That is true..."
"And Hack is going to raise eyebrows..."
Koala opened her mouth.
"I know, I know. We wanted him to be as merchant because we wanted the attention of the elite noble and fishman would do just that and we may even get some invite to high places or parties for this spectacular sight…."
Sabo trailed off while waving his hand in Hack's direction whose face was expressionless but the people around him showed differing ranges of disgust on their faces, mirroring the apparent disgust in Sabo's voice.
"This could work but it could also backfire on us. You know how fishmen and mermaids are usually regarded by humans, especially nobles," Sabaody Archipelago came to his mind, and to everyone else there. "We should find out more about how this new king and the nobles here treat and regard merpeople without putting Hack in the spotlight."
"What about this village, wouldn't they ...?"
"Worry not. The village is isolated from the rest of the island, and the villagers here would keep quiet, they're a really tight-knitted group and they don't care."
"How do you know?"
"Red Hair used this village as his base when he sailed in East Blue for over year with no problems ..."
"A Yonko?"
"Seriously?"
"See, I am taking my role as leader very seriously, and changing things to fit the situation, to make our mission as successful as possible."
"What about the merchant plan, who is going to be the head merchant instead?"
Sabo looked quickly around him, he knew he had forgotten something...
"Crutch."
"What the heck?! No!" Crutch spluttered unhappy to be dragged into this.
"He is an old man. Head merchants can't be someone young like me, it would raise eyebrows and we want to seem like a normal group, and really, just look at him... he screams merchant. He just has to shave and get some new clothes and tada."
"What do you mean new clothes? What is wrong with what I am wearing? And I shaved yesterday."
"Fine." Koala finally said. "Me and Hack will go with you, everyone should keep their Den Den Mushi on them all time."
"Why me?!" Crutch shouted in desperation, but no one paid him any attention.
Sabo smiled to himself but quickly made his face serious again.
No need to mess up a well-done job by being caught boasting.
The docking went smoothly without a hitch-though there had been some minor unrest when the Revolutionaries saw the sign that was undoubtedly placed there by the marines, but Sabo had been too distracted to notice much-and soon the gangplank was lowered, the other end resting steadily on the concrete harbour. With Koala and Hack trailing behind him, Sabo descended from the ship, coming to a stop in front of an old man who was hunched over a cane. The man, though old, met the Revolutionary's eyes with a steady gaze.
The old man eye's locked with him, he blinked several times and opened his mouth then closed it with a click. His eyes narrowed with suspicion as he looked Sabo up and down. With a scowl on his face he finally said, "So you're still alive, brat."
Sabo thought he saw a hint of surprise and maybe relief (probably his wishful thinking).
"You don't seem very surprised, but good to see you too, Mayor Wood Slap." Sabo returned without missing a beat.
At that moment, all the people around-villager and revolutionaries included-were wondering how their respective leaders knew each other. Koala and Hack only traded understanding looks. After all, they had been right there when Sabo first woke up after regaining his memories, and were two of the few whom Sabo had told about his past.
"Mayor, do you know this guy?"
One of the townsmen voiced their thoughts, only to earn a glare from the mayor and raised eyebrow from the Chief of Staff.
"Someone go get Makino from the bar." He ordered, sending a man scurrying, but not before several of the village children decided they wanted the job and blew past the man, racing to Makino's bar. Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Wood Slap turned back to Sabo.
"You better not make her cry anymore, you hear me?" He threatened and stalked away, muttering under his breath, "Annoying rude brat, returning only now…," and continued about damn brats who think they can do anything anytime they want. Sabo rolled his eyes at the sight. Honestly. It's been what, ten years since he last saw the man but it seems like he hasn't changed even a little. Maybe except looking older. Him, on the other hand...adjusting his top hat slightly to shield his eyes from the bright sun, he was reminded of the scars he bore, reminders of the fire that kept him away from his brothers for ten years. He'd changed so much that he had assumed that the mayor would never recognise him even if he was standing face to face with him. Turns out he did though...
Sabo remained quiet, thinking about his childhood memories. Opposite him, the villagers were still gathered around, even though the mayor had left and so had the ship. He could hear them whispering to each other, wondering about their guests, one of whom the mayor seemed to know.
Feeling slightly uneasy with the number of scrutinizing gazes that were focused on him, Sabo looked around, hoping to find some sort of distraction. Then he found the perfect candidate.
Taking hold of Hack who was standing off to the side, he dragged him in front of him by his shirt and called out to the villagers, catching their attention.
"This is Hack, he is a fishman, you've never seen a fishman before, right? Ask him anything!"
Sabo casually sidestepped the group of excited residents that bombarded the poor Hack with questions, not at all guilty about throwing his subordinate and close friend to the wolves.
"He can actually speak?"
"What do you eat?"
"Does eating fish count as cannibalism?"
"Does that make us?"
"You breathe under water?"
"Where do you live?"
"You sleep with eyes open?"
"Wait! Does that mean that mermaids are real?"
Sabo looked at them amused, it never stopped being amusing seeing people get excited about meeting a fishman for the first time. Not to mention Hack's mildly annoyed look and forced patience as he tried to answer the onslaught of questions about fishmen was totally worth the payback Hack was sure to deal out at a later date.
Sabo turned and looked at his home. 'Home', what a strange notion to him. He was born here, but it was never home until he met his brothers. Luffy and Ace made this place home.
But not anymore.
Ace was no more, and Sabo hadn't even visited his grave yet. Some brother he was. Although in his defence, he had no idea where it was. Sabo clutched his hands in frustration, and their younger brother, was nowhere to be found. He'd used all the revolutionary's connections and could find nothing about Luffy's whereabouts.
He even confronted Dragon about it, when his worry and frustration reached its boiling point and Dragon had told him in his usual calm, unfazed manner, "Luffy survived a bloody war, Sabo. Unless another one happened that we don't know about, he'll be fine."
Sabo had no answer to that, he knew his brother was strong. Yet, he couldn't stop himself from searching through every scrap of paper, looking for his brothers within lines of words, trying to fill the big gaps in his knowledge. This resulted in him not only finding news on Luffy, but also various things that he had never heard about since he rarely bothered to learn about what was happening in the world besides what Intelligence told him, and those were only important stuff or mission-related. Koala helped, gathering all the papers that had been published in the last three years, all the while chastising him for not keeping up with the news like she told him to. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Sabo wholeheartedly agreed with that sentiment. Three years' worth of papers had taken up nearly half of his office, and he had to admit that the sheer amount discouraged him somewhat, though he pulled through in the end.
He had also made Ivankov tell him the story of their meeting in Impel Down and the war several times. During one of their conversations, the okama king had mentioned an unexpected guest of the Kamabakka Kingdom who claimed he was part of the Straw-Hat crew, but was still under heavy scrutiny since none of the crew's wanted poster matched him, or so Ivankov had told him. Judging from the description Sabo had received, he suspected that the guest was none other than 'Black Leg' Sanji. How many people in the world had curly eyebrows? And through a team dispatched to East Blue, he had learnt that Nico Robin, another one of the Straw Hats had been found on Tequila Wolf. He had tried to talk to her, but the archaeologist had expertly deflected him every time he tried to broach the subject of Luffy and her crew, either that or she hung up on him immediately. The only thing he'd gotten out of her was that the crew would be meeting up in two years, so there was nothing to worry about at the moment.
Nevertheless, the niggling doubt and worry never left him. He had lost a brother without even knowing he had one. Ace died thinking he was dead and for all Luffy knew he was the only one left. All alone. What if Luffy…...
A loud commotion from the village snapped Sabo out of his thoughts. He tilted his head looking for the source, anything to escape his dark thoughts.
Then he saw her, and all thoughts were pushed aside.
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