Hi everyone,
this story was first posted by me on AO3 on 10/03/2016.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece nor any of the characters.
Sabo sighs and rests his hand in his palm, trying hard not to fall asleep. It's early evening here, on one of the countless islands of the New World, and it's unbelievably boring. No one's here who wants to pick a fight or argue about politics, not even the bartender is in a talkative mood.
The costumers in the small restaurant mind their own business, they talk and chat, no one pays attention to him.
How boring.
So Sabo is left sitting alone at a table for two, his food hardly touched, and he's waiting.
He doesn't mind the waiting, he just minds…the boredom while waiting.
He blinks. And then he lets a small flame appear in his palm, and he lets it travel around his fingers, like an eager fire fairy.
He thought it would be hard to get used to having Devil Fruit powers, but actually, it has been ok, at least not painful. Ok, yeah it sucks that he can't swim anymore. But aside from that, it hasn't been too difficult. The only thing about being a logia user is just that you have to figure your body out again.
With 22 years.
He rolls his eyes. There's a reason he's passed puberty, and now it feels like he's been thrown back into his 14-year-old body, being fidgety and unable to rest.
The flame suddenly becomes bigger and swallows his hand and he can hear someone at the table behind him gasp. He reduces the flame again.
"Fucking hell, I thought the fire bastard is dead?" he suddenly hears a raspy voice growl in his direction and his brows furrow, although a small, satisfied smile creeps onto his lips.
"The fuck you want?" Sabo asks back, slowly turning around in his chair.
The man is standing up, his fists clenched at his sides. There's an empty wine bottle in front of him, and even from where he sits, Sabo can smell the day-old sweat, the alcohol and dried blood on the man's skin. His teeth are yellowish and foul.
It looks like a marine soldier, he has the usual white uniform on, although his sleeves are torn off to show off his heavily veined arms and Sabo can see liquid spots all over the front of his shirt. Well, if he's a marine, he's low-ranked and a disgrace to his organisation.
Sabo eyes the man. He's unusually tall, with broad shoulders and a sloppily shaved face, the dark shadows beneath his eyes having the same unhealthy colour as his lips and nose.
He looks like a drunkard and lout.
Sabo's grin widens, until his face looks like it's cut in half. Oh, how he loves beating these sorts of men into bloody pulps…
"You got devil power or something? I thought that fire dude died two years ago!" the man says, a grin splitting his face open. "Hehe, I saw it. Died with a fucking hole in his chest. Such a loser."
Sabo feels his blood boiling, but he remains silent.
Ace wouldn't want him to get angry over such a trivial thing.
Sabo's eyes narrow, however, when other voices start chiming in.
"Yeah, wasn't he the brother of the rubber pirate?"
"Oh, the guy who got him out of Impel Down? I heard he's dead, served that fucker right…"
"I saw him once, he and his crew are the craziest assholes you can meet, thank god they're gone, I hated that strawhat, I hope he suffered to death…"
The soldier in front of him snips his fingers and Sabo turns his attention back to him, his face unmoving.
"Bwahaha, didn't you see it, blondie? He died for his baby brother, that fucking coward, wonder where he is, probably died already, got his ugly ass killed or something…"
Sabo doesn't even need to use his powers. His fist collides with the man's jaw, so hard he can feel the bones break beneath his knuckles and the man falls like a tree, howling and spitting blood and pieces of his teeth.
"The fuck, man?!" suddenly other costumers ask angrily, some of them are also marines, and Sabo finds himself surrounded with white-uniformed assholes, with rifles pointing at him and threats and curses hurled at him.
He grins, crouching down to the man, who stares at him with terror in his eyes, more and more blood spilling from his mouth, and Sabo is sure he would plead or curse, if his jaw wasn't broken.
Sabo places his thumb and index finger in the dimples behind the temples.
"I don't like people talking shit about my brother," Sabo says quietly, the grin still playing around his lips.
"Oi, let him go!" he hears one man shout angrily, but no one shoots.
"Shhht, it's the strawhat's brother! The dude from the revolutionaries! I knew it!" another one says with a pressed voice.
"Hear that? Your friends know who I am," Sabo says to the dude. "But you insulted my brother. So I'm going to kill you."
And with that, he slowly starts to clench his hands, and his heart flutters with excitement as he sees the eyes of the man protrude and his howling becomes louder and louder and his fingers break through skin, through bone, though brain and the skull is crushed with just his hand and he lets the ugly mess, the rest of the man's head, fall to the ground.
He hears the other soldier scream and shudder in fear, one throws up, and oh it's such fun, Sabo enjoy this so much, he has waited for this…
"Now this was fun," Sabo smiles and he sees the horror in their eyes, the terror, the fear and they open fire on him, but the bullets go right through his body, these peasants can't hurt him, and like a demon he will bring each and every one of them to the gates of hell.
"I would've let you asshats go. But you talked shit about my brother. And if there's one thing I hate," Sabo grins, igniting his right hand, "If there's one thing I hate, it's people insulting my brother. So all of you have to die."
An hour later, Sabo sits back down at his table. The charred bodies of the marine soldiers are scattered across the restaurant. Some were burning when they were still alive, some weren't. At least Sabo made sure each and every bone was broken, before he crushed their skulls. Slowly, so they could look at him and he could watch their eyeballs burst and the blood pouring out of their eye sockets, before the brains would come through his fingers, like white bloody maggots.
He is soaked with blood. None of it is his.
He takes his crimson soaked coat off, when he hears steps outside.
"Sabo?" he hears Luffy ask with a horrified voice and Sabo turns to look at him. Luffy, late as usual, stands in the entrance and stares at the corpses and the floor that is wet with the crimson red blood.
"Hey Luffy," Sabo smiles happily and walks over to him.
"What happened? Are you alright?" Luffy asks him exasperated.
"Of course I am. I just had to teach these idiots a lesson," Sabo smiles.
Luffy looks at him for a moment, before he steps back outside.
"Are you mad at me?" Sabo asks, worried now.
"Nah…"
"But you're upset."
"Well, you killed these guys."
"They deserved it."
Luffy looks at him and Sabo smiles gently, stepping closer to ruffle his hair.
"Shhh, don't think about it, ok?" he says soothingly. "I'm glad I get to see you again. Aren't you happy to see me?"
And Luffy nods and then he comes in for a hug and Sabo happily wraps his arms around the slender frame, he feels the warm heartbeat right under his fingers. Oh god, how much he loves Luffy… He will do anything for his beloved brother; he will kill everyone for Luffy's sake…
"I missed you, Luffy," Sabo mutters.
"I missed you, too."
Sabo's heart skips a beat and he hugs him a little tighter, unwilling to let go soon.
He hasn't been able to be with his brother for such a long time. He will definitely make up for the lost time; it's his duty as his brother, isn't it? He will watch over Luffy, he will have his back and he will always, always, protect him and his friends.
And he will help him become Pirate King.
No matter who he has to kill. Or how many.
Sabo's smile widens when Luffy looks up at him and the pirate presses a small kiss to his jaw.
"I love you, Sabo."
"I love you, too, Luffy," he replies, and his hand comes to cup his brother's cheek. With fingers that are still red with the blood of the men he just tortured and killed. "I love you so much."
And he pulls him back into a loving hug. He has his brother back. And no one will take him away again, his beloved baby brother, whoever tries to steal him away will lose their hands, whoever tries to hurt him will die a disgusting death, whoever so much takes his name into his dirty mouth will die, whoever looks at him the wrong way will lose his eyes, whoever insults him will burn alive.
Luffy is his brother, his only, his own…
Sabo presses a kiss to Luffys forehead.
You're mine.