Author Note: A little 'missing' scene set before they become brothers.
Big shout of thanks to Mithril Lace for beta'ing! I'd be lost without you xD
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Silver Lead
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"Watch out!"
Ace ducked and rolled without pause as the boar went thundering past, just missing his head. Sabo slowed to a stop beside his friend, panting heavily and watching as the beast dashed off deeper into the undergrowth. It looked like they would be going without lunch.
"Well, I think that went well," Sabo sighed, offering a hand to Ace to pull him to his feet. Ace shot him a dark look as he dusted himself off. Sabo turned to Luffy, who had managed to get to his own feet and was examining the two pieces of lead that were formerly Ace's pipe. The crudely bandaged weapon had finally given up the ghost at the worst possible moment during a hunt.
"Ace needs a new pipe," the seven year old announced with an unabashed grin.
Ace raised an eyebrow. "You think?" he asked sarcastically, taking one of the pieces and running his thumb along the sheared edge. "Damn Porchemy," he grumbled. "I liked this pipe."
"There'll be plenty more just like it in Gray Terminal," Sabo reasoned, leaning his own pipe against his chest and peering over Ace's shoulder at the broken lead. He frowned as he studied the clean cut. They'd have to remember to be careful if they faced anyone with swords again. Porchemy's slice could easily have taken off one of their hands.
"Can I get one too?" Luffy asked, tugging urgently at Ace's forearm.
Ace shrugged him off in annoyance. "What good would you having a pipe do?"
"Actually," said Sabo, tapping a finger thoughtfully against his chin, "that might not be such a bad idea. At least he'd have some sort of defence since that punch attack-"
"It's Gum Gum Pistol!"
"-doesn't seem to do much," Sabo finished, ignoring Luffy's interruption.
"Of course it doesn't, he hits himself more than anything else," Ace said, once again wrenching his arm free of Luffy's grasp. "Let's go. I want to find one before nightfall."
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"What about this one?" Luffy panted, eyes screwed up in concentration as he strained hard to pull a long piece of pipe out of a mound of trash. Sabo tilted his head, watching in amusement at the tug of war which had somehow wound up with Luffy only succeeding in walking backwards, arms stretching but the pipe remaining unmoved. Something had to give and he had a feeling it was going to be Luffy. He was proven right a few seconds later when the rubber boy reached his limit and with a cry of alarm sprung forward, landing head first in the trash pile.
Sabo snorted with laughter as Luffy sat up, none the worse for wear but looking thoroughly disgruntled.
"Stupid pipe," Luffy grumbled, reaching back, grabbing his straw hat and yanking it hard down onto his head. "Don't need one anyway."
Sabo grinned at the pouty display before approaching the pipe in question. He gave it one good, hard tug and it slid out the trash heap with little fanfare. He gave it a twirl and swung it around a few times, testing the balance and strength. It was a surprisingly good choice considering Luffy was the one who had found it.
"Not bad," he concluded, handing it over to the small boy. Luffy lit up and happily took it. "You have to remember to keep it clean though," Sabo warned as Luffy scrambled to his feet and started swinging wildly in all directions.
"Hey, Ace!" Luffy called, seeing the freckled boy approaching them. "Look what I found! Sabo said it's a good one too!"
Ace frowned. "We'll see," he said. "It doesn't matter how good the pipe is if you can't use it right."
"Did you find one?" Sabo asked, cutting off Luffy before he could start yelling.
Ace nodded, twirling his own find like a baton. "I overheard some of the old men talking, too. Apparently Porchemy hasn't been seen around."
"No loss there," Sabo muttered. "I guess that means for the time being we're okay so long as we don't draw attention to ourselves."
"I guess-ow!" Ace cried as Luffy cuffed him around the shoulder with a wide, unbalanced swing. Ace knocked him sharply around the head in retaliation. Sabo released a heavy sigh as the inevitable shouting match erupted.
"I think a quick lesson is called for," he said, more to himself than the two scuffling boys.
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Luffy yelped as the pipe in his hands went soaring and he was flung backwards, landing firmly on his rump. "Ouch," he whimpered, small hands wringing together to try and rub away the sharp sting delivered from Ace's hard swipe. His pipe thudded to the ground a short distance away.
Ace sighed, leaning heavily on his own pipe as he watched Luffy wave his smarting hands around and clamber to his feet. "This is pointless," he said to Sabo, who had so far stayed well out of the way, planted firmly on a boulder and spinning Luffy's straw hat idly in his hands. Luffy had deemed the exercise too dangerous to keep it on, fearing Ace would put a hole it. Ace had been of the firm opinion Luffy was more likely to put a hole in it than him.
"Again!" Luffy cried, once more armed and ready.
"You don't know when to quit, do you?" Ace asked dryly. Luffy shook his head.
Sabo finally rose from his seat, carefully putting his own hat on top of the straw one to prevent it blowing away before walking around to stand behind Luffy. "Keep one hand palm down and the other palm up when you hold it," Sabo told him, quickly correcting Luffy's grip on the lead pipe and then laying his own hands over Luffy's so he couldn't let go. "This makes it easier for you to change your position quickly to counter your attacker. And keep your swings smaller or else you'll leave yourself wide open," he said. Sabo nodded once at Ace, who took up his own position. "Now, watch Ace carefully. You keep missing because you're closing your eyes when you swing," Sabo added.
Sabo felt Luffy tense up as Ace charged at them but he couldn't back away as Sabo's own body was directly behind him. "Now, lean into the attack," Sabo guided Luffy along as he pushed the pipe in their hands forward and met Ace's blow with a resounding clang of metal. Sabo helped Luffy push against the force until Ace had no option but to pull away.
Luffy cheered as Ace fell back. "I did it!"
Sabo cuffed him lightly on the head, frowning. "You stopped one blow out of twenty-seven, Luffy. Ace wasn't even hitting that hard. Now, stay focused or you won't be coming hunting with us."
Luffy blinked owlishly up at him.
"He means pay attention and do it again, or you won't be getting any meat for dinner," Ace clarified. Luffy gaped at them both before nodding and resuming his stance, a picture of perfect concentration. "Okay, why don't you try hitting me this time?"
Ace collapsed to the ground nearly an hour later, back to the boulder as Sabo hoisted himself up onto his previous perch.
"He's hopeless," Ace mumbled, watching Luffy run around the clearing. Training had come to an abrupt halt when Luffy had spotted a beetle flapping around and had promptly abandoned his pipe in favour of trying to catch it in his straw hat. "I don't know what's worse, his aim with that pistol thing or the pipe," he moaned, shaking his head as Luffy missed the beetle by a good three feet.
"At least he's not hitting himself in the face with the pipe," Sabo said. Ace snorted. Trust Sabo to try and find a silver lining. A sudden thud and yelp from behind had the pair swinging around, immediately on alert for any danger, and cursing themselves silently for not paying more attention to their surroundings.
Instead, they were greeted by the sight of Luffy prying the pipe from his dented face. He had trodden on the curved end and sent it flying up to smack himself in the nose.
They stared at Luffy in disbelief. He caught their looks and grinned widely. "The piped jumped up at me!"
Sabo chanced a look at Ace as Luffy's cheerful laughter echoed around the small clearing. "Yeah, you're right. He's hopeless."
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