Wow, I'm already writing the second chapter, for this story. It somehow feels a bit unreal, but the story dust bunnies keep gathering in my head and I feel like shouting "I can't write about you right now" thus adding to the growing list of fanfics that I want to write about. *sigh* At this rate I'll reach double figures. Well, for now I will be concentrating on 'The Cheshire Cat's Smile' and 'The Will of the Queen' so please look forward to upcoming chapters. AH! Shoot, I forgot that I need to finish writing the first chapter of 'Three of a Kind' as well…ARGH!

Chapter 2

Sabo ran through the forest at a dead sprint. He could tell that two cloaked men were following him but he knew that they had been at the docks and the man who had saved him had said that they would lead him and Ace back to Luffy. It wasn't in his nature to trust strangers straight away but Luffy had said they could and Sabo believed in his sister's instincts completely. He was impressed by how well they were able to follow him over crocodile filled rivers and other dangerous parts of the forest.

As he neared the meadow where the bandits lived his ears picked up yelling and from what he could tell from the loudest voice, Ace was livid. He slowed down and cautiously approached the voices, hiding behind a tree in case Garp had shown up or the bandits were under attack. The two men behind him took their cue from his actions and stopped a few feet behind Sabo, hiding in the shadows.

What he came across was such an amusing scene that Sabo had to clap a hand over his mouth in order not to laugh out loud. Ace and Dadan were yelling at each other while the rest of the bandits watched the two with worried expressions. This in itself would not have been amusing, had Ace not been tied to a tree. His legs flailed as he struggled to free himself all the while yelling at the top of his voice at the bandit leader.

"Let me go you damned hag, I'm going to murder the person who killed Sabo!"

"Drop it you damn brat! You don't have the strength to avenge him, so what the hell do you think you can do no?! You'll just end up dead!"

"Shut up!"

"It was this kingdom that killed Sabo! It was the world itself! You're father's death brought about a new era! Once you become a man of his calibre, then you're free to live and die as you want!"

The two fell silent panting and when Ace spoke again Sabo had to strain his ears to order to hear since it was said between teeth clenched, in a voice full of fury and sadness.

"He…he was my best friend and elder brother. If I don't do something I'll regret it for the rest of my life."

Sabo knew how much his 'death' had affected Ace, since his brother only truly trusted Luffy and himself. He guessed that Ace had been arguing with Dadan for hours since it had roughly taken that time for him to wake up after being shot at and for Luffy to kill the nobles in High Town. Both of them must have been mentally and physically exhausted since they were covered in bandages after escaping the fire in Grey Terminal.

In the bandit leader's hands she held Luffy's straw hat which made Sabo remember that he hadn't seen Luffy wearing it when he had been on the docks earlier. He assumed that she had either taken it off, (which Sabo doubted she the hat was Luffy's treasure which she got from a pirate who had saved her life) or it had dropped off her head and Luffy hadn't noticed in her desperation to get to High Town.

Sabo decided it was time to show himself since he didn't want Ace to suffer any longer. Stepping out from behind the tree, Sabo grinned as he walked the remaining distance to the tree where Ace was tied.

"Really Ace, I'm gone for a few days and this happens. Honestly, as if looking after Luffy isn't bad enough, I have to look after a reckless little brother as well."

The bandits and Ace looked at Sabo as he casually walked up to them and leaned on the tree that Ace had been tied to. Their eyes popped out of the sockets and their jaws dropped, and they all screamed as if a ghost had appeared. Ace and Dadan alone remained silent staring at Sabo in shock and wonder.

Sabo's grin spread even wider and he raised a hand in greeting, "Yo."

"SABO!" Ace and Dadan had finally found their voices and the rest of the bandits had gotten over their initial shock. Ace struggled with renewed energy to get free of the ropes and Magra seeing his struggles ran forwards and untied the knots so that Ace slid down to the floor. Ace almost ran forward to his brother but remembered his dignity and instead marched forward until he stood face to face with Sabo. He remembered how Sabo had left them and gone back with his noble father so that they wouldn't be killed, how he had heard Dogra tell him that Sabo's boat had been shot down by the Tenryuubito and clenched his fist in anger.

Without warning Ace smacked Sabo round the head so that a large lump appeared, "Ow!" Sabo complained as he rubbed the new bump. He didn't question why Ace had hit him since he already knew his brother well enough to know the answer. Satisfied with his actions Ace finally smiled.

"You're late." He told a disgruntled Sabo but sobered as he continued looking at his brother who he had thought was dead. "Sabo, how is it you're alive? Dogra told us that he saw your ship get blown up by the Tenryuubito." Ace paused as a sudden realisation came to him and he clutched his head in panic, "Luffy! I need to find Luffy, she ran off as soon as we heard that you were dead!" Ace turned and was about to run into the forest when he was stopped by Sabo holding onto his arm.

"Ace, Luffy is fine, but some things have happened that I need to tell you about."

Ace stopped at his brother's serious tone and the rest of the bandits faced the two boys with concerned expressions. They knew how protective the two brothers were of their little sisters and the fact that she wasn't there with her two brothers, whom she adored, worried them greatly.

"Luffy killed the Tenryuubito, who shot my ship down." Sabo looked at Ace's face as he told his brother that their little sister had already taken her revenge. Dadan and the bandits shouted out in shock since they knew it was a great crime to raise a hand against the World Nobles.

Ace gripped Sabo's shoulders painfully as he looked into his brother's eyes, his own begging Sabo to deny what he had just said. "What do you mean Sabo, that Luffy killed the Tenryuubito? This is Luffy we're talking about. Our weak little sister couldn't kill anyone, right?" Ace's voice was pleading as he shook Sabo's shoulders.

Sabo shook his head, as much as he wanted to deny it, as Luffy's older brothers they had to face the actions their sister had taken. Sabo placed his own hands on Ace's shoulders and spoke softly, his eyes never leaving Ace's. "It seems that as soon as Luffy heard that my ship had been shot down she went to High Town. I'm guessing that she met the Tenryuubito and found out how little they thought of shooting a kid." Sabo paused, his eyes filled with guilt and sadness, "You know how bad that place is for Luffy, she could barely last ten minutes in high town before she felt sick or stated lashing out. Heck she nearly destroyed half the forest after she spent too long there."

Ace's eyes started to widen as the sinking feeling in his stomach began to grow. He remembered how Luffy had run away from them when they had been High town when he had ignored her when she had said she had felt ill. When they found her later, she was practically feral, slashing at trees, animals and at them if they got too close to her. Even though he hadn't admitted it, he had been scared seeing his usual smiling and laughing sister being so violent. After that incident he had insisted that Luffy never went into High Town again, which she had readily agreed to, even though she hated being separated from her brothers. Ace knew that whatever Sabo was going to say if it involved Luffy and High Town it was not going to be good.

Sabo paused and took a deep breath, "Luffy didn't only kill the Tenryuubito. She killed everyone. When the man who saved me, took me back to back to the docks…" Sabo shook his head finally breaking eye contact as he tried to dispel the images in his head. "It was a bloodbath Ace. The royalty, the nobles…there wasn't a single living person left alive in that rotten place."

Ace stood stock still as his mind desperately tried to take in what Sabo had told him. The only thing that stood out in his mind was Luffy's smiling face and he recalled her words the night they had saved her from Bluejam's thugs.

Flashback

"Why didn't you tell them where the treasure was?" Ace questioned a bandaged Luffy who was desperately trying to hold back her tears. "Those guys would kill women and children without a second thought!"

"If I'd told them, I could never be your friend." Luffy choked out

"That'd be better than dying, right?" Ace asked as he pointed a disbelieving finger at the young girl. "Why do you want to be my friend so much anyway?"

Luffy looked down so that the straw hat she wore covered her eyes. Ace continued as he watched the shadowed face of the seven year old girl, "After all the stuff I've put you through, why did you follow me out here?"

When Luffy finally looked up her eyes were once again streaming with tears, "Because, there isn't anybody else!" she shouted at him, "I can't return to Fuusha Village and I hate those mountain bandits. If I didn't chase after you, I'd be all alone! Being alone is much worse than getting hurt!"

End flashback

It had been in that moment that Ace had understood how painful it was for Luffy to be alone and how desperate she was to have someone by her side.

"She thought she was going to be alone…" Ace whispered. Sabo looked at Ace and his eyes widened with realisation. "We have to find Luffy, right now she really is alone." Ace desperately looked to his left and right scanning the edge of the forest as if he expected Luffy to magically appear. He didn't want to lose another sibling right after he had gotten back his brother who he had thought was dead. All that was going through Ace's mind was making sure Luffy was safe, giving up after a minute's desperate searching Ace turned back to Sabo. "Sabo, where's Luffy? You said she was fine but where is she?"

Sabo rubbed the back of his head, "You know I said that I was rescued," Ace nodded in confirmation, "Well she's with the guy who saved me and his group."

Ace stormed over to Sabo and once again smacked him over the head, "How could you leave Luffy with a bunch of strangers?!" he demanded furiously "Who knows what they could be doing to her now, especially if they find out about her Devil Fruit!"

"Luffy said we could trust them." Sabo retorted hotly as he nursed the second bump on his head.

Ace glared at his sworn brother but he grudgingly had to admit that Sabo was right Luffy's instincts on people could be scary with how accurate they were. Even though he had tried to kill her for the first three months that she had moved in with Dadan and the bandits she had known that he wasn't a bad person and trusted him.

"He treated the wounds that I got when I tried to escape from High Town" Sabo told Ace after a minute's silence. Ace felt his eyes widen, he knew that Sabo had sailed onto the sea in order to escape his home in High Town but hearing his brother admit it was a shock to him, since both of them hated showing their weaknesses. "I left Luffy with him since she had some pretty bad injuries and I needed to go and find you so that the two of us could go back and get Luffy."

"Who was it who saved you?" Ace asked

Sabo shook his head, "No idea." He answered, "It looks like he's the boss of some big group but he doesn't look like the normal thugs that hang round Grey Terminal. What's more he's really strong, Bluejam doesn't even compare to him." Sabo jerked his thumb at the forest behind him where the two cloaked men remained hidden in the shadows. "The two behind me will lead us back to their ship."

Ace looked at the forest trying to make out the shapes of the two men but failed, he turned to Sabo, "Then what are we waiting for, let's go."

Hearing this, Dadan spoke up for the first time since Sabo started talking, "Wait one minute you pair of damn brats!" She walked over to the two brothers and crouched down so that she was eye level to them. "Listen to me and listen carefully, if what you've said is true then Luffy's gotten herself into a whole new level of trouble. Killing a Tenryuubito is a serious crime and is punishable by death or worse. If the Government ever find out that it was Luffy then she going to be chased for the rest of her life, and most likely she won't be able to return here." She pushed Luffy's hat into Ace's numb fingers before continuing, "Whatever she decides to do will give me a headache so you decide whether to go with her, if she leaves the island or to stay. Either way Garp will after my head, now go you damn brats."

Ace and Sabo looked at each other and nodded at their foster mother. If Luffy had to leave the island then they would go with her, since it was their job as older brothers to look out for their younger sibling. Sensing that the conversation had come to a close the two revolutionaries stepped out of the shadows so that they were visible. The bandits jumped back as the two men appeared out of the darkness. Ace jammed Luffy's hat onto his own head and the two brothers took off past the two without looking back. The two revolutionaries didn't follow straight away but instead looked at Dadan.

"We the revolutionaries, will ensure that no harm comes to those children." One of them told the bandits before both turned around and quickly caught up to the two brothers. Dadan, sighed as she watched the patch of forest where her changes and two men disappeared into. "Now…" She said after a few moments of silence, "What the hell am I going to tell Garp when he arrives?"

…

After half an hour of running the group finally left the forest and entered the outskirts of the burnt remains of Grey Terminal. The two brother were about to go ahead but they were stopped by one of the cloaked men behind them, who indicated that they should go first. Reluctantly agreeing, Ace and Sabo followed the two men as they quickly skirted their way around Low Town and then entered High town. The two brothers noted that the city was filled with cloaked figures similar to the ones that accompanied them.

They finally came to a stop at the plaza by the docks and Ace took in the scene around him. The walls and floors were coated with blood and mangled bodies that were quickly being removed. Ace had seen people being killed as he had grown up, but the remains of the massacre in front of him made Ace feel nauseous, he turned to Sabo and whispered quietly in his ear.

"Did Luffy really do all of this?"

Sabo was as pale as Ace as he also looked around and nodded in confirmation. Ace gained a new respect for his friend and older brother since he had seen the city when it had been at its worst. What both siblings had in common was that they felt no regret that the nobles who lived in High Town were dead. They regretted that their sister had killed but they felt a fierce satisfaction that it had been the nobles that they hated, that had been her victims. Sabo in particular felt no remorse for the death of his parents since his father had threatened to kill his real family and imprisoned him.

The group of four drew curious looks but were not stopped as they made their way to the water front, where two ships were docked. One bore the mark of the World Government while the other had a figurehead of a dragon, whose body ran along the length of the ship. Both, Ace and Sabo concluded that both ships were huge but the one with the dragon figurehead had an air of purpose that drew the two boys to it.

The two men led the brothers up the gangplank and past the figures who were busily carrying boxes of supplies and other items from the Government ship onto their ship. The brothers were led down below deck until they stood outside a door which had a plaque saying 'Sick Bay'. Without a word the two men left and Ace and Sabo were left outside the door.

"Ready?" Sabo asked Ace who gave him a thin grin in answer before both knocked on the door.

I just sort of realised that these two chapters are quite serious, I want to add humour but I not sure how… good luck me. *sigh* I guess still have a long way to go before I'm a competent writer. Please do tell me what you think, and don't forget to review. Thanks!