The house looks its best in the morning from the breakfast nook in the kitchen. The windows open up to the small patch of scrubby grass in the backyard, the greenest tufts shining with morning dew as slats of light fall from the window and onto the breakfast table. Dadan is awake by dawn every morning, and Sabo is always the first to find her, leaning against the kitchen counter among breakfast ingredients, waiting for her three boys to wake up.
Sabo, at least, is always ready for the day by the time he steps into the kitchen, dressed head to toe in his one blue suit. Ace shuffles down behind Sabo because he makes him do it, but Ace rolls out of bed in just his boxers.
Sabo grabs a fistfull of Ace's hair and lifts his head off of the stack of Eggo waffles it had fallen into when he dozed off. He kindly sets his brother's face against the wood of the table, and goes back to pacing the kitchen, sipping his coffee as Dadan glares at him over the top of her paper.
"You're giving me a headache," Dadan says.
Sabo stops, eyebrows pinched with confusion, and downs the rest of his coffee in a few large gulps. Then, he steps behind the kitchen counter to pour himself another cup.
"Stunts your growth, y'know," Dadan mutters and she flicks her newspaper to stiffen it.
"So do cigarettes, but they've never stopped you," Sabo shoots back.
Dadan groans, loud enough to stir Ace, who chimes in with his own low groan of displeasure at the noise. They sound like a hideous choir, and Sabo grins.
"What's with the damn pacing?" she asks. "You already ruin my mornings during the week, do you have to ruin my weekends too?"
Sabo makes a show of rolling his eyes, and Ace begins to sit up, rubbing his face and still moaning.
"You want quiet mornings, or us to be unemployed?" Sabo says, then pauses. "I'm just thinking."
"That's a first," Ace and Dadan both chime, and even with the insult, Sabo laughs.
Sabo drops into his seat next to Ace, who is shoveling waffles into his mouth whole.
"I'm still hung up on the Nami thing," Sabo says to Ace.
Ace replies with his mouth full, going on even though Sabo can't understand him, but he just waits it out. Finally, Ace swallows his food and guzzles down his glass of orange juice, letting it drip out the corners of his mouth.
"So, that's why we've gotta look out for him, y'know?" Ace continues. "If he goes on lying like this, or annoying people, they could really fuck him up. Especially Zoro."
"Right," Sabo nods. "I heard he took out five guys from North Blue High, with his bats."
"This Zoro guy is real?" Dadan asks.
The pair nod in unison and she bites down on her cigarette to smother a grin at the sight.
"Yeah, he's been at East Blue since last year, but he got held back because the guy never shows up to class," Sabo says.
"And, he's violent as hell, real asshole," Ace adds.
"Then why have you been pretending he isn't real?"
They both explode, leaning forward and talking loudly, as if their enthusiasm and noise will help their adoptive mother understand.
"Because there's no way he's friends with Luffy -"
"- He'll fuck Luffy up if he gets annoyed -"
Dadan slams her fists on the table, and god bless the morning and her tired boys, because it actually shuts them up for once. She sighs and pulls out her cigarette, setting her crumpled newspaper down on the table.
"We figured if we pretended he didn't exist, Luffy would bring us to him someday, and we'd be able to beat the shit out of him," Sabo says.
"Alright, you know what? I don't care," Dadan says, and washes herself completely from the weird schemes of her sons by leaving the table. She takes her dirty dishes and dumps them in the sink with a loud clatter.
"You idiots are always getting into trouble and fights, even when I tell you not to, and this time, I don't care."
Ace and Sabo's eyes meet at the declaration, and they both start laughing.
"So when we come home late some night, all fucked up after fighting a guy with three bats, you won't be up on your fifth carton of cigarettes, waiting for us?" Ace asks.
Dadan doesn't reply and goes about making more coffee, which sends the pair into another fit.
"You said the same thing when Luffy came home at 5 AM the night before," Sabo says. "And you were up to welcome him back."
"So were you two little shits," Dadan spits.
"Well yeah, 'course we were," Ace says with a shrug, and then points to Dadan. "Hey, while you're in there, can you make some bacon -"
"- Make it yourself!"
Sabo laughs as Ace, from his seat, shouts at Dadan to make some bacon because she's already up, and he has to get to work or else his boss'll be mad at him, goddammit Dadan, what the fuck are you even our mother for? Tenants from upstairs stomp on their floors to get the pair to shut up, but it just adds into all the noise.
Sabo likes it. He likes these mornings that run like a clock wound up too fast. Ace gets up to shout in Dadan's face, completely missing the fact that now that he's up, he can make bacon if he wants. And because he's just wearing the pair of boxers he slept in, Dadan grabs a fistfull of his necklace instead of a shirt, telling him she ought to just throw him out like she wanted to the second he was dropped off years ago. Sabo drinks his second cup of coffee and listens as someone stomps down stairs, and the tenants above begin shouting.
He expects it to peter out to quiet again when Luffy shuffles into the kitchen, yawning but fully dressed. Instead, the shouting in the kitchen dies the second the doorbell buzzes throughout the house.
The entire house goes silent except for Luffy, who springs to life with a grin.
"Oh, that's Nami," he says, and starts off down the hall with a wave goodbye to his family in the kitchen.
Ace slips out of Dadan's grasp and Sabo isn't far behind him as they tear off down the hall. They shove Luffy out of the way. The three shove and punch their way to the door until the victor, Ace, pulls it open.
The thumps and bangs that traveled down the hall, and the three boys panting and struggling at the door stand in stark contrast to the cool morning that greets them. A tall girl with short orange hair stands on their front step, her back to the sun. The strings from an aqua blue bathingsuit loop around her neck, and the wind carries the smell of sunscreen and oranges into the house.
When Sabo's head pops up from fighting off Luffy behind Ace, the girl narrows her eyes with caution, leaning away from the door. They just stare at each other, until Luffy shoves his brothers' heads down and props himself up over their bodies, laughing.
"Hi, Nami!"
Any reservations she had before melt away, and a smile spreads across her face, alight with joy and relief.
"Hi, Luffy," she says, and turns to point with her thumb over her shoulder at the small, white car parked in front of the house. "I left the car running so c'mon, let's go."
The second he starts to shove past the two bodies at the door, Ace and Sabo hold still like a wall made solely out of determination. Luffy whines in protest and like a pack of wild dogs, the other two chorus in to see who can be the loudest.
Ace wins, as usual.
"Hey, what are you doing with our brother?" He barks.
Nami takes a step back from the door and frowns, not exactly scared, but not thrilled to be on the receiving end of a guy's anger who is dressed only in a pair of Scooby-doo boxers. But Sabo knows to smooth it over, so he slaps the back of his hand against Ace's chest to let him know that he'll handle this.
"What he means, is," and here Sabo smiles wide, as friendly as he can muster with Luffy tugging his hair, "Hello, we're Luffy's brothers. We were just enjoying breakfast, would you care to come in to join us?"
Luffy stops beating up his brothers' backs and pops his head up over their shoulders again, grinning.
Nami's face is firm with resolve and she shakes her head, arms crossed over her stomach.
"No, the others are waiting. C'mon Luffy."
She turns on her heel and walks down the steps to her car. With a force usually reserved for real fights, Luffy pushes his shocked brothers aside and follows after her.
The pair at the door watch Luffy as he chats to Nami, who slides into the driver's seat, in complete disbelief of what they are seeing. Luffy never listens to anyone.
"Hey!" Ace shouts, grabbing both of their attention, and before he can sling insults, Sabo claps his hand over his mouth.
"Hey!" Sabo repeats, with a smile as Ace licks his hand to make him pull it away. He doesn't budge. "How about you give us a ride to work, huh? It won't take long!"
"We're going to the Baratie," Nami shouts back. "Do you work near the docks?"
"Yes! What a coincidence!" Sabo beams, and now Ace is biting at his palm. "Look, wait for us for a sec, yeah? This idiot will get dressed and we'll be on our way."
Nami looks at Luffy. He nods, laughing, and she sighs.
"Fine. But I'm only waiting three minutes!"
"Perfect!" Sabo screams with brilliant enthusiasm, and shoves Ace inside, kicking him down the hall to usher him to their bedroom to get dressed.
Nami stares at the door as it hangs open and shouts from the whole house leak out.
"You never said you had brothers," Nami says.
Luffy shrugs and walks around the car to the passenger's seat.
"You never asked."