Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. The amazing said manga and anime belongs to Eiichiro Oda.
A/N: Well done to the readers who guessed it right! In this fic, Sabo is a devil fruit user who's consumed the Kaze Kaze no mi; "Wind Wind Fruit". He is indeed a Logia like Ace. A Kaze Kaze no mi user possess the ability to: create, control and transform into air at will. HOWEVER, Sabo has problems transforming his whole entire self and parts of himself into air, therefore he cannot transform into it at all. Also, just for the heck of it - Vega Punk in this fic isn't exactly 100% loyal to the World Government. I thank you readers for the pleasing reviews!
Title: Existence exposed
'Good thing I'm not scared of heights, huh.' is what he thinks to himself as casts his eyes down at the briny deep 30 metres below him.
At this moment in time, Sabo with his hang glider (which reverts back to a bo-staff thanks to Vegapunk), rides the fastest air current present in the sky – purposely utilising powerful gust of winds called 'Blowback' to increase his speed as he 'Sky Rides'. Instinctively, he holds onto his precious top hat when the wind nearly blows it off, yet he doesn't minding the animated ruffling of his clothes.
Slightly worriedly, he checks his short pockets to make sure the recorded den den mushi and eternal pose are still present. Check! It's possible that he'd be able to dive down in the air to catch said items as they fell, but at the same time he doesn't want his actions to be in vain – plus he's not to keen on accidentally dying in a watery grave yet. Glancing down at the Grandline ocean, Sabo briefly considers if he should've traveled by boat. The idea is quickly forgotten and rejected. He believes it was better to travel by air, chuckling to himself that there's no traffic up here.
He makes it look easy. One could use their binoculars and observe the way the blond-haired man enveloped himself in the sky and glided across it with out a care in the world, however the cultural term that ;practice made perfect' was all too true. Thanks to trial and error of crashing down on his but (resulting in many injuries & scars) at Baltigo – he's become a competent flyer who can soar higher and fly flawless over a wide watery surfaces. Nevertheless, from time to time Dragon does tend to reprimand him for doing so since he is a devil fruit user.
. . . .
Casting his eyes our into the distance (and wishing he had binoculars instead of goggles), Sabo begins to make out the important world landmark where justice prevails; Marine HQ. He gulps. He's getting closer. Closer to the site, closer to the war, closer to Ace and closer to Luffy. Besides entering a full-blown out war of: the Navy HQ forces, Admirals and Shichibukai's...it's the very thought of seeing his brothers makes him jittery. The blond-haired man can help but wonder, what Ace'll say when he sees him? Or even what his little brother will say or do?
He shakes his head not caring.
He didn't care what Dragon would say.
Whether they hate him or not is absolutely fine. He knows he deserves a full-out beating from both them since he didn't even send a letter exposing his existence. He doubts the know that Mr. Top Hat is him – he ain't the only one the world who wears that kind of hat. Regardless of his mistakes, they're his brothers, bonded by brotherhood; his treasure. As a pirate he'll protect his treasure.
Arriving in seconds, Sabo hearing picks up the clashing of swords, the cry of men and the sounds of cannons or explosions. Whichever it is; it's deafening. He passes the bay where Whitebeard's allies are engrossed in a battle with Pacifista's, noting that they all freakishly resemble Kuma.
"So it is true. The pacifista's do look like...Damn! Is that...Is that that what the Gura Gura no Mi can do?" is what he says when viewing the crescent moon shaped island tilted at an abnormal angle. He tells himself he's doing the right thing by allying with the Whitebeard Pirates. They're captain ain't no myth!
Is Ace freed? A lil' too early. Is Navy HQ winning? Hopefully not. Is Luffy still breathing? He has to be. Ace'll kill him if he dies...or drag him out of the after life. The questions and answers circulate round and round in his mind, but he descends down by foot in an instant when verbal response to his first is presented.
Sabo's bo-staff transformable glider is folded immediately behind his back. It's logical to deduce that the atmospheric temperature change in the air has lead him to stop gliding, but that's hardly the case.
The young man has unintentionally started to 'Sky Sprint' with the use of 'Tailwind' to run down invisible stairs to the naked eye.
He's noticed by two Ensign ranked Marines, who drop their swords in disbelief.
"Is that man...h-he's running on air!" exclaims one.
"T-That's impos-"
Hearing his fellow Marine not finishing his words, he turns his head around – unfortunately losing it.
He's in a war after all. They both should've remembered that.
. . . .
He's 'Sky Sprinting' which means he's running down the air in similar fashion to a Rokushiki user. He's sprinting because the scenery before him distorts his reality. Ace is bowing his head - accepting is destiny – accepting his death, whilst his adopted Grandfather remains sitting on the scaffold. Folding his arms.
Sabo on the verge of shouting. 'Dammit, Garp! No wonder Ace never called you a Grandpa, you don't act like one!'
A memory enters his mind. A memory of Dragon somberly explaining his father's ever conflicted feelings between his family and duty. Sabo just couldn't believe it though. He couldn't believe that the old man was going to allow Ace's death for the sake of justice that had been corrupted for years.
"On my mark!" the Fleet Admiral commands. Forgetting about the old man, Sabo's heart clenches at Sengoku's words. "Do it!"
There's shouts from all pirates. Frantic, desperate and panicked shouts. Sabo swears he can hear Luffy's. Only three individuals attempting to contradict Sengoku's words, however the Kaze Kaze no Mi user beats Crocodile and Marco to the punch.
The action he executes is spontaneous, spick-and-span even. Although Sabo utters a command he's never uttered before, he still pronounces it fluently like all the others.
"Hidden Gust!"
His index fingers stretch back behind him, each rotating like turbines in orbicular motions, forming seemingly a star in the wind. Blue eyes lock onto two torsos. Two uniform-wearing dressed torsos. There's no regrets in his actions – he's killed before.
His body comes forward, hands stretching, criss-crossing another and unleashing their onslaught in attempts to save his brother.
Sengoku still stands, Garp still sits and Ace still kneels.
No one sees it coming. No one saw it coming.
That's simply the beauty of the 'Hidden Gust'.
You don't see it, and you don't feel it. Unless it's humanly possible to experience and react to yourself being cleaved through.
A/N: Finally, I've updated this! It's true that this chapter came out later than usual. There'll obviously be another one this week or next Wednesday. BTW, I hope no one thinks I dislike Garp – I do like the guy and sympathise him. Please comment, criticise and review on what you thought of this chapter.
Some possible questions answered [just in case]:
Sabo a devil fruit user? Truthfully, I wouldn't really like Sabo to be a devil fruit user cause in my ideal world - I'd like him to a swimmer, so he could save his reckless brothers when they're drowning. Since he's entering a war with super elites in this fic - not that non-devil fruit users are weak (Garp/Zoro/Sanji), I wanted him to be strong.
The Kaze Kaze no Mi? At first I thought I came up with the Wind Wind Fruit but then I discovered in OP Fanon Wiki's. It made things easier I guess cause many users wrote down the abilities and weakness of the fruit. So if you're interested, you can check those wiki's and discover where most of Sabo's attacks and weaknesses in this fic will come from. Some will be imaginative ones by me though.
Why the power of air? As seen in the ASL flashbacks, Sabo as a noble was segregated a lot. All he ever wanted was freedom. It seemed symbolic to me to make Sabo's powers Air where in: Atla, Japanese and Chinese mythology is the representation of freedom.
