Day 3 - Colors


"And it's done!" Sabo declared, stepping back to reveal his handiwork to his brothers.

Ace and Luffy pressed in on either side of him, both eager to see the finished product. The flag had been Ace's idea, but drawing had never been his strong suit. Luffy had proven to be, if possible, even worse than Ace, and so the painting of their flag had fallen onto Sabo. Sabo didn't tell them he'd been forced to take art classes before, and though he never did especially well in them, he was good enough to do a simple design like this.

"It looks kinda… incomplete," Ace commented, his nose wrinkling the way it did when something displeased him.

"Well, we still have to put our initials on it," Sabo explained. "A for Ace, S for Sabo, and L for Luffy."

"Why do I have to be last?!" Luffy whined.

"Because you're the little brother, now shut it," Ace snapped.

Sabo continued as if they hadn't been interrupted. "I just wasn't sure what colors you guys wanted your letter to be. I was thinking blue for mine."

"I want red!" Luffy jumped up quickly. "Red! Red!"

"Quiet!" Ace snapped. "Why do you want red so badly?"

"Because it matches my hat!" Luffy grinned as if it were a clever point.

"Luffy, your hat is yellow," Sabo said.

"The ribbon!" Luffy pointed to that spot specifically. "The ribbon is red!"

"Fine," Sabo sighed. "Ace? What color did you want?"

Ace shrugged. "I don't really care. Any color is fine."

"Hmm…" Sabo looked over his paints, wondering which one best suited Ace.

"Oh!" Luffy exclaimed suddenly. "I know! Ace should have yellow!" He picked the small can of yellow paint up in example.

"Is that just because you don't want yellow?" Sabo asked skeptically.

"Nope! It's because gold is yellow, and gold is the name of the pirate king, Gold Roger! Isn't that cool?"

Sabo stiffened, shooting a worried glance at Ace. The freckled boy was glaring daggers as Luffy, his hands balled into tight fists. Sabo wondered how Luffy seemed to always know the wrong thing to say.

Ace moved so quickly Sabo didn't have a chance to intervene. Even though Luffy's head was made out of rubber, the punch still looked painful. Even Luffy winced as his head bounced off the ground by his feet. He rubbed at both the spot Ace hit and the dirt smudge where his head had met the earth.

"Hey what was that for?!" Luffy cried out.

"I'm taking red, you idiot!" Ace snapped.

"Whaaaat?!" Luffy frowned. "Why?!"

Ace folded his arms over his chest, turning his glare to a nearby tree. "You're just the little brother, why should you get to choose your color first?"

Luffy fired of a list of half-whined complaints, tugging on Ace's arm and calling him mean. Sabo chuckled at his brother's antics and set to painting his own letter into the flag.

"Luffy!" He silenced his younger brother when he was finished. "Didn't you say yellow was like gold, like Gold Roger?"

"AH!" Luffy released Ace, a pleased smile coming to his face. "It is! I'll be yellow then!" He made a face at Ace, gloating over his color.

Ace rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Sabo finished the letters on the flag. Red for Ace and yellow for Luffy on either side of his blue S.

"There," he smirked, sitting back. "It's finished."

"Looks good," Ace commented with a smile. "Now… raise the flag!"

"Raise the flag! Raise the flag!" Luffy echoed while they mounted their flag on his pole and hoisted it to the top of their tree house.

"Now our ship is complete!" Sabo smiled, looking out over the horizon. "Let our adventures begin!"