It all happened within the span of a few seconds.

One moment, Ace and Sabo were walking out of the base with Capt. Morgan. They were on reasonably civil terms despite the fact the guy was a total asswipe, and the two elder brothers were on their way to let Luffy know the captain had agreed to supply them with provisions for their journey, and had even offered some of his men to escort them to Marineford (no doubt for the same reasons Capt. Nezumi of the 16th branch had offered to escort them).

Then next thing they knew, the asswipe they'd just been talking to was barking out an order to his subordinates, something about shooting the idiot who had disobeyed his orders and trespassed on the execution grounds of Roronoa Zoro.

And then Ace's whole field of vision turned red with rage at the sight of six guns aimed at his baby brother.

Never mind that the bullets bounced harmlessly off of him a second later.

Never mind that he turned to look at them with that familiar clueless expression, wondering who on Earth was attacking him.

Never mind that he was standing there, whole and unharmed and most certainly not dead.

All Ace could think about was that this man, this miserable excuse for a human being, had just tried to murder Luffy in cold blood, and Ace was having none of that.

Morgan didn't even have time to process what was happening before a searing hand whipped out to circle about his throat, cutting off his airways.

"Capt. Morgan," hissed Ace, ignoring the stench of burning flesh and the wisps of smoke curling out from where his skin made contact with the man's neck, "I do believe it is considered quite bad manners to attack one's guests. You should consider yourself lucky that I am a merciful man."

All he received was a pained choke in reply, the captain's eyes rolling back into his head as he passed out from the intense pain.

Ace sneered at the pitiful thing and let go of his neck, allowing him to crumple to the floor with a great thud.

Then, he turned his eyes on the men that had aimed their guns at an innocent young teenager.

They were slowly backing away, staring at him with expressions of horror on their faces.

Before Ace could even open his mouth though, Sabo grabbed his arm and pulled him back with warning look.

"Two of you go take the Captain to a holding cell, and have a doctor look at his neck. My brother doesn't exactly know how to hold back. And someone else go find the next highest-ranking officer in the base and have them report this incident to HQ."

The officers stared dumbly at them for a few moments, expressions of shock on their faces.

"NOW!" barked Sabo, and they snapped out of it, hurrying to do as he said.

"What the hell are you?" demanded Zoro, staring in shock at the boy who'd just eaten six bullets and gone completely unharmed.

Turning back to face him, the kid grinned wide, and proudly declared, "I'm a rubber man!"

Zoro frowned, guessing it was probably a devil fruit power, and moved on to his next question.

"Do you really think it's such a good idea to turn your back on the guys that just shot you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Laughing, the kid waved a hand dismissively and said, "It's fine, it's fine, my big brothers were over there. They'll take care of it."

"Whatever you say," said Zoro with a shrug, before gesturing to his arms with a tilt of his head and saying, "Now, are you planning on untying me any time soon?"

"Not at all!" replied the kid, smiling wide.

"WHAT?" demanded Zoro. "Why the hell not?"

"You haven't agreed to become a marine yet!" answered the little shit-eater.

"You're still going on about that?" demanded Zoro. "I can't become a marine! I have important things to do! I'm going to become the number one swordsman in the world!"

"DADDY!" called out the distressed voice of the bastard son just then, and Zoro turned to see him running up to the captain, who was now passed out on the floor. So the marine brat wasn't bluffing when he said his brothers would take care of him. Huh.

"I don't see why that means you can't become a marine!" shouted the aforementioned marine brat, continuing their previous argument, and Zoro turned back to him. "If you become a marine, you'll be able to fight lots of powerful pirate swordsmen on the Grand Line!"

"That's only if I'm assigned to work under a captain who either is a commander of a branch stationed on the Grand Line, or who captains a ship chasing pirates on the Grand Line," retorted Zoro. "The chances of which are pretty slim. Which you should know, considering you're a marine!"

"My jiji has already promised that you can be assigned to the same branch as me if you join the marines, so you don't have to worry abo-"

"Luffy!" snapped a new voice, and both Zoro and the brat, Luffy, turned their gazes to the blond young man approaching them. "Why haven't you untied Zoro yet?"

"He hasn't agreed to become a marine yet!" whined Luffy.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, the blond closed his eyes.

"Luffy, you can't just refuse to untie him because of that. From what I've heard from the others, he hasn't even done anything to deserve being arrested."

"But Sabooooo!" Luffy whined, crossing his arms and stomping his feet like a child throwing a tantrum.

"No," answered Sabo before pointing back towards the base. "Now go help Ace get ready for the trip. NOW."

Luffy complied, heading back to the base but stopping every few steps to throw a dirty look over his shoulder at his older brother.

Sighing, Sabo set about untying Zoro's ropes.

"Sorry about him," he said. "He's a good boy, I swear. Just sometimes he gets a bit caught up in himself."

"I noticed," Zoro replied dryly.

"He would have untied you eventually," offered Sabo meekly, as if in consolation, and Zoro couldn't help but snort.

"Why does he even want me to join so badly?" asked Zoro, brows furrowed. "How does it affect him in any way?"

Sabo frowned a little, focusing on the knots he was having trouble with.

"When we were little, my brothers and I wanted to be pirates," he explained slowly, his expression thoughtful as he tried to get his thoughts together. "Luffy, especially was quite taken with the idea, ever since he met Red Haired Shanks, who gave him his hat."

"So what changed?" asked Zoro, intrigued, but at the same time wondering what this all had to do with anything.

"I was in an accident," answered Sabo, gesturing for a quick second to the scars that marred half his face. "It involved the tenryubito. And long story short, we realized that day that sometimes, strength isn't enough to protect the ones most important to you. Sometimes you need a different kind of power."

Zoro nodded, listening carefully. By now, both his hands were free, and while he was working at the knots around his waist, Sabo was helping free his feet.

"So anyways, a lot of things happened, and we decided to become marines. But even though we gave up our dreams of becoming pirates, Luffy never did quite give up on the idea of having his own ship, and having his own crew. To this day, he still insists he's going to become a captain with his own ship, and he's going to sail the Grand Line."

"And do you think he can do it?" asked Zoro, free now and rubbing at the skin of his wrists, which had been rubbed raw after more than a week of being tied.

"Without a doubt," answered Sabo, smiling as he got up and gesturing towards the entrance to the base. "And do you want to know a secret?"

"Alright," answered Zoro with a shrug, falling into step with him.

"I think…if Luffy had decided to follow his dream of becoming the pirate king, there's no force on this Earth that could have stopped him."

Zoro watched Sabo carefully – it was something any proud parent or older sibling would say. But the way Sabo said it, with that quiet conviction, almost had Zoro believing him.

By now, they had reached the doors to the base, and Zoro stopped just before he stepped through.

"You okay?" asked Sabo, looking back with concern written on his face.

Zoro ran a hand through his hair, trying to look anywhere but at the inquiring expression Sabo was giving him. Was he seriously considering this…?

"…Luffy said I would be assigned to the same branch as him if I agreed to become a marine…" said Zoro slowly, still trying not to look at Sabo, trying not to see the understanding smiling spreading across his face.

"That's right!" answered Sabo. "Jiji…ah…Vice Admiral Garp himself confirmed it!"

Zoro nodded slightly, to himself.

Was he really going to do this?

He knew very well the corruption the marines and the world government were steeped in.

But despite not even having known Luffy and his brothers very long, there was a part of him that was certain these brothers would never condone the darker side of their chosen career path.

And even back then, before Zoro had spent more than an hour with any of them ,he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that these brothers were going to change the world.

And Zoro was choosing to go along for the ride.

SkyGem: That's it for this chapter! Thank you so much for reading, my lovelies, and please do leave a review letting me know what you thought.