Chapter 6: Names

(Hey guyz~! I am SO sorry this took forever! I had Summer School and a shit ton of homework! But now I'm out and grounded. This meaning I have no internet. So all I can do is write or work on pictures. So guess what I'm probably gonna do for a month! That's right! Imma be writing and trying to make it up to you guys! But I am allowed internet for just long enough to update.

In case you didn't know, I put up a poll asking what to do next. Updating my current stories was on there along with new story ideas. The top vote was for writing 'Amnesiac on Deck'. Second highest – actually tied with Amnesiac – was updating this. Thanks to the 13 – wow big number – people who voted. I'm going to be reposting the poll incase people would like to vote again. It will have most of the same choices but some will be either edited or deleted. Hope to get more voters next time. On to the crap!)

-x-x-x-

Previously:

'Don't you recognize him? Try imagining him missing an arm and having a sword sitting on his hip.' A voice said.

'Wha-? Wait... Akagami!? As in Akagami Shanks!? The Yonko from the Great Pirate Era!?' Ace shouted mentally, his eyes widening when finally figuring it out.

'Look who's thinking for once!' The voice said with a chuckle before vanishing.

Benn sighed, interrupting Ace's inner conversation. "Shanks... Give it some time. The boy trusts you with all his being. Always has, always will. When he starts regaining memories, he'll come to you and that's when you can tell him. If his counterpart hasn't already done so, that is."

"I guess you're right. Thanks Benn." Shanks said with a small, grateful smile.

"Of course, Captain." Benn said with a small smile of his own.

At this point, Ace was completely confused. But he knew one thing: Akagami Shanks was alive again and had plans for Monkey, Sabo, and himself. Part of him considered warning Sabo and Monkey that the red head was a pirate from years long past, the other part kept saying it was safe. In the end, Ace chose to ignore it and instead protect himself later on if needed.

-x-x-x-

After choosing to ignore what he overheard, Ace grabbed a second coffee, for later, and started heading back to the room. As soon as he got to the door he heard something he wished he hadn't. "And that's how babies are made." He silently stared in slight horror and confusion at Law, who was the person who said it.

"I'm not going to ask…" Ace muttered, catching everyone's attention, before sitting in his seat and drinking some of his coffee.

"Shit." Thatch chuckled. "It's not what you think. We thought you were Shanks and wanted to scare him. The only thing we could think of was that."

"Why…? How'd you even come up with that?" Ace questioned.

"A woman was being wheel-chaired out with a newborn baby in her arms. So we decided to say it." Sabo informed.

"What!?" At the sudden shout, they all turned their heads and saw Shanks standing at the door in horror. "You told him about that!? A father is supposed to tell his son! Not his friends!"

Everything was silent for a few moments before Luffy, Sabo and Thatch burst out laughing while Law and Ace chuckled quietly. Shanks couldn't have been more scared and confused. After their laughter settled down, Luffy explained to his dad that it was just a joke. "Oh thank God… Nearly gave me a heart attack." Shanks muttered with his hand on his chest before sitting in the chair next to Luffy's bed.

"Well we are in a hospital." Ace mumbled.

"Ace." Sabo scolded.

"Just sayin'." Ace stated, raising his hands slightly as if surrendering.

"Perhaps a change of subject – or rather return of subject – is in order?" Law asked.

"What do you mean?" Luffy asked, everyone turning to face Law.

"Sabo. I noticed when I was questioning Spade and Monkey, you were reacting to a few names as well. Do you mind if I question you?" Law asked.

Sabo stared at Law for a moment before sighing and shrugging. "Go ahead. I don't see why not."

"Alright." Law said before writing down a list of names.

Slowly, Sabo took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Ready when you are."

"Then we shall start with the First Pirate King, Gol D. Roger." Law said.

Sabo wasn't able to see the man whole, but instead saw what looked like a picture of the man. Almost like an old Wanted poster. He focused on the man's large grin and swirly mustache. He couldn't stop the small, thankful smile from growing as he thought about the fact that this was his best friend's father. 'Wait… I never met Ace's dad… Whatever.'

"Next: Revolutionary Dragon, Monkey D. Dragon." Law said after a few moments.

Quickly, the image of a man in a dark green cloak appeared. When he saw the man pull off the hood, showing his face, Sabo couldn't help but grin. He felt like he knew practically everything about the man. Suddenly, a feeling of gratitude rushed over him and his grin shrank into a small yet thankful smile.

"Outlook III, his wife and their adopted son Stelly." Law listed.

Instantly, Sabo's appearance turned from thankful to pure hatred and disgust. Only one thought ran through his mind as he imagined the family. "Damn nobles…" Sabo accidently muttered aloud, causing Ace and Luffy to make a small 'che' sound.

"Agreed. How about Emporio Ivankov?" Law asked.

Sabo immediately imagined a large man with a large purple afro. He felt a small shiver run down his spine before he started to chuckle at the man's appearance. After a few moments of chuckling, Sabo was left with a small smile.

"Substitute Fishman Karate Instructor of the Revolutionary Army, Koala." Law stated, taking a deep breath afterwards.

Instantly, the image of a girl with shoulder-length brown hair, a newsboy cap with goggles, a light shirt with a frilly collar, a short skirt, and thigh-high boots appeared. Sabo couldn't help but chuckle at the image. Soon enough, he was holding his head while slowly shaking it side to side. While massaging his temples lightly, a few chuckles would slip out.

After Sabo's chuckles settled down, Law continued. "Hero of the Marines, Monkey D. Garp."

As soon as he heard the man's name, Sabo felt a shiver run down his spine. After seeing the image of the grinning man, he slowly lifted his hands to the top of his head as if shielding it. Soon enough, he felt as if he was being spun rapidly and gagged lightly before covering his mouth and opening his eyes.

"You okay?" Ace asked worriedly.

"Y-yeah… Just felt like I was being spun. Like… Stupidly fast…" Sabo informed.

"I know how you feel… My gramps used to do that to me when I was younger…" Luffy said with a small sweatdrop.

"That man doesn't know how to treat kids." Shanks said with a sigh.

"Which one? Luffy's gramps or Garp the Hero?" Thatch asked.

"Both." Luffy and Shanks said in unison.

"Oh…" Thatch sounded.

"Here." Law said, handing Sabo a cup of water.

"Thank you." Sabo said before taking the cup and taking a sip.

After about a minute or so, Sabo had his eyes closed and was waiting for the next name. "Alright. Let's continue."

"You sure?" Ace asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine now." Sabo stated.

"Understood. Next is Whitebeard and his crew." Law said.

Within moments, Sabo saw the large, whale-shaped ship with its tall captain standing in front of it. Looking up at the ship he saw about fourteen grinning or smirking faces. From what he could tell, they were all the commanders. For a few moments, he was proud of them. Happy and thankful even. But that all faded when he remembered there were supposed to be sixteen commanders. Quickly, his expression turned sad and almost regretful.

"Now the Strawhat Pirates." Law said.

Suddenly, Sabo saw eight faces all smiling and the shadow of a person wearing a straw hat. All he could see of the shadow was its outline and the massive grin. Looking around, he felt happy for the shadow. He felt like they were a real family and it made him almost thankful. When the scene changed and he saw them all fighting, he couldn't help but feel proud of both their strength and his little brother for creating such a great crew. 'There it is again. Little brother… I'm getting confused now…'

"Marshal D. Teach A.K.A. Blackbeard." Law named.

Quickly, an image of a large and hairy man appeared in Sabo's mind. Sabo's expression seemed calm. Almost too calm. When everyone heard metal being distorted, they noticed Sabo was squeezing the arm rest of his chair hard enough that his knuckles were white and the arm rest was bending. When Luffy and Thatch noticed, they backed away slightly.

"Oi oi! Calm down kid." Shanks called.

"Huh?" Sabo sounded as he opened his eyes before seeing the arm rest. "H-how…?"

"Dude, are you secretly the Hulk?" Ace asked. "I've never seen you do that before."

"That's because it's a first…" Sabo muttered.

"How about someone a little different… Curly Dadan." Law stated.

At first, Sabo had a completely blank face but after a few moments, he found himself trying not to laugh. Not a second later, there were three different laughs in the room. Slowly, Sabo opened his eyes to see who was laughing with him when he saw Luffy rolling on his bed and Ace about to fall out of his chair. Both laughing as hard as him. Seeing this, Sabo laughed harder.

Law, Shanks and Thatch couldn't have been more confused. Law had said a simple name but all three boys were laughing as if it were a joke. "What's so funny?" Thatch asked.

"Dadan was so confused!" Ace said through his laughter.

"She always said she wanted us to leave and that she hated us!" Luffy said, still laughing and clutching his stomach.

"When we did leave, she panicked for a week!" Sabo laughed.

After hearing the boys' reasons, Shanks couldn't help but join in the laughter. Feeling like he was surrounded by four laughing hyenas, Law sighed and massaged his temples, trying to prevent a headache. Thatch, on the other hand, was still confused.

"But I thought you guys met only last year…" Thatch whispered with confusion, the laughter being loud enough that nobody heard him.

After the laughter was gone, along with Law's headache, Law chose to continue. "The next four names are a little more personal. Imagine the past counterparts instead of their current selves."

"Alright." Sabo said, his eyes yet again closed.

"First, 'Akagami' Shanks Le Roux." Law said, causing Shanks to look at Sabo curiously.

The first thing Sabo saw was the red head sitting in front of him except… different. The image he saw was wearing a long black cloak and a sword at his hip. When he saw the cloak move, he noticed the man was missing his left arm. Feeling like he knew what had happened, he felt sorry for the man yet also thankful. Suddenly, he heard a young voice telling him about a man named Shanks who saved his life and gave him his treasure. He wanted to ask who the child was, hell he wanted to know what the kid looked like at least, but it was gone. In the end, he was left smiling. 'He saved a kid and gave up his treasure… He helped the kid figure out his dream… He must have been pretty cool.'

"Second," Law started, bringing Sabo out of his thoughts. "Second Division Commander, 'Fire Fist' Portgas D. Ace."

Instantly, Sabo saw a little kid who seemed to hate everyone but him. As he stepped closer to the boy, he noticed the black void he was usually in was now a rich forest. When he kneeled in front of the boy and looked in his eyes, he saw pain, love, anger, sadness, and happiness. When he saw the happiness, the boy had a huge grin and started laughing, causing Sabo to mirror him. Suddenly, he found himself within what looked like a bedroom. When he looked down, he found a newspaper in his hands. As soon as he saw the front cover, he felt like he was about to cry and actually felt a tear stream down his cheek and land on the newspaper. The tear landed right next to the picture of the smiling yet bloody face of Portgas D. Ace's corpse.

"Hey… Why are you crying…?" Sabo heard the slight fear and nervousness in Ace's voice.

Slowly, Sabo opened his eyes and realized he really was crying. Quickly he tried to wipe away the tears but the image on the newspaper caused them to keep coming. "I-it was more detailed this time… I was laughing with a kid when suddenly it all changed and I ended up seeing a newspaper saying he was dead and I felt so horrible… I felt like it was all my fault…" Sabo explained, his hand covering his eyes so nobody would see the tears.

"It wasn't your fault. You couldn't be there. I understand. You shouldn't blame yourself." Ace said as he laid his hand on Sabo's back before rubbing soothing circles.

"Ace… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" Sabo whispered.

"I already forgave you. I forgave you a long time ago. Don't worry about it." Ace whispered before kneeling in front of Sabo and smiling at him.

After a few minutes, Sabo had calmed down and was smiling back at Ace, even laughing at a few stupid faces Ace had been making.

"If you would like, there are only two names left. We can stop there or we can finish up." Law said.

"It's only two right? Let's finish." Sabo said softly before closing his eyes again.

"Alright. Head of Staff, 'Mad Hatter' Sabo." Law named.

Immediately, Sabo saw himself standing in front of him but he looked different. He had a burn scar running up the left side of his face and stopping above his left eye, he dressed almost like a noble but not as glamourous, and he held a pipe in one hand almost like a staff. Seeing the other him caused Sabo to smirk slightly.

But the smirk vanished when the other Sabo started walking closer to him. 'I need you to do me a favor. As you can see, Ace and Luffy hate each other. But they aren't supposed to. They're the best of friends and I hate to see my brothers fighting this much. Try and get them a little closer. Please.'

'W-what…? How…?' Sabo mentally stuttered.

'You'll be fine. We did it before and we can do it again. But you're lucky. You have help. I didn't. If you noticed, they're already fighting a little less. But that might be because they're in a hospital…' The other Sabo said before fading away.

"Sabo? Hey Sabo!" Quickly, Sabo opened his eyes and saw mostly worried looks. Ace appeared almost calm but Sabo could see the worry in his eyes. Luffy looked like he had been the one shouting and looked almost scared. Thatch seemed confused and worried. Law had a straight face which was slightly contorted into confusion but his eyes said a different story. His eyes made it seem like Law already knew what had happened. Shanks had a small smile that seemed to never leave and the same eyes as Law but slightly more obvious.

"Hey, are you alright?" Thatch asked. "You kinda froze up."

"Apparently Ace and Luffy aren't the only insane ones…" Sabo muttered, ignoring the synced 'hey' from said ravens. "The image spoke. Told me… He didn't like seeing his brothers fighting and that I should get Ace and Luffy to stop fighting so much."

"You too huh?" Ace asked. "Yeah… I had a hippie version of me say the same in a dream."

'I told you! I'm not a hippie!' A voice shouted but Ace ignored it.

After Ace spoke, Ace and Sabo looked to Luffy who was looking out the window. "Luffy?" Shanks spoke up.

"Fine." Luffy huffed before looking to the others. "I've had the same. He said to give Ace a chance and eventually we'll stop fighting…"

All attention was pulled to Thatch when he started chuckling. "Sorry. You reminded me of my dream earlier. There was a weird voice that told me to pull a prank on you three. It said you would team up. You may have teamed up against me but still, you would have teamed up."

"Could we please get this over with? It's the last name and I would like to finish sometime today." Law said with annoyance.

"Sorry, sorry." Sabo said, closing his eyes. "Please finish."

"Thank you. Second Pirate King, 'Strawhat' Monkey D. Luffy." Law named, glad that it was almost over.

Suddenly, the shadow from before appeared again before slowly gaining color. When it was fully colored, the first thing he noticed was the 'X' shaped scar on the man's chest. He couldn't help but feel sad, almost at fault again. While still looking at the scar, the image leaned over and grinned at him before letting out a unique laugh. When hearing the laugh, Sabo couldn't – and didn't want to – stop the grin from stretching across his face. When he saw a seven year-old version of the same boy, he felt his grin grow. When he saw the nineteen year-old version of the boy he held the same grin and felt a small tear – this one being a happy one – slide down his cheek. The last image he saw of the same person was when he was in his early twenties and was wearing a captain's jacket and had the biggest grin Sabo had ever seen. 'You did it little bro… You made your dream come true. I couldn't be more proud and I think Ace would feel the same.'

At this point, Sabo didn't want to try and figure out the weird thoughts. He felt too happy. When he opened his eyes, he could feel his grin. When looking around, his eyes stopped on Luffy. He stood from his chair and slowly walked over to the youngest person in the room before wrapping an arm around the boy's shoulders and grinning at him.

"I don't care if I'm going insane or what. I'm proud to have you as my little bro. Whether you like it or not." Sabo said, causing Luffy to grin and hug him.

When seeing the blond and younger raven hugging, Ace decided to jump in. "Whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me too. So make room." Ace said before jumping on the bed and hugging both of them.

The room echoed with their laughter. When they were done laughing, they all separated but stayed on the bed. Even if Ace and Luffy didn't like each other much, they still felt happier with the other next to them, although they wouldn't admit it.

About a half hour later, Ace, Sabo and Luffy had all fallen asleep next to each other. Shanks couldn't help but smile and chuckle quietly. 'Idiots… They go around acting like they hate each other only to end up doing this. At least they're being themselves again.' He thought to himself before noticing a nurse come to the door.

"I see he's still sleeping… I'll come back later." The nurse said.

"Wait." Shanks said before the nurse could leave. "He woke up earlier. He actually just fell asleep."

"And?" The nurse asked, walking into the room. "How was he?"

"He was fine. No mental issues and he was speaking coherently. He seemed perfectly fine." Law stated.

"How do I know you aren't lying?" The nurse questioned, not trusting Law.

"I don't like him, so why would I defend him? I never lie, so why would I now? I'm a better doctor than anyone in this hospital will ever be, so do you expect me to be incorrect?" Law questioned.

The nurse was shocked into silence while Thatch and Shanks were trying not to laugh – though for different reasons. Thatch was amazed at the fact that Law had said it all with a completely straight face and was laughing at the nurse's shocked face as well. Shanks had one thought running though his mind. 'Welcome back 'Surgeon of Death' Trafalgar Law!'

Later that day, Luffy was released from the hospital.

(Aaaaaaaaand done! Come on guys. Who expected this to be drama free? Better not have. If you did, then you don't know me! Hope it was good. Sorry it was a little shorter than usual. I figured, since Ace and Luffy went through the whole questioning thing, Sabo should as well. I kinda threw in what I thought was Sabo's reaction when he found out Ace died and how he would act if Luffy becomes Pirate King. What do you think about the little twist at the end? Don't worry. The twists won't stop. The next big one will be about chapter ten or eleven. But there will be some other ones soon. The next chapter is an actual chapter and NOT questioning. I think you'll like that.

Random fact for the day: I was using a whiteboard so I could list who Sabo would react to and how. The marker I used was a thin, black expo marker. It smelled like bananas.

Fave, follow, review, read my other stuff, vote when it comes back, and review! Bai~! c(X )

Start time – 10:30 AM

End time – 5:45 PM