Sabo and Ace had to constantly remind themselves, and each other, that Luffy was indeed a seven year old child; not a two year old. People other than the two boys would often need this reminder due to Luffy's behavior; while Ace and Sabo were also in the same boat, they were almost constantly in his presence and encountered situations which most others did not with Luffy. That namely being the topic of relationships.

Romantic relationships simply confused luffy, his two friends found that out almost immediately after the topic of soul mates was brought up for the first time between them. They had tried their best to explain to their youngest member that platonic and romantic relationships were indeed separate from each other and 'No, Luffy. You do not have a romantic relationship with either of us!'

They eventually, and loosely, were able to get through to Luffy that platonic relationships were friends, familial was family, and romantic was people whom you loved in a way uniquely differing from the previous two. Then Luffy asked what Ace and Sabo were.

Quickly, and as subtly possible, they direction the conversation onto other, non-relationship, centred topics.


If the two soul mates had to be honest, neither of them were entirely sure what to define their relationship as. They were as close as brothers, but felt that their relationship was not quite family. Platonic was definitely an option, more so than romantic in their eyes, and whilst they had 'intimate' interactions those were mainly just comforting touches. How could they be in a romantic relationship when they had never even kissed?

Of course, Sabo's first idea had been to look at a dictionary; Ace could not find it in himself to argue, he was not coming up with any better ideas. Luckily, they had one which they used to aid in Ace's language lessons; meaning they did not have to attempted to steal one off of Dogra. A feat they did not think would be possible with how seldom he let the thing out of his sight.

"A-ha!" Sabo cried out triumphantly, garnering Ace's wandering attention. "I've found 'romantic'!" Ace quickly moved so he was sitting as close to Sabo as he could, craning his neck so he could join Sabo in viewing the words description.

'Romantic: Connected or concerned with love or a sexual relationship.' The boys looked at each other for a moment, before shaking their heads in sync. That was definitely not them, while they certainly loved each other, sexual feelings had never been involved; even if they focused solely on the loving part the term's definitions just did not sit right with them, as if it depicted the people involved as detached from each other.

Next was romance.
'Romance: An exciting, usually short, relationship between two people who are in love with each other.' That definition made them both visibly cringe, the thought of them only being together for a short period of time just seemed so wrong to them. They were soul mates, meant for each other, meant to stay side-by-side for the rest of their days. A fling like that came off as unfair and inhumane to the children.

Sabo decided that any word revolving around the conventional concept of 'romance' was unacceptable and applied to them in no way, shape or form. He skipped back to the definition of 'love' instead. There seemed to be multiple categories for the emotion, they just hoped that there would be one that was closer to what they had.
'Love-Affection: A strong feeling of deep affection for somebody, especially a member of your family or a friend.' They breathed a sigh of relief at the explanation, that was much better than the last two terms, sadly it did not seemed to fit them as well as they hoped it would.

Skimming over the rest of the categories listed for 'love' they were not able to find one they thought applied to them. The closest, and one they approved of most, was 'affection', even if it never mentioned a partner in a relationship position.

Eventually, Ace placed his hands on either cover of the dictionary, and consequently over Sabo's slightly shaking hands, he gently made the blond close the book.
"It's alright, Sab." He reassured the other, bringing his arms up to circle Sabo's trembling shoulders. "We don't need to limit ourselves to anyone else's terms, we can make our own." Had it been anyone else, perhaps even himself, Ace would not have had to comfort them. Sabo however, was raised in a society where anyone not 'conforming' was ridiculed; not being attracted to women as was 'normal' was already toeing the line for him. Even if he had not been a part of that sort of system for years now, it was harder to let go of ideas installed in him than it was to learn them.
Ace understood what his soul mate felt and could relate to a certain extent, his experiences with people and their reactions to him helping.

"Y-yes, you're right." Sabo agreed, taking deep breaths in order to prevent any further panicking or emotional distress. Turning his head slightly, to be able to look at Ace directly, he grinned. "After all, I'll never have to go back to or even interact with my parents ever again!"


"Did you really believe that this would be able to last long? You have a duty to fulfil, I will not tolerate any further disobedience, Sabo." His father stated darkly, staring into his son's frightened eyes.

"P-Please, do not hurt them... I will do what ever you want just don't touch my family!"