DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ONE PIECE
X
The sun was shining down the hills of Baltigo, further illuminating its white sand and the curves of the rocks. An enormous transportation ship was docked near the round-edged headquarter buildings, beneath seen some of the revolutionaries hustling to finish their job.
Sabo was among the buzzling revolutionaries, actively trying to find ways to be any help in organizing the newly imported supplies. Beside him, Koala was aiding Hack to unload some remaining items from the ship while watching the gap-toothed boy.
These past few days had been odd, the normally laid-back boy was trying exceptionally hard to have any form of activity to do. Koala was first delighted with the thought of her long-time mission partner finally putting more effort in coorperating with others, but it only took time to realize that Sabo was just trying to keep his mind off something - he was running away from his God-knows-what problem.
She has made some attempts to coax him to spill the beans, but both times had resulted to be unsuccessful. The blond boy would either bring up another matter at hand or shrug off her curiosity with a grin - only that Koala could see that it was forced.
The sun was setting down the horizon when Kuma's steady voice was heard, "That is all, thank you for your help."
A breath of relief was evident throughout the crowd of revolutionaries, each feeling content with themselves for being punctual and not saving some extra work for tomorrow.
Sabo was picking up his pipe docked at the edge of the pier and taking his chance to splash cold sea water onto his dirtied face. He rubbed his face and ruffled his hair, not caring about the jagged scar imprinted on the left side of his head. Now that there is nothing left to help keeping his mind busy, the familiar wave of shame started to wash over him. He groaned and began to wipe the water off his face with his suit, training would be a good distraction, he thought to himself.
He took his pipe and turned around quickly - quick enough to accidentally knock a very tired Bunny Joe off his feet with the metal head of his pipe.
The other boy landed on his back with a surprised grunt, his palm holding the now bruised side of his face. Sabo blinked in confusion before realizing what just happened. He scrambled to Bunny Joe who was still grimacing on the ground, "Crap - oh crap, sorry! I swear I didn't see you!" Sabo offered his hand apologetically.
Bunny Joe just stayed there - not answering Sabo's hand, with palm still clutching tightly around the bruised area of his face, his expression pained.
Sabo grimaced, the fact that Bunny Joe was never a grumpy person made the whole situation even more regretful on his part. "I swear, I'm so sorry - are you okay? Nevermind, that's a stupid question, of course you're not o-"
The babbling boy didn't manage to finish his sentence before feeling a shove on the left side of his body, causing him to teeter off balanced and into the water.
Bunny Joe's previously pained face has now a mischevious grin plastered all over. "Ha! You're too easy to fool!"
Sabo coughed the sea water out of his nose and mouth, he glared at the other boy who was still throwing a laughing fit. "Not funny."
"Geez - sorry, I just thought you might need some help looseing up." Bunny Joe offered his hand to get Sabo out of the water. "You look so unsually deep in thoughts these couple of days."
Sabo ignored his hand in fear of another prank. He grabbed the edge of the pier and heaved himself up, all the while formulating another reason to get away from whatever question Bunny Joe will throw onto him.
"So, what's bugging you, really?" Bunny Joe asked him, keeping his voice light and casual. If Sabo didn't know him any better, he wouldn't have sensed the lingering curiousity beneath his tone.
"Nothing." Sabo shook his now fairly long hair around, making a show of drying himself - when in truth was hiding the embarassed blush creeping at the edge of his face. Everytime someone brings up his odd behaviour in these couple of days, the memories of that night always starts to flood his mind.
That grave, that carved name, his leader, how he was busted for having pried too far, the fact that Dragon-san knew he had pried even before that. All those were more than enough to make Sabo groan in shame.
Sabo would've stayed there - overwhelmed by his embarassment, his palm over his head, if not for Bunny Joe's next question which snapped him back to reality. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah." Sabo pushed past the other boy. "C'mon, let's get back to the headquarters."
Bunny Joe stood still, eyes disbelieving - obviously not buying Sabo's lie. But before he can open his mouth for another question, Sabo bolted for the hills and into the direction of the headquarter.
Sabo stood there, his mouth agape.
Monkey D. Rowan.
Maybe he was a relative, maybe a cousin, maybe a brother? Trains of thoughts and questions started to formulate in his brain.
"Brother."
Sabo turned around, it took him more than a second to realize that Dragon is talking to him.
The older man must have seen the startled look on his face. "You just asked." He tilted his chin to the grave. "Who that is-was."
At that, Sabo's face heated up. I just what? Sabo knocked himself inwardly in disbelief. He opened his mouth to form an apology, but the only sound that came out is a hoarse "Sorry."
Dragon's mouth curled up into a humorless smirk. "Don't even bother." He stepped forward and raised his hand to untangle the scarf around his neck. He flopped down onto the grass in front of the grave then proceeded into uncuffing his cloak.
"I'm guessing you're not surprised that my surname is the same as Luffy's." Sabo's thoughts to retreat were once again placed with bewilderment. "I just remembered that you already knew he's my son."
One.
Two.
Three.
Three beats. It took three beats for Sabo to realize that he was busted - again. He dropped his pipe, eyes widening further. Ace once asked him what kind of power he would like to possess, he answered with how he wanted to be able to fly. But now, Sabo wished for nothing more than the power to turn invisible, to not having to face this consequence of his stupidity.
"Stop looking so surprised." Dragon turned his face around slightly to face the shell-shocked boy. "Prying into my past is not even near to the worst thing you could do to me."
Sabo finally found his voice. "But I still did cross the line."
"Can't do much about it now, can you?" Dragon shrugged, his eyes not leaving the simple tombstone, expression unreadable. "Say, Sabo, why are you brothers with Luffy - and Ace?"
Sabo was startled by the direction the conversation started to head, but his voice was sure when he answered, as how it always was whenever he talked about their bond. "They understand me - the real me."
There was a pause.
"He-Rowan used to be the only one who could make sense of me." The revolutionary leader's voice held an unspeakable hollowness beneath, sure, his tone was as always naturally charismatic - demanding to be heard and believed, but now seemed to be more ... exposed. For a beat, Sabo could almost sense the pain buried over layers and layers of carefully built hard walls the world may have demanded the older man to build.
The walls that had weaved an image of a savior, a hero, or for the government - a criminal, and perhaps a monster; the walls that had enabled his voice and belief to reach out and convinced more than any could possible imagine, but at the same time damned him to be unreachable and in a sense - too inhumane for others to reach out to.
"To an extent," again, that voice. "He was the one who made me possible."
Sabo wanted to ask, he wanted to ask what happened to Rowan, he wanted to know what the world had done to make him build such walls around him. But then he remembered who he was, what he was to the leader, and how far he had gone over the line - then the shame started to creep back and caused his throat to tighten once again.
"I guess that's what brothers do." Dragon finally said, his eyes finally meeting the gap-toothed boy. His raven-black eyes held no tears, no unsurety, nothing to match his hollowed out voice.
Sabo could only nod, after muttering a jumbled apology, he took off into the night.
It was Friday night, but Baltigo remained silent. The base was unsually calm without Iva's weekly party - there were no dancers jumping around the tables, no music to accompany the revolutionaries' laughter, no food to satisfy the stomachs. Just like everyone else, Sabo found himself wandering what had happened and Iva and the Okamas' whereabouts.
Seeing no sign of any events or parties coming up anytime soon, Sabo went out of the base, ignoring a very angry Koala chastising him about his incomplete paperworks. He walked down the forest to his usual training spot, occasionally kicking the pebbles scattered around the rocky road. He had convinced Koala to do mission report for him couple of times already - in attempt to get out of his leader's way to avoid anymore stupid mistakes done in his part.
A rustling was heard at the edge of the bushes, Sabo ducked down, putting down his bet that it was a wild animal. His blood thrummed in excitement, and he realized just how much he was itching for any form of fight - since the revolutionary has been pretty cautious in the past few weeks.
The young boy was in midst of preparing to leap out of his hiding spot when he was pushed down by an overwhelming force. He coughed when his face made contact with the ground, dust filling his nose and mouth. The attacker - of which he now knows was a human and not a wild animal, spinned and started on another attack, but Sabo's trained body detected it fast enough to leap out of danger.
The young boy landed and positioned his pipe to attack, but stopped short when he saw his opponent. "Iva-san!"
The Okama - now apparently in his male form, stopped and turned around to meet the young boy's face. His eyebrows shot up and his mouth turned into the shape of an O, before laughing in both amusement and disbelief. "So it's vyou boy!"
Sabo groaned and rubbed the side of his face. "Did you really have to do that?"
His annoyance was met with Iva's flamboyant grin. "Vwell vyou vwere about to attack me too." He pointed out while waving his purple-gloved arm. "I'm glad I didn't death-winked vyou, though."
Sabo sighed. "Well I guess we're even." He stood up and observed their surrounding, "What are you doing here?"
The Okama spinned around, causing his purple afro to bounce about. "Ho! Maybe I'm practicing my secret moves? No one knows!"
Sabo squinted his eyes. Iva was joviant and as usual, loud. But he didn't miss the dark expression clouding the Okama's face. And so he kept silent and raised his eyebrows.
Taking the cue, Iva stopped his show of faking it. Sighing, he rubbed the back of his neck. "Vwell, how I vwish vyou're not so observant."
Sabo grinned at that, Iva was not the first to tell him that. "So, why are you here?"
Iva shrugged, he fixed his afro before setting foot further into the forest. "Just clearing up some thoughts." He didn't eloborate, so Sabo left the subject be.
"Okay." Sabo strapped his pipe onto his back and went on the same trail as where Iva was going. "Then where are you going?"
"Some place." Iva didn't look back, occasionally swiping the tree branches away to avoid catching into his afro.
Sabo didn't give any answer, the Okama clearly was not in the mood to talk - which was something he understood. Puberty grumpiness, Hack had teased whenever he was not as chatty as usual.
Minutes passed, Iva was the first to break the silence. "Vwhy are vyou following me?"
"I'm not." Sabo said flatly. "I'm going to my training spot."
Iva stared at the boy through his lashes, his hand scratching his chin as if in thoughts. "Vyou know vwhat?"
Sabo arched his eyebrows. "What?"
Iva waved at the path in front. "A company vwould be nice."
"You sure?" Sabo was surprised at how excited he started becoming, maybe all the while he was just finding someone to sulk with.
"Vyes." Iva gave him a wide grin, his purple lipstick clear even in the dark. "Vyou'll see something vyou never seen before."
Iva was not joking.
Sabo was really brought to a place he had never been before, which was saying a lot, considering just how adventurous and curious he was.
Sabo had lost track of time, but when he finally looked up, they were at the dead end of the rocky trail.
Iva must have seen the confusion crossing the boy's face. The Okama asked Sabo to move out of the way, then proceeded into performing his favorite trick - Death Wink, onto the huge wall with layers and layers of thick vines. Sabo covered his ears and ducked down to avoid the erupting leaves and branches coming on his way.
When he stood, the path then was opened to moonlight. It shone down the forest, an ominous light brightening its dark places.
"Vwhat are vyou doing there?" Iva tilted his chin to his side. "Come vhere and take a look."
Sabo for once obeyed and took a step to the Okama's side. When the view of it all came to Sabo's sight, he was robbed of breath and speech.
The sky stood above them, so vast that he could not imagine what was beyond. The stars occupying some of its empty spaces, framing around the full moon. Even the dark craters on the surface of the moon could not lessen its beauty.
"Wow." That was the only thing Sabo could utter. His throat felt tight, but not in any way suffocating. Because this moment felt right, it felt like home - where Ace and Luffy would invite him to go up the hills of Fuusha village and watch the night sky together, where they first vowed to be some of the freeiest men of all time, where the world had not fully bertrayed his trust and hope and everything seemed so promising and fair.
"Amazing, right?" Iva sounded smug, but his expression was just as in wonder as Sabo's. The boy answered with a nod.
"I used to go vhere vwhenever things get hard." Iva's expression was those of melancholy, with Sabo staying silent, he went on. "Vyou probably didn't vhear vyet, but I have a mission tomorrow."
Sabo averted his eyes from the sky and onto the man. For a moment, he could have sworn he heard fear in his voice, but he still kept silent.
"This one is so risky." The Okama rubbed his forehead. "Vyou know me, vboy, I almost never get nervous - vwell aside from the times Dragon almost got us killed." Sabo chuckled at that.
After a beat, the Okama continued. "I made sure there is a back-up plan." His eyebrows scrunched up. "But I still fear for my Okama boys."
Sabo just stared at him. Without his joviant and flamboyant attitude, the Okama queen seemed like a different person. "But they're strong. And you're really strong. You always excel in every mission!"
The man smiled slightly. "We always had."
Minutes of silence came, but it felt comfortable and not deafening.
Again, it was Iva who shattered the quite atmosphere. "Funny."
Sabo glanced at him. "What's funny?"
"The fact that vwe all can't shut ourselves forever." The man added. "After Kamabakka - after my vhomeland vwas destroyed by the vworld, I thought I vwould be able to isolate my feelings. That it vwould be the only vway to protect my remaining Okama boys."
"Vhow vwrong I vwas." Iva laughed silently. "No matter vhow vhard I tried, I couldn't close my vheart forever. Not even vwhen I knew vwhat opening up could do to me."
Sabo had no answer.
"I love them, boy. I love the revolutionary army." Iva uttered under his breath. "And I don't regret it. I vwill never regret it. I don't regret meeting Dragon; I don't regret meeting vyou all."
Sabo still had his face tilted upwards, his voice sounded as true as he meant it. "I don't too." He meant it. Yes, he missed his brothers, he missed the bond they used to always have, but being a part of the revolutionaries - such a radical movement, filled with a bunch of misfits who knew better than to show any sign of prejudice to anyone, regardless of who it is, would forever be viewed as Sabo as a blessing. He was happy to be picked up by Dragon, he was happy to have someone like him to look up to, and more than anything he was thankful to have come across people like Koala, Hack, Kuma and so many more in just the span of four years.
"I'm glad, then." The Okama queen turned to face him. "Keep the people vyoy cherish close, boy. I guess vyou and I know that to feel happiness," he smiled, "You have to cut yourself open a little."
Iva's words lingered inside Sabo, unwilling to let go. Again, he nodded.
The Okama queen slapped both of his hands onto his face. "Oh vwell, I guess I need to loosen up a bit, no?" He braved a grin onto his face.
Sabo smiled lopsidedly. "Yeah, besides what's the worse that could happen?"
Iva smiled gingerly at that. "Bah, vwho knows. Maybe death sentence? Or being sentenced into the craziest level of Impel Down?"
At Sabo's horrified expression, the Okama threw a laugh and patted the boy's back. "Nah, don't take it seriously." He said reasurringly.
"Besides, I'm no fortuneteller"
Or maybe he was.
The next day, Iva didn't come back from the mission.
And the day afterwards, a huge headline was slapped across newspapers around the world.
'REVOLUTIONARY CAPTURED: EMPORIO IVANKOV, "OKAMA KING", INTO IMPEL DOWN.'
Thank you for reading! xx
After a long-ass *unannounced* hiatus, I decided to binge-write the next 5 chapters (because if I stop I can't get myself started again for a loooong time).
So expect another in like...4 days. I'm doing a writing marathon XD
please drop a review of any sort :D
