A/N: So, there were a lot of Sabo requests in this chapter so I hope you don't mind too much~ This is the second bonus chapter to celebrate almost 150 reviews, almost 300 followers, and almost 230 favourites! This is incredible you guys, and seeing as the next update day is Christmas Eve, guess what that chapter is going to be about?
Also, quick warning: there is an author's rant at the end of this chapter. I'm sorry but it's been a long time coming thing. If you want to skip over it fine, just don't be surprised if you do the thing I rant about and I completely ignore you.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and that the weather is warmer where you are!
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece :'(
It was dark as Ace ran through the forest.
The rain poured down on him, soaking his shirt as he ran, desperate, towards the bandits hut. He wouldn't have noticed his shirt get soaked anyway; his little brother's blood had already saturated his shirt with its dark red taint. He tried not to get too panicked when he jumped over a log and Luffy didn't give any recognition to the fact he was almost thrown off of Ace's back.
Ace tightened his grip and kept on running, worried beyond desperation for his little brother. It was his fault Luffy was like this. What kind of brother refused to help his weaker, much more vulnerable, little brother? An awful one that's what.
...Sabo would never have let Luffy face that bear...
...Sabo would never have refused Luffy's request for help...
...Sabo would never have let his anger get the best of him...
Unwanted, a tear escaped his eyes as thought of his dead brother clouded his mind and he had to choke down a sob. Sabo was dead and Luffy may join him soon; all because Ace was a stupid, self-righteous idiot who thought he knew better than his little brother and now, because of a stupid mistake, he might never get to see his baby brother smile at him anymore.
Finally the bandit hut loomed out of the grey sheets of rain, lighting illuminating the clearing around it, shedding harsh beams of white light on their own countries. Ace ignored both of them. He ran straight to the front door of Dadan's country, hammering on the door with his fist; yelling harshly for the bandits to come and help them, panic and terror lacing his voice.
But it wasn't a bandit that opened the door.
Instead, a tall man dressed in a long, dark cloak that cast his face in shadows. All that Ace could see of his face was the red tribal tattoos that stood out harshly on the left side of his face. Warily, Ace took a step back, holding his pipe out in front of him as he tried to hide Luffy from the strangers view. There was no way he was letting this man near Luffy...but at the same time his brother needed medical attention and he needed it right now!
"Where are the bandits?" he growled, staring fearlessly up at the man who towered over him. A flash of lighting illuminated that man's wide eyes. They didn't stay visible long enough for Ace to gauge the man's intentions but he caught a flash of that strange emotion that Makino sometimes looked at them with.
"They are inside." A deep, gravelly voice echoed from inside of the hood as the stranger stepped aside, allowing the ten year old access to the hut. "Magra is taking care of the other boy but I can do that if the one on your back is injured."
Other boy? What other boy? Ace barely had time to ponder whether Garp had decided to pawn another child off on the bandits as he hurried inside yelling for Magra to come out and help Luffy. If Luffy didn't get treated...he would die and leave Ace all alone again. He couldn't lose another little brother, not now. It had barely been two months since Sabo died, he couldn't lose his last brother so soon after that.
Finally Magra was there and he carefully brought Luffy into their bedroom, getting to work immediately on the gaping wound across his chest, working tirelessly in the battle to save Luffy's life. Ace retreated to the wall and slid down it as his knees gave way as more of his baby brother's blood stained Magra's clothes and spread across the floor. There was too much blood, far too much of it. Ace moved to cradle his head in his hands only to stare in horror and the red that tarnished his fingers. He was suddenly very aware that the back of his shirt was sticky with drying blood and he struggled to get it off only to fling it on the other side of the room.
The strange man was hovering over a small bundle on the far side of the room, looking over occasionally whenever Luffy let out little whimpers of pain. The stranger passed Ace another shirt which he quickly pulled on to hide his shivering as he hid his face in his knees. This was all his fault, he was an awful older brother. If Sabo was here he would tell Ace off so badly for this. Luffy was their precious baby brother and Sabo had asked him to protect him. Letting him go up alone against that bear that even the Tiger Lord viewed as a rival, did not count as protecting him; more like sending him to an early grave.
Tears started to streak down his face as he watched Magra bandage Luffy up gently, trying to cause as least pain as possible. Magra stared down at the little boy as he pulled the thickest blankest they had over the bandaged form.
"That wound was no joking matter. He might have died if the cut was a little bit deeper." He murmured, turning to look at Ace, concerned when he noticed the boys shaking shoulders and tear streaked face. "You three fought those beasts together, didn't you?"
Ace broke down into sobs, not even caring that Magra and a stranger were seeing him break down.
"It's all my fault... I knew it doesn't prove that you're strong by fighting on your own!" he choked out, pressing the palms of his hands into his eyes, trying to stem the tears that persistently poured down his face. "I'm not good enough...I'm not good enough at all!"
"Ace..." Magra smiled softly at the crying boy, watching his breakdown with concerned and caring eyes. That poor boy had been strong on his own for far too long, and it was only when his two lights were almost gone that he realised he didn't want to be strong on his own anymore.
"I'm sorry Luffy...I'm sorry..." he sobbed, turning grief stricken eyes to his brother's form, a flash a lightening illuminating Luffy's pain stricken face. The stranger jerked his head to look at him in what might have been shock but Ace was too grief-stricken to care.
A groan rose from the bundle in the corner causing the stranger to cross the room and kneel down next to it, running his fingers through the short blonde hair that was mostly covered by bandages.
"...never thought I'd see the day you'd apologize..." came a raspy voice from the bundle.
Ace froze. He knew that voice. Though it may be raspy and slow from misuse there was no mistaking that slightly teasing tone that his blonde brother used to use on him. But Sabo was dead! There was no way that that bundle of blankets, bandages, and curly blonde hair should be able to speak with his brother's voice. He staggered to his feet and stumbled over to the corner of the room, paling with every step he took.
Bandages covering the left side of his face, wrapped tightly around his forehead and chest, twinning around his arms and disappearing under the blankets. Slight curls had grown out as his hair hadn't been cut in several months, falling over his ears slightly. But Ace couldn't tear his eyes away from the deep blue orbs that stared up at him, amusement and worry flickering through them.
"...S-Sabo?"
XXXXXXLINE BREAKXXXXXXXXX
"What's wrong Sabo?"
A sweet gentle voice alerted the blonde child that he was no longer alone in the clearing outside Dadan's hut. It had been three months since he had been returned to his brothers by the man who saved his life. And it was only as of this week that Magra had cleared him to be allowed outside. He still couldn't move a lot without it hurting and he still had to have his bandages changed frequently but at last he could feel the warm sun of his pale skin, feel the gentle coolness of the wind, and smell the earthy forest all around him.
He tilted his head back slightly to see Makino's smiling face and concerned eyes leaning over him. They had all been worried about him recently. Ever since he was allowed to go outside it seemed like they were all afraid he was going to break apart into dust if they left him alone for too long. While he was grateful for the company he still wasn't used to people worrying so much over him, especially Ace.
When he had first woken up in the familiar bedroom and heard crying he had assumed it was Luffy. But it was Ace instead. He had never thought he would ever see his brother cry, and now that he had seen it he would do anything in his power to make sure it never happened again. Ace hovered constantly around them now, if he wasn't beside Sabo helping with recovery he would be next to Luffy, helping their little brother with any problem he seemed to be having.
Sabo could barely believe that in two short months Ace's attitude towards their youngest had done a complete 180.
"I'm fine Makino-san." He tried to smile up at the kind bartender, ignoring the slight pain he got whenever he moved the muscles in his left cheek. Apparently he was going to have a pretty impressive burn scar over that eye and he would have to be very careful when taking those bandages off in case the sudden light blinded that eye permanently.
"I'm just enjoying being outside again."
Makino smiled down at him before sitting down in the grass, folding her skirt beneath her as she settled down beside the wounded child.
"You three boys were bandages like their fashion statements." She remarked as they watched Ace chase Luffy back towards the hut least he hurt himself trying to climb the nearby banana trees. He had almost managed to split his head open on the sharp rocks falling from a tree yesterday and Ace didn't seem to want to tempt fate fr the second time that week.
"We get a lot of injuries. It can't be helped sometimes."
"Oh?"
"We have to get stronger to protect ourselves."
"...you shouldn't need too." Makino whispered, looking out at the laughing raven haired brothers with a sad look in her eyes. "No child should have to protect themselves; that's what adults are for."
"But who would protect us?" Sabo pointed out reasonably, or so he thought. Ace was an orphan and he didn't know anything about whether Luffy's parents were alive or dead. His parents only cared about what he could get them, not about protecting him.
"Shanks-san would have." Makino answered with a small smile directed to the startled blonde. "He would have loved you and Ace-kun just as much as he loved Luffy. He would have let you have your childhoods back." She sighed delicately before standing up again and crossing over to the trees on the far side of the clearing, bending down to observe the flowers that were hidden in the undergrowth.
Sabo had often wondered about the red-haired man in passing, only sparing a thought for him whenever Luffy went on and on about how he wanted to grow strong enough to beat him one day and become pirate king. And given the amount of time Luffy talked about his dream, he found himself thinking a lot about that man.
Would Shanks really have taken him and Ace under his wing, like he had with Luffy? Sometimes he doubted it, given who they were; Ace, the son of the Pirate King, and him, son of good-for-nothing nobles. They had done nothing to make them even remotely interesting to the pirate and any other pirate they met wanted to either use them or separate them. Apart from old man Naguri, who actually helped them despite knowing Ace was Roger's son. Would Shanks have acted the same way? There wasn't any way that the pirate captain hadn't heard of Roger, so how would he have treated his sons? Or would being Luffy's brother give them immunity against their other sins?
Sabo looked up with a groan. It was too early to be thinking such things. Besides, it was in the past now. There was no point in thinking about how Shanks might have treated them. There was little, to no chance of actually meeting the man; not matter how much they may want to thank him for everything he did for their baby brother.
Ace had told him his plan; how he wanted to find Shanks and thank him. He had even offered to write a letter to him when he finally found the man's where-a-bouts in case Sabo wanted to thank him too. Of course Sabo had agreed to it, knowing that without Shanks Luffy wouldn't be with them and Ace wouldn't have found his little ball of sunshine. The change Luffy had brought out in Ace made Sabo more thankful towards Shanks than ever before. He didn't think he could bear the thought of Ace returning to that broken, hurting shell of a person that he had been since he first starting asking about Roger's son.
And it was enlightening to see the protective, caring side of Ace grow more and more each day now that he had two little brothers to care for again (they had compared birthdays a week after Sabo could stay conscious for more than a few minutes. Ace was annoyingly older by two months). And now that he had had a taste of what life was like without his brothers, he didn't ever want to part with them again; which is why Sabo was now considering whether it would really be such a bad thing to sail under Ace's flag. He could think up a plausible reason for Luffy to come with them, at least until he was seventeen and needed to start his own voyage.
A bright gleam of yellow broke him out of his revelry as his little brother held up a poorly made flower crown with a wide proud grin.
"Buttercups!" he chirped in triumph, placing the dainty yellow flowers carefully on his head. "They match your hair!" he giggled before getting up and running towards where Ace was getting apples for them to snack on.
Makino came back over to him, giggling lightly behind her hand as she rearranged the wreath of flowers into a better position on his head.
"Buttercups always make me happy." She confided with a wink and a glance towards the giggling black haired child and his chuckling older brother. Sabo watched them with wistful eyes, wishing he could get up and join them, or go hunting, or train even!
He just wanted to do something! He turned back to Makino, hopeful for the chance that she might alleviate his boredom slightly. Otherwise he would start reciting the dictionary in his head and no one (especially not him) wanted that.
"I thought they were supposed to be childish? That's why nobles hate them so much. That and they're so common."
Makino hummed in acknowledgement, twirling a buttercup gently in her hand before tucking it carefully behind his ear.
"I know that, my sweet little Buttercup. But sometimes you need a little childishness in your life to make it exciting." With that she dropped a caring kiss to the top of his head before going inside to start making dinner for the children and bandits.
Sabo stared after her. No-one had ever done that to him; kissed his head and told him it was okay to be a child. His father was always telling him to act more like an adult and his mother would never even think about showing affection to her son. For the first time since the fire, tears built in his eyes from something that wasn't pain as his heart glowed inside of him from the small affection that a mother would give.
Although she had called him Buttercup, Makino had just done something his blood mother never would. She showed she cared.
XXXXXXLINE BREAKXXXXXXXXX
"Soo..." Sabo whistled, watching the approaching crossdresser with nervous eyes. He was currently sat in Izo's room on the stool beside his dressing table, looking around in both fear and curiosity. "...you want to give me a makeover?"
Izo nodded with a smile, not even bothering to look remorseful for kidnapping the blonde.
"I've wanted to for a while actually." He revealed, crossing over to his dresser and browsing through the different pots and tubes of makeup that he owned, setting some things aside to be used later and frowning at others. "You have a wonderful face shape and your hair is beautiful."
He turned and pulled lightly on one of Sabo's curls, watching it spring back into place with delight.
"I would kill to have naturally curly hair."
Sabo smiled lightly and pulled at his bangs slightly before trying to tuck them behind his ear.
"It can be really annoying though. It's difficult to get knots out and it does its own thing regardless of what I want it to do." He complained with a huff, causing Izo to laugh lightly. The amount of times he had wanted to shave it all off was getting ridiculous now. But everytime he went to pick up the scissors Luffy would pull out the puppy dog eyes and he would relent not to cut his hair off (Luffy said his hair made him look like Ace; both of them knew by now not to trust Luffy when it came to his opinion on appearances.)
"Everyone's hair is like that Sabo."
"Besides" he went on, ignoring Izo's words for the moment "wouldn't it be hard to put your hair in your normal style if you had curly hair?"
Izo ran a finger along his straight, shiny black locks, acknowledging that Sabo had a point. One of the reasons he was able to twist and fold his hair into elaborate styles was because it was so straight.
"I suppose so. But I could look cute with curly hair rather than just beautiful."
"So, are you going to make me look cute?" Sabo asked with a nervous grin. While he was curious about how Izo could use make up to change how he looked, he could also clearly remember the shrieks that came from his mother's bedroom anytime she had to put make up. So call him apprehensive when it came to this stuff.
Izo looked at him in contemplation, taking his chin in his hand and tilting Sabo's face this way and that, examining every part of his looks. Sabo tried not to feel like a specimen in a lab to be examined before it was experimented on.
"There are so many looks you could suit." Izo said at last, pouting at him slightly. "I know a certain look that would make you adorable, but at the same time some smokey eye makeup and blood red lipstick and you'd look like a temptress straight out a fairy tale."
Sabo stared at him with wide, terrified eyes. "You are not putting smoke in my eyes or painting my lips with blood!" That sounded like something out of a horror novel he had read once.
Izo looked at him for a few seconds before bursting out laughing. For all the blonde's knowledge, it really shouldn't surprise Izo that he didn't know a thing about make up.
"They're techniques and colours." He explained with a smile. "I'm not going to torture you."
"Sounds like it." Sabo muttered before staring anxiously at the silver pair of tweezers Izo know held in his hand. "What are you going to do with those?"
"Pluck your eyebrows." Izo explained simply as he bent over and tilted Sabo's face upwards so he could get easier access to his face. "I've just thought of an amazing look for you so I'm going to get started. We have to prepare your face for the makeup first."
And with that brief explanation Izo started to pluck at Sabo's eyebrows, causing the blonde under him to yelp in pain.
"That hurts!" He exclaimed, pulling away from the tweezers with a frown.
"It doesn't after a while." Izo said crossly, trying to get access to Sabo's face again, only for Sabo to start squirming away, shaking his head vigorously.
"No, it hurts."
"Oh stop squirming."
"No, not until you take those away."
"But I need to do your eyebrows."
"Then forget the makeover."
"Listen hear Buttercup, I want to do this so you're just going to have to sit here and deal, alright?" Izo said in a low voice, glaring slightly at the pouting boy.
"This is blackmail." He whined before permitting Izo to continue, letting out yelps of pain as the eyebrow plucking continued, leaving his skin red and sore; but his eyebrows did look neater and they certainly enhanced the shape of his eyes and brow bone. Sabo noticed Izo's smug look in the mirror and shot him an annoyed glare. The crossdresser simply laughed.
"See how much taking care of one little thing can change about your whole face?" He asked, smiling lightly. Even just a small change like this brought out an aristocratic look, almost a royal look about his features; like a handsome prince in a fairytale rather than the perverted, twisted nobles of the real world.
Sabo turned to look over his shoulder at Izo with a small smile.
"Work your magic then good sir." He said with a small chuckle, leaning back and letting Izo continue his work. This time Izo was moisturising his skin. Trying to ignore how cold it was (and how much it felt like slime) Sabo decided to ask Izo some questions to take his mind off the slightly unpleasant feeling.
"Why do you need to 'prepare' your face before you put make up on?"
Izo sighed as he tried to think of a way he could explain it to a complete make up novice, rubbing the moisturiser into Sabo's face in soothing circles, cooling the enflamed skin around his eyebrows.
"Well if you don't moisturise your skin then the makeup is most likely to come off during the day, or not give as much coverage. It's important to keep moisture in your skin or it will dry out, crack, and cause many different skin problems." Izo explained patiently, wiping his hands on a towel to get rid of the excess moisturiser before pining up the rest of his hair that he usually let loose. He didn't want any to get in the makeup after all.
Sabo looked up at the other man as he felt the moisture dry off his face.
"When did you start using makeup?"
Izo turned to look at him with a serious expression on his face, bringing over a pot of primer and a slim brush. He carefully dipped the brush in the pot, careful not to take too much, and started to brush it gently onto Sabo's face.
"When I was around fourteen I think."
He carefully guided the brush to every contour of Sabo's face, sweeping over his high cheekbones, the soft temples, and the angled jaw; paying special attention to the scar over his left eye. As someone who delighted in beauty, it was a rare privilege and a cherished moment when one of his crewmates agreed to a makeover (even if he was technically blackmailing Sabo into doing this.) There was something amazing about being able to see every feature in a person's face close up and know there was a story behind every mark. With Pops' wrinkles there was a story in every crease, a tale behind Thatch's scar, an anecdote to every shadow in Ace's eyes that clouded the liquid silver.
Izo wondered what had happened to Sabo to get such a scar. It was a burn mark; that was easy to see by the shiny red texture of his skin. Izo didn't need to be a doctor to know it was a miracle Sabo could still see out of it. Did it happen when the Celestial Dragon shot at him? Or was it a stray shot gone horribly wrong when Ace was first starting to use his devil fruit?
"Why?"
Izo jolted out of his musings, staring straight into Sabo's dark, navy blue eyes.
"Why what?"
"Why did you start wearing makeup?"
Izo quickly set down the pot of primer, picking up several of his foundations and testing them against Sabo's wrist.
"It's complicated. My mother was a geisha so I was surrounded with beauty since I was born. I always enjoyed watching my mother get ready for work and she taught me many things although I was a boy. But one time one of her customers was under the wrong impression of what a geisha was and when she refused his demands he burned her face. Not even make up could hide the scarring."
Sabo put his hand on top of Izo's, calming the shaking in his fingers that he didn't realize had started.
"Sorry." Sabo apologized, eyes shining with guilt. "I didn't mean to drag up bad memories."
"It's fine. It happened a long time ago." Izo reassured, turning his attention back to what his was doing, selecting the foundation that had matched Sabo's skin tone.
"Normally tans make people look healthier but at the moment your tan is just annoying me." He commented, trying to change the subject and to his relief Sabo smiled slightly, guilt easing away from his eyes. Sabo chuckled slightly, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. It wasn't his fault his skin tanned easily.
Izo quickly pinned back Sabo's bangs with some bobby pins, not wanting them to get in the way or get covered in makeup. He carefully started to spread the foundation over his face, making sure to get an even coverage as he carefully covered the burn scar. It took several coats of foundation to cover it completely but when Izo stood back to admire his work you could hardly tell there used to be a scar there at all. If Sabo looked handsome before the scar was covered, he looked angelic now. Izo was almost convinced he should leave the makeup like that. He quickly covered the mirror when Sabo went to look, ignoring the whine that followed; he wanted him to be surprised when he had finished.
He quickly set to work pencilling in Sabo's eyebrows, being extra careful around the left one in case he rubbed away the foundation. He carefully put a tissue under his eye to catch any excess eye shadow before carefully patting down some pale pink shadow onto the lid, concentrating on the area around the inside corner. Gently sweeping a bright matte violet into the crease from the outer corner he finished the look with a deep shimmery midnight blue extending up to the brow bone, blending the colours together carefully.
"I'm going to line your eyes now and apply mascara." Izo warned him, holding up a gold eyeliner pencil for Sabo to inspect. Seeing the fear return to his younger friend's eyes, he quickly tried to reassure him.
"Its fine, it's not painful. I won't do your waterline and I won't do under your eye either."
Sabo still looked tense but he carefully closed his eyes, resigning himself to pain. It didn't come. Izo carefully spread a thin line over the top lid, giving him a slight cat's-eye flick at the outer corner.
"You're going to have to open your eyes for the mascara." Izo instructed, smiling reassuringly when his eyes opened to show his dread at that suggestion.
"Can't we just skip the mascara?" he pleaded, not wanting the bristled wand anywhere near his eyes. Unfortunately for him, Izo shook his head.
"You have very fine, very light eyelashes. I can hardly see them as it is."
Sabo sighed before nodding in understanding, opening his eyes as wide as he could as Izo moved in with the wand.
"Keep looking up at the ceiling, that way you won't see the wand that much."
Izo gently started applying the mascara, moving away occasionally when Sabo needed to blink, astonished at how long his eyelashes actually were. They were long and feathery looking, curling slightly upwards and now that Izo could actually see them he was slightly envious of them.
"Will you stop being beautiful?" he teased as he finally retracted the wand for good, placing it back on to the dresser to join the rest of his makeup. Izo didn't give him a chance to reply as he quickly peeled off the tissue, deposited it in the bin and carefully started applying blush to the apples of his cheeks. After a thin layer of blush was applied he quickly started sweeping bronzer under his cheekbones, defining them even more. The last thing Izo did to Sabo's face was a quick coat of dark red lipstick.
"Can I look in the mirror now?" Sabo asked with a raised eyebrow. He really wanted to see what he looked like now, given Izo expertise with makeup.
"No." Said Izo, taking out the bobby pines and letting his curls fall back into place framing his face. "You agreed to a full makeover so that's what I'm going to give you."
"What does the full makeover involved?" Sabo asked, slightly apprehensive about what else Izo might have in store for him.
"Hair, nails, clothes...the full works really." Izo explained with a casual shrug, picking up a brush and running it through the golden curls. Curious, he took one of the curls in his fingers before lightly pulling on it until it reached its full length. To his surprise it came down to just over Sabo's shoulder blades.
"Have you ever thought of straightening your hair?" he asked into the shocked silence.
"N-no." Spluttered Sabo. "And what do you mean clothes? I won't fit anything you give me."
Izo smirked, not that Sabo could see it.
"I still have some of my old clothes and I can adjust some others to fit you. That's the fun thing about makeovers, trying and finding an outfit that you can pull off really well."
Sabo seemed to struggle with the idea for a little longer before letting out a defeated sigh.
"Just not a kimono. I don't think I can pull it off as well as you can."
Izo laughed lightly, patting him on the head as he pinned the right side of his bangs back to his ear with a bobby pin, letting the hair curve slightly around his face. He quickly turned his attention to Sabo's nails, filing them quickly into rounded tips, making sure to make both sides equal. Taking a look at the eye makeup, he quickly chose a sparkly blue nail varnish which was a brighter shade than the one on his eyes. After applying two coats (and threatening Sabo not to touch them until Izo judged them dry) Izo quickly crossed over to the wardrobe and started rummaging through it.
Kimonos were out; Izo didn't want to lend him one in the first place in case it got damaged. He pulled out a deep blue dress that Thatch had got him as joke for Christmas once (he certainly felt in the festive spirit when he was using the dress as a noose for the red-haired cook). It was a high cut dress made out of a slightly stretchy material and had cute, quarter length sleeves that changed material at the ends, billowing out in floaty, shimmering blue chiffon. The shirt of the dress was similar, only the chiffon was overlaid on top of the deep blue of the underskirt which only came to his knees. Sequins were placed tastefully around the neckline and beads were sewn into the skirt so the glittered when the light hit them.
Izo looked over and saw Sabo was not paying attention so he carefully placed the dress back into his wardrobe. Maybe for a different occasion. He was sure he could collect enough blackmail for if they ever went to a party island and he wanted someone to dress up with.
He supposed with the intense makeup Sabo had then perhaps a simple outfit would be better, so as to highlight his face yet compliment his body. With some consideration he picked out a pair of short dark blue denim shorts and a plain linen shirt. With the bagginess of the shirt and the thigh length shorts this outfit would also show off the blonde's fantastic legs as well.
Sabo didn't even try to fight it. As soon as the nail polish was dry he quickly slipped on the clothes, noting how bare his neck felt now as the collar of the linen shirt was so wide it barely fit on his shoulders. Izo quickly arranged the shirt so that it was more securely fitted on him, making it so his ASL tattoo was visible for everyone to see.
Izo gazed at it for a moment, remembering how confused he was when Sabo had come to him early in the morning and asked for that tattoo to be done. Now he could understand it and he understood the sentiment of it as well.
"Behind every letter there's your nicknames." He observed, tracing the delicate edges of the buttercup's petals. Sabo merely nodded, shivering slightly under Izo's touch.
"Are you ticklish?" Izo asked, glee dancing in the dark eyes.
"Not as much as Luffy." Sabo confessed with a small grin, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.
Izo chuckled, storing that information away for later use as he headed towards the door.
"Are you ready to show you're brothers how beautiful you look?" he questioned with a grin.
"Not before I know what I look like first." Retorted Sabo with a grin, moving over and uncovering the mirror, grin slipping slightly as he took in his reflection.
He was beautiful. The blue in his eyes shone brightly, highlighted by the shimmering shadows that coated his lids. His skin was perfect, his scar was perfectly hidden, and his face looked almost feminine. Scratch that, he did look feminine.
"Do you like it?"
Izo was slightly taken aback at how nervous he sounded as he watched Sabo gaze it his reflection. He didn't realise how important this was to him, having thought of it at first as something fun to do but know he realised he wanted Sabo to like how he looked, so that maybe he wouldn't have to blackmail him if he wanted to do this again.
"I love it." Sabo replied, turning to look at him with a sunny smile, walking forward to meet him at the door. "Let's go shock the masses."
Izo smiled at him before opening the door, heading out first to see Ace, Luffy, Thatch, Marco, Haruta, and for some reason Fossa standing outside. With a beaming smile he stepped aside to reveal Sabo to his grinning brothers.
Luffy gasped, Ace spluttered, Thatch choked, Haruta wolf-whistled, Fossa blushed bright pink, and Marco simply raised an eyebrow before turning to Izo.
"We're never letting you near him again, yoi."
"Why not?" Izo pouted, sulking slightly.
"He's too damn pretty that's why!" yelled Fossa, staring at Sabo with incredulous eyes. "We'll be chasing away admirers day and night."
"Sabo looks amazing!" cheered Luffy, tackling him in a hug and staring up at him with sparkling eyes. Sabo laughed; happy his little brother seemed to like Izo's hard work.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked over to see Ace by his side, staring intently into his face. At his enquiring look, Ace just grinned.
"You really are too pretty for your own good little brother. You look beautiful."
Sabo blushed but grinned proudly at his brother's compliment, knowing that Ace didn't hand out compliments freely.
"All who vote for Sabo to never go out in public like that say 'Aye'" Thatch yelled, hand flying into the air.
"Aye" chorused the rest of them, except for Luffy and Izo, who just laughed and pouted respectively. Sabo chuckled, a wry grin stretching across his face.
"I'm not that nice to look at you lot. Besides, you let Izo walk around like this."
"Izo also has guns stuffed up his kimono." Thatch pointed out in a flat voice. "You can't exactly hide your bo staff dressed like that."
"Then I'll get Namur to teach me fishman karate." Sabo stuck out his tongue and headed towards the deck, shrugging off the embarrassment and smirking lightly at the dumbfounded expressions of the other crewmembers as he passed. He ignored the others calling after him as he headed off to find Namur. He wasn't even sure why he was so adamant about being allowed to wear makeup outside of the Moby Dick's deck; if he had his way he'd never wear makeup again!
...But it had made Izo happy to give someone else a makeover. And Sabo was genuinely surprised and delighted with the crossdresser work. Izo could have made him look like an okama but he hadn't. The makeup was tasteful, not over the top, and it was something Sabo would wear if he had any clue how to.
Plus, they were all acting like he couldn't take care of himself!
He and Ace had been defending Luffy from perverts for years now; he knew how to tell if a creepy old guy was perving on him and if that happened he would have no qualms over castrating him with a rusty spoon and forcing his pancreas to come out of his mouth.
...That may be a tad bit violent but it would get his point across. He was not just a pretty face and he could handle any pervert that came calling as long Izo was happy and continued giving him makeovers.
...He just needed to remember to ask for nail polish remover in the evening.
XXXXLINE BREAKXXXXX
The old geezers visit had come as an unexpected interruption to their scheming.
Which of course, gave Thatch an even more valid reason to bring down well-humoured hell onto his unsuspecting siblings (Ace had informed him that not all of them were unsuspecting but he could work around that).
His poor, poor brothers and sisters were most likely traumatised by that crazy old fart's visit and needed something to take their minds off of it!
Thatch quickly went and directed Ace towards the third division sleeping hall while he went to grab some more supplies from the kitchen. Ace would distract Jozu (one of the more suspicious of his brothers) while setting up one of the prepared pranks they had planned for the day. He certainly hoped Ace didn't forget whose clothes were whose.
He swiftly made his way through the kitchen, glad that as he was the head chef he didn't attract any suspicious looks. The cupboards of unending supplies were thrown open in gleeful anticipation as Thatch loaded up on supplies, repressing the urge to start giggling maniacally (that was more Ace's style).
Ahh whipped cream, chocolate syrup, food dye, and honey, how he loved them so.
Managing to slip the items into his clothes was made easy with all his extra layers. The cans and tubs slipped effortlessly into the folds of his many jumpers and his warm, fluffy coat. He was suddenly even more glad that he went to gather the edible supplies. There was no way Ace could have concealed all these cans in his shorts, and he was more likely to eat them before he returned to the third divisions sleeping halls.
After everything Jozu did to stand up to Garp this may have been a bit unfair to him, but at the same time, he and Ace had been planning this for ages and they were not letting their hard work go to waste by switching targets at the last hurdle. He met Ace outside the doorway to the third sleeping halls, grinning at the thumbs up the other prankster gave him.
First step of the operation was complete: clear the room and plant the replacement clothes.
"How'd you clear the area?" he asked curiously as Ace wrapped his scarf tighter around his face with a wink.
"Stink bomb." He explained with a wide grin, causing Thatch's face to beam with pride. His little brother was growing up. "Oh, and I also raised the temperature so it smells of baked rotten eggs now, so be careful!"
Thatch nodded in understanding, glad now that his scarf was restricting his sense of smell so much. A stink bomb was bad, but to bake it as well? That was borderline harsh. Thatch braced himself before he entered the dark domain of the third divisions sleeping quarters.
First thing that struck him (as it always did) was how much neater it was than his own. It was nowhere near the meticulously clean thirteenth division, or the colour coded organisation the sixteenth division boasted. But it was a heck of a lot cleaner than the second division and the twelve division quarters. Then again any division was cleaner than those two. The second didn't have a commander to tell them to clean up after themselves and the twelve had Haruta as a commander and she really couldn't be bothered to yell at her division to clean up for once. Plus she liked the chaos in the morning the mess caused.
Thatch quickly crossed through the dead air towards the hammocks and started coating the ropes in sticky chocolate syrup. The best thing about this syrup is that it congealed if left in the open air for too long; leaving a very sticky, very tacky glue like substance that would act as an immediate adhesive to anyone who touched it.
He made sure to check the clothes trunks, glad that Ace had made the shirts easy to reach for him. He carefully picked them up, grinning at Haruta's amazing job. The sleeve holes of every shirt sleeve had been sewn up inconspicuously so you could no longer put your arm through it. He quickly went around to every shirt, filling each sleeve with whipped cream and carefully laying the shirt back in the chest so as not to deflate the cream.
He snuck into the joined bathrooms and carefully added the red, blue, green, and yellow food dye to each bar of soap, making sure not to spare one single one so that when his siblings tried to wash off all the syrup and cream they would be dyed pretty colours. Then he slipped back to the main quarters and looked around, carefully planning his route around the large, spacious room.
Thatch carefully started to pour the honey on the clean wooden floor, spreading it like a golden varnish across the ground as he backed up towards the door so he didn't get caught in it. He felt slightly sorry for all his brothers that walked around barefoot. That honey would be disgusting between their toes.
Ace was still waiting outside the doorway when Thatch was done.
"All the other clothes have been successfully hidden commander." Ace reported with a grin, eyes sparkling in glee as he straightened from where he was leaning on the wall.
"Good job." Thatch grinned, gesturing for the raven haired teen to follow him out on to the main deck and wait for the shenanigans to unfold.
XXXXXXXXXXXXLINE BREAKXXXXXXXXXX
"Aaaaaace!" Luffy whined, pulling on his older brother's arm as he tried to drag him to Izo's room. "I want pretty nails like Sabo!"
"Then go see Izo by yourself!" Ace flailed, trying to peel his brother's clingy fingers off his wrist and failing miserably. Any time he would make even the slightest bit of leeway Luffy would simply stretch his fingers and wrap them around his wrist in tighter coils. "At least take Sabo with you instead of me!"
Luffy pouted, turning his head to stare up at Ace with wide, hurt eyes. "Sabo won't go near Izo in case he does his nails again. And you heard him when he was in Izo's room, I don't want to get hurt."
Ace sighed, biting his lip as he noticed they were getting closer and closer to the older male's room. He really didn't want to risk Izo painting his nails as well as Luffy's. It's not that he didn't think Sabo's nails were pretty, but he really didn't want his nails to be sparkly dots of bright colour. Call him old fashioned, but he liked his nails to be their natural colour.
Almost as if he sensed their approach, Izo opened his door with a delighted smirk, eyeing them both like a scientist about to dissect a frog.
"Well, what can I do for you boys?"
"I want pretty nails like Sabo!" cheered Luffy, staring up at the taller man with a beaming smile and wide, pleading eyes. Ace struggled a little more, hoping Luffy's shift in attention might get him to release his arm...no such luck.
Instead, Izo ushered both brothers inside before gliding over to his dresser and looking through his numerous nail polishes.
"Do you want glittery red nails Luffy?" he asked with a smirk, looking intently at the bottle held in his hand. The red polish glimmered and twisted in its glass confines, the glitter shifting the shades of red as the light filter through it.
Luffy cheered in delight, nodding his head enthusiastically at the thought of his nails being his favourite colour. That would be so cool! Sabo got his favourite colour done too now that he thought about it. A sudden pull on his arm forced his attention to the floor as his brother's narcolepsy said hello in the most (un)convenient timing.
Izo chuckled slightly as he watched his brother sleep on the floor, picking up a neon orange nail polish that Haruta had given him as a gift, before moving towards the sleeping teenager.
"Can you hold his hands up?" Izo asked, carefully unscrewing the lid of the liquid orange. "I'll do your nails after I do his."
Luffy agreed, pouting slightly at having to wait but happy to help his new brother make his other big brother pretty. Izo carefully brushed on the neon fire, making sure that it was as neat as possible before lying Ace's hands down flat against the floor.
"We need to let them dry." He explained as he led Luffy towards his dresser chair, forcing the younger boy to sit down. "Can you stay still while I paint your nails?"
"Sure." Luffy chirped, stretching his hand to pick up one of the bottles on the dresser, only to get smacked in the head by Izo who was wearing a disapproving scowl.
"Stay still." With that order Izo set to work. The glittering rubies quickly and carefully covered his nails, twinkling merrily in the sunlight streaming through the window. Izo carefully blew on each nail as he finished, speeding up the drying process and occasionally swatting Luffy's leg when he started to twitch. It was only when Izo had finished with the last pinkie finger that Ace woke from his beauty sleep.
Ace stared groggily around, staring at Luffy's glimmering deep red nails with a blank look. Luffy grinned proudly and stretched his hands so that Ace could see them better.
"Look Ace, I have pretty nails like you and Sabo now!"
"They look good Lu." Ace smiled lightly before the rest of Luffy's sentence caught up with him and he stared down at his hands in horror. All ten of them had neon orange nails. Slowly he tilted his head up to glare at hi straw-hat wearing brother, his own hat shadowing his eyes.
"Run. Now." He growled, sprinting to his feet as Luffy dashed out the door, giggling like a madman. It took two weeks for Sabo's nails to start chipping! And now because of Luffy he was going to be stuck with orange nails for two weeks minimum.
"At least they weren't pink." Izo called after him, laughter dancing in his voice as he watched the fire-man chase the rubber-man down the corridor, screaming vengeance on his little brother. He loved being an older brother.
XXXXXXLINE BREAKXXXXXXXXXX
Brrrp. Brrrp. Brrrp. Brrrp.
The sound of his den den mushi cut through his hangover with piercing clarity. He fumbled slightly trying to find the damn thing to tell whoever was calling him to kindly fuck off when a smooth voice to his side distracted him.
"You need to stop drinking so much Red Hair. It's disgraceful to see you in such a state."
"Aww Hawky, no need to sound like you care so much." Chuckled Shanks as he dragged himself into a sitting position, ignoring the swirling of his head and the nausea of his stomach as he reached for a bottle of rum only to find, to his dismay, that it was empty.
"Why is the rum always gone?" he muttered, staring morosely into the bottle as if pleading with it would magically refill it.
"Maybe if you didn't feel the need to drink it all, it wouldn't be gone." Mihawk pointed out with a raised eyebrow, throwing a deeply annoyed look at the still ringing den den mushi. Whoever wanted the red-haired yonko really wanted him to answer it seemed.
Shanks rolled over on the sand with a groan, throwing his remaining arm over his eyes to block the sun as he tried to find the blasted snail. It was only when Mihawk had pointed it out to him with a scowl that Shanks finally managed to pick it up.
"Hello is this Red Hair Shanks?" a nasally voice emitted from the snail, grating unpleasantly against his quaking ear drums. Wincing, he sent a pleading look towards Mihawk, only to receive a stern, unimpressed raised eyebrow for his trouble.
"Depends who's asking." He grumbled, wishing he had a drink to make his hangover go away. Why was he celebrating last night again? Heck if he remembered now.
"The ones who have a certain straw hat of yours. If you do not dress in drag and do the funky chicken, then we will not return it to the boy you gave it to."
Shanks gaped at the snail, noticing it's perfect poker face. These people were not kidding; they had his straw hat and the only way they could have gotten it off of Luffy was to hurt the kid badly.
"You better not have done anything to Luffy." He hissed, glaring at the snail with poison in his gaze.
"Nothing has happened to the boy...unless you count making him sleep for twelve hours." The snail admitted with a slight smirk, almost as if the people on the other end delighted in having the Yonko mad at them.
"You have four hours to complete your challenge. Have your sniper send a picture to the Whitebeard Pirates and we'll know you have done as we have asked."
"What do the Whitebeard Pirates have to do with this?" Mihawk asked in a bored tone, stopping Shanks before he hung up and did something stupid.
"They have two worried older brothers on board, that's what they have to do with this."
With that the transmission cut off, leaving Shanks floundering around trying to find the required drag and trying to get Yasopp to wake up to take the required picture.
Meanwhile, on the Moby Dick...
A certain blond teenager and a certain brunette were huddled against each other, shaking with laughter. To the untrained eye it looked like they had broken down into hysterics for no reason and should probably go to see the nurses. To the trained eye however, they could see the brothers were actually huddled around a baby den den mushi, laughing their arses off.
"T-that was brilliant!" choked Ace, wiping the tears out of his eyes and gazing at his brother in admiration. "How can you do that with your voice?"
Sabo merely shrugged, a proud grin breaking through his hysterics.
"Do you think he'll actually do it?"
"God I hope so."
They dissolved into peals of laughter once more, leaning on each other for support at the mental images they were creating. While some men could pull off a dress (mainly Izo) some men really could not (mainly Shanks). Eventually the rest of the crew started to get nervous when the laughing didn't stop, so Marco and Thatch went to investigate.
"What's got you in the giggles, brats?" Thatch asked with a cheery smile, bending down to look at the two of them huddled on the floor. Instantly the innocent smiles were turned to him.
"We were just talking to Shanks." They chorused together with a delighted grin, standing up and bowing to Thatch in gratitude. "Thank you for giving us his den den mushi number."
With that they walked away whistling while Thatch had to deal with an annoyed Marco, scolding him for giving their little brothers that redhead's number.
A/N: So that's the end of the second bonus chapter. And I want to address something that keeps cropping up in the reviews:
I plan out all my chapter before I even start writing the story. All the chapters are planned, with dates that they are coming out on. So if you want a chapter with Dragon, it's coming. If you want a big fight scene, it's coming. If you want Luffy tortured and killed, meh, that's not happening so much. If you really want a scene so badly that I have not already planned out, I will put it in a bonus chapter, that's the point of them; so you guys can still see the things you want to see but in this world. Because I love you guys and I want you to enjoy this story.
Yes there is a lot of fluff, and a bit of humour and yeah, there's not enough action at this point but remember: Ace still has a hard time believing that the Whitebeards will love and care for him like his brothers do, and while the crew is really protective there are other ways for that family love to shine through. The brothers need to build their bonds with their family before the protective sibling relationships can even start to become believable, even in a crew as protective as Whitebeard's. I'm sorry if it doesn't have enough action for all of you but this story is about the bonds the brothers form on their journey until Luffy's seventeenth, not fully the journey itself.
Okay, rant done.
I'll answer the reviews now. Sorry if you guys are annoyed now at having to read that rant, or if you've skipped over it. But I hope you enjoyed that chapter despite the rant at the end. R&R, please~
general yumi- I love and hate Garp. He just wanted to keep his family safe but he went about it in all the wrong ways. I'm glad you liked the chapter.
Kiara97- Thank you very much! Your English is very good, and I didn't pick up on any grammatical errors. I'm so glad you're enjoying this story so much. Sorry for the diabetes~ Hope you enjoy this chapter as well, danke!
Kronus96- Thank you very much, and by the way, Sabo found what he was looking for: a family that would respect his need for freedom.
Olympian-King- It was really hard for him throughout the whole series and it's really tragic that while he was trying so hard to protect them he turned them against what he wanted them to be and so he forced to hunt them in the end and it's just too heartbreaking!
Okay, I'll tell you because you're the only one to guess it was symbolism. I'm going with the Japanese version; the beauty of life and the fragility of life and how it passes so quickly. Blossom is representing how Ace doesn't believe he deserves to live but life is too precious and frail to spend all your time hating it, that's what Makino was trying to get across to Ace. That and the fact he's pretty~
If you ever do draw it I'd love to see it!
yukiko hyuga-chan- Ace would be the best heater in the world! Let's say Sabo is a bit of both XD It is hard to show how much Garp loves his grandsons but he had to realise what he had done at some point because it sure as heck ain't happening at the-place-I-must-never-think-of.
RainbowGuardian13- Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it so much!
Jessica Season- Ah don't we all wish that~ Yes, the promised Garp chapter finally arrived, I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! I hope you enjoyed the story behind Sabo's nickname too! And yes Luffy is still getting his nails painted. And yes, that was the right verb to use, your English is still very good. See you next week for the Christmas chapter!
MoustacheKiller- it's hard not to feel sorry for Garp, and it's also hard to choose which one of the three brothers is more adorable sometimes!
Mojtaba13- Can you tell me how it felt like bashing to you? That way I know what I can work on in the future.
LovelyMinx17- Thank you, oh look! A wild Update appeared! XD
444dodo444- Heeeeeres a bonus chapter!
justaCupcake- It is pure perfection~
There will be trouble later on, like I was ranting about earlier (sorry about that by the way). I get that the Whitebeards are famous for going over protective when a crew mate is injured but to me it's important for the bonds to be there first. That's why it's all been kittens and rainbows and why now there will be steadily an increase in the action after the Christmas chapter, because I'm not writing about Luffy being impaled near Christmas!
Ace is the best heater, one of the reasons why I would beg to be in the second division XD No, it didn't happen in chapter 9. I didn't know how to include it without it taking away from the point of the chapter so I've added it in here for you~ You can just imagine the reactions, right? XD
I wish we could trade, my fingers are purple as I'm typing this! But Britain seems to create a barrier against the warmth so you can take all the cold you want but none of your warmth will seep in!
Hope you enjoyed this chapter and wow, this is a long response! Oops~
AnonymousDevilFruitUser- I love your username, it made me giggle. Glad you liked the chapter!
MissJenca- I'm glad you enjoyed it. Garp is such a complicated character and it breaks my heart to see him labelled as a cruel abuser, because while he did admittedly abuse his grandsons he also tried his hardest to keep them safe from the world. And it hurts to see him painted as the bad guy all the time.
And no, no-one knows about Luffy being bullet proof...yet...
zorchide- Garp is a very sad character :'(
youshouldn'tneedtoknow- he is...all the Garp sympathy!
JadeOccelot- They would not have given them up without at least a war breaking loose. But now they get to stay forever! (Well, Luffy won't but that's a different story~)
DMCP- I will admit that they do fit but I did not think about the Powerpuff Girls when those nicknames were created...truth be told, I had never watched the Powerpuff Girls until a friend pointed it out to me. I have watched some of it now though!
N-no...it's not like I'm hinting to a certain mythological being that Sabo will be compared to a lot but isn't a mermaid...nope, not what's going on here~
They will get a better relationship as Garp realises how happy his grandsons are and how he knows he wouldn't ever be able to take that away from them now.
Unfortunately the whole Papa Shanks/Mama Marco/Uncle Hawky showdown is going to be happening in a later chapter, the one where Shanks finally realises Luffy is on the Moby Dick. You did get Luffy's nails painted though!
DragonFire Princess- Thank you very much!
Romey- Both? Both. Both is good. You have his return right here but his survival is touched upon in Dragon's chapter.
TheCaptainOfShips- *throws Shanks in drag at you* here's your Shanks!
SisterAssassins- Thank you very much for following it! And I'm glad you love it so much! It's always nice to come home to something that makes you happy after school!
ILoveOnePiece- ...-_-...no Thatch won't die, he'll drown in a mixture of soup and blood, sacrificed to the squid king Gangklosh and rise again as a clam...spoilers~
Reira-Layla- Thank you so much! I'm glad it made you laugh.
Ah making another OPFanfictioner worry about Sabo, payback is sweet~
And would you look at that, Update is early! Thanks for the offer of help, I may take it up if it's still open when it comes to fight scenes later on...
Please update! Pretty please with a Sabo on top?!