Chapter 10

There was someone crouching on his window sill from the outside and grinning at him. Sabo stared. The freckles, the smirk. Everything said it was Ace who was looking at him in return and looking like he was seriously considering how to break the window best from his position.

Sabo stared.

Somewhere along the line he forgot how to breathe (even though a smile was reflexively tugging at his lips).

Despite what it felt like, only a few seconds could have passed when the guard (babysitter, watcher) who had not left Sabo's side for pretty much all of the last few months (stalker!) moved, cursing at Ace (calling him filth and what not that made Sabo's blood boil and teeth clench), intent to harm Ace clear.

Sabo's stomach dropped somewhere into his (disgustingly neat) shoes even as Ace's glare narrowed at the armored man in that look that he got before a brawl.

It was instinct (one he was very happy about), almost, for Sabo to scramble form his chair and take first weapon he got his hands on to back Ace up. That meant in this case to whack the man who happened to be more than twice his size (and who wore a helmet) as hard as he could over the head with his high quality chair.

The chair broke and the man slumped to the neat carpet.

It felt incredibly good and Sabo grinned for the first time in month a toothy smile before he stepped on his watchdog to reach the locks on his window. "Ace!"

Ace grinned. "Come on! We are leaving."

Sabo joined Ace outside, still reeling from seeing his brother here. In High City! But before he could open his mouth to ask, Ace already skittered the roof down, jumping at the edge and landing on another house. They were four stories above ground and Sabo couldn't stop his grin from widening.

He followed, a bit insecure from his damn lack of actual moving in the last months, but still, even as he scrambled to find hold (and not fall to his death) on the new, steep roof, it hit him hard how much he had missed this. This doing what he wanted. The fun, the danger. His brothers.

Sabo laughed happily.

(Forgetting as easily as he is escaping what had kept him in his personal hell in the first place.)

For now.

There was nothing like a good fight every once in a while. Even Benn, rational as he was, was convinced it was good for the soul to beat a lot of people up at least once a month. The Red-Hair Pirates were doing exactly that. Some wannabe crew had crossed their path as they did a weekly tour away from Fuusha.

It had been a slaughter. For a good few minutes and now the crew that had outnumbered them two on one was sprawled over deck, railings and masts moaning and groaning in pain or totally out of it. It had been a slaughter. Committed by a five men.

Benn shouldered his rifle, puffing a bit of smoke as Yasopp went to work on one of the good number of treasure chests in the loosing Captain's cabin. Looked to be good 'payment'.

"Oh," Yasopp whistled appreciatively after the lock had clicked. "Would you look at that."

"I see more to spend on drinking."

"Same here."

"You do the others and I'm gonna tell the Captain that he can stop torturing the poor other captain now." And what torture it was. Self-created by Shanks to be as humiliating and maddening as possible. It included lots of talking.

Benn stepped out of the cabin onto deck, shielding his eyes against the sun, intent on aiming for Shanks, who was near the railing laughing.

But Benn didn't actually get much further than the sun-shielding part before he dropped his tobacco again in the span of two days.

Benn blinked.

Then he turned around to Yassop. "Hey sniper. Mind taking a look at that and tell me what you see?" He pointed at the sun.

Yasopp squinted his eyes at him, questioning but did as Benn asked. His mouth fell open too. The he rubbed his eyes and stared for a second. "Oy, is that….?"

"I kind of hoped my intoxicated state hadn't worn off yet," Benn admitted. "Hey boss. We got a visitor!"

"Yes!" Shanks exclaimed, dropping the poor man who had been forced into his company, and looking too happy at possible fighting than normal men should. "Where?"

Predictably his eyes went to the sea.

Benn would almost laugh at him, were it not such a reasonable assumption. "Not that kind. Real visitor. Who needs help. Look at the sun."

Shanks did, his strawhat tilting up and shadowing his eyes for a good view.

Back on the Red Force the men heard and looked up, too.

Benn felt somewhat comforted that he wasn't the only one having that same reaction in two days.

Shanks laughed, sounding just as insane as Benn always suspected him of being. "Someone get him down there! Yasopp!"

Yasopp didn't need to be asked twice. The sniper took aim. And shot. Once, twice, six times. The balloons all popped and Luffy free fell who knows how many feet, screaming and panicked.

Lucky caught him at the rim of his battered shirt.

He was crying, looking pathetically like the normal child he was not. No one could blame him. And up until the moment he realized where he was he sobbed for Ace. And Sabo. Who or what was a 'Sabo'?

It was plenty of alarming that Ace was not with the younger, though. Especially since Luffy was so obviously demanding his presence. (It was more surprising despite the circumstances that Ace wasn't there rather than the other way around which should be the logical thing.)

Then Luffy noticed he wasn't floating in the air anymore and was instead in the midst of his favorite people he brightened. The turnabout from crying depressed to sun blinding bright was quite frankly more a sign of insanity than everything else.

"I'm gonna be a pirate!" He announced, determined, after he had wiped away all snot and blood along with strange blackness. Why did his hair spike like a hedgehog's? It almost looked like he had been hit by lighting. But no, Benn told himself, even Garp wouldn't set children flying with a storm looming… No he would. "I'm going to be a pirate."

"That's fine and all," Shanks said, patting the boy's head and subtly checking him over for worse injuries. Apparently he didn't find any (of course, Garp wouldn't be that stupid), because he asked pointedly, "don't you need to find Ace first?"

Luffy's eyes bulged and he went into a panic, again doing the same mood-turn in reverse and he started cursing at the 'stupid Jii-chan' and how he was going to beat him up the next time. With that one sentence he confirmed all the suspicions the crew had had and Benn just shook his head at idiotic powerful men.

Shanks laughed heartily, making an announcement. "We have a brat to find, guys!" It was a two days journey back to Fuushavillage. Luffy had put a lot of distance behind him in the days they hadn't seen him.

"I told you this was a bad idea."

"Shhh!" Ace hissed. "Shaddup. Or do you want them to find us?" Sabo couldn't see his brother but it felt like Ace shifted to press his ear better against the barrel's planks to listen. The only sound Sabo could hear any more was their breath and his heart beating painfully against his chest. But not as painful as his next words.

"...I have to go back, Ace."

The knee against Sabo's stiffened and he didn't need eyes to see how Ace would be all tense and have that glower on his face he always had when he didn't like something. Angry and more stubborn than a bull. "Forget that! I'm not letting you. To a place like that-"

"I have to," Sabo cut sharply. If he talked about this, he would lose his determination. Sabo didn't want to go back, never, to that scum, but between that and his brothers' lives... It wasn't a choice. He could never let something happen to them.

Ace didn't let it go, his voice becoming more upset and hurt and Sabo didn't want to- "No! You don't. Not for someone like m-" Sabo didn't miss the slip and the familiar churning of rage in his belly stirred, even as Ace didn't stop. "Don't listen to them! They got nothing on me."

Sabo did his best to ignore the hate he had at the world for doing this to Ace, because,"...if not for you, then at least think of Luffy. We can't let them get near him. He is still so weak and our little brother. We have to protect him from this...I have to do my part and you the rest."

It was a cheap shot to argue with Luffy, but Ace would never accept anything else. He'd never think that he was worth protecting as well. So if Sabo had to use Ace's brother complex to get him to be save, then-

Sabo knew his words sunk past that stubbornness when he felt Ace slump.

"- didn't look at all like Fuusha," the young boy said between bites. He hadn't had anything to eat either since he had been sent flying. Four days ago. "The ground looked really dry. And it was really hot. And I didn't want to land there." He drowned a whole mug of water in two seconds flat. "But Ace said I should always go down on the first land I see. But I didn't want to and then there were so many clouds again and I didn't see anything anymore and it was getting cold. And," here he teared up, showing that apparently he was quite a crybaby when pushed that far, "Ace wasn't there and I was alone and the birds were getting mean and Sabo wasn't there last visit. And some other cloud stole Ace in the beginning and then there was only water and the birds were so mean and they always tried to pick my balloons but there was only water and Ace said I'm not allowed to land in water."

He looked so helplessly sad, crying crocodile tears and his words degrading to Ace this and Ace that between the sniffles and swallows that no one could get themselves to tease him.

Were one to really think about what Luffy was telling, then one would realize that it was sad. Shanks was not one to tease when the timing wasn't right. And right now it wasn't.

By this point Luffy had devoured everything the cook had made for him and turned to searching around for food around the room and still talking despite the fact that he had probably half way forgotten that someone was listening to him. "And then I thought 'who cares about land', but stupid Ji-chan tied them too hard. And then there was this big black cloud again, but I didn't want to go into another big black cloud, because the last one was really mean ticklish and it didn't stop tickling after I left the cloud. I didn't want to go in a black cloud again and I was hungry and the rope looked more tasty than the balloon. And then," he said between bites, having found some anything from some crate to eat apparently, and finally turning to look at his audience again, which was somewhere stuck between horrified, disbelieve and humor. "Yasopp shot me down. That was soooo cool!"

"Damn straight it was." Yasopp boasted, "I can blast the antenna off an ant. You ain't gonna find talent like me anywhere again."

"What about that son of yours? I thought he had inherited all your talent and then some." Lucky wondered around his piece of meat that he had just pulled out of his pockets. "You are always talking our ears off about him."

Yasopp laughed lifting Luffy up by the rim of his shirt. "About this age my son is! Usopp! Last time I saw him he looked just like me and his mother. He's going to be great one day. I'm telling you-", and he went on and on.

Shanks, watching the scene, suddenly paled to an unhealthy degree, eyes on Luffy.

Benn, watching too, found that at this point there was nothing unexpected anymore and turned to Shanks. "So, boss. Want a funeral at sea?"

Sabo got up, squaring his shoulders only so that Ace would not see the defeat in Sabo's expression as he lifted the cover an inch.

A hand clammed around his wrist in an iron hold. Ace's expression was spitting fire. Sabo knew that look well. Knew it so very, very well and it made his stomach turn to lead. "No."

Sabo stared, Ace glared.

"Do you think," he spat, "this will make Luffy happy? Or keep him save?" His brother's eyes were so dark with emotion, looking like he once used to before they all got together, Sabo felt his body sink back down into the barrel against his desperate determination. The barrel felt far too small to hold so much anger yet even in the heated silence, he felt so much more at home at his foul tempered brother's side than he has ever with the nobles.

Ace broke the silence again, sounding calmer. "The moment he finds out why you aren't there, he won't be anything but miserable and then we are going to come for you again anyway."

They would. Sabo knew they would. It was so very easy to see Luffy stomp his foot angrily and glare in the best imitation of Ace that he could, and not even got about saving Sabo smartly. And Ace would hit Luffy on the head when he did something stupid to get noticed and Sabo could see it so very well, the thought of never again being part of it cracked whatever was left of his resolve.

"And aren't you running anyway? You are his big brother too and you can't just skip out on that. Got it! We won't let you."

"...But..."

"I don't care." Ace repeated stubbornly. "Luffy won't care. If anyone comes after you, we are going to beat them up. If that isn't enough, we are going to run. If they follow us into the mountains, then we will leave. Steal a ship and leave. Find some other place to train. Or even to the Grand Line. Got it?"

Sabo sniffed. "...yeah."

Then he farted.

"Ahhhhh! Save me!"

"You idiot!"

There was splashing, weeping, and laughter before a tiny figure was dropped back on deck, dripping wet but already plastering a brave grin on his face. "That wasn't scary." Never mind the tears or the snot or the red eyes.

"Liar!" The entire crew yelled, but quickly breaking down into hopeless heaps of laughter and teasing.

Luffy laughed along. "So will you take me with you now?"

Shanks felt a headache coming that had nothing to do with his hangover. Because (just for a split second) he actually imagined agreeing. Of that, only part was because he was scared of Ace's reaction. Or this other brother's (that he apparently had) reaction. "No. How about I tell you something about Devil Fruits instead?"

One day Luffy was going to become a pirate, so why not now?

It would fit Luffy well.

The kid was a like a whirlwind.

Plus, he made Shanks laugh like hell. Even now, as he was listening to rapt attention to Shanks spinning some tales about Devil Fruits with stars in his eyes, blurting in between with the craziest ideas. Just the mental picture of Buggy being compared to a game of hack-and-dice (whatever that is) with his red nose on top was sending him into a frenzy.

But Luffy was still just a kid. So no. So it was no till he was at least ten years older. Children had to enjoy their childhood. (No matter how doubtful that was with Garp as a grandfather. It was the thought that counted.)

Shanks was slapping his tight in laughter.

Another twelve hours till they were back at Fuusha. A bit of gallows humor never hurt.

TBC...

(Soon, hopefully...)