Luffy lay on the grass covering Sunny's deck, an unusual feeling closing his throat and making it hard to breath.
"No buts. You were given two choices by pirates, you will choose one and you will leave. You cannot choose both, there is no 'None of the above' option. So what is your choice?"
Luffy heard Robin say. He was glad that he had chosen Robin to speak on his behalf. She was the only person on the crew who could remain calm during this. Luffy could hear Sabo's father stuttering in anger but he still did not answer. Luffy finally realized what he was feeling, he was nervous.
"Tell me why I shouldn't just call the Marines?"
Sabo's father asked.
"Because if the Marines cannot catch our Caption in Impel Down what makes you think that Marines could catch us?" Robin let her words sink in, and then moved aside so that the people on the other ship could see Stelly tied to the mast with Zoro's sword at his throat. "You have ten seconds to choose, one son, or no son at all?"
Luffy's heart sped up, this was the crucial moment in his plan.
"I choose~~~"
The next morning.
Luffy was sitting on Sunny's figure head looking out over the blood red sunset. Yesterday had been stressful and now he only wished that he had come up with a better plan.
"Luffy. It's time." Nami said, concern coloring her voice. Luffy had left quickly after the decision had been made and had been holed up in his room ever since. Luffy turned to look at his navigator. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yeah...it's what he wants."
Luffy jumped off the figure head and walked over to his brother. According to Sabo it had been a miracle that his father made the decision to let him stay with the pirates.
"So you're ready to go?"
"Yeah."
Sabo was standing next to the small boat that Franky had quickly made. He had a bag of clothes on his back and in the boat was a big bag of food and a barrel of water.
"You sure you want to go? You are welcome to stay with us."
Luffy suggested with a smile forming on his lips.
"Yeah Sabo, there's always room in the Straw Hat's for someone else to join up."
Chopper said smiling up at Luffy's brother.
"No I have to go out to sea on my. I want to go out and have my own adventure, find my own nakama, have my own crew." Sabo turned to the sad form of his brother. "Luffy, even though we may be separated by miles of sea we will always be brothers."
Luffy wrapped his rubber arms around his brother, crushing him in a bear hug.
"Luffy...I...can't...breath!"
Sabo said trying to pry these brothers' arms off his torso. He looked to the Straw Hat crew for help but they only laughed at the situation.
Finally Luffy let go of his brother and helped him lower his boat in the water. The last image of his brother that Luffy received was Sabo standing in the small boat and waving to him.
"Luffy are you sure about this?"
Nami asked again.
"Yeah. Sabo's strong, he'll be fine."
"Are you going to miss him?"
"Yep." Luffy raised his hand and waved one last time to his brother and sighed. "Sanji I'm hungry. Is it lunch yet?"